Othin

Ideally, a game would have all characters detailed enough that most if not all of them could not reasonably leave their initial class, so a reclass system would be completely unfeasible. It's important to also consider distance from the class. If a character isn't really changing fighting style with reclass, but just one aspect, like their chosen weapon, it leads to its own issues. Say FE10 had the reclass system, and you could reclass characters between the Paladin classes, but not otherwise. The result would be that Paladin characters would have access to all four possible weapon types, but would have to choose one per chapter, leaving it completely nonsensical as to why they wouldn't have the other options. And would other characters have that versatility? Probably not, making some classes even more overpowered. Merric has that extra Mt and Crit with Excalibur. Outside of Excalibur, he has about as much skill with magic, so as I said, his skill is basically just access to a single additional weapon earlier. He's faster, which makes him more effective, but it doesn't say anything about the effect of his magical training. Furthermore, while Cord and Caesar have the highest Mag growths, it's not by much. Other characters can be almost as effective, just losing a point or two over all their level ups. If Othin or Oscar get stats that high, it's because they've been doing enough fighting throughout a war to become experienced veterans themselves. Furthermore, while Othin is not descended from the Crusaders himself, he can pump himself full of their power with the Crusader scrolls throughout the game. There's also the matter of stat caps in FE5, indicating that for whatever reason, in that game, the physical limits for peoples' abilities are low and often not overly difficult to reach. However, this is still largely irrelevant, since you're addressing the level system, which is like that in all RPGs, and yes, it's a bit screwy, but there aren't great alternatives. It's a necessary suspension of disbelief, while the reclass system just stretches the matter much farther than necessary. Well first, let's look at what I was really saying. In other words, it's not his entire existence. It's just important. Of course, you could argue that it is. I wouldn't really care, since it doesn't diminish the far wider group of all possible examples.

I've had the same idea. It seems like the best of both worlds, combining the systems that work best for each group.

A character's class doesn't need to be their entire existence to be a key part of who they are. "Hi. I'm Canas, a student of dark magic and a huge nerd, but I can go pick up this axe and beat people to death with it and completely forget how to use dark magic at all." Does Canas do anything else? I really can't remember. Either way, the same concept applies in a similar way to most mages. This also emphasizes my point that even if you don't use the option, it still ruins the characters' identities - the fact that Cord and Caesar can be about as competent spellcasters as Merric with absolutely no effort. In FE1 and FE3, Merric's role in the gameplay was a powerful mage specializing in wind magic and capable of using his personal time Excalibur. In FE11 and FE12, he's just a bunch of numbers with the ability to use Excalibur earlier than other characters, all of whom are just as able to become a competent mage as he is without all his training that his backstory indicates he has.

Translator preference. As I noted above, I'm going more for how an official translation might look than a perfectly literal one. I believe we're all familiar with how much official translations have changed names, and I feel that it would be overstepping my bounds to make changes quite that drastic, but regardless, I've had to make substantial changes to some things to make sense out of them. This hasn't been much of a problem for player characters (I found out after choosing the name Sylvia that Sylvis was actually a real name, but a much less known one), but bosses have been more of an issue. After watching arguments in the FE12 translation, where people held fast to the names they had first become familiar with, I'm wary of handing people a name like Semudariosu, the literal translation for the lategame Dark Knight boss I was discussing with YayMarsha earlier, considering the likelihood that people will hold fast to names like that and resist attempts to translate it as something similar with more of a basis in reality, such as Senderos. I've made similar judgment calls with a few weapon, class, and skill names, and probably other things as well, which may be more questionable (Bastard --> Hero, for an example), but I believe the edited versions will be substantially more appealing to your average FE player unfamiliar with literal details, and making Berwick Saga accessible to FE players is my highest priority with this project. Now, I realize this doesn't necessarily extend to names where there is a decent or even good alternative, such as the noted alternatives of Lynette and Sylvis, as well as Dowd. I'm not concerned about duplicate names, as it's unavoidable anyway in both Saga games with both playable characters and bosses (Elbert, Dean, Olwen, Percival). That said, I stand by the names I've chosen.

Just saw this and updated the horse "strength" references. I also changed all references to "Chinon" on several pages to "Sinon". For the others, while I appreciate the suggestions, I believe the translations I've used are more accurate to the meaning conveyed by the names, as well as what would be more likely to show up in an official English localization. Such an official localization will never happen, but I still intend to make my translation the closest thing possible. The romaji in which the names are spelled out in the Japanese game should not be mistaken for an official translation to be taken literally when not appropriate, and this is the policy the FE series has followed with its official translations. With a Google search of Ishs, I get 207,000 results, primarily or entirely as an acronym. With a Google search of Isis, I get 16,300,000 results, primarily as a reference to a famous name from Egyptian mythology. It seems clear which is more appropriate to use as a name.

Jyosua reported the same problem. It's most likely an issue with your cache, or something like that. http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=27618&view=findpost&p=1726209

Speaking of second playthrough bonuses... Reclassing could be more reasonable if it was done permanently before the game started. Say, after you complete the game, you can permanently swap classes for characters when starting future playthroughs, as long as that character was recruited and alive at the end of a previous playthrough. Lena as, say, a Pegasus Knight would make sense if she had been a Pegasus Knight since the start of the game, rather than becoming a competent knight out out of nowhere mid-story.

Yeah, him. I forgot about those two limits. Are rare and limited one group, or is it some exception to also apply to items like dragon breaths/scales? I've been referencing the wiki for a starting place on the items, and it doesn't list those, or a few other things, plus the breaths wouldn't make any sense to take anyway. In any case, the sword is a rare item, so there's no question about it. You bring up a good point about weapon skills, especially since I'm at a bit of a roadblock. I'll explain what I've found so far in a mechanics guide or something when I get around to writing one and leave it at that. Good find. Looking through that, they seem to affirm most of the same stuff I had been thinking and include some extra stuff, but I don't think they have it all right, either. Edit: Okay, here are my interpretations: Initially, characters gain 20 WExp on a hit and 10 on a miss. When they reach 100 WExp, they can increase the weapon skill; when they reach 200 WExp, they can increase it twice at once. At 20 WLV, the WExp from missing disappears entirely; at 35 WLV and every 5 WLV afterward, WExp gains from hitting decrease according to certain percentages. Shields give 4x WExp, and characters start with 50 WExp. A lot of things aren't clear, particularly the role growths play. My thought now is that growths may affect gaining WExp in the first place, and it may be those growths that are reduced as the characters increase their skill. This would explain almost everything, especially the things that had completely stumped me. The main issue is, it would mean the characters would automatically increase their WLV for every 100 WExp, so the thing about gaining multiple WLVs from one battle wouldn't apply except for long battles. However, Reese somehow increased his S Shield Skill multiple times in one battle, where he was only hit once, and therefore should only have gained 80 WExp. It may have had something to do with his personal shield being used, though. Unless... it doesn't, and characters can wind up above 100 WExp without increasing it. Under this model, the characters have their chances of increasing their WExp to reach 100 or more, and while their WExp is between 100 and 200, they have their weapon growth rate % chance to burn 100 WExp and increase the skill, whereas if they go above 200, they automatically burn that 100 and increase the skill and have a chance to burn another 100 to increase the skill a second time. This fits perfectly with the test with Reese; he had like 150 WExp at the time. So if he hit with his shield, he had an 80% chance of gaining 80 WExp and moving up to 230, where he'd automatically gain an S Shield point and have an 80% chance of gaining another point, while if he missed, he'd be stuck at either 150 or 190 and have his 80% chance of getting one point no matter what. This would mean that he'd have a 64% chance of getting two points, but only if he hit. I tested him 6 times... both times he missed with the shield, he got one point; out of the four times he hit with it, he gained two points twice and gained one point the other two times, which fits the hypothesis perfectly. If this is true, then we have all the basic stuff solved, although it's still damn confusing. I can start testing it immediately; hopefully I still have that save to crunch the numbers in more detail. If I'm right, they'll look like this: Miss 80% chance of +1 20% chance of +0 Hit 64% chance of +2 32% chance of +1 4% chance of +0 Edit2: I don't, but it can't take too long to make a new one, especially if all these numbers are right. Edit3: And now I do. I haven't tested it much yet, but with this system in mind, everything lines up perfectly. I'll continue testing it all out, then if it all checks out, add it to the Calculations page. As far as I can tell, if this is right, the only things that remain to be checked are how healing spells impact WExp and what exactly is reduced by those percentages at higher levels (I'm guessing the points, not the chance, but it can't hurt to be sure). Those won't take long to verify, then I can add this to the site. Edit4: After doing more testing, the WExp calculations from Vincent's link are definitely accurate, but I'm not sure about the chances. I was expecting 64/32/4 and 80/20 results, but instead, I got this: Hit +2 14/31 - 45% (64%) Hit +1 17/31 - 55% (32%) Hit +0 0/31 - 0% (4%) Miss +1 26/28 - 93% (80%) Miss +0 2/28 - 7% (20%) Parentheses are the chances I was expecting to get. It seems like there's something particularly wrong with the chances of Reese not increasing his weapon skill at all. However, looking at those two instances compared to the entire test, they're about 3.5%, which fits if the chance of a +0 was 4% both times. This 4% chance would fit if Reese increasing his WExp to 170 (his WExp was 130 at the save before the test) forced him to increase his WLV, as if there's some minimum WExp around 150 that forces the point increase regardless of his growth rate, rather than being all the way back at 200. Based on this and some other tests, I'm under the impression that it's a minimum of 150, but that all three of the relevant minima - 100, 150, and 200 - are not inclusive. I'm still confused about the other values, though. Reese should have gotten more +2s, unless it doesn't use the full growth rate or something.

I figured there was something like that with Olwen and Percival. Does Senderos factor into anything, or is it just Rasputin? Also, is there anything you know of keeping Axel from grabbing the Divine Sword Vajra with his Robbery skill in either chapter where Chaos appears? I'm working on an Item Locations list (not uploaded yet); it could hypothetically include every item, but for now I'm just focusing on the ones that seem important enough to be worth the time of looking things up, and since the time required to look it up increases for common items, it seems like a good measure. As for weapon skills, I'm really confused now. I've been able to get Chris to increase her Crossbow Skill on her fourth attack multiple times, but then couldn't replicate it afterwards. I don't know if it's really unlikely or dependent on hitting or killing or skill use or what, but something's up here.

I apologize for jumping to conclusions. That said, I'm still not sure you're talking about the same thing I am. Indeed, the Sagas are not official FE games; I have not argued this point. However, while I admit that I don't know much about any of the other series you mentioned, how many of them were intended by the developer(s) to be a continuation of another series? I'm guessing none of them, while this is clearly the case for the Saga games, particularly as demonstrated in Kaga's initial attempt to call Tear Ring Saga "Emblem Saga". That is a key difference that cannot be dismissed. With all of that in mind, I must ask you (in part again), this time more out of curiosity than as a challenge: Having already played a game designed to have the gameplay of an FE game with the feature you want, what would be so different about getting that same feature in what you consider a "real" FE game?

And I'm asking you why you care that it's unofficial. Are you really that turned off by the name? I assure you, in terms of gameplay, TRS and Berwick Saga are thoroughly FE games, as much as FE2, FE4, and FE5.

Crossbows always make for a good addition, but it's important to consider the role of an archer: reaching farther enemies and avoiding counters while giving up counters themselves. In many FE games, at least past the beginning of the game, most characters have such great enemy phase and access to powerful 1-2 range weapons that this role is meaningless. But consider the beginning of a difficult Hard Mode, when you don't yet have effective enough 1-2 range and enemy counters are enough of a threat that the ability of an archer to avoid them is highly valuable. I haven't played much of FE12, but it seems like the decreased effectiveness of common 1-2 range weapons and the added difficulty of enemies on harder modes could allow that same role to remain useful throughout the game, which is the sort of thing the series should really do to address it. My current FE12 file actually has a team with like 10 characters either currently or eventually capable of using bows; I should probably continue that and see how it works out.

How do you figure? There's more to a game series than name and console.

Okay, I think I've edited that post enough times. I finished writing up the Mission data page, but I'm not entirely sure about all the details regarding mission objectives and the conditions forcing characters to be automatically included in a given chapter, especially since I've still only played about halfway through the game. Anyone notice anything you can add/correct? Edit: Healing 4 HP using Semi-Heal (5 healing power), Izerna increased her Heal Skill. This indicates that for healing spells, the amount of healing that matters really is determined by the amount healed compared to the healing power. I'm sticking to my previous guess that you need more than half to advance. It also appears that while doing so, healing spells advance WExp faster than weapons, but not as fast as shields. So that's one part of the puzzle solved, although I'm not sure how much it helps figuring out other things, since misses appear to increase WExp as much as hits; it's probably just a special measure added to healing spells to lessen the effect of abusing insignificant heals. Edit2: Now Chris never increases her Bow Skill on her fifth attack like she did so often on the Derrick tests, but she's increased it 4/5 times so far on her sixth attack. I'm really confused now.

I tried playing Fire Emblem and Theory Emblem, but now I play Saga Emblem. It's much more fun.

I feel it's worth noting that I actually agree with giving characters a wide variety of options to become eventually; what I disagree with is the instant results. This past summer, I designed a class system set up for a game with a small number of unpromoted classes that could train to learn a variety of weapons and skills and thereby become one of a much larger number of promoted classes with widely varying capabilities. A key feature was a need to devote Exp and training both in and out of combat to learning those new skills - in other words, adding the options without being stupid about it. Just throwing that out there. That's the sort of system I'm in favor of, although it's nothing I would expect the FE series of today to actually produce.

I believe I've talked to someone who said he saw Voltz retreat, and I've seen Deet'ver retreat. But yeah, FE4 isn't that difficult; you can beat the game with any pairings and no abuse. Hell, Sigurd and Celice can easily solo their respective gens with the exception of Julius. Celice can kill Julius alone, but I'd recommend using Julia anyway; the battle is ridiculously stupid and takes so much abuse. I had to send Oifaye into the arena repeatedly to waste RNs, which kinda breaks the solo rule anyway, but any alternative would probably take weeks. In short, just don't worry about things.

Holmes gets swords as a secondary weapon after promotion. I think that's a far better way of addressing the issue. Archers are pretty good anyway whenever enemies are tough enough that not taking counters actually matters and Hand Axes and Javelins are either unavailable or not viable.

If he's saying he doesn't think that anymore, then I apologize for the unwarranted hostility.

Your experiences are not necessarily representative. I don't know how much of FE5's chapters you actually played, but C rank and higher swords won't necessarily last you the whole game. Whenever you choose to experience more of the game offered than on an SSS run, I would expect falling back on weaker weapons at times to be a necessity. At those times, Iron Axes are effective; at other times, you have more powerful axes available. 120 uses of axe between the Pugi and Hero Axe from the start, for one thing, and Killer and Silver Axes later. Then if you're so sure, I'd like to see you prove it. Certainly doesn't sound like you can possibly be sure, though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mace_(club)#European_Middle_Ages Doesn't sound like clergy fighting was unheard of. Furthermore, even if it was false that they used maces to avoid drawing blood, it's an understandable distinction between fighting with a sword and fighting with a mace... or with magic.

This is not a topic about hyping Thunder magic; this is a topic about considering merits of using Thunder magic in FE10 specifically, not any other games. The fact that Thunder magic is generally better in FE9 is completely irrelevant. I suggest paying more attention.

No. I'm saying it's impossible, because it is; Morzas is immune to magic, therefore Lena cannot kill him as a Bishop. If you'd like to claim otherwise, you're going to need to prove it. As for the rest of the chapter, I don't know; I've never played past the first few chapters of FE11 (or FE12, for that matter). It certainly seems as though it would be quite difficult, at least outside of Normal Mode, and if you know of a way it could be done, I expect a video of the strategy would be quite impressive and fun to watch.

Post a video of Lena as a Bishop soloing Chapter 17, including killing Morzas. If it's difficult, but possible, you should be able to do that.

Haven't played much of Tear Ring Saga. Besides them then, yes. Probably worth noting that the healers in Berwick Saga do have a spell they can use in combat also, but it's used for disabling enemy attacks and can't kill. And it's not even the only defensive "weapon" in Berwick Saga, either (or in TRS, for that matter). Granted, Saphira gets Starlight at the end of the game, but that's functionally her personal spell anyway. Of course, Saphira and Izerna are the only characters locked to Holy magic in the first place, so that really only leaves Izerna, but whatever. And plenty of swords have 70 or fewer hit. Indeed, accuracy matters. But accuracy is not necessarily more important that damage. If you double an enemy, and the axe can kill the enemy in two hits, while the sword needs three, it won't matter if the sword is more likely to land both hits; the axe is more likely to kill. Both weapon types have advantages in combat... and axes have a huge advantage in availability. Other types of axes don't always hold up as well, but you should have all the Iron Axes you need, which are as powerful and as accurate as even Steel Swords, only lighter, cheaper, and again, more available. Also, you can get a Killer Axe from the Berserker in Ch5, although it would be a pain to do so. I don't know if there are any more until Ch14x, though, where you can get one from the boss. There's another Berserker in Ch6, but I don't remember him having a Killer Axe. Magically gaining new weapons and stats is fine. From what I remember, promotions in FE usually involve some magic item or spell being used, while there was no indication of any such thing in FE11/12. As I said earlier, I have nothing against fantasy elements as long as they make sense out of themselves. Okay, "any" meaning was an overstatement. It removes most of the gameplay meaning. Miranda is different because she's one character, with one class change. For all we know, she's had some training with horse riding and sword fighting before. That's much more believable than Lena and Merric and Draug all learning how to use a sword and a spear and an axe and a bow and magic and staffs and horse riding and dragon riding. It's also different because, as I noted above, it's a magically-based promotion, rather than, for all we can see, Lena just trying on some armor and jumping on a horse. Or grabbing an axe and jumping on a dragon; I'm starting to like that example more. It may have more meaning about which characters will be effective in gameplay, but will it affect how you use them? Often, not as much, and that can be more significant in terms of actual replay value for the game.