Erureido

It was a long time coming, but Legendary Xander is finally here as the this month's Legendary Hero! He's an axe cavalier wielding his father's axe, and he is a Fire-type Legendary Hero.

I managed to beat Naga's MHB on Infernal with my Summer Takumi solo strat, which you can view right here. The map is unfun with the blockades in the middle and the excessive amount of reinforcements not mixing well to the point of creating uncomfortable chokepoints. It took me several tries to beat because playing the Archers was tricky, but pulling my Summer Takumi, Legendary Azura, and Flying Olivia back onto the top map after 2 kills on the second turn was the key. Flying Olivia was able to bait the Gravity Cleric that way, and Takumi was in the right position to pick up kills on all the enemies on top (including the incoming Archer) while getting hit by the blue flying mage at the end of the turn to put himself in Desperation range, which was clutch in killing most of the remaining manaketes.

Looks like forgetting to login a few weeks ago made me forget to share my recent Infernal LHB Summer Takumi solo. Thankfully, it seems like the last post made here was still within a month, so hey, might as well show how Summer Takumi managed to solo his way through Legendary Alm on Infernal! It took a few tries, mainly coming down to figuring out how to have PA!Azura bait the Lance Knight in the beginning without falling for the Knock Back skill and keeping everyone out of harm's way from the Red Mage Cavalier near the end of the battle until Summer Takumi could safely kill it. Nothing too frustrating compared to some of the recent LHBs and MHBs.

Summer Takumi solos another Infernal MHB once again, this time against Yune! It took several tries where it seemed like I got stumped, but then I switched his B-skill Desperation, let him get hit by the flying red mage at the start of the battle to activate Desperation, and then the MHB turned out to be a piece of cake! Here's the video of Summer Takumi doing his thing as he solos the Infernal Yune MHB!

Using my Summer Takumi solo strategy to clear Roy's Infernal LHB was easier for me compared to the recent LHBs on Infernal. In fact, it only took me two tries to clear it on that difficulty (it did take a few more tries on Lunatic though, but I think that helped me learn the strategy and the placement of the enemy units to win in the higher difficulties). I filmed my winning strategy for the Infernal Roy LHB with my Summer Takumi alone (along with the help of three dancers). You can watch it in the link here. The only difference with the recorded video compared to my initial victory is that the Lance Knight was the last enemy to go down in my first successful run, while in the recorded run, the Archer was the last enemy instead.

Forde is my favorite Sacred Stones character because I just love his character. He has some great support conversations where he comes across as a chill and friendly person to his peers and his brother Franz while also being a committed retainer to Ephraim. I also find his painting hobby and the reason he grew to like it quite captivating. As a unit though, he's pretty much outclassed by almost all of the other cavaliers in Sacred Stones; even his brother generally becomes the better unit. Virion is another character that comes to mind for the topic. He's pathetic as an archer in a game where Archers just aren't good, but he's still one of my favorite characters in the series. Initially coming across as a flirt with his introduction, he turns out to be a much more than that. He actually is quite chivalrous with how he treats his woman and will go as far as taking action when women aren't treated properly. He even knows how to respect a woman's boundaries like his supports with Olivia where they move to a different part of the room because she is afraid of doing duet dances in front of others. His backstory, leadership, and his talents are also good to stuff to hear about.

I was going to mention Faye since she turned out to be a really good Cleric but is just a really one-note and unlikable person, but since she has been mentioned a few times, I'll just say Keaton and Velouria. Their characters are basically just typical dogs where they just like collecting trash and do other dog-like things. In some supports it's funny (like Keaton's support with Charlotte and the ending to Velouria's S-Support with Siegbert), but most of the time, I just can't help but roll my eyes. Their trope-like personalities do absolutely nothing for me. From a unit perspective though, they are absolutely fantastic. Both were easily among my best units in my Conquest playthrough and carried me through some of the most difficulty chapters like Chapter 23 and the Endgame because of their superb tanking potential.

Ippei's art style always made the FE characters look more realistic and less anime, and last time I checked, Ippei's art was well-liked in the community, so I guess if the realistic art style looked like what Ippei does, than I'd be interested. A full-on realistic, visual portrayal of the characters something like the recent FF games or maybe a typical modern PS4 game? Eh, no thanks. Fire Emblem has become strongly associated with the anime art style, so it'd be tough to go for a completely realistic visual portrayal like that.

Lord (all main lords, including Elincia and Micaiah, but not including Fates royals) Favorite: Chrom Runner-up: Eirika Least favorite: Conquest!Corrin Avatar Favorite: N/A Runner-up: N/A Least favorite: I'm just not a fan of the avatar characters so far, so I'm putting both Robin and Corrin here (perhaps Kris as well as from what I heard of him). Villager/Trainee/Noble Favorite: Tobin Runner-up: Ross Least favorite: Faye Cavalier Favorite: Forde Runner-up: Frederick and Conrad (tough to decide) Least favorite: Peri Knight Favorite: Forsyth Runner-up: Benny & Ignatius (this one is a toss-up) Least favorite: Kjelle Myrmidon/Samurai Favorite: Joshua Runner-up: Lon'qu & Hinata (this one is a toss-up) Least favorite: Yen'fay Mercenary Favorite: Inigo/Laslow Runner-up: Gerik Least favorite: Severa/Selena & Soleil (this one is a toss-up) Fighter/Oni Savage Favorite: Vaike Runner-up: Charlotte Least favorite: N/A (there's honestly not a single fighter I dislike, but if we're counting villains, might as well be Hans) Pirate/Bandit Favorite: I don't have much to say for this class, but I guess Pirate Ross might be the closest pick for that. Runner-up: N/A Least favorite: N/A Soldier/Spear Fighter Favorite: Oboro Runner-up: Shiro Least favorite: N/A Archer (also includes Ballistician and Apothecary) Favorite: Takumi Runner-up: Python Least favorite: Neimi Nomad/Bow Knight Favorite: N/A Runner-up: N/A Least favorite: N/A Yeah, no strong feelings either way for this class Mage/Diviner Favorite: Laurent and Lute (this one is a toss-up) Runner-up: Boey and Mae (also a toss-up) Least favorite: Miriel Dark Mage/Shaman Favorite: Henry Runner-up: Knoll Least favorite: Odin, Ophelia, and Nyx (this is a toss-up) Monk Favorite: Azama Runner-up: Artur Least favorite: N/A Priest/Cleric Favorite: Lissa Runner-up: Sakura Least favorite: I mean, you can play as Loki in Heroes now, so I guess I'll list her for this category. Troubador Favorite: L'arachel Runner-up: Maribelle and Dwyer (this one is a toss-up) Least favorite: Elise (her Conquest portrayal in particular) Thief (includes rogues, ninjas, butlers, and maids) Favorite: Saizo Runner-up: Gaius Least favorite: Anna Pegasus Knight Favorite: Tana Runner-up: Catria Least favorite: Palla (her character does absolutely nothing for me; she makes me yawn) Wyvern Rider Favorite: Cormag Runner-up: Minerva (I thank Heroes and Warriors for this) Least favorite: Camilla Manakete (also includes Xane) Favorite: Tiki Runner-up: Myrrh Least favorite: Nah Beast/Laguz (Royal) Favorite: Tibarn (I'm yet to fully play the Tellius games, but I really like Tibarn from what I've seen of him in Heroes and his interactions in Forging Bonds so far) Runner-up: N/A Least favorite: N/A Beast/Laguz (Non-Royal) Favorite: Kaden Runner-up: Yarne Least favorite: Keaton and Velouria (they're basically the same character) Dancer (includes Bards, Singers, and Herons) Favorite: Olivia Runner-up: Azura (mainly because of her supports) Least favorite: N/A

One prominent aspect I've seen about the Fire Emblem community over the years are opinions on the characters from each game. In fact, fans tend to be quite vocal about these opinions, whether it be expressing how much they love the character or how much the character makes their blood boil. Most of the time, fans make their judgement regarding whether or not they like a character based on how the character is written in the story/supports. They may factor a character's performance as a unit partially into the opinion: perhaps the character is such a good unit that it enhances their love for the character, or vice versa. They might also completely disregard their character's performance as a unit; the character may be a bad unit, but the person still loves/him/her because they really like the character's personality, backstory, or anything else related to his/her writing. However, I've also seen a good number of fans who state whether or not they like a character is based on how the character performs as a unit. Perhaps they love the character just because of how the character carried him/her during a play through, but they don't mind the character is badly written because the character's awesome gameplay utility is all that mattered for the person in the end. In other cases, a person who dislikes a character primarily because of how the character constantly held him/her back in every battle to the point of *possibly* being benched; however, the character may be well-written, and thus the person doesn't entirely dislike the character because they account for the character's writing quality. To illustrate this with a specific example, let's look at Python from SoV. Python is a character who many fans like because of his humorous & sarcastic personality coupled with his interesting backstory and fun banters with other characters. However, he also has a reputation for not being a particularly good unit. In fact, Python has his fair share of haters where they despise him because his accuracy isn't good for an archer and his low defenses make him vulnerable to many attacks. On the one hand, you've got fans who adore Python because of how he is written. He may be a bad unit, but they don't care about that. All they care about he's just this laid-back dude who has some really funny moments, and that's why they love him. Some, however, find themselves simply liking Python and not loving him because he held them back in many battles with his lackluster performance (though they still like Python because they consider him to be an interesting character). This ends up being a case where Python's gameplay had some weight in formulating the opinion. On the other hand, you've got fans who detest Python because he was nothing but a hinderance in every battle. Even when someone tells them, "But Python has a funny personality and a compelling backstory," they respond back by saying, "I don't care. He sucks in battle!" Some of these fans might even find themselves hating Python when they interpret Python's sarcasm as something akin to a mean jerk. There might also some fans though that still strongly dislike Python because of his lackluster gameplay, but they admit he is funny, and thus Python's standing in the writing department had some weight in making them not completely hating him. Now that I've provided all this context, I want to ask you all this question: how much does a character's performance as a unit affect whether or not you like him/her? I'm curious to see where you all stand on this. ------ For those that want to know where I stand regarding this question, I'm a person who makes this judgement almost entirely by how the character is written. After all, when it comes to fictional characters like those in video games, my biggest impressions in regards to them come from their personalities, backstories, their dialogues, and how much they resonate with me. This is quite true for me when it comes to Fire Emblem, where many of the characters that I like from the series come from how I loved how they are written and the characters I dislike come from how they are badly written in my eyes. I almost never regard a character's performance as a unit as a part of the opinion. I might acknowledge parts of it, but it usually has little weight to that opinion. To illustrate, I love Oboro because I find her backstory tragic and sympathetic, and I really liked what how she is characterized in supports. She turned out to be one of my best units in my Fates play throughs, but I don't tend to think much about that when I explain to others why she's one of my favorite characters. Her performance as a unit is a separate matter to me. On the opposite spectrum, Faye is one of my least favorite characters because she comes across as an annoyingly one-note character who also acts very petty towards others with her obsession with Alm. She may be a really good Cleric who helped my army out a lot, but I tend to not think much of it. In summary, how a character is written leaves a far bigger impression on me that affects my opinion on him/her, whereas how he/she helped me out in my battles did little in making me decide whether or not I like the character.

This is the first time since Legendary Eirika I have managed to beat an Infernal LHB (er, I guess we can call this one an MHB technically) with a Summer Takumi solo strategy! For such a momentous occasion, I just had to record this special battle. This was definitely much more doable compared to the previous LHBs. It only took me a few tries to figure out the proper strategy for this one. This is also the third time I've used Legendary Azura for this sort of battle (first was Naesala GHB, then was the most recent BHB), and man, she's been a huge asset in helping Summer Takumi solo those units so far!

I'm glad to know that my three out of the seven day votes to Conrad payed off! Seeing him being the highest ranked SoV character not counting Rinea (how she managed to rank this high yet again is baffling) makes me really happy! Maybe that will convince IS to add Conrad in the next SoV banner (hopefully soon). Sad that Forde didn't place very high though, seeing that he only got 413. He was one of the two characters I gave two votes to for this year's CYL (the other being Takumi). Forde doesn't seem to be as popular as I thought he'd be...

I second this. Jedah and the Duma Faithful comes across as such irredeemably evil people who constantly threaten that they will murder her friends that Celica should've had no reason to trust him and his followers. He even states that he wants to "usher in an age of chaos and destruction" with Duma's resurrection. Then there's also the fact that her half-brother Conrad went as far as killing that one Duma priest who tried to win Celica over, slapping her in the face, finally revealing his identity to her, and stating that he felt like a "dagger went right through [his] heart" went he heard her say that no one cares about her. Perhaps if Celica actually listened to Conrad, Conrad could've truly mattered in the plot, but alas, Celica still deciding to go along with Jedah's plan threw Conrad's most defining moment out the window. I think Flora killed herself because she felt so guilty over having to turn against Corrin that she couldn't forgive herself and felt like she didn't deserve to live to, and if the whole thing about Garon and his forces crushing the Ice Tribe's rebellion in Birthright akin to what happened to Cheve in Conquest is true (at least, from an essay I read a long while back on the Fire Emblem Reddit that tried to justify Flora's actions, pointing to what some of the Ice Tribe villagers state when you visit them as one evidence), then I can somewhat see how seeing most of her own people getting brutally murdered for trying to rebel and having to turn on Corrin would get to her. What we got in the final product left a lot to be desired though, and I feel this scene could've truly been sad if we were shown that entire scene of what really happened between Garon, Iago (yeah, I'm willing bet to he played a big part in this considering how much of a manipulator he is), Kilma (something tells me he dies in Birthright offscreen as part of that whole ordeal, but the game never really explains it), and Flora.

Considering there was a thread with that same topic posted recently, I'll just copy and paste my thoughts from that thread onto here. Only thing I can add to that post is that, since it was made prior to the start of Book III, Alfonse did get some nice character moments in Book III so far (and maybe he'll receive some more character development for what's to come if those posters and that trailer were anything to go by), but it looks like Sharena will still be taking the backseat, especially since she's going to die some point soon.

I was surprised then felt a bit weirded out to say the least. Kinda felt like the whole cousins reveal came out of nowhere considering that they don't seem to resemble each other very much, nor do Mikoto and Arete bear close resemblances to one another as sisters.