Keep the old characters? Or use the new ones?

[Capt. Fargus]

Keep your old characters? Or start usin the new ones when you get em?

What do ya’ll think?

Obviously in Blazing Blade Legault is better than Matthew, in my opinion at least. But in one game I stuck with Dorcas and promoted him. Had him and Dart slicin and dicin Wyvern Lords like nobody’s bidness in that one chapter near the end where the reinforcements seem to never stop 😎

Thoughts?

[Fabulously Olivier]

Personally, I like to plan my units before a run, rather than dump xp into characters I'll drop.

[AnonymousSpeed]

It sort of depends. In a game like Conquest, I'll typically plan my team ahead of time, including marriages, reclasses, etc. For a game like Binding Blade, I tend to assess my team on a map-by-map basis. I'll ditch under-performing characters for stronger ones as I get them, and the same applies to ones I like more or less at that moment.

[Use the Falchion]

If I don't have any strong negative feelings on the characters, then I just use who I want and/or who is turning out well. I also try to keep everyone similarly leveled, if possible, as well.

If it's a new game, then I may try out the new unit, but it may take a few playthroughs to warm up to them if I already have characters from earlier in the game that I've been using to at least some degree of success - Seteth and Ferdinand (von Aegir) were like that for Three Houses. 

During games I've played through a few times, I may try out the unused character every now and then, but more often than not I'll default back to old habits. 

Edited August 26, 2022 by Use the Falchion

[Faellin]

It depends on the game in question.

Like in the archanea games, I typically stick with most of the early game squad, because in both the DS games. Alot of the late game pre promotes kinda suck compared to a properly trained early game unit

Edited August 26, 2022 by Faellin

[Fire Emblem Fan]

It depends, honestly. Not every situation is the same and not every character is the same. Sometimes a character is performing so well you don't want to switch them, other times they're doing poorly so you swap them out, and other times you just use your favorites regardless of performance as a unit.

[Shadow Mir]

Honestly. this is a very complicated question where the answer depends on a lot of factors. Like the game being played and how well the characters in question are growing, for example. In, say, Binding Blade or the Archanea games, the best units are mostly the ones you get early in the game. The same is true of Three Houses, but mostly for other reasons; on paper, a character like Seteth looks great, but because he comes rather late, he misses out on the time that other characters spent mastering classes and working on skills. This results in him being outperformed by any characters who might have happened to go into Wyvern Rider (his starting class) far more often than not.

[lenticular]

If I'm finding the run difficult, I'll use whichever unit is more powerful, sentimentality be damned. If I'm not finding the run difficult, I'll use whichever character I like more. Old versus new doesn't really factor into my decision-making in either case.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I tend to favor units whom I've been training for a while already. Mostly because I'm a sucker for the sunken cost fallacy. Plus, longtime units tend to have supports already built up that newcomers lack. There are some exceptions, though - I always try to use Mr. Fuga in Fates: Revalation, for instance.

Is any of this the optimal way to play? No, not really. But where's the sense of pride and accomplishment (TM) from using an overpowered unit whom I didn't have to raise up from the dry earth?

[joevar]

if the old one good enough i keep it, but if new one more useful i use it instead, simple as that. bonus point if they fancies me

Edited August 28, 2022 by joevar