"Good" classes, "evil" classes

[Paper Jam]

I just thought I'd take an inventory of sorts of how many characters of each class can be recruited, as compared to how many characters of the same class are fought as bosses.

I didn't bother trying to pigeonhole characters of special classes into the ordinary classes.

FE6:

Mercenaries/Heroes: 3/2

Myrmidons/Swordmasters: 3/1

Thieves: 3/0

Knights/Generals: 4/9

Fighters/Warriors: 3/1

Brigands/Pirates/Berserkers: 3/5

Archers/Snipers: 4/0

Nomads/Troopers: 3/4

Cavaliers/Paladins: 7/3

Pegasus Knights/Falcoknights: 3/1

Wyvern Riders/Wyvern Lords: 2/3

Priests/Clerics/Bishops: 3/3

Troubadours/Valkyries: 2/0

Mages/Sages: 3/2

Shamans/Druids: 3/6

Bards/Dancers: 2/0

Mamkutes: 1/2

In FE6, the "good" classes (i.e. those represented by more recruitable characters than named bosses) seem to be Mercenaries, Myrmidons, Thieves, Fighters, Archers, Cavaliers, Pegasus Knights, Troubadours, Mages, Bards, Dancers, and their respective promoted classes, if applicable.

The "evil" classes (represented by more named bosses than recruitable characters) seem to be Knights, Brigands/Pirates, Nomads, Wyvern Riders, Shamans, Mamkutes, and their respective promoted classes, if applicable.

Oddly enough, the only class to be equally represented by recruitable characters and named bosses is the Priest/Cleric/Bishop. I guess that makes them "neutral."

As I said, I didn't take Roy, Zephiel, or Idoun into account here, since each of them is literally in a class by himself.

In further posts to this thread I will likewise summarize the classes of FE7 and 8.

[Paper Jam]

I am well aware that certain bosses in FE7 are fought more than once, but I'm only counting each of them once.

I'm also counting Fargus and Vaida as bosses, even though you are strongly discouraged from fighting them. Yes, this does mean that Vaida counts as both a recruitable character and a boss.

While Nergal could easily be pigeonholed into the Shaman/Druid category, and Athos likewise into the Mage/Sage category, each of them is technically in a class by himself, so I didn't count them.

FE7:

Mercenaries/Heroes: 2/5

Myrmidons/Swordmasters: 3/1

Thieves/Assassins: 3/1

Knights/Generals: 2/8

Fighters/Warriors: 3/5

Brigands/Pirates/Berserkers: 2/7

Archers/Snipers: 3/1

Nomads/Troopers: 1/1

Cavaliers/Paladins: 5/7

Pegasus Knights/Falcoknights: 3/0

Wyvern Riders/Wyvern Lords: 2/1

Clerics/Monks/Bishops: 3/1

Troubadours/Valkyries: 1/1

Mages/Sages: 3/3

Shamans/Druids: 1/3

Bards/Dancers 2/0

Good guys: Myrmidons, Thieves, Archers, Pegasus Knights, Wyvern Riders, Clerics/Monks, Bards, Dancers, and their respective promotions if applicable.

Bad guys: Mercenaries, Knights, Fighters, Brigands, Cavaliers, Shamans, and their respective promotions.

Neutrals: Nomads, Troubadours, Mages, and their respective promotions.

Edited June 8, 2013 by Paper Jam

[Sublime Manic]

Basing it off of bosses and recruitable characters comes off as misleading, though, I think. There aren't any Thief bosses in FE6 because they're typically considered petty and not important enough to the plot to be bosses, but plenty of maps feature them as enemies trying to get to the treasure chests before you do. Further, units who join you aren't always automatically morally good, and some enemies are not "evil" just because you have to fight them. Counting Vaida as both a good and "evil" point is a good example.

What are you trying to point out or accomplish with this, exactly?

[Paper Jam]

FE8's class system is much less straightforward, but I've made a few judgment calls as to which of the branched promotions fit together more thematically. I've decided, for example, that Great Knights have more in common with the Cavalier/Paladin category than with the Knight/General category, and I have placed them accordingly.

Rather than write off each of the trainees as unique classes, I have taken into account which of the categories they are capable of promoting into, and thus I count Ross, for example, as half Fighter and half Pirate.

Mercenaries/Heroes: 1/2

Myrmidons/Swordmasters: 2/1

Thieves/Assassins/Rogues: 2/0

Knights/Generals: 1.5/4

Fighters/Warriors: 1.5/3

Brigands/Pirates/Berserkers: 1.5/2

Archers/Snipers/Rangers: 2/1

Cavaliers/Paladins/Great Knights: 5.5/3

Pegasus Knights/Falcoknights: 3/0

Wyvern Riders/Lords/Knights: 1/1

Clerics/Monks/Bishops: 3/1

Troubadours/Valkyries/Mage Knights: 1/1

Mages/Sages: 2.5/1

Shamans/Druids/Summoners: 1.5/1

Manaketes: 1/1

[Paper Jam]

Basing it off of bosses and recruitable characters comes off as misleading, though, I think. There aren't any Thief bosses in FE6 because they're typically considered petty and not important enough to the plot to be bosses, but plenty of maps feature them as enemies trying to get to the treasure chests before you do. Further, units who join you aren't always automatically morally good, and some enemies are not "evil" just because you have to fight them. Counting Vaida as both a good and "evil" point is a good example.

What are you trying to point out or accomplish with this, exactly?

I was deliberately being facetious with my use of "good" and "evil," hence my use of quotation marks. Shock effect, if you will.

I'm just pointing out that some classes are more often used as bosses (Knights and Generals in particular) while others are more often used for recruitable characters (Cavaliers and Paladins in particular).

[Sublime Manic]

I see. I think it would be interesting to see which games give you the greatest concentration of class types compared to the others: which game has the highest percentage of magic users in relation the the total number of recruitable characters, which game provides more mounts in relation to your army (probably FE4), etc...