Who is your favorite royal-retainer group in Fates?

[Erureido]

The royal siblings take center stage in Fire Emblem Fates, and with them come their retainers. The eight royal-retainer groups in the game are:

• Ryoma, Saizo, and Kagero
• Xander, Laslow, and Peri
• Hinoka, Setsuna, and Azama
• Camilla, Beruka, and Selena
• Takumi, Oboro, and Hinata
• Leo, Niles, and Odin
• Sakura, Hana, and Subaki
• Elise, Effie, and Arthur

Through support conversations, special DLC conversations, and even moments in the story, we see how a royal's retainers interact not just with each other but also to their lord. Each royal-retainer group has a unique and memorable way they interact within their team, and we all have a gained a favorite royal-retainer group based on their characters and how they mesh together.

That being said, of the 8 royal-retainer groups, which one is your favorite and why?

Mine would have to be Takumi's group. His retainers playfully compete with each other to see who is the best retainer, and the result is pretty memorable. Oboro and Hinata are also highly dedicated to their lord (the Birthright Drama CDs really demonstrate this), and the way the trio interacts with each other makes them appear more often as a trio of best friends rather than of master and servant. All three also bring some unique to the triangle: Takumi is the leader that keeps it together, Oboro is the voice of reason, and Hinata is the playful puppy. They mesh with each other so well that I consider them to be one of the best and most memorable royal-retainer groups in Fates.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Erureido

[NekoKnight]

Team Takumi, for the reasons stated by OP. While most of the retainers have "fiercely loyal" as a character trait, Takumi and his subordinates felt more like friends and equals than being slavishly devoted (like Elise and Sakura's retainers) or just sort of there (Ryoma and Leo's retainers). For the weakest group, I'd say Team Hinoka. Setsuna is a liability and Azama is asshole without a single saving grace.

All of this said, outside of their supports, the retainers and their lord don't have a lot of on-screen interaction, so it's kind of hard get a real impression of their team dynamic.

Edited November 2, 2016 by NekoKnight

[saisymbolic]

Team Takumi. Literally just for Hinata.

[Lady Sansa]

Xander, Laslow, and Peri have the best chemistry. Xander x Laslow is the best support in the game.

[BANRYU]

Team Takumi, since it contains Oboro and I pretty much like all of them haha. They seem like they have the best dynamic to me as well since they've all pretty much got it together.

Team Leo and Team Hinoka are relatively distant seconds for me.

[Azure Sen]

Team Takumi, because they've got the best team dynamic, and I really like all three members.

[Namarid]

Team Leo. I just like all 3 of the characters and their interactions with each other.

[Nanima]

I agree that Team Takumi is the best group. However, I don't really think they are entirely equal. Close friends usually don't hero worship and eternally devote themselves to one of their own like Hinata and Oboro do with Takumi. It's quite apparant that their relationship is still one of Lord->Retainers. If you read the Halloween festival convo between Takumi and Hinata, the latter even laments his inability to be intimate (in an emotional way) with his Lord (then goes to adorable ways to try to fix that for at least one night). This goes for all the royals I can think of, except maybe Sakura and Hana, who really just come of as close friends (highlighted by Hana often dropping the -sama from Sakura's name in the Japanese version. That's like.. a big deal.).

Still. Hinata and Oboro's affection for Takumi and undying loyalty towards him is really precious. And you can always tell how much Takumi appreciates them for supporting him. Also, most other royals have one retainer they seem to favour over the other, even if only slightly (Xander->Laslow, Ryouma->Saizou, Camilla->Beruka, Hinoka.. dare I say Setsuna.., Leon->Niles, Elise->Effie, Sakura->Hana), but Takumi seems to be equally fond of Hinata and Oboro.

[Jedi]

I like the dynamic the Ryoma trio has, plus I like all 3 as characters quite a bit out of the Hoshidan people.

[Rend Keaven]

If I had to pick one per Kingdom:

Team Leo because they all have very good chemistry, the retainers may act silly but know when to take things seriously, I love how all of their children carry on their father's roles in Heir's of Fate.

Team Takumi: Not only are they a well structured team that covers all weaknesses, the the fact that they feel like best friends instead of coworkers makes them feel like better characters.

[Etrurian emperor]

Team Takumi for the reasons everyone has already said. They feel much closer to a couple of really tight friends than servant and master.

Team Camilla ranks second for similiar reasons. Camilla is very doting and affectionate to her retainers.

Xander is obviously the boss of his team and he can ''ground'' them whenever he sees fit, Ryoma and his retainers have a hard time talking about anything other than work but I can see Team Takumi spending their free time together as friends.

Team Takumi is also the team where I like everyone involved. Its a bit of a theme with the retainers that I really like one but dislike or feel indifferent to the other. With team Takumi I find all three to be some of the better Hoshido characters.

[Brand_Of_The_Exalt]

Guess who I picked :)

Actually Xander and Peri are probably my favourite characters in Fates, and I love Laslow too (for his role in Awakening, and he was my first avatar's husband in Conquest), so it wasn't a hard choice for me. I love the synergy between these 3 characters, their supports are great too, etc. They're great on the battlefield, Xander and Laslow are great for poking with the correct skillset (different poking though due to their specificieties), and Peri's personal is ridiculous when paired with Armored Blow, Lifetaker, Luna, Galeforce and Agressor (this requires a lot of reclassing though).

Team Takumi is good too, but I don't really like Hinata, I like Takumi and Oboro but probably not as much as you guys love her (I know she's very popular here), but Oboro and Hinata are not as great as units. Takumi's broken, but Oboro is too much balanced (she doesn't have any real niche) and mine probably got RNG-screwed (especially in Speed) so she was rather average and Hinata is quite average too. Original as a Samurai, but not very useful.

[Thinks Their Own Way]

Team Hinoka, I find their dynamic so god damn entertaining. Like with Team Leo for the Nohr group.

[shadowofchaos]

This goes for all the royals I can think of, except maybe Sakura and Hana, who really just come of as close friends (highlighted by Hana often dropping the -sama from Sakura's name in the Japanese version. That's like.. a big deal.).

To illustrate the concept of Yobisute:

It's pretty much communicating closeness to the degree of "I show you how I am behind closed doors" with your boss.

[Thane]

To illustrate the concept of Yobisute:

It's pretty much communicating closeness to the degree of "I show you how I am behind closed doors" with your boss.

Oh dear, I must've taken a wrong turn somewhere on the internet.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Res]

Team Takumi, but I do definitely agree with this:

I agree that Team Takumi is the best group. However, I don't really think they are entirely equal. Close friends usually don't hero worship and eternally devote themselves to one of their own like Hinata and Oboro do with Takumi. It's quite apparant that their relationship is still one of Lord->Retainers.

I do think they have a great dynamic, but yes, I also vote Team Takumi because I really like all three characters (I even like their kids, and the dynamic Hisame and Kiragi have with one another, it's a great parallel to their fathers' relationship).

Team Leo come in a close second for me, though; Niles and Odin have some great in-game dialogue and I appreciate the comic relief they bring.

[Delfino]

Team Leo is my favorite simply because I love all three of them. They don't have the most interesting dynamic, but I love Niles and Odin as a duo, and they are so freakin' hilarious on their own, plus it's funny imagining Leo (who's a great character in his own right) groaning in annoyance putting up with their shenanigans. With the other groups of royal retainers, there's typically one whom I'm not as fond of, or I just don't adore them as much as a whole.

I like Ryoma, and Saizo is my favorite Birthright character, but Kagero's voice acting killed her for me. As a whole, their relationships with each other are mostly professional and not all that fun.

I love Xander and Laslow and they have a great support with each other, but I despise Peri. She feels like some fangirl's crazy OC who was crammed into the game.

Hinoka's group would probably be my least favorite. They're humorous, but Setsuna and Azama seem pretty worthless as actual retainers. Setsuna is a boring, one-trick pony character and Azama, while oftentimes amusing, is kind of a dick... constantly. Hinoka is alright.

I like Camilla's whole group since Camilla and Beruka are both interesting, and I find Selena's interactions with other characters hilarious, but the retainers usually turn out poorly for me, so I guess I'm not as attached to them since I don't use them much.

Takumi's trio consists entirely of more grounded, realistic characters that aren't too tropey, and I really like all three of them. The only thing that sours the group for me is the Takumi worship going on with them, though at least it isn't overdone. They're probably my third favorite group.

Sakura has a cute trio, and I like all three of them. They're not the most enthralling bunch, but I enjoy Hana and Subaki's competitive streak with each other.

I like Elise a lot, and Arthur's my favorite character, but while I don't dislike Effie, she's not terribly interesting. The group as a whole is really fun, though. Imagining over-the-top Arthur trying to protect this cheery little girl and falling all over himself as Effie chokeslams some peon is hilarious to me. Definitely my second favorite group.

[shadowofchaos]

Oh dear, I must've taken a wrong turn somewhere on the internet.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I mean... you could take their relationship as being that close.

[Nimue]

I'll go with Takumi's clique, but mostly for his interactions with Hinata. I don't care for Oboro at all.

I agree with the above poster who noted that Takumi's retainers praise him too much and too often, though. Still, it's not done so much that it becomes extremely annoying and it's only natural since they pledged their loyalty to him for what they felt were good reasons. Along with Elise's group, they seem to balance being good friends with being close allies, allowing for conversations that range from heartfelt to humorous. It's a good balance.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Nimue

[SalShich10N]

Elise, Effie and Arthur. The only team in Royal Scramble/Royale that has 3 good units, and it shows.

[Slyfox]

Team Takumi. While I don't like it's namesake, they really have the best dynamic and are well rounded characters.

Regardless, this thread has made me think about how disappointing the execution for the retainers was. I mean, Fire Emblem already likes to throw at us units with personalities that only appear once in the story, but to have 16 of them only existing to give importance to the royals? :(

[twistedxgrace]

They're all great, but I have to give it to Xander's, though Ryoma's is a close second. Both are mainly for the retainers themselves, though, instead of their masters and their chemistry (again, they are all good). Laslow and Saizo are my preferred Nohr and Hoshido husbands respectively, and I'm a sucker for the childish-but-relatable-on-an-emotional-level Peri and the unusal artistic thief with 70% strength growth Kagero.

When it comes to actual character dynamics, others like Takumi's group are probably better, but I just can't appreciate them as much when I prefer other characters overall. Takmui's getting too much love here.

[NekoKnight]

Takmui's getting too much love here.

Who can blame him? He's a pretty swell guy.

[Truffa]

Team Leo or team Elise, they're the best, the most funny and I love them all

[Inference]

Team Corrin, tbh. All of Gunter, Felicia, Jakob, and Kaze have an interesting dynamic with their own motivations and are among my favorite characters in the game overall. It's also worth noting that every character on that list, save for Jakob, has an exceptional English voice.