Bowbow

It's different compared to most games in the series but since you've only played Awakening before it's not that bad. It's a fun game with cool mechanics you won't find in other FE's. Plus the characters are amazing.

Bottling things up and keeping some stuff to herself has always been a part of Celica's character, even as a kid and it kinda makes sense given she's been the target of assassinations. Alm, Mae and Kliff confirm this. It's not OOC by any means. Her character doesn't regress in chapter 4 but her circumstances do given as she has to shoulder more responsibility and burdens. The pressure starts to get to her hence the seemingly "OOC" moments like the "Nobody knows how I feel!" line. She firmly believes it's her duty and burden as Zofia's princess and one of the two brand bearers to fix this mess. She puts her neck on the line so others don't have to. This is one of her main character flaws. She clearly trusts the people traveling with her but she doesn't want to burden them. And honestly, telling Saber, Mae or whoever about her plan wouldn't have done much so there's little strategic value there. And on the whole jedah thing. The first time they meet, Celica is outright wary and doesn't trust him.

Is this still on going? I'd love to see Fernand's profile.

Alm I like him. He's like Ephraim without bordering on being kinda Gary Stu-ish. He can be kinda reckless and won't back down from a fight, but can be kind and level headed, though his kindness has limits and isn't afraid to speak his mind or criticize something or someone. I also like that he's just some backwoods kid that wants to prove himself in an unfair and structured world which is very relatable. Celica I like her a lot. Best female lord and one of the best overall imo. People who write her off as just pink Eirika or generic dumb/naive anime princess are being extremely disingenuous. She's bold, confident, has her own set of morals, and is willing and able to make sacrifices for the greater good at the cost of her own happiness. That last point reminds be a lot of Marth (another favorite and at times underrated lord). Take his quote: "I am a prince before I am a son or brother.” Celica is the last true living member of the Zofian royal family and thus in her point of view, she has a duty and responsibility to her people as their princess and that comes first and it's something that weighs very heavily on her and it's something that people who criticize her in act 4 don't understand. Both her and Marth go through terrible shit and suffer so much loss when they were younger, all of which hardened them as a person. I also like that her character flaws are actually relevant and bite her in the ass in some points. She has a slight martyr complex and has a tendency to bottle up her emotions at times. Overall she's a very complex character with a lot of layers.

Not really, it's merely a rumor according to the woman in the castle. It's not like she's 100% confident. Either way, the rumor still matches up with the events that Celica was in Ram for at least a year. Alm and Celica do have a basis for friendship and being close. I'll admit it's a bit tropey though but it's ok because "they didn't stay long enough to make an impact."

About the whole "how long was Celica in Ram Village?" topic that people bring up a lot, while it's never explicitly stated, little bits of info help clear up a lot of stuff . When you liberate Zofia Castle in chapter 1, the woman inside says this: "They say all of King Lima’s children are dead now, so they do. Oh, but I’ve heard tale that one of ’em still lives… Her name was Anthiese. PRINCESS Anthiese! Juicy bit’a gossip that, eh? Story goes, the villa she lived in was set to blaze some ten or so years back. Folks thought she burned to cinders, but you know how tongues like to wag. Could be some brave soul up and saved her. Wonder where she ended up if so?" If this is true, then the whole incident where she and Mycen escape Slayde trying to murder her happened about 3 years before the prologue (since after the prologue Alm and Celica are separated for 7 years), which means the maximum amount of time Celica was in Ram Village was 3 years. Then it boils down to when Mycen brought her to Ram. Given that he had to take care of Alm as well, I doubt he was doing it in separate places. So at the very least Celica stayed in his life for 1 year, 3 max. Yes, there's Gray's line where he says Celica recently moved in, but that can easily be chalked up to them not really knowing of her until later. Based on Celica's and Alm's prologue lines (and later on in the game via commentary from others), Celica tends to keep her emotions and problems to herself unless she's close with someone. So we have young Celica, who is fresh off recovering from a brutal murder attempt, is initially unwilling to step outside and talk to the other kids. A lot of children who experience traumatic shit like that don't easily recover and I can buy that she was a shut-in initially. But then later we know by the time of the prologue that Celica is on first name basis with Alm, Faye. Gray, Tobin and Kliff. So what happened in between? Alm. What Alm does to get Celica to open up is understated. He takes the time and puts in effort to get to know this traumatized girl (who insulted him the first time they met) which isn't easy. It helps that Alm's slightly isolated upbringing made him curious about her as well. And it's obvious that she did appreciate all of his effort to be friendly since she likes to be around Alm to the point where their other friends feel a little jealous. Also, because of Celica's actual identity as Zofian royalty, I can also buy that Mycen purposefully hid her identity away from the others until he deemed it safe for her to roam around and interact in her identity as the new girl that "just moved in" like Gray says.

Can't really find any US sales yet but according to Reggie, Echoes is doing well. http://www.glixel.com/interviews/nintendo-of-america-boss-talks-comebacks-3ds-and-esports-w488029 " We saw people go to Fire Emblem Awakening, which arguably is maybe a bit more accessible compared to the rest of the Fire Emblem franchise. They went there, they went to Fates, and now Fire Emblem Echoes is doing well. "

Berkut and Zuko are hardly alike and are in completely different situations. Also, the latter was written to eventually turn into a protagonist.

Ignoring the whole "destined to go crazy like all dragons do" thing, Duma never really did anything wrong. He wants humanity to assert their own responsibility and be strong on their own without being reliant on gods. Also, he admits in hindsight that he and Mila taking the opposite extremes of the whole "Gentle touch vs Firm Hand" thing wasn't a good idea. That happened when Jedah banished Halycon and took control of the Duma Faithful, prior to that it was a lot less fanatical. Also, they're not the Grimleal and want Duma to destroy the world, they just want him to reign supreme over it. Most of the playable cast is Zofian. The only people from Rigel are Saber, Tatiana and Sonya. I guess you can maybe argue Conrad as well since he was raised in Rigel. There are plenty of villagers you interact with that are complaining about the supposed famine/drought and how everything is going badly due to Mila not doing everything for them. When in actuality it's all blown out of proportion because by them since Zofia doesn't look like a barren waste land and you can still get various foods and water across Zofia. Only difference is that Mila isn't magically doing all the work for them. Zofians just aren't used to hardship and toil, so even a minor problem will be magnified ten fold. There's also one villager in Ram that outright doesn't like Mila and another that admits this all happening because they're too dependent on Mila. This is taken to the extreme when Fernand's entire family, kids included, is put to the sword despite being treated well. Because as a few others have explained, going for Duma first would've led to his goal failing. He WANTS Zofia to hate him, so gets to kill two birds with one stone when he seals their god and makes their comfy lives a bit less comfy. Actually, he killed four birds with one stone since Lima being a dick and telling them to piss off when Rigel had a food problem of it's own gave him the perfect excuse to invade Zofia.

Rudolf was a master tactician and was playing 4D chess the entire time. Did you pay attention while playing the game? It's made extremely clear that Mila spoiled the Zofian's rotten and was the reason they turned into a kingdom of laziness and entitlement. To sum up the narrators own words in the intro movie: "they sank into depravity and degeneracy"

People are way too hard on Fernand I think. His entire family just got fucking murdered. Mom, dad, sisters, brothers. Children were killed. All by ungrateful people living on their land who were actually being treated well. They have the blood of children on their hands. What's worse is that it didn't accomplish a damn thing or magically end the famine going on in Zofia. Fernand loved his family and held similar views as Clive did towards the common folk and they back stabbed him. You're lying through your teeth if you say you wouldn't feel mistrust, anger and grief if the same happened to you.

I've noticed people tend to give other characters a pass for things that they use to hate on Faye. For example, Clair is a bitch to Gray in the C-support and B-support. And Tatiana doesn't really have much going for her character outside of "I love Zeke!"

Geez, get a load of this guy. And yes while they're not canon, arguments can be made that Clair/Alm and Saber/Celica have good chemistry, especially the latter. In fact you could also make an argument that Alm/Celica feels terribly forced.

This is pretty much every FE.

Actually. We don't know the full details on Fernand's entire family getting killed. All we know is that the villagers decided to raid his estate and put everyone to the sword due to the famine that was going on. Whether Fernand's family was treating them poorly or the villagers were just huge dicks, we don't know. It's also worth noting that Clive speaks very highly of Fernand's family and calls his dad an honorable man, so I don't think they were being abusive to the villagers.