My 1 Issue with Byleth so far...

[Ottservia]

On 8/1/2019 at 1:47 AM, Anacybele said:

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.

That was most likely a budget and time constraint decision. I mean to have to make unique standing animations and such for each individual character model would be a ton of unnecessary work when they can just copy and paste the same “skeleton” over and over for each character and just fill in the design details. This way they really only need to animate like a handful of full models and adjust as need be to fit the design of the character. A failrly common practice in 3D game design actually. 

[twztid13]

On 8/1/2019 at 12:47 AM, Anacybele said:

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.

See, I didn't even notice that, but I'm not that far in yet. I usually pick up on things like that, as I'm pretty picky. After Awakening scarred me, I just make sure the characters actually have feet, & I'm satisfied for a bit before I start my internal criticism.

I agree about the outfit of female Byleth, tho. I noticed that any who chose to say one way or another in this thread picked male Byleth besides us. Is that the most common choice? Is their a reason, if so? I always pick female characters when I have a choice, as I prefer looking at a female for all the hours I'm forced to stare at the protagonist. Some games in the past, like Mass Effect, I chose what I wished or saw myself looking like in that world, so it was Male (as was the transferred version I'm ME2 & 3). I think those were the last games I tried to make the main character look like myself, as I then changed to the rationale I mentioned above for some reason.

Edited September 5, 2019 by twztid13
Additional thoughts. Avoiding double post.

[Alastor15243]

I had this idea where instead of each house having one teacher, you'd have multiple teachers teaching all of the houses different subjects, and for character customization you'd choose what subject to teach, and you'd be good at that thing as a result. This would also mean you'd get to know more of each house and what they stand for in the big picture before picking sides. 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Ivan Tridelan]

17 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I had this idea where instead of each house having one teacher, you'd have multiple teachers teaching all of the houses different subjects, and for character customization you'd choose what subject to teach, and you'd be good at that thing as a result. This would also mean you'd get to know more of each house and what they stand for in the big picture before picking sides. 

This is a great idea, since it not only lets you choose Boon/Bane, but also takes away the rather annoying fact that your first PT is based solely off first impressions with no story reason why you would feel inclined to side with Lord E/D/C

[Timlugia]

I think my biggest problem is actually lack of voice acting and monologue.

It wasn't as big problem at first with Jeralt and Sothis stand in for Byleth's personality development, but you lost these character about 1/3 to 1/2 into the game

Without Sothis commenting, Byleth was an absolutely silent protagonist and it hurts his/her development.

[CyberNinja]

13 hours ago, Ivan Tridelan said:

This is a great idea, since it not only lets you choose Boon/Bane, but also takes away the rather annoying fact that your first PT is based solely off first impressions with no story reason why you would feel inclined to side with Lord E/D/C

I mean, barring Edelgard you've pretty much got a good reason for sticking with your lord since they're the one with the army fighting the guys trying to kill you, for her she stands as the only one you can jump ship on, so I don't get the complaint?

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, CyberNinja said:

I mean, barring Edelgard you've pretty much got a good reason for sticking with your lord since they're the one with the army fighting the guys trying to kill you, for her she stands as the only one you can jump ship on, so I don't get the complaint?

Well for her the choice is completely luck-based and bizarre, and revolves around one choice with no explanation of what you're even choosing, and then another that I found I had to ask a friend to double check because the wording was vague.

Plus, even if the choice were more clear, more importantly...

Spoiler

The problem remains that when I picked Edelgard, I had no idea it would mean I'd have to choose between an imperialistic conqueror and a literal shapeshifting reptilian conspiracy. Hell, I didn't know all of that until after I had to choose between them.

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Alastor15243

[xchickengirlx]

Playing as F!Byleth on my BL run and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to her awful professor outfit. I’ve come to overlook the leggings, but that belly window is just so bad. That and her giant eyes, which doesn’t help with her constant deadpan expressions. I’m also dreading her awful appearance with her Enlightened one costume.

that’s all complaints about aesthetic stuff though. I’m kinda 50/50 on Byleth as a character personality wise. Which they hardly have any. Yes, Corrin was awful in most aspects, but I think IS took it a liiitlllle too far with the self insert ness of Byleth. They are just too dull for my liking, and for players like me who don’t get so into injecting self into self insert mcs, it’s just kinda a meh experience.

[Alastor15243]

39 minutes ago, xchickengirlx said:

that’s all complaints about aesthetic stuff though. I’m kinda 50/50 on Byleth as a character personality wise. Which they hardly have any. Yes, Corrin was awful in most aspects, but I think IS took it a liiitlllle too far with the self insert ness of Byleth. They are just too dull for my liking, and for players like me who don’t get so into injecting self into self insert mcs, it’s just kinda a meh experience.

Doesn't help that they established in the prologue they're just as capable of stupidity as Corrin. Say what you will about Corrin, but at least when he needed to be saved by divine intervention from an astral dragon with mastery over space and time, it was because his sword sucker-punched him and dragged him off a cliff. Not because his best instinct to block a bandit's axe with 7 whole seconds of prep time was to tank it with the back of his neck.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Etrurian emperor]

My biggest problem with Byleth is that the dialogue options often make him seem like a dummy and that you're occasionally forced to chose an option that makes him look stupid. 

Byleth is a teacher so having the students explain very basic stuff like the existence of the knight of Seiros or very common details of their countries sound very weird. With some examples it can be justified a bit by Gerald's upbringing but other times its just basic stuff any teacher should have known. I realize why these dumbo questions exist since most players obviously don't know much about Fodlan when starting the game but it does detract from his teaching credentials quite a bit. Imagine an American schoolteacher who has to be explained Canada is a democracy. 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Etrurian emperor

[Ottservia]

2 hours ago, xchickengirlx said:

Playing as F!Byleth on my BL run and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to her awful professor outfit. I’ve come to overlook the leggings, but that belly window is just so bad. That and her giant eyes, which doesn’t help with her constant deadpan expressions. I’m also dreading her awful appearance with her Enlightened one costume.

Personally I love F!Byleth’s design just because of how stupid it looks. Cause like she had no female role model in her life and she just traveled from place to place as a mercenary and I doubt Jeralt is the leading influencer on fashion in foldlan. I just kinda like to headcanon that she just kinda took a wild guess as to what girls wear and threw on whatever shit she thought looked nice and just went with it. She has terrible fashion sense and everyone in the monetary knows it’s shit but no one calls her out on it just because of how stoic and terrifying she looks. It amuses me.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Ottservia

[Alastor15243]

26 minutes ago, Ottservia said:

Personally I love F!Byleth’s design just because of how stupid it looks. Cause like she had no female role model in her life and she just traveled from place to place as a mercenary and I doubt Jeralt is the leading influencer on fashion in foldlan. I just kinda like to headcanon that she just kinda took a wild guess as to what girls wear and threw on whatever shit she thought looked nice and just went with it. She has terrible fashion sense and everyone in the monetary knows it’s shit but no one calls her out on it just because of how stoic and terrifying she looks. It amuses me.

That actually sounded plausible until you said everyone was too intimidated. I never got an impressive vibe from FemBy, more a "part robot" or "on the spectrum" vibe with those wide open eyes and the vacant stare she often has.

[Ottservia]

15 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

That actually sounded plausible until you said everyone was too intimidated. I never got an impressive vibe from FemBy, more a "part robot" or "on the spectrum" vibe with those wide open eyes and the vacant stare she often has.

Well the “terrifying” bit mostly comes out of how my friends Byleth is super over leveled in comparison to everyone else. Plus the fact they can kinda faze through shit with such a blank expression(which I know is just an animation error but it’s funny regardless). 

[Julian Solo]

It is mentioned by several characters Byleth is kind of creepy with there stoicism.

[Timlugia]

5 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

My biggest problem with Byleth is that the dialogue options often make him seem like a dummy and that you're occasionally forced to chose an option that makes him look stupid. 

Byleth is a teacher so having the students explain very basic stuff like the existence of the knight of Seiros or very common details of their countries sound very weird. With some examples it can be justified a bit by Gerald's upbringing but other times its just basic stuff any teacher should have known. I realize why these dumbo questions exist since most players obviously don't know much about Fodlan when starting the game but it does detract from his teaching credentials quite a bit. Imagine an American schoolteacher who has to be explained Canada is a democracy. 

I think it depends on who's explaining it. It would make more sense having Jeralt explain to him as "Oh, yeah, I didn't tell you I was a captain in the knights."

[dragontamer]

On 8/5/2019 at 8:09 PM, Ottservia said:

That was most likely a budget and time constraint decision. I mean to have to make unique standing animations and such for each individual character model would be a ton of unnecessary work when they can just copy and paste the same “skeleton” over and over for each character and just fill in the design details. This way they really only need to animate like a handful of full models and adjust as need be to fit the design of the character. A failrly common practice in 3D game design actually. 

"Does double-arm fist pump maneuver".

 

BTW: I think the terminology is "models", "bones", and "poses". Usually, you create your models in such a way that you can apply a "pose" to them. A "bone" is a way of simplifying models down so that they can be animated with the same technology. A "pose" is a particular animation that can be applied to any bone. I guess it isn't wrong to call a collection of bones a "skeleton".

 

This game clearly recycles poses to an absurd degree. They put most of the effort into good models, but almost everyone moves the same. With that being said: fighting games typically recycle poses (Tekken, Soul Calibur, Smash Ultimate, etc. etc.), so this is actually quite typical. Its very rare for a large-scale game to have unique poses these days.

 

Unique poses do happen in Street Fighter IV, LA: Noir, and Guilty Gear Xrd. But most people don't notice that kind of effort, so its definitely in the minority of games.

Edited September 6, 2019 by dragontamer

[Jotari]

On 8/1/2019 at 12:47 PM, Anacybele said:

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.

Not in Awakening. People don't have feet in that game.

[Anacybele]

10 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Not in Awakening. People don't have feet in that game.

Not in-game, but some of the females have their feet posed like that in the official artwork.

[Jotari]

14 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Not in-game, but some of the females have their feet posed like that in the official artwork.

Having a quick look, it seems Nowi and Thraja do it. But on the whole, most Awakening artwork makes it look like the characters are walking somewhere for some reason. Although Lissa some how makes it look like she's doing both. Tiki kind of has it too, but it's more a turning pose than a standing pose.

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Having a quick look, it seems Nowi and Thraja do it. But on the whole, most Awakening artwork makes it look like the characters are walking somewhere for some reason. Although Lissa some how makes it look like she's doing both. Tiki kind of has it too, but it's more a turning pose than a standing pose.

Cordelia and Lissa do too. And think Sumia as well, but I don't remember for certain on that one.

[Jotari]

5 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

Cordelia and Lissa do too. And think Sumia as well, but I don't remember for certain on that one.

I'd put Cordelia in the "I'm walking somewhere and holding my weapon in an odd way" camp.

And like I said about Lissa, she somehow manages to look like she's walking and standing in the pose at the same time.

I think the intention is that she's playfully rolling back and forth on the balls of her feet, but the artwork is kind of weird. The right foot is of a darker shade, suggesting it's further away, like the Cordelia example above. However it's also the exact same size if not a little bigger than her left foot. Maybe it's meant to be the shadow of her dress? Well in that case the light source must be coming from her left to illuminate her left leg and there's a big gap on her dress that would let the light pass through. Not to mention half of it is under the dress anyway.

Sumia also has weird shadows going on with her, but I'm more willing to believe that's because she's walking than Lissa is. Her right foot is at least raised suggesting she's just about to take a step. It's still hitting the whole "There's a tonne of shadow suggesting depth but they're the legs are exact same size and there's no indication of movement above the knees" thing.

[Anacybele]

1 minute ago, Jotari said:

I'd put Cordelia in the "I'm walking somewhere and holding my weapon in an odd way" camp.

And like I said about Lissa, she somehow manages to look like she's walking and standing in the pose at the same time.

I think the intention is that she's playfully rolling back and forth on the balls of her feet, but the artwork is kind of weird. The right foot is of a darker shade, suggesting it's further away, like the Cordelia example above. However it's also the exact same size if not a little bigger than her left foot. Maybe it's meant to be the shadow of her dress? Well in that case the light source must be coming from her left to illuminate her left leg and there's a big gap on her dress that would let the light pass through. Not to mention half of it is under the dress anyway.

Sumia also has weird shadows going on with her, but I'm more willing to believe that's because she's walking than Lissa is. Her right foot is at least raised suggesting she's just about to take a step. It's still hitting the whole "There's a tonne of shadow suggesting depth but they're the legs are exact same size and there's no indication of movement above the knees" thing.

Yeah, fair points here, but I still don't like the way their feet are positioned. It's just weird to me. xP

[Usana]

Well my copy finally arrived after being lost in the mail, found, and finally delivered.

So far I am not liking Byleth so much. I was hoping this would be like the Super Robot Wars Protagonists. But Byleth so far feels more like a blank avatar character to me, not completely I suppose, but awfully close. And if that is the case I want customization. Seriously though I hope as I progress Byleth gets a bit more character, I don't mind the SRW method at all, but it does require your main character male and female to be well done and fun.

Actually this game has a lot to learn from SRW in general. Having the definitions like SRW has would be nice. For those who haven't played SRW they have all keywords underlined in blue and by pushing Square it'll pop up the lore related to that keyword. Thus if you ever forget anything it is easy to refresh yourself. The characters names are the same way and you can always look up whomever is currently talking. After playing so much SRW recently I am really missing that feature.

[charcoalswift]

I notice Byleth doesn't seem to grow in SPD as Enlightened One

But That is their only weakness

Levin Sword Byleth can wipe out all enemies without high RES and anyone with RES can be killed with normal swords, pretty OP huh?

Edited September 8, 2019 by charcoalswift