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gascon-en-exil · 2 years ago

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The History of Three Houses Saturation: An Impromptu Heroes Retrospective

I've been poking through the Heroes archives some more. There's been a predictable amount of wank over Engage's sales numbers, and its supposed poor performance is sometimes propped up by the fact that so far FE17 has only gotten a single Heroes banner. Ignoring of course that IS must plan out these banners months in advance, I wanted to take a look back and see just what the mobile game was putting out around the time that Three Houses launched.

In 2019, FEH released the following for Three Houses:

July: New Heroes banner, with both Byleths and the house leaders as well as Mythic Sothis

August: New Heroes banner, with Hubert, Petra, Mercedes, and Hilda, also Kronya as the GHB unit linked to the July banner and the Death Knight as the GHB unit linked to this month's

December: Seasonal winter banner including Sothis

And...that's it, actually. FE16 wouldn't get any more new units until March 2020. The units added in 2019 make a lot of sense considering that Three Houses is much more frontloaded in terms of its playable roster; counting all routes, the player has access to 25 of its 40 characters by Chapter 1, and Sothis, Kronya, and the DK are all revealed fairly early (Kronya less so, but the two large reasons that she was the game's first GHB unit go without saying). The two banners combined account for whales who chose any of the three houses, with the leader and a wide-appeal(?) waifu option available for each of them.

It's tough to compare because FEH was less structured the first year of its launch, but this is in fact more restrained than how hard IS pushed Echoes in 2017 which got four banners within the first two months of its release. Looking at that, it's little wonder that Valentia doesn't have enough for even one more new heroes banner at this point.

Now, as for 2020:

March: New Heroes banner, with Ferdinand, Bernadetta, Annette, and Lysithea, also the Flame Emperor as the GHB unit

April: Legendary Edelgard

July: Seasonal summer banner, with Duo f!Byleth/Rhea, Dorothea, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Lorenz as the TT unit

August: Brave banner with CYL 4 winners which was swept by Three Houses: the house leaders plus Lysithea

October: New Heroes banner, with Seteth, Flayn, Catherine, and Shamir, also Nemesis as the GHB unit as well as Legendary Dimitri

December: Seasonal winter banner including Bernadetta and Hilda with Felix as the TT unit

That's twenty-four new units from a single game in a year. It's easy to understand why Three Houses fatigue would be setting in, especially when combined with the pandemic and this being more or less when the discourse got infamously bad. But the oversaturation got even worse in 2021:

January: Seasonal desert banner including Harmonic Dorothea/Lene and Raphael, also Mythic Seiros

February: Legendary Claude

March: New Heroes banner, with Linhardt, Dedue, Ingrid, and Marianne, also Solon as the GHB unit

May: New Heroes Fallen banner including Edelgard and Dimitri

June: Seasonal summer banner, with Duo Hilda/Marianne, Caspar, Ashe, Mercedes, and Leonie as the TT unit, also Legendary m!Byleth

August: Brave banner with CYL 5 winners including Marianne and the Gatekeeper

September: New Heroes banner, with Yuri, Constance, and Hapi sharing a banner with a Heroes OC, also Balthus added to the standard summon pool and Aelfric as the GHB unit

October: Seasonal Halloween banner including Duo Sothis/m!Byleth and Rhea

November: Seasonal ninja banner including Shamir as the TT unit

December: Seasonal winter banner including Harmonic Lysithea/Lute, Manuela, and Ignatz as the TT unit, also Legendary f!Byleth

That's thirty-one units, with only two months out of the year not getting any new Three Houses content. One of those was also the notoriously meta-centralizing Fallen Edelgard, plus I think this was the first year to have a bunch of Reddit drama related to her alts with A Hero Rises? That's not really what I'm looking at here.

I've looked into this this far - might as well finish it up with how 2022 fared. This was the year that Hopes released, so there was some new-ish Fódlan content to pull from at last. I'll go ahead and throw what we've gotten so far of 2023 in here too:

May: New Heroes Fallen banner including Rhea

June: Seasonal summer banner including Harmonic Edelgard/Altina, Dimitri, and Claude

August: New heroes banner with CYL 6 winners including f!Byleth, also Jeralt as the GHB unit

September: New heroes banner with Ascended Hilda (uses her Hopes design), m!Shez, and Monica, also f!Shez added to the standard summon pool and Holst as the GHB unit

October: Mythic Arval

December: Seasonal winter banner including Dorothea and Annette using their Hopes designs, also Legendary f!Shez

January 2023: Seasonal desert banner including m!Byleth

March 2023: Seasonal spring banner including Bernadetta and Ashe, also Legendary Yuri

April 2023: New Heroes banner with Rearmed Ingrid (uses her Hopes design), Felix, Sylvain, and Rhea, also Cornelia as the GHB unit

May 2023: New Heroes Fallen banner including f!Byleth (based on Hopes)

A mere fifteen units in 2022, and ten so far in 2023. This gives Houses/Hopes 93 units so far - more than any other individual game aside from Awakening (which is only slightly higher at 97) and Fates (a hefty 129). Both those games have larger playable rosters and were pushed hard in FEH's early years to the point that people also complained about it, so FE16's oversaturation is impossible to ignore.

I very much doubt that it will get another New Heroes banner this year...not because there still aren't candidates but because there's exactly one Agarthan with a unique portrait (Thales) they haven't used as a GHB unit at this point. Seasonals are always a tossup, although I'm wondering if Fódlan can carry a summer banner for the fourth(!) year in a row when the only remaining high-value waifu IS has left to stick in a swimsuit is...um...Petra, I guess? Unless they go with church units - and Rhea's already been put in a bikini - or the Wolves, all the rest are the type to go for more innocence fanservice appeal, like Bernadetta and Lysithea. We can safely say at least that IS has been treating Hopes like an expansion pack after its single banner, using it out only for some seasonals, a limited selection of Legendaries (m!Shez incoming at some point, probably), Mythics (...this one's pretty much just Arval), and Fallen units (I fully expect Fallen m!Shez next year) and for easy Ascended/Rearmed designs, in the same way that the post-timeskip Houses designs seem to be reserved for Legendary and Brave units.

How much does any of this reflect on Engage? Probably not much, really. It's nowhere near as frontloaded in terms of units so IS can't dive too far into the roster for characters like the Brodians and Elusians without getting into spoiler writing territory, whereas both FE15 and FE16 had multiple starting groups to pull from for early banners. As I mentioned re: Valentia, they may have also learned that adding a bunch of new units in quick succession is an easy way to struggle to fill out new banners in the future and draw the ire of some of the fanbase at the same time. I do expect another Engage banner in 2023, although it'll probably be in the second half of the year. Maybe they'll be used more in seasonals? The Awakening-and-Fates-esque vibe of FE17 better lends itself to goofiness like the summer and Halloween banners, and if they do thieves again in August that'd be a sure way to slip in fan favorite Yunaka before she's scheduled for a regular banner.

#Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem Heroes #FEH

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gascon-en-exil · 3 years ago

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Dark Deity Pre-Release Character Opinions

This isn't actually a tier list, but someone helpfully created a template for this game and it's as good a way as any to do a little visual showcase for this cast. Characters are listed by their class sets, which are fixed but offer a nice variety in terms of promotion options. My opinions on each are as follows, from left to right in each row. Most characters have introductory profiles written up on the DD subreddit, if you'd like to check them out yourself.

Warriors

Alexa

You know those buff female blacksmiths in Echoes and Three Houses that some people wish were playable characters? That's pretty much Alexa. Can't say I'm too hyped about her myself, but warrior + tomboyish female character will do that for me...or not do it, I suppose.

Benji

Seems to have been written to become a meme, and I still can't decide whether that's clever or stupid. Kind of like Raphael only with a bigger emphasis on training than on eating, and with brotherly devotion replaced with brotherly angst that might theoretically go somewhere if the character isn't reduced to being a goofy joke all the time.

Fenton

Doesn't have a character profile, so as far as I know he's just a generic dwarf because DD swaps out its inspiration's loli dragons and other vaguely fetishistic shapeshifters for the two most cliché non-human races in Western fantasy. I wonder whether his VA will voice him with a Scottish accent, to go all in on the (ironic?) laziness. There are a handful of elves in the playable cast, but Fenton is the only dwarf so for better or worse he's representing.

Helena

She's the embodiment of the FE exotic swordswoman archetype, but curiously DD seems to have turned that broad ethnic brush inward. Helena's last name is apparently a Japanese verb, her art shows her with a spear (as in the association of the naginata with women), and she studied and trained in a monastery that seems to blend elements of Buddhism and Shintoism. Not sure how all that fits into the larger setting yet, but at this point she's still got more background development than Petra.

Irving

Our Hero, the one front and center on the cover art. He sounds a bit on the blander side as far as lords or lord equivalents go, with his most promising hook for me being his established friendship with Garrick (see the ranger section). At best I can hope for a bit of a romantic friendship dynamic, although they sound a bit rougher overall as they're military academy schoolmates I wonder why DD went with that instead of lordlings of different territories.

Rogues

Brooke

Looks like Camilla; has a backstory like Niles. Cleavage aside though the sexual element of both is toned down here, and there might be some sapphic bodyguard shenanigans to be had as her current employers are a pair of highborn sisters further down this list.

Cia

For some reason she reminds me of Tressa from Octopath Traveler, only bustier and a bartender rather than a merchant. She's still just a small town girl with big city dreams, and this being a tactical war game following those dreams will inevitably involve stabbing people.

Corvan

Hard to judge him at the moment, as his profile was only the second written and so isn't terribly detailed. He's a moon elf with scholarly interests, apparently. Still, as of right now he's the only rogue who doesn't slot loosely into either a ninja/assassin or pirate aesthetic, so that's kind of neat. Also, he's one of several characters to have FEH-esque beach fanart made of them already, so clearly someone's into elf twinks.

Ford

A former officer at the military academy Irving attends and a smuggler who dotes on his niece, Ford has major dad energy. Per developer reveals he's also bi, and as I mentioned before I'm totally fine with that. More bear sex, please - but what guy in this cast would hop in the sack with Ford? Only time will tell. His personal skill makes him extra dodgy, which combined with the mug of booze in his art makes me think of WoW brewmasters who dodge-tank through the power of being wasted.

Wren

Like Brooke, he's an assassin from a foreign nation - in his case the same one as Helena so presumably he's a not!Japanese ninja. I'm not really feeling him at the moment. What is it about Hao'Fen (the city/territory he and Helena come from) and massive families? That comes up in both their backstories.

Rangers

Caius

I feel like this is the third or fourth character to grow up in some slum or other; at least they've all been in different towns so far. The relative rarity of noble characters is certainly different from FE, but it reduces the political stakes which leaves me wondering a bit about the story. Anyway, Caius is a small town desert hunter who learned how to make arrows out of animal bones. How aerodynamic is bone, I wonder?

Garrick

Irving's BFF and seemingly the Hector to Irving's Eliwood, only with more flirting (his intro doesn't specify that Garrick is flirting with women, but I'm not going so far as to say that indicates anything). He's the academy headmaster's son, with a strained relationship with his father for some of that hotheaded lead tension. Notably, his VA is the one I'm most familiar with in this cast, as he's the voice of Revali from Breath of the Wild as well as love interests in two different erotic gay dating sims I've played. In other words, I know what this guy sounds like making awkwardly simulated sex noises...and I have no idea what to do with that information.

Maeve

She's a half-elf with a very storied background, so much so that it's all rather hard to follow her exploits when little of what's being described has been fully revealed yet. I'm expecting her to be a mid/lategame recruit, unless she's dropped in early on to reveal that (sun) elves exist or something.

Rose

Imagine if Bernadetta were a commoner, although we can only hope they'll be less screaming. Alternatively, Neimi without an obvious boyfriend. She won the beach contest so now she has official swimsuit art, which I guess makes her a top-tier waifu in the eyes of players who care about such things.

Sophia

A ranger in the "has animal companions" sense, although whether that will come into play mechanically aside from her personal skill - Butter the ferret can attack with her! - remains to be seen. Her preference for the company of animals is explained by a lack of social graces, so prepare for klutz-related humor. Of note to those interested in F/F is that her introduction specifically brings up her connection with Sloane (see the mage section) and how close the two of them are.

Clerics

Faust

Doesn't have a profile yet, so not much to go off other than his decidedly unhinged look. The cleric class set does feature some darker-flavored options, so presumably he's more naturally aligned with those. His VA was announced to be the YouTuber behind So This is Basically Fire Emblem and other similar videos, so I'm picturing a kooky and somewhat demented Henry type.

Lincoln

Also lacks a profile at time of writing...clerics get so little love. The Discord has identified him a bland blond paladin sort, but as we know from the likes of Perceval and especially Dimitri that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be boring (or not gay).

Maren

The soft-spoken healer type, and also a childhood friend of Garrick although her intro sibling-zones him but then this game is inspired by FE so who knows if that'll stick. She may have some interesting thoughts on the theology of the setting, as there seem to be several faiths and she's said to have a complicated relationship with her own. I will be utterly shocked if she's not either Irving or Garrick's eventual love interest.

Samara

One of two princesses of the country of Aramor, which appears to be loosely inspired by the Middle East. Heaven help us if the Khalidstans ever get wind of this game. Unfortunately aside from her bond with her older sister (in the mage section) and the knowledge that Brooke has been hired as their bodyguard there's not much to Samara at the moment. Hopefully the clerics all do some comparative theology in their bond conversations, and this isn't like Sacred Stones where none of the clergy characters from different countries ever compare notes. The succession crisis involving Samara and her sister vs. their less-loved cousin the king's son might be a major plot hook? It's still too early to tell.

Vesta

Much like Maeve her backstory has entirely too much going on to really follow at the moment. Basically she's a human who grew up in a sun elf city because Reasons (seriously, I don't know what they are) and was called to a clerical vocation and also something about taking a journey. Has an unfortunate case of silly boob armor, which unlike a certain other character probably won't be rectified this close to release.

Mages

Alden

Maren's precocious younger brother, also basically Ricken up to and including the comically oversized hat. As a unit he follows the tradition of Donnel, Mozu, and Cyril of having a personal skill that buffs his stat gains, so it's safe to say he's a growth unit. At least he'll probably join early.

Liberty

Comes with dead brother angst and a connection to the "aspects" system that will hopefully make more sense once I've played the game and know how it functions both mechanically and from a storytelling perspective. Otherwise she looks to be a busty older - as in, not a teenage - mage in the vein of Calill.

Monroe

Got the first ever character profile, so it's really short. He's the son of a duke and sounds like a bit of a snob, albeit one that can make explosions happen to back up his haughtiness. He's got some scarring around his eye that surely must come with a story. Someone also made featured fanart of him in Heroes summer banner style, so I guess he's got somebody horny already.

Sara

Samara's half-sister, with comparable fantasy Middle Eastern flavoring. Has an interest in discovering magical artifacts and being a just ruler in the event she winds up on the throne (so, almost definitely), and she and Samara travel around with the assassin Brooke as their bodyguard. There's maybe some lesbian possibilities there? Either way, Sara has enough development where I could see her as a major supporting character.

Sloane

Comes with a genuinely fascinating backstory involving manipulative double-crossing parents, an education in the cruelties and deceptions of social life (reflected in her personal skill), and disinheritance - and yet it's all likely to be overshadowed because she may go down as DD's equivalent to Fates's face-touching. Her initial art is even more revealing than Camilla's, and while the developers later gave her a more modest redesign after negative feedback I get the feeling that this controversy may live on. Her introduction mentions her hunting for both heirs and heiresses and she's now been linked to Sophia, so safe to say she's another confirmed bi character.

Adepts

While the other class sets are standard fantasy fare adepts require a bit more explanation. They have innate magical abilities and appear to be feared and distrusted most places in the setting. Functionally they remind me of adepts from the Golden Sun series, if anyone is familiar with those games. The classes in the adept group tend more toward physical/magical hybridization than those of other sets, so that will probably be their mechanical niche. Oh, and their default weapon type is lances, which is a plus in my book.

Aurima

Along with Caius and the royal sisters, he's another one from the desert nation of Aramor. An arena fighter who got touched by a god in what I assume was a non-sexual way and came out of it with a new appearance and adept powers. Also, he's confirmed to be over 40 - how often do you see that in games like this?

Bianca

Looks like a more carefree Mathilda from Echoes. She's a ranking officer in the Delian army which sounds like it'd sit uneasily with her adept powers. Her profile describes Lincoln as her close friend, which is still about the most we know about him at this point.

Elias

This guy's writing plays more into the fairly standard coding that comes with adept powers, as we know they manifested shortly before he was going to confess his feelings to a male paramour and afterwards he was forced to flee his homeland and wander the world. He also spent time among dwarves, so insert short bear jokes here? In the present he's attached to Cia in what seems to be a platonic way; maybe she's a fruit fly, or maybe she just likes having a friend who can light drunken assholes on fire? Elias is definitely into guys, but I would still be a little surprised if he turned out to be totally gay as that's such a rarity in these sorts of things.

Iris

Oof, another lengthy and rough backstory. Iris had better parents than Sloane, but she also had to deal with permanent facial scarring (hence the mask) after a bandit kidnapping and the stigma of manifesting as an adept pretty much eliminating the prospects of her making a good political marriage. Also, she and Elias both come from Neullais, which is prominently featured on the continental map on the DD subreddit but doesn't seem to come up all too often in backstories. I think it's a not!France? Hard to tell.

Thae'lanel

A World of Warcraft blood elf, flowing anime hair and apostrophe'd name and all. I like WoW so that's not terribly grating, but as he has no profile yet there's little else I can say. Thae'lanel is mentioned in Maeve's introduction as a member of a sun elf group called the Exiled, which I'm guessing is tied to his adept status in some way. He and Maeve form yet another adventurer/bodyguard duo.

#Dark Deity #Fire Emblem #Well it's sort of FE

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