Dual Dragons

Fair to both the bland and strong-handed points. We all have different interpretations. I think Linoan counts as one of the rare starting females who can use Light-magic from the starting class. But then again, that's FE4 and FE5. Do you even see Lachesis' promoted class? In the hands of a better writer and being able to execute it better, I hope for this day too, because I do think Micaiah's potential was there but was not realized--at least not for me to feel it.

Yes. Crappy Speed. 35% Speed growth. On average, that's 1.05 Speed per three levels. There are reasons why people say to BEXP that Speed of hers as it can be very unreliable. If you say that's enough. For me, it isn't for the stuff she does later. That particular Blood Pact only would wipe out the Daein people... by increments. Which didn't happen. Because they were turned into rock. That's why Levail couldn't enact it when the armies met up in Begnion. Yes. Her country at the expense of others. That's why I don't like her. It's not that I don't understand. If you could find the where and when that happens, we could discuss it. I don't know what you mean by "defined" in this way. Do you mean pinpointing her traits or...? I mean, she can be sassy ("Ike, the father of Sothe's children"), she doesn't exactly want glory for herself, she can be self-sacrificing, she's very insecure (as brought up before) because of her lineage and how people treated her. That's not usually my problem with characters. It's a thing called execution. In writing, it's the distinction between two authors who write similar or the same plot elements or write about similar-traited character. As I said previously, I don't think she's "bland," because I wouldn't dislike her as much if she was just a bland character. I dislike her characterization and how she was executed. That's a focus on how the author pulled off the character and the story.

Gotta hand it to the man for trying. He obviously knows supply-and-demand for Earthbound. That supply-and-demand will jack it up to exorbitant amounts of moolah.

Sometimes people throw the term "Mary Sue" on a character to mean that they feel the character is undeserving of what they get in return for what they actual do. Sometimes to mean "perfectionism." It's like what The Geek said: it's kind of lost its meaning at this point. You could argue that there are different types of Sues/Stus but eh, I won't go there for now. I have used "Mary Sue" for Micaiah before to go with the former definition I stated but here I'll drop it and say that I flat out dislike her characterization. I won't say "bland," because I think she's far from it. If she was "bland," I would have just concluded that she was unnecessary and say someone like Tauroneo for the Daein army or Sothe or Nolan when it was still the Dawn Brigade should have led in her place. I actually dislike her as a leader/commander. For all the stupid decisions she made, for all the destructive choices she made or was about to commit to, I don't feel she got the proper consequence to justify her happy ending. It's also a very dangerous writing decision to set her up as this special goddess in the beginning by having the Daein folks beat it into the player. More successful stories would have that sort of beginning and have the character become broken from the weight of it all and then rise to the occasion to fix their mistakes. Believe me, it can be done, but I say "dangerous" because, as can be seen from this thread, it can backfire very badly if not executed properly. On a gameplay perspective, why crappy Speed, Micaiah?

I'm pretty sure my friend got me my FE decal from that place. Gold decal on red 3DS is pretty kickass, I gotta say. You could but learning Japanese is not for everyone. Even I have my fair share of difficulties learning it. You can try this guide that's just on GameFAQs should the whole "learning Japanese" thing turns out not for you. I'm not sure how accurate it is since I haven't touched FE6 yet but it might be better than nothing.

Personally wouldn't do it. Legality issues being the biggest turn off.

I'm not trying to make an argument here, but I have problems with the "facts" and "big difference" you're presenting. Though from my understanding, the royal/noble was also supposed to be a central part of the army's morale, and Roy does fit that title. Can't say much on his story because I haven't played FE6 yet. Roy's age really is not that far off from Leif's, and I'd say Leif more than qualifies too for his military position due to being a noble. You're pitching for a big difference between someone who's a noble but younger by two-three years than a guy who's not a noble and older. If anything, Ike should have had less of a chance to lead an army as early as he did than Roy. And I like Ike, I do, but I have to admit who qualifies more than another for a military position. You're missing a couple things to consider in terms of culture: 1) There's extra "squick" in NA (read: America) for older people to marry what we consider "underage" now. And we don't see them bumping every girls' ages in FE7 (Nino, Rebecca, etc.) probably because they aren't eligible to marry Eliwood or Hector, who seems to get married close to the end of the game... and even if we do, there's still Florina and I would gander she's around Lyn's Japanese age. (Was Florina's age bumped as well? SF just says teens for Florina's age.) 2) Marrying at 15 is not unrealistic for the times. Especially for the girls. From this here: What could be considered during a part of the Medieval Period and maybe after, it still could be early as 12. And this as well: Ike gets promoted to general for... basically because nobody in Begnion would take him seriously otherwise. Did he serve Begnion for a year? No, ergo, he shouldn't have gotten to be general of the Begnion army for that "promoted to captain or something a year or two later" as you state. You should have just stated that it was your opinion in accordance to how you feel about his youth and left it at that rather than try to bring in facts and attempt to make a "glaring distinction" between Roy and Ike. But like I said, I don't want this to be an argument. I just had a problem with the facts you were basing yourself on, not your opinion. Anyways, on topic: I want to play all the FEs as well, but whether to attempt Japanese (like I was doing with Alpha Sapphire) and lose some humor because of my poor translations or just be a wimp and do English is hard to say. I never was particularly interested in either Marth or Roy from Melee. I played FE12 and kind of like Marth there even if I find him weird to play with (Lv. 30 unpromoted Lord?) for my tastes. I heard FE6 Hard mode without save states or RNG abuse will be... "fun."

On difficulties like Normal or Hard, even if I get killed by an ambush spawn, I don't get that mad. Usually because I just had a character so low on health and didn't bother to heal them up and they happened to be in the area of the ambush spawn. I jot a note down and move on. Now ambush spawns and Lunatic(+) are just purely evil for my end. Especially on Lunatic+. When I tried that mess with a No Grind and no DLC run, my units weren't getting good level ups and the Wyverns from chapter... 9? I think it is... were just wrecking me. I could be as far south as I could be and my units just were not good. I think I need to reattempt it with a different run and hope for better stats. I don't think of Ambush Spawns as unfair because SRPGs, I think, employ some form of memory game. We memorize or take notes on when a unit is recruited, when normal reinforcements spawn, what levels the enemies are or the boss data for a chapter, and more. I don't see why ambush spawns can't be treated with the same kind of "memory game" mentality--especially if it's a turn-based ambush spawn. Memorize or note where they are and stay out of their range if you can't take them all at once. My personal biggest beef with Ambush Spawns and reinforcement trigger zones really is that I like being exact with my notes. When I don't play with emulators, I can't take a clear screenshot and sometimes my iPhone's camera likes to readjust itself and take the shot after they have moved, even when I pushed the button before they did. The reinforcement trigger zones just suck when you don't know when you breach the line before hell breaks loose. XD

First game was FE9 and what I consider the first time I ever played a turn-based strategy game. I was 11 or 12, I think. Rented it from a store that didn't provide the instruction manuels or the game screenshots that is on the back of the box. Used Titania immensely but not to the point of having others underleveled. Boyd died on chapter 3 but I was somehow smart enough to realize that there was perma-death just from the dialogue completing the chapter. So here's probably the dumbest thing on my end: I used guides but I don't think it was until after finding Serenesforest how doubling (from AS difference), movement variation based on class, or terrain (in regards to movement reduction) worked. Also didn't figure out that fighting calculations are pretty simplistic. This meant that unless I got in range to attack someone, I couldn't figure out how the outcome would be, meaning generally immensely long chapters with lots of turns because, despite not being a Fog of War map where you can't see enemy stats, I didn't have the guts to go fight or the brains to do fighting calculations. There was such glee that day when I realized that my 20+ turns could be reduced to like five.

I'm including stuff up to Chapter 15. Anything standard is not mentioned. Chapter 5: Ashera Icon from Dakova, the boss. It's a defense mission so there's a turn limit. If you don't think you'll need Ashera Icon for boost or money, you don't have to bother yourself with it. Chapter 8: Red Gem and Soldier Band from Karuma, the boss. Another defense misssion. Chapter 9: Pirates spawn to destroy houses on left. Top house is Talisman and bottom is Restore staff, so my notes say. Chapter 10: Depends if you want to get all treasure (higher chance to get caught) or you want to bolt to the exit. Top-right chest is Statue Fragment and the chests in the left room go from top to bottom, left to right: Javelin, Short Axe, Steel Lance, Counter scroll. If I recall correctly, you can go into the room with the boss and "not get caught." If you bolt to exit, you will miss out on Nephenee, Brom, and Kieran. All you need to do to recruit them is unlock the door and have them survive. Chapter 11: There's a thief which I believe goes for the center house. Recruit Zihark by talking either with Lethe or Mordecai. Don't kill Jill to recruit her later. Chapter 12: I think if you go by the max amount of turns for BEXP, you miss out on another Secret Book. Chapter 13: Later in the map, ravens come to steal chests. If a raven who steals an item is able to get another, you lose out on the first item unless you are able to steal it back (kind of unlikely because of their higher Speed). A defense mission. Chapter 15: Desert chapter so lots of hidden treasure. There's a map on SF. Recruit Stefan by going to a specific square with Lethe or Mordecai.

No, I made a mistake there. I forgot to add the Transformation stats to the Laguz bases. Sorry about that. In that case, Ena still won't be able to damage Ashnard at base but Nasir could. For the Demi Band, it says on the Transformation page about halving the Transformation stats with decimals rounded up. I guess a base Nasir with the Demi Band shouldn't be able to damage Ashnard either and will now be doubled by Ashnard.

No worries. In PoR, skills can't be added and removed at will. If you assign a skill onto a unit, be sure it's the one you want at least for a while. If you remove any removeable skill, it's lost permanently. I'm not sure what you mean here. Nasir doesn't participate in that fight. Ike and Mist do. If you mean between getting Ena or Nasir, Nasir definitely. Pretty much higher level and stats all around except Strength (equal) and Hit Rate of weapon (Ena's beats Nasir's by 15). Nasir also comes with Nihil. Though problem with both of them is even though they can harm Ashnard, they won't in Hard. Both get doubled and do like 30 damage when Ashanrd's Def is 35. Even in Hard and felt like training the three brothers, I found very little opportune moments or necessary moments to use the Bro Triangle Attack. They have to align up and be equipping a bow, which, unless you have units left to trade Boyd and Oscar to equip another weapon, leaves them open for Enemy Phase. If you want to, go ahead. The only things I can say for the Bro Triangle Attack is, yeah, have Oscar learn bows on promotion and have the one with the highest Strength (probably Boyd) activate it. Lies. Naesala is good for that mad cash. That one coin to transfer to RD. /joke

If you never beated the Black Knight, you never had Nasir. And I'm sure you can make Lethe work for the Daein mooks at Endgame. I normally wouldn't recommend non-royal Laguz except possibly Ranulf because of the Transformation gauge (easily fixed by Demi Band but loss of stats) and locked to one-range weapon, but you got to have fun, right? Ragnell is by default. Personally I like using Mist for Endgame because I've usually trained her sword rank to max so she can magic sword spam and Physic if necessary. Nobles can harm Ashnard. I like using Tibarn but Giffca probably works too. If you got any remaining stat boosters, you can probably give them to them (Tibarn will need Speedwings to not get doubled by Ashnard second form). Very much beatable, but I wouldn't be able to recall any other good strats for him. I usually Aether him but maybe you can start using Wrath and some other skill if you don't think you can land all hits on BK or Aether's proc is too unreliable for your tastes. It's unfortunate you just get Resolve at that map. Jill is favorite character. Who doesn't like flying units indeed. Between Oscar and Rolf, Oscar's better, I'd say. I've gotten pretty screwed with him in the past but others say he's solid and looking at his growths, he should be. It's training Rolf and still using him while he's low-leveled around chapter 10 that puts him as the worst of the three. Don't forget Elincia, Tanith, and promoted Marcia can Triangle Attack too. That's also activated by a Info convo if Marcia is promoted, I believe. I'm pretty sure he still lives but you just get Ena.

Along with Ownagepuff's advice, you can LTC that Endgame map with a good flier + Ike. I think you can do it within five turns or so? Saves you a lot of time especially if you aren't doing Hard mode where Ashnard starts moving and everything. First Seraph Robe can go to Ike immediately. He likely will not get HP maxed naturally and you get an instant +7 HP to not get Game Over. Chapter 12--the first ship chapter with ravens--you can completely block ravens from attacking anyone but two units if you deploy all unit slots (at least in Normal mode) and have them aligned along on the sides of the ship so that they form a vertical line and block the pathways the pillars make. Since in PoR attacking a unit on the ship while you're attaking from not on the ship is considered a ranged attack, ravens can't attack unless they are on the ship thus they can only attack two units except Jill not on the ship. You can train the two units who get constantly attacked, two ranged units like Rolf (with forged bow, most likely) and/or Soren (with forged wind tome if need be), and/or Jill so she can start catching up (preferably with a forged Iron/Steel Lance traded to her she can wield without AS loss). It might help to know exactly which parts where you were having a hard time with and if you want to win the Black Knight fight.

That's only on the early copies of RD, like I have. Early copies didn't take into account the NA-only Easy mode files so it crashed. As long as it's a later version or he did send in his early copy for the repair back then, Easy mode files shouldn't crash on him. I would agree with Ownagepuffs. More characters at level 20 is plus. I was even able to fit Sothe in there for RD HM so I can rush DB chapters.

Oscar can be a good unit, but I'm not a fan of the fact he already starts with -1 AS with average stats when BEXP is not available. In between when you can't and when you can, his level ups in Normal and Hard mode for me were never good around chapter 8, so I'm salty from how easily he was screwed for me. I'm a low mount-user (mostly Jill after chapter 12) so I brought up the EarthxEarth support as his strong point. I'm not as objected to Oscar as I am for Astrid and Elincia, so eh, I can try him again after I whittle down my backlog of games. Will still probably A IkexSoren support because Soren's got Stefan otherwise, a character I don't use. @isetr: Tormod's Celerity really could have come in handy in the desert chapter... which he comes right after. If you've got BEXP to spare, I guess you can raise Tormod. From my notes, the least deployment slots you'll have at any point after chapter 8 is 8--at chapter 9, but Mist and Rolf join you to bring you to 10. Chapter 10 is 9 slots. All chapters after are 10 or above. I'd really only worry about deployment slots for supports since supports work by the chapter in PoR. @Radiant Head: Yeah, it's unfortunate that only Ike and the Endgame Laguz can hurt Ashnard.

You're on Normal mode in one of the easiest FE games, so I would say just go for who you like. But I will try to help out the best I can. Titania She's great, honestly, but I bench her eventually because she can make the game too easy--well, easier than it already is. Between her and Oscar, she's probably the best, and I would only guess that she really only needs stat boosters to make her great since her base stats are subpar for her level. Turns only matter for the BEXP and she would be able to save some turns until you get Marcia/Jill. I'd say if you don't want to make the game much easier than it already is, don't use her... but she's a pretty good unit and not a bad one to recommend. Oscar Oscar's pretty insufferable in difficulties other than Easy at first because of his base stats. Poor guy can't even use an Iron Lance without losing AS. It's a problem of starting out with too average of stats. I haven't used him seriously in a long time because of deployment slots and lack of patience, but he will take some time to get up and running. He's pretty good for his EarthxEarth affinity with Ike, though. Boyd You already gave him Speedwings so just continue on with Boyd. Being the only Fighter means you can only have him as a Warrior and there's no other foot Axe-user equivalent until much later in the game. Mia I haven't used her in such a long time seriously. Getting locked to one-range swords and having 41.5 HP at 20/20 average makes me go bleh at her. At least Always-Go-First Vantage is a plus. Soren/Ilyana I always go for Soren since I like his personality and backstory much better than Ilyana. Not only that, but his Speed rises quicker than Ilyana's, which is more important for a Mage than her boosted Strength stat. She was struggling in a playthrough where I had to use her for support transfers to RD, and I swore to never use her again. Soren's Adept > Ilyana's Shade. Rhys/Mist I prefer Mist over Rhys, even though Rhys will likely get a few levels ahead of her. I did try to use Rhys a couple times and he turned out to be too slow for my liking. Light magic will likely slow him down even further without a forge. Mist is the best candidate for the magic swords (provided you train her swords rank which can be harder if you're rushing and don't want to use Arms Scrolls on her) and she's useful (though not necessary) for her participation in a certain fight later. She also gets a horse. Rolf I like him over Shinon personality-wise, and he can be pretty easy to train if you give him a portion of the kills (with a forged bow) on the pirate ship chapter where you recruit Jill. Though I will say that you don't need to use Rolf to get Shinon except in the chapter with Shinon. It's pretty easy to avoid having Rolf get killed as long as you avoid the stationary long-range magic users' range. Marcia/Jill It's really up to you here. I have a major bias towards Jill for her excellent character development, overall great performance, and Wyvern Riders being my favorite class. She's pretty speedy in both PoR and RD, and she gets Axes on promotion--a big YES for me. Marcia is great for LTC-playthroughs, I've heard, if you BEXP her and give her plenty of stat boosters. Her and Jill have pretty similar growth rates in the important stats (though a 10% difference in Speed) but defining base stats, hence why I said it's pretty much up to you. Volke Mostly use him for chests and stealing, not for combat. I took a little bit of notes and wrote that you need at least 18 Strength and 24 Speed to be able to steal everything in Normal mode. Might be helpful if you don't want to focus on Volke as an actual unit. Lethe Lethe can be good but the Laguz mechanics can be irritating without the Demi Band, and the Demi Band will take some stats away for permanent shift. There is no way to unshift and save the Transformation gauge. You also can't attack back unshifted. But at least they likely won't die unshifted like in RD. Nephenee I never saw her stand above the rest when I used her the two or three times I did, but she's decent. Playable Soldier is good and she can use the Knight Ward. Astrid If you want to use Astrid, I would recommend a little bit of BEXP. Her Paragon also helps with that. She's... well... I would say okay. I think she does turn out to be good but she needs to be babied even more than Rolf, I feel. She can get killed on the first turn if you don't rush to her immediately! It's unfortunate she couldn't come the chapter before since she could have benefited from free sniping at birds, though she does get some birds in her chapter. Elincia She's a case of needing BEXP. Yes, her Prf sword is shiny, but it's just a glorified Brave Sword for a weaker unit. The first chapter you get her is when there starts to be generic promoted units and stronger unpromoted units. She's likely not going to kill anything without getting fed BEXP. If I recall correctly, she can't be deployed for two chapters before Endgame, so her time is extremely limited and she can't benefit from Paragon since there is no Paragon scroll in PoR. If you really wanted to use Elincia, you better have saved up a lot of BEXP just for her.

That IGN review made me gag. At least admit you didn't fully play it in your review. Well, congrats, Taco! This and Tales of Symphonia are my all-time favorite GC games. I started Fire Emblem with Path of Radiance so it holds a special place in my heart. I played Melee but never associated Marth and Roy with Fire Emblem and didn't even know their franchise existed on the GBA. So I hope the game more than makes up for what you had to pay for--and in really good condition!

If I recall correctly, none of the dragons will attack Kurthnaga and Ena even when they are getting attacked by them. You could use them as walls while a unit benefits from their Tides.

The thing with Jill is she's one of the few units in the DB who can get transfer bonuses (others being Sothe, Zihark, Ilyana [who doesn't really count for long], and Tauroneo [also not counting Tormod and Muarim because haha availability]). Out of these units, she's less hampered by movement and has Canto as well as has some nice growing to do. Pretty much all DB members have durability issues, hence why I said Jill, Nolan, and Aran (and possibly Sothe) have probably the most reliable durability (Tauroneo's okay but his availability leaves a lot to be desired). I started a Hard mode file a while back (have yet to finish it because busy life) and focused mainly on Sothe, Micaiah, Jill, and slightly Volug. Even if I didn't have transfer bonuses, Jill would have gotten the first Dracoshield, Energy Drop, Seraph Robe, and Secret Book. She would likely get the Speedwings as well. For Micaiah, she gets all of 1-9 to herself (use Black Knight as you see fit). And at this point, you have Paragon from 1-6-2. She can also Sacrifice spam if need be with Paragon (Sacrifice works on status ailments, so the poison in 1-8 will do). If she's close to level 20 or if both her Magic and Resistance capped, you could BEXP abuse her to get her Speed and possibly HP and Defense up, her Speed being top priority. So don't use the BEXP to get her to level 20 since she should have no issues getting to level 20. Use the BEXP to raise her hard-to-raise stats. The only thing is is that her Luck might get in the way, being tied with her Magic growth at 80. Either use her to do chipping or have her carry a weapon to bless and pass it off to someone more competent. Free blessed S Fire or A Thunder, Wind, and Light is a plus. She's purely a combat unit so benching her if she's not needed is safer than risking a restart. Why do Arcthunder when you can use a fully forged Thunder? +1 Might, +35 Hit, +5 Crit, and -5 Weight. Against a dragon, that's three more Might and a base Sanaki will lose less Speed if you don't lower the weight of the forged Thunder. It is costly but I think there's enough funds at this point.

Yesssssssss. Jill is my girl! She's pretty much my instant third-tier in the DB. At least you got Nolan to third-tier. I don't think I've ever gotten anyone but Jill and the mandatory ones to third-tier in the DB thanks to bias and the DB's crappy chapters. As far as the DB goes, Jill, Nolan, and Aran I feel are better candidates, if any, for third-tier for their... moreorless reliable durability (at least in Normal mode). Might as well. Free Nosferatu and Silence, another staffbot, and could hold a Light weapon up to S at base for Endgame if need be.

Fortify's not necessary, like the others said, but it's good to have on hand for especially the last part. I'd also vouch for the Royal use but since you've stated about not making the game too easy: Have you thought of just bringing people for the blessed weaponry and then benching them? Just hand off the blessed weaponry to the more competent fighters and don't mention them ever again. You avoid having people "stuck" to one blessed weapon this way.

Right. Her EXP yield is good if we're doing a ranked run. I was pointing out that he was assuming a ranked run with Nino. A lot of the points here as far as I interpreted them were not aiming for her effectiveness in a ranked run which, if we're doing that, then Bartre, Rebecca, Rath, and Heath can be added as "good" units as well compared to Vaida for EXP yield. I wasn't exactly knocking at him for his point for Nino, but I wouldn't count that as a point for Nino to be considered a "good" unit overall. Does she have her use in a ranked run? Oh definitely. But that's almost a given because of the EXP requirement. I wanted to imply that it's not good to assume a ranked run Nino effectiveness approach because... uh... she most likely wouldn't do well there either, barring EXP.

Assuming if running through ranked. The same could be applied to almost any unit for ranked EXP (even Bartre and Rebecca). I think the point of dondon's post was why field Nino to take care of Wyvern Riders if Vaida can just as easily take them out and on the same turn you recruit her. Vaida doesn't require a deployment slot like Nino does. And it's not like the Wyvern Riders come turns before Vaida; they come with her.

While I have used Nino (with Afa's Drops) plenty of times, I have to agree with those that Nino almost isn't worth the trouble as an actual unit. She's too fragile for an Est and comes too late which, adding in that she's a Mage, makes her a little hard to raise without extreme bias. And even when I did try to be biased with her, she sometimes didn't get to 20/20. Whereas Erk, Canas, Lucius, and maybe even Pent are much more feasible to get to promoted lv. 20. (No unlimited Arena use = Nino why). Her Con isn't helping; it's fixed by a Body Ring but why give that to her when you could give it to someone who sticks with you from an early part of the game and has added benefits of making the Body Ring work for a longer period of time (like Florina or even Eliwood)? The fact that Fire (you know, the weakest Anima tome) weighs her down initially is ridiculous. She doesn't even have Awakening's stat modifiers to help her. Perhaps if she had like +5 Spd caps or something, she would have been worth the training. (I can't knock that entirely against her but it definitely would have made her stand out more as a unit). As for Afa's Drops, I could put them to use easily on units like Heath and Rath. Low-leveled (generally the case for Rath), earlier recruitment time (even recruited in the same chapter!), and I personally like using them. Bonus points for Heath for being the only Wyvern Rider/Lord you get for a while, while Nino is competing with Erk and Pent for Mage/Sage.