Dunal

Here is a much smaller patch for the 'FERD' ISO. Updating the OP as well. The default patch is also updated. I've done this because some people were having an issue patching with the larger patch which was simply based off of another kind of ISO. Therefore I have individually edited the files for this one, resulting in a much smaller patch. CHANGELOG Part 1 1.2 By the way, I'm currently looking for feedback on the Laguz. I know most people don't care for them much but that's the entire reason I'm trying to change that. Volug is a good basis for feedback since he is the definitive middle ground between bases and growths (for the time he joins). The main questions to ask would be: 1) Are his base stats too good or weak? 2) Does his EXP rate justify his growths? 3) Is his strike EXP too fast or slow? 4) Do you think he could use tweaks to his weapon (such as more MT in favor of hit?) And also for in general: 5) Do you agree with the changes to the Laguz gauges? What further ideas do you have for them? Of course, some questions like the last might be too early to judge. Thing about Volug is that he is a rather central unit in the original game so he does have a big effect on how some maps can be played out. EDIT: Also going to be going back to the part 1 maps and looking for some room for improvement in some of the positioning/layout of units and classes. Anything in particular that should be addressed? Additionally, even though prologue to chapter 3 isn't meant to be overly difficult, perhaps with the changes to Edward/Leo especially, it may be worth looking into adjusting those in particular.

I'll see if I can easily make a patch for PAL. As for Herons, I can just adjust their base levels to the point where the Laguz gauge Galdr is reasonable to acquire. Heck, Rafiel could start with it and could possibly start level 32-34 so that the best one (blessing) is obtainable. I don't consider any of them 'OP' considering the default Galdr is arguably the best one if you're trying to play efficiently. After all, for Herons, level is just a number otherwise. EXP is fixed. So I can just increase them if need be (stats can stay the same because there really doesn't need to be a correlation). I'm fine with Leanne not being able to reasonably get the later Galdrs though since she is balanced to have incredible movement and Laguz gauge. Reyson is currently set to have a maximum 2 turns of being transformed and Rafiel has bad movement. EDIT: Also for what it's worth, Leanne also has the highest magic stat which either increases her healing or damage with cards. Very rarely will you feel the need to use up her turn for the latter but sometimes it can be useful. She should be able to feasibly reach 15 > 30 magic which is 48 MT with the daemon card. =p

I'll be releasing both patches again but with the second being much smaller. It turns out there there's two variations of the NA ISO and I'll need to make a patch for them separately involving applying files for each of them. In other words -- I'll be doing it for you. There's about ~30 files in total. =p Then I'll be able to give you a small patch like the other, specifically for the other type of ISO. I'm currently about to finish 1-3. One thing to note about this map is that I've cut a few of the partner units and reduced the enemy count a bit also (and completely changed positioning/classes). I felt this was necessary since with the enemies being much stronger -- the map just takes too long otherwise and EXP rates become crazy. I'm fine with this map being an EXP fest for the knights (they kinda need it) but not to take it too far. At one point I was able to get Geoff to level 18... from 8. Enemies (all being promoted) start at a lowish level (3) at the bottom of the map but rise to 8-9 towards the end. You can feasibly get everyone to level 10 or so. Which is saying a lot since Astrid = 1, Makalov/Marcia = 3, Devdan/Kieran = 5. Geoff will hit 13 or 14 on average (with much better bases than the original at his base level, but same goes for all the knights). Between this map and 2-E + 3-9 you should be able to now get everyone in promotion range which is nice. EDIT: Whoops. Danved is definitely not Devdan.

I haven't really looked up "efficiently" runs of that game and all I can only predict is that only Palla, MU and Sirius (base stats) are the main reason why you can remotely afford to speed through the early maps. I do think to a degree that a game can't be too growth reliant because there is far too much variance in how any particular unit can turn out -- so they can't be too high by themselves. But if the latter maps are tuned around possibly low stat caps that your units can feasibly reach -- and balance enemies according, you can tune things to a point where EXP is important and said later maps can't be stomped. Obviously, map design and player tools (like warping/dancing) contribute a lot to things but this is the main aspect.

Preview for Part 2 Chapter 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8p1NVldlCs&feature=youtu.be Excuse the lag near the start of the video. Fun fact: Lethe doesn't have the base speed (11) to double the halberdiers, but I was lucky enough for her to proc speed through BEXP (with just a 30% growth). Needless to say, she was my MVP during this run. Part 2 will be completed once 2-3 and 2-F are further polished.

You basically just need to emphasise growth rates over base stats for most units to some degree and make it so enemies scale hard into the lategame. That's the best way to make LTCing extremely difficult. And if you -are- LTCing, you'll need to balance EXP and turn counts which I feel could be achieve by the best of players. Let's be honest, FE never scales hard enough and the early maps are nearly always the more difficult ones. And most FEs tend to have enough base stat oriented units to accomplish ridiculous efficiency.

I'm content with the way Laguz are currently but I could revisit this in the future. The "Royal" weapons are currently set to be weaker to their normal counterparts at A and S rank, but become stronger at SS and are faster to reach that (More WEXP). That's their purpose and it's a good way to gate the royals while still making them powerful in the latter parts of endgame. Nailah starts with a 6MT weapon at A, but gets S at 6x WEXP rate and SS at 4x rate which ends with 18 MT. Volug only gets 15 at SS. By the way, I'm taking another look at the tier 1s and am considering making some touchups at some of the units that may need a slight early boost. These units are Edward/Leo/Aran/Meg/Jill and Fiona. Raising all of their base levels by 2 and slightly better base stats. Would be both a nerf and buff though because we're talking only boosts to their primary stats. So Meg or Jill might not gain any SPD/RES, but a couple points in HP, STR and SKL. So less slightly slower increases in the former stats due to EXP gain. I suppose it's overall a buff though. Thoughts if these are necessary or not? The run-down would be: Edward Level 5 +1 HP +1 SPD +1 STR +2 SKL +1 DEF Leonardo level 6 +1 HP +1 SPD +1 STR +1 DEF +1 RES Aran level 9 +2 HP +1 STR +2 SKL +1 LCK Meg level 8 +2 HP +1 STR +3 SKL +5% DEF growth Jill level 14 +3 HP +2 STR +1 DEF Fiona level 12 +1 STR +1 DEF +2 LCK +1 SKL Micaiah/Nolan/Ilyana/Laura left untouched, or extremely minor changes. Considering giving Nolan +1 base SPD for instance. But otherwise, they perform well enough and Micaiah can very easily reach 20 due to 1-9 especially. Laura's bases/growth are fine and Ilyana is just solid all around for a mage -- so I don't think she needs a base buff. Her base stats already justify level ~10 and increasing her base level would just be a nerf so... eh. Ilyana's just really strong already on the virtue of any EXP being lost for the DB come part 3.

His father's weapon is just a higher MT version of his, no? As far as giving Laguz multiple weapons... I'm not sure it would work logically with dragons but it could be plausible to try something with beasts/birds.

Could be something worth experimenting with. I'll likely go back to part 1 and make some further tweaks to the map layout in the future -- so I'll take this into consideration. For part 2 this is something I've moderately changed. The problem with 1-9 is the lack of clarity surrounding the map and a better means to quickly engage Jarod once you've cleared the map. I'd improve that to begin with. I believe someone asked about Laguz EXP in the past and I can confidently say it works this way (or very close to it): Laguz under level 15 are counted as Tier 1 Beorc as far as EXP gain goes. You add 5 to their base level to calculate what their base level equivalent is. Therefore, a level 12 Laguz would be a level 17 tier 1. However, the interesting part is that as soon as a Laguz hits level 15, they gain 15 capacity and are suddenly counted as a level 10 tier 2 Beorc. Therefore for level 15 and beyond, they are a tier 2 and you subtract 5 to their base level to gai nthe tier 2 equivilent level. So a level 22 Laguz is the same as a level 17 Tier 2. When they hit level 25 they become a level 5 tier 3. So you then subtract their base level by 20 to find the tier 3 equivalent level. Therefore a level 39 Laguz is the same as a level 19 tier 3 beorc. With the new Nealuchi, his EXP immediately cuts down by more than half upon reaching level 15, so he gets two levels for "free" almost (base being 13). This makes it so balancing Laguz based on their pre-15 base level is a good means of essentially giving them a "training period", with the level 15 threshold being their benchmark for being solidified strong units. With Lethe, she now comes at level 5 with reduced base stats compared to the original game. So in 2-3 or 2-F, she's in a "training period" where her goal is to reach level 10-15 and reach her S rank weapon. This would make Lethe better upon rejoining the Mercenaries, but without having to simple just flat out buff her -- making her too strong in part 2. After all, she also has a better Laguz gauge. This principle is applied to pretty much all Laguz in the game, with the Royals being the exception where they are essentially the Renning or Bastian equivalents of their non-royal counterparts. With the exception of Nailah and Naesala who could be considered pseudo-Ests, especially Nailah. Or at least for Naesala, just a more offensive oriented version of Nealuchi upon the time of recruitment, but weaker defensively. The Dragons should all just be strong outright, with each having their own strengths. Ena = Offense. Nasir = Movement (utility). Gareth = Defense. Kurth = Essentially becomes all three with some levels and the only playable unit to have Formshift (which might as well be Black Dragon specific now). So yeah, that's Laguz in this hack. Oh and then you have Vika and Muarim who just have ridiculous growths and bases for their level -- to the point where just BEXP can make them decent enough for endgame, since they are much likely to proc speed/strength/defense/res rather than just HP/luck.

Tweak whispers? I'm tweaking almost everything. Caps aside, the problem more lies with Sothe and Heather themselves. Heather is particular is really difficult to justify as a unit in the original, stealing aside. Bane isn't the problem either -- mastery skills mean barely anything when it comes to unit worth. Sothe just has greater growth potential and better fitting caps. Heather is the card master of the game. A 13 base magic with a 55% growth (with a 24/34 cap). Also, higher rank daggers are better. Heather comes with a 10 MT / 30 CRIT Stilletto. I don't think Alder actually has data. Or that his JP name is very different.

You know what, that's not a bad idea. After the hack is finished I could make an unofficial "maniac mode" on a separate hack, with individual balance tweaks. Such as raising everyone's base level and making enemies rather brutal -- and changing their placements/classes completely. Different items/weapons and such too to make it really interesting. I think that will be better than just tweaking enemy bases/growths for hard mode (which just takes away features). Just requires more effort, which is worth it.

What difficulty are you playing? I do recommend normal mode since hard needs its own tuning still. Have you promoted most of your units and are at least using one of Tormod/Nailah/BK? Here is a video example of 1-F. Climbing up the ledges is not something I'd imagine you'd make your entire army do. Just a few. Putting Pass on someone going up the ledges is an option too. Nailah/Sothe/Tormod are good for that. Or anyone else who has ended up strong. Promotion bonuses are huge and since all enemies are promoted, EXP gain for Tier 2 units is decent. As far as some falling behind goes, all those units are behind who? Aran, Ilyana, Jill and Micaiah? You mentioned Nolan being underpowered now so I guessing him not included. Aside from Jill, all of those units are in the same circumstances in regards to leveling. Is there just not enough EXP to go around? It's actually not too difficult to get all the Tier 1s to level 15 by endgame so long as you make use of all of them. Then promote each of them together. As low as Level 12 or 13 is fine for say, Fiona or Ilyana. Heck, Fiona can promote at base level so long as you give her an energy drop or arms scroll (for Silver Lance). Promotion bonuses are so good that anyone should be able to function upon doing so -- and their growths are all good enough to keep them going. Of course, that's on normal mode. These explanations are all on the FAQ. Feel free to check it out. I don't expect everyone to play the same though -- if you want to delay promotions for my growth potential, that's perfectly fine. I just wouldn't suggest doing that for more than a couple units. In my previous run I got Ilyana to level 20 and promoted naturally, but I only had room to do that for her, otherwise some of the other tier 1s wouldn't get enough EXP, or Volug. Then again, for testing purposes it's ideal that I try to use everyone equally, just so I can gauge each unit properly on Part 3 and beyond. As for Nolan... He does gain +4 strength on promotion. His average at Tier 2 is higher than it was before. May I ask how you feel about Volug? There's been no discussion around him so far and he's probably one of the biggest changes. Do you feel his strike rank is still too slow or too fast?

You know... Feel free to say what you feel is necessary to be changed. Rather than just insulting the project/myself. Sorry that I didn't add a... specific poison weapon to Sothe's... contribution? Constructive criticism is valid but "This hack is too similar to the original game!" is... I'm not sure how to process. Yes, it's still the same game. And I apologize for not completely changing the game... I guess? Obviously, RD is terrible and everything about it needs to be changed... Look... Like I said, I'm trying to avoid changing things for the sake of change. I'm changing the game in every way necessary to improve it. If you disagree in some things I'm changing, feel free to mention it, but otherwise I get the impression you just want this game to be entirely different? Well... someone might end up doing that eventually. Good for them, I guess. In an alternate hack Micaiah could be a Fighter and Aran could be a Wind Sage. And 1-F is in a forest and the Wind Edge does magic damage. Yay? But for myself, that isn't the objective. I am sorry that the fundamental structure of the game hasn't changed.

Oh definitely. They'll be a lot more enemy dark magic units. Especially in Part 3+ (Rhys is crying with joy). Reworked a lot, actually. Dark magic units will have huge defense but low resistance/movement. That's the philosophy. On that note, expect a lot of Druids in 4-5... in cohorts with Izuka. As for player units. Micaiah will have excess to Dark Magic, as well as Soren. He has Wind + Dark in tier 2. Dark magic is now extremely powerful but heavy. Expect to never double with them... But ouch. Depends if it's necessary. I personally think the enemy placement and diversity was well done in part one. I don't feel there's much need for change aside from change for the sake of change. So long as balanced is fixed, Part 1 is perfectly enjoyable. I genuinely respect the map design and enemies in part 1. Part 3 however has a lot of room for improvement. I'd personally like the "PVP" battles to be more... involved. Poison for what purpose? In other words, I'm only changing what needs to be changed. Whether what that is or not is debatable, but feel free to exclaim that to me. "minor" is subjective. Is Meg/Fiona/Leonardo being good units "minor" to you? Is Nailah/BK not being auto-win in the same respect? This hack isn't just change for the sake of change -- I'm genuinely just trying to solve the issues the original game had. Adding gimmicks isn't a priority. Clearly, Ilyana being a great unit is "minor"? Of course, balance isn't everything. The game needs to be harder where appropriate. That's also a goal for this.

I respected Part 1's enemy placement enough to not change it too much. I'm guessing that's what appears to be the same? But pretty much every single weapon/unit has been tweaked a fair amount. Almost all changes are listed in the OP. Part 3 and beyond will have wildly changed map setups though. May I ask why you feel that way? The point with that is that every unit is valuable or balanced against eachother overall throughout the game. Same with items and skills. There is more than 10 new skills obtained for Part 1 and far more weapons/items to be had as well. And all units are... good? Makalov will just be flat out better and should be allowed to gain much more EXP in the maps that he's in. He's now practically a mounted Myrmidon with huge speed and caps. Rolf and Shinon's base differences are much closer and now are used specifically for either strength (Rolf) or speed (Shinon). And defense (Shinon) or res (Rolf).

Ilyana is just a better unit, period. I have that covered. I actually plan to remove Dragonfoe (crossbows are too OP with them) so Thunder Magic will just be incredible. Soren is currently set to have 15 base speed but 23 base magic... at level 1. He hits hard, but he would barely reach a cap of 23 now. The plus side is that his tier 2 magic cap is 32. Tier 3 is 44. He is not going to be balanced around doubling. Devdan I have currently set to be THE glass cannon (non-magic) of the game. 24 base STR + 22 base SPD? At level 5? Yep. But... 11 base DEF and 7 base RES (although he does have 55 base HP). After all, Devdan has the strength of 10 men... That's his niche. Nephenee + Aran are more durable but lack either STR or SPD. But Devdan has both... at a price. On that note, HP (and caps) are going way up. Heather is now Gambit. Sothe will have amazing promotion bonuses.

That's a fair enough critism. Too be honest, I had to overtune the Knights because the map design in FE6 is really against them. With Wendy, it's a feasible notion that she isn't even that difficult to grow, to the point where her amazing stat potential went a bit too far. I nerfed Sophia in my last update but didn't touch Wendy, but I should have done so. In FE6 rebirth however, the map design is a lot more favourable towards knights, and Wendy herself has a lot more availability, so she doesn't need to have crazy potential. Either way, FE6 Redux was 3-4 years ago and my understanding of balance has improved since then. I've made it very clear that lower level = better. I was more pointing to the fact that in this community, I've very often seen the criticism that a unit is bad because = low level. That doesn't make sense. You seem to understand that too -- but the point overall is the Dawn Brigade are not necessary worse just because they will end up at a lower level. Going back to Fiona, her being a level 10 tier 1 is the best possible level she could be. And her base stats are well and truly beyond what her level is. That's a massive point in her favor. I can do that, sure. Might make it easier for some people. Although It might be necessary to just individually patch each version myself, rather than other people having to do it. Which will result in a much less hefty patch. For Part 2 I will do this.

@Augestein, do you really not believe the level curve is not going to change? As in something I would not do? Considering this thread is about Part 1 you're really ahead of yourself. EXP is being increased by around ~50% for the DB in part 3. The Greil Mercanaries are having rather significant nerfs across the board. Even if they are a higher level than the Dawn Brigade, their stats will be around the same. Level is just a number. Seriously, a unit is actually better if they are a low level. They gain more EXP and more room to grow. If the mercenaries are at a higher level with not-much-better actual stats, then the Dawn Brigade has not got a problem. Heck, with that sentiment you could argue the DB are too good in comparison. It's not like it's something I haven't thought about... You now have an Ike with 18 base speed, 40% growth and starts level 5. Compared to Micaiah with a 19 base speed at level 1, with a 55% growth and better cap. Considering this is Micaiah we're talking about here (who still isn't supposed to be amazingly fast)... um yeah. It's actually quite easy for the DB to match up to the GM -- and it might well be that I've tweaked things to be too much in favor of the DB, if anything. So on that note.. there isn't much to worry about. A level 10/10/1 Fiona is about on par with a -/15/1 Oscar, skills not even included. Reducing their Proc chance should be doable. I think it's appropriate for them to be stronger than crits though. If they occur more rarely I think they should be fine. I understand their secondary effects aren't too prominent but we'll see... I can look into balancing them when we get to that stage. Exactly. I didn't mention before because I assumed everyone else knew this fact. Sanaki not having staves the sole reason as to why she just doesn't match up to other magic units. Therefore her being able to use all SS tomes isn't exactly an incredible thing. Not when you can bring Ilyana to heal and bless bolting if you really need to. But the thing is, if you are using Ilyana, why aren't you making Sanaki use Balberith or Rexcalibur or something? Unless you're using like 3 other archsages or something.... Sanaki being able to use the left over SS tome is too good, why? You seriously going to be using Soren, Ilyana, Calill and Pelleas all in your endgame team? So that Sanaki "invalidates" one of them?

Err... huh? You could easily say the same thing for Calill in the original game if you believe in this argument. Or Micaiah you're suggesting she should have SS light? A unit's niche should be that they are useful throughout the whole game where they are available. Not because of some weapon. Granted, units should be balanced for endgame Sanaki being able to use all SS weapons just means you can train and give her the magic type you are lacking another SS user for. This gives Sanaki a niche considering she's forced. Lucia/Geoff being Tier 3 doesn't magically make them better than tier 2. Worse actually because they get less EXP. Literally no difference making them a ~10 tier 2 and giving them bases that would make the tier 3 promotion bonuses make them strong in part 4. If it does means Oscar and Mia need to have adjusted growths/stats to accommodate for awesome promotion bonuses, then so be it. That can be done. Or you know... being made to be useful in the entire game. Take a look at my video of 1-E. Ilyana has a reason to exist there. For a Laguz that can be up to 6 stats and Nailah's HP and Luck growths can just be lowered if need be. ​2 Speed procs and Nailah's speed base is 32.

I plan on Sanaki being able to use SS for all magic types. Even dark magic perhaps. I like the idea because she's forced into the endgame, meaning she can basically be given the leftover SS tome that no-one else can use. That niche is pretty cool. Problem with Geoff and Lucia being tier 3 is that they suddenly become like Tormod where they're too strong when they first appear. I'm happy to just give them really good base stats for their level (Where Geoff can actually make use of his Paragon) but not too crazy. Lucia's base stats are amazing as a level 10 Tier 2, and with an instant master crown in part 4, she should be pretty good. In retrospect the T3 skills aren't actually that broken. They're just glorified crits (depending how 'broken' that is) . I think with enemies being stronger (and tankier) then they will no longer be one-shot by them for the most part. Except for things like Astra or Rend which is x5 damage. They just feel broken because enemies are very squishy in this game. Critical hits are fair game and skill activation rates tend to be lower than them. Nailah is a great candidate for BEXP in part 4. She's only level 16 means she is very efficient with it. Her growths will prioritize important stats. Sigrun being Tier 3 is fair game I suppose. That may well be the case. I don't like the Herons being low level because the only thing it does is give them less Galdr options. In fact their level is otherwise extremely pointless. Each of them will probably only gain 5-7 levels in the entire game. So setting Rafiel to ~34 may even be the correct answer, because he'll actually be able to realistically get the final Galdr. Otherwise, Reyson is nerfed by having a bad Laguz Gauge and worse movement than Leanne. EDIT: Oh and I've recorded a preview for Endgame: https://youtu.be/0Gva9awBM0s Not the most efficient play. But either way you can see Fiona in use and she performs very well with Pass. No-one else can have Celerity+Pass aside from Tormod. That particular Fiona I got to level 12 with BEXP before 1-7. The gave her two levels in 1-7. Gave her an energy drop and then an additional one level of BEXP + Master seal. That's not exactly a huge amount of resources and she became excellent.

I'm not saying that. It's just a point that she's fantastic later. Doesn't. change the fact she's still decent early. Yes I am. You're saying Fiona is not good at 1-7. I just refuted that point? Isn't that what the entire point is? If I'm correct in saying Fiona is decent at 1-7, what point are you trying to make here? You're not even making any corrective statements "Oh Fiona needs 2 more points of base STR" "Oh Fiona needs enough speed to double everything" "Fiona needs 3 more base DEF to survive an extra hit". Rather than saying "Fiona needs to be buffed more because er.... I say so" or "She needs to be better so she's an auto deploy in 1-7". Because under any extreme efficient play, Zihark IS an auto deploy. Do we really need another one of him? She's already close to that -- zero EXP investment and already good. She becomes even better in Hard Mode because of that. I'll do it again: 10/1 Fiona in CH1-7 HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES MOV 36 13 6 19 17 11 14 7 9 +6 HP per turn. 13/1 Edward in 1-7 HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES MOV 39 14 3 15 21 13 11 6 7 Wrath 15/1 Nolan in 1-7 HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES MOV 43 17 3 15 15 11 13 6 7 Nihil Is Fiona really that bad with no resources? Yes or No? You really didn't answer this question. You're saying that she isn't worth the deployment slot but can you please actually argue this fact? And I already mentioned that If Fiona does need to be buffed then her base STR are a good Valve for that (Did you read this?). There's totally a middle line between not buffing her at all and making her a LV5-10 Paladin. But for all intents and purposes she might as well be a prepromote if you want her to be. Only her STR is iffy but that can be fixed with the Silver Lance or a forge. Or an energy drop etc... I apologize for the tangent but it seriously just seems like my point isn't getting across. You didn't bother to contest any of the valid points I made surrounding character comparison. It's fine to argue that she might need a little bit more of a boost. That's fine. To say however that she's still bad and needs a significant change is incorrect. I'd be interested is hearing your thoughts on Nephenee in the original game. She's not considered a bad character by any means -- average at worst. But she certainly requires time and resources to be good. Fiona is at least at that level and that's assuming you don't promote her right away. If you do, she gains enough of a boost to automatically be good by default, with good enough growths to carry her into tier 3. Part 3 is being designed to offer more EXP to the Dawn Brigade so that issue in comparison to the mercenaries is a less relevant too. And for what it's worth, Fiona can promote and sit on the bench until part 3 and be usable. Can Edward/Meg/Aran/Leo do that? I doubt it. And she gets the best of both worlds by having the option not to promote and being even better come part 3. She's really flexible. You can give her a couple Blossom level ups w/ BEXP to promote her at level 12 or something -- and chances are she's going to be fantastic in 1-E. She may have low availability and unfavorable maps at times (although honestly the indoor maps are not an issue any more with Celerity, only 3-6 is annoying for her). What I'm saying is that she's GOOD on recruitment (with very little investment, and gets even better as the game goes on. Feel free to argue that point but I haven't seen you even mention her actual stats yet. I bet if I just listed her as a level 3 paladin with her (amazing) promotion bonuses added to her base stats we wouldn't be having this conversation (And that would actually be a nerf to her!). I'm surprised how people think a low base level is a bad thing. "Oh a level 10 Tier 1 unit this late? Must be bad!". Sorry if that sounds patronizing but It's genuinely the point of view I'm seeing currently.

If people can agree with Fiona being too weak later on -- that's fine. Her base STR is a good valve for that. However, for the sake of argument let's take a look at Fiona's 10/1 stats for 1-7: Fiona HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES MOV 36 13 6 19 17 11 14 7 9 +6 HP per turn. So... according to yourself, these stats are not good enough at all to compete with the rest of your army in 1-7 for a deployment slot. Surely she can't complete with someone like Edward, and she can't be given any resources whatsoever. So by that logic, let's just make her not require a master seal and buff her stats more. HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES MOV 39 15 8 20 19 13 15 8 9 +8 HP per turn. Great! So now she's "balanced" right? Wait... She's now almost strictly better than Zihark. So... let's buff Zihark! Wait. So if we buff Zihark, we would need to buff Edward. After all, we don't want to make Zihark strictly better right? Okay, so we've buffed Edward, but that just makes him better compared to all other tier 1s. Let's buff everyone then! We'll also need make Master Seals cost 0 gold because Fiona is now a Tier 2 for free so why does everyone else need to pay? ... You get where I'm going with this? And you're also worried about Zihark it seems. But you want Fiona to be buffed. Though you also don't want Zihark to be outclassed (That is conflicting!). So do we buff Zihark then? But Edward is already balanced against him and Zihark comes a great unit with no investment needed. The entire basis of this argument was that Fiona's 10/1 stats aren't good enough and she still needs changing. But there's also concern now that Zihark can't compare to them? So do both Fiona and Zihark need to be buffed or something? Who are we comparing them to now? Edward? Meg? Also, Level 5 Zihark is for the start of endgame. He'll probably be 7 or 8 by the end of 1-F. After all, all enemies are promoted at around level 3-5. I disagree. There are plenty of units who just aren't that usable at all, especially in hard mode. Can someone like Makalov feasibly be called 'good' if you don't put a huge amount of resources into him? Errr... no. There's plenty of units with the same problem. Interestingly enough, you say that FIona is not worth putting resources into... and then argue that in the vanilla game it's plausible to put resources into everyone no matter how bad they may be. Lyre can simply have a better Laguz gauge. She is currently set to gain +6 gauge per battle but lose 15 gauge per turn (this is how cats work now). That's an excellent gauge. Yes, it is possible to tune every type of Laguz weapon (on a per-rank basis) but not per Laguz. The cats share the same weapons for instance. Cats for instance gain +15% crit at S rank and +25% crit at SS. That's just an example of a change I've made. Lyre can't have a different weapon to Ranulf though. For unique properties like effective damage -- that can be added too. I'd be very much against it though just because Laguz weapons have high MT, and tripling them is pretty obscene.

I just released an alternative patch. This should work for people who received an error before, as it's based on a different version of the ROM. It's a much larger patch as a result. It may well be the original patch is for the PAL version -- which was/is unintended. But if true, would explain the errors some people are receiving. That or it's the other way around perhaps. It also includes a very minor change: [Jarod 1-9] - Now has a Short Spear as opposed to a Steel Greatlance. This second patch will probably not work if the first one did though. For the next (big) update, both will obviously be affected.

Being on a horse in Part 4 is not exactly a good thing. And endgame maps are compacted enough where movement isn't a huge factor. Silver Knights did not have good DEF and RES. Quite bad actually considering Fiona's growths. Other stats were okay I suppose. Zihark is fine yes, because he's immediately great and joins a couple of maps before Fiona catches up to speed. He also requires no resources to be good. His stat potential is lower than others but the fact that he's by default great is a small price to pay. And this argument is a bit conflicting. So if Fiona is a level 10 Tier 2 (which I'd imagine would make her better than Zihark) That's good, but Fiona being comparable to base Zihark when promoting with some BEXP and a master seal isn't (and a couple maps later no less)? Which is it? So long as Fiona is useful in the maps she appears then I don't see the problem. She's not amazing in 1-7, but a few levels and a master deal makes her good in 1-E. Edward isn't exactly that great either for the first few maps he's in. Neither is Soren in the original game. Nor Nephenee. Units don't have absolutely have to be incredible the first time you have them. And therefore Fiona does not need to be 1RKOing everything at base. It's not like she needs a huge amount of investment either -- as much as you'd expect for a tier 1 unit. Her base stats actually match what a level ~14 unit should be, not 10. She's actually quite on par with everyone else. Statistically Jill wouldn't be too much better at a much higher level. And she hasn't really been changed much at all. Why not? In part 4, there's three different groups, and pretty much everyone you choose regarding those three groups are deploy-able. Are they not? The whole point I've been trying to make with part 1 is viably having the entire Dawn Brigade promote at around LV14-16, so they are all usable in the long term. They're no longer have to be "optional". You don't need to low-man with a few units. This principle is applied throughout the whole game. Ideally that's now the situation. In part 4 no-one needs to be left out unless they are genuinely neglected or have just had poor level ups. Sure, some units may need a Master Crown prematurely just to keep up, but should still be abel to contribute as a result, if only a little. Mist will have a lot more STR and DEF, that's for sure. 10 movement isn't too crazy when you consider some of the older games. Non-mounted = 7. Mounted = 10. Silver/Gold/Seraph knights also have 10 movement. Wyverns are still 9 though. Leanne also has 10 movement transformed.

I don't see why they should have low uses. That's essentially the same as saying they should be expensive. And I really doubt people would bother with them since weapon ranks aren't exactly difficult to increase in this game and there are quite a few arms scrolls. The sacrifice of using Bronze weapons in any scenario is the fact the are weak. I don't see why they should have low uses or anything. The real question is: why have uses to begin with? They are the worst weapons. I don't think they even need to be a gold sink whatsoever. They need more incentive to be used. Not less. The only purpose of uses is gold value so... I don't see why that's necessary. I doubt someone who's playing really efficiently will care to use them at all considering the higher ranked weapons that are available are easily reached with just normal weapon uses or arms scrolls. I'd have to completely rework weapon ranks to make Bronze weapons great in this regard. I'd rather just leave them as a nice bonus though. The idea is solid but I don't think they'll be vastly used or anything.