Elise or Sakura?

[Emblem Blade]

I'm not saying her moping and crumbling was unjustified - I just prefer a character who stands steadfast in the face of face of darkness. Sakura didn't. It's a mark against her (in my opinion - if it makes her more humanizing for others, it's all good) but I definitely like rooting for characters that never give up. Heck, even as Elise lay dying she still asked that everyone strive for peace - the conviction adds to her character in my book.

Perhaps it's because I play with sweeper tactics, but fast hard-hitters are the way I go. Elise is one of the fastest, hard-hittingest mage uses (thanks to dark falcon access so early) and I use her to death in both Conquest and Revelations. Sakura is... not so much. It seems like (based on my leveling of her) they made her more "balanced" in terms of stat growths, and I definitely prefer spiked rather than equal across the board.

Lastly, I prefer magic over bows (thanks to the 1-2 inherent range). So, I still prefer Elise to Sakura, but I understand others might feel otherwise. (and again, I'm not saying Sakura is terrible, just not my cup of tea).

Well one catch is, Sakura had personally witnessed the death of several of her people in Conquest while Elise never saw any of that in Birthright since she mentioned that she was mostly in the palace upset at the sad turn of events. Also unlike Elise who has grown use to seeing battles (as she apparently knows how much of a battle-hungry person Camilla is), Sakura really takes no entertainment in seeing fights and only steps in once she has enough of it (or if it's her only other option). Seeing so many of your own people perish when they're defenseless after you are taken prisoner certainly won't help someone stay strong, certainly not someone who is emotionally frail like Sakura. Elise only wanted the war to end, she was willing to die for that cause even though Corrin/Kamui wished for her to stay out of the conflict.

I don't really play sweeper since lately my luck hasn't been that great considering how RNG has blessed the enemies hit rates since Chapter 10 of my Revelations Hard+ playthroughs. Spiked growths aren't bad when you can anticipate that enemies won't survive, but against anything close to a miniboss who can actually hit you, even stat growths are a blessing. You don't want < 40 HP and <20 Defense against most bosses past Chapter 12 in Revelations...I'm not going to dive further since I'm going to have to spoiler why. I'm mostly weaken and strike or stall and counterattack unless the chapter victory conditions states: Defeat Boss in x amount of turns or if you have to defeat certain enemies before something bad happens that results in a failure.

I like Tomes/Scrolls and Bows thanks to the buffs that they got but when you face enemies with Counter/Mirror Counter, getting pounded back by your own attack just doesn't make anything fun. My Ryoma almost KO'd himself against a Wolfssegner in my Birthright Hard/Classic run since I didn't notice the enemy had Counter equipped. I don't use gameplay viewpoints to view characters, I would rather go by personality comparison/contrast since it's easier to mention strong and weak points.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Before I played the game I was expecting to like Sakura more. I really dig her shrine maiden design, whereas Elise looks implausibly young/short (someone needs to tell IntSys that most women are generally done the majority of their vertical growing by age 12-13) and the hair is goofy.

But I like Elise's role in the plot. I like that in a family of people who are messed up by concubine wars, their father going evil, and the pressures of serving him, that she's this innocent figure whom they use as inspiration. I also like that she has some fire to her, some energy. I did not like Mist or Lissa, as I felt they were weak-willed characters permanently in the shadow of their older brothers, whom the game tended to only remember existed when they had some magical girl power with a medallion (or not at all, in Lissa's case). Elise has this infectious passion and you can just tell that she's gonna go out and seize the world by the horns as she gets older, whereas Mist... is still uselessly damselly three years after her introduction, in Radiant Dawn.

I'll wait to finish Birthright before weighing in on Sakura. So far she's definitely behind, though.

Also in a game where Bows and Tomes run rampant, Flyers might not live long when they can get crit-killed in one shot so both of them might not enjoy being aerial-flyers for long.

This isn't true at all.

Gonna talk about Conquest here since that's the one I know (and relevant to Elise, at least). Every single map in Conquest either has no bows (e.g. 17, 19, 21, 26), has a bow-free half of the map where you can send the fliers (e.g. 11, 16, 18, 22, 25), or makes flight extremely valuable despite bows (e.g. 14, 20, 23, 24). There isn't a single map where I ever said "gosh, if only I had less fliers". 23 would be the best case if you're set on routing the enemy for Exp, but being able to use the fliers to ferry people across the eastern canyon lets you skip half the map is extremely useful in my mind.

As for tomes, there's no wind tome in this game to worry about (except Excalibur on a single, immobile boss?), and both younger sisters have good res.

[Kakeyo]

I actually really dislike Elise's role in Birthright because it's so blatantly emotionally manipulative and is just as moronic as Flora's role. She's really more of a tool than an actual character there.

Duuude - you know whose death I felt was purely for the shock value? >.>

Ryoma's cut-scene. Everyone else who dies has a "off screen" death or weirdly animated thing, but Ryoma's cut-scene is just up in your face for the shock...

[Emblem Blade]

Before I played the game I was expecting to like Sakura more. I really dig her shrine maiden design, whereas Elise looks implausibly young/short (someone needs to tell IntSys that most women are generally done the majority of their vertical growing by age 12-13) and the hair is goofy.

But I like Elise's role in the plot. I like that in a family of people who are messed up by concubine wars, their father going evil, and the pressures of serving him, that she's this innocent figure whom they use as inspiration. I also like that she has some fire to her, some energy. I did not like Mist or Lissa, as I felt they were weak-willed characters permanently in the shadow of their older brothers, whom the game tended to only remember existed when they had some magical girl power with a medallion (or not at all, in Lissa's case). Elise has this infectious passion and you can just tell that she's gonna go out and seize the world by the horns as she gets older, whereas Mist... is still uselessly damselly three years after her introduction, in Radiant Dawn.

I'll wait to finish Birthright before weighing in on Sakura. So far she's definitely behind, though.

This isn't true at all.

Gonna talk about Conquest here since that's the one I know (and relevant to Elise, at least). Every single map in Conquest either has no bows (e.g. 17, 19, 21, 26), has a bow-free half of the map where you can send the fliers (e.g. 11, 16, 18, 22, 25), or makes flight extremely valuable despite bows (e.g. 14, 20, 23, 24). There isn't a single map where I ever said "gosh, if only I had less fliers". 23 would be the best case if you're set on routing the enemy for Exp, but being able to use the fliers to ferry people across the eastern canyon lets you skip half the map is extremely useful in my mind.

As for tomes, there's no wind tome in this game to worry about (except Excalibur on a single, immobile boss?), and both younger sisters have good res.

I was talking about Revelations-wise where both are playable since I can gauge both of their combat abilities at the same time (and not have to go between save files to use them individually) and get more insight on their personalities (even though Revelations ruined both Birthright and Conquest more than the two ruined themselves). The weakness to Bows regards PvP not PvE since you'll rarely come across Snipers (mostly you'll see debuffing Elite Ninjas [i hate you so much] and lol-what Tome/Scroll-users [meh you're not a threat]) in PvE. Most of the time in PvE, if there are Snipers or Bow Knights, you'll more likely KO them using non-flyers before your flyers even get hit by an arrow.

[Kakeyo]

Well one catch is, Sakura had personally witnessed the death of several of her people in Conquest while Elise never saw any of that in Birthright since she mentioned that she was mostly in the palace upset at the sad turn of events. Also unlike Elise who has grown use to seeing battles (as she apparently knows how much of a battle-hungry person Camilla is), Sakura really takes no entertainment in seeing fights and only steps in once she has enough of it (or if it's her only other option). Seeing so many of your own people perish when they're defenseless after you are taken prisoner certainly won't help someone stay strong, certainly not someone who is emotionally frail like Sakura. Elise only wanted the war to end, she was willing to die for that cause even though Corrin/Kamui wished for her to stay out of the conflict.

I don't really play sweeper since lately my luck hasn't been that great considering how RNG has blessed the enemies hit rates since Chapter 10 of my Revelations Hard+ playthroughs. Spiked growths aren't bad when you can anticipate that enemies won't survive, but against anything close to a miniboss who can actually hit you, even stat growths are a blessing. You don't want < 40 HP and <20 Defense against most bosses past Chapter 12 in Revelations...I'm not going to dive further since I'm going to have to spoiler why. I'm mostly weaken and strike or stall and counterattack unless the chapter victory conditions states: Defeat Boss in x amount of turns or if you have to defeat certain enemies before something bad happens that results in a failure.

I like Tomes/Scrolls and Bows thanks to the buffs that they got but when you face enemies with Counter/Mirror Counter, getting pounded back by your own attack just doesn't make anything fun. My Ryoma almost KO'd himself against a Wolfssegner in my Birthright Hard/Classic run since I didn't notice the enemy had Counter equipped. I don't use gameplay viewpoints to view characters, I would rather go by personality comparison/contrast since it's easier to mention strong and weak points.

No matter which way you slice it, Sakura crumbled, Elise never did. You can say Sakura suffered more, but ultimately Elise gave her life for what she thought was right. Additionally, I prefer Elise's well-of-positively to Sakura's neutral-to-pessimistic one. Especially her voiced "oh gods, no..." line that she uses over and over again (thanks to weird voice-clip voice acting) is especially irritating. She's always on the verge of tears about everything - I just imagine Jakob's "stiff upper lip!" needs to be used on her all the time... Not the most enjoyable character, in my opinion.

Sweeper tactics might be risky, but I still love them - even on lunatic mode. Counter and magic counter don't come into play if you just outright kill people and I love the new attack stance options this game added gameplay-wise. More damage = more better! :3

But again (because I'm beating a dead horse) to each his own. Sakura really isn't a terrible character, I just have different tastes. >.>

[Emblem Blade]

No matter which way you slice it, Sakura crumbled, Elise never did. You can say Sakura suffered more, but ultimately Elise gave her life for what she thought was right. Additionally, I prefer Elise's well-of-positively to Sakura's neutral-to-pessimistic one. Especially her voiced "oh gods, no..." line that she uses over and over again (thanks to weird voice-clip voice acting) is especially irritating. She's always on the verge of tears about everything - I just imagine Jakob's "stiff upper lip!" needs to be used on her all the time... Not the most enjoyable character, in my opinion.

Sweeper tactics might be risky, but I still love them - even on lunatic mode. Counter and magic counter don't come into play if you just outright kill people and I love the new attack stance options this game added gameplay-wise. More damage = more better! :3

But again (because I'm beating a dead horse) to each his own. Sakura really isn't a terrible character, I just have different tastes. >.>

Sakura isn't really 'pessimistic', sure she's more neutral and less active compared to her Nohrian counterpart but not that ugly of a description. Elise did crumble, she was VERY close to crumbling in Birthright until she ran into her older sibling in the lategame which spurred her up again. Sakura never had that luck. They foil each other: Elise is cheerful and optimistic while Sakura is emotional and self-reserved. It's only obvious that they differ by personality, if they were too alike than they would ruin each other as expies.

If RNG would at least bless the HP growths of my magical attackers I could sweep (so far they get Defense growths fairly well but not HP) then I could try a sweeping tactic that I used since Path of Radiance. You need to one-shot the enemy in one hit or KO the weakened enemy if they have Counter/Mirror Counter or if they survive they'll just send the damage you dealt to them right back at your face which is what I don't like. Thankfully outside of PvP, both of those skills are rare to encounter in PvE. The Attack/Guard Stance is a better improvement compared to Awakening's broken version but some people hate how Fates nerfed it.

If this topic had a different headline, I would mention the name of a character in Fates who I see is worse than both Elise and Sakura but since it doesn't I won't say that character's name.

[Mox]

Personally, I prefer Elise - but I do adore both of them.

Elise's fun and even childishly naive side appeal to me, as well as her boisterous and headstrong personality and even offensive way in which she tries appeal or fight over the avatar. Arguably, these points may be reasons that people hate Elise, but I like them.

Sakura, on the other hand, seems a little too predictable for me and fits into the gentle, quiet, nervous sister type - which is by no means a bad thing. But when I saw here I just thought "meh" and kind of forgot about her. I didn't forget about Elise, she was more memorable to me. :)

[Sire]

I only have played through Conquest, but Elise wins out over Sakura for me even though I enjoy both.

I do think the shyness of Sakura to be adorable, but Elise's innocence is what gets it for me. Sure, she's written to be a ray of light in the darkness that is Nohr and her personality can become irritating to some, but I enjoy her constant positivity, even if it is a little unrealistic.

[Anacybele]

Elise, because she is just adorable. I mean, she bitch-slaps Leo! lol And she's actually the only Nohr character I'm really fond of that isn't named Silas.

Sakura is cool too though, because she went and attacked Iago. lol

[Mox]

Sakura is cool too though, because she went and attacked Iago. lol

Yeah, that still makes me giggle. XD

[CocoaGalaxy]

I still don't get where this "Cinnamon Bun" thing comes from.

I personally can't choose between them though.

[Lann La Mirah]

Sakura. Elise annoys me, especially her big sibling worship of the avatar to the point that it ends in spoilers. At least Sakura shoots a bow in your face when you invade her country.

Admittedly for Sakura, Hoshido is a country more worth defending. XD For me, the fact that Elise loved the avatar more than her country was endearing.

I love both of them though. They're both so cute.

[jankmaster98]

You cherish a lantern in the blackest night more than brightest day.

For this reason I gotta go with Elise. Interestingly her innocence and cheer are perhaps a really large "accomplishment" of the Nohrian Siblings in regards to family, they managed to rally and protect Ellise from the concubine wars. Whether this is a good or bad thing can be debated, it's possible Elise needs to be exposed to the harshness of Nohr's Deadly Decadent court, or maybe it's an achievement that Xander, Leo, and Camillia managed to give her a childhood they probably didn't get to have.

[Oshimos]

Elise was one of my favourite characters pre-release, but for some reason now that I've played the game I just kind of... don't care about her anymore. Maybe it's because she just seems outclassed by Felicia and so I've never actually gotten her to promote.

Meanwhile, Sakura, who I didn't care about at all pre-release, is probably my favourite royal, somehow. While that's not really saying much, and she's doesn't make my top ten characters in the game, I've still grown kind of attached to her.

[Elif]

I'm going to go with Sakura.

I never liked Elise that much before playing the game, but I do like her a bit now. She's cute, but that's all she's got going for her for me. Sakura I at least find a bit relatable in terms of personality and I don't see her as a "bland" character at all (though there is some bias towards that). Also, I adore Sakura's design so much.

[Sentacotus]

Elise>>>Sakura. #Elisemasterace