TheWerdna

I know the game classifies Loptyr as a Dark Dragon, not sure about story wise. However, that would explain as lot, as he does not seem to be a normal Earth Dragon. That would make sense too, considering he has a unique bloodpact different from the other Crusaders where he is completely bonded to his bloodline. So it would make sense that Loptry was probably an simply above average Earth Dragon who elevated himself beyond the rest of his kind through dark magic

Which means we have plot holes regardless of what we do. Still, I will take "power levels are bullshit" type plotholes over "what the hell happened to the other Earth Dragons and why does Falchion and the Shield of Seals do completely different things" plot holes

True. Thinking about it, considering this Grima seems to be much much much weaker (and smaller) than the one from Awakening, perhaps he DID do something akin to the amalgamation theories that use to exist: absorbed/consumed the power of the earth dragons sealed away

I am conflicted. On one hand, I really liked the "Grima is an amalgamation of the earth dragons plus maybe possibly Loptyr" theory since it explained a lot of Awakening's plot holes regarding the Fire Emblem's use and such. On the other hand, I really like this explanation from a thematic stance: makes Grima stand out a bit as a villain, as rather than being just another crazy evil dragon he instead is an unholy undead abomination (though it does nothing to fix the plot holes)

See, I am in the camp where I actually like having a player Avatar, but agree that Corrin took it several steps too far. Honestly for the next game it would be better to go for a character similar to Robin, only perhaps less of a main character. Like at most they can be the deuteragonist or something.

While I cannot speak for TheSilentChloey, I can speak for myself in regards to the matter.Simply put, in the end of the day most of the Awakening plit holes where either things that were just never explained (and thus easier to fill in the blankswith headcanon's and such) or did not impact the narrative all that much. The story was cliche and basic, but it did it's job well enough not to make me frustrated with what was happening. But most importantly it felt complete, like it had a begining, middle, and end. Fates had plotholes that were far more distracting to the narrative, a extreemly mary sue protagonist I could not relate to at all, a plot solit among 3 games where I had to spend $80 to get the whole thing. It made all of the sane mistakes Awakening did in terms of story, only it did even more things wrong on top of it. In the end of the day the big thing is this. If you ignore the existence of previous games Awakening at least more or less makes sense within its own narrative. Fates, which is in its own universe, can't even manage to do that.

Garon is a true playa who just so happens to roll both ways.

My favorite part is how Flora acts like Corrin wears shoes in their supports. So even the writers seem to have forgotten Corrin goes around barefoot.

I actually agree with the idea that the ability to buy skills is a bad thing. Not because it is too easy, but rather that it let any character use any skill. Now it doesn't matter what classes a character has, you can legitimately get practically any skill. It makes characters feel less unique and ruins the otherwise cool addition of the buddy and marriage seals. I like the idea of having to make decision on character builds based on S and A+ supports, to try different builds in different playthroughs due to them having access to different classes. I still did just that, but the fact that I had the ability to screw all that and give everyone the same broken skills ruined it a bit. It made what I was doing feel more pointless.

As mentioned above, about half your questions can be answered by "the devs got lazy"

If the stories were more self contained I would say the multiple games idea holds water. But as it stands so many plot threads are introduced in each route which are only ever resolved in others (generally in revelations) so that if you want to get the full story you have to play all three. And like a sucker I did just that, but that doesn't mean it feels good to do that. Heck, its worse tgat they then hold the plotthread of the identity of Corrin's father and the reason why the Awakening trio are in the game behind another DLC wall.

None, since I would have preferred no returning characters at all.

Long story short, Morgan is from a third timeline. Heck, there is evidence that even if he/she has a 1st gen parent they are still from a third timeline. This thread discussed one of the more common theories to explain Morgan, which for the sake of simplicity I will not repeat here.

Source

Well the problen would only be solved for 10 years, as then Valla would be accessable again. So they would still be screwed. Also, Heirs of Fate kind of indirectly deals with Anankos being alive in the other routes. It says that the Anankos from the failed Revelations timeline as been going to all of the Birthright/Conquest timelines in the multiverse and destroying them, with it being entirely possible the player's playthroughs are included. Just that the ending seems to kill Anankos is every world (except for successful Revelations, where he dies already) and resets all the destroyed worlds to how they were before he destroyed them because apparently the 4th verse is a massive dues ex machina and can do whatever the writers want it to do.

This. 100% this.

I believe it is canon that Azura's pendant is made from a piece of Anankos's Dragonstone. If I were to do the job of the game's writersand actually explain her giving Corrin a dragonstone I would say that her pendant can turn regular stones into Dragonstones due to being made from the dragonstone of a dragon with godlike power.

So I have given it some thought and I think I realized the main reason I like Awakening more than Fates. Its not the story, or the gameplay, or the characters: those things matter and I find that each differs as to which game I find better in that regard. But rather the biggest reason I like Awakening more is that it feels more complete and polished then Fates. Hear me out on this one. Lack of completeness really comes from the fact that to get the full story I have to buy all three routes in Fates. While I did buy and play all three, it just felt icky having to do so: like I was presured into it by wanting to get the full story. Even Birthright, which has the more stand alone story still has unanswered questions you can only answer with playing the others. Its made worse by even more of the story being locked off in DLC missions, like the backstory being in Hidden Truths or how Heirs of Fate indirectly deals with Anankos being still alive post Birthright/Conquest. Even the three routes together feel less complete. Meanwhile Awakening had a complete story in the main game. When I finished it I did not feel like anything was missing, and when it came to DLC I ended up buying it because I WANTED to instead of feeling like I HAD to if I wanted the full picture. Then it comes to polish. A bunch of little details in Fates just feel incomplete. Like how there are less unique promotion colors for characters: in Awakening characters tended to get unique colors for both promotions, Fates most get them for one promotion if any at all. Fates lacks unique weapon icons for each weapon. Fates lacks a proper unit logbook that tracks details about other players like pairings. Fates UI lacks any indication of weaknesses a unit has. The Fates world map is bland and doesn't convey useful information about the world. Half the kids have gray eyes, not even bothering to give them the eye color of their parents. None of the paralogues have unique dialogue for the kids engaging the bosses of their levels like in Awakening. The general lack of unique dialogue in the story: Awakening had the special dialogue for Robin x Lucina and Chrom x Robin in chapter 21, different interactions in chapter 13 for each of Lucina's mothers, and a unique line for each of Robin's potential partners and kids if you do the Chrom kills Grima ending. While these are small issues, they add up. The little things sort of really make a difference in making the game feel better, adds a sense of quality to it so to speak. It makes it feel like they took the time and effort to polish things in Awakening. Fates did not, which only serves to make it feel further incomplete.

I genuinely like the first half (well, more like first third) of Conquest. It actually dealt with Corrin struggling to do the right thing in a situation where his very allies make that harder. And we even having him questioning his choicen whether it was right, and reflecting on how it may have been selfish or a mistake. Then sadly they go to Valla and the rest of the story nosedives through the ground

That is true. The problem is we never get an explanation on that in regards to spotpass Yen'fey. Somewhere along the way something has to just change for no real reason, as under this theory the characters who come from that timeline arrive too late in the game to be the cause of things moving quicker. So at some point a leap of faith has to be made and just puck some point that changed. Also this theory can allow for (but is not nessessary for the theory itself) the whole twin Morgans idea. Since there are two minor pieces of evidence that could be used to support the opposite gender Morgan being an unamed twin. The first is that they respond to Robin as their parent even though they are not the gendered Morgan, Robin just doesn't speak to them out of not recognizing them. The second is in the sibling supports for F!Morgan, with her sibling suggesting maybe they not try to get their memories back so they don't remember people they may of lost. It could have just been a generic statememt regarding their parents or friends, but it could also be used to allow for a twin who in the original timeline may have died and unlike the fate of the Morgan of that OT their older sibling knows what happened to the twin. Then again I like that idea mainly as it lets me headcanon my way it a second child for my Robcina pairing, and because it works really well to have Morgan be female and then give Morgan's japanese name of Marc to the male Morgan

The thing is his rally stacks with other rallys. So inherently he is a stronger rally bot than others.

On Lunatic conquest you can capture Rallyman on chapter 22 (a generic master of arms with 4 rally skills)

In all honesty the best overall build would probably by Hoshido Unity, Quixotic, Rend Heaven, Astra, and either Death Blow or Vantage. The former allows him to basically kill anything on a Astra proc while the later gives more surviveability as he can then counter first and hopefully kill when at half HP

Lucina, because I am a garbage Robin x Lucina shipper