Grandjackal, Blindly Stumbling Around Tear Ring Saga!

[Icon of Sin]

Pretty much, and even then he can still use the Thunder Sword if you're into that.

He should be able to use the Dragon Arrow at base level too.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Doga Blockovich

[grandjackal]

So, Sierra might be the dumbest unit I've ever used. I see Renee is on chapter 30, so I'm about to get warp on top of this insanity. Is the game over?

[grandjackal]

So, I 2 turned Yoda's training ground chapter (Didn't wanna waste the Warp Staff uses, considering a whole lot of nothing happens after Holmes ORKOs the boss with the Luna Edge). In those 2 turns I managed this.

Sierra learned Life or Death! Sierra learned Gale!

Mahter learned Blazing Wind! Mahter learned Geomancy!

X3

Oh, also Shigen learned Rising Dragon which is cool I guess.

Edited February 12, 2013 by grandjackal

[Icon of Sin]

So, Sierra might be the dumbest unit I've ever used. I see Renee is on chapter 30, so I'm about to get warp on top of this insanity. Is the game over?

Sorta. With a good enough Holmes, all you need is Renee with him after the third division.

So, I 2 turned Yoda's training ground chapter (Didn't wanna waste the Warp Staff uses, considering a whole lot of nothing happens after Holmes ORKOs the boss with the Luna Edge). In those 2 turns I managed this.

Sierra learned Life or Death! Sierra learned Gale!

Mahter learned Blazing Wind! Mahter learned Geomancy!

X3

Oh, also Shigen learned Rising Dragon which is cool I guess.

Life or Death + Gale Sierra is always hilarious.

[grandjackal]

So, completed the Tower of Morse. That last floor is a doozy. So, Renie is now level 20 with no promotion since I don't know what item it takes, having farmed eyeballs on the 4th floor. Xeno learned Anti-Evil at a pretty appropriate time for it. Marj is now promoted after hitting level 19, and has also learned Heaven Saint. Mahter now has her Dragon Flute so she's prepared to ball out of control. The tower though only gave me good levels for Holmes (He can use the ultimate weapons now), a Scissor Axe and a Shamshir, as the rest was garbage drops. Revived Roger and Shiro because I wasn't doing much else. So, now I have Prelude and Goddess Shield...Yeah, Sierra is pretty much broken right now I imagine, especially since now I have Life or Death on her.

So now I'm at what I assume is the last route split because the music has gone epic. Any characters I should ship one way or another?

[Icon of Sin]

So, completed the Tower of Morse. That last floor is a doozy. So, Renie is now level 20 with no promotion since I don't know what item it takes, having farmed eyeballs on the 4th floor. Xeno learned Anti-Evil at a pretty appropriate time for it. Marj is now promoted after hitting level 19, and has also learned Heaven Saint. Mahter now has her Dragon Flute so she's prepared to ball out of control. The tower though only gave me good levels for Holmes (He can use the ultimate weapons now), a Scissor Axe and a Shamshir, as the rest was garbage drops. Revived Roger and Shiro because I wasn't doing much else. So, now I have Prelude and Goddess Shield...Yeah, Sierra is pretty much broken right now I imagine, especially since now I have Life or Death on her.

So now I'm at what I assume is the last route split because the music has gone epic. Any characters I should ship one way or another?

Rennie needs a Hero Proof. For most people, you can see which promotion item they need in the status screen with their supports. Only people who promote through events (lords, Raphin) and Sasha's first promotion aren't shown IIRC.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Doga Blockovich

[grandjackal]

So, the chapter before last of Holmes's route pretty much justifies Renee+Sierra for him (since the terrain is un-deal-withable), sending another in order to kill the Elixer holding boss in the true final chapter for Holmes. I would suggest leaving the Luna Edge with Holmes in order to pierce Zeke's Silver Shield.

Because of this, I would highly suggest for this route split you have Holmes give Ronin EVERYTHING. All Holmes needs is a copy of Sylpheed, Renee's Warp, and the Luna Edge, along with 1 buddy who's competent enough to finish off a severely weakened bishop. Give Ronin your best and brightest, cause looking at his first chapter tells me I'm going to need it. I think it's around here that Samson really starts to come into his own, and will probably pair well with Rishel in storming the front lines. I'm very glad I waited for Awareness. Looking at Earnest here, he'd probably bitchslap me into next tuesday without it.

[grandjackal]

Ok, so Earnest is a gigantic asshole, and pretty much had to resort to Samson wailing on him with the Master Axe, since this guy has an unreasonable amount of everything. Not sure if there was a better choice, because Awareness would scare me half to death.

Well, that was about 10 turns though I reached him at about turn....5.....So, onto the next-

*sees Julius*

jesus christ, how do I deal with this guy!?

[Icon of Sin]

Ok, so Earnest is a gigantic asshole, and pretty much had to resort to Samson wailing on him with the Master Axe, since this guy has an unreasonable amount of everything. Not sure if there was a better choice, because Awareness would scare me half to death.

Well, that was about 10 turns though I reached him at about turn....5.....So, onto the next-

*sees Julius*

jesus christ, how do I deal with this guy!?

Try Power Staffing Lorffaru when he has a Gatling Bow. He should be moving fairly early though.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Doga Blockovich

[grandjackal]

Oh wow...I totally forgot I even had the Power Staff. Silly me. Would have made fighting Ernest so much easier, or at least quicker. Could have just Powered Xenow with the Rukuud and smited that fool (I think? I don't remember if he had a goddess shield).

...Hmmm...If that doesn't work, could always hit him with Sunflame first.

[Espinosa]

So is Barts really deserving of attention for cutting turns / player's headache in Samson and Alicia's joinchapter? Last time I tried to understand grandjackal's arguments why it was so good, I read that Barts's glaring lack of useful skills (except +1 move in some painful maps on Holmes' route) is a good thing because he needn't rely on procs to do any of the things other people have skill procs for.

Also, Lionel is another character who gets Awareness.

[grandjackal]

So is Barts really deserving of attention for cutting turns / player's headache in Samson and Alicia's joinchapter? Last time I tried to understand grandjackal's arguments why it was so good, I read that Barts's glaring lack of useful skills (except +1 move in some painful maps on Holmes' route) is a good thing because he needn't rely on procs to do any of the things other people have skill procs for.

Suppose I'll talk more about characters after I'm done with my playthrough, but yes.

Also, Lionel is another character who gets Awareness.

Not missing Lionel to be honest, though this is indeed a moment where he'd shine since he has Life or Death and he'd just smoke Ernest right then and there.

...I keep forgetting if Ernest has a Goddess Shield. If so, then I'd think Samson is actually better at dealing with Ernest.

[Icon of Sin]

Not missing Lionel to be honest, though this is indeed a moment where he'd shine since he has Life or Death and he'd just smoke Ernest right then and there.

...I keep forgetting if Ernest has a Goddess Shield. If so, then I'd think Samson is actually better at dealing with Ernest.

He has three shields, but they're a Silver, a Magic and a Wind Shield.

He has Awareness himself though, so Life or Death wouldn't work. Magic can still be fairly useful despite him starting with 14 Resistance, but otherwise I suppose Master weapons are best otherwise.

[grandjackal]

I would have checked, but I was lacking a Save Staff. Should have seen if Rukuud's absurd crit punctured through all that armor. Could have had Samson run up and hit him twice with the Master Axe to break his shield, then had Xeno go in and Hassan Chop that fool after a Sunflame.

So, Lothar with Gatling pretty much does kill Julius. If you give him a Pow+, he can do it alone with a Power staff boost. Otherwise, you can not waste it and have Rishel simply give a blast of Sunflame from 3 range. All things said and done, you can do this map 3 turns.

I'm just about at the end here. Glad I got bridge keys for Ronin. Have a rather fine tuned way to 6 turn his final chapter where he gets his holy sword. Basically go through the top, killing any and all witches in the way, and have some tank block the summoned monster path. Ronin should be rushing the bridges, with the 2 magic shields up and Mainstar equipped. This way you can possibly kill one of the dark bishops on enemy phase, and leave the other two easily killable with a meteor, then a Mainstar on the boss to trigger his Elixer after you do a Danced Double Aura Rain (The Double Rainbow). Then, a danced other unit can come in and help smoke the boss, take the sword, and then just go kill the Dragon Scale Zombie Dragon. Ok, it's 6 turns to nab the sword, but you get what I mean. My Ronin was level 14 about when I did this. You survive the boss's Torhan because of Mainstar's absorb in combination with your magic shields.

So I'm on the second to last chapter, Zeke being an idiot and thinking he can take me with his now absolutely pathetic stats. Samson is about to put the hurt on this poor soul.

So, after I beat the final chapter I'll do a final write up concerning my thoughts on the game, and then my thoughts on the characters.

[Espinosa]

Anyone know if you can still get Rishel if you skip talking to Narcus in the desert? Assuming Runan talked to him in chapter 3. Of course, you miss out on Narcus but that doesn't seem like an issue.

[grandjackal]

I'll be making 2 posts, one for my thoughts on the game, and then the characters.

Review

This game? Is perfect. The fact Tirnanog got sued for it even though Shouzou Kaza basically created Fire Emblem is sad, because this is probably the best thing he's ever made. I haven't played Berwick Saga, and chances are I never will, but if it's anything like this I would love it to death I'm sure. It's very refreshing to play this after something like FE12, where they just throw stats and hilarious reinforcement terms at you and force you into certain choices. I'm positive there's a million ways to play this game, and in some way they'd all work as long as you weren't being stupid. Is it easy? Yeah, kinda, but lategame does through legitimate challenges at you that aren't purely your stats vs theirs. It's this kind of Fire Emblem gameplay that I miss and wish would come back, but I know it's never going to. Here's hoping FE13 doesn't disappoint, because this game has spoiled me to no end.

I like all the creativity involved with this game. Even small things like the Fighter skills make big differences with some combat boosts along with an awesome +1 Move. All the weapons, the fun things you get from route splits and sending certain characters, the dynamics of hte routes themselves...Love leveling skills as well instead of them being class based or book based. Makes characters feel very diverse, and allows you to reward your cast the way you want to (with weapons I mean). Along with making your own army more fun, it allowed for the game to make very unique challenges of which to approach and conquer. The chapter where you get Rukuud comes to mind.

A great majority of the cast is quite usable be it in some places or generally the whole game, and that's just something that adds to everything. Gives the game replay value, since you can choose to bring along allies of your choice rather than be shoehorned into specific choices (Have I mentioned that the more I play FE12, the more I hate it?). Certain choices stand out more, sure, but you aren't forced to make them.

Earlygame already sets TRS away from FE where it finds a middle ground. You aren't so durable like in FE1 and 3 where you can pretty much just move forward and not really care, but also not stupid enough that generally everything 2HKOs you off the bat. It finds a middle ground where you still have to be careful, but you aren't super dependent on one super boss unit to carry you out. The lack of a true Jeigen really does make a big difference, since it makes you depend on your actual team a lot more. Makes a big difference I feel.

With the route splits, I find it amusing that the game makes one route more catered to mounted units while the other is catered to foot soldiers. Amusing because it avoids foot soldiers being overshadowed as usual, but also because a lot of mounted units don't have a lot of statistical staying power as it is. This allows mounts to have a measured use without being instantly binned for other mounts, while at the same time allows foot soldiers to shine, and lets them exist in the lategame where eventually they are superior anyways. I dig it.

The last route split is kinda funny, cause it acknowledges that warpskip is a thing so it makes you choose between warpskipping one or the other, and with turncounts in mind very dickishly it makes you choose the easier path to warpskip (because of that damn chapter before Holmes gets his sword). It's that kind of thinking that made lategame fun without being stupid. Also, only one person who can actually use the warp staff is pretty awesome in itself. It's one of those things that make you wonder why FE doesn't do that. It also throws some challenges at you that aren't really present in most FEs, like getting the Lance of Canaan from Emperor Steroid McMadman while only using 2 people in 2 turns.

As for skills themselves, I love them. I love how Charge is a choice you make instead of being passive so it makes your player phase the bigger deal, I love how Life or Death works, I love the Fighter skills to death and how widely and readily available they are...I have nothing bad to say about how skills work.

The small things as well they offered are also a huge quality of life thing, like movement cost page, a chart that shows how the unit has scaled over time, shields, pendents...This game gave me everything, and I love every inch of it.

This game is perfect. 10/10, will play again.

Now for characters.

[grandjackal]

It would be GREAT if you could get Rishel while skipping Narcus in the desert chapters.

Anyways, character review!

Ronin/Runan

If ever there was a weirder lord in all of Fire Emblem.

He starts off great, but suffers the curse of Book 1 Marth, in which it's hard to set up kills for him while he rushes for thrones and gates. It's VERY hard to find him any kills while he gets to where you need him to go. Because of this, he barely levels at all. But then you get the Mainstar, and that doesn't even matter anymore cause you still start decently fast, Mainstar as a weapon is very awesome, and you have health absorb. All you really have to do is not die. Because of this, I find throwing any and all durability boosters at him to be the best choice to make.

That being said...Prior to all of that, Ronin earlygame if he can ever fight anything is pretty good, but due to how hard it is to get him kills, he starts to blow really quick, mostly because he is a fragile snowlake with his low HP and lol4 Defense. You get a LOT of Leather Shields in this game, I wold recommend you let him use a good amount of them for when it's necessary. Once he gets Mainstar though, it makes a world of difference. Was able to get him to 15 by the end of the game, where he was fair enough. Only gave him what HP and Def boosts I got, along with the Move+. With survivability and Mainstar, he makes perfectly fine use of +Move, though I imagine there are several scenarios where giving it to someone else is also perfectly fine since a lot of chapters once you get it tend to be bosskills.

I guess in the end, he's not dependent on a lot other than Shields and Mainstar, but if you can get him kills I would highly suggest it. I can't say I dislike him, but he's very wonky and has a very big weakness before Mainstar, and a bit before promotion. Once promoted though, he's good enough.

6/10

Kreiss

Kreiss blows. He's like the only character with speed issues, and even when trained he's very underwhelming. The big part of why he sucks is his promotion gains are awful and don't save the stats he needs saving. Even after all your struggles, his skills don't do him any favors, his speed is still awful, and he's nto any more durable than a lot of other mounts you get. He hits hard for like the one attack he will ever throw at anything, but that also ends quickly because his awful combat kills his leveling speed.

Would recommend you only use him until you have better. Once you do, get rid of Garo first, then get rid of Kreiss. He gets some points for being good with a Javelin early on, but past that, screw him.

3/10

Arkis

I didn't really use him because I was suckered into thinking that you SHOULD train Kreiss because of a certain staffer, but that staffer isn't necessary, and that is the only time I would think it would be worth it if that staffer was necessary just because of how hard it is to actually use Kreiss. Because of this, I can't really give an accurate review on Arkis, but I imagine he's better than Kreiss.

The big problem is his weapon level starts awful, a base of 3 kinda sucks. Luckily, he's got a good growth in it (35 in this game is pretty good), and he doesn't really suffer a huge deficit in Strength until way later, having pretty good speed base with growth. In fact, that speed makes up for not using a Hand Lance (Sorry, still used to FE, in this game Javelins are the mondo throwables), since he gets to double threats with a spear where most can't. His skills are ok (Blazing Wind is pretty good, though Continue comes a tad late), but nothing special.

I dunno. Again, I can't really give anything accurate, but I'd at least assume he's capable of being better than Kreiss.

5/10

Garo

Garo starts with great stats, but 4 move pretty much kills any use he can be. No promotion gains, only ok growths...Rather unfortunate really. I mean, if he ever reaches the enemy he's pretty good, but that's only if. This is only early as well.

2/10

Kate

Pretty great early on, but again her 4 move pretty much kills her. However, she does have a bowgun so that puts her above Garo. City Fighter is also better and more relevant early on than Sea Fighter.

3/10

Sasha

Has the worst start of just about anyone not Kreiss's sister, but also worth the effort, especially since she doesn't waste turns if you know what you're doing. Her flight and speed once she becomes a pegasus is what makes her shine, along with Charisma, Elite, and a few choice supports. However, her weakness is Strength, because it doesn't have a good base in the first place, and she doesn't grow it all too well.

Charisma and her supports though are enough to make a difference in the lategame since the supports are with a vulnerable but needed Ronin and Lothar who is important for getting the Lance of Canaan. The lance potentially makes a huge difference, because it lets either Raffin or Lionel be immortal from that point onward.

There's not a lot of units you need to bring to lategame that are pure wargods, so allowing her a space is fine because Charisma is good, as is her supports. She's also pretty helpful once she gets wings, so that's a plus. I like her, I dunno about you guys.

8/10

Next post will be the choices.

Edited February 14, 2013 by grandjackal

[grandjackal]

Lee

Lee's pretty legit. Maybe not as a firstpick, but for Holmes's route who is lacking in healers and ranged combat, he brings a lot to Holmes's team. His offense at base is pretty awesome, and comes with the benefit of a good weapon level. In fact, he's a WpLvl+ away from Repair Staff use. I never needed to repair things, but being able to allows you to spam certain weapons pretty recklessly. So a WpLvl+ allows someone like Shigen or Vega to be super abusive.

Past that though, there's not much to say. His dynamics never change, mostly because he has no growths or skills. But what he is is perfectly fine, cause no one hates magicians or staffers.

8/10

Ezekiel

Well this guy is...unique. His niche is that he basically has every fighter skill known to man, and has no reason not to get any he runs into, so his move and avoid/acc are better than on paper. Problem is...Is that enough? No. His base speed for axes is unacceptable, and his stats just aren't all that great. He's a mobile tough guy, but so what? The game gives you Barts, along with Samson later, and Barts also has no excuse not to get any fighter skills he can get. Who cares about Ezekiel.

Ezekiel is needed to recruit that staffer with Kreiss...I would not waste my pick for that.

Narron

Everyone knows he's a god, but the other benefit that no one mentions is that if you pick Narron, you don't have to depend on Zeke. A weaker Zeke later makes a world of difference. You only need one early god on a horse, and Narron suits it well enough.

His start is wonky, but the dude starts with Elite and it ends soon enough. Once he gets Blazing Wind, he can promote and become one of the best units in the game. His speed is good enough, and he specializes in Strength and Weapon Level, so he can bust out any new toy you get and wreck the face that needs wrecking with it. He basically becomes a god modder through midgame, only in late does he start to slow down even remotely. He's not THAT durable, most notably vulnerable to magic. Dismounting is also particularly annoying to him, and a lot of lategame maps force him to do so, along with sticking him with swords. Dismounted also kills a good portion of his stats, since I think dismounting basically removes his promotion bonuses. That is particularly painful to him since he's good almost because of his promotion bonuses.

These are small gripes though compared to the great and many things he contributes. Great midgame carry, still good lategame though with a couple flaws, and lets you not depend on Zeke in the midgame so he pays you even when he's not carrying lategame.

10/10

Luka/Ruka

No

Raffin

Oifaye is a really good way of describing him, though I would only say that midgame. He's basically Narron with wings midgame, and though has a better earlygame since he has actual stats, his lategame is worse. His lategame kinda stems from his meh speed with the weight of lances along with his strength not being all that great anymore (or I got screwed). He's well balanced late, but he's not all that special by then. Prior to that though, he's a god.

He boasts some of the best durability for a good while, as he has great HP and Def growths, and his Strength at base is pretty sweet. If he has any weaknesses though, it's that he's a bit dependent on Agi+ to keep the tank going, and that his Luck is kinda balls. Once he gets wings though, he's a pretty key player in the grand scheme of things. Maybe not as good a combat unit as Narron, but he's no less important.

10/10

Estelle

Has the worst start of any of the cavs, but unlike the other two, her growths are well spread out and a promotion early saves her ass. You need to put a lot of effort into her cause she wants to promote quickly. If she doesn't get the early levels, she falls off. WITH early levels though, she's pretty good. Only problem is similar to Narron in that dismounting hurts, but notably worse for her since she has worse stats.

She also gets Life or Death fairly early, all things considered. Maybe not fantastic on her, but it helps her argument vs the other two starting cavs. Takes her a while to get Gale, unfortunately since by then I imagine the game is well over, or it's a point in the game you don't wanna bring her anyways.

Without early levels, she's pretty trash. But, you also don't really have a lot of other units you wanna feed early. Would definitely recommend it, if only to give Ronin another capable mount. Flawed, but she's good when you need her.

6/10

Julia

She reminds me a lot of Mia...From FE9, unfortunately. Speed is great, along with skill. Everything else though is bad. She can make up for her lack of Str though in the form of still being able to double a good amount of enemies with really heavy swords like the Steel Claymore, of which you could still be ORKOing foes like Snipers in the desert at base strength (but considering a promotion). The problem is that there are not that many Hero Crests, and her taking one I feel is not that great. In fact, she's probably the last person I would consider to get one.

Early on, she can double with very interesting weapons since she has weapon level along with strength, but once you give Mahter a WpLvl+, Julia s very forgettable. Use her as utility offense, bench her when you can.

Oh well. At least unlike other earlygame units, you can still actually use her through the game, though she's not all that fantastic.

5/10

Barts

Everyone in this topic knows I like Barts, but I'll be fair since I bothered to actually complete the game which is rare for me.

Barts is great, and can even be key at certain points, but he DOES drop off pretty hard into lategame. His Luck is low enough that going into lategame will make him eat crits, and unlike Samson that deep in, Barts will no longer have the durability to withstand them. His combat never really dies despite low weapon rank, but by then you get Lothar who is pretty much him and more.

Before that though, Barts is pretty damn awesome. He's built pretty beefy, starts with excellent combat which stays that way forever (Charge helping even more), and has all the room in the world to fill with Fighter skills to bolster his move and combat parameters in various maps for no real reason. The Sea Fighter house in chapter 1/3 is pretty much all his since he is a big hand on Holmes's maps, and a good poriton of them are at sea. He also really wants Frontier Fighter when he can get his hands on it.

That being said, before he gets those Fighter skills, his acc isn't perfect in a part of the game when everyone has perfect acc, and his Luck base of 1 sucks really bad, so he does kinda take 5K form you if you choose to give him the Luck+.

So, while I like him a lot, I'll be fair in saying he does have his flaws. He's solid throughout the game despite of them I feel.

7/10

Enteh

Uses staffs.

Plum

She dances.

The "Freedom Fighters" coming next.

[grandjackal]

Raquel

She can't kill human targets, and though it can be a bit annoying at times, why would you want her to? She has Elite and is already amazing, is needed to quickly kill the boss of chapter 5, and is perfect to have whittle down any enemy you want to feed to others without fail (like Sasha).

Even more, a good portion of flying enemies tend to be Harpies or Zombie Dragons, both of which she can handle quite well thanks to her stats and her Master Bow. Even better, she starts with two Fighter skills, namely Forest and City Fighter, so she comes in handy for quite a few maps.

Raquel is pretty awesome, and I never really found her being unable to kill human targets only to be slightly annoying. Lategame it's a bit untollerable, but whatever. Until then, she's the best archer you have, and probably the best you ever will have, only real competition being Holmes (who is better).

8/10

Mahter

Awesome as all hell. A WpLvl+ makes a world of difference to her, since it means she is a flying Killing Edge off the bat, AND brings her closer to weapons that would be helpful to have on a flier, like Armorslayer and THE THUNDER SWORDS. Her magic is so good, she is straight lethal with these weapons at 1-2 range, which is amazing when you consider she's flying 7 move.

I would also probably consider Sea Fighter on her a lot more than Barts, because she is coming with Holmes on these fights. I could imagine her wrecking Maerhen off the bat with a Thunder Sword while also keeping his Iron Shield in tact. I found the Harpy Staff to be quite useless, so it's better for her to go kill Maerhen instead.

I don't really think she has a weakness. Even lategame, you can have her visit swordmaster shacks to get things like Blazing Wind and Geomancy to give her a lucky shot skillset. Her stats don't really have a weakness, and she carries Holmes pretty well on certain maps. Definitely one of the better units out there.

10/10

Vega

The Zihark to Julia's Mia. However, his sword makes him a lot better due to how versatile it is. Shram lets him just show up on a monster map and be good even at base, and it lets him ignore stupid things like the line of Stonehenges on one of Ronin's later maps. Early on though, Vega's not really all that much better than Julia. The fact his sword gives him a shield doesn't really help, cause his offense isn't notably better. He has crit, but whatever. I have better ways to mow my path down.

That being said, you don't ever have to really use him seriously for him to be good, and for that he gets a good amount of points for that alone. Would I promote him? With the few crests I have....Maybe. I feel Xeno is just better though. More strength, gets durability as it is...Better supports and Sea Fighter. But Vega's still good when you need to bust him out.

7/10

Marj

For a mage, he's pretty cool early on because of Wundergust and his speed, and the fact that he's magical. His big problem is 4 move, which like Kate and Garo before him really hurts his levels. However, unlike them he is magical and that saves him somewhat since it makes his offense a thousand times more noticeable. It's even stronger with Sylpheed, to which he can potentially nuke even huge enemies into oblivion in one shot.

That being said...He's the most basic of the mages, and I feel he's probably the weakest of them. That, or waiting for Continue is super not worth it and you should just promote him instantly which is what I didn't do cause I'm dumb. He's probably a lot better with an early promo. ehh...He's ok I guess.

6 or 7/10

Zeke

If you didn't pick Narron, you will be depending on this guy...And that is a bit dangerous, cause him being huge can potentially make the maps where he's an enemy notably harder. He has a magic shield in both fights, and in one you don't have Sierra to help make it a joke along with the Luna Edge. In fact, the other will likely have you facing him with Ronin, and Ronin is not that great a fighter against a potentially huge Zeke. So, if you're going to use Zeke, you will have to prepare someone to kill him later, possibly Ronin.

As for his performance? eh...Probably the same as Narron, difference being instead of being ok lategame, he makes lategame all the more troublesome.

Mel

A mounted healer. Yes. However, there is a notable thing she gets, namely the Magic Staff. This comes in handy later, namely with Rishel since it lets him OHKO things. For that, Mel gets special shout outs.

Norton

3 move. For real? Ugh...At least he has City Fighter, but 4 move isn't any better. I can at least say Life or Death on someone as big as him is pretty cool, and I can note one map where he actually does help with something. Namely the second map where you meet with Narcus, the one where he steals your gold and gets you the Guild Key. While you're doing this (if you have to, and if you do I would highly recommend you do so), there is a 1 space wide road from the beach up to the north to which he can choke and start murdering cavaliers. I dunno how many levels he can get out of it, but I imagine a good amount.

I hear promotion to Iron Knight brings him to 5 move, and that lets him have a usable 6 on city maps. Considering he gets Big Shield early, and doesn't have that many skills, he could also fill up the gaps with Fighter skills. So uhh..I can't accurately review him since I didn't use him, but he has potential? I mean, the hard part is getting him to 10, but if you can do that I imagine he's usable. You get so many Knight Crests, might as well try. I dunno. Maybe it's just the armor knight fan in me that wants to believe.

Thomas

3 move, and this time has no excuses.

Roger

Roger is a cool dude. Pretty good base stats (though technically average since he's already promoted), comes with Life or Death, and is 9 levels away from Gale which combines awesomely with Life or Death. He died on me on my playthrough (did not know one of the bosses had a Pole Axe, didn't wanna restart cause I was annoyed at the time), but Roger I imagine is still a pretty solid early mount carry for certain Holmes maps, and isn't that wounded dismounting. He's still probably usable in the second split with Ronin, especially if he has Gale. I can't accurately review him again, but Roger definitely gets a thumbs up.

Dunno if he saves the 4 turns he costs though...

[grandjackal]

Katri

For chapter 11, her being a dragon helps with destroyin the pests that harass you from Yarzam's room, and helps unclog the path out of the narrow hall you're stuck in, so she definitely helps there.

It's nice to have healers that do things other than heal. Her only weakness is that her starting position is often fixed, so you can't just lead wth her. Probably for the best though. Makes you choose between healing or going balls out as a dragon. That being said, you don't need dragon all that often, but it's definitely helpful when you need it.

Xeno

Xeno is a growth unit that has the benefit of a chapter where he honestly helps you, and gets a good amount of exp out of it. Could clear the path towards the fort with Mahter, but why not just let Xeno do it?

Past that though, Xeno kinda starts out like Vega, but with his quick leveling speed thanks to his low base level along with generally awesome growths, Xeno gets real good real quick. Get Blazing Wind real quick and promote him, and you basically have a badass Hero on your team. He reminds me a lot of Raven from FE7.

A quick level 20 helps as well, since it lets him learn Anti Evil for Morse Tower. I gave him Rukuud at the end of the day, but for how absurd that weapon is, it probably doesn't matter who you give it to as long as they have the weapon rank for it. That being said, 15 Wp Lvl is actually pretty hard to achieve for most. I'd imagine the only other real choice is Lothar.

Anyways, Xeno is a very well rounded character with access to plenty of swords, and you just never really have to worry about him. His growths could end up getting screwed, but that's the only real worry with him. Probably the best wingman you could ask for.

9/10

Yuni

Is a Thief.

Mehriah

I wouldn't wait for Life or Death, since the additional magic sooner helps more.

Mehriah is basically the Linda of this game, and her nuke is powerful enough to one shot a good amount of threats deep into the game, the number climbing once she promotes. The nuke has enough uses that you don't have to worry about running out. That being said, I think you gain more exp for killing with non-* weapons, so get her what kills you can with more basic spells so she can hit promotion sooner cause 4 move as usual is very painful to work with.

Rishel really does do her a huge favor with getting her Aura Rain, since Runan's maps are rarely completed in below 5 turns. Aura Rain does a lot in clearing a map, especially if Plum is there to dance her. Some maps call for that, such as the map where you get Ronin's holy sword (clears the summons so you can get the chests if you want, kills all the zombie dragons so that only the dragon scale one is left, helps with killing the boss since the boss of that chapter is a humongous douche). Again, another reason to get her to promotion early, so this spell does more damage so that you don't necessarily HAVE to dance to make the most of it.

Definitely one of the better mages, probably second best to Rishel.

9/10

Sharon

Just strikes me as a better Kate really. Herstats look really solid, and she does get Charge in 9 levels which imagine she'd be pretty good with. Her Strength's not too hot though. Again, 4 move is just really difficult to work with, and I dunno how good her promotion is. If it's any good, then try to get her 4 levels I guess? Again, you have a thousand knight crests...

Billford

Again, has Life or Death, but also comes with Big Shield and oddly enough a movement growth. Billford strikes me as the one that is more gimmicky than Norton. I mean sure, you can abuse growths to get him more move, but that's just silly if you're tryng to play like a normal person. I'd probably pass on Billford unless you're trying to abuse his movement growth. Which case, have fun with that.

[grandjackal]

Holmes

First Bow Lord. One of the best Lords. He's basically FE10 Shinon, except he can pick locks and has good supports. His Longbow comes in handy for several maps, and I would recommend keeping it instead of getting the Dragon Bow (I never had the rank for it, and really you might as well use Raquel's Master Bow). Once he has swords though, for the few maps he's still existing, he can easily take care of himself.

10/10

Shigen

If Julia is Mia, and Vega is Zihark, then naturally that means Shigen is Stefan. Maybe not to as major an extent, but Shigen's good. Good base strength, great all around growths, pretty sweet supports, and Dullahan most certainly has it's uses. If you ever feel you're in danger, can tradequip him Dullahan. This lets you position him far more recklessly than other units, since death is of no consequence to him. You could consider this a sort of movement buff, since you can place him in places most units can't go: Places that are clearly retarded.

Really though if you're smart, you shouldn't have to rely on that too much, but it's good to know that you have it if you need him up front to kick ass. Shigen's a real man. Also, early silver sword. *Thumbs up*

8/10

Alicia

Probably the weakest mage of them. She is basically her spell, Brenthunder. Without it, she's pretty pathetic. That being said, Brenthunder is pretty good. 4 move when you're forced to level slow is not good. Simple as that, really.

Use her only when you need her. Otherwise, warm the bench.

4/10

[/b]Samson[/b]

I saw Barts and it was clearly Barts from FE1, who was a boss. I went with Samson thinking he'd be FE1 Samson, and I was wrong. Clearly, this is Old Testament Samson. If you don't know who that is, he killed a thousand people in heated battle with only the jawbone of a donkey.

His good stats are all of them, exception being Luck which is also bad like Barts. Samson however also has no reliable supports, so he's going in butt naked. He doesn't care though, cause he never dies and he kills everything. Once he gets the Master Axe, teamed up with Gale, no melee fighter can stand to him, and he fears no magic on player phase since he'll kill them before they get a spell off. Lothar doesn't care, cause he has a million weapons to choose from, he can live without the Master Axe.

Samson's probably one of the best units in the game, hands down.

10/10

Lionel

Would I pick him over Lee? Maybe. However, Lionel doesn't have the best of starts. He gets out of it soon enough, but it doesn't start good for him. He's another unit that wants levels as early as possible, so that he can promote and gain more move along with additional combat parameters. With that though, he's golden. He also has move growth, but it's still only 5%. If he gets any then awesome, especially since he is a footsoldier with lances rather than a dude with only 3 move.

[grandjackal]

Attrom

He strikes me as Xeno who is more defensively focused (has Heaven Saint), but has the problem of joining way later, and does not have such a luxurious chapter to farm. Because of this, he suffers greatly. There's nothing really special about him, and I don't really care about Heaven Saint, or proc abilities to begin with (only one I give a damn about is Blazing Wind).

Krishnu

Is a thief that can't pick locks, what the hell. I wouldn't rely on Steal as a skill either. If you wanna nab things, just get a Thief Sword. You have a chance at two, though one really is enough.

Maerhen

UGH. I didn't know Mug was a passive aura, I thought he actually had to USE it as an ability first. Stupid misleading descriptions. His aura alone is enough to make me wanna bin this turd, nevermind his stats, but the sad thing is he's kinda key in the eyeball map because he has better movement in lava pits and bogs than most so he's the only guy who will realistically get that lava pit chest with any relative speed. Why? I dunno, but he does. This sadly also means he's responsible for getting the second Save Staff.

Ugh.

Frau

Ehhhh...I've used her a bit. She's not that good. Just joins too late considering her bases are that awful. She can fly, but she's just not good.

Sun

Yaaaay, I like Sun. She's awful until you run into the mummy encounter, and then she promotes and stops fucking around. Really, if you want a mounted charger, use Sun. She puts Mintz to shame.

It's kinda annoying she starts on Holmes's route since his maps are indoors, but getting her that early promo should help a tad. Once she gets on Ronin's route, she's pretty great. Her only downfall is that due to her strength still not being that fantastic (As she relies on charge, and I'm pretty certain she loses it dismounted as well like Mintz does), she has no real lategame presence so she won't be joining in the temples.

8/10

Lyria

Still don't really get how Sing works, but it does let her farm exp from nothing. She is also a healer, and gets the Power Staff, which is necessary to get the Lance of Canaan. So, again, special shout outs.

[grandjackal]

Mintz

Is cool at first, but his shit speed doesn't help much, and neither does his god awful luck. He's pretty terrible indoors, and he has no lasting power. He's great for when you first get him, but he's very easy to bench. Use him while he's still good, cause he's pretty underwhelming. He's lucky he has charge. Life or Death doesn't really help him.

5/10

Rennie

I probably should have held onto a hero crest for her instead of promoting Julia. She's pretty awful at first, and doesn't really get a chance to grow since she joins at a really inconvenient time, on Ronin's route no less. It's a real struggle to get her the levels she needs, and I found myself unable to get her much until I could switch her to Holmes's route. Once she promotes though I imagine she'd be great, but I had none. That 10 movement growth along with Elite is actually very noticeable. If she had promotion, she could probably be the speed to Lothar's strength.

Shiro

He died early on my playthrough cause fuck Barbarosa's map, but he didn't strike me as anything special. Kinda bland really.

Lothar

Sorry for those that call him Loffaru, but I came from Warcraft 2. Lothar sounds close enough, is epic, and is fitting for him.

That being said, I like Lothar. Super solid, but not retardedly broke, is basically Strength put behind any weapon you can throw his way. His move is also pretty good indoors despite being dismounted, and his strength is good enough to justify him, along with his epic weapon selection. Seriously, he can use just about any weapon you can toss him. He's also pretty necessary to get the Lance of Canaan (unless Rennie can by some way), so he gets you a pretty sweet weapon along with 3 turning that chapter in time before everything goes to hell.

8/10

Lionheart

Jesus doesn't really have the best bases around. He's got a pretty good weapon selection, but he really pales in the face of Lothar. I also don't think I could ditch even Mintz for this guy. Not really sure what to say about him, other than Jesus is really underwhelming.

Zachariah

Can't really think of a time when he'd be helpful. His bases are pretty sick, and in the city his movement s usable...But by then, you have plenty of asskickers as it is. Maybe in Morse Tower he'd be helpful? I dunno. If anyone knows a good point for Zach, speak up.

[grandjackal]

Bud

Is a thief.

Rishel

GODLIKE

Holy shit, Rishel is amazing to the point of being almost broke. A mage with movement that is actually really good, Meteor along with the speed and targets and accuracy to use it, and the world's most bullshit spell ever. Sunflame is absurd.

His only downfall is that he potentially costs a shitton of turns (both in recruiting Narcus's dumb ass in all the chapters that entails, and with having to walk Bud all the way to him), but on top of giving you Aura Rain (Well, you can't get it without him) along with how hilarious Sunflame is, I'd gladly take it with some of the silly shit this game throws at you late in.

>9,000/10

Sierra

The goddess to the god that is Rishel. If Rishel makes one route super easy, Sierra just kinda lets you skip the other one thanks to Warp and a Sylpheed tome. That being said, she might need your last Agi+, because you need 13 speed for a certain boss (if I recall correctly). She also helps you get Renee without wasting warp staff uses since she can just warp on over, kill a Repeater Bow user (Renee warps the other one), and enemy phase the whole enemy troop with Janura. Her low Luck though can also prove an annoyance, since in trying early on, you just end up crit blicked and have to restart. If you hate restarting, a Luck+ for her won't hurt.

Rebecca

Her Golem staff comes in handy on her map to help kill the Wyvern Knights fairly quickly and make them easier since their AI is dumb, along with making 26 pretty simple. Past that, Golems aren't really necessary and she's just another healer. Still, gets shout outs because summons can be handy at times.

Narcus

Is a thief.

Rina

Nino

Renee

Is a saint that skips everything and uses anti-evil.

Yoda

Well, he has the proc skills that are worth a damn, and has Anti Evil and frontier fighter. Joins just before Morse tower, so he's a great filler unit in that sense. Really, that's what I can call Yoda, a filler unit. Statistically, he's awesome, but it's also noting special by that point in the game. Use him if you want to.

Hagar

It wasn't any better with Thomas, I doubt it'll be any better with you. Maybe if your tank had defense that actually applied vs dragon breath and could actually counterattack dragon breath, I'd think about it for one single chapter. However, you showed up with awful speed at a point of the game where you are easy magic bait so your defense is useless. No. Just, no. I'm sure as fuck not fielding Mintz in that chapter for you either.

Vahter

Again, good filler, use her if you want.

So, that's the last of the relevant cast since the rest are Athos kinds of characters, so next will be items and thoughts on them cause there's plenty of things I never got the chance to use, some I didn't and would have liked to, and items I probably wasted.

[grandjackal]

Shields

You get a LOT of Leather Shields in this game, and I hardly used any of them. I would suggest you not make that same mistake. You could either sell them (+2 temporary Def is not all that helpful), or just use them more on guys like Ronin. Iron is a bit rarer, but they help at times like with the Stonehenges, and Steel shields are to make enemies want to straight ignore you. If there's a portion where you want any and all physical attention pulled away from a unit, give them the Steel Shield. Unless they've got bows and they want to break the shield, this works pretty consistantly (unless they also have crit). The Silver Shield you get from Julius's chapter is a pretty worthwhile investment, since it lets Ronin unlock the door in Zeke's chapter and not give a fuck about him as he messes up his face. The Magic Shields are pretty important, since Ronin has 2 chapters where he will have to facecharge directly into magic enemies, namely his holy sword chapter and Zeke's since he'll have to fight at least two witches.

Guild Key

I have had this item and never used it. I really should have, however. Looking through shops, some notable buys...

...Just Javelins really. Maybe it's better to sell this thing, cause most secret shop things are ludicrously expensive and not that helpful/you get plenty of said item anyways.Maybe get some Master weapon for a unit with Gale.

Thief Swords

I had 2, and I never used them once. I think there could be plenty of opportunities to use them, it's just a question of when. Earnest comes to mind, cause everything he's loaded up with is annoying.

Sylpheed

Would recommend at least 1, just so that Sierra can have it later. You don't need 2, for sure. Because of this, you could probably forgo the one you get from Marj, and instead get the Reeve Tome, since before Sierra no one really NEEDS Sylpheed.

Repairing

I have 2 Repair Staffs, and none were used at all, mostly because they had a rank of 15 as a requirement, which no staff user is going to get unless you give Lee a WpLvl+. That being said, it kinda is good news cause it means you don't really need to ever repair anything. It does come with benefits if you can though obviously, such as repairing the Shramm or Dullahan. The issue is simply having the rank to actually use the staffs.

Thunder Shield

Never once used it, never once saw an instance where I'd care to have it. Might as well ignore it, costs too many turns anyways.

Keys

Best to have 3 bridge keys (one for the first chapter you meet Lionheart, the other two for Ronin's holy sword chapter), and I think at least 2 door keys (for the last chapter with Zeke). You get a Bridge Key for free. I don't remember about Door Keys, but they're cheap anyways.

Forges

I would only get the Shield Sword and the Def+. Maybe the Holy Sword and Thief Sword, my problem with them is that Holy Sword has a high weapon rank requirement and Thief Sword is very niche and I dunno if it's worth a gold bag. The Dragon Arrow for Morse Tower makes the 5th floor much more bearable since golems are the hardest thing to kill in the game, and having 2-3 range is great. However, it's a lot to ask for and not sure if worth it in the end. Like I don't think it's worth sacrificing a silver sword, a magic shield, an Iron Shield, and a couple of your 5 item picks for it.

Skills

I don't like proc skills, as they're quite unreliable. Fighter skills are awesome to have because they give you perfect acc, a good avoid boost, and more importantly +1 Move, and it's a good idea to stack if you have no skills/can sacrifice some dumbshit proc skills. Only proc skill I like is Blazing Wind, since it's basically a second chance at a critical hit without having to depend on high crit weapons. Charge is also a great skill, because it gives you a very brutal player phase, and this game loves to throw enemies with shields at you, Charge letting you break them and then murder the squishy underneath. Life or Death is also helpful, but very rarely is there a unit that makes good use of it. The armors have a 3 move problem, and Mintz is a fucking putz. With Roger during his earlygame and with Lothar it's great though. Gale is also awesome, especially on Samson cause with the Master Axe it basically makes him unaproachable at melee. Could probably buy a Master Lance for Raffin with the Guild Key so that he can also do the same during midgame. I feel you need at least 1 Awareness guy for Ronin's route to deal with Ernest cause he's a great big jackass. Outside of him though, I don't think Awareness really comes into play at all.

Gatling Bow

Key item for Julius, and now thinking about it also Earnest since he has a really obnoxious shield you want to break. Can use it as well to take out some hyper annoying threat you want dead immediately, but there's not many I can think of.

Amulets and Elixers

Could think of several points where just having them as a safety measure can make a world of difference, mostly lategame maps where Ronin has to be super ballsy when he has no right to be. They're basically get out of jail free cards, so if there's an instance where you just wanna BS your way through a certain situation, use them. You have quite a few, but the lategame where things are a lot more dangerous are more notable.

So. That was a lot. I think I'mma play this game again at a far more relaxed pace. I think I'mma use the armors this time.

Edited February 14, 2013 by grandjackal