Integ's gon' rank the characters!

[Integrity]

Alright then, moving forward.

FRANZ

Let me set the record straight: I love Franz. That's all you need to know, because I almost gave him the perfect 10.

Yeah. For a while, I considered him better than Seth.

Then I looked at the numbers.

Believe me, dear readers, I poured over growth rates, enemy stats, base stats, Franz's average stats at every level, supports, and even my own personal bias couldn't tell me Franz was better than Seth overall. I checked and cross-checked numbers after numbers and cannot objectively state that Franz is better than Seth. Is this any fault of Franz's? Pshaw, sister Natasha. It's all Seth doing the doing. Franz is still a spectacular unit and I'm still biased towards Franz in every way and I'll still continue to use Franz in every run of FE8 I do even to the exclusion of Seth. But does this mean Franz is better than Seth? I find myself unable to twist the evidence.

Am I going to say Franz's availability is better? Well, thanks to a little ballsy man named O'Neill, Seth's availability is markedly better. Franz's growths surely must compensate for Seth's Jeiganity? Well, nope, actually Seth squashes Franz in most growths. Maybe Seth's bases are lower than a typical 20/1 Paladin? Yes, they're lower than Franz's, but by margins of roughly two points per, tops. Seth's supports, surely, must be worse than Franz's? Well, actually, they're roughly the same - but Seth barely has an advantage due to having a moderately fast support with a unit who has the potential to be forced the entire game through. Does he not like that? Well then he'll just support Franz himself.

What's Franz's advantage? He can promote to a Great Knight, which I consider an advantage despite losing 1 MOV and gaining an extra vulnerability (armor). Besides that? Franz has nothing on the Seth.

Now, Franz not being compared to Seth holds up great. Most of his growths aren't terribly spectacular (but 50% speed wtf), but he compensates for them by starting in Chapter 1 and never being forced out of the party. He's honestly, level-for-level, slightly worse than Kyle - however, Franz is never going to be the same level as Kyle. Franz has seven (count 'em) chapters to level without the meddlesome interference of Forde and Kyle - and even with the XP goldmine that is C5x, they're not going to be able to catch his lead. Franz's supports? Well, compared to the other knights, the motherfucker can support SETH. Besides the sheer awesome of that line (and the support isn't very fast), the Other Cavs are actually better for supports considering Ephraim's route, where they're rather equal on Eirika's.

So yeah. I'll have you all know I tried and tried and tried to build a situation in which Franz and Seth were both fielded and Franz was better than Seth, but it really doesn't exist unless Franz is favorited something awful - and even then he only pulls ahead in the endgame chapters.

9.5

[Rewjeo]

Sure, he's not better than Seth, but any unit who can claim to be better than Seth deserves to be worshipped as god. Plus, who else really compares to Franz?

This reminds me, I have to do my rating topic again, too.

[RNG Princess]

Cormag on Eirika's is a 6.0 for me ;) and I really like these ranking they're very fair.

and Natashas's luck help her avoid more than Moulder, but 7 seems just right.

Edited July 3, 2010 by Queen_Elincia

[Rewjeo]

Cormag can insta-promote on Eirika's for great performance. He's really, IMO, underrated there.

[Junkhead]

I can't help but feel awed by your reviews. Spectacular.

[Integrity]

Well. Franz seems to have gone over better than I expected.

I'm probably going to churn out Seth and Eirika today, since that's it for this project and then I can get back to the Axes Playlog (fucking retarded berzerk and bolting and rrgh)

So therefore, Happy Seth Day. Also, the Tour de France.

-

SETH

I'm not even going to pull up numbers for this because, frankly, everybody knows Seth. The only thing anybody can hope to do by writing a Seth review is to make it interesting or amusing somehow.

Sure, I could go into how Seth 1RKOs everything from Chapter 0 to Chapter 9 with an Iron Sword except bosses and that he doesn't lose usefulness across the game and how he doesn't afraid of anything, but why? We all know he can do this. Actually, I think a very effective Seth review was my Franz one, so instead I shall treat you to some amateur poetry:

General Seth is a man

and the Princess a chick

so we make the assumption

that she wants his

10.0

Edited July 3, 2010 by Integrity

[Integrity]

Actually, let's make this a twofer just to mop it up.

EIRIKA

And the Princess herself.

Actually, considering the stigma surrounding Swordlords, Eirika's pretty good. Were it not for her comparatively late promotion, she'd actually be very high on the list.

So for starters, she has the potential to be along the whole game. The flipside of that is, if you use her righteously she's going to cap at 20 at around Chapter 12 or so, and then she'll have nothing to grow for and she'll leech XP until C17, at which point everybody's outgrown her. The conundrum of all FE Lords from 6 until 11's Marth, ya?

For her actual performance, she's actually quite good. In fact, she matches or betters Franz in every single growth besides HP. Combine that with her PRF weapon giving her some free kills (and a hefty shot at many early boss kills) and the only thing truly handicapping her is that tiny level cap. I don't know how much I can stress that. It's almost as bad as Roy's "let's promote roughly 25 chapters into the game with only 3 more to go" bullshit. In fact, it's massive for her too considering her bases aren't terribly good so she wants those extra levels to let those growths give her lovin'.

Besides that? She's a good Swordlord, but she's still a Swordlord, and Swordlords lean too Myrman for me until Ike broke the mold in his customary epic fashion. She gets bonus points over real Myrmen for having somewhat respectable durability (70 HP, 60 SPD and LCK, 30 DEF and RES) and being a Swordlord in the Early Axe Game. She also has the benefit of one free PRF weapon at the beginning of the game, another one if you're quick from C9, and a third one towards the end for Mortyslaying. She loses points for this one time her 40% STR didn't kick in and I had an invincible Eirika who had roughly 6 STR at 20. Don't remind me of that.

7.5

EDIT: Eirika dropped half.

-

Well, dear readers, it's been a long road. I dunno how many of you are still around from the beginning because, frankly, I can't remember the beginning anymore. Maybe sometime I'll flip back through those old pages and laugh at how foolish I was.

It's been an honor, folks.

Cheers,

Integ out.

Edited July 19, 2010 by Integrity

[Rewjeo]

Eh, no real problems. Since you aren't doing different scores for route, 8.0 seems about right for Eirika.

I now expect you meticulously review every rating I do to fill up your now spare time.

[Integrity]

Hee hee.

No, actually, I have to work on the Axes log again for my spare time. :P

[Rewjeo]

Eh, that's only six chapters and a super-easy final boss.

Also, I noticed your poetry didn't rhyme

[Integrity]

ACBC.

[dondon151]

Eirika's score is too high. Her base offense and durability are terrible and it takes a long time for the growths to have a significant effect.

[Integrity]

Eirika's score is too high. Her base offense and durability are terrible and it takes a long time for the growths to have a significant effect.

7.5? I still think she's better than Joshua.

[Thor Odinson]

I think Eirika is fine where she is, though.

Mainly because the first few chapters is Axland. Anyone who isn't Seth is 2 or more round KOing anyway, and Eirika will be dodging most of the hits thrown at her, that her crap durability doesn't matter so much.

But maybe it's because I'm biased towards her for that time where she capped everything besides HP. STR at level 12 nevertheless.

[Anouleth]

I think dondon underrates Eirika. She's certainly better than Joshua, since she's helpful in the C2 and C4 Routs. Being one of the few people that doubles + decent crit makes her worth using. And later on, she can still win in other ways, such as with better post-promotion movement, her own S Rank weapon, and being generally better against Armours and Cavs.

[Integrity]

I'm still happy with where I put her. The reason I ask Dondon for more information is because I respect his opinions generally.

[dondon151]

I think dondon underrates Eirika. She's certainly better than Joshua, since she's helpful in the C2 and C4 Routs. Being one of the few people that doubles + decent crit makes her worth using. And later on, she can still win in other ways, such as with better post-promotion movement, her own S Rank weapon, and being generally better against Armours and Cavs.

I am pretty sure that you do not need to use Eirika at all to rout chapter 4.

Once Joshua joins, Eirika loses. It takes until anywhere from 9/0 to 11/0 for her to match Joshua's base parameters. But Joshua joins in chapter 5, and depending on your playstyle EXP is limited early on for Eirika. The point is, getting 8-10 levels in about 5 maps is a long shot, especially if they can be all be cleared in 4 or less turns at maximum speed. She clearly has superior growths all around, but really, how long does it take for those growths to kick in? She wins str and spd by 5% - a 1 point advantage after 20 levels on average. She wins def by 10% - a 1 point advantage after 10 levels on average.

Joshua has 14 base spd and a low base level - roughly 2 spd procs on average lets him double mercs, which almost no one else gets. He has Armorslayer access to partially offset Eirika's Rapier and he doesn't mind losing the AS against armors. He has base C swords for Killing Edge whereas Eirika can't even use Steel Swords at base. On Ephraim's route, he gets to promote in chapter 10 (but generally has to wait until chapter 14 for Eirika's route); either way, this is still at least 2 full maps before Eirika promotes.

I mean, I guess you wouldn't use Joshua past chapter 16 if you were playing full throttle, but you wouldn't use Eirika after like chapter 5 either in that case. And if you weren't going full speed, then it doesn't really matter that Joshua only has 6 move, and he'll still have a substantial stat parameter lead over Eirika due to his good bases and low base level.

[Rewjeo]

Remember, Integrity isn't assuming as fast as possible, just reasonably fast. That's not very specific, but it's more forgiving than a clear-as-fast-as-possible playstyle to Eirika.

[dondon151]

I believe I've already accommodated for that.

[Rewjeo]

Actually, since the routes are being combined, I could see Eirika drop to a 7.5, but .5 margin and all.

[Junkhead]

I agree that Eirika is slightly worse than Joshua before her promotion. The fact that she has better offense against infantry isn't saying much when Cavs & Armours hardly appear until Ch 9.

Joshua has better offense to start with, an obvious Str & AS lead. He could also use a Steel Sword for only 2 AS loss. The only important, noticeable lead Eirika will be having shows up upon her promotion: Sieglinde & a pony.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Soul

[Jaybee]

Why is Marisa still 10/10?

Anyway, good job on finishing this. Though Eirika should go down to 7.5, I guess. :/

[Integrity]

Why is Marisa still 10/10?

Anyway, good job on finishing this. Though Eirika should go down to 7.5, I guess. :/

She's not 10/10. She's 10.awesome.

I'm thinking Eirika will drop to a 7.5 - and in fact, I'm going to do that now.

[Junkhead]

Aren't we forgetting anyone? *coughMyrrhcoughTethyscough*

[Integrity]

Aren't we forgetting anyone? *coughMyrrhcoughTethyscough*

We're forgetting nobody. I specifically said I found them impossible to rate accurately on a 1-10 basis due to their utterly support roles. Myrrh has a hard finite usage limit and Tethys exclusively bounces off of others.