Book VI Discussion Thread

[Etrurian emperor]

So it seems Veronica really did get older through Embla's puberty beam. She now seems to be about Sharena's size in the cutscene rather than significantly shorter like before.

On a more cynical note, I heard speculation about it being Sharena in the ending rather than Alfonse because his Japanese VA had that scandal some time ago. 

[Diovani Bressan]

Can we have those Askr and Embla dolls as accessories, like how we got the Mar-Mar dolls?

[DefyingFates]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

So it seems Veronica really did get older through Embla's puberty beam. She now seems to be about Sharena's size in the cutscene rather than significantly shorter like before.

Well, she had to grow up eventually. Is she taller than Brave Veronica now though, that's what I want to know.

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

On a more cynical note, I heard speculation about it being Sharena in the ending rather than Alfonse because his Japanese VA had that scandal some time ago.

It sucks that the only reason Sharena got any focus was because Alfonse literally couldn't be used for something. Considering Cloud's JP VA also got caught in a scandal earlier this month, I don't know if this has been a good year for FF fans (Alfonse's VA also voices Noctis from FFXV).

[Etrurian emperor]

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

It sucks that the only reason Sharena got any focus was because Alfonse literally couldn't be used for something. Considering Cloud's JP VA also got caught in a scandal earlier this month, I don't know if this has been a good year for FF fans (Alfonse's VA also voices Noctis from FFXV).

Yeesh. Poor Ray Chase. Potentially losing work from not one but two roles because a VA he shares characters with got into trouble on the other side of the world. 

[DefyingFates]

17 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Yeesh. Poor Ray Chase. Potentially losing work from not one but two roles because a VA he shares characters with got into trouble on the other side of the world. 

Oh, I completely forgot Ray was also Noctis! I don't think Noctis is being used for at the moment though, so there's some comfort there at least (unless there's a FFXIV/ FFXV crossover going on at the moment that I'm not aware of).

[Diovani Bressan]

I guessed this in the past, and I will guess it again: the November's banner will be Legendary Veronica & Mythic Embla.

I think Elm will be in the void, alongside Fafnir and Freyr, and maybe saved for a future Mythic Banner for next year or Book 6 TT Story.

[Mercakete]

Well. I saw the book ending video. .............. The dolls were cute. I want them as hats in game. I'm glad it gets explained where they are, though, instead of just "yeah, it's a random location." Makes it a bit more somber that it used to be Letizia's retreat. At first I thought the empty seat was for Bruno, but then it was just Sharena (and I guess Alfonse wasn't invited despite working so hard this book.) I kept cringing at Sharena's voice. Maybe it's just me, but it was really, really annoying. And Veronica's voice didn't really fit her, imo. This also fits a stereotype I rather dislike: that wholesome moments can only really happen between females. Oh well.

I guess the main takeaway I have from it is this: it was sweet and the quality was great, but it was unnecessary and it didn't answer any of the questions that actually needed to be answered.

NOW onto reading everything else.

@DefyingFates

Though I agree I'd like to see more Hrid, I get why we didn't. The plot wasn't following him around, so he only showed up where his own story overlapped with the Askrans'.

@Etrurian emperor

I disagree about letting Anna or Sharena take over the main story being ideal and here's why: Alfonse is the main character of the main story, Sharena is in charge of the side fluff (hence Sharena's introductions to characters and such), and Anna's the main character of other things like announcements and sales, and this has been how it's been since the onset. Of course in the main story you're going to mostly have Alfonse -- that's his domain. The only way to balance this would be to ax Sharena's introductions and give the role to Alfonse or Anna and then let the other person take over the remaining role. So it'd be "Let Anna introduce you!" and Alfonse taking over the "commander" role, while Sharena gets to run the main campaign. The model they have in place included 3 mains for a reason: because there were three major roles each could head.

@Diovani Bressan

Hopefully Elm will at least show up as a seasonal. I want my best bat beast boy. (And I am STILL humored by the cowbell polearm vs the tuning fork polearm, even though they never actually got any use because "whoops, they transform." Hopefully they'll be actual weapons someday.)

[DefyingFates]

46 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

I guess the main takeaway I have from it is this: it was sweet and the quality was great, but it was unnecessary and it didn't answer any of the questions that actually needed to be answered.

I think that sums it up pretty well. I guess it's nice to close this particular plot thread up like this though, since it's been running for so many IRL years?

47 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

This also fits a stereotype I rather dislike: that wholesome moments can only really happen between females. Oh well.

Yeah, it really sucks 😕 I imagine if Alfonse was around we'd have gotten a mix of fluff and story details, but as mentioned before his JP VA isn't exactly available at the moment.

48 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

Makes it a bit more somber that it used to be Letizia's retreat.

That was a sweet touch, though now I have this mental image of Veronica looting Letizia's residence for stuff and remembering this place in the process. Hmm.

[Lemmy]

 

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

 

Hopefully Elm will at least show up as a seasonal. I want my best bat beast boy. (And I am STILL humored by the cowbell polearm vs the tuning fork polearm, even though they never actually got any use because "whoops, they transform." Hopefully they'll be actual weapons someday.)

There's a decent chance to show up in the New Years banner, with the recurring beast theme and recurring story character theme

[Othin]

2 hours ago, Lemmy said:

 

There's a decent chance to show up in the New Years banner, with the recurring beast theme and recurring story character theme

Hmm. So far, New Year's beasts have tended to be the four-legged kinds, but being a story character is probably enough to get him in anyway. Especially since they seem to like using those banners to bring together characters from both sides of the previous book's war. Which, now that I think of it, could suggest an Askr/Embla duo hero, leaving room for Ash and Elm in the other two rare slots like Reginn and Fafnir last year.

[Medeus]

Unfortunately, I could see Elm sit out New Years. Ash is likely secured a slot and between the Taguel/Gallian Beasts we're already looking pretty set for Beasts unless they want a full banner, which so far they've avoided the past three years. Additionally, there's also Bruno, Letizia, Askr, and maybe Veronica to consider who would be bigger banner sellers then any of the Beasts and I doubt they'd throw out that banner without a reliable clutch. Between those options I can see Elm get kicked off to make way for other options, particularly since they unceremoniously threw him away in the story already.

[Aedan7479]

I wonder what the reaction would be if Sharena got an upgrade before Alfonse. I would’ve preferred Alfonse in the ending cutscene, but maybe IS thought that would be shipping too hard.

But I have to wonder if we'll ever get clarity on Ash and Elm, Ash wouldn't get a Tempest Trials story till book 9 (if that'll even be a thing), and book 6 is basically the Tempest Trial story (so to speak) for book 1.

[Medeus]

3 hours ago, Aedan7479 said:

I wonder what the reaction would be if Sharena got an upgrade before Alfonse. I would’ve preferred Alfonse in the ending cutscene, but maybe IS thought that would be shipping too hard.

But I have to wonder if we'll ever get clarity on Ash and Elm, Ash wouldn't get a Tempest Trials story till book 9 (if that'll even be a thing), and book 6 is basically the Tempest Trial story (so to speak) for book 1.

Ash may pop in one of the future Forging Bond stories if they meant for her to have lived, but I doubt they'll have any meaningful follow-up for her character until the TT+ story considering Fjorm and Eir barely touched on their stories. Elm will probably have to wait until the Book 6 TT+ story for anything major involving his character. 

[Sentinel07]

13 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Yeesh. Poor Ray Chase. Potentially losing work from not one but two roles because a VA he shares characters with got into trouble on the other side of the world. 

It's why I wish Japan would be less stingy when it comes to recasting. Why restrict what you can do with a character because of an actors stupidity.

[Aedan7479]

Well, the silver lining in this case is that Sharena's actress' got more work, and thankfully, Ray Chase still has other roles, both in Fire Emblem and other franchises like Kingdom Hearts (he's in smash after all, voicing his main, I think he's done pretty well). Though what would the pay check be for a 2 minute glorified advertisement anyway.

[Mercakete]

22 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

I think that sums it up pretty well. I guess it's nice to close this particular plot thread up like this though, since it's been running for so many IRL years?

Yeah, it really sucks 😕 I imagine if Alfonse was around we'd have gotten a mix of fluff and story details, but as mentioned before his JP VA isn't exactly available at the moment.

That was a sweet touch, though now I have this mental image of Veronica looting Letizia's residence for stuff and remembering this place in the process. Hmm.

If Alfonse had been there, we probably would have mostly gotten shipping vibes more than friendship vibes (unless Sharena was also there.) I just wish they'd been more "real" than just pretending like everything's okay. Losing her sister-figure and her brother doesn't go away that easily, despite that nice wrap-up at the end of Book 6. I would've rather the scene ended with Veronica mentioning Bruno and beginning to cry, and Alfonse and Sharena just quietly supporting her, all sharing their own pain. Much more realistic that way, and gets to deeper issues than this fluff.

That said, I can imagine Embla ranting and raging from beyond the grave, demanding that Veronica and Sharena remove her doll from Askr's, while the princesses are still all "Yep. All resolved! We're all friends now!" despite Embla clearly having never reconciled with Askr.

Your bit about Veronica looting the place is hilarious, too, and I could totally see that happening. XD (Not that it's looting since she probably inherited it.)

21 hours ago, Lemmy said:

There's a decent chance to show up in the New Years banner, with the recurring beast theme and recurring story character theme

18 hours ago, Othin said:

Hmm. So far, New Year's beasts have tended to be the four-legged kinds, but being a story character is probably enough to get him in anyway. Especially since they seem to like using those banners to bring together characters from both sides of the previous book's war. Which, now that I think of it, could suggest an Askr/Embla duo hero, leaving room for Ash and Elm in the other two rare slots like Reginn and Fafnir last year.

18 hours ago, Medeus said:

Unfortunately, I could see Elm sit out New Years. Ash is likely secured a slot and between the Taguel/Gallian Beasts we're already looking pretty set for Beasts unless they want a full banner, which so far they've avoided the past three years. Additionally, there's also Bruno, Letizia, Askr, and maybe Veronica to consider who would be bigger banner sellers then any of the Beasts and I doubt they'd throw out that banner without a reliable clutch. Between those options I can see Elm get kicked off to make way for other options, particularly since they unceremoniously threw him away in the story already.

Yeah, all this follows, pretty much. My hope is that we get him for New Years, but there are no guarantees. I could see an Askr+Embla duo, kind of. The main issue with it is that they'd have to be summoned from just after founding their countries or Embla would never go for it (if she's in character.) Anyway, Askr and Ash would be guaranteed if it was the Year of the Bull, too, but I don't keep up on the Chinese zodiac well enough to know which year we're going into. I think the Bull was relatively recently, though, so they probably won't be making any allusions to it. (Maybe if it's the Year of the Rabbit or Year of the Tiger we can expect certain beasts.) Of course, I'm only talking about the lunar new year for the solar new year because we don't have lunar new year banners (yet...and we probably won't get them.)

Anyway, I think that getting New Years Bruno + Veronica is more likely than New Years Askr + Embla, especially since then they can reuse New Years Alfonse + Sharena in the story, and all of them can go to the shrine together. Who knows? Maybe we'll also get New Years Ash and New Years Elm, with Elm trying to understand how all of them could be all buddy-buddy and Ash trying to help show him that they can all be friends.

18 hours ago, Aedan7479 said:

I wonder what the reaction would be if Sharena got an upgrade before Alfonse. I would’ve preferred Alfonse in the ending cutscene, but maybe IS thought that would be shipping too hard.

But I have to wonder if we'll ever get clarity on Ash and Elm, Ash wouldn't get a Tempest Trials story till book 9 (if that'll even be a thing), and book 6 is basically the Tempest Trial story (so to speak) for book 1.

14 hours ago, Medeus said:

Ash may pop in one of the future Forging Bond stories if they meant for her to have lived, but I doubt they'll have any meaningful follow-up for her character until the TT+ story considering Fjorm and Eir barely touched on their stories. Elm will probably have to wait until the Book 6 TT+ story for anything major involving his character. 

Though it'd be nice to have Ascended Alfonse (whether him becoming king or getting an Askr blessing via Ash since Askr's dead), I don't see that happening until at least the beginning of Book 7 (since that seems to be about the right time for Alfonse to ascend the throne, as the conflict with Embla is over, and so are a lot of the personal struggles Alfonse had been dealing with, such as worrying after Zacharias.) I could see Sharena getting some kind of upgraded unit, and I'd be happy with either (though I'd want the ascended version to be for Alfonse.) There's also a plot point in waiting for Sharena to explain her rise to power, too: specifically, that she never drank the fairy nectar. If she did drink it and got upgraded into a more powerful unit as a fairy, then that could send her on her own path. (After all, Alfonse is already going to be the next king, but Sharena's future isn't settled yet.) That's probably a lot more thought put into it than IS is going to do, though. Anyway, I think a lot of people prefer Sharena to Alfonse if only because she's a girl, but there's also that she hasn't been explored quite as much (though that could be because there's just not much there to explore in the first place. She's pretty open, and has already shared everything driving her, I think.) A good time to do this would actually be with the Book 4 TT+, though I don't think IS wants to do that since it would conflict with the role they gave her (and this is why I prefer character-led stories. Not that I dislike FEH, it's just that character-led stories give characters a LOT more freedom to grow and find their own paths, and not get stuffed in a "plot demands" box.)

But yeah, I'm guessing that Ash is fine and is just living in Askr now like all the ladies who came before her (though it's more fitting for her than for any of them, besides maybe Eir.) As for Elm, if we get clarity on him, it'll probably come in the form of him either being recruited by Thorr/Lif (the former of which he's much more likely to follow if only because he's a vassal and she's a goddess), or a Book 6 TT+, yeah (probably called Openness and Closure.)

[Othin]

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

Anyway, I think that getting New Years Bruno + Veronica is more likely than New Years Askr + Embla, especially since then they can reuse New Years Alfonse + Sharena in the story, and all of them can go to the shrine together. Who knows? Maybe we'll also get New Years Ash and New Years Elm, with Elm trying to understand how all of them could be all buddy-buddy and Ash trying to help show him that they can all be friends.

Good idea, that would work.

[Mercakete]

44 minutes ago, Othin said:

Good idea, that would work.

Thank you! ^_^ I'm glad you think so!

[DefyingFates]

2 hours ago, Mercakete said:

Anyway, I think that getting New Years Bruno + Veronica is more likely than New Years Askr + Embla, especially since then they can reuse New Years Alfonse + Sharena in the story, and all of them can go to the shrine together. Who knows? Maybe we'll also get New Years Ash and New Years Elm, with Elm trying to understand how all of them could be all buddy-buddy and Ash trying to help show him that they can all be friends.

Ooh, I love it! That probably won't be our Veronica though, unfortunately.

[Mercakete]

21 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

Ooh, I love it! That probably won't be our Veronica though, unfortunately.

Thank you! ^_^ And yeah, but it can still hold sentiment, like when Thrasir tried to help Veronica appreciate Bunny Bruno in that one FB conversation (I think it may have been Ascended Hilda's?) Besides, it's canon that any unit we summon comes from another world, so it was never going to be the main story's Veronica. Still, the other Veronica could be aware of what happens to Bruno and appreciate that she still has hers.

[Etrurian emperor]

I wonder if the Askr siblings leaving their kingdom, their mom and their gall pall Veronica alone in the midst of an invasion just because a complete stranger suggests it to them is very responsible of them. I mean...the new waifu probably isn't secretly a villain but so far they only have her word to go on.

[Mercakete]

11 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I wonder if the Askr siblings leaving their kingdom, their mom and their gall pall Veronica alone in the midst of an invasion just because a complete stranger suggests it to them is very responsible of them. I mean...the new waifu probably isn't secretly a villain but so far they only have her word to go on.

Did you mean for this to be in the Book 7 discussion thread, or is this for Book 6? Also, "gall pall" ("gall" meaning something like "nerve" as in "the nerve of some people," or "audacity" and "pall" I believe is the sound of a bell. I believe you meant "gal pal.") was funny. X3

[Etrurian emperor]

1 minute ago, Mercakete said:

Did you mean for this to be in the Book 7 discussion thread

Yes indeed

[floridacam]

I rated the book. I like Ash, she's really cool. But I'm cooler😀