Othin

Indeed. Strange and disappointing. Ike's skills upon joining are Aether, Late Initiative, Sol, Axe Slayer, and Luna.

Hey, here's a question of my own. Warning: substantial storyline spoilers.

Alternative translation: least significant redesign

Astra is solid; it's a lot like a crit rate increase. Magnificent Flame depends: on a character with high Str/Mag to use it properly, it can add a ton of damage with a high activation and be really awesome, but if the character's other offensive stat is low, it won't do much at all. Sol has a good activation rate, but its effect tends to be too weak to count on at random. I don't know the time, but I would assume the game mentions it. It seems like about a year. Yes, after Ch23.

Westbrick almost gave up at Ch2, but he eventually made it through with several deaths. It was Ch3 that he couldn't pass after that, which is no surprise. You need a full team ready to fight in Ch3; a big part of the reason I didn't want deaths in Ch2 was that I suspected Ch3 would be almost impossible with less than maximum deployment. Fortunately, I succeeded in getting that team. I was worried about Ch3 on Lunatic+ because of how fast you have to move in the beginning, and random skills could easily screw that up. But Ch3 turned out surprisingly fair; most if not all of the enemy skill setups were entirely workable as long as you address them properly - which is extremely difficult. To survive the initial assault, I decided to stick with my same core strategy from Lunatic: rush left and eliminate the enemies there, then get ready to fight the ones on the right when they approach. The four enemies on the left need to die on Turn 2 player phase for it to work: while Counter was extremely disruptive, I was able to work around it; the real issues came from Great Shield. Derrick and Miriel were able to avoid Great Shield and Counter with their magic; Viole also joined in, being surprisingly more effective on this mode. He was near-useless on Lunatic, but these skills make him extremely important. I plan on keeping him on my team if he's able to keep pace properly. Frederick also grabbed Callum's Javelin and joined in, avoiding Counter but not Great Shield. On the other hand, he was unaffected by Holy Shield unlike the other three, making him essentially my only solution for enemies with the ridiculous Counter + Holy Shield combo. It occurs to me that I've been leaving out the +. I think I'll keep it that way for simplicity. Anyway, the group on the right wasn't so bad on Lunatic; I just had to kill the Archers and wall off any other survivors - which actually seemed really difficult at the time, but now things get even more complex. A main issue was Pass, which means I had to usually target another enemy or two to keep them from walking right through my formation, and all the enemies were stronger and harder to kill due to their skills. I should mention that the skills are really imbalanced: Absolute Hit is almost completely insignificant because enemies almost never miss anyway, and I haven't found Luna or Vantage to be particular concerns either, although I also haven't been seeing a lot of them in recent maps. Pass is still a huge concern sometimes and not really an issue other times. So it's mainly the new skills that stand out now. This left the top. I had an easy time with it on Lunatic because of the chokepoints, but on Lunatic+, the skills kept screwing things up. I remember one time I was almost finished and had Frederick attack an Archer to 2HKO it and finally clear a path to the boss but I had forgotten the Archer had Counter and Frederick died. Eventually, I decided to modify my strategy a bit and open both doors. See, there are Knights behind each of the doors, but the other enemies won't do anything until you advance farther. So I opened one door, killed the Knight, sent Krom, Frederick, Derrick, and some others back around to the other door to kill the other Knight, and then lured the other enemies. Meanwhile, Sumia waited just outside the range of the enemies behind the first Knight, so when the enemies became active, three went one way and three went the other way. Splitting them up made it easy for Krom's team to handle the three in front of them while Sumia's team ran away so that Krom's team could reach the remaining small group in an open space and quickly eliminate them. I still messed up that strategy a couple of times, but it worked eventually, and the boss was an easy kill. At this point, some more options open up. The Wireless function becomes available after Ch3, so I grab several ultimate weapons available through SpotPass. I also see now that I properly transferred my Fame this time by replaying the Final on my Normal file, so I have the 10k points needed to get almost everything, and I collect my winnings immediately. The gold allowed me to buy several Master Seals and Change Seals from merchants, but there's not much of it left now. Fortunately, I'll get more before too long. Then there's the stat boosters - one of every type. Krom ended up getting most of them to be even more help with carrying the team; hopefully he won't fall behind this time. When I promoted Krom and MU at the end of Ch8 in my Lunatic run, they were far above LV10; hopefully I'll be able to promote them quite a bit earlier this time and stabilize my team faster. See, while I'm out of the most constrained section of the game, Lunatic actually has a proper difficulty curve. The chapters get way harder with progress, and Frederick's ability to do things on his own is rapidly diminishing, even as tougher enemies force me to use him even more than I did on Lunatic. Ch3 also opened both Ch4 and S1. I never actually did the early sidequests during the main story on my Lunatic run, but I'm going for them for the Exp this time. That said, S1 doesn't look easy, so I decided to go for Ch4 first. Ch4 is brief and was probably the easiest chapter on my Lunatic run, but Lunatic+ always has to go and complicate things. You have to fight off two enemies per turn with an extremely small team, and with skills like Counter and Great Shield, that gets really complicated. Mages also show up for the first time since the Prologue, and hitting extremely hard. On Lunatic, I brought Krom, MU, Frederick, Liz, Callum, and Sumia; I swapped Callum for Miriel this time because I figured her ranged attacks would be more important than Callum's Double bonuses, although in retrospect I'm not sure Miriel ever actually did anything because half of the enemies had 1-2 range and she's extremely frail. I would've liked to bring Viole to make sure he keeps up, but he would've been even less effective due to not hurting the Knights and not having Vake to sit on him to boost his Str. It worked in Ch2-3 to boost his damage output, but I don't have the space to bring Vake anymore, and while the Str bonus would often put his damage above Derrick's and Miriel's magic, Viole doesn't hit hard enough to stand out without it. Hopefully he'll get better soon when he increases his Bow rank to use the Longbow I got from Fame for further range and slightly more power, and even more power if I can get a Steel Bow. I also have Astra and the Parthia; it's a shame he's a bit away from being able to use them, but he'll have them all to himself when he does, at least for a while. Basilio was the only character I had use bows effectively in Lunatic, and I don't think that'll be enough here. Besides, he's Viole. Who doesn't love him? Speaking of bonus weapons, I had Frederick swap out his near-depleted Silver Lance for the similar but stronger Luna. He already has the Luna skill, but I never had anyone else competing with him as a lance user on Lunatic, and I don't think that'll be too different here: my other lance users were Tiamo and Elincia, who were support rather than combat. I also have Sigurd's Steellance as functionally another, even better Silver Lance when I need it, although it doesn't have many uses. Hopefully I won't burn through these as fast now. I also burned through most of the Javelin over the course of Ch3-4, although as another Fame prize, I have Othin's Handaxe if necessary to hold Frederick over with his ranged attacks while I look for an opportunity to get another Javelin or something. It's not particularly special; really just a more accurate Hand Axe. Anyway, Ch4 took a lot of running around the arena to get away when I inevitably couldn't kill the enemies as fast as I needed to, generally due to skills, and also because the boss is really tough. I messed up multiple times at the end; I was playing it during the previews for The Dark Knight Rises and my friend's yelling at me to turn it off and I tell him I'm almost at the end and all the other enemies are dead but then I forget that she has Counter this time or something like that and then it's all over. And then because we got there so early I manage to get all the way to the end again while the previews were still playing and Frederick could've finished off the boss with Luna despite her Great Shield and in retrospect Miriel probably helped with chipping on that attempt then but then I forget about Great Shield and try to have Frederick finish her with his Javelin and she survives with 1 HP and kills someone and then I have to turn it off because the movie's about to start. Awesome movie, by the way; I definitely recommend it. Definitely had some issues, and to be honest I liked The Dark Knight better but if I watched it again I probably would find other stuff that bugs me and not like it as much this time and that's why I don't plan to because who wants to ruin that. At least the movie was really good once I managed to get immersed in it enough to forget how annoyed I was about losing again and stop thinking about Lunatic+ until I eventually finished the chapter at around 2 AM because the movie ran until almost 1:30. Have I mentioned run-on sentences are fun? So I finished Ch4 and unlocked Ch5, as well as the DLC. The DLC seems to scale more than the chapters with difficulty level; one or two of the Spirit Talisman maps were immediately feasible on the lower difficulty levels, but not on Lunatic. Fortunately, they don't have Lunatic+ skills, but that doesn't change the fact that at the beginning of ST1 I'm facing Eirika who has 21 Spd and almost as much Str as Frederick, and Cellica can OHKO Krom. It might actually not be too far above my team's current abilities with enough effort, but I'm not ready to take it on yet, so that leaves S1 and Ch5 for now. Ch5 was enough of a pain on Lunatic; on that run, I didn't end up needing the Rescue staff from S1 to save Richt and Mariabel, but with the enemies being even tougher, I think I'll go for it first this time. I certainly don't need to move as fast on S1, which should make it easier, but I plan on getting Donny to join permanently, so I'll need to move carefully and set up some kills for him. That'll be tricky, but should be doable. Interestingly, looking over my inventory, Frederick didn't actually need to use Luna once in Ch4. I guess burning through the Javelin was that much more necessary. Thrown weapons are really important here, since they're the only way my strongest character, Frederick, can weaken enemies while avoiding Counter, and they're the only way to get around Counter without running into Holy Shield, for the obnoxious enemies that have both. Although I also got a Levin Sword from Fame, which can contribute to the same stuff. My sword users have low Mag, but the enemies have just as bad Res, and the sword itself has plenty of power, so it evens out and should be highly effective. I could give it to Frederick, but I think it's better in Ronku's hands for now, since he can use it to just as great effect without taking up Frederick's action. Also, for when I get to Ch5, I have a trump card - Cellica's Gale. Derrick can't use it yet, but he'll be able to in just a couple of battles. This will let him obliterate the terrifying Dracoknights on his own, without needing a Spd boost or needing to take Elwind away from the other Mages. This also means I won't burn through Elwind as fast, although Cellica's Gale will go away even faster if used excessively, and with so many threatening Dracoknights over the next several maps, I'll need to be careful with how I use it - but it'll be there for when I really need it. And in Lunatic+, that's about all I can ask for.

He mentioned FFX, I think, as working fine on his computer while Berwick wouldn't. Personally, I haven't tried emulating other PS2 games, so I don't know from my own experience. Edit: He actually says he got Berwick to work decently skipping animations and conversations, just not great. Most animations are map by default anyway, which works with the game's pace, but losing the scenes would still be a concern. Still, if the gameplay works tolerably on at least some computers, that's a good sign and better than what I was saying earlier, even though it's still a bit limited at the present. And now that you mention it, I do remember other "bugs". Didn't New Mystery have something like that, but it was patched? So an attempt at it, but not a successful one.

Titania is an especially funny case since more than any other, units in her game can level up without doing anything on the battlefield. FE10 also has BExp, but it works a bit differently with its set number of stat gains rather than simply functioning as an Exp pump, although it can do that too. So I'd think this concept would apply less to her than to any of the others in the first place.

You have a funny definition of "prove". You've made claims, but you don't pay attention to evaluations of the validity of those claims.

Okay, so still in line with what seem to be common ratings.

Titania is rated as the best unit in FE9. If she's overrated, that means someone is better than her. If not Oscar or Kieran, who?

They should not have trouble promoting whether you keep using Titania or not. You yourself said they should promote around Chapter 15.

Once again: please explain a specific goal that can be reached by dropping Titania and not otherwise. Say in a given situation you have Oscar/Marcia/Kieran/Jill/Ike at 20/10, or you have all of them at 20/6 and Titania at --/13. Which team do you think is going to be better? Clearly the latter.

Tormod exists for 40% of the game, so no, you can't. Playing through the game primarily with Titania means minimal turns and minimal resets, thereby completing the game as fast in in-game time and in real-time as possible. If you're calling for some standard of efficiency other than these, please state it, because you're given no way for anyone else to tell what the hell it is. This is all done easily with heavy Titania use. So your goal is turns? Please state a turn goal for even a single chapter, either BExp-wise or otherwise, that can be reached more easily with less Titania use as opposed to more, and explain how exactly you propose that happens.

Unfortunately, it seems emulating Berwick properly is still basically impossible even for new computers. According to Byrnes, it's unoptimized in some way that a PS2 can run just fine, but other devices have a ton of trouble with it, even if they can handle other PS2 games without issues. You'd think game developers concerned about piracy would just need to intentionally cause this "error" to force people to buy the game. Although the 3DS seems to be succeeding at the same goal without such measures.

Yeah except Titania and the rest of the employees are already skilled enough that they can keep the company doing just fine for decades no matter what. You're not going to have any trouble completing FE9 regardless of what you do.

Where is Paris

oh no most of lyn's stats are in the double digits what is this blasphemy

If there were cybernetic implants, they'd actually be slightly plausible in Awakening, although the animations also don't seem as over-the-top. Interesting point about gravity, though. And actually supported by pegasi and dragons being able to fly.

Well, it took 22 turns and almost all of my healing - all that remains is one Vulnerary use and seven Heal uses - but I finally made it through Lunatic+ Ch2 with no deaths! Once I perfected my strategies for evading the enemies and sliding up the left side of the map, the upper-left barricade worked perfectly, although it took a ton of healing to maintain it. Sending Frederick and MU across the river for the second phase also turned out to be a great decision; three enemies went south where my other characters could handle them, while Frederick cleaned up the rest. The boss was a pain due to having Absolute Hit, though - Frederick needed to use the last Elixir use to survive, while running around to distract it so my other characters could move in and finish the job after all the other enemies were dead. The constant crit rates from the boss and other Barbarians due to Gamble is really annoying; it could have easily killed Frederick and screwed up everything, but fortunately, it didn't. Ch3 finally brings a preparations screen, but also the rest of the Lunatic+ skills. The new ones don't seem all that common, especially Counter; I'm going to need to look into the ratios. Regardless, this will definitely be trouble. I recall someone said you need an Elixir use for this, but I don't quite have that luxury. Time to see what I can do without one. The second part shouldn't be much trouble due to the chokepoints, which I should be able to block off far enough that the enemies having Pass won't matter; the first part is my main concern for now. But I'm sure I can handle it. I have to say, I really like the way Lunatic+ is looking so far. As I had hoped, the randomness means leaving room for error in strategies; it's possible to account for most variation if you do it right, but it's not easy and requires top-class strategy. Meanwhile, I'm getting to really appreciate the original Lunatic mode. While I've complained about the starting maps before, they're not so bad once you know what you're doing, and the rest of the game is a fantastic challenge. It also allows for sidequests, reasonable DLC use, and even basically free SpotPass use all without breaking the game, making all that content become strategic considerations when making plans for game progression as opposed to ways to simply bloat your characters on Exp and steamroll everything like they are on the lower difficulty levels. I've said that I'd want a Maniac mode between Hard and Lunatic as a challenging but more fair midpoint as my main setting to go through on replays, but while immensely challenging, I'd say Lunatic is nonetheless fair enough to serve that purpose; more difficulty options are good, but I no longer see its absence as much of an issue. Even Lunatic+, while random with its skill distributions and far more vicious, is still so far fair and immensely rewarding to the best tactics. I've been rating Awakening as my second favorite video game after Berwick Saga. I may have to switch the two.

The point was that Titania's Japanese name was Tiamat.

Yes, Ike is the last. Sigurd's chances disappeared a month ago when Cellica was announced, and Eliwood's chance passed when Lyn replaced him. Hector never had a chance.

He didn't get artwork because he wasn't an advertised reward; he was a bonus for a monster map that already gives enough already. And with all the complaints people gave about redesigns, are you sure you would want a redesign for a character who isn't even available without a redesign?

That's how I already fit eight characters into four spaces. Not much help with fitting nine characters into four spaces. In Lunatic, excessive Double use is key to having a chance of surviving. You can generally assume it's in effect unless stated otherwise. Probably even more so for Lunatic+.

I do believe I may have found a way out. The upper left corner of the lower area is a tad more defensible, due to the river curving around and blocking off a space. This means a 2x2 block of characters can survive by having Frederick exposed on two sides and Krom exposed on one, which is far more manageable than needing a third character to also be exposed on one side. Getting to that corner is tricky; I haven't yet managed it without losing characters, but I think I can work things out. Of course, it's still a 2x2 block, and therefore only able to hold eight characters, leaving one unaccounted for. There are a few ways out of this: Option #1: I sacrifice a character, just like I'd have to in order to get into the 2x2 block in the lower left. I'd rather not do this unless I have to, but one sacrifice might not be so bad: someone's likely going to get benched for the rest of the game due to the deployment limits: Ch3 only allows eight characters, and by the time I can deploy more, I'll have better characters and likely not field characters like Sol and Soiree until postgame. I'll want to work on pairings in postgame, but I can get away with losing one or two males and still pair all the females and therefore not really lost anything in that case. Option #2: I have some character survive outside of the corner. This is a bit of a weird solution, but because the Cavaliers can outrun all the enemies, I could have one run around and potentially survive on their own. They could also work as a lure in the process. I discovered this possibility by accident: I was trying lower-left strategies for a while and chose Sol for my sacrifice; he was still alive when I was taking formation, so I had him run up towards the upper left, distracting a couple of enemies to get them out of the way. Meanwhile, my other characters killed most of the other enemies before the enemies caught up with Sol and he was able to slip away from them back to my other characters, who would be able to fend them off. I say "would be" because something went wrong; I don't quite remember what, but I think it was avoidable and it wouldn't have required Sol to die. So I could try to replicate this in the lower left, but on this attempt, I noticed the upper left and how much better it seemed. Option #3: I try to defend something larger than a 2x2 block in the upper left. I can stick MU or Krom onto the protecting river tile: they'd still be in range because the tiles in the back are in range of the second group of enemies, which I'm not messing with at this point, but they'd only be exposed to one attack. This would mean protecting three characters, a lot like in my original 2x2 plan in the lower left, but without needing to sacrifice anyone. Of course, it still wasn't a particularly effective plan, but it has a couple of other advantages: I have two protected spaces in the back for Liz, Miriel, and Viole to use for support, and if an enemy is attacking the character on the river, only one enemy can attack Frederick, making things easier on him, and he can help the river character by attacking the enemy in front of them. Of course, all this only matters if I can actually reach the upper left properly, and then I have to survive the second phase, which is easier but still tough. I'm sure I can manage this, but it'll take even more creativity. For the second phase, I realized that I can have MU or Krom pull Frederick across the river; I tried this once after making it through the first phase with two deaths. Frederick was able to survive well enough in the far upper left until some bad luck caught up with him, but I wasn't planning on continuing that attempt anyway; I had tried it expecting to crash and burn. This helped since while he took on some enemies, others went down the normal way for the rest of my team to (potentially) handle, making use of the available space and ranged attacks. Whatever the case, the second phase shouldn't be so bad. I should comment on the enemy AI. On an earlier attempt where I tried the 2x2 formation, I had healed Krom enough to survive a hit from the enemy in front of him and set him up to not kill. But instead of attacking Krom and blocking off other enemies, the enemy moved to attack Frederick ineffectively, opening up a space for a stronger enemy to move in and kill Krom. These guys are crafty, and not easy to manipulate with cheap tricks. Another thing to point out: now that it actually matters that enemies have Pass, they don't seem to be using it much more than the other skills, if at all. Which is good, because it tends to cause a lot of trouble.