Famitsu 4th article (please read first post)

[Sentinel07]

Hero being male-exclusive is....certainly bizarre. At least Dark Mage and Pegasus Knight had precedent so they didn't surprise me. Hero on the other hand has never been exclusive, and Mercenary is still neutral.

I mean, this ain't a deal breaker and I probably won't even really care about it in the long run, but that's certainly bizarre.

[Druplesnubb]

There should be other sword and axe classes for females, but are there any other that specialize in both?

[Shadow Mir]

15 minutes ago, Onestep said:

Availability is typically the main issue, because the game designers very quickly realised that giving you a flying, heavily armoured beatstick only really weak to wind magic was not a grand idea. The few that arrive at decent times in the story tend to be among the best units you can get.

In other words, Haar (in a game with wonky availability to the extreme), Camilla (in a game with two factions, and is on the side where you get only one pegasus unit short of reclassing), and Melady. As I see it, most wyvern units require more investment than pegasus knights, and the payoff isn't so great as to be worth the extra effort.

[ArsSanctum]

Just now, Druplesnubb said:

There should be other sword and axe classes for females, but are there any other that specialize in both?

I think we really just have to take in the fact that classes work so drastically different from ever before.

Not only can almost every class use every weapon, thus sort of eliminating the need for "more" classes (especially since class skills aren't retained outside of the class itself), but you can choose at the start of a battle what class to deploy in, or even swap classes before giving a unit instruction.

Hero will have Sword and Axes as bonus proficiencies - meaning that those weapon ranks increase at a higher rate in that class...but Swordmaster will be able to use Axes too, just because of how all of that works in this game. They just won't get the boost to exp gain with axes. But you can boost their levels in a given rank outside of combat through a number of ways, so that may not even be a big factor.

For the most part - classes are now differentiated by what class skills you want for a battle, what movement type you want for a battle, if you need a bit of a boost to a weapon rank...and aesthetics.

[Jingle Jangle]

The more images there are of Loren's hair, the less I understand. It is not meant for mortals to comprehend. Not too fond of Anna's asymmetrical design. What is the point of only one long sleeve?

[Sbuscoz]

8 minutes ago, Druplesnubb said:

There should be other sword and axe classes for females, but are there any other that specialize in both?

Wasn't there going to be another tier of classes judging by the slider of the menu for choosing class?

Maybe the evolution of the hero class is for both genders, wich might as well be Catherine's.

[luchinania]

I know we can use almost any weapon with any class, but classes are so boring this time around thanks to all the restrictions. Like only two flying classes so far and mounted units can’t use gauntlets, or how no one except for certain classes can use magic.

[Pen]

Dang, I guess they really are going to show off post time-skip designs before launch... I didn't think I'd have to stop following news an entire month before release, but I really don't want to see anyone from after the skip. Bummer.

[Owain Dark]

Since Heros now have Myrm and Swordmaster skills, one could think Myrm has Armshrift and Swordmaster gets Sol this time. 

[ArsSanctum]

2 minutes ago, Owain Dark said:

Since Heros now have Myrm and Swordmaster skills, one could think Myrm has Armshrift and Swordmaster gets Sol this time. 

Myrmidon is the level 5 "beginner" tier class, remember.

And no class skills have been actives thus far. I think actives are exclusive to Combat Arts. All other skills have been passives, so no Sol or Astra for Swordmaster.

[Owain Dark]

5 minutes ago, ArsSanctum said:

Myrmidon is the level 5 "beginner" tier class, remember.

And no class skills have been actives thus far. I think actives are exclusive to Combat Arts. All other skills have been passives, so no Sol or Astra for Swordmaster.

Hm. Could be, could be not

[BastienSoul]

9 minutes ago, Owain Dark said:

Since Heros now have Myrm and Swordmaster skills, one could think Myrm has Armshrift and Swordmaster gets Sol this time. 

Aren't the proc skills Crests now? Like how the Crest of Flames is like Sol.

[Owain Dark]

3 minutes ago, BastienSoul said:

Aren't the proc skills Crests now? Like how the Crest of Flames is like Sol.

But what Crests could be potentially have Astra, Aether, Ignis etc? 

[Ertrick36]

1 hour ago, Sentinel07 said:

Tonal dissonance is perhaps my No.1 worry. 

It's why I have a hard time going back to Conquest in particular, because it has probably the most tonal dissonance throughout the entire franchise.  One minute you'd be treated to a scene where a guy was brutally executing people who were rebelling against their exceptionally cruel king, then the next you'll be back in the castle reading a support where Arthur details an unfortunate series of unlucky events that transpired for him while he tried to do good deeds.

And with how some have complained about the story in Fates and have said they don't want this game to replicate it, I'm surprised that some of those same people say they'd be "okay" with a feature that contributed so strongly to it.

For the record, I'm not against having a place for activities similar to My Castle.  What I'm against is it becoming a pocket dimension that is lala land with sunshine and rainbows, especially if the story will go into dark places.  Doesn't matter that it isn't a literal pocket dimension, the time travel would effectively make it so.

35 minutes ago, Sentinel07 said:

Hero on the other hand has never been exclusive

Oh yes, it certainly has been, and for the vast majority of the games.

For reference, the only female mercenaries/heroes to have existed throughout the series are Malice (Archanea Saga only; she's a myrmidon in the remakes), Radney, and then the ones in Awakening and Fates.  In the first three games, Thracia 776, all the GBA games, the DS remakes, and Echoes, mercenary/hero was male-exclusive.  And the Tellius games never even had mercenary as a class (though Ike was effectively a mercenary under a different name), and only Ike was ever a "Hero".

In other words, before Awakening came around, the only female hero there ever existed was Radney, who was one of the substitute 2nd Gen characters you probably missed because nobody wants to use the substitutes (especially not the substitutes for Ayra's kids, as Ayra's kids are ungodly powerful, especially with someone like Lex as their father).

That said, it's really annoying that they've decided to make it male-exclusive in this game.  Vantage is such a highly regarded skill, but roughly half the cast can't even use it unless there's another class that can use it which isn't male-exclusive.  IMO they essentially took away one of the better elements of FE Fates, which was the lack of gender locks on most classes.

[Sentinel07]

By the way, is Marianne's crest specified as minor or is it just "Crest of ???" like Byleth's was?

[Cysx]

7 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Oh yes, it certainly has been, and for the vast majority of the games.

For reference, the only female mercenaries/heroes to have existed throughout the series are Malice (Archanea Saga only; she's a myrmidon in the remakes), Radney, and then the ones in Awakening and Fates.  In the first three games, Thracia 776, all the GBA games, the DS remakes, and Echoes, mercenary/hero was male-exclusive.  And the Tellius games never even had mercenary as a class (though Ike was effectively a mercenary under a different name), and only Ike was ever a "Hero".

In other words, before Awakening came around, the only female hero there ever existed was Radney, who was one of the substitute 2nd Gen characters you probably missed because nobody wants to use the substitutes (especially not the substitutes for Ayra's kids, as Ayra's kids are ungodly powerful, especially with someone like Lex as their father).

That said, it's really annoying that they've decided to make it male-exclusive in this game.  Vantage is such a highly regarded skill, but roughly half the cast can't even use it unless there's another class that can use it which isn't male-exclusive.  IMO they essentially took away one of the better elements of FE Fates, which was the lack of gender locks on most classes.

Thanks for bringing up Radney, people always forget about Radney.

... Thracia has Machuya(or whatever she's called now) promoting into mercenary, though. And Echidna in FE6 is a female Hero.

[Druplesnubb]

There was also Echidna in Binding Blade, though.

[VincentASM]

3 minutes ago, Sentinel07 said:

By the way, is Marianne's crest specified as minor or is it just "Crest of ???" like Byleth's was?

It's minor and ??? at the same time. Major crests have the text "Emblem" at the top of the icon. Only Byleth and Felix have this.

[Owain Dark]

1 minute ago, VincentASM said:

It's minor and ??? at the same time. Major crests have the text "Emblem" at the top of the icon. Only Byleth and Felix have this.

Byleth has the Fire Emblem /Crest of Flames, what Emblem does Felix have? 

[Shrimpy -Limited Edition-]

16 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Vantage is such a highly regarded skill

And this is why i am kinda sad. I mean, a Myrmidon (or Swordmaster) without Vantage is just wrooooooooooooong. Why did that Skill go to Hero anways? Didn't Heroes typically get Sol?

no Mia, Ayra or Mareeta this time around 😕

Edited June 19, 2019 by Shrimperor

[redlight]

20 minutes ago, Sentinel07 said:

By the way, is Marianne's crest specified as minor or is it just "Crest of ???" like Byleth's was?

Samely named. Just different crest. Same as Edelgard's bone axe's crest

[BastienSoul]

27 minutes ago, Owain Dark said:

But what Crests could be potentially have Astra, Aether, Ignis etc? 

I don't know. The only Crest that we know exactly what it does I the Crest of Flames. Mercedes' can activate while healing and Felix's adds damage, but we don't know specifically what they do. For all we know, Felix's could work like Ignis.

[ArsSanctum]

37 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

It's why I have a hard time going back to Conquest in particular, because it has probably the most tonal dissonance throughout the entire franchise.  One minute you'd be treated to a scene where a guy was brutally executing people who were rebelling against their exceptionally cruel king, then the next you'll be back in the castle reading a support where Arthur details an unfortunate series of unlucky events that transpired for him while he tried to do good deeds.

And with how some have complained about the story in Fates and have said they don't want this game to replicate it, I'm surprised that some of those same people say they'd be "okay" with a feature that contributed so strongly to it.

For the record, I'm not against having a place for activities similar to My Castle.  What I'm against is it becoming a pocket dimension that is lala land with sunshine and rainbows, especially if the story will go into dark places.  Doesn't matter that it isn't a literal pocket dimension, the time travel would effectively make it so.

Oh yes, it certainly has been, and for the vast majority of the games.

For reference, the only female mercenaries/heroes to have existed throughout the series are Malice (Archanea Saga only; she's a myrmidon in the remakes), Radney, and then the ones in Awakening and Fates.  In the first three games, Thracia 776, all the GBA games, the DS remakes, and Echoes, mercenary/hero was male-exclusive.  And the Tellius games never even had mercenary as a class (though Ike was effectively a mercenary under a different name), and only Ike was ever a "Hero".

In other words, before Awakening came around, the only female hero there ever existed was Radney, who was one of the substitute 2nd Gen characters you probably missed because nobody wants to use the substitutes (especially not the substitutes for Ayra's kids, as Ayra's kids are ungodly powerful, especially with someone like Lex as their father).

That said, it's really annoying that they've decided to make it male-exclusive in this game.  Vantage is such a highly regarded skill, but roughly half the cast can't even use it unless there's another class that can use it which isn't male-exclusive.  IMO they essentially took away one of the better elements of FE Fates, which was the lack of gender locks on most classes.

reminder Vantage would only be usable IN the hero class

[Mysterique Sign]

We don't know that Swordmaster doesn't have Vantage, a lot of classes share skills

And active skills might get turned into Combat Arts, like they were in Echoes

[Ertrick36]

28 minutes ago, Cysx said:

... Thracia has Machuya(or whatever she's called now) promoting into mercenary, though. And Echidna in FE6 is a female Hero.

28 minutes ago, Druplesnubb said:

There was also Echidna in Binding Blade, though.

Haven't played Binding Blade far enough and also completely glossed over Echidna in the lists.

Also haven't played far enough into Thracia to figure out that Mach-girl became a hero.  I'll add that I'm mostly glossing over a lot of information between the FE Fandom wiki and SF.

23 minutes ago, Shrimperor said:

Why did that Skill go to Hero anways? Didn't Heroes typically get Sol?

Lemme give you a bit of a history lesson on skills.

• Before Genealogy, skills weren't visible, but they were present as class-exclusive abilities.  But Vantage and Sol didn't appear until Genealogy.
• In Genealogy, Vantage first appeared, and it appeared as a personal skill, meaning only certain characters had it.  Noteworthy is the fact that Dalvin was the only Vantage-wielding character who could turn into a hero, and none of the other users of Vantage were sword infantry.  As for Sol, that skill was exclusive to Dew, who was a thief.
• In Thracia, Vantage once again appeared as a personal skill, though it could also be given to any unit via a scroll.  This time, Machuya and Perne were the sword infantry who started with it, the former being capable of being a hero and the latter being a thief fighter.  Sol was given to Shiva, who promotes into a swordmaster, Perne, who I've already spoken of, and Ilios, who is a mage knight; just like with Vantage, it can also be given to any unit via a scroll
• Both skills first reappear in Path of Radiance.  Mia the myrmidon (promotes to swordmaster) and Naesala the Raven Laguz are the sole wielders of Vantage in both Tellius games, and Sol is the class skill of Paladins, Gold Knights, Silver Knights, and Valkyrie in the Tellius games.
• Awakening is the game that really solidified Vantage as a class skill for myrmidons; it's otherwise always been a personal skill.  And it's also the first game where Sol was a class skill for heroes.  Fates continued this trend.

So really, the matter of which classes got which skills in regards to Vantage and Sol has always been kinda inconsistent.  Vantage has shown up on heroes quite a bit more than on swordmasters, while Sol seems to have been a favorite of thieves.  Mia was the first instance of a swordmaster who innately had Vantage, and Awakening was the first time it was treated as an actual class skill (and the class just so happened to be myrmidon this time around).

6 minutes ago, ArsSanctum said:

reminder Vantage would only be usable IN the hero class

Still doesn't change the fact that it's male-exclusive.  Even if it's only for, like, five levels, that's still five levels a female sword-fighter could've spent using that skill.  It's the same reason people complain about the lack of flying options for men in the Intermediate section while females have one.  It's a temporary issue, sure, but it still affects things for that time.

3 minutes ago, Mysterique Sign said:

We don't know that Swordmaster doesn't have Vantage, a lot of classes share skills

Wait, people already think swordmaster will get Swordfaire, if they get Vantage as well then they'll have the same skillset as the Hero class.  So, uh... what would be the point of the hero class, then?