Dr. Silent

Lucia is calling.

Only ever used Aether but I should try Adept+Resolve in my next Difficult Fixed Growths playthrough. Nearly every time I've played through the game I've had to reset Chapter 27 because Aether never activated vs the BK and thus I couldn't beat him. Since I only ever play on Difficult these days, Nasir > Ena by a country mile.

Actually...no, not where I come from. My mother's uncle is called Geoff, and he pronounces it 'Jeff' ( his full name might be Geoffrey, actually, not sure...my family is too big for me to know these things). Same goes from a family friend on my father's side, although he IS called Geoffrey. Seems to have been quite the popular name in the 30s and 40s. But never in my life (prior to playing RD) have I heard it pronounced 'Joffrey', although it's not possible to rule out someone misinterpreting the pronunciation based on the spelling. Stefan is not pronounced the same way is Steven/Stephen either. It's pronounced Steff-an, with an 'eh' sound, not 'ee'. It IS a non-English variant of Stephen, though, much like 'Johann', 'Jan', 'Jean' etc. are all non-English variants of 'John' or 'Jon' Snow. 'Stefan' is a name found in some Celtic languages/countries (most notably Wales) and also in German (Germay/Austria) (quite odd seeing as Celtic and Germanic languages are nothing alike).

Ah, so THAT'S why he was pronouncing half the names incorrectly.

I hated the voice acting in both games. I've said it before and I'll say it again - American accents and historic-style fantasy simply don't work, and it always ends up sounding awful, FE9/FE10 being no exception. It's like making a chocolate cake but realising you're out of chocolate, so instead you subtitute the chocolate with poo. I mean...can you imagine Lord of the Rings with American accents? Not that I have anything against American accents, okay? They're just fine under most circumstances...just keep them out of fantasy please. Ignoring the accents, in FE9 I thought Greil was okay, Elincia just about bearable (I was more preoccuppied with her boobs if I remember correctly). Ike's voice actor sounded as if he'd had his nuts tugged viciously just before he entered the studio. Mist made me feel ill. The Black Knight sounded like a constipated robot. In FE10, the narrative voice overs before most chapters would have been okay if they had not been used so frequently...exactly what was wrong with the silent text based ones from FE9 that made IS hire a voice actor to narrate I honestly don't know. Ike was slightly better but still pretty terrible. Skrimir was okay, Shinon was okay. Ranulf sounded like he had a very bad cold. Zelgius sounded like a bad cartoon villain. Rolf, Mia and Mist were atrocious. Boyd's battle grunts sounded like they were recorded by a ten year-old kid playing fantasy warriors by himself out his back garden. The memory scene voice actors were okay, except for Deghinsea whose voice actor sounded as if he was trying to force it.

Fair enough. I don't use Laguz extensively because the transform limits get on my nerves a bit. I disagree that you shouldn't use it on a unit with already capped Str and Spd, but defences are important to my preferred defensive strategies in about 80% of the game's chapters (pretty much all of them bar most of Ike's Part 3 chapters, where it's easy to use offensive strategies). I never thought to do that with Naesala, though. Might just try it.

RSE remakes - Five or six years down the line, maybe. Gen III doesn't feel as dated in comparison to Gen V as Gen I did to III, and II did to IV, if you get what I mean. RBY - Long way off, if ever. Kanto is available in Gen IV via HG/SS anyway. Gen VI - 3DS, definitely.

Underrated pokemon. Excellent Special Defence and surprisingly decent HP and Defence mean it is a a Psychic type that does't actually die in one hit. Which is good, because it is quite slow. Average attacking stats at best. Psychic has good coverage, and hurts Erika, Koga and Giovanni's Poison types. It can learn Shadow Ball and actually has decent enough Attack to use it, which works well against Sabrina. Brick Break is also an option. One of the best pokemon that people generally forget about. Gonna give a 7.5 here.

Desperately want to find out for myself. (By playing it...which I can't :`( Damn those Japs)

If we're speaking specifically about Parts, then Muarim for Part 1 also. He's pretty invincible and can one-shot most anything. Doesn't count for Part 4, though. Zihark is also Part 1-only. Becomes pretty unreliable in Part 3 due to shite defences and unreliable dodge even with A level Volug support.

What else do you actually use BEXP for, aside from improving stats in poor growth areas? Titania. Not Oscar. Oscar is next to useless by 4-E in Hard mode. Pathetically low caps in both Strength and Speed means he won't be killing much. Titania is quite fragile but in terms of Strength and Speed she's good.

Being around for longer doesn't make up for the fact that his stat caps render him pretty much useless when you reach the second Part 4 chapter of whatever team he's in (realistically, he should only be in Tibarn's team if you're planning to bring him to 4-E). Except in Easy mode obviously, but almost everyone is usable in Easy mode. Useful as he is in the Part 3 chapters he's around for (except 3-4, 3-7), he's just outclassed by most of the others. Besides, he's hardly around for longer. Prior to 3-11, he's around for nine chapters, two of which he's next to useless in, so really he's only going to be seeing some serious action time in seven. Kieran, Astrid and Makalov are around for three chapters (only half of 2-E though). However, both 2-3 and 3-9 offer a boatload of experience with very few units to take it with. Let Kieran/Astrid/Makalov (whichever you want to use...Kieran and Astrid are easier) do most of the work, particularly in 3-9 where he can use Paragon, and he/she will be joining Ike's team at more or less the same level as Oscar. Since in 2-3 and 3-9 you can't really use Kieran, Astrid and Makalov altogether as you can realistically only focus on training one of them, you're forced to overuse one of them anyway.

Naesala and Skrimir are pretty much essential. You can't bring enough good units into Micaiah's team without screwing over one of your others teams so you have to use them. Anyone with half a brain is not going to promote a unit at level 14.

Wales.

Give it to Jill or Nolan + Brave Axe and you still might get in a lucky shot or two. Both can two-shot the Cats with a Brave Axe if their Strength went the right way. Nice idea with Pass too...must try, never thought of that, although I'd be more inclined to use the BK as you can unequip him and stop him rampaging for the most part. This. Considering you trained up all three, that's not too bad at this point in the game. You can't realistically get them to third tier before Part 4 in Hard mode, unless you hyper-abuse. Well, all three groups have access to the same Convoy, so you can exchange things between groups using it. Before playing though 3-E, deposit the two Paragons that Ike's team have into the Convoy so that Jill, Nolan and Ed can access them in 4-P (if you leave them all in Micaiah's team, anyway).

Ike, Haar (although he likes a Speedwing and a Talisman, but doesn't necessarily need), Janaff, Ulki, Shinon (possibly debatable but I find he's extremely useful and can hold his own from as soon as he is available), Elincia (when she's actually available...sucks in 2-P though when all she has is a Slim Sword). I guess Titania would count but by 4-4 her piss-poor HP and defences catch up with her, and she needs boosting items to be reliable. Unsure about Sothe/Volug. I've always found them to be too fragile after Part 1 (even if Volug removes Halfshift), so hardly the majority of the game. Sothe with PoR transfer data is better, though...I think? I can't remember, it's been too many playthroughs since I last used him (not a fan).

Okay I was curious about this so I looked up Tanith and Sigrun's growths: Sigrun - HP 40%, Str 45%, Mag 10%, Skl 70%, Spd 25%, Lck 70%, Def 10%, Res 50% Tanith - HP 35%, Str 55%, Mag 15%, Skl 75%, Spd 40%, Lck 35%, Def 40%, Res 30% The only things Sigrun has over Tanith are higher Luck and Res growths. 5% higher HP growth isn't really going to make much of a difference most of the time because her Defence growth is so awful it's practically non-existent...even Micaiah has a higher Defence growth at 20% (although much worse base)! Tanith is better at everything else...more than marginal difference I'd say. As Jon Snow pointed out, though, Tanith is much better with PoR transfer data. 4.5 for Astrid, Kieran and Makalov. 2-3, half of 2-E, 3-9, 3-11, 3-E. Still not much but if trained all three will turn out better than Oscar.

8/10 for statistics/movepool/gameplay etc. Gengar has an awesome movepool but Gastly is terrible and a pain in the anus to train up. Haunter is somewhat better. Can be obtained at a decent level, 18 or so I think, so not much more training on Gastly to do (as opposed to the Johto games where you could only find one at level 5 or so). Haunter doesn't necessarily even have to be used. Would give 9/10 but since FR/LG was before the Physical/Special split thus both of Gengar's STAB move types are Physical, so 8/10. In terms of through the game, Erika can't do much to him and he can one-shot both her good pokemon with Psychic (TM can be grabbed before this gym). Useless against Sabrina, although you CAN theoretically still teach him Shadow Ball...runs off 60 base Attack but at STAB is 120 points of damage and can potentially OHKO all her pokemon...but only if he's at a higher level or Alakazam will outspeed and one-shot him with Psychic. Average against Blaine, although useless against Arcanine because of Crunch. Good against Giovanni - he can probably one-shot Nidoking and Nidoqueen with Psychic, although a good Water type can do the same thing but against ALL of Gio's critters. Against the Elite Four the first time around, he's very useful against Lorelei because he can use Thunderbolt on her dual Ice/Water types. Can Psychic most of Bruno's pokes, who can't harm him with Fight moves. Can Psychic some of Agitha's pokemon but don't use him against her Gengars. He can Thunderbolt Lance's non-Dragon Flying types such as Charizard and Gyarados. As for the rival, it depends on what pokemon he has, although you can expect him to be useful to some extent. He's fragile, though, and needs to kill things quickly or they will kill him. Against the Elite Four the second time, he's much the same, but you have the option of trading him to Emerald and teaching him Fire Punch and Ice Punch at the Battle Frontier, making him even more useful. 8.5/10 for playthrough purposes, thus 8.25 overall.

The weird thing about the Black Knight's voice is that, in 4-E-2, he notes how it is so similar to Zelgius' voice. However, the BK's PoR cut-scene voice and Zelgius' RD cut-scene voice are totally different (I guess it's something that was overlooked...maybe they never planned a sequel originally).

Marcia and Tanith are both usable. Tanith has surprisingly good Str growth but unreliable Spd. Marcia is the other way round. Sigrun has poor base stats and even worse growths...right up there with Meg and Fiona as a unit you should never use (except as a ferry in 3-11). I've played through the game using both Marcia and Tanith, Normal difficulty (not the same playthrough though) and they both turned out well. Probably too much of a pain to train up in Hard mode as you can't Battle Save right before a level up and reset if growths sucked (applies more to Marcia because if she gets Str screwed you've wasted your time...Tanith's Spd growth is more reliable but she has a higher chance of dying in Hard mode). Astrid rocks with PoR data transfer, Paragon and Blossom...can be frustrating to train but worth it. Oscar has terrible stat caps (especially Str/Spd) and his usefulness declines by the time whatever Part 4 team his is in reaches their second chapter. Titania is probably the best Gold Knight in Easy/Normal due to her availability, but I've always found her way too fragile to last through Hard mode Part 4. Kieran is harder to train but is defensively superior to Titania. Has low Speed cap though (31 or 33, forgot)...I basically think of him as Haar on a horse with slightly lower stat caps. Makalov is even more difficult to train but ends up worth it (especially if you love his pink hair). Renning is a great filler unit, but if you trained up Kieran/Titania they will most likely have better stats. Ultimately though, Jill and Haar outclass the lot (despite no ranged SS weapon). /mytwocents

3-13 can be quite tricky. My strategy is just to hold the frontline for about three turns (place NPC on Halt initially) and kill as much as possible (mostly with Nolan, Jill, and Micaiah+Purge). I take every single available ally with me and place them all along the edges of the 'line' (the ones I won't be using for battles, such as Ed, Leo, Laura, Aran, Meg) so that the Hawk laguz don't fly over it and end the chapter. By around turn 3 or 4, retreat all your allies backwards as the laguz will kill most of the NPCs at the end of the turn. Then put the NPC on Roam so they attack things - this enables Nolan/Jill to kill injured Tigers as they probably can't 1RKO them at full health. Micaiah can also kill things that move directly below the top level wall with regular tomes. Eventually, the NPCs will start being killed off regardless of whether or not you keep them healed. At this point, move Nolan to the northwest staircase and Jill to the northeast. They can blockade there for the few remaining turns. Make sure the rest of the units are on the top level barring the Hawk laguz from flying over. This strategy has worked for me every time. Ask if you need more details. Alternatively... If you grabbed the Beastfoe skill in 1-4 and the Vantage skill from the chests in 1-E then you can give them both to Nolan, along with a Bowgun or two, and let him solo the entire map (except for Greil Mercs), but also give Paragon to Jill and let her have the occasional hit-and-run (she will most likely take an attack or two, too, so you can heal her with Micaiah for Micaiah's experience) because Jill is pretty much the best unit in the game and needs the experience. Of course, I doubt you grabbed the Vantage skill in 1-E because, to get it before the thieves get it (or get to the thieves and kill them), you have to seriously abuse BK/Nailah/Muarim.

In FR/LG...5/10. Doesn't join early enough, typical poor movepool many Kanto Water types seem to suffer from...it does get STAB Surf/Ice Beam but so does Lapras, who also learns Thunderbolt and has better stats. Has nice Defence, though.

The problem with the cut-scenes is the voice acting. It was generally terrible all around plus American accents just don't work in fantasy (imagine Lord of the Rings with American accents...exactly). Problem is, Intelligent Systems doesn't have the biggest of budgets. They can't afford so many cut-scenes in such a huge game that is almost as much story and plot as it is battles. Even if they could afford it, there'd be complaints all over about the dreadful voice acting (although PoR was worse with Ike's ridiculous mumbling and the Black Knight's 'robot voice'), which they'd need an even higher budget to improve upon. I like the text screens and portraits. It's just what FE is supposed to feel like, in my opinion. Graphically, the portraits and backgrounds were fine. It's the battle maps that needed to be improved somewhat moreso (despite being an obvious step forward from PoR), as I felt the detail could have been a little better (although maybe the Wii can't handle it. I don't know much about this stuff). However, it's hardly a complaint, because most of the battles were so awesome I didn't care.

I have to disagree with some of you guys in regards to Kieran. It's actually really easy to train him up to a similar level to Ike's team when he joins Ike in HM. I just give him Geoffrye's Paragon in 3-9 and let him solo as much of the chapter as possible (blockade around the SE houses with Kieran, Geoffrey and Calill, Kieran proceeds to solo the rest of the map and 'boss hound' the boss). If you use him enough in 2-3 too, then it isn't that difficult to get him somewhere between level 15 and 18. I've always thought Kieran > Titania on Hard mode because Titania's significantly more fragile (Kieran is superior in HP and Defence) and can't handle 4-4 (too fragile to blockade on the lowest level, but I've found that the best strategy in HM is to blockade in the northwest treasure room, which you need to climb ledges to get to early in the chapter). The only problem is Kieran's Speed caps at 33 so he can't double the Spirits in 4-E. Really though, Kieran is pretty much Haar minus flying ability. I'd only recommend Kieran if you want more mounted units in 4-E (Jill and Haar are usually enough). But overall I've found Kieran to be the most reliable Paladin. ------- I've never liked using Edward in Hard mode. I like to get Nolan and Jill to around level 5 second tier by the end of Part 1, which can't realistically happen if training Edward too, as well as Micaiah (obviously). Since Nolan and Jill are both better than Edward and Micaiah is a Lord character, in addition to Edward being more fragile than Nolan and Jill, he's the one to be dumped. Plus, you get Mia later in the game anyway and it's not worth using both. I found Edward too fragile for 1-4 and 3-6 anyway...died too easily.

Absolutely LOVE this series. Except Resi 5, which was ruined by the torrid partner system coupled with Sheva's terrible AI and a useless inventory system (not half as realistic as Capcom made it out to be seeing as nine Chicken Eggs apparently take up as much space as 108 Grenade Launcher Rounds). Shame because it would have been a good game otherwise (if not as good as 4). Really looking forward to Resident Evil 6 though. The best three IMO are Resi 4, Resi 3 and REmake.