#imo Camilla is actually decent

[p3chris]

In Camilla's defence

Now, don't get me wrong, Camilla is not sweet. But she isn't so bad, and Yor isn't necessarily a bad judge of character for thinking she's a nice person.

Observe how in Yor's introduction, Camilla tries to involve Yor in the conversation at first. We see Yor turning away with a small smile in the anime, but her expression in the manga as she rebuffs Camilla and Millie's compliments is blander and more disinterested. Camilla's claws appear after this.

What she does at the dinner party is terrible, true. It is even more inexcusable given that she is the host.

But in the anime, we get this gem after Twilight's speech, where Camilla and the guests are left in stunned silence. She then pushes her hair back while still stunned. It is likely that she either had not known of Yor's circumstances before or had not thought too deeply about it. It is a moment of reflection and acknowledgement that perhaps she went too far.

We also see this consideration again later when she's teaching Yor to cook.

Camilla noticeably eases up on Yor after that dinner party. It's not a 180, but in her subsequent interactions with Yor we see annoyance, not malice, in her expressions. She does not have nice things to say, but she just tries to speak less to Yor and avoid her if she can help it.

In fact, it's Yor who does the 180 and goes from being indifferent to her colleagues to frantically consulting them every time she needs help.

I actually felt sorry for Camilla during the cooking lesson chapter. She is reluctantly roped into helping because she cannot turn down Dominic and Yor's puppy eyes. They persist for days after work before finally getting Yor to successfully cook one dish. Her kitchen gets trashed every day from Yor's overbuying, rough handling of tools and on the last day, Yuri's vomit. Yor destroys her favourite chopping board. She keeps getting poisoned during this time too.

My theory is that Camilla might have initially respected Yor's seniority at City Hall and admired her beauty and wanted to be friends. However, years of Yor's thoughtless rejections likely led her to think of Yor as being stuck-up and unpleasant, and her jealousy and fear of losing Dominic to her made her behaviour worse. That said, even at her worst, Camilla's meanness has always been to Yor's face, unlike certain other people. *glances at Nightfall and Shopkeeper*

[ooctlt]

I think the etiquette of ask blogs is a forgotten art. what I'm saying is (imo) it's not that people don't want to play, it is they don't know HOW, and more importantly they don't understand that the game exists to begin with. obviously you do not have to teach people the rules because your time and energy is finite but idk. it feels like from some of your OOC responses that you assume people know the rules and are playing badly, but I genuinely think people (me) just don't know what you are wanting them (us) to do. and also they (i) don't know how to tell if they (i) are playing the game correctly.

An example I am genuinely confused about is, is inciting a "shut up" answer a signal that the game is being played correctly, because we are inciting a reaction from the character? or is a "shut up" answer a signal that we are playing wrong and need to do something different? I'm sorry. I really love your art and seeing the story unfold but I'm confused and I want to play and I don't understand how.

yeah ive had a couple people tell me this has been the first active askblog in a while and the concept of askblog etiquette has been forgotten- @thatneoncrisis and i made a diagram:

link to full-res image

a "shut up" reaction will hopefully show whether or not it's a closed path of exploration: if you have gideon sweating, going "pshhh its nothinggg" it means there is something worth exploring. if you have harrow slamming the door in your face, that is an advance that wont work on her

transcript under the readmore:

DEAD END QUESTION ANON: CAMILLA DO YOU THINK HARROW'S HOT?

"Please stop talking to me."

This question is BAD because it's BLUNT, INCREDIBLY PERSONAL and founded on INCOMPLETE KNOWLEDGE of their relationship.

NOTE that its not that shitty questions will NEVER be answered, its that 1) they have a LOWER chance of being answered and 2) they have a HIGHER chance of being made fun of in character

gideon: haha who thinks harrow is HOT

DECENT INCONSEQUENTIAL QUESTION ANON: CAMILLA DO YOU LIKE TO DO ANYTHING FUN WITH HARROW?

"Sure. We run a lot of errands together."

This kind of question may not advance the plot, as it is INCREDIBLY BROAD yet NONINVASIVE. They're good for quick 1-3 panel answers. May generally be met with a less EXCITING answer.

It might also be DIFFICULT TO ANSWER because a broad question could include MULTIPLE ANSWERS - asking "do you guys go out" could not be answered SUSTAINABLY, because i cannot draw all the places they visit

ANON: EVERYONE, WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CLOUD / WATER / MOLECULAR STRUCTURE / BONE / CAR / COFFEE BRAND/ BOOK CHARACTER?

me: "i have to do so much research"

NEAT QUESTION CAMILLA HAS HARROW EVER ASKED YOU TO DO SOMETHING WITH HER SHE WAS EXCITED ABOUT?

"Yes, actually. She once invited me to [REDACTED], I didn't know she liked that sort of thing."

This question is SICK AS FUCK because not only do you learn something SUBSTANTIAL about the characters, you have stumbled upon A NEW PLOT BRANCH, one that actively deepens character connections and their past within the world. It specifically remarks upon a MEMORY* rather than AN OPINION and will typically be LONGER.

Another good option is to PROMPT something following this:

ANON: CAMILLA, MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY TAKING HARROW OUT TO DO [REDACTED] THAT SHE LIKES BEFORE XYZ?

and this can then spiral onward…

*DM, ONE TIME I ASKED ABOUT A MEMORY AND I GOT A RUDE ANSWER; WHAT DID I DO WRONG?

It's not that this topic can never be spoken about, it's about WHEN you asked it and HOW you said it, or even WHO you asked.

Some topics, like the nature of HARROW AND GIDEON'S UPBRINGING are too recent for them to talk about, it has only been TWO YEARS since they left and there are SPECIFICS about the situation that the AUDIENCE hasn't discovered yet. There are things like GIDEON'S PARENTS that she CANNOT answer because she DOESN'T KNOW and answering multiple asks with I DON'T KNOW becomes repetitive and dull for both the DM and PLAYER.

BUT! She can learn! Over time, when the time is appropriate and feels the most natural for STORY PROGESSION. Think of it like a BAD ENDING in a visual novel. You START OVER and ask a DIFFERENT QUESTION, or approach it from a DIFFERENT ANGLE. If Gideon reacts poorly to someone congratulating her leaving BAD CIRCUMSTANCES, consider talking to her about the FUTURE. Instead of trying to pry at Camilla to see if she had an INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP with Pyrrha, try to ask about other things in that period of her life, like how they met or what caused her to move out.

FINALLY, if you'd like an ask to be answered out of character, your best bet would be to goto @notedchampagne and send it there. If you'd like an ask to be answered SINCERELY or you don't want SNARK, you can specify this in the ask, but know this blog may not be your thing.

[destinyc1020]

Z and Kaia arent at the same career level or status, i dnt see why folks compare them. The only thing thats the same is they both dated the same messy ass man and Kaia is a gf to Zs coworker. Thats it lol, they aint friends n havent even been photographed together.

I doubt they go for the same roles, besides AHS (which i think she/her team learned from not to start with a leading role 👀) Kaia is always a side character and is doing more comedies (and again a few side character roles roles in drama) and Z has been 1st or 2nd billed when it comes to a variety of genres-drama (Euphoria), action (dune 1 n 2) and drama/comedy (challengers). When yr a side character sometimes u may nt b needed on set as much as the main characters, so yea, it makes sense why Kaia got more roles rn (along with other obvious reasons), she might nt b on set long and can jjst move onto the nxt job quickly. Z acts, produces and shadows her directors- that requres her to b on set more and b involved (probably) pre n post production. I doubt Kaia is doing anything bt acting rn (and thats fine). Folks acting lik Kaia getting more roles mean smthn-it dnt lol good for her for being booked i guess. Bt if folks goimg to compare Kaia to someone, it makes sense to compare her to other model/actors lik her friend Camilla Morone or Lily Rose. Nt Z, who is literally the IT girl rn lol

I totally agree Anon. 👏🏾

Z and Kaia shouldn't even be in the same sentence imo. They're on totally different levels.

Z started from the ground up. Kaia did not. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Z's fanbase is humongous.... Kaia's is not. Kaia was born into privilege, Zendaya was not. Plus, Z has been acting since she was a kid, whereas Kaia has been slowly phasing out of her career of modeling, and doing what EVERYBODY seems to want to do these days for some reason lol, which is ACT. 🥴

We've got models acting, former wrestlers acting, singers acting, etc. It's almost like everybody and their auntie wants to act these days lol 😆 It's funny lol.

Look, I have no issues with Kaia wanting to act, or even that she's a nepobaby (Hollywood is FULL of them, and you can't control who your parents are 🤷🏾‍♀️).

All that I ask is that if you're a nepobaby, PLEASE, for the love of God, get some acting lessons! 🙏🏾😩 Work on and hone your craft. Otherwise, you're basically taking a perfectly decent spot/role in a film or a TV show from an actual REAL actress who actually knows how to act, and it's really kinda sad. ����

So yea, like you said, quantity doesn't equal quality.

I don't even know why some ppl would even mention Kaia or Sydney (for that matter) in the same sentence as Zendaya. That's like comparing apples to birds. 😅

Re: Lily Rose....

Yes, she's a nepobaby, but at least she can halfway act. She's actually a pretty decent actress imo. It makes sense too, cuz her dad is an awesome actor.

It's just a shame she sold herself to the devil with that role in Sam Levinson's disaster "The Idol". 😬

She didn't need to do that show imo. She already had acting talent as far as I'm concerned. 🤦🏾‍♀️

[lynslegion]

Made an Engage tier list, this is purely from a combat standpoint not about how they are as characters! Gonna put some explanations under the cut. There are two spoilers at the very bottom of the explanation so beware of going below the D Tier section!

Okay obviously I lied bc Sommie is at the top but how was I gonna see him and not put him there? Anyways!

S Tier: I genuinely never thought Alcryst would be very good but his insane Dex growths combined with a high Dex cap makes Luna an invaluable tool that procs often. If you give him an energy drop or two, while not necessary in the least, he'll become an actual nuclear warhead. Chloe is S because her availability + really good personal magic growth combined with Griffin Knight just being a pretty good class makes it so that if you give her a Levin Sword even as early as chapter 8 or 9 she'll be melting everything in sight and retains nearly that level of viability for the rest of the game. Panette shines with Ike though sometimes I give him to Diamant. Even still, slightly nerfed when paired with Hector she is still an i n s a n e unit and I would recommend placing her on any and every team composition you'll ever have. Genuine demon of a unit and I love her dearly. Seadall is self explanatory, dancer always S Tier.

A Tier: Jean wasn't on this list for some reason but he'd be at the top of A if he was. So much potential, he can do pretty much anything very well especially with Veronica. Hortensia's staff +1 range utility paired with pretty decent stat growths makes her the best healer imo. Yunaka paired with Corrin outshines any other dagger user in my experience though I do plan on messing around with her viability with Chrobin. Anna paired with Camilla as an axe Mage Knight makes amazing use of Camilla's skills and weapons, I'm aware that Sage Anna with Byleth is also very good but I'm very partial to this setup. Rosado reclassed into great knight and paired with Tiki becomes immortal against physical damage after a few levels it's wild. Alear being this high may be a surprise but they can be very good when reclassed immediately into wyvern knight after promotion. Kagetsu is someone I haven't used but I can't deny that everyone seems to think he's very good. Merrin provides good utility when paired with Lucina to poison foes during chain attacks due to her movement range and good stats. Louis is this high up due to his availability, amazing tank up until Diamant can take off or you get Rosado going and then he starts falling off.

B Tier: Diamant makes a good off-tank when paired with Ike, especially if he gets lucky with Sol. Goldmary is another candidate for Lucina who can make chain attacks a damage carry if you handle her properly on the hero class. Ivy is a competent unit though from what I've seen/read I messed up by not giving her speed buffs from Lyn which I plan to do in this run. Jade is another competent tank that falls off in endgame. On paper Zelkov seems better than Yunaka, however her synergy with Corrin and personal skill has her winning out to a large degree against him in my opinion. Good replacement option though if you get unlucky with her growths/lose her. Lapis is another good replacement option for Kagetsu specifically, she makes a very good Swordmaster though I also enjoyed her as a wyvern knight. Pandreo is the second best healer imo and can deal very good damage if set up properly/paired with Soren though I don't recommend this late-game as I'll explain later. Céline can be very good early game though she falls off quickly especially if reclassing Anna to Mage Knight and using Ivy.

C Tier: Etie I feel is a good unit though I can't deny that she falls off quickly when compared to Alcryst and in a game with such few deployment slots compared to viable characters I can't justify using her. Alfred is another character that falls off quickly due to his unique class being redundant with his low Dex scaling and his growths not being viable enough to justify another class. Admittedly I haven't used Amber much though from what I have experienced/seen/read he doesn't distinguish himself much at all. Framme makes a competent healer if you lose Hortensia or Pandreo, otherwise I'd recommend dropping her ASAP. Citrinne relies nearly entirely on Olwen's S rank bond ring Dire Thunder ability, she simply doesn't have the stats anywhere but her damage to justify anything else or being any higher. I'm actually not too sure on Vander, as with every Jagen I drop him very quickly so I'm not sure how he scales. Haven't heard much though so he can't be too fantastic.

D Tier: God I wish Timerra was more viable, I love her as a character but she's so utterly RNG reliant that I can't justify investing in her on hard mode especially when her role is filled far easier and more reliably by Diamant. Clanne is someone who if you're absolutely committed to using him should be reclassed to an axe unit to make use of his good accuracy and related growths however I don't personally find it worth it. Fogado suffers from somewhat lackluster growths and an utterly useless unique class, reclass to Warrior if determined to use him but there are much better options. Boucheron is a sad case because while you can make him viable it takes pretty hefty investment and quite some time to set up. Other than that one specific setup he's simply not good. Bunet I love you you out and proud creature, absolute freak of a character but I can't think of a single case you'd want him on a team other than a niche setup with Celica's food skill and even then it's more gimmick than anything.

Spoilers!

Mauvier would go in B Tier right behind Diamant. He may join rather late but his scaling is actually very decent and his base stats get ramped up very quickly with a little bit of work. I'd recommend giving him a try just for the sake of judging for yourself.

Veyle is a curious case because while I'd place her in A tier between Rosado and Alear I can see why some people put her in C Tier. She has two specific niches: a Celica Echo Draconic Hex setup to become a dedicated debuffer and the other being paired with Soren. This is what I was referencing above and why I place Veyle in A tier, when paired with Soren she becomes a perpetual near unkillable glass cannon to an unbelievable degree. Takes insane damage but heals it back almost instantly, I've seen her solo entire maps with this setup on higher difficulties.

[harusha]

Finished Engage. The story is still awful but it had its good moments (Ex. Zephia and Griss’s final scene). However, the other problem is that they crammed everything interesting into the last 5-6 chapters, so it was a ton of character exposition and “I told you my sad backstory, so I am now off to die immediately” flags. There are 26 chapters, excluding DLC and Paralogues.

Honestly, outside of gameplay maps, Three Houses feels like the better game for me. The Engage maps are fun and there are some good mechanics. I don’t think they’re Conquest level maps but they’re still solid. Really enjoyed Griss’s teleporting map and the final battle thematically (even if I think gameplay wise, it’s bland).

However, the Paralogues are an absolute pain because they’re mostly faithful recreations of the originals, and I do enjoy the nostalgia since I’ve played them all, but if it wasn’t fun in the original, it’s not fun here. Horses and Fliers still dominate even if Backup Infantry is very good. It just becomes painful to travel like say, Camilla’s DLC map or Lyn’s Paralogue unless you have high Movement (which is, again, a problem of faithfully recreating maps) and others like Corrin’s are boring even if there’s a gimmick.

Like thematically it makes sense but gameplay? Eh…

And the skill system itself being locked behind Tempest Trials, SP, and post-game is awful. Unless you are on Normal/Hard for Skirmishes to grind/cheesing SP with Great Sacrifice, you’re getting one really good skill or two okay ones at best. They made Tempest Trials worse than FEH’s too because the maps are tedious and you can’t auto easily

Emblems are broken of course, and you can clear Maddening without inheriting skills, but it just feels horrid that key mechanics are locked behind a grindy mode (Crystals) or to post-game (SP books). Not to mention the problem of Emblems being busted.

Like do not use the DLC Emblems or weapons if you want a decently hard game. Camilla breaks the game and I made Dimitri 2 on a flying horse with Alfred (70-105 dmg per round with Pair Up and Canter + forged Spear and forged Fensalir). And Soren is basically broken because he allows for baiting bosses like Lyn does.

Even the base game Emblems are gamebreaking (Ex. Lyn!Kagetsu who can use clones to chokepoint entire areas with dodgetanking).

They give you a lot of tools, but the most fun is early to mid game imo. And Paralogues themselves are way too backloaded. It was a pain to play them.

And the story itself has a lot of cute callbacks but it’s like…the pacing is bad. Really bad. I enjoyed the cast and my favorites were Zephia and Alfred, but this is worse than Three Houses by a large bit (and you generally don’t expect games to backslide on new installments).

And this is very much personal preference but I prefer Three Houses Skill System because it feels like you can actually build units and not just slap Emblems onto them + you’re forced to use new units each route if you don’t recruit. It just feels more thoughtful at times even with Three Houses’s weaknesses.

While Engage returns to the normal formula of chapter recruits, the problem comes in of “why would I use this character if Emblems can patch up earlier ones that are weaker?” It’s a conundrum that makes it not worthwhile to use new ones unless they’re busted (Ex. Soren!Ivy or Micaiah!Hortensia) or you really like them. It’s not the same as with Nino or the other Ests of the series.

And the Somniel mechanics itself…they made the monastery but somehow worse, and I’m someone who liked the monastery. You get 10-20 glowing spots per visit, Arena is 3 sessions that you have to manually choose + can’t skip intro quotes, Sommie Pet and Feed are unskippable scenes (and I love Sommie), mini games will break your thumb even on Normal for the button mashing one, and so forth. Horrid after the novelty wears off.

Really feels like they saw that people liked certain mechanics and ideas from Three Houses and went “yeah let’s shove it in but make it worse.” Lumera just felt like a worse written and less complex Rhea too…

However, you can really feel the love in the game, and it’s a delight for series veterans like me for callbacks even if the gameplay suffers from bizarre decision making and poor story pacing. And some supports like Alfred/Céline are genuinely good imo.

Game is heavily censored though to the point of contrivance as a note. It’s to the point where they censored all of Alear’s age appropriate relationships with other 17-year-olds and left in the adults only as explicit romance. Or how Veyle’s S Support now makes 75% or so of the game’s story and motivations bizarre and even incoherent/weaker.

NOTE: I don’t care about fictional characters’ rights, but it’s funny because you know they were trying to sanitize the game but somehow made it “worse.”

I think Engage is a solid 6.5/10 or 7/10 for me which is not a bad score.

Ultimately, if you want a good story, pick up Three Houses, Tellius duology, or Genealogy. Awakening for a solid, if vanilla, story.

If you want Gameplay, pick up Engage or like Conquest. Three Houses isn’t bad map-wise, it’s just weaker and the fact you have to play the maps at least 4 times to get the full story.

[starsandsteelandbrokenglass]

October 2024 Reading Wrap Up

It sure is election night here in the US of A and certainly this isn't my attempt to maintain sanity at this time... Genuinely, I do feel like I might throw up. But, uh, the demise of democracy aside, October was a decent reading month at 7 books and ~2,800 pages. Here's what I read:

The Mask of Mirrors (Rook & Rose #1) by M. A. Carrick- 5/5 stars; I debated for a long time on whether to give this five stars or four and a half, but I really enjoyed the world building and the characters in the end

Hell Bent (Alex Stern #2) by Leigh Bardugo- 3.5/5 stars; it's been ages since I read the first book in this series, but other than the questionable Latin, this was pretty much on par with the first one, as far as I remember

Don't Fear the Reaper (The Indian Lake Trilogy #2) by Stephen Graham Jones- 4/5; maybe it's just because I'm better versed in horror film now, but this was actually a smoother and faster-paced and altogether more enjoyable read than the first one, imo!

You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce- 2/5; I was not on board with the fundamental direction this book took, which might be my fault more than anything else but idk, it felt kind of like a worse version of something like The Thirteenth Tale

Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles- 3.5/5 stars; I felt like I was fundamentally missing something about the ending, but the vibes were super unsettling and though sometimes repetitive, this was also genuinely frightening

Rouge by Mona Awad- 3/5 stars; satisfying ending, though the story as a whole wasn't super my vibe, and sometimes felt like it relied more on aesthetics than substance

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White- 4/5 stars; this was pretty dark but also quite good with great character portraits (if slightly startling pacing)

My favorite book this month was The Mask of Mirrors, though I enjoyed my spooky season reads!

Currently Reading: Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s by Kim Newton and And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

[pangtasias-atelier]

Any options on any of the characters changed or magnified during your replay?

For both fates and Sword of Seals, I feel like opinions haven't changed that much, but they have been magnified.

Also, I'm short on length about the fe6 cast cause they're all decent, they're not outstanding by any means in good or bad, so I'm like, I like them. Plus fe6 is for a lack of better words, underbaked.

For Sword of Seals:

I essentially used the exact same characters as my first run. The big difference was not focusing on magic for the most part, since I love magic and magic in FE6 is amazing. So I didn't use Saul, Hugh or Sofia at all.

I also went Elphin's route over Lalum's route, even though Lalum's route is unequivocally better. But I don't regret it cause Elphin is cute. I did also substitute my final cast, and as such, used Geese for the first time. Also used Sue for the first time.

I did end up taking advantage of prepromotes more this time around.

So I definitely appreciate, Elphin, Sue and Geese a lot more. Especially Sue who was the MVP with her range and getting lucky with her strength growth. Deke as well after seeing his cipher card👀👀👀

I do appreciate Lugh and Raigh just as much as I always did lol.

For Fates:

My general opinion of the cast is the same. Granted I've only replayed birthright so far, but the game is just so cut and dry with its morality that I kind of can't bring myself to really enjoy the Nohrian cast. And since I don't really enjoy them, getting bombarded by the sheer fan content of them makes me dislike them even more.

Though the main change is probably the Nohr royals?

For Camilla, since I now know more about her, and like she just could've been such a compelling and interesting character by actually focusing on how fucked up she became from her childhood. But no, boobs, is all Intys cares about from her so it's a shame.

For Leo, he's stipls not a bad character, but he just feels like such a half-baked version of Takumi. Having the entire sibling cast have foils(or knock offs really cause the siblings don't even act that different) in each other is just stupid and over the top imo, and Leo and Takumi being a pair when Takumi gets so much more screentime and relevance makes Leo feel like a worse Takumi.

Elise I just kinda like a bit less? She's not terrible, but her personality does come off as grating at times. Though it may be that I much prefer Sakura.

Xander I just still dislike lmao. He got ruined the worst by writing since his dialogue is so dumb in Conquest and in Birthright whatever he says still feels stupid. Not to mention the fact that game's writing keeps on sucking his dick in every route when it doesn't even feel warranted.

I do appreciate Orochi a lot more now. Her shtick being about divination leads her into a predicament that's similar to Gregor's accent shtick in awakening. Since it can't take up a support all on its own, they gotta give her some other stuff to talk about it a personality, so it really helps her stand out. Along with her fucking 15% speed growth in birthright where everyone is speedy.

[shauni-will-never-write]

Lovelyflierflorina sent me here saying you probably know more about Fates than her, so I want to know. Why do people like Camilla's character besides from fan service? I actually want to learn the reasons behind people's loyalty to her despite all the hate she gets.

Welcome! I don’t have a character analysis of Camilla ready, so I’m gonna try and write a half-decent one for you :’) I apologize if hours have passed by the time I actually publish this…

*cracks knuckles*

First of all, I should say that Camilla is not a *good* character, as in she’s not your conventional good/nice girl, as you must be well aware of. She’s not even a well-written character. That’s the main thing I’m bitter about with Camilla, and I know it’s nothing new since I’ve seen many players complain about the same thing: Camilla is a character who had a lot of potential, but the focus on her fanservice aspect really harmed said potential. I LOVE her concept: motherly/family-oriented warrior goddess femme fatale. How awesome is that?

From the get go, I was really interested because the “motherly” aspect seemed to contradict the “femme fatale” side of her personality. Ever heard of The Three Faces of Eve? In short, it’s when you have a trio of female characters: one is calm, capable and sometimes motherly (the wife/mother), one is sexy and seductive (the seductress) and the last one is innocent and kind (the child). Even before Fates was released outside of Japan, I was intrigued because Camilla seems to be a mix of the wife/mother and the seductress… which seemed really odd to me. What was even more odd was that she somehow absolutely makes it work. She has the appearance and attitude of the Seductress, but the overall personality and interests of the Wife/Mother… and she’s got brawn on top of that! I know it’s probably nothing, but I found the concept really original and was amazed how well it suited Camilla. I had never seen a character like this before (or at least, not one who rocked it like that).

To me, she’s also a good example of a mentally unbalanced character, not a villain by any means but definitely not a saint either, capable of the worst if you push her too much, a woman who overcompensates for the lack of love she received as a child from her mother by doing her best to be a mother figure, warm and protective, to her younger siblings. Camilla is a lot of things, but after reading her supports with Zero, we can assume she will never be the mother her own mom was to her. I think it’s a decent explanation as to why she is such a doting mother hen (to an unhealthy level, even) to the Avatar, Leo and Elise: she wants to give them motherly love so they don’t suffer from the lack of it like she did, probably sort of compensates for her own lack this way, but also has no real idea of what healthy motherly love is. How could she? She never got any, she can’t rely on any role model. As a result, she overdoes it and doesn’t realize it. I believe her intentions are good and genuine, but in the facts she can easily come off as possessive and creepy. When she snaps in Birthright, it’s because she perceived Kamui leaving as a rejection of her love and efforts, a rejection of their family she cares so much about… From what we know from Leo and Elise (that she doesn’t leave her room, that she’s confused and tired, etc.), it’s clear that Kamui leaving made her very depressed… All she cares about is her family and it’s all breaking apart and none of her loved ones are safe. Camilla’s love for her family is unconditional: when she’s with you, she is with you, she will kill and bleed and die for you… and then you decide to side with Hoshido and, by the end of it, Camilla loses three siblings out of four. The concubine wars are over, she thought she wouldn’t have to lose anyone else, that she was strong enough to protect everyone– and then you go and do this to her. 

Wow, don’t you feel like a monster now.

While it’s a more superficial matter, I also really like her chara-design, despite her outfit. Yeah, it’s very fanservicey, but idk, I find it aesthetically appealing. The black and gold colors, her pretty shawl, her tiara both elegant (the fleur de lys) and threatening (the horns)… I also LOVE her hair and her cute cheeks. And recently, I’ve been appreciating her Fates art even more because, compared to how she is drawn in Heroes, her chest seems… average now. Camilla’s DESIGN is fanservicey, which is fine imo because it suits her character (if Setsuna had a fanservicey outfit, that would make no sense whatsoever), but her Birthright cutscene, which is pretty much all boobs, crotch and butt shots, OVERSEXUALIZED her. By that, I mean Camilla herself can not and should not be blamed for this cutscene: the way the camera treated her should be blamed. And you know what? Camilla being a sex-icon because sexyness sells is fine in itself, that’s nothing new in any media whatsoever… BUT where I have a problem is that it comes at the expense of her character. She is family-oriented, bloodthirsty, has severe attachment issues and was involved in the infamous concubine wars (see her supports with Zero), so she DEFINITELY had the POTENTIAL to be one of the most tragic, most grim and most interesting characters in the game… and yet this potential is never exploited. Unless you unlock her supports with Zero, the surface is not even scratched. Of course, I still love Camilla, I don’t blame her for this; I blame the game. I blame the game for not living up to Camilla’s potential, just like I blame it for the holes in its plot, for not giving the Avatar’s personality justice in the game narrative compared to their supports…

I think that’s pretty much all I had to say. Camilla’s character, or rather the way the game restricted her character and did not allow her to bloom (like every single other character haha…), is very much flawed, but I’m still all over her raw potential and the working contrast her personality offers, and how she has the traumatic past to back up her unhealthy attitude. If you consider her past is no excuse for her yandere-like behavior, you are most definitely right. Her reasons are not excuses, but explanations; and I think these explanations make sense.

Now, if you still don’t get why people like Camilla outside of her fanservice aspect, I can’t blame you ^^ There is more to her than a boob strap, battle panties and tasteless cutscenes, and her character has a lot of hidden potential, but in the end there is unfortunately not much to her when it comes to the actual game… There are definitely people who love her because she’s a beautiful half-naked woman with an axe, but there are also people like me who love her because, if you look a little closer, she is DAMN INTERESTING and could have been SUCH A WELL-WRITTEN CHARACTER.

Thank you for reading! I hope it wasn’t super boring ^^’

[clemlet]

Fates tips I discovered/created

For Revelations, an Elise!Kiragi is actually great if you train him as a Kinshi Knight (especially with a shining bow or a bolt naginata) then reclass him into a Basara.

Beruka actually doesn't suck as a Malig Knight. She's actually quite great if you use a Spirit Dust or two and an Arms Scroll to get her a better tome rank. Find a castle that has Rend Heaven for her and buy it for her. She works wonders!

You can't really pick a bad mom for Midori, but the best ones in my experience are Azura, Beruka, and Setsuna. Azura and Setsuna both give her a +7 speed modifier but negative defense. Beruka gives her mediocre speed but great defense and skill.

Laslow's marriage options in Revelations aren't great for him or Soleil. Hana is okay at best only because of Partner Sealing and passing down Astra/Swordfaire to Soleil. Azura and Mozu are great for him and make Soleil pretty good. Laslow also makes Shigure amazing in turn with high skill and luck.

Azama and Felicia are an incredible pairing. The great thing is, you can reclass Azama into an Apothecary, get the 2 skills, and promote him to a Merchant. Once you gain those Merchant skills, he can still function greatly as a Great Master. Passing down Profiteer to Mitama will benefit nicely. Mitama will also love getting Live to Serve from Felicia. Basically, you can build a powerful mage tank Mitama this way. She's great as a Strategist and Maid. Literally one of my best child units on Birthright.

Marrying Leo to Azura is more beneficial than one might think. Forrest benefits from Voice Of Peace since he's a supportive unit. Azura also has a decent magic growth. If you have access to DLC, Shigure makes an amazing Dark Flier this way.

Camilla and Xander have exceptional defense. They're probably going to be your main tanks on Conquest, as long as you keep Camilla away from arrows (unless you buy bowbreaker or have her get it by reclassing into sorcerer). Be warned though: Xander has lowish speed that's pathetic for a Paladin and Camilla's speed is mediocre at best (I think it caps at 29 as a Malig Knight). Their speed can be fixed with units like Kaze as their pair-up support partner.

Elise is actually ridiculously powerful. Her main problem is that she goes SQUISH like really easily. If you can keep her behind a wall of sturdy units and make sure she can't be range attacked by physical units, she'll be an absolute beast. However, she's an incredible mage tank because of her ridiculously high resistance stat/growth.

Camilla!Velouria is one of my best units. Period. Her strength, defense, and skill are absolutely killer. For some reason, she also has a speed asset (unlike her poor slow dad), so her speed is great, although it's nowhere near Kitsune speed. Basically, this version of her outright replaced Keaton in my Conquest file. Camilla gives her some pretty great resistance too.

No matter what, Selkie is pretty much a speedy glass canon. Anyone who could give her good defense is still not going to patch up her weakness by much. Honestly, Charlotte and Felicia are both solid moms for her if you want to amplify the glass canon role for her.

Charlotte and Benny are super underrated as a pairing. While being paired up, Charlotte gets a MAJOR defense boost from Benny (which can be combined with the Adamant Club for an extra +4 defense). Benny gets a good speed and strength boost.

Friendship sealing Elise and Sakura on Revelations is the greatest possible option for either one of them, imo. Sakura kicks ass as a maid (plus Live to Serve on her is incredible) and the Onmoyji class allows Elise to maximize her magic potency.

[bigklingy]

In case anyone wanted to know my (brief) thoughts on Fates.

So I got a comment on a Fates video asking if I ever did a “review” of some kind. I thought I might as well copy-past my reply here. Heres my dot-point thoughts on FE Fates. Just... try to be civil. I know everything about this game tends to spark flame wars. Gameplay: -In general, MUCH better than Awakening, especially pair-up. Skills are also nice, being less luck-based and more about flat stat boosts, and personal skills should be in every future game. -Class balance is a bit better. Generals and Snipers got much-needed improvements. Only class I'd call "overpowered" is Master Ninjas. (If they didn't have Poison Strike they'd be fine, but with it they beat both frail units AND bulky ones) -Unbreakable weapons are fine, and for the most part there's still strategy in weapon choice, perhaps even more so. But there are a few problems. Higher-level weapons have drawbacks too large, and Knives are almost completely inferior to Shuriken. Map Design: -Birthright, decent. Conquest, fantastic, nearly perfect. Revelation, bad. -Dragon Veins are a nice gimmick, especially when bosses use them too. -It’s hard to describe (and not really related to map design), but the world map in Birthright and Revelation feels lifeless and boring compared to the ones in Sacred Stones, Awakening and Echoes. Difficulty: -Birthright is a bit too easy. Its Hard should have been harder. Characters range from good to game-breaking. -Conquest is a bit too extreme in its difficulty. Conquest Hard is barely different from Conquest Lunatic. If they'd toned-down Hard to be more of an in-between of Normal and Lunatic, I'd like it better. Character balance is very good overall with the possibly exception of Camilla. -Revelation is all over the place. A few isolated maps are hard, the rest are as easy as Birthright. Many characters are TERRIBLY balanced on this route though.

-I like how higher difficulties aren’t just numerical stat boosts to enemies. Adding enemies, changing equipment, changing objectives, or even changing deployment locations. Please do more of this in future games.

-Lunatic mode is way better than Awakening’s. Less cheap luck-based difficulty. Though its exclusive skills are dumb. Supports/Pairings: -Gaining classes through supports adds depth. -A+ supports are confusing and clumsy. Opposite-sex siblings should be able to A+. You should not be allowed to A+ if you get no classes out of it. (e.g. Azura and Sakura) -Children feel awkwardly shoehorned in and should have been explained better. Paralogues are nice, but none of them have any story relevance. This game either should have had a time-skip or no children at all. -While children aren't as broken as Awakening, and Offspring Seals are great, we're back to FE4 style "some pairings aren't viable at all from a gameplay standpoint". Magic-focused mothers suffer greatly from this, as there are very few magic children. This is more a personal thing, as I pair more for story than gameplay. -I feel like the "every character can marry the Avatar" system hurt some characters/plot points this time. I personally think Gunter, the Hoshidan siblings, Midori, Percy and possibly Soleil should not have been able to marry them. -Before you ask, no, I don’t think Scarlet should have been able to marry Ryoma. I actually don’t like that pairing much. I do think she shouldn’t have been able to marry the Avatar on “that route” though. -Male Avatar can't marry a Gen 1 female without erasing one child forever. -Same-sex marriage totally inferior to straight marriage from a gameplay standpoint, erasing one/two children forever. Spoilers ahead. Also, mostly negativity ahead. Story: -All three routes aren't great.

-WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A NAME FOR THE CONTINENT.

-I am in a VERY small minority that thinks Birthright is worse than Conquest. It adds a ton of random, pointless deaths just to try and give it as much tragedy as the other routes. The final stretch of chapters I found unsatisfying. Sneaking inside the enemy castle so conveniently only evil people get killed is less epic than a full-scale invasion. And it makes Birthright the objectively morally-superior route when they were supposed to be avoiding that. Corrin's characterization is the best of all three routes though. -Controversial opinion: I'm not bothered THAT much about Conquest, it might actually be my favourite of the three. (But that's not saying much) But it suffers from contrivances just to cause tragedy, and the villains often "undo" anything positive Corrin does and can't be rebelled against until it's too late. The siblings shouldn't have been kept in the dark about their father. Corrin not killing things gets hard to believe, and all the "it's not black and white" speeches fall hollow when IT ACTUALLY IS. I disagree with Nohr being 100% evil though. I think the only evil Nohrians are Hans, Iago and Garon. Chapters 21 to 24 are some of my favourite moments in any FE game, though that might only be because the map design is so good. -Revelation is weird. It's the most "complete" route with the best ending, and lets you use everyone. But the plot often hinges of characters being idiots. Corrin here is imo the worst of all three versions, coming off as really stupid at times. The main villain has no backstory if you don't buy the Hidden Truths DLC. -I think Corrin should have been blood-related to the Hoshidan siblings. They not being breaks one of the themes of the game and feels like waifu/husbando pandering. It also requires weird plot contrivances. (Both Sumeragi and Mikoto must have been cheating on/with eachother at the same time??) -Character-wise, they're... okay. I feel like less characters are exaggerated stereotypes compared to Awakening, though they're still present. (Arthur, Peri, Odin) But none of the characters truly grabbed me as amazing. -The children aren't nearly as good characters as they were in Awakening, with only one or two not boring me to death. -Hans and Iago, on all three routes, are irredeemably terrible. Generically evil for no reason. -Controversial opinion: I kind of like Garon. But sort-of ironically. I find him hilariously over-the-top and fun. And he actually has a backstory unlike Hans and Iago. -The final Rev villain is a step up from Grima, but still not that great. (And with Grima's expanded backstory in Echoes, Grima might actually be better than him now) -Mikoto is killed way too early, she barely makes an impact. I like her on Revelation though, as I consider the phantom version of her an exaggeration of her flaws, thus.... giving her some. -Corrin is the worst Avatar so far, and possibly the worst Lord in the series. A lot of their character suffers from player-pandering and the plot bending over backwards to absolve them of any direct guilt in anything. Birthright Corrin is okay though. DLC: -From what little I've played, it's not as good as Awakening's. Hidden Truths is good though. -Grinding DLC suffers heavily from the scaling. At end-game, the only people who can kill the enemies in Boo Camp... are those strong enough to not need the exp anyway. That kind of defeats the point. I like that it's not effortless, but they went a bit too far. Overall: -Conquest has some of the best gameplay in the series by far. I hope future FE games follow its example in map design. -They tried to do a better story than Awakening, but it ended up even worse. Please hire the writers of Echoes to write future FEs from now on. -I like Conquest considerably more than Awakening for its gameplay alone. Birthright is better than Awakening gameplay-wise, but I found Awakening “deeper” overall. Revelation has more characters, but it’s got some big issues.

[slanax]

What do you think about the stat taker skills in Fates? Who could benefit? Is Benny more of a tank with defense and resistance takers?

Honestly, with them running off of kills I don’t think they’d be all that amazing on Benny since he doesn’t really kill things. Restaker on Xander though, now that sounds sweet as hell.

Deftaker would probably be best on Hero or Paladin Corrin since they’re kinda tanky, but not enemies-stop-attacking tanky even with the boost, and they have strong enough offense to actually get kills fairly easily.

Strtaker would probably be best on Kaze to get him into onerounding territory against bulkier enemies, though he could probably become a decent magekiller with Restaker as well, especially against the huge Sorcerer crowds of the late chapters.

Magtaker only really has two candidates, Leo and Niles. Leo gets kills easier, Niles needs the boost more. Honestly you could go either way with that one. Leo could combo it nicely with Lightning.

Speedtaker sounds decent on Leo too. Alternatively, Gazak or Camilla?

Skilltaker isn’t really worth it tbh. Maybe Gazak or Mozu to get more reliable crit rates? Their other skills are better imo.

Lucktaker isn’t really all that useful either. I guess Benny could actually use that one with a Bronze Axe to tank Berserkers? Alternatively, put Deftaker on Camilla and put Lucktaker on Corrin because swords. Either way, it lets you fight Zerkers more safely and that’s about it.

(Full disclosure, I never actually used any of those skills. This is pure theorycrafting)

[spiritgriffon]

Rachael’s Favorite FE Characters

Well, since I posted my favorite Pokemon... everything a while ago, I figured I’d post my favorite FE characters class-by-class as well! I’ll also post my least favorites.

The games I own are Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery on an emulator, Awakening, Heroes, all 3 Fates & Echoes. I’ve played a bit of FE4 too but I’m not far enough into it to pick favorite characters.

Favorite Lord:

Male- Chrom (He’s pretty vanilla but I still love me my Blueberry Dorklord)

Female- Erika (Who is not NEARLY as foolish as recent entries would have you believe. She’s quite a bit better than Celica at any rate- there’s no way she’d fall for fkn JEDAH)

Least Favorite- Ephraim (He’s such a... warmonger. There is no point in the entirety of SS where I go “Yes, he’ll make a good king!”)

Favorite Avatar

Robin! Robin’s the best. Robin has the best coat. Do I need to say more?

Well, I guess I’ll say too that Robin’s personality is quite a bit like my own, which is why I prefer Fem!Robin. I too, would relentlessly pelt Lon’qu with figs and, when faced with unwinnable odds would, just resort to a Big Fire™

Least favorite goes to... IDK, I want to say Kiran but Kiran can marry Navarre so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Favorite Cavalier/Paladin/Great Knight

Seth wins, but Xander and Berkut are close seconds. Seth/Erika is my ultimate FE OTP- they’re the only ones in the whole series I can’t even bear to pair with anyone else for a playthrough to get their supports. I like Xander/Corrin and Xander/Sakura quite a bit, but neither come anywhere close honestly. And Berkut is my angry garbage son~

Least favorite goes to Jagan. You honestly think I’m going to kill Frey who arguably has better stat growths than both Cain and Abel and keep you? Screw canon, off you go, old man!

Favorite Myrmidon/Swordsmaster/Trueblade

Joushua, obviously!

...

I mean, Navarre doesn’t really count because he’s my favorite FE character PERIOD. Besides Navarre, I like Joshua.

Least favorite is Marissa. Not that crazy about Mia either, but Marissa is just so inferior to Josh stats wise and while he’s tons of fun, she’s no fun at all. If she were in another game it’d different but Joshua makes her look really bad in comparison. Plus she took his spot in Awakening AND I’M STILL SALTY 4 YEARS LATER

Favorite Mercenary/Hero/Dreadfighter

Navarre in FE1

Ike!... Yes, I’m counting him here... Oh fine, Ogma then. They’re both big gay softies that are 40% pure iron muscle and 60% heart. I bet they give the best hugs!

(And no, I don’t believe Ogma’s “feelings” for Caeda are in any way romantic bc he met her when she was like 5 and he was probably 20. He probably feels like her big brother or father- which is equally impossible for him to express due to his lot in life. Plus, Marth never gets jealous around him, while he practically turns green around any of the other characters interested in her.)

(Oh, and I consider Soren to be the more canon partner for Ike over Sothe and Ranulf bc Priam is a thing and I’m like 70% sure Soren is supposed to be trans. And yes, there is a canon lesbian whose name is currently escaping me & Sothe is canonically bi, they just went with the “heavy implied to the point of being basically irrefutable” route instead of outright stating it, so it is VERY possible Soren is trans. I like all 3 ships tho)

Least favorite is... The dude from SS. I can’t even remember his name. He’s the only freaking mercenary in SS and his personality doesn’t do anything for me.

Favorite Knight/General/Baron

The Black Knight of course! His writing is bit... a lot of a mess, but you can’t deny how badass he is.

On a less villainous note, Forsythe is pretty cool too.

Least favorite is... IDK, was there one in Awakening? I thought there was one on the cover but he’s so forgettable...

Favorite Archer/Sniper/Ballistician/Bow Knight/Hunter

Tacomeme :)

Leon is also pretty cool, but he’s not nearly as useful in-game. I like Niles too! But I’d be lying if I said a good part of that wasn’t bc of Takehito Koyasu and his sexy voice rip

Least favorite is Faye in Heroes Python’s inability to hit the broad side of a barn Zero’s stupid name change to Niles Innes. His stats are nice but his personality rubs me the wrong way.

Favorite Pegasus/Falcon Knight/Sky/Kinshi Knight

Probably Claire! I didn’t expect to like her much (I got Maribelle vibes at first), but she really grew on me throughout the game and her supports. I love the way her friendship with Alm was written- if it had evolved into a romance I would have found it believable, but it’s one of the VERY, VERY few times I think IntSys has handled a one sided crush on the main character well.

Least favorite is... Probably Cordelia. Like I said, VERY few times. (Vanessa, Sumia, Syrene, Palla, Catria, Est, Hinoka, Subaki, Tanith and Sigrun all tie for second to last. This is... not my favorite class.)

Favorite Dracoknight/Wyvern Rider/Wyvern Lord

Hmmm... I would say Camilla, but my headcanon version of her is quite a bit different from the way she actually is in canon lol. So... Probably promoted Caeda. Minerva is utterly useless on the battlefield, unfortunately, and I like Caeda about the same as Clare so I put her here.

I guess I like Haar, Jill, Cormag, Gwin, and Valter (As a villain, not as a person) somewhat too.

Least favorite has to go to Beruka. I find her... bland.

Favorite Villager/Recruit

AMELIA THE GENERAL IS COMING THROUGH! MAKE WAY, MORTALS

Do I need to say who my least favorite is? Do I really need to?

It’s Faye. Because... she’s Faye.

Favorite Thief/Trickster/Assassin/Rogue/Ninja

That has to go to Julian! He’s very similar to Gaius, but instead of candy, his thing is puns. Fun fact: I have a blood sugar condition similar to diabetes IRL that makes me unable to eat sugar, so Gaius just made me crave sweets I can’t have most of the time :/

Second place goes to Gangrel or Rennac. Gangrel is actually my second favorite character to romance in Awakening due to his great redemption arc in his supports with both Robins & his talks with Em in the DLC, and IMO he makes the second best dad to Morgan (And yes, I have ALL of male Morgan’s supports with his fathers, yes, it was boring, repetitive, and took hours, and yes, the only one I like better is Chrom), and Rennac is just... so hilariously cranky. They also both go in the “They deserved better in their endings” bin- Rennac can’t marry L’rachel despite their great chemistry and Gangrel flat-out dies if you don’t marry him.

Least favorite... I guess Nina. I never found her very funny.

Favorite Cleric/Troubadour/Valkyrie/Bishop/War monk

Elise! She is... one of two healers I like. In the entire series.

The other is L’rachel.

And Sakura, Lissa, Natasha, and Rena I... don’t particularly dislike.

I don’t like any others. Tat/iana is the worst of the bunch. Tat/iana is actually my least favorite character in the series

Favorite Fighter/Pirate/Warrior/Barbarian

Maybe... Vaike or Ross? Or Boyd? Basilio? Wow, there aren’t any I really like a lot. Guess this is my least favorite class.

My least favorite of all HAS to be Arthur though.

Favorite Mage/Monk/Dark Knight/Sage

Soren! He’s really well written. At first he comes off as a racist asshole, but as the game goes on & you get his supports, he proves himself to be a really great, three-dimensional character. And he’s so gay for Ike. Like, so, so gay.

Least favorite is all of the little red-headed boys that are clones of each other. Except maybe Ewan, because he’s actually useful in-game. Most of the others aren’t.

Favorite Dark Mage/Sorcerer/Summoner/Necromancer/Druid/Witch/Cantor

LYON!!!! Oh man, I don’t want to spoil exactly what happens but suffice to say that he is my FAVORITE antagonist in the series.

My least favorite is either Validar or Iago... I don’t know which to pick. They are how NOT to do a decent sorcerer villain in FE. But all of the Cantors in Echoes also get a special mention for being FREAKING ANNOYING.

Favorite Manakete/Dragon Laguz

Tiki- particularly young Tiki! She’s so sweet... and badass!

Least favorite... ugh, I have to say Myrrh. I do like her, but her uses of Dragonstone are so limited that you can barely use her and while she’s just as cute as Tiki, she’s not nearly as tough. She also has a lot sadder story than Tiki- she’s a really good character, but she just doesn’t make me feel bubbly and happy when I see her the way Tiki does.

Favorite Beast Laguz/Bird Laguz/Taguel/Wolfskin/Kitsune

All hail King Naesala! He’s another character that brings a smile to my face when I see him-and that’s saying quite a bit, since he has a pretty serious story. This man oozes personality- He shows up on screen and you know he’s there to kick the world and rule the ass. And no, that’s not backwards.

Honorable mention to Reyson- every time these two are on screen together you know that Reyson is about three seconds from punching Naesala right in the nose, never mind the fact he’d probably break every bone in his tiny, fragile fist. The fact that Naesala’s only paired ending is with Reyson’s sister is just hilarious to me.

I guess my least favorite is Lyre... She sort of feels like she’s just there to have one more playable character to me, since she has so little bearing on the story.

Favorite Dancer/Singer

In terms of personality, supports, and gameplay, Feena is far and away my favorite. However... I’m honestly not a huge fan of her design, so in terms of appearance, Azura, who I personally think has one of the best designs in the series, takes the cake. The fact she has such a catchy theme song is a huge bonus too!

Tethys gets the last spot because she’s completely useless in battle. I’ve heard Ninian can’t fight either but she boosts your stats- why did they give Tethys the shaft so badly?

Favorite Lancer/Soldier

And finally... ending this on a weird one. See, neither Nephenee nor Oboro do anything for me- I don’t dislike them, but I don’t particularly like them either. So, I guess this one goes to Azura!