How do you feel about Byleth likely being a consistent major source of Three Houses representation in future FE content?

[Seazas]

With Heroes promotional unit being Byleth, Cipher's combined lord art being solo Byleth alongside the other lords, Smash Bros and a guaranteed amiibo.

What are your thoughts?

Bonus: Any specific thoughts about the current character choices as amiibo that are likely to be consistent even if FE is ongoing several years from now?

[Yexin]

i'm don't like FE avatars, and i really despise them taking the spotlight in spite of other major characters/villains, both in their own games and in the series overall, when it comes to representation in Smash and in other FE spin-offs (Warriors, Heroes)

[lenticular]

On the one hand: Byleth is my least favourite character in Three Houses, and I would prefer to see spotlight given to literally any other character in the game.

On the other hand: I mostly don't care about spin offs anyway. I've never played Heroes, Warriors or Cypher, and I didn't like Smash Ultimate. So it doesn't really matter to me which characters are given more appearances.

On the gripping hand: If spin offs, merchandise, etc. more routinely included characters that I cared about, then I'd be more likely to start caring about them.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I wish it were another character, or characters.

But - I like Three Houses getting represented.

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm not a fan of it. Byleth is the least interesting aspect of Three Houses so he's often the worst choice they could have made. Byleth being in Smash means more interesting characters like Edelgard or Dimitri can't be. Byleth getting a slot in merchandise or spin offs is a slot a better character isn't getting.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Etrurian emperor

[Seazas]

36 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I'm not a fan of it. Byleth is the least interesting aspect of Three Houses so he's often the worst choice they could have made. Byleth being in Smash means more interesting characters like Edelgard or Dimitri can't be. Byleth getting a slot in merchandise or spin offs is a slot a better character isn't getting.

>Edelgard

Oh god no. More Black Eagle favoritism would make my head explode. Putting El in Smash would punt Dimitri and Claude in the shadow realm just when they actually got some equal footing with El.

[Silver-Haired Maiden]

13 minutes ago, Seazas said:

>Edelgard

Oh god no. More Black Eagle favoritism would make my head explode. Putting El in Smash would punt Dimitri and Claude in the shadow realm just when they actually got some equal footing with El.

As much as I agree I don't see them adding all 3 to Smash. Not without it being like a Pokemon Trainer type deal where Byleth is commanding and you can switch between the three and they only take one character slot.

[Seazas]

36 minutes ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

As much as I agree I don't see them adding all 3 to Smash. Not without it being like a Pokemon Trainer type deal where Byleth is commanding and you can switch between the three and they only take one character slot.

I'm willing to compromise with Byleth than deal with more Edelgard centric stuff. Dimitri and Claude were never recovering from that if El got in Smash Bros. 

Marth being in Smash and always using his classic Falchion led to the remake's version of Falchion basically being wiped from existence (which is fine but El would have an unbelievable amount of attention).

[Etrurian emperor]

1 hour ago, Seazas said:

>Edelgard

Oh god no. More Black Eagle favoritism would make my head explode. Putting El in Smash would punt Dimitri and Claude in the shadow realm just when they actually got some equal footing with El.

It is true that one character would have an edge over the other two but that still strikes me as a more exiting option then a compromise candidate. 

ARMS ended up deciding its character far more interestingly. They too could have been boring and picked Springman or the female protagonist but instead they went with someone more interesting by virtue of her being more interesting. Three Houses seems to have chosen the safe but boring option while ARMS took the more interesting risk. 

[Dark Holy Elf]

1 hour ago, Seazas said:

I'm willing to compromise with Byleth than deal with more Edelgard centric stuff. Dimitri and Claude were never recovering from that if El got in Smash Bros. 

I think this is why we get Byleth, yes. Byleth is not my favourite, and in fact is relatively few people's favourite compared to Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude. But they'll choose Byleth for representation because s/he is the only character who is inclusive of 3H in general. Choosing one of the lords elevates that house above the rest. So while I'm not precisely happy that a silent avatar is representing the game compared to some of my favourite characters in the series, I totally understand why it is happening and I expect it to continue.

[Samven]

I honestly don't have too much of a problem with Byleth.  Sure, she's not the most interesting Avatar but I don't have a problem with Avatars for the most part.  The concept I'm pretty okay with, it's just the execution that sometimes doesn't always pan out.

Honestly, I would rather see one of the other main Lords take centre stage because I do agree that they're more interesting.  I wouldn't even mind it being Edelgard, and I'm someone who is very adamantly on the side of Claude and Dimitri when it comes to which Lord I prefer, because - as stated with the ARMS reasoning - she's interesting.  I think she's wrong but she's interestingly wrong, and I don't think that's such a bad thing.

[Mylady]

I think Byleth is the chosen one to represent Three Houses because picking either Dimitri, Edelgard or Claude would piss a lot of fans, so Byleth is the "neutral" choice. 

[Seazas]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

It is true that one character would have an edge over the other two but that still strikes me as a more exiting option then a compromise candidate. 

ARMS ended up deciding its character far more interestingly. They too could have been boring and picked Springman or the female protagonist but instead they went with someone more interesting by virtue of her being more interesting. Three Houses seems to have chosen the safe but boring option while ARMS took the more interesting risk. 

ARMS and Three Houses are different though. Three Houses actively centers around the narrative based on what house you pick with entirely different stories and all of this stuff. While ARMS is so inconsequential to the point the dev labelled everyone as the protagonist.

I prefer Byleth in terms of Smash picks because no house favoritism at all. Picking Edelgard wouldn't just give her an edge. it would SKYROCKET the Black Eagles, the house that already had a head start over the Blue Lions and Golden Deer due to weird advertising. It would be awful if El got in Smash.

20 minutes ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

I think this is why we get Byleth, yes. Byleth is not my favourite, and in fact is relatively few people's favourite compared to Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude. But they'll choose Byleth for representation because s/he is the only character who is inclusive of 3H in general. Choosing one of the lords elevates that house above the rest. So while I'm not precisely happy that a silent avatar is representing the game compared to some of my favourite characters in the series, I totally understand why it is happening and I expect it to continue.

We also see Three Houses through Byleth's eyes and they happen to be the only lord from Three Houses that actively had a dedicated CG of any kind for Byleth getting their personal weapon. While El, Claude and Dimitri don't for some reason.

8 minutes ago, Samven said:

I honestly don't have too much of a problem with Byleth.  Sure, she's not the most interesting Avatar but I don't have a problem with Avatars for the most part.  The concept I'm pretty okay with, it's just the execution that sometimes doesn't always pan out.

Honestly, I would rather see one of the other main Lords take centre stage because I do agree that they're more interesting.  I wouldn't even mind it being Edelgard, and I'm someone who is very adamantly on the side of Claude and Dimitri when it comes to which Lord I prefer, because - as stated with the ARMS reasoning - she's interesting.  I think she's wrong but she's interestingly wrong, and I don't think that's such a bad thing.

Again, ARMS doesn't compare to Three Houses in terms of main character picking. The entire conflict is defined by the three while in ARMS it's just a fun tournament. 

[Samven]

Oh, I certainly agree that there's a difference in conflict-severity - but I think the point stands.  A character you can have a big ol' chat about wins out over one who doesn't provoke such talks for me.

[Yexin]

hot take: Rhea would be a better way to represent 3H compared to Byleth, and my reasons are:

1) she can be considered somewhat of a "neutral" pick (since nobody really cares about Rhea and her route in general, and it wouldn't make Edelgard/Dimitri/Claude fans THAT upset);
2) strong female character;
3) love her or hate her, she's a much more interesting character than Byleth

Edited August 8, 2020 by Yexin

[Seazas]

14 minutes ago, Samven said:

Oh, I certainly agree that there's a difference in conflict-severity - but I think the point stands.  A character you can have a big ol' chat about wins out over one who doesn't provoke such talks for me.

Byleth is better than picking house favoritism. Especially when Byleth's view is the one we're always stuck with in TH.

Min Min works enough because ARMS does not radically change with who you pick and Min Min is a common main face of ARMS side by side with Spring Man and Ribbon Girl.

[Carter]

25 minutes ago, Mylady said:

I think Byleth is the chosen one to represent Three Houses because picking either Dimitri, Edelgard or Claude would piss a lot of fans, so Byleth is the "neutral" choice. 

Definitely agree with this. I honestly don't really care about Byleth at all, but I think this avatar character was handled better than Corrin or Robin. I don't really view Byleth so much as an avatar character because the only things we get to choose are our name, gender, and birthday (it's pretty much not an avatar character at all tbh), as opposed to Corrin where you could really go all out customize them and pick your height, hair style and color, eye shape, boon/bane, voice, and really make it you.

Picking a specific house leader seems weird to me because they should be all equal, not just one of them standing above the others as the poster character to represent Three Houses. Especially not when you have a character that represents Three Houses as a whole, like Byleth.

[Etrurian emperor]

2 minutes ago, Carter said:

Definitely agree with this. I honestly don't really care about Byleth at all, but I think this avatar character was handled better than Corrin or Robin. I don't really view Byleth so much as an avatar character because the only things we get to choose are our name, gender, and birthday (it's pretty much not an avatar character at all tbh), as opposed to Corrin where you could really go all out customize them and pick your height, hair style and color, eye shape, boon/bane, voice, and really make it you.

I actually hold the opposite opinion. I view Byleth as an avatar because he's a mute who's thoughts and words are mostly up to the player's action or imagination. Corrin on the other hand is a defined character with a very clearly defined personality. The key thing for an avatar is that the player should be able to project themselves into the character. You can with Byleth because he's a silent protagonist and to some extent with Robin since his personality is pretty low key. But Corrin has an extremely dominant personality. The game makes it crystal clear that he's a naive, sensitive bleeding heart and that won't change no mater how much a player would put himself into Corrin's shoes. Corrin widely being considered somewhat of a dummy further creates a disconnect between a player and an avatar that makes foolish mistakes the player would never make. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

Indifferent to it. In regards to avatars, Byleth falls somewhere inbetween Robin (love) and Corrin (hate).

 

If Byleth keeps getting into spinoffs, I'll just he happy that we're getting more spinoffs (hint, make a Warriors 2).

Edited August 9, 2020 by Fabulously Olivier

[Samven]

On 8/8/2020 at 4:48 PM, Seazas said:

Byleth is better than picking house favoritism. Especially when Byleth's view is the one we're always stuck with in TH.

Min Min works enough because ARMS does not radically change with who you pick and Min Min is a common main face of ARMS side by side with Spring Man and Ribbon Girl.

Don't get me wrong: I see where you're coming from, I personally just come down on the side that I would genuinely rather have "house favouritism" and the potential of introducing people to a character who isn't totally squeaky clean because that could raise some interesting discussions than just picking the game's most vanilla character.

But, hey, that's just like my opinion, man.

[Seazas]

2 hours ago, Samven said:

Don't get me wrong: I see where you're coming from, I personally just come down on the side that I would genuinely rather have "house favouritism" and the potential of introducing people to a character who isn't totally squeaky clean because that could raise some interesting discussions than just picking the game's most vanilla character.

But, hey, that's just like my opinion, man.

Sometimes vanilla works better than shafting other main lords that debut in the same game. Byleth is the least offensive choice and spares the fanbase of less pointless debate. 

10 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Indifferent to it. In regards to avatars, Byleth falls somewhere inbetween Robin (love) and Corrin (hate).

 

If Byleth keeps getting into spinoffs, I'll just he happy that we're getting more spinoffs (hint, make a Warriors 2).

I'm indifferent to Byleth myself, at least them getting in spinoffs increase the opportunity of Byleth being an actual character.

[Fabulously Olivier]

On 8/8/2020 at 7:51 AM, Seazas said:

>Edelgard

Oh god no. More Black Eagle favoritism would make my head explode. Putting El in Smash would punt Dimitri and Claude in the shadow realm just when they actually got some equal footing with El.

Black Eagles favoritism exists for a reason. Edelgard is not equal with the other lords. Never was. Never will be. She is THE most important character in the game's narrative, for all paths. She is the most fitting representative for the game, even above Byleth.

 

Spoiler

For fuck's sake, she's the game's main antagonist and the singer of its theme song. For all intents an purposes, Edelgard is 3 Houses.

 

Also, it would have been cool to have a villain rep in Smash for this franchise. But no, we can't have nice things.

 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Fabulously Olivier

[Silver-Haired Maiden]

2 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Black Eagles favoritism exists for a reason. Edelgard is not equal with the other lords. Never was. Never will be. She is THE most important character in the game's narrative, for all paths. She is the most fitting representative for the game, even above Byleth.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

For fuck's sake, she's the game's main antagonist and the singer of its theme song. For all intents an purposes, Edelgard is 3 Houses.

 

Also, it would have been cool to have a villain rep in Smash for this franchise. But no, we can't have nice things.

 

Except she is equal with the other two. The game is 3 Houses, not Edelgard + Two Schmucks. Heck, they originally didn't plan for Crimson Flower to be a thing at all, meaning she wasn't intended to be a main lord at all in the beginning. Just because she's the driving point behind the war doesn't make her the most important character. Otherwise you'd have to claim Sephiran is the most important character in Tellius when he's very much not.

[Seazas]

45 minutes ago, Silver-Haired Maiden said:

Except she is equal with the other two. The game is 3 Houses, not Edelgard + Two Schmucks. Heck, they originally didn't plan for Crimson Flower to be a thing at all, meaning she wasn't intended to be a main lord at all in the beginning. Just because she's the driving point behind the war doesn't make her the most important character. Otherwise you'd have to claim Sephiran is the most important character in Tellius when he's very much not.

This

3 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Black Eagles favoritism exists for a reason. Edelgard is not equal with the other lords. Never was. Never will be. She is THE most important character in the game's narrative, for all paths. She is the most fitting representative for the game, even above Byleth.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

For fuck's sake, she's the game's main antagonist and the singer of its theme song. For all intents an purposes, Edelgard is 3 Houses.

 

Also, it would have been cool to have a villain rep in Smash for this franchise. But no, we can't have nice things.

 

Byleth is more important by virtue of us seeing the world through Byleth's perspective, not Edelgard's.

[GlitchWarrior]

Personally? Even if Byleth is the face of the game, his/her three potential proteges are the real stars of the show. Sure, Byleth is the POV character. But he/she is a blank slate. Like, literally, Byleth has no personality, it's even commented on. Now, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude are the three that should represent Three Houses to the world in my opinion.