Lovers... Shipping or Skills? - FE4

[NamelessParasite]

So, I recently played FE4 and I freaking love it. At the final chapter right now; hard as all hell but I'll manage.

Now, what got me stoked the most is the vast lover/jealousy system of the game we all know and love. And while some have more detailed reasons to choose their specific units to love the others, let's put things in perspective. Do people pair their units because they look cute together, or for their child to cohesively inherit their broad skillsets?

I mean, we have our 'canon' manga ships like Lex/Ayra, Adean/Jamka, Lachesis/Finn, etc. but some pairings are better than others. For instance, Ayra is awesome with Holyn because Larcei and Skasaha get both Meteor and Lunar. I regret making Lachesis pair up with Beowulf though - I really, really want to love my file's Delmud but I can't. So, what do you say? Ship or Badass Units? I'm guessing both but did people actually make the mistake of pairing their units just for the hell of it (like I have ;_; ) and had the kids turn out fantastic in the 2nd gen?

This is... probably a stupid question. I just wanted an excuse to get on the Jugdral bandwagon with the cool kids in town and stuff.

[momogeek2141]

LevinXFury is both.

I generally like to see the children plow through the arena with no trouble at all, so I usually use badass pairings. NoishXAyra used to be my favorite, but I've taken a liking to JamkaXAyra as well.

My position wrt pairing Lachesis is the opposite to yours: I disliked Fin but liked Beowulf.

Also, isn't Lachesis supposed to have had Delmud with Beowulf and Nanna with Fin?

[Chalis]

A bit of both. I shipped Lex/Lachesis purely because their skills looked similar, Nanna and Delmudd ended up tanks. Then I found out Fujimori Nuts also shipped it so that's my go-to forever now.

I used to like Ayra with Noish but I like making Skasha just as useful as his sister and for that to happen I need Continue, so Jamka lends a high STR growth and his low skill is offset by Odo blood. I'm surprised it's not more popular really, even their situations are a bit similar. Prince(ss) from a ruined country among Sigurd's crew. And it seems sad to let Verdane rot at the end.

Midir and Aideen is 2cute but sometimes I like pairing her with Finn because where the hell did Lester's blue hair come from? Finn also has very nice growth and skills too. If I do that pairing, I like to pass down his hero lance to Fury so she and her daughter can make the most of it.

For Fury I just respect canon for once, there's so much narrative for it even well into 2nd gen. Technically setting her up with the pope is a better option, because it frees up Holsety On A Horse™ and you get Libro On A Pegasus™ but I can't. It just seems wrong to split up the magical bunch, including Azel/Tirutyu and Claude with his long lost sister.

Brigid is always a weird situation. I like her with anyone really. Holyn is a fun choice as HP wise it's insane and Fin is some kind of interesting. If I had to pick one "canon" choice though, it would be Alec. He's the only one where the relationship doesn't play on her insecurities that her fiance previously wanted to bang Aideen and just settled for her.

And then I also like quite a lot of the subs too so... I don't accept Thracia 776 for swapping Amid and Linda for Miranda.

Also, isn't Lachesis supposed to have had Delmud with Beowulf and Nanna with Fin?

That depends on who you ask and what canon you subscribe to. Despite hating Lachesis/Finn, I take word of god that they're "whoever you wish to be the father" is canon.

[CT075]

the main reason i even have ships for fe4 is because they make the children op

[Jedi]

I generally try new pairings each run, I have preferred pairs though.

(One of them being my extensive headcanon of Briggid x Finn which extends to Thracia)

It's just fun to mess around, like heck I loved Ardan x Fury in terms of results lol.

[DarthMikey]

I used to always pair Finn/Lachesis 'cause I liked it (I think because of the Oosawa manga), but I don't have any particular preferences now aside from gameplay; i.e. Midir/Aideen is a big go-to not because I especially like their romance or something but because it's easy, makes good kids, and gets you stuff (Brave Bow). I guess the only one I'm sort of partial to is Azel/Tiltyu; I can't really stray from that one even when Azel/Lachesis and Levin/Tiltyu would work better in a lot of ways.

Oh yeah, since it came up, where did the idea that Sylvia is Claude's sister come from? I certainly didn't read it as the intention of that conversation, but I guess there's incest in the game already so it's a natural assumption.

Edited June 28, 2015 by TheCosmicDude

[momogeek2141]

I used to always pair Finn/Lachesis 'cause I liked it (I think because of the Oosawa manga), but I don't have any particular preferences now aside from gameplay; i.e. Midir/Aideen is a big go-to not because I especially like their romance or something but because it's easy, makes good kids, and gets you stuff (Brave Bow). I guess the only one I'm sort of partial to is Azel/Tiltyu; I can't really stray from that one even when Azel/Lachesis and Levin/Tiltyu would work better in a lot of ways.

Oh yeah, since it came up, where did the idea that Sylvia is Claude's sister come from? I certainly didn't read it as the intention of that conversation, but I guess there's incest in the game already so it's a natural assumption.

I bet it wasn't their intention, but Sylvia has minor Blaggi blood. Which led to those ideas. I heard it was stated that she is his cousin from somewhere.

[bottlegnomes]

Pretty much entirely gameplay related, with the somewhat exception of Levin x Fury.

Levin x Fury, as I like the pairing and, more importantly, I want pursuit on as many people as possible so Johan can get the pursuit ring (after Patty, Leif, and whoever else are done with it).

As for Lach, I did x Beo last time since charge and slightly higher strength and hp seemed useful, but the kid's luck was poop, so I'm considering Finn next time. Aside from that, don't care.

Agreed on Ayra x Jamke. About the only issues are lack of inheritance, but Jamke can get the silver blade (though it won't have any kills) and pass stuff to sell, and time it takes. But if you're not trying to get anywhere quickly, it's quite good.

Tiltyu x Azel because pursuit, good magic, and see Levin x Fury above.

Midir x Adean because reasons every knows.

Claude x Sylvia since Leen doesn't matter and at least then Corple will be decent with staves. I kind of want to try Lex since elite and just killing her because subs, but I feel weird about not passing down holy weapons and not getting the children.

I still don't know about a definite one for Brigid. Tried Jamke, but Patty was terrible. Last time I tried Dew, and that worked fairly well, but it still wasn't great. Bargain was nice for sleep sword shenanigans and letting Faval use Yewfelle with pretty much monetary impunity. I've heard Lex and Holyn are good, so I might try them, but then the kids' growths (primarily speed) are a bit iffy for my taste.

Edited June 28, 2015 by bottlegnomes

[Chalis]

Oh yeah, since it came up, where did the idea that Sylvia is Claude's sister come from? I certainly didn't read it as the intention of that conversation, but I guess there's incest in the game already so it's a natural assumption.

I bet it wasn't their intention, but Sylvia has minor Blaggi blood. Which led to those ideas. I heard it was stated that she is his cousin from somewhere.

There's her concept art where she had much gentler features like Claude, and that she had Blaggi blood for no real reason other than give legitimacy for that conversation where their timeline just matches up too well. The cousins thing was probably an afterthought as it was revealed after the game came out, perhaps thinking full blooded siblings was too extreme after all. Even Lachesis and Eldigan were confirmed half siblings in-game.

I'm on the side that believes they're siblings, genetic sexual attraction well never not be hilariously tragic to me.

[momogeek2141]

I still don't know about a definite one for Brigid. Tried Jamke, but Patty was terrible. Last time I tried Dew, and that worked fairly well, but it still wasn't great. Bargain was nice for sleep sword shenanigans and letting Faval use Yewfelle with pretty much monetary impunity. I've heard Lex and Holyn are good, so I might try them, but then the kids' growths (primarily speed) are a bit iffy for my taste.

Briggid has a 20% speed growth, so Patty's isn't going any higher than 40. Dew!Faval has some pretty kickass stats including speed. Tbh, speed isn't a huge worry because the killer bow and Ichival, the two bows Faval are going to be using, both weigh only 3, which is extremely light, and Patty uses swords. Plus, they get a decent promotional speed gain which fixes the possibility of screwage. Hell, even a Noish!Patty should have around 23-24 speed approaching level 30, which is really good for a sword user (unless yours is -5 in speed like mine.)

Lex and Briggid is mostly a pairing to make using both children easier, because Elite will help their underleveledness, and Ambush will help Patty in the arena. Holyn and Noish make the kids great at combat (well less so for Faval wrt Holyn.)

[DarthMikey]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the minor Blaggi blood. Welp, I guess Kaga's just a perv.

[GrySun]

I think it's impossible to screw up a pairing so much to not be able to win the game. Certain units like Celice, Leaf and Aless should be all you need. So go for your pairings. The short conversation bewteen the lovers is nice. And some characters have special conversations in the 2nd generation. Like Finn or Levin with their child.

Besides, isn't the FinnXLachesis thing kinda canon if you've played Thracia? But that's strange, as it's impossible to have mixed children in FE4, like have one child with one man, the other with another. Would've been an interesting, yet confusing twist had that been a thing in FE4.

[Cymbalina's Revenge]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the minor Blaggi blood. Welp, I guess Kaga's just a perv.

Even better, he's a troll. She's not canonically his sister, but she's not canonically absolutely NOT his sister, either. It's a "question" the devs are posing with no firm answer so you can keep yourself awake at night wondering how poor saintly Claude might react in the event he did learn he was banging his sister.

Honestly I think you can view a lot of the weirder aspects of FE4/5 in that light, including the Raquesis shenanigans. There's no firm answer, there was never gonna be an answer, there's no final word on "what happens next?" It's just questions being put to you, the player, and you can answer them however you like.

[bottlegnomes]

Briggid has a 20% speed growth, so Patty's isn't going any higher than 40. Dew!Faval has some pretty kickass stats including speed. Tbh, speed isn't a huge worry because the killer bow and Ichival, the two bows Faval are going to be using, both weigh only 3, which is extremely light, and Patty uses swords. Plus, they get a decent promotional speed gain which fixes the possibility of screwage. Hell, even a Noish!Patty should have around 23-24 speed approaching level 30, which is really good for a sword user (unless yours is -5 in speed like mine.)

Lex and Briggid is mostly a pairing to make using both children easier, because Elite will help their underleveledness, and Ambush will help Patty in the arena. Holyn and Noish make the kids great at combat (well less so for Faval wrt Holyn.)

In my mind 30% speed is a bit shakey for Gen 2, but thinking about it it, really shouldn't bother me. Seliph only has 5% more, and Ares has the exact same, and they both turn out fine. I might try Noish next time. Holyn really helps Patty, but doesn't do jack for Faval in terms of skills. Then again, the skill growth would probably help, and hot damn at 175% health.

Even better, he's a troll. She's not canonically his sister, but she's not canonically absolutely NOT his sister, either. It's a "question" the devs are posing with no firm answer so you can keep yourself awake at night wondering how poor saintly Claude might react in the event he did learn he was banging his sister.

Honestly I think you can view a lot of the weirder aspects of FE4/5 in that light, including the Raquesis shenanigans. There's no firm answer, there was never gonna be an answer, there's no final word on "what happens next?" It's just questions being put to you, the player, and you can answer them however you like.

I thought it was cannon that they were cousins? Is the treasury not considered such?

On Raquesis, I remember reading a theory that was pretty neat. It went something like Finn wasn't her biological father, but she considered him her father because he raised her. Not the most irrefutable theory, and I doubt it was what the devs intended, but it certainly solves the issue of reconciling FE4's inheritance system. Not that 5 had any issue with retconning stuff from 4.

Edited June 30, 2015 by bottlegnomes

[Sartek]

On Raquesis, I remember reading a theory that was pretty neat. It went something like Finn wasn't her biological father, but she considered him her father because he raised her. Not the most irrefutable theory, and I doubt it was what the devs intended, but it certainly solves the issue of reconciling FE4's inheritance system. Not that 5 had any issue with retconning stuff from 4.

It's not just a theory, Nanna's father was stated for some times to be Beowulf on FE5's official site (He was confirmed as Felgus's father too during this time). It can be seen by using the wayback machine. Funny how Delmud is generally accepted as Felgus's half-brother when the only canon sibling Felgus's had was Nanna

Edited June 30, 2015 by Sartek

[KainReaver]

Im on my first ever play of genealogy and while i knew how to get strong children from bits I've read i decided to let them pear up naturally. On chapter 7 now and Ayra's kids are very good Arthur on the other hand well let just say hopefully he'll get better when I've leveled him some more.

[Yari]

Shipping. Pure shipping I get lucky because most of my ships end up good for the kids.

[ruadath]

If I'm playing casually, I go for shipping; otherwise I'll go for the pairing that destroy in 2nd gen.

You should make this topic a poll.

[MartyTheDemonSlayer]

Dew x Lachesis otp.

[RJWalker]

Finn x Adean is the only couple that has the potential to be reunited, as far as FE4 itself goes. It's my FE4 favourite pairing and it helps that it a solid pairing gameplaywise too.

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

I tend to go with compromises (pairs that are good for the gameplay and get conversations at chapter 5), but I can't see myself not shipping Holyn x Fury.

HAr har, now everyone will recognize me everywhere else!

Oh yeah, I think Beowulf!Nanna is fucking awesome. She survived Aerone and his army in one of my playthroughs. That's just plain badass.

[Yojinbo]

It doesn't really matter what 'logic' you base your pairings on. Gen 2 gives you enough good units to beat the game with somewhat easily even when all your gen 1 pairings go wrong. So you can do hilarous/bad/cute/weird/OP pairings if you like, it won't really matter too much.

If you want the strongest army possible in gen 2 you have to focus on whoring the max out of your mounted units. Leaf, Celice, Altenna, Oifaye and Aless are already powerful as they come, as is promoted + unpaired Fin, which means that Lester, Delmud, Nanna, Arthur and Fee are the remaining units to look out for.

Midir!Lester is a pretty good unit and Lana is always solid. Midir x Aideen is just a very easy and rewarding pairing, not much to say here. Same for Beowulf x Lachesis. Levin!Arthur is the strongest by far and arguably the best combat unit in all of gen 2 [Levin!Tinny also gets very good combat parameters] ... and while Levin x Fury is the pairing of pairings, I find Noish x Fury to be the most efficient one. Noish!Fee is her strongest iteration and Noish!Sety is actually still absurdly powerful. He doesn't grow a lot of magic but with Pursuit + Continue + Charge + Critical he'll still obliterate pretty much everything that he gets to fight.

So basically:

Aideen x Midir because ~best Lester + good Lana

Lachesis x Beowulf because Delmud and Nanna are both pretty much as good as they get

Fury x Noish because both of their children will be incredibly powerful combat units

Tiltyu x Levin because Levin!Arthur exists and is supid powerful. Levin!Tinny is good but who cares about Tinny.

[Aira can still be paired up with Holyn or Dew [or even Ardan] and Briggid can be paired up with whoever doesn't marry Aira. All their kids will be powerful combat units except Patty who's generally ... kinda useless].

[CrimeanRoyalKnight]

I heard you have to go Holyn for a strong Patty.

But I usually put Briggid with Jamka ;( I love them as a couple too much. The cool pirate bow lady with the sexy hunter from the forests... I think they were made for eachother. Their children will have crap skill but who cares, the game is easy and as many say you only need Celice, Oifey, etcetc.

[JasonMendez]

I go for multiple pairings, but I do have my favorites.

Lex x Ayra - Kids are absolute powerhouses with Lex as their Daddy also i just love these two to death

Jamka x Adean - Brave Bow and usually gives me a very good Lester and Lana

Levin x Fury - Well it's canon and Holsety Sety is just a badass. ship them even more since Mahnya died and Levin comforts Fury

Finn x Lachesis - Love these two and get a very good Nanna from it in every run as for Delmud he's great sometimes, but i don't really care since he's one of my least used characters

Holyn x Briggid - Good Patty and gives Faval great skill growth. Always get an amazing Faval from this pairing

Azel x Tiltyu - Ship these two so hard. Great Arthur and Tinny (Love her so much). occasionally Levin and Azel trade places in my pairings

Beowulf x Sylvia - Don't really use these kids in general, but I just don't like claude like at all, i don't know why, so i just pair her up with Beowulf or sometimes Alec.

[Naglfar94]

My setup is generally a combo of both gameplay and shipping. Like most pairings I aim for what is cannon like for example Lex/Ira but other times I prefer other combos such as Noish/Sylvia to make her kids better at fighting really having them both with critical helps some.

But some pairing end up with good skills anyway like Ira`s kids Lakche and Skasaha will always end up good from what I have seen no matter the pair Lol swordfighters are broken and Starlight Sword will always be with them oh the joys of having a 50 kill hero sword on Lakche she took down entire armies alone.

Also am I the only one who thinks Holyn and Briggid together is cannon? I don`t know something has been telling me for the longest that pairing is cannon Lol Patty and Faval the more I look at the have some of Holyn`s features gah I am looking too deeply into this but that is another example of skill pair for me As Patty will be a better fighter with Moonlight Sword as she actually really needs it and she gets higher sword ranks.

So she won`t end up like a certain um thief we know who sucks really bad and needs boss abuse to level up at all.. Dew? sounds a lot like Dew.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Naglfar94