Baldrick

You’re missing the point. Again, I have not played 3H. The Thunderbrand is traded to whoever gets the best use of it on any given turn. So, once you have the opportunity to trade weapons, who initially starts with the Thunderbrand is objectively irrelevant. In situations where unit A is the best user of Weapon B, credit goes to A, not to who was recruited with B in their inventory.

Any free unit is automatically done dirty, no matter how good or bad they are as a unit. Frankly, given how desperate I am for a merge project that piques my interest, people complaining about their favourites being free sound like Marie Antoinette.

PoR and RD are separate for Resonant battles, so a PoR/RD Harmonic makes sense for that mode. But it would’ve been nice to see some for other games before doubling up on RD.

Agreed, but Thracia itself is obscure. As a fan of Thracia, I was excited for the potential for Thracia to get attention, which could inspire players to start playing and discussing FE5, which could justify IS decided to give it an official translation and release, or even a remake like Gaiden. Reinhardt is such a minor character that he does not inspire much interest in Thracia itself; anybody considering playing Thracia because they have heard of Reinhardt would probably not bother since he only appears in chapter 22 and isn’t recruitable. Book 1 was the easiest time for a character to make an impact on the meta. FEH still had the novelty factor and there were less units around.

That’s exactly why Book 1 is the worst. Reinhardt is just a meme, instead of tying into the overall plot of Thracia (and Judgral in general) and breaking the negative feedback loop concerning its lack of exposure and popularity. Granted, he had very little to go on, being a late game mini boss with no character development, but they didn’t even try. He also killed any hype for Leif and Finn’s debut (the best chance to give the plot of Thracia exposure) by making the former the “wrong” red focus unit, and a generic Brave weapon reimagined as a prf Brave weapon while the latter, who canonically has a prf Brave weapon, gets a generic Brave weapon. Thracia remains the poorest represented mainline game in both absolute and relative terms, and Thracia has got absolutely nothing this year, not even a seasonal.

OK, say Catherine is the best user of Thunderbrand in TH maddening. If Ingrid is the one that is recruited with Thunderbrand, Catherine is still the best user. Do you agree or disagree? Deen and Sonya are mutually exclusive, so the opportunity cost of recruiting one is that you can’t recruit the other. Most units are only competing for deployment slots and resources, whereas those two (and other cases such as Harken/Karel) are competing to be recruited. Deen and Sonya drop their equipment if you fight them, but even so, it has no bearing on how they compare to any other unit except each other. For example, in tiering Harken, I would account for Karel’s performance, but I would not account for Sain’s performance with the Brave Sword.

I haven’t played Three Houses so I can’t be specific, but both Catherine and Ingrid would always use an Iron Sword unless they need to use a stronger weapon. Outside of drafting/LTC, which is a self-imposed restriction, tier lists always assume everyone is recruited. Even in drafting/LTC, it’s less that Banutu gets credit for recruiting Tiki, than Tiki is penalised for needing to be recruited by Banutu, if he costs turns.

That depends on your playstyle and the context of your tier list. Note that who actually has the Thunderbrand in their inventory is completely irrelevant. Of course not. The purpose of a tier list is to tell you what units to deploy and give resources to. Their starting inventory is grouped with who they recruit; they are reasons to recruit that unit, not reasons to deploy and give resources to them. Tiki comes with Banutu. She doesn’t come immediately, but like you can’t use the Thunderbrand without recruiting Catherine, you can’t recruit Tiki without recruiting Banutu.

To be fair, if you’re interested in AR for the challenge, you can choose to pretend this new mechanic doesn’t exist. If you’re in it for the rewards, it’s probably a good idea to quit anyway.

The map design should provide clues (such as the surrounding terrain, the position relative to the objective, the strength and positioning of the initial enemy deployment) and dialogue should contain intel to allow the player to estimate those things.

Seliph can kill Julius in the original, it undermines the story repeatedly establishing that Julia is the only threat to Julius.

My two cents (also what I think Jotari’s point is), Thunderbrand is a resource, and the credit should go to whoever is the best user of it, not whoever happens to be holding it when you get it. If Ingrid held the Thunderbrand instead of Catherine, it wouldn’t change who best makes use of it. Brynhildr is also a resource. But, Leo is the best user of it by default, and even if it doesn’t make him great, it makes him less mediocre. Another hypothetical - say you got the Siegfried by recruiting Leo. He still can’t use it. Should he get credit for Xander’s performance with Siegfried?

On a Genealogy remake, they should fix Julius so that you need Julia to defeat him. She inherits the only weapon capable of doing that, according to Forseti. Seliph unites the continent, which is a great feat, but in the end it’s irrelevant.

Assuming their world is round, one should be able to get from Archanea to Valentia by going either east or west. Perhaps Catria and Palla just took the long route?

Der Langrisser is a game that poses this question, though rather crudely. I think it’s be well worth trying to refine that concept. Fire Emblem doesn’t have the best record of building a plot around a moral dilemma, but one can always learn from their mistakes.

Who cares how many or how few people criticize a character. What matters is how valid the basis is for that criticism. Alm and Rey are both Chosen Ones, more or less. Alm was identified as such from birth, trained and groomed for the role by Mycen, and has reasonable feats for a lord. I can only vaguely remember SW7, iirc Rey spends her childhood salvaging junk with no mentor of any kind, spontaneously unlocks Force powers because why not, and without any training, fights a draw with an experienced warrior and Force user. IMO there’s a lot more basis to criticize how Rey is written compared to Alm.

It tends to be misused as a general purpose insult, but Mary Sue refers to an author’s self-insert who is poorly developed, flawless, and universally adored by the rest of the cast for no good reason. Fire Emblem lords get labeled as a Sue/Stu when they are perceived to have no flaws or make no mistakes (Ephraim/Ike/Alm) or are perceived to be overpowered or unfairly adored (Micaiah). IMO the avatars are closest to the original definition. Kris was awkwardly inserted into Mystery’s plot to flatter the player, and the other avatars also suffer from being the player’s proxy; they must constantly be praised, characters obsess over them to the detriment of their own characterisation, and any criticism or dislike they receive must be portrayed as unreasonable and quickly dismissed, and they must support and be able to marry the entire cast.

Isn’t this better? It means the slot Freyja would have taken up can now potentially go to a non-OC. Not interested in either unit, but this looks a particularly good deal for those who are. Two new Mythics, and an old Mythic who still has a niche.

My rule of thumb is that the higher stat a unit has, the more they want an asset in that stat. Heath and Brunya (and BK to an extent) have fairly balanced stats, so IMO they do well with a neutral nature. If you intend to +10 Galle, +Atk for a Brave build and +Def for an EP build.

Fire has 95 hit, she has enough strength growth that one should never feel the need to give her any other tome, and she has access to a fast support with the lord, who has the same move as her, that boosts accuracy by up to 15. In the context of FE6, she can absolutely boast about her accuracy.

I have a fairly high opinion of her, but I wouldn’t go that far. That’s a bad thing. If neither is worth investment, the former can be left for dead or benched forever, whereas the latter needs to escorted across the map and makes the game harder by existing. Most of your army should be able to explode dragons at that point, whereas Lilina’s accurate res-targeting chip is a lot harder to replicate. If Lilina’s utility does not justify giving her resources, Roy’s utility definitely does not. But giving him those resources also hurts Alance and other units you’d want to invest in, no?

Rival Domains works for that. Anyway, I got something nice from the New Power banner.

Merlinus has 7 HP, 9 spd, and 2 res for 1 def. I think his best set is Goodie Boot, Repo/Swap, Bracing Stance 3, Obstruct/Lull/Mystic Boost, and Smokes. Staff units have access to Gravity, Dazzling Staff and more reliable healing for PP support/disruption, so I would focus on his EP support/disruption.

Thracia is on the verge of its second twelve-month drought of no new characters whatsoever. (No other mainline game suffers this indignity, of course). If this banner features the book 5 freebie OC, it may be in with a shot.

@Mercakete @Jotari What Volke says about it: In this context, I think balance refers to order, rather than an equal ratio of order and chaos.