Medeus

I wouldn't say you absolutely need capped stats, but I do agree that having long range units with good equipment for the dungeon makes it a lot less of a grind. Their ability to snipe from afar means they can get around the ridiculously bulky and hard hitting units that the game throws at you by either weakening or outright killing them before they even touch you. It's one of the reasons I'd say my mages and Bow Knights were my best units in that dungeon whereas I couldn't rely on those like Alm to keep taking hits out of fear they'd get killed by the onslaught.

Overall, it's decent. Act 1-3 are fine ignoring Celica's outburst and a couple other things, but 4 it takes a bad turn as Celica goes into Eirika territories of idiocy, Rudolf's plan, while better then in Gaiden, still has a few holes, and a few changes here and there between the original and the remake actually cause more problems in the story then previously (mainly in regards to how Duma is represented). It's still a step up from many of the issues with Fates, but it definitely has its own problems that could've been patched up better then they were.

I'm glad they decided against it, I didn't like how Kris was done in FE12 (especially in regards to Marth) and I don't think narratively they would've fit into how Gaiden/Echoes works as a story. I think playing it safe and keeping the focus on Alm and Celica was for the better here, and hopefully that will be kept with future remakes where the narrative doesn't' benefit from having an Avatar character inserted in.

MathildaxClive is sickeningly sweet and I love it, it made me realize how much I missed having married/engaged couples in these games.

I figured the boost Julia wouldn't have been enough, but Tharja closed that gap rather quickly. It looks like if we hope to surpass her Julia is going to need that 3x boost to come her way in the final hour of the battle. Eh, it was a pretty even split for Corrin as halfway through the character's introduction trailer M!Corrin was switched out for F!Corrin. Even in terms of the posters they pretty much had equal billing as F!Corrin shares it alongside her male counterpart, unlike Robin's where only M!Robin and Lucina are seen with F!Robin nowhere to be found.

After the lords, there are still some plot important characters like Elincia, Deirdre, Nanna, Tibarn, and Skirmir that are missing from the game, so I could see them being added later on to head future banners in the same way most of the lords have. After them, they'll probably start getting creative and use more random banners like the aforementioned Blazing Shadows set, with maybe having a fan favorite or two mixed in to keep fans interested.

It's good to hear that the game is at least performing to IS' expectations, the sales may not be incredible compared to the previous two games, but at least it shows there may be interest in remaking the other older games. Now we just need for the western sales to keep up to that standard and hopefully we'll see the other games follow suit. ...We just had Fates, a game where Flora commits suicide by self-immolation in front of three people who care about her and are clearly devastated by it, come over and remain untouched aside from maybe some line changes (none of which that lessen the act). So if they're willing to keep that moment, what makes you think they'll edit Sigurd's death when it leads to a major plot development for half of the game? With that said, this topic does not belong in the thread and Calico has politely asked us to stop, so lets move on.

8-4 helped out with Xenoblade X, so it wasn't a sole Treehouse project in that case. What's funny about 8-4 though is that when they were brought in for X some complained because of some of their changes in the past, so it's not like 8-4 is completely let off the hook when it comes to localizations. In fact, before Fates they probably were the go-to scapegoats for 'bad' localizations and even after that game they still get a good amount of bile spewed at them considering how some are dancing in joy at their lack of involvement in Xenoblade 2.

Of the ones I've been trying to get, Gwendolyn, Eirika, Lachesis, Reinhardt, Klein, Ogma, Seliph, and Caeda are the only ones I'm missing. Niles as well, but he's an easy fix with the Seals quests going on. In terms of skill fodder, Nowi, Tharja, and Odin are the ones I've been trying to pull so I can give their weapons to other characters.

Heroes-wise, Tiki. Partially due to her role in the main series and partially because I like her as a unit in Heroes. In terms of who I'd like to see, Nasir, Kurthnaga, or Myrrh. Nasir because I liked his role in PoR and he stood out in RD for being the only Laguz that could attack using Magic (the cards nonwithstanding), Kurth because I'd like to see him given another chance to shine considering he was lackluster in RD, and Myrrh due to nostalgia since Sacred Stones was one of my first games in the franchise and thus she was the first Manakete I got to play with. Also, while I don't expect him for a while at least, it would be nice to get FE1!Medeus as a playable character, even if only for the novelty of having a playable Earth Dragon for the first time in the franchise.

My friends, the time has come! Give your support to the empress Julia, a vote for her is a vote for integrity and righteousness! With your help, we can lead her to victory!

Huh, I'm actually surprised they decided to go with Ike instead of Celica this week, but I can't complain too much. Ike has always been that one omission that left a hole in the roster that many wanted to see filled, so it's nice to see him even if only for that reason. As for the characters, while Soren doesn't look too promising gameplay-wise, I am excited to see him since I liked his character in PoR and I look forward to trying and failing to get him.

Gharnef, Camus, Walhart/Garon, Medeus, maybe Gangrel, and at least one OC villain would be my guesses. Looking at what happened in HW, I'm pretty sure the games we saw in the trailer are the primary ones that they will represent in the game. In addition to that, I feel that we will get some of the typical archetypes that we see in FE games get filled, and sorcerers, the Camus archetypes, emperors, and big bad dragons are the main ones that FE loves to fulfill in terms of their villains. So I think those archetypes are going to be set for the game, with maybe one other villain from the main series appearing on top of an OC that gets everyone together a la Cia. As for why I went with these ones out of the choices, Gharnef is held in much higher regard then Validar and I don't think I need to mention why Iago would be a terrible choice. Camus is the only one who can fill the archetype out of the villains in these games unless they have Xander do it for some reason, so he gets it by default. While Garon is heavily disliked and for good reason, I feel out of the Fates' villains he is the only one I could see get a role in the game over the others, and to his credit he does a connection to Xander, Corrin, and to a lesser extent, Ryoma that could work in the story if they appear. Walhart would serves as a good contrast to most of the lords (especially Chrom) due to his mindset on achieving peace through conquest and generally would be a fun villain to get in. Lastly, the dragons come down to Medeus and Grima, and I'm leaning more towards the former due to him being the original dragon and already having TMS under his belt in terms of crossovers (and he'd be more functional if they want a playable dragon).

Design: Wolfskins by a hair. I like the transformed designs of Kitsunes and Wolfskins about the same, but I enjoy the designs of the human forms of the Wolfskins more then their Kitsune counterparts. Character: Kaden>Keaton>Velouria>Selkie. Kaden I feel had the best character of the bunch, he had his share of repetitiveness, but he still had some supports that gave him a bit more meaningful interactions with other members of the cast and is generally just a fun guy. Next is Keaton, whose gimmick is more omnipresent then Kaden's, but less then the daughters, and I do like some of his character traits compared to them such as his loyalty (even if said traits can be summed up as 'puppy'). I will also give him some credit for some of his non-trash related supports like Selena's and Mozu's, which tend to be pretty decent, though not groundbreaking. Velouria I like her lone wolf traits, but I found her Electra Complex to be kind of annoying and I feel her dog-like traits are more prevalent and bothersome then with her father. Lastly, Selkie I found to be completely one-note and her gimmick I felt was the most annoying of the bunch. Gameplay: No contest, Wolfskins all the way. They do share the same flaws (footlocked units with no 2-range), but at least with the Wolfskins, they're built in a way that takes advantage of their stone's properties and can function as a secondary tank or berserker depending on your needs whereas Kitsunes are fragile and can't take or deal much punishment. Even if I'm just comparing the units, I found Keaton to be far more useable for his bulk and attack power then I did Kaden for his speed and resistance. So my vote goes to the Wolfskins.

Conquest: I can't say when I exactly gave up on the plot here as there were a number of moments where I just didn't get where the plot was trying to go. Chapter 15, as said before, is where I drew the line as Valla's appearance and everything that came with it made the story jump off the cliff into a deep pit that it could never climb out of. Revelations: Pretty much when we first visit Valla really, as Azura withholding information due to the contrived plot device and Anankos' role in general removed a lot of the interest that I had in the story. The pointless deaths, Anthony in general, and some of the other issues also didn't help my perception of the story and I honestly don't consider it that much better then Conquest because of that.

I voted neutral, but I'm cautiously optimistic. On the one hand, I won't deny I have my concerns as I'm not a big fan of Grima and the last time IS tried to incorporate Awakening elements into something it ended up being a huge mess at best. However, reading the details we have gotten I'm starting to come around to it. Grima as a villain was terribly underdeveloped to start with, so giving him this backstory where you flesh out his origins by making him a crafted abomination of man that resents his creators does help in making him at least somewhat more memorable. It also gives him a bit more to stand out from Medeus and Loptyr since now he's not exclusively repeating the crazy dragon trend they did and is bringing something new to the table that hasn't really been done by either. So as long as it's done well and works itself into the events of the game without throwing off anything, I have no problem with it. I do agree it still leaves a good amount of questions and plot holes in some other areas for Awakening's backstory, but eh, baby steps.

Sacrifice her to the dragon gods!

Huh, I didn't expect Lyn to do that well. Granted she's no slouch in popularity (she's really popular overseas, and in Japan, while not that popular, she did well on that Famitsu poll), I honestly thought it'd be Lucina at the top or at least top female. No surprises Ike is the top male though, he may not hail from Awakening or Fates, but he's a man with a lot of clout in the fanbase.

What's funny about this is that they actually fixed one of the weirder name changes with Raquesis getting changed back to Lachesis.

I'm so glad Gaiden is getting remade, it's the only game in the franchise I haven't played yet through any means, so having that available finally will be perfect for me. As for Heroes, it sounds interesting in that it's kind of like a crisis crossover game that brings in all of the favorites from previous games to battle it out. It's an interesting concept, though I'm curious to see what maps they come up with as even with all of those characters, it won't be as attractive if the gameplay isn't that memorable.

Who said Walhart's serving him? He'll gather his army of risen, wage war against the other worlds, and subjugate them under his dominion like any good conqueror would. ...The Dragon will just show up after he's defeated because final boss, evil in man's heart, and all that.

I wouldn't be surprised if he or another dragon served as the final boss (though not necessarily the main string puller) considering this series has a huge attraction history with them in the role. Even TMS had Medeus get brought back in as the final boss of that game, and he was basically just an evil force compared to the actions of the guys before him. With that said, looking at what happened with HW, I can see them bring back villains like Lang and Walhart as they did the same thing with Ghirahim and Zant despite Cia and her band existing. So I could see them brought back in to serve the plot as needed for the respective worlds that appear in the same manner while some of the original villains tie them together for one true evil purpose, which would be fun to see as some like Walhart have ideologies that would contrast with previous heroes and villains well (especially Alm if he appeared).

Walhart: An interesting character that ended up suffering from being tied to a rather pointless arc. His characterization and ideals make sense, and I do like some of his moments such as calling out Emmeryn's sacrifice, but it's hard for me to fully care about him when the narrative doesn't really have a proper place for him. Lucina: A lot of people call her bland, but I never really felt that. As Thane said, she's a character that has a strong weight on her back that she deals with in trying to stop the bad future, but is not afraid to have her dorky and silly supports, which balances her out pretty decently. I also do like her drive to stop the bad future, how she's portrayed in Future Past, and I do like that they do show a conflict with her if it comes to Robin being her husband or mother. She's easily my favorite lord of the Awakening trio, and while I do admit she can be pretty irrelevant at times in the story, I do still enjoy her as a character. Aversa: She has an OK backstory, and that's kind of really it with her. Her story role is pretty weak since they don't show her manipulations nearly as much as previous examples in the series, so she doesn't really appeal to me as a villain. She easily would've benefitted from proper handling of her screentime. Flavia: Hey, it's one of those characters that suffers from being an Avatarsexual! As a character, she really doesn't have too much to her character unfortunately as she's basically the strong woman character with little else to her personality, and being limited in supports doesn't help her in leaving a strong presence. So she's kind of just there, another character lacking in conversations and/or story role to really develop them. Her support with Basillio is decent though, and I do like Tara Platt's performance with the character. Sumia: While I agree the Pie support is bad, I don't think she's a bad character. She's gimmicky with her klutz trope, but I do like aspects of her such as her love of reading, her desire for escapism, and some of her story moments like punching Chrom so that he'd get a hold of himself. Her conversation with Chrom after Gangrel's defeat is also kind of nice, and it's probably my favorite of the four options he has. So I do like her, even with some of her repetitive traits. Nah: She's... there, there's not much to her that I like or dislike aside from the Inigo support. Yarne: I like the idea of a character who feels the weight of being the last of his kind, but I'm not sure it's done well with Yarne. The problem is that they play up his cowardice a bit too much in the supports and they tend to be very similar to each other. Yarne runs off, character calls him out, he does better, they marry, and that's pretty much the majority of his supports. There are good exceptions to this like with Nah, but unfortunately it's few and far in-between. He would've benefitted from having a more varied set of conversations, but as he is now, he definitely shows the weakness in having too many supports with little characterization. I'll get to the rest later.

Kaden I like him, he's a narcissist, but still a genuinely good guy with a fun personality beneath it all and does try to help out others whenever he can. I feel his biggest flaw (ignoring his questionable reasoning for attacking you in Conquest, I still think it was poorly shoved in just for duality with Keaton) is that he can come off as a bit bland in his supports. There are a couple supports like the one with Orochi where I was not really invested with what the characters were talking about. Also, he can be a bit grating once in a while with his beauty/"I'll pay you back" gimmick, but it's not nearly as terrible as some other characters can be, so it doesn't hinder him that much. As a unit, he's Taguel 2.0, a fast dodgetank unit with meh strength and poor defensive, though with an actual Res stat so that he can help with the mages. However in execution, I feel he's not too much better then the Taguel since Fates doesn't like dodgetanks much unless they're Ryoma and his lack of strength and defense means he falls behind pretty quickly (especially in Revelations). Also, his high Res kind of goes to waste since he lacks 2 range, so he's just basically a wall that can't do anything in return, which makes him lose out to the ninjas easily since they can retaliate. Keaton Puppy! If you looked at Keaton and said he acts like a dog, you'd be correct as that's basically his personality. With that said, I don't think it's really a bad thing in and of itself since a good amount of his likeable traits are related to that. I personally do like his loyalty as a character since he does show on occasion that he does care about those around him and will go out of his way to make them happy, even if it is in his own way such as arranging a hunt for Mozu or getting Selena a baby chick. I also do like that he's pretty much a failure of the tsundere archetype since he tries so hard to be the guy that doesn't care, but his body language betrays him. However, his biggest flaw is also associated with his dog-like personality, and that's his trash gimmick. Now, if this was something that popped up from time to time, it'd be fine, just an odd quirk. However, IIRC, it appears in a good chunk of his supports, and while the rest barely mention it (if at all), it's still one too many as it can be pretty repetitive. It's not enough to make me dislike the character though, as I still do enjoy his likeable traits and I still consider him pretty enjoyable. As a unit, I feel he's the best you can make of the beast unit archetype in their current state (land-locked unmounted units that lack 2 range). His stats synergize well with the stones, so you can get a unit that can switch off between a berserker-like unit that can hit hard or a tank that can absorb damage, and his beast killing gimmick can be useful in certain chapters. Still flawed, but at least he's workable. Arete Who are you again? Why should I care you died? Hana I find her a bit abrasive, even ignoring Corrin's support. As a unit, she's too fragile for me, particularly since Fates doesn't like dodgetanks that much. Oboro Probably one of the strongest characters in the game for reasons stated multiple times over. She's not gimmicky, they handle each aspect of her (her crush, her love of fashion, her hate of Nohr) rather well, and she's a decent unit overall. She's a good character, and she's one of the shining examples of Fates' writing. Anna I haven't bought her DLC, so no comment. Elise The precious little sister. As a character, I do appreciate her contrast between the cynical viewpoint of Nohr as despite it, she's still optimistic and looks for the bright side of things. It also actually has a place in the plot since her desire to find peace through friendship and kindness rather then war is what leads her to rebelling against Nohr in BR. It's through that role that she becomes one of the more proactive siblings in the game since she actually contributes to what's happening in the plot, unlike the other sisters, who basically appear and then stop mattering for a good chunk of the game. While her story was still flawed (mostly because of the aforementioned Xander), I do see what they were trying to do. Support-wise, she falters a bit due to her more childish nature, which can be a bit grating, but she still has a number of good supports such as hers with Ryoma (C-A mostly, S depends on your viewpoint of the age gap). As a unit, she's a glass cannon, but worthwhile to use since she's such a great support unit. ​Ryoma Likeable, but he can be a bit bland. Anankos Oh dear Naga, probably one of the most mismanaged villains in the entire series. He has a backstory, he has motivations, he does have a bit of character, and all of that is locked behind DLC. Why? If I just played Revelations, he'd be a horribly bland villain as he just comes off as another batshit crazy dragon that wants to destroy humanity just because, which gives me no reason to care about him. Even with the DLC in mind, I can't bring myself to like him as for all of the explanation they give for him, he's still another giant dragon that removes any personal stake in the plot, and through his existence is (plot-wise) responsible for some of Fates' worst plot elements such as Gooron and the dead parents brigade. So even with the bits and pieces of goodness within the character, it doesn't save him from being one of my most disliked parts of the game. He does too much harm to the plot for me to overlook just because he gets a sobstory, Fates' plot would've benefitted more from having him taken out of the story and having more emphasis placed on the events of the war. With that said, at least his dragon form has a nice design. It's familiar in shape, but it's still somewhat alien, so it's at least interesting to look at.

Shiro: Easily the most well rounded of the kids, he's not guided by a gimmick, he has a believable relationship with his parents, and he bounces off well with other characters in the cast. It's really a shame he's locked into being a Gen 2 character because I feel he would've benefitted from being a part of the main cast. Forrest: One of the biggest surprises of the cast, he has feminine traits and he could've easily been turned into another one of IS' feminine guys, but they take a different route with him and he benefits greatly from it. He understands that his likes are more feminine, but he doesn't mind and still enjoys it, and he shows a lot of confidence in who he is and what he likes. It's great to see a character like that, especially since it's so easy to screw up someone like him. Beruka: A bit repetitive in her supports, but at least her gimmick makes for some good interactions such as with Saizo and Niles. Garon: A terrible mixture of Vigarde and Travant that lacks anything good about their portrayals while also being horribly executed. What makes him worse is that the building blocks for a good villain are there, but they clearly didn't put too much care into developing those aspects and just left us with a glorified pile of goo. Rhajat: I do like that her supports show her nicer side as well as her more socially awkward moments (ex. Selkie's), but I feel she's held back by being cheap fanservice to Awakening. She would've been better off as her own character rather then being tied to her predecessor. Ophelia: She's cute, but she often comes off as just a knock off of her father rather then her own character. Sumeragi: He only exists to die in the backstory and then reappear for cheap feels in Revelations. He does have some supports that give us bits and pieces about him, but they fail to expand on them, so ultimately he just feels like a prop that the story brings in whenever they need him to move the story along, and then discard as quickly as he came.