Writing Athena Plays Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - Playthrough Complete! Stay tuned for the next one...

Athena

The Cooler Danchou
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Hello and welcome to the latest installment of playthrough series! The people have spoken, and our newest game will be Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright. As typical for my playthroughs, you need no knowledge of the Fire Emblem series (or Fates in particular) in order to read along, make suggestions, and enjoy. Mechanical basics will be explained as necessary to make suggestions.

Now that we are back in the "modern" era of Fire Emblem, this playthrough will have a LOT more opportunities for reader involvement and activity. Not only will we be choosing, naming, and pairing characters, but we have a wide variety of reclassing options, DLC to play, weapons to name, and other fun and exciting ways to take part in the playthrough instead of just reading along!

As usual, expect the story to be retold in a humourous, light-hearted manner, though of course there will still be spoilers.


Introduction to Fire Emblem Fates

Just in case you're not familiar with Fire Emblem, take a look in the spoiler for a quick overview about the series.

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Fire Emblem is a turn-based strategy RPG made by Intelligent Systems and Nintendo. It's been around since the days of the original NES back in Japan, though it was first brought over to the Western world with the 7th game which was released on the GBA. The games take place in many different worlds, but all of them are similar to fairly standard western fantasy worlds, with knights, kingdoms, and magic. Typically, there will be a main "Lord" character who is the Main Character for a given game, and the rest of the units comprise a small, personal army of his for achieving some purpose, usually a destruction of some kind of evil being.

Where Fire Emblem really shines as a series is its mechanics. The player (either as a complete 4th wall entity or via an in-game character avatar) must guide the Lord and his units to victory by achieving certain objectives. Different characters in the game have various classes, and therefore strengths and weaknesses, that can be used to maximum benefit. The main difference between FE and a more traditional JRPG is that the party size is much larger, and the game is broken up into chapters where each chapter is one large battle. Within the battle, there are many enemies on the field, and individual combats are more simplified, with a single character attacking a certain enemy at a given time. Often, characters who die in combat are permanently dead and may not join again in later chapters, so you really need to develop good tactics and keep your team alive!

If you'd like to learn more about Fire Emblem or discuss the series, we have a thread for that here in PokéBeach's Long Term Topics section.

Aside from that, Fates itself introduced some changes that people who have only played the older games may not know about, such as: new weapon types for Hoshido, a new weapon category, an upgraded weapon triangle, new classes, and new reclassing information. This is especially important for this playthrough as Birthright has many more new classes/weapons than Conquest. Check out the spoiler before for an overview of these changes.

Weapons:

Weapons in Hoshido are a bit different from weapons in previous FE games. The basics are more or less the same, but they go by different, Japanese-inspired names:

Katana (replacing Swords)
Naginata (replacing Lances)
Clubs (replacing Axes)
Yumi (replacing Bows)
Rods (replacing Staves)
Scrolls (replacing Tomes)

There is also a new category of weapon called Hidden Weapons. In Hoshido, these are called Shuriken; in Nohr, they're Knives. They are 1-2 physical weapons with lower might that debuff opponents if they are attacked but not killed.

The weapon triangle has also been updated to reflect the new weapon types:

Swords/Katana and Tomes/Scrolls > Axes/Clubs and Bows/Yumi > Lances/Naginata and Shuriken/Knives > Swords/Katana and Tomes/Scrolls

Classes:

Some classes in Fates are entirely new, some are exactly the same as before, and some are similar but may have had some changes. For full class information, check out the Hoshidan, Nohrian, and Other/DLC class pages on Serenes Forest.

Class Changing:

Reclassing works a bit differently in Fates than in previous games. In addition to the standard promotion, there are 4 different ways to change into a different class:

Heart Seal - Every character has 1 secondary class available based on their history or personality. You can use a Heart Seal to swap to this secondary class at any point in the game. If you are a base class, you swap to the base version; if promoted, you choose between the two promoted options for that class. The character's level does not get reset, but he/she will still have opportunity to learn all the skills for the new class. Secondary classes for Hoshido non-avatar characters are listed here.

Partner Seal - If a character gets an S support with another character, he/she can use a Partner Seal to switch to their partner's class. If the partner has a special class (like the avatar), they gain access to their secondary class instead.

Friendship Seal - If two same-sex characters reach an A support with each other, they also have the option to move up to an A+ support. The purpose of this A+ support is the aforementioned Friendship Seal, which allows a character to switch to their A+ buddy's class. A+ supports are one way, so character X can get an A+ support with Y, but Y can still get an A+ with someone else, if they wish.

DLC Class Seals - There are some seals give access to special DLC classes. Some of these seals we will have available at the beginning of the game, some we will have to play certain DLC levels to unlock. Any character can switch into a DLC class (provided they are the correct gender for some gender-locked classes). DLC classes are special classes that do not have promoted versions and instead get 40 levels of progression with 4 skills earned throughout. Skills learned from DLC classes cannot be inherited.


Step 1: Choose My Characters!

Before I even begin the playthrough, I will need your help making a team!

Not all characters join at the beginning of the game, but we will be aiming for a permanent team of 16 combat characters that we will decide on in a few different ways.

Our first gen PCs!
Azura: @PMJ
Sakura: @Skyleaf2000
Saizo: @Vom
Mozu: @ExcalAura4D
Azama: @Robin Aisaga
Hayato: @thegrovylekid
Oboro: @Professor Palutena
Takumi: @King Xerneas
Kagero: @PikaMasterJesi
Kaden: @Celever
Ryoma: @Jabberwock

Named NPCs:
Kaze: @bbninjas
Xander: @Brave Vesperia
Camilla: @Camoclone
Leo: @double o squirtle
Elise: @TheFlyingPidove
Garon: @Keeper of Night

Avatar Info:
Bane/Boon: +Str/-Mag
Talent: Outlaw​

1) Help with Avatar Creation - Boon/Bane and Talent

Only 1 of our characters is pre-determined, our favourite (totally not a Mary Sue) Avatar Lord, Athena!

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Although her name and appearance have already been determined by me, there are still some things that need to be decided upon before the game starts.

Boon and Bane are stat changes that affect Athena's growths, with a Boon making the stat stronger and Bane making the stat weaker. Vote for 1 stat for Boon and 1 stat for Bane from the following: HP, Strength, Magic, Skill, Speed, Luck, Defense, or Resistance. The top rated stat for each category will be chosen upon avatar creation.

Talent is what Athena's alternate class option will be for purposes of reclassing. Please vote for 1 of the following classes: Cavalier, Knight, Fighter, Mercenary, Outlaw, Samurai, Oni Savage, Spear Fighter, Diviner, Shrine Maiden, Sky Knight, Archer, Wyvern Rider, Ninja, Dark Mage, Troubadour, or Apothecary. More information about the classes can be found here and here.


2) 1st Gen Characters - Choose and Name!

The next characters chosen will be 11 first-gen characters that comprise the bulk of our fighting force. Because Athena is female, we will need 6 male characters and 5 female characters, and all of the ones chosen to be a part of our final team will also need to be named after PokéBeach members.

There are some playable characters that play a rather large role in the Birthright plot, Athena's four Hoshido Siblings and 2 other plot-important characters. They are listed separately here because they play a large role in the storyline, so they should also get voted for names even if they are not chosen as PCs. The below sheet gives you a bit of information about each character; they are listed in order of recruitment.

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In addition to the above list, there is another large group of first-gen characters that can be chosen as possible PCs. Please check out the spoiler below for the list of available characters and more information about them! Characters are listed in recruitment order, so the ones closer to the top of the list will have more screentime.

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You may notice that some of these characters are marked with a *. These characters are so-called "Corrinsexuals" who can only support with the avatar. The females in this category (Reina and Scarlet) can be chosen as PCs, but because they do not pair-up, they will actually not count towards the 11 characters chosen as a part of this category but will instead take up one of the later 4 slots allotted for children/other characters.

The males in this category (Shura, Izana, and Yukimura) can count towards one of the 11 only if they are paired up with Athena, otherwise they will also count as an "other" slot like the females. If you vote for any of these characters, you should mark them as either "paired" or "other" to make sure that they are put in the correct category before we move onto Step 2.

Each person may submit up to 7 characters from this list to be in the Playthrough from the Royal/MCs and the Other 1st Gen lists. Yes, you must actually nominate the Royals/MCs if you want them to be actual played PCs and not just named NPCs.

You should assign member names to everyone you submit as well! I would also like people to assign member names to the other Royals/MCs even if you are not voting for them. Post your own ideas, and "Like" the posts of those people who post character/member suggestions that you like.

The team members will be chosen from the public submissions roughly based on popularity (most posts and like). However, there will be an even amount of male/female characters chosen from the group, even if more of either gender is suggested.

NOTE: Those of you who are already familiar with this game are welcome to suggest to me in private (either PM or Skype or whatever) member-name suggestions for characters who are not listed here, such as NPCs and the like.


Step 2: Shipping Chart!

First gen pairs have been decided!

Hayato x Sakura
Azama x Mozu
Kaden x Azura
Saizo x Oboro
Ryoma x Kagero
Takumi x Athena​

Now that our character choices are finalized, it's time to pair them up!

Please vote to pair up all chosen units in male/female pairings. This includes all of the 1st gen units we just picked and also the avatar, Athena. Each character can only have one pair, so we'll end up with 6 pairs total. This is what all is affected by the final pair choices:

1) They're in love! <3
Although not all S Supports immediately end in marriage, it does imply a romantic connection between the two characters and they will have a paired ending together at the end of the game. Like in previous FE playthroughs, supports for these characters will take priority over others, and they'll all be written out. Also note that the paired endings in this game by and large suck, so I'll mostly be making them up myself.

2) Children Units
Unlike in Awakening, children are tied to the father characters rather than the mothers, with the exception of the Avatar and Azura who also have their own children. Children inherit different things depending on who their mother is (or father, for Athena and Azura's children), such as secondary class options, a directly inherited skill, hair colour, and different bases/growths.

Considering our chosen units, we'll have access to 8 children: Selkie (Kaden), Mitama (Azama), Rhajat (Hayato), Kiragi (Takumi), Asugi (Saizo), Shiro (Ryoma), M!Kanna (Athena), and Shigure (Azura). I'll go into more detail about them in Step 3 when we name/vote/pair them, but for now we're just considering their parentage.

3) Relationship Seals
Each character will have access to their partner's class via Relationship Seals. For characters that have weird classes (like Athena and Azura), they give access to their secondary class instead. This lets us use some fun classes for certain characters that they may not have access to otherwise. You can take a look at and compare primary/secondary classes for our characters here if you're interested.

Please ask if you have any questions and vote for your chosen pairings! <3

Step 3: Children/Other Characters!

Other units have been decided and paired! The final chosen outcome is...

Shigure: @Water Pokémon Master
Rhajat: @DNA
Asugi: @quakingpunch73
Selkie: @Miyami~~

Shigure x Rhajat
Asugi x Selkie​

With our pairings decided, it's time to fill up the last 4 slots in our team. Let's take a look at the kid units we'll have available in the spoiler below!

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Like in Awakening, children units can also S Support with each other, so if you are suggesting children units, you should also suggest pairings for them. The optimal way to do this would be to suggest 2 pairs of male/female supports. Please keep in mind that siblings cannot S Support, so, for example, matching up Shigure and Selkie is not an option.

In addition to the children units, we can also fill up these last few spots with some other late-joining, non-pairing units. Reina, Scarlet, Izana, Shura, and Yukimura can all be suggested as extra units as well.

The last character available is Anna, whom we can recruit via DLC. Like the other Correinsexuals, she cannot be paired up.

Please suggest 4 "other" units to be added onto our endgame team!

Ideally, numbers should be kept even for the sake of pairing, so suggesting 4 children (2 M/F pairs), 2 children (1 M/F pair) and 2 single others, or 4 single others is preferred. However, since votes will probably not line up anyway, this is not strictly necessary.


Other Reader Decisions!!

Throughout the game, readers will have the opportunity to interact with the playthrough in many ways. In this respect, this playthrough will be similar to my earlier Awakening playthrough than any of my more recent ones. Options for reader involvement include:

  • Reclassing - Who, when, and to what class? I will keep a running list of which seals we have available and which classes can be swapped to.
  • My Castle - We will need to give My Castle a name, and you can also vote for what to purchase/upgrade, how to decorate it, etc. More details will be revealed when the time comes.
  • DLC - Gives us access to new classes and items, as well as hopefully amusing chapters to read. I'll break down the options once they become available.
  • Statboosters - We start off the game with a large variety of statboosters available that will need to be passed out (or saved for later).
  • A+ Supports - Same-sex supports that give access to more reclassing abilities. I will also make up amusing conversations for them, even though the final A+ supports in game don't actually have convos.
  • Forged Weapons - You'll be able to suggest which weapons I forge and what their names should be!
  • Accessories - There are a large variety of accessories, most decorative and some useful, that we can give out to our characters and take silly pictures.
  • Amiibo - I've got all 4 Fire Emblem Amiibo that work in this game; we can use them to add accessories, or even beat them in battle to recruit them.


My Castle

If you have a PAL copy of Fire Emblem Fates, you are welcome to visit with me to see how the PokéBeach Castle is doing! If you share your code with me as well, we can exchange cards and accessories to create bond units. Sadly, the My Castle feature is region locked, so only users with a PAL copy of Fates (Europe, Australia/NZ).

My Castle Code - 00129-93338-96395-84946


Chapters \o/

Prologue & Chapter 1: Foreshadowing Dreams of the Future
Chapter 2 & 3: Magical Fish Dragon Plot Device, woo!
Chapter 4: SUDDEN PLOT TWIST (not really)
Chapter 5: Rawr, I'm a dragon! >:3
Chapter 6: Athena chooses grinding over butts
DLC + Chapter 7: ITC: Athena discovers the joys of cosplaying
Paralogue 1: Aura discovers a taste for vengeance
Chapter 8: Sandy Trial by Combat
Chapter 9: Saving Archduke Izana + Bonbons
DLC: Time to play Not-Gaiden!
Chapter 10: Xerneas and Jesi jump into the fray!
Chapter 11: We're on a boat!
Chapter 12: We're on multiple boats!
Chapter 13: Camo really, really, really likes Athena
Chapter 14: We are the best at being sneaky
Intermission: Unit Recap 1!
Chapter 15: Fox vs. Wolf - Round 1: FIGHT!
Intermission 2: Supports and Promotions
Chapter 16: It's been 3,000 years...
Chapter 17: Barbecue at the Ice Tribe!
Chapter 18: Swamps and Brothers
Chapter 19: Playthrough: RESURRECTION
Paralogue 14: Why did they awkwardly shove kids into this game...
Paralogue 3: WPM splashes his way into battle!
Paralogue 9: Vom vs. Vom
Paralogue 10: Miyami would like to play a little game... >:3
Chapter 20: Back to the Plot, woo~ \o/
Chapter 21: The cave filled with lukewarm lava
Chapter 22: Hidden Thieves, Secret Cities
Chapter 23: Fireballs in the Sewers
Chapter 24: A not-very-important sacrifice was made
Chapter 25: Another mini-boss villain swept under the rug
Chapter 26: Wake that slugabed up!
Final Unit Recap
Chapter 27 + Endgame: The Dragon Departed
 
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my character picks are:

takumi
rinkah
azama
oboro
reina

boon/bane suggestion is +mag/-res with dark mage talent
 
Kaden ~ @Celever
Hinata ~ @Keeper of Night
Azama ~ @Robin Aisaga
Mozu ~ @ExcalAura4D
Subaki ~ @bbninjas

Basically just chose my favourite 2 characters (Kaden and Subaki) and then the 3 characters I didn't use on my run but would've kinda liked to.

Boon ~ Strength
Bane ~ Magic
Talent ~ Outlaw

I would've said knight, but IIRC you don't like their low movement. So have a bow instead lol.
 
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It's nice that we have many ways to interact with the playthrough. Also I finished Birthright last week so I may read it without being spoiled.

For Boon and Bane I would always go with either +Strength/-Magic or +Magic/-Strength. This makes for the best characters in the end game except if you reclass to Grandmaster / Dark Falcon or something like that. I'm going with outlaw as your talent, and for my character picks:

Jakob - @Camoclone
Kaden - @Celever
Azama - @Me (Sure why not ^_^)
Saizou - @Vom
Hayato - @thegrovylekid
 
You didn't list Felicia, but Imma vote for her anyway because yes.

You're right; I legitimately forgot about her because she joins to late when you play as F!Corrin. I also didn't list Gunter for, uh, reasons that are probably apparent to anyone who's played Birthright already.

On that note, it's time for a tally!

Old tally in spoilers below; new tally can be found on page 2 here.

Characters:

Kaden (7): Celever, Robin, DoS, TGK, Keeper, quaking, KX
Azura (6): Jabberwock, NotJim, DoS, TGK, quaking, KX
Azama (6): NotJim, Celever, Azama, TGK, Keeper, KX
Hayato (5): Robin, TGK, Keeper, quaking, Skyleaf
Takumi (4): NotJim, DoS, Jabberwock, KX
Oboro (4): NotJim, Keeper, DoS, quaking
Sakura (4): Jabberwock, TGK, KX, Skyleaf
Saizo (3): Robin, TGK, quaking, KX
Kagero (3): TGK, NotJim, quaking
Ryoma (3): Jabberwock, quaking, KX
Rinkah (2): NotJim, DoS
Mozu (2): Celever, DoS
Kaze (1): Jabberwock
Reina (1): NotJim,
Hinata (1): Celever,
Subaki (1): Celever,
Jakob (1): Robin,
Silas (1): DoS,
Felicia (1): Keeper
Hinoka (1): Jabberwock


Avatar:

Boon: Mag (3), Str (3),
Bane: Res (1), Mag (3), Str (2)
Talent: Outlaw (2), Knight (2), Dark Mage (1), Spear Fighter (1), Diviner (1),


Member Names:

Ryoma: Jabber (4), BV (1)
Hinoka: Camo (1), PMJ (1), Robin (1)
Takumi: KX (2), DoS (2), Camo (1)
Sakura: Skyleaf (5)
Azura: PMJ (2), Miyami (1), DNA (1), Robin (1)
Kaze: bb (4), Vom (1)

Kaden: Celever (6)
Azama: Robin (2), Keeper (2), Camo (1)
Hayato: TGK (5)
Saizo: Vom (3), bb (1)
Oboro: PP (1)
Kagero: Jesi (1), Robin (1)
Mozu: ExcalAura4D (1)

Hinata: Keeper (1)
Subaki: bb (1)
Jakob: Camo (1)
Felicia: Jesi (1)
 
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I should have known that TGK would get voted in as our shota mage)
I'm suddenly very curious about how you know.

I also love how currently Athena's boon and bane would both be Mag, even though that's impossible.

Athena said:
Azama (5): NotJim, Celever, Azama, TGK, Keeper
Yeah, that's right. Azama's so cool he gets a say in what happens before the game even starts.

Also, Azura should have 4 votes: Me, KX, Quaking, and Keeper.
 
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Also, Azura should have 4 votes: Me, KX, Quaking, and Keeper.

A lot of people are naming her but not voting her in. As stated in the OP, the Royals/MCs actually do take up regular nomination spots like other characters, so those people who listed the 6 MCs but also an additional 5 characters (like you), only the 5 characters count towards as nominations.

Though, it looks like that's confusing a decent amount of people for some reason, and there's still a lot of tie-breaking to be done, so I'm going to bump up nomination slots.

Everyone may now nominate up to 7 characters. Please keep in mind that voting in Royals/MCs is a part of this number; if you want any of those characters to be in the game and not just named NPCs, you must name them as a part of your total 7.

If you choose to add/change your nominees, please make a new post; do not just edit your old one or I will not see it and it will not count.

Tagging all nominators so they can add to or correct their entries. @NotJim, @Celever, @King Xerneas, @quakingpunch73, @Robin Aisaga, @double o squirtle, @thegrovylekid, @Keeper of Night, @Jabberwock
 
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kagero and azura get additional votes from me

(i only just noticed there was no dancer)
 
I'm suddenly very curious about how you know.
Still kinda curious about this.
Azura - @Miyami~~ (She's even got the cosplay for it!)
Kaze - @bbninjas
Sakura - @Skyleaf2000 (She also has a cute support conversation with Hayato ;) )
Hinoka - I really don't know, Hinoka is super boring and I'll just leave this blank
Takumi - @double o squirtle
Ryoma - @Jabberwock

Saizo - @Vom
Kaden - @Celever
Kagero - @Robin Aisaga
Hayato - Me!!
Azama - @Keeper of Night

Boon/Bane = +Mag/-Str
Talent: Diviner
I'll add Azura and Sakura to characters I want to see played, and the rest of the top group can be NPCs, because I really don't like how Ryoma and Takumi invalidate the rest of the game's sword and bow users.
 
I've been keeping the tally running in this post for anyone who wants full results. But if I were to end things right now, it looks like...

Kaden, Azama, Hayato, Takumi, Saizo, and Ryoma are winning for the males. Azura, Oboro, and Kagero are winning for the girls, with a 3-way-tie between Rinkah, Mozu, and Sakura for the last 2 spots.

For avatar stuff, -Mag is winning the Bane vote, which would put +Str in the lead for Boon since they can't be the same. Outlaw and Knight are still tied for Talent.

I'm going to leave voting open for another day or so for anyone else that wants to jump in and/or people who have already voted and want to add additional characters. Then, I'll open up the shipping chart!

Still kinda curious about this.

Nothing sinister, it just fits the pattern of previous playthroughs where you also played the available shota mage, like Lugh and Ivan.
 
Internet, please let me post this.
I'd like to vote for myself as Sakura since it seems to be a unanimous vote for that. Thank you, everyone! :D
I'll also vote Hayato as TGK because that's what he wants.
 
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