ITT I Play FE9

[Smiley Jim]

This is my Path of Radiance Hard Mode playthrough. Here are some notes before you continue reading.

Units I will definitely be using:

Ike

Oscar

Boyd

Rolf

Soren

Gatrie

Mia

Kieran

Marcia

Jill

Volke

Reyson

Just because I'm only using those guys for the MAIN team doesn't prohibit me from bringing fillers.

Filler List

Stefan

Tanith

Calill

Tauroneo

Haar

Geoffrey

Ranulf

My Path of Radiance HM Character Guide is ongoing. See it here:

http://serenesforest...showtopic=22307

Note: After I'm done this playthrough, I'm open to playing another Fire Emblem game. Here are my options right at the moment(I'll add more soon enough):

Blazing Sword(Hector Normal; I haven't gotten Hector Hard yet. And I'm not S ranking either, so don't try asking, since my answer is no.)

Sacred Stones(Ephraim Hard; self explanatory. I need the difficulty as high as possible since FE8 has lol difficulty. Or I can just play GhebFE, since the difficulty there is higher than FE8.)

Radiant Dawn(Normal or Hard, most likely Normal. I will do HM if you guys absolutely demand it.)

Shadow Dragon(I'm not going any higher than H3, so don't ask for an H5 run)

Sealed Sword(Normal; I can't play HM yet, though if I did have HM, I'd gladly play it.)

This play log is assuming the following:

Hard Mode

Fixed Mode

Also, if I say EP, I'm referring to the enemy phase. Same with PP and posse phase.

Note: I am not writing a turn by turn summary. Fuck that. I can do a summary of the whole chapter, if you'd like. I'm not aiming for low turn count or anything like that. Also, if I'm 'double posting', I'm putting in more log. (Again, this applies to every playthrough I do unless it's a defense-type setting, in which case, I will do a turn by turn format.)

Any swag I get during the chapter will be placed after I type in my unit's current stats.

Swag is defined as the following:

-Items acquired from a chest or house.

-Items dropped by dead enemies.

-Items stolen from enemies that Volke mugged.

-Rare items that recruitable enemies or NPC's have.

Any instances where I boss abuse(such as with Ena and Kimaarsi)will be cut out. I will be doing that shit in Ch9 to get Rolf up to speed, just to warn you. The reason I'm not adding any boss abuse is because it's boring, it's repetitive, it takes 15-50 turns, and no one wants to read a 10 to 20 sentence paragraph of what how many turns I leeched easy CEXP from a boss before I killed him.(NOTE: This will apply to any playthrough I do. Any boss abuse and arena abuse(if I arena abuse) will NOT be posted.)

Oh yeah, if any of you are wanting me to use Wrath/Resolve on Ike, that is not happening anytime soon. So do not post anything about it. This has been discussed to death, and Wrath/Resolve is only useful for, like, one fight. One. And even for that fight, two Aethers can get the job done vs. Berserk Ashnard. And I still have my laguz general + Nasir.

-Done.

Prologue

Starting Units:

Ike

Easy breezy. Ike attacks Boyd for 9 damage, Boyd hits back for 8. On the enemy phase, Ike KO's Boyd. Next up, Greil. I use a turn to heal myself, then I park Ike in Greil's range but didn't attack. Greil hits me for 6 damage, Ike hits back for 9. Rinse and repeat twice more, and I'm already done the prologue. Also, Ike leveled up.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Ike 	02  20  05  01  07  08  06  06  00

Chapter 1

Starting Units:

Ike, Titania, Oscar, Boyd

Boyd goes to attack the fighter to our left, Ike and Oscar form a wall in between the steel sword house and the closed house. Tits gets the steel sword and passes it to Ike. Ike weakens the fighter on the EP, Oscar hurts a myrmidon, and Boyd kills his fighter. Next turn, I had Tits visit the Seraph robe house, had Ike and Boyd kill the myrm and fighter, respectively, and positioned Oscar to take a bandit hit. Next EP, the bandit attacks Tits(because I unequipped her weapon), but Oscar weakened a fighter, which was cool. On the third turn, Ike gulped down a vulnerary and sat in the range of the NE enemies, Oscar finishes off his fighter, and Boyd hits the bandit(the bandit attacked Boyd and was killed on the EP). Boyd kills the bandit Ike weakened, leveling up in the process, Oscar weakens the myrm and cantos into the boss, and Ike kills it. The boss attacks Oscar who does 7 damage. I attack the boss again, then canto away. Boyd then takes a stand and hits the boss(Tits picked him up afterwards), then Ike gets the bosskill. After that, I used the Angelic robe on Ike and seized.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Ike 	04  29  06  02  08  09  07  06  01
Tits    01  33  12  04  13  14  11  11  07
Boyd	03  31  08  00  05  07  04  05  00
Oscar   03  27  06  01  06  07  05  08  00

Swag: Steel sword, Iron sword, Angel robe, Iron axe

Chapter 2

Starting Units:

Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Titania

My first order of business was to get into the alcove to the north of me. I had Ike sit in the E fighter's range while Boyd and Oscar plugged the alcove!fighter and myrmidon so they couldn't kill Rhys. Rhys obviously stays behind Ike. Ike critkills the fighter on his counter, Oscar weakens the myrm and Boyd ORKOs his fighter. Next turn, I moved Ike and Rhys into the circle and had the healer heal Boyd. I held the chokepoint for another EP until Tits arrived. After that, I changed my approach from a defensive approach to a more offensive one. It was pretty much kill, kill, kill from here on out. After I killed the douches loitering in the east, I moved to the north and dispatched the enemies there, dividing the kills between Ike, Big Boyd, and Oscar meyer weiner. Oh yeah, Ike got the boss kill and Boyd killed the steel axe guy.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Ike 	05  29  07  02  08  09  07  06  01
Tits    01  33  12  04  13  14  11  11  07
Boyd    05  33  09  00  06  08  05  05  00
Oscar   04  27  07  01  07  08  05  08  00
Rhys    04  22  00  10  08  05  07  00  14

Swag: Vulnerary, Steel axe, Speedwing

Edited January 25, 2011 by DA125

[Lilmik11]

Go for Zihark,Mia can't kill a damn thing because of her bad strenght,and Stefan's a prepromote.Also,you should have kept the angelic robe, they're is some units that needs it more than Ike.

Edited August 7, 2010 by Lilmik11

[Zynac]

Stefan is in fact a prepremote, but he's cooler than zihark and caps speed skill and str naturally so really...what does zihark have over him? more work to train and maybe a few def or res? thats just my two cents

[Florete]

Seeing as you currently have none of them except Soren, will you throw in the support partners of whichever one you choose to the team? You can't really go wrong with any of them, though at this point Mia might be the best since you've already invested some experience into her. Depending on how efficiently you play, you might end up wanting to go with Stefan as the safer option.

[Smiley Jim]

Seeing as you currently have none of them except Soren, will you throw in the support partners of whichever one you choose to the team? You can't really go wrong with any of them, though at this point Mia might be the best since you've already invested some experience into her. Depending on how efficiently you play, you might end up wanting to go with Stefan as the safer option.

Yes, I will post up supports. The format I will use is:

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES  SUPPORT
Ike 	20  60  26  10  27  28  20  24  16   Soren A/Oscar B

Note: This is my Ike from my seventh playthrough. But that will be my format, RFoF, either that or:

NAME  	SUPPORT
Ike  	Soren A/Oscar B
Soren   Ike A
Oscar 	Kevin A/Ike B
Boyd  	Brom A/Mist B
Rolf  	Marcia A
Kieran  Oscar A/Marcia B
Jill   	Mist A
Brom    Boyd A/Zihark B
Mist 	Jill A/Boyd B
Marcia  Rolf A/Kevin B
Zihark	Muraim A/Brom B
Muraim  Zihark A

Note: This team is not mine. This is my cousin's. He has a slightly different taste of units over me. I know this because I think that Brom is inferior to Gatrie and that I really don't use laguz(other than Mordy in Chapters 10-15 as a tank, though he's obsoleted when Gatrie comes back)

Speaking of Gatrie, I'm trying for a Chapter 14 20/0 promotion. This is probably going to fuck up my BEXP supply(I still had 700 going into Ch8) since Gat has, like, 5 move compared to the six move everyone else has(Jill, Oscar and Kevin have 8), but having a general before I start Chapter 14 will likely be my saving grace. Go 43HP/21(+2 due to knight ward)Def at 20/1, and I'm also trying to S-rank swords on Gat anyway so the earlier he promotes, the better(too bad he's going to play the Jeigan until Ch18)!

Now, should I keep using Rice or should I use Mist? I will probably use both anyway, but if I could only use one, who should I use?

Edited August 7, 2010 by DA125

[Junkhead]

Stefan is in fact a prepremote, but he's cooler than zihark and caps speed skill and str naturally so really...what does zihark have over him? more work to train and maybe a few def or res? thats just my two cents

That doesn't have anything to do when you join later and aren't around to contribute as much as Zihark does. He has slightly lower stats, but the least he has is avaiblity and Luck, with out it, Stefan will lack the proper critical Avo later on.

[Smiley Jim]

Chapter 3

Starting Units:

Ike, Titania, Gatrie, Shinon

Usually, in NM, I would rush to the ship so that Marcia would have a good chance of surviving. This time, I am not going past the trigger line until I have disposed of the enemies to the south of the ship; if I rushed now with the enemy density this high, Marcia would surely die. I had Shinon weaken the first bandit with his iron bow, then had Gatrie kill it. Then I had Ike get the house with the elixir and had a disarmed Tits sit next to Gat to form a wall(FYI, base Gat takes at most 2 DMG from the fighters; usually they do 1). The next five or so turns was just Shinon weakening shit for Gatrie and Ike to kill(I haven't triggered Marcia yet so I'm in no rush) After I had disposed of all nearby enemies, I moved forward. Now, the fun begins. After Gat kills yet another enemy bandit(leveling up), Ike and Tits rush to the ship. While Tits was meatshielding, Ike told Marcia to fuck off to escape. Ike, as usual, kills the hand axe!fighter and bandit. To round off, Gat lures in and kills more bandits with Shinon's help, and we provoke the boss and his cronies. Shinon hits the turd with arrows, Gatrie smacks him with an iron lance(and levels up again), then Ike goes for the kill.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Ike 	07  31  08  02  09  10  08  07  02
Tits    01  33  12  04  13  14  11  11  07
Gatrie  11  33  13  00  07  05  05  16  00
Shinon  01  (lol)

Swag: Elixir, Vulnerary, Hand axe, Thief band

Chapter 4

Starting Units:

Ike, Titania, Gatrie, Shinon, Soren, Rhys

Ok, so 21 enemies and a walking tin can are coming at me, and I only have six units, two of which are getting are facing 2HKOs. Since the last thing I want is for units to die, I needed to do something about the initial onslaught. I could have Tits rush this chapter, and it would be over in four turns. But I wanted to savor CEXP and keep my units alive at the same time, so I retreated to the NE corner of the map, where the squishy units would be good and safe. As usual, Gatrie and Ike did most of the dirty work(Gat and Tits were blocking the S enemies, Ike was tanking the W enemies with Shinon.) while Soren stole kill EXP off enemies that my tank units didn't ORKO outright. Rhys, of course, heals any hurt units(usually Ike and Shinon; every enemy on the map other than the steel axe!fighter tinks Gatrie.) It took me ~7 turns to wipe out the first wave(because some of the enemies were running away to heal.) After that, Gat lured in the three iron lance!soldiers and using him, Ike, and Soren, killed them all. For the final rush, I lured the remaining enemies with Gat, who all were either ORKO'd or were ranged. For the boss, I had Tits hit him once with the steel axe, Shinon attacks with his Iron Bow, then Soren kills him for a 'delicious' level up.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Ike 	07  31  08  02  10  11  08  07  02
Tits    01  33  12  04  13  14  11  11  07
Gatrie  13  35  14  00  08  06  05  17  01
Shinon  01  (lol)
Rhys	05  23  00  10  08  05  08  00  15
Soren   03  19  00  08  09  08  05  02  09

Swag: Javelin

Chapter 5

Starting Units:

Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Gatrie, Shinon

Defend map. Also, there's fog of war. Man, this is Thracia 776 all over again. Since what happened in this chapter is complicated, I'm going to do a turn-by-turn format.

Turn 1:

Tits disarmed herself and went down as far south as she could go. Gat goes up and kills the soldier with the torch. Shinon grabs the torch and lights up the joint. Ike, Boyd, and Oscar form a wall on the western front.

EP: Several enemies attack Gat, including two cavaliers, and an archer is busy with Tits. Some enemies charge into my 'wall' on the W side of the fort.

Turn 2:

Soren kills the iron lance!soldier that attacked Gatrie, then Gat goes down and kills the archer. Tits moves down one. Shinon snipes down an enemy. Ike and his detachment weaken and kill the hammer!fighter as well as an archer.

EP: More enemies charge into Gat and the three 'rookies'. Many were killed.

Turn 3: More KOing on Gat's part(killed the two cavs)and Soren freeloaded off Gat...again. Finish off a few more enemies with Ike's division.

EP: Some reinforcements arrive. I think that Dakova was lured around this time.

Turn 4: I form a wall on the southern ledge with Tits, Gat, and Shinon. Kept Ike and his friends were they were(Rhys did some additional healing.)

EP: A lot of enemies attacked Tits and Shinon at once. Tits gets the Iron blade myrm and Shinon weakens Dakova.

Turn 5: Most of this turn was dedicated to KOing Dakova. Tits hits twice with the iron axe, Shinon attacks with his bow, then Gatrie delivered the boss kill. Ike's team deals with more garbage.

EP: More enemies come out of the darkness and attack Shinon and Tits.

Turn 6: Gatrie kills one more enemy, Ike and his friends still tore the face off everything to the west

EP: I think you know what happens.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Ike 	09  31  09  03  10  12  09  08  03
Tits    01  33  12  04  13  14  11  11  07
Boyd    06  33  10  00  07  08  05  06  00
Oscar   05  27  07  01  07  08  05  09  00
Gatrie  15  37  15  00  10  06  06  18  01
Shinon  01  (lol)
Rhys	05  23  00  10  08  05  08  00  15
Soren   04  19  00  08  09  09  05  02  09

Swag: Torch, Hammer, Iron blade, Ashera icon

Edited August 7, 2010 by DA125

[Zynac]

That doesn't have anything to do when you join later and aren't around to contribute as much as Zihark does. He has slightly lower stats, but the least he has is avaiblity and Luck, with out it, Stefan will lack the proper critical Avo later on.

the levels when you have zihark and not stefan, zihark is still catching up and will( unless you go crazy on him) will not be a higher level than stefan. I will admit zihark has an advantage in luck. its just stefan is definetly easier to train, when zihark is only a tad less rewarding( stefan still easily has 25 crit with normal weapons and 50 or more with killer( or the vague katti). to me thats enough crit any way. overall they are both good units and i prefer stefan, but understand some one who prefers to train up a character instead of getting one who is already high level

[Smiley Jim]

Chapter 6

A.K.A catch up for Big Boyd, Oscar meyer weiner, and Little Soren.

Starting Units:

Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren

I started by having Boyd attack the archer, Oscar throwing a jav at one of the soldiers, and Ike getting out of the woods. I don't remember what Tits did, but Soren moved into a jav!soldier's range and Rhys stayed where he was since he still gets 2HKO'd(Soren gets 2HKO'd as well, but he can counter). As usual, most of the enemies went for Ike, who killed the guy that Oscar weakened, and chipped at the other steel lance soldier. The poleax!cav had charged on the EP, so I had Ike kill him with the Regal Sword(the turd 2HKO's Oscar and he has WTA on him). Boyd killed the jav!soldier and Oscar chips at another soldier. Soren sits in the range of a steel lance soldier(while he's sitting on a forest tile, of course. My aim is to lure that guy away from Ike). Tits goes and kills the mage then sits in the archer's range. On the EP, stuff happens. Ike kills the other cav and weakens a myrm, and Soren weakens the soldier. Next turn, Boyd kills the archer, Oscar kills the myrm, Rhys heals Ike and Soren kills his soldier.

After killing all those enemies, I moved to the western bridge. Oscar kills the soldier there with Soren's help, while Boyd lures in the armor. Boyd doubles the turds with a hand axe(note: 4RKOing armors isn't fun), then we gang up on it, giving the kill to Soren. Once across the bridge, the rest of the enemies charged at me. Not too bad in all honesty. Ike weakens a lot of the soldiers with that Iron Blade of his for others to kill, and the armor was killed by a combination of Tits + Soren. After the second fleet was erased, I had Soren weaken each of the bodyguards, which Oscar killed. As for Emil, I had Tits soften him up a little before killing him with Soren. After KOing the two priests, I had everyone escape before Ike left.

NAME	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Ike  	11  34  10  03  12  13  09  09  03
Tits	01  33  12  04  13  14  11  11  07 
Boyd	08  35  11  00  08  09  05  06  01 
Oscar	08  29  08  01  09  10  06  10  00
Rhys	07  23  00  11  09  06  09  00  16 
Soren   07  21  00  10  11  10  06  02  11

Swag: Poleax, Short spear

Comments: Wow, that is some serious growth that Oscar and Soren had there. I really need to hold off Ike's CEXP gain. He's going to end up being an EXP hog soon. But having a guy who can solo maps is nice.

p.s: Oscar's iron lance only has around 10 uses now. His javelin still has 20 uses.

Chapter 7

Starting Units:

Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Shinon, Gatrie

New Units:

Mia

Once again, most of the posse charge forward. Boyd automatically ORKOs his soldier, and Oscar kills his after Soren weakens it. Ike moves up to make Mia's recruitment easier on myself. Tits moves as far left as she can go. Mia appears, gets attacked by an archer, then recruits herself, while Ike gets attacked by a hand axe fighter, and Boyd gets mugged by two soldiers, who immediately die. Next turn, Tits kills the leftmost archer and blocks the thief's immediate access to the chests, and the rookies finish off whatever Boyd didn't kill. Ike and Mia move back a little(I did it in such a manner that Ike could weaken the enemies for Mia to kill so she'd be a little more useful.) Next move, I placed Boyd in such a manner that he could counter the armors that weren't lured by Tits(with his steel axe, the iron only does 5 damage and the hammer weighs him down too much). Soren and Oscar gang raped the thief so that he couldn't take my swag. Meanwhile, Ike and Mia were killing the enemies on their division(they took 2.5 turns to kill all three douches) On the EP, Boyd critblicks his armor and Oscar gets hit by one of the two armors(Soren and Boyd kill these guys).

After I removed the armors and a loitering soldier, I moved the posse to the upper left of the screen. Boyd kills the soldier guarding the W chest room, then Mia kills the archer I lured previously. Next turn, reinforcements pop up from the N, S, NW, and SW exits, but fortunately, Gatrie and Shinon arrive. I parked Gat in the entrance to the W chest room while Boyd opens up the boxes for a Barrier staff and Miracle scroll. Next, hilarity happens: The armor killer myrm hits Gatrie for 2 DMG, and Gat OHKOs the turd. The two armors only do 1 DMG to Gat, and he(Gat)blicks them. The other myrm gets OHKO'd as well. Meanwhile, Mia, Soren, Boyd, and Oscar have fun killing the two mages and two soldiers(one mage dropped a fire, allowing Soren to fight back again) I also let Gat deal with the two armors in the hallway, which he 3HKO's with the steel lance(I finish with the iron), then let him kill the jav!armor(using his own jav, and finishing with the iron). Meanwhile, Tits rushes to the E chest room, and claims the armor killer.

As for the boss, I let Gat wean him down a bit, as well as just sitting there while Rhys heals him until he levels up(and caps his def). Then Ike weakens him with the Iron Blade and Mia kills him. I finish the priest with Mia to finish the map.

NAME    LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Ike 	12  35  11  03  12  13  10  09  04
Tits 	01  33  12  04  13  14  11  11  07
Boyd	10  37  12  00  09  10  06  07  01
Oscar	09  29  09  01  10  11  06  10  01
Gatrie  17  38  16  00  11  07  06  20  02
Shinon	01  (lol)
Rhys 	09  24  00  13  09  06  09  01  18 
Soren 	08  21  00  11  11  10  06  02  11
Mia 	07  22  08  00  11  13  06  07  02

Swag: Ward, Miracle, Armor Killer, Fire, Mage Band

Comments: Shinon and Gatrie left after this chapter. And Gat was so close to promoting. Well, at least when Gat comes back, he won't be Gatrie for very long. He will become Gattacca. Also Greil dies, so Ike's commanding the GM's now.

Edited October 31, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

If you're on random mode, use Mia. If you're on fixed mode, use Zihark. The difference between them is literally that small.

If you don't give a shit about turncount, as I'm assuming you do, use Stefan, who at least has manly levels of CON and impressive hair.

[Smiley Jim]

Chapter 8

Starting Units:

Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Rhys, Soren, Mia

New Units:

Ilyana

Stuff I did at the base:

Ike and Oscar support upgraded to C.

Bought lances for Oscar and Tits and a new heal for Rhys.

Gave Mia a level of BEXP.

Defend map. Oh look, I'm completely surrounded on all four sides, and I've only seven units in the posse, three of whom have shaky concrete durability. Taking a look at the map, I saw that the S exit is all cavaliers, the E exit is mostly armors, and the W exit has a mix of archers, soldiers, and myrms.

Turn 1: I parked Boyd with the steel axe on the E chokepoint, with Oscar as support. Ike and Soren headed to the W chokepoint, while Tits stood outside the S chokepoint with the iron axe equipped. I also parked Rhys two spaces away from Boyd, hoping to provoke the longbow archer into attacking him.

EP: Boyd critkills two armors, and the archer attacks Boyd, not Rice. Tits manages to KO the two axe knights, and substantially weaken the sword knights. Ike and Mia haven't done anything yet.

Turn 2: Rhys heals Boyd, who goes forward and kills the longbow archer(with a hand axe). Tits kills one Swd Knight and Oscar kills the other. Ike is picking his nose.

EP: More tin cans get weakened by Boyd's axe. Ike gets attacked by an archer and an armor.

Turn 3: Soren kills the armor with what is left of his Wind, and Ike KO's the archer with the steel sword. Tits goes out to kill the Red gem!priest, while Oscar throws a jav at a cav and stands guard. Boyd weakens the knight behind the first knight while Mia moves closer.

EP: Both knights die to Boyd's steel axe. The archer gets ORKO'd by Boyd and the myrm attacks him. Some myrmidons start attacking Ike. The two cavs ditch Oscar and attack Tits.

Turn 4: Tits and Oscar finish off the javelin!cavs, while Soren KO's the myrm that didn't die to Ike. Ike attacks the poleax!fighter. Boyd shoves the myrm back so that Mia can kill it. Rhys heals Ike.

EP: A fire mage attacks Mia, as does a soldier. Several enemies gang up on Ike, who ORKO's the steel blade!myrm and poleax!fighter and weakens the two soldiers. Nothing happens to Tits and Oscar.

Turn 5: Tits uses a vulnerary and sits in the range of Kamura's short spear, while Oscar flees. Rhys heals Mia while Boyd kills the mage. Ike uses his elixir while Soren kills one of the soldiers.

EP: Tits weakens the two soldiers and dodges Kamura's SS. The soldier dies to Mia, while Ike finishes off the last soldier...NOT because the priest heals him.

Turn 6: Soren kills the last soldier while Ike recruits Ilyana. Boyd kills the last mage while Mia kills the priest. Tits hits Kamura with the steel axe and cantos away.

EP: Kamura hits Oscar with the Steel Lance while the two soldiers get slain by Tits.

Turn 7: Oscar hits Kamura with the jav and runs to the defend point while Rhys heals him. Tits hits Kamura with the iron axe, putting him at critical HP. Ike and Soren gang up on a javelin!armor. Boyd and Mia go back to the hub.

EP: Kamura throws another spear at Tits. Knight #2 attacks Soren.

Turn 8: Mia KO's Kamura with the armor killer. Soren kills his knight and Boyd goes back to intercept a soldier.

EP: Two soldiers and two lance knights get killed by Tits. A soldier dies to Boyd.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES  SUPPORT
Ike 	13  36  11  03  13  14  10  10  04   C Oscar
Tits 	02  34  12  04  13  14  12  11  07
Boyd	12  38  13  00  10  11  07  07  02
Oscar	10  30  09  01  10  11  07  10  01   C Ike
Rhys 	09  24  00  13  09  06  09  01  18 
Soren 	09  22  00  11  12  11  07  03  12
Mia 	09  23  08  00  12  15  07  07  02
Ilyana  06  (I don't give a shit)

Swag: Soldier band, Longbow, Red gem, Pure water

Comments: Not bad for a posse that lacks a dedicated tanking unit. Would've been easier if I still had Gatrie. Levels are coming along nicely. My Ike's turning into a tank. 36 HP/10 Def is on par with Tits McGee's 34 HP/11 Def. Soren, Boyd and Oscar are starting to rip the face off everything Mia is still shaky(I'm running a vote to decide which swordmaster I should use)but if I decide to use her, she will end up good.

I'm not using Ilyana because she has major speed issues later on(we're looking at 20 speed at 20/20. That is only doubling the generals, the Rexaura!bishop and one halb. Compared to Soren's 25 speed at 20/20. Soren is able to double everything except SM's and cats with Tornado(he can do this with Thoron if he uses an Energy drop to increase his str)) Also, her mag is inferior to Soren's(25 mag at 20/20 compared to 30 by 20/17 in Soren's case).

Edited August 8, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

If you're on random mode, use Mia. If you're on fixed mode, use Zihark. The difference between them is literally that small.

If you don't give a shit about turncount, as I'm assuming you do, use Stefan, who at least has manly levels of CON and impressive hair.

I have used Mia on fixed mode before(on HM no less, this is not my first HM playthrough)and she turned out great. Last time, she capped str and spd by 20/17 and 20/14, respectively. I also had the knight band on her.

Also, did you read the first post.

This play log is assuming the following:

Hard Mode

Fixed Mode

I said from the beginning that this was fixed mode.

EDIT: I'm probably going to end up using her again. lol. But it's still too early, since she is still fairly weak.

Edited August 7, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

Oh, sorry, didn't read that.

In any case, I still have to recommend Stefan. I mean, if you don't really care about efficiency and what have you, you may as well pick the undeniably most badass one.

[Smiley Jim]

Chapter 9

Starting Units:

Ike, Titania, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Mia, Ilyana, Rolf, Mist

New Units:

Marcia

Stuff I did at the base:

Ike and Soren support upgraded to C

Gave Ike, Soren, and Oscar one level of BEXP

Sold the red gem from C8

Bought steel swords for Ike and Mia and a steel lance for Oscar. Also bought javs for Tits and Oscar.

Taking a look at this map, I saw that the area near the castle was heavily congested, but the beach was not as densely populated. My choice was simple: Go to the beach.

I started by having Soren trade Rolf a pristine iron bow, and moving Mia into the range of the steel axe fighter. Ike directs the sub-humans into the NE corner while everyone gathers around where Mia, Soren, and Rolf are parked. Mia counters the fighter with the steel sword, but gets hit on a 43. Eh, she's getting better at dodging, but she's still blocking axes with her face, sadly. Anyway, I heal her on the PP and I have her attack another fighter, but she gets hit ON ANOTHER 43!?! Soren and Rolf kill the two fighters that Mia weakened. I then have Ike move as far up as he can go, and the posse just behind him. The poleax!fighter attacks Ike, who kills him with a crit. The thunder mage also attacks Ike, but luckilly, Ike can't counter so the mage lives. Next, Mia weakens the mage and Rolfie kills it, while Ike chases after the brigand(he couldn't have killed it even with the iron blade, so I used the steel sword) The brigand flees further west as one of the myrmidons attacks Ike(IIRC, Marcia appeared around this turn). Ike goes up to the weakened bandit and kills him, while Rolfie chips the weakened myrmidon. Mia goes for the kill, but she misses(on a 69). Tits weakens a second myrm with a javelin. Meanwhile, Oscar kills the fourth thunder mage after Lethe and Mordy kill the myrm and two soldiers.

On turn 5, Nedata and his crew arrive. Mia lures in and KO's another fighter, while the mage was killed with Soren and Rolf. Ike enters the N house for a talisman. I also had Oscar move back to the posse. Marcia finally recruits herself into the posse. On  T7, Nedata makes it to shore. He attacks Mia, who responds with a crit. Next turn was devoted to killing Nedata. Soren hits him with his Thunder spell, Mia smacks him again with the steel sword, and Oscar meyer weiner kills the turd. I weaken the hand axe bandit as much as I can(using Tits' javelin), then unequiped Ilyana(because she gets doubled if she equips Elthunder), and put Rhys in front of Ilyana while Mist flees(since she gets OHKO'd by everything). I got lucky: Rhys dodges the hand axe guy, while Boyd and Oscar weaken their bandits while not getting hit. I try to weaken a bandit with Ilyana for Rolf, but she decides to crit. I simply have Rolf hit another bandit. On the EP, the bandit attacks Rolf,...and misses(that bandit is killed by Rolf)

(2 turns later)Went back to the S house for the restore staff, and assembled my posse outside the range of the armor. I had Boyd lure in the two armors, one of which we weakens and KO's. Soren kills the other armor, while Rolf kills the archer with Tits' help. As for the other archer, Oscar takes a shot, then Mia kills it. Next turn, a bunch of reinforcements spawn out of the fort. Rolf weakens one and I set up a wall with the other two brothers.

I dealt with the reinforcements in a flawless manner:

T17: Moved Oscar and Boyd to defend. Rolf chips a myrm.

EP: Jav!soldier and steel sword!myrm attack Oscar. Myrm attacks Boyd, who drops it to 3 HP.

T18: Rolf kills the myrm that Boyd weakened after Mist heals him. Soren KO's his myrmidon. Marcia and Oscar gang up on the jav!soldier.

EP: Jav guy attacks Oscar again as well as another soldier, Boyd critkills one myrm and fails it hit the other(he levels up.)

T19: Oscar kills the myrm while Boyd kills the iron lance guy and Marcia KO's the jav guy. Mist heals Boyd again.

I then kill the two mages, one with Rolf and the other with Soren. As for Kotaff, I used this time to BA Rolf. As I said, I'm cutting this out. You don't need to know what happens in the next 5 or so turns. Eventually I got bored, and had Boyd and Soren weaken Kotaff, then Rolf critkilled him.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES  SUPPORT
Ike 	15  38  12  04  14  15  11  10  05   C Soren/C Oscar
Tits 	02  34  12  04  13  14  12  11  07
Boyd	13  39  14  00  10  12  07  08  02
Oscar	12  32  10  02  11  12  07  11  02   C Ike
Rhys 	10  24  00  13  11  07  11  01  18 
Soren 	11  23  00  13  13  12  07  03  13   C Ike
Mia 	11  23  09  01  12  16  08  08  03
Ilyana  06  (lol)
Rofl	06  22  07  00  10  09  06  07  03
Mist	02  17  01  05  05  07  06  02  07
Marcia  06  21  08  00  08  12  04  08  06

Swag: Restore, Talisman, Manual

Thank god for boss abuse. Rolf in bottom tier? I don't think so, SF! Also, Ike is getting too overleveled for his own good.

As of right now, the possibility of me using Mia is very high, given that she gained 5 levels in 3 chapters and has C swords.

P.S: Rolf still gives out negative utility, so he's still bottom tier. That quote was just sarcasm.

Edited August 9, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Chapter 10

Starting Units:

Ike, Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rhys, Mia, Rolf, Mordy, Volke

New Units:

Kevin, Brom, Neph

Stuff I did at the base:

-Sold several items near breaking point.

-Fed Oscar and Marcia 1 level's worth of BEXP.

-Bought 7 iron blades, a steel axe, and a thunder spell.

Prison Chapter. I could play 'MGS' and avoid being seen, but fuck that. I came here to get CEXP and free POW's, not hide in cardboard boxes while the guards are near. Also, I wish Gatrie was here.

Anyway, I start off being 'sneaky', avoiding letting the enemies see me. I had Fireman open Lehran's cell, so Ike could talk to him. Stupid twat won't move... Anyway, I play MGS until my units were on the S end of the map and the soldier was just north of us. I used Boyd to KO him with the help of his brothers' bond bonus. This resulted in a shitload of enemies pouring out of the N, W, and E exits. Using the terrain around me, I was able to set up a defensive line with Ike and Boyd covering the E enemies and Oscar meyer weiner and Mordy covering the W enemies. Soren kills the Steel lance!watch and Boyd/Ike weaken the two armors on their counterattacks. Soren kills one armor while Boyd kills the one he weakened. Mia kills the mage, while Ike/Volke set up another barricade. Meanwhile, Oscar had weakened a myrm, and Mordy injured another myrm as well as KO'ing a soldier. Rolf kills Mordy's myrm while Oscar kills his myrm. The knight then attacks Oscar, as does the soldier. Oscar then kills the knight next turn, while Rolf does nothing.

Oscar weakens his soldier even more, then goes east as Mia and Volke kill the last watch. Rolf tries to hit his soldier with the steel bow, but misses(he hits next turn, just as Soren kills the archer with a continue proc). I then had Volke open the SE cell and had Ike talk to Brom; Oscar did the same with Kevin next turn. I then had Mordy pick up Lehran before I moved on.

I sat Mia and Boyd just out of the range of the three soldiers. One by one, they all charged at me. I actually parked Mia in front of them instead of Boyd, possibly for more EXP. This next bit was funny. Mia gets a crit on the first soldier, and severely weakens the second. Ambush FTW! Rolf attacks the soldier, but doesn't kill(Mia kills it). The last soldier was KO'd by Rolf. Volke was busy opening the door to the NE chest, which contains a statue frag.

Made it to the escape pad. Boyd goes out and attacks one of the knights, while Rolf kills the archer that attacked Lehran. I then move Lehran into the boss's range. Ike then broke into Neph's cell and converted her into an allied unit. Next turn, Boyd kills the other knight, and Soren starts his assault on Danomill. Boyd and Mia weaken the halberdier so that Rofl can kill it(Did it with Rofl's Bow since Steel Bow gets him doubled.) Eventually, Danny gets so weakened by Soren that Mia was able to kill him with the armorslayer. Boyd kills the remaining archer with the steel axe. While everyone else escaped, Volke claimed a steel lance, a short axe, javelin, and Counter scroll. After everyone leaves Ike does so too.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES  SUPPORT
Ike 	15  38  12  04  14  15  11  10  05   C Soren/C Oscar
Boyd	15  40  15  00  11  12  08  08  02
Oscar	13  32  11  02  12  13  07  11  02   C Ike
Rhys 	10  24  00  13  11  07  11  01  18 
Soren 	12  23  00  13  13  12  07  03  13   C Ike
Mia 	13  25  10  02  13  17  09  08  03
Rofl	06  22  07  01  10  09  06  07  03
Volke	10  25  12  00  13  13  07  07  03
Mordy   02  41  15  02  08  08  10  13  04

Swag: Master seal, Statue frag, Short axe, Steel lance, Javelin, Counter

The poll is officially deceased. I'm using Mia. I'm not tossing away a 13/0 myrmidon for nothing.

Also, my units are inching very close to promoting. I'm still not early promoting anybody(I'll seal Rhys C14 or after he caps Res.)

Next poll: Should I use Neph or Marcia?

Edited August 9, 2010 by DA125

[Zynac]

Next poll: Should I use Neph or Marcia?

Both are great units. I would say Marcia is definetly better, but i like Nephnee more...but ya Marcia is a ridiculous unit if you can over come her flying weakness( arrows wind magic, not all that comon and you eventually get the full guard which prevents that bonus dmg any way). She basically like a paladin with wings so you can't do much to beat that. Nephnee is also pretty dang good and especially fun for transfer data but Marcia is better in PoR( and probably RD as well...grumble grumble)

[Narga_Rocks]

Why not both? They are both cool units. If you are only willing to use at most one (and are willing to use bexp properly) then I vote Marcia. If you like hoarding bexp, though, I'd say Neph or neither.

[Smiley Jim]

Chapter 11

Starting Units:

Ike, Tits, Soren, Boyd, Oscar, Rolf, Kevin, Mia, Marcia, Rhys, Mist, Volke, Mordy

Stuff I did at the base

-Acquired a Laguz Killer sword(useful next chapter...hint hint).

-Ike and Oscar support upgraded to B

-Several units were fed BEXP

-Bought Kevin shit at the shop, while I bought some steel stuff for the girls.

Hard chapter. 33 enemies, and it is quite congested. Also, the Black Knight. He is stupid strong. A hint to new players: If you are playing Hard Mode, like I am, he moves at a rate of 3 tiles per turn, except if he's going to kill something. These two factors pretty much mean I have to use turtling strategies here. This took me four tries to get right.

Oh yeah, Marcia won by a big margin. Poll is dead.

Anyway, I start by having Oscar and Marcia kill the first two fighters, with Mist healing Marcia. Kevin and Tits go up and set up a barricade to the NW.Everyone else gets out of enemy range except Ike and Soren. The lance knight gets hit by Kevin, while the SW enemies attack Oscar. Most of the SE enemies target Ike. On my next move, Mia, Volke, and Soren each kill a soldier, while Kevin kills his cav and Boyd and Tits gang up on the douche blocking my path to the house(I need to protect it from the thief.) Oscar grabs the Dragon Shield and runs north. Marcia does the same to protect Mist from the lance cav. A whole bunch of enemies started attacking my blockade(just for a laugh, the wind mage attacks Rhys for fail damage); a cav attacks Soren, who manages to dodge the attack despite having not being anywhere near Ike. While Kevin and Tits were busy with the armors, Rolf took pleasure in chipping the mages. There were a few close instances, but eventually, I disposed of the enemy force(excluding the two thieves; those are for Marcia). Oh yeah, at turn 5, Jill and two dragon knights sppeared on the SE end of the screen(Fun fact: you can lure the two DK's without provoking Jill.)

After killing the two thieves with Marcia, I had her and Kevin block the W chokepoint. I actually thought the sword knights would go for Marcia(who is 4 levels lower than Kevin, and has 22HP/9Def to his 31HP/11Def), but they predictably went for Kevin. Marcia killed one of the sword cavs with Oscar and Boyd's help(would've used Kevin, but he needed to be healed. Now.) Soren goes into the house for an Elwind. The surviving sword knight and a lance knight attack Kevin and Marcia respectively. Marcia goes for the kill on the LK with Rolf and Kevin's help. As for that SK, Marcia KO'd it, as always. I had Kevin lure in the boss(who missed with his hand axe).

I first had Volke mug the boss, stealing his Laguz Killer. Ike and Oscar chipped the boss while Kevin killed his lance knight companion. Next turn, the BK came out of the central house. I sent Tits back a few turns ago to distract him, so that the posse wouldn't get murdered(I'm going to leave what Tits did out). After 3 turns the boss was defeated; Oscar, Ike, and Marcia chipped him enough for Rolf to kill. Marcia went to lure the other SK and Mordy readied himself to recruit Zihark. Of course, a bow knight was in the way, so Oscar and Mia tag-teamed it. The myrmidon basically died in one hit to Mordy, who recruited Big Z next turn. Zihark went to the last house for a killer lance, while Soren kills the knight guarding the arrive space, Mia kills the priest, and Ike arrives.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES  SUPPORT
Ike 	16  38  13  04  14  16  11  11  05   C Soren/B Oscar
Tits 	03  35  13  04  14  15  12  12  07
Boyd	15  40  15  00  11  12  08  08  02
Oscar	15  34  12  03  13  14  08  12  03   B Ike
Rhys 	12  26  00  15  12  07  11  02  18 
Soren 	13  24  00  14  14  12  08  03  14   C Ike
Kevin 	14  31  12  01  11  12  08  11  01
Mia 	14  26  11  02  14  17  09  08  03
Rofl	10  25  09  01  12  11  08  08  04
Mist	04  18  02  06  05  08  07  03  08
Marcia  10  23  10  00  10  14  06  09  08
Volke	12  26  13  00  14  14  08  07  03
Mordy   02  41  15  02  08  08  10  13  04

Swag: Laguz killer X2, Dragon shield, Elwind, Killer lance, Master seal, Killing edge

Edited September 22, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

Why not both? They are both cool units. If you are only willing to use at most one (and are willing to use bexp properly) then I vote Marcia. If you like hoarding bexp, though, I'd say Neph or neither.

He's already using a ton of units.

In any case, I recommend you use neither and just deploy their far cooler counterparts - Devdan and Tanith.

[Smiley Jim]

Oh, yes. In case you are wondering about my skill setup, I plan on giving my units the following:

Ike: Aether, Provoke or Miracle

Soren: Adept

Oscar: Sol

Boyd: Resolve

Rolf: IDK

Gattacca: Luna

Kevin: IDK

Mia: Vantage, Wrath

Rhys: (healers don't need skills)

Mist: (same as Rice, though Sol might be nice)

Jill: Guard, Savior

Marcia: IDK

Fireman: (he's only good for getting swag, but I'm still training him seriously.)

I'm giving the first two Occults to Ike and Gattacca. Nuff said.

I'm not changing Raisin's skillset, since herons don't battle. They are essentially the Tellius version of Sylvia(except for the part where you need to keep her from falling in love with Levin before Fury does.)

Edited August 11, 2010 by DA125

[Smiley Jim]

Chapter 12

Starting Units:

Ike, Soren, Boyd, Oscar, Rolf, Kevin, Mia, Marcia, Rhys, Mist

Stuff I did at the base:

-Recruited Sothe

-Mia and Rhys support upgraded to C

-Rolf and Rhys support upgraded to C

-Fed Boyd, Marcia, Soren, and Rolf BEXP to level them up.

This chapter looks hard, since you are trapped on a small ship(well, excluding Marcia, but her def is too shaky for going out in the open) but if you stick to the stern area, the chapter isn't so bad.

Also, the crows have 18 Atk and 13-16 AS. This means they avoid getting doubled by all my units and the faster ones can double attack half my posse. This is one of those situations where Gattacca would see a lot of use(he takes double tinks from everybody except Seeker who does double 2's).

I start by moving my units towards the stern area. Assuming a defensive formation is important because the buzzards double and 2HKO Soren, Rice, and Mist(they almost ORKO Rolf). Not only that, they can also get double attacks on Kevin if they have 16 AS(he has 12 if he equips the iron axe). Ike can stay behind, because he gets 6RKO'd at around ~60 displayed. Next turn, Kevin was able to KO a crow that Ike had weakened previously(the only one that could double him guaranteed). Ike and Boyd stay behind again, since they have the highest concrete durability/offense of the gang(Ike gets 6HKO'd, and Boyd gets 4HKO'd; Ike 3RKO's and Boyd 2RKO's). The crows once again attack those two, who both miss. lol. Jill arrives the next turn, 'hoping' to help us out(which she will be doing a whole lot of.). Anyway, Rolf KO's Boyd's raven while Kevin goes for the KO on number two. The last of the original ravens was KO'd by Rolf. Anyway, Jill recruited herself into the posse(I gave her the dracoshield).

With Jill around, the fight got a good deal easier. Marcia killed yet another crow, Jill used the DS, and I set up a defensive formation again because Seeker was starting to attack. Another raven got onto the ship and attacked Jill. Oscar hit this guy before killing it with Jill. Now, I was slightly scared, since Mia was in the range of both Seeker and a generic raven. But I did calcs and she could survive the attack. Luckily, she also halved Seeker's HP and nearly KO'd the generic. Mia killed the other raven, while Rolf weakened Seeker even more and Jill finished him off. The last few ravens were jokes. I stayed behind to leech more EXP from the reinforcements.

NAME   	LVL MHP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES  SUPPORT
Ike 	17  39  13  04  15  16  11  11  06   C Soren/B Oscar
Boyd	16  40  16  00  12  13  08  08  02
Oscar	15  34  12  03  13  14  08  12  03   B Ike
Rhys 	12  26  01  15  12  07  11  02  18   C Mia/C Rolf
Soren 	14  24  00  15  14  13  08  03  15   C Ike
Kevin 	15  32  12  01  11  13  09  11  01
Mia 	15  26  11  02  14  18  10  09  04   C Rhys
Rofl	12  26  09  02  13  12  09  09  04   C Rhys
Mist	04  18  02  06  05  08  07  03  08
Marcia  12  24  11  00  11  15  07  09  08
Jill	11  26  12  00  11  10  07  13  02

Swag: Secret Book X2, Blue Gem, Angel Robe X2, Coins.

There's not much to be said about this chapter. Kevin is str screwed by a point(stupid ravens and their -5% str modifier)and Jill is def screwed by a few decimals(the dragonshield is simply 11 Def+2). I'm going to fix Kevin's str issue with the Fighter band, and Jill keeps her dragon band(I want her to cap def by endgame).

I'm slightly worried about my levels. If I have to, I will start boss abusing, but it's nothing to worry about.

Edited December 7, 2010 by DA125

[Anouleth]

See, this is the inevitable result when you use (number greater than 5) characters and they are wastes of oxygen like Mist, Rolf, Soren and Rhys. Everyone ends up being awful. If you had dumped more BEXP into Mia, she could have merrily rolled around ORKOing shit with the Laguzslayer.

[Zynac]

See, this is the inevitable result when you use (number greater than 5) characters and they are wastes of oxygen like Mist, Rolf, Soren and Rhys. Everyone ends up being awful. If you had dumped more BEXP into Mia, she could have merrily rolled around ORKOing shit with the Laguzslayer.

i agree smaller numbers is good for training, i prefer 7-8 but then at the end of the game im ok with adding a late addition( like Elincia or Geoffrey, not nessecarily cuz they're good just for fun really). Soren is not a waste and can easily support himself if properly trained, hey he's not stellar but he can do it himself. Rolf has to be babied( much much harder to do with higher numbers) mist or rhys you can just blast to max lv with ashera staff hammerne combo...but you cant do that for both of them...

Although really in PoR you can efectively use who ever you want( unless your numbers reaaaallly get excessive like more than 10 is often difficult when you have units that need babying) so we nag at him about useing bad people? really he can probably max them all out all though he's making it harder than he should on himself)

[Smiley Jim]

If I feel that my units won't make it to Lv20 by Ch17-4, I can simply sacrifice efficiency by spending a few turns BA'ing Kimaarsi. It's not like that his spear is a one-of-a-kind item. I can just get more spears by stealing them. I plan on doing the same with Ena, since I would like 20/15 units by Endgame(again, I'm not putting that shit in since no one wants to read 20 sentences on the 15-50 turns I'm spending at a boss's doorstep.) Gawd. I wish there was an abuseable arena like there is in FEDS.

But I have used the posse I had before in NM, and I got everyone to 20/15 there. Without boss abusing on Kimaarsi and Ena.

Though I actually kind of wish that Mia could ORKO the turds in C12. But that would require me to pour in a billion tons on BEXP that I could feed to my more underleveled units, plus she would have had to get practically every kill in C10 and C11, and let's face it, her durability is still awful(getting 2-3HKO'd when others get 4HKO'd or better is quite lame, and her avoid isn't yet reliable, enemies having ~60 displayed. To give out an idea, Ike is 4HKO'd by the same amount of atk needed to 2HKO Mia, and he gets a double Earth support with Oscar, so he's facing ~40 displayed at times. Mia doesn't support anyone with Earth.)

The chapter would have been a good deal easier if I had Gatrie with me. He practically kills all the fuckers in 2-3 hits, and basically never dies(he gets 10RKO'd by Seeker for crying out loud! Compared to Ike, my second bulkiest unit, who gets 4RKO'd). Thank god I'm getting him back next chapter.

Edited August 12, 2010 by DA125

[Narga_Rocks]

Well, the idea is that the bexp spent to speed up a chapter is worth it to some people. Your Mia was at 11 str and 17 speed after chapter 11 ended, as near as I can tell from looking at your stuff. Taking her from level 14 to 17 would give you a reasonable shot at 12 str and 19 spd, doubling (and ORKOing) nearly all the ravens with laguzslayer. Only the rare 16 AS variety don't get doubled until she gets levels and procs speed again.

Other people enjoy supercharging Marcia. It's the cost of training 11 units instead of like 8, though. All that cexp gets funneled into 8 units instead of 11, so your good units that can earn it get more levels, and there are less mouths vying for bexp so you can afford to dump more on units like Mia or Marcia to make specific chapters easier. Zihark works almost as well for that purpose as Mia, though not quite as well since Mia gets more opportunity to gain exp from chapter 7 to 11 and only starts a few levels lower than him. In general it costs more to bexp Zihark than Mia. Or at least, you can benefit from a bexp'd Mia in chapters 8, 9, 10, 11 so even if it costs more to bexp Mia from when she shows up to when you get to chapter 12, at least the bexp helped you for longer.

But it doesn't really matter how you play as long as you have fun. The only reason I'm even saying anything about it is that you commented on the ravens avoiding getting doubled.