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My 1 Issue with Byleth so far...


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So I'm only between Chapter 6-7 on the Golden Deer route, and I am really really enjoying Three Houses.

I've never really taken much issue with Fire Emblem bringing in Avatars, and while I have Mixed-Feelings about silent protagonists in general, it hasn't really bothered me yet.

So in RPGs I pretty much always play a magic class, or at least some sort of Hybrid. It was the thing I loved most about Robin, how Magic based they were by default,. Corrin had to an extent as well, though I'd say they tended to push towards the Physical.

Despite the versatility of the Class system and our students in FETH, making Byleth proficient in Magic is a giant pain. Yes they do have a bit of a bonus in faith, and a more Supportive Byleth is probably in the cards for a future play-through. But Reason, trying to focus on that as a supplement to the Sword of the Creator is well not great.

Edited by Peregrine 2k
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My issue is with this as well. Recruiting anyone who requires a Mag stat seems so much more difficult than ones who require Str, Spd or Cha since even shifting to a magic class doesn't boost you all that much. At level 20, the Byleths on both my playthroughs had Str that skewed toward 20 and Mag that skewed toward 10.

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My one nitpick (besides the terrible leggings and belly button window that is) isn't limited to just Byleth, but extends to basically every female in the game. They're constantly standing or sitting with their toes pointed inward. In fact, that seems to be a trend with females in this series in general. Wtf is with that? And this is coming from a female that sometimes stands that way herself. It's a weird habit of mine. Sure, it's a bit of a feminine habit, but NOT EVERY FEMALE HAS TO DO IT. 😕 It's silly for all females to do it when some just would not do so. Especially those whose personalities just don't fit that.

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8 minutes ago, nordopolica said:

My issue is with this as well. Recruiting anyone who requires a Mag stat seems so much more difficult than ones who require Str, Spd or Cha since even shifting to a magic class doesn't boost you all that much. At level 20, the Byleths on both my playthroughs had Str that skewed toward 20 and Mag that skewed toward 10.

it doesn't really matter if you take the time to grind C ranks. I have recruited everyone in chapter 4 now on NG+

I barely managed 4 the first time around, remember that supports can help you with recruiting.

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It's pretty crazy that we can't pick out strengths and and are sort of railroaded into using a sword. Now obviously this isn't FEH where oversaturation of swords is an issue, but I absolutely despise whip swords on a conceptual level and would rather use pretty much anything else. And while I can do that, I am effectively penalised for it. It's incredibly frustrating.

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6 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

It's pretty crazy that we can't pick out strengths and and are sort of railroaded into using a sword. Now obviously this isn't FEH where oversaturation of swords is an issue, but I absolutely despise whip swords on a conceptual level and would rather use pretty much anything else. And while I can do that, I am effectively penalised for it. It's incredibly frustrating.

yes i agree, there was no good reason for no customisation and it is a step backwards from prior titles in that regard.

This is worsened by the fact that you need different skill levels for recruiting and your classes and without allocating strengths it kinda is a pain to do.

Flying, Armor, Riding  and to some extent the magics (as Byleth has to know a spell before he can grind them...) are a pain in the butt.

 

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Incidentally, I recruited 8 students on my first run, including all the ones with Magic as a preferred stat.

I do wonder why they didn't allow some sort of boon/bane system again. I'm not done yet, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of story-based reason to not allow it.

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Even with slower growth rate, if you just want your sword/magic wielder Byleth it's totally doable. By the endgame I had a kickass Mortal Savant and I really didn't put much effort into grinding Reason before the second half of the game. 

I agree though that they could've solved it better, since Byleth is definitely "skewed" towards sword/faith. 

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I personally don't mind this TOO much, because Corrin was kind of like that, too (Omega Yato, anyone?), and Robin was obviously meant to be more of a magic user than anything else (see Awakening's cutscenes that feature Robin fighting outside of gameplay).

My number one problem with Byleth is that my Byleth got stat screwed. Badly. I mean, he does good damage, but his speed leaves a lot to be desired (third slowest unit on my team right now, but fourth highest in levels - and that's as a Swordmaster, which supposedly gives +20% to speed growths) and his defense is only slightly better than Mercedes' (a healer, mind you). Not that his resistance is any better.
The days where the "Avatar" character was the strongest unit in the game are long gone, it seems. I do think Byleth is the best implementation of one story-wise, though.

5 hours ago, if... said:

You can do ANYTHING! b̶u̶t̶ ̶l̶e̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶n̶y̶ ̶p̶r̶f̶ ̶s̶w̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶e̶

That shiny prf sword with only 20 uses that requires a crapton of money and extremely rare materials to repair, you mean.

The Heroes' Relics in general are pretty pointless in this game, I feel like. As stated, only 20 uses, which you can't increase, and repairing them requires way too much effort and resources for what you get out of doing so.

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This seems so weird to me.

Byleth's stats are so obviously skewed towards one class line, but ALL of their special abilities are magic based.

Their unique master class can use magic, and ALL of their unique combat arts are magic based, not strength based.

However, their spell list is... quite subpar. They do get Aura for Faith, but they don't get warp, fortify, physic, ward, or rescue.

Their reason is even worse, they just cap out at Ragnarok.

@DragonFlames Well, compared to legendary weapons in the series history, they're more useful than normal. For starters they are way more powerful than they've been in the past (not counting geneology and thracia), they unlock unique combat arts, they give unique abilities just for holding them, and you actually CAN repair them (though as you said, it's generally not worth it) where previously it was outright impossible.

Edited by dragonlordsd
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4 hours ago, dragonlordsd said:

@DragonFlames Well, compared to legendary weapons in the series history, they're more useful than normal. For starters they are way more powerful than they've been in the past (not counting geneology and thracia), they unlock unique combat arts, they give unique abilities just for holding them, and you actually CAN repair them (though as you said, it's generally not worth it) where previously it was outright impossible.

This is true.

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12 hours ago, Humanoid said:

It's pretty crazy that we can't pick out strengths and and are sort of railroaded into using a sword. Now obviously this isn't FEH where oversaturation of swords is an issue, but I absolutely despise whip swords on a conceptual level and would rather use pretty much anything else. And while I can do that, I am effectively penalised for it. It's incredibly frustrating.

How are you penalized for it? I never use his prf sword and I've been fine the whole time. And my Byleth is a mage! Once I figured out you can't train yourself in the weekly growths, I just focused on the Prof training to build up my Reason, transferred to the Mage class, and mostly use magic with the occasional Iron Sword+.

Plus he doubles everything with those and his Str/Mag is strong enough he can basically clear a map himself (I've tried to keep him 2-3 levels below everyone so he's closer to being on par, but even lower level he's stronger)

My issue with Byleth personally, is I just wish he was his own character. I've never liked silent protags (Ludger or Joker come to mind) with choices. The only exception was the Inquisitor in DA:I, and they gave a wealth of options/was fully voiced/had different tones. Anger/Faithful/Sarcastic/Sad. I hate fake options that don't do anything, or too little options that feel the same. I'd rather Byleth just be his own character like Robin (not Corrin, he was trash).

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6 minutes ago, Kiran_ said:

How are you penalized for it? I never use his prf sword and I've been fine the whole time. And my Byleth is a mage! Once I figured out you can't train yourself in the weekly growths, I just focused on the Prof training to build up my Reason, transferred to the Mage class, and mostly use magic with the occasional Iron Sword+.

Plus he doubles everything with those and his Str/Mag is strong enough he can basically clear a map himself (I've tried to keep him 2-3 levels below everyone so he's closer to being on par, but even lower level he's stronger)

My issue with Byleth personally, is I just wish he was his own character. I've never liked silent protags (Ludger or Joker come to mind) with choices. The only exception was the Inquisitor in DA:I, and they gave a wealth of options/was fully voiced/had different tones. Anger/Faithful/Sarcastic/Sad. I hate fake options that don't do anything, or too little options that feel the same. I'd rather Byleth just be his own character like Robin (not Corrin, he was trash).

Opportunity cost is a thing. You give up a lot for it, and for completely arbitrary reasons. I don't doubt that you can make any build viable, but it doesn't answer the question of why you're pushed so hard in one direction at all.

And yeah, they took the silent protagonist thing too far. It's one thing to have it simply be an opportunity for the player to insert their own headcanon, but it's utterly ridiculous when for example another character asks you if you have any hobbies, and your two possible answers are "No" and "No". That's not being a blank slate, that's just being a explicitly told you're the Least Interesting Man in the World. I mean, would it be difficult if one of the answers was like "Sure..." and then you silently wave your hands around a little?

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10 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

Opportunity cost is a thing. You give up a lot for it, and for completely arbitrary reasons. I don't doubt that you can make any build viable, but it doesn't answer the question of why you're pushed so hard in one direction at all.

And yeah, they took the silent protagonist thing too far. It's one thing to have it simply be an opportunity for the player to insert their own headcanon, but it's utterly ridiculous when for example another character asks you if you have any hobbies, and your two possible answers are "No" and "No". That's not being a blank slate, that's just being a explicitly told you're the Least Interesting Man in the World. I mean, would it be difficult if one of the answers was like "Sure..." and then you silently wave your hands around a little?

Lore reasons basically (for both).

Edited by Tharne
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My problem with Byleth is that he/she is the main protagonist of the story. I know that sounds weird, but the further you go the more things Byleth does that are out of your control that make him/her feel more like his/her own character rather than a player avatar. I personally wish they would just go one way or the other with it. Either make Byleth a fully realized character that makes their own choices thought the story, or make Byleth a fully customized player avatar who is secondary to the main protagonists Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude without effecting the story too much. All of the recent FE player avatars try to be somewhere in the middle and as a result I've never found any of them very compelling one way or the other.

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8 hours ago, TheGoodHoms said:

My problem with Byleth is that he/she is the main protagonist of the story. I know that sounds weird, but the further you go the more things Byleth does that are out of your control that make him/her feel more like his/her own character rather than a player avatar. I personally wish they would just go one way or the other with it. Either make Byleth a fully realized character that makes their own choices thought the story, or make Byleth a fully customized player avatar who is secondary to the main protagonists Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude without effecting the story too much. All of the recent FE player avatars try to be somewhere in the middle and as a result I've never found any of them very compelling one way or the other.

Corrin was the main protag of fates. The game revolved around them. They just where generally not a very good protag (specially conquest corrin).

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My main issue with Byleth, as others have posted here, is the lack of visual customization. I guess that's the price we had to pay for making him appear fully in the animated cutscenes but still. I don't really mind the silent part though. Byleth has a role in the story, sure, but at the end of the day, the stories are about Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude. Byleth doesn't have the presence that Robin or Corrin had and i think that's a good thing in this game.

 

 

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I think what officer @TheGoodHoms is saying is that the recent Fire Emblem avatars don't work because making them self insert characters means they either have to make decisions basically anyone would make in any situation, or make story-interesting and self-defining choices which break the immersion of the character being "you," thus negating their status as player inserts. I for one can suspend my disbelief enough to see these characters as both myself and a character in their own right, but I understand the frustration that comes with watching "your" character make decisions logically or ethically opposed to how you would actually approach the situation.

I think my biggest problem with Byleth is the lack of a boon/bane system on them. It's fun to mess around with your strengths and weaknesses between runs, and really I just wanted to continue my hipster +Resistance/-Strength builds.

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Yellow experience tiles in online mode can restore gambits and weapon/spell uses. (My sister has online for her son so she put me on her family group so all three of us could use it)

this was intended to be a reply about 20 use prf sword...

Edited by iavasechui
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I wish they took into account you reading the stuff in the library before certain points in the game. Although, not everyone would do that. Still, I feel like Byleth is kind of just being forgetful in game or something.

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36 minutes ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

I wish they took into account you reading the stuff in the library before certain points in the game. Although, not everyone would do that. Still, I feel like Byleth is kind of just being forgetful in game or something.

Well, you could say that 

Spoiler

Sothis

was an amnesiac too.

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It was a major pain trying to recruit Lysithea and I basically had to get B Support with her so I could overcome the fact that my Mag stat was total ass. I do wish it was a bit more all around stat wise, but granted, it wasn't a game breaker for me~

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