2nd playthrough

[Big Klingy]

When I started my 1st playthrough, I already had a pretty good idea of who I was going to use. So, who should I use in my 2nd playthrough.

The restrictions are:

-Pelleas must be included

-I want to avoid using characters I already used in my 1st playthrough (for a list, see Final Chapter Teams Archive)

Mainly, I want to use the Awesome characters I didn't get around to using in the 1st p.t. Like Nolan, Mia, Illyana, Jill, Titania, Rolf.

Also, I have a PoR file where I'm using Rolf, Boyd, Jill, Kieran, Brom, Zihark and Tormod (the file was made before I knew of his sucky RD playtime)

I've never used Mia before, (mainly because I heared she sucked in PoR) so mabey I should give it a try.

EDIT: It turned out that I didn't use Boyd in the transfer file, and I only managed to hit one or two caps on most characters.

Edited September 9, 2008 by Big Klingy

[Mufasa]

Definetly use Mia. She is (in my opinion) the best swordsmaster in the game. And use Jill too. She's just as good as Haar. If not better.

[Big Klingy]

Definetly use Mia. She is (in my opinion) the best swordsmaster in the game. And use Jill too. She's just as good as Haar. If not better.

For me, nothing can kick Edward out of that position, but i'd say Mia is equal to him in awesomeness. It all really depends on personal opinion, and it seems I've been born an Edward fan.

I'd love to use Jill, but I really want to use Nolan (I've never even SEEN a Reaver in this game) and possibly Titania. And I don't want there to be too many axe users.

[Blue Knight]

you can never have too many axe users. just use 2 trueblades that's what I did.

[CGV]

I second Mia, and I always have two Trueblades because they're so good, so you could do that, but if you're hooked on Edward, Zihark is pretty good, too

I was thinking about holding off on Nolan because you'll have Boyd for your Reaver (plus you've got Jill, Kieran and Brom as well for axes)

Astrid is pretty good too. He paragon helps her catch up to everyone (plus it looks like you could use more bows)

Ilyana... use her... plus you could use the magic

As for lances... Oscar, Marcia and Aran are good choices since you've use Nephenee already

[Florete]

Zihark might be the best trueblade, with Mia coming very close. What can beat capping everything at level 13?

If you think you are good and patient enough, try Fiona. She ends up amazing.

Rolf is good, though Shinon will end up just as good.

Boyd is better than Nolan.

Ilyana, Calill, and Soren are the best archsages, IMO.

Nephenee must go. Just because.

Jill is good, she has speed on Haar.

Titania is oaky, and I haven't really used Brom, Kieran, and Tormod.

[Big Klingy]

Anyone know if Calill ends up good, because my sister wants to be the first to use Illyana.

Nolan is just a personal thing, I want to use him at least once.

I was really impressed with Aran in my 1st playthrough, maxed several stats at level 13-ish 2nd tier, so I might use him.

As for Fiona, I'm thinking of doing an all-paladin/pegasus playthrough one day, so I'll use her there.

[Florete]

Calill turned out pretty well for me, although she didn't quite cap magic. If I'd remembered stat-boosters, she would have....

[Big Klingy]

(Uses Ohm staff on topic)

Okay, my 2nd playthrough has officially become an underappreciated character playthrough, here are the people I'm using:

Meg: IMO, the most hated character in the game, so I had to use her. She's pretty good actually, I really hate her class though, the movement hurts, the speed cap hurts more. (Why can she only gain 2 more points of Speed in all 20 of her 2nd tier levels, why?!)

Aran: I'm one of those who think the only reason he sucks (apart from Speed) is because he is always compared to Neph.

Nolan: Okay, so he's not that underappreciated, I just wanted to see how he turns out. He's actually getting fairly good Strength (17 at lv. 20 fighter) unlike in my last playthrough...

Zihark: He is, of course, the real oddball of the team. He got transfer bonuses, and after hearing Fox mention him maxing everything early, I just had to use him.

Astrid: Originally planned to use Titania, but after Fox gave me the inspiration to do an underappreciated pt, I chose her instead. I let her get most of the kills in 2-3, as she's the only one who gets any decent exp there.

Calill: Probably the most underrated sage (apart from Bastian, who joins far too late) Though I haven't got a chance to use her yet. (currently on 2-F)

Rolf: I KNOW HE'S NOT UNDERRATED I just like having Marksmen in Endgame, I hated the way Leo turned out, and have alredy used Shinon.

Pelleas: 2nd playthrough, so I really had to use him, plus, he turns up late and underleveled (yay!)

I'll give my full opinions after I finish, but I have a few questions:

Firstly, should I recruit Zihark into Ike's team? I've already got lots of people in the DB i'm using, and not many in the GMs (as Astrid and Calill join later on)

I think I have a few free slots for the Endgame team, and someone I was considering was Tanith. How good does she turn out? (I will only consider using underappreciated and/or often hated characters, with the exception of Elincia [who may go there for healing like she did in my 1st pt])

Can Soren use Calill's Meteor tome when he joins? Because I need to use it on Miciaiah in 3-7 for special ending convos. If not, does Ike's team have easy access to Arms Scrolls?

Just to confirn, Ike needs to initiate the attack on the BK (3-7) himself, right? It won't work If the BK attacks him during the enemy phase?

Edited September 9, 2008 by Big Klingy

[Caliban of Sycorax]

Firstly, should I recruit Zihark into Ike's team? I've already got lots of people in the DB i'm using, and not many in the GMs (as Astrid and Calill join later on)

I think I have a few free slots for the Endgame team, and someone I was considering was Tanith. How good does she turn out? (I will only consider using underappreciated and/or often hated characters, with the exception of Elincia [who may go there for healing like she did in my 1st pt])

Can Soren use Calill's Meteor tome when he joins? Because I need to use it on Miciaiah in 3-7 for special ending convos. If not, does Ike's team have easy access to Arms Scrolls?

Just to confirn, Ike needs to initiate the attack on the BK (3-7) himself, right? It won't work If the BK attacks him during the enemy phase?

I usually keep Zihark with the DB because I recruit Jill to the GMs.

Tanith is AMAZING. You won't regret using her.

Err....Meteor is B level, Soren starts at...C or D I think. Just spam Elfires with him.

No, the BK can start it. I always have him start the battle.

[xanatha]

Can Soren use Calill's Meteor tome when he joins? Because I need to use it on Miciaiah in 3-7 for special ending convos. If not, does Ike's team have easy access to Arms Scrolls?

What special ending convos?!

[Zanarkin]

What special ending convos?!

The special ending is when Pelleas says he is not Amelda's son. But that someone on the GM is.

[xanatha]

The special ending is when Pelleas says he is not Amelda's son. But that someone on the GM is.

OH, NO!!! I've missed that part! Please don't tell me that I must have an A-level support between Soren and Ike from PoR to succeed with that!

[Knife]

For me, nothing can kick Edward out of that position, but i'd say Mia is equal to him in awesomeness. It all really depends on personal opinion, and it seems I've been born an Edward fan.

I'd love to use Jill, but I really want to use Nolan (I've never even SEEN a Reaver in this game) and possibly Titania. And I don't want there to be too many axe users.

Same here, I've never seen a Seraph Knight for some reason.

[Big Klingy]

OH, NO!!! I've missed that part! Please don't tell me that I must have an A-level support between Soren and Ike from PoR to succeed with that!

I'm sure you don't. (You DO, however, need a PoR A support for the special "Soren" info conversation in 4-F.) But this is getting off topic.

[xanatha]

I'm sure you don't. (You DO, however, need a PoR A support for the special "Soren" info conversation in 4-F.) But this is getting off topic.

I'm sorry, but I just need to know this: You mean I have to fight Micaiah with Soren in part 3 - chapter 7 to get that special ending convos?

[Knife]

The BK is so dumb, why does he attack you on on a tile that grants 10 extra defense? That makes the battle go much easier, he can't even critical you and killl you.

[Big Klingy]

Okay, on 3-F right now, and everyone's just become 3rd tier, exept for the DB characters, so here's my 2nd tier impressions.

Rolf: Starts out a bit weak, and has a bit of trouble double attacking at first, but once he caps Strength and Speed he becomes a BEAST. Definatly Shinon's equal, (if not superior) he only lags behind in Skill. By the way, HE LIKES SHORT SHORTS! (this is going to becom an in-joke of mine, has anyone else seen his 3rd tier outfit?)

Zihark: (recruited onto Ike's team) He caps the usual SM stats (Str. Skl. Spd.) early, but his luck lagged behind, and his low HP means he can die in a couple of hits if he dosn't dodge enough. For these reasons, I prefer Edward, but Zihark's still great. (3rd tier stats may change this)

Astrid: Starts out very weak, and has a lot of difficulty double attacking. That is, however, until she joins up with Ike's group, and you have access to Blossom. She capped Skill, Luck, Resistance and almost Speed. Now 3rd tier, and she's starting to own.

Callil: Probably the biggest surpries of the PT so far, I have no idea why most people don't use her. She capped Magic, Skill, Speed and Resistance. I guess people get turned off by her crappy-looking starting stats. As 3rd tier I can only say, she likes to show off her legs...

Tanith: Maxed only Skill, but all other stats were still decent, she dosn't have much 2nd tier playtime, so I can't give an accurate review. I do agree with Lyle though, her 3rd tier outfit is AWESOME. She looks like a female Black Knight on a pegasus.

My plans for part 4 are:

Micaiah's group: Meg, Aran and Tanith (forced?)

Ike's group: Rolf, Astrid and Callil

Elincia/Tibarn's group: Nolan, Zihark and Pelleas (forced)

Support plans:

Astrid-Callil

Zihark-Nolan

Meg-Aran

Rolf-Tanith (?!?!, no one else, really)

Pelleas-Elincia (for accuracy/Mercy help)

There appears to be one more slot for endgame... I'll have to see how Mist turns out. My other choice would be Tibarn, just for the added BK dialogue.

[Big Klingy]

Progress: Almost done with 4-P

I must say, getting Soren to attack Pelleas in 3-F is tough. Mainly due to Tibarn and Skrimir going on a slaughterfest. The kill count raised to something like 37 in the fourth turn, so for those of you attempting this, you need to do it quickly. The best way to do it is to have all your best characters (who should be 3rd tier by then) charge ahead and clear a path through the enemys, with Soren following. Of course, this would have been easier if I had actually trained Soren. (I avoid using people who I've already used in a previous playthrough)

Some more tips:

1. See that line of Halbadiers blocking the way into Miciaiah's 'base'? (with Aran slightly behind them) Soren needs to be on or past that 'line' in order to be within Meteor range of Pelleas. The Halbadiers will move, so it is possible to lure them without killing them.

2. Think before you kill! Any enemys who are no threat to you should be left alone, as you need to hit Pelleas before the kill count rises to 80, and it rises VERY quickly.

3. Reyson works wonders here.

4. If you are training Nolan, be warned that you will have to fight him if you want to reach Pelleas. If you gave him any Crossbows, keep flying units FAR away. (I learnt this the hard way...) Same goes for Zihark if you left him with the DB. For me, this was no problem, as my Zihark nailed Nolan with a single critical (ironic, as I'm going to get them to support later)

For me, it was extremly close. I moved Soren as far as he could go, surrounded by unequipped allies. The next turn, the count had hit 79, and I felt for sure I couldn't get Soren into range without killing someone. Just when I thought all hope was lost, I realised that Edward was not there, Soren would have a clear run into Meteor range. I simply shoved him and... problem solved! (I have finally found a decent use of shove in this game!) Then all I needed to do as have Tanith skewer the extremly underleveled Fiona (Mwahahahahaha) and I was clear. The most difficult parts of getting the special convo. were done.

I'd just like to add that Astrid owns. She activated Sol over six times during the course of the chapter.

Will update with Meg and Aran opinions soon.

Edited September 11, 2008 by Big Klingy

[sandmanccl]

Rolf: Starts out a bit weak, and has a bit of trouble double attacking at first, but once he caps Strength and Speed he becomes a BEAST. Definatly Shinon's equal, (if not superior) he only lags behind in Skill. By the way, HE LIKES SHORT SHORTS! (this is going to becom an in-joke of mine, has anyone else seen his 3rd tier outfit?)

Dude I TOTALLY KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN! I laughed out loud the first time I saw Rolf as a Marksman because his costume is just ridiculous.

Zihark: (recruited onto Ike's team) He caps the usual SM stats (Str. Skl. Spd.) early, but his luck lagged behind, and his low HP means he can die in a couple of hits if he dosn't dodge enough. For these reasons, I prefer Edward, but Zihark's still great. (3rd tier stats may change this)

Don't forget about support bonuses, man. If you have a guy who needs to rely on dodging but isn't dodging and he's not near his support buddy, you should really change up how you approach the map so they are almost always near each other. Zihark may not have as much luck as Edward, but he's got the natural Earth affinity to make up for it.

My plans for part 4 are:

Micaiah's group: Meg, Aran and Tanith (forced?)

Ike's group: Rolf, Astrid and Callil

Elincia/Tibarn's group: Nolan, Zihark and Pelleas (forced)

Support plans:

Astrid-Callil

Zihark-Nolan

Meg-Aran

Rolf-Tanith (?!?!, no one else, really)

Pelleas-Elincia (for accuracy/Mercy help)

There appears to be one more slot for endgame... I'll have to see how Mist turns out. My other choice would be Tibarn, just for the added BK dialogue.

Tanith isn't FORCED into the first group, I don't think. Just Sigrun is. Tanith and Marcia are "auto-assigned" to the same group, though.

You should put Calill in group 1. The more sages you've got for the desert chapter, the better. I'd switch her and Aran around because they'll both have better opportunities to gain XP if you do that.

[Big Klingy]

Don't forget about support bonuses, man. If you have a guy who needs to rely on dodging but isn't dodging and he's not near his support buddy, you should really change up how you approach the map so they are almost always near each other. Zihark may not have as much luck as Edward, but he's got the natural Earth affinity to make up for it.

You should put Calill in group 1. The more sages you've got for the desert chapter, the better. I'd switch her and Aran around because they'll both have better opportunities to gain XP if you do that.

1. Yeah, I forgot to mention, Zihark's earth support rocks.

2. Too late, I've alredy done the three groups. I put Tanith on group 1 for precicly the same reason, I just forgot about how mages can "walk on sand" (LOL*) too.

(*Watch the first 20 seconds of this:

to see what I mean.)

[Big Klingy]

(Firstly, I apologise for the double-posting, I just want to post updates of my progress)

On 4-2 now, and here begins the dreaded task of training Pelleas, will inform you of how it goes later, but firstly: the final 2nd tier opinions:

Nolan: His strength started to lag (once I sewar he went 6 levels without a single strength-up) but his skill and speed were amazing. He capped magic and resistance early too, but that dosn't help much. Since he caped skill and speed around level 14, I managed to BEXP him the rest of the way, and he was one point off capping strength. I'll have to leave my real impressions for when he's 20/20/20 (or close)

Meg: Maxed skill, speed, luck, resistance (not sure) and fairly decent strength. Too bad the caps on her good stats are utter crap. Gave her boots, so that's one of her flaws gone. Once she hit 3rd tier, however, she became a beast. With great all round stats and the ability to use decent lances and axes (she pretty much can't use lances in 2nd tier) she slaughtered waves of enemies in 4-P.

Aran: Capped strength, skill and defence early. So I BEXPd him and... he capped speed. He actually capped speed! (I need to upload the photo of this) For those of you who don't know, his speed cap is the same as his skill cap. He's getting quite decent speed as 3rd tier. One of the biggest surprises of the playthrough.

One thing I need to add. As much as I like Sanaki (well... sort of...) I'm not a fan of her battle sprite. Her eyes look ridiculously huge and her big pants make her look fat.

In 4-1, I got a surge of 1-stat-ups, but Callil capped speed, and I was quite dissapointed that the cap is the same as Meg's (32), I thought she had the potential to go higher.

[sandmanccl]

Pelleas isn't THAT hard to train. If you've got even the slightest bit of patience, you can hit Arch-Sage in the first map he joins. Just make sure to have someone bring an extra Thunder tome or two along (maybe even a crafted one that gives +to hit percentage) because his dark magic tomes tend to break if you use him to do just about everything in that map.

[Mufasa]

To comment on Aran's speed thing, it's really quite easy to get him to cap speed. His only real problem is in his resistance.

[Florete]

Pelleas isn't THAT hard to train. If you've got even the slightest bit of patience, you can hit Arch-Sage in the first map he joins. Just make sure to have someone bring an extra Thunder tome or two along (maybe even a crafted one that gives +to hit percentage) because his dark magic tomes tend to break if you use him to do just about everything in that map.

Yes. Elincia + Mercy = easy training for Pelleas.