Silver-Haired Maiden

Radiant Dawn. There are several things so I'll list my top 3: Support. Conversations. Cowards. Rework Part 2 to make it actually connect to the big plot. We can work in some development on the Senate and Ashera here and give the DB some levels if it's done right. Give Micaiah access to dark magic and increase her speed dammit! I want her to be a far more viable unit than she is, she is a main lord. If anyone deserves to get incredibly good, it is her!

You need more of a reason than just "nope", not to mention how dismissive that was. The other 3 routes are not like Crimson Flower, they have Chapter 13 and you are locked to your in house units, you cannot use any of the recruits you plan on using. None of them. You get Byleth, Dimitri, Felix, Annette, Sylvain, Mercedes, Ingrid, Ashe, and one other and that is it. If you don't raise your in house units that map could very well cause a hard block. Thankfully you're not playing on Maddening but you are still playing on Hard and you have not mentioned Mercedes or Annette alongside Felix and that will put you either down 3 units or with 3 super weak units that will be active hindrances. You need to at least train your in house units enough to cover your hind end for that chapter which means getting them to at least advanced classes in general. And yes, like spirit dust or magic herbs. I'd go more for the latter since you can grow those in the greenhouse so you're likely to have more of them. Also keep training Sylvain's lance rank because once you get him in dark knight he'll still probably be doing more damage (and be more accurate) with Swift Strikes than his magic xD

Aha so this is my topic! First thing's first: you'll want to use all your in house units for at least chapter 13. Trust me. If you don't your life will become difficult. Felix is a powerhouse in any martial class, make use of him, and Mercedes is the best healer in the game. She doesn't get warp but you're recruiting Lysithea so she doesn't need it. Byleth is good in just about anything except pure magic where they're just serviceable. Dimitri is a freaking monster. Get him death blow if you can but I usually go soldier -> paladin or lord and brigand for death blow. Make sure to train his authority for ridiculous strats. Ingrid is prone to strength issues. Some time in brigand would help or you could take her wyvern lord to patch that up. That's an okay progression for Ashe, but you might wanna get him Hit+20 just to be safe. Marianne and Hilda are fine if you're convinced to use them here instead of on GD where they're legitimately better. Of course I'm the type that prefers to use in house units mostly and only recruit 2 per house. Sylvain looks fine but you might need to give him magic boosters. Make sure to bridge the gap with Lysithea with warlock. She has Mastermind so she can master more things than most units. The rest look fine. Once you get everyone on mounts you'll only have to worry about movement on your footlocked units, especially your mages. You may wanna give those movement increasers to Dimitri or Byleth since they won't be mounted. Or Lysithea for even more range.

Nailah. She's not incredibly obscure but when compared to most in the Tellius cast she's just not talked about much. I've always loved her though, from my very first playthrough. She's got a gorgeous design, she kicks ass the entire way through the game, she's funny, she's loyal... There's nothing about her that's not to like and yet she's almost never mentioned apart from glare strats and joking about that dialogue with Tibarn...

Oh I know. That was more for emphasis than anything. She still had capped strength and a blessed Amiti and did nothing to him lol. Still better than Ena, who I benched. Why is she forced again?

I like getting all my skills straight before going in. Also I gave it to her on that Izuka chapter so she could wreck those dragons. Not that it matters. Even with Dragonfoe at level 20 with maxed strength Elincia did a big fat goose egg against Dheginsea xD Oh well. He died anyway. Yay siege tomes!

Ah well in that case allow me to ease your mind. Rhea is absolutely not the lord of SS. In fact she disappears in that one just like the other 2 (AM and VW). She only shows up at the end for about the same amount of time as she does in VW and gives you a bit of extra information than she does in VW. You mostly fight alongside Seteth and Flayn.

Azure Moon is definitely my favorite route so I'd recommend you play it next if you're dead set against playing through Silver Snow. However, I feel I must advise against not playing Silver Snow, especially if it's based purely on not siding with Edelgard as all 3 other routes involve siding with Rhea and the other lords against her. While SS isn't the best route and can be very samey when put directly next to Verdant Wind, by not playing SS you'll be missing out on a good chunk of lore and world building, not just about Rhea but about Seteth and Flayn and also Byleth. Also it has one of the best ending themes out there. Seriously, that song doesn't get enough credit. If you're still up in the air about it, try playing Verdant Wind next that way if you do change your mind and decide to try out Silver Snow you won't suffer from as much burnout with Azure Moon in between.

Alright, thanks y'all! Currently I've given it to Elincia (she's level 20 thanks to Paragon + Izuka chapter shenanigans) and she's wrecking house already so I'm looking forward to seeing her destroy some dragons. If Jill or Haar start falling off I'll hand it over to one of them before that particular chapter starts so they can see some more use but so far my endgame team has been breezing through. Exception being Ena.... I dislike how much I have to baby her...

Pretty much what the title asks. I'm replaying through RD and want to assign the Dragonfoe skill to someone but I'm not sure who the best unit would be to get it. If effects could stack I'd give it to a mage for major shenanigans but I don't think they stack. Right now my options are between: Elincia, Tibarn, Nailah, Haar, and Jill. Of course I'm not sure who else I'm dragging into the tower yet, it will depend on levels and caps when I get there...

Genuinely happy to see Lucia getting some attention. She's a really good character with an awesome design and she gets overlooked way too much in my opinion.

I'm very anti fanservice myself. In fact I frankly despise it's existence. I start seeing designs like Charlotte's, Tharja's, Camilla's, etc, and it's an automatic several point knock in my enjoyment of whatever game I'm playing, especially since most games I play involve doing battle so put some freaking clothes on people! I do not care that it is fantasy if you go onto a battlefield wearing a cloth bikini you are getting eviscerated and I won't feel bad for you because you're dumb. Also that whole mentality of "You can't criticize author intent" is cringey and bad. Yes you can criticize their intent if they're shoving what looks like 12 year olds on a screen in revealing clothes and then saying you can have an adult marry them and have kids. I don't care if the character is "actually over 1000 years old" there are lines that must be drawn and I will criticize any writer for pulling that slimey crap. That should be an extreme example but it's not and people defend it. I will not. FE is not exempt from this.

Since you mentioned doing this for the endgame maps... Dimitri can pretty much solo the endgame with this build. Like it's a little bit insane. Frankly the battalion is only there on him for the activation of vantage and wrath (plus some extra hit, avoid, and crit) so he doesn't even really need authority prowess. Warp him into the middle of everyone and watch him just destroy. If you really want to give him a boost give him a pure water in case a lucky hit gets in and you're golden.

I both want it to be Tellius and don't want it to be Tellius. If it's Tellius, then my orbs will cry because CYL is coming up...

I don't consider The Last of Us horror at all. It's action sure, but I'd hardly consider it horror. Of course I enjoy horror games (not movies) so that might play into it a bit. I find them atmospheric and fun and they usually have engaging stories... usually. Also I'm pretty hard to scare. I used to be a lot like you though, I couldn't handle anything even remotely scary.

Sirfetch'd is available earlier than Falinks which makes it a bit more viable imo. As for Alcremie vs Wheezing I haven't used either so I can't honestly say for sure. Wheezing is dual typed I think if that matters?

Between Scorbunny and Sobble, I recommend Scorbunny. It's useful against a wide variety of pokemon and it's personal move is a whopping 120 power and 100 accuracy. Rookidee and Chewtle evolve into pokemon that are also useful against a wide variety of big battles, to the point that between Cinderace, Dreadnaw, and Corviknight I rarely had to change out. After that I recommend just filling the team out with pokemon to cover any glaring weaknesses. Dark type coverage would come in major handy, you fight a lot of dark types in this game.

He can be funny sometimes? Frankly I'm not a fan of Hubert either. However one of my friends considered Hubert the only BE character they really liked and his reasoning was exactly because Hubert was such an asshole. He likes that sort of humor and the fact that Hubert has the chutzpah to do things that other characters just wouldn't do. Unfortunately said friend isn't on here so I can't exactly tag him to get him to explain himself.

I really liked Elincia as a character in part 2 of RD. Her appearance in PoR was kinda substandard to me personally but to be fair the emulator crashed on me before I could completely finish the game. That was a pretty interesting read. I've always enjoyed the dichotomy between her characterization in RD and Micaiah's. That honestly leads me to a consideration. How cool would it have been if the story of RD had focused more on Elincia, Micaiah, and Sanaki? A trio of female leads, exploring the difference in their mindsets and how they rule and how they respond to situations. Sanaki as the established Empress dealing with centuries of corruption in her nation, Elincia as the newly established queen having to prove herself, and Micaiah as the fanatically supported but still entirely green ruler of Daein who has to suddenly fly by the seat of her pants in a continent wide war... that's a touch off topic but I feel it could've been really cool. Anyway a lot of Elincia's usability suffers in Part 2 of RD simply because Haar exists. Him being there (and frankly being a much better unit) a lot of the time relegates Elincia to healbot duty. That seems to be a pattern here... But yeah, I would've loved if they'd beefed her up a tad to make her more usable in the chapters you have her.

I got Dimitri which surprised me... until I read the description and yeah. Yeah that pretty much describes me.

In a general sense of the word I love redemption stories and also found family stories. It's even better if the story is both. I always prefer a happy ending.

I felt absolutely no connection to Byleth and the lack of personality on top of not actually having genuine dialogue choices really made me not like having Byleth around. Part of it is just that I'm sick of avatar characters. From here on out I'd really prefer sticking to just having our main characters please. No avatar.

Glad I could explain things. That last post came after midnight my time so I was a little worried it read like nonsense lol. Also I feel I must apologize, it seems like most people argue instead of debate and they do so with the intent of proving themselves right, so I naturally assume most are doing the same thing. That wasn't your intent and I am sorry for reading that into it. I can see where you're coming from with her starting to realize just how awful war actually is over the course of the 5 years of war. Being the person in charge of causing so much suffering, even if you do think it's for the good of everyone later, would weigh on anyone that isn't a psychopath with a legitimate incapability of experiencing remorse or sympathy. I have my own problems with Byleth and the way they're presented but basically yeah, they all needed someone there to steer them in the right direction. Perhaps she wouldn't ever go to war again after the end of CF, we can't be sure of that however as all the endings are left rather... ambiguous in many ways. As for the media, it does a lot of very serious topics a disservice by portraying them as pretty solidly one way or the other. Sometimes war is necessary in order to right wrongs or protect people. That doesn't mean it isn't always a horror show to actually experience. I am very familiar with everyone from A:TLA. Less so from Korra, I stopped watching in season 2 of that one. As for Azula, prior to Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal you can hardly say she was suffering a psychotic break. Her actions before that point were absolutely things you can hold her responsible for as sure she was manipulated, but that doesn't absolve you of personal responsibility. That doesn't mean she couldn't have grown past them with the right support system and help, but unlike Zuko she didn't get that help. After The Boiling Rock and her decaying mental state, I do agree that you can't really hold her responsible for that. The show didn't paint her as being responsible either, it was a sad thing and it took pains to show that. I point you to Jet who was quite similar to Dimitri but without the psychosis. They met similar fates for a reason. Of course comparing the writing of 3H to A:TLA's writing is like comparing a painting done by me to a painting done by Leonardo DaVinci.... anyway, we're getting off track. Back to the actual topic at hand, someone I don't see many people mentioning as a possibility of changing sides is Kronya. Yeah she's a murderous psychopath, but imagine if she had lived instead of being immediately boinked by Solon. If she'd managed to escape, it's possible that she would've realized just how little they actually cared for her. I don't see her joining with the heroes, or said heroes accepting her because she's Kronya, but it's entirely possible she'd leave the Agarthans after that.

You can think Dimitri isn't fit to be a leader all you want. I don't really see a point in arguing that one because it's all down to what you think is a good leader. However if you think someone during a psychotic break can be controlled by a superior officer then you have another thing coming. Now Gilbert and Rodrigue and that whole culture is an entirely different can of worms, loyalty to your King/Prince should also include knowing when to step in and stop them. That one is entirely on them and their misplaced sense of duty. I personally think a lot more people should have spoken up against Dimitri, not that I think it would've done much good. But at least they could claim they tried, jeez xD As for the thing about the others, Dimitri is the only one stated to have been in battles like that (of the house leaders) before the game starts. Claude has never been in battles quelling rebellions that he states so we can't assume either way. And yes, Edelgard experiences some really traumatic shit, but the insurrection and experiments are not the same thing as killing people on a field of war. An actual war magnifies that by magnitudes. It's that sort of thing multiplied by the number of soldiers and the countries fighting. So no, Edelgard genuinely had no idea. Edelgard may not have wanted the war but that does not absolve her of the responsibility of starting it. One thing I feel these games, none of them, do accurately is portray just how bad war is. To be fair none of them have the appropriate rating to do so. But Edelgard is idealistic and frankly naive, so while she can claim she accepts the responsibility of the blood at her feet, she does not understand the suffering that the blood she spilled entails. Hubert understands much better than she does in my opinion. The problem is you're still treating it as though Dimitri was in control of his emotions or actions. He wasn't. He was in the middle of a psychotic break with probably some schizophrenia thrown in for good measure because the poor guy wasn't already fucked up enough. It's also worth considering that episodes of psychosis generally take years before they reach their worst stages with warning signs presenting as much as 3 years before the episode goes to it's worst. The horrors that he experienced at such a young age were definitely the cause of his mental issues. He watched everyone around him die in a brutal assassination attack, and even not counting Duscur he was personally responsible for putting down a rebellion of civilians by order of his then superiors. I forget exactly how old he was at that time but he was far too young. It was Dimitri that tells Ingrid that Glenn did not die a hero's death, that his death was tragic and fucked up (he does it in more polite words) and that it's not something he would wish on anyone, especially not a friend. Survivor's guilt is a powerful thing and so is combat related PTSD. Between those things it's no wonder he's messed up. The difference is, unlike Edelgard, he was left floundering for somewhere to rest blame. Edelgard had her people responsible in the Agarthans and the Church, she knew who to go after. Dimitri didn't know who was responsible for ruining his life, for ruining his family, for ruining his kingdom. He had no one to fall back on, no contingency like Edelgard did. Also she was never stated to have been in a serious battle beyond a few skirmishes before attending Garreg Mach so, like with Claude, we can only guess. Since it wasn't mentioned, I'm leaning toward she wasn't. No, the more immediate suffering would be all the people being brutally torn apart in the war. Rhea's system would be more long-term suffering. Edelgard is more interested in undoing the system that may cause more long term suffering, even at the cost of a lot of short term suffering. Both of them being motivated by trauma was exactly my point. It's why I used your own defense of Edelgard on Dimitri, because it fits them both. They have different methods and honestly, Edelgard being more clear headed and not in the middle of an episode of psychosis probably makes her more personally responsible than someone who is literally disconnected from reality. But the defense of them both being well intentioned and determined to stop injustice at all costs stands for both of them. As for that last bit, I don't really get it either but allow me to say this. When you go off about every single point someone brings up about Edelgard in staunch defense of her, it can drive people to dislike her more. It's why I've cooled off a lot on my defense of characters, I used to be that way over Micaiah. Sometimes just letting people have their opinions is the way to go. Systematic oppression is also a horrible thing. I never said it wasn't. Most of those examples you listed also directly led to the horrors of war as well, generally perpetrated by said systematic oppressors. However consider this, how much media now do you see portraying war as this glorified and honorable thing? Go back and look at almost any war movie or game put out in the last... 30 years. Then tell me if they glorify the war or they demonize it. I'd be willing to bet literal money that the majority glorify war. They make soldiers out to be heroes instead of scared kids fighting for their survival. Don't get me wrong, many of those soldiers are heroes. But they're also terrified kids, fighting for their lives and the life of the person next to them. Fighting to make it home. I never said war wasn't sometimes necessary. Just that, if she had truly understood just how awful war is, she might have done some things differently. (Also it's worth pointing out that Fodlan's system was not comparable to the Holocaust in any way, shape, or form, so maybe let's not make those comparisons?) You sure do like to throw that quote around a lot. I have another one for you. "Two wrongs don't make a right." One thing being wrong does not justify doing another wrong thing in response. My biggest problem is that I think too many people try to judge Dimitri as an individual at his worst when that's literally impossible to do to someone who is in his situation. You can't judge someone based on them suffering a psychotic break. People will do things during those episodes that they would never do otherwise because they're not experiencing our reality, I mean the guy was literally talking to dead people. Now you are more than entitled to your opinion about his methods or whether or not you think he'd make a good king. As I said before, most of that is just personal opinion on what makes a good leader. But after Dimitri has started down the road to recovery, I think he'd make a pretty good king. Yeah, he'd need the support of those around him but that's... kind of a given for any good ruler, Edelgard and Claude included.

Since we're discussing Dimitri, who I love as much as y'all love Edelgard, I shall jump back into this discussion. When talking about Dimitri, it is vital to remember that he was suffering a literal break in reality, induced by severe trauma and untreated PTSD and survivor's guilt. He was literally suffering from psychosis, so badly that he was talking to dead people who he genuinely believed to be there. So bad that he believed Byleth to be another angry dead person coming back to haunt him for failing them. When talking about psychopathy, approximately 30-40% of combat veterans report auditory or visual hallucinations/delusions. That is a significant chunk. The guy can hardly be blamed for his actions if he's not even in touch with reality at the time. More than anything, he needs genuine medical care. I'm not saying that what he did was okay, people still got hurt, but allow me for a moment to turn your own defense of Edelgard back at you. Dimitri felt remorse for doing what he did. He considered himself a monster for doing it but felt it was necessary to do so in defense of innocent people who couldn't defend themselves any longer. He hated himself for doing it but considered it a necessary sacrifice in order to help other people and make the world a better place by ridding it of monsters like himself. He just went about it on a far more personal level than Edelgard did, instead of starting a war to do it he decided to do it with his own two hands. Also you guys talk about obsession with vengeance as though Dimitri was a completely sane and rational person at his worst. He wasn't. In White Clouds, before he started losing himself to a PTSD related break entirely, he absolutely wanted revenge but he hadn't let it consume him. It took the betrayal of someone he once cared about incredibly deeply to drive him off that edge. Since war was also brought up, of all of the 3 lords, Dimitri would be the one to understand the true horrors of war more than any of the others. It was Dimitri present at the assassination of his father and the resulting deaths of everyone around him, it was Dimitri who was sent to quell the rebellion. You can claim that Edelgard understood the horror of war all you want but the fact is she didn't. None of you do either. You think of it as something necessary for change and sometimes it is, but if you truly understood you might be a little less quick to defend Edelgard. Just like Edelgard might have been more hesitant to declare war. War is a monster. It's very nature is tragedy and suffering, it is a fire whose fuel is living human beings. No soldier wants to be maimed or die on the battlefield and for every one that is hurt or killed there are many more people who are also hurt - their loved ones, friends and family. That's not even touching on the human rights violations that tend to take place during war. Don't do this unless you can handle it, but go and look up actual war time accounts. Look at actual images of battlefields. Not the Hollywood crap but actual footage. It is horrific, it is awful, it is a fate that you shouldn't wish upon even your worst enemy. I don't want to get into too much detail because this is a public forum but I cannot impress upon you enough just how horrid war actually is.