Fates had the Best One/Two Support Characters

[Magenta Fantasies]

Who else agrees with me? Generally I am indifferent to characters that can only support with the main character (or one or two other characters, like Anna in Awakening, Flora and Gunter), but Fates had some truly memorable ones. Here is my take on each one. What are your opinions?

Anna-She’s more or less the same as her character in Awakening, though I’m glad Fates Anna doesn’t look like a jester. I love both of them.

Flora-From what few supports she has and her role in the story, she has a genuinely interesting personality and backstory with untapped potential. I like the contrast and similarities between her and Felicia. While I prefer Felicia as a character, I prefer Flora as a unit. In general, I love the Maid/Butler classes and Flora is the best in combat.

Fuga-I have a neutral opinion of him. I find it kind of amusing that by marrying him you become Hayato’s stepmother. Also, I really like Kana’s hair color if Fuga is his father (apparently he had dark brown hair before he went bald/shaved.)

Gunter-I like him more than I expected to. For a Jagen he has good longevity. He is a surprisingly viable unit for me; in Conquest I used him all the way up to Chapter 22. I noticed him falling behind in usability in Chapter 21 (though he took hardly damage from the Faceless since his defense was so high). I enjoyed his supports as well.

Izana-I liked him immediately for his wit, positivity, innocence, pure-heartedness, and beatific attitude. I don’t see innocent male characters too often, which is part of his (and male Corrin’s) appeal. His supports with Corrin are unfortunately somewhat dull, but his Kana support is hilarious and is one of my favorite father supports for Kana. From my experiences, he’s one of the better mages in Fates.

Reina-I’m not hugely fond of most of the Hoshidan cast, but Reina is one of my favorite characters in Birthright. Her personality is somewhere between Camilla and Peri, both of whom I love, so understandably I would love her, too. Kinshi Knight is an awesome class both in utility and aesthetics (one of my favorite Fire Emblem classes ever) and she is a powerful unit.

Scarlet-I like her design and personality, and it’s a pity she didn’t get to do more. I’ve seen several people echo that sentiment, and she ranked remarkably high in the last Choose Your Legends, placing 146th. I would’ve liked to see her resistance group play a larger role in Birthright and I wish she had a support with Flora. She’s a great unit, too. I love having a strong, defense-oriented flyer.

Shura-See Flora, but with even fewer supports. Shura is one of my favorite non-royal characters in Fates, and currently at the top of my “most wanted list” for Heroes. He has an interesting design: I like his hair, and Adventurers have one of the best class outfits in any Fire Emblem game. Though Shura lacks the fabulous hat enemy Adventurers wear, I like his color scheme. I can’t put my finger on why, but I find him oddly charming. For me, he is one of the best non-royal units. He has several great reclassing options, several DLC classes suit him (I made Shura a Lodestar in Conquest; he was virtually untouchable and doubled everything in his path.) In fact, he does well in every class I’ve reclassed him to. His map in Conquest is one of my favorite maps in the series.

Yukimura- I have a somewhat positive view of him, and would probably like him more if he had more supports or time in the story. It’s too bad he can only be recruited in Birthright; Mechanist is a very fun class to use. I like the idea of an inventor character in a Fire Emblem game (he’s the only one I know of.) His supports could expand on of the most interesting and unexplored aspects of Hoshido: how much more technologically advanced they are than virtually anywhere else in Fire Emblem.

[Etrurian emperor]

They certainly had the most of them. I'm not sure I think they are the best. Many of them are non entities who's ''old'' age likely relegated them to both the background and to the position of Corrin sexual.  

I think the Avatarsexuals were probably better in Awakening. Gangrel, the Khans, Aversa, Walhardt and others all had their flaws and weren't well implemented in the playable roster, but they weren't background characters. They all have a bit more to do then have a boring chat with the avatar. I do really love Izana and think he would have been one of Fates best character if Fates had any interest in him. 

[Magenta Fantasies]

On 4/8/2021 at 11:12 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

I think the Avatarsexuals were probably better in Awakening. Gangrel, the Khans, Aversa, Walhardt and others all had their flaws and weren't well implemented in the playable roster, but they weren't background characters. They all have a bit more to do then have a boring chat with the avatar. I do really love Izana and think he would have been one of Fates best character if Fates had any interest in him. 

I agree that Awakening’s avatarsexuals were for the most part more important to the game’s story, though I didn’t like most of their personalities as much. In Fates, Yukimura and Shura influenced background events significantly (both orchestrated Azura’s kidnapping from Nohr) and are important to the story in some scenes in Birthright and Conquest. Izana and Scarlet are also story-important.

I really like Izana too, and wish more had been done with him. I feel the same way about Shura. Of the avatarsexuals, they are by far my favorites, and the two I wish had larger roles...or at least two or three more supports. Both should be able to father Shigure as well.