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New Heroes - New Heroes & Ascended Joshua


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This certainly wasn't something I was expecting. I love Sacred Stones, so I'm very happy to see it get another banner. Neimi and Rennac look okay, Colm is absolute garbage, and Joshua is...interesting. The art is all quite nice though. I've got a decent orb stockpile on hand, so I think I'll go for Neimi (red bow) and Joshua (Floret) this time.

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The usual translation notes:

 

The banner title, "New Heroes & Ascended Joshua" is "新英雄&開花ヨシュア" (shin-eiyū & kaika yoshua), "New Heroes & Blooming Joshua". As usual, "開花" (kaika), "blooming", is the Japanese term used for Ascended Heroes, hence the Ascendant Floret item.

Neimi's epithet, "Tearful Archer", is "泣き撃ちの狩人", (naki-uchi no karyūdo), "Hunter that Cries While She Shoots".

Rapid-Crier Bow is "涙目の速射弓" (namidame no sokusha-yumi), "Rapid-Fire Bow of Teary Eyes".

Rennac's epithet, "Rich 'Merchant'" is "嘆きの盗賊" (nageki no tōzoku), "Lamenting Thief".

Vicious Dagger is "猛攻の暗器" (mōkō no anki), "Fierce-Attack Dagger". "暗器" is the name of the dagger weapon type, so I'm translating it as "dagger" here, but it more properly translates as "concealed weapon".

Colm's epithet, "Capable Thief", is "腕利きの盗賊" (udekiki no tōzoku), "Competent Thief".

Quick Dagger is "奥義発動の暗器" (ōgi hatsudō no anki), "Special Skill Activation Dagger". Which is now the most painfully literal weapon name in the game.

Joshua's epithet, "Resolute Tempest", is "決意の風来王" (ketsui no fūrai-ō), "Resolute Wanderer King". Joshua's canon epithet "風来王" (fūrai-ō), localized as "Tempest King", is Japanese wordplay at its finest. "風来" (fūrai) directly translates as "to come [and go] [with] the wind" and means "unpredictable" or "frivolous", both words that describe Joshua's character. The word also forms the compounds "風来人" (fūrai-jin) and "風来坊" (fūrai-bō), both meaning "person who comes and goes with the wind", meaning "wanderer" or "vagabond". In total, Joshua is the "unpredictable, frivolous, wandering king" with a reference to Jehanna's association with the wind.

Blade of Jehanna is "ジャハナ王の砂刃" (jahana-ō no sajin), "Sand Blade of the King of Jehanna". Not sure how to pronounce "砂刃". It's probably "s(h)ajin", but it could be "sunaba" or something else. Japanese compound words are a bitch.

Riev's epithet, "Blood Beryl", is "血碧石" (keppekiseki), "Blood Jade". Rather telling when the only search suggestion (other than the word itself) I get when I put "血碧石" into Google is "血碧石 読み" (keppekiseki yomi), literally "how to pronounce 血碧石".

Argent Aura is "アルジローレ" (arujirōre), "Argyraurae". It appears to be Greek "άργυρος" (árgyros), "silver", plus English or Latin "aurae" (which is derived from Greek). This is the tome localized as "Aura" from the three GBA games. The Aura spell from all other games is called "オーラ" (ōra), "Aura" in Japanese instead. Argent Aura is in the same situation as Giga Excalibur where the weapon is not a "prefixed" version of Aura or Excalibur, respectively, but is instead a completely separate spell.

Edited by Ice Dragon
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Some more banner unit thoughts:

 

It's a bit annoying that every single red bow in the game is infantry other than Bride Shanna. Granted, the other colors also don't need another infantry either, but red clearly needed it the least.

The dagger colors are fine simply because we still have so few colored daggers. The last infantry green dagger we got was Obon Elincia, who was released 3 and a half years ago.

Colm's skills might be complete and utter garbage, but he's finally giving us easy access to Atk/Spd as the budget passive A skill for staff units (as none of the staff-compatible passive A skills that grant both Atk and Spd are currently in the 4-star summoning pool).

I'm still annoyed that they're being so stingy with Deadeye and Lethality.

I'm also still annoyed that they're not filling out skill sets for 5-star-exclusive units. It's less egregious on normal banner units, but I think it's inexcusable on Special Hero banners, especially when they're filling out skill sets with literally the same couple passive A skills on everything. We now have 16 units with Swift Sparrow 3, 13 units with Atk/Spd Solo 4 (including Rennac), and 21 units with Atk/Spd Push 4. As for normal banners, we could at least get more units with Duel skills, considering half of them are still not in the standard summoning pool (none of the Duel Cavalry skills are in the standard summoning pool, and the green and colorless Duel Flying skills are also only available from Special Heroes), though that doesn't really apply to this banner since the entire banner is infantry.

 

1 hour ago, XRay said:

Viscious Dagger also comes with Disarm Trap.

But you're stuck with only Disarm Trap 2, which is garbage.

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33 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

The dagger colors are fine simply because we still have so few colored daggers. The last infantry green dagger we got was Obon Elincia, who was released 3 and a half years ago.

This banner also casually has three dagger units when it wasn't until September 2021 when we got the first dagger unit (Yuri) of the Book V era.

Additionally, Book V added just three dagger units (Yuri, ninja Igrene, Volke) in its entire run.

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43 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

But you're stuck with only Disarm Trap 2, which is garbage.

Not ideal, but we can always sacrifice an additional unit to complete Disarm Trap and get Atk/Spd Solo 3. If players really want to finish Atk/Spd Solo too, they can wait until summer and get Atk/Spd Solo 4 with Fatal Smoke from Freyja: Fleeting Summer.

Maybe they did that skill combo intentionally to make us summon more.

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Of course it wouldn’t be long before older characters become ascendant. Still, like the assassin suit. Bad news for me, will be splitting my orbs between ascendant and mythic heroes. Oh well, guess I’ll see which characters I LOVE from each. I hope we get Zelgius/Black Knight and Amelia as ascended

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20 minutes ago, XRay said:

Not ideal, but we can always sacrifice an additional unit to complete Disarm Trap and get Atk/Spd Solo 3. If players really want to finish Atk/Spd Solo too, they can wait until summer and get Atk/Spd Solo 4 with Fatal Smoke from Freyja: Fleeting Summer.

We already have Lalum in the standard summoning pool and Spring Palla from the first set of Divine Codes for Disarm Trap. Atk/Spd Solo 4 is already available on 4 units in the standard summoning pool and 1 unit from the Legendary/Mythic Hero rotation.

You know, units that are significantly easier to get than New Year Fafnir and Summer Freyja.

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Okay, I am thoroughly freaking out. I LOVE THIS LINEUP! 8D I haven't actually recruited Rennac yet in my FE8 files, I don't think, and I don't know much about him, but I'm intrigued by him and it's soooo good to see Colm and Neimi!! X3 And MAN Joshua looks epic here! Kind of surprised to see him, though. Did he absorb the power of Jehanna here? (And what does this mean for possibly getting his mom someday?) It's so fun to see a banner focusing mostly on game-specific thieves, too! Man, I'm glad Colm's the demote! He's probably my favorite here.

ALL THAT SAID, I'll have to pass on this banner. My orbs tend to go toward more exclusive units (such as seasonal ones) and I just spent some trying to get New Years Fjorm and New Years Gunnthra (and instead randomly got Fallen Lyon again (was that foreshadowing this banner?) and another Gatekeeper. They're good units and I like them, but they weren't who I was going for.) ... Watch; I'll still probably see if I can't get Joshua and perhaps a Colm along the way.

Edit: Oh my gosh, I just noticed that Joshua seems to not know what you're not supposed to throw daggers/knives by the blade. There's a hilt there, you know. Dude's not even wearing gloves. Yikes.

Edited by Mercakete
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So who or what "ascended" him, so to speak? Fjorm got a boost from Nifl, Laegjarn from Muspell, what did Joshua get to qualify? (Not that I would be surprised if at some point they started picking whoever they wanted with flimsy explanations for how they're ascended, but it'd be a shame to happen so soon. At least go through the easy options like Naga-boosted Tiki or something before.)

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nice banner, although i'm quite disappointed with the lack of a reward 5* unit, it would've been an easy way to add either Kyle or Forde
i won't be pulling for these characters, despite Neimi and Colm were long due additions and made me genuinely happy

anyway, can't wait for Ascended Levin with his Sage class outfit

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8 minutes ago, Kori said:

So who or what "ascended" him, so to speak? Fjorm got a boost from Nifl, Laegjarn from Muspell, what did Joshua get to qualify? (Not that I would be surprised if at some point they started picking whoever they wanted with flimsy explanations for how they're ascended, but it'd be a shame to happen so soon. At least go through the easy options like Naga-boosted Tiki or something before.)

It could just be that IS' explanation has already fallen apart (like what happened with mythic heroes) but until it's directly contradicted, I'm personally assuming he got the power from Jehanna's sacred stone. Another explanation could be that "ascended" doesn't necessarily mean "empowered by a deity" so much as "has been given rulership" or something. I want this clarified, though, honestly, since it would mean that Fjorm gets the Niflian throne and Hrid kind of has to step down (not to mention Laegjarn and Leivateinn) (because the dragons said so, I guess, and that's how the rulers were picked last time.)

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4 minutes ago, Kori said:

So who or what "ascended" him, so to speak? Fjorm got a boost from Nifl, Laegjarn from Muspell, what did Joshua get to qualify?

A dead mom.

 

1 minute ago, Mercakete said:

Another explanation could be that "ascended" doesn't necessarily mean "empowered by a deity" so much as "has been given rulership" or something. I want this clarified, though, honestly, since it would mean that Fjorm gets the Niflian throne and Hrid kind of has to step down (not to mention Laegjarn and Leivateinn) (because the dragons said so, I guess, and that's how the rulers were picked last time.)

The word "ascended" means nothing in terms of lore. The Japanese terminology is simply "a flower in bloom" (開花, kaika), so I don't think there's any need for an external force to grant the status, and it's just a character at their peak. Basically a Legendary version of a character that they don't want to make (another) full Legendary version of.

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8 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

The word "ascended" means nothing in terms of lore. The Japanese terminology is simply "a flower in bloom" (開花, kaika), so I don't think there's any need for an external force to grant the status, and it's just a character at their peak. Basically a Legendary version of a character that they don't want to make (another) full Legendary version of.

I wasn't basing it off of the English name, I was basing it off of how Fjorm and Laegjarn became their ascended versions: they were empowered by a greater force.

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6 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

The word "ascended" means nothing in terms of lore. The Japanese terminology is simply "a flower in bloom" (開花, kaika), so I don't think there's any need for an external force to grant the status, and it's just a character at their peak. Basically a Legendary version of a character that they don't want to make (another) full Legendary version of.

I see, thank you. The context in which we got the first two didn't exactly made that clear.

3 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

I wasn't basing it off of the English name, I was basing it off of how Fjorm and Laegjarn became their ascended versions: they were empowered by a greater force.

Basically.

To be honest, I found that idea more interesting than if there is simply no lore reason, but if that's how it is, then okay. At least it lets them surprise us.

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I guess that now with Special Heroes Banners being Sparkable for Feh Pass users, they need to give something unique for New Heroes banner.

So while Special Heroes Banners have Duo and Harmonized Heroes, New Heroes Banners have Ascended Heroes?

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7 hours ago, Othin said:

Joshua is a surprise, but the logic makes sense. The anniversary banner had the other six royals not too long ago, while Joshua had the smallest alt lineup of the seven. Wonder who else we'll get in the future

While we'll need Ice Dragon's help with the etymology of his weapon in Japanese, at least in English it matches the naming pattern of the others'. Who would have thought we'd actually get the full set?

Also, I suspect Ascended Heroes will be a second set of Legendary Heroes, for non-VIPs. It's funny that the first non-OC one was the third overall, just as with Legendary Ike. Latona L'Arachel yet lives, as do the hopes of Legendary Soren and all the other Heroes people have wanted! And you don't have to pull on Legendary Banners for them either! That's the best part of all this for me, personally.

Also, Riev has a Prf tome. Hopefully he follows Yen'fay and Kyza's precedent and not the likes of Solon...

7 hours ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

Oh shoot, I completely forgot about Nino. I'd say she's very likely as a Blazing Blade Ascended hero.

I hadn't thought about this, but I'd love an Ascended Nino! I don't know if she's important enough to be considered for one though...

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10 hours ago, Diovani Bressan said:

I dont think so. I dont believe that Ascended Heroes are obrigatory to be featured in TT+ Stories. I will guess that IS dont plan to make a new TT+ story anytime soon, so they dont want to not release Ascended Heroes until there.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!

 

10 hours ago, Diovani Bressan said:

You need to remember that Fjorm was released on part 4 of the story. If we get Ascended Eir, for example, doesnt mean she has to appear in her Ascended form in the first or second part of the TT+ story.

Yeah, I wasn't assuming that any Ascended would be immediately relevant in the story, simply that their form would be an indicator of future relevancy. 

 

10 hours ago, Diovani Bressan said:

Ascended Heroes can be units that are not strong candidates for Legendary Heroes but still deserve some attention.

Valid point! I'm not sure I believe it at this moment, as Joshua is our first data point, but I think it's a valid argument and one that will probably be true. 

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4 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

While we'll need Ice Dragon's help with the etymology of his weapon in Japanese, at least in English it matches the naming pattern of the others'. Who would have thought we'd actually get the full set?

The others are worded as possessions of the country, e.g. "History Tome of Grado", whereas Joshua's weapon is his own: "Sand Blade of the King of Jehanna":

9 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

Blade of Jehanna is "ジャハナ王の砂刃" (jahana-ō no sajin), "Sand Blade of the King of Jehanna". Not sure how to pronounce "砂刃". It's probably "s(h)ajin", but it could be "sunaba" or something else. Japanese compound words are a bitch.

On 4/17/2021 at 2:21 AM, Ice Dragon said:

Their names in Japanese are

  • Frelia's Treasure-Lance
  • Rausten's Spirit-Staff
  • Grado's History-Tome
  • Renais's Gratitude-Sword
  • Frelia's Jewel-Bow

 

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6 hours ago, Kori said:

So who or what "ascended" him, so to speak? Fjorm got a boost from Nifl, Laegjarn from Muspell, what did Joshua get to qualify? (Not that I would be surprised if at some point they started picking whoever they wanted with flimsy explanations for how they're ascended, but it'd be a shame to happen so soon. At least go through the easy options like Naga-boosted Tiki or something before.)

He's probably ascended in the same vein as how Othr and Mirabilis were somehow mythic heroes despite these heroes originally being pitched as being mythical heroes such as Anri or Athos. I don't think IS really cares much about what makes a unit ''legendary'', ''mythic'' or ''ascended'' as much as they care about what character they want to add in the game and which characters would sell well. 

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21 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

He's probably ascended in the same vein as how Othr and Mirabilis were somehow mythic heroes despite these heroes originally being pitched as being mythical heroes such as Anri or Athos. I don't think IS really cares much about what makes a unit ''legendary'', ''mythic'' or ''ascended'' as much as they care about what character they want to add in the game and which characters would sell well. 

Oh, for sure, but usually they at least pretend to care about their original pitch for a little longer than the third one in the line-up. (Sure, Fjorm and Gunthra didn't really do anything legendary, but they released them when they wanted us to think they would, and we got believable mythical heroes before Lif and Thrasir.)

Edited by Kori
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I have mixed opinions on this banner. Starting with the good:

I love Neimi and Colm, not so much Rennac but I find him funny. Plus they gave us another enemy only in Riev, which is a trend I always want to see continue. I can forgive them if they disregard enemy units from a game like Archanea that has few remaining candidates who are either Mythic level (Medeus) or very minor (Jiol), but a game like Sacred Stones? Yeah no, let's make sure to finish off the Rogue Gallery of villains first.

And @Sunwoo @Fire Emblem Fan if I can offer my persepective on the matter, even if Riev is unpopular and not many people care to use him, what many people care about is complete sets.

Bryce is not really a popular character but now that he is the last Daein Rider not in FEH many would want him just to complete the set. Laurent has never been a popular character but now that he is the only Awakening kid not in the game... he is the only kid not in the game, so it feels wrong not to add him (see also Ignatz). Pamela is not popular at all, but now that we have Annand, Erinys and Dithorba, wouldn't be neat to complete the set? Ashunera is the least popular of the three incarnations of the Goddess but we have the other two already, surely they can spare a mythic slot for her, right? And Solon was unpopular but they couldn't complete TWSITD without him, so they added him.

Of course this is also true (and even more so) for characters that complete sets and are also popular. Boyd is the only one missing from the Greil Mercs and he was always popular. Murdock was always popular (relatively since we are talking Binding Blade here) and he is the last Wyvern General missing. I suspect riots would occur if he is skipped for Jahn or something.

In the case of Riev he was one of the two generals of Grado missing, so the objection that they culd have picked Glen is fair since he would have helped to complete the set too.

But it's not really a big deal IMO. Either Glen was the GHB this time and Riev the GHB in 2023, or Riev is the GHB now and we get Glen in 2023. Sure, Glen fans would rather not wait more than a year, but there is an argument to be made for saving the best for last.

 

As for the bad: Ascended Joshua.

Okay let's be fair here, Joshua is not bad at all. If we compare him to other normal pool alts (Cav Chrom, Mage Eirika and the likes) he looks cooler and more unique. The problem is that we lost a unique Sacred Stones character for this alt. If we got Ascended Eir or something, we would have gotten Dozla as a direct addition or Kyle, or Garcia, or whoever else.

Now since they can pair Joshua with the others in Forging Bonds, they are using it as an excuse to not give us an instant demote which is WHACK!

This is one of the worse decisions I have seen in years from IS. Feh Pass spark is nothing by comparison. We are still not sure if we will actually complete the roster of even a single FE game before FEH shuts down, let alone multiple games. The last thing we need is to slow down the addition of new characters.

Not gonna lie, I will send feedback about this. It sucks because if it's annoying for a game like Sacred Stones, it will be TRAGIC for some games like Thracia, Radiant Dawn and Binding Blade who still have a lot of characters missing who are not popular at all. Nealuchi will either get in as a direct addition or will never get in, same thing for Trec and many others.

Now I have to actively hope for the next Binding Blade banner to be paired with a Mythic OC, or Ascended Eir, or another kind of OC, because if we get Ascended Zephiel we are screwed.

What a way to sour me on the idea of main pool alts. WHACK I say! This is WHACK!

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7 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

You know, units that are significantly easier to get than New Year Fafnir and Summer Freyja.

But they do not have Fatal Smoke, and whatever else they have is not really worth foddering in most cases.

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14 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

Joshua's epithet, "Resolute Tempest", is "決意の風来王" (ketsui no fūrai-ō), "Resolute Wanderer King". Joshua's canon epithet "風来王" (fūrai-ō), localized as "Tempest King", is Japanese wordplay at its finest. "風来" (fūrai) directly translates as "to come [and go] [with] the wind" and means "unpredictable" or "frivolous", both words that describe Joshua's character. The word also forms the compounds "風来人" (fūrai-jin) and "風来坊" (fūrai-bō), both meaning "person who comes and goes with the wind", meaning "wanderer" or "vagabond". In total, Joshua is the "unpredictable, frivolous, wandering king" with a reference to Jehanna's association with the wind.

Does the Japanese name reference Tempest Trials at all?

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It's a skip banner that seems to be baiting players building dagger units -- especially with the additions of Rennac, Colm, and Ascended Joshua.

Rennac is probably going to be the fodder pick especially since Yuri users can get both Atk/Spd Solo 4 and Disarm Trap if they have Atk/Spd Solo 3 fodder laying around. Other dagger units can get the Vicious Dagger, which at this point is pretty much the most desirable inheritable dagger since Broadleaf Fan isn't exactly too amazing these days.

Colm brings in a couple skills that were previously grails locked (Quick Dagger/Ouch Pouch, and Atk/Spd). Yes, it took over 4 years for the basic Atk/Spd A-skill to be 3-4* gacha availability. I wouldn't be surprised if Colm were to be built as an AoE nuke unit.

Joshua has LnD4 and NFU which could be nice for players building some unit that has multiple builds including an AoE nuke build. However, he is a good player phase dagger unit since he does have the conditional Firesweep effect and could choose either that or true damage that scales off of his target's Atk stat (which is almost always going to deal 7-10 damage). Green Feud is probably mainly for those who hate Ascended Fjorm and the several variants of Edelgard.

 

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