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If The Routes Were Played Simultaneously, What Characters Would You Invent?


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If SS were to get a remake, a lot of people would agree that making both Eirika's journey to Jehanna and Ephraim's campaign in Grado should be playable side by side on a single playthrough. It'd make the game a bit longer, and if Gaiden from over a decade before could do two independent characters simultaneously, why couldn't SS?

However, making this happen would present a number of issues, and one of these is character quantity. SS has a mere 33 playable characters besides Orson in its main story, smaller than any FE other than original Gaiden and the generations of FE4 individually.

To put it in perspective, if you divided everything evenly, per route, you'd have:

Spoiler
  • 1 Lord (duh!)
  • 2 Cavs
  • 1 Mage/Monk
  • 1 Axe user
  • 1 Cleric/Priest

And then you'd have the things you only have one of and have to decide where they'd go, knowing the other wouldn't have such a unit available. And if you played blind, you'd possibly be quite fearful you could be messing things up.

  • 1 Myrmidon
  • 1 Thief (this would really hurt were it not for buyable Chest Keys- but you wouldn't know that in advance)
  • 1 Archer
  • 1 Knight 
  • 1 Pegasus Knight

So 8/9 units when starting a character's route. The deployment limit on all the battles of the routes is 11-12 units as is. And if you play ironman, or more likely experience RNG screwage on someone (why no Magic Artur? why is Kyle so slow?), it'd really hurt to be so limited in your unit choices.

 

Now you do get additional characters over the course of the routes, but it isn't enough for simultaneous routes. It is 14 additional characters total.

Sounds like a good number, but not all of them come right away. Knoll doesn't come until the split is practically over, and Rennac, who is just chest-and-steal utility, its final battle.

Plus Amelia and Ewan are trainees and not everyone wants to grind, so if that is your playstyle, you can scratch them off the list. If you love trainees and hate prepromotes, well then you'd be writing off Saleh, Duessel, Dozla and Innes instead. These are just some of the ways of showing the inadequacy of the route split additions.

 

So getting to the point, from any set of perspectives you like, how would you fill in the roster during the route split? What characters would you create? Where would they go, when, what class, what their place in the world is, and of course, what is their personality?

 

Looking at things from a purely gameplay perspective, and giving them purely utilitarian names, I'd do:

Spoiler

Eirika: 

  • Hoplite- A new Knight unit. Duessel goes with Ephraim and he counts as Armor, with appropriately high Def and low Spd. I like 2:1 ratio of unpromoted to promoted in a given class. Thus, Eirika gets a Knight.
    • As for background, why not make them a Carcinoan? We only have Rennac representing the country as is. As for joining time, well Chapter 10 Eirika already gives her 4 new units, Innes has to join here and I prefer the Gerik Mercenaries with Eirika. So maybe have them sent by Klimt after the battle, so they join after C10 or at the start of C11. C12 sounds odd from a story perspective, C13 sounds a little too late, but it could honestly work, what with Pablo's sneaking up from behind and all.

Ephraim: 

  • Arbalest- A new Archer unit. Eirika gets Innes, so an Archer should go to Ephraim, for a third Archer unit, thus establishing the 2:1 ratio.
    • For background, I was thinking a soldier of Innes's sent to monitor and assist his rival Ephraim, and Frelia has the Bow Sacred Twin, and while personality could make all the difference, I'm afraid this would be too much for Frelia. Neimi is Renaissan, so not all Archers would belong to Frelia, but I honestly can't decide where this person belongs.
    • As for joining time, end of C10 would be perfect, since the next chapter is packed with Gargoyles to shoot down. I'm inspired by Takumi joining just before the all-fliers boat chapter in BR for this choice. But would that make things too easy? Particularly since the Obsidian joins in Chapter 10 too? Alternatively, since I prefer Gerik with Eirika, then unless rewritten and redesigned, someone not-Ephraim's crew has to take the right side of C13, to get to the village in time and plotwise can receive Myrrh after Selena releases her. If Innes's aide, Arbalest would be best for that.
  • Buccaneer - A new Pirate unit, so we actually have one that isn’t Ross when sent that way. Pirate can go Warrior, so it lets us have a third one of those. Dozla is glued to L’Arachel, and she has to go with Eirika because of her Chapter 13- which ends with rescue by the Knights of Rausten (although we could rewrite this to a Frelia bailout).
    • Chapter 10 maybe for the joining time, since there are Pirates assailing Duessel there. Or better, C11, since I prefer L'Arachel and Dozla with Eirika, someone has to occupy the third ship. Why not have a Pirate who heroically fights monsters when they aren't unheroically pillaging people? Being an outcast of the world, their background could be quite diverse.
  • Wildling- A second Wyvern Rider unit. Wyverns are usually powerful enough you don’t need three, but one is still too little. Because Cormag’s vengeance bit with Valter is Eirika’s only, he has to go there to me. A promoted one would have to come really late, after the route split (a Grado remnant who wants to ditch Orson or Lyon?), so this one would have to be unpromoted.
    • As for when to place them, well there is Cormag's old Chapter 10 spot. For background, perhaps an ordinary soldier who one day got Valter assigned as his boss. Although not himself immoral, the soldier was forced under the bloodthirsty Valter to do immoral things, which has disillusioned him and weakened his moral fiber, he becomes lackadaisical with life, but not a gambler or drunk or murderer or rapist. 
    • Alternatively, he fills in that spot Gerik occupied in C13 and becomes a soldier of Selena, tasked with betraying and killing his commander, and bringing Myrrh to Ephraim. Perhaps the Valter backstory could be reconciled with this- Selena gave a shred of hope back to the soldier after serving Valter. With her death, he loses meaning and purpose again. Makes him sound a little too like Knoll that way though.

 

I couldn't come up with anything else. But...

  • I know we need another Sword Infantry, but whether a Swordmaster, Mercenary, or Hero I cannot decide.
    • Probably Mercenary (let us call them Gladiator), since Gerik already joins with godly bases and a Hero Crest to promote. I'd then give them to Ephraim, and make them on the lower side of levels and bases, because of Duessel and others already being good enough. Essentially Ogier without the direct competition from Gerik. Mercs are world roamers, so they can have diverse backgrounds, but why not an honest-to-goodness Renaissan here? Just one more. Or a Raustenian, since only Dozla and L'Arachel come from there as is.
    • Ismaire as a Swordmaster in the main story sounds possible and good, her death is too quick for us to have any modicum of understanding about or care for her. And I think Joshua can grow even without her killed, just having Caellach nearly kill her and ruin his home would be enough to make him angry. An end-of-route-split prepromote. But this doesn't have to be.
  • And I do want another Jagen, so each route can have one right away. And ignoring an Orson who doesn't betray until later...
    • If I forced Seth to remain with Eirika, then I think I'd go with a woman. And I'd make this woman a liaison with the Frelian Army- the invisible army that Ephraim leads and is assisted by throughout his battle in Grado. A high-ranking female officer, a face of sorts for the Frelian Army (although inventing a fixed NPC could be better for this). 
      • I could make her anything I wanted to, and I was originally thinking something magical, but how about Assassin (so we can call her Ninja)? She could be an intelligence officer, and this would give Ephraim a Lockpick user even if Colm went with Eirika. Although Rennac might be better on Ephraim's route, since Grado would be further away from L'Arachel, L'Arachel's special cost-free recruitment ability of Rennac means he should belong on the same route as her.
      • And, an intelligence officer, if Seth were to be flexible go Ephraim instead, it'd be more reasonable she would go with Eirika than some burly man in armor, who unless retired, belongs on a battlefield in Grado, not on an envoy mission.
  • Lastly, I haven't touched on the issue of magic users. And here, I'm not really sure how much and of what classes should be added. You don't need the 2:1 ratio here, since magic users play samey. I know Ephraim needs somebody, since Saleh and Ewan go with Eirika, and not a Shaman, but I'm not sure who to add. He could probably use another healer too, but all promoted magic users save Pupil 3 have Staff access. And I don't think Eirika needs a Shaman, or perhaps any more magic users.
  • As a more trivial consideration, since Eirika I would think would be getting Tethys, should Ephraim get something of similar utility to compensate? Another refresher sounds too good, even if they can't refresh each other after the routes merge. A Chameleon however would require a reasonable lore explanation for it. And an earlier Myrrh (why doesn't she start fighting right after C13 Eph?) would only be good to me if she had more Dragonstone uses.
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A route split with the existing cast and nothing else should be entirely doable, but if they follow the gaiden/echoes road map then--yeahhhhhh--we'd probably see a new unit or two as part of the remake. 

I'd be more inclined to look at it from a story perspective than a gameplay perspective. As vanilla FE8 is pretty tame on gameplay, and unless they plan on adding a lunatic mode I don't think they need to do anything to make the gameplay even more player friendly. 

I think where a new character could really add value is in bringing some lore and backstory to the table that fleshes out more of the Magvel setting.

I also really, really, really, really don't want to see them pull another Faye. (i.e. gratuitously added new character in a remake that fulfills a vital gameplay niche, but contributes nothing of substance + adds some cringeworthy moments to the story)

...maybe a clergyman from the Church of Rausten (could be a priest or a monk or a mage) to give us some more info on the country's theocracy, church politics, and doctrines

...maybe a freebooter from Carcino (could be a pirate or a merc or a thief) to give us more info on The Republic's mercantile culture, trade, and business organizations 

_______________

Not holding my breath for this one, but Dorcas basically meme'd has way into FE Heroes so maybe this is something we can make happen if enough of the playerbase memes hard enough:

Image result for fe gheb


Recruitable Gheb on Ephraim's route plz. 

That even meets your "I do want another Jagen, so each route can have one right away" specs  

Joining 1 chapter into the route split as a prepromoted warrior sounds pretty jeiganish to me--If you make Seth go with Eirika, then Gheb could be the Jeigan of Ephraim's route.


 

Edited by Shoblongoo
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tbh you'd probably have to add 1-2 characters in each route. I'd see like Hayden coming along in the Eirika route's last chapter. For the Ephraim route, I could see them maaaayyyybe inventing a new character or two, or just giving us a way to recruit Selena.

 

 

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Most of the writing is better on Eirika's side, so it would make sense for characters like Gerik, Tethys, Ewan, L'arachel, Dozla, & Cormag to be on that route. Marisa could go on either, but since both of the people that can recruit her are on Eirika's side, I would also put her on Eirika's route.

Amelia, Knoll, & Rennac could go to Ephraim's side. Ephraim would need some new characters. I would give him another trainee or something like that (perhaps a trainee wyvern knight?). Ephraim would also need a new refresher to make up for losing Tethys. A new bard or dancer can get the job done. I would also give this character some sort of rivalry with Tethys, and they wouldn't be impressed by the other one's skills and can't be refreshed by them. I think they could also add a pirate character. It's a shame Ross is the only one that can become one and that's if you get the Ocean Seal.

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I'd probably add a pirate to team Ephraim as well. Garcia and Ross probably go with Eirika due to having a history with her so Ephraim needs a foot axe user. He could appear on the Zombie ship either out of a misguided belief that they got treasure or to avenge the crew members that fell to the monsters. 

Frelia is supposed to invade Carcino so perhaps Hayden could lead the troops there and eventually meet up with Eirika. 

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I think I would do what most of you guys are saying as well, but I'd also do something similar to RD where once you reach the route split with the three armies, you can choose who can go into which army, with some exceptions (I.e. Soren, Titania, and Mist are forced to be in Ike's army, Sanaki is forced to be in Micaiah's army, Lucia is forced to be in Elincia's army, etc.) I think the forced units for Eirika and Ephraim's armies should be:

-Seth and maybe Joshua for Eirika's army (I say Joshua just cuz of his importance in Eirika's route)

-Kyle and Forde for Ephraim's army (and while we're at it, make them plot important for Ephraim's route)

Everyone else can be put in either army. Does that sound like it could work?

 

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erikias route

tana

Bow trainee

innes

gerik

tethys

marisa

l'arachel

dozla

saleh

ewan

cormag

rennac

 

ephraim route

some lady?

amelia

lady dracoknight

duessel

lady pirate

mr druid

sword trainee

merc lady

some man

some man2

assassin lady

knoll

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In my mind, Eirika, due to having what should have been the easier journey, could only get a few units to start out- Seth (Since, you know, it's Seth), Joshua (Going to Jehenna), maybe Vanessa, Gilliam and Moulder (they were assigned to help Eirika get into Grado, I'd only assume Hayden would keep them with her). Colm and Neimi could join this team as well, but I think that would depend on the difficulty. Recruitable would be- Innes, Gerrik, Tethys, Cormag, Saleh

Ephraim, due to having the more difficult task of running through the entire Grado Empire would get- Franz, Forde and Kyle (I'd imagine that Seth would have a talk with Franz and send him with his brother and Ephraim), Garcia, Ross, Natasha, Lute and Artur (Although I could argue that sending them with Eirika would be the better decision in place of Colm and Neimi). Recruitable would be- Amelia, Ewan, Duessel, L'Arachel, Dolza, Rennac, Marisa, and Knoll. Granted, I could see L'Arachel being recruitable on Eirika's path as well, so that could go either way.

I wouldn't really invent too many new characters, except maybe adding the Soldier class (promotes into halberdier) for another Grado unit (and giving the class to Amelia in place of cavalier), along with adding a pre-promote ranger and a pre-promote priest as part of the roster. I would think of adding a trainee cleric (from Rausten, as a member or L'Arachel's gang), but I would make Neimi a trainee archer, class name would be Hunter.

Edited by FRZNHeir
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  • 2 weeks later...

They are only apart for 7 chapters and then you would have both armies joining again so you wouldn’t want to/need to add too many new characters. 

If the chapter 15 Reunion was just used as a way that manage characters and inventories and then the still continued on after that separate from eachother that would be pretty cool. 

In that case you would still only need to add 2-3 characters per route or like 4-5 total. 

Obvious inclusions could be an Armor in 5x with Ephraim and his gang. Another unit in Gerik’s crew. Another retainer to L’arachel. A trainee to join with Franz and Gilliam. And another archer to join whenever. Maybe make Selena recruitable. 

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  • 7 months later...

Eirika should probably get the smaller roster for story reasons; it was always a little goofy that the whole army goes with her on what the characters think will be a straightforward mission with little danger, while Ephraim goes off to besiege Grado all on his lonesome (I mean, I know he has the Frelian army with him in story terms, but it's still like... really? You think Kyle & Forde are most needed to help Eirika instead of sticking with you? Oookay.)

In terms of gameplay, it would be nice to add more options for some of the rarer classes so: a Knight, a Shaman, a Wyvern Rider, and a Pirate for sure, perhaps a Mercenary as well. How about these ideas in terms of story:

  • Hayden as a late joining, prepromote on Ephraim's route as they are fighting alongside the Frelian army. He fits well into the cast, can have supports with his kids and other Frelian characters as well as a couple of unexpected conversations like maybe Duessel or L'Arachel (she might look up to him as an example of a ruler, and I'm sure he knows her uncle). He would also be the only character you get that starts off as a Ranger, although obviously you have several options that can promote into it.
  • You know in Eirika's route when they get to Caer Pelyn and meet Saleh's grandma and she's the village matriarch? It could be neat if she joined you as a frail old lady magic user without much growth potential but lots of power, like Niime in FE6. She could be a Druid, filling that available dark mage role. This does mean you're getting 3 magical recruits thrown at you right after each other (Saleh, Ewan, and grandma) but maybe that could be rearranged so Ewan joins earlier or something (would also make him easier to use for people who don't like grinding).
  • It would make sense for L'Arachel to hire a replacement retainer after Rennac ditches her, and have that person be recruited alongside her and Dozla. This could be the Pirate, if L'Arachel is recruited on Ephraim's route with the ghost ship chapter, or the Mercenary, if L'Arachel is put on Eirika's route with the fort in the woods. I'd like this character to be female, because a female pirate or merc is unusual. I imagine she could have a really funny dynamic with L'Arachel, who in their supports could be trying to make this tough no-nonsense sellsword girl behave like a ~proper lady~. 
  • I don't have a more detailed idea for this one, but I'd like to see a character from Carcino who was politically important there (like a member of a well-off merchant family with a lot of influence) just because I think Carcino has the potential to be really interesting although it's the least developed of the nations in Magvel. It's unusual to have a republic among all the kingdoms and monarchies that Fire Emblem is always full of, and whoever this person is could have some really interesting support conversations perhaps with royal or knightly characters where they debate the value of these forms of government, expressing their perspective as someone from a country where there's no established nobility.

Additionally, one of the few changes I'd want to make to the class tree in an FE8 remake would be adding back in nomads/bow knights -- an unpromoted mounted bow user, whatever you want to call it -- which could promote to either Ranger or to... a new flying class which uses lances/bows, perhaps a griffon rider, and which is also a promotion option for Wyvern Riders. Just because I've honestly never been able to remember the difference between the two promoted wyvern classes, they always felt way too similar for my taste compared to the other branched promotions in this game. (Meaning the new flier promotions are pegasus knight --> falcoknight / wyvern lord, and wyvern knight --> wyvern lord / griffon rider.) Sooo, I'd obviously want a new character who was this Nomad class. I think a decent story niche for this person might be an additional member of Ephraim's knight squad alongside Forde & Kyle, but really anything might work.

Edited by baticeer
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/9/2019 at 8:20 PM, Gregster101 said:

I think I would do what most of you guys are saying as well, but I'd also do something similar to RD where once you reach the route split with the three armies, you can choose who can go into which army, with some exceptions (I.e. Soren, Titania, and Mist are forced to be in Ike's army, Sanaki is forced to be in Micaiah's army, Lucia is forced to be in Elincia's army, etc.) I think the forced units for Eirika and Ephraim's armies should be:

-Seth and maybe Joshua for Eirika's army (I say Joshua just cuz of his importance in Eirika's route)

-Kyle and Forde for Ephraim's army (and while we're at it, make them plot important for Ephraim's route)

Everyone else can be put in either army. Does that sound like it could work?

 

Yeah,  the best solution is picking which character will join each side, but there's some units that join later, when the armies are already split.

 

I'm all down for both armies/stories playing simultaneously. It makes the game longer and more interactive. 

 

A new refresher, probably a bard, to join the army that doesn't get Tethys is the only character that would NEED to be created. 

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