Would the Trainees still be good(or decent in Amelia's case) if FE8 was more challenging?

[LowTierFE7Tresh]

We know two things.

1.Sacred Stones is a piss easy game in terms of difficulty

2.It introduced Ross,Ewan and Amelia...the Trainees

If FE8 was buffed in terms of difficulty,and without the use of grinding,how would each Trainee fair in battle?

[Punished Dayni]

Poorly.

Ross can work in the early game, but he still needs a new class before he gets good, and a harder game will make that harder.

Ewan coming as late as he does would be doomed in a harder game.

Amelia... Yeah, just does not go well.

No tower on top of that, and they'd be utterly useless. (except possibly Ross)

[Refa]

They'd be even worse than they already are.

[Carmine Sword]

They're already bad, so making the game harder would just make them even worse by comparison.

[Shadow Mir]

They'd all suck (and Ewan and Amelia especially would be practically unusable).

Edited October 18, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Elieson]

Hey Ross gives you a Hatchet and that's pretty convenient

[CrystalPoke]

I don't get why they are bad on normal FE8. With grinding they can turn pretty awesome, or at least they did for me. Example:

That being said, without grinding they would suck a lot, except Ross maybe.

EDIT: Also pls no comments about "hey dude u turned amelia into a paladin haha u suck so much general is so much better lol"

Edited October 18, 2016 by CrystalPoke

[Augestein]

Really if they wanted more people to use the trainees, they should have been given to Eirika sooner rather than later. IE, Ross, Ewan and Amelia should have been her first units.

[Flee Fleet!]

Yeah, they turned out good for me. But then again, it does take some grinding to make them good units, and while Ross might just do fine, as he arrives early, Amelia and Ewan might not get enough time to level up, unless, if they can boss abuse. Amelia would especially be hard to train, as Ewan, despite being a latecomer, has magic, that has 1-2 range, so he could safely steal kills. Amelia needs a Javelin to do attacking from a distance, but I particularly found her to miss most attacks, even against sword users, as a Trainee. So, yeah, Ross and maybe even Ewan may turn out good if they're given the kills, but Amelia would be particularly hard to train, as she's already too frail.

Edited October 18, 2016 by Flee Fleet!

[Shadow Mir]

I don't get why they are bad on normal FE8. With grinding they can turn pretty awesome, or at least they did for me. Example:

That being said, without grinding they would suck a lot, except Ross maybe.

EDIT: Also pls no comments about "hey dude u turned amelia into a paladin haha u suck so much general is so much better lol"

The issue is, while they'd be usable with grinding, it's not like they're the only ones who benefit from it.

Yeah, they turned out good for me. But then again, it does take some grinding to make them good units, and while Ross might just do fine, as he arrives early, Amelia and Ewan might not get enough time to level up, unless, if they can boss abuse. Amelia would especially be hard to train, as Ewan, despite being a latecomer, has magic, that has 1-2 range, so he could safely steal kills. Amelia needs a Javelin to do attacking from a distance, but I particularly found her to miss most attacks, even against sword users, as a Trainee. So, yeah, Ross and maybe even Ewan may turn out good if they're given the kills, but Amelia would be particularly hard to train, as she's already too frail.

I doubt it, in Ewan's case. He comes after the halfway point of a game with only 22 chapters, after all. Also, I wouldn't expect boss abusing them to get anywhere since they wouldn't even be able to so much as scratch the bosses that you could conceivably abuse.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Levant Mir Celestia

[Ace Pelleas]

They would need some buffs for sure

I would buff Amelia's HP by two and her defense by two to increase her survivablity. Amelia definitely needs a buff in her Strength and Skill,if both were given more 5 points along the base stats she would be quite fine. Her defense is suposed to be frail in my point of view so shout all you want,but if summed with Resistance the total of her growths are the same of Ross

Ewan's HP,Strenght and Defense by one and his skill by two. Ewan does not need any substancial buff,he is quite mage class in my opinion. Buffing his bases should be sufficient

Ross wouldn't need many changes just two points in HP and he would do rather well. As for growth rates Ross looks completely fine,probably buffing his Strength and Speed growth by 5 he would be more useful.

These changes could be applied in Vanilla FE8, they would still be hard to train and with tougher enemies they would be the same thing if changed like this(I guess)... Rennac,Knoll and Marisa must also be buffed

[X-Naut]

I don't get why they are bad on normal FE8. With grinding they can turn pretty awesome, or at least they did for me.

This is the key word here

Fire Emblem is not a game where you have to grind every little thing from dirt to diamonds. If you have to spend excessive training on one character when another fulfills the same niche with a lot less effort, then there's no reason to use them other than wanting to.

Amelia's especially egregious in that she overlaps with three other Cavaliers and Seth.

[Moblin Major General]

Amelia's especially egregious in that she overlaps with three other Cavaliers and Seth.

Amelia can also be a Knight, and even though armor has definitely seen better days, take comfort in the fact this isn't FE6. Also, Generals are indispensable in Valni and Lagdou.

I also think Ewan is a better Druid than Knoll, and that Ross will always be better than Dozla as a Berserker. He even outdoes Garcia as a Warrior.

[Refa]

The worst part are that Amelia's 10/20/20 averages are just comparable to Franz's and Seth's. What's even the point?

Amelia: 47.2HP 22.45Str 23.8Skl 25Spd 29.5Lck 19.1Def 13.05Res

Seth: 47.1HP 23.5Str 21.55Skl 20.55Spd 17.17Lck 18.6Def 13.7Res

Franz: 52.4HP 23.2Str 21.1Skl 24Spd 17.2Lck 17.5Def 9.6Res

But can we talk about that +12Lck average? OP as fuck, man.

[Rezzy]

The problem with trainees is their growths aren't really any better than the rest of units. I'd buff all their growths by 5-10% across the board to make them actually fulfill the niche they're supposed to have.

[Parrhesia]

EDIT: Also pls no comments about "hey dude u turned amelia into a paladin haha u suck so much general is so much better lol"

I can guarantee that nobody will ever tell you this. Except maybe sarcastically.

And yeah the trainees were a neat idea let down by poor execution. Ross was fine, but I think Amelia and Ewan just come too late to be of use as Tier 0 units.

[Lady Sansa]

They don't even have good growths

[Emerson]

I used both Ewan and Ross when I played FE8, and both turned out amazing with 0 grinding.

Ewan could've been better, but that was on me since I decided to go Summoner with him for fun with Phantoms. He could've been a great Druid too... damn you past me!

Granted it was Hard mode/Eirika, so I guess I'll have to see how they fair in Difficult mode/Ephraim route.

[sauce]

Without grinding in vanilla the only one which is usable really is Ross because he can easily gain his first 10 levels in a chapter (or two) and be a strong earlygame pirate.

All that making the game harder would do is make Amelia and Ewan even more useless (without tons of babying in the tower). They have it hard enough as it is being completely outclassed (Amelia even outclassed by Chapter 1), difficulty will just make it worse for them.

[Baldrick]

I can guarantee that nobody will ever tell you this. Except maybe sarcastically.

The only context in which Amelia is a good unit is the Link Arena, which nullifies Paladin's only decisive advantage over General.

[Weeping Dalek (MK)]

Of course, you could Arena grind for them, so they would still at least be viable

Ewan I might attempt to use, just because Knoll sux