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What defines your favorite characters?


What is most important for your favorite units?  

45 members have voted

  1. 1. Rank these qualities:

    • Performance > Appearance > Personality
      2
    • Performance > Personality > Appearance
      3
    • Appearance > Performance > Personality
      1
    • Appearance > Personality > Performance
      7
    • Personality > Performance > Appearance
      8
    • Personality > Appearance > Performance
      24


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When you pick a favorite character, what factors influence it the most? 

 

Is it performance (the combination of class, bases, growth potential, etc.)?

Is it their appearance?

Or is it their personality (support conversations, story role, dialogue, mannerisms depicted in artwork, etc.)?

 

 

For me, it's appearance > personality > performance. A unit may find use or even be something of a staple if I'm neutral on their appearance or personality, but a unit I hate the appearance and/or personality of (like Nowi, Meg, Elise, Peri, or Makalov) will never find a place on my core team regardless of performance. Conversely, some of my favorite characters (like Bastian, Pelleas, Lethe, Nasir, and others) aren't great units.

Edited by Etheus
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Personality and Appearance are almost the same level of important to me. I don't really care all that much about performance. I usually include some units for their performance only, but I wouldn't choose someone as my favourite because they are strong or have great bases/growths...

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This topic seems repetitive to me.

 

Performance and Appearance/Personality are totally separate things for me. When I play FE, I'll use what is best with some subjective adjustments, everyone is but numbers to me. Numbers which are largely arbitrarily, assigned beyond class, to a character apart from who they are. The ugh of going tediously slow is just that.

This said, I do like switching it up. Even though I dislike Ilyana, sometimes I'll use her instead of Tormod just for the variety of it in PoR, although barring massive screwage, I'll always use Soren as my first mage. I like doing themed runs- such as females only, but even here I make amendments, such as allowing Sothe and other men in RD until no females becomes less than too tedious, and I'm certainly not doing Geoffrey's Charge with just Astrid.

 

When I read FE, which is what I thought this topic would be about when I saw the title. What traits define the characters you like the most? Are there any unifying threads? Or is it random?

I can't quite say what things might draw me to characters. Being a wannabe scholar, I tend to like scholarly types, but not all.

I generally like depth, and I don't care if they're acerbic on the surface or not, if they have depth, that is a good thing. Although I will admit what one defines as depth can change, Stefan used to be "deep" to me, but now I'm less inclined to see him as so "deep" as I used to. Flashy characters, like L'Arachel, can lose their luster with time, she did for me, but that does not mean I dislike them once their sheen fades.

I'm also with some characters willing to compartmentalize them to an extent. I don't care for Serra's personality on the whole, but she has her underlying insecurity and fantasy, that she was orphaned by noble parents and is just awaiting their return after a miserable life in an orphanage. And this, I do like.

 

 

With FEH, I throw all this out the window and go subjective, because it is gatcha, and thus not a "serious" game to me. Although I barely "enjoy" the characters I like there by the standards of others probably, I never read their dialogue, I think all their art is bad, and I'd never go for Seasonals.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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Depends, are we including Mystery of the Emblem in the mix?

Because in that game, it'd be appearance > performance > personality, because just about every character in the Archanea games before the DS era had the personality of a washboard.

Outside of that, it's personality > appearance > performance.  I actually like it when a unit I like is a little challenging to use, I'm not a fan of units like Seth and Ryoma who effortlessly dominate the battlefield.  When my 'Boro or Finn dominates the battlefield, it actually feels like I earned it.  But beyond that, I just care way too much about superfluous things like if they're good characters with layers or have dopey smiles like this one:

aaiVcLy.png

rather than if they perform well as units.  I don't know, I feel it's more meaningless if you only care about stats on a spreadsheet than if you only care about whether you find a character's appearance attractive/funny.

btw shoutouts to anyone still using the Sakura's Forest theme.

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This one is a bit tricky for me because while appearance and personality are very important to me but some characters have left a huge impression on me based on their performance alone.

For example I didn't think to much about Palla based on her from Shadow Dragon but after playing fe12 she became one of if not my favorite female character in the series, as her performance in that game made me take a lot more interest in her.

On the other hand some characters appearance and personality annoy me enough that I wont use them despite their performance like Camilla for example who I almost never use depite her being top tier in conquest.

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appearance>personality>performance 

I don't care for results generally, meg works just fine in my playthroughs.

and I can't be bothered to look into personality if a character is irredeemably designed.

that is not to say that a character's personality can't be a deal breaker for me, I have an enormous dragon loli bias, but I am getting really tired of them all being tiki rehashes, it feels like myrrh and nah were the only time they tried anything different.

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I'm surprised most people here don't give a damn about performance of a unit. Don't get me wrong I'm not a performance only guy but like I care about it, except if we are talking Rebecca (ABSOLUTE WAIFU) or Peri (ABSOLUTE TRASHU).

Additionally if a unit performs well I tend to delve into their character and thus enjoying the character a bit more.

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This is certainly a tricky question, since some FE games (primarily the Archanea saga) are ones where the characters don't have much of a personality. In those, I'd put performance and appearance as somewhat equal, with more emphasis on the former. Other than those, I'd say that appearance is the most important factor (however, I only really apply that to female characters, since in any given FE, they're the bulk of the units I use), with performance and personality being more-or-less equal. That being said, I won't use a unit who performs well if they come off as completely irredeemable personality wise (e.g. PoR Soren), and appearance alone isn't enough for me to ignore a unit being really bad (like is the case with the likes of Meg).

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Kind of a tricky question to approach because I might prioritize one element depending on the situation. While playing a game, I might have a 'favorite' character to use because of their utility (who can deny that Camilla is good in Conquest?)  but loving to use isn't the same as loving a character. In general, having a strong visual is going to make the first impression and the depth of their character will come second (hello, Helbindi). I like some characters primarily for their design (hot damn, RD!Mia!) but am completely indifferent to their personality.

Overall, the lasting appeal of a character is going to be a combination of all three, but I'd say the writing is weighed heaviest. I haven't played Blazing Sword in ages and I'm completely neutral on Hector's appearance but he has outstanding character depth and that matters to me. Lyon looks nice, and he's barely playable but his story is one of the few that made me genuinely emotional.

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14 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

Depends, are we including Mystery of the Emblem in the mix?

Because in that game, it'd be appearance > performance > personality, because just about every character in the Archanea games before the DS era had the personality of a washboard.

That's a very understandable opinion but I have it the other way around. Because a personality is so rare in Archenea I'm very quick to latch on to characters who do have it. Marth Hardin, Minerva, Xane and to some extend Gordin all showed a personality above their peers so I automatically felt they were the best characters. 

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In general, Performance > Personality > Appearance.

My favorite characters manage to be ones that manage to combine stellar gameplay performance with great personalities. Unless one has focus over the other in a conversation/topic, I rate them equally, although performance wins over personality if I was forced to choose between the two. It also isn't universal, as there are some characters I enjoy reading about but don't find them as amazing to use, while others I enjoy their performance but could care less about their character.

I always put appearance last, partially because I don't care or judge based on physical appearance in real life (unless a design is fanservicey, but even then my complaints will be aimed more at it's impracticality than anything else), and partially because I would be lying if I said I enjoyed all of my favorite characters designs (even though I have a soft spot for it, Kellam's armor looks ridiculous, and I don't think I ever fully recovered from discovering that Panne isn't wearing pants). With that said, I will still praise and compliment a characters appearance if it is awesome, well-drawn, and/or fitting for the character. It just won't be a factor in determining whether or not I'll use them.

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I had been thinking whether Personality or Appearance was more important to my decision, but after watching the latest FE Three Houses video, I can firmly say that Appearance certainly defines who I dislike, and conditions my party.

See, in Conquest I hate Jakob, but I cannot remember if his appearance or his personality irked the most when I first got the game. In Three Houses, however, I already despise the girl with the stripper hat, and I plan to kill her as soon as possible. So, appearance seems to be the first hate-factor.

Edited by starburst
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2 hours ago, starburst said:

See, in Conquest I hate Jakob, but I cannot remember if his appearance or his personality irked the most when I first got the game.

I would think personality, because I very - and I do mean very rarely - hold appearance against a character. I could count the number of times I would hold appearance against a character on one hand - and those few characters had other factors dragging them down.

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I'll say personality and then appearance.

I like Lute's thing about being superior and when it comes to things about love she gets nervous because she barely knows something about it. And then her appearance is charming, her color scheme and clothes are cute, I like girls with frilly dresses and skirts, and mages in general.

1549258751182.jpg.19fd3113370faf28022ccca0fca8df18.jpg

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I'll be honest and say that my situation is that a unit (the gameplay relevant factors) and a character (everything else) are treated somewhat separately.

Take Peri. Hate the character, hate the appearance but she's still one of Conquest's better units, especially in comparison with some of the trash that game hands you. Meanwhile, just try to use Wendy seriously in BB or even poor old Bantu in the DS era, but I'm at least alright with either of them while Nino has bad bases for her join full stop but her character is a compelling part of BS.

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1 hour ago, 1% Critical Hit said:

I'll say personality and then appearance.

I like Lute's thing about being superior and when it comes to things about love she gets nervous because she barely knows something about it. And then her appearance is charming, her color scheme and clothes are cute, I like girls with frilly dresses and skirts, and mages in general.

1549258751182.jpg.19fd3113370faf28022ccca0fca8df18.jpg

Is that your drawing?

Sain is defined by being a womanizer 24/7 and being strong and not even slow, he is OP!

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7 hours ago, Critical Sniper said:

Is that your drawing?

Sain is defined by being a womanizer 24/7 and being strong and not even slow, he is OP!

I wish I could draw like that, because she looks so cute! ;w;

He's also a favorite of many because of that :o

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On 16/2/2019 at 3:35 PM, Dayni said:

Take Peri. Hate the character, hate the appearance but she's still one of Conquest's better units, especially in comparison with some of the trash that game hands you.

It happened to me with Camilla in Conquest, whom I did not really like but only tolerated, specially because of how useful she is as a unit. But as soon as my gameplay got better, I stopped using her.

Yet, there are units which I have never used purely based on their personality or appearance, like Beruka, Selena, Peri, Charlotte, Percy, Kana, Forrest, Shigure... My loss, I know.

Edited by starburst
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I'm happy to see that most people seem to value personality over performance considering I'm pretty tired to be told I'm throwing myself down a "pitfall" if I happen to play Fire Emblem with a team that does not consist entirely of cavaliers and fliers. 

I certainly don't use Bastian because he is a world beater. I do so because he's just an awesome character with one of the most entertaining dialogues in the series. 

Edited by Vince777
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There isn't really an aspect that I find more important then another when I decide which characters I Iike. I try to look at all aspects and then evaluate my overall opinion based on these factors.

Because of this some of the characters that Iike are mostly because of gameplay (Fee, Asvel, Rutger, Percival, Marcus, Palla and Robin) some because of their appearance (Deirdre, Nanna, Dagdar and Ike) and others because of their personality (Tiltyu, Azel, Zihark & Inigo). Most characters that are my favourites are really strong in 2 of these categories and average in another (Seliph, Innes, Celica, Titania, Haar, Frederick, Quan & Ares). The only character that I think is good in all 3 categories is Leif. Also, if a characters is really strong in 1 category but weak in all others than there is still a huge change that I will dislike them (Micaiah & Corrin). Same with characters that are average in 2 categories and horrible in one (Gwendolyn, trainees in fe8 & Nowi).

The game that they're from is also very important because some games I like a lot and some games I don't like that much. Fe4, Fe5 & Fe6 characters are ranked higher on average then characters from the other games because I like these games more, play them more often because of this, have more experiences with their characters. Meanwhile fe8 & fe13 only has a couple characters that I like a lot and the most positive I'm about a fe14 character is neutral. This has nothing to do with the writing quality, it's just that I don't care much about these games and because of that I don't care about the characters unless there is something about them that I really like.

Edited by LJwalhout
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For me, personality and appearance are tied. I couldn't care less about performance - I never play hard mode so I can usually make anyone work. It's easier with things like pair up mode in Awakening, though. 

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