Inference

FE13 brought a lot of newer players to the series who stuck to the easier difficulties, where Donnel can actually get up to par in a reasonable amount of time. Still, he does have the worst startup in the entire game and is a resource sink regardless of circumstance. The players who adore him are probably the same one who don't quite realize just how easily the game devolves into an Avatar solo. @Pokedude: You're right about caps being irrelevant in the main game, but the rest of the points made in the thread are valid. Caps or no, Donnel is a waste of time.

I make it a point to visit at least one castle with Quartz so that I can accrue the 30 through arena battles before the Lv. 3 Accessory Shop is available. Then, I give the Chef's Hat to Peri and it's +2/+2/+2 stats all lategame. I love it.

"Who are you? Wait, hold your name. What do I care what a corpse is called?" "Sit on your throne... And let it rot beneath you!" I don't adore Hector as much as Eliwood either, but I still find him pretty entertaining and written well enough.

To anyone out there laughing at OP, don't lie to yourself: you know you felt the same way when you first started playing Fire Emblem. Over time, OP, you will have have to realize on your own that there is no real punishment to using the best units in the game from the moment they are available. It's all in your head and everything you were fed about Fire Emblem is a lie. If you want example of what I mean, fire up one of the older games and just cut loose with any of the powerful units they give you from the start. You will win faster and easier, and there will be no obstacle other than yourself to prevent you from doing it. But in the meantime, do yourself a favor: speak less and read more. Learn how other people play and beat the game. You will learn a lot more through lurking than posting.

Yo, I have one part of a two-parter on YouTube. It's a preliminary, 2-min. vid on the setup. My YT handle is SJtheMFZB, and I think it's up now. Hit me back if isn't. I'll do the actual demo after work.EDIT: youtube.com/watch?v=y2p6qHv4N4E

Yeah, please use Camilla on Ch. 10 if you can. Despite her combat garnering 1 EXP at best, you are rewarded handsomely with Brave Axe later in the game.

I might be able to do that for you in the next half-day or so. Check back every once in a while.The strategy only requires three paired fliers, and I think one of them needs to have 9 MOV. I usually have a boosted Xander OHKO him, but last run, it was a boosted Sorcerer Elise with Horse Spirit. I'm on Ch. 17 in this run with Sorc Elise again.

I wouldn't mind having a more in-depth character discussion. Some of the results aren't terribly surprising, but I'm going to need a little bit to chew on for shockers such as Oboro and Kaze. I like them just fine myself, but I don't know if it's for the same reasons as others. I'm thinking a new topic discussing the results might be the way to go; if it bears any fruit, then Dualazi's approach was indeed sound.

Not a unpopular opinion. One of FE7's most common praises among critics is its surprisingly deep character writing for its genre. Granted, at the time of its release, it was compared to the likes of Advance Wars...

I'm probably biased based on the fact that my Marth has a penchant for dodging lethal blows, and Barst doesn't take shit from cavaliers. Fuck, who am I kidding; I know I'm biased.

Yes, Female Corrin is more attractive to male players, and probably female players too. It's not that deep. If you put up a character poll with no criteria other than 'who do you like more?', the female version is going to get a lot of votes based on her looks. Granted, there are different outlooks on how men and women should act in certain situations, but I don't think those are heavily weighing factors. Allow me to also toss in the two cents that Lady Corrin has a few good S-ranks here and there; her S-rank with Odin is one of my favorite conversations period.

I've never run into as much enemy-biased RNG in Shadow Dragon as I have in FE14. No matter what the displayed hit is in FE14, I'm consistently getting hit at percentages lower than 20 and missing at 80%+. FE14 is the only game in recent memory where this has been such a huge problem.

When they do a remake of FE6/FE7 for the 3DS, I expect them to spare no expense on Lyn's animations. She needs to lunge, disappear, and do flips all over the screen like she used to. Then she'll appear in the FE6 part of the game, and it'll be canon because yeah. ... I miss the FE7 Lords.

Even in Hard, he's kind of pointless. Awakening is nothing but growth units, and Donnel is the only one who starts off doing no damage and being easy to OHKO. Plus, he eats experience from way better units like Draco Panne and Pegasus Avatar. Oh, and let's not forget him starting in E Axes or Swords while Sully is probably wielding Silvers/legendary weapons. It's just like...why? As a guy who tends to use Nino in FE7, I understand the appeal to him, I just don't understand why people fail to acknowledge that everyone around him is better.

Yeah, it actually does screw you out of healers to reclass Felicia early, but just looking at things objectively, almost every chapter has a unit that carries in some fashion with little need for healing beyond the occasional Vulnerary. The first few chapters after the branch, for example: Ch. 7: With a Str/Def tonic and Avatar pair-up, Hero Felicia wins. Ch. 8: Felicia wins again. Ch. 9: Felicia or Elise if you built her up to D-tomes in Paralogue 1. This is where Elise begins to steamroll, Ch. 10: Camilla and Beruka do most of the heavy lifting to the left/mid, Odin and Elise OHKO the Archer/Spear squad to the right. Felicia still isn't taking much damage with Avatar pair-up, and can even go BK for the move and Bows. A lot of chapters follow this theme and aren't very hard when planned out. Just be leery of hit-rates. And mind you, you don't have to go male Ava. Female is easier because Jakob is broken and you get Dwyer for healing right away.

If you don't have any magical offense to 1-round Takumi (the easiest way), you can bypass his counter attack with a maxed or almost maxed Shield Guage. I forget what his surrounding force looks like on Hard, but he has a group of units with him in the throne room on Lunatic that you can let aggro you for the Shield Gauge. I didn't think of this in earlier runs, so it was either hope Kana could hit him with DStone+, or throw a beefy physical powerhouse at him and hope nothing activates.

Those same 'facts' had scores of people claiming Donnel was broken in Awakening. Don't believe the hype. Forceful Partner is the shit.

Hit rates are a pretty fucking bug deal in Conquest Lunatic. There are so many enemies coming at you that one miss can just end the game outright. Having at least one Dark Mage around and getting your Avatar at least C-rank with everyone alleviates this problem by a lot. Felicia and Jakob early reclasses shave off a lot of the overall difficulty. It's best to get Jakob in Paladin and Felicia in Hero immediately so that they can abuse the free damage from their skills and build weapon rank from all of the EP they can endure. Hop online and visit a high-BP castle right after the Branch of Fate to get the extra seal for them. Castle battles only grind supports. You can use this to your advantage for immediate S-ranks that unlock the use of Partner Seal-exclusive classes for certain characters (EX: whoever is paired with your Avatar effectively has their Talent) and Paralogues for resources. Any good Sorc can Nosferatu-tank the game. Those Sorcs are pretty much Avatar, Elise (Partner Sealed with Odin), and Ophelia. Elise in particular can start OHKOing with Nosferatu as soon as she reclasses in the early game.

No Hexing Rods. One of the most annoying Staves in ANY Fire Emblem game, that penalty is way too crippling. Seriously thought we were out of the woods when Berserk Staff died and never returned, only to have to deal with 1-10 range of 'fuck you, this area is prohibited.'

The one thing that gives me satisfaction in playing Ch. 20 is killing that little douchenugget Turn 1 every time.

Ch. 20 Conquest would be amazing without the wind. I don't see any reason for it, save for creating unwinnable scenarios for the player.

Well done on the throwback. Nearly had me in tears at work.May as well share this one while I'm at it: just had the best Ch.17 Conquest Lunatic I've had in a while. No one unit carried, aside from Camilla and Xander being their usual invincible, but Saizo was suprisingly MVP for actually clearing out traps instead of running into a horde of enemies and waiting for me to bail him out like usual. The best part, though? He got the kill on Kotaro. Kotaro was alone, surrounded, and completely fucked. So he does what any maniac does and attacks the target he is least likely to hit: BK Felicia with Shurikenbreaker. Felicia just laughs and says, "Thanks for the free damage, bitch." I can imagine Saizo waiting there with the hugest grin as he finishes the job on ally phase, then performs his never-before-triggered dialogue. Was cool. Elicited a nod from me.

Elise is a lv. 1 Sorc w/31 Mag at base. One-shotting enemies before Ophelia is even born. Lmfao. This might end up becoming one of my favorite builds.

Felicia's English voice is holy-fuck amazing. The pitch and nuance are perfect in almost every scenario. ...almost. "You can count on me" is nightmare-inducing. But that's a small price to pay for her shop lines, "Heeeere goes nothiiinnng!", and absolutely everything she says in the Private Quarters "I know we're friends...but I'm still happy to work for you. Call me any time." How can I refuse a request like that? No one in this game nails their part harder.

Have you read some of their supports? They're all pretty good. And I gotta say, Xander basically exudes charisma.