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Ok Fates fans...

Why should I care about Hoshido? Never played Fates, but I really like most of the characters from Nohr. Royalty and retainers.

I'm totally underwhelmed by Hoshido. Here's what I know about them:
Ryoma: oldest and most observant of his duties. Typical wise leader personality.
Hinoka: literally an afterthought.
Takumi: pretentious kid with something to prove. Gets possessed.
Sakura: ???
Retainers: as much depth as cardboard. Except for Kagero, who is a cardboard ninja with bolted on tits.

But I know that Heroes has a tendency to flatten everyone into one-note personalities. So I'm wondering if there's more to them than meets the eye.

Why should I care about any Hoshido characters? Between Nohr and Hoshido, which do you feel is more developed and what are your favorite Hoshido characters?

Asked by HawtLava3 months ago

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Answers

Are you sure you haven't played FE Fates before?

In the same vein, Nohr is just a 1D. Camilla may look like she has a lot of depth, but its all just "plot" really. Elise is lolibait, Leo has poor self esteem (FE: Feels) and Xander is just a piece of shit.

If I also wanted to generalize things like that, I could apply the same arguments to Nohrian characters:

Xander - typical wise leader asshole
Leo - walking Napoleon complex
Camilla - big sister fetish
Peri - an actual psychopath
Elise - little sister stereotype
Odin - actually a god

It is true tho, that the character in Fates are a bit predictable. You do get more conversations and interactions with them in each of the routes, so the characters feel a bit more "real". The fact that the characters can also talk with each other while forming friendships shows a lot about their personality...the general traits might be simplified, but they are by no means completely hollow.

I didn't really like Fates tho.

You can check a bit more about Oboro for example, she has an intersting backstory.

I personally liked the Hoshido side of Fates more because it presents a completely different side of Fire Emblem that was somewhat unexplored, with its feudal Japan themes greatly contrasting with the typical medieval theme of the usual FE kingdoms.

As for the characters, Heroes does present some of the more memorable parts of the character's personality through dialogue primarily, because after all it's a mobile game, so usually in order to truly learn about the character you'll have to play the game.

All I can say is Setsuna is Love Setsuna is Life, waiting for the day she gets an alt either seasonal or not imma throw my money at her untill I get her, with non-seasonal alt a +10 project

Ah, finally. I can show how much of a Fates baby I am!
Well, compared to Nohr charaters... Hoshidan charaters really don't have any depth. Here, I'm about to type EVERY charater's personally trait in the Birthright path to show how most of them are kinda booty. Except for Silas, Felicia, Jakob, Mozu, Izana, Azura, Shura, Shigure, Sophie, Kana, Midori, and Kaze since they're all neutral and available in each path.

Ryoma, Hinoka- you got them pretty spot on
Takumi- arguably the best written of the Hoshidan family. Wants to be noticed and not outshined. Really loves Corrin and does care for them, but he often let's emotions cloud his judgement. Superiority complex
Sakura- typical shy sister architype. Wants to open up.
Hana- Wants to be like her father, trains to be a good samurai. Sakuras best friend and very protective of her.
Subaki- Perfectionist. Can't stand when he's not perfect when he often times is not. Beats himself down when he's not and can't learn naturally that he's just like everyone else, and that its not a bad thing.
Oboro- Talor. Loves making dresses and clothes and has a crush on Takumi. Has anger issues.
Hinata- Overworker. Doesn't stop training for Takumi. (I'll be honest, Hinata is kinda lame :/)
Saizo- Wants to avenge his father. Hates sweets and doesn't show much emotion. Often cold and mean to harden and toughen up others, but is secretly a big ol softy. Cares for his brother.
Kagoro- Dedicated to her training and loves cultural stuff. Makes tea and paints in her spare time.
Setsuna- Clumsy and carefree. Often gets herself caught in traps and is very oblivious to the world around her.
Azama- A monk who caretakes after Hinoka. Doesn't put much thought into what he says. He seems very athiest/heritic even though he's a monk, and often says stuff just to piss the other person off. But means well.
Hayato- Son of the Wind Clan cheif. Wants to be considered a man but is still called a kid. Which he is.
Orochi- A friend of Kagoro. Fortune teller who tells people untrue fortunes mostly for her own favor and amusement.
Reina- former retainer of Mikoto. Sadist, doesn't take mercy on her enemies. Is nastalgic of her past duty with Mikoto.
Rinkiah- Daughter of a Flame Clain cheif. Let's her anger get to her, but is nice when you get to know her.
Kaden- cheif of the Kitsune Clain. Loves to pay people back for their kindness, and is very kind himself. Playful as well.
Scarlet- leader of a revolution in Nohr. Very tomboy and is happy to help Hoshido. Still shows her Nohrian brutality to her enemies.
Yukimara- taction of Hoshido.... That's it really.

Now for the kids...
Shiro- Ryomas son. Wants to rival and make his dad proud. Doesn't know if he's ready to hold the responsibly of being the next king of Hoshido. Trains hard and is a total bro to his friends.
Kiragi- Takumis son. A master marksman. Is nice to everyone.
Selkie- Kadens daughter. Playful and engergetic. Doesn't understand the world with her child like aditude. Cute and fluffy.
Mitama- Azamas daughter. Poetic. Lazy, and doesn't want to uphold responsibilities yet. But understands that life is precious and keeps it in mind.
Hisame- Hinatas son. Pickles.
Asugi- Saizos son. Gaius' Fates clone. Candy
Rhajat- Hayatos daughter. Tharjas Fates clone. Curses.
Caeldori- Subakis daughter. Cordelias Fates clone. Wants to live up to be like her father.

Out of everyone, Takumi; Subaki; Azama; Kaden; Saizo; Setsuna; Shiro; Selkie; and Mitama are all my favs on the Birthright side. But Hoshido has some pretty lackluster charaters when compared to Nohr charaters.

There's more than meets the eye for a lot of Fates characters. It's just that the writing problem in Fates doesn't do them enough justice. As a result, a lot of them comes across as one-note trope-y characters, which leaves their depth unexplored. Takumi has a major inferiority complex, which is exaggerated due to his possession. Camilla was starved of affection due to the sheer number of children that Garon had, coupled with the fact that a lot of his wives ended up fighting each other, bringing their poor children into the mess. This created a motherly instinct in her that she wanted to provide for other's so that they don't have to go through what she did. Peri was traumatized due to witnessing her mother's death right in front of her. But nooooo. Instead, people end up dismissing these characters due to said tropes rather than taking the time to recognize that they're indicators of a bigger part of their characterization.

That's true, Fates has pretty good charaters but are really shafted. I gave the simplified version of them in my comment, but there can be really good charater in these people. Fates bad writing makes it hard to find tho.

This is exactly what my brother tells me: fates had a bunch of great characters marred by a bad script.

EDIT: he also said that in terms of actual gameplay mechanics Fates is his preferred game.

I'd heard it was primarily a localization problem. Like, they took semi-well-developed characters and changed things so much that they became one-note caricatures. It certainly seems that way for the kids, to me. Like taking more subtle issues like Leo's son liking to wear clothes and Soleil having a hero-worship/fangirl thing for cute girls, and saying that they're both definitely gay, then not letting us marry them off to pretty much anyone because of it. And how they decided that Morgan was too young for western audiences so they wouldn't let us marry him/her off even though you could in the original. Bad/lazy/heavy-handed localization seems to have been the issue there, annoyingly.

I do think the gameplay mechanics are better in Fates, but story- and character-wise, I'm pretty sure I prefer Awakening.

There actually aren't very many female characters I liked in Fates. It was hard to find women to marry off the men to, since I liked most of the men and disliked most of the women. I ended up having men I liked paired with women I disliked, which annoyed me.

Although some people, like Azama, should never be paired. That dude made a terrible husband and a terrible father. All right as a character in general, but I kinda regret saddling Hinoka with him. (And his daughter's an annoying piece of work, too, so no loss to not get her.)

I don't remember anything in the game implying Forrest was gay. There's obviously the "Forrest is really pretty" trap jokes, but he's ironically one of the straightest guys in Fates' cast.

Anyways, regarding localization, admittedly they did water down a lot of parts (like toning down Niles' perversions and Leo's implied feelings toward Camilla), so that didn't help do the game justice.

I haven't played it since just after it was released, so I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff. I seem to remember having trouble getting any confirmed marriages between some of the characters (and I thought Forrest was one). It was like what they did with the Owain/Lucina S-support in Awakening, but way worse and more widespread.