General Horace

I think I dropped 95 bucks on Lufia II a few years back, nothing else comes to mind that was near that price It's a good thing I got Earthbound before it became expensive.

the biggest issue with FE8's difficulty is they give you the three best units in the game by chapter 2. Past chapter 2, most of the units are pretty underwhelming, aside from like, Artur, Gerik, Saleh, Eph!Duessel and Cormag. I still think FE9 is easier though, at least FE8 has some enemies that hit hard. FE9 enemies just have a lot of defence, and FE9's player units as a whole are a LOT better because of BEXP. As far as promotion goes, I'd say it depends on the unit. Someone like Gerik or Cormag with fantastic bases can afford to promote a little earlier since they gain a LOT from it (Cormag needs the extra speed and Gerik axes or extra movement) whereas someone like Forde who's bases are honestly pretty terrible could stand to wait a few more levels past 10 to get a few extra levels. Healers should almost always be promoted ASAP (or not at all really) since the game is shorter than most and they fall behind in levels fast, and lots of promotions of magic users give them D Staves at worst, which is good enough.

The Hauteclere isn't actually a PRF, it only requires an A Rank in Axes.

For the sake of comparison, I just used two other gen 2 mounts that use swords (which are generally the best units). They'd all be pretty interchangeable honestly, they'd all have A swords and similar stats. I think Oifaye and Delmud just have better skills (unless Delmud has a crappy father like Claude or something) If Alec had the Mistoltin I think he'd be a ridiculous unit in gen 1. It'd be kinda redundant on Noish though since he already has critical.

WRT to chapter 8 Ishtar, she's a massive chump, anyone with a hero sword and 19 strength (or 14 and the power ring) ORKO her pretty easily As long as said unit had a mount, I think Mistoltin would be just as strong. Aless without Mistoltin is probably a worse unit than Oifaye or a competant Delmud (who are also pretty good but my point still remains). Being immune to staves is really a big deal.

Tiki would likely be pretty tough if not impossible to recruit too, I don't think you'd have enough capable units to beat her paralogue

I think a better requirement for one of said gaidens instead of keeping said units alive, if said units were a combined level of "x", although depending on how you used said units you could just have say, a very overlevelled Stahl and Lon'qu and everyone else at base (although you could probably still beat the chapter). I like the idea of gaidens that make you utilize other options though.

Ichival's hit is really bad too, it's a really underwhelming weapon. The Gae Bolg isn't very good either despite it's bonuses.

man, manaketes are dumb how many more turns do you think this chapter would have taken if their AI was not retarded and OHKO'd Niime or killed Miledy when possible?

the second part is totally not true all vastly successful people didn't just become successful by chance as for the topic at hand, you have to make yourself sound like a superstar, although without knowing what the context is, it's hard to know how much you can get away with. so pretty much what most people have been saying

nah, it's been the same patch throughout. It's a total non issue since i'm not using him anyway, but it's still strange, after chapter 16 I stopped playing for a good while and just picked up the file again the other day, so I can't really say if I did anything different... paying hugh the least amount of gold now the best strat i'll see if I can replicate it if I play through again though.

to be fair, the + 10 skill and speed are almost just icing in the cake for the real bonus, the +20 res it's really a godsend in the last chapter (and vs Alvis I guess) It's the reason why Mistoltin is so good too, since other than giving Critical, it bonus really sucks, although the +20 skill does synergize with Critical I guess.

didn't record castle by caslte tc's because my notepad didn't save after a windows update CHAPTER 6 - 19 TURNS Lakche and Skasahar charged, clearing the path for Celice. Oifaye killed the first boss after either Skasahar or Lakche killed an armour blocking the way. He then bought a heavily used lightsword courtesy of Skasahar (he normally can't afford it) and charged ahead, Lakche baited Johan's goons (she was on lowish HP) allowing Celice to run through (I think he tanked one of Johan's chumps) Recruited Johan who thankfully wasn't Astra'd or critted to death by Lakche. Tristan, who protected the home castle, eventually caught up and lured Johalva and his goons around and was healed by Mana and Julia Oifaye killed all of the axegoons with the Light sword, then finished the hero axe guy on the enemy phase. Celice had to hang back a bit to not aggro any enemies Oifaye arrived at the boss a turn ahead of Celice, and killed him from range with the light sword. CHAPTER 7 - 33/52 TURNS I almost think I forgot to move Celice a few times or something this took so long. Leen actually might not have been worth it! Especially without a warp staff to send Celice around. anyway, Celice is OHKO'd by dark mages, but thankfully all my units sans Tristan (who almost did) ORKO'd Dark mages, so Oifaye killed the one in Celice's way, while everyone else took on the rest of them. Fin used the return ring to come home and help out. Shanan killed the boss and let Celice seize when he finally arrived. Everyone charged south and Oifaye hero sworded the boss. Janne and Leaf ran around and leaf tanked an armour once a turn so Janne could heal him. They got the speed ring at one point too. Doubled back for Leen, took a long time. Lakche killed blume, she could actually tank a hit and is ready to promote. Got Linda and sent her and Janne through the arena.

is Sigurd allowed to eat one of the villagers in chapter 4? CHAPTER 3 - 16/76 TURNS SYLVIA danced dudes up north, ayra drew fire from the bow guys Fin killed the boss and returned himself. Noish and Cuan killed a mage and knight that were in sigurd's way. 4 turns to Madino Midir took out a few cross knights on the enemy phase after they spawned, and took out a few more the next turn. Fin got danced by Sylvia who hung around where deirdre gets kidnapped, and ran ahead and killed the crossknights that didn't go after Midir with a Javelin. Lachesis was danced ahead by Sylvia to make Eltshan go away and Alec, Midir and Fin all got a second action to clean up the remaining cross knights. Sigurd and Cuan eventually were danced by Sylvia, and Fin weakened the boss over two turns to 3 hp (unintentionally) for Alec to steal the kill with the light sword. Noish got the strength village, and bought Ayra's hero sword and hung out up north, waiting for the pirates. Fin returned home. OH YEAH remembered to start moving Aideen up north at some point. 5 turns to Silvail Fin sold the return ring, and Sigurd bought it and used it, which he then sold, to buy the Leg ring Noish Sold after killing the pirate boss. Briggid stayed as close but as safe as possible, while Ayra went north to try to help out with with Fin, who rebought the Return ring en route, I think he might be of some help in chapter 7 without sitting around Lenster. Ethlin bought the Iron Cutter to make Leaf's life a little easier, since I don't wanna just sack Lenster since I have Janne. Noish didn't reach the boss's area fast enough since he had to sell the leg ring, so he had to take a turn to kill the guy in front of the boss, then the boss himself. I probably would have taken the extra turn for Ichieval anyway. 7 turns to Orgahil decided to tank a penalty if Sigurd isn't allowed to eat the villager, I didn't do it for stats he'd need to survive anything, I just needed Midir to occupy a space said villager was on to be danced by Sylvia CHAPTER 4 - 22/96 turns leg ring to Sylvia, she danced everyone up ahead to the north castle, Noish killed a bunch of pegasus knights, Briggid actually killed the boss. Sigurd got a village along the way because he actually needs the money! 10 turns to Thove Mahnya died and stuff, and people bought the return ring and headed home, with Sigurd buying it last after visiting the northmost village. Sigurd, Midir and Noish ran as far right as possible with dancing, right before Lamia and co they stopped (noish aggro'd an archer and a couple of mercs or something) and Sylvia danced them past, Midir killing the general in the way, and Noish killing the boss with the hero sword. 12 turns to the last castle. CHAPTER 5 - 17/113 turns First castle was easy, Noish lead the charge, and some funny stuff like magic ring!light sword Alec actually ORKO'd the axe knights and bow knights. The boss was killed by Midir (Killer bow) and Briggid with the Ichival. 4 turns to Longfart ran across the desert and stuff, Sylvia danced and stuff. Sigurd tanked a meteor. Midir killed the boss, and someone killed the priest blocking sigurd's way to seize. I forgot how many turns it took to get here though. Sylvia sold the leg ring, Sigurd bought it and fixed Tyrfing so he wouldn't be targetted by Meteo's across the desert, and he crossed the trigger point for Leptor far ahead of everyone. Midir, Noish and Alec lured some enemies away that they couldn't kill (so they wouldn't attack Briggid) and Briggid ORKO'd Leptor (she lived with 2 HP) with Ichieval, allowing Sigurd to just walk up to Aida and end the chapter.

I think having Sigurd here would have only saved a turn or 2 at most, Fin is just the best chapter 2 unit ever, and Midir and Cuan are probably #2 and 3 (Lex might be better than Cuan, idk) He just really shines in killing the armours at the northmost castle, even a maxed strength Sigurd can't kill the armours there without a critsword (or the Hero Lance I guess but he'd have to wait around a bit for that) He's also really good at clearing enemies on the way to the third castle. The hero lance is seriously the best weapon ever like he's level 26 now that's how much work he did

woo have the day off work today. Gonna probably make a lot of progress since i'm in an FE4 mood. Chapter 2 - 25/61 turns Alec and Noish tanked the enemies for Sigurd, who was shielded off by Midir and Cuan anyway near the top of the knights. Midir killed the boss with the killer bow and Silver Lance!Cuan + a Javelin from Noish killed the dude blocking Sigurd from seizing otherwise 8 turns to Heirhein Everyone went north, Alec had to heal at the arena, and Fin was sitting on 17 HP or so, and Noish was on 22 or something, but they weren't paramount to the chapter's completion. Sylvia triggered the enemies to move when they could (they move when one of them is attacked, since the bandits are technically from Anphony they count). Fin knocked himself down to 2 HP on one of the Axe knights, and then wiped all the melee knights guarding the castle with prayer, then killed Voltz (who was weakened by Cuan) and used the return ring to head home. The boss was dealt with by Light Sword!Alec, Midir, Cuan, and finished off by Noish. I needed either a crit from Midir (he had full HP so charge was in the question) a continue proc from Cuan, or a Crit from Noish to make this work, so it wasn't actually too bad. 5 turns to Anphony the next castle was only unfourtunate because Sigurd had to stay out of the range of the mounted enemies, which meant he had to hang back a bit (they'll target Fin and Cuan instead of him and Ayra was too low) Speaking of Ayra, she pulled the mercs and bow dudes and mages over and had help from Lachesis's knights (and eventually Fin and Cuan). Deirdre warped Cuan to Heirhein to give him a little bit of a boost. Fin killed the boss, which is sadly kind of a waste of gold (sleep staff so good) Midir ran along the top of the map after clearing the arena to clear out the knights. Alec and Noish collected villages, I think they'll cap out on money. 8 turns to Mackily Deirdre warped Sylvia to Mackily, and she danced Fin, Sigurd and Cuan ahead (with Fin in the lead) Fin killed the boss (he had to dodge a 55 to survive) and then routed the rest of the enemies more or less, and Alec was warped ahead to deal with a rouge Troubadour that wanted to fight Sigurd (he was still equipped here for some reason). Noish continuted to collect villages. Fin cleared out a ballista (his hero lance broke fighting the cavalry brigade) allowing Cuan to ORKO Shagaal with a continue proc with the Silver lance and canto out of the way allowing Sigurd to seize 4 turns to Agusty Stats in a second, just gonna post them too lazy for screens i'll post this though, Sigurd almost died to ballista UNIT LEVEL HP ST MG SK SP LC DF RS NOTABLE ITEMS NOISH 20.45 50 19 05 14 16 10 17 06 SKILL RING, PURSUIT RING ALEC 17.08 42 15 00 14 12 04 12 01 ELITE RING FIN 26.57 51 24 02 17 22 18 19 03 RETURN RING, SPEED RING CUAN 19.68 51 23 02 12 15 07 17 05 SHIELD RING MIDIR 19.88 43 14 01 11 18 06 09 00 BARRIER RING DEIRDRE 08.77 30 00 15 09 13 07 04 19 AYRA 16.24 38 14 01 24 22 06 09 02 SYLVIA 08.90 32 03 01 04 12 07 03 09 KNIGHT RING, BARGAIN RING

Not sure if this was supposed to be fixed (you seemed aware of the problem back in a post in August) but the cheapest priced Hugh's stats are... interesting to say the least. from what I recall, they didn't bork until after chapter 16, but I honestly can't say for sure since I never used him to attack anything and I didn't check his stats in 16x either, this is just how he was at the start of chapter 17.

tbh i never really forged in awakening because I never needed it (also I forget it exists most of the time). I don't think I ever forge anything past +5 anyway (other than like a +10 pachyderm forge) in any other game. it might be harder to do H5 without forges, ridersbanes hit kinda does suck and it nerfs Shiida a bit there's still warp and stuff though. i've beaten H5 enough that even without forges I don't think i'd find it challenging anymore though, although I think it's just a result of knowing the game too well. The biggest issue would be hitrates though, forges really do improve reliability a lot in that regard.

4x is only really hard on the first turn (where it is kind of luck based) but past that it's pretty easy. At least if you get unlucky on turn 1 you can just restart and not lose a whole lot. Whereas in chapter 4 its unfourtunate if one of dalshien's dudes crits you after playing chapter 4 for like half an hour

killer weapons are more op than brave weapons, they're always like C rank (wtf?) and are mass buyable. They're pretty retarded. I actually liked Con though, it limited some units (like pegasus knights) from just using whatever weapons they wanted, although stuff like Isadora having 6 con was incredibly stupid. I hope forging is removed or restricted to certain weapons though, it's a totally broken feature. H5 might have been tougher if you couldn't just OHKO the cavaliers with a forged Ridersbane and then OHKO knights with a forged hammer! There go like 80% of the enemies in the game!

what chapter (in any game you've done) was the hardest to plan for and why? what unit (again in any game) have you thought would be bad or even worthless but ended up contributing at least a decent amount?

i think they at least provide a change of pace, and the game always gives you a way to work around it (torches, torch staves) except for maybe the first few in thracia

I think the rules might need to be tweaked a bit, I can't imagine killing early bosses without all these units. We'll have to see as everyone progresses.

if Lex gets the hero axe (probably worth it honestly) he can probably do it eventually, he might even be promoted by that time if he gets enough exp, elite OP CHAPTER 1 - 22/36 TURNS Everyone charged south, with Fin and Alec luring in a brunt of the enemies, the boss was countered by Cuan on the enemy phase. Fin killed an Archer in his way, allowing Cuan, Sigurd, Midir and Noish to run through. The boss died to Javelin!Noish, Midir, and Cuan. 4 turns to Genoa Ayra chased Alec far to the right, and Fin prayer tanked a good majority of the bandits (he ORKO's them). Alec lured some of the enemies around the throne up above the road, allowing for Fin (who healed at the church), Cuan, Midir, Ayra and Noish to start making their way through them. Cuan Javalin'd Kinbois on the turn before I seized to weaken him up a bit, then a combination of Cuan, Alec, Midir and Noish finished him, with Noish getting the kill and the skill ring. 5 turns to Marpha Ayra with her 3 movement on the forest moved ahead after doing the arena and actually did a pretty ok job at clearing out the bandits. I trapped Jamka with her and Deirdre (after he attacked Sigurd) and then blocked Deirdre off from Jamka with Ayra, and Jamka went after Midir, allowing me to recruit him with Aideen. Cuan killed the boss over the course of two turns, while Deirdre drew some fire from the archers, and Ayra helped mop them up. 11 turns to Verdane

don't worry he still manages to just fail to be useful in chapter 1 (by one strength) and is incredibly shitty in chapter 2