Carter's Awakening Females Only Playthrough (Paralogue 15: A Shot From the Dark + More Polls!)

[Carter]

Exactly. That's why I say the name "Short Bow" is EXTREMELY misleading.

The "Short Bow" should allow you to counterattack.

[Shadow Mir]

Longbow is useful but archers in this game (and I'd say FE since it seems not to be an Awakening-only issue) are too hard to use properly. I'd like to watch a Lunatic playthrough because they say Virion performs nicely in Lunatic, but in other modes they're more trouble than it's worth. Not being able to counter direct hits is a huge issue. There should be a trade off for not being affected by the weapon triangle, but I think it should be handled differently. But then "hardcore" fans will start screaming and saying "it's not FE anymore, I want my sucky archers back"...

I'd agree it's more of a general FE issue. From what I understand, it's more the fact that in most games, javelins and hand axes generally outstrip bows (the only games where that isn't the case are FE4 (Weight), FE6 (Accuracy and power), and the DS games (Bows have their place when dodging is unreliable; FE12 also noifed javelins and hand axes, in addition to having a lot of Dracoknights that don't take bow attacks well). Also, Radiant Dawn did have crossbows, as well as the ultimate bow as 1-2 weapons, but the former had fixed might, and the best bow was only obtainable in endgame. I'd say archers were at their worst in Path of Radiance thanks not only to the two archers you got being among the worst units in the game, but the fact that as a further kick in the nuts, one was obsoleted by a bow user who joined only a couple chapters later, and the other required said obsoleted unit to get back (not helping was the fact that bonus damage was only double effectiveness)...