Special Heroes: Lovely Gifts

[Sunwoo]

That art looks like Hidari's Alm and Celica, I'm actually shocked it's a different artist.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Sunwoo

[eclipse]

This just means that you get to put up the teaser video. . .

. . .but, uh, can you tone the salt down a bit?  First posts shouldn't set the tone of the thread to "this is a mistake", especially for stuff like banners.

[Anacybele]

I would've preferred Mae and Boey over Faye and Silque myself. But hopefully this means they'll eventually get their own alts on a different banner.

I'm just going to do the free pull and skip. Conrad looks neat, but I really want those GD Ike merges. Though thankfully, Conrad is also a 4 star possibility, so I could end up getting him in just a small number of orbs anyway.

[Xenomata]

Okay biased first-post opinions aside, let's talk skills and stats, cause if you look closely you can see we know them already (to an extent).

>Alm and Celica sport at least 40 HP, 35 Atk, 43 Spd (this is probably the stat being boosted by Scepter of Love), 32 Def, and 25 Res. They have the skillset Scepter of Love, Lunar Flash, Bonus Doubler, Lull Atk/Spd, and what looks to be Rouse Spd/Res.

>Faye has at least 43 HP, 40 Atk, 23 Spd, 35 Def, and 38 Res, with the skills Budding Bow+, Moonbow, Death Blow 4, Bold Fighter, and Armor March. Methinks Halloween Jakob just got powercrept...

>Conrad seems to come with 39 HP, 32 Atk, 23 Spd, 33 Def, and 35 Res. His skills of Melee Bouquet, Ardent Sacrifice, what looks like Brazen Def/Res, and Wings of Mercy clearly spell out demote, which I guess means that now every seasonal banner is gonna have the painfully obvious demote character... shame, was hoping we'd get some half-decent units for our coming seasonal demotes, but guess that was too much to ask for.

>Rudolph comes packing at least 46 HP, 43 Atk, 21 Spd, 41 Def, and 29 Res. Besides Thorn Lance, which seems to have Special Cooldown -1 on it, we can also see Bonfire, Special Fighter, and what looks to be Threaten Atk/Def 3.

>Silque has 40 HP, I'd say a minimum of 28 Atk, 22 Spd, 32 Def, and 29 Res. She wields Rapport Wand+, Martyr+, Heavenly Light, Live to Serve, and Spd Opening.

Not too many new skills this time around, and those we have are just retreds of existing skills. No idea what any of these weapons do yet, but then I guess we'll see when the banner trailer is officially released.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Xenomata

[Humanoid]

They should make a Resplendent version of Duo Alm where Celica is replaced by Faye.

 

(Banner is fine, the headline unit is fine, but I'm done spending on 6% banners until the summoning pools are savagely culled)

[Silver Lightning]

I'm actually genuinely excited for this banner! Valentia is up there as one of my favorite games, and I'm glad we're getting more, on a Valentines banner no less. 

Alm/Celica duo unit is the one I'm gunning for and the first one I'm happy to see; not really a fan of the brokeness of them, but this is a good concept. Along with the first actual canonical romantic couple on a Valentines banner, I also noticed that they're the first canonical romantic couple as a duo unit. I was kinda expecting them to keep up the platonic theme they've had with them so far, but I guess that theory is gone. It was nice while it lasted, but I do like Alm and Celica together so I'll take it.

I agree that this game/banner would have been the perfect time to introduce more couples considering this is one of the few games where they are locked to canon and wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes compared to other games; all the designs look nice at least. I do like how they enjoy portraying different kinds of love as well (sibling and parental), but Silque doesn't really fit as much, and I'm actually questioning the logic of whoever thought it was a good idea for Faye to be present on this banner of all things. And their weird thing for giving her bows.

So how broken/useful are Alm/Celica? I actually want to try for them, hopefully without losing too many orbs.

Curse you IS, stop tempting me, I need to save for Dimitri now... DX

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by Silver Lightning

[Fire Emblem Fan]

It's nice to see a Valentia banner for Valentines, and I'm actually okay with Alm and Celica being a duo unit since they are literally a canon couple, but the other character choices are...odd. There's Zeke and Tatiana, Clive and Mathilda, Gray and Clair, and Boey and Mae, all canon couples that would have been better choices than Conrad, Faye, Silque, and Rudolph. I personally would have put Gray, Clair, and Mae on the banner, and made Boey the TT+ unit. Either that or put Gray and Clair on the banner, keep Conrad there, and make Rudolph the TT+ unit.

Regardless, overall it looks like a pretty nice banner. It keeps up the tradition of having gorgeous artwork; the art for Elibe Valentines was great, the art for Tellius Valentines was great, and now the art for Valentia's Valentines is great.

[XRay]

5 minutes ago, Humanoid said:

They should make a Resplendent version of Duo Alm where Celica is replaced by Faye.

 

(Banner is fine, the headline unit is fine, but I'm done spending on 6% banners until the summoning pools are savagely culled)

Or even better, replace Alm with Conrad, and have the next Valentines Duo Hero be Ephraim-Eirika.

[thanny]

I might throw in some orbs for Duo Alm/Celica and Faye, I like their art and they're probably going to very good units. Not too excited for this banner.

As a lot of people pointed out, Boey and Mae should have been in this banner, there's also Clive and Mathilda, Grey and Claire, Berkut and Rinea, and Zeke and Tatiana that would have been far suitable candidates.

Edited February 3, 2020 by thanny

[Tybrosion]

17 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

>Alm and Celica sport at least 40 HP, 35 Atk, 44 Spd (this is probably the stat being boosted by Scepter of Love), 32 Def, and 26 Res. They have the skillset Scepter of Love, Lunar Flash, Bonus Doubler, Lull Atk/Spd, and what looks to be Spd/Res Oath.

I think that's actually a Rouse skill based on the icon. For reference: 

Spoiler

 

[Landmaster]

Duo Alm and Celica is extremely tempting but L!Alm and Dormer at the end of the month needs top priority. Assuming that goes well, I definitely want Alm and Celica. Conrad would be nice to have, but I don't see myself intentionally going for him, but him being 4* is really nice~

Silque is food for Elise so~

[eclipse]

6 minutes ago, XRay said:

Or even better, replace Alm with Conrad, and have the next Valentines Duo Hero be Ephraim-Eirika.

If we're going to make Valentia burn, Alm goes with Mae, and Celica goes with Clair.  😛

Glad that Silque is the freebie, since I'm not a huge fan of Faye.

[Xenomata]

14 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

I think that's actually a Rouse skill based on the icon. For reference: 

  Hide contents

 

Ah you're right, Rouse Spd/Res. My bad.

That would then mean Alm/Celica's statspread is 40/35/43/32/25, unless this Rouse skill decides to change rules for... some reason.
Edited the original post to prevent mistakes.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Xenomata

[XRay]

6 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

That would then mean Alm/Celica's statspread is 40/35/43/32/25, unless this Rouse skill decides to change rules for... some reason.

That is still a pretty strong stat spread. I think I am tempted to pull for them now, even if their Duo Skill sucks.

[Xenomata]

5 minutes ago, XRay said:

That is still a pretty strong stat spread. I think I am tempted to pull for them now, even if their Duo Skill sucks.

Well, remember that their Spd might be getting boosted by Scepter of Love (Largely Spd-based kit, after all), but yeah it is tempting to try for them.

...tempting, and the 3rd anniversary is certainly gonna give enough orbs to try for them, but I'm not gonna keep my hopes (or luck) up.

[Lemmy]

I love Faye’s artwork, and I could use an armored archer with bold fighter and armor march built in, so I‘ll try to get 1.

The meat is wrong in the right way, I pity that the one person she loves doesn’t love her back.

[SockPuppet]

Going all in for the Duo! They’re adorable. Definitely want a 4* Conrad too, don’t mind the 20k feathers 

[Jave]

Damn, that was a salty and depressing OP.

Anyway, banner looks okay but probably won't pull on it. Will try to free pull for Alm + Celica but that might be it.

Really nice one of the units is in the 4* pool, though.

[SoulWeaver]

3 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

Oh, also, I guess we're going to get one duo hero on every seasonal banner from now on. For the foreseeable future, at least. Halloween Hector and Lilina, then Winter Marth and Elice, then New Year's Alfonse and Sharena, and now Valentine's Alm and Celica. I don't like it, but I guess I can live with it as long as they stick ONLY with lords for now.

...I'm both so curious about and so afraid of Summer now. A swimsuit Duo Hero might be too much.

As for the Banner we're actually talking about, easy pass, there's no Whitewings, no Duma Faithful, and no Cipher Units, the three things I actually pay attention to SoV Units for, so I'm just holding out for that Valentine's Roy that keeps avoiding me. Props to all you Valentia fans tho

[NegativeExponents-]

Eh, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Celica in a relationship is Saber/Celica, maybe even Atlas/Celica, so that pretty much tells you how badly I think Alm/Celica was handled despite being the canon couple. Mae/Boey duo would have been so much better imo.

I like Faye and think she looks really cute with her outfit but having her be a bow yet again is boring. Edit: scratch that I didn't notice she was armored instead of infantry. That makes her slightly more tempting. But only slightly. Same with Conrad except he's slightly different by being a sword but stat spread looks the same and hate how investment heavy he'd be to get him up and working.

Rudolf is neat I guess. Never expected he'd make it in so it's nice to see him but also don't personally care for him.

Silque is the one I'm most happy to see so I'm glad she's free.

Safe skip which is good cause I want to hunt for a V!Ike merge and maybe finally get LA!Lyn if I have orbs to spare.

Edited February 3, 2020 by NegativeExponents-

[Mercakete]

I already put what I think of this banner, so I'll go ahead and just copypaste.

The Valentine's banner is sooo cute! I love it! And I kind of feel like I need that Alm duo hero since I have all the other Duo heroes and since they'll complete the color set. (Alfonse+ Sharena is blue, just like Ephraim and Lyon. Marth and his sister are colorless, and Hector and Lilina are red. So, Alm and Celica being green round it out for color balance! Plus, I really like their design.) And I recognized Berkut's dagger right away, and the other I ID's pretty fast, too! Berkut carries a dagger just like that on his belt all the time, and Alm's matches his blue-green-gold color scheme! It's so cute, Rudolf thinking about his boys (the use of "boys" here is intentional, as Rudolf basically raised Berkut. I did not say "sons.")! And just everyone else is so nice! ^_^

I guess my thing is that I like Valentine's Day being shown as a day for all kinds of love, not just romantic love. It's a day for romantic couples to express their love for each other, as well as celebrating friendships, parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, etc, too! And that gets represented well in FEH's Day of Devotion banners. Anyone you appreciate, you show appreciation to! It's really nice. =D

This year:

Rudolf: parent/child

Celica and Alm: romantic

Silque: comrades

Faye: romantic

Conrad: sibling? I can't tell if he's focused on Celica or just on the people he appreciates in life in general.

Last year:

Pretty much the whole thing was focused on family, and in particular surrogate family aimed in particular at Griel. This was particularly interesting since it focused on dealing with the loss of one you love.

Year before:

Hector: parent/child, friends, Armads/battle

Lyn: friends, peacetime

Eliwood: friends, parent/child, peacetime

Roy: romantic friends, parent-child, people he respects

Lilina: parent/child (predominantly), friends

[daisy jane]

12 hours ago, Silver Lightning said:

I'm actually genuinely excited for this banner! Valentia is up there as one of my favorite games, and I'm glad we're getting more, on a Valentines banner no less. 

Alm/Celica duo unit is the one I'm gunning for and the first one I'm happy to see; not really a fan of the brokeness of them, but this is a good concept. Along with the first actual canonical romantic couple on a Valentines banner, I also noticed that they're the first canonical romantic couple as a duo unit. I was kinda expecting them to keep up the platonic theme they've had with them so far, but I guess that theory is gone. It was nice while it lasted, but I do like Alm and Celica together so I'll take it.

I agree that this game/banner would have been the perfect time to introduce more couples considering this is one of the few games where they are locked to canon and wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes compared to other games; all the designs look nice at least. I do like how they enjoy portraying different kinds of love as well (sibling and parental), but Silque doesn't really fit as much, and I'm actually questioning the logic of whoever thought it was a good idea for Faye to be present on this banner of all things. And their weird thing for giving her bows.

So how broken/useful are Alm/Celica? I actually want to try for them, hopefully without losing too many orbs.

Curse you IS, stop tempting me, I need to save for Dimitri now... DX

 

 

I know. belgh. and there is a 3 houses banner right around the corner from this. 
I am going to try so hard to actually wait to pull for Alm+Celica. 
but Legendary is really my main eye-ball right now as well. If i could grab a Julia and a Petra (it should be her turn) that would be lovely, unless you know. I can clutch out a Petra in these hero fest tickets lol. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

Woo, seasonal and based entirely on the worst FE game (in my opinion, because that needs to be said here.)

 

Easy skip is easy. 

[DefyingFates]

15 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

Also, Faye is just no. Putting her on a banner where Alm and Celica are a literal duo hero is kind of mean-spirited and creepy at the same time.

Yeah. Faye was already unsettling as a character, but putting her alongside literal-romantic-Duo Hero Alm & Celica is all kinds of messed-up. I get that the unrequited lover cliche is popular, but jeez!

On topic, I'm skipping this banner, but I'm happy for the 4* Focus it's introducing. Good luck to everyone pulling on it though!

Edited February 3, 2020 by DefyingFates

[Mercakete]

Ah, also, I think it goes well with Genny and Lukas from last year's picnic banner. Same soft, warm colors, and similar style of dress. I think it'd be fun to use units from both! I already have a Valentian Infantry team, though. I wonder what other sort of Valentian team I can make. (Also, this would require me to pick up a Picnic Lukas or Picnic Genny.)