Avatar and minor blood characters in the remake

[Hrothgar777]

This post was going to wait until the day I started a big "write everything that should be in the FE4 remake" project, but I can't wait (and I'm still not 100% committed to eventually doing so). This idea has been swirling in my brain since past 3 AM last night, and I want (no, I need) to share it with the internet, even if but a tiny handful of people will see it. And to the forum moderators, I know I've made a number of threads/"topics" lately; I promise this'll be the last new one for at least one or two weeks.

But anyway, here goes nothing. This pitch will be divided into two parts: the remake avatar character and the question of minor blood + holy weapons. The two topics relate to each other, as you'll see below.

 

All non-remake titles since New Mystery (which itself was a remake) included an avatar character. Some people are of the opinion that having an avatar would cheapen FE18 (which, presumably, would be the number of the FE4 remake) to have an avatar, since these characters often have no personality, amount to narcissistic self-inserts for the player, and in the case of a remake literally come out of nowhere.

There's an easy fix for this: make Azelle your avatar character. Both his name and original sprite made him seem somewhat androgynous, but because gender's extremely important in the first part of FE18 I'll sidestep the customizable gender question and just assume he's male. The player would be able to pick his name, though.

Now, from a narrative standpoint Azelle is a surprisingly ideal avatar candidate for part one. He is the brother of the game's most important villain character (the perfect foil to Sigurd). His character has been described as shy and studious, and we'll say that Arvis entrusted him with hands-on administrative duties at some point, so it makes sense that he would take on a support role helping plan, manage, and advise Sigurd's military campaigns. And hey, he can't be any worse of a candidate than Oifey (a literal child).

 

In the Prologue Arvis visits the map and has his one and only friendly conversation with Sigurd. What comes up in this conversation? Azelle. Sigurd gives some assurance that no harm will come to the lad, and with little to no alteration to the original script we have a convenient justification for making it a lose condition if Azelle dies in Classic Mode (in Casual, it's only a lose condition if Sigurd loses, since he's needed to seize castles).

This, of course, begs the question: why is this weakling unit now shackled to your run in the same vein as Sigurd? Well, I'll get to that. For now, let's return to the Prologue. The player gets a hint that Azelle should talk to Arvis before the handsome vampire exits the map. Should he do so, the two estranged brothers will talk about Azelle's now-deceased mother. Arvis will gift Azelle with a memento from her: a character-exclusive worn item that grants Azelle +2 movement. You won't have a chance to get the leg ring (which confers +3 movement) until Chapter 3, and when you do you'll probably want to give it to someone other than Azelle, so this gives him a fighting chance of keeping up with the cavalry, seeing some action, leveling up, and getting stronger. It will, of course, be a challenge to invest in Azelle since he's frail, but it'll definitely pay off later should the player be diligent in this regard.

 

Having read through an old thread here about such a prospective avatar character, it seems the consensus is that, should they exist, they should die at Belhalla alongside Sigurd. I disagree, especially with Azelle, because (1). then there would be no payoff to having him as the avatar character; and (2). there's a plot justification for his survival, namely Arvis sparing him, which was implied to have originally happened anyway. Arvis sparing him, combined with his youth in part one, justifies him still being around and and not too old to participate in a war in part two. The setup is pretty simple: Azelle, who's been living in relative obscurity as a high-level imperial bureaucrat the last 17 years, is warned by Arvis that he can no longer protect him and that Julius is coming to kill him. Big bro then furnishes Azelle with a mount and tells him to slip out of Belhalla at night, with his destination being Isaach where the rebels are.

This is where the fun begins. Azelle rejoins your party in Chapter 6, at Level 1 but with the same stats he had at the end of Chapter 5, meaning he has 29 further levels of growth ahead of him (his stat caps are likewise doubled). Per one webpage I found, in FE4 Azelle will likely have a magic stat of between 23 and 24 by the time he hits Level 30, and he started with a magic stat of 10; this counts a +3 to magic he gained upon promotion to Mage Knight. In total, he normally grow about 13-14 points in this area. FE18 treats him like a fresh unit in part two; if in part one he was able to promote, then a further promotion is waiting for him at Level 20, to a character exclusive class that confers the same stat bumps as promoting the first time. In total, should he hit Level 30 a second time, he'll probably stand at 36-38 for magic, out of a hypothetical cap of 50.

It's easy to see the long-term advantage to investing in avatar Azelle; Tailtiu has a magic cap of 27, and Julia's is 30. Presumably none of the second gen units are much higher than this. But Azelle's true potential doesn't come to bear until the final chapter.

 

In Chapter 10, you kill Arvis. Before dying he gifts Azelle with the Valflame, which is the holy weapon of Velthommer. It is, additionally, the closest thing Jugdral has to a physical "fire emblem", so from a storyline POV it makes sense why it would fall into the player's hands. Of course, Azelle has minor Fjalar blood, whereas only those with major blood can wield holy weapons. For the remake, I'd like to amend this statement; it is incredibly hard, but not theoretically impossible, for one with minor blood to wield a holy weapon. What's required is to attain 40 in a particular stat, which varies from one holy weapon to the next. For the Valflame, that stat is magic. Furthermore, stat caps only apply for one's "permanent" (not boosted by items) stats, whereas for making the determination of holy weapon eligibility the game counts one's permanent stats + boosts. And a character is, to be clear, allowed to carry a weapon even if they're unable to use it.

FE18 has a little hubworld embedded in whatever castle you start the map on, plus every additional castle you seize. At each castle, each character is allowed to buy and instantly consume one tonic, which grants +2 to the stat of their choice. The same stat can be upped at multiple castles. So then, take Chapter 11. Counting the castle you start on, and excluding Belhalla, there's a total of 6 opportunities for a character like Azelle to buy magic tonics. If he started the chapter with a magic stat of 36, then he could become Valflame-eligible after taking Edda, which is the first in the domino chain of castles you're required to take. If 38 before the first tonic, then he could set out immediately able to use his family's holy weapon. If 33, then a single tonic plus holding the Magic Ring (which confers magic +5) would suffice. And if 31, then Edda plus the Magic Ring would suffice. If 28 and he has no Magic Ring or equivalent item, then he could still face Julius with the Valflame after stopping by every castle on the map.

 

Now, for purposes of this thread I singled out Azelle, but any minor blood Gen 2 unit with access to a holy weapon, so long as they reached at least 23 points in a particular stat and had access to a held item conferring at least 5 extra points to such, could face Julius packing a weapon they wouldn't otherwise be allowed to have.

Edited 5 hours ago by Hrothgar777

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Thanks, I hate it!

Yeah, kind of a mean start, so let me amend that. I appreciate the work and thought you put into this thread. I also appreciate any FE4 discussion. Ideas that affect the gameplay are especially welcome.

Having said that, turning Azelle into the Avatar is... a no from me, dawg. He's already his own character. Note that most previous Avatars either have amnesia, or have lived a sheltered life. This is because the Avatar represents the player, who is supposed to be ignorant of the world they're getting themselves into. Azelle would be... not that. He has his own pre-existing knowledge of Jugdral, and connections with other characters, that a novice player would not possess. He could give the player an infodump, I guess, but that'd be a really clumsy way of handling it IMO.

If we do get an Avatar in FE4 remake, then I really think they should be a new, custom character. Someone you can name, design, assign a class, and maybe even give minor Holy Blood. If you're twisting my arm, and they have to be someone who already exists, I guess we could go with the "replace Oifey" meme. But at that point, I'd definitely rather forego the Avatar entirely.

One thing I do like here, is the idea of minor blood characters being able to use Holy Weapons. I'd do it a bit differently, though. See, Thracia 776 introduced Crusader Scrolls as inventory items. And there's no reason to believe they wouldn't exist in FE4 times. What if, instead of just affecting growth rates, they boosted weapon ranks as well? So, Dew normally has C Swords, but with the Hezul Scroll, he bumps up to B Swords. Likewise, Lachesis has A Swords with minor Hezul blood. But if she had the Hezul Scroll in hand, it would temporarily bump her up to Major Hezul blood. Thus letting her use Mystletainn (if the player had access to it - not saying they should in Gen I). This way, there are more options to use Holy Weapons, but they require a certain degree of investment or resource allocation.

I will say, the "buyable tonics at castles" idea is... interesting. Again, not really on-board with tying it into the Holy Weapon system. But I do think "temporary stat buffs linked to  purchases at certain locations" has some potential in its own right.

Edited 5 hours ago by Shanty Pete's 1st Mate
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