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He might be the better axe user because he has a EXP lead. He's a better unit in general because he isn't restricted to one weapon type, because he is mounted and because he has some fast-ish supports with other good (Lance) or forced (Roy) characters available. Geese has the higher base weapon rank though, so I suppose if we just look at their combat when using axes, he might still be better than Alance. Just being the best at using axes is about as much as an achievement as having the highest Def stat in the game. It's nice and other units would improve if they were given the same Def stat, but Barth is still vastly inferior to all the units that are better in every other way. Now Geese isn't as atrocious as Barth, of course, but the argument still applies to him, too. [Also, if Allen was axelocked, he would have an appropriate axe rank by the time Geese is recruited. So Yojinbo isn't wrong with his PS either.]

Same here! BM is another class that I never really tinkered with in this game, mostly because too much effort. Looking forward to see if they're worth trying out. @Dandragon: Everything's working for me.

I don't know if the crit is as strong as weapon triangle control and Allen's EXP lead. IMO, Geese kinda lacks a niche, at least in HM. Cavs/Paladins are way better during the actual fight. Rutger (and even Fir) are the better boss killers because they have access to way superior effective weaponry. They might lack a anti-Cav sword (lol Rapier), but the Armorslayer is so much better than the Hammer and you only face two Paladin bosses (and at least one of them sucks) anyway. So yeah, it's not wrong to say that characters with axes as their primary weapon are worse as a whole. Both Lances (Milady) and Swords (Rutger) have at least one amazing representative, while the strongest axe users are either decent or hilariously strong and inaccurate. Although HM/Lalum route-Gonzo at 20/1 has only 1.35 less skill than Geese and completely eclipses him otherwise, so I have a hard time calling them even roughly equal. I can't say anything about FE4 and 5, but other than that - yeah, pretty much this. The Hand Axe is an E rank weapon in this game, so actively training their axe rank isn't that important, anyway. I'm definitely not suggesting grinding any E-rank to Killers or even Silvers. ;) Although Killers are only C-rank, so that might actually be a thing in the endgame, but I wouldn't actively put effort into making that happen.

*ackademy Ivalice spelling is fucking stupid. How viable are their buff spells? I usually tried to Shell or Protect a few of my units at the start of a fight, but I never checked how good their damage reduction is. I think somewhere in the midgame I tried Tranq to boost the double-damage-half-accuracy attacks. And yeah, their stat gains are pretty good, or rather their speed growth is. I often put my Elementarist into GM when she didn't have any spells to learn just to make sure her speed wouldn't suck. Thanks for taking the request! :)

Oujay is one of these weird characters who I find decent, but who I still never use. In theory, he joins at a great time because despite being underleveled simply because he should be able to catch up during Axe Islands. But in the end, even if I feel like training up another low-leveled unit, Fir with her HM bonuses feels like the better choice. (And if I feel like being 'efficient', there is probably no reason at all to spend a Hero Crest on him) Micaiah Lilina hype!! With the EXP you've gotten her here and the free training in 8x, she really should be fine, if really frail. But given the nature of the run, I'd still say Lugh with his good everything-but-magic would be better I'm actually curious how ch.9 will go. In a normal playthrough, I'd say it's one of the easier maps in this game, but I wonder how FoW and Iron Man mix together... ^^

So they actually managed to design a character to look even weirder than Nooj. Kudos! I never knew, Luso's portrait and sprite don't look especially out of place in a FF game. You technically start with zero MP and regenerate 10 at the start of each turn, giving you the option to either spam your basic spells (8 MP) or save up for the bigger guns. Or use an ether, yes, but I'm one of those players who must conserve all the resources... -.- Uhm... Probably not the most exciting combo, but how about a Viera Spellblade / Green Mage? A character without ranged offense, but the ability to cast a few buffs when she's not killing stuff? I never really had a physical Viera in my FFTA2 team, so I have no idea how viable spellblades are. I did like green magic as a secondary skillset, though.

And you can choose to ignore it. No reviving can make the fight harder, sure, but at least your units don't get arrested on the spot. The rewards for following the law get less and less relevant because (iirc) they don't scale with your game progress and at the start of the game, most laws are relatively tame. There are some absolute bullshit laws that basically force you to break them on turn 1 (or as soon as you engage the enemy). Those are annoying, no question.

This is very true. I never finished FFTA1 because getting screwed over and over by ridiculous laws in every second fight isn't my idea of fun (I think I dropped it when a 2nd law slot was added), but I had a lot of fun with this one. Building up your abilities and looking for strong combos was probably my favourite part, although getting that 4th Thief ability is a annoyingly large roadblock. Following!

I've taken the liberty to create a new topic about axes. Sorry about the derail, Jotari. So I guess you're an Eliwood/Lyn shipper? ;)

...compared to other weapon types in this game and compared to axes in other Fire Emblem games? Since this discussion seems to take over several other topics, I might as well try and give it an own thread: How good or bad are axes as a weapon type in FE6? Quite a few arguments have been thrown around in on other threads - right now I remembered and found Lord Raven's answer in an advice topic for a FE6 first-timer and several users (including myself) deranging a thread about a possible secondary weapon type for Roy. My stance on this can be found somewhere behind the second link, but to repeat it where it belongs: I'd say that the low accuracy of axes (and the lack of forges or 2nd-tier hand axes) make them weaker than they are in other games with higher hit rates in general. Being axelocked is hardly any issue in PoR, but in this game you'll want higher accuracy via weapon stats and/or the weapon triangle. That said, large portions of the game are filled with lance users, be it the soldiers and knights in the earlygame or the wyvern riders/lords later. Having the option to wield an axe to increase the damage (without lowering the accuracy, btw) and decrease the risk of being hit is very valuable. To quote myself about the question of accuracy: So since we're talking iron tier hier, a lance user (with identical stats) would have 45-55 hit (+5 because of the iron lance's stats, -10 because no WTA) and deal 2 points less damage (1 because the lance is weaker, 1 because no WTA). A sword user would have the same hitrate (+20 because weapon stats, -20 because WTD instead of WTA) and deal 5 points less damage (-3 points because weaon stats, -2 points because weapon triangle). One last point in favour of axe users is their access to a 1-2 ranged weapon. The hand axe does have pretty bad stats, but weakening the enemies during their phase does make the clean-up in the following player phase easier, even if not every attack hit in EP.

Out of curiosity - how did you deal with the ballistae/status staves overlap in ch.23? 356 turns is pretty fast, I think, so I suppose you didn't do the ol' turtle-until-they're-out-of-ammo in these situations. Anyway, congrats on finishing HM. I personally prefer this game's map design over FE7, if only because the bs FE6 throws at you gets less painful if you know where it's going to hit you. Also, Seize (or Kill Boss) is just a great win condition because it allows the player to tackle the fight as he wants. You wanna rout for EXP? Go ahead. You just want to carve a way to the throne? That's fine, too. For me, Defend maps usually play out as "rout in x turns" since they never manage to keep the initial pressure up for the whole timespan; Rout in general tends to be tedious, especially if the map also has reinforcements or forts that injured enemies retreat to.

OK, I didn't catch that you dropped your Dracoshields on Milady. Wise choice! ;) And even without it, she's right on the border of surviving a crit of these wyverns on 20/1... That woman is a monster and it's awesome. The status druids covering the western ballistae is really painful. I think i burned at least one charge of the Saint's Staff and one Rescue to kill the ballistae (somewhat) reliably. You don't really need them that badly in Jahn's chapter, anyway.

Counterpoint: Marcus in the earlygame, as well as Alance and Deke after their promotions. Also, are we talking about axes or axe users here? Because yeah, most units with axes as their primary (or only) weapon aren't too hot in this game. But axes themselves are not worse in every situation like you're making them out to be. I gave you the numbers - in case of WTA, most axes are strictly a better choice than swords or lances (of the same tier).

ch23 features max str wyvern lords with killer lances (which means 36 atk, which might be enough for a crit-kill from full health). She'll also face non-zero crit against manakete, making her life in the endgame somewhat risky.

I just wanted to throw out that both the iron axe and the hand axe have only 5 less hit than their lance counterparts. Killer and Silver is a bit worse (10 points difference) and specialized axes (Brave, Halberd, Hammer) really are way less accurate than the respective lances/swords, but in most cases the lower accuracy of axes compared to lances can be offset by the weapon triangle. So since we're talking iron tier hier, a lance user (with identical stats) would have 45-55 hit (+5 because of the iron lance's stats, -10 because no WTA) and deal 2 points less damage (1 because the lance is weaker, 1 because no WTA). A sword user would have the same hitrate (+20 because weapon stats, -20 because WTD instead of WTA) and deal 5 points less damage (-3 points because weaon stats, -2 points because weapon triangle).

I went with PSX era and FF9 as my favorite. The latter was an easy question - Zidane is an awesome protagonist and the cast in general is extremely likable. I even like Kuja and his melodramatic attitude; it rolls just fine with the shakespearean flair of the game. The gameplay was a little slow, but if they fixed that in the Steam release (haven't grabbed that yet) there is literally nothing I dislike about this game. Best era was basically a toss-up between PSX and SNES. I really like FF7 (and i adamantly ignore everything about it outside of the game itself), but I couldn't enjoy FF8. I don't want to argue whether Squall is a bad character or not, but since you experience the setting through his interactions, it really put me off that 90% of these interactions are either "...Whatever." or a judgemental internal monologue. I might exaggerate a bit and I assume that he'll become less of a dick over the course of the game, but I got tired of it very quickly. I don't think I even finished the first disk... FF4-6 I played as their GBA remakes and in my opinion, 5 and 6 are both among the best games in the series. I like both the silliness and the job system in FF5 and (most of) the cast in FF6, although I didn't like the espers and their stat bonuses through level-ups that much. I don't have a strong opinion about FF4 either way, so it's mostly the sheer awesomeness of FF9 that made me also pick the PSX era. Out of the later games, I only played X, X-2 and XII. I do like X, although I feel that Tidus couldn't pull off the happy, sociable protagonist as well as Zidane did. X-2 was very, very silly, of course, but the job system is surprisingly fun to use. XII is alright, but I felt that shrinking most of the areas to half their size would make it much more enjoyable. ;) In all three of these games, I couldn't empathize with the MCs as well as I could in the older games, but I don't know if that's because of the writing or because of me growing old. ;)

The thing about this game - there are very, very few units with bad combat stats, so whether a character is good or not is mostly decided by his mobility (EVERY cav in this game is good and you already noticed how great Marcia is with a little BEXP investment) and utility. That's one reason why Laguz aren't that great in this game. Their combat isn't anything special and Beorc don't have to worry about a transformation gauge. You'll get one accessory that allows a laguz to stay transformed, but it also halves the transformation gains. The other problem with Laguz is their weaponry. Their claws are only as strong as steel-tier and you'll soon be so rich that infinite uses isn't that much of a deal, either. @Berserker: The one you get is slightly squishier than Boyd (still great HP, but poor defenses), but gets the same +15 crit that swordmasters and snipers get in this game. I like him, he's fun. =)

I think you can save Treck somewhat reliably by rescue-dropping Roy a few tiles ahead on your first turn so he can instantly recruit Jerrot, who can then recruit Treck, who can then rescue Roy back to safety (and to recruit Noah). Too late anyway (I missed your last post...), but yeah, Treck isn't the most impactful unit anyway. I always loved his stoner personality, though. Great clear, though! I don't think I ever beat this chapter without having to restart, either... I just checked Allen's averages and was surprised that yours is pretty close to them. HP is the only stat that's more than 1 point off - it's 1.1 below. ;) I guess I always underestimated Noah's base stats because I never bothered with him after seeing his growths (srsly, 30% Strength AND Speed? Fuck off) Jesus, that's one tanky Rutger!

The final boss has 120 HP, so even with capped magic (29), Canas would need a double crit. Crit+hit is only 4 points short, though. Or use Rath instead because ballistae aren't that much of a deal and both of the archers are kinda meh statwise. I don't think either Legault or Matthew are significantly better than the other if trained. But as with Dart, promoting a thief effectively costs you 25000 gold and it's questionable if it's worth it. Since you're forced into Eliwood Mode in your first playthrough, Bartre loses that reason to be used. ;)

...if they weren't forced anyways? And if you wouldn't field them - what would have to be changed to make you change your mind? Of course, I'm assuming no indirectly forced deployment either, for example being the only unit able to seize the throne. For me... FE6: If Roy promoted normally (or at least earlier), I'd probably keep him in my team. If the story promotion was kept in, I might still get him to Lv.20, just to wreck havoc with the Sealed Sword in the endgame. FE7: In my first playthroughs, I always had all three lords fielded, unless they had hit Lv.20 before I got the Heaven Seals. I still try to give both of them enough levels to get to Geitz' chapter, but after that, I usually drop Lyn and occasionally Hector/Eliwood. FE8: I always use both twins, full stop. It helps that I have a bias for non-cavalier mounted units. FE9: Ashnard pretty much falls under forced deployment for Ike, because screw the dragon laguz. ;) In that case, I'd probably drop Ike in favour of another foot unit, just to get a bit of variety in my team. FE10: Same here, actually. I'd probably use Laura as my primary healer from time to time and the Mercs in part 3 have more than enough badass units to choose from, anyway. FE11/12: For thief utility, probably. ;) I like to play around with reclassing a bit, so Marth isn't really my favourite unit in either game.

You do get more options after promotion (paladins and heroes) and since both Hand Axes and Steel Axes are E-ranked in this game, you can a) use 1-2 range from the get-go and b) grind their axe rank reasonably fast with a steel axe. And, as Levant just ninja'd me with, for some reason Dart's promotion item sells for 25k gold, making him basically as expensive to use as Farina (with her 20k recruitment and less expensive Elysian Whip)

You do get a world-class berserker later on, though. :D But yeah, Boyd's one problem is being a foot unit, especially since wissenschaft tries to play a low-ish turn count run. True, Ike/Elincia is implied pretty heavily, but it is also easy to interpret Sorens fixation on Ike in a romantic fashion. I do agree that it doesn't necessarily seem like a healthy (potential) relationship, what with Soren not having any other interests. IRL, they might be one of those couples that are super into each other but don't manage to talk out their first big row. ^^

They even did it at the very start of FE6, just not with a wyvern rider but with a cleric instead. In terms of story, Milady joining Team Roy right then wouldn't be much of a strech either, if she had just found Guinivere traveling with Roy. But I think your build-up theory isn't too far of, so we have to make do with a winged pony instead. ;)

How about sharing that link? Also, "mentioning the Shout Your Abortion movement" is basically attacking a stance NekoKnight didn't take. If you have a problem with SYA (which I can understand), complain to them. You countered literally nothing of NekoKnights post.

Well, have fun! :) Playing fast (or fast-ish) is probably a good way to go if the game isn't challenging you on its own; not using Bonus EXP might be another idea. No mounts seems to be somewhat popular, too, but I lost interest quickly when I tried that - it just made the game slower rather than more difficult. Personally, I really like the mechanics in this game. To me, it feels largely similar to the GBA games, but more polished. The support mechanism is largely the same, but without that annoying wait-120-turns-for-A-Support; Rescue is still a thing, but without the archer carrying a pegasus on his back... It's just disappointing that the non-japanese versions don't have a proper hard mode. And yeah, Titania is ridiculous. Worst Jeigan ever, can't even set up the first boss kill to the lord, 0/10. ;)