ITT: I (try to) balance the characters (again)!

[Radiant head]

Not sure if there's much you can do for her. She does the whole mage nuke thing pretty well as is, so the only buff I can think of is better spd growth (and even then she works okay without it), and let her somehow reach 34 speed (prf tome?) so that she's "important" in endgame.

Giving her Tauraneo's Resolve, especially for 1-9, goes a long way to buffing her, so I dunno if that should be innate or what.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Radiant head

[Dunal]

Not sure if there's much you can do for her. She does the whole mage nuke thing pretty well as is, so the only buff I can think of is better spd growth (and even then she works okay without it), and let her somehow reach 34 speed (prf tome?) so that she's "important" in endgame.

Giving her Tauraneo's Resolve, especially for 1-9, goes a long way to buffing her, so I dunno if that should be innate or what.

Hmm... I've currently done the following:

+ Enough speed to double a lot of enemies with Light tomes (except Nosferatu). Tier 2 cap is 28 which she'll on average hit. Tier 3 cap at 40 (with a +5 promo gain prior to that).

+ Light magic being buffed (MT/CRIT). Mostly the later spells.

+ Increased HP and defense (same goes for pretty much all magi). No longer is in range of being 1-shot.

+ Dark magic at tier 2 which, while are mostly locked to 1 range and is heavy, reduces all melee physical damage by 5. Combined with the above, can make her quite durable, especially against lower MT units like Swordmasters.

+ Many more enemy dark mages in which light magic has an increased WTA bonus against.

+ Tier 3 promotion bonuses being amazing, so that she's strong in endgame.

+ Dark affinity giving a flat +1 might per rank, which is nice utility for certain other units.

+ More EXP to be gained in the DB maps.

+ Luck cap of 50 with an unchanged growth.

+ Increased skill capacity in Tier 2 and 3. Is one of the only units in the game that is able to actually equip Resolve (Tier 3).

+ 10-use Purge and Fenrir in part 3. pewpew

- Lower magic and resistance. Still great, but not as incredible.

- Only D staves with Physic being B. Capped at A staves.

- Thani no longer one-shotting early on, since base HP has been increased, especially for armors.

- Has a biorhythm type that can severely hamper her avoid rates for a long period of time, since the 'worst' status drops avoid by 30.

- Worse accuracy with higher level tomes.

- No resolve early game.

She's a consistently strong combat unit in many ways. The intention is to make her the magical version of Ike, at the cost of Staff utility (Indirect Laura buff). But it also felt like Micaiah should lean towards being damage oriented, since that's what the player is lead to believe in part 1. Plus, it just makes complete sense since the Dawn Brigade has no other magic units in part 3 aside from Laura, who logically should be the staff focused one.

There's plenty you can do with her without making her 'OP' (although borderline is fine for a main character).

Edited November 24, 2015 by DLuna

[Junkhead]

Actually I was kinda thinking of giving counter to Boyd, because he'll get seriously hurt by physical and magical attacks.

Honestly 20 base speed for level 8 is still pretty mediocre. It's the same speed of enemy warriors.

Sounds fair at the first sight, but most the allies have way higher base speed than the enemies have.

Actually Boyd is the least usable unit of the GMs for me. Only killer axe and bond supports can make him good, but it requires other not so great units and luck. He's outclassed as axe user by Titania, Gatrie and Haar later.

Was actually thinking about that. It was either him, or Rolf. Considering the whole FE13 thing, I'm up for it, lol.

20 base Spd is indeed pretty mediocre for his level, but other than an extra +1 (a total of 21 AS), I think would be stretching it for him. He's a potentially powerful unit, you should see it for yourself. And considering that tiny little tweak of +1 HP, he can nab a Robe and easily BEXP his Spd up + early Crown. His durability is nowhere near an actual problem. If it is, you can always pair him with one of Oscar or Ike.

An example, a lvl 11 Boyd (with my buffs, an Angelic Robe + a BEXP level) will be sitting at:

HP: 53

Str: 24

Skill: 23

Spd: 22

Luck: 14

Def: 16

Res: 8

This is by the end of 3-2 or so. I am using the method of getting almost enough Exp to complete a level-up and finishing the level with BEXP, that way he gets garanteed stats. Do the same towards the end of 3-3 and you can early Crown him to be sitting at 25 Str/Spd, which pretty much covers his Part 3.

If you're balancing the game, I don't see why you can't fix the problems inherent with laguz (cat laguz in particular).

I was ready to say "but then Cats wouldn't be Cats", but that's actually rather silly. Really, now. With how badly they screwed Cats over in this game, I really don't see why I can't make that tiny tweak that can actually make a difference for them...

As you can see, that was most of the reason Ranulf isn't High-ish tier, and think I gave Lethe a pretty cool buff.

Uhh... huh? Did you mean Pavise? I don't understand why Rhys would want Pass.

Maybe when he wants to get out of a tight spot (literally)? I was thinking of giving Pavise to someone, honestly. lol I COULD try that...

Poor Oscar. So inferior statwise. Dat Earth affinity though. I've paired him with Ike on hard mode, and the pair are currently ripping through the dragons of Endgame 3 as I type. Fortunately for the sake of balance, Oscar still can't kill most things in 2 hits, so the added speed means he does better chip damage as others catch up and his shaky defense can get a much needed BEXP boost, although not that it's needed with the Earth affinity.

I never saw his concrete durability as a problem. Stronger enemies 3HKO him, but he's usually rather dodgy against them. Factor in Earth support, and it's super-fixed. (:

I think the few warriors (who tend to be faster than the halberdiers)can have 22 speed in this chapter.

Warriors DON'T reach 22 AS yet, lol.

Mist can still do her healing role, whereas Boyd can't do his killing job that well.

My new version of Mist isn't subdued as the Token Healer forever. (: Neither is Rhys, fortunately.

[Observes thread for notes]

I'd like to think I'm fairly accommodating when it comes to feedback for ReDux. So feel free to put any input towards that. I do hope to create a definitive balance hack for everyone to enjoy. I'm really interested in a discussion in unit identities (what a unit should be good/bad at), since I've already gone through a number of iterations for some units myself (Such as Danved).

Senpai noticed (,:, I am flattered.

I feel like you should keep with your original idea as to what it means to be balanced. For one, it's a different "taste" that others can try and see for themselves as to what different ideas of what "balancing" could be. Like, I still have to read all of your overall changes, but I definitely noticed that one giant change you gave to Micaiah, in particular.

I'm interested in the OP's opinion of Micaiah more than anything. I always felt that, as a main character, she should be given a spotlight when it comes to potential -- instead of insultingly being demoted to a generic healer. If anything, that's the number one thing I immediately looked at. The game's story hypes her as some near-perfect, incredible being when gameplay-wise she's anything but. Would be Intrigued to hear if anyone disagrees with that.

I'm not exactly basing myself on the game's canon. But even then, the game never states Micaiah as being a badass at combat. They do indeed make note of her..."godliness", or whatever? Like her ability to heal (see: Sacrifice) and perform "miracles". I don't think a unit has to be a badass in combat to be a good unit, and Micaiah is one of the few Lords that actually manages to be of use by being good in those aspects and the aforementioned Thanibombing (seeing as how tough Knights are in this game, it's definitely useful). I don't think she's a generic healer. For one, she's a free slot and using her can only bring good things. Once she promotes, she earns an auto C-rank in staves which allows her to use Physic.

To make Micaiah good at combat, she'd need much better bases, growths (especially in Spd) and I think that's way too a dramatic change for her and what I call a "unit concept".

While balance is important I respect story/dialogue translating to gameplay. Which the game missed the mark on in many ways (Someone like Meg is known to be able to lift a full grown cow, but her STR is bad...Her LCK is amazing, but she fails to get the man she spent so much time searching for).

That's actually a fun thing to keep in mind. IS should've gone with that. ):

Not sure if there's much you can do for her. She does the whole mage nuke thing pretty well as is, so the only buff I can think of is better spd growth (and even then she works okay without it), and let her somehow reach 34 speed (prf tome?) so that she's "important" in endgame.

Giving her Tauraneo's Resolve, especially for 1-9, goes a long way to buffing her, so I dunno if that should be innate or what.

Her Spd cap isn't even a problem. IIRC, 31-32 AS pretty much doubles everything until the Tower. And she promotes at the Tower itself, so it's not like a Spd cap increase will do much of anything for her.

Have you ever tried the Sacrifice + Wrath combo? Give her a Light +Crit. forge and stick her with Sothe, it's insane.

[Dunal]

I'm not exactly basing myself on the game's canon. But even then, the game never states Micaiah as being a badass at combat. They do indeed make note of her..."godliness", or whatever? Like her ability to heal (see: Sacrifice) and perform "miracles". I don't think a unit has to be a badass in combat to be a good unit, and Micaiah is one of the few Lords that actually manages to be of use by being good in those aspects and the aforementioned Thanibombing (seeing as how tough Knights are in this game, it's definitely useful). I don't think she's a generic healer. For one, she's a free slot and using her can only bring good things. Once she promotes, she earns an auto C-rank in staves which allows her to use Physic.

To make Micaiah good at combat, she'd need much better bases, growths (especially in Spd) and I think that's way too a dramatic change for her and what I call a "unit concept".

I understand your point is some ways. Still, it's worth mentioning that Micaiah's staves do make 'Sacrifice', her unique skill, quite redundant -- and that's more reason to nerf that aspect.

It's very odd how the story early on focuses on her sacrifice power... but then she learns staves so logically she'll never need it anyway. If anything, the inability to learn staves would have made Sacrifice all the more interesting, but I wouldn't go that far.

Otherwise, she's a Light Mage/Sage/Priestess, which would indicate that following on from part 1, she would be damage focused as a contrast to Laura.

Giving her dark magic illustrates her downfall and her role is Daein causing chaos... and then becoming the embodiment of chaos when possessed by Yune. Her tier 2 outfit also has a contrast of light/dark. She also gets 'promoted' by Pelleas, who uses Dark magic.

There are arguments either way, but this is how I would envision Micaiah.

Edited November 24, 2015 by DLuna

[Junkhead]

Kysha

I was about to talk about how Kyza is the Meg among the Tigers, but that's just too insulting. Yes, IS gave us a fast-ISH version of Tigers- or at least the potential for it. I really like the idea. They basically gave us a Cat, without the drawbacks of a Cat!

It only took one try. I've used Kyza once in my life, and that's in the LTC experiment/test run thingy. Kyza's underrated. He was once considered one of the worst units in the game, and I think he's far from that. He's still a 9-Mov tank (55 HP/20 Def) with great Shoving/Smiting capabilities. For actual combat use, all he really needs is +1 Spd and maybe an Energy Drop to cover his Atk issues. I'll give him +2 Str/+1 Spd. 24 AS (transformed) covers him for 3-4 & 3-7, at which point, he can potentially get 1 (2) more Spd, covering him for Part 3 as it is (Blossom is your friend). After that, just concentrate on raising his Strike.

As an added bonus (and considering I replaced this skill for Resolve, on Mordecai), I'll give him Smite instead.

Lyre

It's incredible how just terrible Lyre is. Going to sum it up with this little tidbit:

Lyre

Oh dear. Oh dear, sweet Jesus. Intelligent Systems, what have you done?

Lyre is what every unit doesn't want to be. Lyre has absolutely nothing going for her. I daresay Lyre cannot even be fixed as a unit.

So what is it that makes Lyre so awful? Well, do you remember how bad Mist was as a combat unit with her base 22 atk? Lyre's base atk is also 22. Only Lyre doesn't have 1-2 range and hasn't gotten a chance to level or build support like Mist, so she loses to Mist in raw damage output by 3-4 points per hit. To put into perspective, in her joining map she:
7 hit kills Warriors.
13-19 hit kills Halberdiers.
6 hit kills the weaker Swordmasters.
Is 3-4 atk short of even hurting Generals.
8 hit kills Snipers.
3-4 hit kills Sages. (Luckily for her, she doubles the slow ones)
Deals 1 damage to the Dragonmasters' 40-42 HP.

And Lyre is a combat unit!

See, even an Energy Drop and a level of BEXP for Speed won't do much for her. She'll now be 5 hit killing the Warriors with a double (luckily enough), 6 hit killing the Halberdiers with a double, 4 hit killing the Swordmasters with no double, 1-2 damage to Generals....I think you get the picture. Lyre with resources is still a pile of failure.

And then there's durability. 47 HP, 14 Defense, and 16 Resistance always taking counters. Warriors, Halberdiers, and Snipers get her in 3, Swordmasters in 4, Generals in 3 again but the stronger ones leave her with 1 HP (or 2 if you gave her BEXP and she got HP) after 2 hits, Elfire Sages in 2. Yeah, she sucks on this end as well.

It does not end there. That level of BEXP I just fed her stops doubling as soon as 3-8, so she may need another for there, only now we're seeing that these BEXP levels are preventing her from getting the Strength she needs since Strength is her 5th highest growth 15% behind the 4th and only 5% above the 6th. Lyre also has her terrible Cat gauge limiting the kills she can be fed every map, she never has free deployment, none of the units joining around her want Defense or Avoid...What the hell happened here?

I can't do an accurate part 4 review because I can't imagine what level and stats would be reasonable. Are all her levels BEXP'd and getting only her higher growths? Is she being fed 15 kills per map so she can get to Rend asap? Is borderline doubling enough to get to S Strike in 6 maps? I don't know. However, given her bad growths, gauge, and lack of 2 range attacking, I cannot imagine she will be anything resembling a good unit ever without tons of attention. Worst unit in the game for me.

0/10

@Bold: Challenge accepted.
Now that's taken care of, how do we fix this...mess.

Well, for starters, that +1 Spd could be a decent starting point. How can you not make a unit like this NOT double? Especially if they're supposed to fill a purpose on the battlefield...huh. Just like I did with her sister, I'm going to give her +20 Critical at base. Guess it runs in the family. Atk is a must, so I'll go out on a limb and actually give her an S-rank strike (yes, I know this sounds bonkers, but hey!). I realized her base level is pretty low, so I'll autolevel her to lvl. 20. So she's basically Lethe 2.0 right now (in terms of the buffs I gave them, I mean, so what's the point? Well, I want to buff Lyre, but not enough that you're pretty much given a good Lyre on a silver platter. The rest of her stats are pretty decent now, though. She has 26 Spd and can make some interesting combos off of that extra Crit. and Adept. Throw in an Atk support and mayve an Energy Drop and she has hopes she'll actually get somewhere.

For characters like these (think, Meg, Fiona, Mist & Rolf, for example), I like to buff them to the point where you have a reason to actually use them, but not enough so that they take away the point of being "growth units" and stuff. Those will still exist, as I am respecting at least a part of the FE formula. Besides, where would the fun be, otherwise?

Reyson

I love how I've heard people say he's "broken" before.

Janaff & Ulki

I don't feel the need to do anything about these fellas. Like, they're a really solid addition to the team, but nothing game-wreaking.

Sigrun

Oh boy. The Empress' personal guard, is she? With THAT base Str? I mean, her growths are pretty bad, but I think the rest of her bases are rather passable.

I'd give her +2 HP, capped Skill,+3 Str, +2 Spd. She's actually a plenty capable unit as her vanilla version, but these small tweaks will help cover her base problems (like running a bit short on Spd come 4-3 & her obvious base Str).

Tanith

Tanith is so good, lol.

[Gryz]

Maybe when he wants to get out of a tight spot (literally)? I was thinking of giving Pavise to someone, honestly. lol I COULD try that...

Nah, Pavise wouldn't be that great for Rhys either. Maybe give him Purge so he can help quick clear 3-5 or help prevent laguz logjams in 3-P.

[Dunal]

Pavise is a fantastic skill to have for any unit with good skill.

Laguz need a complete rework IMO. To fix Lyre would involve vastly lowering her base level and changing her Laguz gauge.

Her problem isn't necessarily her stats (although it's part of the problem), it's the fact that like most Laguz, her EXP gain is awful so she can't actually grow. Her base stats would make you think she's an Est but her EXP gain says otherwise.

As with all Laguz, I drastically reduced their base level so they can actually gain EXP like Beorc do. Then I adjust their growths to keep that balanced.

Making Lyre (and Lethe) actually usable in 3-1 also helps matters.

The way I've balanced Lyre is the following:

She gains EXP really fast to begin with and grows well. Her STR/SPD are essentially 70% growths with how Laguz work. Her Laguz gauge isn't strictly better but it's more interesting and easy to upkeep so long as you keep her on the offensive.

Edited November 25, 2015 by DLuna

[Radiant head]

Nah, Pavise wouldn't be that great for Rhys either. Maybe give him Purge so he can help quick clear 3-5 or help prevent laguz logjams in 3-P.

With 5 durability, how useful would that even be.

[Dunal]

With 5 durability, how useful would that even be.

I personally feel it's fine for siege tomes to have 10 uses if their range/MT/HIT are tweaked. Maybe even 15.

[Junkhead]

I understand your point is some ways. Still, it's worth mentioning that Micaiah's staves do make 'Sacrifice', her unique skill, quite redundant -- and that's more reason to nerf that aspect.

It's very odd how the story early on focuses on her sacrifice power... but then she learns staves so logically she'll never need it anyway. If anything, the inability to learn staves would have made Sacrifice all the more interesting, but I wouldn't go that far.

You make a very good point. I'm thinking we could either her Staff rank to D or take it away altogether. That way, Laura goes monopoly on being the team's staffbot as well as she doesn't become rather obsolete. OR, I just remembered, we could actually make Sacrifice RANGED, much like Physic (except the obvious "draback" of losing HP, but she could use it with Wrath or Resove).

Otherwise, she's a Light Mage/Sage/Priestess, which would indicate that following on from part 1, she would be damage focused as a contrast to Laura.

I don't think Laura would entirely drag out. Given you're actually training her to be something more than a simple staffbot, she's actually much better than Micaiah and can potentially be a combat unit. Granted, it takes until at least Part 3 to do so REASONABLY, but her shot is still there. It's not a ton different than characters like Nolan, Edward & Leonardo who really get going by Part 3 (even if they're carrying an important part of the team, if you're seriously training them.

Giving her dark magic illustrates her downfall and her role is Daein causing chaos... and then becoming the embodiment of chaos when possessed by Yune. Her tier 2 outfit also has a contrast of light/dark. She also gets 'promoted' by Pelleas, who uses Dark magic.

There are arguments either way, but this is how I would envision Micaiah.

This is actually a very interesting way to see it, and now, I actually understand just why you went there. Didn't understand why you were giving her Dark magic at first. Thought it was a gimmicky move, probably just for fun of it.

Pavise is a fantastic skill to have for any unit with good skill.

Yeah, and outright roaming the "broken" territory, given that this is FE10 and a lot of characters stand out in that particular stat. I could always lock him to that skill, thereby monopolozing the use of the Skill to Rhys and giving you a reason to actually use him. The buffs I gave him already give you one.

Laguz need a complete rework IMO. To fix Lyre would involve vastly lowering her base level and changing her Laguz gauge.

Her problem isn't necessarily her stats (although it's part of the problem), it's the fact that like most Laguz, her EXP gain is awful so she can't actually grow. Her base stats would make you think she's an Est but her EXP gain says otherwise.

I think the buffs I gave them are pretty great. A few of them, I purposely gave them a high level, that way they reach their respective Masteries quicker. Lethe & Lyre are now pretty much SMs with 9 Mov, Nealuchi's the secondcoming of Haar...without 2-range. Kyza has a lot more potential through a simpel tweak, etc. Lyre has a plethora of problems, and poor Exp game is just the beggining of it. She doesn't even cut as an Est, given those growths.

I've widely established that I'm actually changing the Cat gauge to resemble the one Tigers have. It only makes sense...

[Junkhead]

Sanaki

Fuck it, I'm giving her Pavise. Yes, this is favoritism on my behalf.

And to be quite honest, like, at the bottom of my heart honest, I don't think Sanaki's awful. Always gave her Resolve+Daunt, a lightly forged tome (mostly so it's lighter) and she solos her half of the map. Yes, you can do that with virtually any mage, but there's not a huge chance you've actually gotten them this far (Ilyana, Tormod, Soren, Rhys, for example) and Sanaki does pack a giant punch as it is. I guess it would be pretty cool to give her a base B-support with Sigrun.

EDIT: +7 HP reeeeaaaaallly wouldn't hurt her. She's actually 1HKO'd by some of the stronger Warriors in her starting chapter (you need 38 Atk for that and they have 40). +3 Def/+2 Str/+1 Spd wouldn't hurt either.

Skrimir

Remember when this guy appeared in 3-P and he just barrel rolled through everything? Well, it's not a *whole lot* different right here. Problem is, his Spd quickly decays by the time he hits the desert. 26 AS no longer doubles, no Resolve (gave it to Mordecai) and he needs a Speedwings to do so. Well, I think it's BS Naesala gets Tear before lvl.30 (and above all, Formshift...), so I'm giving this guy the same treatment. Autolevel him to lvl.29 ought to do it, as well. Now he's packing 28 AS, enough to get him through (he can surely get an extra proc by 4-3).

Naesala

Wait, just because he's "the worst royal" in terms of raw stats doesn't mean he still isn't beast. That side of the story still needs him plent, so a buff is a no-no.

Tibarn

Relevant:

Tibarn

LOLTIBARN.

LOL56ATT.

LOL40AS.

LOL32DEF.

LOL109AVOID.

LOL40TEAR.

LOL10MOVE.

LOLCANTO.

LOLFLYING.

LOLFORMSHIFT.

LOL100CAPACITY.

Tibarn is one of the many royals you get in part 4 that just roflstomps everything in sight. And we have like 5 royals to choose from. It's ridiculous. The stats alone pretty much warrant at least an 8.

Unfortunately IS forgot to give him something called availability. Being only in part 4, he's only making the game "LOLEASYMODE" for a short time period, while many other units like Ike and Volug are doing the same, only for a longer period of time, and when you also have fewer resources to h4x up your units.

Also, being a laguz, he has no 2-range. He does hilariously rape everything that attacks him, but lack of 2-range gets in the way, especially in the last parts of 4-E where everything has it. So even with his ridiculous stats, he's not quite as useful as someone like Shinon or Ike who have good enough stats to get the job done, but have an advantage in range.

Plus, he got shut down by his own underling.

8.5/10

So, uhhhh, yeah. Want to nerf this guy? Start by taking out 1 Mov. and Pavise (Sanaki took it :3). Royals were meant to be "broken" (they still lack 2-range, and it's not like Haar, Jill and MAYBE Ike aren't better than them).

Edited November 30, 2015 by Soul o:

[Refa]

Sanaki needs more base HP and Str, everything else is fine.

Tibarn doesn't need Pavise but taking out one move is kinda lame (since it's not like he's broken or invalidates anyone else until the tower).

[Dunal]

It's worth mentioning that Micaiah also has Dark affinity and also is a Dark Mage in awakening. It just makes sense that she can use Dark, if anything.

I do feel most Laguz should be much lower level not only for balance but because of player perception. When you're using an unit that gains no EXP, it makes it feel like a waste and lowers incentive to actually use them. A weaker Volug that gains 40 EXP per kill + higher potential actually feels satisfying to train and use. Same goes for other Laguz at varying degrees. For the most part, the lack of EXP gains means they barely scale -- meaning that aside from training WEXP it feels bad to feed kills to them.

Tibarn and the rest of the royals can honestly do without Formshift. Giving them great Laguz gauges is a better compromise. They need to be in a state where they don't completely invalidate normal Laguz.

As for Cats, I basically just made their gauges unique. When transformed, Lyre loses 14 points per turn but gains 6 per combat. All cats are similar.

Edited November 30, 2015 by DLuna

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Sanaki needs more base HP and Str, everything else is fine.

Yes, that's all what she needs (about 35 HP and at least 8 strength) and give her about 50% speed growth.

Sanaki has less HP than promoted Ilyana and same base strength as base Micaiah, who's two classes below her. LOL!

Pavise Tibarn is only really needed in 4-2 for one crossbow warrior and taskh sniper. Elincia with enough strength can ORKO them without getting countered. So it's ok to remove pavise from him.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Sweet_Basil]

Sanaki is like the staff-less version of Micaiah but with all magic types (except dark). She's frail but deals quite some damage, too bad they didn't give Cymbeline bonus against enemies.

[Augestein]

It's worth mentioning that Micaiah also has Dark affinity and also is a Dark Mage in awakening. It just makes sense that she can use Dark, if anything.

I do feel most Laguz should be much lower level not only for balance but because of player perception. When you're using an unit that gains no EXP, it makes it feel like a waste and lowers incentive to actually use them. A weaker Volug that gains 40 EXP per kill + higher potential actually feels satisfying to train and use. Same goes for other Laguz at varying degrees. For the most part, the lack of EXP gains means they barely scale -- meaning that aside from training WEXP it feels bad to feed kills to them.

Tibarn and the rest of the royals can honestly do without Formshift. Giving them great Laguz gauges is a better compromise. They need to be in a state where they don't completely invalidate normal Laguz.

As for Cats, I basically just made their gauges unique. When transformed, Lyre loses 14 points per turn but gains 6 per combat. All cats are similar.

I think that they made Micaiah a dark mage because having her wield axes is completely unfitting to her character. More than her using dark tomes. And having her with dark tomes still keeps her from using a "common" magic type.

And yeah, I agree on the laguz. They need to have better levels for when they join.

[Dunal]

I think that they made Micaiah a dark mage because having her wield axes is completely unfitting to her character. More than her using dark tomes. And having her with dark tomes still keeps her from using a "common" magic type.

And yeah, I agree on the laguz. They need to have better levels for when they join.

They could have just made her a standard Sage though and added a personal light tome. Not sure where Axes come into it... The Battle Monk doesn't use Light or any magic at all (just staves).

Her official art and model also has dark robes for that game.

Also, for what it's worth, Lehran (who's her ancestor) uses Light/Dark.

[Augestein]

They could have just made her a standard Sage though and added a personal light tome. Not sure where Axes come into it... The Battle Monk doesn't use Light or any magic at all (just staves).

Her official art and model also has dark robes for that game.

Also, for what it's worth, Lehran (who's her ancestor) uses Light/Dark.

I suppose they could have made her a sage, but I was thinking of what they did with Serra and made her a War Cleric with a Bolt Axe.

And that's true. But a lot of characters changed.

And that's a really good point.