Naturesshadow

Well, time for catch ups: Blimey that took a while to do.

Having not completed all 3 stories yet I'm probably up in the air with who would be my favourites atm but there have been some that have stood out to me. If I'd done all the supports I could be more accurate but for now the most recent ones in my mind shall take priority, them being: Male Vote: Azama - He's just such an amusing fella. He grew up in a family devoted to religion and yet doesn't take his role seriously, he has fun getting a reaction from people with his blunt statements, and overall he's just an entertaining character. I guess some people may not like a character like that but personally I found him quite enjoyable and as a unit is pretty solid. Runner ups: Niles - Amusing supports, interesting background and a great mage killer Saizo - A tough guy with some solid supports. Currently using him in Rev and he's doing great. Leo - My favourite of the Nohr royals and would have made a better leader than Corrin in everyway. Also was one of the few character to call out Azura on her secrecy bullshit. Arthur - He may be a bit gimmiky with the justice schtick and may make think of a male Cynthia but god damn if he isn't likable. He's a nice guy and his support with Azura was lovely. Takumi - Favourite of the Hoshidan royals. Get's the most development in the story and is sympathetic in his frustrations in Conquest. His distrust in people he meets may come across as rather tsuderish but I don't feel like it bothers me much. Also how can you say no to the crit train that is Takumi? Female Vote: Mozu - I've always had a soft spot for the country characters and Mozu fits it like a tee. Despite her unfortunate situation of having lost her family and town to the faceless she's a tough country gal who even gets to teach the royals a thing or two in her supports. Despite her tough situation to level her up she can be well worth it in the end and she carried me through my first birthright playthrough. Also not bogged down by any gimmicks which is always a plus. Runner ups: Hana - Almost made my vote but lost out to Mozu. Despite the hate she gets for her Corrin support, if you look past that little blunder in writing she's a nice, competitive character with a tomboyish feel. One of my favourites design wise and is my go to glass cannon myrmidon alongside Ryoma. Oboro - Another solid character with a great design, solid performance and not bogged down by gimmicks. Nyx - Despite her fan servicy design (which is just the norm for dark mages now) I like her. Her long hair and headpiece are a nice touch and her character is interesting. It's nice to have a more bitter, distant character in the bunch alongside the happy joy like ones. Beruka - More to her than meets the eye. Another interesting character to have in the bunch and has an interesting background. Also solidly designed. Orochi - The fact that she ranked last in the official fates popularity chart still baffles me. She's such a cute, mischevous character and is also rocking a neat design that does fanservice right in my opinion) Sakura - Another character that was more than meets the eye for me. While she's all shy and cute, she has a tough determinated spirit inside her that I find quite appealing, from helping Saizo out even with his loud objections to sticking around the Fort in Conquest to defend her lands from Nohr. She's pretty solid. Corrin Gender: Male (Haven't played FCorrin yet), Honestly I'd prefer to play as a more competent lord than either Corrins. Game: Conquest - While it is hands down the worst story of the 3 (although all 3 are pretty bad) it has hands down the best gameplay of the bunch and probably the best gameplay I've had with this franchise in a while since the Tellius series. Solid maps, fair challenge (except Ch 25 due to ninja poison alley) and good music to boot.

Day #22- Obsidian Ruler A good, sinister theme for the Nohrian villains. The way it starts sounds like it should be accompanied by a narrator saying "Meanwhile, back at Castle Krakenburg.."

Day #21- Pray to the Dark Played during some Conquest supports Another solid theme for Nohr. Really like the instrumentation on this one, particularly the soft melody the guitar is doing and the happy tune of the flute.

Well that's a shame, I suppose the lacking defenses are made up by the long range harassment so good placement would do them well. The area debuff at least is pretty useful and the class itself would make an archer themed run pretty interesting. It's a shame that it's male locked though, would have been amusing to have Setsuna in one of them.

I'll be honest I haven't really tried out the DLC classes so how they perform is unknown to me. I just like the idea of crit happy takumi taking control of one of them and going mad with it. I did reclass Takumi into that class for a look at the aesthetics and stats in my finished Birthright run but didnt run it. I did notice it took his speed down a notch but the extra ranged attacks looked handy, but overall I want me killer Takumi back.

Day #20- New Power Plays endgame and class changing to DLC classes This piece knows how to get me hyped for the grand finale. That booming sync, the echoing choir, the feeling of hope and determination to beat the final boss it all clicks so well. A very good piece to finish the campaign on. Also it's quite amusing to have it play when switching to DLC classes, making them seem like supernatural choices for your comrades (how can you go wrong with Takumi at the helm of a ballista).

Since no one's posted the next song I guess I'll contribute one: Day #19 - Dust Falls This is one of my favourite songs from Conquest. Great instrumentation in both versions and sums up the vibe that I get from Conquest's songs overall. Also gotta catch up on one's that I missed: #17 - No Justice - Sounds quite posh in the. softer version, I like it's transition to the Fire version. A nice theme for Nohr. #18 - Pale Star - A decent ambient track for Hoshido. They're cutscene pieces overall have a heavy emphasis on atmosphere, which works well with the instruments of choice.

Kjelle - aaaand speaking of worst kids, there she is. Out of all the characters in Awakening she annoyed me the most, with her bitchy, gotta be better than all men attitude that was present in most of her supports. The later attitude in particular made me real sick of her as, unlike Sully who only brought it up when certain characters made it sound like they judged her from her gender (when they didn't mean to) Kjelle just won't shut up about up and comes across as pretentiously preachy. I know there have been other FE characters that bring up this issue in the fantasy setting (Mia and Hana come to mind) but they never played it up to this level of obnoxious, and in this day and age I really don't need to be seeing stuff like this in my favourite franchise. On top of that her design with the overdone shoulder pads really looks silly. Hands down the worse kid and one of my least favourites in Awakening. At least her mother is awesome. Tharja - The death of modest dark mage designs. Obvious yandere bait for the self insert fetish that the avatar character created (The fact that she got a figure doesn't help). But I will say that when she's not focused on her main gimmick she's not bad, in fact I'd say I prefer her as she is in her other supports. While she comes across as anti-social and a bit untrustworthy what with the cursing and all she does have a soft spot, particularly in Lon'qu and Kellam's support. I do quite like characters that aren't all goody two shoes and her attitude is something I can get behind (Although her treating Noire as a guinea pig ain't winning her parent of the year anytime soon), She just had to be stuck with the baggage of a particularly annoying gimmick that ruins some of her supports (Her S rank with Libra comes to mind, God that was a dick move on her end) and an obvious pandering design that seems to be the standard for dark mages now (and I don't mind the occasional sexual design here and there but it has to suit the character, otherwise it just feels like cheap pandering). I think I've softened up a bit with her after seeing Camilla in Fates who in my opinion is even WORSE than Tharja when it comes to Avatar worshiping and has more supports with that gimmick interfering than Tharja, hell you could do a counter of how many times she gushes over the avatar during the story. As a unit Tharja does pretty well but her luck can be problematic, as the threat of crits will follow her more than Henry. But like Henry she hits hard and can tank pretty well, but Henry excels more in this category. There was. Quite a few in fact. I have to admit it caught me off guard and It did get a chuckle from me. You could tell it was killing her inside to do it.

Day #16 - Lost King's Supper - I love the feeling of chaos in this piece and it's a fitting song to have for the final boss. I can just imagine what the composer was like with this piece, frantically waving his arms about like he was trying to swat a swarm of wasps, instruments blaring and the choir ominously chanting. One of my favourite final boss themes in the franchise.

Day #15 - A Brother's Vow - It's a nice little piece, fitting for the conclusion of a story although it reminds me of how the ending of Conquest should NOT have been as happy as it was (but that's for another thread).

Inigo - One of my least favourite of the kids. In comparison to what Virion is like with the ladies, Inigo comes across as just sleazy, especially if he's married to someone (Although that again can be blamed on support inconsistencies) and it makes me doubt his explanation in his support with his father. I liked him a bit more in Fates but for Awakening he just comes across as annoying. Still...not the worst of the kids. Virion - Like Vaike, Virion is a character that seems like he's a simplistic character on the outside but actually has a pretty good personality and some solid supports. His praising of the ladies is not sleazy like Inigo, I like his backstory of his ruling over one of the little nations of Valm and what he had to do to save them at the cost of his reputation amongst those left behind, and his knack for strategy as shown in Robin's support (Hell he's one of the best candidates for Robin's S rank). His design is also good, being what you expect from a noble and has some solid voice acting to boot, very posh and dignified. As a unit, while archers aren't the best in this game he does his job pretty well. He hits hard, great skill to prevent misses, and could even tank a bit for me early on. The only downside is that he has no sub classes to utilize his great skill (He could have REALLY benefited from skills like Luna). But as he is, I'd say he's pretty solid.

#1 Abundant solace - A simple little piece but it feels right for your default base theme. It's quite relaxing when your just lying down doing nothing. #2 Puppet's feast - In comparison to the Japanese twang you get from Hoshido and the Celtic vibes from Nohr it sounds frantically exotic. It definitely gives off the vibe that your fighting something different. #3 Quiet Burn - Sounds very awakening. It's alright. #4 Justice RIP - Along with Alright is one of my favourite themes from Hoshido. A lovely melody that's energetic and sounds rather despairish. Love it. #5 Petals in the wind - The sign of a heartwarming convo. It's a decent whimsical piece. #6 Spreading Shadow - To quote Felicia "WE'VE GOT TROUBLE!". It's alright. #7 The Water Maiden - I guess this can be considered Azura's theme. Mystical piano pieces are quite nice. Wouldn't mind playing it on me piano. #8 Glory/Ruin - The highlight of Ch 27 for me. The sinister vibe, the creepy sound effects, the middle section in particular with that frantic piano, it's very well done and makes me feel the tension in the air. #9 Past Light - Decent Hoshido theme but it's no Justice RIP or Alight. #10 Vanity Judge - Shit hitting the fan theme. A bit simple for my taste. #11 Paradise (Light) and Paradise (Dark) - I like both of these themes but out of the 2 the Dark one wins by a mile. The Light version pretty much sums up the feeling of Hoshido with it's asian twang, although for a song labelled paradise i'm not sure It sounds like paradise to me. Dark on the other hand I bloody love, in fact it's probably one of my favourite songs from the entire OST. It's really gives me a medieval scottish vibe and I can picture this playing over a field in that environment, with the wind blowing through your hair, castles in the distance, it really hits the right notes for me and it was one of the first pieces I heard while waiting for the game before release. Along with the sunset I had outside my window, it gave me goosebumps, and when it does that it's doing something right. One of my favourites to put on when chilling in a quiet part of my local park, particular while climbing up a tree to look over the city. #12 Alight - Along with Justice RIP one of my favourite themes from Hoshido, possibly better than Justice as this theme really feels good near end game with it's feelings of Hope and Determination. It feels so good, especially when it intensifies during combat. #13 Oblivescence - Lovely little atmospheric piece this one. Suits the Valla atmosphere. #14 Prelude to disaster - I like this one, especially with scenes like Ryoma's cutscene. It sets the tension and tell's you shit is going down mate.

Brady - He's a decent character. Rough looking fella with a soft personality. Worked really well with Donny as his father (It just makes so much sense). Yarne - Not one of my favourites due to being support screwed. His cowardice seems to get better in some supports, and yet in other ones it's like it never happened. One of the tropes in Awakening's problematic writing and bloated supports. Overall one of my least favourites of the kids due to that gimmick. The taguel design is a strange one. The tribal warrior look is all find and good but the furry patch around their thighs...I could never figure out if they were actual pants or part of their body since it looked similar to the patches of fur all over their body. It's an odd design, no where near as good as the laguz from the Tellius series. Cherche - Talks Waaay to much about Minerva. A shame since her supports not focused on Minerva are decent. Her design is odd. The random patches of exposed skin feel randomly placed in just for sexual appeal (Similar to FCorrin). As a unit she fits the tanky flyer motif well and has some pretty good strength on top of that. Her classing options are not what I expected though, I mean they make sense considering her backstory but she's not particularly great with magic. She could utilize War Cleric since they still use axes but Valkyrie just seems pointless unless you really wanna challenge yourself. Frederick - A very dedicated knight, prehaps a tad too dedicated but he's a nice guy who seems to be like a teacher to some of the others. But overall his supports are pretty good (His support with Sully was quite good) and he's one of the few people I found to go well with Miriel. As a unit he's eh. I think I messed him up in my last run as my limited experience run made it a tad tricky to get him XP so in the end he only reclassed once into a general and that transition made him fall behind rather quickly as he was getting doubled by everything and lacking in offensive power (even with luna). Could have done him better justice if he was a paladin prehaps but overall he's your basic early clutch unit who will be outclassed by Stahl and/or Sully. Definitely one of the weakest of the promoted units you get. Also without him, Lunatic is Im-Fuckin-Possible.

Nah - One of my favourite of the kids. Cute design, love her voice and a touching backstory to boot. Her supports are pretty good and amusing, showing a mixture of her serious and more playful side. A few meh ones here and there but overall solid. I find it hard to judge the kids as units as my style of runs doesn't utilize them well and I end up using none of them except Lucina as you get her in the main story (which I described unit wise before). I'm hoping to do a children specific run where I utilize them into my style run. The Vaike - While on the outside he may just come across as just the meatheaded warrior whose more brawn than brains he actually is a pretty nice guy. Sure there are some supports that play up his meatheadedness but I found quite a few in which deviated from that and showed a nice, considerate side of him like how in Lissa's support how he looks up to Chrom and what's to be as great as him or from the support's that go into his backstory in how he became what he is today. While I did start off meh with him I found over time that he really was a pretty good character and probably one of my favourites In Awakening. With that said however his support with Robin was crap. Design wise is okay, the metal thing around his neck looks a bit ridiculous. Voice wise was entertaining and had some lovely hammy lines for the chuckles. As a unit he's got the fighter traits going for him, hard hitting, good crittin, but magic ruins him. He did pretty well on my run.

Ah goody. 2 of my favourites on the same day. But first, catchup time: Flavia - Has a lively attitude but could have really done with more supports like some of the other mid/late game characters. Her support with Basilio was at least amusing. As a unit with my kind of run she's not particularly great. Lacking in strength and survivability, if she ends up in my final team she's assigned to meat shield. Sumia - A cute design but otherwise a meh character. Her limited supports really hurt her and really made it obvious that they wanted you to pair her up with Chrom. Why else would she be in the Intro cinematic with Chrom, another cinematic in an early chapter, gets a fancy 2D scene reserved for important scenes, get's more scenes with him between chapters than some of the other side characters AND has said cinematic above called "Lovebirds" (US only as the European version calls it by a different name). Her gimmick is rather tiresome and her supports are nothing too special. Her support with Cynthia is at least rather nice and hell she did give us Cynthia so that's a plus. She did well for me as a unit. As expected from a Pegasus Knight she was fragile but hit pretty hard. I believe she did better for me than Cordelia but my memory on that is a tad fuzzy. Gregor - One of my favourites of the Awakening cast. Such a jolly man he is and the added accent in the dub was good and added a nice flavour to his character. His supports are pretty good, with some with him sharing his words of wisdom to some that gave us an interesting backstory to this guy. The later in particular was interesting, especially with his support with Tharja. It was quite sad and it makes me curious about what his original name was. Also he almost became the next Khan in Ferox which gives him my utmost respect. His design is good, what you'd expect of a long time mercenary. It's a shame that as a unit, so far I'd say he's alright. His growths for me weren't anything too amazing but in my last run I didn't get a good chance to fully utilize him as he fell to a 4% critting mage. R.I.P you unlucky sonova bitch, I will reassess you in another run in the future. Henry - Another favourite of mine. Such a bizarre character he is but I find him quite interesting. He has such a fascination with blood and enjoys killing but is quite obedient when told not to kill and also looks at thins like a innocent child. I suppose his restraint is what separate's him from Fate's Peri who in contrast can't keep her hand from chopping some poor soul's head off. His supports were interesting although I have to admit he's one of the hardest to find a good pairup for (In terms of chemistry). His design is good and his voice lines always got a giggle from me, particularly his little "teehee" after killing someone. He makes for a ripper of a dark mage. Apart from the usual brokenness of Nostanking, even without it he hits pretty hard and has a surprisingly good DEF growth for a mage. Hell right out the gate he made good use of his Ruin tome which made him pretty useful in leveling up to catch up to the others. Probably my go to dark mage for any run requiring it.

The comparison is quite strong, especially after looking at a bit of Dragon Ball Z lately I'd have to say It fits the shoe. Only difference though is that Lucina doesn't know about the multiverse theory, which makes her goal rather sad as she'll never restore her own timeline. It will forever be a risen wasteland. Aversa - The seductive assistant to the villains. Reminds me a bit of Sonia from Blazing Sword. Not much to her character and while her backstory does give her something, being on one of those paralogues you get after beating the game where she's dead in the story unfortunately doesn't count in my eyes. For that reason I don't count it as canon to the story (A problem she shares with Walhart, Gangrel, Yen'fey and Emmeryn). Lissa - The energetic princess of Ylisse. I quite like her upbeat, unroyal-like personality and her supports are pretty solid for the most part. While I paired Robin with her the first time around I kinda regret it now as it's one of her weaker supports and Owain's support with him make's no sense considering what happens to Robin. Her support with Maribelle in particular was rather nice. I noticed alot of people liked her with Lon'qu but to be honest I'd say that's one of her weaker supports, personally I preferred her with characters like Stahl, Vaike and Gaius. Her design is cute and her voice acting's solid. As a unit she does decently if made a Valkyrie, not so well in War Cleric but the skills it gives can be handy. I'd say though that if I wanted a hard hitting Valkyrie I'd stick with Maribelle as while she's squishier than Lissa she just hits like a truck.

I figured that since the game's time travel was done in the style of a multiverse theory that she could never go back to her original timeline, which kinda makes it sad for her and the other children as ultimately their goal is kinda pointless as the timeline there in now will be saved, but they're own timeline is still fucked. Come to think of it, it kinda makes their whole goal rather pointless.

Walhart - Not particularly impressed with his character as he just seemed rather simplistic. But after the disappointment that was Fate's villains I feel like he had more going that what they had. But honestly I don't feel like I have much to say about him. I mean hell his design speaks for himself. Lucina - As a character she's alright. Nowhere near the best Lord in the series but she has her moments. My biggest problem with her is that for most of the story, she really isn't that good at what she's trying to do. I mean sure she stops the assassination of Emmeryn early on, but then she's completely late to save her for her suicide and just falls out in usefulness as the story goes on, feeling more like a side character. She couldn't even stop Basilio from walking towards his own death (Even though he barely survives). Design wise she's pretty good. What I expect from a Lord and she's quite cute with her long hair and such. Her supports are solid for the most part, I particularly liked her sister support with Cynthia as it just felt right with this character. As a unit she was pretty damn good. For Awakening I tend to stick to one grind per mission to balance out the difficulty where I can hit hard, but not to the point of pulverizing them. With this setting she started out slow, feeling like the Est type for me (Like Nino in Blazing Sword) but once she became a great lord she got ridiculously strong and pretty much obliterated Grima with her Parallel Falchion (with a crit to boot). Very solid unit overall and you can't go wrong with Aether.

Well after many edits and delays between days it's FINALLY time to play catch ups and knock off the missed ones [spoiler=Here we go!] Inigo - Inigo was one of my least favourite of the kids in Awakening as his flirtatious attitude in comparison to Virion came across as rather sleazy and he definitely looked like someone who wouldn't stop flirting even when married which made me feel sorry for whoever got married to him. So far he doesn't seem to have changed too much from Awakening, maybe a slight more mature but overall not much of a change. He's just alright for me atm. I did like his support with Peri and Severa though. Haven't used him much as a unit but his personal skill, while small is a neat little buff that can add that little difference. Shigure - Poor Shigure, [spoiler=Spoiler]left motherless on 2 paths. His design is decent, the haircut is rather odd. His voice is quite soothing to the ears. Haven't used him much but since this is Azura's kid I Imagine he will follow in her footsteps and be a hard hitting glass cannon. Selkie - I liker her design but like Effie I wasn't expecting her voice to be what it was (In selkie's case, very squeaky). She seems rather playful and naive. I haven't done much with her and from her stats seemed rather similar to Kaden. Flora - I'm glad the maid designs in this game weren't too fetishized, knowing what they could have done with them. I like her design and her unique skill can come in handy...if only she could take physical hits. She was rather meh in my conquest run and ended up more in utility rather than offense. Personality is alright, I suppose another victim to the corrinsexual syndrone that others have described certain characters with. Why the hell did she not have more supports? The limited supports with certain characters bothers me as other games had characters right near end game that had WAY more than these characters (E.G Renault, Elincia, Etc). And since she worked with characters like Gunter and Jakob it's a rather glaring flaw and denial of potential character development. [spoiler=Spoiler] Also her suicide in birthright was rather puzzling. Why/How did she burn herself to death? Not what I expect from someone of the ICE tribe. This seems more like something Rinkah would have done. Scarlet - Poor, poor Scarlet. Here's a wasted potential character. She seemed like someone that should have played a bigger role in Birthright and hell even in Revelations, but like other characters unless their Corrin or Azura they aint getting any love. [spoiler=Spoiler]Her death in Revelations was out of nowhere and quickly moved on and her's in conquest was certainly expected (and rather brutal considering the potential scenarios). She seemed alright as a character, someone who loves gem crafting in weapons and has a rather spunky attitude but she really needed more supports. Why none with Ryoma? That seemed like a missed opportunity there and if they could S rank that would have given MCorrin an extra slot to marry someone without losing one of the kids. Haven't used her yet but she looks promising and her skill, while situational could prove to be handy. Severa - The Tsundere we all know and love? Personally she's the kind I can tolerate and in Awakening she was just more of a bitch and she acted tsun tsun to everyone, not just to the opposite sex. She seems to have matured a bit since Awakening and ain't so snappy, but she does have her moments here and there. Didn't used her yet but her skill could be nice if used with a partners killer weapon (looking at you Takumi). Man I really forgot about mercenary's in this game. Nyx - Well first things first, dark mage designs are doomed to be bikini fanservice designs. I wish we could go back to the ominous heavy robed designs. I like her design face wise though with the long scruffy hair and the head piece. Has a fortune teller vibe to it. Personality wise she's quite the distant woman. I can't blame her for her frustrations with having to always explain her situation to others as she's probably done it so many times now. Need to do more with her supports to see more of her character as at the moment she's just alright. Her voice is quite amusing though, especially the little grunts she does when attacking, it's quite cute. She's got some good magic growth and can hit hard but is as fragile in DEF as elise and has bad luck to boot. Also suffers in the skill department which in Fates unforgiving RNG is a problem. Suffers the same way that Arthur did for me, but in his case he suffered more from Axes having crap hit, Nyx doesn't growth too well in Skill. Takumi - Out of all the royals I feel like he gets more of the attention in most of the stories and he certainly gets the most shit flung at him storywise, whether it's his possession in Birthright or pretty much everything that happened to him in Conquest, hell just in Revelations he almost fell to his death, poor guy can't get a break. His focus on not trusting those he meets is somewhat reasonable, especially with those of Nohr, but his personality overall is solid. You get the feeling he want to prove himself that he's a strong leader for Hoshido and he's a nice guy when talking to those he likes. As a unit I have to say if there's one guy who get's them crits when I need them It's Takumi. Probably done thanks to his great unique skill, which is simple to achieve and gives him great buffs in return. His unique bow also is fantastic on terrain heavy maps, making him flexible in alotta maps. That and thanks to the new type of bows has made me like archers again which I haven't had a turn around to since Radiant Dawn. Corrin/Mary-sue - WARNING: RANT INCOMING: Oh geez where to start. After what we got from Robin I wasn't having too high hopes for Corrin to be much better, but I certainly wasn't expecting him to be much WORSE in comparison. Corrin is a spineless, naive, worthless, pandering coward of a protagonist and the fact that everyone just worships him with such high praise and the fact he's designated leader while other more competent leaders are around him makes me sick. Conquest Corrin in particular was especially bad as him joining back with Nohr after the sword Garon gave him kills his mother and lots of hoshidans and the fact that he remembers that he's not his real father and he even admits that he intended for that to happens makes no sense. I mean I know that he want's to stick with his Nohr siblings but the fact that upon returning he's almost killed by Garon really should have been the sign that he should get the fuck out of there, it's not like Xander or anyone else is gonna be able to do shit since they're too scared to stand up against him. His lack of actions really hurt him, such as the rebellion of Cheve. Instead of stopping Hans from killing everyone, he just lets him get away with it with no resistance. If any other Lord were in his place they would not put up with that shit, especially if it was someone like Ike, in fact he would have just stuck his sword in Hans throat upon his declaration of slaughter. His lack of explanation of garon's true form to his siblings is a bonehead move and makes him and Azura look like complete dicks as even though they can't say where they got the info from, they HAD ways around it they could have done (like write it down or force a prisoner to say it to prove the curse) but nooooooo gotta keep everything hidden just because (This gets especially galling after playing Revelations where they have NO problem explaining that they had to be secretive otherwise that curse will kill them). That bloody curse is just as flimsy, if not worse than the blood pacts in Radiant Dawn and hell I liked the idea of the pacts (It just suffered from poor execution). Also why the fuck does he not kill Iago or Zola with his own hands?! Iago especially as he flat out admits he was tormenting Corrin this whole time which should have been more than enough reason to put him down personally but nope, Leo gets to take the glory. Why couldn't Leo be the main protagonist in Conquest? He's much more reliable a leader and actually has a fucking brain in comparison to this pathetic excuse of a "Lord". I don't know how people can self insert into this guy (apart from the fact that he has a character which I reckon clashes against the whole Idea unless they're a complete blank slate like the protagonist in persona 3) Because who wants to self insert into a useless, pathetic leader who may as well be one of those harem protagonists in any harem anime you can name. I wonder if he get's alot of comparison to Kirito from Sword Art Online as I hear he was a prime example of a mary sue. Overall character wise Corrin is the absolute WORST Lord I have seen in a Fire Emblem game. Worse than Micaiah, worse than Robin, I can only hope that they axe this custom avatar crap for their next game but I highly doubt that'll happen because Japan is Japan and they know what sells. Either that or they can get a new bloody writing team to avoid this drek. Well at least performance wise he's pretty solid apart from the usual low RES that most lords get and the fact that the dragonstone drops off mid-late game. Sophie - Used her a bit in Birthright but apart from that not much. Her design is alright, an odd haircut and the unnecessary lack of pants is another case of unnecessary sexualization but it is less noticeable ingame in comparison to Camilla with her arse sticking in the camera. I've heard people describe her similar to Awakening's Cynthia but so far I don't see it (Arthur's more closer to the comparison IMO but i'll get to that soon). Her personal skill is...rather odd. The damage is nice but why does it involve stripping the enemy? (Though overall that feature was a rather odd thing to have and just rather silly, what is this Ikki Tousen?). Shura - Could have been more interesting if not limited in supports but like Reina, Scarlet, Izana, Yukimura, etc he suffers in this department. The fact that you can actually kill him instead of recruiting him is interesting and makes this choice alone better than ALL the choice options in Awakening combined as it actually has consequences (Although since I did birthright first and knew he was neutral I knew I could recruit him so I did not kill him first time round). Haven't used him in combat yet. Saizo - In comparison to Kaze he seems more serious in his duties and is a feisty little ninja to boot. I quite like him, his design is good, I've liked the supports I've seen so far from his past relationship with Kagero, to his cute one with Sakura to the rather interesting discussions had with Beruka. With his voice I imagined him being voiced by Steve Blum for some reason. Currently using him in Revelations and he's been pretty damn good. Hard hitting, lotsa doubling, has gotten me some clutch crits and his skill, while dangerous is handy as it's practically an area poison strike (And I love this skill). Along with Kaze and Kagero they make for great ninjas. Velouria - First things first, did anyone else get a Nah vibe from her design? the pointed ears, the way the hair looked in her portrait, her voice? It didn't help for me that I liked Nah with Henry's hair, it's been hard to shake the comparisons (although that alone is a problem I have with the majority of the cast), personality wise she does differ thankfully, that of a huge daddy's girl with her dad's similarity in habit of collecting junk. She's quite cute but I admit I still need to do more supports. I used her along with her father in Conquest and she did very well, especially with her unique skill that helped in surviving the hits. She was slightly less tanky in comparison but hit much harder and helped secure the kill on the final boss. The wolfskins overall are very good and she was one of my MVPs for that run. Fuga - Not much to say about him atm. his designs good but storywise ain't too important. Subaki - From what I've gotten so far he seems like a male Cordelia, but unlike Cordelia who was not trying to be the best and was rather modest about it, Subaki WANTS to be perfect and comes off as more of a show off in comparison. He did alright for me in birthright but I wanted to use Hinoka for my first run so he got benched. Hinoka - I've noticed that the majority of people think of Hinoka as the blandest of the royals and while I haven't done many supports of hers to assess whether this is the case or not, I still think I prefer her over Camilla as Camilla suffers from actual flaws that I can't overlook that Hinoka simply doesn't suffer from. Her relationship with Corrin is not creepy and it's touching that she devoted herself as a soldier to get him back, also her support with Ryoma was cute. She's a tough, friendly gal who also did well on the field for me. While squishy she doubled all the time and hit pretty hard for me. Niles - The sadistic Outlaw himself, and the unit mages dread to fight against. His attitude got me some laughs and he reminds me of Azama in that he loves teasing his comrades (A shame they couldn't support each other, it just seems perfect). Having a thief class with High RES was what I wasn't expecting from Niles but good god was it useful. He did really well for me early and mid. Speaking of Azama It puzzles me that from the opinions I found on here that people don't like Azama's personality because he's an arse who's mean to people and yet have no issues with Niles who literally gets his kicks from the misery of others, I mean hell he's a SADIST. It just seems a tad hypocritical or at the very least inconsistent. Felicia - Miss doki doki maid. Her gimmick is rather annoying as it feels like what they did with Sumia, but there could be some supports i've missed that avoid it. Her growths for me were wonky. Some good some bad, haven't used her much apart from early game. Also alot of people dont seem to like her voice but, I don't know I find it quite charming and lines like "We've got Trouble" never fail to make me laugh. Kagero - Even though I ended up using her in Birthright I didn't do too many of her supports so assessing her character atm is a tad hard. She's serious, devoted to her Lord and makes freaky art. I like the detail of her having dated Saizo in the past, gonna have to see their supports to see where it goes. She was good as a unit, doubling, pretty tough and a good skill to screw over ninjas. Solid unit. Kana - What kind of nutjob parent would send their 10 year old child to fight in the war? oh wait. Kana just seems WAAAAY too young to be fighting, I know young warriors in Fire Emblem aren't rare but this is pushing it. I've heard of comparisons to Morgan but I don't see it so far. Morgan was much better. Haven't used her in battle much so no comment there. Effie - This girls gotta eat and get huge, HUGE! she seems a tad gimmicky with that shtick but she has her moments (I recall someone compared her to Obelix from Asterix the Gaul which is a funny comparison but could be rather close). Design wise, thank god they fixed the over designed armour from Awakening, they looked MUCH better in this game, I'd say her's is perfect...and then she stuck her arse out at me in her victory animation and why is she not wearing pants? As a Knight, well, refer to the comment I made earlier. As a Knight she is fantastic, Great DEF, good attack thanks to her skill and once she has her General skill at lvl 5 she is a tough nut to crack. Her growths for me were quite wonderful too, which considering her growths it was quite delightful. Jakob - Quite the arse he is, at least from what I've seen so far. Strict and snappy. Haven't used him much so this is a bit brief. Leo - Why wasn't Leo the protagonist of Conquest?! Anyway from what I've seen so far he seems pretty solid and a smart tactician to boot. As a unit he's alright. He has high damage but lacks speed and fell off for me late game. His personal tome is alright but it ain't nothing like what Takumi has to offer. Hayato - A near clone of Ricken, Same hair and colour, same class, same clothes colour, another young kid whose treated as a child which he objects to (His support with Corrin didn't help) but much cockier and confident in his magic. Despite the above I'm kinda alright with him but his clone factors are hard to ignore. he's done alright as a unit in my Revelations run, good magic and decent speed. Hinata - On glace a carry over of the Vaike's personality but maybe not so meat headed. His supports seem pretty decent so far, I Liked his support with Rinkah (Got them paired up). As a unit he fell short to Hana as while he has better defense and a useful skill he suffers in speed and strength which for a myrmidon is rather shaky. Silas - The president of the Corrinsexual fan club. He seems to like helping people alot but I've heard conflicting opinions on him with certain supports. I guess in due time I'll find the dodge ones. As a unit he seems decent, although I dropped him early in my last run. Hans - Just your typical evil commander. Nothing special bout him except now I can see him without thinking of his head as a giant thumb. Orochi - Why the hell did Orochi rank right at the bottom on the official poll? As a mischievous diviner she's jolly good fun. I like her design, her magic was really high and made for an overall pretty good mage for me in Birthright. Mitama - One of my favourite of the kids so far. Her star eyes are a bizzare feature but apart from that her design is good (I like the fact that Azama has the same eyes that we'll never see). Her sleepy attitude reminds me of Haar (One of my favourites from the Tellius series). I need to do more of her supports but I did quite like her support with Corrin where she bonds with him over Haikus. I did use her in my Birthright run where she was a bit more utility based. Needed her for staffs and extra bows. Charlotte - Literally a gold digger. Tis a shame her and Anna can't support each other. She's one of the hardest gals to find a good pair for as apart from Benny it seems like she has trouble bonding with the others, with her whole goody goody persona and shit. Hell she'd abandon her lover quicker than Inigo. haven't used her yet but her starting stats weren't too convincing and her skill while scary is just too limited as female classes are far and few between. Owain - Out of the 3 Awakening kids to return he seems to have been the one that's changed the least with the exception of his class (I guess he decided to finally embrace his mother's magic growths that he got). Not much to say about him at this point except he's Owain we all know from Awakening. He did decently in my Conquest run but fell off a bit late game. Zola - A bit better than Hans in character but that's not saying much. I like his voice acting, a cackling little rat he is. Peri - I've seen some conflicting opinions on this little psychopath, it seems like you either like her or hate her. I'm probably in the middle at the moment. On the one hand her design is cute, she goes with the theme of Nohr having messed up characters and her decensordised attitude to violence having come from such a tender young age could be possible (I mean hell, just seeing your dead mother would be enough to cause some serious mental damage). On the other hand she is just a bit too unstable with her killing habits and it seems like any smart army would not be having her around, and it does put a bit of contradiction on Xander as he warns Corrin about Hans background as a criminal and murderer and yet he himself has a retainer that'll kill people whenever they hurt her feelings. She did well for me in my Conquest run, while a bit sqiushier than I'd like she hit decently and her unique skill + azura's dance was pretty useful when needed. Midori - Such a cute gal she is. Another favourite of the kids so far. While her size does make me question if she really is an adult (Similar to how I questioned Elise) I could image her just being a short person, and I've had friends and relatives that fit that physical description. Haven't used her yet though so still up for assessment. Benny - The loveable giant of a man. Although I can't help but feel he shares a similarity with Kellam in that they both struggle with socialising with others. With Kellam it's his unexplanable invisibleness to others while Benny is more the opposite as people look at him, and flee in terror. What have these guys got against male knights? Using him in revelations atm and so far as a tank he's pretty damn good. Having more defense growth than Effie helps and with the guard naginata is near inpenetrable. Only problem is that he lacks in killing power in comparison to Effie and his growths haven't been as amazing as hers. Still pretty solid overall though. Arthur - With his whole schtick of Justice I'd say that he's the male equivalent of Cynthia (Feels more accurate than Sophie in my opinion) but replace Cynthia's nativity with Arthur's bad luck. He does suffer from the gimmick syndrome but at least it's a gimmick that isn't too annoying as I've not had too much of an issue with him and he has had some nice supports (The Azura one in particular was very good). While his skill growth seems to be decent I just have so much trouble with him and accuracy. I put that blame squarely on axes due to their usual stats. That combined with his dreadful luck making him at risk of getting crits makes him rather tricky. Tried to use him in Reveleations but he's probably getting cut. I will try him again in Conquest at some point. Iago - Another bland villian to add to the bland ante ray of Fates villains. Hisame - One of the few children not too similar to their fathers. haven't used him much so not much to say bout Hisame. Seems okay atm but why the hell was he labelled a Pickle Pro in his epilogue? Camilla - Oh boy Camilla. I knew straight away judging from her design that I would have complaints about her character and after playing Conquest I was right. I have nothing against sexy characters but the way they did it with Camilla was not subtle in the slightest, from the battle panties to her own cinematics that practically focus all on her "ass"ets. This is the kind of crap I'd see in an ecchi Anime. Her kind of character is what make's me worried about the future of Fire Emblem. Pandering design, creepy, avatar lusting attitude and fetishising Incest even if it's technically not incest. Which is a shame because take away all that and her characters not terrible. Like Tharja she's at her best when she's not focusing on her biggest flaw, In this case her creepy affection for Corrin and that mostly bothers me because she ONLY acts like this to Corrin, not to anyone else. It's obvious what the creators were doing with her and I'm disappointed in them for doing this. It's because of these flaws that I currently prefer Hinoka. At least as a unit she's pretty decent. When you get her in Conquest she's a useful clutch for those tough moments (especially on the chapter you get her) and having axes and magic at her disposal is quite useful. I gave her the mechanist class to have duplicate and having two of her flying around was very handy. Izana - To quote Nyx "Appearances can be deceiving". A quirky fella who sadly suffers from lack of supports and absence in Revelations. Surprisingly I did use him for Conquest as a backup mage and healer which proved useful in the end. Nina - My favourite designed of the children characters. A mix of cute and sexy of the subtle kind NOT of Camilla's battle lingerie design. Her being a yaoi fangirl though was certainly not expected (reminded me of Harumi Fujiyoshi from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei) and I'm hoping that she doesn't make it too much of a gimmick like others character have done with theirs. Her support with Soleil was quite amusing though, indulging in each others lewd fantasies. Dwyer - Another design I like. I took one look at the guy and said to myself "That's a paranoid looking fella right ere". While his personality didn't exactly match up to what I had envisioned he seems like he could be interesting. The fact the he can do better at butlering than his father and yet can't be arsed to do so is quite humourous. Haven't used him yet. Kaze - The ladies man Kaze, He certainly has been the most flexable when it comes to finding good pairings. He's just an overall nice guy that's committed to his duties as a Ninja. With that said however him joining Corrin in Conquest does reflect rather poorly on him, particularly for his reason for joining you and betraying Hoshido. It makes him look like a filthy traitor. I know they wanted to give you some source of Ninja for Nohr but they could have given him a better reason to join rather than just "a sense of trust". As a unit, constant doubles, great RES and good skill make him a solid Ninja. Can't go wrong with him. Azama - A clever little arsehole and I like him, although many seem to be otherwise. I will admit because of his personality he is one of the hardest to pair up but on his own he just makes me laugh for just how much he doesn't give a shit. His snarky, blunt attitude makes for a good source of entertainment in his supports. I did find his support with Felicia to be pretty good though and so far is the strongest in chemistry he's got going (Plus gives Mitama her pink hair). Haven't used him yet but looking at his good strength growth definitely ain't making him a dedicated healer. his personal skill is crap though once promoted. Gunter - It's nice to see characters that look physically older in your party again. Had a funny moment with Gunter where after his "demise" into the bottomless pit, once I could grind in Birthrights I went to do so at the canyon and the sparkling tile gave me "Gunter's Potion" and the first thing to come out of my mouth was a despaired "GUNTEEEEER!!!!". What an appropriate item to find. Another character though that suffers from few supports. I liked how he looked after Corrin during his time at the fort (A solid support overall) but he needed more, particularly with characters like Felicia and Flora. As a unit I could immediately tell he was a Jeigen and pretty much benched him. Then I saw his growths and was DEFINITELY not gotta use him anytime soon. While his starting stats could be usable in Conquest, in Revelations forget about it. And as for his growths...well fuck they are quite frankly atrocious. Also the lack of supports in Revelations was an immediate warning sign that some shit was gonna happen to him so no point feeding him there (Haven't gotten to the disaster yet but wiki spoiled it for me when I checked his growths so oh well). Azura - A possible attempt to make lightning strike twice by making a new Lucina. Funny how that's not worked considering her poll position, the fact the she doesn't get a figure while the nohr sisters and Corrin(F) get some attention. Her role in the story has quite a few probs, mostly stemming from her lack of explanations in the story. Her secretive nature I think hurts her the most and with the knowledge she has on both routes it really makes her look like a selfish bitch. While I don't detest her like I do with Corrin I do feel like they failed in her utilization into the plot and the end results just ain't pretty. Also like Corrin she also suffers the most in Conquest for the same reasons as Corrin. Design is certainly pretty and gives off the exotic look rather well but the single stocking/underwear thing is rather odd (can this be counted as fanservice?). I have to say though that as a dancer/singer class she's one of the strongest I've encountered in Fire Emblem. Hits really hard, always doubles and good resistance makes for another magic murderer. Only problem, her DEF and health are crap. Definitely someone who needs seraph robes and draco shields. She makes for a pretty good pegasus rider though and her pool of skills are handy for utility. Mozu - One of my favourites of the 1st Gen. I've always had a soft spot for the country folks in Fire Emblem, from the shy Nephenee to the family man Brom to the jolly Donnell and now I've got the Tough gal Mozu to add to the list. Although unlike those guys she certainly copes it bad with her family, not the merriest of recruitment's. Her supports are pretty solid overall, Notable favourites atm are Corrins, Takumis, and Keatons. As a unit sadly she ain't no Donny due to aptitude's nerf and with this games RNG was getting mixed results in growths, but then again that happened alot of the characters. She did make for a decent Master of Arms in the end though. Yukimura - Another character that could have played a bigger role and had more supports but alas was abandoned to continue praising the lackluster Corrin. I have to say though that his support with Corrin made me lose respect for his as a tactician when he mentioned that his plan of traps to ensnare the enemy was scolded by Sumeragi. I mean come on, PEOPLE DIE IN WAR! It's inevitable and when facing your foe it's kill or be killed. Yukimura was in the right and would have done you well for doing what he wanted to do. how spineless he is for the fact he succumbed to his "wisdom". I can see now where Corrin get's his fantasist Pacifist nature from. Setsuna - The archer in her own world. She really reminds me of Osaka from Azumanga Daioh with her absent minded habits and slow voice. While from the supports I've seen so far she does seem to play up her gimmick of falling into traps a bit too often, but even with that in mind I don't dislike her. I guess it reminds me of characters in the past that I've liked like Mia and Ilyana who, while not deep in character development were likeable as they were. Now as unit Setsuna kicked plenty of arse with her ridiculous speed that could challenge even Kaze's speed. Her decent damage combinged with skill made her quite scary and if she could use Takumi's bow good lord it would be a hailstorm of arrows. Soliel - I swear the first time I saw this gal her face looked WAAAY to similar to her father. It was hard to look around that. Apart from that her design is pretty good. The fact that she wears Olivia's headband is cute and a potential memorial piece as if this Inigo is the one from Awakening who lost his mother in the grim future then this is a sweet, touching little bit of detail to have. Also I was curious about the controversy of her support with Corrin. From what I've heard apparently she actually knew about the powder and wanted to take it rather than her drink being "spiked". I may be wrong but if that's true than the whole controversy was WAY overblown and made a deal out of nothing. Attitude wise she's coming across as a female Inigo (which as his daughter makes sense I guess), It is amusing that she gets the ladies easier than her Father and I haven't seen a character this into the ladies since Heather from Radiant Dawn. Although as a bisexual, why the hell was she not given the S rank with FCorrin?! It makes the most sense with her and they didn't even do that? Instead who gets it? Of course the bloody Tharja clone so we can have a Tharja that can marry the avatar regardless. Go figure. I've liked her so far as a character but I've heard bad things about her support with Ophelia. Gonna have to see that for myself I guess. As a unit she was pretty solid considering I wasn't using any other Mercenaries in my Conquest run. Hit hard, good skill for Sol procing and an easy skill to utilize as long as she had a female to pair with (I mostly did her with her mother Peri or Nina). Reina - A somewhat more bloodthirsty Cherche minus Minerva and supports. Again, could of been made more interesting if not for the lack of supports (As a retainer for Mikoto, where's her supports with Yukimura and Orochi?). Her support with Corrin was good in telling him about her life before she became a retainer but she hasn't got much else apart from that. I do like her design though and her voice is well done especially with lines like "oh...THRILLING". As a unit though, at least in Revelations she was eh. Not growthing too well for me and got quickly dropped when other units got into the group. Could give her a chance in my lunatic Birthrights run though. Overall: I've noticed a theme of copy and paste from Awakening from the Trio that made it into Fates to the cheap clones on the Hoshidan side to certain character traits that were present in Awakening's cast put upon the Fate's cast. So far some have been pretty good, some alright and some downright awful. It's the definition of a mixed bag. One thing for certain though, there are some trends I want to see perish which would include: The scantily clad designs for females in the way of Camilla's design. Or just designs that are sexy just for pandering sake (Like Effies, FCorrin, etc) The avatar. Just drop him entirely and give us set characters again that aren't mary sues. Similar characters from the most previous game (similar characteristics are sometimes unavoidable I know but doing it from your last game which isn't even that old yet is really cutting corners here. hence why some similarities like Mitama's to Haars isn't too irritating cause of the time gap while ones like Hayato's copied character from Ricken are more galling. The undeveloped, forgettable villains. Seriously they have been doing poorly in recent days. If you are gonna keep the Avatar character (which at this point I wouldn't be surprised with in the slightest) DON'T make them the primary focus of the story. However I doubt that they'll do that as at this point they have become well too predictable and these things are most likely gonna be a trait for Fire Emblem games now. But one can only hope that they may change their ways. On the plus side there are still genuine good characters here and I would only give up on Fire Emblem if ALL the characters suffered from things like the above. And this game is still good thanks to it's well improved gameplay that make's Awakening look dated as fuck in comparison. In the end I find this game is the game in the franchise I like and dislike as It excels in gameplay but really drops the ball with it's writing and somehow made Awakening's story look more competent. Also for the poll I voted for Awakening Characters as I did a run of Awakening before my copy of Fates arrived at my house so the characters are still fresh in my mind.

Elise - Seems like the standard cute innocent sister. She ain't no Lissa. Personality wise I prefer Sakura over Elise, mostly due to the childishness of Elise being a tad irritating, especially since she's suppose to be an adult (Honestly she's more of a teenager of at least 15). With the way she acts with Corrin it makes me wish that the royals couldn't be wed to Corrin because all I can think of is that marrying her would be a betrayal of what your suppose to be to her and quite frankly it just feels wrong. Even though there is no blood relations to the Nohr siblings there's the sense of fetishness with this setup that I imagine was done on purpose (Because Japan). As a unit she was pretty good with the offensiveness and even with her rather low skill the high hit of tomes made it no issue. But she's the definition of a glass cannon as physical soldiers will tear her to shreds if left alone. [spoiler={spoilers}] Her sacrifice in Birthright had good intentions and all but I can't help but feel it was all in vein as Xander just brushes it off and goes full berserk mode against Corrin. This scene lost its effect more from his actions than hers Ryoma - He seems like the more reasonable leader in comparison to Xander in the story but so far he's just alright. Kinda like some of the lords in the past where he's not terrible, but not outstanding either. But with that said I've done only a few supports with him at this point so he's up for reassessment in the future. He hits pretty damn hard, thanks to his personal weapon and while he suffer in the DEF department he does get some decent avoid, and more so thanks to the myrmidons skills. I dont think he's as broken as others have said due to said squishyness. [spoiler={spoilers}] Ryoma's death was better executed than Elise. Having him commit sepuku to allow Corrin not to have him kill his own brother was more powerful in execution and as a Samurai felt fitting. Poor guy had a shitty scenario to work with. Anankos - With how this story has been so far I'm not expecting anything unique as from what I've seen of him via Garon, He just seems like a standard villain, wanting destruction just because he's evil and shit. I'm going to post the remaining characters I missed at some point but It might take a bit to do it.

You can't go wrong with the majestic herons. In that case I'll probably add the remaining characters I missed with the last 2 characters. Hana - I'm getting the impression that not many people like her. Personally I quite like her, both design wise (probably one of my favourites) and personality wise. While she is quite agitated in Corrin's support I haven't seen her act like that in her other supports (And I've definitely seen worse supports) and she does have a somewhat legit reason for it. Considering how close she is to Sakura, seeing a close friend in pain for her would be hard to deal with, I can relate a bit to this as I've seen friends of mine having to deal with all kinds of shit caused by others and that tends to bring my blood to a boil. I suppose though in this situation it was out of Corrin's control, I guess there's just some miscommunication happening here and at the very least she does apologies for her actions in the end. Her relationship with Sakura is nice and I like her tomboyish attitude. Her performance reminded me of Mia from Path of Radiance as she's very much a glass cannon against physical enemies but also has some good RES and hits pretty damn hard. Her skill, while small is handy if she attacks a group of enemies first to help soften the others for the kill. She's one of my current MVPs in my current Revelations run. Her voice is quite cute too. Oboro - Another solid character and another design I really like with solid voice acting. Doesn't feel too gimmicky, the crush on Takumi I was worried about at first as it looked to be another Cordelia clone but in comparison to her lusting for the chromin, it is ALOT better and is not as intrusive. Paired her with Takumi in Birthright to see how it held up and it was pretty solid, but I also like her with Hinata as they feel like they've known each other for so long and have such a strong bond that they could develop into lovers. As the equivalent of a Soldier class she performed as I had hoped she would, as an all rounder. A good balance of DEF and RES, decent attack and decent speed made her a good jack of all trades fighter, along with all the debuffing skills I could grab for her she was one of my finest on the frontline. Anna - She's the Anna we all know and love. While I find her being locked behind a DLC barrier rather annoying considering that wasn't the case in Awakening and an example of bad practices of DLC, I do find it a tad funny that it's her that's behind it considering that she'd most definitely do that kind of thing. She is the Queen of Dosh after all. It's a shame though that she has even less supports than in Awakening (Not that that's saying much but still). Currently using her in Revelations and as an adventurer, with the shining bow she is a beast! Fragile as Elise in DEF but will destroy anyone with low RES and mages aint touching her anytime soon.

[spoiler=Lotta stuff to catch up on here] Sakura - I wasn't sure if I'd like her from a glance considering she was looking to be mainly a shy, reserved girl but since I've started playing I've taken quite a liking to her, probably more than Elise (her childish attitude got a little tiring for my taste). While she is indeed shy and tends to have some issues with communication in some supports I've noticed that underneath all that she can be a tough woman with a bit of humour in some of the supports. I also prefer her design over Elise. As a unit she was decent. Her balanced DEF and RES early were quite handy in emergencies where she had to take a hit and her magic was solid, strength was eh which made me unsure for her as a priestess. It has some good skills though so had to get em. Percy - Haven't used him yet or done supports. Like Kanna I feel he looks waaay to young to be out fighting in the war (although Kanna is a bigger offender in that regard) and it's kinda hard to take him seriously with the mask getup and all. I did have a laugh though when I recognized the voice of pit coming out of his mouth. I was already imagining half of his lines being said to Palutena. "WOWIE thanks a bunch lady Palutena!" Rinkah - I'm a bit torn with her atm. Design wise I think she looks good. Definitely giving me the barbarian woman vibes here. Personality wise she's certainly not the most social person on the team, funny considering how she was acting with Corrin in the early parts of the story. I guess if this has been her tribe's traditions then it makes sense that she'd stick to it if she's committed to these traditions, and hell when it comes to characters that are a bit of an arse its nice to have variety amongst the cheery happy characters and I've liked arsehole characters before (Like Shinon from the Tellius series). Her performance was decent considering her odd growths. She managed to hit hard for the most part and had decent crit to boot. Definitely made for Blacksmith (Oni Savage is nice and all but her magic growth aint doin it). Ignatius - Haven't used him yet or done supports. Design is good, just like Benny's but it also makes me annoyed that the Male's design is good yet the Female one's have to have cheap fanservice for the male gaze. First impressions wise I've noticed his nervous trait which is reminding too much of Yarne. I'm hoping he's not gonna be a clone of him (minus the extinction fear). Garon (AKA: The Empty Shell) - From the get go Garon wasn't hiding his evil intentions, not helped by his design (Although with that said most FE villians tend to be not very subtle with some exceptions). It baffled me that Corrin was willing to follow his commands, considering how against them he was and the events before the decision, but then again Corrin was a complete git so that's another story. We get information about how Garon was once a just and friendly ruler, someone who cared about his children, but this is only discovered via supports and is never shown anywhere else. They should have shown what he was like via flashbacks or at least kept the narration at the beginning of each chapter to explain this stuff. At the very least he should have become the puppet that he was around the beginning of the story rather than being dead from the start, because as he is in the story he really doesn't have a character at all. He's just a hollow corpse for Anakos to project in and it makes him quite unremarkable on his own. FE villains really have fallen off since Awakening. Rhajat - Just like with Asugi and Caeldori, Rhajat should not exist. Even if they have some differences from their original source and even if they are better they just should not exist as original characters. It's just rubbish pandering to Awakening that doesn't need anymore praise. The only positive I have for Rhajat so far is that her design is better than Tharja's (Diviner's design is just overall better than the dark mage) and she performed rather well in my Birthright run, having good DEF and RES and hit pretty hard with good speed (Had Orochi as mother). Ophelia - Haven't used her yet and not done her supports. Her design is no better than Nyx, although dark mage designs have overall taken a hit in respectable designs so she was doomed from the start. Personality wise she's quite cute but she's coming across as just a female Owain, which as his daughter makes sense that she'd pick up his traits at a young age but it might make her rather redundant with Owain here. Sumeragi - Just got up to chapter 19 of Revelations so I haven't encountered him yet. I was spoiled about his appearance in advance thanks to fanart as well as [spoiler=]Mikoto due to peeking into the art book I got in the special edition (I pretty much asked for that). I will withhold judgement until I see him in the story. Kaden - He seems like a jolly fox. Although most of the supports I've done so far seem to focus on the ladies loving his tail. His actions in Conquest are rather questionable as they seemed rather paranoid in comparison to Keaton and his crew (although he could have been just a bit too gullible considering his attitude). His design is pretty good, an improvement over the taguel from awakening, I especially like the battle animations. He did some decent damage and could ruin a mages day but his low defense was a problem. Very much a glass cannon. Keaton - I like his design, the classy suit combined with the aussie mullet I find quite amusing. Personality wise I wasn't expecting him to be a silly hoarder. His support convos have been hit and miss. I liked his support with Mozu (ended up pairing them in conquest) while ones like Camilla, eh. In comparison to Kaden he performed MUCH better for me and his high DEF was more useful than the high RES Kaden had. Hit hard, especially when doubling. Pretty much convinced me to keep him and his daughter Velouria in my team. Arete - Didn't know she would pop up in Revelations. I suppose at this point considering what Azura said before the chapter I'm up to it could be expected. Can't comment on this character yet. Also if this list is almost done and we're not looping over it for those who were late to this discussion (myself included) I will post the rest of my opinions on the characters I missed out on.

Beruka - She seems like a character thats not going to get bogged down by a particular gimmick that holds other characters back which pleases me. Her emotionless attitude and background remind of why I like the diversity of personalities between Hoshido and Nohr, with the latter having those that have lived rough lives and have developed particular attitudes, from the sadistic nature of Niles to the Solitude attitude of Nyx. The supports I've seen so far have been pretty solid (Even the Saizo one as while the C rank is quite bizarre and funny in execution, I found the communication via facial expressions could make sense in terms of a nodding of approval that leads into their next support convos). As a unit she was decent, having good skill (which is vital in this games RNG system), some good defense and had the mobility usefulness. A bit slow though and her level ups for my Nohr run weren't too thrilling (Ended up using Camilla in the end). Might have to give her another shot in my 2nd Conquest run. Caeldori - No better than Asugi. Just another bloody clone of a character I didn't need to see again watered down. I mean hell, Subaki already has the Cordelia vibes going for him (except actually trying to be perfect rather than deny it), we don't need another one.

Kiragi - Certainly a cheerful little guy. The way he acts is a bit childish for my tastes (But not to the level of Kanna who was WAAAY too young to even be fighting in my opinion) but his enthusiasm is nice, I got a chuckle out of his introduction in his prologue. I haven't done too many supports with him yet so this is more first impressions. Unit wise I used him a bit in Birthrights as my main team was overpowered at the time so I used the kids temporary (keeping Rhajat and Mitama in the final team), At the time he was alright. Nowhere near the crit powerhouse that was Takumi. Forrest - I have to admit that the first time I saw him I was quite surprised at the inclusion of such a character, but I suppose if they were gonna add characters that could marry the same sex for diversity, they could include other things such as this. I was happy to see how they handled his situation with Leo and it was nice to see him accept Forrest for what he is. He seems quite passionate about what he loves and I get the impression that even if he gets alot of weird looks on him he doesn't give a shit, which certainly shows alot of confidence in his self image. Never upgraded him beyond Troubadour as I didn't use him in my first Conquest run (Soleil, Nina and Velouria were the lucky ones) so I can't comment on performance.