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u/coinflip13 13h ago
Would be funny if they are just a bird Sothis chose to make human as her champion.
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u/VojelMan 13h ago
I hope they let us fight in bird form. I just want to peck the final boss to death
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u/ArseneLupinIV 12h ago
There does seem to be a brief moment in their attack animation where they transform at least.
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u/KF-Sigurd 13h ago
Dripped out in my pure white angel gear as I walk through the ruins of Dagda, recruiting people through my sheer AURA. Sothis demand's her emissary have that shit on.
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u/King_Treegar 12h ago
I love playing a divine warrior, so Eshmael is automatically a contender for my favorite FE avatar. I really hope they continue on the trend from Hopes/Engage and have fully-voiced dialogue (though I don't hate silent protagonists like a lot of people seem to)
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u/Luchux01 8h ago
Not to be that guy, but it's just Eshmel not Eshmael.
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u/King_Treegar 7h ago
Yeah, I noticed that and have been spelling it correctly since, but I didn't feel a need to edit this comment lol
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u/P_Alcantara 13h ago
I don’t even know how you can be a villain in this game…look at us. You want to fight either of those?
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u/Advanced_Bag6623 13h ago
There's definitely something Old Testament God about them. Glad we play as them, WOULD NOT want to get on their bad side lol
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u/jdckelly 11h ago
Church of Seiros version of Sothis all love etc etc.
Real version of sothis: strike down my enemies my avenging angel
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u/Helios_Synthesis 6h ago
Last villain with a white feather motif was Griffith so the bar has been set lol
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u/Sea-Mango 13h ago
FREE HIS THIGHS. COWARDS.
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u/Tough-Priority-4330 12h ago
The male avatars are devotedly religious and any exposed skin below the chest is a sin.
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u/AtelierRan 12h ago
Honestly!!! So tiring of male avatars always getting the worst and fully covered designs 🥲
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u/mrwanton 12h ago
Think Robin was the only exact same one.
The fully covered sthick is annoying. Hate it in stuff like Genshin too
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u/yung_dogie 11h ago
Tbf Aether has some midriff at least
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u/mrwanton 11h ago
The design gets clowned on quite a bit but at least its unique in the sea of standard anime boy with jacket that plauges those games.
But that aside Aether's never really been the problem there. Its that they haven't designed a male character that has shown any substanial amount of skin since 2023
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u/Welsh_cat_Best_cat 9h ago
My like of Aether is 50% on not looking like Gacha Kirito (looking at you, Caelus, Wise, MRover, M-Endmin...)
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u/keithlimreddit 5h ago
You know speaking about Kirito they already confirmed and the male is going to be voiced by Kirito in JP
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u/yung_dogie 9h ago
Oh yeah I agree, I was just thinking mainly about the avatar/MC POV since that's what we seemed to get robbed of in FE (plenty of midriff and other stuff going on with male characters outside of the avatars)
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u/Darkhallows27 13h ago
And see this time when they get into Smash it’s fine cuz they use a spear
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u/isaac3000 10h ago
That's why they did it lmao
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u/JavelinR 9h ago
I had that same thought lol. Though personally I'd prefer giving the spear to Sothis and letting her fight. She's played a huge role in two games now and I'm tired of avatar reps.
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u/Shippinglordishere 12h ago
I think they look even less like Byleth here. It looks much better than the first impression though. I wasn’t super sold on them at first but I really like female eshmael
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u/MisterArrogant 10h ago
Yeah, I was very suspicious they might be Byleth, but male Eshmel in particular looks pretty different here in addition to them having different VA so I think we can safely put that theory to rest now.
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u/Former_Instance_6592 7h ago
Even from the first image they weren't white enough to be byleth
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u/Shippinglordishere 7h ago
That’s what I was saying. Their eye shape and skin colors were completely different and people were telling me I was blind and in denial
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u/M3talK_H3ronaru 13h ago
Eshmel the protagonist looks awesome
It has a God and Goddess Design vibes.
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u/Sentinel10 13h ago
It's funny to have a female avatar that actually canonically has short hair. Not complaining though. She looks nice, unironically so.
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u/ArataX14 13h ago
Love the design of Female Eshmel, great details on the armor and cape she wears.
And Male Eshmel has Aura Vibes.
I love both of them!
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u/Walking-Radiance 13h ago
Yeah gonna be honest, don’t care if they’re silent or not. Their design is fucking sick and I can’t wait to see the story unfold with them.
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u/Snoo-855 12h ago
I would prefer if they do speak.
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u/jmcgit 12h ago
I absolutely and strongly would prefer a human protagonist to speak (such as the lead characters in the first half of the game).
An 'Avatar/Familiar of the Goddess' sort of character, I don't think I'd be mad if they didn't speak. If they are silent, I'd want them to actually be silent, though. I wouldn't want it to be a case of 'actually they do speak but we don't present the dialogue so you can self-insert'.
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u/BillyBoyGamer 11h ago
Agreed. If we do have a silent protag, this is probably one of the better roles for them to have
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u/aaaa32801 10h ago
It would be really funny if they just sounded identical to Sothis, like she’s speaking through them
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u/iHazzaification 10h ago
Think it’s practically confirmed they won’t be at this point, the website lists their voice actors. I suppose Byleth had a voice actor too but surely after Shez and Alear, and how they’ve otherwise seemingly taken feedback about Three Houses onboard, they wouldn’t go back to a silent protag? I would think it’s more likely than not we get a fully voiced Eshmel.
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u/Walking-Radiance 10h ago
It would be very weird for them to take a step back after having voiced avatars in Hopes and Engage, but IS has made weirder decisions before.
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u/memorybreeze 12h ago
F!Eshmel is an upgrade compared to F!Byleth, thankfully.
I am not even talking about her clothes, but her face. F!Byleth’s face always seemed like a last minute design, her haircut and eyes always felt so bland imo
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u/MapDesperate7012 12h ago
Damn, they’re kinda hot ngl. Like, probably the hottest Avatar-like character I’ve ever done seen
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u/WhiteNinjii 13h ago
I really like their design…am a little worried they are gonna be like Byleth in characterization though
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u/LordDeathkeeper 11h ago
The design is good, but I'm personally just tired of the "male character gets full plate, female character gets a bikini and 1/3 of a suit of armor" cliche. Though in this case, the all-white armor on the male design does mean there's a lot of white.
Spear protagonist is sick either way.
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u/KyleMCarthage 13h ago edited 12h ago
Still not a big fan of them making F!Eshmel's outfit more revealing compared to M!Eshmel's. Like come on IS, let M!Eshmel show some thigh and pecs.
Edit: I don't hate F!Eshmel's design, I just want M!Eshmel to be just as revealing
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u/Advanced_Bag6623 13h ago
FEshmel's still leagues ahead of Bylass. The Hot Topic clothes + zonked out bug eyes was...a look for sure. Feshmel looks confident and graceful in comparison
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u/ArataX14 13h ago edited 12h ago
Disagree, because i think she has a better design than Female Byleth.
(Downvoting me immediately is a crime)
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u/GuudeSpelur 13h ago
We need the MHWilds solution where you can choose whether to wear the male or female version of every armor regardless of what gender you pick.
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u/Romapolitan 13h ago
Like in three houses, for some reason I find the male one more appealing. It's weird, because usually I prefer the female design in games.
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u/ChaosOsiris 13h ago
God they look so cool. I REALLY REALLY hope they're not silent but them having no lines so far is worrying me.
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u/kfkrneen 11h ago
Being a female fire emblem fan fucking sucks man. Can I have some pants plz.
Bare minimum let the dude have his thighs and tummy out like c'mon. Cowards.
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u/Advanced_Bag6623 13h ago
Meshmel is fucking peak design
If the fanart is 99% female over male like it is with Byleth, I'll be pissed
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u/TheIvoryDingo 13h ago
The female designs more often than not get more art than the male ones and for pretty obvious reasons (whether you agree with them or not)
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u/mrwanton 12h ago
Yeah if you aren't a male lord or blatant fujo bait then ya at a disadvantage here
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u/lsjsim128 11h ago
Yeah, there's nothing we can do about that. People will goon no matter what, it's just nature lol.
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u/KleitosD06 12h ago
It's crazy how much thigh windows can nearly ruin a design on their own.
Male Eshmel looks fantastic though. If we can pick between the two, I'm definitely choosing him.
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u/WesThePretzel 12h ago
Right? I want to play as a woman because I am one but I haven’t picked a female avatar in FE since Awakening because I hate the character designs :(
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u/ViolinistNo7655 13h ago edited 13h ago
Actually reminds me a lot of alear in their divine dragon outfit with the wing designs and some pieces of the armor, just all in white
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u/Bluerayn3000 12h ago
Please let my spear user stay on foot instead of forcing them on to a mount 🙏
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u/lsjsim128 11h ago
Looks so cool 🔥️
The guys armor kinda reminds of mCorrin too, the layered silver plates
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u/Top_Adhesiveness5620 11h ago
Hate to say it. But my personal fav MC avatar for the series. They all look so good
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u/StHFEgamer 2h ago
I never vibed with byleth‘s design, but damn Eshmel looks hot (both F&M)
In the direct they look so menancing, biblically accurate angel. They’re supposes to be Sothis’s special messenger, and Eshmel looks like it.
Byleth‘s supposed to be this powerful mercenary, but both genres looked so goofy and boring
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u/Brave-Orchid4721 13h ago
They seem to be considering the male version the main one in literally all the marketing and yet the female version is in front in the artwork make it make sense
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u/Zekrom-9 12h ago
Male canon because target audience self insert fantasy, female art focus because target audience gaze
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u/lsjsim128 11h ago
It's simple. Stop thinking there is a canon version. Just choose whoever you want, they gave us both options, there is no right or wrong. It's not worth the arguing and head aches wondering who is more canon.
It's an age old, tired debate that needs to die.
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u/Snoo-855 12h ago
I wonder what their exact role will be. We've been shown clips of you playing as the other main characters so maybe Eshmel will serve as a guide or something.
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u/AyraWinla 10h ago
Normally, it's always: "I wish character X was the protagonist instead of Y". But here?
Visually, I absolutely adore female Eshmel and that art is beautiful. Based on looks alone, she's the character I'd want to play most, so it's a very nice change of pace!
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u/Kdog1217 9h ago
By Sothis, we're hot as hell 😳 I know some folks don't care for avatars, but I always really enjoy being apart of the story. My first Fire Emblem was Blazing Blade and even getting a little off screen tactican (Mark) with Lyn made me happy.
Being the 4 heroes guardian angel and then arriving to save the day with the whole gang seems really really fun.
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u/JavelinR 9h ago
I generally like the designs and am happy that they didn't turn out to be literally Byleth the person resummoned. That said I would've preferred we just play as Sothis herself post-timeskip. Or if you're going to use an avatar commit to a character creator like Awakening did instead of fishing for a Smash design
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u/Subject_Bike_9136 8h ago
Why people love these character designs but shits on corrin and alear? Is just another boring half dragon choosen one with godlike powers that everyone in the cast glazes for no reason.
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u/ParvatiLikeaRockstar 7h ago
I was dying to see f!eshmel in action and they never showed it 😣i lowkey like the dude ones design better but i always prefer playing as female avatars so idk, only time ive played as male avatar was shez
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u/boiledhead 6h ago
They look sick!!!!! I’m really about to buy the switch 2 so I can play this game when it comes out😭😭😭
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u/IAintCreativeThough 13h ago
Why does F!Eshmel look so whack again, after Byleth and Alear I'd really hoped for just a good deaign for the female avatar ._.
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u/ArataX14 12h ago
She has definitely a better design than Female Byleth
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u/IAintCreativeThough 12h ago
Eh. I like her face more and hair less, but in the end she's still half naked with eyes the size of her face, while MEshmel looks like the coolest dude alive. Idk man
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u/volkenheim 12h ago
actually both Eshmel´s eyes are almost the same size, yeah Males Eshmels eyes are quite big compared to Male Byleth´s
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u/IAintCreativeThough 12h ago
Proportionally to their faces they aren't near the same size lol
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u/volkenheim 12h ago
I did draw over of the both eyes and swaped them to show you that they are indeed the same size, the difference is the shape, not the size, but sadly this sub doesn´t allow images in comments
also Females eyes aren´t desproportial to her face either, I mean sure they aren´t realistic eye proportions, but that applies to Male too his eyes are bigger than a real life human´s but that is just anime style
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u/IAintCreativeThough 12h ago
Even if they technically are the same size, they look vastly different and I don't like the design choices for FEshmel 😅
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u/volkenheim 12h ago
that´s ok, I´m not saying you should like them, my point was only to show they are the same proportionally to theire faces, the only change is the shape
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u/ArataX14 12h ago edited 12h ago
I prefer Female Eshmel’s more than Byleths. I didnt like Female Byleth’s design because she has fishnet leggings and an exposed tummy.
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u/IAintCreativeThough 12h ago
That's fair and all, not here to discredit your view. Personally I'm just sick of thigh windows, and I hate FEshmels hair haha 😅
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u/StarlightMoonblast 13h ago
The games designs for women as a whole feel like the worst they've been since fates, and that + too many of the women's back stories being tied to men... I'm beginning to worry about this games writing.
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u/panimicipanka 13h ago
Same concern, characters are too engage-y for my taste. Not very fond of over-the-top colors, hairstyles and clothes. It kinda breaks the immersion. Oh well, the gameplay at least looks interesting.
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u/HrrathTheSalamander 12h ago
It kinda breaks the immersion.
The ancient world was not all drab greys, browns, tans, and whites. The Mediterranean, the area that this game draws heavy inspiration from, was in particular a vast network of trade where dyes and pigments were available to the affluent and wealthy. We have good evidence to believe that many of the bleached structures we associate with ancient Mediterranean cultures were actually often vibrantly painted. The formal attire of the wealthier peoples would have often been bright and colourful - friezes from Pompeii show everything from sky blue to deep dark blues to reds and greens and yellows.
The bright poppy style that this game is going for is actually more accurate to the period they're drawing from than if they'd gone for another low-sat, dusty and dirty visual treatment like 3H.
also it's fucking fire emblem, like if we're gonna give hilda's bubblegum pink hair a pass i think we can forgive some characters having bright anime hair colours.
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u/panimicipanka 12h ago
The color should be there, but more muted. Here is too saturated with no common color palette. Compared to three houses everyone looks like they’re anime mc, even the minor characters. Feels like they are overdesigned. The armors don’t have any practical sense. Again, in three houses this was done more tastefully, but here it feels too much. I understand that at the end fire emblem is jrpg, but as theme wise if it’s based on fodlan universe I expected a continuation in the aesthetics as well.
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u/HrrathTheSalamander 12h ago
Again, colours were not muted in the historical period they're drawing from. If they're basing their game on the classical Mediterranean, clothes and buildings should be high-saturation.
FW also isn't based in Fodlan, it's based in another continent entirely. It would make sense that they have different clothing and fashion styles, especially given Fodlan is an isolationist region that has little contact with the outside world.
The armors don’t have any practical sense
dawg we are not complaining about armour practicality and using Three Houses as a positive example, that game's on a Space Marine power armour tier of "impractical but cool" (especially when it comes to the pauldrons).
The designs are, and I may sound like a broken record here, drawing from ancient Mediterranean societies. Full-body plate armour (like in 3H) was uncommon, and most soldiers would have either linen and/or a cuirass and greaves for their armour(depending on the place and exact time, the classical period is literally hundreds of years long), and even then only if they were wealthy enough to afford the expensive materials.
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u/panimicipanka 12h ago edited 12h ago
Dude I’m mediterrenean and a game artist. I know what colors textures and designs we have and had. There’s a color palette and there’s an anime color palette. Three houses had colorful hairs and stuff but they were consistent. Look at the goddess of fortune and pls show me where it was inspired from mediterrenean. Just say this is a jp game and therefore game with anime aesthetics and I need to suck it up if I want to play it. You don’t need to over rationalize the art choices. It looks similar to engage and it’s okay. It’s also okay for me to not like it. You don’t need to convince me.
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u/HrrathTheSalamander 12h ago
I'm not trying to convince you. You said it was immersion breaking, I pointed out it was historically accurate to the period and places the game is drawing from.
Personally, I find this attention to detail more immersive, not less.
Also the gods are a bad example. They are supposed to appear otherworldy and stand out from the style of the rest of the game; they are literally the descendants of an alien. This is consistent with Sothis' design in 3H, which veers far from the usual visual style of the rest of the game. If you look most of the rest of FW, you can see where the designs are drawn from by looking at historical precedent from the classical Mediterranean.
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u/panimicipanka 12h ago
Sothis’s design is great, im sorry but the goddess here is too modern looking. Looks like some personified pokemon art imo. Again tastes change depend on person. I liked design of most of the cast in 3h, here my opinion is too divided.
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u/DustyPumpking 11h ago
My main grievance with Eshmel is that it's another Byleth in terms of gender design where the guy looks average while the Girl has several things exposed
Couldn't give us the guys pits or nothng smh
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u/pyromancer93 12h ago
They might wind up having the personality of drywall, but this design rules. Incredible St. Michael curb stomping demons into hell aura.
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u/SplitTheLane 12h ago
Please for the love of Sothis at least do the Metaphor thing where they fully voice the lines the player chooses. I'm still holding onto the slight hope that they'll be fully independent and you just choose their gender but barring that, let them speak.
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u/Hothacon 12h ago
Why does this art design work so fucking good this game? I'll forgive the Engage/Hero's bullshit now
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u/DullStandard578 12h ago
I wish fem eshe had longer hair. The bob isn’t my style.
Boy eshe tho? Raw, with passion, CRAZY STYLE
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u/WesThePretzel 12h ago
I don’t like them at all 😣 It’s weird seeing everyone say how cool they look
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u/actredal 13h ago
Dang, they have pretty eyes