Opinions on that Fire Emblem Fates character #1 - #65 (Check first page)

[Book Bro]

Rinkah

Amazing design, finally we get female fighters! It's unfortunate that she requires lots of work to live up to her awesome design, because her stats are just below average to average. inb4 Thor

Her personality is a bit disappointing as well. I like that she's reserved and gruff but sweet once she opens up. I wish we got more insight into the fire tribe through her.

Despite all this I have a soft spot for her.

Ignatius

No opinion.

Garon

We all know he's trash so instead I'll give my opinion on what they could've done differently. Spoilers for all routes.

1. Show us the real Garon. Having flashbacks to Xander's childhood would've done wonders for both their characters, and the concubine wars should've been part of the narrative as well to see how Garon was involved with all of that. We are told Garon was a genuinely nice guy. Show us and let us see if it's true or not. Show us his relationships with his children before he died.

2. Be subtle. Garon could've worked as an antagonist without being a cartoon villain. Make him firm, ambitious, ruthless in battle. Cut the evil cackling and world destroying speeches, at least until the end.

3. Take a page from Lyon. You want Garon to be a slime? Fine. But make it work. I don't think there's anything wrong conceptually with what they did. The execution is terrible though. Make his possession be ambiguous between how much of the real Garon is left (this ties in to the above point) and how much is Anankos. When you reveal that he's a slime, reveal it to all the main characters at once. Otherwise it makes the ones who know seem like idiots for keeping it a secret even with dumb curses thrown around.

4. Give him a real reason for invading Hoshido. One is given in the game already but only mentioned in passing. Bring it up more than once and make the connection that's there.

5. Give him a moment of redemption. This would've been interesting, I think. Save it for Revelation.

[Drarky]

Rinkah: ...eh. I'm not the biggest fan of the "I hate you but I actually love you" characters, and as a unit, she's not precisely good either.

Ignatius: I like him, another Knight is always welcome in my team. I like the relationship he has with most characters and how in his paralogue he's shown to have some kind of bravery by protecting the town against the odds. Pretty nice overall for a child.

Garon: I think most people know why he sucks at this point, so I'm just leaving this.

[Brand_Of_The_Exalt]

Rinkah: Well, I'm between like and don't like. She's quite bland as a character, but I like her as a unit. Most of her support that I read in-game were too similar, basically "C: I'm here but I don't want to make friends, B: I'm sorry, history of my tribe, A: Ok let's be friends finally". There's no real logic between the supports B and A. As a unit she's not spectacular between her str growth is really meh for her class, but she makes a very good wall thanks to her high defense and lack of weakness to utility weapons (unlike General, GK, Wyvern Lord, except Axe-splitter) in a path where axe-users and tanky units are rare. Her class is quite unique since no other unit have Oni Savage as their first class. But her growths are pretty meh so she can be either awful or excellent, it's up to Anna to decide. Personaly, I would trade some of her speed for more strength. Nonetheless, she makes a good unit to marry or bond with, because her class skills are very good for glasscannon units (Death Blow, Lancebreaker and even Counter can be useful on a lot of units, like Charlotte, Ryoma, Takumi, etc).

Ignatius: I have no opinion on Ignatius, I just did his paralogue for some extra-exp and didn't use him after that. If you want a passive general, Benny looks much better for this role.

Garon: Meh. I don't really like too simplist vilains like him, that are just cruel or bad for no logical reason. I prefer vilains like Zelgius that are more complex.

[Ebony]

Rinkah

Honestly I adore her design even to this day. I love her class too, Blacksmith is an awesome finishing class. I can't say she's even really bad, she just has slightly gimped growths and makes a tank. Like every character, she can be strong when trained up. She also gets a lot of crits, which is always fun.

Ignatius

who

Garon

Most villains are better.

[Ertrick36]

Yah, OP may or may not have taken one of my suggestions!

Rinkah

"The Fire Tribes frostiest daughter," as Jakob put it. She's a stubborn, anti-social tribal who likes to make fire puns (seriously, what's with all these tribes and their puns based off of their own elements?). That being said, I've liked some of her supports, and she isn't a huge gimmicky character, so all in all, she's alright with me. I guess she requires extra care to work as a unit? I've never really tried to play this game like a traditional FE game, so I wouldn't know.

Ignatius

The only character I've actually never recruited. And because of that, I've got no opinion. I'm so sorry I don't use Benny at all. I like him, but I've got no need for specialized units when I've already got a nice balanced team.

Crenando Garon

Oh boy, slime monster. He's a very thinly veiled villain. They were pushing the narrative that you're supposed to be conflicted about helping Garon in CQ, but I never for a second thought that anything he did was good (because literally none of it was good in any capacity), and since I didn't know him before he became possessed, I didn't really have any feelings for him other than thinking that he's a total dickbag. The main reason I had to continue following orders was to protect my own skin and the Nohrian siblings, but even then, I was always thinking about how stupid it was that our strong, powerful league of elites couldn't lead the people of Cheve, the Ice Tribe, and other oppressed communities within Nohr and possibly the Hoshidan army in a rebellion against this asshole king. The only reason you don't try to fight Garon is the reason Thane stated; Xander is too selfish, stupid, and spineless to go against daddy, and his siblings are too intimidated by him and Garon to do anything.

And then it turns out he's a literal monster that was, at some point, possessed by some dragon god. There could've been ways Garon was done better even with this plot device, but the writers went for the dumbest, laziest, most backwards route on this one.

[Emerson]

I have a weird liking for Rinkah as both a character and unit. I honestly have no idea why. I really can't elaborate.

I have never used Ignatius, so I don't know.

Groan exists.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Sakura: Fantastic character and one of my favorites in the series, tbh. Shes adorable, has a spine made of adamantium, and is just great. I love her. As a unit, she never fails me. Ive never actually put her in a class outside her base. I need to try this.

Percy: I got this kid a whole of one time. He just really doesnt do it for me as a character. As a unit, even less. /shrug

Rinkah:

Shes just a joy. I just love her. Her design, her attitude, everything. Shes my favorite pairing for Ryoma too. Rinkah, you hot mammacita! As a unit, i think shes great too. She needs a bit of effort, but not so much that you are gonna have a hard time. if you do, git gud lmao I always use her when shes around.

Ignatius: a bit disappointing/10. I like his design a lot, probably one of my fave kid designs. But as a character, hes really drab. :( As a unit, he has whomped a lot of ass for me. (like that one time he was MU's kid.) So i have a decent to high opinion of him as far as use goes.

Garon: A rather ill tempered potato bug could be a more effective villain, tbh.

[RoyLKing]

this is even worse than yesterday

[Raguna]

this is even worse than yesterday

Throw in a spicy character. The past few characters are just people most just acknowledge in a general sense.

[RoyLKing]

There aren't even much spicy characters left. Garon could've been spicy but he got even less comments on him than Iago or Hans.

But it's still sad since some characters won't get their justice like Sakura compared to Elise, or characters like Dwyer that are hardly noticed.

[Emerson]

There aren't even much spicy characters left. Garon could've been spicy but he got even less comments on him than Iago or Hans.

But it's still sad since some characters won't get their justice like Sakura compared to Elise, or characters like Dwyer that are hardly noticed.

Who else is left anyways? I know Rhajat will cause a stir or twenty of 'em, but that's all that's really left.

Although I need my Ophelia in here soon or I'm gonna die.

[eclipse]

Well, that's because not everyone has strong opinions about every character. Like me~!

Rinkah: Decently tanky, but a bit too slow to be a true solo unit. Wound up being sacrificed in my first BR run so I could see the credits. As a character, I don't remember much about her.

Ignatius: Best-looking kid by far, but his personality gimmick is annoying. He's hilarious as a Vanguard, and I suspect he'd be even moreso as a Lodestar.

Garon: Had the potential to be interesting in Conquest, and wasn't. He was a lot better in Revelation, but that wasn't exactly hard to pull off.

[Blademaster_Aio]

Rinkah: I really like Rinkah. She is widely hated by some people due to her not so great combat potential and the fact that others can fulfill her role better, and some people adore her to the point they always try to defend her shortcomings. For me, well, I like using Rinkah as a unit. I've used her as an oni on Birthright hard, and admittedly she was lucky and had great defense, and decent speed and str. Then in relevation I benched her because low deployment emblem. In one run I made her a dread fighter and she became awesome.

But my point is that she's usable, definitely... she might not be better than other units but I still like her, and I'm willing to put in time, effort and resources to train her.

As a character, I took some time to warm up to her. At first she was low on the priority list, but slowly after seeing her supports I've warmed up to her. In her supports with Azama, we find out more about the flame tribe and their religion (which of course, Azama doesn't believe in, even though he's a freaking monk and his personal skill is actually literal divine judgement, but whatever).

But you know, where is the fire tribe anyway? The world map in this game sucks and their world building sucks even more. Seriously, they could've done what FE7 and FE8 did and FE11 & 12 by including a tiny introduction of the next location (like so I can see where on the map we actually are, how far we're travelling, the different nations).

The only other thing we know about them is that they prefer isolation and are hyped up for battle.

[Blademaster_Aio]

Ignatius: I love this kid, just like his dad. He's a coward, yet he's a knight. I dunno, the contrast is awesome. He's also brave when it counts, like he'll never run away from actual danger when his friends are in trouble.

I like him as a unit, I like him as a character. I dunno, the idea of him being a coward yet still fighting is nice. Which is why he has two of my favourite critical quotes - 'Leave my friends alone!' And 'I will not live in fear'

[Emerson]

I'm actually kinda surprised Rinkah didn't blow this up. Maybe it's just not as serious of a topic as it was when Fates first came out.

Edited August 16, 2016 by TrueEm

[Thane]

There aren't even much spicy characters left. Garon could've been spicy but he got even less comments on him than Iago or Hans.

I think that if there's one thing most people can agree on, even those who like the story of Fates, it's that Garon really, really didn't live up to the role of a villain, especially not one who should've been emotionally invested in what was going on. What we got was a caricature of a Saturday morning cartoon villain who held several literal evil monologues, which is something someone in Garon's role in the story should never have done, since making him obviously evil and heartless cheapens the entire Nohr-Hoshido conflict and makes the Conquest siblings look like idiots.

[Blademaster_Aio]

Garon: ...you know,

Garon could've been spicy but he got even less comments on him than Iago or Hans.

I don't get why you're surprised. Garon is a disappointment, and a goop of wasted potential.

And Garon is just one of the major reasons why some of the story in Fates is awful.

For starters, the first six chapters of the game do nothing to establish his character beyond, 'this guy is obviously evil. And just in case you weren't sure how evil he was, well he does a bunch of things which are obviously evil and for no justification whatsoever'

Look, that kind father Xander remembers, we needed to see him in game, before making our choice. Garon needs to be less obviously evil and more manipulative.

But he's not.

There isn't much to say about him because he's just an evil guy who does evil things because he can.

I feel like going on a rant here and now how stuff could be so much better, but that horse has been beaten way too many times, so no.

Garon was, once upon a time a kind father and partner, who doted on his children and his women. Unfortunately his multiple sweethearts disliked each other so much they actually killed other children and possibly their mothers. You would think that if a guy loves his children and wives/mistresses they would be off limits, but never underestimate jealously, I guess.

Anyway, Garon and his kids hated the whole thing. Garon became colder and his kids grew up in an awful political war. At some point in time Garon dies and becomes possessed by Anankos. And another problem with the whole thing. When does this happen? How did it happen? And why? I understand we experience the story from the avatars pov, but no, the writers were just lazy. The plot will move in this direction only, we'll use any number of plot devices to move the plot in that direction and we won't answer anything.

Just why? And considering that these guys CAN make decent villains and stories, this kind of stuff is inexcusable.

It's sad, because Garon had every chance to become a great villain and they just turned him to slop and called it a day. Like just... try harder game. Please try harder.

[Thane]

While Garon's portrayal is awful through and through, nothing but missed potential and a prime example of the overall quality of writing in the game, I think what shocked me the most wasn't chapter 15 or him being thoroughly evil, but rather what happened at the end of Revelation: the guy has no story presence whatsoever, but since they can't just leave that plot thread hanging after defeating Anankos, they literally teleport him there and have him get eaten with almost no dialogue whatsoever, and then he's promptly forgotten about. It's absurd just how poorly it's handled, even in the context of Fates, and it makes me wonder just how little time they had to write the story.

[Bowbow]

Sakura: I think I might like her the most out of all the royal sisters. She's shy and introverted a lot of the time, but she has her moments where her "inner fire" I guess comes out and she stands up for herself and does her best to be confident. Not a static character which I like a lot.

Percy: Bleh. I've never been a fan of Pit's voice so that's not really a positive. Joke character like Arthur, except now in shota form.

Rinkah: She's alright I guess. At least she's a far better tsundere than Severa/Selena.

Ignatius: Yarne 2.0 except not a furry. Yarne had an understandable reason to be scared of fighting though.

Garon: Shittier version of Travant. Much shittier.

[RoyLKing]

6 characters down to go

Today's characters are Rhajat & Ophelia. Plus a bonus character, Sumeragi.

I'll hold off my own opinion for later

[Book Bro]

Rhajat

She works a bit better than Tharja but I still don't get why people like this character so much. Awakening clone + child = not interested.

Ophelia

She's cute, and fun like her dad. Passable.

Sumeragi

I guess it was interesting having him be the hooded man, as Anankos' zombie puppet. Or it would have been if we got to know him at all during Revelation. He appears for a chapter for a cheap emotional scene and is gone again, so I don't know what exactly I'm supposed to feel. He doesn't even have a battle conversation with his kids aside from Ryoma iirc. The whole "dead parents are now bosses" thing fell completely flat IMO.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Book Bro

[joshcja]

Rhajat: She's better looking than Tharja. Past that a strict downgrade in every way and cannot make Noire happen, but lets face it, were you really using Tharja for anything but eye candy?

Ophelia: The goddess of fates is here, all the blood inside your enemies will soon be outside of them. Also everything about her character is fantastic. Yes even the stripper suit, if any female in fates has a reason to think wearing that is normal it's the daughter of ab-window dickbulge spandex man. Her only flop support wise is... the Rhajat support, which is completely ruined by notTharja opening her mouth to speak. Sadly it also manages to be Rhajat's best support.

Spoileragi: He knows what he did >.>

Edited August 16, 2016 by joshcja

[Thane]

Rhajat

No real opinion other than her entire existence being pandering and not my kind of fan service, so I have no real interest in her.

Ophelia

Jesus Christ, Lissa, girls sure grow up fast these days.

She's a clone of her father but with less moments that humanize her, making her seem like a cheap knockoff with a fan service-y design more than anything else.

Sumeragi

An example of why the worldbuilding in Fates fails on every level. This guy's death pretty much signaled the beginning of the current conflict, yet we know nothing about him, the details about the event he was attending or why he decided to bring Corrin. Hell, we know so little about him that it's impossible to tell if him being a giant douchebag in Revelation is because of his own accord or because of Anankos. Then they have the gall to try and score quick emotional points by having us kill him in one chapter without any tension or buildup, and without even giving him unique dialogue with all of his kids.

A complete and total failure.

[secondworld]

Okay so some catch up on the characters I have something to say about(not much though, I could say a bit about Xander but honestly I think we're good):

Asugi/Caeldori- pls no. Gaius was a good character in Awakening but then you have Asugi over here who's just, why? The stuff with Saizo is neat but why not just make a different character who can still have that conflict. I have similar issues with Caeldori, who's only contribution I can see is providing optional character development for an optional mother

Shiro- is just a generally cool dude and gets big props for pointing out that the stupid time dimensions are in fact stupid

Forrest- is pretty alright. Generally decent character, one of the few kids I used(exclusively for pair-up and healing, but eh)

Rinkah- legit one of my favorite characters in Fates, one of the few non-royals I will use every time in Birthright(RIP Rev)

Garon- hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Rhajat

The most disappointing of the Awakening clones for me, because she comes the closest to being a decent character. She almost makes it but gets held back exclusively by the Tharja stuff. On the bright side in both BR and Rev she turned out really good for me without me even trying so she ended up making the team.

Ophelia

Gen 2 units that copy their parent's gimmick or personality(or hilariously doing the opposite) without really fleshing out themselves much is something I find very lazy and really don't like. Looking back, that doesn't really happen too much actually, but we do have Ophelia.

Sumeragi

One of Revelation's many plot twists that the game just doesn't feel like fleshing out and ends up falling flat on its face. Does he even have dialogue with all the Hoshidan Royals? I don't remember. I'm not sure the characters remember either.

[Bowbow]

Rhajat: I actually like her better than Tharja. She's nicer, doesn't shoehorn her obsession with the MC in her supports and overall she's just this weird and socially awkward girl that likes dangerous magic and wants to make friends. Pretty good unit too, easily the best magic unit in the game despite magic being pretty mediocre overall.

Ophelia. Cheap and generic knock off of Owain except with now with boobs. Her chuuni antics are even more annoying than her dad's because at least he knows when to tone it down sometimes. Also, she can be a bitch and pushy at times like when people don't buy into her chuuni stuff like in her Midori support where she's just rude to her.

Sumeragi: Not much to say about him. From what I can tell from supports and Revelation, he was an overall cool guy that really loved his family, was best buds with Fuga, tried to make peace with Nohr and apparently taught Corrin how to use a sword. Needed more fleshing out.