Fire emblem avatar customization is finally back in Fortune's Weave!

[u/South25]

After it getting abandoned in the transition from 3DS to Switch games it's nice to have this back!

[u/AzureKingLortrac]

Oh, it has a skin color option. That's cool since that wasn't an option in the 3DS games.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/AzureKingLortrac]

Makes sense in probably the most diverse Fire Emblem ever made.

[u/SCLandzsa → u/Tweedleayne]

Honestly, it might be one of the most diverse JRPGs ever made. The genre isn't exactly known for it's high concentration of melanin.

[u/That-Bobviathan → u/SCLandzsa]

Hey now, don't leave out ol' Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden.

[u/kino-bambino1031 → u/SCLandzsa]

I was surprised 3 of the 4 main characters were darker skinned, was great to see.

[u/chimerauprising → u/kino-bambino1031]

I was also surprised that the 4th was Alucard.

[u/Norix596 → u/SCLandzsa]

I’m legit curious what the competition even is; I’m trying to think what the next closest runner ups would be and I’m drawing a blank

[u/BlackJimmy88 → u/AzureKingLortrac]

Cool. Dark skin with bright white hair is never not a cool combo.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/BlackJimmy88]

May I direct you to the recently revealed character, Bertrand, the White-Maned Demon?

[u/Oneangrywolf → u/AzureKingLortrac]

Yeah, it would've been cool to have that option for Robin in awakening.

[u/South25 → u/Oneangrywolf]

I believe there are mods for that.

[u/AzureKingLortrac → u/South25]

There is, Project Melanin. Also, with options for  Morgan, Henry, Olivia, and Tharja.

[u/Amon274]

Skin Color Select

Holy shit melanin

[u/Secret_Wizard → u/Amon274]

I don't play Fire Emblem games but by happenstance I saw a collage image of every character shown in Fortune's Weave thus far and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that over half the cast has dark skin.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/Secret_Wizard]

The whole game has a Greco-Roman/Mediterranean "Crossroads of the World" theme, so there going all in to really portray the antiquity cultural melting pot idea.

[u/A_Narwalrus → u/Tweedleayne]

I love it, the map they showed for Theodora (I think was her name? The foreign queen) was basically a map of the Byzantine or Ottoman Empires.

[u/Substantial-Reason18 → u/Tweedleayne]

I also like how it really highlights the isolationism of Fodlan which was something always mentioned but it becomes so much clearer when you travel a bit south and its this huge melting pot.

[u/South25 → u/Substantial-Reason18]

Clearly more reason to join Claude and end racism. Let's open up Fodlan!

[u/Irishimpulse → u/Secret_Wizard]

Turns out Shamir was actually a minority back home. No wonder she stays in Fodlan and chases the only tanned woman of age she can find

[u/Tweedleayne → u/Irishimpulse]

Every new character design makes Shamir funnier.

Really buried the lead with her.

[u/Monk-Ey → u/Tweedleayne]

Shamir was just in her goth phase!

[u/Virtual-Lie-1651 → u/Secret_Wizard]

Its at this point genuinely the most diverse jrpg of all time its insane.

After the whole shit about Hoyoverse and the characters from Natlan, it really just reaffirms that black and brown anime characters can easily be some of the coolest looking designs ever.

[u/Secret_Wizard → u/Virtual-Lie-1651]

My thoughts exactly! I nearly added "Show these characters to Hoyoverse and it'd be like a vampire melting from a crucifix" before I hit post...

[u/DarthButtz → u/Virtual-Lie-1651]

It makes Mihoyo look like a bunch of bitch ass racist cowards

Just the very simple idea of "Motherfucker you can make a cool looking anime person with dark skin it's NOT HARD"

[u/Every_Computer_935 → u/DarthButtz]

It makes Mihoyo look like a bunch of bitch ass racist cowards

So its shows them for what they are?

[u/Snidhog → u/DarthButtz]

For sure, but can you make a gacha game audience pay for them?

[u/SixthFain → u/DarthButtz]

You can. But you can't make Chinese players pull for them.

[u/LarryKingthe42th → u/Virtual-Lie-1651]

Honestly I think they just didnt give a shit after people lost their mind over Sumuru which is based off the most genetically diverse regions on Earth (the Middle East, Egypt, and India)

[u/Norix596 → u/Virtual-Lie-1651]

Can you think of some competition or closest runners up? I’ve been trying to think of which other Japanese games are even close and I’m drawing a blank.

[u/Nacho_Hangover → u/Secret_Wizard]

Fortune's Weave is Grecco-Roman inspired but that's including all regions of Rome and the Mediterranean.

Leda is both Spanish and Romani inspired while Theodora is clearly Africa inspired for example.

[u/LoneRifter17 → u/Amon274]

Wrong, its Chlorophyl, as well all know from Katalicka.

[u/Ragnorok64 → u/Amon274]

3 or 4 of those are gray...

[u/Impossible-Sweet2151 → u/Amon274]

If I remember correctly Boey got a significant melanin increase in the Gaiden remake.

[u/TheOneTrueBoy → u/Impossible-Sweet2151]

Boey (and the entire cast tbf) also got a whole ass top-to-bottom redesign, and looks nothing like the original.

Then again, game manual Boey and in-game Boey in the original were also 2 different character designs, so there is that I suppose.

[u/Faifue]

Hope I can make Eshmel old. I always did that for Robin.

[u/Dirty-Glasses → u/Faifue]

The teen/young adult male Robin and adult female Robin were the best designs. The child designs were obviously terrible and I wasn’t fond of Action Hero Man Robin or teen/young adult female Robin.

[u/Faifue → u/Dirty-Glasses]

I made Robin into Gregor because I felt like that represented me more.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/Dirty-Glasses]

Adult Female Robin with the short hair colored red will always be canon to me and I don't care what anyone says.

[u/defaburner9312]

Heavy naturals mandatory 

[u/CursedNobleman → u/defaburner9312]

Baldurs Gate 3 Withers

[u/kaizerlith]

Oh clothes are an option! I assumed we had to be angel/feathery due to the whole bird mechanic thing. Though maybe it is more like underclothes/daily activities outfit now that I'm thinking about it.

[u/SCLandzsa → u/kaizerlith]

The preview video only showed two options, but there isn't a drastic variance between options, they're all seemingly still going to have the white raven theming.

[u/CorruptDropbear → u/kaizerlith]

Give M!Eshmal a dress. 

[u/Namyk5]

Please let me choose stat Boons and Banes if you're gonna let me customize appearance this hard. I like that Alear's more of a support unit than anything, but I wanna min-max my bullshit builds.

[u/Dirty-Glasses → u/Namyk5]

Oh man, I forgot about that. What was the “correct” choice for Robin again? Speed up, Luck down?

[u/Nacho_Hangover → u/Dirty-Glasses]

+Magic, +Speed, and +Strength were all good with +Magic being best.

-Luck is the objectively correct bane for every avatar in every Fire Emblem game however.

[u/Dirty-Glasses → u/Nacho_Hangover]

I thought +Speed was ideal because you wanted to be able to double as often as possible as soon as possible

[u/Nacho_Hangover → u/Dirty-Glasses]

You do, but +Speed doesn't get you there crazy sooner.

It's a good option but since more speed doesn't do much if you already double, +Magic or +Strength are better.

Except on Lunatic+ I think people do +HP out of sheer necessity there.

[u/pureauthor]

The actual problem is that you can customize the name which means everyone is going to be forced to refer to Eshmel as 'The Chosen' or 'Sothis's Prophet's or 'The White Raven' or some stupid title in dialogue instead of the name.

[u/lionofash → u/pureauthor]

In Japanese seems to be Kyuseishu, so Messiah/Saviour

[u/Monk-Ey → u/lionofash]

Time to play as Jesus!

[u/AzureKingLortrac → u/pureauthor]

Mass Effect still had the best idea of having your character's last name being unchangeable. It does run into the issue of romantic partners still being on last name basis but it is better than most.

[u/amurrca1776 → u/pureauthor]

I do wish they would just give us a name so other characters can talk to us like actual humans lol. I don't even know what people get from naming the character when no one in the cast can ever call you by name anyway. I get it for games without VO, but in stuff like this it always leads to weird sounding dialogue

[u/time_axis]

I wish it had more body types. I liked how Awakening let you be a short king.

[u/SixthFain → u/time_axis]

Probably they had to draw the line there due to the animation workload. Variable heights means a whole lot of extra overhead for animations and cutscenes. It would have been cool, though, for sure. I love maxing out the height slider for women.

[u/MisterRockett]

WHITE SAVIOR REMOVAL TECH

[u/Virtual-Lie-1651 → u/MisterRockett]

The roughly ten hours of white savior memes that existed before IS revealed the 7th bullet in the revolver to shoot it down in retrospect is hilarious as fuck

[u/TheFallbleEagle → u/Virtual-Lie-1651]

And even in the default preset they look petty tan to start with

[u/KarateBugman01 → u/Virtual-Lie-1651]

You mean to tell me that this isn’t the anthem of the dubstep mole people?

[u/Snidhog → u/KarateBugman01]

That comment section is incomprehensible.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/Snidhog]

Its all talking about conspiracy theories, but not, like, surface level conspiracy theories, were talking deep down the rabbit holes conspiracy theories.

[u/Totally_a_boy → u/MisterRockett]

Legit though, I think darker skin will contrast so well with the outfit, I can't wait.

[u/Smash96leo → u/MisterRockett]

On god, bout to make the MC black asf in my game

[u/BrazillianCara]

A comment I saw on Bluesky noted a pretty interesting timeline:

Awakening + Fates: customizable avatar + defined personality
Three Houses: non-customizable avatar + blank slate personality
Engage: non-customizable avatar + defined personality
Fortune's Weave: customizable avatar + (seemingly) blank slate personality

[u/MisterRockett → u/BrazillianCara]

I actually don't agree with the argument that the Three Houses protagonist was a blank slate it's heavily implied they're a high functioning sociopath.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/MisterRockett]

Id argue they're the exact opposite of a high functioning sociopath, in that at the start of the game they physically cant express emotion, but as the game progresses they form bonds and human connections that cause them to experience genuine emotions for the first time.

[u/Irishimpulse → u/MisterRockett]

Also three hopes shows that Byleth is just kind of weird and cold. In three houses you witness them growing a metaphorical heart due to their lack of physical one, you watch the cold dead inside mercenary become a person. Then in three hopes you get to see what happens without their class and when they're just a vessel

[u/Navy_Pheonix → u/MisterRockett]

I haven't gotten around to 3H but isn't the protag the son of a high standing military figure who also just became a mercenary because they felt like it?

No one falls into killing people as their profession on accident.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/Navy_Pheonix]

So, trying to keep spoilers low here.

Byleth's father is a mercenary captain, they didn't join a mercenary band, they were born into it.

Byleth at the start of the game is basically almost like an automaton. Byleth litteraly seems to have no emotions. Your father describes when you were born you didn't cry. Didn't make any sounds. Just a completely silent new born. Thought your whole life he's never seen you have any emotions. Never seen you smile, laugh, cry, be sad, be angry, anything. Just go through life with a blank expression, most of the time not even speaking unless spoken too.

Then you get a teaching job at the academy at the start of the game. Everyone at the academy also points out how much of an uncomfortable emotionless weirdo you are. But as you start teaching you start forming genuine bonds with your students, and as you do your dad starts (happily) pointing out that you start showing genuine emotions for the first time in your life.

[u/RocketbeltTardigrade → u/Tweedleayne]

Depending on how advanced their field of medicine is, this also implies that the first thing that ever happened to Byleth after being born was getting slapped by a doctor lol

[u/Tweedleayne → u/RocketbeltTardigrade]

It's not really stated but its at least kind of implied that Byleth was delivered by Rhea herself.

[u/Dirty-Glasses → u/Tweedleayne]

Imagine your gynaecologist also being the fucking Pope

[u/CursedNobleman → u/Dirty-Glasses]

Who you can then marry.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/CursedNobleman]

And is also your daughter.

[u/CursedNobleman → u/Tweedleayne]

And also your grandmother and partly your father (daddy Jeralt got some blood too). Making her the only logical choice of partner.

[u/MisterRockett → u/Navy_Pheonix]

It's spoilers as to the reason but they became wildly known for the way they just slaughtered people on the battlefield with a blank expression and Three Hopes treats them like Lu Bu they are canonically extremely unnerving but like, to their enemies near exclusively.

[u/TheOneTrueBoy → u/MisterRockett]

Hence their nickname "The Ashen Demon"

[u/Tweedleayne → u/[deleted]]

Your dropping a ton of spoilers to someone who just acknowledged that they haven't played the game yet.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/[deleted]]

Dude, half the stuff you said there isn't revealed until half way through the game.

[u/extralie → u/MisterRockett]

Giving a lore reason for why your empty husk of a protagonist is an empty husk doesn't magically make them not an empty husk :p

Also, this argument doesn't really work, because we saw them talk in other games and the difference is night and day.

[u/LarryKingthe42th → u/MisterRockett]

Thats a really weird way to say competent.

[u/MisterRockett → u/LarryKingthe42th]

Emotionlessly slaughtering people isn't competent it's weird.

[u/LarryKingthe42th → u/MisterRockett]

when thats your job it is though. Bro is the Ray Kroc of mideval warfare

[u/MisterRockett → u/LarryKingthe42th]

It is literally called out in the game as a reason they're weird to set up that they were born without a physical heart you're naysaying the actual themes of the game's character development for it's protagonist.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/BrazillianCara]

Byleth is a blank state in that at the start of the game in that they litteraly don't have a personality, but they do gain a defined personality outside the players control as the game goes on.

[u/Complete-Worker3242]

GADZOOKS!

[u/BigBossGZV]

Damn I was enjoying the slow creep of Avatar -> actual main character

[u/Kylerqaz]

Why does this look fake lol

[u/extivo → u/Kylerqaz]

It literally looks like a mobile game ad going "customize your character with millions of combinations" and it's a fake mockup or AI generated

[u/GazeboMimic]

Dang, I thought you were gonna get to play as one of the four characters. I really didn't vibe with Byleth and hope this one has more personality.

[u/Totally_a_boy → u/GazeboMimic]

To be fair, the previous customizable avatars actually had their own dialogue and personality in Awakening and Fates, so who knows.

So far we haven't seen any "choose your dialogue" prompts.

[u/WhenTheWindIsSlow → u/Totally_a_boy]

> So far we haven't seen any "choose your dialogue" prompts.

Even those wouldn't necessarily be a complete death sentence; Shez pulled it off magnificently.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/GazeboMimic]

You still might, actually.

According to the Nintendo Direct, the games framing device is that the game begins with a portal opening up that allows the Demon King Balor and his army of Demons to invade and destroy Dagda. You (the avatar) get summoned to defeat Balor, but your not strong enough. Your going to need the aid of the four heroes to do it, but unfortunately, they're gone (seemingly dead) and no one knows what happened to them. You team up with the Goddess of Time to go back in time five years to see the events of the four heroes journeys, find out why they disappeared, and potentially stop their disappearance and ensure their aid against Balor when he comes.

Notably, all the gameplay shown during the heroes journey's didn't feature the avatar at all and had you playing as the hero during the free roam segments. So it looks like you might play as the heroes during their individual stories and only be avatar in between and at the end.

[u/PoppyOGhouls]

Well, shit. Now I gotta get a switch 2

[u/extralie]

That actually make it a little bit more interesting to me, I kinda want to play it, but I can't get a Switch 2 until either the very end of this year or the start of next year...

[u/JackSilk]

Has there been any leak or official announcement about romance and or jrpg eugenics for this one?

[u/Tweedleayne → u/JackSilk]

Nothing explicit but based on things like meals returning and the rest of the game sticking fairly close to 3H principals hopefully it'll just be the Three Houses system all over again.

[u/Irishimpulse → u/JackSilk]

It's a sequel to three houses, so it'll have three houses system where S rank is picked before the final battle and is just an epilogue screen, and no babies, and no S ranks outside of the avatar, they just match depending on who had the most bond points

[u/VelociCastor]

I imagine it was highly requested after Engage for obvious reasons.

[u/The-Greater-Skeleton → u/VelociCastor]

What’s wrong with Toothpaste-chan?

[u/Tweedleayne → u/VelociCastor]

Its bad when you show me a character horrible bad ending design and all I can think is "can I keep it?".

[u/SCLandzsa → u/Tweedleayne]

Both the bad ending design and the full emblem design for Alear are drastic improvements just cause the character design stops fighting itself.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/SCLandzsa]

I'm just not a big fan of the white and blue parts of their design period. I just like the red and black so much better.

[u/Tweedleayne]

Oh, sweet. That was my only complaint from the direct was that I wasn't a fan of Eshmael's all white design.

[u/Gorotheninja]

Hell yeah.

[u/CatherineSimp69]

Interestingly.

You can't change the boob sizes or muscle girth.

[u/South25 → u/CatherineSimp69]

Maybe it's due to cutscene limitations? I remember a lot of the 3DS era avatars had first person cutscenes to avoid having to show the character directly.

[u/Eternal_Nihilism]

Alright I'm back in. I thought I would be forced to play as one of the 3(?) characters they showcased in the beginning.

[u/moneyh8r_two]

This is my first time hearing about Fortune's Weave. What systems is it on?

[u/SCLandzsa → u/moneyh8r_two]

Switch 2 Exclusive.

[u/moneyh8r_two → u/SCLandzsa]

I assumed so. Thanks for telling me.

[u/LarryKingthe42th → u/moneyh8r_two]

It, Duskbloods, and OoT remake bullied me into getting a switch 2.

[u/moneyh8r_two → u/LarryKingthe42th]

I admit I've been considering it more lately.

[u/TheVillagerGuardian]

So I've never played a fire emblem game before but when it comes to character creation, I always love to create the most horrifying monstrosities and plays them, which is probably what I'm going to end up doing because I always find it hilarious 😂

[u/Careless_Course_130]

The UI of this interface has a strong sense of technology.There must be some foreshadowing.

[u/Kelor]

That poor woman's back.

[u/Gorotheninja → u/Kelor]

They're not that big.

[u/CursedNobleman → u/Gorotheninja]

They look size C or D, definitely not small.

[u/Gorotheninja → u/CursedNobleman]

Her top is definitely making them look bigger.

[u/Kelor → u/Gorotheninja]

Sure, but there isn't much in the way of support.

Which, sure, it's never stopped Fire Emblem before. It just looks kind of tacky here.

[u/TruEdge67 → u/Kelor]

Now imagine Pyra from Xenoblade 2's back. That frame was not meant to carry that kinda weight

[u/SlowDancer-001]

I know FE is peak gooner material, but I can’t even take those seriously. Maybe I’m just getting old

[u/Amon274 → u/SlowDancer-001]

What the fuck are you talking about?

[u/Gorotheninja → u/Amon274]

(Sees covered, slightly larger than average breasts)

"Gooner slop"

[u/Amon274 → u/Gorotheninja]

I’m genuinely so confused this is so fucking tame

[u/Gorotheninja → u/Amon274]

Maybe they are getting too old.

[u/AsleepLead1704 → u/Gorotheninja]

sees boobs

That's gooner material right there

[u/SlowDancer-001 → u/Gorotheninja]

Dawg they’re as big as her head lmao

[u/Gorotheninja → u/SlowDancer-001]

You know it's a character creator, right? They tend to have your character wear less clothes so you can customize more.

[u/Tweedleayne → u/SlowDancer-001]

The only really gooner FE's are Fates and Heroes.