Why do you like/dislike certain characters?

[Loki Laufeyson]

Why I like Cherche:

1) Cherche has a great look. Her white clearic like headband recalls her past origins, and nicely contrast the rest of her outfit. It also interesting that she is former cleric, yet she wields the weapon of destruction in the axe.

2) Her design looks light, which is good because she does ride a wyvern after all. Her outfit has a nice wyvern theme to it, that kind of reminds me of Batman.

3) Her relationship with her mount is the best mount to rider relationship we have ever seen. It is wonderful to read how their relationship developed, and how it even was passed on to her son. This makes more meaning in Gerome's actions when you meet him in his paralogue., where he tries to set Minerva free.

Thumbs up! Cherche is great. Add snarky to that list and being feminine without losing any asskicking aspects, and there ya go!

[Camilla]

I like Sumia and Olivia the most because shy and clumsy personalities are my favorite for female characters. I like female characters to have a personality I can relate to, because I'm a shy/quiet and clumsy person myself.

I like Nowi simply for being insanely adorable. Her personality and pouty face is just the cutest to me.

I like Say'ri for both her design and how she presents herself. She's serious, well-mannered, and good at taking charge when she has to.

I like Gaius for both his design and his sweets obsession personality. I honestly find him to be just hilarious.

I like Inigo for being a shy male with a flirty personality to try to overcome his shyness. I normally hate flirty characters, but I think Inigo is a bit of a special case. He's like that to cover up how shy he is, and to me, that's really cute.

I dislike Severa because I HATE tsunderes with a burning passion. To me, they are the worst type of character.

I dislike Cordelia because I find her Chrom obsession even after she is married/supporting to just be flat out terrible. I also find it quite boring that all her character really has to offer is a perfectionist that is obsessed with a guy.

I dislike Tharja mainly for her design, but her personality bothers me too. I'm very picky about creepy characters, I either end up adoring them or loathing them depending on how they are presented. Tharja is an example of how not to do a creepy character in my opinion.

[RJWalker]

In all of my files, Severa is either forever alone or dead.

[LostInMyShadow]

Though some people may hate me for this, I can never like Sully. For some reason I just do not like her one bit.

[capocal]

I usually dislike characters because I don't know them well enough. The same is usually true for people as well.

For instance, I didn't like Gregor at first, but I didn't use him at all. But through his relationship with Panne and other supports, I realized he actually had more depth than some of the other males.

Sometimes it's just because I don't like certain traits. Vaike is conceited and arrogant, and as far as I know, whatever amusement that comes along with this isn't enough to redeem him in my mind.

[Anacybele]

I like Gregor's depth too, but sometimes he kinda disturbs me as well. xP

[FrostyFireMage]

Cherche is a cool lady. Her personality is nuanced enough despite having a gimmick and she proves that not all proper ladies have to be fragile flowers.

Inigo is a cool cat too. I like how he acts all flirty but secretly wants everyone to have a reason to smile.

Owain is just plain annoying, however. In his support with Brady I wanted to backhand him.

[Thor Odinson]

There's a few traits that I found I tend to dislike on characters by themselves but funnily enough my absolute favs actually exhibit those same traits I don't like

I guess I just don't like certain traits if it's the absolute central focus of the character AND without enough other depth to back it up.

I tend to dislike the womaniser archetype, but I really like Ezio and Tony Stark. Both Virion and Inigo actually do manage to pull off enough depth (esp virion) for me to be okay with them, though, but the same can't be said about most other FE womanisers.

I also tend to dislike arrogant characters, but both Thor and Altair exhibit this. However, they do get brought down a notch in their character arcs, and they also have the skills, and in Thor's case, being the strongest god in Asgard to back up that arrogance. Loki's also arrogant but he's the villain and it tends to be his downfall as well, so it's cool. On the other hand, Vaike doesn't really have much to back up his, and his speaking style irritates me as well. He doesn't really grow out of it either and there's not enough depth in him to counterbalance the arrogance.

I don't think there's any traits that's a complete dealbreaker, though, when it come to fictional characters, unless you're as foul as umbridge (and umbridge is a very well-written villain that we're supposed to hate, so), as long as there's enough depth to the character.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Ezio Auditore da Firenze

[BrightBow]

Gangrel and Tharja are effectively the only characters that win some points with me. Yes, Tharja is one of them.

I definitely didn't want a joke of a villain like Gangrel.

But... what I got wasn't bad either. He might be a joke but he is a fun joke, so to say.

Gangrel is fun incarnate. His portraits, dialogue, voice clips.
He is like the only actor in a bad movie who doesn't even try to give a serious performance and just decides to overact like hell and have fun. It's just such a enormous pleasure to watch him.

Tharja is a bit more difficult.
The thing is, that her obsession with Robin is not something that comes up a lot. Not even in any of her battle quotes.
(As opposed to someone like Kellam who references it with literally every action he takes.)
So despite her being punished with a moronic outfit and misrepresenting figurine, she actually ends up as a human being for the most part.
Of course, said human being is an evil jackass. But at least it's something.

Not to mention that it is because she is such an evil jackass, she ends up doing a good job in highlighting how forced the interactions between the units are.
Like when the guy who baseless accused Robin of being a Plegian spy not only never considers an actual Plegian mage to be a spy but even ignores her after she claimed to have assaulted him.
Or when she actually assaulted Stahl and creeps the hell out of him... and then Stahl just shows up in the next support as if nothing happened.

Not to mention, I think she reacts to most cast members like they deserve: With annoyed irritation.

That this is followed by violence is just a bonus.

And I have to say that in her environment, being evil actually does her favors to me.
Because the game's cast is supposed to be loveable and charming. People you would actually like to marry.
And yet they always act in battle like sadistic psychopaths, who get off on killing people.
She acts the same. But just like Henry, because she is supposed to be evil, I don't get the extremely disturbing feeling that I am supposed to find killing cute, charming and fun.

That's also the reason I pretty much dislike every other character by default.

Because they just have so much fun killing. Like they are merely beating someone at a video game.

But it's not a game. Not for the people living in that world. And not in a series that has always stressed that zero HP means death.

No K.O. No retreat. No injury or exhaustion. It means death!

Every time a enemy in this game dies, a son, a father, a husband (since all the grunts are male in this game) or whatever DIES. Leaving unavoidably plenty of sad people behind whose life is poorer for having that person taken from them.

The heroes just cheerfully kill those people like they were just stomping a Goomba.

And then they have the gall to demand that one feels sad for them when they die, after having danced on god knows how many graves.

I mean, I do have fun playing evil, violent people at times. Like Travis Touchdown in "No more Heroes".

However, those games make it clear that it's "hero" is a pathetic excuse of a human being.

But the people in this game are supposed to be good. People you would like enough to marry them.

The disregard of life that these supposed good people in this game show just deeply disturbs me, as does the implications that IS thinks that I would like to spend the rest of my life with any of them.

Edited September 20, 2013 by BrightBow

[LeDom]

BrightBow, just a reminder: They are at WAR and basically everyone they fight against are literally monsters/zombies or bandits/enemy soldiers actively trying to murder them and their friends. The comparison to Travis Touchdown is wrong because they don't specifically seek to kill and fight as a hobby, but to end a conflict. Constantly acting reluctant about taking lives is an attitude that could badly affect their morale. Plus, it can be a logical reaction to attempt to make light of grim duties in order not to fall into despair; the generalisation that all of them are genuinely having fun massacring sickens me. Hell, Owain and Inigo actually have a conversation about the subject in Harvest Scramble and how it crushed them to take a human life for the first time.

And I'll just leave it at that, I'm new to these boards and I don't want to start up by engaging in an argument that never goes anywhere and just leaves both parties annoyed and unsatisfied.

And to answer the actual topic. To each their own. The end. Some people will like a character for the exact same reasons others will love him/her and that goes for just about anything. And I feel people should try and make their statements as subjective as they can when discussing those sort of matters. It's a bit sad to see that what starts out as an innocent topic eventually becomes a flame war one way or another.

[Ϲharlie]

The disregard of life that these supposed good people in this game show just deeply disturbs me, as does the implications that IS thinks that I would like to spend the rest of my life with any of them.

I seriously doubt IS ever expected players to want to spend the rest of their lives with video game characters.

[RJWalker]

You would be surpirsed.

[LeDom]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsikPswAYUM

Indeed you would...indeed you would...

[Alisa180]

I like most of the characters in FE13 and even those I don't actively like I don't really dislike. In general, I've never really 'disliked' characters. However, there is one exception...

Yarne.

Argh, I can't remember the last time a character ground on my nerves like him! I understand he's terrified of 'going extinct' and all that, and he's supposed to be the 'lovable coward.' But what gets me is when he ropes other people into 'protecting' him. I also hate how he panics so much over so many little things. I have tried, very hard, to at least not dislike him, but I can't stand him! Its probably because he reminds me of myself at my worst, trying to avoid duties at every turn and even getting others to do it for me.

I used to dislike Owain because of the very reason most people like him (his over-the-top speech). I warmed up to him after realizing he was a writer like me, and acting out the stories in his head as a way of coping. His 'Manual of Justice' is effectively pages of solid worldbuilding, something I myself am guilty of. I'm growing more and more fond of him as a result.

[Mighty Kamina]

I like most of the the cast, except for Anna. (I've grown to kind of like Kjelle) Her money obsession bothers me.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Kamina

[PM ME MARIANNE ART]

I seriously doubt IS ever expected players to want to spend the rest of their lives with video game characters.

Rey.

[RJWalker]

Fans obsessing with video game women to the point of wanting to marry them is nothing new and this is the same crowd that IS is trying to appeal to. From what I understand these fans can get rabid.

Just to be clear, I'm not accusing anyone here of being so.

[Thor Odinson]

Not just fictional women either, fictional characters in general, really. I've heard enough horror stories about them for a lifetime.

Urgh.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I think its fine to find a fictional character to be attractive in some way. (Movies deliberately play on this and so does many a genre of books)

But yeahh...some peeps go full on cray with that shit. Like batshit levels.

[Thor Odinson]

Considering many fictional characters is designed to be attractive in the first place and all, certainly.

It's when people can't tell reality from fiction that's...

well...

Sadly I've seen too many accounts of fans going faaaaar too overboard. It's quite disturbing.

[WyvernSurfer]

What is it meant by like or dislike? Because they're terribly-written characters or because they would make for terrible human beings?

I would abhor The Joker for being a complete monster but he serves the story well and is an interesting character on his own.

[Thor Odinson]

I think it just means if you like/dislike the character for whatever reasons, and both are valid reasons to do so. Umbridge is well-written but utterly despicable, so I dislike her. I don't like certain Awakening characters for lacking the depth to counterbalance a major character trait that I don't like (see: Vaike in one of my above posts).

On the other hand I do like some pretty awful--well, not human beings, per se-- but Loki a massive douche, but he's at the same time complex, interesting, sympathetic depending on the writer, and his dynamic with Thor is very strong (to put it mildly) and very important to his character. I ended up becoming a fan of both Thor and Loki because of that dynamic, even though Thor is the only one of the two I'd actually like as a person IRL if they were real.

With Awakening's characters, there aren't as much depth so I just go for the ones with traits I generally like or ones with struggles and personality that I can personally relate to.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Ezio Auditore da Firenze

[Doppelgänger]

Tiki is just great.

It's interesting, that even after two millennia, she still can be dynamic. She's childish with Say'ri's B's support, rage with Anna's A, insightful with Nah's supports, and adorable with MU's supports (I just couldn't help but chuckle with the B support and daw with the S). She does seem to be very stoic, but you kind of learn to deal with adversity after long enough, like she is a pillar of support for anyone who meets her as the voice of Naga. She radiates that motherly instinct, though can be very unwise as the same time.

It's hard for me to press a single overall archetype to her (IE Olivia is the Embarrassed but Flaunty Dancer, Frederick the Undying Loyalist, Sumia the Ditz, Cordelia the Perfectionist, etc...) and it's that dynamic character that makes her a very interesting character.

I know she's a character in the first FE with Mar-Mar and I don't know what she is like in that because I'm playing backwards from 12 to 1 right now and am on 4.

[RJWalker]

I know she's a character in the first FE with Mar-Mar and I don't know what she is like in that because I'm playing backwards from 12 to 1 right now and am on 4.

If you're playing backwards from 12 to 1, shouldn't you already know TIki in her early appearance due to FE11 and FE12?

[Doppelgänger]

If you're playing backwards from 12 to 1, shouldn't you already know TIki in her early appearance due to FE11 and FE12?

FE 11 is a remake of FE 1 so Ill use that one for the FE 1 slot. As for 12 I seem to have missed one. I made the bad assumption that FE:A was 12 apparently (Just checked SF's main page...). God damnit now I feel emensely stupid and have ANOTHER one to go through. Thank you. Guess when I get done with 2(?) Ill do 1 then 12 since 12 is a continuation of 1/11.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Doppelgänger