Shadow Mir

Because the reward doesn't really increase, but the risk does. It doesn't help that some kids' paralogues are flat-out poorly designed for lategame play (you like trying to get to Ignatius lategame? How about Shiro? Or Siegbert?)... also, I find that the results of using Offspring Seals are hardly worth the wait in practice.

Offspring Seals are a trap and a ripoff, to be blunt. Defender is better than Sol, among other skills. FYI, Inevitable End is only a thing on Lunatic, and even then, you don't see it until very late in the game. Sol is useless anyhow, to be blunt. A 20-30% chance to drain half the damage dealt isn't really worthy of a skill slot. And anyone who has the durability to make use of it doesn't really need it. Berserker is even worse; high HP does jackshit to make up for poor defenses, and being axe-locked isn't something I'd want to be in Fates. Oh, and if you want to complain about class designs, Berserker is one of the worst there, too. Blacksmith isn't that great, and its distribution is poor too; only six characters have access to it. Salvage Blow is not very good, either: a chance to get an iron weapon isn't that useful at that stage of the game when my units have graduated to steel, and it'd be even more useless in Conquest, as it gives Hoshidan weapons. Life and Death pigeonholes the user into being a glass cannon, as the +10 to damage taken seriously compromises their bulk. Too many classes is the one thing I might agree with you on; Oni Chieftain, Basara and Malig Knight stand out like sore thumbs in that regard.

I can't say anything on how hard Cold Steel is or isn't, but... I cannot for the life of me rationalize someone who apparently cleared Engage maddening then proceeding to get a game over in the prologue of Sacred Stones... Twice... IN A ROW. Oh, and this same dude made worse financial decisions than Zhongli. Like buying a freaking slim sword, which there is no reason to buy, like, ever. And forgetting that gems are meant to be sold until like near chapter 14's end. Also, Last Respects is now banned, and Marshadow has been dethroned. It's no longer the fastest QB from OU. Regieleki is.

To be blunt... It sounds as worth it as the Dragonspine Spear in Genshin - jumping through a shitload of hoops only to get something that was hardly worth the time and resource investment when I can get something that does its job better with less investment. *Especially* on Conquest, where I get fucking Xander as well as Benny, the (physical) tanks to end all tanks. Also, shuriken in general are weak without forging; the strongest shuriken that doesn't have any big downsides or isn't extremely limited in terms of who can use it is only 7 might. And again, only a fool would bank on a 20-30% chance of draining half the damage dealt that might proc at the wrong time or worse, not even proc at all. I've seen more than enough Sol Master Ninjas become corpses to know that you're better off not relying on dumb luck - Emphasis on *dumb*. Oh, I have seen him in action, all right. And I have *not* been impressed. At all. Which is a shame, as he went from being good in Awakening (even if getting the best out of him wasn't that intuitive) to the king of mediocre. Anyways... Siegbert is the worst child unit in Fates. I'm not sure about what the consensus on who the worst child unit in Fates is, but honestly, for how much of a pain in the arse his paralogue is, I'd have expected him to be better than what he ends up being. It's not just the fact that he's practically doomed to be in Xander's shadow either (which especially stings considering that to get him, I'd have to have used Xander a lot ANYWAY). It's also that Sophie is better (even compared to her father, who I find to be overhyped and mediocre), easier to get (because her paralogue is only a defeat boss instead of a rout with extra conditions, and especially considering that Xander joins only a couple chapters before enemies in paralogues start promoting - and I'ma be honest, post-promotion Siegbert paralogue is a hell I'd not wish on anyone), and can be gotten much earlier.

Odin is overrated. Because honestly, his stat spread focusing on HP, skill and luck is something that I hesitate to call anything besides lackluster. That would doom him to be a lesser unit in pretty much any FE game, and to be blunt, I fail to see why Fates is any different. Also, it seems that every character discussion video thinks Sol is worth it, but again, I think they overrate it to Valla and back. Why in the seven hells would I consider a 20-30% chance to drain half the damage I do to be a worthy uss of a skill slot? And more to the point, why the fuck would I use a Sol Master Ninja over, well, an actual tank that doesn't need to gamble to hold a line???

That's an error. I've gotten him back, and he has nothing on him because he drops the weapon he had on him.

Bruh This sounds so ass backwards I don't know where to start. You know what else is a slow march to victory? Chapters 7 and 8 of Revelation. Except there I have to rely very heavily on Corrin because most of what else I have can't take many hits. A slow march to victory sounds much better than having to rely heavily on one unit because everyone else starts at a low power level compared to the enemies, let alone having to deal with gimmicks that slow things down further. Zofia Castle doesn't have me with anything fancy, but I don't need anything fancy to clear it. On the flipside, if I need something like Hunter's Volley to make the likes of Grieth's Citadel not look so painful... that shows, well, that it is.

But then why should Zofia Castle get the nod over, say, Grieth's Citadel, which has the same crap, but you also have a cantor for added aggravation?

Is it? Imho, it pales in comparison to Grieth's Citadel or Nuibaba's Abode. Dolth Keep is prolly harder too.

Umbral Steel is gotten from fully breaking Demonic Beasts. To do this, you need to hit their barriers twice (once if your weapon or combat art is effective). Also, breaking them paralyzes them for that turn. Incidentally, anyone with a Crest avoids taking damage from using relic weapons. If the unit's attack stat is not enough relative to the Prt (or Rsl if magic) of the attacked unit, they deal no damage. This can be mainly seen with armored knights and Fortress Knights: attacking them with weapons that aren't anti-armor will likely accomplish a fat load of nothing. Generally, you should avoid him. But eventually the game expects you to defeat him. Not much, really. Not really. Those are Sacred weapons. Not really. The real reason to do paralogues is for the battalions tied to them, among other benefits. Aside from those, I mostly only do quest related battles. As to your last question, you're right that there are only 3 classes. But as to there being 4 routes... the specifics of that are a big spoiler.

What about Kikwis?

If they did that more, they wouldn't make facepalm-worthy decisions. I mean, seriously, one dude blindly had Cormag charge an enemy... and right into bow range. And another had Vanessa engage a gargoyle without bothering to check if she could survive the other one and the one she attacked. His genius strategy? Rescue her with Tana. Which worked well enough... if you wanted to senselessly sacrifice a unit.

Am I the only one who thinks players need to get into the habit of checking enemy stats and weapons? Because the players I was talking about seemed to neglect that part of the job description...

He's also too heavy to be carried, meaning he has to get around on his own two feet in one of the most move-centric games.

Perhaps, but I don't think one can make any excuses for losing two ironman runs in the freaking prologue. In a row. It gets better: they apparently cleared Maddening on Engage. Which makes this level of tactical incompetence all the more inexcusable.