Lucina Moveset Analysis/Speculation/Discussion

[SaturnFrost]

Would it have been better, in your eyes, for Lucina not to have been on the roster at all?
Because that is the alternative.

yes. I like Lucina but she seems like forced fan service. All we needed was Robin who on the other hand was another example of unique (Move set wise) FE representation and a great addition to the already unique and diverse cast of Smashers. Revealing Lucina and Robin together just made Lucina seem that more of a waste of space and a bad character choice all together. People aren't mad shes included (over Chrom in some cases). Its her being presented (so far) as a Marth Clone animation wise that a lot of people don't like. And Marth getting nerfed adds salt to the wounds. If she hadn't been included in the first place ,she wouldn't have the hate that everyone is giving her. If she had unique animations displayed in the trailer,Im sure more people would've accepted her as a true newcomer.

 

[Neo Zero]

Maybe shed have some different attacks like Project M Roy to Marth. She of course has different properties, and we've seen small tweaks to moves like Nair as well.

 

[CardiganBoy]

I don't really mind if she is a clone or semi-clone. I am much more bothered by the fact that her idle animations are exactly the same as Marth's. Like, her fighting pose in Awakening was pretty unique to her and was kinda iconic. They really took the time to flesh out Robin so much to include a vast variety of tomes in Awakening, like Thoron, Nosferatu, Elwind, Arcfire, and the Bronze Sword and Levin Sword, but they really couldn't give Lucina the fighting pose she actually uses that makes her unique? Did they really have to copy Marth THAT much as to even give the the putting her hand on her chest thing? I love Lucina and she was one of my most wanted newcomers, but just that little thing bothers me so much for some reason. I mean, I figure Lucina was requested, especially in Japan since I think she is more popular there, and Fire Emblem in general I believe is more popular in the East, but they just didnt really seem to do her justice compared to the other newcomers.

Spoiler

I mean, even the hackers that made this mod or whatever gave Lucina the pose and did it pretty well actually. I would think Sakurai would do the same since Awakening seems to be getting a good amount of attention.

TL;DR: Lucina's idle animations bother me quite a bit.

This.
It is the only thing that bothers me too, even in Melee clones had different idle animations, i hope that it will be replaced by her original battle stance as development continues.

 

[Xafer2468]

Gods know when this footage was recorded. A lot will change, though I would only expect some touch-ups on her Wii U appearance. Since that comes out after, they can leave that for last.

Yeah, her wii u model looks pretty bad. i'd say even the 3ds one is better

 

[Reginleif]

yes. I like Lucina but she seems like forced fan service. All we needed was Robin who on the other hand was another example of unique (Move set wise) FE representation and a great addition to the already unique and diverse cast of Smashers. Revealing Lucina and Robin together just made Lucina seem that more of a waste of space and a bad character choice all together. People aren't mad shes included (over Chrom in some cases). Its her being presented (so far) as a Marth Clone animation wise that a lot of people don't like. And Marth getting nerfed adds salt to the wounds. If she hadn't been included in the first place ,she wouldn't have the hate that everyone is giving her. If she had unique animations displayed in the trailer,Im sure more people would've accepted her as a true newcomer.

It really isn't a waste of space if she's a clone. If anything it saves work for more newcomers. And she's not a bad character choice because she's VERY prominent within the Fire Emblem fandom and IS loves her to death. I do agree that it would be better if she had a completely unique moveset, but there must a good reason as to why Sakurai has done what he has done, despite his distaste for clones. At least she's in. Yay for female representation and inclusion of one of the best heroines of the FE franchise!

 

[Oracle_Summon]

Yeah, her wii u model looks pretty bad. i'd say even the 3ds one is better

I keep hearing that. Is it her face that looks worse on the Wii U version?

 

[TheSqushiestManatee]

im fine with lucina. shes cool but i want her to play unique. a clone is a clone. hopefully she will be faster and have something like roys mechanics where he has sweet spots in the middle of her blade. i think she was added because sakurai wants more girls in the game. so blue hair swordsman dude who we have two of, or lucina. so he chose lucina. now if only she will play somewhat unique. lets hope. im hoping for a potd tomorrow saying something about how shes different than marth. fox and falco were clones but even they had some differences. i want to know what lucinas are.

 

[Spears In Smash Bros.]

I think it's a good idea to point out that with customizable movesets, we'll likely see further variation between Marth and Lucina's movesets. After all, Marth never fought with anything but swords in his games, while Lucina gets lances even if she doesn't change classes.

 

[SaturnFrost]

It really isn't a waste of space if she's a clone. If anything it saves work for more newcomers. And she's not a bad character choice because she's VERY prominent within the Fire Emblem fandom and IS loves her to death. I do agree that it would be better if she had a completely unique moveset, but there must a good reason as to why Sakurai has done what he has done, despite his distaste for clones. At least she's in. Yay for female representation and inclusion of one of the best heroines of the FE franchise!

So me saying that people don't want cloned move sets in smash 4 is somehow outweighed by a character's fanbase? I think not. Of course Lucina has fans. That still doesn't dismiss the fact that what we have seen of her is clone material. As a smash 4 "newcomer" (not as a FIRE EMBLEM character) her move set and animations have disappointed so far.

 

[Reginleif]

So me saying that people don't want cloned move sets in smash 4 is somehow outweighed by a character's fanbase? I think not. Of course Lucina has fans. That still doesn't dismiss the fact that what we have seen of her is clone material. As a smash 4 "newcomer" (not as a FIRE EMBLEM character) her move set and animations have disappointed so far.

Apparently she's popular and prominent enough for Sakurai to let her in knowing it would be against his taste and could upset the community who's supposedly an anti-clone majority.
Think about it. It would've been just fine to include Robin, and Sakurai is trying to limit clones to as few as possible. The fact that they included Lucina anyways says a lot about her importance, which apparently big enough to outweigh the backlash from the "anti-clone" community. They could've invested more on her unique playstyle, but again, the speculation rises on why they made her a clone. It may have been time restraints or a last minute push by IS.

 

[Wii Twerk Trainer]

Would be cool of she's and alt but If she's an actual seperate character.. Oh boy I can understand why they are upset.

Just Marth in drag getting a seperate character slot. Might as well add dark pit, daisy, Brittany, mrs. Game and watch while he's at it.

I mean it would be so unfair for fire emblem to get clones while other series get left in the dust.

 

[Eternal phoenix Fire]

Huh, interesting.

It would've cool if she still had tipper properties that didn't increase damage or knock back, but increased stun duration, so that you can actually combo off of some hits.

 

[TeaTwoTime]

If it's a question of whether or not it's good for a clone Lucina to be in the game, it definitely is, regardless of her moveset. It required minimal effort and time and makes a great number of people very happy - myself included. It doesn't harm the game in any way and doesn't detract from the experience of others who won't play her.
I do have hope that more light will be shed on the differences between her and Marth soon.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

I think you guys are shoving words into Sakurai's mouth. When did he said that he is so against clones?

I find understandable to a certain extent that she was made a clone/semi-clone, but we still need to see the rest of her moveset and play her to know her properties. Also Fire Emblem sword users don't have a lot of uniqueness to themselves so trying to make something for her would seem a little bit difficult; this is why I'm glad that Robin was implemented instead of Chrom since he shows unique potential as a magic swordsman, he brought more possibilities to the table so I assume he was given more priority.
A lot of people expected that if Chrom or Lucina were to make it, they would be clone/semi-clones of Marth, but since we got Robin out of the deal I'm completely ok with this.

Edit: I don't undersatand the mentality that some people that have been throwing around in this matter, saying that it would have been better to bring back Roy instead of having Lucina as a clone. So, a clone of Marth is preferable to a clone of Marth? Wat?

 

[DaDavid]

She'll probably just have different properties on her attacks or her own physics I guess. Stuff we can't really see in the trailer but will be noticeable to any people who play Marth often enough.

 

[PlasmaPuffball]

This.
It is the only thing that bothers me too, even in Melee clones had different idle animations, i hope that it will be replaced by her original battle stance as development continues.

Yeah, I do think they will change to her actual pose. I imagine that they just imported Marth's entire moveset and animations to her as kind of like a starting template, then as development and tweaks go on, they will put the finishing touches on her and differentiate them more. Like you said, not any of the clones in Melee were like that, so I doubt they'd start now.

 

[mygamecube]

I honestly don't see the big deal. Probably Lucina is Toon Link as Marth is to Link. We have tons of different characters in this game and they all play very unique from one another. What's one clone compared to the entire roster?

I'm sure Lucina will be play different enough from Marth anyways. Sakurai doesn't just copy and paste. There's always different attributes.

 

[Banjodorf]

What's one new clone on a roster of 50(+?) newcomers? Besides, it's an easy way to make almost all the Awakening fans happy, and get the two most popular characters in the game. (Worldwide, anyway. My understanding is that Chrom was not very well-liked in Japan.)

This is the first Fire Emblem game that lots of "average Nintendo fans" among others played, so it makes sense they'd want recognizable characters from it. Besides, I've never liked Marth asthetically, but did think his playstyle was interesting. And Lucy is amazing, so I'll definitely give her a try at some point.

 

[Oops!]

I really like her WiiU model...
But I do agree that she needs the Brand of the Exalt in her eye. With that PotD about how much detail they put into the BUMPER, they should definitely pay attention to something so important to a character.

 

[DaDavid]

Oh I forgot about her eye haha. Yeah, that'd be a cool detail. But man both those girls in your sig have like... slightly too dead faces for my liking, hopefully that changes.

 

[Oops!]

Oh I forgot about her eye haha. Yeah, that'd be a cool detail. But man both those girls in your sig have like... slightly too dead faces for my liking, hopefully that changes.

Yeah I was just giving it a closer look, and Lucina does look sort of soulless. And she's very pale. Palutena's model already kinda bothered me with her face cause it was just so much different from the anime Palutena, mainly the eyes. But I suppose those giant eyes would look kinda goofy on a 3-D model.

Edit: Then again, maybe it's because she's (probably) in her knocked down/knocked out animation that she looks so out of it. The rest of her screenshots show her looking a lot more determined/fierce and stoic like she is in the game. But she still looks like her skin could use some color.

 

[Fastblade5035]

Dunno if anyone noticed this, but in the trailer, we can see Lucina use a different sidestep from Marth. Marth kinda ducks over to the side, while Lucina actually steps sideways, kinda like Link.


Its minor, but we should probably expect to see more small difference s like this.

 

[Xigger]

1. Clones are not bad: we want more unique movesets, but in the end we want characters more than movesets. Some fighters are similar and don't need to be more unique to be a justified fighter. As long as the playstyle is different, they are their own fighter.
2. It would be awful if characters were forced to be more different than similar. If each reflector, counter, and recovery move had to be unique, it would probably feel really forced. I wouldn't want Toon Link to be unique from Link just because he can be.
3. Since clones are generally okay, and we can get more characters if they're allowed to fight similarly, then by all means, I want more playable characters!

 

[AncientBaby]

1. Clones are not bad: we want more unique movesets, but in the end we want characters more than movesets. Some fighters are similar and don't need to be more unique to be a justified fighter. As long as the playstyle is different, they are their own fighter.
2. It would be awful if characters were forced to be more different than similar. If each reflector, counter, and recovery move had to be unique, it would probably feel really forced. I wouldn't want Toon Link to be unique from Link just because he can be.
3. Since clones are generally okay, and we can get more characters if they're allowed to fight similarly, then by all means, I want more playable characters!

Can I like your post more than once? I think I'm one of the few people that actually likes the occasional clone in games like this. I think that the slight tweaks in mechanics between people with similar movesets adds more depth to the game.

 

[Ryuutakeshi]

What's funny is that, because she and her father use Aether, they have good reason to fight like Ike.

But they are descended from Marth, she disguises herself as Marth, she's fast, wields Falchion, and is a blue haired swordsperson. Yeah, I can see why she plays like Marth. You can say she fights like her dad and you'd be right, but since we don't exactly have anything to compare their styles with in Smash we kind of have to go with what we DO have.

However, if you want to get REALLY technical, Lucina and Marth share the same class build in Awakening. So there is that.

 

[Starbound]

They made her a clone because they had time to make more characters to buff up the roster.

And they went with her because Chrom was already in the game as Robin's final smash.

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

Something that I want to add for the people who wanted Roy.

I know that everyone pins everything on Sakurai and all, but remember that he is only borrowing those characters. If Intelligent Systems wants to let him use Lucina instead of Roy, there is little he can do about it. But it seems reasonable, if I were IS I would rather lend him a character that has been in my most recent, successful game over a one who hasn't had his own in about 10 years.

 

[Ryuutakeshi]

She'll probably be very similar, but I imagine she'll have some unique features. Her final smash seems different.

 

[Tristan_win]

One of the things that bug me about Lucina is not only her B moves look to be incidental to Marths (I think the only one we don't know is neutral B) but her A moves as well. In awaking we see Chrom and Lucina do a sort of aerial cartwheel in the air why didn't they use that for her Nair? I don't know, I just feel that Lucina is the second clone to be confirmed for Smash 4 (excluding Luigi) after toon link and the fact she's a new comer is kinda =(

 

[Jellyfish4102]

Dolphin slash looks a lot shorter to me than Marth's.

Yeah it looks that way but the hit box is also below her. I'm predicting dropping down Dolphin Slashing opponents below you will be an easy stage spike.

 

[Reila]

I expected either Lucina or Chrom to be clone-ish characters if they were in Smash Bros, so I wasn't disappointed.

Clone Lucina is better than no Lucina, if you ask me.

 

[DrRiceBoy]

"However, where Marth's power is concentrated in the tip of the sword, Lucina's attack strength is balanced throughout the weapon, which might make her easier to control. She's also a little bit shorter than Marth." -Sakurai

It seems that Lucina is likely to be a clone now.

 

[Vann Accessible]

This may all be besides the point, but has anyone mentioned that since Lucina is a decendant of Marth's bloodline, maybe their fighting techniques are passed down in thier family? She does fight like Chrom, and they both use the Falchion after all.

Of course, the logical reason Lucina is a clone, and even on the roster at all, is because she's a quick and easy Marth clone, but if you look at it this way, Lucina being a Marth clone makes a bit more sense.

On the same note, I wonder why does Lucina's and Chrom's Falchion swords look totatly different than Marth's? Was it not canon in Awakening it was indeed Marth's weapon?

 

[Ryu Myuutsu]

This may all be besides the point, but has anyone mentioned that since Lucina is a decendant of Marth's bloodline, maybe their fighting techniques are passed down in thier family? She does fight like Chrom, and they both use the Falchion after all.

Of course, the logical reason Lucina is a clone, and even on the riter at all, is because she's a quick and easy Marth clone, but if you look at it this way, Lucina being a Marth clone makes a bit more sense.

On the same note, I wonder why does Lucina's and Chrom's Falchion swords look totatly different than Marth's? Was it not cannon it Awakening it was indeed Marth's weapon?

I believe that is explained in one of Awakening's supports. While the core of the Falchion is everlasting, the edge and hilt get deteriorated over time so they have keep reforging that sword over the years to keep it in good shape.

 

[DrRiceBoy]

"However, where Marth's power is concentrated in the tip of the sword, Lucina's attack strength is balanced throughout the weapon, which might make her easier to control. She's also a little bit shorter than Marth." -Sakurai

It sounds like the rest of her moveset are going to be verrryyyy similar to Marth's as well.

 

[MechaWave]

Nair hits three times and Dolphin Slash has slightly longer distance to me. If anything, Dolphin Slash is slightly different.

 

[Vann Accessible]

I believe that is explained in one of Awakening's supports. While the core of the Falchion is everlasting, the edge and hilt get deteriorated over time so they have keep reforging that sword over the years to keep it in good shape.

Interesting.

I did not catch that. Thanks!

 

[MechaWave]

While I do prefer having unique characters, I am not one to misjudge clone characters. They have very little development time and act as a separate character with an alternative playstyle to their original counterpart. Two choices is never a bad thing.

Lucina herself fills this role nicely. It was either her or Chrom. I, frankly, do not see how Lucina could be differientatied from Marth anyway, in terms of attacks themselves; unique animations would be nice though, I mean... her idle animation is exactly the same.

 

[HRR2b23]

Given that Sakurai said her physical abilities are identical, it's basically guaranteed

 

[Ryuutakeshi]

Interesting.

I did not catch that. Thanks!

It's mentioned in her supports with Owain, if you wanted to know.