Espinosa

It's 19 str with Wyvern Rider's Str+2 skill actually. And New Mystery has lower caps; plus Sirius joins a good deal earlier. tbqh your Elfie is likely boasting the same strength at this point, but that's Elfie.

I'm really not sure what else I'll feel like playing when 3DS is the only new console I have, but the Western release of FE Fates should keep me busy for a long time.

I'm not exactly an ardent TV Tropes reader, but looking up info on Golbez brought up this link: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarthVaderClone So the BK, if we agree on his being influenced by Vader directly, is following the archetype that set a very prominent example.

Or that they're a strapping young Korean lad with knowledge of Taekwondo seeking to challenge a man possessed by a demon.

I'm sure people will hack the game to make these two marry one another.

Is there no chance to have multiple units attack an enemy that a single unit can't ORKO? If Alan can't kill the boss, can Marcus and Zealot chip in, perhaps? I'm sure a lot of turns are still saved as a result of not waiting for the likes of Rutger, Gonzalez and Cath, anyway.

Even with the level of RNG control you commit yourself to?

Maybe one possible explanation is that there's a limited number of ways how to tell a story without sacrificing accessibility for originality, so many stories in pop culture will share not only culture, but also same themes and events. I do think in this specific case the BK could be a homage to Darth Vader though!

The recent Star Wars craze led to me re-watching the trilogy, and I remembered the Black Knight from the Tellius games as somebody similar to Vader in more ways than one when thinking about the games randomly. Perhaps the BK is based on Vader, or both are influenced by a shared prototype (perhaps somebody better versed in popular culture would have something to say about this). Think about it: 1. Both are immensely powerful in combat and also exercise great and immediate political significance. 2. Both serve a supreme leader (king/emperor) who seeks to establish full control. 3. Both are introduced early in the story. 4. Both kill an aged fatherly figure to the protagonist, giving the main character a cause for revenge later. 5. Additionally, the relation between the master and apprentice is kept mysterious and ambiguous. 6. The appearance is quite similar, with both villains hiding beneath heavy armour and a memorable helmet. Naturally, the player is culturally conditioned to expect the Black Knight to be an ugly man inside that helmet just as Vader was. 7. The heavy equipment grants the villain with certain powers and/or needs. 8. The real identity behind the mysterious figure is concealed and is central to the plot in both Star Wars and Radiant Dawn (the BK is just that in PoR). 9. The plot behind revealing each villain's identity is equally flawed - just like there was no reason to believe, based on anything extracted from A New Hope, that Vader and Anakin Skywalker are the same entity, with Force!Ben Kenobi's explanation only awkwardly trying to desperately fix the inconsistent story between the episodes, the Black Knight is also suddenly decided to be more than just the Black Knight in the second Tellius game, leaving the player with very little to even question that he could be somebody else entirely based on the first Tellius game. I would argue the BK is more flawed as a character since the player is given no reason to care about Zelgius initially - what does it really mean that he turns out to be the Black Knight? RD's story ties the two together in an arguably artificial manner. 10. The protagonist eventually faces off against the helmeted villain in the finale, yet they are not the real mastermind in each case (I'm not entirely sure about Vader being any better than the Emperor prior to Luke seeing the good side in his father, and even Vader killing the Emperor was not only previously intended by the former in The Empire Strikes Back, but, according to Vader, "foreseen" by the Emperor himself - then again, there's only so much depth you find in the Star Wars films and it's silly to look for any more or indeed some good logic tying the pieces together, much like it tends to be with video games as well). Some of these points of similarity are vague to be sure; however, most likely, the likeness is more than merely coincidental?

Where are their channels so that I can subscribe to them?

^ Does Cyras's daughter inherit her facial expression from Pieri too?

They should totally have a mission with an objective called 'Defeat Xander's elder brother".

Well, Matthew can at least follow him down south (as can Eliwood lol).

I bet debuffing him with a shuriken (Servant/MU only I guess) could help help killing him in one turn. I mean, he can't double you either so as long as you don't critted / aren't OHKO'd, you can just gang up on him with as many units as possible. A really strong Jakob can probably put a huge dent into him, too, but MaMU with a Felicia support could well be the best offensive unit. Also, on the subject of Dark Mage!MU, mine is currently a Sorc on a run I'm doing and is quite hard to kill when I'm nosferatanking. Probably not advised for efficiency, though I imagine putting such an MU in a crowd of enemies and coming out alive has its merits. You'd likely miss the movement lost though!

L is the same as lv; level. @ stands for "at".

Hector really loves those def/res level-ups... Have you considered having Hector cross the river in C13 for a possible faster clear? I bet having Hector move left and then right cost some turns too. Must be frustrating playing without Hand Axes and Javelins huh... at least you will get your first tome users soon for proper 1-2 range.

Yeah, obviously you want the Dragon Fang skill for that occasional extra power. Not entirely sure how Prince MU does against Kakumi... Do you go for the Dragonstone method there? I recall his res being the lowest of his defensive stats, and you can't slay him in one round since he cannot be doubled. I don't normally even try beating Takumi in C10 Nohr lol.

Last time I tried a Ninja MU, he had abysmal strength immediately upon reclassing @ L10, which didn't help considering Bronze Shuriken's poor mt. I really don't like the idea of turning MU into an awful growth unit when they can be played efficiently. Why turn MU into a Mozume?

I read the bolded parts as one phrase and thought "what soundtrack? what chills?". lol.

Well, I get pretty emotional watching what happens to (spoilers) Elise on Hoshido route. Other than that, Gary's Raticate I guess? I suppose I can get emotional when I'm really immersed into a game or its story, but not particularly often.

At least we know it's a little better with the animations turned off!

I'm surprised how good Citra looks like compared to what I saw of it months ago. It didn't look playable at all at the time. I've also been investing into an Awakening 0% growths playthrough as of late, and as of now have secured the means to record 3DS footage without having to resort to the emulator with its lack of sound and big slowdown (this was a huge turn-off when I was doing PoR 0% growths a couple years back and sorta why I postponed the endgame until a time where I could run the emulator on a faster PC). I'd be starting the recorded playthrough right now if I figured how to edit a ROM of the game to later be run on my cfw console. Definitely doing 0% growths now that it's become available thanks to Vincent's work, and have a wealth of other 3DS challenges planned for when I get the hang of handling all the technical issues standing in the way.

14 year olds who look like that do exist, you know. Think of some of your female friends when you were that age.

So is magical Paladin really better than a Dark Knight MU for Nohr Hard/Lunatic? Paladin deals comparable magical damage because of the outdoor +3 dmg skill and is faster, while DK has better mag damage on terrain and can use 1-2 range magic before Levin Sword can be bought, also being fully able to double with it. Dark Knight isn't really much worse as a Yato user, either, but it's not like you're really compelled to use that sword tbqh; just keep it in the inventory for the stat boosts. I think Paladin's selling point (namely for efficiency runs) is that it has +2 mov over Dark Mage prior to promotion after reclass, and retains sword rank which is sure to see plenty of use. Magical pally can also exist in Hoshido...