Best playable Cast

[Noni]

As a similar question to my other poll, I would like to know which Game has the best Cast of playable Characters. The first Question is gameplaywise and the second Question personalitywise.

[Michelaar]

Gameplay: Fates

Personality: FE7

[Anacybele]

Gameplay: RD

Personality: PoR

[Magical Glace]

I voted for FE7 on both questions. There's no one I'd consider criminally unusable in FE7, except for maybe Renault and Karla, though the former gets staff utility. In terms of personality, FE7's supports are really well done overall and there's very few characters I don't like.

Worst is FE6 for gameplay, and FE13 for personality.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Voted FE7 for both questions. There's no one I dislike in 7, and pretty much everyone is usable.

[Anacybele]

Oh, if we can say worst too, FE7 for both. Gameplay is very basic and the characters are mostly boring. I might've liked them a bit more if I could see more supports, but getting supports in that game is such a waste of time.

[Thane]

If someone votes for Alm's team as the best playable units, please send me a PM telling me what I'm doing wrong because sod that game and sod the Witches.

Personality-wise, it's the Shepherds, followed by the Greil Mercenaries. I really don't care much about the rest of the playable cast in the other games aside from a handful of them.

I should point out that I believe Soren is my favorite character in the franchise, followed by a few characters from Fates. However, as a team, I vastly prefer the Shepherds.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

If we're also stating worsts, then I'd say 10 for both. Horribly unbalanced and frustrating gameplay and characters that are awfully underdeveloped. If I had actually played 2 then I'd probably go with that...but alas.

EDIT: I take that back! In terms of personality, I'd say Fates has the worst.

Edited September 13, 2016 by Fire Emblem Fan

[ChibiToastExplosion]

If we're also stating worsts, then I'd say 10 for both. Horribly unbalanced and frustrating gameplay and characters that are awfully underdeveloped. If I had actually played 2 then I'd probably go with that...but alas.

Nah, 2's characters don't really have dialogue, so you can make their personality be whatever you want to be.

Which, in an age of self inserts, you would think that people would really like being able to make the stories up for everyone?

I mean, most people don't know who Python is, but he's the sneaky snaaaaaake and he's the man with the plan to jam. His bow is made of snakes. Did I make that up? I sure did! And by golly it's so much more fun than the dawn brigade. I honestly wanted to love them - but the game said too bad, focus on Elincia (ugh.) Even when that arc starts to get good, the game switched again to Ike and then stuff happens. I like RD well enough, but that game is a mess.

Interestingly enough, Gaiden has probably one of the most balanced casts do to grinding, and the fact that most everyone isn't great to begin with. Even Robin can be a 5 range archer at worst (and he is worst). The old games were beautiful in their simplicity, max 20 caps (I know Gaiden is 40). In addition to that, the way promotions worked meant that anyone used would at least be as good as the class floor - which is more than a lot of the newer games can say.

Least balanced is Awakening, and any game that limits skills to genders. In fact, skills really unbalance FE as a whole. 7 & 8 are easy enough, and simple enough, to make any character work. I voted for 3, however.

My favorite cast is 6, and 3 (not 12) personality wise.

Edited September 14, 2016 by ChibiToastExplosion

[Just call me AL]

Gameplay: Fates

Personality: FE7

This will be my vote as well.

Fates pretty much nailed it with characters in gameplay. Starting off with a base class set, and a second class set to reclass into. Plus, characters can get another class from A+ Supports, and S Supports. The only things missing are base WEXP values a la pre-FE13 FEs, and the Discipline skill. Honorable mention to FE10, FE7, and FE5.

Personality-wise, FE7's cast is a prime example of FE at its finest. Each of the lords are likable to the point where you want them to win at the very least. And each character has something you didn't know about them previously once you start delving into supports. And very few of them actually rely on a gimmick to get their personalities to work. (Which is more than I can say for Awakening's cast. Looking at you, Cordelia.) Honorable mention to FE12, FE4, and FE9.

Worst gameplay-wise would probably be FE6. Sure most of any strategies could work on Normal Mode. But that's Normal Mode. Hard mode is a different story. Dishonorable mention to FE11, FE12, and FE13.

Worst, personality-wise, would be Awakening. Sure, there's some stand-outs. But most of the cast is very gimmicky. Sometimes to the point of leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Dishonorable mention to FE11, and FE10.

[Luchi]

Voted 7 for both. Blazing Sword has the distinction of having the only cast where there isn't a single character I hate/dislike. Everyone is usable in some way as well. Of course, this could just be first-game bias talking. ><

[Tolvir]

Its a toss up between the Fates cast and Tellius cast. Gameplay wise and Personality wise I really like most of them. I think Fates eeks out barely for me, only for the class, skill, and support systems being better.

[SageHarpuiaJDJ]

Gameplay: FE8. Mainly because the unit count is fairly small and every character can be useful, which I prefer. I like having a lot of characters, but some characters that I like may not have what I want or expect. Not the case here.

Personality: FE13. Everyone felt different and had something I like. I don't hate a single character, but I wanted more out of the ones that I liked. I didn't feel that with a other games, except FE14, but there was more wanting of their stories to be developed.

[Etrurian emperor]

The Tellius cast has a lot of things going for them. With a rare exception here and there pretty much every character appears in not just one but two games which gives them a lot of chances to display character growth. Akanaia also has this perk but the limited personality of the cast ensures they can't make the most of it.

The Tellius cast is also pretty gimmick free. Its their past's, personalities and relations with each other that determine how they act rather then one already established trait. The characters also live in the continent with the most worldbuilding and in cases like Jill and Lethe they make great use of that.

I think 7 is also a very solid contender. There's a lot of variability in the roster and while not every character is great there's definitely a tight balance to ensure almost every character has something worthwhile to bring to the table in supports.

I can't say Genealogy has the best cast but I do think they deserve a good shout out for what they managed to achieve without supports. Far more then the Akanaia games that came before it or Tracia which came after it did Genealogy try to give every single character an established personality. And for the most part it succeeded. After only their introduction we get a crystal clear idea what the characters are like. We know Azel is a meek, somewhat timid noble, we know Lex is SNES Hector, Dew is obviously a cheery thief and Ayra a though but noble swordswoman.

Not everyone comes off as very defined, the Chalphy cavalriers are kinda generic and Sety will forever be known for being broken rather then his kinda bare bones personality but everyone has something. No character has merely a recruitment and/or a deathquote as their only line in the game.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Etrurian emperor

[Lord Tullus]

Gameplay: FE 9

Personality: FE 8

Now, FE 9's cast does have great supports and persoanlity, but I think the characters that you are able to use in that game, can be used with little effort, allowing a slightly balanced Gameplay experience(compared to other fe titles). No final team is wrong. (FE 7 is 2nd for me) It's easy, yes, but that's part of what allows for all the characters to be used without much effort.

FE 8 was my choice for personality. The characters (apart from a select few called twincest) feel like they have true connections with the world around them, and almost no-one has the usual trope. If there is a trope character, like Amelia or Neimi, then there are still differences between their support conversations across the board to make everyone feel natural. Even some of the characters have some importance in the main story, like Duessel, Innes, or Joshua. FE 7 has a great cast, sporting many lovable characters, but I think Sacred stones gave us a side cast that helps the world and those in the world develop.

(Again, FE 7 is second for me)

[RidellCrimea]

Gameplay: FE10. The Greil Mercenaries absolutely wrecks everything, alongside with people like Haar, Aran/Nephenee, Elincia, and Micaiah and Sanaki to a lesser extent. The Royal Laguz needs no mentions in that regard, lol. Having some of them in the Tower at the endgame all at once is absolutely satisfying. FE12 is a close second considering it has units like Sirius, Caeda, Kris, The White Wings, and Merric. FE14's Royals and a handful of other units (Oboro, Saizo) are also fun to play.

Personality: I can't decide between FE9 and FE10 even though they are literally one thing. However, FE9 has great base conversations and especially support conversations, something FE10 absolutely fucked up, so I picked FE9 at the end, despite FE10's cast being an extension of it. The cast from the other games can't match with the Tellius cast, imo, but there are a handful of people I like from each of them. For instance, some characters from Akaneia (Camus/Sirius, Michalis, Minerva) and Fates (Xander, Saizo) are my favorite in the whole series, yet I have little to no connection to the majority of rest of the cast.

[Chroi]

Gameplay: Fates

Personality: Path of Radiance

[The Draco Knight]

FE8 for both gameplay and personality: I like all of the characters from that game and, thanks to Its low difficulty, all of your units can be usable.