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Finally making my own, personal, rating topic/tier list.


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I am shocked. A review without some degree of controversy. I hope this luck can last. Anyways... on to the next... oh no... Muarim. Crap.

I hate Muarim. You have years of bashing my head against a brick wall smash to thank for that. The constant struggling with him over Mia vs. Zihark and the resulting supporting of Muarim has made me very adverse to the subject, more so to Muarim than to Zihark himself surprisingly. I do desire to keep at least a degree of sanity in these reviews, however, so I will try to keep it clean.

Muarim... IHATEMUARIMIHATEMUARIMIHATEMUARIM! *takes a sedative and settles down a bit*

Muarim is a late joiner to the team. Coming in chapter 16, he joins at the same time as Tormod and technically as Makalov (who is useless until this point). Normally, this would be a death sentence as Laguz have poor endgame stats (Lethe lacks STR, Mordi SPD, the hawks are hawks, Reyson doesn't fight), but Muarim is, in a shocking twist, actually usable endgame! Being juuuuust fast enough to be usable and juuuust strong enough to fight, he's a laguz who is usable throughout his entire joining time. To top it off, he joins with the Laguz band, meaning that, unlike Lethe and Mordi, he does not have to put up with dealing with the Laguz gauge if he is to be used (if he should or not is different). When Muarim joins, he is easily one of the stronger characters on the team. While it is possible for some units to be catching up to him in terms of offensive power, few have movement and defenses similar to him. For a time, at least, he is one of the best characters on the team. Then... he starts to falter. It seems to me that, HP aside, all laguz have poor growth rates, and Muarim is no exception. While banded he ends up tying Ilyana for Speed and only barely breaks 35 damage with his attacks (37). While is defenses end... acceptable, he ends up being little more than a high-movement general. While this is at 20/20, I think it is safe to say that, as the chapters move on, his low SPD and MT that starts to lack will cause issues (9 MT on his claws? Only 1 more than Lethe! It almost seems like they have the exact same problem as far as offense goes).

Muarim, however, does have a degree of flexibility Lethe does not have. While both sport support lists of almost-similar size, and even support each other, Muarim actually has a support that is half-way decent in Zihark. Additionally, he is capable of viable smiting, as I'm sure many of the SPD-focused players will want to hear.

Speed 3.5: I will admit, I am not a speed expert. However, Muarim joins at a time when your other characters are finally getting going on their offensive fronts and may even start promoting soon. However, he joins half-way through the game and faulters in the later-game as well due to poor growth rates, so it seems unfair to give him the same speed rating as Lethe who at least has several chapters of being the top catdog. While he can smite people along later on, this is no substitution in my eyes for actually being able to fight full-on.

Flexibility 2.5: Muarim is... not as inflexible as Lethe. First off, he remains viable throughout his time on the field, unlike Lethe who eventually suffers thanks to her low STR. Combine that with a support that is actually solid and the capability to smite and he is not an awful unit in terms of his flexibility on the field. However, once again, he will start to grow weak towards the end and his flexibility is nothing compared to units who can utilize great skills or fly or something else.

Customization 2: Muarim suffers the exact same problems Lethe does. In fact, I could copy-paste what I said for her here and it would largely be true. However, Muarim does have the potential to use Smite very well, which is a step up for him over Lethe.

Overall 8/15: While not awful, Muarim simply is too lacking in the endgame to be truly useful. His one saving grace is his ability to smite, but otherwise, he's not really that different from his Laguz brethren.

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I am having a problem with the next character in the line-up. Volke. As a thief, he has poor combat ability, can't really do much beyond stealing items/opening doors and chests, and has stats so low that he isn't really customizable. By my standard, he should be very low on the list, quite likely a 4 or below. However I know that that rating is wrong and I do not believe it one bit. I do not know what to do. Any suggestions would be helpful.

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I am having a problem with the next character in the line-up. Volke. As a thief, he has poor combat ability, can't really do much beyond stealing items/opening doors and chests, and has stats so low that he isn't really customizable. By my standard, he should be very low on the list, quite likely a 4 or below. However I know that that rating is wrong and I do not believe it one bit. I do not know what to do. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Chest keys do pretty much limit Volke's contributions substantially. I think his main use in LTC is Astrid's debut chapter causing an early rout. I haven't played "Take it easy" style in forever in FE9, but I can't imagine there's that much more demand for thieving. I don't think a score that low would be completely unreasonable...

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The bigger problem is that, even if you throw LTC out the window, Volke, as a unit, still sucks. However, he's still far from useless. It's just that his main contribution to the team is helping other units out which is something I didn't even think about when making the ratings. He's not terribly good at speed playthrough, while stealing is useful it is all he can do, and he isn't customizable so he SHOULD get very low scores, like, say, a 0.5, 1.5, 0 or something like that. I couldn't get behind such a rating though... damnit. Thief utility makes this hard!

Think I should maybe spot him 2.5 in flex and cust and simply mark it down as something like 'since thieves are poor units on their own, but help other units out a lot, they are starting at a rating of 2.5 in each catagory instead of a base of 0' or something?

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The only reason to use Volke in Astrid' joining chapter is to nab chests. The early rout is caused by every single other unit (Tits/fliers have got it on their own in LTC).

I was under the impression that opening all the chests is necessary to prevent additional Raven reinforcements from spawning.

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Either she can utilize the Laguz gems to keep herself shifted

There are no Laguz Gems in PoR, instead you have Laguz Stones (of which you have only 4 in the entire game).

Edited by NinjaMonkey
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There are no Laguz Gems in PoR, instead you have Laguz Stones (of which you have only 4 in the entire game).

And this is important because... why again? Oh wait, nobody gives a flying fuck if it's a "stone" or a "gem". Any other insightful pieces of knowledge that you'd like to share?

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I was just pointing out a mistake in Snowy's post, jerkface!

Oh, and if "nobody cares", why did you bother replying to my post instead of just ignoring me?

Edited by NinjaMonkey
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I was just pointing out a mistake in Snowy's post, jerkface!

Oh, and if "nobody cares", why did you bother replying to my post instead of just ignoring me?

Probably because lifey felt like flaming someone and you gave him the opportunity.

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Probably because lifey felt like flaming someone and you gave him the opportunity.

It's like you and I have a connection! You just know what I'm thinking all the time!

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Does it really matter if it is called a 'gem' 'stone''big mac' or anything else? A name is a name. There are only two items (technically three) that allow a Laguz to shift out of turn, one of which is the demi which hurt stats. If you couldn't glean the meaning despite the somewhat improper name, that's just awful.

Anyways, I haven't forgotten this. Life has been hectic of late. I was originally going to post a Volke review last night, but got waylayed and will be occupied most of tonight. To make up for this, I will also be reviewing Elincia tomorrow (hopefully). I decided to not spot Volke any points FYI and hope that people read the review instead of simply taking the list at face value.

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Alright. As promised... a duel-review of both Volke and Elincia.

Volke:

Volke is the games first thief. Coming at the start of chapter 9 for a fee, he joins in time to teach the player about chests and doors. Until Sothe joins at the start of 12, Volke is the only thief around, meaning your only way to open chests or steal items outside of keys. Even after Sothe joins, Volke remains useful as he comes with the skill 'shade' which makes life easier for a thief (more-so than Blossom at least) since there is at least the chance that it will make a foe look over Volke as opposed to Sothe's delaying his EXP for... well... 5% boost in growth rates (IIRC). If you want to steal an item, the thieves are your only way to do it. You want to open a chest, but don't have keys? The thieves are the only way... and... that's sort of their problem.

Thieving is all that they are good at. Even ignoring that most of the good/needed items can be obtained from chests via keys, no truly necessary items need to be stolen, and doors can be busted down, the fact is that the thieves are only good for stealing. To be specific, Volke cannot really fight. Even if he hit 20/20, his STR caps out at a measily 23 points and the best dagger in the game is as strong as a unforged steel sword. His maximum defense is equal to that of a swordmasters, and unlike them, he neither has access to good/forgable weapons or a critical boost. In fact, calling Volke a 'stripped down swordmaster' is a pretty dead-on description! This is assuming he reaches 20/20 by the way, something that I see as 'unlikely to happen'. Despite having a good STR growth, he is stuck with knives until 27 (unless, for some reason, you stole that Stiletto in 21). Even in the early game, when the gap between weapons isn't so great, other units can at least touch upon forged weapons, while Volke is shut out from them entirely. While his early game offense isn't 'bad', anyone with half a brain would rather sink points into Mia/Zihark as they will get better weapons soon. Ironically, despite his bad combat, Lethality is probably the only mastery skill of value not related to healing, but using it requires leveling Volke up first and has a poor activation rate (critical 1/2). If Volke were a swordsmaster who just so happened to be able to steal, he might have been good, but he is not, and has to deal with poor weapons throughout the game (not to mention he would have had slightly better caps).

As for his stealing... It is hard to give a proper value. He is a great thief, but... none of the things he steals are things that directly help out. They are things that help other units out. Even ignoring the issue of obtainment (should he get credit for something that could have been opened with a key), the simple fact is that nothing he does to help is actually HIM. He steals a stat-up item? It goes to another unit. He steals a gem? The gold is used to forge weapons for others. At best, he is an enabler, not a actual user of the things he does... So... On to the final scores.

Speed 1.5: Volke is not a speedy unit. Even ignoring LTC, it takes time to properly set up a steal. Units need to be baited in, not killed, and then he has to steal the item. However, he is decent when he joins and won't start being sub-par for at least a little bit... so points for that.

Flexibility 2: While Volke can steal, open chests, and doors, he himself is not terribly flexible. Poor combat keeps him from actually doing anything of value and he has no utility outside of his thieving skills. That said, those skill can be useful... if keys are not being used/doors not bashed in/player wants a item. If they are... it loses value. Plus, it's not actually him making the things usable. A open door has no value until there is someone to go through it. He allows other people to be flexible, but isn't terribly flexible himself.

Customization 0.5: Even if you BEXP him up and give him the best weapon he can manage, he's about on par (possibly worse than) Lethe endgame. The one thing of value he has simply has a activation rate that is too low for him to really use.

Overall: Volke has uses, and certainly isn't awful, but everything he can do can be done via keys and any way he can fight can be outshone by a swordsmaster.

Elincia

Elincia is a unit I REALLY wish I could rate higher. She is a flying healer unit who has a unbreakable brave sword for crying out loud! FE10 showed us just how powerful she can be. However, this is FE9, and she got screwed. Hard.

First off, she is only available for the final chapters, one of which is the endgame. LTC players will probably be screaming for wrath/resolve Ike to quick-win the chapter and, even if 29 was a drawn-out slogfest, you have five other potential staff users at this point, all of which have been around longer. Her flight really fails to come into play and her sword... she doesn't have the strength to really use it. Even at 20/20, she has only 14 STR, only 2-3 more than Calill, a mage, and less than Mist, so she can't join in combat. Her support list is surprisingly decent (Ike and Geoffry aren't too bad), but... even if she got those supports, she would only get them for a short timeframe. Ike will take any other supporter on the grounds of them actually being there for a time and Geoffry... well he'll support her okay. Even so, the supports are mainly hit, the one stat Elincia doesn't really need in combat (She needs to deal damage first or if not, defense). She simply joins too late.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that Elincia can utilize the rescue staff amazingly well for the few chapters she is in. This is a large increase in her speed rating as well as flexibility and customization. Though she is still limited by her late joining, her ratings are not worthy of being tagged as 0.5's for such a thing.

Speed: 2: Elincia's ability to utilize the rescue staff to allow for quick completion of chapters is highly useful for players seeking a fast completion. It allows the endgame to be beaten in only a few turns (compared to the normal amount) as well as faster completion of every chapter she is in simply because she is there (with the rescue staff). However, the fact still remains that she simply joins too late. If she had joined earlier, her rating for speed would increase exponentially.

Flexibility 1: Elincia can utilize staves like many other units. Considering her late joining though, you will likely have your healers already set in by the time she pokes around. Be they Rhys, Mist, Soren, Ilyana, or Tormod, her healing will not likely be 'needed'. However, she has one huge redeeming factor, a staff that she can wield better than them. The rescue staff. Using this boosts team utility and allows for faster completion... but it is only one staff and she is a late joiner.

Customization 1: See above. The two are pretty closely linked in this case.

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that Elincia plays a key role in the later chapters due to her ability to use the rescue staff. This alters her score drastically and I will redo this review tonight/tomorrow.

Edited by Snowy_One
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But Anouleth, that would mean you are doing LTC play which is stupid and for big poopie meanie heads! It is much more productive to talk about her strength at 20/20 amirite?

But Snowy said that LTC players wouldn't care about Elincia in Final because of Wrath/Resolve Ike, but that's not true at all, since Elincia helps position him. And he also said that Elincia joins too late to be useful: but even with her late jointime, she can still be useful.

So it's not that he's disregarding LTC play, which would be fine, but that he's misrepresenting it.

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But Snowy said that LTC players wouldn't care about Elincia in Final because of Wrath/Resolve Ike, but that's not true at all, since Elincia helps position him. And he also said that Elincia joins too late to be useful: but even with her late jointime, she can still be useful.

So it's not that he's disregarding LTC play, which would be fine, but that he's misrepresenting it.

:facepalm: I gave Snowy too much credit obviously.

Z4aGc.gif

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I gave Snowy too much credit obviously.

Sage, I also don't hang around in the tier list topics learning every argument. I didn't know about Elincia's instrumental role in endgame. At the same time, I'm not sure it is worth more than a .5 increase. It is only one chapter of the two she's even around after all.

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