I like ravens :)

[whase]

I like ravens too, they're fun to use (they're not very useful though)

Vika is cool if you boss abuse her in 1-7, she caps quite some stats early on.

Get her to level 28 or so and with a little luck all you have to do in part 4 is bexp her to 40.

[Shadow Mir]

I was wondering if vika is a good character to raise?

I don't have much to say because I'd probably be echoing Anouleth's answer, but aside from that, she's not unlike FE9 Rolf; takes the most investment of anyone in the game and pays off with the lowest returns, but unlike FE9 Rolf, low availability is the nail in her coffin.

[Anouleth]

I don't have much to say because I'd probably be echoing Anouleth's answer, but aside from that, she's not unlike FE9 Rolf; takes the most investment of anyone in the game and pays off with the lowest returns,

Well, I wouldn't say that. Vika does have decent durability and bases, so she'll be a lot easier to train than Fiona: and her speed is very good, so she'll pay off more than Astrid. And she's just better than Lyre.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Vika would be a gr9mazing unit if she were around for most of the game.

[Shadow Mir]

Well, I wouldn't say that. Vika does have decent durability and bases, so she'll be a lot easier to train than Fiona: and her speed is very good, so she'll pay off more than Astrid. And she's just better than Lyre.

You have a point there, I'll admit. But 4 chapters is just not enough to mold Vika into something usable (at least, not without heavy abuse)... especially not when three of them are in part 1.

[Agility]

You guys have some good points. I think my decision has been made i wont use her. I would wather focus on edward and nolan. As for ravens i can just use the old ticker!

[Loki Laufeyson]

Nealuchi needs some BEXP abuse in Part two and maybe some untransformed fun. But his strike level is the main concern. Once you raise that, he whomps.

[bottlegnomes]

Know what my favorite thing about Nealuchi is? He has better avoid than Vika at max level. So the one thing people orgasm over her about, he's actually better at if you're going to put that much effort into either. But yeah, go with the old coot over the crack ho. Now if only Lotz were playable

[Dark Sage]

If only Kezhda were playable

Black cats yo

[Vicious Sal]

Nealuchi needs some BEXP abuse in Part two and maybe some untransformed fun. But his strike level is the main concern. Once you raise that, he whomps.

What? This makes no sense what so ever... You are right about untransformed fun, but Strike level main concern? He reaches S strike in his starting chapter with an easy strat. =/

Easy mode is even easier,HM, i still have to record. =/

I thought since the OP person is using Nealuchi anyway, might as well add this. =]

&@ Tyrant: Fyeah Kehzda

[Agility]

If you would of shifted last turn would you have gotten more exp if you killed them?

[Colonel M]

I like Ravens. They're easy and comfortable to train...

...Not really. Naesala is pretty good, but Nealuchi and Vika just don't have the stats / availability to cut it for me.

[Florete]

Why anyone would use a non-royal Laguz is beyond me. You have access to royal laguz for the entire chapter 4, and they're all automatically like 3x better than any non-royal laguz you come across, much higher stats and formshift. Besides torturing yourself draining experience that would otherwise benefit beorc members because you're some kind of RPG masochist, anyone want to list just a single reason why non-royal laguz is worth the time? The only reason I can think of is because you like their character story-wise, because yes Vika is much more likeable than say Nealuchi or Naesala.

This is why RD is extremely unbalanced. Most of the characters you come across are outright worthless because they give you overpowered units at the end. What's the point of training any of the "unimportant" characters? Unlike in most of the GBA titles, extremely underleveled units usually turn out the best (Ross/Yuan/Amelia) because they'll cap more stats in the end than characters that have a high level but didn't get good growths. In RD underleveled units will end up pretty much the same as high leveled units, so there's absolutely no reason why you would waste the time and precious experience (except if you boss abuse) training a low leveled character like Fiona just to end up exactly the same as Titania.

Because part 4 is all that matters. Lol @ experience draining. I guess that argument will always live somewhere.

RD is better balanced than most FEs.

Volug: One exception, can't explain cause haven't used him myself. Although I understand that on slow play (The rest are more for efficient play), Resolve, A support with eart affinity & beast foe works wonders in 3-6 and 3-13.

He's one of your most valuable units in part 1 and DB part 3. His offense and durability remain above average except possibly in 1-E, and then he gets to full shift for part 3 and just wreck. He doesn't need Resolve or an A support, either (though a B or C support obviously helps), and he usually won't even need Beastfoe. He just needs Grass.

Hey look, it's all personal opinion. I've finished RD 3 times now, and I've never found the non-royal Laguz useful on the battlefield, because I just prefer to train the Beorc units. It does not mean I don't like their character/story. Having no unique character model or weapons makes it very boring, and I just hate how they revert back to human form in a few turns (maybe even 1-2 turns if swarmed by enemies) and gotta chew on more weed to revert back. Training Volug? Yeah gaining like 2 exp per kill is really efficient huh... not to talk about stealing tons of exp from the Dawn Brigade members who pretty much have to live on exp to survive... by the time you get him back in late chapter 3 most of the DB members are already stronger than him, so I don't see any point in training him?

It's possible to train any number of these non-royal Laguz, it's a video game, people can do whatever they want. I'm just saying it's more efficient (exp-wise) to not train them, but it's recommended to train them if you want the "full game experience" to use every available character in multiple playthroughs. If you train them, it's pretty much guaranteed that you won't be able to train a number of Beorc characters, unless you boss abuse to no end, in that case I've got nothing to say to that. RD has no endless mode, if it has endless mode, then hell yes, train every character! Like I already said stat-wise Naesala is much better than Vika, but I love Vika much more than Naesala character-wise.

Oh, of course it's all personal opinion. That's what it always comes down to. Why do we even discuss things like this? I have my opinion, you have yours. Why can't we just leave it there and save ourselves a whole lot of time?

I was unaware RD had an experience rank. I was also unaware that most of the DB members were worth using. And man, I must really suck at this game since I can use Volug + 2 or 3 other DB members and get them all well-trained in a reasonable amount of time...wait, what?

Overall, Laguz kinda suck. They got a huge improvement from the last game but they still have their stupid gauge to worry about. The best Beorc are just better than the best non-royal Laguz.

While the best Beorc are, in fact, better than the best Laguz, there are still some really good Laguz units in the game, the Wolves in particular. Gauge is an annoying handicap for sure, but some manage to make up for it. Cats are the only ones that really have it bad.

Well, I wouldn't say that. Vika does have decent durability and bases, so she'll be a lot easier to train than Fiona: and her speed is very good, so she'll pay off more than Astrid. And she's just better than Lyre.

How does Vika pay off more than Astrid? Assuming we're babying and therefore feeding kills, etc., Astrid can use Blossom to increase her averages quite dramatically, is available for more time in part 4 (and depending on circumstances, may be useful for 3-E), has better weapon options, and no gauge to worry about. Vika's Str can be really problematic and her Beak is the weakest Strike weapon. Even the Cats have both a stronger Strike and higher Str cap.

[Anouleth]

How does Vika pay off more than Astrid? Assuming we're babying and therefore feeding kills, etc., Astrid can use Blossom to increase her averages quite dramatically,

So can Vika. So can every character in the game.

is available for more time in part 4 (and depending on circumstances, may be useful for 3-E),

I meant in the long term.

has better weapon options, and no gauge to worry about.

By the time Vika rejoins, you have Laguz Gems.

Vika's Str can be really problematic and her Beak is the weakest Strike weapon.

Vika is stronger than Astrid, makes better use of Energy Drops, can BEXP her strength more easily, has a buttload of speed so she actually doubles, and has a frequently activating mastery (much more than Sol, that's for certain).

Even the Cats have both a stronger Strike and higher Str cap.

On average, Lethe and Lyre are weaker than Vika.

[Quintessence]

Vika is stronger than Astrid, makes better use of Energy Drops, can BEXP her strength more easily, has a buttload of speed so she actually doubles, and has a frequently activating mastery (much more than Sol, that's for certain).

But Astrid is having a far better combat than Vika, and she's not relying on mastery skills/Adept in the same way Vika does. Astrid can get a max mt and max crt Javelin forge and pwn everything on Hawk's Army while Vika is just killing random enemies in 4-4. Vika comes back with bases that need frequent level ups (taking advantage of her good growths) and with lol A strike, while Astrid had 2-3, 2-E, 3-9, 3-11, 3-E and a P4 chapter to grow. She has access to Double Bow by 4-E and has not to rely so much on Sol/Adept while Vika has to rely on Tear/Adept.

Now, if you're considering Boss Abuse, then it's the same because Astrid can do that as well, and even better due to the bunches of enemies in 2-3 and 2-E, she even has innate Paragon.

On average, Lethe and Lyre are weaker than Vika.

By the time Vika rejoins, Lethe/Lyre has almost all P3 to grow and get to S rank or even SS rank and Rend.

[Loki Laufeyson]

What? This makes no sense what so ever... You are right about untransformed fun, but Strike level main concern? He reaches S strike in his starting chapter with an easy strat. =/

Easy mode is even easier,HM, i still have to record. =/

I thought since the OP person is using Nealuchi anyway, might as well add this. =]

&@ Tyrant: Fyeah Kehzda

I suppose. But since i dont do that, Nealuchi takes a bit more time to get that strike level up. 2-E is a good place to raise it too.

I was unaware RD had an experience rank. I was also unaware that most of the DB members were worth using. And man, I must really suck at this game since I can use Volug + 2 or 3 other DB members and get them all well-trained in a reasonable amount of time...wait, what?

Har! Im doing a pretty minimal DB run. Only using Nolan, Edward, and Jill. (and Laura) Volug is around and so is Zihark but they arent getting loads of training (aside from Volug spam for strike level). It really isnt hard. So yeah i dont know what that guy is on about.

[Florete]

So can Vika. So can every character in the game.

Astrid can use Blossom and still grow just as fast as anyone else. Give Vike Blossom and even the most patient of players is likely to run out of it; if they don't run out of enemies first.

I meant in the long term.

So Astrid's long term is longer?

Vika is stronger than Astrid,

In what way, pray tell? She has a lower cap and lower growth.

makes better use of Energy Drops,

Getting more out of it =/= making better use of it.

can BEXP her strength more easily,

...Not really, considering she needs to reach level 30 on average for Str to be her 3rd highest skill. And since most of the grinding with her is probably done in part 1, she can't even use Blossom.

has a buttload of speed so she actually doubles,

Once Astrid gets going, doubling isn't much of a problem.

and has a frequently activating mastery (much more than Sol, that's for certain).

Once Astrid gets going, she largely doesn't even need her mastery.

Did I ever mention that this "gets going" part happens before Vika even returns to the team?

On average, Lethe and Lyre are weaker than Vika.

For Lethe, this is only because she hits her level cap faster. Otherwise, she'll almost always be stronger considering she has the same base, higher growth, and more time to be trained.

[Vicious Sal]

I suppose. But since i dont do that, Nealuchi takes a bit more time to get that strike level up. 2-E is a good place to raise it too.

I understand that if you don't do that, it takes more time, but you not doing that does not equal Nealuchi having Strike issues. =/

Although this is of course only when you don't use Elincia & Marcia & hear. So I see where you're coming from, depending on the team you raise this trick does or does not work.