I was playing Path of Radiance and had a few questions…

[Vaximillian]

Whom do I give the boots? I’ve been sitting on them since I’ve unearthed (unsanded?) them in C15. It’s C25 now.
Do I go for the most obvious thing and stick them on Ike?

Or maybe on a knight ring Reyson, so that he can chant farther?

Or is there somedoby more suited for wearing them?

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Give the knight ring on Reyson to get canto.

It rarely happened that I got the boosts. Give it to a foot unit you use quite often like Ike or to Reyson too.

[Vaximillian]

1 minute ago, アリサ ラインフォルト said:

Give the knight ring on Reyson to get canto.

Already did it, hence “knight ring Reyson”.

[ping]

That I would say really does depend on your playing style. ;) If you tend to keep all of your units together, it's probably better to give it to an infantry unit, like Gatrie/Brom so that they don't get left behind so easily, Ike because he's often the one who has to arrive somewhere some time or Reyson. If you're comfortable sending off your flyers on their own, it might be worth it to consider giving it to Marcia or Jill, just to have a unit with huge movement to distract/kill some distant enemies, or just switch back and forth between different fronts on the map quickly.

[Vaximillian]

So yeah, I gave the boots to Reyson. +2 Mov on a dancer really makes a difference, especially with my infantry-heavy style.

Also, Ike beat the Black Knight in two Aethers. The first one brought a Luna counterattack though. A Mend from Mist was enough to undo the damage.
(PP: Ike Aethers, BK Lunas, Mist Mends. EP: BK and Ike trade blows. PP: Ike Aethers, stage clear.)

Also also, I gave Adept to Mia. It’s beautiful. Still sitting on all the other skill scrolls undecided.
Why can’t one mix and match Radiant Dawn-style, without losing skills permanently when unassigned?

 

 

…And, three hours later, I beat Ashnard. Ike and Mia were the two units who reached 20/20.

 

It took me exactly 320 turns, 34.5 hours of playtime. My team killed 878 enemies, the ten murderiest were (with Calill as the 11th at 30)

Spoiler

Ilyana: 46
Marcia: 50
Titania: 50
Kieran: 64
Soren: 68
Jill: 70
Oscar: 77
Boyd: 107
Mia: 107
Ike: 117

So it’s games number four, seven, eight, nine, and twelve finished. On to Radiant Dawn, I suppose.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Vaximillian

[cloudstrifex]

On 6/2/2017 at 3:02 PM, ping said:

You are kinda dodging my point though. I call Rolf one of the worst units in the game not because I wouldn't think he can contribute - he can, but so does everyone else in the game, and usually better. You still haven't come up with any unit that is actually worse than Rolf.

And frankly, Rolf isn't an outstanding mage killer. A base Res of 2 and a growth rate of 25% is probably slightly higher than average, but since his HP is rather on the low side of things, it all balances out. His Str is more or less average, as well - it's actually lower than Marcia's before Rolf's higher promotion bonus lets him almost catch up. It's almost identical to Astrids (-1 base, same growths, +1 promo gain for Rolf) and clearly inferior to Str-oriented units such as Kieran or Boyd. In fact, Boyd's Str lead is so substantial that it all but negates the power difference between a Hand Axe and a Silver Bow.

Speaking of which - while Rolf has to keep right at the edge of the range of enemy mages to be able to counter them, Boyd (or anyone else with Javelins or Hand Axes) can easily waltz right in and potentially counter-kill multiple enemies and severely weaken some that might have high HP and/or defense. Now you may again argue that this is a playstyle that not everyone uses, but it's still an advantage most (non-laguz, non-swordmaster) units have over Rolf, while he does not have any special abilities to his name - not magekilling anyway, as I tried to show in the previous paragraph.

You're bringing up that PoR is easy which is true, but I don't see how that affects Rolf's standing compared to other playable characters in the game. Sure, it makes him way, waaay more usable than bottom-tier units from other games such as Wendy, Sophia, Fiona or Lyre. In fact, I'd even say that the general weakness of PoR's enemies might be part of the reason why Rolf is worse, not different to other units. For example, in FE6, wyvern riders are a legitimate thread, so access to bows is actually worth something. And since hitrates with Javelins and Hand Axes are usually shaky (and their power is low and they cannot be forged), they don't completely obsolete bows. But none of that is true for PoR, so bows are pretty much worse in every way than lances and axes.

So, tl;dr: No, Rolf is not unuseable. But yes, he is one of the worst units in the game.

Those are good points, it sucks that bows aren't great in this game. Do you think a x3 multiplier would have changed that?

Maybe it's because you can RNG abuse Rolf from such a low level that he always ends up with near perfect stats for me. On the other hand, Oscar, who you generally use early on before you get a lot of BEXP, tends to not be all that great for me stat wise (not counting the inherent benefits of a mounted unit) even when I do invest some BEXP.

You've given me reason to change up how I play PoR next time. It's hard not to use Rolf though - I like watching him turn into a badass.

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, cloudstrifex said:

Maybe it's because you can RNG abuse Rolf from such a low level that he always ends up with near perfect stats for me.

How would rigging level ups most of the time for a unit not be considered biased? That said, if you enjoy it, go ahead and do it.

Edited June 5, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[cloudstrifex]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

How would rigging level ups most of the time for a unit not be considered biased? That said, if you enjoy it, go ahead and do it.

Because you can do it for anyone in the game.

[ClLoulD]

On 2017-6-3 at 3:42 PM, Vaximillian said:

 

  Hide contents

Ilyana: 46
Marcia: 50
Titania: 50
Kieran: 64
Soren: 68
Jill: 70
Oscar: 77
Boyd: 107
Marcia: 107
Ike: 117

When Marcia is so OP she ends up in top 10 twice

[ping]

On 5.6.2017 at 6:51 PM, cloudstrifex said:

Those are good points, it sucks that bows aren't great in this game. Do you think a x3 multiplier would have changed that?

Maybe in the (Japanese exclusive) Maniac Mode, although I haven't played it yet. But even on Hard, enemies tend to be frail enough that you don't really need the extra damage. It might be helpful on the map with Jill's dad, but in my experience, it's rarely a problem to deal enough damage with regular weaponry and a few forges.

If you're interested in adopting a faster playing style, I recommend dondon's playthroughs on youtube (he's dd151 there). They're 0% growths LTC, both of them restrictions I haven't played with at all, but it's still really fascinating to see how you can use the resources you get to their fullest potential. Even though planning out LTC runs isn't my kinda thing, watching his playthroughs did change the way I play, starting with a new-found appreciation for prepromotes. ;) Of course, I don't consider my playing style to be the "correct" one, but I personally have started to dislike doing grinding like arena abuse or RNG abuse level-ups, so seeing how the games are beatable with 100% empty levels was kinda liberating for me. :D

[Vaximillian]

6 hours ago, ClLoulD said:

When Marcia is so OP she ends up in top 10 twice

Nice catch! Fixed the second Marcia.