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 Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 7:00 pm
Well, he is a spy.
Not exactly as glamorous a lifestyle as being "the cheery thief" would suggest.
Will post more when I'm not dead tired.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 2:01 pm
Nomad Rath [Actually, Matthew will averagely gain 1 more point of strength than Legault. ] Can we talk about the Matthew x Jafar supports more? Do we have time? There's so much to say. The dude almost commits straight up murder out of vengeance. He sees Nino as a weakness to exploit in Jafar and uses it. The darker parts of Matthew's personality really come out in these supports, but he fights it and comes out a stronger person in the end, I think. It's really humanizing. Maybe I just have poor luck with Matthew. Legault certainly starts out with a good base, though, which is always helpful when you're at the whim of the RNG. Point taken, though!
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 5:48 pm
Character and story-wise, I like Matthew. From his first appearance in Lyn mode to his later role in Eliwood's tale, I always thought he was pretty interesting. He starts out as the perky thief, but is revealed to be much more (especially if you get that Easter egg in Lyn mode, where he visits that house to find Hector waiting.)
I think his dialogue during the Dread Isle was what made me like Matthew a lot. Although he lost the love of his life (RIP Leila), he felt like he had to continue doing his job, because it's what she would have wanted. I love characters who can deal with their grief by continuing their duties. I can relate on a personal level. (My situation was not quite as dramatic as Matthew's, but I still faced a lot of things in my life and kept pressing on.)
As a unit, I think I have bad luck with Matthew's RNGs.
It seems like the only thing he grows is speed. Speed, speed, and more speed. But after gaining levels and not having a lot of strength to offer, he usually gets benched in favor of Legault.
I like everything else about him though. His presence as a character, and even his sprite make him quite charming.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:29 pm
Nomad Rath [Actually, Matthew will averagely gain 1 more point of strength than Legault. ] Can we talk about the Matthew x Jafar supports more? Do we have time? There's so much to say. The dude almost commits straight up murder out of vengeance. He sees Nino as a weakness to exploit in Jafar and uses it. The darker parts of Matthew's personality really come out in these supports, but he fights it and comes out a stronger person in the end, I think. It's really humanizing. Ooh, that was quite interesting. It most certainly is as dark as Matthew ever gets, but let's really think about this. Jaffar straight-up murdered his fiancee. He was a cold-blooded killer. In this scenario, Jaffar walked away from it with no justice being dealt, no court system to do anything about it. Yes, Jaffar is an ally for the time being, but as Hector put it he is "only a tool". It would only make sense that Matthew wants to avenge her. So what does he do, he knows he can't beat Jaffar upfront. So he takes advantage, like a good spy would do, of Jaffar's weakness: Nino. But in that moment, where Jaffar lays down his life and is ready to die, Matthew forgives him and lets it go. It would be hard for anyone to do what Matthew did. To me, he really does stay true to his title: The Cheery Thief.
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Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:49 pm
Matthew will gain an average of one more strength than Legault as an Assassin. At Legault's joining level, he has one more point than Matthew's average for the same level and will still have the lead if they're both level 20 Thieves. So it's not a clear cut matter of saying one is stronger than the other, especially given different preferences on what to do with the Fell Contract.
Anyway, I wouldn't say he FORGIVES Jaffar OR just let's it go. Their A support has Matthew saying he didn't go all the way because Leila stopped him. He also says:
"Lord Eliwood...he told me. You have no will of your own. You only acted on Nergal’s orders. He said that the one who really killed Leila was Nergal....That... That doesn’t matter to me. You were Leila’s enemy. That will never change."
And personally, after pondering it, I think he's somewhat justified in placing some blame on Jaffar. To say Jaffar has no free will discredits him being able to have developed one, which he does. People commit crimes all the time without thinking about them and they're still held accountable. It was at Jaffar's hands that Leila perished, and even if there are mitigating circumstances, Jaffar's involvement is too intimate to wash off or dismiss entirely despite executing orders rather than thinking about them or making his own decisions.
Matthew never gets over Leila, either. His ending says "The memory of his beloved Leila lingers on in his heart."
And even his PAIRED ending with Serra becomes about Leila despite her never coming up in the supports: "his thoughts turned to Serra. Thanks to her, the pain of losing Leila slowly became more bearable."
He goes from CHEERY to DREARY!
It certainly gave him more to be dreary about to learn her last word was his name, too. D:
It's a consolation in its own way, to reaffirm his feelings for her, but all the more to grieve and mourn over, too.
...Fashionabluh! Because!
It's not like Matthew is consistently honorable even without the heavy stuff that defines him later on. From the B Support with Guy:
Guy: Y-You’re a coward, attacking me in my sleep like that! Your sword is without honor! You hear me!?
Matthew: What do I care? I’m no knight.
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Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 7:56 am
I ALWAYS have issues with getting Matt's strength high. However, when it comes to speed, he tends to max it out faster for me than the other characters. But then... why does it matter?! Because the other characters end up maxing out speed too! I think Legault is probably the most balanced of the thieves, so if stat growths suck, I'd go with him.
...I won't lie... I abuse the arena sometimes just to see who might come out better during a run. It's been a while since I've played.
Edit: Matthew never gets over Leila. Poor guy....
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 10:19 am
Matthew actually isn't my favorite thief character-wise, though he's probably second place. The honor belongs to the biggest piece of s**t in Fire Emblem, and Matthew isn't a piece of s**t. To make a long story short, if it weren't for my bizarre self-replicating fascination with Lifis, Matthew would probably be my favorite thief as long as he isn't visited by The Fireman. In gameplay I tend to prefer Legault over Matthew for reasons that have already been stated, though of course I use Matthew for his utility before I get Legault, and if he outclasses Legault I continue to use him. I've even used both of them before. And Jaffar. Assassin/Thief revenge depression club, yay! The three of them make an interesting combo character-wise. People have talked about Matty in regard to Jaffar, but what about Legault (character-wise)? Matthew: I wonder. Disguise yourself, get close to the enemy... I am familiar with these duties, as are you. I feel like this carries a lot of weight in itself, since not only is Matty a spy, not only is the presence of a black fang member, nevermind that he was one of the original fangs, but also that is exactly what Leila was doing when she was killed, except on the opposite side of things. I love how Matthew's emotions change depending on where he is. His demeanor with his allies is very happy, even funny, what with his annoyance towards Serra and his gentile poking at Hector, and so on. With character like Guy, as has been stated before, is still pretty gentile in comparison to other things, but he is not above more underhanded tactics like sneak attacks and bringing up long-forgotten debts, telling Guy that he must learn about the world and how honor is probably going to get him killed. Skip to Legault and we see that they are a lot more alike then Matthew would first like to admit, even at the end apologizing to him after hearing Legault's story of having to kill his subordinate. Matthew is a spy, being underhanded, sneaky, and suspicious is in the job description. But he has a heart, and of course will work with people even if he doesn't like it if the orders come from on high. Skip to Jaffar, Matthew threatens to hurt Nino and is ready to kill Jaffar out of revenge. He has Jaffar's weak point (one which Legault warns Jaffar about in their own support conversations, since he knows that Nino will be his undoing, but that's for another week). I'd even go so far as to say he's borderline manic here, he's talking to Leila, asking if she can see her, and only backing off when he realizes that's not what Leila would have wanted. Manic Martini Anyway, I wouldn't say he FORGIVES Jaffar OR just let's it go. Their A support has Matthew saying he didn't go all the way because Leila stopped him. He also says: "Lord Eliwood...he told me. You have no will of your own. You only acted on Nergal’s orders. He said that the one who really killed Leila was Nergal....That... That doesn’t matter to me. You were Leila’s enemy. That will never change." And personally, after pondering it, I think he's somewhat justified in placing some blame on Jaffar. To say Jaffar has no free will discredits him being able to have developed one, which he does. People commit crimes all the time without thinking about them and they're still held accountable. It was at Jaffar's hands that Leila perished, and even if there are mitigating circumstances, Jaffar's involvement is too intimate to wash off or dismiss entirely despite executing orders rather than thinking about them or making his own decisions. This brings up an interesting point. Yes, Matthew is definitely justified in blaming Jaffar for Leila's death. He's the one with the metaphorical smoking pistol. What I see here is Matthew not really forgiving Jaffar, but actually dehumanizing him. He doesn't apologize to Jaffar like he does to Legault. The scene is still tense after all the dialogue is done, with all those ellipses going on. Keep in mind, the last moment of the support is not just an affirmation of Leila's love of Matthew, he's actually talking about THE MOMENT HE KILLED HER. There's no forgiveness here, there's just live and let live due to the fact that Matthew doesn't want to take revenge his lover wouldn't have wanted.
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:46 pm
I wish it could continue, but we must move on to another character! Thanks to everyone who posted and made Matthew Week so successful!
Let's keep the Elibean love going with Marcus Week! As per usual, all iterations of a character are included in the character's week, so that's FE6 and FE7 Marcus.
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Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:55 pm
MAWCUS
I can't really talk about FE6 ( so here's hoping we get more posts), but I can talk about FE7 Marcus to an extent.
The general consensus is that Marcus is better in FE7 than he is in FE6 (though of course, in the spirit of two weeks ago that's not to say that FE6 Marcus is bad). That makes sense, as FE7 is a prequel and Marcus is ten years younger, those are the years before his wonderful purple hair went grey. I also really like that we get a playable character that serves two playable main characters who are father and son, with Marcus himself being playable in both games. Oifey is only playable in FE4's second generation, and Jagen is only playable in the first game he is in, though for both characters they are present through the game(s).
Now I want to see Malladus and/or Jagen serving Cornelius, then comes Jagen serving Marth as tactician after Malladus dies/retires/disappears from the writing, then Cain serves as tactician Marth after Jagen retires from the position, and so on and so forth. Maybe leading up to Freddy-bear and Chrom? Maybe we can see Frederick uncomfortably serve Chrom's warmongering father or something.
Why does everything lead into me wishing Awakening did more?
Anyway, Marcus. I think his supports with Eliwood are majorly adorable. Marcus is like a dorky grandpa, talking about embarrassing stories from when Eliwood was a baby and wanting to run around looking for a suitable wife for Eliwood (which is in their A support, which if they get it Eliwood won't get a paired ending with anyone anyway :B).
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:53 pm
Sorry I've been away all. This won't be all the time, but I do have a little time and I really wanted to talk about Marcus.. sweatdrop
I sort of want to go into some back story before I actually start talking about Marcus. What's really funny was that I actually used him a lot in my very first play through of FE7. But I didn't really pay attention all that much to my weaker units back then. I used him solely for the reason that he seemed like a strong unit to me at the time compared to everyone else. Then I got the assumption that all Jeigans were all bad units. (There's even a fan translated dialogue in one of the villages in FE3 that says "Don't use Jeigan!" as a joke which I'm pretty sure Tiki said before. xD) It even came to the point when I played sacred stones and PoR for my first time that I completely classified Titania and Seth as Jeigans.: facepalm: Yeah, and I still can't believe it's not butter. But now I know better! (Couldn't resist with that.) We all mistakes in the past that much is true.
Anyways, enough with that.. So likewise with Tiki, my knowledge with FE6 Marcus isn't too great because I actually never really used him much in that game compared to FE7. I have played and finished FE6 a good many times, but in all honesty I just casted him aside at some point. BUT I will say this about him, he can be very useful in many ways if you're playing FE6 on hard mode. It's already a fairly difficult game on normal mode to begin with. So with Marcus you'll be relying on him for a good while. But even as a unit he's not THAT bad. He does have some decent available support options and of course being a mount with the ability to rescue should surely come in handy. However he is kind of inferior to the other available mounts you could be using like Percival, Treck, Noah, Alan, Lance, and even Zealot who seems to be pretty unappreciated by some FE fans even. Which is a shame because I do rather like Zealot... >.>
FE7 Marcus on the other hand is just plain awesome. Period. Both as a character and as a unit he's just that great. I love the support conversation he has with Eliwood. I think the support conversation with Lowen is my favorite in particular. The way he praises Lowen for how much he improves and he acknowledges the fact that he tries very hard. I think it's a pretty sentimental moment to be honest. Let's not forget about the conversation with Merlinus, and how they open up a tart shop together. XD All his supports are fun in general.
As a unit he starts out with some good bases. Hp: 31 Strength:15 Skill:15 Speed:11 Luck:8 Defense:10 Resistance:8 He can certainly handle his own for sure. It's very apparent in early game that he can contribute in many ways. Great at handling bosses and enemies definitely. At some point he'll have a little problem with doubling certain units like swordmasters and such. But he gets the job done, and that's what I like about this version of Marcus. I do wonder how he would fare with the Regal sword though? I usually have him S rank lances in the end...
Oh yeah, he's especially handy with drafts which I do recognize in having him in the HHM draft.
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Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:25 pm
What a weekend! Anyway, I'll update later tonight. This is literally my first free enough moment to make a post.
I seriously encourage anyone who hasn't read FE6 Marcus's supports to do so as soon as they can. I'm weirdly surprised at how much I laughed over them and there's a lot more going on in them then there is in his FE7 supports which for the most part can be summarized as "We are Knights of Pherae". But those FE6 supports. Three of them end up becoming a competition for who can replace Marcus so he can retire. The support with Roy has him making Roy look better correcting someone more experienced (no shock there). And the supports with Lilina are truly a gift. If you ever thought the FE7 Marcus/Eliwood supports were forward, you'll really get a kick out of them.
And as a unit, he's ******** legit in FE7. I think the exact breakdown is if you give him ONE Speedwing he can double the vast majority of enemies in the entire game if you're using him. In FE6, I think it helps to look at him and Zealot as a single unit to a certain extent. If you use Marcus in FE6 the way you certainly can in FE7, it's going to be a disappointment. But if you use him that way until Zealot shows up and then replace him with Zealot you get very good mileage on that sort of early prepromote unit.
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 4:56 pm
Soooooo... I fell asleep last night. Whatever. DON'T JUDGE ME. I had a crazy awesome weekend.
But it's going to be an awesome week because it's Fin Week!
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Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:20 pm
asdfghjkl FIN! FIIIIIIIIIiiiinnnnn.......I can't possibly miss this week now can I? One of my favorite characters in the jugdral series.(Besides well Levin of course...) I'm also a bit of a sucker for his character design. From that cold expression of his and that blue hair~
I have quite a bit to say about him. But I'll post what I can for the time being...
I have talked about Fin in the past in the best/worst thread on the topic of best/worst parents. Actually, I do believe I put him in my personal favorite FE unit list. And it was the category of my favorite knight of the Fe series, so yeah nothing has changed from back then really. I absolutely love Fin's characterization in general. For the conversations we do get in FE4, he does have some involvement in there. We do have the conversations between him and Cuan in the first generation. Fin is dragged into this whole conflict, but he's there merely because of his respect for Cuan. We don't ever get to see Fin again until chapter 7 and it's for a very good reason too. But I'll go deeper into that once I talk about FE5's version of Fin.
Anyways, the brief summary of FE4 Fin's character in a nutshell is that the conversations we get with him between Leaf, Nanna are still all great. There isn't a lot compared to FE5, but he's there for Leaf and Nanna and I think that's what matters most. That's where most of the conflict I felt was the strongest for me. I remember when first played FE4 for the first time, the dilemma with those three was what stood out to me the most. Don't get me wrong, I still do a number of other things that happened in generation 2. It just gets so darn emotional and all... >:
I think the only thing that kinda bugs me is his relationship between Lachesis. It's very vague in the first generation of FE4 and not explained too well.(Not to mention pairing them together takes much dedication. Yeah not THAT easy.) I do understand that there is a reason why they don't have a conversation right before you face Reptor. Part of me wishes we had more scenes of their involvement. You wouldn't really know from the beginning that Nanna was his daughter unless you played FE5. So we pretty much know that Fin and Lach had a thing going on. But there's also Beowolf to consider... Welp, moving along now!
As a unit, well he's definitely useful that's certainly true. He starts off as a level 1 lance knight. His growths tend to be pretty decent for the most part. And he comes with the pursuit and prayer skills on him. But the fact that he's a mount is extremely good with being able to move again after attacking is very nice. But we all know how great mounts are in FE4 right? His usefulness skyrockets by the time Cuan gives him the Hero Lance. Or A.K.A the mighty Brave Lance. Getting him to promote to Duke Knight before he leaves at the end of chapter 3 shouldn't be very difficult at all. Considering that he has an awesome weapon at that point. And even before then, there are many instances where his performance as a unit does prove to be a good deal of help. In generation 2, he'll manage to hold his own fairly well and still manages to be quite reliable. This is pretty much what comes to mind with FE4 Fin for me... I'll try and talk about FE5 Fin later this week!
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:10 pm
And the Fire Emblem Lifetime Acheivement Award goes to... Fin! I hope he got a medal or five. When I started playing FE5, I remember reflecting on FE4's prologue. You've got all these characters, all of them related to our main character Sigurd in some way, except for one which came in with his pal Cuan. That generic-looking blue-haired mounted lancer, seems like a nice guy. But would you think that he would get the most screen time out of any Jugdral character? That screen time is certainly not wasted. He starts from a fresh recruit and has quite a few conversations with Cuan, about training, growing, and even getting a nice Brave Lance just for him. Quote: Cuan: "You're a valuable knight of the Lenster Kingdom, Fin. We can't afford to lose you. Giving you this lance is about all I can do to help you out now. Please have it." Cuan, Ethlin, and Fin leave Sigurd's crew in chapter 4, of course, one of the reasons being that Ethlin has had/is about to have another baby named Leif. Cuan and Ethlin later return to aid Sigurd's crew but we all know how that goes. Leif? He's been left with Fin. Because by then, He's been shown as loyal and steadfast enough to be given responsibility of Lenster's youngest heir. At that point it's just hearsay, but when we rejoin the people of Lenster we see that their trust was not misplaced. Hell, I'd trust Altenna more with Fin than Ethlin, since not once does Fin fall prey to bad situational writing disease. I reread Lenster's Fall last night (I hadn't read it all the way through prior to then). While it's pretty roughly translated, there's tons of Fin in there, and any time Fin and little Leif were together, I could feel my heart grow heavy. Especially here:
“Is this odd… Lord Leaf? … shall we go on a trip together?”Augh, Fin and Little Leif, as if my feelings for the wayward sons of Lenster didn't go deep enough, just leave me. I think FE5's intro sets up the game's feelings very well. By the time it gets to Lenster burning and Fin holding little Leif with his little innocent Leif face, Fin's anguish and Leif's barely comprehending of what exactly is happening... And even if you don't want to dredge up every Fin moment, I feel like that image sums it up. That and Fin in second gen leading Lenster's young hope as Sigurd and friends come closer. Fin is connected immediately to Cuan, Ethlin, and Lenster in a way that no other character is. He knew them, he fought for them, he was honored by them and became their most trusted and loyal soldier. He's the one who recognizes Altenna, he's the one who was connected to the original army and lived to tell the tale. What is there not to love? Ninja Ryu11 I think the only thing that kinda bugs me is his relationship between Lachesis. It's very vague in the first generation of FE4 and not explained too well.(Not to mention pairing them together takes much dedication. Yeah not THAT easy.) I do understand that there is a reason why they don't have a conversation right before you face Reptor. Part of me wishes we had more scenes of their involvement. You wouldn't really know from the beginning that Nanna was his daughter unless you played FE5. So we pretty much know that Fin and Lach had a thing going on. But there's also Beowolf to consider... Welp, moving along now! Keep in mind that in FE4 Fin can be paired with a number of ladies. Fin has a conversation with Nanna if he is her father, but the same goes for Lana and Lakche too. Like Levin x Fury, it was made canon by Thracia 776, though FE5's arrangement for Lachesis is one that was made impossible by FE4's pairing system, that being that Delmud is Beowulf's son while Nanna is Fin's daughter. It is very clear too that Fin cares deeply for Lachesis, and her disappearance troubles him. Apparently they did have some sort of falling out, if Nanna's conversation with Fin as her father in FE4 is to go by. What's more, in FE5 you can get a conversation where Selphina chews out Fin for being cold towards women and leaving Lachesis. You can tell it pains him, he really doesn't want to talk about it, especially in the middle of battle. Would that be being cold? He's holding pain inside. And in his ending in FE5, he disappears for three years after Leif takes the throne, and it is said that he spent them wandering the Yeid desert. It isn't outright said, but it is very much implied he is looking for Lachesis. In the desert for three years... I remember seeing in the director's notes or somewhere that Lachesis had been turned to stone and was somewhere in Yeid. I wonder what he found, if anything...
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