That dash attack...

[Conda]

I'm actually struggling to figure out where they got the inspiration to make Robin's dash attack so... funky looking and unstylized compared to the rest of his moveset. Does anyone know where that move's animation may be drawn from?

 

[•Col•]

Not entirely sure, but he has a few moves that look really strange.. Have you seen his getup attack when on the ledge? He like, slides up onto the stage like a snake ala Voldo(Soul Calibur) style.

I guess they wanted to make his sword moves seem unconventional to emphasize the fact that he's more of a magic user?

 

[Hong]

The thing is I don't consider even the non-funky moves to look elegant, compared to someone like Marth (maybe the nair?). Nor do I see anything that seems advanced, like a veteran mercenary such as Ike. Perhaps they are trying to illustrate that Robin is not a specialist. She spends her days with her head in a book, and someone who is purely focused on combat is going to have more finesse in their motions in comparison. Even in her game, the twirling jump she does for her sword crit may seem fancy, but aside from that even the way she handles the sword outside of that seems kind of crude. Like really... Not sure if there is a class who wields the sword more awkwardly than the Tactician.

It may sound like I am reading too much into it, but I genuinely think Mr. Sakurai didn't want Robin to have elegant sword moves. As for potential references, as someone who has played all the Fire Emblem games, nothing comes to mind as far as potential references are concerned. If there is some obscure one-off class I'm missing, I'd like to hear it, but I can't think of anything.

 

[Fluggerson]

Yea it's a funky dash attack. It looks like he/she's trying to stab someone in the stomach, like they're a murderer.

 

[•Col•]

Yea it's a funky dash attack. It looks like he/she's trying to stab someone in the stomach, like they're a murderer.

Actually now that you mention that, maybe that's is exactly what it is supposed to be.

Robin does stab Chrom in the gut in that Awakening cutscene...

 

[Ffamran]

The thing is I don't consider even the non-funky moves to look elegant, compared to someone like Marth (maybe the nair?). Nor do I see anything that seems advanced, like a veteran mercenary such as Ike. Perhaps they are trying to illustrate that Robin is not a specialist. She spends her days with her head in a book, and someone who is purely focused on combat is going to have more finesse in their motions in comparison. Even in her game, the twirling jump she does for her sword crit may seem fancy, but aside from that even the way she handles the sword outside of that seems kind of crude. Like really... Not sure if there is a class who wields the sword more awkwardly than the Tactician.

It may sound like I am reading too much into it, but I genuinely think Mr. Sakurai didn't want Robin to have elegant sword moves. As for potential references, as someone who has played all the Fire Emblem games, nothing comes to mind as far as potential references are concerned. If there is some obscure one-off class I'm missing, I'd like to hear it, but I can't think of anything.

Lord Chrom? Gives rapier or other stab-orientated weapon. Proceeds to slash with it. No wonder he lost against Captain Falcon.

Yeah, there's no Trainee class that uses swords yet and it wouldn't make sense really unless we had a redone Prince class since swords are generally given to trained individuals while axes, hammers, and spears are easy to come by.

 

[TeaTwoTime]

My interpretation is more or less what Hong said - that they intentended to convey that Robin is foremost a tactician, a powerful mage second and an awkward swordsman/woman third, lacking the finesse and physical duelling prowess of the other sword wielders. I'm a huge fan of the way they handled it, personally.

 

[MindlessFire]

Basically a running version of Dark Soul's Sword Riposte animation but without the parry.

 

[BlizzyWolf]

His dash attack doesnt look right lol
Incoming superhump from across the stage

 

[False Sense]

The thing is I don't consider even the non-funky moves to look elegant, compared to someone like Marth (maybe the nair?). Nor do I see anything that seems advanced, like a veteran mercenary such as Ike. Perhaps they are trying to illustrate that Robin is not a specialist. She spends her days with her head in a book, and someone who is purely focused on combat is going to have more finesse in their motions in comparison. Even in her game, the twirling jump she does for her sword crit may seem fancy, but aside from that even the way she handles the sword outside of that seems kind of crude. Like really... Not sure if there is a class who wields the sword more awkwardly than the Tactician.

It may sound like I am reading too much into it, but I genuinely think Mr. Sakurai didn't want Robin to have elegant sword moves. As for potential references, as someone who has played all the Fire Emblem games, nothing comes to mind as far as potential references are concerned. If there is some obscure one-off class I'm missing, I'd like to hear it, but I can't think of anything.

It does sort of tie back to the idea that Robin, at least compared to the other Fire Emblem characters, is a normal person; he/she's not an expert at swordplay and doesn't have any sort of divine weapon handed down from the gods, and as such has to make due with more common weapons that have limited use. Robin compensates for that by using tactical attacks and a wider variety of weapons, particularly those that utilize magic, to put pressure on the opponent. In that sense, Robin's portrayal in Smash is extremely accurate to the Fire Emblem games as a whole.

 

[MindlessFire]

They essentially needed a bronze sword running attack without the range of a sword user. Too bad there's no running Levin Sword option.

 

[Fire Tactician]

The funny thing is that even though it's humorously awkward, it's actually surprisingly useful. It activates quickly and has some decent knockback that won't KO, but will give you room to charge up your Thunder tome.

 

[Hong]

At least the low hitbox pairs up nicely with the nerf on ledge invulnerability.

Far from a primary choice, but it's another option.

 

[ミスティック Speed]

Emphasis on the term "magic user", "mage", etc....
I think that alone, explains it.

 

[pinkdeaf1]

Actually now that you mention that, maybe that's is exactly what it is supposed to be.

Robin does stab Chrom in the gut in that Awakening cutscene...

He does this with thoron, or whatever thunder magic that is... but yeah.

 

[Ffamran]

Emphasis on the term "magic user", "mage", etc....
I think that alone, explains it.

Or Tactician... The class Robin begins with and is associated with?

 

[ミスティック Speed]

Or Tactician... The class Robin begins with and is associated with?

...I meant in a generic standpoint. xD Think I honestly wouldn't know what Robin's base class is?

 

[Ffamran]

...I meant in a generic standpoint. xD Think I honestly wouldn't know what Robin's base class is?

Fine...

 

[Conda]

After seeing his moveset, never mind the dash attack.

That ledge-attack. Oh my. He turns into wii fit trainer-levels of goofiness!

 

[Ffamran]

After seeing his moveset, never mind the dash attack.

That ledge-attack. Oh my. He turns into wii fit trainer-levels of goofiness!

Well, I see Robin as a goofy character to begin with.

And Fire Emblem does have its goofy moments. If only, Frederick. If only...

 

[Conda]

Well, I see Robin as a goofy character to begin with.

And Fire Emblem does have its goofy moments. If only, Frederick. If only...

Haha oh yes, good ol' Freddie. Pick 'dem pebbles.

 

[Walfan]

Haha oh yes, good ol' Freddie. Pick 'dem pebbles.

 

[Fire Tactician]

How did you take a picture of my Lunatic + run?

 

[Hong]

I appreciate some good ol' Fire Emblem humour, but try to keep this stuff in the social thread, folks.

 

[Zoa]

Doesn't it mention Robin or MU is actually an adept swordsman/swordswoman? I have all the support conversations unlocked, and I recall Robin/MU going in depth about technique and surprising Kjelle with how fast their speed is with a blade.

 

[Conda]

Doesn't it mention Robin or MU is actually an adept swordsman/swordswoman? I have all the support conversations unlocked, and I recall Robin/MU going in depth about technique and surprising Kjelle with how fast their speed is with a blade.

To be fair, his dash attack and ledge attack -is- fast. Awkward, but fast.

I'm sure the simple answer from sakurai would be "he's more of a mage, so we wanted some of his sword attacks to be unorthodox looking in style."
Even though he's a good swordsman in his own game (and wouldn't do his dash or ledge attack in that game), it's still characteristic of the spellsword archetype he embodies.

 

[Zoa]

To be fair, his dash attack and ledge attack -is- fast. Awkward, but fast.

I'm sure the simple answer from sakurai would be "he's more of a mage, so we wanted some of his sword attacks to be unorthodox looking in style."
Even though he's a good swordsman in his own game (and wouldn't do his dash or ledge attack in that game), it's still characteristic of the spellsword archetype he embodies.

I guess a bit of canon twisting is fine to fit his archetype. How has Smash ever directly adhered 100% to canon? Just look at Falcondorf.

 

[Ffamran]

Doesn't it mention Robin or MU is actually an adept swordsman/swordswoman? I have all the support conversations unlocked, and I recall Robin/MU going in depth about technique and surprising Kjelle with how fast their speed is with a blade.

Well, Robin has the ability to be any class so... I guess, you can compare Robin to the Persona main characters who represent the Fool arcana and therefore are at the beginning and have unlimited or well, 22 major arcana choices and 56 minor. Also, having knowledge in something doesn't mean having the capabilities of using that knowledge. Robin's a tactician who needs to know exactly what the Shepherds can do at all times. Luckily, Robin can actually perform the techniques.

Another thing is that considering Robin's birth, I'm going to assume Robin's been trained in every art so nothing can land a hit on Robin, but not practicing as much or not using them does lead to some degradation. So, Robin might have the speed and technique down of swordplay, but stamina and strength might have to be relearned. Also, as a jack of all trades, Robin might not be able to completely master everything - that's like Mary Sue and Gary Stu levels of WHY? or 'cause the character's insanely superhuman like Dante from Devil May Cry. Robin's a good swordsman, but Lon'qu's a better swordsman or Robin's a good sage, but Emmeryn is a better one - ignoring micromanaging and such, that is. That's Robin as a tactician, a utilitarian class, but if Robin chooses to focus on something, Robin will lose skill of something else since the other class may not focus on swordplay, but axe-usage.

 

[Folt]

I guess a bit of canon twisting is fine to fit his archetype. How has Smash ever directly adhered 100% to canon? Just look at Falcondorf.

Meh. Falcondorf owns.

As far as Robin's swordplay goes, I think it's supposed to show that while he can handle a sword and fight well with it, he's more proficient in the use of spells (and excellent in tactics, given how he uses up his Tomes and Levin Sword and must use the right tool for the job if he doesn't want to get stuck with a poor weapon).

Then again, I'd say a good part of people who used Robin ended up using spells far more than swords (That 1-2 range on a character that early is a great thing) so one's Sword rank would tend to be lower than one's Tome rank, and Sakurai may have done so as well.

 

[Kevandre]

I really wish that Robin's dash was like Link's new one. It'd be just so perfect omg

 

[aggronianmaster1]

i actually like it abit might just be me though

 

[TheTuninator]

As an efficient and competent tactician, Robin has merely eschewed fancy swordplay and distilled attacking down to its essence: "stick 'em with the pointy end." Nothing wrong with that!

 

[Sahfarry]

Because I agree with all that's been said, there's nothing that I could really say to add to this conversation.

I'd just like to say that I call it "the shank".

 

[Kevandre]

I really wish that Robin's dash was like Link's new one. It'd be just so perfect omg

I take this back almost completely. Robin's dash attack is freaking amazing.

 

[Touchebag]

I like it as well. It is a nice approach without to much lag and it stops quite quickly allowing for some mindgames when the opponent expects you to continue further.

I agree it definitely looks awkward though.

 

[KlefkiHolder]

I realize that this doesn't directly deal with the dash attack, but its involved so... eh.

Anyways, I was messing around in training mode trying to DACUS on 1/4 speed with a bunch of characters, and I gotta say, Robin's is nice. To give a frame of reference, a Robin DACUS would go just over the length of the middle platform on Battlefield. That's about 2/3 of how far I could get Sheik's. However, Robin's is not too hard to pull off on 1/4 speed, unlike Sheik which I ran into difficulty with. I really recommend you guys check out his DACUS to see how long it is. Sure, it won't be able to be used competitively on the 3DS, but in another 6 weeks or so it should be once we get our GCN controllers back.

 

[pinipigbomb]

It's an underhand-prison shank. His swordplay as a whole looks really unconventional as a whole. It quite suits him, Imo.

 

[CharZane]

My knee-jerk response to '...what the animation was drawn from...' was 'wait, there's an animation?'

Robin literally just runs at you until the sword she/he is holding happens to be in your gut-- it'd always looked more 'running with scissors is dangerous' than actual stabbing. While it's a misery to have it as grab bait with that quick stop and all, it makes for a simply incredible mixup tool given its low visibility. Barring shadow sneak, it seems one of the very few attacks in the game that can take advantage of a limited profile.

It's a pretty dreadful mistake to spam it, given how vulnerable Robin is to shield-grabs without a dash attack that conveniently stops right in front of foes with plenty of lag to be grabbed, but occasional use is really quite rewarding. Also, it can sometimes combo with Arcthunder/Arcfire if foes are hit close and low to the ground, if, say, a Fair/Nair/tilt/grab/Nosferatu follow-up isn't ideal.

Actually, there's probably less moves that don't combo into Arcfire... Ah, but I'm getting off topic. This thread has me wondering how many times I'll think 'I'mma shank ya' or such such silliness every time I send someone offstage (though rarely an outright KO, of course) with this move, now. XD

 

[Christhewolf63]

My thoughts are that as a tactician he is minimalistic with his movements he/she values results above stylin therefore making seemingly awkward movements that are actually more effective

 

[Folt]

To be honest, Robin's swordplay in general looks really unconventional and lacking compared to the other swordwielders, but the Levin Sword somewhat compensates for this by giving him more reach through the lightning magic within, and he further compensates for this by using spells (with which he is more skilled at) to open opportunities for his spells and/or sword to win the day.