Heathcliff

Byleth is my favorite by a loooong shot. I'll take no-customization if it means incredible cutscenes. He's also less of a blank slate. A lot of his dialogue options say the same thing in two different ways. This shows me that Byleth, in those moments, does have a personality and way of thinking, which I like. Even if I sometimes find myself wanting to say the exact opposite. Like others have said, the best part is that he doesn't dominate the story. This is a story about your students, kind of like how The Witcher is supposed to be about Ciri.

Can you buy Myhtril on the online store thing? I've never used it tbh so not quite sure how it works. Seriously. And even the paralogue weapons are usually overkill

My brain thought Renown and Prof XP were the same thing, so I never contributed to the statues and missed out on all those bonuses until probably about 40 hours in. I also didn't know about the combat arts thing and I'm dumbfounded. Headed into the final GD map and I'll finally have the right combat arts on. Goodness.

I'm up in the air between Hilda and Shamir nearing the end of my GD playthrough. Hilda has top 3 design for me, both visual and personality, but her supports are "eh" with Byleth. I really like the more mature nature of Shamir's supports. I'm aware that there's a "choice" moment so I'll probably save scum and make canon whichever final support scene I like more.

This is what I'm finding about 50 hours in, nearing the end, Hard mode GD. Lysithea is a monster, as has been stated numerous times in this thread. Claude hasn't had a problem one-shotting almost anything since level 1, and one he got his advanced class, goodness. And Hilda... Idk if my Hilda (Fighter->Brigand->W. Rider->W. Lord) got lucky with growths or something but she's an absolutely insane shock trooper from go. She one-turns anything I've faced, and Canto lets her fly away immediately. She had some hit problems early/mid, but these were easily resolved with Smash. If I wanted to, I could Warp her in anywhere to two-turn any commander I've faced so far. My eyes pop a little bit when I see people rate her low