Special Heroes: Perilous Seas

[Xenomata]

I guess all flying beasts are pirates 😛

Some notable details:

• Surtr's Portent is an upgraded Surtr's Menace, having a slightly higher stat buff/debuff and acting more as a Menace skill (ironically, given the names)
• Naesala has Stall Ploy, a new Ploy skill that turns Movement +1 bonuses into a limited movement debuff ala Gravity on foes in cardinal directions from the unit.
• There are now Def/Res variants of Ideal and Rein skills.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Xenomata

[Tybrosion]

For easy access, here are the stat lines (except Surtr's who might have a trainee bonus since his base version had one since it was never shown):

Naesala: 42/39/43/23/25/172
Vika: 41/34/40/17/40/172
Hinoka: 40/40/40/23/23/166

Lifis: 47/36/40/30/23/176

As far as my plans go, I'm going all-in for Naesala and the big sisters. I need them for my Tellius collection and Camilla collection respectively. I'll also be sure to pick up a Vika as I've never missed a 4* focus seasonal but do wish that I missed baby Lyon and certainly don't want to start doing so now.

[Mercakete]

44 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

I guess all flying beasts are pirates 😛

Well, the Hawks and the Ravens were referred to as pirates (especially the Ravens, as I recall) in their home game, so kind of. But the Herons aren't, and even then, those are just bird tribes, not all flying beasts.

Anyway, Surtr looks great! I want him. Looks super tanky. And that Def/Res Ideal looks great, especially since it isn't limited to just at the start of the turn! Does it apply those bonuses twoice -- once as a field buff and once as an in-combat buff?

Ooo Naesala really wants to own the field, restricting all those movement-boosting skills while giving himself canto with that trace skill.

Hmm Vika's weapon feels like a sort of "our team vs their team" thing. That is, group-based. So, missed opportunity to call her weapon "Murder." (Which is also what one calls a group of crows.)

I like Hinoka's bow (name and appearance.) Also, I see that it's a pun. ("Bow" as in weapon, (pronounced "bo") and "bow" as in the front of a ship.)

Looks like, out of the banner units, only Surtr doesn't fly, and yet his title has "sky" right in it. Interesting.

Edit: I like the princess' duo skill. It's nice, though Naesala kind of laughs at it with that new skill of his. I want Surtr the most, followed by Naesala, and then the princesses, and then Vika, and finally at the bottom, that one FE5 guy. So, kind of too bad for me that the ones who are easiest to get are the ones I care about the least, but eh. I'm not the first one to be in this position, so I'll graciously accept my turn at it.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Mercakete

[Ice Dragon]

And this is what happens when you suck at planning ahead with naming schemes: Surtr's Menace in Japanese uses the same word as the Threaten series of skills and has the same range and effect. Surtr's Portent in Japanese uses the same word as the Menace series of skills and has the same range and effect.

 

Stall is kind of eh as a status effect. It's basically a Panic-like effect for movement, but the problem is that, like Panic, it doesn't get rid of the movement status effect, so getting danced (or activating Galeforce) will remove the Stall effect. Sure, it stops the unit for its first action, but it can still run around all it wants for subsequent actions.

 

20 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

And that Def/Res Ideal looks great, especially since it isn't limited to just at the start of the turn! Does it apply those bonuses twoice -- once as a field buff and once as an in-combat buff?

It's the same as other Ideal skills. You get +7 in combat if you have either a Bonus or are at full health, and you get an additional +2 in combat if you have both.

 

20 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

Looks like, out of the banner units, only Surtr doesn't fly, and yet his title has "sky" right in it. Interesting.

My assumption is that it's a reference to "red sky at morning, sailors take warning", except instead of bad weather ahead, it's Surtr, combined with the fact that Surtr is associated with fire.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Ice Dragon

[Mercakete]

1 minute ago, Ice Dragon said:

It's the same as other Ideal skills. You get +7 in combat if you have either a Bonus or are at full health, and you get an additional +2 in combat if you have both.

 

My assumption is that it's a reference to "red sky at morning, sailors take warning", except instead of bad weather ahead, it's Surtr, combined with the fact that Surtr is associated with fire.

Point 1: Do you mean that "an additional +2" is additional to the +7, or in place of it?

Point 2: Indeed, but I still find it interesting. Like, they could have probably given him a (flaming) wyvern or something, but instead they just gave him an allusion to the sky in his title and left him on the ground while all the others can actually fly.

[Ice Dragon]

Just now, Mercakete said:

Point 1: Do you mean that "an additional +2" is additional to the +7, or in place of it?

In addition. As in +9 total.

[Florete]

58 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Naesala has Stall Ploy, a new Ploy skill that turns Movement +1 bonuses into Movement -1 debuffs on foes in cardinal directions from the unit.

Minor correction here: it turns movement +1 bonuses into gravity aka movement only 1.

[Mercakete]

16 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

In addition. As in +9 total.

Ah, okay. Thanks. 🙂 And yes, I have decided that I like this skill (especially as one who was always hoping for Def/Res Stance but never actually managed to get a Flying Olivia. I like my Def/Res bonuses.)

[Xenomata]

15 minutes ago, Florete said:

Minor correction here: it turns movement +1 bonuses into gravity aka movement only 1.

Oops thanks for pointing that out fixed.

 

34 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

Well, the Hawks and the Ravens were referred to as pirates (especially the Ravens, as I recall) in their home game, so kind of. But the Herons aren't, and even then, those are just bird tribes, not all flying beasts.

Probably coulda worded that better, I meant for pirate banners since all the beast units are fliers so far.

[Mercakete]

12 minutes ago, Xenomata said:

Probably coulda worded that better, I meant for pirate banners since all the beast units are fliers so far.

Ohh you mean all the beasts on the pirate banners have been fliers. This last staement sounded like IS has only released fliers as beasts period, but we also have cats, tigers, lions, wolfskin, kitsune, wolves, goats, black beasts...

[Sunwoo]

Well, the non-heron bird laguz are canonically pirates and plundering beorc ships in PoR. A pirates banner is a perfect seasonal for Tibarn, Janaff, Ulki, and Naesala (and maybe Nealuchi).

Vika, on the other hand ... well, she may be a raven laguz but the only thing we ever see her do is be part of Tormod's tag-along group.

And on that note, I hope Vika name-dropping Tormod means that he's coming sooner rather than later.

[Ice Dragon]

Another banner with interesting characters and weapons, another issue of Lost in Translation.

 

The name of the banner is 恐るべき海賊たち (osoru-beki kaizoku-tachi), "Pirates to be Feared".

Surtr's title is 紅蓮の海賊王 (guren no kaizoku-ō), "Crimson Pirate King".

Surtr's weapon is 炎海の灼槍 (enkai no shakusō?), "Burning Lance of the Sea of Flames". Edgelord material.

The skill Surtr's Portent is 炎王の脅嚇 (en'ō no kyōkaku), "Flame King's Menace", where 脅嚇 (kyōkaku) is the term used for the Menace series of skills. Contrast with Surtr's Menace, which is 炎王の威嚇 (en'ō no ikaku), "Flame King's Threat", where 威嚇 (ikaku) is the term used for the Threaten series of skills.

Naesala's title is 黒き海風 (kuroki kaifū or kuroki umikaze), "Black Sea Breeze". A sea breeze can be any wind that blows from water to land regardless of strength, despite being termed a "breeze". That just happens to be the word for it in English, apparently.

Naesala's weapon is 凶兆の海賊の嘴爪 (kyōchō no kaizoku no shisō?), "Beak and Talons of the Pirate of Ill Omen".

The new status effect is called 空転 (kūten), "idle" or "stall". The characters literally translate as "empty spinning", which is equivalent to the English expression "spinning one's wheels".

Vika's title is 海原を駆ける黒翼 (unabara o kakeru kokuyoku), "Black Wings Flying in From the Sea".

Vika's weapon is 射干玉の海賊の嘴爪 (nubatama no kaizoku no shisō?), "Beak and Talons of the Pitch-Black Pirate". 射干玉 (nubatama) means "pitch black", but also specifically refers to the fruit or seeds of the blackberry lily, which are very black. It is very much notable that the word can also be written with different characters 烏玉 (nubatama), which translate literally as "crow sphere".

Hinoka and Camilla's title is 双夜の海賊王女 (sōya no kaizoku-ōjo), "Pirate Princesses of the Dual Nights". The "nights" refer to Hoshido and Nohr, which are 白夜 (byakuya), "White Night", and 暗夜 (an'ya), "Dark Night", in Japanese, respectively.

Hinoka's weapon is 海泳ぐ人魚の弓 (umi-oyogu ningyo no yumi), "Seafaring Mermaid's Bow".

Lifis's title is イスの海賊団 (isu no kaizoku-dan), "Pirate of Iz".

Lifis's weapon is 操舵の斧 (sōda no ono), "Steering Axe".

Edited August 3, 2021 by Ice Dragon

[Etria]

Fuuuuuuuuuu, Sutr looks so awesome. Naesala and Vika are cool too. I want all of them. The princess are meh.

[eclipse]

The thought of the Ruler of Flame being on a boat in the middle of a lot of water is absolutely hilarious.  I'm not going to complain if anyone else shows up, though!

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm glad the pirate banner was popular enough to return but aside from Neasalla none of these characters are doing anything for me. I'm kinda grumpy Vika stole Tormod's slot. 

Also maybe Askr shouldn't have festivals celebrating people who rape, pillage and burn for a living? Heroes like Est and Safy have been kidnapped by pirates, and I think Valbar might have opinions about celebrating the sort of people who murdered his family 🙃

Edited August 3, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[Sunwoo]

7 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I'm glad the pirate banner was popular enough to return but aside from Neasalla none of these characters are doing anything for me. I'm kinda grumpy Vika stole Tormod's slot. 

Also maybe Askr shouldn't have festivals celebrating people who rape, pillage and burn for a living? Heroes like Est and Safy have been kidnapped by pirates, and I think Valbar might have opinions about celebrating the sort of people who murdered his family 🙃

Lyn was also salty as fuck about having to hitch a ride with pirates. It'd be interesting to see how people who've had bad interactions with pirates would react to a pirate festival.

But in all seriousness, I feel like things such as pirates and mercenaries and ninjas have been sanitized so much by popular media that a lot of people forget that these people weren't ... well, they weren't necessarily good people.

[Ouzyxol]

Hard pass for me.

I don't really need any of the fodder they have, I don't like any of the characters particularly much...

 

1 hour ago, Sunwoo said:

But in all seriousness, I feel like things such as pirates and mercenaries and ninjas have been sanitized so much by popular media that a lot of people forget that these people weren't ... well, they weren't necessarily good people.

{Sarcasm} What-do-ya-mean? Pirates where great people! Wonderful business partners for the local! Loot some treasure being sent off to some random king, maybe catch a couple of pretty lasses, and off to market they go, stirring up wealth for those they trade with! {Sarcasm}

[Othin]

Surtr's weapon is identical to Gustav's, aside from the color. His C skill is certainly cool, but I don't think it's as scary as a Save skill.

Everyone is cool here, but nothing I need beyond the easy Lifis and Vika.

[LoneStar]

So we have Stall Ploy as the counter to Holy Knight Aura, hilarious. In AR the Safety Fence will be more of a counter to Odd Recovery since that skill literally invalidated every negative status effect, so they had to do something so that Stall Ploy is even worth having. I kind of wish that the first summer banner already ended so people can't last minute pull for more Even Recovery I'm definitely not salty about anything.

[Interdimensional Observer]

3 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

But in all seriousness, I feel like things such as pirates and mercenaries and ninjas have been sanitized so much by popular media that a lot of people forget that these people weren't ... well, they weren't necessarily good people.

And to be fair, this applies to the entire Middle Ages as well. Knights, chivalry, castles, jousts! -And lots and lots of warring by great kings and petty nobles alike. Warfare is bad. In Japan's much idealized Sengoku equivalent, Motonari Mori, portrayed as a nice guy in Samurai Warriors, once told his underlings "If the miners revolt, use arrows to put them down". Life in the era was pretty bad for peasants, as it was in Medieval Europe b/c the whole serfdom thing.

[UNLEASH IT]

I don't know if there was a typo or something but Hinoka's weapon looks extremely underwhelming

[Othin]

46 minutes ago, UNLEASH IT said:

I don't know if there was a typo or something but Hinoka's weapon looks extremely underwhelming

Are you reading "attacks twice" as a guaranteed follow up? It's a brave effect. 

To me, it's not super exciting, but it's fine. 

[Diovani Bressan]

Interesting how Mermaid Bow has 4 conditions to trigger the Brave effect:

1. Unit's HP has to be iqual or above 25%;
2. Unit has to be the one initiating combat;
3. Unit's Spd has to be higher than foe's Spd;
4. Unit has to have weapon triangle advantage against foe (aka foe has to be Blue).

They really hate blue units, especially Hector and Dimitri.

[Magenta Fantasies]

Like last month, I’m ambivalent about this banner. Last month I was excited to see a (partially) Archanean summer banner, then immediately stopped caring when I saw Summer Marth wasn’t part of it. 😕

This time I was excited to see Camilla as part of a Duo Hero...but the back end, and as usual I don’t love her alt outfit. To be fair, she has more alts than Hinoka. 

On the other hand, the pirate banner returns, and Naesala is on it! I’d summon for him, but I really want Summer Corrin to complete my Corrin collection and I’m very low on Orbs. Vika is a pleasant surprise. 

I hope the ninja banner returns later, and I REALLY hope we get a pirates vs. ninja voting gauntlet. That would partially make up for Fates not bringing back pirate as a class (although there were sort of pirates in one chapter of Conquest, but they were also sort of ninja. It makes sense in context.)

[UNLEASH IT]

1 hour ago, Othin said:

Are you reading "attacks twice" as a guaranteed follow up? It's a brave effect. 

To me, it's not super exciting, but it's fine. 

Yeah, but it's against units that she'd kill anyway. This isn't swinging any matchups for her. Unitwise, she might be the worst Duo/Resonant Hero we've gotten this year.

Edited August 3, 2021 by UNLEASH IT