Radiant Dragon

The preparations shop doesn't exist in Hard Mode.

I was starting to wonder if I was the only one who hadn't received my role PM... I likely won't be on the rest of the day, however.

As long as I don't die Night 1, I'm happy. I want the chance to do something...

I was planning to complete the normal mode draft before going back to this one, but after my screw-up in that draft resulting in having to restart from the beginning, I'm going to complete chapter 7 in this draft and move on soon, despite the fact that I don't particularly like my picks. I will finish both drafts, though. I just don't know how long it will take. Unfortunately, I won't be able to post much, if any progress for the next few days (or possibly a week) due to Real Life getting in the way. I'll still be online a little, though. Edit: And I second the fact that building staff rank sucks. The main problem is that staff users can't get the +2 exp from a killing blow. It's FE 9 all over again...

Mage 26 Myrmidon 26 Nomad 20 Mercenary 17 Pirate 18 Wyvern Rider 15 Manakete 13 Ballistician 6 Dancer 13 Bard 12 Beast 6 Bird 6 Monk 11

I find this kind of ironic, considering FE6's was based off of FE4's...

I'll sign-up as a replacement or a sub.

V did that too? I don't think I've ever noticed. Then again, I did only play that game once... And yeah, I was surprised the roles of rods and staves was seemingly reversed in XII. In most games, rods improved black magic(k) and staves were for white mages. It is only a 50% increase in XII as well, but practically everything is weak to an element in XII also. They're only really useful with the -ra and -ga spells (and Aero) however, since the base Fire/Thunder/Blizzard spells kind of suck. For example, a lv.35-40 Ashe or Penelo can make short work of the Draklor Laboratory with the Cherry Staff and Aeroga (and the Imperials aren't even weak to an element). EDIT: I wasn't trying to say that the other games didn't have element-boosting weapons as well. Just, for me the one's in XII are the most memorable since I've played that game most.

Somehow, I forgot that Zeiss is required to go to 21x (I thought you only needed Miledy). It would've been nice to have remembered this after chapter 16... And I don't have any other saves. I'm going to have to restart all the way from chapter 1... Understandably, I might not post any progress while I gather the willpower to try again. I WILL finish though, I've just experienced a minor major setback. Congrats on finishing, Silvercrow. I wonder if Ezra and Former Guest will finish as well...

Played and Completed: I, II, IV, V, VI, IX, X, X-2, XII, FFT and FFTA. Played a little of but haven't gotten very far: VII and XIII. Overall Favorite FF game: XII. The tactics ones are great but they're too easy. Storyline: VI. Honorable mentions to IV, IX, X, XII and FFT. Battle System: XII and FFTA. I can't decide between the two because they're so different. World: Spira. Ivalice is cool too. Town: Figaro. Their castle moves beneath the sand and they're the only ones who bothered to rebuild after Kefka destroyed the world. Mini-Game: The Clan Hunts in XII if they count (Yiazmat!), Blitzball (in X. X-2's sucks, reducing you to micromanaging) if they don't. Airship: The Strahl. It doesn't look like a ship or a blimp and I like it better than the ones in Spira. Job: Blue Mage. Using the enemy's skills against them is fun, and they get access to lots of unique abilities. Spell: Cure. Can't live without it Hastega. Getting more actions than the enemy is awesome. Monster: Tonberries. They're so cute and cuddly - and they'll flay the flesh off your face. Summon/Esper/Eidolon: Phoenix, because mass revival is something you'll need when shit hits the fan. Weapon Type: XII staves, the ones that power up my spells and let me nuke a bunch of monsters at once, making my mage the deadliest character in my army. Best Quote: When Vayne is addressing Rabanastre during the ascension ceremony: Vayne: "Citizens of Rabanastre! Is it with hatred you look upon your consul? With hatred you look upon the Empire?" Citizens: "Spit on your Empire!" "Go back to Archadia!" Vayne: "There was little point in asking..." Favorite Ending: IX. Honorable mention goes to Balthier and Fran's fist bump at the end of XII. Favorite Opening: X. Starts out with a pretty cool game of Blitzball and ends with Sin attacking Zanarkand. All the while Auron just walks around, drinking from his jug... Character Best overall cast: VI. Although you seriously start to wonder why some of them are there later on... Favorite main character: Zidane. Dishonorable mention goes to Cloud for being uninteresting, which is not what I look for in my main characters. Character(male): Edgar. Balthier gets enough love as it is. Character(female): Meliadoul. I have no idea why, I just like using her. Yuffie might've made it, but I haven't played VII far enough to see her, so I only know her from Kingdom Hearts. Villains: Vayne, Venat and Dr. Cid. Their plans would've been beneficial for Ivalice as a whole, getting rid of the Occuria's influence. Except for the part where the entire world is ruled by the Empire... Most used character: Ramza, since he has to be deployed for every story battle in FFT, and he's pretty good too. Least used character: Cyan. The dude doesn't have a lot going for him... Music Favorite Soundtrack: XII. I just love listening to the area themes as I go around killing everything in sight (except that one dinosaur in the Eastersand. I thought my Level 3 Vaan could handle that guy first time I played... Ragequit ensues). Song: There are so many good ones (except most of the lyrical songs)... Going with 'Someday the Dream Will End', from X. Lyrical song: Melodies of Life, from IX. I didn't really like any of the others, although I haven't heard XIII's yet. Battle theme: The second part of Apoplexy (the one that plays when you fight Meliadoul and Worker 7), from FFT. Boss Battle theme: The Battle for Freedom, from XII. Chocobo theme: I kind of like the one from XIII. World map theme: Searching for Friends, from VI. Having it start playing as the Falcon is rising out of the ocean is awesome. Character theme: Auron's Theme. Honorable mention goes to Belatrix's Theme, Red Rose of May. Villain theme: Theme of the Empire, from XII.

Cavalier 7 Archer 8 Priest 10 Mage 18 Soldier 4 Myrmidon 17 Knight 6 Nomad 15 Mercenary 14 Fighter 6 Pirate 13 Hunter 7 Wyvern Rider 11 Pupil 10 Villager 8 Thief 10 Manakete 13 Ballistician 10 Dancer 10 Bard 12 Beast 10 Bird 10 Dragon 4 Pegasus Knight aren't that bad, NinjaMonkey...

Yeah, Wendy joins a little earlier than Amelia, but that doesn't mean Amelia joins late. Although I agree that FE 8 is simply too short.

Amelia doesn't join exactly late either (unless you wait until chapter 13...). Also, she actually has decent stats as a cavalier, so she doesn't have to be fed as many kills after she 'promotes'. Also, she can support characters like Franz and Duessel (I'm not sure if those are feasible though, due to either speed or their other options). However, after 8x Wendy becomes a liability on the Western Isles. Deploying 3 knights for the triangle attack is rarely (if ever) a good idea, and she supports with some pretty bad people.

That's harsh. With lots of training/abuse, Amelia can eventually become a good Paladin. That's more than Wendy can ever contribute. They're both bad, though.

More progress: Chapter 19 (11/195) Apparently, Door Keys don't work on the large door… At first, Marcus goes to the left to get rid of two nomads while Echidna (who finally hit S-Rank axes), Barth and Zealot go to the right to fight the other two nomads and the wyverns. Everyone else goes north-west to break the wall down. Then the sages with status staves decide to not miss, so Sue, Igrene and Tate (not too upset about this one) all get put to sleep, and Lugh gets Silenced. So it was up to Roy, Dieck, Fa and Marcus to protect them (and Lalum and Merlinus) from the enemies. The right group goes up the top and buys some Vulneraries. Sue uses the Energy Ring once she wakes up. As it turns out, Fa can fly over small walls (...why? she can't fly over other terrain), so she gets to kill Gel (stone down to 8 uses) while Roy follows and seizes. I actually managed to get to all of the villages as well. Chapter 20 (8/203) I wish I could use Niime… I need staves! In other news, my team is now complete. Echidna used the Goddess Icon and the Dragonshield. Dieck, Echidna, Zealot and Dayan (when he showed up) went west; everyone else went east for the treasure. Sue recruited Dayan as Lalum used Pure Water and Merlinus died. Lugh tanked Berserk and dodged all three hits. Igrene shot enemies over the walls thanks to the Long Bow. Fa, Lalum and Tate grabbed the treasure. I had planned for Lugh and Echidna to take down Roartz, but Echidna missed with Armads. Sue also shot him with the Silver Bow, but she missed too. So Dieck got yet another boss kill. Roy seized afterward. I now have a small fortune by selling all of the stuff I got from this chapter that I can't use. Chapter 20x (12 turns) I ended up seizing three fake gates. The one near the center with Marral (the Sleep staff druid) was the real one. North-east: Roy, Lugh, Merlinus, Zealot, Echidna, Dayan. North-west: Marcus, Sue, Lalum, Fa. South-east: Dieck, Barth, Tate, Igrene. Roy went straight south, seizing the south-east gate, the north-east gate, the north-west gate, and finally the center gate before ending the chapter. Marcus helped kill nomads. Deick fought of the wyverns before defeating the north-eastern boss. Lugh went all the way around and took out the south-western boss. Sue took out the majority of the nomads and killed the north-eastern boss, and helped with the south-western one. Zealot also killed some nomads, and killed the center boss. Tate and Barth were status stave bait. Echidna and Dayan tried to take out the north-eastern boss with Armads but failed. Igrene killed the south-eastern boss and some wyverns. Fa didn't do anything because I don't want her stone to run out. Unit Stats: This is the best Roy I've ever had. That's not saying much, though... Name Level HP Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res Roy 20/-- 30 13 17 18 15 10 04 Marcus --/11 37 12 16 14 11 10 11 Dieck 18/16 56 24 26 21 13 13 12 Lugh 19/09 42 19 18 21 11 11 16 Sue 18/09 45 15 20 26 17 11 07 Zealot --/10 44 14 17 17 07 13 09 Barth 11/04 34 15 09 08 04 20 04 Lalum 11 21 01 03 17 18 05 06 Echidna --/07 39 15 21 21 09 10 07 Tate 10/01 30 08 11 14 03 09 09 Igrene --/07 38 19 20 17 10 12 10 Fa 17 37 15 18 12 30 05 13 Dayan --/12 43 14 16 20 12 10 12

Same here. VP1 is fun. Auto Item + Guts = Nigh invincibility from everything except maybe the Hamsters. Sorcerers can do ridiculous amounts of damage to the entire enemy party as well. It's a little too easy at times... VP2, though... Normal Mode is easy enough, but even Hard 1's (out of 50...) bosses have ridiculous amounts of HP, so boss battles turn into marathons. Some normal battles can be really painful as well, especially later in Chapter 3. As for other games, I'm pretty good at turn-based strategy games, decent at other RPGs, and horrible at FPSes.

Cavalier 12 Pegasus Knight 5 Archer 9 Priest 10 Mage 13 Soldier 8 Myrmidon 12 Shaman 6 Knight 10 Nomad 11 Mercenary 10 Fighter 8 Pirate 11 Hunter 10 Wyvern Rider 10 Journeykid 10 Pupil 10 Villager 10 Recruit 10 Theif 10 Manakete 10 Ballistician 10 Dancer 10 Brigand 6 Bard 10 Beast 10 Bird 10 Dragon 8

Sorry, I just had a really busy weekend, and haven't had much time to complete any chapters. I'm on C19 right now, searching through my convoy and hoping I have a Door Key. I'll post some updates once I'm through with the chapter. Edit: Since I had to restart C18 and buy Door Keys, I'll post two chapters now. Chapter 17 (8/179) The Armory has Silver weapons, but not Hand Axes or Javelins… Merlinus goes for the Armory and Village, Dieck and Igrene happen to be the ones left behind to deal with the eastern mages. I would've left Barth if his resistance didn't suck (and he gets doubled by the mages…). Everyone else heads south-east for the castle. Tate ferries Lugh over the river (A bridge would've been nice), then goes back for Roy. Lugh kills Arcard and Roy seizes before the wyvern riders can eat him for dinner. Chapter 18 (5/184) Uhai has nothing on Monke… Merlinus went shopping (1-2 range! And Door Keys! No Vulneraries though, but you can't have everything, I suppose.) as everyone else went toward the boss. Fa was going to be the one to take him down, but Dieck ended up doing it because Fa only has 12 uses of her stone left... Then again, Durandal is down 7 uses as well… And I don't think Lugh is going to make it to Hammerne. He healed almost every turn these last two chapters, but is still only half-way to D-rank, yet alone C. Sue and Igrene were at their best here, and Barth was actually decent as well, taking no damage from the nomads, nomad troopers and myrmidons. Tate sucks even worse now. Roy and my boss killers charge the ger (it is called a ger, right?), and Roy waits on the outside circle of tents on turn 4. Next turn, Dieck reaches Monke and ORKO's him so Roy can seize after everyone else cleans up. Unit Stats: Igrene finally got more than HP on a level up. Also, Sue has less strength than Roy... Name Level HP Pow Skl Spd Lck Def Res Roy 18/-- 30 13 17 16 15 10 04 Marcus --/10 36 12 16 14 11 10 10 Dieck 18/13 53 21 25 21 12 13 12 Lugh 19/06 40 18 17 20 11 11 14 Sue 18/06 42 12 20 24 16 11 06 Zealot --/08 42 13 15 17 07 13 09 Barth 11/03 33 15 09 08 03 20 04 Lalum 08 19 01 03 15 15 04 06 Echidna --/05 38 14 20 20 07 08 07 Tate 10/01 30 08 11 14 03 09 09 Igrene --/04 35 17 18 16 09 12 10 Fa 14 34 14 15 12 27 04 11

It's hard to choose, they're all good... well, except FE 2's (although, if it doesn't appear during battle, that might be why... still no excuse though). Best: FE 10. Slightly better than FE 9's, despite appearing far less often. Honorable mention to FE 7 and 8. Worst: FE 2. Not upbeat enough for a recruitment theme, in my opinion. By the way, the link provided by the TC messes up FE 7's theme. Here's a better link for that one: http://www.serenesforest.net/media/fe7music/046%20-%20Together,%20We%20Ride!.mp3

I am still available to sub as well, if anyone else ends up not able to participate.

I usually have Oswin stand one down and to the left with the Horseslayer. Two shots with that plus a ranged attack should put Damian down. Unfortunately, this triggers Fargus' pirates as well. Thankfully, the villages make two great chokepoints, so you can take them down relatively safely.

I wasn't complaining about the class names (I don't agree with the changes, but it really isn't that big of a deal). I just didn't see the point of changing them. Also, are you still trying to have 3 tiers? There just isn't enough time in the game to implement that. Sacred Stones is only about 20 chapters long. Radiant Dawn had over 40. And did you say that people will need to abuse in the Tower of Valni? I will admit though, that having characters in the same class have different caps (the fast/strong cavaliers having better speed/strength caps, for example) is actually kind of cool.

Yeah, if Seth gets attacked you'll want to reset, because taking an 8 turn penalty just because a random reinforcement decided to attack him isn't worth it.

Unless you're doing some kind of challenge where you have to steal everything, I don't recommend trying to steal those vulneraries. Those enemies are very dangerous even to sword-users, thanks to the mages, archer, and I think on of the pirates has a Swordslayer on ENM. You're better off just killing them quickly, in my opinion.

Is there a point to changing the names of most of the classes? And honestly, people might be more willing to play your hack if you didn't nerf the player characters so much, and instead just made the enemies even stronger (Seth needs to get nerfed a little, though...). And people LIKE branched promotions.