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What is wrong with Reina!!!


Mysteryshadow5`
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It's annoying because she is a character I liked and was the mother of my Kana in my first Birthright path, and I loved her support with the male avatar as she came across as just a very warm, kind character  - which I think is enough characterisation for her. The problem I find is I felt that a lot of characters in Fates had to have this one weird/over-the-top [personality attribute, and I feel that was just slapped on Reina's character because they worried her character might be a bit bland without it (which I disagree with, it would be nice to have a genuinely warm, normal character in Fates). This was particularly annoying when Peri also had this insane, bloodthirsty attitude along with her messed-up mentality, making it feel like IS ran out of personality ideas so Reina was just given this to be a bit more strange. I did like her but found this bloodthirsty personality both unbelievable and unnecessary to her character.

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23 minutes ago, Hoshidokoala said:

The problem I find is I felt that a lot of characters in Fates had to have this one weird/over-the-top [personality attribute,

Makes perfect sense, it's easier than developing full fleshed out characters, and not as boring as simplistic "normal" ones. Though a sea of superficial craziness can be pretty blah as well. Rune Factory 3 tried the same thing- they went crazy with most of the bachelorettes compared to RF2.

Has FE ever had a stablehand as a PC before? We've had animal lovers like Cherche, but ever anyone who before becoming a knight took care of the stables?

I actually tried to rationalize Reina's nonchalantness about killing somewhat by giving her a stablehand/animal husbandry background in my fanficts. Basically, she's seen a lot of life and death caring for livestock, so she is a little desensitized to death.

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15 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Makes perfect sense, it's easier than developing full fleshed out characters, and not as boring as simplistic "normal" ones. Though a sea of superficial craziness can be pretty blah as well. Rune Factory 3 tried the same thing- they went crazy with most of the bachelorettes compared to RF2.

I miss the understated characters of pre-Awakening, personally. Not that we didn't have our exaggerated gimmicks in the earlier games (*coughIlyanacough*) and not that the 3DS characters don't have depth for the most part, but as a whole gimmick characters were rarer in previous games and characters in general felt less like they were operating mainly on one big joke and more like believable people in a fantasy world.

Personally I can't stand the perception that understated and down-to-earth and reasonable characters are "boring." We absolutely need characters like Oscar in order to counterbalance the more comedic or excitable characters...and I wish "lol random quirk" wasn't the easy default way to introduce characters in the current era.

We can still have developed and fleshed out characters that don't have a hyper-exaggerated quirk or trait, IS... You did it so well in the past...

46 minutes ago, Hoshidokoala said:

This was particularly annoying when Peri also had this insane, bloodthirsty attitude along with her messed-up mentality, making it feel like IS ran out of personality ideas so Reina was just given this to be a bit more strange. I did like her but found this bloodthirsty personality both unbelievable and unnecessary to her character.

Yeah...Peri felt more like a fan fiction self-insert OC parody character than an actual living, breathing character in nameless Fates' world. I honestly don't know who thought she would be compelling or interesting, especially in comparison to the much more developed and nuanced characters like Takumi and (support, not story) Xander. I'd consider her the worst of Fates' characters, but that's another topic entirely.

With Reina, at least her entire character isn't "lol death and violence teehee 3edgy5me" like Peri...but I wholly agree that her inexplicable bloodthirst is awkward and forced in. She would have been fine as a sweet, gentle battle veteran, maybe with an iron will. But gleefully talking about beheading her enemies? Yeah...that's a little too incongruous with the rest of her character, to the point that it seems to have been added in to force some sort of meme or inside joke from the developers.

It's like that annoying character that is "looks cute and harmless but is ACTUALLY really DANGEROUS!!11" that's everywhere in fan fiction and starting to creep into more serious works. Just...spare me, please...

Edited by Extrasolar
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I see nothing wrong with a caring considerate character who enjoys her job. The fact that the job is killing the shit out of people is a bit of a "stranger than fiction" thing that I rather like.

Edited by joshcja
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I know this is a discussion about Reina, but to defend Peri for a moment, yeah she's over the top, and would clearly not be everyone's cup of tea, but she's at the very least not a boring character. I'd rather see more of her than, say, Kagero. I mean, she's messed up in the head, sure. I'm definitely not denying that, but I don't think that automatically makes her a bad character. Driving the gimmick into the ground would, but then is it a gimmick if it's just her personality? I mean, it's not like we're talking Hisame and pickles here...

In any case, I never really bothered with Reina, as by that point in Birthright I already had other units I would have rather used, and she just didn't interest me at all. So perhaps she is a more mature and level-headed version of Peri, but I still like Peri as a character because she's interesting. At least, I think so. I don't think you have to like her for her to at least be a somewhat interesting character. I was also going to point out that we also had Henry in Awakening, but figured the same people would also take issue with him, which is also fine. Opinions, and all that stuff...

I do remember people saying Reina had great supports with Corrin, but... I feel like a character who can only support the avatar needs to work harder to win over the player, or be especially intriguing for them to seem like they're worth the time to invest. At least, that's how I personally feel, anyway. Reina just shows up and gets no other plot relevance for the rest of the game, so it's hard to feel compelled to think anything of her as a character.

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I think the big difference between Reina and Peri is that Reina only reserves her bloodlust for her enemies. Characters who are creeped out by her attitude don't suddenly turn around to accept it as a "quirk". She also has some pretty good convos during the Halloween dlc, and her backstory offers some insight into Hoshidan nobility (and isn't meant to be some melodramatic "excuse" for her behaviour) which is sorely needed.

To me, there is nothing interesting about Peri, because besides "Murder waifu" and a Harley Quinn aesthetic, she has literally nothing going for her. Other characters actively suffer in her presence as they become entirely fine with accepting the occasional murder of an innocent servant. Corrin is already an awful character, but to suddenly spout "I guess we'll just hire sturdy servants" comes across as unintentional satire. Xander and Leo abandon all their established character qualities etc. 

Reina has some issues, first and foremost that she has so little development because of her status as a Corrinsexual, but there is at least enough potential to work with. If she had more supports, I dare say she'd be a character I really like. Unless all of them focused entirely on her bloodlust I guess.       

 

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