Either the stubble is getting worse, or it’s bothering me more than it already did. Probably the latter, because how exactly would it get worse when I’m shaving better? I’m going to have to commit to lasering everything, the stubble gets the wall

Today I wanted to go over Faye. I love her design, and she is probably one of my favorite characters in Sacred Echoes. What’s weird about her is that she was one of my least favorites in Shadows of Valentia. What changed for her?

In SoV, Faye is obsessed with Alm. Everything is about him because she’s infatuated with him, and it borders on psychotic. She dislikes Celica simply because her and Alm are essentially a long-distance couple. This is her entire character. Horribly written, absolutely insufferable, I’m blaming this on Tharja from Awakening because I’ve heard she’s like this with Robin.

In Sacred Echoes, Faye is an actual character. While she still likes Alm in a romantic sense, there’s also a level of respect behind it, and she’s not obsessive. She understands his relationship with Celica, and rather than hating her for it, she appreciates Celica for being the kind of person Alm can like. Though this has given her insecurities about herself, she’s realized she shouldn’t try to change who she is just to appeal to Alm, and he appreciates her more for that, as one of his best friends. Faye still fights in the war because of Alm, but rather than because of a psychotic obsession, it’s because she wants to know what Alm and Celica have (in addition to a great level of respect). She’s a romantic, and in seeing how Alm and Celica treat each other, and act together, she’s hoping she can find ways to guide her through her own life. She knows she’ll leave this all behind when the war is over, as she wants nothing more than to return to her village, to the life she had. It takes finding someone who feels a similar way, and has gone through similar experiences of learning to be themselves, that she finally realizes she’s fine as she is, and doesn’t need to worry about how other people act in their own relationships.

Notice the difference between the two. One can be described in a couple of sentences, and one has enough character for over a paragraph. There’s more to Sacred Echoes Faye, and you’re just going to have to play the game and max out her supports to see where her life happens to take her!

One final note: SoV Faye has one ending (no paired ending), where she marries someone she doesn’t love and returns to her village. She frequently leaves the village to stalk Alm, sometimes taking weeks at a time. She’s still obsessed, and has had almost no character development. After all, she’s not a character.

Sacred Echoes Faye still returns to the village, but she never sees the need to leave. She loves her husband, who can possibly be someone she supports with, and they raise their kids together in a life she appreciates until its end. She doesn’t just ghost Alm, she’s still his friend, but she won’t sneak out and leave a family she doesn’t love just for an extra glimpse at him. She’s allowed to be herself, and she’s happy, and after seeing how horribly Faye was done in SoV it made me feel happy for her.

Most characters in the game are chess pieces, with set classes. However, there are a few Villager units (4) you get at the beginning of the game that can class into whatever you want. Once they reclass though, they’re locked into that class’s promotions (they become chess pieces). What I like about this over other games is that it provides enough customization to make a run unique, but it’s not enough to feel the need to min-max. Yes, certain characters work better in certain roles (supposedly), and if you want I could tell you those roles. However, the Villagers are flexible enough that they tend to inherit the stats of a class, meaning they are almost truly flexible.

Today I wanted to go over Delthea and Luthier. These two mages are sister and brother, both descended from a powerful mage. While Delthea inherited a lot of the blood from this mage, Luthier didn’t get much of it. However, Delthea doesn’t really like magic, and just wants to live her life being a normal teenage girl, obsessing over boys like… hold on… let me check my notes… Clive (dude is a grown married man and she is 14). OK. Luthier, on the other hand, is extremely autistic, and his #1 special interest is magic. He’s worked so hard all of his life to perfect it, but he’ll be the first to admit he only has a fraction of the power his sister does. Side note, but Luthier is an extremely relatable guy. Autistic and likes cats. That’s so many people. Anyway, he’s always telling Delthea she needs to embrace her natural talent, info-dumping about magic and such. She wants to hear about NONE of it though, and she can be a bit bratty. Pretty understandable, considering she’s essentially been given a role she doesn’t want. Just because her brother wants it, doesn’t mean she should have to live it out for him. Although these mark some of Luthier’s feelings towards her, lot of his “nagging” is really in the interest of keeping her safe, as she’s really reckless and cocky about her power.

Here’s where I applaud the Shadows of Valentia devs though. In gameplay, Delthea is one of the best characters in the game. She starts off at a lower level, but quickly levels up, surpassing most of the other mages. She even learns Ragnarok, a spell mentioned to be on par with a Mila, a god. The only other character who can learn this spell is Celica, a main character who has literally been marked by that god. She’s REALLY strong. Luthier, on the other hand, is okay. He’s pretty good when introduced, and he gains both Thunder and Sagittae, longer-range spells (something Delthea lacks). He joins earlier, and at a higher level. The issue is, he starts to become more mediocre as the game goes on. He’s not bad, and he’s a mage so he’s automatically good, but even being at level 11 when promoted, a level 4 promoted Delthea will be much stronger than him. Even a level 7 promoted Faye (when a mage) will be stronger than him. I think it was a great idea to actually integrate the lore between the siblings in the gameplay. It lets the player feel the power difference between them, and through their support conversations it’s clear how that difference can cause some strife between them.

So when I said Delthea supremacy, it was not a matter of my opinion. It was a fact. Statistically speaking, Delthea will always reign supreme. At least until she gives up magic and decides to try to romance Clive, good luck with that small child.

Also have to admire the work on his portrait. Berkut goes from being normal to looking like this when he says UNCLE!!!

Didn’t you say you thought you were neurotypical a month or two ago?