P E A C H ft pineapples

Felicia

Meat (Hunting Forest): I can hunt, but I can't cook. Here, see if you can make anything of this.

This lines up with the rest of her support characterisation as being terrible at being a maid, but terrific at fighting.

Milk (Dairy): I'm allergic to milk. Do you want this?

I haven't read all her supports yet so I don't know if this piece of lore has ever come up outside of this line, but this genuinely makes the food harvesting lines peak because this actually mentions the possibility of people having food allergies. And Felicia happens to be the one with that allergy, which adds just a little more depth to her character. 

Also, milk allergies don't necessarily refer to lactose intolerance - the latter refers to specifically being unable to digest lactose and hence getting digestive issues, while the former refers to allergic reactions such as hives, inflammation etc and can be extremely severe. Just thought I'd put it out there, because it's a common enough misconception IRL at least.

Fish (Fishing Hole): Who wants fish for dinner? I just need someone else to cook this.

Quite similar to her line for meat.

Rice (Rice Paddy): The rice harvest was a lot of work, but I put in the effort, and now I have the reward!

She succeeded! :D

Daikon (Daikon Garden) / Cabbage (Cabbage Patch): What sort of vegetables do you like? My favorite is iceberg lettuce!

Heh. Neat little pun there. (Get it, since she's from the Ice Tribe?)

As a note, harvesting both daikon and cabbages uses the same quotes, grouped under "vegetable". Ingame, they both boost Resistance when eaten.

Beans (Bean Fields): What's my best tofu dish? Um…pouring soy sauce on top.

Okay, that's actually pretty funny. And a big mood. To be fair, soy sauce with silken tofu is genuinely pretty good.

Wheat (Wheat Field): Argh! This just reminds me of the time I broke open a bag and got covered in flour.

Surprisingly, for how repeatable dialogue in this game loves to do a character's gimmick to death (I will have bugbears with this in another post), this is the only food quote where Felicia getting into accidents is referenced. Possibly because she's regularly shown to have a lot of depth beyond that. (I say that when half of her other food quotes involve her being a bad cook...)

Peaches (Peach Orchard) / Berries (Berry Garden): I picked a lot of fruit! Sh…should I try to make jam? Or leave well enough alone…?

Similar to the vegetables, peaches and berries are both grouped under "fruit", and both boost the Magic stat.

And finally, a quote that will literally never be seen ingame again because RIP 3DS online functionality:

Giving visitors food: Here, I made this! It's…not very good.

We end off with another “Felicia is a terrible cook” quote. Don't worry, Felicia, we have another good cook on the team, who will forever be on kitchen duty as soon as the Chef Hat is available, because the Exquisite flair is the best cooking flair.

Jakob

Meat: I found some fine meat. If you wish, I can prepare it to your liking.

So, did he find it lying around, or did someone else give it to him, or did he hunt it himself? It probably doesn't matter.

Milk: Look, Lord / Lady [Name], I've brought you some milk. Be sure to drink up, now.

Jakob worrying about our diet, aww.

Fish: Please, have some fish, Lord / Lady [Name]. I'll pick the bones out for you.

Depending on which type of fish the army farms... good luck, man.

Rice: I acquired some rice. I've never cooked it before, but I suppose it can't be too hard.

What if he said this after cooking rice like 20 times on BR as the designated chef because it's the only foodstuff around? SMH, breaks immersion, 0/10 (joking). But to be fair, it does make sense, he's a born and bred Nohrian, he’d never seen rice before going to Hoshido.

Vegetables: A balanced diet is vital to success in combat. Don't neglect your vegetables.

Beans: These beans are quite nutritious, so I'd like to ensure you're eating them, milord / milady.

Jakob the dietician strikes again.

Wheat: I can make one of your favorite breads with this wheat, milord / milady.

Fruits: I'd say this fruit begs to be made into a pie. What say you, milord / milady?

And clearly he likes baking too. For Corrin, at least.

Giving visitors food: Our liege is a most benevolent host and would want you to have this.

I would just like to point out that Jakob is the person so far whom I've had to format the gender variations the most for (I actually wrote Kana and Shigure’s writeups before this one before deciding to split the shared Gen 2 units into a different post), because he's always "milord / milady" this, "Lord / Lady" that... It's a key part of his character that he's obsessed with Corrin at least, which is understandable, but I never realised how much he makes his own entire personality and image revolve around serving Corrin, especially if you compare him to Felicia and later Flora and Dwyer. As well as…

Kaze

Disclaimer: Before we begin, I would just like to admit that Kaze is my favourite character, so I might be biased in my analysis, especially when it comes to seeing depth in characterisation. Feel free to call me out for giving Kaze (and maybe some other characters) more grace than others solely out of favouritism (and advocate for your own favourites).

Meat: The hunters gave me some of their game. Would you like some, [Name]?

2 interesting things: Kaze explicitly didn’t have to hunt himself, he just received the meat (and given this is repeatable dialogue, it implies he doesn’t hunt ever, at least not in MC). And unlike Jakob, he actually does address Corrin just by name sometimes even when unmarried.

Milk: I picked up some milk in town. I hear that it's very nutritious.

This one will only be significant when I get to the Gen 2 writeup. And even then, it’s kind of a stretch given how many people mention the nutritious value of milk in their quotes.

Fish: I was just out fishing. My brother and I are quite fond of seafood.

My first reaction upon reading this quote was, “imagine if he said this after Conquest Chapter 25”. And then I realised that isn’t possible because the Fishing Hole is Hoshido-exclusive, which is also probably why Saizo was allowed to be referenced here. (Saizo’s ‘death’ quote has him explicitly retreat because of plot importance, so on the 2 routes where you do get him (and the Fishing Hole), textually he will always be alive to enjoy seafood with his brother. It doesn’t work the other way around unfortunately, solely because of Birthright Chapter 15…)

Anyway, this quote is genuinely peak for how simple it is. It’s one of the few food quotes overall that references another character, and the only one that references a sibling. It references, and corroborates, one of Saizo’s supports, specifically with Mozu (where he mentions his favourite food is boiled riverfish). And to top it off, Kaze doesn’t mention his own food preferences anywhere else, so this is the extent of what we do know about him.

(There’s an off-chance Kaze’s favourite food is also boiled riverfish, given the context Saizo mentions as to when the dish was eaten back in their village, but we’ll never know.)

Rice: I have a good stock of rice, just in case of emergency. I can spare some, though.

Given what the other ninjas will say about rice, he might not actually be referring to food shortages here.

Vegetables: I'm often given vegetables as gifts by the women of nearby villages. So strange...

This one probably isn’t a reference to a specific tradition, but rather it’s the main thing anyone from a village can afford to give in the fantasy-feudal setting.

Beans: Harvesting soybeans takes skill. If only I could work it into my training regimen…

It’s likely meant to be a broadly applicable quote, but Kaze’s support with Kagero suggests that he spends most of his free time training (on BR / Rev at least), so this could be alluding to that aspect of him? It’s definitely a stretch.

Wheat: Rice is common in Hoshido. But I've had it mixed with wheat berries once or twice.

For a moment I thought this was the rice quote.

Fruits: A kindly woman gave me some fruit, suggesting I turn it into...jam, she said?

See, the reason why I mentioned gift traditions in the vegetables section is because Japan (in the modern day at least) has a tradition of giving fruits as luxury gifts, so it’s surprising that this dialogue doesn’t mention it. Maybe it’s because Kaze is also available on Conquest, and the more European-inspired Nohr likely wouldn’t have this tradition?

Giving visitors food: Welcome, traveler. You're welcome to eat and rest your aching legs.

We end off with the ninja being a better host than a butler and a maid. Or at least, a more polite host to the visitors.

Overall, Kaze’s quotes are fairly well-rounded; if there’s a recurring gimmick, it’s probably that people, especially women, keep giving him free stuff. You can argue that it only seems well-rounded because his other quotes are basic enough to be able to be applied to other characters, but sometimes having some basic mixed in with the unique is good. Maybe there’s such a thing as oversaturation of a gimmick, and this balance avoids it. He does genuinely have a lot of aspects to his character that are explored evenly throughout his supports and parts of the narrative, but this isn’t a supports or characterisation writeup.

Though, speaking of complex, well-rounded characters within this game’s narrative, whose lives and choices were informed and influenced indirectly by Garon wanting to adopt a kid that night in Cheve —

Azura

Meat: It's been a while since I've been to a place like this. I'm happy I caught something.

Azura does hunt, and has hunted before. If you took a ninja and a songstress and said that only one of them hunts their own meat, this probably isn’t the result you were expecting from Fates.

Milk: Would you like some milk? It's quite fresh—tasty as can be.

The first person to actually talk about the taste of the milk.

Fish: I much prefer fish to red meat. It's just so much lighter, and it's easier on the eyes.

This will be a bit more relevant when we get to Gen 2, but here’s the first line about Azura’s food preferences. 

Rice: Mmm, the rice I just ate really hit the spot. Isn't freshly made rice simply heavenly?

Remember that Azura grew up in Hoshido, so rice has been her staple food for more than a decade by this point.

Vegetables: I picked up an assortment of vegetables today. I'm thinking of making a salad later.

“Assortment of vegetables” when the only vegetable around is either daikon or cabbage, unless there’s a secret underground market with carrots or lettuce or something that Corrin doesn’t know about. 

The bit on salad will be important later though.

Beans: I have some soybeans for you, [Name]. What do you think you might do with them?

…Get Jakob to cook something for the physical attackers in the army. Including you. 

Wheat: Did you come to admire the wheat fields, too? I'm entranced by those golden stalks.

Quite a few people will talk about the aesthetic value of wheat fields, but Azura being an admirer of natural beauty makes sense.

Fruits: I picked you some fruit. What's my favorite? Hm...strawberries. Definitely strawberries.

More Azura food preferences lore, yes please! IIRC I don’t think this titbit comes up anywhere else, but this is Azura’s canon favourite fruit. 

Also fun fact, botanically, strawberries aren’t berries, because each “seed” is actually a fruit of its own, so a strawberry is a clump of fruits. So are raspberries and blackberries.

Giving visitors food: You're on a journey? I see... In that case, please rest a bit and enjoy our food.

It’s a very abstract thing, but there always seems to be a certain vibe about the heroes of another story, and how their dialogue implies a certain solidarity as people who are striving towards a noble goal similar to your protagonist.

Overall, Azura’s food dialogue doesn’t really focus much on her own character, outside of her specific food preferences (and, of course, that she hunts). Which makes sense, because unlike most other characters, her character is shown and developed very visibly throughout the narrative of Fates, with supports as a hefty supplement, so smaller dialogue like this doesn’t have to bear the weight of her character. 

That being said, what we do get here is very nice, because every little bit goes towards fleshing someone out just a bit more, especially food preferences. You never know, fanfic writers out there could be chomping at the bit for this information to write domestic scenes with.

Silas

Meat: I got lucky on the hunt today. Want to split some of this later?

Silas explicitly frames his food-giving here as sharing with Corrin, as opposed to just gifting it. This makes him feel a bit more casual in comparison to the other members of Corrin’s retinue.

Milk: Here you go—fresh from the cow! Want to have a milk-chugging contest?

Classic best friend behaviour (affectionate). Corrin will chug that milk, royalty or not. 

Another milk quote later makes this statement even sweeter if you look at it a certain way, because of the possibility that Silas and Corrin also used to have these contests when they were kids.

Fish: We had a good haul today. I'll give you all the fish you want!

Pretty standard generosity from our guy.

Rice: Harvesting rice is surprisingly fun. I might have overdone it, though.

It mostly comes up in his support with Jakob, but an important part of Silas’ character is his open heart — his willingness to see some good in everyone and everything, including extremely tiring work such as picking rice. And bear in mind, Silas is a noble from Nohr, it would’ve been easy for him to hate doing menial Hoshidan work, but he doesn’t. He meets all these new things with an open mind, and that’s what makes him such a good guy.

Vegetables: Look what I found, [Name]! Do you have a favorite vegetable?

We’ll see a lot of people mention their own favourite fruits / vegetables later (and we already have, with Azura), but Silas instead asks Corrin about their own favourite. What a wonderful guy, always thinking about Corrin’s likes.

Beans: I kept a few soybeans after helping shell them. They're yours if you want them.

Come to think of it, how much is one unit of beans? The icon seems to imply 3 beans, but clearly that isn’t enough beans for a dish to feed the whole army with. Which means that with a high level Bean Field, Silas can give you enough beans to make 5 meals for up to 41 (BR) / 68 (Rev) people each with. Certainly more than “a few”.

Wheat: Wheat stalks feel nice when you run your hand across them. No, really, try it!

Besides aesthetic value, he would also like us to appreciate the tactile value of wheat. Also very important.

Fruits: There's nothing like fruit straight off the tree. Here, have some. 

Giving visitors food: Travel's hard amid this constant fighting, isn't it? This food might help.

Definitely a stretch, but it’s interesting that Silas mentions travel to an alternate Corrin, given his support with Corrin brings up how they wanted to see the world and Silas originally got in trouble for sneaking them out, and their support is about planning trips now they’re able to travel freely.

In general, Silas occupies a unique place in Corrin’s retinue. Like Felicia, Jakob and Kaze (and later Flora and Gunter), he serves Corrin as their retainer. Unlike the others, however, he started off as Corrin’s best friend, in addition to also being raised as nobility. This makes their relationship more friendly and casual, more like equals than a master and servant. 

Which is reflected in his dialogue, addressing Corrin simply by name, challenging them to games, showing them fun things, etc. He doesn’t have the baggage of being forced to serve — he just does it because he wants to. A lot of people write this guy off as just being obsessed with Corrin, but the important thing is how exactly he obsesses over them: his desire isn’t necessarily to serve them, but simply to be with them as a friend, and conveniently his liege to protect as a knight. His dialogue showcases this difference well.

Mozu

Meat: Hey, I caught more than my share. Do you have any use for this?

Mozu being a skilled hunter makes sense, as a country girl who would’ve had to hunt her own food.

Milk: Here, I had some extra milk left over from a recipe I was working on.

She’s also the resident cook of the army, which is something that comes up frequently in her supports. 

Fish: Have you ever tried raw fish? Oh, you're really missing out!

As in, sashimi?

Rice: We had a whopper of a harvest! I'm gonna leave some at my old friends' graves.

Okay, that got dark really quick. But it’s a reminder of the tragedy of how Mozu even joined in the first place, having her entire village and family killed by Faceless. 

Not often in this game is the impact of the war, and Nohr’s aggression, on the commoners addressed, especially not for Hoshidan villagers. It’s small things like this that serve as a reminder that the war has an actual cost, that is left mostly unseen because Corrin, and almost everyone they interact with, is nobility. Mozu, though not the only commoner or countryman, is the one commoner who isn’t tied to the military in some other way. She’s an ordinary person who got swept up in this war, because of how heavily it hit her village, and how much she’s lost since through no fault of her own.

Leaving food offerings at graves, including bowls of cooked rice, is an East Asian tradition, with the hope that the dead will enjoy the food and won’t go hungry. For rice specifically, there is a Buddhist ritual whereby rice is scattered on the grave to bless the dead and ensure they reach the Pure Land (our equivalent of Heaven), though it might not be present in Japanese Buddhism specifically so it’s a bit less likely.

Vegetables: I love garden duty! If there's one thing I can do around here, it's farming!

Farm girl indeed. It’s something constant even after everything around her has changed, and everyone else she knew is gone.

Beans: Tofu, miso, soy sauce... There's no end to what you can do with soybeans.

She would know, as a skilled chef.

Wheat: I'm a pro at bringing in the harvest! Rice, wheat... Makes no difference to me.

She’s talking about her productivity here. Still, they’re both grains, but grow very differently and have different preparation.

Fruits: Fruit is great on its own, but you can make it sweeter by drying or cooking it.

Food preparation wisdom from a professional.

Giving visitors food: You've come a long way—you must be starving! I won't take no for an answer.

A classic country hospitality, insistent on making sure the guest is full and happy.

Overall, Mozu’s dialogue highlights most of the important things about her character, as a sweet, honest country girl skilled at cooking and various other non-fighting survival skills, whose entire home has also been wiped out. The rice quote especially stands out as a very stark tonal difference from her other, cheerier quotes, which works in part because it’s the only quote that brings her loss up. It’s a good tie-in to her other supports, and how, despite her resolve to do her best every day and help her allies in how she knows best, sometimes she still mourns that loss.

The next few characters in this post don’t have that luxury, however.

Shura

Meat: Here, this is good eating.

Milk: Fresh cow's milk is great stuff. You don't get this kind of stuff out on the trail.

Shura is used to living rough, which is reflected in his food quotes in general. 

Fish: Fishing can come in handy when you've got nothing else to eat. Here, take this.

Survival skills!

Rice: Eating rice reminds me of my days in Hoshido. Lot of good meals back then...

And an allusion to his time before Mokushu’s invasion, which confirms that he did personally serve Hoshido in the past — it wasn’t just the duty of his clan. Though, since he explicitly states that his clan used to serve the royalty, who did he serve? Presumably he was distant from Sumeragi, which is why he wasn’t accepted as a refugee in Hoshido, why Yukimura might not have recognised him as a former ninja, and why no one among the living Hoshidan royals knows him.

Vegetables: I used to live off whatever I could scavenge, so fresh vegetables are amazing to me.

More tough living. He doesn’t rob people’s farms of produce, apparently.

Beans: Dried beans last you a long time. That's what makes them a vagabond's best friend.

Not just a vagabond’s best friend — a ninja’s best friend too, as per another bean quote we’ll see later. Shura being both, of course.

Wheat: Wheat fields are nice. Maybe too nice for the likes of me.

Shura has a very low opinion of himself. This quote alludes to this aspect of him.

Fruits: This fruit is really pretty good. You should try it. Here, I've got one to spare.

And then he gives you 5 peaches instead, because he’s nicer than he thinks of himself. By the time he is recruited, the food spots have already been available for upgrading for a while, so logically he would never give just 1 fruit to Corrin. Wonder if this is a mistranslation? 

Giving visitors food: I respect the distance you've traveled. Here, it's the least I can do.

Solidarity between people who’ve had a long journey, in more ways than one.

Shura is the opposite of Azura in terms of how much his MC dialogue has to do the heavy lifting: Azura gets the main story and multiple supports to showcase her character, so her dialogue here doesn’t have to focus on what makes her unique. Shura only has 1 chapter on each route (albeit standout ones in terms of informing the player, briefly, what his deal is and his significance to the setting as a whole), as well as technically his boss conversation with Kotaro (which is pretty good, but doesn’t really say anything that wasn’t already mentioned) and only supports Corrin (and M!Kana if he married F!Corrin). He doesn’t get much chance for his own character to shine through the usual means, which is why his MC dialogue needs to take on that duty of showcasing the person he is.

Which it does reasonably for 1-2 sentences each. While most of his dialogue here references his harsh life as an outlaw, the few sentences that don’t hint towards his other depths. In fact, his rice quote is his only reference to his time in Hoshido outside of his main story dialogue — it doesn’t come up in any of his supports, nor his other MC dialogue. 

It’s a widespread enough opinion (that I wholly agree with) that Shura is genuinely a very interesting guy who could’ve had some interesting conversations with a lot of people, such as the other ninjas, especially Kaze on Conquest (if I had a nickel for every ninja who came from a clan with a long history of working for Hoshidan royalty, whose family was slain by Kotaro, and decided to defect to Nohr instead…), or even just Yukimura and Azura, the two people he is most connected to in the main story. Unfortunately, most of what we will ever know about him without grinding up his support will be through small dialogue like this, which isn’t so much a fix as temporary pain relief — but every little bit helps.

Izana

(Unrelated, but the ambiguity over how independent Izumo is from Hoshido is only added to by the fact that Izana literally has the crest of Hoshido on his chest. It could well be the generic Onmyoji textures, but then that begs the question as to why they didn’t bother to at least make a custom crest for him instead, if they’re already giving him custom colours… then again, they probably knew no one would use him enough to notice anyway, RIP)

Meat: Here! Make some jerky out of this. We'll have a jerky party!

He’s quirky about the jerky.

Milk: Have you ever tried milk? It's great! You can get it from cows. What a world!

Yes, Izana, we’ve been chugging milk for ages since way before you arrived. 

He (probably) wouldn’t have known, to be fair, but another person’s milk quote will make this one sound even more ridiculous.

Fish: Turns out I'm a world-class fisherman. Who knew?

A man of many unexpected talents. Though, since Izumo seems to be a coastal state (at least judging by the very ambiguous world map, it could be separated from the sea by Mokushu), it isn’t too strange that he can fish.

Rice: Rice is one of the holiest foods! It's pretty and pale—just like me!

Hey, vanity doesn’t befit a holy man. No matter how correct you are.

Vegetables: I picked enough vegetables to feed a stampede! Here, have some!

Beans: There are many wonderful, scrumptious ways to prepare soybeans, so eat up!

Wheat: This view is magnificent! It's as marvelous as any sight in Izumo!

Is this a subtle insult to the wheat field, or just Izana being proud of his duchy? Either way, it’s nice to have something to tie back to Izana being the archduke, and hence representative of Izumo. And to have more information about Izumo in general.

Fruits: Fruits are yummensely delistic! Guests just love my bunny-shaped apple slices!

The ‘bunny-shaped apple slices’ here presumably refer to usagi ringo, which is a common Japanese style of cute apple slices, and might look familiar to Pokemon fans as Victini’s visual inspiration.

Giving visitors food: Hey, you've got to try this. It is beyond delicious!

It’s a well-known fact that the localisation… ‘ruined’ is a very strong word, but Izana was definitely a more serious character in the original text, meant to show how neutrality doesn’t hold up against an aggressor, with most of his eccentricities limited to his day-to-day speech patterns. This blog post goes more into detail about the changes, but it only covers his BR main story portrayal, as well as his death quote and epilogue. TL:DR Japanese Izana is a duke who can commune with the gods and sees people’s fates, who just happens to have jokey speech patterns when he’s not talking to the gods. English Izana is a hippie who just happens to be the duke.

Which is why I’m curious — if anyone has a Japanese copy / file of Fates and Paragon, it would be nice to see what his original food quotes were. As it stands, this version of Izana is overall very chipper and unserious, which is reflected in his food quotes. He doesn’t have any supports outside of Corrin and M!Kana, so there’s nothing much to corroborate. Which, as with all of the Corrin-only gang, is a shame when there is much more to explore than 2.5 supports can cover.

Fuga

Meat: Oh ho! Hunting is so easy around here. I always catch too much!

Milk: You must respect the cow in order to milk it. Otherwise, you will pay the price.

It’s a classic in martial arts: to hold respect for the world and all the living things around oneself, because you will regret it if you don’t. Especially something as large and vital as a cow.

Fish: I prefer raw fish to red meat. Here, try this.

That’s a similarity I didn’t think Azura and this guy would have. And also proof that big, burly men aren’t always all about the heavy meats.

Rice: In my home village, we often had Hayato bring us luck for the rice harvest.

Another character mentioned! More background for Hayato and the Wind Tribe as a whole, especially since it isn’t mentioned in any of Hayato’s own dialogue, so it’s completely new lore that fleshes out the setting and how Fuga and Hayato fit into it a bit more. 

In general, it’s always nice to have this sort of supplementary dialogue to add on to other characters, that doesn’t fit into their own supports because it might not be enough to base a whole support chain around, or there isn’t anyone to talk to where it would be likely to be brought up. (That being said, Mozu’s support would’ve been a golden opportunity, but what we did get is pretty good and focuses on a different aspect of both of their characters, so I can’t complain.)

Vegetables: I've been enjoying vegetables more and more lately. Perhaps it's my age showing…

Reminding us that he is a DILF close in age to Corrin’s parents.

Beans: The soybean harvest reminds me of having miso soup every morning back home...

Wheat: Sumeragi once told me of his desire to see a real wheat field...

More character mentions! It’s always nice learning something about The Dad Who Stepped Up™. And it’s a good way to add weight to Corrin’s backstory, with the tragedy of Sumeragi having died so early, and the people he left behind. Especially taking into account that this dialogue is Revelations-exclusive, and this is the route where Sumeragi is a bit more significant.

Fruits: Everyone I know likes fruit... Maybe I'll try it when I have the time.

So, has Fuga never eaten any fruit in his life? Not in Shirasagi, not in the Wind Tribe, not anywhere? 

Giving visitors food: Traveler, do you have enough to eat? You must nourish the body to survive!

What a dad. Overall, Fuga’s priorities seem to be physical health, but specifically in a very quintessentially traditional Japanese way: fish over meat, lots of vegetables, good nourishment, miso soup… His character is that he’s wise and experienced, a father to his men (and Corrin) who also loves a good fight, the leader of a tribe. Though it doesn’t really come up in his dialogue, the Wind Tribe’s climate is very dry and, well, windy overall, which probably contributes to stuff like him never having eaten fruit before.

Fuga gets a bit more than 2.5 supports — he gets 3.5 supports, adding Hayato to the list. It’s a very sweet support, and gives both some much-needed background as to their bond as (surrogate) father and son. That being said, it still isn’t a lot, it could’ve been a lot more, and hence the MC dialogue needs to do the heavy lifting. Which it does pretty well, not just the food quotes but in general.

Closing Thoughts

The characters covered in this post can be split into two general categories. The first few characters are the earlygame squad, who are Corrin’s closest allies, loyal to them on all routes. You’ll always see them around, and you’ll get to know them first out of everyone, so naturally it’s easier to form a connection with them. In their case, the food dialogue serves to endear them to Corrin early on, because you wouldn’t want to be annoyed seeing them all the time, every single timeline.

The latter few are the lategame squad (Shura’s recruitment is more midgame in CQ and Rev), prepromotes who all have their significance within the story as well, but will take work and favouritism to become an integral part of the army after they actually join. They’re, unfortunately, also saddled with the curse of no supports and no growths, meaning it just takes that much more effort to let them shine as characters for people to grow attached to. And so, every little bit has to count towards making them stand out within the army for them to be memorable to the player, while still keeping them likeable, because destroying entire maps isn’t exactly a viable strategy for any of them.

In general, I feel this batch is well-written in terms of small dialogue like this, showcasing their personality without going too overboard, or at least not unbelievably so. It’s always fun to discover new details, especially when they make one appreciate the characters in this game more.