More Unpopular Fire Emblem Opinions

[BANRYU]

PSA: A opinion shared with half of the fanbase isn't an unpopular opinion, it's a divisive opinion shared by many people. Many people like and dislike Takumi/Micaiah.

[@ Tharja]

A lot of people like her for her design or think her personality is funny. On the flip side, many people strongly dislike her for her stalker behavior and her mistreatment of her daughter.

Ah ye, that's the word for it. I suppose Tharja falls under the umbrella of the 'divisive' label as well.

TBH I think a lot of people misinterpret Tharja and Noire's relationship because honestly, it's not really that bad...? I think, again, people are just looking at the surface of what's going on there and blowing it way out of proportion. Tharja isn't actually THAT abusive to her in any of their interactions (or anything that they allude to), and if you consider the possibly-abusive and highly abnormal environment SHE herself was raised in, her behavior starts to make a lot more sense-- and if anything, she def goes out of her way to make sure Noire has a better upbringing than she did, at least. Is she a model parent? Absolutely not. But she does the best she can given her situation, and I think that's what counts.

I'm not saying everyone has to LIKE Tharja, but at least DISlike her for the right reasons, rather than interpreting the behavior and treating it like an objective fact without accounting for other relevant factors.

i will defend tharja to the death every time fite me

I'd be on board with this. My Castle isn't a bad idea in concept but they could do more to make it fit with the world (no magical alternate dimensions that the plot never mentions again). Take out the creepy (skinship) and keep the ability to interact with characters and you have a solid game mechanic. Tellius style bases are closer to the mark but there are a few things from My Castle that ought to be implemented as well.

I think it would be cool to allow you to set up a location or something that might trigger different conversations. For example going to a tavern with someone, or being on guard duty with another. Varying scenarios and locations might be interesting. Something like he events that could happen in Mass Effect 3 where you might encounter a companion in the ship, and they would invite you to go with the bar with them at a later point, and a short conversation would occur.

I'm all for more character interactions though.

Well I really want to see the base building and keep management concept stay in. Sure Tellius base stuff was nice, but it was still just as disjointed as my Castle. All it consisted of was a couple of menu options, a background, and some music. If they take away the deep realm stuff from My Castle and make it about actually managing and creating a keep, that would be great. I'm talking about actually being able to choose what walls the keep has, what structures are built in it, more customization over defenses and layout, some real resources used and not just dragon points, stuff like lumber, metal, and gold.

I think that would work really well with Fire Emblem, actual management of a keep. We got a taste of what it could be like in Fates, now they just need to expand on it.

Yeah, that's basically what I'm saying!

RD has good writing and interactions, but you're stuck in menus. Fates has the castle where you can run around and move freely, which is fun, but the interactions are randomized and therefore immersion-killing. I just want to see the two married, I think that has the most potential.

I also really like the idea of different potential locations that you can travel to DURING each between-chapter period, outside of just the camp. It would mean a hell of a lot more work, but actually implementing full towns and environments and stuff (hell, even running around battle maps of towns in a non-battle scenario would be amazing) for your avatar to run around in between chapters would go a HUGE way toward the worldbuilding and making the setting feel alive and such, especially if the characters have multiple run-ins in the same or similar environment (I think of FE7 and all the time spent on the Dread Isle, etc).

Keep customization is a neat idea as well, I'm def down for the more modest and realistic resource system; my only problem with that idea is that it'd be hard to keep it plot-relevant, since the stories of FE games pretty much always involve a lot of travel, which would mean abandoning the fort a lot of the time (part of the reason why I suggested it as a postgame feature). I'm not strictly opposed to it, I just don't see how it would fit in... but, that's not necessarily a bad thing (attribute it to my lack of imagination more than the merits of the idea itself lol).

Edited November 17, 2016 by BANRYU

[eclipse]

Ah ye, that's the word for it. I suppose Tharja falls under the umbrella of the 'divisive' label as well.

TBH I think a lot of people misinterpret Tharja and Noire's relationship because honestly, it's not really that bad...? I think, again, people are just looking at the surface of what's going on there and blowing it way out of proportion. Tharja isn't actually THAT abusive to her in any of their interactions (or anything that they allude to), and if you consider the possibly-abusive and highly abnormal environment SHE herself was raised in, her behavior starts to make a lot more sense-- and if anything, she def goes out of her way to make sure Noire has a better upbringing than she did, at least. Is she a model parent? Absolutely not. But she does the best she can given her situation, and I think that's what counts.

I'm not saying everyone has to LIKE Tharja, but at least DISlike her for the right reasons, rather than interpreting the behavior and treating it like an objective fact without accounting for other relevant factors.

i will defend tharja to the death every time fite me

So, Noire? The unpopular opinion is "everyone is reading her parent conversations wrong". Because they are.

Between Tharja/Noire, it's serious. Noire's side shows that she's both scared of her mom, but still loves her. Tharja starts off abrupt, but slowly opens up, while her personal motives go from selfish (getting an assistant) to something that benefits Noire (not putting her in danger due to the dark arts). It shows a good amount of growth between the two of them, and I think it's one of the best conversations that both of them have.

Noire/her dad, however, is one of the worst IMO. First, they ONLY talk about Tharja - seriously, what about what THEY did in the future? The second point that is missed is that this is a conversation about Tharja, with no input from her. I think it was supposed to be lighthearted, but it failed - but that wasn't the main point. The point was to show how Tharja looks to everyone else - a scary person who makes others miserable. Perhaps this, more than anything, shows that no matter how much Tharja tries, others don't see it, and that's awful, since every other conversation Tharja has shows that she does care about others.

[Tolvir]

Ah ye, that's the word for it. I suppose Tharja falls under the umbrella of the 'divisive' label as well.

TBH I think a lot of people misinterpret Tharja and Noire's relationship because honestly, it's not really that bad...? I think, again, people are just looking at the surface of what's going on there and blowing it way out of proportion. Tharja isn't actually THAT abusive to her in any of their interactions (or anything that they allude to), and if you consider the possibly-abusive and highly abnormal environment SHE herself was raised in, her behavior starts to make a lot more sense-- and if anything, she def goes out of her way to make sure Noire has a better upbringing than she did, at least. Is she a model parent? Absolutely not. But she does the best she can given her situation, and I think that's what counts.

I'm not saying everyone has to LIKE Tharja, but at least DISlike her for the right reasons, rather than interpreting the behavior and treating it like an objective fact without accounting for other relevant factors.

i will defend tharja to the death every time fite me

Yeah, that's basically what I'm saying!

RD has good writing and interactions, but you're stuck in menus. Fates has the castle where you can run around and move freely, which is fun, but the interactions are randomized and therefore immersion-killing. I just want to see the two married, I think that has the most potential.

I also really like the idea of different potential locations that you can travel to DURING each between-chapter period, outside of just the camp. It would mean a hell of a lot more work, but actually implementing full towns and environments and stuff (hell, even running around battle maps of towns in a non-battle scenario would be amazing) for your avatar to run around in between chapters would go a HUGE way toward the worldbuilding and making the setting feel alive and such, especially if the characters have multiple run-ins in the same or similar environment (I think of FE7 and all the time spent on the Dread Isle, etc).

Keep customization is a neat idea as well, I'm def down for the more modest and realistic resource system; my only problem with that idea is that it'd be hard to keep it plot-relevant, since the stories of FE games pretty much always involve a lot of travel, which would mean abandoning the fort a lot of the time (part of the reason why I suggested it as a postgame feature). I'm not strictly opposed to it, I just don't see how it would fit in... but, that's not necessarily a bad thing (attribute it to my lack of imagination more than the merits of the idea itself lol).

Okay, think I misunderstood what you meant then, lol.

I can see the keep working, and they could make a few really interesting defense chapters out of it.

One way they could make it tie in that would be really cool is for your keeps overall "score" to have an effect on the final few chapters, for example if it's a situation where you are storming their castle and invading, then your keep's forces prevent a certain amount of troops from reaching your characters. So long story short, the higher your keep score, the less reinforcements that show up on the final chapters. That would be an interesting way of making sure the keep has relevance, because you being up a very valid point.

Edit: And in the subject of Tharja, I think a lot of people took the abuse situation the wrong way. Yes, Future Past Tharja was abusive, but the Tharja we have in the main timeline isn't. The only Tharja Noire knew was the one from her timeline, so of course she would be scared of the main timeline Tharja.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Tolvir

[BANRYU]

So, Noire? The unpopular opinion is "everyone is reading her parent conversations wrong". Because they are.

Between Tharja/Noire, it's serious. Noire's side shows that she's both scared of her mom, but still loves her. Tharja starts off abrupt, but slowly opens up, while her personal motives go from selfish (getting an assistant) to something that benefits Noire (not putting her in danger due to the dark arts). It shows a good amount of growth between the two of them, and I think it's one of the best conversations that both of them have.

Noire/her dad, however, is one of the worst IMO. First, they ONLY talk about Tharja - seriously, what about what THEY did in the future? The second point that is missed is that this is a conversation about Tharja, with no input from her. I think it was supposed to be lighthearted, but it failed - but that wasn't the main point. The point was to show how Tharja looks to everyone else - a scary person who makes others miserable. Perhaps this, more than anything, shows that no matter how much Tharja tries, others don't see it, and that's awful, since every other conversation Tharja has shows that she does care about others.

Okay, think I misunderstood what you meant then, lol.

I can see the keep working, and they could make a few really interesting defense chapters out of it.

One way they could make it tie in that would be really cool is for your keeps overall "score" to have an effect on the final few chapters, for example if it's a situation where you are storming their castle and invading, then your keep's forces prevent a certain amount of troops from reaching your characters. So long story short, the higher your keep score, the less reinforcements that show up on the final chapters. That would be an interesting way of making sure the keep has relevance, because you being up a very valid point.

Edit: And in the subject of Tharja, I think a lot of people took the abuse situation the wrong way. Yes, Future Past Tharja was abusive, but the Tharja we have in the main timeline isn't. The only Tharja Noire knew was the one from her timeline, so of course she would be scared of the main timeline Tharja.

@ the my castle stuff: That could be cool!

I actually had a similar/interesting idea for a free-grind game like Awakening or Birthright, in which some sort of final score or the ending (I had a specific idea of what this would be, but can't remember it atm) is dependent upon either your overall play time OR your level of supports-- so like, an ending in which all the characters have done most (or at least a certain amount) of their supports plays out differently than one where the player powered through as quickly as possible (where the best possible support score would be unattainable in a no-grind run). It's... a largely tangential topic, actually... now that I think about it .-.

BUT I do definitely like the idea of a keep. Perhaps that could work if the game's story/plot centers geographically around the keep, and the player and their army travel out from it to head to specific areas before returning, then going somewhere else. That could sort of work in that regard.

@ Tharja

100% agree about Tharja x Noire supports. =w= it's sweet IMO, in that same dark/twisted way that Tharja is haha.

@ Noire x her dad I think I can see where you're coming from there... you could argue that the cold curse is pretty benign overall (being sick strengthens your immunity in the long run... right...? maybe that's what she was going for...?) As far as Noire + dad's interactions in the future, I might be remembering wrong, but I think the dad was actually straight-up dead for a significant period of her upbringing, which would explain why Tharja was probably a lot more harsh and bitter in the future. (Either way, we definitely see that she still cares for Noire despite this, she just can't afford a lot of affection for her, and doing so already isn't her strong suit anyway.) Assuming I'm NOT remembering wrong, this also means that Tharja DOES have the bigger role of the two parents, so maybe the fact that she still sort o takes center stage in these supports is somewhat justified...? Honestly I may be stretching a bit to make light of these, they could definitely have been handled a lot better.

Honestly if there's one reason people dislike Tharja that I can actually understand, it's the whole yandere behavior thing.

It doesn't bother me that much personally, but it definitely seems out-of-line with the rest of her behavior and was likely a shoehorned gimmick to appeal to certain demographics lol. I could buy it better if they went more out of their way to explain WHY Tharja is so stalkerish with Robin (something to do with being the avatar of grima no doubt), but they never go into any detail about it so honestly who knows, and it feels a lot less justified.

[NekoKnight]

In regards to the prior comments about critical cut-ins and characters like Tharja, the appeal of these elements is probably going to depend on what tone you like for the game. If you want to think of the game as a gag-story with gag-characters, you can appreciate the silly elements. Characters like Tharja are supposed to be funny. You're supposed to laugh when she stalks the Avatar and says she'd murder him in his sleep if he backs out of his love confession. If you take her character seriously, however, her behavior is pretty reprehensible.

[BANRYU]

In regards to the prior comments about critical cut-ins and characters like Tharja, the appeal of these elements is probably going to depend on what tone you like for the game. If you want to think of the game as a gag-story with gag-characters, you can appreciate the silly elements. Characters like Tharja are supposed to be funny. You're supposed to laugh when she stalks the Avatar and says she'd murder him in his sleep if he backs out of his love confession. If you take her character seriously, however, her behavior is pretty reprehensible.

okay sorry but fight me

Honestly not really...?? I mean yeah on the surface her behavior is all yandere and it's either haha or fanservice (or upsetting/annoying, which is an understandable viewpoint honestly) depending on how you look at it, it's her surface stereotype/gimmick and whatnot, like all the Awakening cast has. But if you look at ALL of the support/DLC/etc. writing and content as it relates to Tharja, the picture it paints is drastically different. She's antisocial and she doesn't like dealing with people, and will frequently push them away so she doesn't have to, doesn't like crowded social situation especially BUT she also definitely has a very human, caring side to her, as shown when she empathizes with Libra over his messed-up childhood, or comforts Nowi about the death of her parents, or genuinely speaks or acts in the interest of other characters when they refuse to buy into her misanthropic external behavior (one instance I'm thinking of is when she deliberately bosses around Donnel with the intention of trying to get him to stand up for himself). Hers is a character that is definitely flawed, yes, but it's also very human and relatable in other respects and I unironically love it for that. This is why characters like Virion and Libra are also great, because there's a LOT more to them if you dig past their surface gimmick.

I assume you have examples of specific instances where her behavior is reprehensible, as you say?

EDIT: to clarify I'm specifically talking about tharja, if that wasn't obvious already... I can appreciate both sides of the critical cut-in discussion and have no specific opinions one way or the other on the matter

Edited November 17, 2016 by BANRYU

[NekoKnight]

okay sorry but fight me

Honestly not really...?? I mean yeah on the surface her behavior is all yandere and it's either haha or fanservice (or upsetting/annoying, which is an understandable viewpoint honestly) depending on how you look at it, it's her surface stereotype/gimmick and whatnot, like all the Awakening cast has. But if you look at ALL of the support/DLC/etc. writing and content as it relates to Tharja, the picture it paints is drastically different. She's antisocial and she doesn't like dealing with people, and will frequently push them away so she doesn't have to, doesn't like crowded social situation especially BUT she also definitely has a very human, caring side to her, as shown when she empathizes with Libra over his messed-up childhood, or comforts Nowi about the death of her parents, or genuinely speaks or acts in the interest of other characters when they refuse to buy into her misanthropic external behavior (one instance I'm thinking of is when she deliberately bosses around Donnel with the intention of trying to get him to stand up for himself). Hers is a character that is definitely flawed, yes, but it's also very human and relatable in other respects and I unironically love it for that. This is why characters like Virion and Libra are also great, because there's a LOT more to them if you dig past their surface gimmick.

I assume you have examples of specific instances where her behavior is reprehensible, as you say?

It's mostly the stalker/yandere behavior in her Avatar support, and even if the Awakening!Tharja isn't the same as Future Past!Tharja, it's still the person she could/would become so I'd say it's fair to judge them together. Noire personality is a direct result Tharja testing out curses on her. It's hard to imagine Noire turning out that way if the curses were as insignificant as giving her a runny nose.

I am aware that she has a more nuanced character from her other supports, but as Stannis would say "A good act doesn't wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have it's own reward."

A better example of "people don't care because it's a gag-character" is Pieri, who is an unrepentant serial killer we are supposed to laugh at.

[eclipse]

It's mostly the stalker/yandere behavior in her Avatar support, and even if the Awakening!Tharja isn't the same as Future Past!Tharja, it's still the person she could/would become so I'd say it's fair to judge them together. Noire personality is a direct result Tharja testing out curses on her. It's hard to imagine Noire turning out that way if the curses were as insignificant as giving her a runny nose.

I am aware that she has a more nuanced character from her other supports, but as Stannis would say "A good act doesn't wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have it's own reward."

A better example of "people don't care because it's a gag-character" is Pieri, who is an unrepentant serial killer we are supposed to laugh at.

Pieri is even more screwed up than Tharja, and suffers from worse writing. My unpopular opinion of twin-tails? She's actually a lot more sympathetic than people give her credit for.

The issue with that GoT quote is that MOST of Tharja's other supports show that she cares, even if she's the absolute worst at communicating it (yes, even Robin's supports). Who knows why she chose Robin of all people, but eh.

Edited November 17, 2016 by eggclipse

[Augestein]

Pieri is even more screwed up than Tharja, and suffers from worse writing. My unpopular opinion of twin-tails? She's actually a lot more sympathetic than people give her credit for.

The issue with that GoT quote is that MOST of Tharja's other supports show that she cares, even if she's the absolute worst at communicating it (yes, even Robin's supports). Who knows why she chose Robin of all people, but eh.

Some of the issue with Tharja, is that she suffers from the same problem that a lot of Awakening characters do. The most common supports you'll see with them are simply dreadful. Like Sumia's worst support is with Chrom, but it's the one most actually see, but I actually like Sumia, because I supported her with everyone else outside of Chrom. Me personally on Tharja I don't particularly care for, because not only is her communication poor, but she kinda basks in it as well. Like in Fred's support where she lies and says she casts a hex on him to give him a cold? Like... Why? Because Frederick wants her to train? She could just say... "I don't want to." But no, that's too obvious. Instead she acts like a creep and instead only waits until Fred proposes to her. Or Stahl's too is pretty dumb as well in that regard as she apparently put a curse on him that'd kill him if he didn't tell the truth. Like... It's the sort of random insanity from Awakening that drives me crazy because some of the tone of the supports are just... All over the place. It's hard to sympathize with a character being misunderstood when they go well out of their way to be misunderstood.

And honestly I'd say Peri was worse if it weren't for the fact that she almost comes across as mentally impaired. I don't like Peri, and I'll agree that she's pretty lousy, but at least in most of her supports she doesn't SEE anything wrong with how she behaves. So it's at least a little better in that regard. What's not fine is how the other characters kinda shrug it off. In the case of Peri, I don't blame the idea of the character, but the rest of the world not reacting appropriately to someone like that (or at least most supports, some like Felicia I think are the proper reaction as she can't really DO anything about people allowing Peri to be in the army). In that regard, I DO hate her.

As for My Castle: I like the concept of it. Like seriously, you could honestly have the player play as a king/queen building up their lands again while he sends out vassals to do his/her work. I mean seriously, how epic would that be if you literally built up your castle repelling invaders being a good ruler, and the final chapter is literally you defending YOUR CASTLE that you built over the course of the game. I don't care how awful the story is, you'd still want to defend what you spent 20+ hours building to your own perfection.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Augestein

[BANRYU]

The issue with that GoT quote is that MOST of Tharja's other supports show that she cares, even if she's the absolute worst at communicating it (yes, even Robin's supports). Who knows why she chose Robin of all people, but eh.

TBH I think it's something to do with Robin being the avatar of Grima and Plegian dark mages being priests of Grima (or at least heavily implied to be if not outright stated, IDR), but what's a specific? All we have are headcanons honestly x___x My wife thinks this is why Henry is mostly pretty subservient (or maybe just compliant if I'm remembering wrong) to Robin in their supports as well lol.

It's mostly the stalker/yandere behavior in her Avatar support, and even if the Awakening!Tharja isn't the same as Future Past!Tharja, it's still the person she could/would become so I'd say it's fair to judge them together. Noire personality is a direct result Tharja testing out curses on her. It's hard to imagine Noire turning out that way if the curses were as insignificant as giving her a runny nose.

I am aware that she has a more nuanced character from her other supports, but as Stannis would say "A good act doesn't wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have it's own reward."

A better example of "people don't care because it's a gag-character" is Pieri, who is an unrepentant serial killer we are supposed to laugh at.

@ Avatar support: Honestly? That might be true, but hell even in Tharja x Avatar supports she demonstrates a certain amount of caring, what with the trying to be 'normal' and caring for them when sick. (You could make the argument that it's implied she cursed him into being sick so she COULD take care of him...? But honestly I don't think there's really enough evidence to be certain of this) All in all it's really not a great support, same as most of the Avatar's supports. Point... partially conceded, I guess....??

@ current VS future Tharja: Honestly I would agree that they can safely be judged together, but I think the whole picture is more sympathetic than you're painting. The things a lot of people forget about Tharja and her relationship with Noire are 1) Tharja herself was taught dark arts from infancy, so this is considered normal in her family or whatever environment she was brought up in (I wouldn't be surprised if it was a situation where infants are given up to the Grimleal to train dark arts and whatnot, but that's speculation, so doesn't apply to my argument here).

2) The worst we see of her testing on Noire is a case of the sniffles. Which considering some of her curses on the other characters, including many potential love interests, is extremely mild. You could say that maybe much worse stuff is done to her offscreen and/or when she was younger, but the way Noire talks about being cursed it doesn't seem that way; she acts like the sniffles thing is pretty routine for her as far as being cursed by mom goes. It could also be argued that part of her hexing is to help Noire toughen up given that she’s apparently always been a weak anemic child and Tharja was probably raised in a strange environment herself (dark mage upbringing in Plegia probably not so good with moral support and happy things, which would explain a lot about her antisocial behavior).

and ofc 3) their A-support. Not only does Tharja figure out why her future!self denied Noire a chance to learn the dark arts, but she tells Noire in no uncertain terms that a) Noire is highly talented, b) Noire could never be in her way and c) Tharja loves Noire and willingly tells her so to quash any doubts about it. Throw on top of that Noire's father getting killed, and it makes sense that Tharja would be more bitter and antisocial than ever, not to mention vindictive and revenge-hungry. Yet despite that, she still looks out for Noire's interests to the best of her ability by not involving her in the dark arts (presumably for the same reason, still a caring and well-intentioned reason at that) and keeping her close at hand so she can watch over her while she works on avenging her hubby and Noire's dad.

Now granted, backstory explains bad behavior, but does not excuse it. Fair enough. Is it model parenting behavior? Is Tharja winning any mother-of-the-year awards? Obviously not, but you can't honestly expect Tharja to be a normal parent given the highly abnormal social environment she was raised in. If anything, she probably recognizes this to an extent and treats Noire a lot better than she herself was treated, and that's gotta count for something. She does the best that she can.

And not saying anyone gotta like her for these reasons, don't get me wrong. You can like who you like and don't like who you don't and I'm fine with that, I definitely get that Tharja is a polarizing character and certainly not for everyone. But check ya facts and make sure the reason for the dislike is adequately justified.

Edited November 17, 2016 by BANRYU

[NekoKnight]

Some of the issue with Tharja, is that she suffers from the same problem that a lot of Awakening characters do. The most common supports you'll see with them are simply dreadful.

This happens in Fates too. Kazahana is going to forever go down as the person who criticized Kamui for hurting Sakura's feelings by getting kidnapped.

Edited November 17, 2016 by NekoKnight

[ChibiToastExplosion]

In every FE I try to recruit every character, as an added map objective.

I slaughter Tharja on sight.

[Etrurian emperor]

Now that we are on the subject of Peri, I don't think she herself is the problem per se. If she was Garon's retainer and part of a trio with Hans and Iago she would probably be pretty good.

The problem with Peri is that she drags other people down. Her very employment is out of character for both Xander and Corrin. The same casual murder for fun that they loudly condemn from Hans and Iago can be found in Peri who they employ without a care in the world. As such Xander and Corrin really no longer have a right to complain about the actions of Garon's faction.

[Tolvir]

I still think in regards to Pieri that hey should of replaced the entire murdering sngle with one of two things. Either in combat she loses all emotion and becomes ruthless, or goes into some kind of berserking rage, and again becomes ruthless in the battlefield. That way you still get the crazy insane person effect they were looking for, without having her be a serial killer. Essentially, her fight or flight part of her brain is extremely twisted from what happened, and causes her mind to just go blank and start killing everything perceived as an enemy.

That would be much more interesting while losing that serial killer stuff that drives so many away from the character.

[BANRYU]

I'll go ahead and shift topics now, think I said all that can be said for my side of the Tharja discussion ~3~

This happens in Fates too. Kazahana is going to forever go down as the person who criticized Kamui for hurting Sakura's feelings by getting kidnapped.

TBH yeah my wife hates her for this very reason haha... ;;

Honestly I don't have anything against Hana, I get that she's the typical hot-blooded teenager and whatnot, my only real issue with her is that... like... there isn't much more to her that makes her particularly interesting once you get past that...?? Not that I'm aware of, at least... It's the same sort of blandness that most Birthright characters seem to suffer from, sadly. Even characters like Rinkah that I expected to be a lot more interesting... ...weren't.

(Is this an unpopular opinion? That most BR characters are bland? That's what I think lol)

Pieri is even more screwed up than Tharja, and suffers from worse writing. My unpopular opinion of twin-tails? She's actually a lot more sympathetic than people give her credit for.

Now that we are on the subject of Peri, I don't think she herself is the problem per se. If she was Garon's retainer and part of a trio with Hans and Iago she would probably be pretty good.

The problem with Peri is that she drags other people down. Her very employment is out of character for both Xander and Corrin. The same casual murder for fun that they loudly condemn from Hans and Iago can be found in Peri who they employ without a care in the world. As such Xander and Corrin really no longer have a right to complain about the actions of Garon's faction.

Peri is somewhat like Tharja in that her upbringing sort of helps frame her behavior, so she's SOMEwhat likeable in that regard and a lot of her supports attempt to morally rectify her, but naturally due to the nature of supports this has no effect on her other dialogue and whatnot. The way she's handled in terms of who she works for and what she says about Xander and Corrin is pretty... weird, to say the least, yeah... (Like... I could see her being Camilla's retainer, even, but Xander....?? Yeah....)

I guess the difference between Peri and the other two villains is that she's given the backstory that helps put her behavior in perspective, as opposed to the other two who are actually just cardboard cutout villains with no degree of sympathy to their character lol.

Peri might have functioned interestingly as a Zola-like figure in the plot.

[UNLEASH IT]

From what I've heard that's fairly unpopular, yeah.

I don't particularly dislike most of the royals, but Takumi is on the higher end for me as well; I don't really get what's with all the hate for him.

This is probably shallow on my part, but while I didn't really like how Camilla and Orochi teased him, I have to admit that Takumi is adorable when flustered. That, along with the fact that he's allowed by the narrative to be flawed while actually being called out on it, endears him to me.

[CatManThree]

In every FE I try to recruit every character, as an added map objective.

I slaughter Tharja on sight.

I absolutely hate to say this but, you are definitely not

alone right there friend. I too participate in such deeds.

[Troykv]

This happens in Fates too. Kazahana is going to forever go down as the person who criticized Kamui for hurting Sakura's feelings by getting kidnapped.

Do you remember her for other reason? I like her design and her voices, but I'm even sure what exactly think about her because I only know she loves Sakura XDU

[RJWalker]

In every FE I try to recruit every character, as an added map objective.

I slaughter Tharja on sight.

I did it with Robin both times I played for added spite.

[eclipse]

Peri is somewhat like Tharja in that her upbringing sort of helps frame her behavior, so she's SOMEwhat likeable in that regard and a lot of her supports attempt to morally rectify her, but naturally due to the nature of supports this has no effect on her other dialogue and whatnot. The way she's handled in terms of who she works for and what she says about Xander and Corrin is pretty... weird, to say the least, yeah... (Like... I could see her being Camilla's retainer, even, but Xander....?? Yeah....)

I guess the difference between Peri and the other two villains is that she's given the backstory that helps put her behavior in perspective, as opposed to the other two who are actually just cardboard cutout villains with no degree of sympathy to their character lol.

Peri might have functioned interestingly as a Zola-like figure in the plot.

I don't quite see it that way.

Peri's past is world-building. We get a glimpse into the treatment of servants by nobles, the nobles themselves, and a bit about the law. From her supports, the following can be said about Nohr:

1. Servants are free to choose their masters

2. Servants are paid

3. Once hired, the rights of servants are essentially nil

4. Killing a servant isn't seen as a crime in Nohrian society (or Peri's dad is VERY good at bribing people and disposing of the bodies)

Which leads to:

5. One possible reason for Jakob's loyalty to Corrin is because he knows the four things above, and is very grateful that Corrin isn't a complete psychopath

So for someone who's supposed to be nuttier than a jar of peanut butter, she actually contributes a lot.

Now, for the sympathetic side. It's clear that Peri adored her mom (just look at her cooking). From the description of her father's actions, I suspect her parents were deeply in love. With her other parent unable to cope with his wife's murder (evidenced by him silently enabling his daughter's misbehavior), it's not a surprise that Peri turned out a little screwy. I think that Peri is stuck at the point in time when her mother died, which is why she acts out like a child, and why her coping mechanism is so fucked up. Yet this is war, and someone who is willing to kill the enemy without having serious regrets is helpful, and Peri has shown that she can handle herself in a fight. IMO what she needed was a parent and some serious grief counseling, and she received neither. Thus, I see her as a combination of failed parenting and support.

[Baldrick]

Sometimes Peri gets some of the counselling she needs, e.g. in her Laslow support, and sometimes she doesn't. That's the weakness of the 3DS support system; if you don't pair them together that character development never happens. They should really go back to how Radiant Dawn did it; the well-written interactions are more visible, and the filler interactions get streamlined to a single line.

[BANRYU]

I don't quite see it that way.Peri's past is world-building. We get a glimpse into the treatment of servants by nobles, the nobles themselves, and a bit about the law. From her supports, the following can be said about Nohr:1. Servants are free to choose their masters2. Servants are paid3. Once hired, the rights of servants are essentially nil4. Killing a servant isn't seen as a crime in Nohrian society (or Peri's dad is VERY good at bribing people and disposing of the bodies)Which leads to:5. One possible reason for Jakob's loyalty to Corrin is because he knows the four things above, and is very grateful that Corrin isn't a complete psychopathSo for someone who's supposed to be nuttier than a jar of peanut butter, she actually contributes a lot.Now, for the sympathetic side. It's clear that Peri adored her mom (just look at her cooking). From the description of her father's actions, I suspect her parents were deeply in love. With her other parent unable to cope with his wife's murder (evidenced by him silently enabling his daughter's misbehavior), it's not a surprise that Peri turned out a little screwy. I think that Peri is stuck at the point in time when her mother died, which is why she acts out like a child, and why her coping mechanism is so fucked up. Yet this is war, and someone who is willing to kill the enemy without having serious regrets is helpful, and Peri has shown that she can handle herself in a fight. IMO what she needed was a parent and some serious grief counseling, and she received neither. Thus, I see her as a combination of failed parenting and support.

Ah, that is true, I admittedly forgot a lot of that. Not at all as bad as I thought I remembered, honestly!

[Loki Laufeyson]

I don't quite see it that way.

Peri's past is world-building. We get a glimpse into the treatment of servants by nobles, the nobles themselves, and a bit about the law. From her supports, the following can be said about Nohr:

1. Servants are free to choose their masters

2. Servants are paid

3. Once hired, the rights of servants are essentially nil

4. Killing a servant isn't seen as a crime in Nohrian society (or Peri's dad is VERY good at bribing people and disposing of the bodies)

Which leads to:

5. One possible reason for Jakob's loyalty to Corrin is because he knows the four things above, and is very grateful that Corrin isn't a complete psychopath

So for someone who's supposed to be nuttier than a jar of peanut butter, she actually contributes a lot.

Now, for the sympathetic side. It's clear that Peri adored her mom (just look at her cooking). From the description of her father's actions, I suspect her parents were deeply in love. With her other parent unable to cope with his wife's murder (evidenced by him silently enabling his daughter's misbehavior), it's not a surprise that Peri turned out a little screwy. I think that Peri is stuck at the point in time when her mother died, which is why she acts out like a child, and why her coping mechanism is so fucked up. Yet this is war, and someone who is willing to kill the enemy without having serious regrets is helpful, and Peri has shown that she can handle herself in a fight. IMO what she needed was a parent and some serious grief counseling, and she received neither. Thus, I see her as a combination of failed parenting and support.

This is literally the way i see Peri. Like, almost exactly. It explains why Xander would have her on his squad. (He explains in their support that seeing her in a tourney made him want to pick her as retainer. The reasons are because she wouldnt back down despite not placing first. And she can think on her feet in situations like that.) Also, if the noble class sees servants in this light, perhaps Xander doesnt have that much of a beef with her past? You are absolutely right about Jakob because he states hes been treated like dog shit before. Not just from his parents.

I do agree with the criticism that the characters around Peri dont call out her behavior enough, but i really enjoy the character a lot. Including her design.

[OliKad]

I've got a very obscure, but still very unpopular opinion for y'all, and I'm not ashamed of it:

Alec > Beowulf

[NekoKnight]

I don't quite see it that way.

Peri's past is world-building. We get a glimpse into the treatment of servants by nobles, the nobles themselves, and a bit about the law. From her supports, the following can be said about Nohr:

1. Servants are free to choose their masters

2. Servants are paid

3. Once hired, the rights of servants are essentially nil

4. Killing a servant isn't seen as a crime in Nohrian society (or Peri's dad is VERY good at bribing people and disposing of the bodies)

Which leads to:

5. One possible reason for Jakob's loyalty to Corrin is because he knows the four things above, and is very grateful that Corrin isn't a complete psychopath

So for someone who's supposed to be nuttier than a jar of peanut butter, she actually contributes a lot.

Now, for the sympathetic side. It's clear that Peri adored her mom (just look at her cooking). From the description of her father's actions, I suspect her parents were deeply in love. With her other parent unable to cope with his wife's murder (evidenced by him silently enabling his daughter's misbehavior), it's not a surprise that Peri turned out a little screwy. I think that Peri is stuck at the point in time when her mother died, which is why she acts out like a child, and why her coping mechanism is so fucked up. Yet this is war, and someone who is willing to kill the enemy without having serious regrets is helpful, and Peri has shown that she can handle herself in a fight. IMO what she needed was a parent and some serious grief counseling, and she received neither. Thus, I see her as a combination of failed parenting and support.

That's like... 80% headcanon. Even if that were point for point what the writers intended, those would be some disturbing moral standards for the main characters (Xander and Kamui especially). Like, it's okay to murder servants but it's not okay to murder captured soldiers? A sob story doesn't earn you a 'get-away-with-serial-murders-free-card' in my book.