What do Legendary Weapons Have in Common? Part II

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Ahoy, one and all! ‘Tis I, Shanty Pete’s First Mate! In all me time ‘round the seven seas, I’ve dug up many a treasure. But in the process, I’ve discovered the greatest treasure of all. Is it love? Or friendship? Neither, ye silly livers – it’s legendary weapons! Tools of extraordinary value and immense power… those are the Captain’s favorite. Even though he can’t always make use of them…

But what, exactly, makes a weapon “legendary”? What traits does it need to fulfill? Does its narrative function matter more, or should we only look at gameplay? And how can I avoid spending a boatload of gold on “Missiletainn” – how was I supposed to know it wasn’t “Mystletainn”?!? The Captain had me hide for that one, and I’m lookin’ to get back into his good graces.

There are, essentially, two ways to do this. One is to look at all the “legendary” weapons, and see what traits they have in common. The other is to define a bunch of “legendary” traits, and see which weapons fulfill them. I don’t think it’s possible to strictly do one, or the other. If I do the former, then an easy objection is “wait, [weapon X] isn’t legendary!”, or “why didn’t you count [weapon Y]?” If the latter, then it’s “that trait doesn’t make sense, since it doesn’t include [weapon Z]!” As such, my approach will be to first take a look at a handful of “consensus” legendary weapons – that is, those that ninety-nine percent of players would probably call “legendary”. From there, we can identify shared traits, and use them to evaluate “edge cases”. Let’s start at the start.

 

Exhibit A: Falchion (Archanea)

This sword was forged from the fang of the great dragon, Naga, roughly a millennium before Marth embarked on his original adventure. It was used by the hero Anri, who would go on to found the Kingdom of Altea, to slay the Earth Dragon, Medeus. A century later, however, the sorcerer Gharnef revived Medeus, and took Falchion as his own. However, Marth would reclaim the sword, and use it to finish off Medeus for good. …Until three years later, when Marth had to do the same stuff all over again.

Why am I so confident calling Falchion a “legendary weapon”, right out the gate? Simple, really – it’s in the lore. Falchion is divine in origin, with a storied history of defeating a fearsome foe of great power. In the original title, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, it’s the “Blade of Light”. If Falchion can’t be called legendary prima facie, then I may as well pack my bags and ship right on out.

Between its four Archanean appearances, the Falchion differs somewhat in stats, although other traits stay the same. On the S/NES, it has 10 Might, but this increases to 12 Might on the DS titles. Its Weight also fluctuates. However, certain traits remain the same for it – it has 100 Hit, 0 Crit, and infinite durability. It can only be used at 1-range, and Marth is its only user. It doesn’t become available to him until the second- or third-to-last mainline chapter in any game. While it has no explicit value, it cannot be sold to the shop. Even in games with forging, it cannot be forged to become stronger.

At first blush, this may not seem so impressive. The Silver Sword has 12 Might and 100 Hit in all the Archanea games (well, 90 Hit in Old Mystery). And while it demands a high weapon rank, it can be used by any Sword-wielding class. So, is Falchion just a Marth-exclusive Silver Sword, with infinite durability? By no means!

Here’s where we get into the special effects. In all of its appearances, the Falchion does bonus damage against the final boss, Medeus – and in all games beyond the first, this extends to all enemy Manaketes as well. What’s more, in the first game, it can seal certain physical attacks from the enemy. Finally, in all games but Old Mystery, Marth can use it to restore his own HP, whenever he feels like it.

There are plenty of traits here that may grab the eyes – infinite durability, limited accessibility, and effectiveness against the final boss, to name a few. But are any of these conditions necessary, or even sufficient, for a legendary weapon? Let’s not be satisfied with a sample size of one here!

 

Exhibit J: Book of Forseti

This is a tome of wind magic, originally crafted (written?) by the dragon who shares its name. It was gifted to the Crusader, Sety (using this name to distinguish him from Erinys’ son), with whom he made a blood pact, in the Miracle of Dahna. Sety then used the tome, alongside his similarly empowered allies, to turn the tide of war against the Loptyrian Empire. Together, they were able to defeat Emperor Galle XII, and his benefactor, the dark dragon Loptyr. After Sety founded the Kingdom of Silesse in northern Jugdral, the Book of Forseti became its national treasure. Centuries later, Queen Rahna would bestow it upon her son, Prince Lewyn, who used it to reclaim his homeland and aid his ally, Sigurd. In one possible future, it is inherited by his son Ced, who joins Prince Leif in liberating the Munster District from the Grannvalean Empire and the Loptous Cult.

In gameplay, the Book of Forseti is a Wind Tome with a * ranking. This means that it can only be used by individuals with Major Forseti blood. In the first generation of Genealogy of the Holy War, this is Lewyn. In the second generation, this is Lewyn’s son. However, among Lewyn’s possible sons, the only ones who can ever wield wind magic – and therefore, Forseti – are Arthur, Coirpre, and Ced. The last case is what Thracia 776 goes with – in that title, Forseti is effectively Ced’s personal weapon.

In either game, it’s a powerful weapon, with high Might (30 in FE4, 20 in FE5), 90 Hit, low Weight (5 in FE4, 6 in FE5), and 50 uses. As with most magical spells, it can hit at 1-2 range. Most substantial, however, are the stat boosts that it provides. In FE4, that’s +10 Skill and a whopping +20 Speed. In FE5, it’s +20 to both Skill and Speed, alongside 30 base Crit rate, and effective damage against enemy fliers.

As for its availability – well, that depends. In generation I of Genealogy, the Book of Forseti cannot be acquired until after Castle Silesse is liberated. At that point, there’s just one more castle to go in chapter 4, as well as the whole of chapter 5. In generation II, it comes with his son. So, if Arthur is Lewyn’s son, it will be usable as soon as chapter 6. But if Coirpre is his son, then it won’t be available until chapter 9, and won’t be usable until his son promotes. With Ced as his son, it comes late in chapter 8. As for Thracia 776, while green unit Ced will use it in chapter 4x, playable Ced won’t come around until chapter 23. That is, with just two or three chapters left to go in the game.

One more thing – much like Falchion, the Book of Forseti cannot be sold in either appearance. However, while its uses may appear limited in both games, that’s not entirely true. In Genealogy, the Tome can be repaired at any castle – I assume the blacksmith has a store of fresh ink. However, it comes at a cost – 1000 Gold per use! For comparison, the Tornado, an A-rank wind tome, has a cost of 240 Gold per use. In fact, this price is shared with all other usable * rank weapons, excluding the Valkyrie Staff.

 

Exhibit E: Armads

Armads, the Thunder Axe, was forged by mankind during the Scouring, about a millenium before the events of FE6. It was used by the Berserker, Durban. As one of the Eight Legends, he fought against Dragonkind, and claimed Elibe for humanity. After the war, he stowed the weapon in a cavern in the Western Isles. There, it lay undisturbed, until the Lycian lordling Hector took it up as his own. He used it to defeat Nergal and the Fire Dragon, saving the continent from war… for about two decades. Returned to its original hiding place, it was taken up again by one of Roy’s comrades, to rescue Elibe from King Zephiel’s nihilistic machinations.

Armads is a weapon of high Might – 18 in both appearances – but it’s offset by its high Weight (13 in FE6, 18 in FE7). It’s also relatively accurate for an Axe (75 Hit in FE6, 85 Hit in FE7). Its durability is limited, however, with 20 uses in FE6 and 25 in FE7. That said, it does provide effective damage against enemy dragons, alongside a welcome +5 Defense to the wielder. It cannot be sold, in any case.

Speaking of which, who can wield Armads? In FE6, it’s an S-rank Axe. Ergo, any unit who has reached S-rank in Axes can equip it, be they named Dieck or Douglas, Barth or Bartre. The same does not hold in FE7 – in that game, the Thunder Axe is exclusive to Hector. While it comes relatively early in FE6 (chapter 12x, roughly halfway through the game), it isn’t usable in FE7 until the very last chapter.

One more trait of note – in FE6, Armads is necessary for achieving the “true end”. It must not only be acquired, but also have at least 1 use remaining on it, in order for the player to progress beyond chapter 22. The same is true of Durandal, Forblaze, Aureola, Mulagir, Maltet, Apocalypse, and the Binding Blade.

 

Exhibit T: Alondite

The mighty sword, Alondite, is a weapon blessed by the Goddess Ashera. It was used by the Beorc heroine, Altina, along with its sister blade, Ragnell. In tandem with the Laguz Kings, Dheginsea and Soan, she fought to seal the Goddess of Chaos, Yune. From this point, Altina founded the Kingdom of Begnion, and Alondite became one of its national treasures. Fast forward a few centuries, and Alondite has become the personal weapon of the enigmatic Black Knight. Strange… why would a general of Daein be wielding Begnion’s national treasure? The Black Knight uses Alondite to defeat the hero Greil in single combat, but Ike would return the favor three years later, using its twin blade Ragnell (or a Hammer LOL). From there, Yune may bless Alondite, to make it a useful tool against the remaining Disciples of Order – not to mention, Ashera herself.

Alondite is a powerful weapon in both appearances, with 18 Might, 80 Hit, and 1-2 range. It also comes with a massive 20 Weight, but with a minor 5 Crit, alongside infinite durability. It also grants +5 Defense to the user. While it is enemy-exclusive in Path of Radiance, it becomes available to the player during the Endgame of Radiant Dawn. While its sister blade, Ragnell, is exclusive to Ike, Alondite can be used by any unit with SS rank in Swords. Unlike Ragnell, it cannot be used to deal the final blow on Ashera.

 

Exhibit F: The Lance of Ruin

The Lance of Ruin is a Hero’s Relic, associated with House Gautier of the Kingdom. Within the story’s narrative, it was stolen by Miklan, the elder son of Margrave Gautier. Regardless of which house they choose to lead, Teach will travel north to the Tower of Black Winds, to reclaim the Hero’s Relic. However, Miklan, who lacks a Crest, finds himself transformed into a hideous Black Beast. Once the Black Beast is defeated, Teach will give the Lance to Rhea – or Sylvain will interject, asking to take the Lance of Ruin for himself. While the Archbishop is disturbed by the request, she relents, instructing Sylvain not to let anyone else use the Hero’s Relic. Teach is free to disregard this directive with little-to-no penalty.

But where does the Lance of Ruin come from? As a Hero’s Relic, it’s a gift from the Goddess, originally provided to Gautier, one of the Ten Elites. Don’t mind all the twitching, it’s true! …From a certain point of view.

Spoiler

In fact, the Lance of Ruin was constructed from the bones of one of the Nabateans, an ancient draconic race who lived in Zanado. Think Falchion coming from Naga, but this time, taken involuntarily. The same applies to all authentic Hero’s Relics – they were borne out of Nemesis’ massacre, which turned Zanado into a Red Canyon.

Now, it should come as no surprise that the Lance of Ruin is another powerful weapon. It has a shocking 22 Might, alongside 20 Crit, and a rather low Weight of 9. However, its hit rate is just 65, which could be problematic. Moreover, it has a meager 20 uses, but it can be repaired using the rare ore, Umbral Steel. However, it cannot be forged into a stronger form. The Lance of Ruin can be acquired right after chapter 5 (with Sylvain on the player’s team), or otherwise, once Sylvain’s paralogue has been completed.

Strangely enough, the Lance of Ruin can be used by… anyone? Really? That’s right, it’s an E-rank Lance. And since literally any class can use Lances, there’s no unit who can’t equip it. However, some do so better than others. If a unit doesn’t have a Crest, they will take up to 10 (non-lethal) damage after every phase of combat. Units who have a Crest take no penalty, but they receive no benefit otherwise. With one exception, in the Crest of Gautier. Any unit with the Crest of Gautier (Sylvain in NG, anyone with the Crest Stone in NG+) can use the exclusive combat art, Ruined Sky. This grants a stellar +13 Might, as well as +10 each to Hit, Crit, Avoid, and Dodge. Moreover, this art deals bonus damage against flying and draconic enemies.

One more thing – while Three Houses does not give weapons exclusive icons, there are differences among them. While most Lances have Bronze icon, the Lance of Ruin has a Golden icon. The same applies to other Hero’s Relics, including the “artificial” ones, like Aymr. Other weapons, such as the Spear of Assal or the Axe of Ukonvasara, have a Silver Icon. Finally, a black icon is exclusive to the Scythe of Sariel, the Death Knight’s signature weapon.

 

Well, with all these cases assembled, I’m all ready to… to… honestly, I’m done. I had already planned this to be a multi-part series, but Part I is ending sooner than I had anticipated. Obviously, I’m not going to do a “rundown” of every legendary weapon – no matter what the Captain tells you, I’m not a masochist. However, using these cases, it should be possible to analyze what traits are shared among the weapons, and where differences emerge. This should help to interpret the “legendary” status of other weapons, and in particular, should provide a template for analyzing “edge cases”. Beyond this point, I’d like to talk about what I view as the positives and negatives of legendary weapons, and how I’d like to see them handled in future games.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think in the comments below! If I've made any mistakes, please let me know, and I'll correct them. If you'd like to bring attention to any other legendary weapon, feel free to do so.

[lenticular]

Two random tangential comments.

One thing that's long bothered me is the name, "Falchion". One of the first things that I think of when I hear "legendary weapon" is that it should have a name. Owain may be a bit of a blowhard, but he was right about that much, at least. But for the single most iconic weapon in the entire series, they just decided to name it after a specific type of sword. Despite the fact that Falchion isn't even a falchion. It drives me to distraction.

On the other hand, one thing that I like is how Radiant Dawn gives us a chance to create our own legendary weapons. We can have specially forged weapons, name them, strengthen them with magic coins, and then have them blessed by a goddess all in the course of the game. In the unlikely event that we ever see a game set in the future of Tellius, I would be disappointed if some sort of legendary weapon that we made in RD didn't show up. Other games have had some degree of forging and customisation, but nothing else has ever reached RD's level.

[indigoasis]

A common thread among legendary weapons, which is kinda obvious, is that they're usually one-of-a-kind. Of course... there are exceptions to this like Falchion, which has a twin in the Valentian Falchion (there's also the Parallel Falchion that Lucina brings with her from the future, so you could make an argument that there are at least three distinct Falchions), as well as Ragnell and Alondite since, while technically entirely separate entities, they are functionally identical.

There are also weapons that share a name, but are different in function or form. For instance, there's the tome Mjölnir from Jugdral, and the axe Mjölnir in Thórr's possession in Heroes (which both possess lightning properties, so they're not that different, but one is a book and the other can chop wood). They're essentially just different forms of the same weapon; that is to say, they're separate entities, but represent the same weapon from different worlds, kinda like how there's different Spider-Men or Batmen across different continuities, but they're all still Spider-Man and Batman in their respective worlds.

Aside from all of that, if a certain legendary weapon shows up in a particular game, chances are it's the only one in existence... typically.

I think there's also a distinction to make between Legendary and Personal weapons, as well (even if it isn't necessary, but I'm gonna mention it anyway). A lot of the time, Legendary weapons end up being personal weapons for certain units, but like with Radiant Dawn or Three Houses as mentioned in the OP, that's not always the case. Personal weapons also aren't always Legendary, either, despite what Hector's Wolf Beil or Marth's Rapier might initially lead you to believe.

To add onto Exhibit J, FE4 also has a unique situation where certain Legendary weapons can end up being wielded by multiple characters. For instance, a weapon like Tyrfing is technically Sigurd's Personal weapon, but it also ends up being Seliph's Personal weapon later on as the weapon isn't necessarily tied to either character, but rather that they meet the criteria to wield it through having Major Baldr Holy Blood, which functionally makes Tyrfing their Personal weapon. Balmung is kinda funky, though; Shannan is meant to be the sole wielder of it, but if Larcei and Scáthach's father is Chulainn, they end up inheriting Major Od Holy Blood, meaning they can wield Balmung just like Shannan can, assuming the player means to trade it over.

I think that's about all I wanna mention without this getting too long. I'd love to talk about "edge cases," but I'll leave that open for now.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 hours ago, lenticular said:

One thing that's long bothered me is the name, "Falchion". One of the first things that I think of when I hear "legendary weapon" is that it should have a name. Owain may be a bit of a blowhard, but he was right about that much, at least. But for the single most iconic weapon in the entire series, they just decided to name it after a specific type of sword. Despite the fact that Falchion isn't even a falchion. It drives me to distraction.

Very odd choice, that, to call the weapon "Falchion" when... it wasn't one. Perhaps Kaga just thought it was a cool-sounding name? He loved it enough to use it again in the very next game.

6 hours ago, lenticular said:

On the other hand, one thing that I like is how Radiant Dawn gives us a chance to create our own legendary weapons. We can have specially forged weapons, name them, strengthen them with magic coins, and then have them blessed by a goddess all in the course of the game. In the unlikely event that we ever see a game set in the future of Tellius, I would be disappointed if some sort of legendary weapon that we made in RD didn't show up. Other games have had some degree of forging and customisation, but nothing else has ever reached RD's level.

It's interesting how, although Forging has become a series standard since Tellius, it's never again taken the same form. Back then, it was crafting wholly original weapons, based on certain templates. But that changed to modifying existing weapons, or evolving them into new models. Would be cool to see "build-a-blade" become a thing again.

Hm, it might be cool - in a Tellius remake or remaster - for forged weapons to "transfer" from PoR to RD, if the player chooses to transfer? Like, is Soren finishes the Ashnard map with 12 uses left on his "Solcalibur" Wind forge, then when he rejoins in III-P, he'll come with... a 12-use "Solcalibur" Wind forge. Might need some limits to prevent it from totally wrecking the economy, though.

32 minutes ago, indigoasis said:

A common thread among legendary weapons, which is kinda obvious, is that they're usually one-of-a-kind. Of course... there are exceptions to this like Falchion, which has a twin in the Valentian Falchion (there's also the Parallel Falchion that Lucina brings with her from the future, so you could make an argument that there are at least three distinct Falchions), as well as Ragnell and Alondite since, while technically entirely separate entities, they are functionally identical.

I was just thinking - how many Falchions are there, actually?

1. The Archanean Falchion, used by Anri, and later Marth

2. The Valentian Falchion, used by Rudolf and Alm

3. Nagi's Falchion, gifted to Marth if he should visit the Alterspire

4. The Ylissean Falchion, used by Chrom and eventually "Exalted"

5. The Parallel Falchion, which Lucina brought back through time with her

Of course, #4 is said to be a reforged version of #1 (in light of the drastic change in appearance), while #5 is an "alternate timeline" version of #4. And #3 might be an "alternate timeline" version of #1. So, depending on how you interpret them, you could argue your way from 5 down to 2.

And then there's the Amiibo fighters, and the Emblem Ri-

38 minutes ago, indigoasis said:

Aside from all of that, if a certain legendary weapon shows up in a particular game, chances are it's the only one in existence... typically.

I broadly agree that "a legendary weapon should be one-of-a-kind, or if a duplicate exists, it should warrant an explanation". Kind of like the multiple Falchions in Awakening. There were also the "Dark" versions of the Hero's Relics in Verdant Wind Endgame, although those ones were never really explained. Did the Elites make two copies of every Hero's Relic? Were they buried with them? Or did the Agarthans make them at some point? Still, I don't think they really challenge the "legendary" status. Now, if a random War Master happened to have an extra copy of Crusher, then I'd have some concerns.

45 minutes ago, indigoasis said:

To add onto Exhibit J, FE4 also has a unique situation where certain Legendary weapons can end up being wielded by multiple characters. For instance, a weapon like Tyrfing is technically Sigurd's Personal weapon, but it also ends up being Seliph's Personal weapon later on as the weapon isn't necessarily tied to either character, but rather that they meet the criteria to wield it through having Major Baldr Holy Blood, which functionally makes Tyrfing their Personal weapon. Balmung is kinda funky, though; Shannan is meant to be the sole wielder of it, but if Larcei and Scáthach's father is Chulainn, they end up inheriting Major Od Holy Blood, meaning they can wield Balmung just like Shannan can, assuming the player means to trade it over.

If I recall, the "Heirs of Fate" DLC does something similar. Brynhildr, for instance, becomes Forrest's personal weapon. Even though he can't wield it in the base game. Go figure!

In any case, I'm inclined to interpret "family" weapons as an offshoot of "personal" weapons. That is, one's where the ability to wield them depends on the user's identity, rather than their trained proficiency with the weapon type. And they can overlap with "legendary", but don't necessarily. In fact, the aforementioned Brynhildr may just be one such edge case!

[indigoasis]

16 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

And then there's the Amiibo fighters, and the Emblem Ri-

YOU GET A FALCHION

YOU GET A FALCHION

EVERYONE GETS A FALCHION

15 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

There were also the "Dark" versions of the Hero's Relics in Verdant Wind Endgame, although those ones were never really explained. Did the Elites make two copies of every Hero's Relic? Were they buried with them? Or did the Agarthans make them at some point? Still, I don't think they really challenge the "legendary" status. Now, if a random War Master happened to have an extra copy of Crusher, then I'd have some concerns.

It wouldn't be too farfetched to guess that they may have the same "artificially made" status like Aymr, being made to replicate the original weapons in corrupted forms. After all, Nemesis was resurrected by TWSiTD, who may or may not have been the ones to forge Aymr (but they probably were). If they can make a weapon specifically for Edelgard, it would absolutely be within their power to create Dark Heroes' Relics for the other elites.

15 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

In any case, I'm inclined to interpret "family" weapons as an offshoot of "personal" weapons. That is, one's where the ability to wield them depends on the user's identity, rather than their trained proficiency with the weapon type. And they can overlap with "legendary", but don't necessarily. In fact, the aforementioned Brynhildr may just be one such edge case!

That's a great term for that, actually. I hate to keep using Falchion as an example, but it can technically fall into that "family" weapon category since it's only ever used within Marth's family (and Alm's, too)... or whoever has an Emblem Ring, lol.

Also, would you be able to explain "edge cases"? From your OP, I figured weapons like the Three Regalia could be edge cases since, while they're still technically legendary, I think there can be multiple in existence (or that can be forged into existence), which would kinda ruin that "one-of-a-kind" quality they have, not to mention almost anyone can use them. I could be entirely off the mark and completely wrong, though; I guess they're legendary in status, but maybe not so much in nature?

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Do you think the Falchion was Naga's baby tooth? And it's one of those families where the mum keeps the baby teeth in a bagged collection? I'd be trying to pawn them off too.

On 12/8/2023 at 1:44 PM, lenticular said:

On the other hand, one thing that I like is how Radiant Dawn gives us a chance to create our own legendary weapons. We can have specially forged weapons, name them, strengthen them with magic coins, and then have them blessed by a goddess all in the course of the game. In the unlikely event that we ever see a game set in the future of Tellius, I would be disappointed if some sort of legendary weapon that we made in RD didn't show up. Other games have had some degree of forging and customisation, but nothing else has ever reached RD's level.

That would have been a really compelling bit of transfer data for a theoretical Wii/Wii U Tellius game.

[lenticular]

20 hours ago, indigoasis said:

I think there's also a distinction to make between Legendary and Personal weapons, as well (even if it isn't necessary, but I'm gonna mention it anyway). A lot of the time, Legendary weapons end up being personal weapons for certain units, but like with Radiant Dawn or Three Houses as mentioned in the OP, that's not always the case. Personal weapons also aren't always Legendary, either, despite what Hector's Wolf Beil or Marth's Rapier might initially lead you to believe.

I'm never quite sure how we're supposed to interpret that sort of personal weapon, from an in-universe perspective. It makes perfect sense from an out-of-universe game-design perspective, but I don't recall ever been given any sort of story or lore explanation for why I can't just pass around the Wolf Beil or Wing Spear to whoever I want. The best headcanon justification that I've managed to come up with is that they're highly specialised weapons that require specific training to wield effectively and Hector/Caeda/whoever is the only person who has that specific training.

This is contrasted with other personal weapons which do have strong story justification. On the one hand, you have magically restricted items, where the magic means that the item just won't work if it's wielded by the wrong person. Things like the Aum staff, the Royal Sword, or the Sword of the Creator fall into the category. Then there are the unique weapons that the person theoretically could give away but they won't. The Daein regalia that the Dawn Brigade get in the international version of Radiant Dawn fit this category, as do the royals' regalia  in Fates. It's not a push to think that Takumi isn't going to hand the Fujin Yumi over to Setsuna just because she asks nicely, even if she technically could wield it.

(Aside: I've just now put two and two together and twigged that the Fujin Yumi and the Wind God skill from Claude's unique class have the same name in Japanese. Neat.)

19 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Very odd choice, that, to call the weapon "Falchion" when... it wasn't one. Perhaps Kaga just thought it was a cool-sounding name? He loved it enough to use it again in the very next game.

I'd actually have more questions for the people who did the localisation on Shadow Dragon (DS). I would guess that it comes across as less of a weird name in Japanese than it does in English, so I wouldn't really question Kaga deciding to use it (twice). But then the localisation team could easily have picked a different name for the sword but decided not to. But then, FE localisation has always been kinda weird in what they decide to change and what they keep as is.

19 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

It's interesting how, although Forging has become a series standard since Tellius, it's never again taken the same form. Back then, it was crafting wholly original weapons, based on certain templates. But that changed to modifying existing weapons, or evolving them into new models. Would be cool to see "build-a-blade" become a thing again.

Engage went some way towards variety of customisation with it with its emblem engravings, which was a pretty neat system, but I do still prefer Radiant Dawn overall. Both for the making the weapons from scratch, and for getting them blessed by Yune at the end to really give them the glow up to legendary status. Though if we ever get a Radiant Dawn remake, I wouldn't mind seeing all the various coins become unique items that give specific engraving style effects, rather than just let you roll the dice on a random upgrade.

[Acacia Sgt]

10 minutes ago, lenticular said:

I'm never quite sure how we're supposed to interpret that sort of personal weapon, from an in-universe perspective. It makes perfect sense from an out-of-universe game-design perspective, but I don't recall ever been given any sort of story or lore explanation for why I can't just pass around the Wolf Beil or Wing Spear to whoever I want. The best headcanon justification that I've managed to come up with is that they're highly specialised weapons that require specific training to wield effectively and Hector/Caeda/whoever is the only person who has that specific training.

For its worth, Kaga at some point stated that Feena being the only one other than Marth to use the Rapier was a hint to her origins. Whatever that means, however, may forever remain unknown...

10 minutes ago, lenticular said:

I'd actually have more questions for the people who did the localisation on Shadow Dragon (DS). I would guess that it comes across as less of a weird name in Japanese than it does in English, so I wouldn't really question Kaga deciding to use it (twice). But then the localisation team could easily have picked a different name for the sword but decided not to. But then, FE localisation has always been kinda weird in what they decide to change and what they keep as is.

Falchion, at least, was originally meant to be a legacy weapon. Showing up in every FE game even if it's not the same sword. Curiously, Tyrfing has a similar design to the Falchion...

For that matter, Gradivus as well, hence why it's randomly found in the final dungeon of Gaiden. SoV retcon it to be one and the same, but before that...

[indigoasis]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Falchion, at least, was originally meant to be a legacy weapon. Showing up in every FE game even if it's not the same sword. Curiously, Tyrfing has a similar design to the Falchion...

This can be further backed up by Tyrfing's Awakening design, which is suspiciously akin to that of Falchion's Awakening design. DS Shadow Dragon's Falchion is also reminiscent of Leif's Light Brand, too. Now I'm curious how many other Legendary weapons look like each other?

[Acacia Sgt]

9 minutes ago, indigoasis said:

This can be further backed up by Tyrfing's Awakening design, which is suspiciously akin to that of Falchion's Awakening design. DS Shadow Dragon's Falchion is also reminiscent of Leif's Light Brand, too. Now I'm curious how many other Legendary weapons look like each other?

Well, if I recall, Gradivus and one of the Genealogy lances (Gáe Bolg and Gungnir) also have a similar design to them.

[lenticular]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Falchion, at least, was originally meant to be a legacy weapon. Showing up in every FE game even if it's not the same sword. Curiously, Tyrfing has a similar design to the Falchion...

For that matter, Gradivus as well, hence why it's randomly found in the final dungeon of Gaiden. SoV retcon it to be one and the same, but before that...

Gradivus also shows up in Three Houses, for some reason. As do Parthia, Mercurius, and Hautclere. But Falchion doesn't. This series is hard to make sense of sometimes.

[Acacia Sgt]

4 minutes ago, lenticular said:

Gradivus also shows up in Three Houses, for some reason. As do Parthia, Mercurius, and Hautclere. But Falchion doesn't. This series is hard to make sense of sometimes.

Yeah, at this point the Three Regalia + Hauteclere have been turned into legacy weapons themselves.

[Jotari]

For me narrative is the only thing that really matters. I wouldn't refer to Baselard as a legendary weapon. It's just an S Rank weapon (or SS because apparently S just isn't epic enough). Likewise I thing a distinction of such can be made between Maltet and Rex Hasta. One is just a really good lance, the other is the millennium old weapon from the Scouring. Likewise, I'd call Takumi's Fujin Yumi a legendary weapon even though it's early game arrival makes it merely a really good weapon in general and not the best weapon in the game. I think narrative application to the term is not only the most sensible way of talking about, but also the most consistent way the fanbase actually does refer to these things.

11 hours ago, lenticular said:

I'd actually have more questions for the people who did the localisation on Shadow Dragon (DS). I would guess that it comes across as less of a weird name in Japanese than it does in English, so I wouldn't really question Kaga deciding to use it (twice). But then the localisation team could easily have picked a different name for the sword but decided not to. But then, FE localisation has always been kinda weird in what they decide to change and what they keep as is.

While they didn't feel obligated to stay true to a bunch of stuff in that regard, I do feel compelled to point out that Super Smash Bros. had already been calling the sword Falchion for seven years by that point. And the anime did too. I mean, sure they also called the protagonist Mars, but my point is that Shadow Dragon DS wasn't localized without precedent. And I guess they felt that it was at least accurate to the Japanese name.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Jotari

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

13 hours ago, lenticular said:

Gradivus also shows up in Three Houses, for some reason. As do Parthia, Mercurius, and Hautclere. But Falchion doesn't. This series is hard to make sense of sometimes.

This raises an interesting specter: can a weapon be legendary in one context, but not in another? Like, can we say that Parthia, Mercurius, and Gradivus are legendary in Archanea, but not in Fódlan? It's worth exploring, at least.

4 hours ago, Jotari said:

Likewise I thing a distinction of such can be made between Maltet and Rex Hasta. One is just a really good lance, the other is the millennium old weapon from the Scouring.

The S-rank weapons in FE7 are pretty puzzling. Did Nergal make them, for his Morphs to use? Or is there any history behind them? Why don't they exist twenty years later? And why have one for each weapon type, but no Staff?

Really feels like the developers put the whole game together, realized that they had forgotten to design any S-rank weapons, and hastily constructed this bunch to avoid disappointing the players.

15 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

For its worth, Kaga at some point stated that Feena being the only one other than Marth to use the Rapier was a hint to her origins. Whatever that means, however, may forever remain unknown...

I was gonna say "they must be related", but it's not as thougha reclassed Elice can use the Rapier, so. Maybe Marth always wanted to be a Dancer, and that's why he can use the Rapier?

16 hours ago, lenticular said:

It's not a push to think that Takumi isn't going to hand the Fujin Yumi over to Setsuna just because she asks nicely, even if she technically could wield it.

They could pretty easily justify this one in-lore. Something like "the regalia were crafted by the dragons, so thry can only be used by those with Dragon's Blood". Ergo, Setsuna would be magically barred from using the Fujin Yumi. Of course, that wouldn't explain why Camilla couldn't borrow Brynhildr. Nor why they seemingly forgot to give unique weapons or staves to any of the princesses...

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I was gonna say "they must be related", but it's not as thougha reclassed Elice can use the Rapier, so. Maybe Marth always wanted to be a Dancer, and that's why he can use the Rapier?

Well, the statement was:

Q2: Why can Feena equip the Rapier?

Comments: In the world of Fire Emblem, Rapiers are used by royalty. The fact that Feena can equip it implies something about her heritage.

Despite, you know, the Rapier is still not usable by every royal member. Then again, Aum had a similar restriction where not everyone who should use it could actually use it. Like Maria.

[lenticular]

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

While they didn't feel obligated to stay true to a bunch of stuff in that regard, I do feel compelled to point out that Super Smash Bros. had already been calling the sword Falchion for seven years by that point. And the anime did too. I mean, sure they also called the protagonist Mars, but my point is that Shadow Dragon DS wasn't localized without precedent. And I guess they felt that it was at least accurate to the Japanese name.

That's a fair point. I still think that it should have been changed in localisation, but in that context it is easier to see why it wasn't. I don't think that the precedent of Smash Bros and the anime should have counted for all that much, but it definitely does count for more than nothing. And I would also agree that keeping the name as "Falchion" was probably the right choice for Smash Bros. After all, at that point they weren't expecting it to be something that had any weight at all going forward and it was basically just "here's a Japan exclusive game, and here's what stuff is called there". So it makes sense that they had a higher weight for literal translation over fitting to the target culture and language.

33 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

This raises an interesting specter: can a weapon be legendary in one context, but not in another? Like, can we say that Parthia, Mercurius, and Gradivus are legendary in Archanea, but not in Fódlan? It's worth exploring, at least.

I would say so, yes. Aura and Excalibur are the most obvious choices. I think it would be pretty uncontroversial to say that they are legendary in Archanea but not in Fódlan (or in many of their other incarnations). To the point that it might be a better question to ask if they are actually intended as being the same weapon or if they are completely different weapons that just happen to share the same name.

That said, I'm not sure whether the Fódlan versions of Parthia, Mercurius, and Gradivus should count as legendary or not. They aren't given any storyline significance, but the way you obtain them makes them feel as if they are probably ancient and storied weapons and it's just that we're never told those stories. I could go either way, honestly.

I'd give similar status to a lot of the Engage Weapons from Engage. We know that Yato is much more significant than the Dual Katana or the Wakizashi because we've played Fates, but if you're only looking at Engage then that isn't really clear. So I'd put Yato into the category of definitely being legendary in Fates but could go either way in Engage.

[indigoasis]

28 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I was gonna say "they must be related", but it's not as thougha reclassed Elice can use the Rapier, so. Maybe Marth always wanted to be a Dancer, and that's why he can use the Rapier?

25 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Well, the statement was:

Q2: Why can Feena equip the Rapier?

Comments: In the world of Fire Emblem, Rapiers are used by royalty. The fact that Feena can equip it implies something about her heritage.

Despite, you know, the Rapier is still not usable by every royal member. Then again, Aum had a similar restriction where not everyone who should use it could actually use it. Like Maria.

This is gonna sound dumb, but maybe it has to do with training? Marth's a prince, so it he probably would have been taught how to effectively use it given it's fancier style, and Phina's a dancer, so she would have enough precision and grace to wield it as effectively as Marth can. Of course, that probably wouldn't explain why literally no one else can use it (the royalty explanation is probably the next best thing), but I digress.

[Jotari]

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

The S-rank weapons in FE7 are pretty puzzling. Did Nergal make them, for his Morphs to use? Or is there any history behind them? Why don't they exist twenty years later? And why have one for each weapon type, but no Staff?

I have been tinkering with Blazing Blade's end game map (you'll probably see why in a month or too) and I think the main reason we got the S rank weapons in the way we did is very much down to the Fire Dragon. I have expressed my belief in the past how the Fire Dragon is an insultingly easy final boss as it is essentially an unmoving turret that deals a tonne of damage but has 0% chance of ever actually killing any of your units unless you just play intentionally stupidly. But that being said, it's stats are ridiculous. It has 40 defense and resistance in a game where most classes have a strength or magic cap of 25. You need weapons with about 20might to deal any reasonable damage to it. Even wyrmslayers, because anti dragon weapons only double might, won't be able to scratch the thing. Rex Hasta and their ilk are essentially back ups in case you managed to break Armads and Duruandal during Nergal's chapter. And it's for this same reason we don't actually get Duruandal or Armads three or four chapters earlier when the heroes actually obtain them in the plot. They wanted to make a boss with insanely hight stats (who is, somewhat ironically, a generic enemy too) but also wanted it to be beatable, so they only give you the tools to beat it in the final chapter itself so you can't screw yourself over. Of course I think they went w bit overboard, just getting Athos with Foreblaze would have been enough to insure against a softlock, but they didn't just want to avoid a softlock, they wanted it scrub proof.

5 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Well, the statement was:

Q2: Why can Feena equip the Rapier?

Comments: In the world of Fire Emblem, Rapiers are used by royalty. The fact that Feena can equip it implies something about her heritage.

Despite, you know, the Rapier is still not usable by every royal member. Then again, Aum had a similar restriction where not everyone who should use it could actually use it. Like Maria.

Hmm. How many units should be able to use the rapier? These are the evidently noble units I can think of. Some others like the White wings probably are given their position, but I only want to focus on units that we have some reference to their family background.

*Marth, Elice, Merric, Kris (if selected)

*Sheena

*Nyna, Midia, Astram, Jeorge, Horace

*Hardin

*Shiida

*Minerva, Maria, Michalis

*Lorenz, Sirius, Yulia, Yubelo

So if we assume that to wield a rapier you need to be both a noble, a sword user and infantry (it's not a sort of style suited to horse back I don't think) then the only character other than Marth whom it looks like should be able to use the rapier is Astram. Which would be a bit weird of it were just he and Marth (and later Feena). Would have been kind of cool of, much like Aum, they made it so any of these units reclassed to Myrmidon or Mercenary could secretly use the rapier though. Then again Shadow Dragon (DS) Marth already struggled a bit as a combat unit, so taking away that niche would be a bit cruel.

5 hours ago, lenticular said:

That's a fair point. I still think that it should have been changed in localisation, but in that context it is easier to see why it wasn't. I don't think that the precedent of Smash Bros and the anime should have counted for all that much, but it definitely does count for more than nothing. And I would also agree that keeping the name as "Falchion" was probably the right choice for Smash Bros. After all, at that point they weren't expecting it to be something that had any weight at all going forward and it was basically just "here's a Japan exclusive game, and here's what stuff is called there". So it makes sense that they had a higher weight for literal translation over fitting to the target culture and language.

I think even independent of the precedent it was still probably one of the best choices. I mean, sure, yeah, it's weird, but it's authentic. And I don't want them exactly just making something up. They did that with the Black Knight's sword and look at the mess it caused later in Radiant Dawn (part of me wonders if the Japanese developers knew and were just trolling the translation team by introducing an actual Alondite).

Of course just making something up isn't the only solution. What we might have got would be an alternate spelling or pronunciation to differentiate it from the real world sword type. Though I think phonetically were at a bit if a disadvantage. Falchion doesn't lend itself to many alternate interpretations, unless you want to make the Ch hard and then change the spelling to Falkion.

The last suggestion would be the tried and true method of hiding the meaning and this the weirdness behind another language. Which is precisely what the Japanese language version is doing (or...maybe not. Now that I think of it, falchions being a western style sword are probably rendered in katakana the exact same way Marth's sword is). So we name it something like Fauchon (French), Falcione (Italian), Falchion (German...wait no that's still the same), Espada (French). Of course those might seems bit too out of place since they look like obviously not English words (unlike Gradivus, Parthia and Mercurous, which are kind of weird names but they don't feel like I should be putting on an accent to say). So when in doubt we go to the language most similar to English, which is Dutch (sorry Scots and Frisan, you guys don't count). And in Dutch Falchions are called...Valk. what seriously? It's identical in German and visually similar in French and Italian and then out of nowhere the Dutch just call it Valk. I expect that from you, Spanish, but not from you, Dutch. That's running into too different territory. But fine. I give up. Marth's sword should have been called Valk. I hope you enjoyed reading my attempt to build a CV as a localizer.

Looking at how it actually was localized in other European languages, they all did opt to just go for the English word Falchion rather than call it by their own term for the weapon type. It also appeared in Kirby Super Star Ultra, which was released in English before Shadow Dragon was, so chalk that up to more precedent, though the Hal localization team probably didn't communicate with the Shadow Dragon localization team on that point. So if the DS did get creative we might have had two different names for the sword released in the same year. Or even three if the Europeans and Americans approached the localization differently, which is not uncommon for Shadow Dragon DS.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Jotari

[Acacia Sgt]

5 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Hmm. How many units should be able to use the rapier? These are the evidently noble units I can think of. Some others like the White wings probably are given their position, but I only want to focus on units that we have some reference to their family background.

*Marth, Elice, Merric, Kris (if selected)

*Sheena

*Nyna, Midia, Astram, Jeorge, Horace

*Hardin

*Shiida

*Minerva, Maria, Michalis

*Lorenz, Sirius, Yulia, Yubelo

So if we assume that to wield a rapier you need to be both a noble, a sword user and infantry (it's not a sort of style suited to horse back I don't think) then the only character other than Marth whom it looks like should be able to use the rapier is Astram. Which would be a bit weird of it were just he and Marth (and later Feena). Would have been kind of cool of, much like Aum, they made it so any of these units reclassed to Myrmidon or Mercenary could secretly use the rapier though. Then again Shadow Dragon (DS) Marth already struggled a bit as a combat unit, so taking away that niche would be a bit cruel.

If it's just royalty then the list should even smaller.

By the way, Astram isn't a noble, he's just a mercenary. Unless you mean after the War of Shadows, but being given Mercurius aside I don't think he actually got any lordship title as well. Likewise Lorenz is a General, no mention of being noble either. Inversely, Lena and Matthis are Macedon nobles.

[Jotari]

6 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

If it's just royalty then the list should even smaller.

By the way, Astram isn't a noble, he's just a mercenary.

I kind of figured since he's publicly romantically involved with Midia, who we know has a count for a father, then he must be of some noble birth. As we know Archanea and specifically Archanea the country, believes in marrying within one's station as Marth and Hardin were viewed as the only practical matches for Nyna. Though if Boah was really being political he should have had her marry Jubelo! That would put those impertinent Grustians in line and ensure Archaneans rightful queen doesn't end up usurped by a foreign man!

6 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Unless you mean after the War of Shadows, but being given Mercurius aside I don't think he actually got any lordship title as well. Likewise Lorenz is a General, no mention of being noble either. Inversely, Lena and Matthis are Macedon nobles.

You know I actually had those two in mind when I began writing, as I was specifically thinking if Lena's engagement to Michalis that existed in Old Mystery Book 1 and was abandoned as a plot point in the DS remakes. But then I just plumb forgot about them when I got to the Macedonian section. Course I almost forgot Maria too which would have been a bit more embarrassing.

[Acacia Sgt]

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I kind of figured since he's publicly romantically involved with Midia, who we know has a count for a father, then he must be of some noble birth. As we know Archanea and specifically Archanea the country, believes in marrying within one's station as Marth and Hardin were viewed as the only practical matches for Nyna. Though if Boah was really being political he should have had her marry Jubelo! That would put those impertinent Grustians in line and ensure Archaneans rightful queen doesn't end up usurped by a foreign man!

Well, only confirmed for the Royal Family... and then it might just be Boah being too traditionalist on the matter.

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

You know I actually had those two in mind when I began writing, as I was specifically thinking if Lena's engagement to Michalis that existed in Old Mystery Book 1 and was abandoned as a plot point in the DS remakes. But then I just plumb forgot about them when I got to the Macedonian section. Course I almost forgot Maria too which would have been a bit more embarrassing.

Looking again, Ogma also comes from a minor Archanean noble house. In the games I believe it's first mentioned in New Mystery, but it comes from all the way form the Designer's Notes.

https://web.archive.org/web/19980211010259/http://intsys.co.jp/game/fireemblem/note/3.html

"Ogma's father is said to have been a lowly Akaneia nobleman who was executed after losing a political battle in the palace. His mother died protecting Ogma in the penal colony of Pelati. She is said to have been a beautiful woman, as if she was from Gournia."

[Jotari]

33 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Well, only confirmed for the Royal Family... and then it might just be Boah being too traditionalist on the matter.

I don't think Nyna would necessarily go against Boah is Boah weren't representing a norm of the society and that the social pressure on her was real. Turns him from a helpful old man just trying to do his best while ignorant to an outright villain if he is unilaterally deciding it for her and no one else cared. And while it's only confirmed for the Royal family, these sort of things tend to apply to the different strata the same way. At the very least we don't have any examples I can think of of an evident commoner marrying an evident noble in Archanea.

33 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Looking again, Ogma also comes from a minor Archanean noble house. In the games I believe it's first mentioned in New Mystery, but it comes from all the way form the Designer's Notes.

https://web.archive.org/web/19980211010259/http://intsys.co.jp/game/fireemblem/note/3.html

"Ogma's father is said to have been a lowly Akaneia nobleman who was executed after losing a political battle in the palace. His mother died protecting Ogma in the penal colony of Pelati. She is said to have been a beautiful woman, as if she was from Gournia."

He is according to notes, I don't think it was ever confirmed in any of the games (unlike Jeorge whose noble heritage is mentioned in his New Mystery supports, I think). But even with that, his turbulent upbringing means he wasn't raised as a noble. Ie he wasn't trained to use a noble's weapon. In fact I think his New Mystery supports with Kris even focuses on his sword style as being rough and unrefined, but effective die to him building it during his gladiator fighting days.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jotari

[lenticular]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

I think even independent of the precedent it was still probably one of the best choices. I mean, sure, yeah, it's weird, but it's authentic. And I don't want them exactly just making something up. They did that with the Black Knight's sword and look at the mess it caused later in Radiant Dawn (part of me wonders if the Japanese developers knew and were just trolling the translation team by introducing an actual Alondite).

Did it really cause a mess in Radiant Dawn, though? The internationalised version of Radiant Dawn is absolutely fine. The Black's Knight sword is Alondite, just as it was in Path of Radiance, and Ike's personal sword is Ettard. Where's the problem? Yeah, it's a little bit awkward when comparing the Japanese and English versions of the game, and yeah, it caused a minor translation error in some versions of Smash Bros, but how many people actually care about that sort of thing? Only the weirdoes and the grognards like us.

Though I suppose that if I weren't a weirdo and a grognard then I probably wouldn't care that Falchion isn't a falchion to begin with.

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Of course just making something up isn't the only solution. What we might have got would be an alternate spelling or pronunciation to differentiate it from the real world sword type. Though I think phonetically were at a bit if a disadvantage. Falchion doesn't lend itself to many alternate interpretations, unless you want to make the Ch hard and then change the spelling to Falkion.

Maybe "Folchen"?

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

(unlike Gradivus, Parthia and Mercurous, which are kind of weird names but they don't feel like I should be putting on an accent to say)

They all sound Latin to me (because they are). But that works fine. Partly because English has a lot of Latin influence so Latin words sound reasonably natural, and partly because Archanea has a general vibe of classical antiquity. Why they decided to name two of them after Roman gods but the third one after a historic empire in Iran is entirely beyond me, though.

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

So if the DS did get creative we might have had two different names for the sword released in the same year. Or even three if the Europeans and Americans approached the localization differently, which is not uncommon for Shadow Dragon DS.

That's a fair point. I am at least grateful that we didn't end up with different names in Europe and America. Dealing with the Archanea/Akaneia and Caeda/Shiida issue is generally more of an issue than the Alondite/Ettard one, IMO. (But that said, I do still like some of the old European localisations more than the American ones. Having a fantasy country called Bern will forever be ridiculous.)

[Jotari]

40 minutes ago, lenticular said:

Did it really cause a mess in Radiant Dawn, though? The internationalised version of Radiant Dawn is absolutely fine. The Black's Knight sword is Alondite, just as it was in Path of Radiance, and Ike's personal sword is Ettard. Where's the problem? Yeah, it's a little bit awkward when comparing the Japanese and English versions of the game, and yeah, it caused a minor translation error in some versions of Smash Bros, but how many people actually care about that sort of thing? Only the weirdoes and the grognards like us.

I mean, yeah, kind of? They've managed to be diligent enough that it's mostly never caused any issues, but imo it was a stupid and unnecessary change that forced them to make a corresponding stupid and unnecessary change. It's one thing I just don't understand when localizers do it. Like, fine, if a name sounds too foreign, change it. If a name sounds not foreign enough (because it was originally English which is foreign to the original audience) change it. But why change one perfectly servicible name referencing something to another name referencing something from the same reference pool. It's like localizing spade as shovel. Only thing for this specific case I can think of is that they thought Ettard sounded too close to Retard but came to peace with that when Radiant Dawn came about. But it's not the only isolated example of it from video game localizers. One noteworthy case I can think of is Digimon's Omegamon, which for some reason they changed to Omnimon. Which was fine until they added a rival Digimon called Alphamon, obviously playing off Alpha and Omega, but instead in English we have Alpha and...Omni.

40 minutes ago, lenticular said:

Having a fantasy country called Bern will forever be ridiculous.)

I'm actually with the Americans on this one, possibly because of the first time bias by way of being introduced to Elibe via Binding Blade fan translation which uses Bern. I think this is a case where spelling helps a lot. It probably would seem more ridiculous to me if it was spelled Burn. But I think Bern sounds powerful and somehow noble. Biran auto corrects in both my spell checkers and my brain to Brian, which sounds silly. And even if I can get passed that I only end up thinking of the minor Final Fantasy character.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jotari

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm gonna be shallow and say appearances matter. Armads Durandal and even the awful Sol Kati feel legendary due to having their own unique designs that show up in battle. Meanwhile most GBA S ranks weapons don't have that and thus don't feel as legendary in comparison.

Quote

  But that said, I do still like some of the old European localisations more than the American ones. Having a fantasy country called Bern will forever be ridiculous.

Is Bern really any difference than Caelin, Ostia or Gloucester though? All are European cities or regions that are still around today. I suspect that bit goes over the heads of most Americans and thus won't distract them. That's not a dig on Americans though. I doubt most Europeans would know Pherea is a region in Greece either. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Etrurian emperor