BIRTHRIGHT REVIEW (aka Glitch Rants About Ryoma)

[Aut]

5 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Well, whilst that might be true, I generally see little incentive to use Ryoma since frankly, Birthright already has too many fragile speedster and glass cannon type units, which is bad when evade took a nosedive in terms of reliability. I see Ryoma as just another such unit.

Exactly.

See my first point. I would rather have a more defensive unit (e.g. Scarlet) instead of Ryoma.

What the heck are you talking about? Ryoma is like one of the bulkiest units in Birthright. As far as Raw durability goes 36 HP 17 Def and 14 Res is okay for a level 4 promoted unit (which is super high for his join time, which in case you forgot is basically 1/3rd of the way through the game), but his durability really shines in other areas. Against ranged enemies Ryoma is one of the bulkiest units, simply because he’s one of the few people who can double on the counter, allowing him a quick dual guard. Worst case scenario is that he crit kills a bunch of enemies immediately on counters, delaying his guard from every other enemy to once every three enemies, but that isn’t too likely and isn’t a concern at all once he gets into vantage range, where he’s basically guaranteed to block every other enemy (it’s likely more). He also is one of the units that benefits the most from a bulk pair up, as his offense is unrivaled and his defense is adequate. And if you pair him up with GK Silas he has access to Cavalier skills, letting him get a sizable boost to his offenses and defenses (+6 attack, +3 defense, +2 resistance as a Paladin). And as far as I’m concerned, he’s way bulkier than a unit like Scarlet, since in any ranged combat scenario he has a big advantage in Raijinto.

[AppleJuice]

5 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Well, whilst that might be true, I generally see little incentive to use Ryoma since frankly, Birthright already has too many fragile speedster and glass cannon type units, which is bad when evade took a nosedive in terms of reliability. I see Ryoma as just another such unit.

Exactly.

See my first point. I would rather have a more defensive unit (e.g. Scarlet) instead of Ryoma.

There's so much incentive to use Ryoma. It's the combination of his great Avoid, decent defense and resistance, 1-2 range superiority, and excellent offenses that make him a fantastic unit. Other speedy units aren't in his league--they lack all or most of his good qualities. Defensive units like Scarlet have great tanking, but they aren't the offensive force that Ryoma is.

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, AppleJuice said:

There's so much incentive to use Ryoma. It's the combination of his great Avoid, decent defense and resistance, 1-2 range superiority, and excellent offenses that make him a fantastic unit. Other speedy units aren't in his league--they lack all or most of his good qualities. Defensive units like Scarlet have great tanking, but they aren't the offensive force that Ryoma is.

His offense is amazing, but that's not what I'm lacking in in Birthright, in case you forgot - it's defense. Simple as that. There's a reason why I consider him inferior to Xander - that being that the latter can hold off just about anything physical, which is crucial when evade is way down in terms of reliability. Sure, Ryoma can take out parts of the enemy forces by himself, but he relies much more on luck to stay alive than I'm comfortable relying on in Murphy's Law: The Game, aka this one (Need a hint? Evade is not nearly as reliable here as it was in GBA, where true hit meant it was easy to drive enemy hit rates into the ground).

3 hours ago, Aut said:

What the heck are you talking about? Ryoma is like one of the bulkiest units in Birthright. As far as Raw durability goes 36 HP 17 Def and 14 Res is okay for a level 4 promoted unit (which is super high for his join time, which in case you forgot is basically 1/3rd of the way through the game), but his durability really shines in other areas. Against ranged enemies Ryoma is one of the bulkiest units, simply because he’s one of the few people who can double on the counter, allowing him a quick dual guard. Worst case scenario is that he crit kills a bunch of enemies immediately on counters, delaying his guard from every other enemy to once every three enemies, but that isn’t too likely and isn’t a concern at all once he gets into vantage range, where he’s basically guaranteed to block every other enemy (it’s likely more). He also is one of the units that benefits the most from a bulk pair up, as his offense is unrivaled and his defense is adequate. And if you pair him up with GK Silas he has access to Cavalier skills, letting him get a sizable boost to his offenses and defenses (+6 attack, +3 defense, +2 resistance as a Paladin). And as far as I’m concerned, he’s way bulkier than a unit like Scarlet, since in any ranged combat scenario he has a big advantage in Raijinto.

Bold: You do realize that most ranged units are the types that Scarlet has no business being near (archers and mages)?

Everything else: I thought it was obvious enough - he can't dodge everything, needless to say, and if he does get hit, it'll likely hurt. That's not good when we're talking about a game where evade is way down in terms of reliability (he doesn't have true hit to aid his survivability like dodge-reliant units in most previous games did), and as a result good defense is more important than ever. Swords will always be hard for him to reliably dodge, and don't get me started on if he finds himself on the bad end of the weapon triangle... Don't get me wrong, he might be one of the best units in Birthright, but if you think he's some god of war, you're deluding yourself, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Now do you realize why I say he doesn't hold a candle to Xander?

Edited October 8, 2018 by Shadow Mir

[Aut]

2 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

His offense is amazing, but that's not what I'm lacking in in Birthright, in case you forgot - it's defense. Simple as that. There's a reason why I consider him inferior to Xander - that being that the latter can hold off just about anything physical, which is crucial when evade is way down in terms of reliability. Sure, Ryoma can take out parts of the enemy forces by himself, but he relies much more on luck to stay alive than I'm comfortable relying on in Murphy's Law: The Game, aka this one (Need a hint? Evade is not nearly as reliable here as it was in GBA, where true hit meant it was easy to drive enemy hit rates into the ground).

Bold: You do realize that most ranged units are the types that Scarlet has no business being near (archers and mages)?

Everything else: I thought it was obvious enough - he can't dodge everything, needless to say, and if he does get hit, it'll likely hurt. That's not good when we're talking about a game where evade is way down in terms of reliability (he doesn't have true hit to aid his survivability like dodge-reliant units in most previous games did), and as a result good defense is more important than ever. Swords will always be hard for him to reliably dodge, and don't get me started on if he finds himself on the bad end of the weapon triangle... Don't get me wrong, he might be one of the best units in Birthright, but if you think he's some god of war, you're deluding yourself, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Now do you realize why I say he doesn't hold a candle to Xander?

First of all, this game is not “Murphy’s Law: The Game”. RNG, especially when it comes to a dodgy/accurate unit like Ryoma, is basically always in your favor. It’s just not as much as GBA. Anyways,

On Scarlet, that wasn’t really the point, although what you said hardly opposes it. I was pointing out that basically every ranged situation is advantageous to Ryoma compared to Scarlet. Ryoma can double basically every enemy with range (except maybe ninjas, but there are ways to fix that), allowing him to activate a dual guard every other enemy (assuming no crits), meaning that his durability is increased two fold, compared to say Scarlet’s 50%. It also applies to other bulky units with mediocre range, such as Oboro and Silas.

On everything else: it’s quite obvious to me that you didn’t read what I said (or you didn’t care), so I’ll just quickly say - I didn’t mention evade once (although it’s hardly a point against him). Maybe talk to me again when you actually read what I said.

[AppleJuice]

6 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

His offense is amazing, but that's not what I'm lacking in in Birthright, in case you forgot - it's defense.

From my post:

9 hours ago, AppleJuice said:

decent defense and resistance

Ryoma has good defenses. His bases are 36 HP, 16 Def (15 with Raijinto), and 13 Res (12 with Raijinto). At full health, he has effectively 51 physical bulk and 48 magical bulk. You mentioned Scarlet as an example of a good defensive unit--Scarlet's bases are 30 HP, 22 Def, and 6 Res. At full health, she has effectively 52 physical bulk and 36 magical bulk. You could argue that Scarlet lasts longer because her raw defense is higher, but it's already been said that Ryoma doubles more often and therefore activates more Dual Guards. He also has Vantage, which will save him from taking a hit here and there by killing the enemy or filling the Dual Guard gauge. He also has a personal skill that grants him -2 damage taken if he's paired up with the right unit. Ryoma and Scarlet are at worst even on the physical side. And we're not talking about Xander--we're talking about Birthright.

I mention Ryoma's offense because he has both good defense and good offense, whereas purely defensive units lack his level of offense. The key part is that Ryoma does both.

6 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Bold: You do realize that most ranged units are the types that Scarlet has no business being near (archers and mages)?

Yep, Scarlet shouldn't be around archers or mages--they're units that Ryoma handles better than she does. That's a point in his favor. He, in turn, struggles with lances, but the Dual Katana exists.

6 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Swords will always be hard for him to reliably dodge, and don't get me started on if he finds himself on the bad end of the weapon triangle... 

Swords have low might, and Ryoma has good defense. He doesn't need to dodge them. Swords are actually a good matchup for Ryoma because he can attack them at range and they usually can't counterattack. Or he could just counter on enemy phase--he can afford to take a hit. For lances, I mentioned the Dual Katana above--Ryoma is an excellent user of it.

6 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Everything else: I thought it was obvious enough - he can't dodge everything, needless to say, and if he does get hit, it'll likely hurt. That's not good when we're talking about a game where evade is way down in terms of reliability (he doesn't have true hit to aid his survivability like dodge-reliant units in most previous games did), and as a result good defense is more important than ever. Swords will always be hard for him to reliably dodge, and don't get me started on if he finds himself on the bad end of the weapon triangle... Don't get me wrong, he might be one of the best units in Birthright, but if you think he's some god of war, you're deluding yourself, no ifs, ands or buts about it. Now do you realize why I say he doesn't hold a candle to Xander?

Ryoma doesn't need to dodge everything. His Avoid is just another factor on top of his good defenses, good offenses, and good range. Think of it like this: Ryoma and Scarlet already have similar defenses without considering Avoid. Ryoma dodges more often than Scarlet--he won't dodge every attack, but occasionally he gets in a dodge. Ryoma's Avoid is good in the same way that having high Crit is good--you have the potential to get lucky sometimes. You don't rely on it, but often it affords you some wiggle room that other units don't have.

I want to reiterate that Ryoma doesn't rely on dodging to be a good unit. He sometimes dodges, which is great and convenient. But he has staying power regardless.

Edited October 9, 2018 by AppleJuice

[Dean]

Had a quick look at a Birthright save file I had (Endgame). My Ryoma is pretty much right on his averages.

In the very worst-case scenario, he's 3HKOed (Generals). This is his worst match-up, but if for some reason you're desperate to throw Ryoma against a group of three Generals then he'll come out of it alive (taken into account that Dual Guard means that he's blocking between 33%-50% of attacks) and with the Generals either dead or half-dead.

Against the "swords that are hard to reliably dodge", he's 5HKOed by Heros, 9HKOed by Bow Knights and 6HKOed by Dark Knights.

So... how much defensive prowess does a unit need to have "good" defences?

And this is pretty much the least favourable scenario for him. Considering that:

1. I am not using a defensive pair-up in this scenario
2. I am using his most physically-fragile class, Swordmaster (he can cross to Master of Arms for more HP and Defence, or can build a support with Silas for Paladin and Great Knight access)
3. Have not used defensive stat boosters on him (he's a decent recipient for, say, the C22 Dracoshield, considering how much combat he likely faces)
4. Enemy offence typically scales faster than player unit defence - take a point from earlier in the game and these figures would look even more favourable.

[Shadow Mir]

On 10/8/2018 at 12:23 AM, AppleJuice said:

In my opinion, Ryoma is his own kind of poor balance. It's not necessarily that Ryoma breaks the entirety of the game like Seth does, but that his recruitment changes the game in a less-satisfying way. For me, getting Ryoma changes the feel of Birthright from an FE7 (some great units, some bad units, but overall a fun balance) to an FE8 where he can dominate large parts of the game with his crazy Prf. I had been enjoying Birthright up to that point on my first playthrough, but the difficulty drop killed the mood for me.

I must say, I'm not sure FE7 was the right game to mention there... Its enemies are rather weak for the most part, which meant that just about anyone with 1-2 range could easily do what you say Ryoma can do. FFS, that was one of those games where parking a sage or similar in a forest and allowing them to annihilate everything that attacked them was a viable strategy...

Edited October 9, 2018 by Shadow Mir

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

On 6/10/2018 at 9:34 PM, GlitchGabe said:

So with all of that in mind (and keep in mind, this IS my opinion), I give the game a 3/5 on my part. I'm planning on picking up Awakening next, and if it's anything like what I've heard (similar to Birthright, but better), I'll probably enjoy it.

But what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!

Birthright is alright. it's not as complex as Revelation, but neither difficult as Conquest.

it has some different mechanics compared to other classic FE titles, but overall it's just a different approach to the game, wich is fine by itself if you learn to use weapons and skills properly.

 

Awakening has a more traditional approach compared to Birthright, and in some cases it can also become quite broken depending on what units you're using, and mostly, how you're using them.

Chrom supported by Sumia or Frederick is a good example of how a decent early-game unit can easily become a one-man army later on when paired with them during combat. given they have good builds and supports, of course.

[FiboSai]

Many other games have RNG-proof prepromotes that join in the mid game and immediately trivialize the game.

Binding Blade has Percival, who most likely has better stats than any paladin you have raised up to that point, is in the best class and has great weapon ranks. His only downside is that his accuracy can be shakey

Blazing Sword has Pent, who can ORKO most generic enemies and even comes with A rank in staves. His low defense hardly matters since most enemies that can to a lot of damage have rather low accuracy against him, and his free A support with Louise greatly increases his survivability. 

Saleh in Sacred Stones is similar to Pent. He has worse stats, but compared to the enemies, he is just as powerful as his predecessor.

In Radiant Dawn, each part has its own overpowered units. In part 1, you get Tauroneo, Nailah, Tormod and the Black Night, all of which can solo the chapters they are available in. In part 2 and 3, you get Haar, who needs basically no investment to trivialize all chapters. Ike and Titania are also extremely powerful and require no investment. In part 4 you get Tibarn for his chapters, which he will destroy on his own if needed.

In Genealogy, anyone with a holy weapon outclasses the rest of your cast, and the insane stat boost means that their stats hardly matter. 

Ryoma is just another unit that needs no investment and pays you off by making the rest of the game much easier. I agree that the powergap between Ryoma and the rest of your army is bigger than in the games I mentioned (exept in Genealogy), but you in no way need to use Ryoma, it is just more efficient to have him clear a group of enemies instead of devoting half your army to do the same. 

[Galap]

I found Ryoma to be pretty damn OP. He will kill basically anything he comes into contact with, and his high evade, vantage, and high crit/astra (which also fills his guard gauge fast) make him pretty much undefeatable, especially if you pair him with someone who boosts his defense. I played on lunatic, and in later chapters where you get a lot of reinforcements and attacks from multiple angles, my strategy was usually to use him to erase everything on one or two fronts of the battlefield, while the entire rest of my army dealt with another one.

 

IMO they should have made the Raijinto be only 1 range. I think that would have made it a lot more balanced. He would still be one of the best units in the game, but that lack of 2 range means he couldn't just blow literally everything up immediately on enemy phase.