[Flying for practical use...]

The triangle attack not often useful but it's fun. The game is easy enough to give the player a relatively free reign over which units he or she chooses to use. I've had no problems with using all three of the sisters granted that they can all support each other, strong bow users come up infrequently, and they've decent enough speed to double attack in most fights despite their inherently low constitutions. I suppose it's similar to going for an all magic, all sword, or all lord playthrough except the Peg sisters are fairly resilient in themselves given proper leveling. It's not the most well rounded team but their small disadvantages don't make them any less ideal if one likes to rampage across the map quickly as I do.

I usually end up with two or three flying units in most Fire Emblem games (in the one's I've beaten at least). FE7 is more of an exception in that I've had no problems going with Florina, Fiora, Farina, and Heath in one playthrough of FE7 because they're overpowered. I also don't like to use Paladins which probably contributes to my use of flying units. I like being able to focus on a single weapon level, and Paladins can't run through mountains.

[Did anyone else find FE9's story to be... less than compelling?]

The story was fun but it definitely didn't live up to my expectations. I adored FE7 so when FE9's story seemed a bit contrived I was a little disappointed. That's not to say it was bad but it the dialog wasn't engaging the game didn't feel as epic as I believed it would. I quite liked FE10's story but it did suffer some of the same problems as FE9.

For example, the dialog between pirates in FE9 seemed way off kilter and ill fitted to the game. FE10 received some of that legacy ("Moldy onions!," Hector's "Blast," was much better) but I was pleased that the entirety of the story didn't read like that. Micaiah's reaction to

Sothe

's idolization of

Ike

made me laugh. I don't know how much of this is the fault of the localization team or of Intelligent Systems because I wasn't literate in Japanese when first playing them. Regardless, I believe that the dialog in FE9 could have been a lot more lively and realistic.

[Fire Emblem trivia]

- In FE7 it is possible for an Assassin to activate Lethality (or whatever the skill is called) while fighting Nergal, but not the Fire Dragon.

- In FE8 a map with traps in which all enemies must be defeated can last forever. If the last enemy is killed by a trap then the player must restart the mission to continue. I don't know if this of true of any other GBA Fire Emblems or if it was fixed in any regional releases.

Was the Sol Katti's attack animation newly made for the American release of FE7, or do I recall incorrectly?

[Just wondering, but]

I'll again add to the list of those whose first Fire Emblem game was FE7. I saw a copy of Nintendo Power at a bookstore and it had Fire Emblem written on the cover. As Marth was my best character in Super Smash Brother Melee, I recognized the series's name and picked up the magazine. I still have that magazine as well as the original box and manual for FE7.