Rate the unit day 20: Nowi

[Randa]

(Too bad that Miriel's vote took place during my vacation, since she's my favourite)

I always wondered why there was such a hatred towards Ricken around gamefaqs. I was able to use him without any difficulty and I don't really see why he's seen as that horrible. He's certainly not the best unit in the game, but I thought he was more average, instead of horrible.

Anyway Ricken's start isn't the most amazing in the game, but he has enough going for him to make him usefull in his joining chapter. Elwind and wyvers ensures that he can do some hefty chip damage. 5 base speed is massive fail, but the rest of his bases are passable and he joins at a point where he isn't the only one with speed problems. He does join in an ackward spot, but I don't think that anyone is able to one shot him aside from the myrms who can double him.

After that he will grow surprisingly bulky for a mage and his magic grows decently as well. Speed remains a little low, but he has a Gregor support and some females who can give him some extra speed. He's outclassed offensively by Miriel, but he's able to see some more enemy phase action thanks to his better bulk. Staf utility or gaining a pony is nice as well.

His reclass options suck in the main game though. He has the horrible archer line that gives him absolutely nothing and the cavalry line, which gives nice skills, but messes with his stats so I wouldn't bother with that until the game is over.

All in all I think that Ricken is a decent unit, but a little bit outclassed by the other mages you get.

5/10

I'm just gonna use this.

[PK Gaming]

2/10

Shotacon mage with awful bases and worthless reclass options (does he want to be a physical unit). He joins at chapter 5, and is near guaranteed to be behind Miriel if you've used her at all. At least Donnel can whore himself and become a good dad, Ricken is practically useless and outclassed by most mages.

Edited June 2, 2013 by PK Gaming

[PKL]

Ricken. Gets much more flack than he's supposed to be. I mean, some people consider him worse than Virion and Donnel o_O

Anyways, he joins in Chapter 5 along with Maribelle. The enemies in that map are all 2HKO'd by Elwind and he almost one shots wyverns. He's doubled and almost ORKO'd by myrmidons. Maribelle provides spd mag and res to him which is handy. He comes early enough, with a paralogue right next to his join to be trainable. He's a nice unit in the desert, if trained, thanks to ignoring desert penalty and he grows surprisingly bulky. His spd needs tonics and supports to work well, but it's generally worth it because he can become a really really bulky 8 move unit that ORKOs thanks to hitting res or a weirdly bulky sage that can spam rescue to get Tomefaire and have massive rescue range. Miriel outclassing him on join is a myth in efficiency too, as you'd have to slow down to a crawl to feed her player phase kills due to her spectacular defenses hampering her enemy phase exp.

5/10 no bias either way because I'm very neutral towards Ricken, I just think he's underrated.

[General Horace]

dicken has no speed and some magic and terrible reclass options. plus he's a shota mage which is an instant -1. Good defence base, but 35% growth isn't really bulky in my books

4-1 = 3/10

Edited June 2, 2013 by General Horace

[Folt]

So, Ricken.

Pros:

* Comes with an Elwind tome on a map where with Wyvern Riders, so he can hit type effectiveness. (Bonus points for not being the worthless Wind tome.)

* Can pair up with Maribelle in his join chapter to get further boost to his Magic, and get a slight boost in Speed.

* Somewhat balanced growths compare to Miriel.

* Can promote to Dark Knight.

* Class tree includes Cavalier, which will benefit his child if he marries one of the girls. (Discipline + Luna + Aegis)

* Best Magic Modifier of the males, which (along with Cavalier) is nice for some children.

* Awailability is nice.

Cons:

* Bases are kind of underwhelming and low (but not Donnel low), and he comes at a somewhat low level for the Chapter he joins in (but not low enough to gain EXP super-fast or anything).

* Training phase can be difficult.

* Somewhat balanced growths compared to Miriel.

* Class tree doesn't really benefit him much. (Aside from Luna and Tomefaire)

* Will need Speed tonics, as his base Speed is somewhat low, and his Speed growth isn't really that special.

* In the end, other mages will do things much better than him.

Ricken as a unit comes with some underwhelming bases for the Chapter he joins in, particularly his speed. Levelling him up won't produce particularly special results either. He does however come with an Elwind tome, which will help with chip damage in the chapter, and make him good for weakening wyverns (when they're at full HP) or killing them (if they're damaged), which is good given their high defense otherwise. His HP and defenses are good enough to not get him OHKOed by them either. When levelled up, he can go Sage for Rescuing, or Dark Knight for mobiliy, and will do well in either role. That said, the other mage on your team, as well as the dark mages, will soundly outclass him if you level them up, thanks to his average growths. It's recommended to pair him up with Maribelle when Chapter 5 starts to boost his Magic and Speed a little.

Rating: 4.5/10

Ricken doesn't really become much of note, and his stats and class set doesn't really allow him to be much of note either, but in the end, he's not particularly bad, and he isn't the worst contributor to your army either. He is however soundly outclassed by other magic users, and his somewhat difficult training phase may not make training him worth it for you.

[Constable Reggie]

Oh man, Ricken. From the second you see Ricken, you know you're looking at a grade-A badass. He's so badass in fact, that he disguises himself as a shota due to overwhelming jealousy of his badassery. Since my own style of play is to turtle like all hell and boss abuse, Ricken's shit reclass options and durability doesn't matter to me. He practically can almost kill wyverns (what do you expect from a grade a badass). His speed is a minor issue, but loltonics and pairups and whatever it is these days that makes stats irrelevant. Basically, he's one of the best characters in the game.

3/10 +1 bias for being one of the most depthful, complex, and realistic characters in any Fe game ever, 4/10

Edited June 2, 2013 by Constable Reggie

[Book Bro]

Ricken

+ Comes with Elwind on the first Wyvern chapter that also has a moving Wyvern boss

+ Good magic

+ Access to Cavalier

- Access to Archer (waste of a slot)

- Bad speed

- Unremarkable growths, including his defense which means his starting bulkiness (for a Mage) will unfortunately not be a plus for very long

4/10 slightly below average

[shadykid]

Oh man, Ricken. From the second you see Ricken, you know you're looking at a grade-A badass. He's so badass in fact, that he disguises himself as a shota due to overwhelming jealousy of his badassery. Since my own style of play is to turtle like all hell and boss abuse, Ricken's shit reclass options and durability doesn't matter to me. He practically can almost kill wyverns (what do you expect from a grade a badass). His speed is a minor issue, but loltonics and pairups and whatever it is these days that makes stats irrelevant. Basically, he's one of the best characters in the game.

3/10 +1 bias for being one of the most depthful, complex, and realistic characters in any Fe game ever, 4/10

10/10, another stellar review from you

[Zerker]

Ricken:

1/10 with +1 bias since Ricken!Laurent gives Ricken a purpose

[The Fush]

Ricken joins with an early Elwind tome and a decent level. I always find his magic to be on par or higher than Miriel's, but I've heard Miriel is supposed to be higher in that regard so sue me

As I mentioned in my review of Miriel, Ricken has less speed, and slightly less skill than her. Ricken, however, can actually take a hit or two, unlike Miriel, which means you can be a little more offensive with his positioning (as long as you don't get carried away). This also makes him good for the use of the ability Focus, though only to a decent degree. His high magic, like Miriel's, will also mean that he'll deal high crits and damage to the low-res nubs in the early parts of the game, with thunder tomes.

The only issue with him is his bad speed. It levels up rather slowly, meaning you're going to have to frequently rely on speed pair ups and tonics in order to keep him fast (or a CG if you prefer). He also has rather meh reclass options. The archer line is completely redundant aside from Bowbreaker, which helps Ricken worry less about those who can hit him at 2 range. The cavalier, however, while not magical, does have Discipline, Dual Guard+, Aegis and Luna. Aegis and Luna in particular are brilliant skills for him, and they are not skills that Miriel can acquire.

Apart from that, he's about as good (or, debatedly, almost as good) as Miriel is, despite the fact that Miriel may have a higher level at the time, and should not be ignored if you want a good mage.

7/10, though 7.5/10 with bias because I rather like him and his background

Also the poster above me is absolutely brilliant and is also reliable for a review.

(why do I have so much bias for everyone)

Edited June 2, 2013 by The Fush

[Melonhead]

Ehh, Ricken. I never really liked him.

Probably his main issue would be speed, which doesn't seem to grow that much. He also comes in a bit underleveled compared to the other 2 magic users, Robin and Miriel, so he starts off a bit weak.

One of the redeeming qualities he has over Miriel is the fact that he actually has a defense stat (My Mirel had single-digit defense at chapter 20) making him a bit safer to use. He makes for a decent mage, although probably not one of the best.

4/10 with a -.5 bias for a 3.5/10

[shadykid]

guys, I think Ricken is deserving of a 10/10

[Constable Reggie]

10/10, another stellar review from you

I make sure to carefully craft my ranking descriptions to tailor to each separate character.

[Randa]

I make sure to carefully craft my ranking descriptions to tailor to each separate character.

Sure you do. It's totally not like you just copy paste and make little changes.

[OcarinaOfDoom]

Ricken

+ Comes with Elwind on the first Wyvern chapter that also has a moving Wyvern boss

+ Good magic

+ Access to Cavalier

- Access to Archer (waste of a slot)

- Bad speed

- Unremarkable growths, including his defense which means his starting bulkiness (for a Mage) will unfortunately not be a plus for very long

4/10 slightly below average

This but -1 for bias so 3/10

[Ema Skye]

dicken has no speed and some magic and terrible reclass options. Good defence base, but 35% growth isn't really bulky in my books

This.

not to mention I've only ever seen him proc speed like twice.

2/10 No bias.

[Da Bear]

Ricken is terrible. He's got bad speed "good" defense (but he's still a mage so..) and mediocre magic. His bases make him tough to train and you get nothing out of training him.

2/10

[ZemZem]

Ricken has become the best character in FE13 at the snap of a finger.

[Chiki]

Ricken is terrible. He's got bad speed "good" defense (but he's still a mage so..) and mediocre magic. His bases make him tough to train and you get nothing out of training him.

2/10

Lol Rescue in 7 levels.

[The Fush]

I make sure to carefully craft my ranking descriptions to tailor to each separate character.

Why hasn't somebody given you a promotion yet

[Da Bear]

Lol Rescue in 7 levels.

I have so many rescue users that I Don't care.

Edited June 2, 2013 by bearclaw13

[Hawk King]

Ricken gets treated like a little kid, it's not fair guys, stop it.

He has good durability for a Mage. And can go Sage for Rescue utility. The rescue utility alone is more than what several other characters can reasonably do.

4.5/10

[FrostyFireMage]

Ricken gets a lot of flak from many players, but he's not that bad.

Pros:

* Elwind in a chapter filled with Wyverns.

* Good Defense and HP for a mage.

* Great father.

* Access to Luna, Dual Guard+ and Aegis.

Cons:

* Slow.

* Comes somewhat late without the stats to support himself.

* No Dark Mage class.

Ricken may come underlevelled, but he joins with an Elwind tome in a chapter filled with Wyverns for the plucking. He will have trouble doubling without a good support, however, and can get owned in his starting chapter if you aren't careful. His reclass options appear to be random, but give him more versatility than the other mage Miriel, whose only ace in the hole is the Dark Mage class.

5.5/10 + 0.5 for being unfairly hated = 6/10.

[eclipse]

OMG RICKEN IS SO BULKY, HE HAS TWO HP AND ONE DEF ON BASE SUMIA!

Yeah, no. I'll give him his nice HP growth, but 35% Defense growth is what Virion has (and beats out Lon'qu, Sumia, and Gaius by a whopping 5%). 55% Magic growth is eh, and I've complained enough about 50% Speed growth. He gets some utility in blicking wyverns, if Miriel/MU aren't able to do it. Otherwise, his next-best use is to pass Cavalier/Archer to a child that wants it (SEVERA, and Gerome to a lesser extent).

4/10 (+1 bias included because he's learning how to cook)

Edited June 3, 2013 by eclipse

[Randa]

Day 15 begins.

Mariebelle

Pros:

Mounted staffbot

Okay class set

Cons

Mediocre growth rates

Poor bases

5/10