Apollo

But Thracia has one of the lowest numbers of bad characters in the series. There's Tanya, Ronan, Eda, Shanam, Miranda and the Chapter 9 horseback units, but everyone else is at least usable. Even Dalsin, who's pretty bad for most of the game, is still really useful during the Manster escape. Oh, and I guess Saias is pretty bad too, if only because keeping him around means you can't get Ced.

Definitely Tellius'. Together We Ride is a great classic for sure, but With Us! just really appeals to me.

As soon as possible, although if the unit I'm planning to promote is really close to a level up (say, 70+ exp) then I'll grab the level before promoting.

Villager - Atlas Soldier - Lukas Cleric - Silque Mercenary - Kamui Cavalier - Mathilda Pegasus Knight - Clair, but Palla and Catria are extremely close Mage - Sonya and Boey tied, but all of them are excellent Archer - Leon

This is easily my favourite art style in the series yet, so I'll weigh in, too. I won't be factoring in personality or competence as a unit in this because I don't know much about any of that yet. This is based purely on physical design.

I'd gotten used to Raquesis, as well... IS is fickle. I don't mind going back to Lachesis, though.

- Marth is actually a really solid character with a well handled character arc. Seeing him go from weak little princeling who just lost his kingdom to an accomplished hero in his own right is great, and it's paced perfectly. There are plenty of snippets of traits such as his feelings for Shiida/Caeda, his struggle with his grief over losing his mother during the celebration at the end of Chapter 17, his consideration and support of Nyna's feelings and so on. I always used to brush Marth off as a bland and uninteresting character, but on my current replay of the game I'm finding myself becoming more invested in his character. - The story might be a bit simple and barebones, and a lot of the characters have next to zero characterisation, but the moment to moment writing is very good. The narration is excellent, and the character interaction feels organic and fluid. None of the dialogue feels wasted or like it's padding things out for the sake of it. It all feels very engaging and natural. The medieval-style dialogue is great as well. - The number of gameplay options. The six difficulty levels, reclassing and forging make for a really customisable experience. My only sadness with this is that so many of the game's units suck. If the cast was better balanced overall, it could be really something special. - I really like the soundtrack. The battle preparations theme is probably my favourite in the series, I like its map themes and Clash of Two Virtues is easily one of my favourite battle themes in the series. - The high unit movement. The elevated movement ranges of every unit type relative to most other games in the series is always something I've enjoyed about this game, because not only does it speed up the pace of moving across the maps, but it also means you need to take extra care of what units you leave in enemy units' range. Horsemen can get pretty scary with flying units in tow! Special shoutout to Marth for having a whopping 7 Move and infinite chest opening utility. That's one of my favourite things about this game tbh. - The overall lower stats of your units compared to enemies (on the higher difficulties, anyway). It really makes every stat point feel significant, and you really have to get the most mileage out of everything you've got. I like the reduced emphasis on dodgetanking as well, you pretty much always have to play assuming you'll be taking any hit aimed at you, especially in the earlygame. - Save points are so useful. I agree with Etrurian emperor about the importance of when you choose to use them; use them wisely and they're a great boon. Use them poorly and you can back yourself into a corner. - I find using Wendell to be way too fun. Something about a unit with those seemingly terrible bases and that portrait being one of the most flexible and useful units in the entire game is just so appealing to me.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. A lot of people hate this game, and honestly I can see why. It's a radical departure from the rest of the series, the battle system is complex and hard to get to grips with, the atmosphere is dark and dreary and the D-counter puts a timer on the entire experience with no way to set the clock back like in Majora's Mask. But for me, a lot of that is why I love the game. I was initially put off by how different it is to the rest of the series as I love Breath of Fire (III and IV especially) but the more I played it and got to grips with the game itself, the more I loved it. I love the dark and dreary atmosphere. It's done well; it doesn't feel edgy or like it's trying too hard like it could very easily have been, but rather the actual effects of the underground world on the people are handled well, such as the deteriorating air quality, the lack of lighting and the fact the ceiling of Lowtown is painted to look like the sky. It's accentuated by the wonderful soundtrack, which is ambient and atmospheric without being dull in terms of melody. I also love how combat is integrated into the exploration, with the ability to use traps and lures to damage enemies outside of battle or avoid engaging them entirely. It adds a great layer of depth and strategy to the game that just really appeals to me. And of course, there's the elephant in the room, being the dragon transformation and the D-counter. When the D-counter hits 100% it's game over, and there's no way to reverse it, and using your transformations eats it up like no one's business. The payoff to this is that the dragon form is unbelievably overpowered, allowing you to steamroll any encounter for the price of shortening the time you have to reach the end. The tradeoff is made worthwhile due to the relatively high difficulty of the game (on the first playthrough, anyway; it's admittedly easy to cheese it on subsequent playthroughs by carrying Party Exp and equipment over), encouraging you to think carefully about whether or not you want to risk using dragon mode to blast through an otherwise difficult enemy at the cost of increasing the D-counter. And if you back yourself into an unwinnable corner, all is not lost as the game allows you to start over and keep the Party Experience and items you've accumulated, allowing you to have an easier time getting further next time. Again, I totally understand why people don't like this game. Imposing an irreversible timer on the entire game is not going to appeal to everyone, and it really is a radical shift from the rest of the series. But for what it is, I love it.

I'll only be accounting for primary type to avoid overlap, with exception of Flying. Otherwise there'd be a lot of overlap! Normal: Cinccino (HM to Snorlax) Fire: Arcanine (HM to Infernape) Water: Araquanid (HM to Azumarill, Primarina and Milotic) Grass: Kartana Electric: Tapu Koko (HM to Rotom and Xurkitree) Ice: Mamoswine (HM to Froslass) Psychic: Azelf (HM to Sigilyph and Tapu Lele) Fighting: Medicham (HM to Hawlucha and Marshadow) Flying: Togekiss (HM to Ho-Oh and Yveltal) Poison: Alolan Muk (HM to Dragalge and Nidoking/queen) Ground: Groudon (HM to Rhyperior) Rock: Tyrantrum (HM to Nihilego and Rockruff) Bug: Volcarona (HM to Galvantula and Pheromosa) Ghost: Chandelure (HM to Mimikyu and Giratina) Dragon: Salamence (HM to Latias and Garchomp) Dark: Weavile (HM to Hydreigon) Steel: Celesteela (HM to Aegislash) Fairy: Sylveon (HM to Clefable and Floette) Top 5 Favourite Types: Electric, Water, Fire, Fairy, Dragon Overall Favourite Pokemon: Tapu Koko

Hi, I'm Apollo. Been a fan of Fire Emblem since 2005, with Binding Blade being my first, and been on a bit of an FE kick lately, so I figured I'd join up. Been replaying Genealogy with the latest patch, Shadow Dragon on H4 and starting up Binding Blade for the umpteenth time with plans to replay Thracia and New Mystery when the updated patches are out. I've lurked here for some time and am glad to finally join in!