Interdimensional Observer

Xander's placement in a GHB may have been Fates's generally weak villain lineup. Fates is course one of the games Heroes started high on, so it had to have an early GHB. Now who does Fates have that is a full villain who could fulfill this role? Hans, Iago, Garon, Zola, Kotaro, Sumeragi, Arete, Anankos. None of these are very good by the standards of many. Xander on the other hand has some lore strength and character charm to him. He's the closest thing to a Black Knight Fates has. However, in the two games you fight him, his Rev appearance is ignorable, his BR2 where you actually defeat him has stats Merlinus's donkey could excrete even on Lunatic. Leaving his BR1 Opera House fight, where you really don't have to fight him, but it isn't difficult to, the one fight against him which is anything of challenge. He is such a weak enemy to me that to treat him like a villain is something of a joke. Ryoma's 2 CQ battles make him out to be a much stronger foe (but not unbeatable of course). But this is just talking gameplay. As for Camus, Camus is never an ally as Camus, save in one battle of Archanea Chronicles. He is an ally as Zeke and as Sirius, and these will eventually appear in some other capacity in Heroes, maybe TT Zeke and pull Sirius. Both Zeke and Sirius come after Camus has "died" and is hence freed from his Camusian obligations of loyalty to an disagreeable cause unto death.

1270/10 = 127

EXP in Lyn Mode slows to a crawl at like level 10. Even if you're only using three units, I doubt they're getting much beyond this. And how much is 1-3 extra levels at most going to help? Compared to distributing the same amongst everyone else, which could equate to multiple levels each? I'd say at least Lyn deserves some leveling, particularly if you want to go Four Fanged Offense Linus version, since I don't find leveling her that easy or fun in Eliwood/Hector Mode. For the rest, well Dorcas rarely gets much EXP on Lyn Mode for me, nor Wil, neither is really useful. But if I'm doing a Hector Mode run, I'll give Matthew a few levels for their first fight together. Rath comes too high a level to get much EXP, but being the best unpromoted Bow user, I'll see if I can sneak one or two in. Erk and Lucius definitely have great potential, and Lucius in particular has that C Staffs on promotion, so I might as well see get a slight idea of how they will pan out in advance. Wallace deserves nothing obviously. Serra and Nils take from no one. Giving EXP to units is no challenge when LM enemies are so weak and the maps just as easy- it's a giant tutorial for crying out loud, not Cog of Destiny Hector Hard Mode! Sticking to Kent-Sain-Florina sounds super optimal, too much so for most. And it sounds a little tedious when using everyone else lets me get LM done a bit faster so I can get past this tutorial, while still not neglecting KSF on a standard LM run. And what is the point to feeding Florina a third of everything, when it takes until New Resolve for her to finally promote to Falcoknight? She has plenty of time before the first Elysian Whip to hit 20.

Let me see about how true this statement is... 3-12 has Falcoes, Generals, Halberdiers, Warriors, and Swordmasters, so it should be a good general fit for it. Generals, depending on their level, 13-16 Res, compared to 16-19 for Falcoknights. Halberdiers have 13-15 Res, so nearly General level. Snipers, Paladins, and SMs 10-11, Warriors have the lowest at 9. Sages have 16 and Bishops 20-22 for comparison. Cats and Hawks in the following chapter have 10-12, Tigers 6-7.You're reading that right, Sages have equal Res to Generals. Dragonmaster have in 3-F 9-10 Res. So you're correct. Generals have 23-26 Def by the way, so it isn't like Magic doesn't have an advantage on them. But at the same time, if Generals are going to be doubled continually and be rather immobile, and be unable to double a lot, they might as well be magically resistant for stacking on the durability. It's why I like Benny in Fates, his good Res makes him a bit better than other Generals in the series at taking magic hits, able to soak in an extra hit that way. And his Str being much lower than Effie's made them distinct. Effie is built as a tank- able to take some hits and deal them too (drop Wary Fighter and go GK and with some Speed stacking she might even double), while Benny is a wall- able soak up hits better than a tank, but not as good at dishing them out. This is just a guess, but given FE1 had all Lance users armed also able to use Swords, the original idea was Lances were an accessory to Swords? Paladins and Pegs/Wyverns keeping Sword use in FE3 might have been a coincidence of dismounting existing and not intentional. However, FE4 would contradict this since Cavs use Lances and Swords and so do Pegs.

He's the fastest in PoR, tying with Tormod and being, if not super fast like Lewyn, still fast enough to double a lot of things if kept up to level. RD is a different story. Soren's Speed growth is 35, the same as Slowcaiah, and Slike (who at least has great Spd base, which is why he doesn't get the same insults hurled at him as 'caiah). His Spd base is 18 on a level 5 Wind Sage, so only the fastest should double him right away I expect, but it still isn't good. Spd caps are 23 and 32 respectively, the latter the same as a Fire Archsage- though they can buff it by 3 with Rexflame, while he is stuck with the laughable +3 Lck from Rexcalibur. Besides Chancellor, which is obviously irrelevant, the fastest any tier 3 magic class is Light Priestess, at 33. So yep, RD is really mean to magic users by making it so they can very rarely ever double; PoR Sages, even though none naturally hit the cap, maxed Spd at a wonderful 28. I think the issue they thought of was that he would be the only Berserker in the game and they didn't want to invent a class just for him nor a Tier 3 version of it. We still have Boyd and Nolan for infantry axes, and Brom, Jill, and Haar were all turned into Axe primaries to expand the pool of potential Urvan users. Their absence of a support isn't unnatural by PoR standards. The Three Brothers don't have them with each other, Mist and Ike don't, Marcia and Makalov lack them, Geoffrey and Lucia, Geoffrey and Bastian, Lethe and Mordecai, Tormod and Muarim. All of these instead of a Support, like Largo and Calill, get a +5/10 Crit boost when the two characters stand right next to each other. The logic is that these characters are so close that they don't need to talk it out. And this might work for Marcia and Makalov and Tormod and Muarim, who get at least two Base Conservations together, and for Mist and Ike being main characters, but it hurts Largo and Calill a lot since their time on the screen together is really really brief. The logic still doesn't make much sense anyhow and Fates was right in adding sibling supports for the royals, since having a pre-developed relationship should add nuance and depth to their interactions. I think the real issue is PoR just didn't have the time or writing resources to include all these supports, there is already this basket of uncooked fish: FE26: Path of Radiance Reborn, should go back and add all these in and turn the crit boosters into actual supports! I decided to go back and read over Tethys's Supports, because I before I judge a character, I want to make sure I fully understand them.: Artur- Whoa she's aggressive here! I don't think it's out of character, but at the same time Artur never budges nor does she. She's playful too. An okay support. Gerik- An amazing support between two characters with backstory between them. It says a lot about their pasts, they share the dialogue equally, and they learn from each other. By the way, is the end of the A conversation implying Gerik put his "Steel Blade" to Tethys in the middle of a battle? This is the only support with a paired ending for Tethys, and I think I can understand why. None of the rest are quite as worthy of one. Ewan- A little brother is jealous of other men being around his big sister and wants to protect her. Cliched, but rarely done in FE. Average to Good. Marisa- Now I'm not a big fan of Marisa myself, although Mia has less depth and is definitely worse, unless you really like her perkiness. This said, the Tethys-Marisa support is actually quite good, Marisa-centric C, Tethys-centric B, and a serious thought provoking A split between the two of them. I think it helps the two have a little backstory together. Rennac- A total dud of a support. It is good to know Tethys has standards when it comes to men, because her job of dancing and being a mercenary exposes her to a lot of horny toads. Still, the support goes absolutely nowhere thanks to Rennac's infatuation. The irony is that having read all of Tethys's supports and all of Rennac's, there was a much better direction this could have gone! Tethys-Artur has Tethys badly seeking out a dance partner, and Rennac-L'Arachel reveals Rennac is a highly trained dancer. Why couldn't they have connected the two and ran with it? Non-Support text: Treats Tethys as a kind female, a beautiful dancer, a sister, with a bit of clairvoyant power. Final Synopsis: Overall, I think Tethys was well done. A bit of flirt and likes toying with men, appropriate for a dancer, but she does not degrade herself too far by taking in all their affections or becoming the toy of their passion. The liking of mystery and the hint of clairvoyance is not unheard of, given Larum and Nils in the past could and did Auguries, and Ninian too was mysterious and could predict things- so FE has built an element of fortune telling into prior refresher units. And exotic dancing, like fortune telling, is something on the margins of polite society, so it fits into a theme. Mercenaries too lay at the margins of society so her being in Gerik's crew makes sense. Being a mature woman, they're able to give her a splendid, tragic backstory and make her Gerik's equal. And in all but the Rennac support, she occupies a place of seniority in the remaining supports to some degree. Design-wise, Tethys is modest compared to FE4's dancers, but is a little more showy than Larum, and definitely more showy than Ninian (who is only a Dancer because- she certainly originally wasn't at all into dancing back in the other world). Overall, a tasteful, yet stylish design, if really really red.

Not a bad question when I consider Tales of Phantasia GBA. Was the "stop all motion when a spell is cast" the real issue, and other things natural to ToP? Or was it increased sluggishness owing to being a port that made it pretty weak?

I think the problem here is that you'd have to include significant quantities of water to make this work. And given a majority of FE units are landlocked, this would be difficult. And how would one justify it plot-wise? Pirate FE? It reminds me of Advance Wars, FE's dead pure strategy sister. Making a balanced land-air battle work is easy and expected to be the normal for battles. Naval units have had a really hard time trying to make it in. Partly because naval units cost so much more than land and aren't as mobile as the price comparable (slightly less actually) air units. This is not an FE issue since units aren't bought, but AW also has issue with making sea fronts important without being the end all of the map. You can make the sea fight secondary to the land, but this will only be fought for at all if the only Airport on the map or a bunch of Missile Silos (which once used are useless and hence the naval fight would be short lived), happened to be accessible only by sea. And if you make sea the main part of any fight, its hard not to say you've won once the enemy's ports navy is destroyed, their ports can be controlled, and they're otherwise only able to fight on their spat of land. The landing and eradication of the enemy tends just to be tedium. It is hard to find a happy medium in sea fronts. And this could apply to FE if not handled well, though I think FE has a better chance of handling the naval useless-too important issue than AW does. And without anti-flier and other balancing measures in full effect, why bother bring one-trick sea ponies to a water fight when fliers fight well over all terrain? I won't say there is no hope for sea shapeshifters, but it would have to be carefully though out. In my younger years, I imagined a Raven who in defiance of Laguz norms, used a Sword unshifted besides their beak and talons when shifted. In this vein, I'd give the Hawks Lances, Tigers can take Axes, and Cats Knives and or Bows. Not sure what to give Dragons, and Herons getting Light might break their peacefulness unless they had perma Mercy, while Staffs would make them a little too good vs. Mist and Rhys. Capping their weapon ranks at C might be somewhat balancing though- they would still have weaker stats unshifted too. I haven't played FE3, but its approach to dragons sounds good. A minimum of 5 full turns (and a 50% chance of 15 with a 20 Luck Tiki if I'm looking at things right) of decent tankiness with 1-2 range dealing singular, but strong Def piercing hits while being immune to the Breath Def pierce of other Dragons on paper seems incredible. 18 uses per Dragonstone, with the ability to buy a couple more in Book 2, even if they're really expensive, is plenty for an efficient player able to accomplish the bulk of a battle's work in ~5 turns. Does the random unshift happen at the start or end of a player phase? The former is good, the other makes every turn after 4 seem risky to end with your Manakete in enemy ranges on.

86 Another fun fact, in 1789, the year of the French Revolution, only 50% of the people could speak modern French at all, less than 20% fluently.

Fun fact- only 2 1/2% of Italians could speak modern Italian at the time of unification in 1860. 79

I shall join her. Nothing wrong with it here. The world is still round. By the way, I liked how they did Toadette in Paper Jam: papercraft = engineering in that game basically, so Toadette = girl in STEM. Yay! I like Toadette. And Prince Mush (I liked the Glitz Pit narrative). The Mystics in PM and PM: TTYD are also favorites of mine. Their SPM designs got a little too wacky though. The two tracks in SMO with lyrics have grown on me in a good way. Proof that insertion of things I normally wouldn't like in just the right way in a video game can get me to like them.

Did you have to check a "I'm not a robot"? I've had that happen rather often, I think what triggers it is a decent amount of text accompanied by a picture. And if you get the robot check, going back and editing always is blocked for me.

Reminds me of Xenoblade Chronicles X, Definians- which can disguise themselves as practically anyone- never appear in the main plot. However Definians appear a lot in the sidequests, and while there is nothing wrong with them getting their own sidequest subplot, they're thrown in a little too casually at times, which is poor writing for sidequests that tend to have good-ish stories. If IS wants to go all out with non-dragon shapeshifters again, make sure their place in the world is well built. Also, make sure a good number have some from of 1-2 range, the killer issue with Laguz besides the transformation gauge in PoR and RD. Maybe make Laguz Stones a little more commonplace too, there was like 2 of them in all PoR. Alternatively, I wouldn't mind more Corrins in the sense of a human with some shapeshifting powers but not defined by it. Just make sure it is still integrated well into the world though.

He was ultimately a pawn yes. But consider that the Recollections pin the lead initiative for the assassination and massacre on him, the two events that drove somebody off the deep end and thus began their machinations. The machinator loses their immediate impetus, and thus the plots of PoR and RD as we know it would never have happened. I could use Lifis actually, I have this one sprite idea that calls specifically for him. Dart- well I do like his stuff with Wil and Rebecca, and an okayish team could be made with Farina on it to round it out. And for Fargus, only if as they base his Heroes stats loosely off his Eliwood Hard Mode self. And you would be right; cut from Wil-Rebecca, Wil-Dart, and Rebecca-Dart:

Or is it? Calill does have a good design and a confident, at introduction boasting, personality. Like Haar, I think more of her goodness comes outside of Supports actually, although not as badly non-Support slanted as Haar. Analyzing her 3 Support choices: We have Geoffrey, which is the worst because it isn't about her really after the initial flirtation, it's about her playing his psychologist for his Elincia issues. The Nephenee is better and reveals a little something about Calill herself. The Tormod is outright great, partly because she humbles herself here while still being wise and confident through it. Overall, her Supports are odd, since her introduction with Ike and nothing in RD either suggests at what is the essence of the Supports- Calill as a great teacher/psychologist. The one Support she doesn't get is one with Largo, strange because we hardly know the relationship between the two and yet they get married at PoR's end. Fortunately, RD fills in on the Largo relationship front somewhat, and she even gets a 3-F convo with Tauroneo for her husband's sake. RD does Calill well with all the Base Conversations she appears in, she remains just as confident, social, and is now a wife and mother too without these overriding her other aspects.

51

8 hours? Well I have the luxury of not having to get up until 9, but maybe I shouldn't be spending until 2 AM on this site on some nights. And of course it's the resident Kirby who says it. I want to start going to bed consistently sooner, so I can wake up consistently sooner. Not waking until 9 feels like a waste of the morning to me.

So they're supposed to be the strongest things in Fateslandia beside their daddies and dragons? I'm not quite sure how to feel about that. Doesn't help the real Garon doesn't exist anymore and Sumeragi is dead and Valla'ed up plus rather underpar in gameplay- great Atk plus Astra, but his Speed is really bad and the Hagakure ruins that pretty Atk after the first strike. Ananny being the only Firstie seen is also degenerate stupid by this point, so there goes his reputation. Then again, when is who is the strongest ever made a big deal of outside of say Tellius? Amongst the mortals there, we get a pretty good idea that its Dheginsea > Ike > Zelgius = playable Laguz Royals barring Kurthnaga and plus Giffca. Tellius makes a point of emphasizing the Laguz choosing their rulers based on strength, and that comes through in the gameplay real strongly. Maybe my issue with Xander and Ryoma is that they join so early. Ryoma joins in Chapter 14 BR, Xander 16 CQ, and Rev. 16-17. There is a lot of game left by the time they join, and their stats start appropriately low (they're great by their join time standards, but they aren't Endgame worthy stats). By comparison, the cult of the Laguz Royals sees the hype maintained by delaying the playability of all of them to the final fight of PoR, and outside of the two fights in Part 1, all of the Laguz Royals for Part 4 in Tellius. I guess I'm saying maybe I'd appreciate their lore strength more if they were Gotoh-esque? Then again, Camus is said to be one of the strongest in Archanea if not the single strongest, and yet Sirius starts rather weak in NM (original Mystery I hear is a different matter). Zeke however is fairly strong thankfully. I've also heard the Holy Blooded, more so the Majors, are seen as demigods in Jugdral (I haven't played these). But Ares and Shannan join only 1 chapter into the 2nd Gen. Although in their case, the power of the Holy Weapons is so much greater than Siegfried and Rajinto that I see it's conceivable their power despite the join time can be very well felt. By why should I care about power levels in Fates? I see only units and battlefields, challenging, fun, easy, tedious, in between, some combination or otherwise. Plot does not exist, the characters do not exist, the world does not exist. *Continues to hypnotize myself*

Roses are red, Clad in blue, Nephenee, I love you. Won't do you any good when it turns out to be the Bad Hair Day Banner.

You're right about the Vaida moment in Unfulfilled Heart, a two second capture simply because he apparently couldn't sense her. All it takes is a shout from Lyn to set Nils free, despite Vaida having the power to one round everyone in the LEH crew here. The blessing Nergal bestows on Vaida for this chapter and embodied in the stat bonuses embodied by the "Uber Spear" are why I say that. I'd critique the blessing as a deus ex machina and the magic barrier he grants Jerme/Kenneth to keep the heroes from fleeing during Pale Flower of Darkness. Yet I get the point these things are supposed to indicate Nergal is regaining strength after the failed gate opening and Elbert stab crippled him. Yet knowing all it takes later to drop him from sufficient quintessence to not enough is a Forblaze chip from Athos, this seems an inefficient use of limited resources that he should have invested all in sooner. But I'm used to Nergal as illogical by virtue of being the shell of a human being driven mad by darkness. He and Gharnef can be illogical (although Gharnef is very logically devious in FE1), Manfroy, Validar, Iago, Jedah and Riev aren't known to have been driven insane in the same way, so it is less justifiable for them to be illogical. Back to Nils, I flipped through the dialogue of a bunch of chapters looking for what you meant about him and Hector. I believe I found them all: It isn't a lot, but the Living Legends piggyback is unforgettable since it starts at the center of a CG (which had a much better colored version over that sepia filth that made it into the game, and with Ninian and Eliwood in it too): Note to self, when Nils finally gets added to FEH, somebody just has to ask for the above CG in sprite form. It is too good to pass up. And you also have me realizing, Nils is more social with all three lords. Nils has his Lyn Mode time with Lyn, and has a nice bit with Hector as you point out. And like Ninian he spent much time with Eliwood's father, was told about Eliwood a good deal from Elbert and thus already likes him besides Eliwood rescuing Ninian in Lyn Mode, and later shares with Eliwood in lament over Ninian's death, and is possibly even willing to let Eliwood take his sister away. Ninian might have a little with Lyn because of Lyn Mode (less than Nils I would say), and some bond over both being female surrounded otherwise by men. But Ninian has absolutely nothing with Hector. Ninian is notably more Eliwood's girl, and most of her interactions expressly center around him. Ninian is no stalker at all, she has reasons for loving Eliwood so, and I think its owing to what she is versus what Nils is that decreases her sociability. Ninian is a young woman, she has to fall in love, Nils is a boy, he is under no obligation (thank Elimine) to fall in love with Lyn or Hector and thus can have his screentime not half focused on feelings of love. Ninian does have her Supports with Florina and Hawkeye. The Florina is fairly good, if in this weird place where A ranking denies an A Eliwood- that ending affecting Support. The Hawkeye though is plagued by Ninian being unable to speak her secret, which hurts the Eliwood and Florina to lesser degrees. Overall, I'd say Ninian's supports do not enough to overcome her Eliwood-centricism. Lastly, back to Hector, his B Support with Eliwood, the dream of their future kids, has him envisioning little Lilina on his shoulders, and then ends with Hector being very protective of this hypothetical dream daughter. So I think Blazing firmly establishes Hector in the future relishes in being a dad.

Any difficulty no-grind playthrough, Virion is trash assuming you're willing to snowball a handful of units. Virion is range 2 locked, which relegates him to the garbage bin given Awakening's enemy phase the size of the moon, barring the grinding of a team of Galeforced optimal units. Being the only base Archer- well poor bases, weapon rank, and the inability to enemy phase combined make him bad. Seriously IS? Did you not learn why so many early archers in the prior games ended up being deemed poor by efficient standards? Outside of optimization, there is no such thing as a good Archer/Sniper in Awakening under the above conditions. Maybe Spotpass Jamke, but that is it. Flier killing? Wind Magic I say! Pegs don't show up until Valm, long after you'll have decided to bench or raise a Bow user, and the Wyverns of Plegia beforehand are physically strong and magically weak. Now what if you reclass Virion to something else like Sage or Wyvern Lord? Answer- he can snowball and win! But you know who else can? EVERYONE! Everyone in Awakening is perfectly usable with this strat, it's the great leveler amongst units. But it doesn't work so well if at all on terrible enemy phase classes: Trickster, SM, Taguel, Assassin, Bow Knight, Sniper (and even the Sword can work 1-2 range with Einherjar Levin Sword buys or a Ragnell + Armsthrift- Bows alone cannot). 2 fewer Skill when both are capped if the two are in the same class, that is it. Growths? 70 is better than 50, and equates to 2 more points per ten levels but what standard is 50 bad? Awakening's overinflated stats? Stats which you can cap easily with endless grinding? Stats where outside Spd 2 points where caps go into the 40s without Limit Breaker is insignificant most the of the time. Why does Strength matter if they're both Mages here? And speed-wise, a mere 10 more growth, 1 point per ten levels. So you're comparing a Virion with 8 levels under his belt vs. a Miriel who despite coming 1 chapter later, has gained none? Not what I'd call fair in the slightest.

It didn't always work out. HectorxFlorina is pretty bad I'd say for a support, two rounds of "Eek! Men scare me! *Runs away*" from Florina, followed by a conversation that somehow has Hector subtly falling in love with her? That is bad writing. I feel they could have cut to the chase a little faster with RebeccaxWil, have them discuss their childhood together a little more a little sooner. But that is a bit more nitpicky. EliwoodxLyn, Kentxany of his trio of choices, these are couple cases where I feel the romance was much better handled. You don't need an outright confession all the time, leave the proposal to the imagination and establish enough intimacy and chemistry between the two individuals that the leap to marriage is reasonable. Agreeing here in full. Ninian is too secretive, too mysterious, too fragile, just too cliched. Mystery Amnesiac Special Powers Girl that speaks with..... too.... many... ellipses.. just isn't very appealing. And while being dragon is certainly reason for secretiveness, they're only half dragon and I find Ninian's mysteriousness thinner for it. I honor her "sacrifice" by giving herself to Nergal at that one point, but that is about it. Her behavior is justified by “…Ninian’s power is greater than mine (Nils), but it costs her physical and emotional strength" but I don't really like this excuse, it's a little thin and only emphasizes the "special powers" part in her cliched nature. It does make her align well with Sophia who has the same traits, but was Sophia even really good, or even if she was, worth repeating in the next game? Nils has the same powers and hidden truth behind him, but he is so much more open than Ninian is and seems like a normal person with his somewhat cheery personality. He never says "Oh we're different, so why do you treat us so nicely?" like Ninian does all the time (having Supports hurt her since they're repetitive), whilst still getting the point across he and Ninian are different from everyone else. Maybe because he's shota that he is this way, but he is the pillar that has to keep the baggage of his sister afloat. Not that I mind the little sibling keeping the stronger alive, but it's still annoying Nils is a bit burdened with her. While she gets lost in herself despairing after separating from Nils, he manages to hide out in ruins perfectly sane and then rescues the damsel. Nils does collapse once, but in comparison that is nothing. Design-wise, Nils also looks better to me, at least in their original FE7 artwork. Ninian is too washed out samey blue, whereas Nils has actual contrast. The scarf does more for him than the shroud does for Ninian. Ninian's accessories are neat though.

If this were true, and I wouldn't mind it, then where is my Exalted Excalibur swingin' Lucina and Aum-mighty Chrom? Descent from Merric and Elice can only help their reputation in my case.

It isn't so much the class as it is the personality types common to it I could say. Notice I didn't say I loved/liked everyone in the group. Lute and from what I recall of Miriel, while the former isn't bad, both aren't so appealing to me. Ricken, maybe I viewed 2 of his Supports, just the male ones I think. I distinctly remember liking the Henry because it touches on the minutiae of magic's functioning, which fascinates me for my Brammy love is built entirely around it. Whereas Gregor left no such impression and the idea of character who just insists on growing up/being taller/not being treated like a kid is not so appealing. I'm also a bit eh on Tharja precisely because she is partly to blame for the reduction of Dark Magic in FE13 to hexes and curses and generic evil stuff when 6-10 made a point of trying to be nuanced about it, a point arguably going back to Jugdral. The only trace of Dark Magic being complicated and not inherently bad is Robin being able to turn their Grimaness to good, but that hardly counts for Dark Magic as a whole. I also dislike FE13 mages for wearing those witch/wizard hats, they're too generic and FE has never had them before, I prefer the more professional academic and realistic look without them. Then again, I forgot to mention I love Tormod and nothing about him or Sanaki is typical mage, and not everything I love about Soren or Bastian relates to magic, heck Bastian is liked for nothing related to magic at all. It's more a fluke they're in the grouping here than not. If Bastian was a Bow Paladin but his personality was otherwise the same, I would still like him. As for Micaiah, well maybe her being thrusted into the spotlight being a co-protag of RD is what makes her different. Maybe the lack of true Supports in RD hurts her- but I was never hung up on this issue with the game and try not to be. Canas is free to be Canas in a rather simple and light if not comical- light =/ comical all the time- Micaiah doesn't have any chances to just be herself? I'm not quite so sure how to explain myself here. I will say that while Jill is a 10/10 for character development in PoR, all her Supports are serious and we never get much a chance to see the day to day Jill. I do not, want casual fun flirt fest with every man in Tellius, but just something, one thing, to show her when she isn't so burdened by thoughts about racism and what she was told growing up and her father and betraying him. Micaiah, well one of her most memorable moments for many is that "father of Sothe's children" quip. Does Micaiah have a snarky sense of humor? We don't know since Part 1 is all serious Daein liberation, Part 3 all serious "how can I possibly oppose a foe magnitudes greater than me which I don't really want to fight?", Part 4 has her becoming a voicebox rental agency and focused on saving the world. FE should be first and foremost serious in plot and general tone, but humans aren't always serious and you often can't have a complete human without showing a more relaxed side to them. Maybe if Micaiah and Nolan took a trip to a bookstore and Micaiah and Nolan chatted about what each was looking for, then she would be a bit better? Not to call her bad of course. Yet Edward-Micaiah I wouldn't want always relaxed, since Edward is rather boyish in personality while Micaiah is 24-28, which makes room for a serious moment or two where she treats him like son/little brother using her greater maturity. It would still show more of her than we just see in the main plot. Sanaki gets no supports like Micaiah, but nonetheless was able to weave sobriety and joviality into her character over PoR and RD, despite having less screentime overall.

And I'd say Wendel's is better. Since why would anyone invent Imhullu when it just seems wickedly evil? Gotoh on the other hand having the Darksphere in his possession explains what happened to it after the Binding Shield was broken (the Fane of Raman kept Geo, Star, and Light, LIfe was stolen and sold, Gotoh kept personal watch over Dark (probably due to it being dangerous)). The Darksphere was invented to seal the Earth Dragons with the rest, more than justifying the risk it poses, whereas Imhullu has no explanation as to why someone had to make it if Gharnef didn't. And technically, you could say Gotoh is right and Wendel is too. Gharnef stealing the Darksphere meant he stole the origin of Imhullu, so basically he stole Imhullu since he stole the one thing he later used to make Imhullu. Not the best of logic and I'm pretty sure this isn't what Gotoh meant, and it leaves you wondering where the Darksphere was in FE1 (actually it was unused in FE1's data, no Lifesphere in there, but there was a Timesphere), but it still makes a fairly logical retcon answer.

This is outright stated in Mystery Chapter 10: Wendell:Elrean, listen to me... Gharnef, along with Pontifex Miloah, were Lord Gotoh's best pupils. But Lord Gotoh saw Gharnef's weakness, and so he left Khadein and the Aura tome to Pontifex Miloah. Gharnef, overcome by jealousy, stole the Darksphere from Lord Gotoh, and created the Imhullu tome. As a result... His heart was trapped within the Darksphere for all eternity. Wrath and envy led him to ruin. Do you understand now, Elrean...? Given Starlight is also the product of Spheres, I wouldn't be surprised if Aura was distilled from the Lightsphere by itself, Aum the Lifesphere, or Excalibur (assuming it represents Anima as a whole) Excalibur- although we have no evidence for any of this beyond Imhullu and Starlight. I still headcanon it though. And regardless, that Naga is the origin of the Spheres is only further testament to their power, a physical fang crafted into a sword to embody her great strength, Spheres upon a Shield to embody her boundless wisdom. I do wish we actually were told about religious doctrines and customs in FE, as well as more on the religious organizations themselves. IS only has to research beliefs in older forms of Christianity and other religions and selective copy and paste it with new names and substitute myths, gestures, folklore, parables, and hagiography tacked on to the stuff. Not too hard. It annoys me we aren't told anything about Palmeni Temple in PoR, despite it having the Ashera Staff, Elena having worked there (I don't think the beloved of a Four Rider would come from lowest social standings), and it looking very rich with wealth and ornamentation. Given its relative proximity to Nevassa, I headcanon it as the center of Daein's Ashera worship, where the religious intellectuals and administrative elite gather while pilgrims visit. Kings of Daein too visit during or just after coronation to claim divine authority for their rule. Decades after the end of the Tellius Continental War of 432-478, Begnion's clergy finally recognizes the Daein clergy as co-equals and not a breakaway branch they condescendingly look down on. As a symbol of this turn to friendship and equality, the Begnion clergy entrusts Daein with the Ashera Staff- an invaluable national treasure of Begnion straight from the Apostolic vaults. After PoR, the Ashera Staff is requisitioned from Daein and returned to Begnion, thus ending up in Sephiran's care. This is assuming multiple Ashera Staffs don't exist.