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Fire Emblem Fates: Best Character Ever #2 (Camilla vs Xander)


AnnaKarly123
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Who's the best Royal in Nohr?  

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  1. 1. Who's the best Royal in Nohr?


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  • Poll closed on 10/24/2018 at 08:00 AM

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Hello Azurites! Anna here and welcome to another part of Fire Emblem Fates: Best Character Ever! This time it'll be focused on two Nohr Nobles unlike with Felicia and Flora since they're maids (Which Felicia won by the way)...

We got Camilla as a first option:

Portrait_camilla_fe14.png.1f2a075e38270b211f5b32ec81ee461d.png

And as a second option we got Xander:

Portrait_xander_fe14.png.8f2ada6378422c843023f849f01c2e36.png

This poll will automatically close in October 24th at 10:00 like the other one. So it's longer than the other poll's time limit.

Again, the votes are optional, so you can just look without voting if you're feeling lazy or you don't want to.

 

That's all for today! Bye Azurites! <3

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That's a though one since both are pretty flawed in their own right. 

I'm going to say Xander is the better of the two. His flaws are more serious because they impact the story to a larger degree than Camilla who can more easily be ignored. But on the other hand Xander is more than his flaws and when he's put in a situation where he's freed from Fates' writing he usually shines. Xander's supports, his good performance as a dad and his appearance in Warriors all show him when he's not held back by terrible writing and Camus tendencies. Xander becomes great when the story allows him to be great. 

With Camilla its different. Take away her flaws and you got nothing left. Camilla is defined by her flaws, gets her appeal from her flaws and was build around her flaws. She wants to get into Corrin's pants and everything she says or does stems from that single fact. Well...that's not entirely fair, Camilla dotes enough on her retainers to show us that she smothers everyone she loves, and she has some good moments, but its painfully clear that the writers wanted a successor to Tharja and that Camilla was never given the chance to be anything else. Her backstory, her other personality traits and her bonds with other characters are all secondary to the writers desire for a successor to Tharja . 

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Sigh oh Camilla I have such mixed feelings on her. I mean when you really look and analyze her supports and especially her portrayal in birthright you can see a glimpse just a glimpse of what could've been an amazing character. Her backstory and abandonment issues all really do help to explain her personality and actions creating a character whose in all parts nuanced, complex, and understandable. However what her holds her back is the fact that the writers came at her from the angle that she's a waifu first and a character second and that's what really bothers me. like they were so concerned with pandering to otaku fetishes that they forgot to actually flesh out the the character properly.

Xander is obviously the better of the two because as Etrurian said he can be a great a character when he isn't held back by fates' story writing. And even then his little outburst near the end of conquest when you fight the goo monster really does help explain his character very well and gives him depth and complexity on par with his support self. I can't say much about xander both in parts because I haven't read too many of his supports and because it's been a while since I've played fates but I can say he's a pretty solid character all around.

Edited by Otts486
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This is a very frustrating choice to make. The 'obvious' answer is Xander, because while both of these characters got brutally shafted by Fates, at least Xander is a solid character within his supports. However, I find myself as one of the(unfortunately few) individuals who would select Camilla for non-fanservice reasons.

Looking at them from a gameplay standpoint, which I would argue must be considered as it is one of the many facets we see of a character, sometimes becoming more important even than their story portrayal, the two are actually very close in terms of viability, with Camilla's better movement type and unique WTA over Lances and Daggers, which Hoshido tends to have a lot of, balancing out against Xander's access to Siegfried and lack of Bow weakness. While Xander also has access to Wyverns through Heart Seal, it's generally not a good idea for one to specialize him in that area due to his loss of Siegfried while on a Wyvern. Camilla, meanwhile, does suffer from an underwhelming Heart Seal option, Dark Mage's Class Tree, but in my opinion is hurt less by her Alt Class Tree than Xander, due to Sorcerer obtaining Bowbreaker, allowing her to then return to Malig Knight with less of a fear for Bows, and due to the fact that she doesn't take a particularly large hit to her usability thanks to not having a PRF Weapon to lose access to. Because of this and her earlier join time, I would propose that Camilla is actually the more useful Unit within Fates, though she may not hold up as well when performing a study of character personality.

Even if one moves away from Fates, I argue Camilla is still the better Unit, at least from a gameplay standpoint. Checking Base Camilla against Base Xander in Heroes, Camilla can be argued as superior due to having fewer Units in her movement and weapon class to contend with for usability(Green Fliers being much rarer than Red Cavs), and due to her greater overall availability and consequently Merge potential, as it is impossible to have a Base Xander merged higher than +3 if memory serves at time of writing, while Camilla can be brought up to the full +10 if one is willing to put in the effort. Camilla's Axe can also be argued to be superior to Siegfried in Heroes on the proper team, though this is less important as team construction shouldn't necessarily be the biggest factor in determining a Unit's worth in Heroes. Checking other Camillas against corresponding Xanders(Spring and Summer, one may also compare New Year's Camilla to Hoshidan Dawn Xander if you wish), Camilla generally is the better Unit when viewing her impact on the game as a whole - Spring Camilla was the first Flying Mage Unit in all of Heroes, allowing Flier Emblem Teams to begin running Gronnblade or Gronnraven, while Spring Xander is greatly outclassed by the majority of Lance Cavalry even before Reinhardt or even Olwen is taken into account, and Summer Camilla vastly outperforms Summer Xander in almost every field due to both her status as Blue Tome Flier and her incredible Base Kit of Death Blow, Flier Formation, and Hone Fliers compared to Xander's Fire Boost and Infantry Pulse.

This is, of course, my own evaluation of these two siblings, your thoughts and opinions may differ from mine. I'd also recommend the Support Science videos on YouTube done by Ghaast that covers them, leading to his opinion that Xander was the most shafted character in all of Fates and that Camilla suffers from a mental disorder. Whether you like his final calls on the siblings, his study of their Supports and Story and research behind them is very good.

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They're both pretty great, two of the more unique and complex characters in the series for sure.

I think Xander has more role in the story (he's basically the main thing that works about Birthright) but Camilla kinda appeals to be more at base? I like strong warrior women who spit at anime tropes about what a woman should be, and I like the fact that she's a bit of a mess psychologically.

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I might surprise people by saying this, as I've not had the kindest words to say about her as a character, but I think Camilla is a better character.

For whatever strengths Xander may have in the supports, he's held back too much by how much of the story he alone ruins.  He'd work better if they were trying to portray a particular kind of flawed character, but there are some decisions he makes which are absolutely terrible but we're to believe they're honorable and just.  And no amount of exposition is going to make me think Garon deserves a second chance when he's literally oppressing entire nations and ordering his men to slaughter innocent people who have no reason to be killed.

Camilla has her problems as well, but her comparatively held back role actually spares her the burden of ruining the story.  Though honestly with how broken she is as a person, her being the actual leader of the nation and army would make all the mistakes she'd make in Xander's shoes more understandable and less contradictory to her character.

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Well  I love waifu pandering and Camilla is my crazy waifu. That said, she is also the best unit in conquest and she does help a lot in carrying my team to victory.

Birthright never happened so I don't understand whats wrong with Xander. :P Xander would make a great king but Camilla is the best unit in the game. Hmmm. FEwarriors makes me love camilla even more. A hail the dragon goddess!

Edited by wissenschaft
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Oof. Why not just ask whether I'd rather shoot my left foot or my right?

While Camilla's character concept is less developed and her supports are worse than Xander's, I think she's better than Xander by virtue of being less damaging to the plot. Much of Birthright and Conquest (and a fair amount of Revelation) is largely due to Xander being a hypocritical moron. With Camilla, I can groan at the parts I dislike and move on but Xander is always driving the plot downward with his stupidity.

For the positives of both characters, Xander has excellent supports and the 'concubine wars' (underdeloped though they may be) are probably the most interesting part of the setting, and make Camilla more interesting. Xander has a solid character design, and I'm on board with Camilla's...from the shoulders up. They're both good units, so that's a plus.

Ultimately, story is something something I put a lot of weight in, so Camilla wins...barely.

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I simply cannot choose. Xander is a major negative impact on the story, while Camilla's negative impact is milder due to her basically not having anything important to do or say across the three routes (even though she has a few awful scenes, like her intro cutscene and when she's flirting with Hinoka amidst the dead bodies of the battlefield that is her burning kingdom) . However, Camilla is also one of the most artificial, plastic characters in the series, and a constant reminder that Intelligent Systems does not respect its own characters, the story, or the players. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Character wise: In terms of personality, I'm going to say Camilla. She's an emotionally damaged character who was traumatized by her past and it controls how she interacts with those around her. She's also consistent when comparing supports personality to her story personality.

Unit wise: Camilla. She joins earlier, high bases, flight, she can get her Swordreaver weapon on her join chapter which grants her high WTA. 

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As a unit, I would say that Camilla is better. Her overpowered bases, ridiculously high growths, class options and skills keep her relevant through the entire game. Oh, and her DNA does wonders!

On the other hand, I believe that Xander’s contribution as a unit heavily relies on Sigfried and on his pair-up ‘backpack.’ And since I do not use the latter, I do not find him that good.

I have never suffered Chapter 19, were Xander supposedly saves the day. And by the time that I do need a tank (entering the roof of Ch 23 and sections of Ch 25), another unit is already powerful enough to handle the situation.

 

As a character, I prefer Xander. In the supports that I have read, he is coherent to his defining traits. And his being dumb in the storyline is a consequence of an already nonsensical script. If anything, being a flawed prince makes him more interesting.

Camilla is irrelevant to story, and her vulgar looks and psycho manners do not help at all. Like other women in the recent games, she is a thing, not a character. I did not play Awakening, but why could she not be a clone of Cherche?!

Edited by starburst
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