First reaction was confusion, followed by an overwhelming feeling of hype. I came in fully expecting someone random to me, who I have no connection to but would have an interesting enough move-set that I would be okay with it. But it wasn't that. It wasn't another character I had no attachment to or a corporate rep just to say "Hey, look what company that doesn't usually being their games here said yes this time". It was the character I played as for 200+ hours, in one of the best games on the Switch. Honestly, I have not felt that strong feeling of genuine excitement since the reveal of Ridley.
As I see the Three Houses style cut-scene of Byleth being swallowed by the darkness and it mirroring word for word the scene I have seen at least 3 times now, I am waiting eagerly for the confirmation. And Sothos smile holding the Smash letter is so, perfect, for what I was feeling. The only minor gripe I have with that part of the trailer is anytime I ever see Solon again, all I will think is, "So joining Smash consumes even the darkness itself!" He already is kind of a silly villain so, now he will never be serious again.
Then we see the basic game-play of him with the sword, and he looks interesting. First thing I noticed was how much better his model looks than in Three Houses, though it might just be how the lighting is done in the different games. I think around the time the other Fire Emblem character start absolutely beating him down it hits me Edge of Dawn is playing, and that, yes.
Edge of Dawn is in Smash. Awesome!
The thing with these smash trailers is every time the character gets beat up this badly in the reveal, a gimmick shows up to turn the tide. Sothos talking about to many sword-fighters made me laugh, and then the other hero relics just slam into the ground, as the female Byleth flies out(what? XD) of the darkness Mario 64 style with them orbiting around. I found it an odd mix of humorous, especially when Solon just stood there to confused to speak, and excitement because it looked like we were getting something pretty different.
As they go through the weapons I am liking what I see. The Axe seems to hit super hard, which is appropriate as Im convinced nothing short of some nuclear pasta shield could block a swing of that from Edelgard. The lance has some realyl good range, about what I expected Ridley to have when he was first revealed actually. The Bow looked like they shoved Links final smash into a neutral special at first which, Honestly I was overwhelmed by the time the final smash came. This is basically the best Fire Emblem moveset we could have asked for. Ironically from the same game that removed the weapon triangle.
So yeah, I liked it.
The rest of the direct was just going over Fire Emblem and, binary, which was interesting. Showing off the moves, the stage and the song list( 2 versions of Edge of Dawn
) and ending with 6 more characters for the next two years to think about.
Ridley will always be my main, I don't care if he gets buffed to the level of Bayonetta and gets hated because of it, or becomes the melee pichu of Ultimate never to be seen again in any tournament of video content. I will never stop playing as him. Byleths play-style from what I have seen, to me, makes him a locked in secondary. Absolutely, the highlight of the fighters pass for me. I didn't know I needed this character, but I am so happy with what I see. I understand why they waiting until the 28th to release Pack 5 but....it is going to be a hard wait for me.
