FE7 HHM Ranked Tier List

[Interceptor]

The measures required to define Forest as a PC are greater in number, more complicated, or simply more far-fetched than the measures required to define Merlinus as a PC. Hence, we can see that tiering Merlinus should not immediately lead to the conclusion that Forest is therefore also a PC.

This only identifies the location that the argument comes from, the nature of it. It is not, in and of itself, an argument.

At this point I'm ready to just agree with tiering him. As I mentioned before, even if you don't think he should be, it's not as if his existence will kill discussion for you or anything. Just ignore arguments involving him, move him when a move is agreed on, etc.

Agreed. So, what tile do you think that we should start with? Forest?

[Mekkah]

Int, you devious troll...

In fact, wow @ SF in general. It's like a new concept or idea can't be handled here and it makes people explode into raging elitists and tyrants or something. I made a totally legit argument that Priscilla may not be top tier, and it was met with nothing but flames and trolling until someone else finally stepped up to agree with me. That seems to be the trend here.

I thought this we were going to stop posting this kind of stuff? Anyway, iirc several people did provide solid arguments for Priscilla's position in top. I recall CATS explaining how hax her EXP contribution actually is.

[Inui]

Indeed. Me being "wrong" isn't the big deal. It's the fact that I got flamed and trolled just for presenting the argument.

[Florete]

Agreed. So, what tile do you think that we should start with? Forest?

I was thinking Arena since it probably contributes more, but Forest has greater availability, so that may be a good start.

[Progenitus]

See, this is why I took a break from FE debating. I was able to alter my perspective on people. When you see guys like Interceptor in a different light, you go from "wow, I hope this guy isn't serious" to "LOL, this guy's a genius troll".

[frat_tastic]

Wait, people are taking Int seriously?

Anywho, it seems like far more people are willing to tier Merlinus than those not, and then the facts and evidence are far more abundant and in favor of tiering him anyway. Where should he be placed?

[Florete]

I've just whipped up what I find to be a fairly decent preliminary FE7 tiles tier list. Want I should post it?

[CATS]

I would say somewhere in upper mid or high, since he is a clear positive. Maybe right below Pent and Harken for starters, since most below them have few or no significant contributions.

[frat_tastic]

Thats pretty much where I thought he'd end up, sounds good to me. Colonel, make the change unless someone has something earth-shattering they'd like to share.

[Colonel M]

See, this is why I took a break from FE debating. I was able to alter my perspective on people. When you see guys like Interceptor in a different light, you go from "wow, I hope this guy isn't serious" to "LOL, this guy's a genius troll".

Even more ingenious than you will ever be.

Yeah, if you think he's not a unit, that's a totally different argument. You asked me to provide an argument under the assumption that he is in fact a unit and X are his contributions, which I am attempting to do.

Which I did ask. I was responding more to the point of that we're still thinking he's a unit, in which case I don't buy.

THAT'S NOT THE POINT!

Merlinus isn't being credited for holding the items. His credit is for allowing you to buy 20 elixirs with one unit, on one turn, without discarding anything.

The difference between this and the units buying the elixirs is that anyone can go and buy those elixirs. If I don't use Rebecca, anyone else can buy the elixirs instead of her. If I don't use Merlinus however, I lose the ability to buy more than 4 at a time without discarding items, and no one can replicate that.

In a similar story, Hector is the only unit that can seize. Without him, I lose the ability to complete the game.

Another point that is being missed is that we understand that he allows a unit to buy more than 4 items. I think we can all logically conclude that. The point is where you draw it to be of a positive contribution and by how much.

Storyline argument? I don't see how it has anything to do with the storyline.

It may not have anything to do with the storyline, but in a similar world it can be linked to FE8 Eirika Convoy and then a unit seizing. Do we give credit to such things to begin with?

Again, it's not about him holding a shitload of items. He can store a ton of crap without being on the map. It's about the fact that you can obtain items with a full inventory on your unit and not have to discard anything for it.

Even if you were forced to discard an item, the worst case scenario is that it doesn't affect that much to do so. You may drop, like, a Steel Lance or something that's nearly broken to begin with. He's not exactly necessary in this scenario.

Wow @ Colonel M.

*Bows*.

Yes, I am that amazing.

In fact, wow @ SF in general. It's like a new concept or idea can't be handled here and it makes people explode into raging elitists and tyrants or something. I made a totally legit argument that Priscilla may not be top tier, and it was met with nothing but flames and trolling until someone else finally stepped up to agree with me. That seems to be the trend here. We have someone likening Merlinus to map tiles, despite the very clear differences that have been pointed out. Then we have someone else just saying "well it makes me mad" or something with regards to tiering Merlinus.

Oh, please do go on two years. I'm amused by this theatrical play.

There was a reason I did not want to continue arguing Merlinus into the spectrum: we can't even logically agree on that he's an actual unit to begin with. Then we can't even agree on what he contributes and such. Go back to suckling on CATS or Reikken. And with Priscilla, you were even debunked by CATS just because of your flimsy argument that "because Serra exists, Priscilla goes down a tier". That was partially as to how your argument was hinged. Mekkah explained this... rather perfectly:

I thought this we were going to stop posting this kind of stuff? Anyway, iirc several people did provide solid arguments for Priscilla's position in top. I recall CATS explaining how hax her EXP contribution actually is.

In Marcus vs. Oswin, you overinflated levels. Countless of times you have. A Level 14 Isadora by VoD... saying that because her durability is so similar to Lucius's that she should go up or he should drop... nothing very factual in your evidence. Yes, I question your arguments because no one here can back up your validity on the game itself. You provided us that you were still 5 Starring EXP rank in the earlygame chapters where it's not that difficult. It's when you hit the later points where your EXP rank starts to plummet like a rock.

I'm quite amused by the bone that you feed me. Perhaps you can offer me more? One person cannot suddenly make a drastic change on a list such as this: it requires others (yes there is more than you in this world) to back up the statement. While I did, at first, feel convinced after frat posted something, others came back and defended it. With their evidence, it seemed to logically state that a tier difference wasn't there, so I put her back up. It is not exactly a democratic tier list. There is one small exception being made with the whole democracy bullshit, and that is Merlinus atm because there are both sides that disagree and agree with tiering him.

In the same vein, you also kept saying "Rebecca up, Karel and Jaffar sucks" over and over... with nothing to hinge your backbone. I can understand if the argument is a work in progress, but yet again others didn't think that Jaffar sucked so much that he should be in a similar tier as some of those other failboats. They conceded to Vaida, which I can buy, because that she has limited availability and her flight advantage only matters in one chapter at the most. The bow weakness argument was slightly nullified by myself because bowmen, while being able to dent her, need actual weapons to do so. Steel Bow has 18 Mt / 22 base Def for Vaida. Will she get damaged? Obviously, most Bowmen have more than 4 Str. How much does it actually hinder her though? Not enough to be significant unless it's an actual Sniper with a Silver Bow in which case she takes much damage.

Compare her effective damage taken (26). Without factoring Str, Vaida would take 4 damage minimum. Whereas a unit such as Serra at 20/10 (a hypothetical situation) takes ~5 damage before Str is factored in. The analysis also missed HM bonuses because it listed 13 Spd for Vaida when she has 14 at base. So with an analysis that wasn't 100% correct, why should I suddenly gun-ho and say "okay made a change?"

So here is what I'm saying, and I want it clear as day. So clear that I am not only putting it in quotations, but also italicizing it:

"I do not appreciate you calling me out if you cannot even prove some of the faulty logic that I have brought here. Most, if not all arguments that I have brought up in here have at least some shred of evidence, comparison, statistics, and stating each units advantage and disadvantage. You have no right to call anyone out with your elitist and tyranny card when you were accused of it so long ago anyway. There is even a short mention of yourself within here.

Of course, that was then and this is now. I have allowed to give you countless chances, but your throwing of the elitist card was not even justified. Your logic back with Farina not being a negative was because funds was a joke, yet countless amounts of people stood up to the argument and, basically, laughed at such a statement. Not that it isn't true; funds is a more lenient rank than Tactics or EXP, but it does not give the person the right to blatantly state that disallowing a unit discussion when he was taken out of commission many times was unjustified. You continued to insinuate me as an idiot, yet I had to draw a vertical line somewhere to cease the useless discussion. You at least provided some semblance of arguments with Marcus vs. Oswin. You called out a person who disagreed with your proposition of putting him in top and calling him, basically, a scrub. I understand that I have given you most of my ire as of late, but you are quite deserving of it.

• You will refrain from your semantics with calling out Serenes Forest, the forum itself. And I also state the members as well. I guess I don't care if you continue to your childish hiccups of calling me out. Calling out, basically, an entire forum or group is unacceptable when the rest of the community has done no intentional harm with you... yet.
  
• Your kissing ass sickens me. Do you see me kissing Mekkah and Interceptor's asses once they make a post? I find that sick. I don't care for your small "quoted for truth" if you can at least back up the logic. Playing as a blind mime will get you nowhere in life.
  
• From now on, you will be asked to provide a logical argument. Here I play devil's advocate and ask you this.
  
• Both of us can be kind to each other. I have no problem being kind to others. I have a problem with being kind to those that don't deserve it.

So I close with this: stop. You are allowed to add more positive discussion. What you are not allowed is your calling out and your ass kissing. I do not see anything worthy of people when they do such things. ESPECIALLY the latter."

You are free to report me. I will act as the shield if I need to. Maybe I'm not a great shield in some others eyes, but the Serenes Forest community does not deserve your accusations. I am willing to bite that bullet if it gets you to shut the fuck up with your elitist trolling because it's obviously clear as day to everyone else other than myself. I tried being reasonable with Tino on this. I honestly did. Likely this statement will not pierce you, but in any case I do not care. You are allowed to debate Fire Emblem. I am not restricting anyone of such a thing. I am restricting the calling out.

----------

Back to our broken can of worms, Merlinus.

Merlinus is not a unit (if you can even call him that). He is completely different from any unit that has ever been introduced in the series. He is not like Orson who is available for one chapter. He is not a healer. He is not a dancer. His class is completely unique to the rest of the Fire Emblem game. He doesn't even follow many of the rules of a typical unit: you are asked to field him, he levels if he survives the entire chapter, cannot move until reaching Level 21, and finally cannot contribute to the battlefield as far as combat and many other things. In the same argument that you can make easy positives, it is also true you can make easy negatives. Once again, I will go back to the certain points:

Tactics: In the similar story that he may contribute positively by allowing your units to carry more items, what about him surviving again? If he dies, your logical situation is in jeopardy. He requires one, two, or even three unit(s) to sit and guard him, thus this can actually create inefficiency and thus hurt tactics because they are not contributing to the main enemies that surround bosses, etc.

Survival: Again, while he cannot harm such a rank, it is still theoretically easy to force a penalty on him. Again, he requires guards. If he does not get said guards he dies. Now you have two options available to you. You can optionally continue the map but are forced to ditch items or limit yourself while shopping or restart. He may not hurt the rank, perse, but he still hurts the "efficiency" portion, by this I mean that he can logically cause you a restart if he is not guarded.

EXP: Nothing contributed.

Combat: See EXP Rank.

Funds: Perhaps the only rare place you can actually make a legit argument for him and it goes back to holding items. Which... is about it.

Once again, I cannot even begin on where I could place him if I can't even sort out that he is not a unit or what I do start to credit and not credit him for. I asked for the hypothetical situation, which I still have pinned and willing to take a matter of putting him there if we can actually draw the line of him being a "legit" unit or not. By legit, I mean that we can actually say that he is in similar vein to being like units such as Matthew, Dorcas, and Karla. There's a reason why this wasn't on a tier list for forever and I think the biggest problem was that bblader's post was not to provide that Merlinus should be on the list. RATHER, it was to take him off the FE6 Tier list OR add him on 7. Since FE6's was Grandjackal's doing, IIRC, I decided that it was of little use and took it down.

You also failed, CATS, to contribute to Rebecca actually being able to contribute something towards each rank. While minimal in some aspects, you can also credit her for not using an Orion Bolt, for example, which is a free 10K. I can also argue that she could be fielded in other chapters such as 14 without major penalties of taking out a better unit. She can be used, to some extents, of a minor combat unit that is Player Phase-only. She technically cannot be a negative towards Tactics in situations that she is forced or doesn't exactly kick out a better unit. You can re-elect to use Rebecca if you need to milk more of the EXP rank later on when you have slightly better weapons. It's nothing major, but enough to bring a foundation of an argument. Perhaps not so much on the very last statement, but in earlygame you are practically allowed to use her without much penalty to begin with.

Let's also go back to your argument with the Elixers. While it's true that Merlinus allows you to buy multiples, what about using them on the field? Because he cannot move yet (or won't for a while), those bought items are left back in the tent. You are not able to access them, theoretically, until the next chapter unless you run back or are already guarding Merlinus. There are rare exceptions such as C18 and C26 where he is next to most of the units.

By freely allowing a Merlinus in a tier list argument, you open up a dangerous can of worms. Now arguments that involve indirect contribution are allowed, which IIRC never was in a tier list. You don't credit Karla because she gives you CEXP through Bartre. We don't credit Lyn because she doesn't use a Heaven Seal.

Finally, I leave that if I am forced to do so (by this people can logically agree on most of the points with tiering him), then... I have no choice but to do so. This hasn't been done often, if at all, before from what I recall in tier lists. Even if I do allow it, I am not auto-tiering a person without an actual valid argument against certain units. Tier lists don't run without backbones, and I ask that if we're seriously going to choose something that is a waste of time in my opinion that we do not auto-do "anything" and actually draw comparisons.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Colonel M

[Interceptor]

Int, you devious troll...

I cannot abide libel. Please cease and desist.

Wait, people are taking Int seriously?

What is the problem with taking my argument seriously? I have been very clear about the underlying justification for tiering terrain tiles. It should not come as a surprise if reasonable men and women are persuaded by my humble objections to the ludicrous discrimination that's taking place.

Anywho, it seems like far more people are willing to tier Merlinus than those not [...]

This is a clear Appeal to Popularity, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

I've just whipped up what I find to be a fairly decent preliminary FE7 tiles tier list. Want I should post it?

I don't see why not. You have to go back 7 pages before you stop finding posts about Merlinus, so clearly the will of the majority here is that we continue to spend time on tiering ULEs. A separate list will surely help focus our thoughts on this matter.

[Colonel M]

...I've decided.

I will tier Merlinus. But I will not "auto-Upper Mid" or anything of the sort. I want real arguments that involve things like Dorcas < Merlinus.

[CATS]

Still trying to restrict what we can and can't post?

In a similar story, Hector is the only unit that can seize. Without him, I lose the ability to complete the game.

How is this relevant?

Another point that is being missed is that we understand that he allows a unit to buy more than 4 items. I think we can all logically conclude that. The point is where you draw it to be of a positive contribution and by how much.

Yeah, that's what my post was about. Want me to re-post it?

Even if you were forced to discard an item, the worst case scenario is that it doesn't affect that much to do so. You may drop, like, a Steel Lance or something that's nearly broken to begin with. He's not exactly necessary in this scenario.

You lose whatever weapon you choose to drop for the remainder of the chapter. If Kent needed that steel lance to 2HKO a knight, now he's SOL. And the fact that you are indeed losing funds remains.

No, he's not necessary. Neither is Raven.

You also failed, CATS, to contribute to Rebecca actually being able to contribute something towards each rank. While minimal in some aspects, you can also credit her for not using an Orion Bolt, for example, which is a free 10K.

I really, really don't see your logic here. Rebecca's use is not required for you to obtain the Orion's Bolt and the 10K that it's worth. You could kill her off in Ch 12 and you'd still be able to get the same number of Orion's Bolts later in the game.

I can also argue that she could be fielded in other chapters such as 14 without major penalties of taking out a better unit. She can be used, to some extents, of a minor combat unit that is Player Phase-only. She technically cannot be a negative towards Tactics in situations that she is forced or doesn't exactly kick out a better unit.

Yeah, for the first 3 chapters she can be fielded for free. Actually 14 also has enough deployment slots that everyone can be fielded iirc, so that one too. After that, when is she not kicking out a better unit in order to be fielded?

Let's also go back to your argument with the Elixers. While it's true that Merlinus allows you to buy multiples, what about using them on the field? Because he cannot move yet (or won't for a while), those bought items are left back in the tent. You are not able to access them, theoretically, until the next chapter unless you run back or are already guarding Merlinus. There are rare exceptions such as C18 and C26 where he is next to most of the units.

It has nothing to do with using them on the field. You have no need whatsoever to chug 25 elixirs in VoD and indeed doing so would rape funds. The point is just that they're acquired at half value, so you massively boost your funds rating just by buying them and having them sit. That's the whole point of the silver card, after all, dominating the funds ranking. You can buy silver lances or something instead and the effect is the same, I just picked elixirs because they are the most expensive single item you can buy in 31x iirc.

[Colonel M]

Still trying to restrict what we can and can't post?

After I said it that one time, I never stated that you can or cannot. What I'm stating is that I will not buy an argument such as "auto-this" without actual comparisons.

I will start with Merlinus > Rebecca.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Colonel M

[frat_tastic]

Hector's seizing ability doesn't add anything to the S-Ranking the game. Yes, it lets you move on the the next chapter, but it literally adds zero value to the ranks. If anything here is having to do with "storyline" stuff, it's Hector's seizing ability.

Merlinus being a completely different class that hasn't been seen before in the FE universe doesn't mean anything. So what if its new? Lucius's class was new. Assassins were new. Dancers were new. Falcoknights were new. Summoners were new. Laguz were new. Just because they are something thats new and different doesn't mean that it doesn't qualify as a unit.

Yes, he doesn't contribute in the sense that most other characters contribute. This I suppose can be said of other units as well though. Ninils is in the extreme minority in this game, in that they don't contribute through conventional means. They contribute through refreshing and stat boosts, while the conventional mean is through combat. Healing is also unconventional, but less so since you have multiple people who do this. Merlinus's function is unique, true, but being unique doesn't mean that you are not classified as a unit. If this logic holds true, then Ninils shouldn't be tiered, since what they do is also "unique".

On your analysis of the rankings, I disagree quite a bit. Yeah, Merlinus hurts Tactics and Combat, which has been admitted several times. He doesn't ever really need a guard, unless the chapter in question is a route enemy chapter and there are enemy reinforcements coming from behind or something, although I can't recall any that are like that. Merlinus also has pretty damn good durability, with a %120 HP growth and massive speed and luck growths. He doesn't really need a guard.

Survival rank also isn't really a negative against him. Yeah, it can be a pain if he does, but the consequences of him dying are far less severe than your other units. It's not really positive or negative, it's neutral.

The reason I and others call for a mid tier placement is because Merlinus does something unique and useful that is more helpful in S-Ranking that what the other units below him do. Yeah, Canas and Fiora don't really hurt the ranks to much and they contribute positively, but nothing significant enough to get them into High tier. Merlinus contributes to the funds rank so significantly, that when weighed with his negative aspects, he would seem to fall there. He's not contributing as much as the High tier guys, since he can't fight, doesn't gain exp., etc. He does however contribute more overall than most of the Upper Mid crew.

I also don't think this opens up a lot of discussion for indirect contributions. Merlinus being deployed directly to the funds rank by allowing you to send mass amounts of items to the convoy, which is imperative for making the funds rank easy to S-Rank. Maybe it's just me, but I find this to be different that crediting Karla for Bartre's CEXP, etc. Bartre gets you that EXP, not Karla. Merlinus allows you to amass large amounts of items/funds, not the units sending them to him.

[Colonel M]

Alright, so everyone is clear: Merlinus is over Rebecca atm. Start whatever you want to argue him above.

EDIT: No Int, we're not tiering Peak. I wish we could, but we can't.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Colonel M

[Rodykitty]

EDIT: No Int, we're not tiering Peak. I wish we could, but we can't.

Are you banning discussion and debate still? How un-adult of you to do that, and unfitting for someone to run a tier list.

[Interceptor]

So, would someone kindly explain to me why buying 20+ elixirs all at once is significantly superior to any number of other, less asinine strategies for turning gold into stuff?

No Int, we're not tiering Peak. I wish we could, but we can't.

Spare me your meaningless rationalizations, tyrant. This insult will not be soon forgotten, not so long as this lonely crusader still draws breath. From hell's heart, I stab at thee...

Edited February 27, 2010 by Interceptor

[CATS]

So, would someone kindly explain to me why buying 20+ elixirs all at once is significantly superior to any number of other, less asinine strategies for turning gold into stuff?

Assets is worth of all items + your gold. Funds rank is determined by your assets.

Elixirs are worth 3000G each, but if bought with the silver card, it costs you only 1500G to buy them. Hence buying an elixir with the silver card is +1500G to your total assets. You are given 30000G through a storyline event right before a chapter where you have the opportunity to buy stuff (again, it doesn't necessarily have to be elixirs). If you use all that 30K to buy junk with the silver card, you gain +30000G to your assets. It buys 20 elixirs, which are worth 60000G.

It's not about turning gold into stuff, it's about turning gold into more assets for Funds rank.

[Narga_Rocks]

Assets is worth of all items + your gold. Funds rank is determined by your assets.

Elixirs are worth 3000G each, but if bought with the silver card, it costs you only 1500G to buy them. Hence buying an elixir with the silver card is +1500G to your total assets. You are given 30000G through a storyline event right before a chapter where you have the opportunity to buy stuff (again, it doesn't necessarily have to be elixirs). If you use all that 30K to buy junk with the silver card, you gain +30000G to your assets. It buys 20 elixirs, which are worth 60000G.

It's not about turning gold into stuff, it's about turning gold into more assets for Funds rank.

Kinda makes you wonder what I.S. was thinking, though. Make a funds rank, and in fe6 set it up so that if you buy things with the silver card you don't double your money but instead items are only worth/2, so it is in fact buying stuff without a silver card that will really hurt the funds rank. Then they turn around and count the value as the unsold worth of the items. I'd understand more if this went in the other direction and fe6 was the one that let you double your funds rank, but no.

[Interceptor]

I know why buying items with the Silver Card is important for Funds, I am not retarded. I asked for an explanation as to why buying elixirs is a significantly superior than other, less asinine alternatives. I was expecting an answer like "it's not significantly superior", or "you get the money so late that you have to spend it all at once", or "my toes are cold". I haven't kept track of the metagame for Funds in this game, so I don't know what sorts of things are generally assumed to be purchased for it.

In other words, I'm just curious if you're deliberately hyping the Convoy by giving Merlinus something to do, or if that strategy is actually head and shoulders better than non-auto-deposit alternatives over the course of the rest of the game.

[CATS]

If it's set up so that buying stuff with the silver card doesn't boost funds, then Matthew needs to go down alot (and indeed, part of Merlinus's argument goes away). I haven't actually tested this myself; I'm just assuming that that's how it works, since it was a big part of the argument that originally put Matthew as high as he is.

No, ofcourse buying a ton of elixirs isn't necessarily better than buying a ton of killing edges. I chose elixirs because they allow you to fit the most gold into the fewest number of inventory slots, which is something you'd take into consideration when trying to mass-purchase things without Merlinus on the field.

[Narga_Rocks]

If it's set up so that buying stuff with the silver card doesn't boost funds, then Matthew needs to go down alot (and indeed, part of Merlinus's argument goes away). I haven't actually tested this myself; I'm just assuming that that's how it works, since it was a big part of the argument that originally put Matthew as high as he is.

this site seems pretty certain that fe7 has the full value of the items. fe6 is the only one with half value. Now, even in fe6 the silver card helps since buying a 2000 weapon and using it all becomes the same as buying a 1000 weapon without the card and using it all. I'm just saying I.S. is weird since they changed it to make the rank easier to 5 star.

No, ofcourse buying a ton of elixirs isn't necessarily better than buying a ton of killing edges. I chose elixirs because they allow you to fit the most gold into the fewest number of inventory slots, which is something you'd take into consideration when trying to mass-purchase things without Merlinus on the field.

He's not talking would you buy elixirs or would you buy some other weapon. He's saying is it possible to just buy stuff along the way and still do it. Like, have 2 units buy 8 items each map you can or some such. How much better is what Merlinus allows than the alternative?

[Interceptor]

He's not talking would you buy elixirs or would you buy some other weapon. He's saying is it possible to just buy stuff along the way and still do it. Like, have 2 units buy 8 items each map you can or some such. How much better is what Merlinus allows than the alternative?

Precisely. Specifically, I was wondering about those hilariously expensive promotion items in the lategame Secret Shops. A back of the napkin says that an Ocean Seal is 6% of your ideal Funds ranking all by itself, which is 3% net when you consider losing the gold for it.

But, I don't know if the Secret Shops count, and i also don't know if those items were already assumed to be purchased. Etc.

[CATS]

The 30000G for Battle Preparations is given to you right before that chapter. You have no other opportunities to spend that money specifically. Sure, you can buy stuff along the way with other money given to you earlier in the game. But very little of your assets is actually given to you in straight cash anyways; that 30K for 31x is greater than the amount of hard cash (i.e. not money from selling gems and such) that you get in the entire rest of the game before then, iirc.