Jump to content

FE13 and Eirika


Recommended Posts

MagicLeafy asked, what do I mean when I say I don't like how FE13 treats Eirika (and the Bride class too). Well, here's my take on it:

  • SpotPass
    Unlike other lead characters, Eirika starts off as a level 1 unit. I don't know if this is a good thing (makes her usable much earlier) or a bad one (puts her in line with starting [true] non-main [not true] units). I'd say a bad one. She should have been the last unit in the FE8 queue, being the overall main character of that game.
  • Champions of Yore 1
    She's gullible? Easy to deceive? Is that how history has painted her? That's oddly unfair to her...
  • Smash Brethren 2
    Bride class. The class itself isn't bad by intention, but as I mentioned before, I hate that class because it has a high face value (cap total, Rally Love) but with less-than-stellar usefulness.* That aside, it also means that DLC Eirika will start with Sword E (Quick: what class was Eirika in before she changed to bride?), and without any immediate way to change her into an advanced class (since she starts as a level 23 bride). Maybe it's not intended by IS, but all these have made her rather crippled, at least in terms of starting abilities.
    * There's the high magic cap with next to no way to use magic because Shoskstick is both powerless (Mt 11) and melee-only (the only magic in the series to be so). Also, Bonds is crappy and Rally Love is worse than Rally Spectrum, although some argue that it's a powered up Rally Movement.
  • General
    Alright, so the above seem to have made her somewhat more... traditionally feminine. What's the deal? Well, a big one, to me. Being the main character of the first FE game I have seriously played and completed, I'd say she's... well, she defined what an FE princess looks like to me. Brave, has a strong resolve, and can generally get ahold of herself and fight on despite having a personal, emotional side. FE13 basically took all of those away, in both story and statistical terms. Does this game hate her or what?

...So there you have it. A bunch of intended and unintended design put together, and it makes me feel that the game wants to deliberately make her look bad.

Edited by nocturnal YL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

She could just utilize her high magic cap with her ability to use staves. :P

Plus, if she really is that crippled, you could just wait until LB3 to get the Paragon manual so that she gains double experience, then reclass her to Grandmaster to pick up Ignis.

As for how FE 13 portrays her....well, I am also in the same boat as you as the 3DS Ambassador's Program was my introduction into the Fire Emblem series with The Sacred Stones, and so while she also influences how I see FE princesses, it seems that personality-wise she isn't really portrayed differently, but rather that Old Hubba described her personality traits in a less positive light, calling her naive (and I think he may have mentioned her being somewhat foolish?) rather than saying that she was trusting or faithful. (unless her personality is specifically portrayed differently in Smash Brethren 2, in which case I would be wrong on this front and I apologize.)

Although I do agree that she doesn't seem the type (in my opinion) to be of the Bride's class, as she seems a bit more outgoing and dependent rather than feminine. (I seem to recall Eirika showing a dislike when Ephraim doted on her in their B rank support in The Sacred Stones.)

But what do I know, I try not to read too deeply into things to avoid the risk of overthinking things beyond sensible comprehension. :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Again, the Bride class came out of left field.

But There is really two Eirikas, the one before Valter's death chapter-ish, and after. Eirika was shook up by the abrupt invasion and war and lived mostly a sheltered life and was very naive. If it weren't for Seth, she would have died like 3 times in the story and who knows how many times on the battlefield. The Eirika that evolved as the story went a long is the brave and heroic character you know, minus the part where she gave the last Sacred Stone to "Lyon", though Ephraim did the same thing too, though not through deceit from what I remember. Since her character is just "added" to your team, albeit some interactions in her DLC chapter, she can't really show both sides of her character within the timeline, unless of course, they release another Eirika that is post evolution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, she is gullible in FE8. Orson would have tricked her if it wasn't for Seth, the boss of Chapter 6 (can't remember his name) gets her to give up her bracelet, and Demon King!Lyon has her completely fooled. I still like her as a character, but it's hard to deny that she is pretty easy to fool. Gameplay wise, the fact that she was chosen as one of the two characters to represent the DLC only classes seems to indicate to me that they were actually favoring her.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's gullible? Easy to deceive? Is that how history has painted her? That's oddly unfair to her...

Doesn't she give Lyon a Sacred Stone to destroy? And doesn't Seth explicitly tell her that it's SUPER important to keep her bracelet and yet she's willing to give it away when a rather minor boss wants it as a bargaining tool? Orson would have successfully deceived her also if it weren't for Seth being around. Grado itself successfully deceived her with the rumors of Ephraim's capture which turned out to be untrue. And then Ephraim had to go and rescue Eirika instead of the reverse happening.

Sounds accurate to me. If she's being treated unfairly, it started in her original game.

As for SpotPass, I thought it was a very cute reference to how the other units on her team represented the early units you get when she starts her journey in pursuit of her brother, class-wise, at which point in the game she would be low leveled.

Regarding the Bride class… no comment save that Rally Love might be worse than Rally Spectrum, but sounds AWESOME in conjunction with it. And in a game that allows infinite grinding, is it really a big deal?

Her femininity is being emphasized, certainly, but when I think of the other female lead characters, I tend to think of them as less feminine than Eirika for the most part. I don't see how any of what was done with her in Awakening takes away your description of her. Fighting on, bravery, resolve: they might not be what's being emphasized, but she isn't being portrayed as the opposite of these things either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eliwood has it worse. He's the only MAIN character not obtainable in the DLC (MAIN as in Hector and Sigurd are more secondary lords).

In what way is Sigurd a secondary lord? I'm STILL disappointed he wasn't a DLC prize.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eliwood has it worse. He's the only MAIN character not obtainable in the DLC (MAIN as in Hector and Sigurd are more secondary lords).

Relax, I'm a huge Eliwood fan too. But your still extremely pissed off about this? Lyn is the lord of fe7 that most people recognize first, she is many a western players "Marth" to a degree. Be happy he was included at all

Also about Eirika the girl was a bit gullible yes but she got past it all in the end pretty much, I just assumed that they wanted to address it somewhat. I'm somewhat gullible myself so eh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regarding the Bride class, I heard some speculation that the developers were going to go with "Princess" as another reference to Gaiden, but they changed it to Bride because "not everyone can be a Princess".

Frilly dresses were presumably involved for it all the time, and might be a part in why they changed it to Bride.

Note that all of this is speculation.

And of course, since Dread Fighter and Bride were going to be foils to each other, the Bride got Lance, Bow, and Staff, since Dread Fighter Sword, Axe, and Tome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, she is gullible in FE8. Orson would have tricked her if it wasn't for Seth, the boss of Chapter 6 (can't remember his name) gets her to give up her bracelet, and Demon King!Lyon has her completely fooled. I still like her as a character, but it's hard to deny that she is pretty easy to fool.

Doesn't she give Lyon a Sacred Stone to destroy? And doesn't Seth explicitly tell her that it's SUPER important to keep her bracelet and yet she's willing to give it away when a rather minor boss wants it as a bargaining tool? Orson would have successfully deceived her also if it weren't for Seth being around. Grado itself successfully deceived her with the rumors of Ephraim's capture which turned out to be untrue. And then Ephraim had to go and rescue Eirika instead of the reverse happening.

Sounds accurate to me. If she's being treated unfairly, it started in her original game.

Oh. For some reason, I didn't think of her multiple mistakes. I guess you are right, she is gullible. Still don't like her protrayal in FE13, though. It's not like those are her only personalities. I'd say having some of her brave (although foolish) parts would look better. Oh well.

Gameplay wise, the fact that she was chosen as one of the two characters to represent the DLC only classes seems to indicate to me that they were actually favoring her.

Well, I suppose I didn't really think of that this way.

As for SpotPass, I thought it was a very cute reference to how the other units on her team represented the early units you get when she starts her journey in pursuit of her brother, class-wise, at which point in the game she would be low leveled.

Regarding the Bride class… no comment save that Rally Love might be worse than Rally Spectrum, but sounds AWESOME in conjunction with it. And in a game that allows infinite grinding, is it really a big deal?

Her femininity is being emphasized, certainly, but when I think of the other female lead characters, I tend to think of them as less feminine than Eirika for the most part. I don't see how any of what was done with her in Awakening takes away your description of her. Fighting on, bravery, resolve: they might not be what's being emphasized, but she isn't being portrayed as the opposite of these things either.

Some parent units can be extremely lacking in Str or Mag growths. Miriel can't handle physical classes well, as does Cordelia with magic classes (so much for being a genius). Whereas the children may take a short while to max out their non-main power stat, it'll take the parents much longer. And... Eirika being more feminie is true, but... wait, I thought this title belongs to Celica instead?

I'd say I'll like the two classes better if a few things are switched around: Dread Fighters use bows instead of magic, make the female DLC class use magic, tomes and one other weapon, and use something from FE2 (Saint or Princess) instead. Bestow this class to Celica, and give Eirika a proper Paladin class. And give that FE2 class skills like... I dunno, the ability to cast devastating magic at the cost of some HP, I guess. Anything will be better than the "I can't use magic and will give a mere 10 HP to nearby people" Bride class.

Rally Love is good when used with Rally Spectrum, I can imagine that. I feel bad for having to pay real money for what's essentialy half a Grandmaster, though. That's... not what I should get for paying 400 yen. (I did not; I didn't buy the first 2 chapters of those three past hero battle subseries)

Again, the Bride class came out of left field.

But There is really two Eirikas, the one before Valter's death chapter-ish, and after. Eirika was shook up by the abrupt invasion and war and lived mostly a sheltered life and was very naive. If it weren't for Seth, she would have died like 3 times in the story and who knows how many times on the battlefield. The Eirika that evolved as the story went a long is the brave and heroic character you know, minus the part where she gave the last Sacred Stone to "Lyon", though Ephraim did the same thing too, though not through deceit from what I remember. Since her character is just "added" to your team, albeit some interactions in her DLC chapter, she can't really show both sides of her character within the timeline, unless of course, they release another Eirika that is post evolution.

In Ephraim's route, Lyon just forcefully stole the stone.

If anything, I feel bad that somehow she can't show the better part of her personality. I'd say the same applies to a certain extent for, say, Eliwood too, but at least the game doesn't bash him in 3 different places. (But they didn't let him show up as a DLC character in the first place, so maybe that's worse, after all.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fun fact, Eirika starts at lvl 5, and she also happens to have terrible bases (I think they're supposed to match her FE8 bases?) so she's kind of a terrible spotpass unit with a lame ability, unless you put work into her (like I did).

I don't see a problem with her portrayal(she is fairly gullible... remember when she straight up gave lyon the sacred stone? giving up her bracelet? Almost falling for Orson's trick?) She seems energetic and lively, and that's good in my books. Eirika is dull for the most part in FE8, until she starts being a boss in her own path late in the game.

FE13 is actually somewhat nice to Eirika, she gets a TON of exposure and her very own DLC map. I was super angry at the bride class at first, but she's more or less a face of an entire class (ace) and comes with a few free abilities. I wouldn't call it "bad" and the fact that she starts with E in swords is irrelevant because you shouldn't user her as sword user in the first place (that won't stop me from doing it though).

Embrace the love ♥

Edited by PK Gaming
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't see a problem with her portrayal(she is fairly gullible... remember when she straight up gave lyon the sacred stone? giving up her bracelet? Almost falling for Orson's trick?) She seems energetic and lively, and that's good in my books. Eirika is dull for the most part in FE8, until she starts being a boss in her own path late in the game.

I really don't think it's fair that everyone is holding the Orson trick against her. The other things WERE stupid, but the issue is, Orson's betrayal was very well done. I didn't even see that one coming. (Unless that makes me gullible too?) Chances are that without knowledge of what happened in chapter 5x, most players probably would have never seen it coming either. Sure, they might think it's a little odd, but video games are full of odd things, so...

Giving up the bracelet for the child's life was...unintelligent. My reaction to Seth's protests would be to wonder why it's so important, but she was more concerned of saving a child's life.

Giving Lyon the sacred stone was just stupid. I clearly remember myself going :"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, EIRIKA?" Then again, there's a big reason why I prefer Ephraim's side of the story to Eirika's. And no, it's not my bias from Ephraim being my favorite character in that game.

EDIT: Thanks for the explanation, nocturnal.

Edited by MagicLeafy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eliwood has it worse. He's the only MAIN character not obtainable in the DLC (MAIN as in Hector and Sigurd are more secondary lords).

Oh here we go again.

Again, Lyn is more identifiable for western players. She's the first Lord you see in a freaking CG. For those people who just played Lyn's mode and never got into Fire Emblem until the Awakening boom in Japan and in the West, they're not going to identify with him.

"MONEY". Deal with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really don't think it's fair that everyone is holding the Orson trick against her. The other things WERE stupid, but the issue is, Orson's betrayal was very well done. I didn't even see that one coming. (Unless that makes me gullible too?) Chances are that without knowledge of what happened in chapter 5x, most players probably would have never seen it coming either. Sure, they might think it's a little odd, but video games are full of odd things, so...

Giving up the bracelet for the child's life was...unintelligent. My reaction to Seth's protests would be to wonder why it's so important, but she was more concerned of saving a child's life.

Giving Lyon the sacred stone was just stupid. I clearly remember myself going :"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, EIRIKA?" Then again, there's a big reason why I prefer Ephraim's side of the story to Eirika's. And no, it's not my bias from Ephraim being my favorite character in that game.

EDIT: Thanks for the explanation, nocturnal.

Orson had the face of a villain, hence why I saw his betrayal coming

Really Eirika should have seen it coming, I mean even without noticing that concealed sword, you just don't trust a guy like that over Seth (i'd have given Seth the sacred stone at the beginning of the game)

Now am I right, or am I right

Edited by PK Gaming
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still question the logic behind turning a Sword-only character into a class that can't use swords at all.

The same reason Sigurd's named weapon in the game is a lance not a sword for no reason. Because IS wanted it to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, her classes are kind of a mess. Considering her DLC, you'd think she'd be the last character to drop to an unpromoted class in SpotPass to at least show up as a Swordmaster somewhere, but instead they single her out for no reason. Really bugs me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aside from the fact that she uses swords, they pretty much got Eirika spot on. She doesn't like fighting, and she gets tricked, like, five times over the course of the game. I have no objections to her being weak or called gullible.

It's not like she was a radiant beacon of progressiveness to begin with. She's by far the most... dainty, of the female lords.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Orson had the face of a villain, hence why I saw his betrayal coming

Really Eirika should have seen it coming, I mean even without noticing that concealed sword, you just don't trust a guy like that over Seth (i'd have given Seth the sacred stone at the beginning of the game)

Now am I right, or am I right

True but Fire Emblem Logic doesn't ALWAYS apply. XD

Perhaps that's why i didn't see it coming. I had not grown used to Fire Emblem's (and most all other video games', I guess?) 'evil is ugly' thing.

And yeah, now that I think about it, he DID ask her for the bracelet. (It's been too long since I've played that game...) Good thing Seth was guarding over her, eh?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True but Fire Emblem Logic doesn't ALWAYS apply. XD

Perhaps that's why i didn't see it coming. I had not grown used to Fire Emblem's (and most all other video games', I guess?) 'evil is ugly' thing.

And yeah, now that I think about it, he DID ask her for the bracelet. (It's been too long since I've played that game...) Good thing Seth was guarding over her, eh?

I happen to think Orson is rugged and handsome.

I mean, he worked for Renais' kingdom and as far as anyone knew, he was with Ephraim, so his story about escaping capture isn't too far-fetched.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...