Most and Least Balanced Fire Emblem Game?

[Fire Brand]

9 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

The hawks and Skrimir are great, but I find it hard to agree on Ranulf and Volug - the former is a cat, which is quick to revert. The latter is great during part 1, but struggles near the end of said part.

Well, 0% growths Volug carries the DB in part 3. Stat boosters/laguz stones fix most of his issues. 

[Kruggov]

12 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

The hawks and Skrimir are great, but I find it hard to agree on Ranulf and Volug - the former is a cat, which is quick to revert. The latter is great during part 1, but struggles near the end of said part.

Well, Ranulf mostly because his availability, and having actully pretty good bases (i concur on him being a cat). As for Volug, that's why i mentioned Zihark or Fiona - when I played RD, i just put him on a bush on 3-6 when untransformed and had him choke the point (he had something around 85 avoid between his actual stats, double earth support and the bush), and by the end of the chapter he was close to level 30 and halfway through to SS strike.

[Shadow Mir]

12 minutes ago, Fire Brand said:

Well, 0% growths Volug carries the DB in part 3. Stat boosters/laguz stones fix most of his issues. 

I don't see stat boosters as a point in his favor, because those can go to anyone (and even if I did, I'd argue they're better used on beorc due to not needing to deal with the wait time that laguz require). Laguz Stones? Last I checked, there are only three of those before part 4, and the Daeins get none of them (they're on Lethe, Kyza, and Nealuchi, who uses one of the three charges automatically in his initial chapter).

11 minutes ago, Kruggov said:

Well, Ranulf mostly because his availability, and having actully pretty good bases (i concur on him being a cat). As for Volug, that's why i mentioned Zihark or Fiona - when I played RD, i just put him on a bush on 3-6 when untransformed and had him choke the point (he had something around 85 avoid between his actual stats, double earth support and the bush), and by the end of the chapter he was close to level 30 and halfway through to SS strike.

Re: Volug
That sounds like a lot of investment for a rather low payoff, especially considering the massive risk.

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I don't see stat boosters as a point in his favor, because those can go to anyone (and even if I did, I'd argue they're better used on beorc due to not needing to deal with the wait time that laguz require). 

Stat boosters are affected by transformation multipliers. Give a dracoshield to a laguz and they now have 4 more defense when transformed. 3 if you're using halfshift.

Edited September 3, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Shadow Mir]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Stat boosters are affected by transformation multipliers. Give a dracoshield to a laguz and they now have 4 more defense when transformed. 3 if you're using halfshift.

Point taken, but with the mass of downsides that laguz have to deal with, I'd rather give stat boosters to beorc and call it a day.

[Fates-Blade]

@Alastor15243@Shadow MirI mean it's meant to be difficult, but the way it's difficult is unbalanced, you have to have good stats which can be very hard to get, sometimes you have to use items like tonics to get stronger for chapters, reinforcements come from places players couldn't have expected, you HAVE to marry to get any extra EXP, and some enemies have skills that actually make things EASIER on you, so all in all it's badly balanced IMO (and Hans is pathetically and lazily balanced), even GOTHW didn't have all that, at least you could farm and reset for good LV up stat increases, that's more balanced then Fates: Conquest is.

Edited September 5, 2019 by Fates-Blade

[Alastor15243]

12 minutes ago, Fates-Blade said:

@Alastor15243@Shadow MirI mean it's meant to be difficult, but the way it's difficult is unbalanced, you have to have good stats which can be very hard to get, sometimes you have to use items like tonics to get stronger for chapters, reinforcements come from places players couldn't have expected, you HAVE to marry to get any extra EXP, and some enemies have skills that actually make things EASIER on you, so all in all it's badly balanced IMO (and Hans is pathetically and lazily balanced), even GOTHW didn't have all that, at least you could farm and reset for good LV up stat increases, that's more balanced then Fates: Conquest is.

You seem to have a very... unique view of what balance is.

[Shadow Mir]

31 minutes ago, Fates-Blade said:

@Alastor15243@Shadow MirI mean it's meant to be difficult, but the way it's difficult is unbalanced, you have to have good stats which can be very hard to get, sometimes you have to use items like tonics to get stronger for chapters, reinforcements come from places players couldn't have expected, you HAVE to marry to get any extra EXP, and some enemies have skills that actually make things EASIER on you, so all in all it's badly balanced IMO (and Hans is pathetically and lazily balanced), even GOTHW didn't have all that, at least you could farm and reset for good LV up stat increases, that's more balanced then Fates: Conquest is.

I fail to see how Genealogy is better balanced  - look at these posts:

On 9/1/2019 at 11:39 AM, Shadow Mir said:

Genealogy is the easy choice for least balanced, between the lack of balance between weapon types in general (wind magic is utterly broken, while fire magic is nigh useless; among physical weapons, swords rule and axes drool), holy weapons making the units who are already among the best in the game even better, Pursuit, and the maps in general heavily favouring horses.

 

On 9/1/2019 at 12:56 PM, Ertrick36 said:

But balance-wise, it's easily Genealogy that's the worst.  The characters who are most powerful are such leaps and bounds stronger than the rest of the cast that you'd be stupid not to use them; anyone who does a run without using Sigurd and Seliph, for instance, is probably actually insane.  Oh, and what about Arthur with Holsety?  What need does one have for any other unit if they're gonna have a Holsety wielder pretty much right near the beginning of Chapter 6?

 

On 9/2/2019 at 2:14 PM, Kruggov said:

IMO least balanced are Genealogy (Horse emblem the first, Pursuit, lolbroken legendaries, lolaxes and lolfiremagic)

How in the name of Anankos am I supposed to believe Fates is less balanced than Genealogy when the latter has a complete lack of weapon balance, ginormous maps that ensure that foot units get left behind unless you routinely slow down your horses, and broken holy weapons that just make the units that are already among the best in the game even better (especially Balmung. Holsety and their +20 speed)??? Do you seriously think a game that allows you to have a unit with a +20 speed weapon, let alone right at the beginning of the second generation, is anything even remotely resembling balanced???

Edited September 5, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[Flere210]

It's an rpg it's supposed to require bigger numbers as you progress in the game. 

Actually i consider the fact that 0% growths runs are possible a strike againist the games's balance, because they clearly indicate that bases are too good compared than growths.

[Fates-Blade]

@Shadow Mir@Alastor15243First I never said Fates in general was unbalanced Birthright and Revelations seem fine to me, it's Conquest that bothers me, and the final chapter in GOTHW units can beat even Shannan with those Sleep staffs and the Falcon knights, and even better if your units die they can be resurrected in GOTHW, something that's nearly completely useless in Conquest because by the time you get the Bifrost your units are dead like Odin for example and you can barely use it, because every turn counts in that game, and you can barely use all your units w/o marrying because there isn't enough EXP that's really bad IMO, at least in GOTHW you could give the Paragon ring to different characters so they could grow stronger, don't mean to say it's well balanced it's really not IMO (it has one of the worst balances IMO) but it's better then Conquest because: there are a lot more options for different play styles.

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Fates-Blade

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Fates-Blade said:

@Shadow Mir@Alastor15243First I never said Fates in general was unbalanced Birthright and Revelations seem fine to me, it's Conquest that bothers me, and the final chapter in GOTHW units can beat even Shannan with those Sleep staffs and the Falcon knights, and even better if your units die they can be resurrected in GOTHW, something that's nearly completely useless in Conquest, because every turn counts there, and you can barely use all your units, w/o marrying because there isn't enough EXP that's really bad IMO, at least in GOTHW you could give the Paragon ring to different Characters so they could grow stronger, don't mean to say it's well balanced it's not really not IMO (it has one of the worst balances IMO) but it's better then Conquest because: there are a lot more options for different play styles.

The thing is, on the off chance that Conquest is your very first fire emblem game ever, the game does tell you that supports are important, even if it doesn't tell you about children. And there is a crucial mechanic to gameplay, pair up, that all but guarantees you'll start getting pairings quickly and get paralogues. And you hardly need that many paralogues to beat hard mode, or really any at all.

[Fates-Blade]

@Shadow Mir@Alastor15243Forget what I said, upon further thought, the game is well balanced only because of the difficulty modifiers, if someone is say horrible at FE they can play on Phoenix mode which is not necessary but you know to each his/her own, while in FE4 you nearly have to farm EXP to be ready for the ending, and I feel like that's really unacceptable and doesn't appeal to a lot of players me included, I don't mind farming but I don't want to feel like I have to to make chapters significantly easier, and that's FE4.

[Shadow Mir]

18 minutes ago, Fates-Blade said:

First I never said Fates in general was unbalanced Birthright and Revelations seem fine to me, it's Conquest that bothers me

Which is still far better balanced than Genealogy because it ain't Horse Emblem. Also, how is Revelation "fine " balance wise? It's the same game that gives you a level 9 unit (Nyx) and a level 10 promoted unit (Shura)... in the same chapter. The sad thing is, Revelation STILL manages to be better balanced than Genealogy in spite of that.

18 minutes ago, Fates-Blade said:

the final chapter in GOTHW units can beat even Shannan with those Sleep staffs and the Falcon knights

I don't think sleep strips you of the ability to evade in Genealogy. And if you're referring to the triangle attack, that ain't gonna happen except against an archer or something that cannot kill them on the counter, because the units that can do it are stupid enough to attack and kill themselves on your units trying to get in position.

18 minutes ago, Fates-Blade said:

and even better if your units die they can be resurrected in GOTHW, something that's nearly completely useless in Conquest because by the time you get the Bifrost your units are dead like Odin for example and you can barely use it

The Valkyrie Staff isn't much better off, considering the home castle restriction. Not to mention that only two pairings allow you to be able to use it in the second generation.

18 minutes ago, Fates-Blade said:

and you can barely use all your units w/o marrying because there isn't enough EXP that's really bad IMO, at least in GOTHW you could give the Paragon ring to different characters so they could grow stronger

Why would you be trying to use everyone? Also, I never really have experience problems in Conquest. Second, the Paragon Ring costs a hefty 40,000 gold to buy. Have fun with that in a game where non-mounted units pretty much have to rely on villages - villages that you need your mounted units to rescue, at that - for money.

[Garlyle]

Here's my opinion on the games I finished and still remember them

Genealogy of the Holy War - imbalanced towards the mounted units and holy weapons are considered broken. That makes some foot units not worth training, even when those have some hidden gems.

Thracia 776 - has a high number of very strong units, but also has a lot of units not even worth using. Lances become unusable in the last chapters, because units can only use them while mounted. Dalshin might be the exception, but this game is the worst for armor knights.

Binding Blade - probably most imbalanced, as axes are even more inaccurate as in any other games. The game gives you a handful of low level units, who can't even become as strong as earlier recruitments in the same class. Foot archers are outclassed by the nomad squads.

Blazing Sword - I think this game is well balanced, maybe best balanced. Only a few units who are not worth using.

Three Houses - has a weird balance where a lot of units can become good, and even bad units sometimes starts to shine. Although the classes are not so well balanced.

[Shadow Mir]

On 9/1/2019 at 11:43 AM, DarthR0xas said:

Binding Blade is a GBA game, these all basically have the same balancing, which is that cavs and fliers are the best.

Blazing Sword, see above

 Sacred Stones, see above

i don't know about you, but I would honestly argue that Binding Blade is far, far more unbalanced than Sacred Stones, let alone Blazing Blade. Cavs and fliers dominate really hard, and it seems to suffer the same problem that Archanea did in terms of the majority of the best units being early joiners. For example, is there any reason to choose Oujay over Dieck, knowing the latter comes earlier and the former doesn't really have any statistical advantage to his name?

5 hours ago, Garlyle said:

Thracia 776 - has a high number of very strong units, but also has a lot of units not even worth using. Lances become unusable in the last chapters, because units can only use them while mounted. Dalshin might be the exception, but this game is the worst for armor knights.

Bold: Would you say it's even worse for armors than Binding Blade? I'm curious because Binding Blade comes off to me as Horse Emblem 2.0.

On 9/1/2019 at 1:28 PM, Glennstavos said:

I went with Sacred Stones as most balanced. I know it contains the infamous Seth, but it's easy to appreciate almost everybody else is sitting in an ocean of mid tier viability. Whereas the gap between Pent and Rebecca in FE7 or Titania and Rolf in FE9 is insurmountable. The only low tiers that immediately come to mind are Eirika and the latter two trainees. There's an additional wrench when playing Creature Campaign where all the enemies are undead and makes bishops outshine other units but Moulder and Natasha appreciate the boost in viability compared to L'arachel who would normally throttle them. As for class balance, since this is a game with branched promotions, is decent. The reintroduction of skills mostly doesn't come into play except for bishops who have no activation rate to rely on, and there are three sword locked infantry promoted classes which is especially braindead. But altogether there are few moments where the choice between two classes is painfully obvious besides the aforementioned bishops.

Really? Because I'd say that Sacred Stones has more than just Seth as problems when it comes to balance - like the fact that most class change choices tend to be painfully obvious in terms of which is better. Is there any reason to choose Knight over Cavalier for Amelia? Great Knight over Paladin? Sniper over Ranger? Assassin over Rogue or Swordmaster?

Edited September 6, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[Von Ithipathachai]

5 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

For example, is there any reason to choose Ogier over Dieck, knowing the latter comes earlier and the former doesn't really have any statistical advantage to his name?

Early Fire Emblem games were generally designed with ironman play in mind.  If somebody died, Kaga expected you to just man up and move on to the next poor guy if you want to continue using that class.  For example, if you lose Cain, Abel, or Hardin, you replace them with Roshea or Vyland, perhaps temporarily until you get one of the superior pre-promotes.  Of course, the issue with this approach is that (1) it isn't even executed all that well, with replacement units being too poor to last very long themselves, and (2) it fails to account for the fact that the majority of players would rather just reset to keep that better unit rather than put up with a worse replacement.

Of course, Kaga already left by the time Binding Blade was made, but it feels much like it was made with the same design philosophy.  If Alen or Lance dies, you use Noah or Trec.  If Lugh dies, you use Lilina, and if she dies, you use Hugh.  If Dieck dies, you either make Ogier your next candidate for Hero promotion or use him as a temporary substitute until you get Echidna.

On another note, the Light/Anima/Dark Trinity of Magic feels especially like an afterthought here.  I mean, the Trinity of Magic usually isn't executed as well as it could be to begin with, but Binding Blade is especially bad about it.  Having a triangle like this with no Tier 1 Light users is completely inexcusable.

[Garlyle]

20 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Bold: Would you say it's even worse for armors than Binding Blade? I'm curious because Binding Blade comes off to me as Horse Emblem 2.0.

I don't see Binding Blade as a Horse Emblem 2.0, that's one thing. Plus if we are pushing the limit, it has armor triangle attack and infinite boots. I only went with the armor trio once, but I had a lot of fun with Wendy once she was trained enough.

But Thracia is not a land for armors for sure. This is more like a playground for mages instead. There are bolting mages, mage knights, a hallway to go through where mages attack you from both sides, a defense map where the enemy surrounds you with Hammers, fog of war where enemies jump on you with Hammers(even as a boss), teleporting mages, and a bunch of crap to deal with where anything is better than a fielded armor knight. For a long time Dalshin is the only armor knight you can field, and staff users can just mess around with him, while Xavier's recruitment requirement is the most complicated from all the Fire Emblem games. After Chapter 7, I found no good reason to use Dalshin anymore.

[Flere210]

Armor in thracia suffer a strange abuse of hammers.

You have only Dlashin and yet any other maps has a whole squad lf hammer enemies. Why going out of the eay to give them a weapon that only work on one single unit? So you can capture them? I doubt it because you don't need 42 hammers, you just need a few. 

Dalshin is okayish, decent stats and easy to turn in a monster with scrolls. But when eceryone can get a bunch of 20 there is no point in a fighter that is as good as tge others, but has movements and get countered by a weapon.

Remove the hammers, and thracia would be a good game for armors.

[Shadow Mir]

42 minutes ago, Garlyle said:

I don't see Binding Blade as a Horse Emblem 2.0, that's one thing. Plus if we are pushing the limit, it has armor triangle attack and infinite boots. I only went with the armor trio once, but I had a lot of fun with Wendy once she was trained enough.

But Thracia is not a land for armors for sure. This is more like a playground for mages instead. There are bolting mages, mage knights, a hallway to go through where mages attack you from both sides, a defense map where the enemy surrounds you with Hammers, fog of war where enemies jump on you with Hammers(even as a boss), teleporting mages, and a bunch of crap to deal with where anything is better than a fielded armor knight. For a long time Dalshin is the only armor knight you can field, and staff users can just mess around with him, while Xavier's recruitment requirement is the most complicated from all the Fire Emblem games. After Chapter 7, I found no good reason to use Dalshin anymore.

How come? Because when I look at a map like this...

...I get the opposite impression. In addition, I'd find it hard to find a good reason to put up with an armored knight in a game with long, winding maps (like this one!), let alone three. Especially when one of those is in the running for worst unit in the entire franchise. That being said, I can see where you're coming from with regard to Thracia.

EDIT: Infinite boots is a good point, but that's not relevant until the game's nearly over.

59 minutes ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

Early Fire Emblem games were generally designed with ironman play in mind.  If somebody died, Kaga expected you to just man up and move on to the next poor guy if you want to continue using that class.  For example, if you lose Cain, Abel, or Hardin, you replace them with Roshea or Vyland, perhaps temporarily until you get one of the superior pre-promotes.  Of course, the issue with this approach is that (1) it isn't even executed all that well, with replacement units being too poor to last very long themselves, and (2) it fails to account for the fact that the majority of players would rather just reset to keep that better unit rather than put up with a worse replacement.

Of course, Kaga already left by the time Binding Blade was made, but it feels much like it was made with the same design philosophy.  If Alen or Lance dies, you use Noah or Trec.  If Lugh dies, you use Lilina, and if she dies, you use Hugh.  If Dieck dies, you either make Ogier your next candidate for Hero promotion or use him as a temporary substitute until you get Echidna.

On another note, the Light/Anima/Dark Trinity of Magic feels especially like an afterthought here.  I mean, the Trinity of Magic usually isn't executed as well as it could be to begin with, but Binding Blade is especially bad about it.  Having a triangle like this with no Tier 1 Light users is completely inexcusable.

I see. Also, another strike against that philosophy is the fact that it just might be too late to train up a replacement unit (which can also tie into the issue of replacement units generally being too poor to last very long). Just look at Oujay, for example. He can easily catch up on the Western Isles, because most of what you fight there is inaccurate axe users. But after that...? I'd say trying to catch him up is more trouble than it's worth. And yeah, I'd agree that the trinity of magic was just poorly executed here.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[Fabulously Olivier]

I can't think of a single time an FE game has ever been anything approaching balanced.

 

As for the most unbalanced, I have to go with Radiant Dawn. Unit availability is all over the place. Many units join too weak, too late in the game to be anything approaching viable. The most difficult part of the game is the first act, and most Act 1 characters are dead weight. One of your required lords is a liability. Some required units in endgame are a liability at that point (Sothe!). Non-royal Laguz are even more worthless than in PoR, while royal ones are gamebreaking. A number of units are so obviously weak that one is left to wonder if they were literally put in as a joke. Oh, and Hard mode disables the weapon triangle, inadvertently nerfing characters into the ground who could have otherwise been useful (caugh, Edward).

 

There is just nothing balanced about Radiant Dawn, and that's a pity because I'd love to love that game.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Etheus

[baticeer]

I agree that Binding Blade felt like the least balanced of the GBA games, or at least the one where unit imbalance was the most *annoying* for me, playing blind. Lilina being on the box art, hinted as Roy’s canon love interest, and fairly important in the plot of the early chapters made me feel like the game was telling me to use her, but she’s pretty mediocre and I didn’t end up taking her to endgame - why do that with a character? Similar situation with Sophia (it’s telegraphed like they’re giving me an Est type, but she’s just bad even if trained) and Cath (you have to have all these conversations and go out of your way to recruit her but you really only need one thief and she’s not as good as the others). At least the worse units in FE7 are people like Rebecca that don’t get built up in the story so much. 

And yeah, I think the looong winding maps make it more hampering to armor knights than the other GBA FE games. They’ll be hurt in any of them due to low movement if you’re trying to play efficiently, but in FE7 and 8 it’s less noticeable; you can still usually take a General along and they’ll be useful if not the Most optimal, but I think even more casual players will be frustrated by armors lagging behind in FE6.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

2 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Really? Because I'd say that Sacred Stones has more than just Seth as problems when it comes to balance - like the fact that most class change choices tend to be painfully obvious in terms of which is better. Is there any reason to choose Knight over Cavalier for Amelia? Sniper over Ranger?

There is only one unit in the game that faces these first two examples. Amelia, and Neimi whom you'd already ignore if you were playing to win. And while i guess their class options are kind of obvious, it's not like the game has any form of reclassing or hands you three amelias or three unpromoted archers and your picking the same option each time. You're just picking which makes sense for that particular character. And even though the horses are obvious, a lot of people make Amelia a pink general because it's fun to grind up a fast, pink general. Sacred Stones is just a casual game like that.

Quote

Great Knight over Paladin?

You want the full control over the weapon triangle like FE7 Paladins used to have, but also not be a general. I think it's a bummer great knights lose out on 2 move over Paladins, but it helps the great knight vs general choice stay relevant. With how dominant cavaliers/Paladins had been throughout GBA FE, they should have given Cavaliers 6 move and Paladins 7, but they might have thought taking away their axes would be enough of a nerf. It wasn't enough, but at least they tried something.

Quote

Assassin over Rogue or Swordmaster?

These are all 6 mov swordlocked units and the only thing setting them apart is the swordmaster's 15+ crit.  That's a good perk but it's not Canto-Lite or a new weapon so the choice isn't something where I go "Yes, NOW Joshua can be relevant". Make the myms swordmasters if you care to use them, or make them assassins if you want a Colm that can dodge more things. Make Colm nothing since you're replacing him with Rennac and not giving either character a drop of combat experience. Or do raise him up, because he's your Amelia, don't let me stop you.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Glennstavos

[Fabulously Olivier]

I guess I'll go with Path of Radiance as the most balanced, but that isn't a high complement. Cavalry and fliers are overwhelmingly the best classes, but that is frankly true of every Fire Emblem game, so it's a light demerit. The game is easy enough that literally every unit can be usable, and the bonus xp system exists to help patch up the "Est's" of the game. 

[Ertrick36]

10 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

How come? Because when I look at a map like this...

...I get the opposite impression.

I remember that chapter.

What a goddamn slog it was.  From my memory, it was one of the first truly annoying chapters of Binding Blade, and it was solely because of how much ground you have to cover.

One funny failure of level design here is that little two-by-two tile room in the middle.  Lilina's trapped in there with no weapons, and the idea was there'd be an archer that'd pluck away at her until she died, as the boss of the level literally gives the order to execute her when you begin the chapter... except if you move her out of the archer's range, the archer just runs down the hallway to the left and instead goes for your army.

Truly, Binding Blade is the epitome of quality level design.  Enemies deliberately disobey their orders because IS couldn't get the enemy AI to actually function properly.

10 hours ago, baticeer said:

but in FE7 and 8 it’s less noticeable; you can still usually take a General along and they’ll be useful if not the Most optimal, but I think even more casual players will be frustrated by armors lagging behind in FE6.

There's also the fact that Oswin is one of the few armor knights in the series that's actually pretty damn good in spite of his unfortunate class.  Watch him and Hector easily tank every attack from the archers, generals, and berserkers in Chapter 32x, and just as easily slaughter the lot of those enemies.

Oh, and Duessel is stupidly strong as well.  Yeah, he's a mounted unit, but still, Great Knight in FE8 has the same movement as standard promoted infantry classes, and for being a unit in the "worse" of the two promotion options for cavaliers, he's pretty damn good - good enough that, just like Seth, you could take him all the way to endgame and he'd still be liable to keep up.

[baticeer]

22 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

One funny failure of level design here is that little two-by-two tile room in the middle.  Lilina's trapped in there with no weapons, and the idea was there'd be an archer that'd pluck away at her until she died, as the boss of the level literally gives the order to execute her when you begin the chapter... except if you move her out of the archer's range, the archer just runs down the hallway to the left and instead goes for your army.

 Truly, Binding Blade is the epitome of quality level design.  Enemies deliberately disobey their orders because IS couldn't get the enemy AI to actually function properly.

I think it's supposed to work that way. Otherwise how would you ever get to Lilina before the archer kills her? I don't think it'd be possible without some crazy RNG luck, she dies to that archer in 2 hits and it takes like 10 turns to get over there. If it was supposed to be a "get to Lilina before she dies" timer to motivate you to finish the level quickly, the archer would be weaker or she'd have healing items or something. Whether the dialogue supports the enemy AI behavior is up for debate (the boss specifically says she should be executed discreetly in a way where they can pin it on Roy's soldiers, so I suppose that's why the archer doesn't go after her when there's no one else around?) but it's not a design mistake.

Edited September 7, 2019 by baticeer