Special Heroes Coming! Spring Festival Vol. 2 - From March 22nd! (Now with VIDEO: Sharena, Alfonse, Catria, Kagero)

[Ice Dragon]

1 minute ago, Florete said:

Would it? The other seasonal voting gauntlets didn't bring back the seasonal banner that wasn't still running. Granted said banners had just ended, but there's no precedent for what you're saying.

Every single Voting Gauntlet so far in this game's history has had every summonable character participating in the Voting Gauntlet available for summoning as a focus character for at least a few days after the announcement of the participants.

[Troykv]

44 minutes ago, Thane said:

You're right, I apologize; I forgot about that.

Catria's placements were: #174 (1479, Shadow Dragon), #195 (1316, Echoes), and #277 (801, New Mystery)

Palla's placements were: #296 (729, Echoes), #383 (476, Shadow Dragon), and #453 (304, New Mystery)

Est's placements were: #507 (233, Echoes), #537 (201, Shadow Dragon), and #650 (93, New Mystery).

That's...an ownage if I ever saw one.

 

I knew popularity-wise the white wings had always have been Catria > Palla > Est... But this is even more extreme than expected o.o

Edited March 21, 2018 by Troykv

[Charmeleonbrah]

Not this debate again.  Don't you all get sick of complaining about "fan service" in this game?  Haven't you all watched anime or played old-school fighting games?  None of these designs or tropes are new.  They're in almost every video game or anime.  Why do Fire Emblem fans whine so much about this crap?  We get it: you want a cute anime girl, but with a flat chest, and no legs showing.  A large chest is simply unbearable.  BTW, I'm calling it right nao: Kagero will be the most popular, and you will see a ton of Tier 20 whales with a +10 merged of her.

[ashlyn]

17 minutes ago, Charmeleonbrah said:

Not this debate again.  Don't you all get sick of complaining about "fan service" in this game?  Haven't you all watched anime or played old-school fighting games?  None of these designs or tropes are new.  They're in almost every video game or anime.  Why do Fire Emblem fans whine so much about this crap?  We get it: you want a cute anime girl, but with a flat chest, and no legs showing.  A large chest is simply unbearable.  BTW, I'm calling it right nao: Kagero will be the most popular, and you will see a ton of Tier 20 whales with a +10 merged of her.

I agree. The age-old debate of the whole fan service issue needs to stop because anyone making that argument just sounds like a broken record at this point. The game developers obviously don't care, or they would have stopped implementing those designs in the game long ago. Nothing is going to change, so everyone should just save their energy and move on. I also agree about Kagero being the most popular of the units, and I'm not really looking forward to fighting her in the arena as a +10 unit. I do hope I get her though! She would be a wonderful addition to my flier team. 

[Arthur97]

27 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

Every single Voting Gauntlet so far in this game's history has had every summonable character participating in the Voting Gauntlet available for summoning as a focus character for at least a few days after the announcement of the participants.

But how many precedents has Heroes broken by now? How can you hope to accurately predict something if the rules keep changing?

[Charmeleonbrah]

9 minutes ago, ashlyn said:

I agree. The age-old debate of the whole fan service issue needs to stop because anyone making that argument just sounds like a broken record at this point. The game developers obviously don't care, or they would have stopped implementing those designs in the game long ago. Nothing is going to change, so everyone should just save their energy and move on. I also agree about Kagero being the most popular of the units, and I'm not really looking forward to fighting her in the arena as a +10 unit. I do hope I get her though! She would be a wonderful addition to my flier team. 

They do sound kind of pathetic.  Imagine actually logging into a forum and making post after post about a video game character design.  They're a broken record for sure on this forum- every time a banner rolls out, the forum gets bombarded by posters triggered by bob and thigh.  They miss the point: it's fun to see your favorite characters in new and silly outfits, and Kagero's design is FUN.  

Also nice avi btw; I've watched through Season 1 of Dragon Maid 4 times since starting it in November.  Usually I act like Kobayashi herself and watch it when drunk after a long day at work.

[Ice Dragon]

1 minute ago, Arthur97 said:

But how many precedents has Heroes broken by now? How can you hope to accurately predict something if the rules keep changing?

Concrete examples, please, so, you know, I can actually acknowledge or refute them instead of poking at a nebulous cloud?

And can you give me a good reason why they wouldn't want to bring back the banner for a Voting Gauntlet?

If you have an event where a specific set of characters grants the player a bonus, why would you not make those characters available for players to obtain through paid means? This is literally the easiest way to earn some more money: make a situation where a good or service you can provide has increased demand and then provide said supply. There is zero reason to not try to capitalize on that.

This is the same situation for Tempest Trials and Arena bonus heroes, though these modes are a bit more lenient because you only need one out of a pool of 4 to 10 instead of the one exact character you are joining the team of.

[Arthur97]

1 minute ago, Ice Dragon said:

Concrete examples, please, so, you know, I can actually acknowledge or refute them instead of poking at a nebulous cloud?

And can you give me a good reason why they wouldn't want to bring back the banner for a Voting Gauntlet?

If you have an event where a specific set of characters grants the player a bonus, why would you not make those characters available for players to obtain through paid means? This is literally the easiest way to earn some more money: make a situation where a good or service you can provide has increased demand and then provide said supply. There is zero reason to not try to capitalize on that.

This is the same situation for Tempest Trials and Arena bonus heroes, though these modes are a bit more lenient because you only need one out of a pool of 4 to 10 instead of the one exact character you are joining the team of.

Prior to Brave Heroes, all units followed certain parameters for stats, then they made up new parameters out of the blue that are arbitrarily applied to some characters but not others. Same thing with coming with full skill sets.

Initially, new characters came in waves of four, then it changed to three (sometimes with a straggler, sometimes without).

Masked Lucina would indicate that TT units would be alternates.

All TT units were related to the Tempest, then Marissa happened.

Seasonal banners suddenly started running for a month at a time as opposed to the more standard length.

Legendary Heroes looked like they would be OCs, then Ike came along. 

[ashlyn]

3 minutes ago, Charmeleonbrah said:

They do sound kind of pathetic.  Imagine actually logging into a forum and making post after post about a video game character design.  They're a broken record for sure on this forum- every time a banner rolls out, the forum gets bombarded by posters triggered by bob and thigh.  They miss the point: it's fun to see your favorite characters in new and silly outfits, and Kagero's design is FUN.  

Also nice avi btw; I've watched through Season 1 of Dragon Maid 4 times since starting it in November.  Usually I act like Kobayashi herself and watch it when drunk after a long day at work.

Yep, it's almost a given at this point that fan service in a banner is the main topic of discussion, more so than the actual units themselves. And I agree, it's always fun to see the cool and often goofy designs of characters. It's so draining to only talk about the negatives and to constantly criticize, so I'd rather focus on what I actually like about it. To me, all of the seasonal banners have offered fun alternate versions of characters and have made me excited each time. But to each their own! I guess some people just can't help but complain.

Thank you! I still have yet to finish the anime. I'm halfway through it still, and keep getting sidetracked with other things. I have the tendency to start things and never finish them, for whatever reason. I do really want to finish it, and I might do so next week when I'm on spring break. From what I watched, I absolutely loved it. It was really funny and I thought Kanna was so adorable. Plus, the opening and ending songs of the anime are so darn catchy I can't help but love it. 

[Charmeleonbrah]

15 minutes ago, ashlyn said:

Thank you! I still have yet to finish the anime. I'm halfway through it still, and keep getting sidetracked with other things. I have the tendency to start things and never finish them, for whatever reason. I do really want to finish it, and I might do so next week when I'm on spring break. From what I watched, I absolutely loved it. It was really funny and I thought Kanna was so adorable. Plus, the opening and ending songs of the anime are so darn catchy I can't help but love it. 

Yes, Kanna is awesome.  About a month ago, when i was obsessively watching the show, I would actually hear the opening and closing song in my head at work for large chunks of the day.  I felt like I was going insane but I didn't really mind it.  You should check out KonoSuba too.  It's a funny lighthearted anime with some lewdness thrown in like Maido.

[ashlyn]

2 minutes ago, Charmeleonbrah said:

Yes, Kanna is awesome.  About a month ago, when i was obsessively watching the show, I would actually hear the opening and closing song in my head at work for large chunks of the day.  I felt like I was going insane but I didn't really mind it.  You should check out KonoSuba too.  It's a funny lighthearted anime with some lewdness thrown in like Maido.

That happens to me all the time. I'll watch something so much that I'll just hear the songs from it all the time, or think about it and want to watch it when I can't. It's a little bit annoying but I'm used to it, lol. I haven't actually heard of that anime, but I will have to check it out. Thanks for the suggestion! 

[Anacybele]

...I'm shocked Catria is more popular than Palla. I figured Palla would be the most liked out of the Whitewings by far because she's really pretty, mature, and cool. But at least Est is the least liked. I like her the least as well. Though not by much. Catria bores the hell out of me and isn't even pretty, imo.

But maybe I shouldn't be that surprised. My favorites are never the actual popular ones unless they're named Ike and Ephraim, it seems...

Edited March 21, 2018 by Anacybele

[Frenzify]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

What Color to give her though? We know her stat spread would make her fall into the high Atk low Spd category of Tome users (15% Spd growth loses only to Benny and Gunter), And will she bring an, ideally inheritable, scroll from Fates with her? Rhajat not having one was something of a missed opportunity. I'd pick Snake Spirit (and Hayato can have Horse Spirit). Or maybe in honor of Snake Spirit, throw her one of those new -Serpent Tomes (they only share a name resemblance, but I don't care).

When it comes to guessing what colour future units would be, I don't think I could be more useless. Unless we're talking about healers or dagger units. Same with weapons. The best I could offer would be that she feels like she'd be a green mage. As for predicting her weapon, I'm at a complete loss, but I imagine she might have some kind of debuffing weapon.

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

This is a sad truth - just look at all the YouTubers who've reacted to the new trailer: I'm pretty sure everyone except Sagemaster gushed over Kagero at length. Eurgh...

I utterly despise fanservice, especially blatant fanservice, whether it sells or not. (Relatively) mild stuff like S!Alfonse and S!Sharena are okay for me (of course I'm aware others disagree), but Camilla and Kagero? Blergh.

As for the end of your comment, I think it's just the fact that the female fanservice is just so over the top that it sparks debate, even though there are decent female characters as well.

Back on the technical side of things, I'm also upset at Wo Dao Daggers and Axes being Seasonal only (on top of Takumi's Slayer Dagger). Hopefully we get normal versions of them soon.

Mentioning Sages without shitting on him for no real reason? Here, take a smiley.

Anyway, I can understand the hate towards in your face fanservice. It's not a stance I share, but I understand it. The thing is, though, outside of seasonals the fanservice rarely ever gets so blindingly blatant. I mean... Camilla, sure. It's her attire in Fates, but sure. Tharja, sure, and probably more so. Her art is clearly more seductive than in Awakening, and IS have made it clear, though implicit, that they've tried to capitalise on that (W!Tharja), so sure. Kagero, perhaps, since I remember people saying she was "sized up" for Heroes. Other than them, I don't know if the fanservice is really that out there outside of some of the seasonals. Perhaps those few heavy instances are enough to overshadow the other females, and just emphasise the much tamer instances of fanservice. I don't know.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Frenzify

[omegaxis1]

7 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

...I'm shocked Catria is more popular than Palla. I figured Palla would be the most liked out of the Whitewings by far because she's really pretty, mature, and cool. But at least Est is the least liked. I like her the least as well. Though not by much. Catria bores the hell out of me and isn't even pretty, imo.

But maybe I shouldn't be that surprised. My favorites are never the actual popular ones unless they're named Ike and Ephraim, it seems...

Catria is likely more popular due to the case of her unrequited love being Marth. Palla also was in a similar case, as she loved Abel. Est's dislike is because she is seen as a spoiled brat and basically took Abel from Palla, so its a case of "Die for our Ship!" thing. 

In fact, Cordelia's unrequited love is in fact a reference to Catria as well.

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

Catria is likely more popular due to the case of her unrequited love being Marth. Palla also was in a similar case, as she loved Abel. Est's dislike is because she is seen as a spoiled brat and basically took Abel from Palla, so its a case of "Die for our Ship!" thing. 

In fact, Cordelia's unrequited love is in fact a reference to Catria as well.

So by your logic, Palla should be liked just as much as Catria. But she's not. And I don't see what any unrequited love has to do with anything. I agree that Est is an immature spoiled brat though. She's also not pretty. Don't know what poor Abel sees in her at all. I feel so bad for that man.

I'm aware. I think Cordelia was written better and is prettier though.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Anacybele

[Troykv]

9 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

So by your logic, Palla should be liked just as much as Catria. But she's not. And I don't see what any unrequited love has to do with anything. I agree that Est is an immature spoiled brat though. She's also not pretty. Don't know what poor Abel sees in her at all. I feel so bad for that man.

I'm aware. I think Cordelia was written better and is prettier though.

Well, Marth is overall a more popular character (as the original Fire Emblem Protag he is). to be interested  (unlike Abel and his questionable lover abilities)

Edited March 21, 2018 by Troykv

[omegaxis1]

Just now, Anacybele said:

So by your logic, Palla should be liked just as much as Catria. But she's not. And I don't see what any unrequited love has to do with anything.

I'm aware. I think Cordelia was written better and is prettier though.

Sure it does. Palla only liked Abel, whereas Catria liked the main character. Very typical. XD

I somewhat kid. Other reason is like I mentioned before to you, gameplay can enhance our perception of the character. Palla has high base stats, but less growth rates. Catria though has medium base stats, but average to above average growth rates, and Est has low base stats, but high growth rates. 

Catria's well rounded case allows her to much better to the point of surpassing Palla. Est is also disliked because her base stats are simply too low, and there isn't a guarantee that she will grow strong enough to survive by the end. Catria generally can be a perfectly reliable unit to endgame, surpassing her sister in the longrun, especially since you recruit Palla and Catria generally at the same time. 

So because Catria ends up becoming the best pegasus knight of the trio, she is more loved.

The case of saying that Cordelia is prettier is subjective, so can't speak anything for that. 

[Anacybele]

4 minutes ago, Troykv said:

Well, Marth is overall a more popular character to be interest of  (unlike Abel and his questionable lover abilities) xDU

Uh...so?

2 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

Sure it does. Palla only liked Abel, whereas Catria liked the main character. Very typical. XD

Again, so?

3 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

Other reason is like I mentioned before to you, gameplay can enhance our perception of the character. Palla has high base stats, but less growth rates. Catria though has medium base stats, but average to above average growth rates, and Est has low base stats, but high growth rates. 

Catria's well rounded case allows her to much better to the point of surpassing Palla. Est is also disliked because her base stats are simply too low, and there isn't a guarantee that she will grow strong enough to survive by the end. Catria generally can be a perfectly reliable unit to endgame, surpassing her sister in the longrun, especially since you recruit Palla and Catria generally at the same time. 

So because Catria ends up becoming the best pegasus knight of the trio, she is more loved.

There are other reasons people like characters besides gameplay though. At least, I would think. Though then again, the Archanea characters don't have a lot of depth or personality, do they?

[omegaxis1]

1 minute ago, Anacybele said:

Uh...so?

 

1 minute ago, Anacybele said:

Again, so?

Marth is more popular, and Catria liking Marth makes her more popular, especially when you think about how unrequited loves generally tend to make people sympathize with characters all the more.

4 minutes ago, Anacybele said:

There are other reasons people like characters besides gameplay though. At least, I would think. Though then again, the Archanea characters don't have a lot of depth or personality, do they?

There are. But pretty much as you said, the Archanea series don't get to have that much depth into it because of how before New Mystery, there was never any proper Supports. And even in New Mystery, there's the issue with how Kris tends to steal the majority of supports. 

[Vince777]

Echoes brought new depth and personality to the Whitewings, I'd say.

Also, I do find them all to be cute although none of the three are in Caeda's league (or even Clair in SoV).

Edited March 21, 2018 by Vince777

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

Marth is more popular, and Catria liking Marth makes her more popular, especially when you think about how unrequited loves generally tend to make people sympathize with characters all the more.

...I still don't understand why this would make people like Catria more than Palla.

2 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

There are. But pretty much as you said, the Archanea series don't get to have that much depth into it because of how before New Mystery, there was never any proper Supports. And even in New Mystery, there's the issue with how Kris tends to steal the majority of supports. 

True, yeah.

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Arthur97 said:

Prior to Brave Heroes, all units followed certain parameters for stats, then they made up new parameters out of the blue that are arbitrarily applied to some characters but not others. Same thing with coming with full skill sets.

This is the only one that I actually see as a legitimate pattern break. Even then, things have been consistent since the introduction of stat boosts. Every unit has no more than 1 point of base stat and 10 percentage points of growth rates added over their class baseline.

 

1 hour ago, Arthur97 said:

Initially, new characters came in waves of four, then it changed to three (sometimes with a straggler, sometimes without).

The first three new character banners were 4 characters each. The next two new character banners were 6 characters each. The next seven new character banners were 4 characters each. After that, it goes back and forth between 3 and 4 characters.

I don't see a good enough argument that this is actually a pattern.

 

1 hour ago, Arthur97 said:

Masked Lucina would indicate that TT units would be alternates.

One data point does not a pattern make. I can't believe how often I have to say this.

 

1 hour ago, Arthur97 said:

All TT units were related to the Tempest, then Marissa happened.

Masked Marth has appeared multiple times as a Tempest Trials reward almost certainly as an excuse to not need to make a new character. Marisa's situation is almost certainly similar as a character that already had assets made, but with the Tempest Trials as a means of still allowing the relevant banner to be 3 characters.

 

1 hour ago, Arthur97 said:

Seasonal banners suddenly started running for a month at a time as opposed to the more standard length.

Only two seasonal banners in the game's history were run for the typical 2 weeks. One can assume they received enough complaints about the short duration of limited banners that they doubled the duration, which also earns them more money, so it's a win-win situation.

 

1 hour ago, Arthur97 said:

Legendary Heroes looked like they would be OCs, then Ike came along. 

You know what? Two data points also does not a pattern make. The state of physics, statistics, economics, and marketing would be shambles if two data points were deemed enough to draw conclusions from.

 

And I don't see a response to the other questions I presented, so I assume that you conceded those points.

 

20 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

Catria is likely more popular due to the case of her unrequited love being Marth. Palla also was in a similar case, as she loved Abel. Est's dislike is because she is seen as a spoiled brat and basically took Abel from Palla, so its a case of "Die for our Ship!" thing. 

@Anacybele

I'm going to be a bit more shallow and make the guess that at least a good chunk of Catria's popularity comes from her (apparent) age, which falls in an age range that is found attractive to a larger portion of the player base. Palla falls above that sweet spot, and Est falls below.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Ice Dragon

[Anacybele]

4 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

I'm going to be a bit more shallow and make the guess that at least a good chunk of Catria's popularity comes from her (apparent) age, which falls in an age range that is found attractive to a larger portion of the player base. Palla falls above that sweet spot, and Est falls below.

Really? I didn't think Catria and Palla were more than a year apart in age, they look so close, imo. Est though, she definitely looks much younger.

[omegaxis1]

Just now, Anacybele said:

Really? I didn't think Catria and Palla were more than a year apart in age, they look so close, imo. Est though, she definitely looks much younger.

And people question to this day still why Abel ever chose Est.

She even leaves Abel after FE3/12 ends.

[Anacybele]

2 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

And people question to this day still why Abel ever chose Est.

She even leaves Abel after FE3/12 ends.

Yeah. Not only did Est treat him poorly, she looks too young for him. She looks 14 while Abel looks at least 20 imo.

Abel should've just moved on and accepted Palla's love for him. She'd have treated him better.

Edited March 21, 2018 by Anacybele