Opinions on that Fire Emblem Echoes SoV Character #1-#52 (Check the OP)

[epilepsyduck]

Kliff

More smug mage boys? Echoes, you're spoiling me. Though I suppose Kliff doesn't strictly have to be a mage, but that's what I made him, and I didn't regret it a bit. He does, however, have very little screentime compared to everyone else from Ram; even Faye gets two supports. At least the one support he does have is available right from the start and with a character who isn't completely optional, but it still isn't enough of Kliff for my taste.

Palla

More Whitewings goodness. I really like her voice actress's performance and her new design! She, like her sisters, could've benefited from some interactions that weren't each other, but that's a minor quibble. Unfortunately, for me she tapered off the harshest of all the Whitewings, and it soon became a struggle to keep her alive. She eventually just became a way to fire off Triangle Attacks.

Grieth

His chapter is pretty rough, as are most of the chapters leading up to it, I'm not gonna lie, but I dig his design and he's delightfully hammy, so I'll forgive him.

[Kazuya]

Kliff:

He was good, I prefer to make him a mage. People can call me out on that all they want. 

Palla:

Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood she is great! I love Palla, she is super perfect. 

 

Grieth: 

Pirates are cool, desert pirates are annoying. His chapter was hell, it would have been so much better with my main girl Sonya but whatever. 

[Erureido]

I'll give my thoughts on the characters now:

Kliff: I don't like Kliff as much as Gray and Tobin, but I do prefer Kliff far more than Faye. In the grand scheme of things, Kliff was one of those in-between characters for me. He doesn't get much to flesh out his character as he is limited to his base conversations and that one support with Tobin, so Kliff is another character that I think could've benefitted from more supports. He was quite rude to Tobin there, but in the A-support, we learn it's because Kliff is an anti-social guy who feels agitated that even if he tries to be a good guy, people act rude him to him back. Compared to other characters in this game, he doesn't stand out to me that much.

I did find him to be a pretty good Mage though, one who pulled me through in many occasions. He has a neat design, and I do like Max Mittelman's performance on the character.

Palla: She looks pretty and has a great voice, but other than that, she was in-between in terms of her character and her performance as a unit. From reading all of her supports and base conversations, all that I got out of her was that she has a "big sister" personality, which is understandable in regards to what she is, and that was it. Unit-wise, she was alright. She was a hard-hitter that could hit well and withstand a good number of physical attacks, but her Resistance wasn't that high, and her sisters generally did a better job at handling most enemies compared to her. I also prefer Est and Catria more in the character department.

Grieth: Yet another generic villain, but compared to the likes of Slayde and Desaix, I like Grieth the most. We see how hammy he is in his interactions with others (even Sonya calls him out for it by saying, "You don't need to shout."), which made him entertaining to listen to. What I like the most about Grieth is that he really gives us insight into how much of a failure King Lima IV was when ruling Zofia. While Lima was simply pursuing a life of pleasure and enjoying Mila's blessing without giving much thought to what he should really be doing, Grieth was able to build a criminalized empire of pirates that gained a strong hold on the kingdom. His death quote also stuck out to me, which reminded of how despite one criminal leader getting the axe, another will takeover as if the cycle continues. His map was also one of the most memorable ones in the game, and he made a challenging boss as well. I remember having to rely on Valbar, Saber, and Genny's Invoke units just to safely lower his HP while being able to withstand some possible critical hits from him.

His design is fairly interesting too. Looking at him gives me M. Bison vibes from Street Fighter. Quite fitting the more I think about it since they both are leaders of major criminal organizations in their respective games.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Erureido

[Erureido]

Well, since it's already past the deadline, and no one has made another post on this thread since 8 hours back, I guess I have to make a double post just to start a new day (I'm assuming this thread is considered to be a project thread, and thus it is permissible to do a double post?)

Day 12 is now over, and with that, we are now onto Day 13!

Today's characters that we will discuss are Python, Mae, and Nuibaba.

What is your opinion on these three characters?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will give my thoughts on the characters now.

Python: Here he is! Say hello to my favorite character in Fire Emblem Echoes! When I read his first dialogue in the game with Alm, I found him entertaining. From the way Python referred to Lukas as a "ginger stud" to his recruitment dialogue where he twists the question back to Alm and asks, "Rather than me deciding, how about YOU decide if I should come along?", I had a feeling he would be a humorous man. I would be proven right the more I played the game. When I read his Memory Prism with Forsyth, that was when Python solidified myself as my favorite character in the game.

To me, Python is the most amusing character in Fire Emblem Echoes. Yes, I know he is a snarky guy, but I tend to like snarky characters in fiction (Ram from Re:Zero, Niles from FE: Fates, and Toph from Avatar are good examples) because such a trait is amusing for me to see. With Python's case, a lot of his snarky and sarcastic moments were enjoyable to read. In fact, Python has my single favorite line in the entire game. The quote? If you feed Python a food that he doesn't like while you are exploring a dungeon, he states, "WOW... This is really terrible!" You don't know how hard I was laughing when I first heard that! What makes that line hilarious is that Python actually sounds like he enjoyed it when he says "wow," but then he states the second part that reveals what he actually meant when he made that exclamation. The delivery of that line was perfect!

I also enjoyed his more casual talk in his other dialogues. There are a few examples of that I can think of off the top of my head. One was how he tries to get Lukas to reveal if Clive "was a dirty boy" in that one support. I had a good chuckle out of that. Another was in his final base conversation when he states, "Uh-oh, looks like you're going to ask a big question." That sentence was a humorous segway into the viewpoint he was about to delivere. There's also that one moment in the Rise of the Deliverance DLC when he casually calls out what a horrible ruler King Lima IV was:

Python has a point.

Python does have a cynical worldview as explained in his base conversations, but I did find it to be an interesting aspect to him that I wanted to learn more about, and boy was the Rise of the Deliverance DLC a blessing for that. He brings an interesting perspective about the distinction between common birth and nobility as explained to Clive, and we also learn about his perspective on love in his supports with Lukas. Despite his cynical views, Python can give some sound advice. The Lukas support is one example. There, he tells Lukas to move through any sort of love life at his own pace. In the Clive support, Clive learns more about how to approach lower class soldiers thanks to Python's input.

I also relate to Python quite a bit. No, I'm not a snarky guy, but my laid-back attitude is a lot like his. We learn in Python's final base conversation that he doesn't want to rule a country unless he is forced to. He admits in his A-support with Forsyth, "Look, I'm not like other folks. I don't like chasing wildly after some dream. Dreams don't fill the belly, and they sure don't pay for life's other comforts. So you know what? I'm happier without 'em." While I do consider myself to be a hard worker, there are times where I am laid-back to the point I put dreams and grand wonderings about the future so I can live in the present to be as carefree as I possible can. Similar to Python's recruitment dialogue with Alm, there are times when I feel the need to tell someone, "Well, you're the one giving me the choice, not me, so I leave it up to you," when he/she presents me with a choice. Python just resonates with me in regards to casual attitudes and that living-in-the-present philosophy.

His dynamic with Forsyth also makes them my favorite duo in the game. Both are opposites in regards to their personalities, but they mesh together so well that we get some pretty funny moments out of it. They were also childhood friends growing up, and I found that sweet.

Unit-wise, this is going to sound like a real shocker to many, but I actually found Python to be pretty solid! Admittedly, he did have the Iron Brow equipped throughout his time as an Archer and a Sniper, but he didn't miss very often. Perhaps I was RNG-blessed, but I guess the Iron Bow definitely helped in giving him that boost in accuracy. Python did much better once he promoted to Bow Knight, to the point mine he didn't need an Iron Bow most of time and was slaying units with other bows like the Steel Bow, the Silver Bow, and the Killer Bow. While Archer!Tobin was the one scoring critical hits more often in early into the adventure, Python was the lucky-critical-hit-archer during the later acts in my playthrough. One of his lucky moments was when he scored a critical to KO the boss in The Last Bastion map. He was also key in shutting down that one Medusa mage in the Endgame map with a Silver Bow so that my other units could finish the enemy off. Despite having low Defense and Resistance, Python had a pretty good Strength stat that was effective in landing some strong damage while afar, and he also had some decent Speed to pull off some double attacks as well.

His design is simple and basic, but I do like that single, blue sleeve he wears on one arm. I also like Python's hairstyle, particularly how his blue hair dips over his forehead to create a V-shape. I loved his voice acting too. Doug Erholtz did a fantastic job delivering Python's casual and snarky nature, and such delivery paved the way for some hilarious moments (like that feeding quote I mentioned earlier or the way how Python asks Lukas to reveal if Clive was a "dirty boy").

Mae: A lovable character who is one of my favorites. I really like Mae's optimistic, cheery, and peppy attitude. Her personality alone brought out some awesome Mae quotes that were a major highlight in Celica's route. I mean, when she is low health, she doesn't freak out or act tired like other units do. Instead, she says, "Sure, I'm still hyper, let's go!" Now THAT is some great optimism. Mae is also playfully casual, and she is has a keen sense to the situation around her. I mean, one of my favorite Mae moments was when she called that common cliche in fiction when a villain dies just as they are about to say something important:

Me too, Mae. Me too.

I also enjoyed her dialogues with Celica and Boey, the latter especially. Mae likes to tease and mess with Boey, and Boey occasionally does the same thing back as well, but it's clear the two are both close friends. You can also tell Mae has feelings for Boey even before the ending reveals they got married. They make a cute couple! Admittedly, I prefer Boey a bit more because of his insecurities, but Mae is still very close with Boey in terms of my likability towards them.

Unit-wise, Mae was practically the same as Boey. Generally, she has better Speed and Resistance while having low Defense, but my Boey ended up getting a surprisingly high Speed stat due to some lucky RNG level-ups. Thus, Mae was better at receiving from damage from Arcanists+Mages, while Boey was better at handling physical attacks. Both proved to be valuable units that I could depend on.

Mae has a really cute design as well. At first, I wasn't sure to think about about those pig-tails of hers, but they grew on me over time to the point I like them a lot now. I dig that pink and red combination on her robe, and her cheerful, bubbly facial expressions look cute too. Cherami Leigh also proved to be a fantastic choice for the character, to the point Mae is one of the best voice-acted characters in the game IMO. The VA really captured Mae's personality perfectly, many of those memorable lines being Mae's battle quotes.

Nuibaba: To me, she felt like that one sexy villainess that shows up in video games. I mean, just look at her design and listen to her voice!

Her big moments in the story was giving Berkut that magic mirror that he would use as a last resort when Alm and the Deliverance defeated him in their first Act 4 battle, and then tricking Alm to head for her mansion by presenting an illusion of Celica begging for help. Apparently, she is a member of the Duma Faithful who has much different plans from Jedah when it comes to our two MCs. Rather than sacrificing the brand-bearers to keep Duma from going mad, Nuibaba she will achieve eternal youth for sacrificing them herself. We also learn she has captured Tatiana as a hostage to get Zeke to fight with Jerome, and judging by what happens if you kill Jerome and Zeke before heading to Nuibaba's manor, it looks like Nuibaba sacrificed Tatiana to maintain her own youthfulness just like she did with other innocent, young women. Yikes!

Still, I wish the game showed us more of her. It would've been interesting to see her interact with Jedah to give more insight into how the two oppose each other.I will say, I did find it odd the game decided to give some random narration when Alm showed up at her manor. I mean, the narrator usually came in at the end of an chapter, not in the middle of one.

Her map was also quite challenging, and not one that I enjoyed. I had to rely on Invoke units just to safely kill her without avoiding the risk of getting hit by her Medusa spell and then killed by one of her other units. Perhaps I would've approached this map much differently... if it wasn't for me discovering, around the point almost every enemy unit was gone, that there that the entrance to the mansion was in the back... Yeah, talk about a face-palming moment.

Edited August 25, 2017 by Erureido

[Seazas]

Kliff: Even though I wish he got more it makes sense because he's anti-social. Doing a Fates and forcing a billion supports down his throat with him doing the same thing each time would've been awful. I'm counting my blessings thank you.

Palla: Est is more interesting but I like Palla more than her because Est threw away her happy ending with Abel stupidly. 

Grieth: “Oh, Yer Highness... My kingdom may fall today... but I'm gonna DRAG YOU ALL TO HELL WITH ME!.” “You didn't...win nothin'...There's gonna be...another me...There's always...another...me...”

For a minor ark villain he was amazing. He got a step-up and represented Lima's incompetence far better than Slayde and Desaix also he was actually pretty clever and if he was in Desaix's shoes he would've slaughtered the deliverance back at the castle when he had the dracoshield because he's way more of a man than Slayde or Desaix who retreats with their tails between their legs.

I'm really disappointed they made crit quotes for Nuibaba and Desaix but not hammy crit quotes with Grieth. I swear if this awesome pirate dude ain't in Cipher. 

[Seazas]

5 minutes ago, Erureido said:

Nuibaba: Still, I wish the game showed us more of her. It would've been interesting to see her interact with Jedah to give more insight into how the two oppose each other.I will say, I did find it odd the game decided to give some random narration when Alm showed up at her manor. I mean, the narrator usually came in at the end of an chapter, not in the middle of the one.

I doubt they could've made it work. Though I wish they did with them replacing that Gharnef clone with Nuibaba with another special boss quote and defeat quote to even out Marla, Hestia, Duma, and Jedah. That would've been wonderful! Then Nuibaba would've been even more relevant!

Edited August 25, 2017 by Peaceful_User

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Python: Python was one of the more comical characters in the game, I enjoyed it quite a bit! The way he talks to people and drops some snark bombs are great! He's not really rude or mean or anything, just...sarcastic, in a good kind of way. It's a shame he isn't as good of a unit. I dunno if I just get unlucky or what, but Python never seems to keep up with the others. He's not terrible, but...he's also not great. He's simply serviceable, nothing more. His design is okay, I'm pretty neutral on it.

Mae: Mae is one of the best characters on Celica's route! She's a very likable and cheerful person, bouncing here and there like a ball of energetic enthusiasm. I like her optimism, and her chemistry with Celica and Boey is fantastic. She's a pretty good unit, too. Delthea and Sonya are probably the two best mages in the game, but she's right behind them. i like her design, too. It encapsulates her personality very well.

Nuibaba: After getting past the generic "hot villain chick" look, I found her to be one of the more interesting antagonists. Her own goals and differing aspirations from Jedah could have been some good content to explore in greater detail, but unfortunately doesn't last long. I despise her map, though.

[Ertrick36]

Let's get to work.

Snek

Spoiler

 

No one's more laid back than this guy.  Nowhere is this more apparent than when he jokes about his own death during his death quote.  He has a hard time taking anything seriously.

For as little characterization I got from him due to not playing the DLC, he's likable enough.  It's great that he has his supports with Forsyth, who is pretty much the total opposite of him.  It makes sense that Forsyth puts effort into chewing Python out, since they have history.  And at least Python explained why he's so laid back about everything.

 

May, Mae, or Mai

Spoiler

Totally dig this chick.  She's just full of energy, and often lightens the situation if need be.  I'd love for her to be a travelling buddy.  Granted, most of my travels don't have me fighting undead monsters, pirates, and evil clergymen, so it'd be kind of hard to liven things up...  But still.

I also think you couldn't find a better love interest for her than Boey.  And a good portion of her supports basically build up to the moment when Boey essentially proposes to Mae.  I think it's romantic supports done right, which in the past two games you only really see with Oboro x Takumi or maybe some of Chrom's supports since he has history with some of the girls he can support with.

 

Babby

Spoiler

Someone on GameFAQs made a thread asking how people would react if they were captured by this lady...  Bitch, listen... you might think being with her would be some sexy BDSM fun times, but she captures you, she's liable to sacrifice your soul and either turn you into a witch or an undead monster.  It'd be anything but a fun time, I guarantee you.

Anyway, she's kind of an inconsequential villain.  I mean, of course most villains besides Rudolf, Jedah, and Duma don't really amount to anything, but you don't even have to fight her.  Of course avoiding her means you'd have to kill Zeke, but my point is that she's completely optional and has hardly an impact at all on the story.

Of course you could reference the part where a bunch of tentacles and stuff come out of the ground in the battle against Berkut, but Alm is our resident Gary Stu and had a MacGuffin charm to ward them off, so even that amounted to little more than characterizing Berkut as this sort of craven and... somehow deepening Alm's affection for Celica?

And the face off against her isn't all that great, either.  Firstly, Alm was already suspicious of the "trap" Nuibaba laid before him (because Gary Stu powers).  So when he arrived at Nuibaba's abode, he wasn't even surprised that it was a trap.  And more importantly, he wasn't really even at a disadvantage; he wasn't taken to some dungeon or had his soul sucked out of his body like Celica did.  You just go up to her manor and kill her dead.

She had her own designs, yes, but so does, like, a lot of the villains in this game.  Rudolf wants Alm to succeed him and destroy Duma, Jedah wants to feed Duma some powerful souls so that his madness might be stifled, Grieth and the other pirate bosses just kinda wanna be left to their own devices without government interference...  Nuibaba is hardly unique in her plan to capture Alm so that she could gain immortality instead of handing him over to Jedah.

In fact, unlike characters such as Gharnef, she probably didn't have any plans for dealing with the evil dragon who undoubtedly would be inclined to destroy or torment her.  She might be immortal at that point, but unless the souls of people who bear these marks give you special divine dragon killing powers, she couldn't hope to ever kill Duma, and she'd forced to either be eternally tormented by him or hunt for suitable souls to appease him for all eternity.  Or he'd just destroy all of Valentia, and she'd be left with nothing.  She'd be faced with a nightmare directly out of something from Greek mythology or an apocalypse tale.

And what do her goals all amount to?  Staying young and beautiful?  Yeah, very compelling motives...

Her map was kind of a tedious bitch to get through, though.  Not all that difficult, but exceptionally slow.

 

[epilepsyduck]

Python

Fire Emblem sure does have a thing for gay/bi archers, huh? Python is far more hilarious than he has any right to be. Another unit that could've done with some more supports (though he at least has the situation remedied with DLC, so it's not all bad), what little time we do get with him is memorable and fun. I do wish he was a bit better as a unit, though; while all the Archers are useful, Python has a really rough start and only came into his own fairly close to the end for me. Maybe I was just spoiled by Atlas by that point.

Mae

Absolutely, indisputably the game's best character. Cherami Leigh's performance is fantastic, but unlike Berkdork who's mostly memorable because of a similarly great performance, Mae would actually still be great even without it. I love her optimism and seemingly endless energy, I love her interactions with Celica and Boey, and I love that she's actually got some minor degree of plot importance and sticks around in cutscenes. That she, along with Boey, are some of the only people in Valentia who don't treat Celica like some Irrational Woman stereotype helps immensely. Sonya ended up showing her up in the unit department, sadly, but she still helped out here and there with Thunder-sniping and occasionally use of the Brave Sword I gave her.

Nuibaba

Alright, I suppose. I do actually appreciate a villain who's ultimately not a huge player but nonetheless appears for more than one scene. She's maybe a bit too much of the Sexy Token Female Villain, and I'm not sure whether she's supposed to be a witch or an arcanist since the game flip flops on that, but Nuibaba's mostly fine in my book. Her chapter is one of the only really infamous ones that I actually didn't struggle with, but I'll chalk that up to extraordinary luck and heavy grinding.

[Thane]

Python

Before the DLC, he came across as trying too hard. The lazy, snarky genius is always the kind of guy that makes people go "gasp! That's me! Python is my spirit animal!", and while he could be funny, he never felt like a person. This is remedied in the DLC, however, where he and Lukas benefit the most in terms of characterization, and it becomes much clearer what kind of person he is. 

Mae

Awesome side character. She's got good supports, is funny, has an adorable design and a great voice actress. Sure you could argue that her speech and such is a bit too modern for ye olde Valentia, but it was never something that pulled me out of it while playing. She's got the best portrayed romance in the game with Boey, and that is helpful for both of them. I didn't care about any other couple hooking up, so it was nice to see their adorable A support.

3 minutes ago, epilepsyduck said:

Python

Fire Emblem sure does have a thing for gay/bi archers, huh?

Did I miss something? When did the game talk about Python's sexuality? 

[epilepsyduck]

I was kidding because some of his lines can be construed as flirting, though they're really more like light teasing. He isn't like canon gay or anything lol.

[bethany81707]

Python: I'm apathetic. He's never really turned out, and I don't paricularly lie his character amongst the other snarkers the game has.

Mae: One of my favourite mages in the game- well, Delthea is competition, but not on Celica's route. And she doesn't get snark competition, either.

Nuibaba: ...I didn't really appreciate the idea that the narrative was pushing that Alm was going to Nuibaba's mansion because of Celica. There were several other reasons, and I always go to Nuibaba's for Tatiana, not this story concept that wasn't necessary. That basically sums up Nuibaba- she's trying too hard to be evil. It's like Dick Dastardly stopping before the finish line to cheat.

[Seazas]

1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

Let's get to work.

Snek

  Reveal hidden contents

 

No one's more laid back than this guy.  Nowhere is this more apparent than when he jokes about his own death during his death quote.  He has a hard time taking anything seriously.

For as little characterization I got from him due to not playing the DLC, he's likable enough.  It's great that he has his supports with Forsyth, who is pretty much the total opposite of him.  It makes sense that Forsyth puts effort into chewing Python out, since they have history.  And at least Python explained why he's so laid back about everything.

 

May, Mae, or Mai

  Reveal hidden contents

Totally dig this chick.  She's just full of energy, and often lightens the situation if need be.  I'd love for her to be a travelling buddy.  Granted, most of my travels don't have me fighting undead monsters, pirates, and evil clergymen, so it'd be kind of hard to liven things up...  But still.

I also think you couldn't find a better love interest for her than Boey.  And a good portion of her supports basically build up to the moment when Boey essentially proposes to Mae.  I think it's romantic supports done right, which in the past two games you only really see with Oboro x Takumi or maybe some of Chrom's supports since he has history with some of the girls he can support with.

 

Babby

  Hide contents

Someone on GameFAQs made a thread asking how people would react if they were captured by this lady...  Bitch, listen... you might think being with her would be some sexy BDSM fun times, but she captures you, she's liable to sacrifice your soul and either turn you into a witch or an undead monster.  It'd be anything but a fun time, I guarantee you.

Anyway, she's kind of an inconsequential villain.  I mean, of course most villains besides Rudolf, Jedah, and Duma don't really amount to anything, but you don't even have to fight her.  Of course avoiding her means you'd have to kill Zeke, but my point is that she's completely optional and has hardly an impact at all on the story.

Of course you could reference the part where a bunch of tentacles and stuff come out of the ground in the battle against Berkut, but Alm is our resident Gary Stu and had a MacGuffin charm to ward them off, so even that amounted to little more than characterizing Berkut as this sort of craven and... somehow deepening Alm's affection for Celica?

And the face off against her isn't all that great, either.  Firstly, Alm was already suspicious of the "trap" Nuibaba laid before him (because Gary Stu powers).  So when he arrived at Nuibaba's abode, he wasn't even surprised that it was a trap.  And more importantly, he wasn't really even at a disadvantage; he wasn't taken to some dungeon or had his soul sucked out of his body like Celica did.  You just go up to her manor and kill her dead.

She had her own designs, yes, but so does, like, a lot of the villains in this game.  Rudolf wants Alm to succeed him and destroy Duma, Jedah wants to feed Duma some powerful souls so that his madness might be stifled, Grieth and the other pirate bosses just kinda wanna be left to their own devices without government interference...  Nuibaba is hardly unique in her plan to capture Alm so that she could gain immortality instead of handing him over to Jedah.

In fact, unlike characters such as Gharnef, she probably didn't have any plans for dealing with the evil dragon who undoubtedly would be inclined to destroy or torment her.  She might be immortal at that point, but unless the souls of people who bear these marks give you special divine dragon killing powers, she couldn't hope to ever kill Duma, and she'd forced to either be eternally tormented by him or hunt for suitable souls to appease him for all eternity.  Or he'd just destroy all of Valentia, and she'd be left with nothing.  She'd be faced with a nightmare directly out of something from Greek mythology or an apocalypse tale.

And what do her goals all amount to?  Staying young and beautiful?  Yeah, very compelling motives...

Her map was kind of a tedious bitch to get through, though.  Not all that difficult, but exceptionally slow.

 

>Alm

>Mary Sue

Pick one

[Etrurian emperor]

Python

I'm a big fan of judging characters on their character instead of their viability as a unit but I do have limits in how far I'm willing to go with that. Python is just so bad and such garbage of a unit that I can't really appreciate his characters. All Python is to me is a big ball and chain that drags team Alm down no matter how many chances I give him. 

Mae

Mae turned out to be my favorite Echoes characters. Her design always reminded me of Sera so I had a feeling that would happen but Mae manages to be her own girl instead of Gaiden Serra. She's constantly funny and endearing, is just the right amount of bratty and her relations with Celica and Boey are really sweet. Mae got great voice acting too. 

Nuibaba

Like Grieth and Slayde she's okay. Nuibaba serves as a nice minor villain and doesn't try to be anything more then that. I do think her old reptilian looking form from Gaiden looks a lot more interesting then merely a big breasted female villain.

I may be one of the rare people who really like her map once I started viewing it less as a stage and more as a puzzle. 

[Armagon]

Python: To this day, why Python is named after a snake remains a mystery. Scholars have searched for anwsers but it remains the biggest mystery of this universe. But i love this guy. I can definitly relate to his casual attitude. Casual characters in fiction are my favorite (some examples are Joseph Joestar and Josuke Higashikata in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Soleil and Shiro in Fates, Kazuma in Konosuba). His design also compliments his casual personality well. His death quote tho. The death quotes in SoV have a feel of genuine sadness since the VAs do them so well. Then Python comes in and is like "LOL, i died, start building my coffin now". His VA did a good job in showing that even in death, Python is the biggest casual ever. 

As a unit, ehhhhhhhhh. He's ok. Not as good as Archer!Kliff or Leon but better than Archer!Atlas. 

Mae: Here's the best video game girl of 2017 (unless Pyra from Xenoblade 2 changes that but we'll see). I love her personality. She's just so expressive and cheerful. Her calling out the villain cliche was the best moment. She also has amazing chenistry with Boey. She's got a nice design as well, being one of my favorites in the game. 

As a unit, she quickly became one of the best units in Celica's route. Good spell list, good speed (take notes, Boey). The only thing that holds her back is her late promotion, shared among all female mages. 

Nuibaba: Reminds me of Cia from Hyrule Warriors. Other than that, she exists. I honestly didn't pay too much attention to her. As for the battle against her, it wasn't hard. The Silque Road (Silque's Warp+Faye's Resuce) is a God-tier strategy here. I used the Silque Road to get Gray in front of Nuibaba and he took her out in one hit with Tigerstance. Of course, i Rescued him back afterwards so he didn't get wrecked by the other units in the manor. Once Nuibaba's taken out, the rest of the map becomes, as Luthier once said, "easy pickings."

Edited August 25, 2017 by Armagon

[HylianBelmont]

Zeke - I loved him in FE1 & 3, and honestly l feel the same about him here really! Also I feel that Partick Seitz did a better job with his voice than Travis Willingham did in Heroes.

Saber - He's the "team dad" of Celica's route and he's pretty great as a character. His interactions with Celica were always pretty nice IMO. His VA also does him justice!

Desaix - He... hates religion/Gods (Which is pretty different from most of the other nobles of Zofia I'd imagine) and is Dan Woren's first ACTUAL role in the franchise. Those are the only two things I remember about him in all honesty. Not the worst villain of all time obviously, but even Slayde is better than him if I'm being honest.

Kliff - My favourite Ram villager! I love his English voice, his design, his personality. Everything. And I WISH he had way more story relevance because he comes off as pretty intriguing IMO (On a side note: he looks so freaking hot as a mage holy shit)

Palla - My favourite of the Whitewings! She looks and sounds beautiful. Also she's pretty down to earth and likable.

Grieth - I actually love the guy. His dialogue with his goon before you fight him is pretty entertaining. And he even comes off as fairly interesting in his conversation with Celica before the map starts, and in his death quote too. So definitely a pretty great villain for what he is.

Python - I mentioned this earlier I believe, but I love his dynamic with Forsyth, and his attitude towards everything is kinda relatable as well. As he unit he isn't too great admittedly, but whatever. I'll still use him lovingly though, haha.

Mae - She's decent I guess. I've definitely warmed up to her as a character since I first played the game, and I can't deny that Cherami Leigh brings a lot of energy to the role as well.

Nuibaba - She reminds me of Aversa... if she was "truly" evil I guess? (doesn't help that they even share the same english VA!) but yes. She's a decent villain really, not much to say about her aside from that.

[Jingle Jangle]

Python: A apathetic archer from the Deliverance. Not really a fan of him due to disliking lazy characters in general. As a unit, in my playthrough he was one of the worse units and anything he could, do Archer Tobin could do and better.

Mae: I'm at the top of my game! An energetic mage that Celica on her journey. I appreciate her greatly, her fun personality won me over quickly, plus making fun of Boey is entertaining. As a unit, in my play-through she was the second best mage after Celica. Doubling most units except for those dammed Mogalls.

Nuthe floows Cibaba: From a old hag in Gaiden to a hot Witch makes me wonder how many souls she offered to  the artist for this change. Anyway, for me she isn't anything special when there are better female dark mages and hotter  in the series. Her map makes me like her even less. Damm Medusa.

[vanguard333]

Python: Decent character. I didn't like his laziness, but did enjoy most of his jokes. As a unit, he was alright; archers in general were more useful in this game than in others.

Mae: Great character; very entertaining. Also a good mage.

Nuibaba: Another generic villain who could have been used to great effect to show the state of things in Rigel and the Duma Faithful, but wasn't really. However, she was memorable in just how creepy she was, and for giving Berkut that weird mirror which, as a plot device, could have been done so much better but at least showed Berkut beginning to sacrifice more of his values for power in moments of desperation.

17 hours ago, Erureido said:

Nuibaba: To me, she felt like that one sexy villainess that shows up in video games. I mean, just look at her design and listen to her voice!

Wait; was she supposed to be... sexy? She just struck me as very creepy and off-putting. To be fair though, I usually find most characters that are supposed to be evil and sexy are actually not sexy at all in my opinion.

I actually enjoyed the map where you fight her (to some extent). I just had some units circle around while my archers picked off some of the various units and I also largely employed warp and rescue. To me, it was challenging and perhaps could have been better, but was nowhere near the most disappointing map.

Edited August 25, 2017 by vanguard333

[Alistair]

Kliff: My favorite Ram villager, actually. While everyone else seems to be sociable and on good terms with the rest of the Village People (barring Faye, partially), Kliff seems distant and antisocial in comparison. His Support with Tobin delves into this, but I'd LOVE to see more about this side of him; plus, since he can be recruited on Celica's route, he could have had a really interesting set of Supports. Factoid of the day: apparently he had feelings for Silque in the Gaiden novelization but he was killed by Desaix before he could act on them.

 

Python: Interesting for me mainly because of his Support with Clive: the leader of the Deliverance STILL wants to keep the nobility/commoner distinction. Not that Python is Communist or anything, but it seems like an interesting critique the protagonists' side. 

Mae: Fav mage. Not much else to say.

Grieth: Eh. He had his role as an arc villain and demonstrating the state of Zofia but unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

[Erureido]

12 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Wait; was she supposed to be... sexy? She just struck me as very creepy and off-putting. To be fair though, I usually find most characters that are supposed to be evil and sexy are actually not sexy at all in my opinion.

I mean, I called her a "sexy villainess" just from her appearance alone, along with the fact she desires eternal youth to maintain her current visage. I don't actually consider her sexy compared to other characters.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, Day 13 is now over, and with that, we are now onto Day 14!

Today's characters that we will discuss are Clive, Jesse, and Rudolph.

What is your opinion on these three characters?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll give my thoughts on the characters now.

Clive: Unpopular opinion incoming: I'm a big fan of Clive! Well, Clive isn't one of my top favorites in this game, but he is still a character that I do like. The way I see Clive, he is a Gary Stu deconstruction. Everyone in the game praises Clive as the greatest knight in all of Zofia, but he admits at various moments throughout the adventure that he is no perfect soldier (not to mention his stats don't reflect "best of the best," but we'll get to that later). As a nobleman, he was also initially condescending towards the lower class, but with arrival of common birth soldiers like Python and Forsyth into the Deliverance, that mindset changed. I liked how Clive takes steps to understand the common birth like his supports with Python. I also enjoyed how Clive came to understand the meaning of saving Delthea, culminating in the Act 3 conclusion scene when he admits his fault. In all, Clive felt like a very human character through the way he admits his weaknesses and how he develops throughout the story. He and Mathilda also make a cute couple, and I found that one DLC Memory Prism featuring them rather nice as well.

Unit-wise, yeah, he is definitely one of the more lackluster units in the game. As a Cavalier and a Paladin, Clive couldn't really do a lot as he was outclassed by Mathilda most of the time. My Clive, however, was RNG-blessed when he became a Gold Knight. After promoting him to that class, I boosted his Speed at a Lion Fountain in an Act 4 Dungeon, and combined with a few lucky level-ups, my Clive managed to get a higher Speed stat than Matihilda! His Strength stat was about the same as hers, and that was mainly due to having a forged Steel Lance (and eventually a Silver Lance to replace that). Even then, Mathilda still outclassed him due to her higher Defense and Resistance stats, but my Clive was fine enough not to be a serious liability to the army.

His design is alright. The blond hair looks nice on him, and so does his blue armor. I enjoyed Grant George's performance on the character, especially in that scene should Mathilda die in Desaix's map. Clive also gets bonus points for being voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya in the Japanese version, the same VA that voices Levi from Attack on Titan and N from that one Pokemon Black2/White2 trailer a while back (and Shinji Matou from the Fate series, but let's just forget about that).

Jesse: Though not one of my favorites, I like Jesse. I can see why some fans dislike him because of his flirty behavior, but I never found him getting too obnoxious with that. I also enjoyed reading his support conversations and learning about his dreams and aspirations. I admire how we wants to create a nation of mercenaries, and he fulfills his dream in the ending! It was also nice that he tried to strike up some friendly conversations with Deen, even though the latter showed no interest in talking.

Jesse wasn't as good of a Mercenary compared to the likes of Saber and Atlas, but he still did a fine job. My Jesse used a Brave Sword for most of the adventure, and he did pretty well with that weapon.

His voice acting is nice and captures his outgoing, sociable nature quite well. Design-wise, Jesse is alright. Not much else to say.

Rudolph: Rudolph was a mixed bag in the villain department. On the one hand, I enjoyed that one Memory Prism he had with Mycen. I could feel Rudolph's pain at that moment as he gave Alm to Mycen to protect the infant from the Duma Faithful. Apparently, Rudolph was also the one to welcome Zeke into the Rigelian army; no wonder Zeke looks up to him! I also felt moved the first time I saw Rudolph's death scene. I mean, it wasn't sad to the point I was bawling my eyes, but it did give me some emotions. The voice-acting and the music during that moment definitely played a role in bringing those feelings out of me.

On the other hand, Rudolph's master plan had so many flaws that when I look back at it, I think, "You know, his plan is a lot more risky than it should be." To break it down, Rudolph wanted a new rule where the Valentian dragon gods of Valentia would no longer rule the continent, and he knew the brand-bearers, his son among them, was needed to make this possible. Thus, Rudolph  led a rein of tyranny and conquest in the hopes that Alm would eventually rise up to fight it off, be viewed as a hero for overthrowing the tyranny, and then start a new, peaceful rule. Sounds simple, right? Well, the problem is, the plan doesn't take into account what could happen to Alm on the way. More specifically, there are plenty of moments throughout the story where Alm could've died, and if that happened, how would Rudolph proceed with his grand plan? Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize how odd this is.

Also, is it just me, or do I think Rudolph could've had a little more presence in the plot? I mean, I know we have that Act 1 conclusion scene where he talks with Massena, that cutscene when he raids the Mila Temple, the Memory Prism with Mycen, and everything during his map in Act 4, but I wish we had some more scenes of Rudolph, especially him talking with Massena since the latter definitely could've benefitted from more characterization.

His voice-acting was pretty good, and I like how his design takes plenty of elements from Walhart. Perhaps Walhart was Rudolph's descendant, and by extension, Alm's as well! His map was a memorable one that I really enjoyed. Rudolph's theme, "Lord of a Dead Empire", is easily one of my favorite tracks in the game. The epic opera is a pleasure to listen to, and it really captures the feeling of Rudolph's last stand quite well.  As a boss, he managed to land some critical hits on my Forsyth and Lukas. Thankfully, neither of them died. Alm landed a few blows, but it wasn't enough to knock him out. Thank goodness for Mage Ring!Delthea to save the day!

Edited August 26, 2017 by Erureido

[bethany81707]

Clive: Brought down a little by being next to Fernand when he goes on his anti-Clair rants, has an confusingly-written, if not inconsistent, relationship with Mathilda, is often a bit of a jerk on his own, and doesn't even live up to the reputation set before him. He makes a badass blue Eldigan in Heroes, though. (Though Heroes calls him 'idealistic', and I don't know why).

Jesse: A lovable character I only managed to successfully remember to recruit right away on my third playthrough, and with stats, level and competition like that, that basically sums up how good he is on the battlefield. Probably my favourite characterisation of the mercenaries, but terrible usability...

Rudolf: His plan of standing on the ramparts quickly falls apart when you consider just how far four squares is- and I'm not entirely sure what his long term plan was. I don't think it's as dumb as 'start a war, make peace', considering he's reacting to the actions of Jedah and the Duma Faithful, but it's not exactly explained how both sides interact.

[epilepsyduck]

Clive

Clive's personality basically begins and ends at "just some guy", which I guess explains why the writers seemed to favor him so much over all the cool ladies they created by mistake. His interactions with other, better characters at best make him seem boring and at worst make him seem completely out of touch. He's not even fun to hate like Berkut, he's just teeth-grindingly terrible and the fact the game spends so much time trying to make him seem cooler than he really is just plain sucks. Certainly, that isn't helped by him being such a dreadful unit, especially compared to Mathilda. Fuck this dude, give his role to literally anyone else and leave him in the trash where he belongs.

Jesse

Part 3 of 4 of Tiddy Emblem, so I was inclined to like him when we first met. I'm not overly fond of flirty-bordering-on-lecherous dudes like Sain or Inigo, though, which knocks him down a peg compared to his fellow boob buddies. He also didn't do super great for me until he hit Dread Fighter, and while he was pretty good after that last promotion he still didn't measure up to Kamui. Oh well, at least he's hot I guess.

Rudolf

Not winning any father of the year awards, that's for sure. I know his plan was pretty much the same in Gaiden, but I think Echoes could've benefited from jettisoning it because it's pretty convoluted and silly and just comes the fuck out of nowhere (though I'll admit I'm not sure what they'd have to replace it with). At least he ditched that terrible mustache.

[Armagon]

Clive: I don't get the hate for this guy, at least when it comes to character. He's the most realistic person in the game. He knows his strengths and weaknesses. I mean, while i didn't find him that memorable, i liked him because of how realistic he was. In the alternate scenario where Mathilda dies, you see him act just like any normal person would act when losing a loved one. Can't comment on how he is like in the Rise of Deliverence DLC though.

As a unit, ehh, i've seen worse. He's not that bad tbh. He's better than any of the Knights (except Lukas), and Nomah. People who say Clive is the worst unit in the game have no idea what they are talking about because Nomah is the worst unit in the game.

Jesse: This guy has a very punchable face but i mean that in a good way, oddly enough. I like this guy. He's a casual flirt, but without the over-the-top romance talk that characters like Sain, Inigo/Laslow, and Virion like to do. Him not having a Support with Silque is a missed opportunity. The lack of cross-route Supports in general are a missed opportunity.

As a unit, he was my worst Mercenary. He wasn't bad, it's just that Saber, Atlas, and Kamui did the job way better (and Gray but he's on Alm's route).

Rudolf: I liked his design. Reminds me of Walhart, which is a good thing, since Walhart is one of my favorite villains in the series. As for his role in the plot, i will admit that his plan made zero sense. At the same time, i have to forgive him because he was gonna have this plan one way or another. Gaiden had very little plot but Rudolf's plan was a big part of it. He was victim of being an NES FE villain. He's not alone on this either. Gharnef and Medeus in Marth's games were pretty bad villains, even in the remakes.

Ok but his map is one of my favorites in the game. There's just something about SoV's castle siege maps that just work. They all feel like proper sieges, especially Rigel Castle. "Lord of a Dead Empire" is one of the best songs in the game. I know there are lyrics in that song, and i believe said lyrics are German. Can any German please confirm? 

As a side note, Rudolf's name is very similar to Rudol von Strohiem, a character from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency (the best JoJo Part). Similarities increase further when both characters' theme have German lyrics (assuming "Lord of a Dead Empire" has German lyrics).

Also, click below for a Rudolf meme i made a few weeks before the game's launch

Spoiler

 

 

[Jingle Jangle]

Clive: A mediocre cavalier that is somehow the leader of the leader of the Deliverance. In the story I don't have a problem with him. He is supposed to  be the mentor the Alm. But some of the alternative dialogue made me dislike him. As a unit, in my last playthrough has was one of the worst units in the game. Which could be the reason why I don't respect him as much as Mathilda.

Jesse: A mercenary recruited on Celica's route. I'm not fan of him due to disliking flirts in the series with the exception of Inigo/ Laslow. But I do commend him to the idea of a mercenary kingdom. As a unit he was the worst mercenary due to  having Saber and Kamui having strong level ups.

Rudolf the red nose reindeer:  A gold Knight Emperor of Rigel. From having a handlebar mustache to a to beard. Despite being the Emperor of Rigel and caused majority of the events in the game. Somehow he doesn't get much screen time. Most of it come from one chapter. Like some of the more vocal members in the forum, I have some problem in his "plan". More like a outline that spans 16-17 years with can be easy be ruined. Like how could he know he could sea Mila with the Falchion, or is it worth all the people dying by the war to be free from the dragon's influence. Why he didn't try to used his influence as emperor to help the world without causing damage  At least Azura's plan in Conquest was short term.  Enjoyed the music on his map.  used his influence as king to help the world without causing damage

Edited August 26, 2017 by Jingle Jangle

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Clive: I actually like Clive as a character, but I also think he's brought down. It feels like he's just there to make Alm look good, despite some of his good parts like his stuff with Python and Mathilda. I think they needed to show Clive in a more positive light, and not as mostly a "oh he disagreed with Alm...Alm is always right, sorry Clive is dumb-dumb" kind of way. As a unit, he's definitely not the best, but also certainly not the worst! Especially when Nomah exists! And, finally, I like his design. And that's all I have to say about that.

Jesse: Jesse is this game's Sain, Inigo, Gatrie, and the like, but he seems more subtle about it. And, looking past the flirtatious side, he seems like a genuinely likable guy! I really wish he'd gotten supports with Silque in Chapter 6, especially since they established a history between the two. I didn't use him much as a unit, Sabre was already dominating and I had Kamui as a backup merc if needed. I guess he's okay, he can't be the worst in the game right? As for his design, it's fine. Just fine.

Rudolph: He's got a good design and he was set up to be a good (fake-out) antagonist, but his big plan just seemed...overly convoluted, just all too complicated. I feel like it could have been way simpler and he'd have gotten an even better result. And because of how he seems to waaaaaaay overthink things...I dunno, makes him seem not as bright as he's supposed to be. But, still, he's not terrible.