I've finally beaten all FE7 spotpass teams. I started fighting the higher level ones right after finishing the main campaign on Hard. I lost a few times to Lyn's somehow, but got through Eliwood's and Hector's easily enough, but then I was completely stuck on Nergal's. His (not-final chapter morphs) team with brave weapons could one shot more than half of my end game party. I ended up having to change the stage, fighting against him in the sea stage, which split his party among the two ships, in order to actually beat him.
I kind of feel like I've cheated though... Anyway, a few things about the FE7 spotpass characters...
Eliwood's hairstyle is different from Roy's, even in the 3d model. Roy seems to have the middle sized avatar hairstyle number 2 (short straight hair), while Eliwood has number 5 (short spiky hair).
Hector was a general, likely because he was a general in FE6, but I really feel like Hero fits his younger FE7 self better...
Lyn looks pretty decent in her standard class, I guess.
Nergal really shows the limitations of these generic avatar models though.
Changing him to Sage helps his looks a bit, but not by much:
(I'm also doing this to get him some extra skills)
All the reviews raved about how amazing it is... I find it extremely cheesy and juvenile.
The emotional moments are generally executed well if you aren't completely put off by the main narrative, and the supports help people getting into the characters, that's enough "story" for many, even if the main plot itself isn't impressive.
Both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn sacrificed gameplay features for the story, but it's pretty clear that Awakening's story was written around the gameplay. Things like the explanation for the second generation seem to be pretty clearly gameplay driven, with the story written around it. The main story could be better executed, in spite of that focus, but it didn't bother me overall.
I swear...looking at missions that have a giant desert in them...
...Hidden items...must find hidden items...someone tell me I don't need to!
There's only one item in the sand, but when you get in the right chapter there'll be dialogue about it, and there's a side-mission to go after hints to finally find it. It's not a random chance or game guide-only thing, unlike in past games.