Ertrick36

These got a chuckle out of me. Good job. Gotcha. Yeah, I do want to talk about the generics since some of them have pretty stupid helmets, while others look bad ass. Anyway, let's get down to business... to defeat... the CRAB! Ryomer Certainly an eye-catching design. I sort of wish he had some other classes in which he has a unique design much like Takumi or (I think) Azura, but his base class should suffice. His entire design pretty much represents Hoshido; a general color scheme of red, gold, and white, an outfit that obviously harkens back to feudal Japan's samurai, and... very large, spiky hair akin to Super Saiyan 3 from DBZ though I actually like Ryoma's design more than Super Saiyan 3; at least he has eyebrows All around very regal, befitting his station and age relative to many of the other characters. I like his upgraded Levin Sword, too. His animations are the swordmaster animations, and again, they fit his character. I like that with certain blades, they'll actually be dual wielding two of them, and thus their animation gets changed to accommodate this new development. Does it change anything gameplay-wise? Nope. But does it look cool? Hell yeah, even when the character sheaths the blades, they manage to look kick ass. Their single blade animations are pretty cool, too, and the Levin Sword/Raijinto distant strike is certainly a step up from the typical animation you'd see in Awakening, though the throwing animations aren't too impressive (they're ripped straight from Awakening's Amatsu 2-range animation, I think). Xander Root Obviously, his design contrasts Ryoma's. However, he again manages to look quite regal and impressive, which is how I'd also describe his matching sword. Between the blonde hair and the dark armor, he embodies Nohr. He always either looks stern or proud, which obviously is supposed to reflect his characterization. His animations aren't too remarkable, though. They're basically just the typical cavalier animations, though I would like to take this time to genuinely appreciate how much the 3D animations of this staple class have improved so much since Path of Radiance. I'd also like to point out that the magic effect Xander's sword Siegfried shoots out at 2-range is the same as the one that comes from Odin's Grimoire. I think it's pretty cool.

Oh, I'm so tempted to make the obvious meme joke involving a certain word starting with the letter "A"... but I won't. I guess that's technically a meme as well. While talking about the designs, I'll also mention something about the animations, except for in the event of running into two characters with the exact same animations, but even then, I might talk about if I think the animation fits the character. I'll be referring to their canon/default classes in this regard. Corn Bred I like female Corrin's design for the most part, obviously barring the random sex appeal bit. A lot of the options look great; there aren't any I particularly dislike. And I'm glad that we've got more hair color options, obviously. Another thing I like is the ability to add a "face detail", and for females, giving the avatar a hair accessory. As we know in Awakening, you could only get certain facial decorations with particular faces, so it's nice that we've got more customization in general. And I like the animations of both genders' sword-fighting animations, though I like female Corrin's victory pose in particular, as it's like a reflection of Azura's victory pose. I don't like male Corrin nearly as much. Like someone else said, the hair options aren't too great. A few of the face options are quite punchable, IMO; I dunno why. All around, just a bit duller. And it isn't like I'm sexist; there are plenty of men on both sides of the war that have pretty schwifty designs. Some generics are more interestng speaking of which, will we talk about the designs of the generics as well? Though those complaints are apart from the clothes, obviously; both Corrins have a rather unique outfit. Though how exactly does it come off? And more importantly, why are the feet bare? I recall someone saying it was to connect with the earth or whatever, but nothing about that particular design choice is explained in-game. It's just... random. But like someone said, it's a nice outfit for a shapeshifter. The promotion outfits aren't my favorite, though. The scroll/tome and staff/rod animations for them are very boring, too. The tattered cape for the Nohr Noble is a nice touch, I guess. It's too bad the dragon form doesn't change with the promotion. Speaking of, the dragon design itself is kind of interesting. It's nice that the antlery bits on the head and the spiny bits on the tail are actually put to use in combat. What I love about both sword-fighting Corrin and dragon-form Corrin is that they have a unique animation for using Dragon Fang. Luckily for us, we actually have proof of this fact because of Super Smash Bros. Even though Smash fans hacked the game to edit the thigh holes back in anyway, and most people cried "censorship" when they found out about the lack of thigh holes, but that's beside the point. Azura of the Azure Skies Wow, she has a lot going on with her design. It's very elaborate and unique! The colors blend well with her long, light blue hair. And the animations are pretty nice, too. When she uses her refresh ability, it's like she's summoning those grey waves she always sings about. Some have commented about how her face looks odd in her profile, and I... kind of agree. I think it's alright; she has a stern look, which fits the author's intent of making her mostly serious. Another complaint is the asymmetry; I actually like that because it reflects her familial ties and mysterious origins. I have to agree with this. I mean, to be fair, I'm not one to go all up in arms about fanservicey designs; I only really get upset about fanservice if that's all a game has to offer, and in most other cases, I just don't care about the sex appeal part of it. But I'd prefer if it made sense. The exposed thighs and derrieres of female combatants makes absolutely no sense, especially given that it's a sensitive region. I'll get more into all of that when the time comes. Also, to the topic creator: do you have an approximate schedule for updating this thread? I know RoyLKing had a schedule when he made the character opinion thread that approximated when he'd update.

I suppose the spoilers help with a diminishing sense of immersion. Though it doesn't help that more and more corporate types who have absolutely no passion whatsoever in video games are getting involved in the games industry. I was the same as you when I got Awakening. I was really mostly looking forward to getting and playing Smash Bros and Tomodachi Life since I watched live streams of both, but my sister got me FE Awakening as well. And since I actually kinda liked Lucina and Robin in Smash (go f*** yoselves, haters; also, Ike's fun to play as well), and because I got into strategy games a bit with Valkyria Chronicles, I figured that I should give it more of a chance than a lot of games I'm just sort of handed. And lo and behold, I ended up playing FE more than the other 3DS games I wanted to play. Spent some hundred-or-so hours total on my first file. And of course, while I've not been too immersed in the game in general as I have been for its predecessor, I do feel a connection to the characters of Fates. And for me, the characters are the most important aspect of most media I absorb.

I think whether or not you get so engrossed that you forget yourself is irrelevant to the question posed. What matters is how it affects your real life, and it affects everyone's lives differently. Some can become totally immersed like you have and still function all the same in society. Others can ruin their own lives with minimal immersion, e.g. those only in it for "the grind". You just gotta figure out if it keeps you from the important people in your life and if it makes you do worse in your career, and not to forget what sitting around playing a game (if that's how you play it) can do to you physically. If you can't figure any of that out, then it probably is a problem for you. As for me personally. I can get immersed in the way that I genuinely like, care about, and sometimes even love some characters, though the last bit admittedly happens much less to me now than it did when I was a teenager. I mean, I've mentioned this before, but I ended up liking Oboro so much that I actually couldn't bring myself to kill her in Conquest, even though it'd possibly net me some decent XP. In fact, I made a very concerted effort to keep her from dying. I didn't do this for any other character, partially because my other favorites - Leo and Takumi - are necessary to defeat (and one of them doesn't actually die). But I don't ever really lose myself in Fates. I think it's a wonderful thing to get immersed in a story. That's where storytelling and roleplaying really shines. It's literally the best thing that could happen when you're consuming any piece of media. That's basically what my childhood was. Almost every waking moment away from my parents and teachers, my life was simply being immersed in video games and roleplaying. It was like all the Rugrats adventures.

Alright, finally going to post again. Didn't play Rogues and Redeemers, so naturally I'll skip. Future Past If there's one thing that I'm glad Fates did, it was borrow from this series in its own DLCs and work on it from a gameplay standpoint so that the Gen Ones were as uninvolved as possible. I know not everyone likes the idea of working with fixed units, but I liked it better than bringing in broken units to fight broken units while protecting relatively feeble units, because that's basically what the main game and "Insanity rank" DLC packs are. I'm always down for different challenges than usual as long as they're fair. Though the assessment that they're terrible for grinding is a rational assessment. Don't let my opening rhetoric fool you, though. I really like Future Past. I mean, it was kind of annoying grinding so many of my units up so that they could take on the final chapter while still being able to talk to and leave the children alive. But the story... I'm not one that is so often attracted to bleak and horrific stories, but since the game (rightfully) assumes that you've spent a good amount of time with all the children, they put so much more emotion into it and you get to understand why some of the characters are the way they are. Between Cynthia always maintaining her optimism in spite of a situation that left all her comrades saying "farewell" to one another, Owain and Inigo standing their ground against impossible odds to save Yarne and Brady, and Lucina and the others fighting bravely against Grima in the face of death, there's a lot to make you feel for all the characters, even if you don't particularly like some of them. And I personally loved seeing Lucina finally being allowed to be the hero, even though her parents and her comrades' parents are dead. She deserves the spotlight, IMO.

Oh wow, that's right. Maybe RoyLKing experienced the same horrible things I have, and wants to forget that she ever existed. I'll post an opinion on Nowi right here: I don't think she's a terrible character, but... ugh, I've had horrible experiences with her "fans". People bitch about how Undertale fans ruin Undertale for them, well... I guess I know what it is to feel that way about something. Back to actual character analysis, she's... pretty goddamn gimmicky. She appeals very much to the "legal loli" concept. She has some good moments, though. But obviously not my favorite Awakening character. Like I said a while back, I like her daughter more. That's why when it came time to talk about Grima, I just talked about the FE tradition of having dragons as the true Big Bad instead of an in-depth character analysis into Grima. Though he does get a bit more characterization in Future Past, though not much beyond "I'm still fighting an internal battle with my other half". I mean, I guess the ultimate reason behind the dragons wanting to kill all of humanity is that they're racist due to humanity and Naga wiping out almost all of them and forcing them to seal their dragon forms in stones, or risk going absolutely insane. But that's the extent of the characterization we might ever get with the evil dragons. And hell, even Medeus - the dragon who was from the very game that went in-depth about the plight of the manaketes - played the "haha, I'm the Dark Black EVIL" card, so it's not like they pretend there's any moral ambiguity at all.

Shhhh... be quiet. Logic is a forbidden concept; to even utilize it in a minor way would bring about even more confusion and stupidity. So the Gods say, and so they shall be. Seriously though, I can't believe I didn't touch upon how ridiculous all of that is. I mean, I guess Robin gives a shit about them because of their hospitality, but why do they give Robin hospitality in the first place? 'Cuz they're just that nice? It's like those silly parody cartoons where the hero makes a bad joke or farts on the villain, and the villain just flops over like a salamander that got its tail cut off. I mean, you look at his skills and stats and think "holy shit", but then you find Chrom's Falchion can one-shot him, pretty much. But I guess that's how it is with lots of FE final bosses. Perhaps some think he does, but I think the majority like him well enough. Hell, lots of people bitch about how Lucina got in Super Smash Bros over Chrom, so much so that it made me think that people like Chrom more than Lucina. I know there are other stated reasons for this, but still... In any case, if he fell flat for the audience, he wouldn't have been one of the highest rated male characters in the game by most polls... unless of course all the others were bad, which is definitely not the case. It's not even a contest since they're practically the only units who always have access to every single class aside from the special classes. Female Robin with Galeforce is an absolute nightmare. At least they tried to tone down the OPness of the self-insert in Fates, but even then, making a female Corrin will give you access to all the classes in the game via Friendship Seal, and male Corrin can gain access to almost all the classes in the same way, so it's just some extra steps you have to take to get 'em all. I'm probably not going to post a closing paragraph in this thread since I forgot to do so in my last post and the thread'll be abandoned very soon (or it seems likely, anyway). I'll just say this: Awakening was the reason I got into FE, much like it was for many people, and I think it got me hooked because it had several wonderful characters and a gameplay mechanic that allowed us to become closer to them. It has flaws, sure, but it's all around a great experience. It was good enough to get me to play it much, much more than either Super Smash Bros for 3DS or Tomodachi Life, both games of which I was highly anticipating.

Bred Chrom Alright, here he is; our Lord of this entry. Naturally, he's a fairly strong character; one would hope he'd be, since he's one of the protagonists. So far, he's one of my more favorite lords in the series (at least from what I've played), but I like his daughter more, since she has a more compelling backstory and a better reason for being strong. Though Chrom isn't without his share of trauma, as we learn right before the first assassination attempt on Emmeryn. But generally, as I said before, he serves as an anchor of normality in a sea of bizarre and gimmicky characters. And he has some nice supports. Also a bro. Even though I totally violated dat bro code. Robin Hood What a stupid, cliche joke. So our other protagonist. There are less support differences between the genders for Robin than there are for Corrin, if I recall correctly, but not many. I honestly would've preferred if female Robin bonded with Chrom in a similar way male Robin does, instead of... hot, steamy bath house scenes that lead to them seeing each other naked. That's... just weird. And vaguely sexist in a few ways. Other than that, Robin's role in the supports is more like Stahl in that it's more about the other character, which really makes sense since Robin is the self-insert and has immense plot relevance anyway. Overall, I think Robin's a bit of an improvement over Chris. At least Robin's importance makes more sense; Chris is just some person that was slapped onto the story of a game that was already beatable without him/her (yet was still stated as being the sole reason Marth was able to defeat Medeus), whereas Robin's the person in charge of all the tactics the army employs. Do I think Robin gets too much attention and praise? Yes. Are some of his/her tactics ridiculous and stupid? Absolutely. But when I play a game, I can suspend my disbelief to an extent. And in my opinion, nothing Robin does is any worse than Nohrin. Not by a long shot. Robin's a Mary Sue/Stu who I've softened up to because of Corrin. Like Thane said, with some work, Robin could turn out to be a great archetype for the self-inserts the series will surely see more of if it's given some modifications. I mean, they already technically did it with Blazing Sword, and it makes a lot of sense, given that the player is the one dictating the tactics the army will employ. Grima The Big Bad DragonTM is an old crutch FE has been relying too much on. When you're rehashing a story from the NES days, it's hard to make your story absolutely astounding and unique. Everyone here and in the Fates Opinion thread have been commenting on how all the villains are either "wasted potential" or "generic villain #583", whereas a decent chunk of the playable characters have gotten quite the praise. To me, that says the problem is all the bad villains, and that includes the main villain of almost every game. There are other problems, sure - there's never a "catch-all" for any issue like this - but a good starting point is to work on how the villains are done. And I know the audience this game is primarily marketed to can comprehend a bit of political intrigue and moral ambiguity; hell, when I was a teenager, I was fully engrossed in the stories of the Metal Gear series, and sometimes those games make you wonder if you aren't the bad guy. It doesn't have to be much, but you can make a compelling villain that still deserves to die. Takumi and even Hardin were almost right. One can become evil without being possessed or innately evil. I mean, FE proves that bad people can become good without the need for hypnosis, so why can't it go the other way? I know I was light on Validar. And I said that I can't be disappointed in the recurring story elements that are less than stellar. But at the same time, I can still hope for better without being disappointed. I can ask for better. I play these games primarily for the gameplay, supports, and even some of the characters, but a well-written story couldn't hurt. IS just... needs to make sure they're ready to deliver on that instead of biting off more than they can chew. Until then, I'll live with the boring dragons and generic scheming villains. For what it's worth, I like him making more of an attempt to stop the heroes in Future Past. Just him actually getting involved with the heroes (and addressing them more, too) makes him a better villain than he was before, as it shows that he knows he can be defeated. I also liked fighting him on top of the castle instead of on his own back. It's more challenging since there's all the rubble and whatnot, and if you want to speak with the children, you need to make sure to protect them.

Let's get riiiiight into the opinions. Maybelle Is "surprisingly not bad" a character archetype? She was the lady that got me started on using the term "troglodyte" in my vernacular. Yeah, she's quite pompous, but she does have a noble heart as well. She makes attempts to befriend those from the lower classes, and her whole support line with Gaius is notoriously good. And she doesn't fault her son for failing to speak like a noble after he tried very hard. In the end, I actually quite like her, and she earns a spot in the higher crust of characters. Excellsius Xtreme 9 No joke, I actually got confused when I first looked at this name. And this guy's... "face"... I hate to be the guy to judge by looks... but holy shit. It's a damn shame plastic surgery doesn't exist in the FE universe, dude. I'd say try to find Xane to teach you his tricks, but... is he even alive in the period Awakening takes place? Anyway, his looks aren't the only thing that suck about him. You first encounter him when you kill Yen'fay, and find that he was... kind of sort of holding Say'ri hostage? Yet later, you find he doesn't really have much power. He just talks behind closed doors, and probably bribes people. When he's confronted by Walhart, no one has his back. A scheming villain could be interesting, but this guy is very uninteresting. No background, no motives beyond greed... just some bad guy who wants to be emperor of the world or whatever. Bootleg Darth Vader Ah, the Gharnef of the tale. The father reveal wasn't entirely surprising. I guess it really was the novelty that made it so great in Star Wars. He's probably a bit more interesting than your typical FE villain, but not by much. There are villains throughout Awakening that could've been more compelling, but you end up with a cult leader who's trying to resurrect a dead dragon. But having played FE for a couple years now, I've learned that you can't really get disappointed by a Validar, because the series is chock full of them, and that trend isn't likely to end anytime soon. So I'll rip on Validar for being a bad villain, but for all intents and purposes, he fills his role appropriately. And indeed, you do gotta give him props for succeeding in, like, two different timelines. It's more than I can say for any of the villains in Fates.

Okay, so now we've talked about all the spotpass characters... right? Owain needs no aid I don't know why I'm so obsessed with that particular line. So, I actually almost started crying during the scene with him and Inigo in Future Past. If there's any proof that Owain is a true hero (Inigo, too), just watch the opening cutscene for Future Past 2. A real heart-wrenching moment, that. I love Owain. Ever since I realized the joke when he shouted "Radiant Dawn!" and then immediately after, he berated his "hand", saying "this is no time for games", this guy has just been a barrel of laughter for me. If nothing else, his love for roleplaying reminds me of my own love for that hobby, which I've carried since I was a small child. But I like how his over-the-top acting serves to try to emulate the grandeur of the Exalts, since he lacks the ability to carry the Falchion or any semblance of power Lucina and Chrom wield, but wants to be able to save people just like they do. It's endearing in a way. Also really, really sad. If I could give him a long, heartfelt hug, I would. I like that he can do both. In fact, I try to get him so that he has high stats in both regards so that he can act as an auxiliary unit. I always prefer to make him an Assassin in the end though because the high amount of crits and lethality really fit Owain's "hungering sword hand" deal. Cynthia At first, I found her to be kind of annoying. Like, it seemed like they were forcing her cuteness. Maybe it was the voice. But playing Future Past and seeing some of her supports... well, I've warmed up to her. I mean, at some point, the game had me rooting for her over Severa, since Severa was being particularly bitchy to Cynthia for no reason. I like that she puts on a brave face and remains optimistic in the face of dire situations. It's a wonderful thing that takes a level of virtue most people don't attain. And this is proven by the fact that so many of the children are grim and stoic. But not Cynthia. It makes me think of how so many of my own former friends and acquaintances in high school and middle school grew up to be huge nihilists, while I developed... well, not an overly optimistic outlook, but an outlook that's much more positive than half my classmates. Also, many of them were massive dicks to everyone who disagreed with them on anything, but that's kind of beside the point. So at the very least, I can relate to her on that level. And it is a bit endearing that she trips like her mother. Which is funny, because I don't even care for that gimmick when it's Sumia who's tripping. If nothing else, she has guaranteed access to OPforce, along with the class that provides it. Ricken Honestly not as over-the-top-shota as he could be. Not as good as Hayato, but also not the worst. Is there much beyond jokes about his height and age? Not really. But he isn't an asshole about it. He's more like the boy in every children's story that wants to help out, but is constantly turned away because he's a kid, and I enjoy those well enough.

Lon Lon Qu Honestly, he does have nice supports and his gynophobia isn't sexist (at least not intentionally), but I never came to really care for him. I mean, that's how it is with a lot of the "okay" characters like Stahl or whoever, but I guess for Lon'Qu it's just because of his archetype. Emmerich She's nice enough, I suppose. I hear that in spotpass, she has amnesia, which... for whatever reason, makes it so that she can't support her siblings? Her sacrifice was great, but like everyone else says, it's rendered pointless because of spotpass. Her resurrection is the one I have the biggest problem with because her's was the most meaningful death. All other resurrections were of villains, and only one of them had a death with any meaning at all (Yen'fay), but even then, I felt almost nothing for it. Emmeryn had this grand sacrifice that moved even the entire nation her people were fighting, and you just... plop her back into existence. Sure, she's dazed, but she's there, and there's likely going to be some crazy succession crisis going on. Ganondorf Power hungry, doesn't care for anyone but himself... More or less just a wasted potential. Instead, we got Evil WizardTM who worships a dragon as the supposedly "real" villain. I know Gangrel's shade of grey is pretty damn close to black, but at least it was a shade of grey. And hell, if nothing else, I loved his joke about "breaking wind". There was more entertainment in that moment than there was for all of Vaildar's existence. Ah well...

Alright, let's get down to some logistics. Bill Nye, the son of Billy Nal the Science Gal (aka Laurent) A gratifying subject, to be certain. This specimen contains an enervated literary appeal device, yet also is comprised of an attractive temperament and, unlike his maternal unit, prepossessing origins. His succor exchanges provide both satisfactory elation and substantial advancement of his and the other party's personal maturation. All in all, I'm sick of looking at a thesaurus, so I'll just say... he isn't just some gimmick or jerk, and I like him. And he's the only one to mention the disparity in arrival times among the children, so he brings an interesting plot element into discussion. Adult-sized Tiki I'm so sorry. So here we have Tiki, all grown up as "the Voice". She definitely has grown to be more mature, which makes it a little odd when she still says that notorious pet-name, though I think the game actually recognizes the bizarre nature of that. She also has a big role in the story, yet is just as capable of dying as anyone is in a Fire Emblem game. I suppose she might have some good supports, but I haven't gotten into all of them yet. Shame about her and Anna, though. But I still am fond of her, even if the last time the series saw her was as a loli. Olivia, the timid anime girl Yeah, gotta love it when Japan crams one of these kinds of girls down your throat. She isn't half bad, in all seriousness. She has some nice supports, and I do find it kind of funny that the girl is timid even though her main occupation is one that demands many eyes on her. And of course, being a dancer, she is definitely useful, though admittedly less in this game than in previous entries. I don't really have much more to say about her.

Also, apologies for double-posting, but can we just talk about how there's "gate" at the end of this hashtag. Like, I know the basis for all these controversies' names is "Watergate", which indicates that the subject in question is a scandal (even "Gamergate" started off with a scandal). Yet at the beginning of the hashtag, you've got "rebelion" (which is spelled wrong)... so is the scandal with those who are rebelling? It's just, the more I look at it, the more this hashtag just falls apart. I wouldn't want to be a part of it even if it stood for something good.

It's something along the line, but I've met my fair share of crazies on the net. The font is different and there are those tanks at the bottom, so it seems to me like it's a copy-pasta. Not to mention the excess amount of petitions. Also, another of his tags says "no homo", which has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. In any case, this definitely doesn't belong here.

Best Male: Takumi, by a slim margin against Leo. Both are not only the best written, but they're the most relatable and/or realistic. I voted Takumi because he's one of a few characters among the Hoshido bunch who actually has some grayness to his morality. Best Female: Take a wild guess... She's another character who has a flawed perspective, and she is a unique concoction among a sleuth of gimmick characters and... "returning" characters. She's possibly the most human character in this whole game, and her love for fashion isn't done in a way that is demeaning; in fact, it brings a great perspective on appearances to the table. Plus, other than the racism and scary face, there's not much you can hate about her. Preferred Gender: I dislike male Corrin slightly more than I do female Corrin. However, the poll asked which one I prefer playing, not which one I like better. Even though you gain easy access to all classes as female, I do prefer to play male. Sure, I like him less, I get less options, and I don't like the cosmetics as much, but if I play as male Corrin, I get to see a side of certain characters that one wouldn't normally see otherwise. So I prefer him if only to open up other characters. Preferred Path: It's a little difficult to say which one. Birthright's story is the least harmful, but also the easiest one. Conquest is the more challenging one, but there's two caveats to this: one, it caters to my natural play style, so it naturally isn't too difficult for me; and two, it has my least favorite story of the three. Revelation strikes the middle ground in both cases, but since it gives me access to all the support options (a number of them which are actually good), I ultimately like it the most.

I like that I get to talk about Morgan here, since we've been getting several Kana topics in the Fates boards. Morgan Freeman It's like I said in other threads and what Thane said; there's more to Morgan than pure player worship. And to add to that, the writers actually do something with her (I'll refer to Morgan as a female - and thus Robin as a male - unless I'm talking specific supports) adoration for her parents. Robin is her role model, and betters herself in all the necessary ways. Because of that, she's constantly improving both her intellect and her empathy for her comrades. And her less serious side (the mischievous and playful side) is endearing without being jarring. It's less jarring because she has been developed in a way that lets her be both serious and adorable. All in all, a great model for avatar children to take inspiration from. Morgan's a kid you can feel proud of. Fenway Park Yeah, I'm not gonna keep mentioning me never playing the Spotpass maps... you can't make me, dammit! Though I think the only one left is Emmeryn anyway, so it hardly matters. Didn't much care for him, given that I didn't much care for Say'ri either. He just shows up last minute, and after this build up to you hating him, you find right after he dies that he's actually a good guy in a bad situation. His situation reminds me of Solidus Snake in MGS2; how Solidus was built up to be such a horrible villain, but then you learn that, while his goals are somewhat selfish, he ultimately was trying to do a very noble thing. However, in Awakening, it wasn't done nearly as well as it was in that game, and given how so many people shit on MGS2, that says a lot for how much of a disappointment Yen'fay's story is. Though it isn't his fault; it's due to how late and short the Valm arc is, and how that arc relies so much on building up so many villains. So really, it's more a testament to how difficult it is to do world building in, like, six chapters. I mean, it can be done, certainly, but you need to be mindful of how you'll lead your audience, more than anything. Duane So he's the first guy I've run into in a fantasy world who talks kinda like me. I mean, I'm not the most "western" sounding person - especially not compared to my neighbors - but we share the accent and a lot of the vernacular. So naturally, I'm more inclined to like him. He has some nice supports. I like that even though he talks like a dumb farmer, he's actually pretty quick to learn lots of things, which makes his unique level 1 skill... apt... I'm sorry. Aside from him being a farmer with a western accent, he doesn't really have any horrible gimmicks plaguing him. He's just a swell guy who learns fast, wants to help out in any way possible, and wants to experience the world. And I don't understand people who hate training Donny; I love setting up strawmen for him to kill and grow into an absolute monster. The pot is what gives him his secret mind powers! Haven't you always found it weird that a supposedly random chum can be so smart? As for the other guys with pots, they only use the pots as brain shields, which is why they always hold 'em down in their portraits. That way, neither telepathy nor chemtrails can infiltrate their minds. Their minds aren't as potent as Donny's since they don't have a backwoods accent, so they don't get mind powers. *Null* I'm surprised at how many people don't think he's terrible or forgettable. I do like his farmer side, but I've only really seen it in his supports with Donny Matrix. His gimmick isn't too offensive, but it does stunt him as a character. I think if anything, his particular gimmick does well to highlight why it's terrible, even if it's not the worst gimmick ever. I mean, you have this guy trying to reach out to people, but they don't see or interact with anything beyond the gimmick. It's a literal illustration of the fault in gimmick characters. It's actually kind of poetic, in an extremely ironic way. Say'no'to'drugs All her supports with Robin Hood are is her talking about her culture. That's... really all there is to it. And basically, her culture is Japan. So... absolutely nothing new. Oh, and I think she has supports with Tiki. Never really did those, though. As far as her role in the story, it's forgettable. I can't even remember in what way she was important other than as a leader of some resistance in Valm. Was she a royal or noble? I know Yen'fay got a stupidly good sword, which is probably what inspired Ryoma's ridiculous blade, so I know they were of some importance beyond their roles in the war. And then after the war with Valm, you never even see her again in the story until the endgame shoutouts. So... yeah, they don't really give me a reason to care for her, and I so naturally... well, I don't care for her. Basilisk He's actually a really charming dude! Sure, he has the same amount of supports as Say'ri and some others, but he has a lot of story relevance. He's always there, ever since you team up with him against Plegia. And like someone else said, he's both jovial and stern. For the influx of new fans that Awakening brought, he was the first character they'd complain about not having enough supports, along with possibly a few others. The writers need to learn to not put any stock in this "limited support" hogwash for these characters. And I think we can all appreciate what he did for our army during the plot-twist. Bless his brown Feroxi arse ;_;7

Indeed. Stahl's the kind of guy you can just talk to. He isn't inclined towards japes or tomfoolery. He just wants to help out and be friends with his comrades. I appreciate Stahl's role, even if I don't use him too much. That's why I don't hate her like others here. I mean, I'll admit, when she pulls it, it's quite grating. But she has other supports, and they are quite nice.

Gonna skip Champions of Yore since I didn't buy it or even see gameplay of it. Lost Bloodlines So far, a favorite pack of mine among the Awakening DLC packs. Obviously, you get some fantastic items. The map battles are fun and interesting; definitely call back to the Judgral games. And yes, Lief looks pretty damn good as an einherjar trickster in the artwork. Smash Brethren Melee The... interesting name aside, this is a fine map pack. I like the rewards you get, though it is strange that Eirika gets the bride class first, since she, from my memory, never used lances, staves, or bows. Lyn and Eirika look nice, and it's fun talking to Lyn after you beat her.

Oh boi, we got red n' green up in here. Sulkin' Sully She's supposed to be that "tough gal", but she gets totally beaten by, like, three different guys in duels, and she lectures Stahl on how he's bigger and stronger than her (which, growth wise and base wise, is true, but it further diminishes her image of being a toughie). I like any chum with a toilet mouth, and I do like strong female characters, but... eh, gender card. Like, we get it. You're a chick and people don't give you much respect 'cuz of it (even though hardly anyone else in the game gives a shit about gender). It doesn't come across as strong; it comes across as insecure. That's how she seems to me in many of the supports where she talks about gender. This all being said, I did enjoy Sully and Sumia randomly getting philosophical in their A support. Aside from the mentioned, I do like her well enough. Better than Kjelle. CDi Stalin 'Cuz he's Stalin for some actual character development. Though but seriously, he's nice for characters to bounce off of, and he isn't entirely a droll. He does have a bit more to him than his averageness; he got the potions n' tonics thing going (Midori, is that you???), he's a nice fellow who tries his best to get along with everyone, and he's got the appetite of a Super Sand Lesbian (Dragon Ball parody joke; not talking actual lesbians), though that's an overplayed joke in anime that isn't too terribly funny in the first place. Good thing the gimmick hardly shows up. In a world where you have so many ridiculous characters with gimmicks and quirks, you need a few anchors. Though Chrom and Lucina are much more appealing anchors to me. 7/10, better than CDi Link. Would eat a pegasus again.

I'll keep that in mind going forward, but I'm also going to keep the skill as is. Even though I said I'm defensive minded, when I come under attack (physical or otherwise), rather than holding my ground, I instead try to strike back harder; perhaps I should've said I was "vengeful minded", but that would give off a much less accurate impression of my personality. And similar logic applies to my play style; I often bait to kill, not bait to defend (though sometimes - especially on Lunatic - I do bait to keep strong enemies away from weak allies). I throw in the extra evasiveness, too, because I'm not above using "dirty tricks" in a life-threatening situation. I just try to avoid getting hurt, rather than take the pain head on. I do appreciate the advice. It's a good thing to keep in mind in general when making skills. Always think about your buffs/bonuses and how they'd rationally be implemented into the context of your personal. And obviously balance is key; no one is an omnipotent being. Anyway, I've got a character I made in FE Awakening who I'm going to give a personal skill. Empathetic - When not paired, Crit Rate -15 and deals 5 damage less, but when paired, the debuff is negated and if the paired unit has at least a C support level with the user, they gain +15 Crit Rate and +10 Hit Rate (can stack with other buffs) So my Awakening avatar is a character I made for roleplaying and written works, who is somewhat based on myself (and is inspired by characters like Marth). He's an empathetic person, almost to the point of being a pacifist. So when he's alone against his enemies, he becomes reluctant to fight, making his attacks weaker. But being with friends reassures him of his cause, making his attacks much more focused than typical. Basically, the skill is a bipolar exaggeration of support bonuses due to the nature of his character trait.

Well, you'd want a buff that's significant enough to give you a slight edge. Obviously not anywhere beyond the maximum you'd get from base movement, as that sort of stuff is best reserved for either latecomers or high level skills. Since it's so heavily reliant on context, it isn't quite like a +2 stat skill, so you could get away with numbers that are slightly higher. Though at the same time, you did say they'd stack upon other buffs, so you could very well wind up with a unit with an impenetrable 50 defense if you play your Benny cards right. I can just imagine two dudes walking towards each other, lazily flailing their arms at one another. Though in all seriousness, that skill would be surprisingly useful for grinding. It's got a "Wary Fighter" vibe to it. Alright, I don't know if anyone saw my accidental original post... but I did have a few ideas other "personal skills" thought out and ready. First one'll be for myself. Others will be for original characters. I'll try to make them balanced, but for the sake of fitting the skills with the characters' personalities, there might be some discrepancies. However, rest assured there won't be any Mary Sue "Super Death God" skills here. Bait Strike - When enemy triggers a battle, Hit Rate +20 and damage dealt +3 I'm often a defensive-minded fellow, both in how I'd think I'd engage in actual combat and in my philosophy of violence, though not in the sense that I get defensive about everything. I figure it's best to strike last, so rather than charging at problems, I plan ahead for the problems I can see coming as well as unforeseen events. I know that most seasoned FE fans tend to play defensively, but since I choose to carry this combative philosophy into the real world, I think it suits me well enough. No debuffs here 'cuz I don't really let things get me down. Sure, I can feel sad or angry at times, but... well, those times are kind of few and far between. Plus, I'd like to keep it simple for myself, since I'm just some fella who laughs at stupid memes. Also, I somewhat based the balancing of this off of Gunter's personal skill. I figured that since my skill would get used less, I could give it a little extra power.

Well, for one thing, they didn't mimic Morgan too well. Sure, they had the admiration thing down to a fault, but they didn't really do much of anything with the whole "role model" thing. Morgan sought to be a brilliant tactician like Robin, and constantly collected tons of books to study wars, history, and battle. Kana... gathers flowers and buys a ring for Corn. That's nice and all, but the only aspect they're modeling off of is general kindness, which many people have. It only shows how much Kana loves mommy/daddy, not how their adoration for their parents helps them grow. Anyway, I think everyone should be their own character. It's important to recognize the difference between taking inspiration from something and just downright plagiarizing/copying it. Like, Oboro's gimmick was inspired by Noire, but Kana's just watered down Morgan. I don't really have an idea for what I'd rather have Kana be because I would much rather have something presented to me than make something myself for me to enjoy. Just not watered down Morgan. I have those moments. In fact, I'm pretty sure a lot of things I write, most probably gloss over since it's tl;dr. And yours was an interesting perspective.

A few hit points can make all the difference in the world. I've had engagements where my attacks were either just enough or one or two hit points shy of killing a chum. There'd be a way to mitigate or even negate that breakage. Perhaps boots would be a "hidden buff" rather than a hard-set increase, and the skill would only count base movement. There'd also probably be a "resistance" counterpart to it. Missing an initiated attack with an additional 40 hit is like asking for the crit, tbh. That'd be a super useful skill for a Swordmaster, especially if it'd guarantee that every attack in Astra was a crit. And by "super useful", I mean "totally broken". Anyway... One skill I thought up - not particularly for me (or even by me), but in general - is more a "personal trait" that was made for a certain character in Valkyria Chronicles. This atrocious trait - called "Humanitarian" - has a random chance of activating when you attack a foe, and what it does is it cancels your attack and your movement so that they stay dead in their tracks. Of course in that game, you were allowed to move units multiple times (at the cost of points, and with less available movement each time you select them in a single turn), so it was... a bit more balanced? But it was awful, and I'd imagine it would be even worse in FE; however, with some changes, it might be good for a pure staffbot. Perhaps the attack effect would remain, but when healing, there's a chance the user won't use up a durability point for the staff. Or there'd be some bonus healing, buff, or whatever. You get my point. I'll post some actual skills I think of later. I tend to drag things out with creative works like this - no matter how simple they are.

It'd be nice, but I would very likely not get it unless there were some serious incentives for buying it, or it came in a bundle with possibly some other games. I mean, I have the game already; if they just port it, the only differences would be a likely improvement in graphics and frame rates, both of which don't really affect my ability to enjoy a turn-based SRPG. Now, a new FE game on the NX would be absolutely stellar. That'd be one reason for me to buy an NX.

Let's talk about parallel opinions... Priam He's the neighbor I haven't bothered to even meet. That's the case with all spotpass characters that you can obtain only after beating the game. Noire It seems that people here actually like her. To her credit, there's not much you can really complain about with her, unlike a lot of the young uns in this game. You can turn her into an infinite Nosferatu tank (if she gains access to the merc class), or into an archester archer than Virion; either way, there's plenty of BLOOD AND THUNDER to be had if you use her. She endearing in a Brady sort of way, and her frightful nature isn't as overdone as Yarne's is. It's also understandable she'd be like she is, since she has a mother who constantly uses her as a guinea pig for her unethical experiments, and has to put up with watching her father get tormented by similar curses. Though her conversation with her mother in Future Past is kind of nice. I suppose she's also something of a precursor to everyone's favorite fashionista from Hoshido, at least as far as her gimmick is concerned. I guess there's something right with how the "scary face" gimmick is always treated, since both of these characters reached a broad appeal. Though correlation is not causation, so it probably has little to do with the gimmick.