Which gender is better in FE?

[BrightBow]

The male versions of classes usually get higher caps in Str and Def while the female versions get a higher cap for a random inferior stat. Usually Res or Skill unless they get very lucky and get Spd instead.

Radiant Dawn also handicapped them by giving them lower HP caps while Thracia and the GBA games completely screwed them over with the Con system. The GBA games would go as far as to lower the carrying capacity for female mounts, so that the one advantage that lower Con would give them was negated.

Come the DS games, and the designers somehow felt the need to limit female characters to classes that other female characters have as a base class. This goes to the point were Shadow Dragon has no female Cavaliers despite having Paladins and NMystery has Generals but no Armored Knights... despite none of these classes even using different sprites. There literally was no reason not to just allow females access to those classes. To add insult to injury, not only can male characters merge their class sets but females actually need an online item to access one of the few classes they have access to. And using that item locks them permanently out of another class. At least they get exclusive access to Pegasus Knights. Not that the likes of Linde or Lena get much use out of it.

In Awakening, classes finally have the same abilities as their male counterparts... but they look even worse then the male version. Like, the toilet bowl armor of the Cavaliers gets understandably a lot of mockery for... looking like a toilet bowl. So the last thing it needs is to have the arm and leg parts disconnected from the rest of the armor because that puts a lot more emphasis on that awful looking middle part. But hey, as long as it's skimpy, who cares that the design looks like shit? Or something you merely shit into, whatever. I guess many people would say that having access to the Dark Pegasus is better then any male exclusive class. But I would question how much use they get out of that ability before Endgame, being a high level skill of a promoted class and all.

Tear Ring Saga also went in on the fun. Males and females use the same classes...except for the Dragon Knight.

For whatever reason (probably because of a lack of sprites) female Dragon Knights lack the ability to use lances on foot. Not much of a biggie for the most part but female Dragon Knights are also painfully difficult to get since they require the absurdly rare Dragon Flutes to promote into Dragon Knights. Meanwhile, the sole male Dragon Knight gets his Dragon entirely for free through an event.

So yes, male gender wins by a landslide. It's no contest.

Edited May 25, 2014 by BrightBow

[Rehab]

Whoever "wins" this question, we lose

[PKL]

The male versions of classes usually get higher caps in Str and Def while the female versions get a higher cap for a random inferior stat. Usually Res or Skill unless they get very lucky and get Spd instead.

Radiant Dawn also handicapped them by giving them lower HP caps while Thracia and the GBA games completely screwed them over with the Con system. The GBA games would go as far as to lower the carrying capacity for female mounts, so that the one advantage that lower Con would give them was negated.

Come the DS games, and the designers somehow felt the need to limit female characters to classes that other female characters have as a base class. This goes to the point were Shadow Dragon has no female Cavaliers despite having Paladins and NMystery has Generals but no Armored Knights... despite none of these classes even using different sprites. There literally was no reason not to just allow females access to those classes. To add insult to injury, not only can male characters merge their class sets but females actually need an online item to access one of the few classes they have access to. And using that item locks them permanently out of another class. At least they get exclusive access to Pegasus Knights. Not that the likes of Linde or Lena get much use out of it.

In Awakening, classes finally have the same abilities as their male counterparts... but they look even worse then the male version. Like, the toilet bowl armor of the Cavaliers gets understandably a lot of mockery for... looking like a toilet bowl. So the last thing it needs is to have the arm and leg parts disconnected from the rest of the armor because that puts a lot more emphasis on that awful looking middle part. But hey, as long as it's skimpy, who cares that the design looks like shit? Or something you merely shit into, whatever. I guess many people would say that having access to the Dark Pegasus is better then any male exclusive class. But I would question how much use they get out of that ability before Endgame, being a high level skill of a promoted class and all.

Tear Ring Saga also went in on the fun. Males and females use the same classes...except for the Dragon Knight.

For whatever reason (probably because of a lack of sprites) female Dragon Knights lack the ability to use lances on foot. Not much of a biggie for the most part but female Dragon Knights are also painfully difficult to get since they require the absurdly rare Dragon Flutes to promote into Dragon Knights. Meanwhile, the sole male Dragon Knight gets his Dragon entirely for free through an event.

So yes, male gender wins by a landslide. It's no contest.

Most male units are still mediocre while there are ridiculous females all around New Mystery, so?

[BrightBow]

Most male units are still mediocre while there are ridiculous females all around New Mystery, so?

The engine is nevertheless giving female units handicaps that a male unit wouldn't have to deal with. Of course individuals can still stand out but a male unit with the same stats of Palla would be... well, still inferior because Pegasus Knight is the only class that males have no access too. But overall males would be superior to female units with the same base stats because they can do everything they can do and then some. They have twice as many classes in exchange for not being able to fly in first tier.

Edited May 25, 2014 by BrightBow

[eclipse]

The engine is nevertheless giving female units handicaps that a male unit wouldn't have to deal with. Of course individuals can still stand out but a male unit with the same stats of Palla would be... well, still inferior because Pegasus Knight is the only class that males have no access too. But overall males would be superior to female units with the same base stats because they can do everything they can do and then some, as long as it doesn't require flying in first tier.

The fact that women dominate NM despite these "handicaps" is a huge point in their favor, no?

[bottlegnomes]

Only game I can really think of female units having a strong case for being overall better is 9. I guess NM from what people have said, but I don't remember it well enough. In the rest of the games, there are some very good female units, but they're outnumbered by very good male units. In general, all I can think of for female units having over male units are pegs and dancers, but even then there have been a few bards and dracos can often fill a similar role to pegs, and sometimes be outright superior.

[XeKr]

I agree with –Cynthia- almost completely, and add that in FE13 Avatar can marry Chrom so females are probably better there, especially if you count Lunatic+. (still close in difficulties like Lunatic, with Frederick/Libra vs. Olivia/Anna also).

It’s pretty balanced across FE. Mostly Jeigans, Horses vs. Pegasus, Hammerne. Both have good Warpers and Wyverns and Vigor/Dance (and pure ferries/warpers/utility need fighters too)

[BrightBow]

The fact that women dominate NM despite these "handicaps" is a huge point in their favor, no?

Unless this topic is about putting all the individual male and female characters into teams, I don't see why that would matter. If the game engine favors males, then the male gender is superior.

Edited May 25, 2014 by BrightBow

[Florete]

why

jesus h christ why does this fucking thread exist you cannot be fucking serious serenes forest dot net

If you don't like it, don't post. For now, this topic is open and worth discussing. There's no reason to get fussy over it unless it turns offensive, which it hasn't.

I voted for females overall, taking everything into consideration, which is:

-Particularly with the earlier games, there are always more male characters than female, usually in a fairly significant amount. The fact that females overall still at least give males a run for their money in multiple games makes this notable. Awakening switched it up and actually gave us slightly more females (before the Spotpass extras), and in there, females easily dominate.

-There is generally better variety in the female cast. Fliers, staffers, and dancers are more often female than male, so you'll usually have utility spots taken by females and efficient clears of chapters will often rely on females. Combat is often split between the genders, usually favoring the men more, but with few cases where the women are just left out.

In general I just find myself getting better use out of the female part of the cast in the games I play often. My S rank clears of both hard modes in FE7 were made possible largely by women, PoR is just Fire Emblem: Girl Power, and it was mentioned already that the best draft team in RD consisted of more women than men (not a universal thing, but notable); RD is a pretty even game for this topic overall, though. And in Awakening, most of your important roles are going to be filled by women.

[eclipse]

Unless this topic is about putting all the individual male and female characters into teams, I don't see why that would matter. If the game engine favors males, then the male gender is superior.

I think you missed the point. If the engine favors males, and females can still dominate despite the so-called restrictions, I'd say that it's a point in favor of the females.

[Ϲharlie]

FE9: Tend to Males (mainly because of Ike)

Titania, Jill, and Marcia make Ike look like a sissy boy for a significant portion of the game.

[The Geek]

Girls have better SPD. SPD>>>>>>>>>every other stat. Therefore girls are best.

[dondon151]

FE4: Males, and it's not even close.

FE6: Males. Miledy is the best unit, but Percival, Rutger, Lance, Alan and Saul are guys, and very good units.

FE7: Males. Marcus, Sain, Raven, Pent, Harken, etc. The only women who are really good in this game are the peg. knights, Ninian and Priscilla, from what I've seen.

FE8: Males. Seth. Enough said.

FE9: Females. Titania, Marcia, Jill.

FE10: I don't really know. Female, I guess?

FE11: Females. Shiida and Lena are everything you need.

FE12: Females. Catria, Palla, Shiida, Malicia.

FE13: Females. GALEFORCE. In my experience, Sully, Sumia, Cordelia, Panne and Miriel are better than the male 1st gen characters (the avatar doesn't count because they can be any gender).

good summary. i would say males for FE10 because they have haar and sothe to the females' jill.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I voted for the ones that usually have Dancers, horse healers, and horsebirds.

[Junkhead]

Girls have better SPD. SPD>>>>>>>>>every other stat. Therefore girls are best.

I don't think it works like that...actually, it doesn't. It isn't like that, at all.

Why would superior Spd matter if both parties in question are able to double? Females aren't always much faster that they'll double much more than males. Not to mention that Spd can only mean so much when you aren't having enough Str to 1RKO and enough HP/Def to be able to go out there reliably. *blanket statement*

Now, the reasons why female characters are generally better than male characters, is because they're usually given other kinds of utility that proves out to be quite useful without even having to lay a finger on the battlefield. Take a look at Saphy, from FE5. She's, arguably (is it even arguable?), one of the best FE5 characters. She's a Cleric. Know what she does best? No, it isn't doubling or even dodging attacks- She Warps Leif/ other units over to the Throne and do that, pretty much, through the whole game. Then there are characters, like the Peggies. While they do have one of the best Spd out there, it's actually (usually) their good use of flight, mobility and Rescue function.

[Ϲharlie]

Girls have better SPD. SPD>>>>>>>>>every other stat. Therefore girls are best.

lol

By that logic, Guy and Matthew are the best characters in their respective game and Lyn is the second best.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Starman

[Rewjeo]

Are we looking at just net contributions of males versus females, or we doing it per capita? Because the fact that FE tends to have mostly male units might affect things.

[-Cynthia-]

Probably more of the former. If we want to consider the latter, we could average out the tier position of the males and females.

FE6 for instance, ends up with an average of #27 for females and 27.77 for males, indicating that females are slightly better than males, but this number includes a number of Low tier units which may not be as relevant to actually completing a playthrough.

[General Horace]

tiers are usually geared towards efficiency or ranked or something, and are usually not agreed upon either, so its probably not the best way to conclude this but ti's interesting regardless. And like you said, the horrible units drag things down quite a bit, so stuff like Marisa being ranked horribly in FE8 since she's not recruited or if she's recruited she's a benchwarmer, shouldn't really affect how well the units are in general.

[Magical Glace]

Depends on the game in question.

In, say, FE6, where Sages and Swordmasters basically exist to kill everything, and the best unit of each class (Lugh and Rutoga) is male... Males.

But in FE13, where anyone with Peg Knight access (only Females) get Galeforce with some exceptions, Females are flat out better.

So it's really a matter of game mecahnics.