Balthasaurus

I keep seeing that phrase used quite frequently to describe the differences between the perspectives of newcomers and veterans to the series. Older fans are put off from the new games due to the changes they made to the series, such as the avatars, new support mechanics and non-realistic characters; newer fans don't want to get into the permadeath and older mechanics, because it would involve abandoning the things that make them love the series in the first place. However, I generally think this is an unfair way to describe things. While it is true that many veterans dislike the newer titles and conform to the stereotype, it seems many have enjoyed those games for their own merits. And in my personal experience, I have never met a newcomer who is opposed to playing an older FE game just because they're boiled down to the basic staples of the series. As someone who's first game was Awakening, I really to play one of the GBA or Tellius games, but don't currently have a way to. So, while I definitely agree that the newer games like to do things their own way, and that everyone is entitled to a different informed opinion on where the series has gone in recent years with the influx of new players, I don't really feel as though this mentality of "two fandoms" is particularly true. Anyone else care to share their thoughts? I'm off to go replay Echoes.

Note for everyone! I've added some extra info about my pairings to the topic description, so check it out!

I paired Stahl with Sully. I know it's not the best for optimising Kjelle, but I don't really like her anyway. I just thought it would be nice to pair the two cavaliers together because I use them together in battle frequently anyway and I liked that you could sort of pair the red knight with the green knight. They talked about the Bull and the Panther, which I assume is a reference to Shadow Dragon, and it would be cool for them to sort of restart a legend.

Well, I understand that canon for awakening tends to be confusing, as there are probably thousands of different marriage combinations, so I understand that it is all generally up to debate and everyone has their headcanon pairings.

Yeah, good point. Canonically, isn't Severa's hair colour red? Weird because it's impossible for her to inherit that from Cordelia. Can't do any thing about that though. Gregor is already married to Panne and I just married Ricken to Maribelle earlier today.

Oh don't worry about that. I'm playling on normal difficulty so I don't care about optimal pairing because they won't make too much difference. Thanks for the help everyone! Robin, Frederick and Gaius all seem like good husbands for her then. I guess I'll just try out each of their support conversations and see which one I like the most!

At this point I'm having a tough time deciding. There are just too many support options for someone like me. Might be a good idea to pair Cordelia with Robin then, I'm always interested in finding out more about the characters; with all of the support conversations available I'm having a really tough time picking a favourite. I guess I'll probably pair Cordelia with my Robin if that is the majority vote. I should mention that this is actually my second playthrough of Awakening, but in my first I wasn't sure how the support system worked so I ended up with some really weird pairings, and all of my favourite characters died permanently. Therefore, I started again to try and increase my overall enjoyment of the game. Cordelia died in the first playthrough before being married.

Frederick seems like a good choice then, because I'm using male Robin (I never bother with character customisation and normally just use the default). I also heard elsewhere that Stahl would have been a good choice (something about a shared love of music?), but I already paired him with Sully. I know that that wasn't the best gameplay-wise because they both have the same class so Kjelle won't have great skills, but the two of them are both cavaliers so I thought it would be a good idea to pair characters who I would use in the same situations. And to be honest, I think I'd end up using Kellam much more often than Kjelle anyway, because he is one of my favourite characters. I also intend to just mess around with Virion and try and get as many supports with female characters as possible. His C- and B- supports with Nowi made me grin, but I'm settled on pairing him with Cherche for marriage.

*sigh* Hey, thanks for pointing that out. I'm probably just being difficult at this point, but I had planned to pair Virion and Cherche... Meh, I guess I'll keep looking around and figure something out. I intend to pair up all of the female characters so I have access to every unit in the game.

So, I have started playing Fire Emblem: Awakening (yes, I know, I'm pretty late to the party), and I noticed that Cordelia, despite having a crush on Chrom, isn't one of his support options. I'm new to the game and I'm playing on beginner mode, so I don't care about optimising the child units, but I'm wondering who can I pair Cordelia with and not get a depressing "I'll marry you even though I'm still attracted to Chrom" support conversation? Oh, and I've already married Stahl and Gregor. So it can't be either of those two. Edit: I guess I should list the pairings that I have already done, and the ones that I have planned, just so y'all can take a look. Already married: Chrom + Sumia, the game sort of pushed this one for me as I saw it in the opening and I though "Why not? The two of them are cute together." Sully + Stahl, the red and green knights; restarting an old legend. Gregor + Panne, because it becomes apparent that Panne has a crush on Gregor but doesn't want to admit it; Gregor gets her to open up her heart and release all of the pain that she has been hiding, and she feels happiness for probably the first time in her life. Ricken + Maribelle, the "saved you" trope, and both of them are young and belong to noble houses. Planned: Libra + Nowi, they are both orphans and Libra is good with children, so they naturally get along well. Henry + Tharja, their contrasting views on dark magic are pretty funny. And Noire needs a good father. Virion + Cherche, cuz they both already know each other and Cherche understands that there's more to him than just philandering. Olivia + Lon'qu, they're both shy and introduced to the shepherds by Basilio, and the thought of Inigo being Lon'qu's son sounds hilarious. Other than those ones, I haven't really made up my mind yet. Feel free to give me advice on ANY good potential pairing for anyone.