NTNP

@Rehab: Its on the Wii virtual console for like 10.00$ under the N64 titles. Its probably easiest to get it there. Also the one for the SNES is on the virtual console too.

Very true, I remember reading that before. So what made you such a fan of the series? The gameplay? The impressively strong story maybe?

I'm a big fan. I've got the two on the Virtual console for the Wii and the one on the PSP. I personally prefer the the ones from the SNES and N64, mostly due to the strategy RPG aspects being turned up with the squads and battle system. While the "Let us Cling Together" was a really cool game and I liked the FFT styled gameplay as well, it just wasn't quiet as entertaining as the previous ones.

So is no one else interested in this?

I'd be interested in a PSP version of this. Just putting that out there. If we could get a handful of people that are, then I'd love to be involved in a draft for it.

First off, I'd really enjoy being involved with this but just like eclipse above I only have access to the PSP version which has additional battles and other differences that might make this impossible. So unless that is changed (or amendments are made) then I probably wont be able to participate. With that being said, maybe you should add the monsters to the draftable list to help even things out and differentiate it from a standard playthrough a little? Start with the unique characters and their classes (10), then move onto generic human (along with dark knights if you choose to allow/use the PSP version) units (3 sets each + squire and chemist free = 57) and finally down to the various monster types (16 monsters x 3 ranks = 48). That should give you a total of... let me pull up the calculator 115 variables giving us... 23 total draftable options to use in the playthrough for 5 players.

I'm just going to throw this out there: For those of us who did not use an overkill Ike strategy (or for that matter had him stat screwed or didn't use him for whatever reason) the laguz kings are truly a saving grace that keeps us from having to have Ena (because lets be honest, you wont be beating BK if you can't be the mad king) have to try and solo the final fight herself. Both Griffca and Tibarn can reasonably be expected to defeat Berserk Ashnard eventually with just a little bit of love, care and physics useage usually without much of a chance of death. While they aren't often needed, both of them fill an extremely important role in the game that needs to be acknowledged for what it is: both Tibarn and Griffca, for their single chapter involving killing the final boss and thus making the game beatable for those that have done something wonky, both deserve 5/10s. Fact is I could see an argument that could reasonably state that a unit that can 'win' the game if your lord character gets utterly screwed over is is probably worth more than what Ilyana and everyone below her can do throughout the entire game. Of course given that Naesala is incapable of defeating berserk Ashnard he deserves a 0/10! Seriously, our reward for picking a major antagonist who was built up to be kinda badass is a stupid coin! Geez IS, you could at least have given him like 7 coins to make it mildly worthwhile for transferring or something...

I'd say that Elincia is actually a very good unit for the point in the game that she exists. Considering her as a combat unit (as cool as that would have been a la her FE10 version) is pretty much never going to happen unless you just have a bunch of BEXP laying around and intend to put her up to Lv.??/10 and then shove an energy drop onto her. But she does have a few positives. First she shows up as physics become widely available (which is good for her since her range is pretty good with them even without BEXP) and as others have said her ability to use rescue is very useful. All in all she is a good utility unit and while she could have been to be a lot better if she had higher avaliability (like at Ch.19 when Ike promotes), or had a better base level (like the aforementioned 10) or a B+ sword rank as well Elincia still deserves a solid 3/10.

Oh Largo, you had so much potential. As so many others have said, if his availability had been better (like he joined when Calil did) he probably would have been a 7+ scorer. Or even if he would have joined in the warrior class with an A in axes and an A/B in bows he could have been great thanks having better options avoiding counterattacks. Hell even if he joined 5 levels higher where his stats would have been so good that it would justify using him instead of all the other prepromotes that had joined before this point... but unfortunately that isn't the case. At the end of the day, Largo realistically has a single chapter of use where he is subpar without a good injection of BEXP before hand and will likely only be used there because all of our mounted units suddenly have 2-3 movement on the mountain. After that point, he'll likely be benched indefinitely. 2/10 is the best I can give Largo as he is for that single chapter where he is just useable, but if he had appeared earlier or in a different situation he could have been amazing.

I'd say that Geoffrey was a pretty good filler unit. Comparatively he is weaker than any other trained cavalier (and Titania) but his bases, growths, paragon which ensures its easier to level him up and Knight's Ward (giving him an overkill SPD growth) which makes him well placed in the game. Of course, baring the fact that as a unit he is where he should be, that doesn't make him wonderful or anything. He has issues with terrain, his combat isn't perfect, his weapon selection is good but not the best. All the way around, this late game paladin is worth a 5 out of 10.

Ranulf is actually a very good laguz, probably the best one in the game that doesn't exist for one part of one chapter. On the positive side, he has a good innate transformation gauge (within 2 turns) which means he'll shift about the same time that the serious fighting starts and his stats are butchered by throwing on the demi band for the last stage of the fight. Stat wise he's easily the strongest of the laguz (although still hampered by his weapon selection of kitten claws) and should have little problem surviving thanks to his nice HP/LUCK/DEF/RES meaning that baring the occasional usage of an elixir after taking a beating he shouldn't have any problems. And as always, his movement is excellent and he joins on maps where being able to cover a lot of distance is really helpful. Of course his negatives are pretty large too, not existing for the majority of the game, being unable to 1RKO many opponents and being unable to counterattack from 2 range really limits him compared to the vastly superior beorc units. I'd say that makes him an average worth a 4.5/10.

I'm going to have to disagree to the majority of the voters thus far. Tauroneo actually can be quiet useful in spite of his problems with a little love and care. First his speed can be fixed rather easily if you have the resources: With a speed wing (boosting up that 13SPD to 15) and then just a single BEXP level up with the KW (just a 20% chance he wont get extra speed) he has a good chance of going into Ch.22 with 16 speed and probably a small boost to either HP/STR/SKL/DEF/RES due to his growths in those stats being near 50% each. So with those little boosts offensively he'll be able to naturally double the majority of the non promoted and weighed down enemies in Ch.22 and usually 1RKOing them with that nice 22STR+Silver Weapons attack power. For those that he cannot double, Tauroneo can take a nice chunk out of them and will likely be surrounded and beaten on enough to trigger, you guessed it, resolve which will let him 1shot just about anything foolish enough to get into 1 range. So yeah, he can be used and made into a heck of an offensive machine. Meanwhile if you aren't trying to get him into resolve mode, then our silver general can easily hold off just about every enemy remaining in the game with a little choke point usage thanks to his wonderful HP/DEF/RES with resolve as a nice little bonus for when he gets in danger. Now that's not to say that Tauroneo deserves a 9/10 or something stupid like that. Fact is he is a General, and thus stuck with horrible move. He requires the above resources to reasonably be used compared to so many of the prepromotes thus far. His offense (with resources, silver weapons and resolve) might be pretty strong but he wont be 1RKOing like so many of your units thus far could be able to at this stage in the game. But even with those limitations, he's still coming into the game as neigh unkillable, 2RKO (without resources or resolve) machine that can basically just roll along through the game slowly demolishing anything that moves. Truth is something around 5/10 would be a more accurate score for Tauroneo to me. A unit with a lot of good and a lot of bad making him just 'average' in the end.

I'm going to have to say that Calill is probably one of the most useful prepromotes that you get in PoR. She comes in with good enough weapon ranks to use all siege tomes (along with enough stats for her to use it all very well making her have a great utility), good enough stats as others have outlined compared to other characters and enemies and comes completely free and is next to impossible NOT to recruit. She realistically could be one of the best and easiest characters to just sub in for a team as needed without requiring much work in regards to training while still fulfilling her purpose. Sure she would have been much better with staffs, or if she had so and so better stats etc but still easily worth a 7 out of 10.

I would say mid tier easily. While I am far from a tier list debater, I could imagine a good argument for this hypothetical Shinon being between the various myrmidons and the beginning of the mages. I'd probably say right above Mia and Zihark if I had to guess. Assuming that Shinon gained just half a level per chapter, he could probably be close to level 3 when the map Mia joins the game ends and with equal amounts of BEXP being given to them Shinon would still probably be winning offensively. By the time Zihark joined our sniper could possibly be up to level 5 (assuming little to no BEXP, maybe 6+ with a decent infusion of BEXP) and probably doing better than the other swordie for that chapter too. Then we have a chapter full of ravens that Shinon could 1RKO with iron bows even and then once we get to Begnion he'd still have some good usage against the bird tribe in the desert and chipping against the sturdier opponents. By the time that most characters are promoting, around Chapter 17-18, then Shinon could be around level 8 or so easily which means he'll still be doubling, but without forges or crits wont be 1RKOing much of anything that isn't flying anymore. I'd say that around this point you could argue that Mia and Zihark could overtake Shinon's usefulness but you have to ask yourself, what is better a Shinon who has made early game significantly easier and is passable lategame or a set of characters that are passable early game and grow better endgame.

3 out of 10. For better or worse, Janaff is pretty much useless and easily replicable by every other flier in the game. In fact without putting an unimaginable amount of resources onto Janaff to make him worth using as a combat unit then it is probably not even worth deploying him except for that single chapter where he can get the raven king to flee while being transformed which lowers his chances of dying on the second turn. I would say that without something like an energy drop (increasing his base STR to 21 which makes it passable for a little while now at least) or maybe two even of them to keep him going till endgame, the full guard to avoid being plucked out of the sky from a wind spell or arrow due to his lack luster avoid and maybe a Seraph Robe to make up for that fairly weak transformed 15 DEF and 12 RES and give him a more passable 46HP that he probably isn't worth counting as a combat unit. Without those resources being piled onto him, which is usually reserved for when they are the only flier that you drafted or something, he's pretty much replicable by ANY flier from any point in the game. Oh yeah, except for the fact that the birds are also the only flying units that DON'T have canto, oops. About the only reason plus he really has is that between the two hawks, he is the one that transforms at the beginning of the map and can be used immediately.

A clear 10 out of 10. Instead of defending this character's traits let me ask you something: what would you give a character that let the BEST unit on the team two actions per turn? And then after about 5 turns could potentially have up to 4 of your best units to have a second action per turn if they can get back into positions. I think that this is probably the best reason to mark Reyson up; is he a good character? No. He kinda sucks stat wise. Is it freaking broken as hell and in any other SRPG utterly game breaking? Oh hell yes! Even more so when it can be used on 4 untis instead of 1! So yeah, being in a game where a dancer is likely surrounded with high tier characters with canto and 8 move is easily the best character in the game.

Devdan is probably the most unremarkable of the soldiers and halbediers that have existed within the recent FE games. He has nothing unique about him as a unit, he isn't particularly powerful, durable, quick but also is rarely falling behind in stats either and joins at about the middle of the game. Unfortunately, so many of the other units in FE9 are very powerful, excel in one or two areas without really suffering in another stat enough for it to make much of a difference. At his core, our good old mentally unwell, ambiguously black guy (which is admittedly really freaking unexpected and probably one of FE's more memorable characters) is an extremely average unit in a game full of exceptional to pretty good units who have some unique niche that can be used for which is really disappointing. If he would have existed in other games (like FE1, 2, 6, 7, 11 or 12) with comparable bases and growths for that game he probably could have been pretty useful due to either the number of niche units in those games that do have problematic stats which might make mister average pretty useful, the difficulty of the enemy units and everything like that he could have been a lot better. All in all he should be a five out of ten in any other game, but here it is a lot closer to 3/10.

I'll be honest, baring the fact that a lot of us probably didn't find Stefan on our first playthroughs and we may end up skipping him during low turn playthroughs, our little lion blood here is quiet a catch. The most noticeable part is that Stefan joins before the vast majority of the units we will be using haven't even promoted yet and can realistically 1 round (between astra, doubling and the option to use any sword in the game as needed) everything and with just some leveling he can still take out just about every generic or boss till just about endgame. Now while his supports and concrete defenses are fairly low, and due to his horrible luck he has avoidance issues, this is still by far the best filler unit in the game. If we are going through the game in a semi efficient (as in didn't skip him because he costs an extra 2-3 turns in the desert and some laguz BEXP) playthrough, most players can always find some use for a unit that is equivalent to an endgame character that joins in about half way through the game that has the same durability (between avoidance and concrete defenses) on par with any other unit in your team at that time and of course kills anything that comes anywhere near him. Admittedly in the last two chapters of the game Stefan has some problems compared to the 'growth' units that took the entire game to reach a level comparable to him. I'd give Stefan at least an 8 out of 10 just for his unique position in the game and ability to make the game a good deal easier up till endgame. I'd say that if hard mode was just a little harder (and less people doubled) that Stefan could probably be on par with the likes of FE7's Harken in regards to player opinion.

I'm gonna have to agree with everyone else. Karel is just presented as better.

That is actually a really cool idea. I agree, with just an extra scene added during that event it might have kept us from having Sanaki's character assassinated so badly. It doesn't fix some of the other things that happened during the story that changed her character significantly (which I am sure Onmi will bring up when we get there) but it would have been a good start.

I'm happy to see Meg and Fiona not being used. It would just add extra stress in my opinion. Really I'm having a lot more fun just hearing Omni's review of the narrative rather than the actual gameplay aspect of this playthrough. Giving him a few useful units for Part 3 (Eddie, Nolan, King!Leo, Volug, Sothe, Zihark) should let him get through those parts of the game without too much trouble. That way instead of getting flustered and annoyed which could eventually lead to him to quit. But that's just my two cents though.

King Sniper Leo, Freshly Promoted Nolan and oh that other guy who wasn't quiet as awesome yet Eddie.

First let me say that I have enjoyed reading this topic greatly, its nice having someone explore some of the plot aspects of the game rather than just the gameplay. The units I'd like you to use in the next chapter are: Eddie, Leo, Aran, Zihark and Jill. With a few vulneraries and herbs you should be able to replicate Laura's uses during the next chapter pretty easily and those 5 units should make it easier to beat the next chapter due to not having to worry about protecting weaker units along with letting you have a couple of units that should be useful for the part 3 DB maps. Oh and random question, did you get the Paragon scroll from Laverton? It wasn't mentioned in the text from what I saw.

The rarity of magical weapons and the few classes that can use both magical and physical weapons is really limited and usually the only purpose for it is so that a few classes have a niche role makes the specialization in either STR or MAG pretty reasonable. The only way that having more units with more balanced "main attack stat" and "basically unused attack stat" would be to include a large majority of magical weapons and provide promotions for magic units so some of them could access physical weapons as well. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see a FE game where there were a good number of magical weapons and branching promotions but it seems like either a lot of work as a hack and just about unlikely as all the FE games coming out on the Wii Channel fully translated and less than 10$ each. So for once IS probably made a good decision, there really isn't a lot of good reasons to include balanced STR to MAG units since 90% of the time neither mean much to the opposing classes.

This actually isn't a bad idea. But I think that one of the best ways to really help 'explain' how this could improve a fire emblem game would be to take a game (FE7 for example) and the tier list from it; then show how with the addition of the Fixed Weapon Levels how it could make certain high tier units a bit weaker, the lower tier units a bit stronger or at least more unique. Then basically making it where you can show how exactly this idea would make the series better rather than just obscenely complex or relatively useless. It might take a little time to set something like that up to be sure, but if you really want to win people over that would probably be the way.