BrightBow

This applies to all of the mercs except for for the main trio and Mist. It was pretty great that there was so much different dialogue depending on who died but I don't see how they couldn't have possible treated anyone as a main character like that for the whole game, Way too many variables. We do have quite a few info conversations and the mercs are very likely to stay in the party and get some supports. So I never got the impression that they weren't around anymore. Also, why in the world do people think that Rolf and Mist is a likely paring? I don't see it. Mist acts more like a concerned big sister towards him.

I am ashamed to say that I have yet to make much use of Machua and Brighton. Selphina might also be interesting. Tina in FE5 probably. I DID use her but only for her personal staffs. I wonder if I can get her to become a proper caster. Also Krisheenu in TearRing Saga. The concept of a Thief Swordfighter seems pretty interesting. I know that her growths are garbage and her bases make her barely more durable then the thieves. But she can actually promote, so I wonder how she is going to turn out. And Norton. Unfortunately I missed that guy. A proper armored knight seems to be just what I would have needed in my rather lackluster run. And he gets a horse too.

Well, as an individual, Ike is probably the most powerful. Most lords starting with Marth are mostly known as charismatic leaders, inspiring their followers with their virtuousness and bravery. While some like Ephrahim are known to be skilled fighters, it never sounds like they are army soloing powerful. Ike on the other hand is probably was separated from any actual army and had to face the forces of the goddess Ashera with just a few followers. It also helps that he defeated Ashnard and the Black Knight. Both are in-universe examples of one person armies, known to defeat troops of enemies by themselves. I would say that his weakness is Ragnell. The weapon is never given much credit besides being able to overcome the godessess blessing. So I doubt it's on the same level as the Jugdral and Elibe weapons, which brought a whole war to a complete turnaround. The Elibe weapons lost most of their powers during the course of a 1000 years. And the FE7 gang had to gang up in order to defeat a single Fire Dragon, so I say they are all out. But the Jugdral weapons are barely over 100 years old and seem to have kept all their power. And holy blood alone makes a human immensely strong, to the point that there are a lot of conversations acknowledging their superiority. Tons of conversations between the substitutes at the end pretty much has them saying that they should all stand back. One conversation even has Leaf telling Janne that people without holy blood shouldn't be fighting at all. Add in a holy weapon and I am pretty sure that the other Lords can't really compete. So I say that the great knight Sigurd with Tyrfing wins the cake here. As for the loser's side, I say Leaf can't loose because of his holy blood, like I already mentioned. So I think it comes down to Roy and Eirika. But the Sword of Seals is a weapon so supreme, we don't even know what the deal with it is. While Siglinde is just a 8/15 holy weapon. So Roy probably beats her. As an individual, I am pretty sure that Roy's 15 year old ass is the weakest, though. Edit: Btw, why are there two sets of characters for winner and loosers? What makes the characters from the second selection so special, seeing how they are already in the bigger one? Anyway, if it means anything: From the smaller selection of possible winners, I think Micaiah wins because of Yune's power. But more importantly, I think her competition is pretty weak in general. On the other side, it's Lucina because... well, unfortunately I have to vote for someone. For one thing, I do think that her group is very strong. Lots of people with holy blood and the goddamn Ike. And I pretty much look at the Falchion the same way I look at Ragnell above. So I think it's a competition between Lucina, Alm and Chrom. So it has to be one of three characters, I don't know a damn thing about. Great... Given that the Elibe weapons lost most of their power in a thousand years, I would guess that the same happened to the Falchion in 2000 years, so Alm is out. Between Lucina and Chrom, I choose the one who is limited to a weaker Falchion, for whatever reason. But again, I only vote in the smaller selection because I have to make a vote there. As far as I am concerned, my explanation and that vote don't mean a thing.

I was referring to PoR chapter 27, when Tibarn mentions how he showed up and wiped out an entire unit.

And the Black Knight didn't do that? Not to mention that the army he fought by himself was a Laguz army. As a bonus, he later he took a white dragon breath to the face and just shrugged it off. It's also a matter of "show, don't tell". If the Black Knight is perfectly capable of showing up anytime and kicking your ass, then he is a lot more intimidating then some other dude who is merely stated to be that powerful.

I always watch them the first time. And when I replay it, I watch them again. The significance of a lot of things and the way they are connected only becomes apparent when you have the bigger picture from later during the story. What it's themes are and stuff like that. But by then you will have forgotten about those old scenes and events. Of course, rather then finding such things, you might discover that the whole story is a random collection of nonsensical crap with characters acting like a bunch of morons for the convenience of a plot that has no actual point. So I guess the way I see it, any story worth experiencing once, becomes better with every rewatch... except for Metal Gear Solid because that's totally unreasonable.

I think you are all heavily overestimating a 2000 years timeskip. The first Fire Emblem was clearly more inspired by ancient Greek and Roma then anything else. That's what the art resembles. That's were all the names come from. I know that the remakes changed at least the art and even some aspects like slavery, but it's not like those new designs suit any other epoch any better. Victorian age or whatever seems like a very fine choice to me after a 2000 years time skip. Granted, they probably should have figured out gravity and stuff out by now but not nuclear weapons or Spaceflight. For warfare, cannons and rifles would probably more relevant, though.

That's not what I mean at all. What I mean is that it allows a challenging level design where the outcome depends on the player's ability. And not by the player's tolerance in performing repetitiveness tasks. And we do have difficulty levels already. Though, I do wish it was more like the Tales series where you can change the difficulty later on. A Fire Emblem campaign is too long to expect the players to restart the whole thing if they hit a dead end.

Personally I consider linearity mostly a strength. That way it's easy to predict what the player is capable of and design the game accordingly. Not that I consider this even close to universally true. I love open games like Morrowind for example. Something that feels like an actual world in which the player has to prevail, even if it means that said world can't challenge you at times. But especially now that I was able to play both ways back-to-back in Tear Ring Saga, I can definitely say that I prefer Fire Emblem to be linear.

As far as I am concerned, grinding is just a cheap way to artificial pad out the game. Not to mention, I think that they really don't go well with Fire Emblem's mechanics in particular because a few stat points make a world of difference. You can get very quickly get to the point where enemies can't scratch or hit you. I could properly understand the presence of the mechanic if there was some sort of versus mode or proper co-op mode. So that there would be some point to further optimize your team after the end of the game. But since there isn't, I think that all post game challenges should simply be designed to be beatable by an endgame party. I don't see a difference between fighting capped enemies in a game where stats go up 50 and fighting capped enemies when stats go only up to 30. The former just makes it a necessity to grind before strategy even becomes a factor against the raw power of numbers. Admittedly, I am most likely heavily biased against it because of playing so much Castlevania and Dragon Quest IX. They really abuse this kind of stuff. But either way, I see a huge appeal of Fire Emblem is it's linearity. Which demands efficient and clever use of limited resources. If I can just farm anything anywhere and have an unlimited pool of money, then those items loose value. So there is neither that much of an appeal to risk your neck for rare items or a sense of accomplishment if you do manage to pull it off.

Not at all. I got the impression that they are all just one note characters. Cardboard cutouts with no depth whatsoever. Kinda like a cast made entirely of Ilyanas. So I find them to be painfully artificial and completely unrelatable. .

Another question: What is the point of the 3000 gold donations to the church? I would have figured you can recruit Lyria that way but according to the site you simply have to send Attrom. This guy just has to be a requirement to recruit two clerics. I am so glad I choose Lee at the beginning. So I am at the top of the Tower of Morse now and I meet this Mime. The patch freezes the game when I select anything in the dialogue though. But what I am wondering now, how many people can she revive? Can she revive several people at once or do I need to climb back up every time? And if I use it on Roger or Mel, do I get both back? Okay, the orb lost a charge after reviving Attrom. That explains that. Time to get Lyra now.

Tharja probably. Considering that she is pretty much a female version of Valter... except of course Valter was acknowledged as a monster, has to at least pretend to be an ally (even then, he still comes across as an arrogant prick, so nobody likes him) and never got to actually rape his target. He is still disturbing as hell, but at least he leaves in a world that condemns his actions. You don't have to deal with him all by yourself. But the world that Tharja lives in, doesn't give two shits about a monster like her. Everyone will just ignore everything she does, despite her making no effort to hide that she is a sick bastard who hurts people out of mere boredom. No matter how many people are around you, you will always be alone with her. The disturbance even reaches meta levels, given that she is the favorite character of all the IS representatives. Mind you, seeing the supposed heroes butcher and verbally teabagging soldiers as if they were merely Counterstrike opponents instead of sentient beings, really makes me want to throw up. Especially considering that Fire Emblem used to go to great lengths in humanizing enemies.

Well, the best would be "Open Fire" from Thracia 776. Surviving 10 rounds is easy but there is so much stuff to get, like the Dragon Lance or the Rezire tome. But with the series deadliest ballista, tons of leadership supported troops and camouflaged Thracian reinforcements, this is easier said then done. The worst is whatever the name of the TearRing Saga map with the floating eyeballs in the cave is. Worst! Map! Ever! Flying enemies that multiply endlessly camping in every corner of the map, waiting for you to cross a floor that takes ages to maneuver. And of course, the whole map counts as an indoor map, so no fliers to quickly cross the lava. And the eyeballs magic damage and have high speed. It's balanced out by a low hit rate. Dying to those low percentages is very frustrating but can't really be avoided because of the terrain that doesn't affect the eyeballs at all. Oh, and there aren't just enemies in the corners, but chests too. And getting them is actually a victory condition. And several chests are actually in the center of the lava sea that reduces anyone to 1 move. Slow and tedious progression paired with cheap deaths. I shiver at the mere thought of having to face that map again.

Well, if nothing else, how is Avatar less of a Mary Sue then the young Starfleet Lieutenant who is the origin of the name? If nothing else, he is at least worse then Mark and My Unit. Because while people worshiped them for no reason, in the end they were just bystanders. They were limited to the hero's secret helper and didn't have the whole plot tailored around them.

Sully? The girl who is so manly, she had her armor altered to make it look like she is wearing stockings and lady gloves? Sure... As for Cecille, I never got the impression that she is bursting with testosterone either. http://www.serenesforest.net/media/fe3illust/Cecil.jpg Oh well, +1 for the rebel leader with the cool design, who unfortunately has not a single support that actually resolves around herself.

Well, FE10 required you to earn 50 forge points before you could forge anything.Which probably wasn't all that cheap. It's just that the system was completely removed during localization. Given that you can now forge a Light tome that is superior to Ellight in any way while still being cheaper, it's quite clear that nobody took into account on how this affects game balance. It's unfair to hold this sledgehammer adjustment against knives.

Well, it's not a stable that the Paladin has to be this old. Jagen and Markus are the only ones and the latter is a direct copy of the former. On the other hand, we got the mustache god Oifaye, Eyvel, Seth, Titania, Sothe and Freddy. They are all significantly younger. Probably.

Would you mind telling what you mean? Because I have to say, your post is not self-explanatory at all.

They don't of course, but... I kinda can't come up that easily with many things that doesn't put you at risk to hit a death end because your Thief is dead. Well, assuming you were responding to me... I am all for more useful non-combat utility. I hope I didn't sound otherwise.

Then... the problem is that Assassin is a Myrmidon promotion to begin with...? Seriously, I am pretty much the last person who likes this kind of nonsensical class changes. Besides, if some random sell sword somehow managed to turn into a master of stealth... then yes. Yes, it does actually make sense. He would leave his sword at home in order to move fast and silently. If he does use them anyway, he should probably temporal loose class benefits of being an Assassin. The problem is not that knives make Thieves useless because they are weak already. That's the wrong way to look at it. The problem is that Thieves as a class is useless because they have almost no utility. As specialists, they need to do things that others can't. Not just for picking looks, stealing stuff and fixing bridges. For combat related skills, there are possibilities as well. Like in "Battle For Wesnoth", Thieves deal triple damage when attacking an enemy already engaged in combat in the same turn. They have crazy avoid when faced on difficult terrain and can throw poisoned daggers (poison is actually useful here). And some more stuff that can't really apply to Fire Emblem. So they have plenty of things that most other classes can't replicate, giving them the edge over these opponents when used cleverly... but still don't come close to match the raw strength them when fighting head-on. Thieves can easily be more then simply being weaker Myrmidons. We don't need two versions of the same class just because Thieves are a D&D stable.

Well, if nothing else Thieves and Assasins with heavy weapons is kinda silly. They are too noisy and to large to be hidden. I think the more interesting questions is: Why have Thieves? Just for the sake of saving some money on keys?

Thank you for the warning, Othin. Still, I will go through the game a second time anyway. And the worst that can happen, is that I miss out on Roger, Mel, Sasha and maybe Katt.

Well, MM certainly wasn't impressive in numbers. Only 4 dungeons. Most models recyled from OoT... But I say the praise is the result that it really aged well with it's audience. At least to me, when I play it now, Cremia really gets to me. The responsibility of the farm and the responsibility for her Romani are visibly a heavy burden to her but she does her best. Then the foundation of the farm gets stolen and her sister gets abducted and irreconcilable changed. She has no idea what to do from now. And she has reason to feel guilty for both of these. I never really thought about that much. I was just thinking she should be more concerned about her sister then about the cows. Or with Pamela. She was not only surrounded by mummies but also had her own death in the closet, who one day might be unavailable to stop himself from eating her or whatever and there would be nothing she could run to. And once that crisis is over, it's clear that she is the adult of the pair. She has all the responsibility of it... just without the power that usually comes with it. Her father is free to ignore her concerns, getting his life in danger and that of his daughter along with it. She can see all that but as a child, he can just ignore her. So she is entirely helpless as he walks towards their doom. All I could think of was, that she was kinda mean for throwing you out of the house. Plus, helpless children with oblivious parents is a recurring theme in the game. A very real thing. I think that it's something that gets over the head as long as you still have unlimited faith that your parents are always right and know what they are doing and you take the safety of your environment for granted. Once those illusions are crushed and you experience this helplessness, then it will start sending shivers down your spine.

Wait a minute, that's what the whole disguise was about? So the explanation is that a Woman from a Victorian styled setting is that she dresses coincidently exactly like an Man from a ancient Roma styled setting? Down to wearing the exact same Tiara? I would have expected that IS publicity stunt would have at least some sort of story relevance. That it couldn't just be replaced by any other disguise. Oh well, doesn't necessary mean that she is a bad character. But if that build-up has no payoff, I hope that she offers something special that elevates her above the rest.