What Sells A Unit For You?

[saisymbolic]

I actually saw this topic on reddit, and I thought it would be interesting to hear the opinions of my fellow SF users.

So, what makes a character for you? It can be anything about the character—design, personality, growth rates, story significance, support conversations, class trees, stat caps, any piece of fan art or fan literature that painted them in a favorable light for you. Literally, anything that sells the character to you and makes it very difficult for you to stay away from them. You can even list a few characters to demonstrate your reasoning if you'd like.

Don't be afraid to bare your soul in this thread—I don't want there to be any shame in the characters you like or the reasons that you like them. Everyone has their own feelings and opinions, and they shouldn't have to be judged or feel uncomfortable to share them.

- Me personally, I'm a very simple, shallow woman. I like dude characters, and that's just how it is. I have a few girl characters that I like, which can be counted on one hand (and a finger on the other hand): Mozume, Petrine, Jill, Marcia, Sigrun and Tanith.

- If you have a particular aesthetic trait that sets you a part from your peers, I will home in on you. Prime example: Arthur, Yen'fey and Oscar. Super chin and the duo of squinted eyes.

- Give me a character that looks good on the battlefield, and there is a 99.99% chance that I will try to use you even if you might be straight doodoo butter.

- If you have pink, purple or red hair, I have fetish for you and will be unable to resist you. Tsubaki exemplifies both this point and the previous one.

- If you fly on the back of a dragon, you can plant your and your scaly partner's ass in my army.

- If you wield a lance and feel yourself too stronk to be in need of a steed, I want you in my army. Aran and Ephraim are my guys.

EDIT: I have more requirements as of 2017.

- I like units that I can baby and they grow into monsters with enough care. Mozume, Donnel, Amelia and Ross are my precious cinnamon buns.

- I like bird laguz and/or people with wings. Naesala, my Tellius Husbando.

- I like beefy characters or characters with noticeable muscles. Hinata with his beefy arms. Rinkah with her beefy abs. Arthur with his beefy everything.

Edited January 2, 2017 by saisymbolic

[NekoKnight]

Gameplay-wise, I want a character who has a niche they can perform well. It could be mage killing, dodge-tanking or crit-killing but they need to stand on their own and not require another unit to babysit them after every turn. The only strong preference I have is a unit being able to double or at least avoid being doubled, generally. Heroes and Halberdiers are some of my favorite units to field so balanced stats are desirable.

Personalities will also vary greatly but I appreciate characters who have multiple dimensions who can socialize with others based on more than one character trait. Consider a character like Oboro, when compared to many other one-note characters in her game.

I do have some aesthetic likes. I always try to stock my army full of red-heads so characters like Roy, Miledy and Cordelia have permanent places on my teamss. I like designs that convey both elegance and battle potency, be they the embroidered mage robes of Pent or the the regal armor of Titania. Fates generics hits most of the points (barring some designs) of what I want to see.

[eclipse]

Personalities will also vary greatly but I appreciate characters who have multiple dimensions who can socialize with others based on more than one character trait. Consider a character like Oboro, when compared to many other one-note characters in her game.

So, Peri?

Ahem. . .I give everyone an equal chance to impress me via level-ups. If they do, they can stay. While I have an inherent bias to certain things (cute guys, red/green hair on said cute guys), I lean more towards unit merit rather than looks alone. Of course, if their stats are so amazing that they don't need to level, that's fine, too.

[SullyMcGully]

I like characters who are a lot of trouble to train, because it gives me some challenge in what can be a very weak endgame. Also, Ests like Nino tend to have really interesting backstories and personalities.

[Thinks Their Own Way]

At the bare minimum, gameplay wise you have to be at least useful or unique. By biggest problem with the Awakening cast gameplay wise is how the child characters are so much better than their parents (especially the ones who start off in the same classes as their parents), I think once I recruit the child why would I even bother with their parent from that point on (except Robin).

Personality and Design, if you stick out I'm cool. This why I'm cool with characters like Corrin, Camilla, Henry, Tharja (I've grown to like her), Charlotte, Joshua, Natasha, Velouria, Ephraim, Mitama, etc...

And can't stand characters like: Chrom, Sumia, Silas, Sully, Cordelia, Shigure, etc...

The only time class tree plays a part is for my dislike for Knight's/General's as units.

Support Convos are a added bonus (Mozu)

[solrocknroll]

Design and stats I guess.

[OliKad]

I like units that have very good growth rates for the most part. Personallity comes as a close second for me.

Yeah, I haven't got much to say other than that. :/

[The Geek]

I won't lie that a character's appearance does play a bit of a role in how I pick what units I use (I'll fully admit that I used Astrid in PoR entirely because I thought she was cute. I was taken completely by surprise that she actually turned out good)

Stats of course are also significant. I won't use a unit if they're more trouble than they're worth.

Personality is something that comes later as it's difficult to assess a character's personality based solely on their introduction.

[Refa]

Their boob size. The bigger, the better. Bonus points if they have some stupid, incredibly revealing outfit.

[Shadow Mir]

To be frank, it's as simple as this - I like girls. Therefore, most of the units that see use in my army are female. Other than that, I largely pick based on appearance. Stats do play some role, however - I won't try to use someone who's more trouble than they're worth (or someone who's failed me repeatedly in the past). The end result often tends to be an army that could've come out of the game this song originated in:

Edited December 22, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Vaximillian]

I'm terribly biased towards foot swordspeople. Myrmidons, mercenaries, swordmasters and sword!heroes always have a place on my team.

[Jotari]

Their ability to turn into a dragon.

[ChibiToastExplosion]

Purple hair.

Red is a good color, too.

[Hero of the Fire Emblems]

I'll have to readily admit story significance is what I usually rank my units on- in FE2 and FE4 though, I attempt to use EVERY unit due to the fact every unit is thrown onto the battlefield at once without a preparation screen, thus basically forcing every unit onto you anyway =P

In Revelation this tendency led to me using nothing but the royal siblings once I got to Valla (The fact unit limits in those chapters 9 times out of 10 fit the royals and 3 man retainers exactly just helped fuel this notion for me that that's what was intentional), and in FE12 this is why I always use Belf and Sirius- because the final base conversation between those two has Sirius finally admit his true identity as Camus. This is also why I use Malice, due to her roles in the Archanea Chronicles chapters and Awakening's DLC, despite her not having much pull to the story of FE12 itself.

The exceptions to this come when a unit is just THAT good despite getting a few passing mentions in the story at best (several units in both FE9 and FE12 count for this)

Edited December 22, 2016 by Hero of the Fire Emblems

[Flee Fleet!]

I like characters that have high base stats and not bad growths. I can generally use them throught the game with no worries of them becoming a Jeigan. Seth comes in mind, and I guess Igrene too (the only good foot archer in FE6, really).

I also am unable to resist training characters with weak stats. Y'know, the Est characters or characters that come at level 1 unpromoted or have really low base stats but great growths. Wendy, Oujay, Tailto and Dew come in mind.

I also love training thieves through fighting, even if they are weak. I just love thieves too much to not use them. Julian, Cath and Dew have to be my favourites.

If they got a pegasus or wyvern, they're definitely going to be used.

Speedy characters are also awesome, even if they have low strength.

[PurpleKawaii]

A) I like characters with purple hair (male or female), thats why I love to use Lute and Sophia, even do Sophia isn't the best unit statwise.

B) Idk why but I always like using magic users instead of physical units, other reason I love Lute and Sophia.

C) I like units that are shy but when they need to they become SASSY, Lute isn't like that but Sophia is. (example her C support with Ray)

D) Also idk why, I always loved dark magic users, another point for Sophia.

E) Annnd I like using Est characters... Another point for Sophia!

Edited December 22, 2016 by PurpleKawaii

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I was almost distracted by the Sakura Wars music.

Anyways:

• I prefer units with low bases and good growths than ones with good bases and poor growths.
• I love purple and each tone of blue and red hair. I don't like green and blonde all that much therefore.
• I like flying units.
• I have a favor for Tsunderes and a hate towards Yanderes.
• I like face details like Haar's and Niles's eyepatch.
• I prefer educated people. I don't like dumb and awkward characters like Vaike or Nephenee.
• I also prefer characters who have a bit morale at least. Careless people like Makalov are bottom in my list.
• I also like selfish units who can deal out verbally like Marcia.
• The more leg I can see, the better.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Eleanor Hume

[Troykv]

A) I like characters with purple hair (male or female), thats why I love to use Lute and Sophia, even do Sophia isn't the best unit statwise.

B) Idk why but I always like using magic users instead of physical units, other reason I love Lute and Sophia.

C) I like units that are shy but when they need to they become SASSY, Lute isn't like that but Sophia is. (example her C support with Ray)

D) Also idk why, I always loved dark magic users, another point for Sophia.

E) Annnd I like using Est characters... Another point for Sophia!

OMG! I share all these likes with You!

Others:

- I like to use balanced characters for some reason... Maybe I like the randomness XD

- I like Silver-Hair too

- I'm a big fan of side-slits, thighs, pantyhose and other aspects that can be considered "moderate fanservice ".

[Anacybele]

Usually, personality and design are the things I look for first. But if a character is THAT good in battle, even if I don't like them as a character, I'll still use them. I don't like Soren at all, but I always trained him up in PoR because he's really good there.

Also, if it's my very first playthrough, I'm pretty likely to try using any cavaliers and Peg knights I get since they're my favorite classes. :P IF I don't know anything about them as characters yet.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Anacybele

[Vaximillian]

- I like to use balanced characters for some reason... Maybe I like the randomness XD

- I like Silver-Hair too

- I'm a big fan of side-slits, thighs, pantyhose and other aspects that can be considered "moderate fanservice ".

Micaiah?

Yeah, Micaiah.

Definitely Micaiah now.

[EricaofRenais]

I like using male units myself (girls like eye candy too) of course I end up with a couple of female units every run for fun

character development is important to me as a whole but if I find the design really nice I will use that unit anyway, looking at you Geese

Dragon riders are a must since I love dragons, same goes for any unit that turns in to a wolf

other then dragon riders and wolves I will use cavaliers and mages as well as which ever ax user I like best

[The Draco Knight]

To me, It mainly depends on the base stats and the introduction of the character: if they both give me good impressions, then I'm going to use him for the entire game. If not, then he should say "hi" to the bench.

[Res]

I'd say personality is probably primary for me, since I really like support-building, so the better supports and more in-game dialogue a character has, the more likely they'll find themselves in my party. This is especially true on lower difficulties where any unit can be made to be viable.

However, the character's usefulness in my style of gameplay (I do love tanks, and magic users) also plays a part.

I'd say the third most important feature is probably design. Although I'm fairly easy to please there; the only character I can name off the top of my head whose design I really dislike is Arthur.

Examples:

- Takumi is a prime example of having both a fantastic personality and being really useful (to the point where I have to really restrain myself from Fujin Yumi'ing everything); he's always in my party. (Mozu and Lon'qu are other, similar examples).

- Leo has a strong enough personality usually to be in my party, but he's generally a pair-up bot because he's never turned out too great for me as a unit.

- Nyx isn't amongst my favourite characters personality-wise, but every time I've reclassed her to a witch I've found a lot of use for her, so she is usually in my party. (Another example is Severa; I believe she ended up with a number of kills second only to Robin in my Awakening playthrough). I've also grown very fond of Hayato and Rhajat as examples of other magic users whom I've ended up relying on quite a bit.

- Xander and Keaton are really useful as bait characters. Like Leo, Xander is often in my party, though he rarely kills for me, and is most often a support unit. But if I'm struggling with a map, I can usually rely on Xander not to die on the enemy's turn.

I usually also favor the avatar's spouse/children. This is partly because I do feel more connected to them, but also because the children are generally better units when parented by the avatar.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Res

[Nimue]

For me it's mainly personality/likeability. If a character grates my gears and the're not the lord/important, I won't even bother with them(even if they're a powerful unit). Examples being: Oboro, Rinkah, Cordelia, Jakob, Severa, Hana, Shinon, Lethe, Soren, Yarne, Panne, Kjelle, and Peri. There are quite a bit more on my list, but it's getting kinda long lol.

Design plays a role, too. For example, I always use: Nailah, Volug, Guy, Keaton, Joshua, Takumi, Gaius, Velouria, Stahl, Geoffrey, Knoll, Zihark, Stefan,Tiki, Kaze, Jeorge, Minerva, Heath, Titania, Gerome, Lute, and Artur. I like these characters personality-wise as well. Some of the characters I dislike have decent designs, but that's not enough to give them a spot on my team.

On that note, a lot of the characters I listed above are sword users, mages, flyers or wolf shapeshifters. I love these classes.

I also tend to favor characters that are attractive(Volug, Gaius, Keaton, Zihark, Stefan, Joshua, etc.)

I dunno, I'd say my reasons for choosing units to use are pretty simple. I try not to overthink it or plan out too much. I just sort out the interesting or tolerable characters that have some decent stats and get started on my playthrough.

[bethany81707]

*If there are two similar units, and one is a boy and one is a girl, I'll always go for the girl.

*After my first playthroughs of FE games, I can add 'being on a pegasus' to this list.

*Having strong attacks, and also producing ridiculous dodge chances out of enemies (0 Hit is always hilarious to see).

After that, I'm looking at merit. Ephraim fits almost none of these criteria (except maybe powerful attacks), but his performance so far has more than made up for it.