Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes!

[Etrurian emperor]

3 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I think it diverts even earlier. Unless Kronya has an out of character heel-face-turn, that looks like real Monica to me. Maybe they replaced someone else

Oh no....maybe they replaced GATEKEEPER!? 

[Fabulously Olivier]

5 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Oh no....maybe they replaced GATEKEEPER!? 

Imagine the community shitstorm if they killed off our favorite boy and gave us evil Gatekeeper.

 

(Fucking amazing, btw).

[Etrurian emperor]

6 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Imagine the community shitstorm if they killed off our favorite boy and gave us evil Gatekeeper.

 

(Fucking amazing, btw).

I dunno. I could see ''Hatekeeper'' being quite popular. 

''Greetings professor! Nothing to report...except your funeral!'' 

[Fabulously Olivier]

12 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I dunno. I could see ''Hatekeeper'' being quite popular. 

''Greetings professor! Nothing to report...except your funeral!'' 

Hatekeeper?! 10/10, Game Awards Best Narrative winner! Make it happen!

[Seazas]

On 2/9/2022 at 4:58 PM, vikingsfan92 said:

Speaking of the original Fire emblem warriors if they are adding ocs like the guy fighting Byleth on the cover I think they might find a way to include the twins from warriors 1.  I know they aren't as popular or really desired but I could see them being slightly less intrusive to a Fodlan focused game over a character of another game. Mainly because there world is unique in that other games have already crossed over with other places. Maybe they explain where this new dude comes from.

No shot. The twins are despised and unpopular for good reason, it'd be wasted effort and considering AOC didn't bring back any of their characters... Why would this be any different?

[Use the Falchion]

Two more crackpot and partially conflicting theories: 

 

Theory 1 - While all the storylines lead to a team up or to one destination, how we get there is up to the player by proxy of whose house they choose to lead. Choose the Black Eagles, then you march on Garrag Mach (shown in the trailers) and have to recruit Claude and Dimitri later down the line, in that order. Choose Dimitri, and you recruit Claude (the back-to-back scene) and then Edelgard. Choose Claude, then you recruit Edelgard (the scene where Claude is talking to her) and then later Dimitri (the Gronder redux scene). If this is the case, I can see the game being broken into three parts: Part 1 - Academy Phase Redux. This section works as an abridged tutorial section, introducing the new style of gameplay and setting up the conflict to be similar but not a complete copy of TH's White Clouds. We'll get things like the new purple-haired character and maybe our heroes receiving their Relics earlier. We'll end close to Jeralt's Death and Monica(and/or Kronya?) doing something weird, and that's where things majorly diverge. Part 2 - War Phase Redux. This is where the recruitment and story changes come in. During major battles that echo the ones from Three Houses, we'll interact with the House Leaders and talk to them, eventually recruiting them to our side to fight the "Real Enemy." Part 3 - Entirely New Content. This takes place after all three House Leaders decide to team up, and we fight the "Real Enemy" and whatnot. No major storybeat ideas here, but this is where the meat of the story is, and all roads will eventually lead here. 

 

Theory 2 - Byleth remembers everything, and instead of choosing one house, she chooses all of them. She decides to teach all of the students as one house, because she doesn't want barriers like competition to come between them, particularly given what happened in the other timelines. Rhea allows this because of favoritism, and Manuela and Hanneman are relegated to NPCs for the time being. (Hanneman now has more time to study Crests, and Manuela can devote herself full-time to being the monastery's medic.) This leads to the houses, and particularly the house leaders, becoming closer than ever, which makes things a little different going forward. Those ripples turn into shockwaves, and now we're left with a new path. 

[ciphertul]

On 2/16/2022 at 10:56 AM, Use the Falchion said:

Manuela can devote herself full-time to being the monastery's medic.

This is a fun way of saying monastery's resident drunk.

Which is what she would do if she got time off from teaching.

[Use the Falchion]

Longshot Theory 3 - Monica escapes the Agarthans. She's on the run and she knows too much. With mere days or weeks to spare, the Agarthans get another plant into Garrag Mach to warn Edelgard about a change in plans in the form of the Three Hopes OC. This leads to a change during the post-White Heron Cup mission, where Jeralt isn't killed. This spirals out into Edelgard launching her attack early and Byleth never fusing with Sothis. (Which doesn't explain why she doesn't have the Sword of the Creator, but who knows.) 

 

Improbable Theory 4 aka The Awakening Theory aka the nonsense theory - The Three Hopes OC is a rogue party, neither truly an antagonist nor a hero. He is chosen by the mysterious white-haired person in a timeline where he would have died in Shambhala. (So either Silver Snow or Verdant Wind.) He then is sent back in time in order to prevent the Agarthans from failing. But that means helping our heroes succeed long enough to get the Agarthans to a position where they aren't waging a culture-ending war. So, to do so, he stops certain things from happening at certain times. He helps Monica escape Kronya. He saves Jeralt (who may or may not be his father, if he is a clone or genetically engineered/synthetic sibling of Byleth.) He then warns Edelgard of her failures, hoping that they can overcome the future together. From there, however, Edelgard decides to break with TWSITD and ally with Dimitri and Claude. Claude agrees eventually, but Dimitri takes longer to convince. 

...I'm not entirely convinced by Theory 4, but I think parts of it will happen in some way, shape, or form. 

[Use the Falchion]

We've got 4Chan leaks now! I saw one on the website itself earlier this morning (...and immediately felt the need for a shower after visiting the place. Like that place is the worst place I've ever been on the internet. It's awful) and one that was posted to Reddit roughly an hour ago. 

 

The first one isn't really worth mentioning, since it had vague and conflicting details at best, but it did say players would have two time-skips in the game. 

 

 

The second one is far more interesting and will be discussed both here and on the "FE Rumors" thread, since it does mention some stuff relevant to future FE games that can be discussed. 

The leak in question gives us a lot of interesting potential details about the game, from the name of the new characters on the poster (Bell for the purple-haired dude and Caponia for the white-haired lady according to this "leak") to the addition of new characters, classes, and mechanics. The time-skip is apparently abridged at three years instead of five. 

A summarized version of each very quickly:

Characters - All playable Three Houses characters will return; previous NPCs such as Jeralt, Randolph, Rodrigue, Judith, Rhea, Nadir, and Monica* will be playable as well! So that's 34 + 7, making it a total of 41 characters there. The "leak" mentions 52 playable characters, so that means we'll get roughly 11 new characters to play as. That's super exciting!

Classes - Griffon Riders are returning! We'll see non-gender-locked Wizards/Warlocks and Berserkers as well. We'll also apparently see a Samurai class. I'm not sure how that will differ from the Swordmaster class, but okay...

Mechanics - Expanded Garrag Mach as well as a hub that's away from Garrag Mach in the form of a camp. The Lords will gain supports with each other, but only Byleth can S-Support at the end of the game, not unlike Three Houses. The "leak" doesn't mention paired endings, but I'd like to think that they're still in the game. GIVE ME MY CLAUDE/EDELGARD SHIP!! GIVE IT TO ME!!!!!! (Maybe most are recycled from Three Houses? That would certainly cut down on the amount of time spent on epilogues while also affirming the good endings from Three Houses still existing.) 

 

This is all really exciting if it's true. Which raises the question, is this true? I think there's a chance of it being true. This sounds like the OP played a demo of the game, or has access to promotional material, which could be where this is coming from. The only things I'm curious about are the time-skip looks for the other characters. 

The naming of the purple-haired character also is worthy of inspection, but I also think it links us to some sort of validity of this "leak," if any can be gained. Bell is an innocent enough name, but the name itself has been at times linked to the demon** Baal, who is also linked to Beelzebub. This would make a great counter to Byleth, whose name is an homage to the demon Beleth. These are also reasons why I always name my F!Byleth "Belle," because to me she's "Belle" and M!Byleth is "Byleth." The mention of the god being named Caponia is weird. I couldn't find anything related to Caponia other than spiders in my quick google and wiki search. However, I was able to find something called Canopus - it's the second brightest star in the night sky, only second to a star named Sirius. A star whose Greek Origin is Seirios, the root of both Seiros and Sothis, related back to the Egyptian god Sopdet. Sothis, who is called the "Fell Star" by Solon. Sothis, whose killer has the awesome boss song of "God Shattering Star." 

The character list is also a big question. Sure, some of the now-playable NPCs were seen in the trailer, while others are no-brainers. Although it does raise the question of why Randolph is playable when his sister Fleche and Ladislava aren't. Now, Fleche was a side-character at best, only really present in AM, but it's still a question to me. Anyways, back to the main point. On one hand, this cast makes sense. KT and IntSys have all of the assets from Three Houses, so it wouldn't be that hard to make them playable, right? But that's a huge cast of characters. How will recruitment work? How will they all be individualized, if they're going to be individualized at all? I don't have an answer, honestly. I'd just like it to be true...and that sentiment is the death of proper analyzing, if not tempered...

Next up, we have the story, or rather the lack of story in this leak. There are no major story details given away here. I'm fine with that personally, depending on the source of the "leak," but it does raise the question of how much the OP knows...if anything at all. 

Lastly is the final part of the "leak" speaks about two upcoming FE games. I'll see you in the other thread for that one, but the gist of it is - depending on who you trust or what you believe, this is either the big red flag warning you it's a fake, or it's the most accurate prediction out there. Take of that what you will. 

 

What do you all think of this "leak"? 

 

 

*The leak identifies the character as Monica, but it's unclear if this is the true Monica or if this Kronya in disguise. I'd like to think it's the former, as the one shot we do get of Monica in the trailer has her wearing a Black flower earing, much like the one Edelgard is seen wearing later on. This could be, as others have speculated, a sign the two have actually graduated, and that the invasion takes place after the graduation. 

**As identified in Abrahamic religions. His origins stem deeper than that, apparently. 

 

 

[Fabulously Olivier]

1 hour ago, Use the Falchion said:

We've got 4Chan leaks now! I saw one on the website itself earlier this morning (...and immediately felt the need for a shower after visiting the place. Like that place is the worst place I've ever been on the internet. It's awful) and one that was posted to Reddit roughly an hour ago. 

 

The first one isn't really worth mentioning, since it had vague and conflicting details at best, but it did say players would have two time-skips in the game. 

 

 

The second one is far more interesting and will be discussed both here and on the "FE Rumors" thread, since it does mention some stuff relevant to future FE games that can be discussed. 

The leak in question gives us a lot of interesting potential details about the game, from the name of the new characters on the poster (Bell for the purple-haired dude and Caponia for the white-haired lady according to this "leak") to the addition of new characters, classes, and mechanics. The time-skip is apparently abridged at three years instead of five. 

A summarized version of each very quickly:

Characters - All playable Three Houses characters will return; previous NPCs such as Jeralt, Randolph, Rodrigue, Judith, Rhea, Nadir, and Monica* will be playable as well! So that's 34 + 7, making it a total of 41 characters there. The "leak" mentions 52 playable characters, so that means we'll get roughly 11 new characters to play as. That's super exciting!

Classes - Griffon Riders are returning! We'll see non-gender-locked Wizards/Warlocks and Berserkers as well. We'll also apparently see a Samurai class. I'm not sure how that will differ from the Swordmaster class, but okay...

Mechanics - Expanded Garrag Mach as well as a hub that's away from Garrag Mach in the form of a camp. The Lords will gain supports with each other, but only Byleth can S-Support at the end of the game, not unlike Three Houses. The "leak" doesn't mention paired endings, but I'd like to think that they're still in the game. GIVE ME MY CLAUDE/EDELGARD SHIP!! GIVE IT TO ME!!!!!! (Maybe most are recycled from Three Houses? That would certainly cut down on the amount of time spent on epilogues while also affirming the good endings from Three Houses still existing.) 

 

This is all really exciting if it's true. Which raises the question, is this true? I think there's a chance of it being true. This sounds like the OP played a demo of the game, or has access to promotional material, which could be where this is coming from. The only things I'm curious about are the time-skip looks for the other characters. 

The naming of the purple-haired character also is worthy of inspection, but I also think it links us to some sort of validity of this "leak," if any can be gained. Bell is an innocent enough name, but the name itself has been at times linked to the demon** Baal, who is also linked to Beelzebub. This would make a great counter to Byleth, whose name is an homage to the demon Beleth. These are also reasons why I always name my F!Byleth "Belle," because to me she's "Belle" and M!Byleth is "Byleth." The mention of the god being named Caponia is weird. I couldn't find anything related to Caponia other than spiders in my quick google and wiki search. However, I was able to find something called Canopus - it's the second brightest star in the night sky, only second to a star named Sirius. A star whose Greek Origin is Seirios, the root of both Seiros and Sothis, related back to the Egyptian god Sopdet. Sothis, who is called the "Fell Star" by Solon. Sothis, whose killer has the awesome boss song of "God Shattering Star." 

The character list is also a big question. Sure, some of the now-playable NPCs were seen in the trailer, while others are no-brainers. Although it does raise the question of why Randolph is playable when his sister Fleche and Ladislava aren't. Now, Fleche was a side-character at best, only really present in AM, but it's still a question to me. Anyways, back to the main point. On one hand, this cast makes sense. KT and IntSys have all of the assets from Three Houses, so it wouldn't be that hard to make them playable, right? But that's a huge cast of characters. How will recruitment work? How will they all be individualized, if they're going to be individualized at all? I don't have an answer, honestly. I'd just like it to be true...and that sentiment is the death of proper analyzing, if not tempered...

Next up, we have the story, or rather the lack of story in this leak. There are no major story details given away here. I'm fine with that personally, depending on the source of the "leak," but it does raise the question of how much the OP knows...if anything at all. 

Lastly is the final part of the "leak" speaks about two upcoming FE games. I'll see you in the other thread for that one, but the gist of it is - depending on who you trust or what you believe, this is either the big red flag warning you it's a fake, or it's the most accurate prediction out there. Take of that what you will. 

 

What do you all think of this "leak"? 

 

 

*The leak identifies the character as Monica, but it's unclear if this is the true Monica or if this Kronya in disguise. I'd like to think it's the former, as the one shot we do get of Monica in the trailer has her wearing a Black flower earing, much like the one Edelgard is seen wearing later on. This could be, as others have speculated, a sign the two have actually graduated, and that the invasion takes place after the graduation. 

**As identified in Abrahamic religions. His origins stem deeper than that, apparently. 

 

 

Yeah, you lost me at 11 new characters. I'm one of the more optimistic ones here who thinks we'll get as close to everyone as possible, but everyone, including NPCs, plus 11 totally new (or old?) characters sounds totally unbelievable to me. It might be possible with extreme cloning... maybe.

[Etrurian emperor]

Quote

Characters - All playable Three Houses characters will return; previous NPCs such as Jeralt, Randolph, Rodrigue, Judith, Rhea, Nadir, and Monica* will be playable as well! So that's 34 + 7, making it a total of 41 characters there. The "leak" mentions 52 playable characters, so that means we'll get roughly 11 new characters to play as. That's super exciting!

IGNATZ! 😍

Provided its true of course. Which may not be the case 

[Fabulously Olivier]

I will say that I would be delighted if it were real. And because the game is so complete that it's already being rated, leaks from ratings board playtesters could happen.

 

If you're going to focus on just one game, you had better give us as close to a complete roster as possible. And ideally take some chances with it as well. 

 

As for the class system, I could definitely see a free one akin to 3H, with the stipulation that the lords have their personal classes. Does that mean that Dimitri is the only real infantry lance? Yeah, probably.

[Use the Falchion]

11 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

It might be possible with extreme cloning... maybe.

That's what I assumed. Each character would be in a set class, and our freedom is choosing our favorite character, not the class. So, I guess it'd be the gameplay antithesis of Three Houses? In Three Houses, any character could go to any (non-gender-locked) class, assuming they trained enough. Here, it may be that every class is available, but the characters are stuck with one. 

 

11 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Yeah, you lost me at 11 new characters. I'm one of the more optimistic ones here who thinks we'll get as close to everyone as possible, but everyone, including NPCs, plus 11 totally new (or old?) characters sounds totally unbelievable to me.

I feel that, although I think the 11 characters is possible. Say the leak is right, which is still FAR from a guarantee:

We'd be getting four new classes based on four new/lesser explored countries. So, let's say we get two characters each from those countries, a man and a woman each - now we've already accounted for eight of the eleven new characters.

That leaves three new characters. Part of me says that would be potential post-game characters like Sothis, the purple-haired dude, and the white-haired person on the cover, but Sothis isn't a "new" character. So probably the purple-haired dude and two more story-important characters we've yet to meet...hopefully they're Agarthan... Regardless, that's all eleven! Eight new characters divided up into four new classes not unlike the Ashen Wolves, and then three theoretically story-important characters or lore-building characters. That's a small amount of new characters IMO, but I also struggle with adding far too many characters in my own stories, so it's a small thing by comparison. 

The supports on the other hand...I love supports. I adore supports. But depending on whether or not we're getting all new supports for every character plus more for the new ones...that might be a tad overwhelming, even for me...

[Fabulously Olivier]

8 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

That's what I assumed. Each character would be in a set class, and our freedom is choosing our favorite character, not the class. So, I guess it'd be the gameplay antithesis of Three Houses? In Three Houses, any character could go to any (non-gender-locked) class, assuming they trained enough. Here, it may be that every class is available, but the characters are stuck with one. 

 

I feel that, although I think the 11 characters is possible. Say the leak is right, which is still FAR from a guarantee:

We'd be getting four new classes based on four new/lesser explored countries. So, let's say we get two characters each from those countries, a man and a woman each - now we've already accounted for eight of the eleven new characters.

That leaves three new characters. Part of me says that would be potential post-game characters like Sothis, the purple-haired dude, and the white-haired person on the cover, but Sothis isn't a "new" character. So probably the purple-haired dude and two more story-important characters we've yet to meet...hopefully they're Agarthan... Regardless, that's all eleven! Eight new characters divided up into four new classes not unlike the Ashen Wolves, and then three theoretically story-important characters or lore-building characters. That's a small amount of new characters IMO, but I also struggle with adding far too many characters in my own stories, so it's a small thing by comparison. 

The supports on the other hand...I love supports. I adore supports. But depending on whether or not we're getting all new supports for every character plus more for the new ones...that might be a tad overwhelming, even for me...

Keep in mind that supports could very likely work like the first FEW, with one conversation per pair of characters MAYBE. So there would be some support conversations where Koei thinks there is a meaningful conversation to be had, but the support mechanic would primarily be a mechanical thing.

[Use the Falchion]

11 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Keep in mind that supports could very likely work like the first FEW, with one conversation per pair of characters MAYBE. So there would be some support conversations where Koei thinks there is a meaningful conversation to be had, but the support mechanic would primarily be a mechanical thing.

That's definitely possible and probably true, good point. But even in Warriors characters had multiple people to support, roughly 6-8, totally to I think around 130+ supports or something crazy like that. If the "leak" is true, the cast here is nearly double that of FEW; and even if we take out Byleth, that's still a LOT of supports. It's admittedly far less overwhelming, but still a lot. 

Still, I hope these conversations are between characters that haven't talked before, like Ashe and Bernadetta or Ashe and Yuri. I'll also take conversations that probably needs a mulligan (Claude and Ingrid I'm looking at you!) 

[vikingsfan92]

I can see  11 easy playable options imo outside of the supposed leak that come to mind.  For starters I don't think the new enemy faction will be limited to just those on the cover and see at least one more new oc on team bad guy to serve as an underling.  TWSID could also make up quiet a few spots as well depending on the plot.  Also not giving up on Ladislava or Flache just because they weren't mentioned.

[Use the Falchion]

Just a terrible idea for DLC, but what if DLC brought in a second generation? Mind you, I don't want this, nor do I feel like the story needs this, but I think it'd be kind of fun and amusing to see. But honestly, I'd prefer DLC more akin to Three Houses & Echoes' DLC. If the DLC expands upon the characters, gives us a few new characters to fall in love with, and gives us just a smidge of fanservice, then it'll be a win for me. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

8 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

Just a terrible idea for DLC, but what if DLC brought in a second generation? Mind you, I don't want this, nor do I feel like the story needs this, but I think it'd be kind of fun and amusing to see. But honestly, I'd prefer DLC more akin to Three Houses & Echoes' DLC. If the DLC expands upon the characters, gives us a few new characters to fall in love with, and gives us just a smidge of fanservice, then it'll be a win for me. 

I feel very strongly against this. Not the least because many of their characters are still Byleth's students (and some underage) in the timeframe of the game. And unless you're going to set this dlc in the far future, you'd need a Fates-esque asspull to justify the kids being playable.

[Use the Falchion]

3 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I feel very strongly against this. Not the least because many of their characters are still Byleth's students (and some underage) in the timeframe of the game. And unless you're going to set this dlc in the far future, you'd need a Fates-esque asspull to justify the kids being playable.

Yeah I was thinking either far future or Awakening "back to the future" style at best, definitely not Fates style. But if this does happen, I imagine it'd take place after the time-skip. Depending on how long the time-skip is, everyone would technically be legal by then, since the youngest ones (Petra, Lysithea, and Cyril) only need a three-year time-skip to be legal adults. (And the only ones with weird age-difference relationships are Cyril with Shamir and Lysithea with Balthus.) 

I just think it'd be an amusing way to add DLC characters, but it's certainly not the best way nor is it something I'd want to see in-game, no matter the style of DLC. ...okay, I can't say I don't want to see the future children of this cast, but I don't think it's necessary or a good choice in any way, shape, or form to show us them. Unless it's some type of Persona 5 crossover because we all know Tae Takemi is exactly the type of daughter Felix and Annette would have.

[Fabulously Olivier]

28 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said:

Yeah I was thinking either far future or Awakening "back to the future" style at best, definitely not Fates style. But if this does happen, I imagine it'd take place after the time-skip. Depending on how long the time-skip is, everyone would technically be legal by then, since the youngest ones (Petra, Lysithea, and Cyril) only need a three-year time-skip to be legal adults. (And the only ones with weird age-difference relationships are Cyril with Shamir and Lysithea with Balthus.) 

I just think it'd be an amusing way to add DLC characters, but it's certainly not the best way nor is it something I'd want to see in-game, no matter the style of DLC. ...okay, I can't say I don't want to see the future children of this cast, but I don't think it's necessary or a good choice in any way, shape, or form to show us them. Unless it's some type of Persona 5 crossover because we all know Tae Takemi is exactly the type of daughter Felix and Annette would have.

I mean, if you're going to do a 2nd generation just.... pick a canon route (or make a new one) and make a full sequel.

[Use the Falchion]

27 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

I mean, if you're going to do a 2nd generation just.... pick a canon route (or make a new one) and make a full sequel.

Isn't that what Three Hopes is? A new route from which new possibilities spring from, that's more or less formatted like a sequel? If we were talking about Three Houses, then I'd argue for a sequel in a different setting with a limited amount of returning characters and successors, but Three Hopes seems to be going the Golden Route, which means they can have a second generation if they so choose. Again, I'm not for it, but I feel as if the other options you give here are exactly what Three Hopes is. 

[ciphertul]

Well I don’t know if anyone else has brought it up but you can clearly see generic enemy Brawlers wielding iron gauntlets in the trailer. So that at least proves that Brawling will be in the game. If it’s usable to that player or not is another thing.

Edited March 9, 2022 by ciphertul

[Fabulously Olivier]

32 minutes ago, ciphertul said:

Well I don’t know if anyone else has brought it up but you can clearly see generic enemy Brawlers wielding iron gauntlets in the trailer. So that at least proves that Brawling will be in the game. If it’s usable to that player or not is another thing.

I'm leaning towards yes.

 

We had an interesting discussion regarding the unused axe fighter moveset in Fire Emblem Warriors - which is one of only two enemy only movesets I'm aware of (the other being armor lance).

 

This is honestly worth its own fun little speculation thread. If those enemy-only movesets were originally intended for scrapped characters, who might those have been. Charlotte, Rinkah, Vaike, or Barst for axe? Kellam, Draug, or Effie for armor?

[Use the Falchion]

10 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

This is honestly worth its own fun little speculation thread. If those enemy-only movesets were originally intended for scrapped characters, who might those have been. Charlotte, Rinkah, Vaike, or Barst for axe? Kellam, Draug, or Effie for armor?

That's a really good question! 

I think for the axe units, all four is a possibility. If not all four, then definitely at least Charlotte and Vaike. Barst I could see going either way. Rinkah is one I'd like to see, but I don't think she's more important or popular than Charlotte, so her chances of getting in would be lower. Mustafa would have been cool, but there would be no way that would work. 

For armor, I'd say Draug, Effie, and Benny. If only two of those, Draug and Benny. 

[Fabulously Olivier]

I'm leaning towards Barst as the progenitor of the axe moveset. He always seemed like a core SD character, just under Navarre - the type who was always reasonably likely to make it in, but also not essential.

 

As for the armor lance... part of me wants to say Effie, but I'm also not sure if the obvious need to include another Hoshidan character (and likely a Sakura retainer at that) as well is an argument for her having been scrapped or an argument for her never having been seriously considered in the first place.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Fabulously Olivier