Fire Emblem: The Discussion Thread (keep FE Fates story under spoilertags)

[jigglyppuff8]

Ilyana is . I mostly trained her because I saw that she was going to be the most available character. I grew attached quickly~ I just wish she were a better unit though...

 

[Smash_Gigas]

WTF Brom?
I didn't even bother with the poor guy. Not once.
Nephenee, though. Good choice. She's mah gurl. One of the three.
Astrid, Nephenee, and Ilyana. I would even name my daughter after Ilyana if I had a daughter. (Her name is actually the first thing I liked about her and the first reason I started training her-- and she just happened to turn out even better than Soren. Barely.)

lol I don't blame ya. There's two main reasons I favor Brom. First is I'm usually a fan of the tankers in games, and Brom's got some incredible looking armor once he Classes Up in RD. Second, my favorite color is brown, which is the color of his armor. I have him pair with Nephenee, and it seems he only really suffers damage in the final 2 stages of the game. I won't get too much into that though, I'm no FE expert. Just a for-fun player.

Illyana is another great character. She'd be on my list of favorites if I kept going, hahah. Astrid, however, I never really used. An Archer / Cavalry unit just felt a little strange to me... and didn't quite mix in well with my tactics.

General Tactics I Use:
Form a defensive, slow moving wall guarding the mages / archers. Send out two tankers to bait in the enemy, and over flood them with the rest of my squad in the back. Also, send 2 Pegasus Knights to clear out any annoyances elsewhere in the map.

 

[EmblemPrincess]

If I made a favorite character list for PoR and RD, it'd be this. :]

1. Ike
2. Boyd
3. Elincia
4. Oscar
5. Kieran
6. Ranulf
7. Lyre
8. Shinon
9. Edward
10. Geoffrey

 

[Teh Brettster]

Ilyana is . I mostly trained her because I saw that she was going to be the most available character. I grew attached quickly~ I just wish she were a better unit though...

I freaking love your avatar and location.
And what are you talking about? She was better than my Soren in PoR.. both of them at max level.

EDIT: Kieran is very funny. See: support conversations. With Rhys. LOLsauce.

 

[EmblemPrincess]

No no, see Kieran's supports with Oscar. XD

Those are hilarious cause Kieran's rivalry with him is pretty much one-sided lol. Plus Oscar freaking calls him Sir Simpleton. I lol'd so hard. Oscar got so awesome for that lol.

 

[Nnoilalala]

WTF Brom?

Brom's freakin' adorable.


Hmm.. The main problem with PoR is that Tibarn joins too late. Only at the end, seriously?

 

[kirbywizard]

Hm Brom, I use him for a bit to act as a wall when I need him. I know he is a good unit I juts don't have that much extra exp

 

[Nnoilalala]

I don't actually use brom for fighting much either, he's too slow, I get bored of moving him.
Still adorable, I sometimes have him tag along and just forget about him, or use him to rescue ones I'm worried about.

 

[EmblemPrincess]

Brom is cool lol. I find Meg cute though. XD

Yay, I posted my FE fic. :3

 

[Lord Viper]

Ilyana is . I mostly trained her because I saw that she was going to be the most available character. I grew attached quickly~ I just wish she were a better unit though...

☆ I love you now. <3 ☆

☆ You don't know how many people like Ilyana, I swear I only saw two people that I know, including myself. Also, she's the best unit to take down the Dragon King, and she's the best unit if you believe in

Spoiler

her and feed her

but yea, she was one of the charcters that got nerfed from PoR to RD. But she always fun to look at and she's the only Thunder Magic user. ☆

 

[kirbywizard]

☆ I love you now. <3 ☆

☆ You don't know how many people like Ilyana, I swear I only saw two people that I know, including myself. Also, she's the best unit to take down the Dragon King, and she's the best unit if you believe in

Spoiler

her and feed her

but yea, she was one of the charcters that got nerfed from PoR to RD. But she always fun to look at and she's the only Thunder Magic user. ☆

Thunder magic got nerfed big time

I took her two time to end game. She wasn't that bad and could hold her own against the dragons

 

[Deathcarter]

Ilyana got extra awesome points from me in Radiant Dawn when she swore vengence against the prison personal for the bad food (though the dialouge only occurs on the easy setting). I loled very hard.

 

[Meorksies]

As obvious as it is, it was definitely a major advantage having Ilyana against the Dragon King. I didn't have her in the last level my first two playthroughs, and mostly relyed on Ike and whoever my Marksman was to combine enough damage that he wouldn't just recover it all next turn. Then with Ilyana it took about two turns to finish him. Ilyana's definitely worth any trouble you may have trying to upgrade her in RD, if only because of this fight. And she has the best personality of all the magic users in the game in my opinion.

 

[kirbywizard]

As obvious as it is, it was definitely a major advantage having Ilyana against the Dragon King. I didn't have her in the last level my first two playthroughs, and mostly relyed on Ike and whoever my Marksman was to combine enough damage that he wouldn't just recover it all next turn. Then with Ilyana it took about two turns to finish him. Ilyana's definitely worth any trouble you may have trying to upgrade her in RD, if only because of this fight. And she has the best personality of all the magic users in the game in my opinion.

From all the magic users in RD from personality these are my top 3

Oliver
prince pelleas
Ilyana

 

[Teh Brettster]

Brom's freakin' adorable.


Hmm.. The main problem with PoR is that Tibarn joins too late. Only at the end, seriously?

Yes. Tibarn is one of my very favorite characters.
They only made him join so late because he's super broken and only fit to fight against someone like Beserk Ashnard. =P

 

[Deleted member]

Soren is the best magic user, Micaiah is a close 2nd. Micaiah would be better for having Thani so early, except Soren starts with Adept. Elincia is the best healer though. 9 Movement with Canto and Fortify = win.

Ilyana would be so much better with 50 HP =/

 

[squirtleuser007]

ok, this might not be on the current topic( i havent beaten RD yet, i rented it, and the rent is over . ) but, i was looking for some of you guys's input on some things:
1.who do you think is the best unit in shadow dragon? i ABSOLUTELY LOVE barst! when he becomes a warrior, expect him to be a totally beast and kill everything. i class changed him to a beserker, and he is amazing with the crit bonus.

2. i just recently got sacred stones(as of yesterday, actually) and im on chap. 7. i was wondering if there is some amazing unit tht i get here that i didnt kno about and should train.
im currently using: erika, seth, franz, ross, neimi, joshua, garcia, artur, gilliam and moulder. im not using: colm, vanessa( i hear there is a better peg. knight, so im not usin her. mistake?), lute and natasha. who should i use? thns in advance

 

[kr3wman]

ok, this might not be on the current topic( i havent beaten RD yet, i rented it, and the rent is over . ) but, i was looking for some of you guys's input on some things:
1.who do you think is the best unit in shadow dragon? i ABSOLUTELY LOVE barst! when he becomes a warrior, expect him to be a totally beast and kill everything. i class changed him to a beserker, and he is amazing with the crit bonus.

IIRC, Sedgar and Wolf are the best units in Shadow Dragon.

2. i just recently got sacred stones(as of yesterday, actually) and im on chap. 7. i was wondering if there is some amazing unit tht i get here that i didnt kno about and should train.
im currently using: erika, seth, franz

That's all you need.

But, as someone else said, most units in SS are broken.

 

[squirtleuser007]

thnks fr the advice. i was actually gonna say besides wolf and sedgar; so if they werent in the game, who?

 

[kr3wman]

Chainey, Cord and/or Barst, I believe.

Never completed the game, so I'm going on hearsay.

 

[squirtleuser007]

oh, ok. who is chaniey? is he a gaiden character? because im on my 2nd run through, and doing all the gaiden chapters

 

[kr3wman]

...

I was fooled!

Chainey doesn't exist!

lolomgwtfbbq.

 

[squirtleuser007]

haha, anyother tips/advice you can offer on sacred stones?

 

[kr3wman]

Just use Seth and you'll be good.

 

[squirtleuser007]

lol, k thnks. is he like jagen in SD?(turns out crappy?)

 

[BIGBOWSERB]

I love this series as a whole and own every single game of it.
favorite charater has to be hector from fe7 dude was a beast, i consider him on of the best characters in the entire series followed by ike

 

[BIGBOWSERB]

oh and i don't mean to double post but i hate the dawn brigade so much....*shakes fist*

 

[kr3wman]

lol, k thnks. is he like jagen in SD?(turns out crappy?)

You can solo the game with Seth in Normal Mode.

 

[squirtleuser007]

ok then.. thank you, tht answers my questions...

 

[BIGBOWSERB]

was shadow any good heard it was utter crap so i was nervous to actually pick it up... especially if ur killing off most of your units which I hate to lose any units

 

[squirtleuser007]

it's not crap . trust me, you will enjoy it. you only have to kill off your units in the prologue, and you only kill one guy, and you can sacrifice the crappy pre=promoted unit jagen

 

[BIGBOWSERB]

ah thank you dam pre promotes at least they wont be sucking up exp(SOTHE) I might pick it up

 

[squirtleuser007]

i think you mean *cough* seth*cough*... even tho seth IS a beast

 

[kirbywizard]

Sacred Stones, the only fire emblem game where the enemies kill themselves for you. >_>

 

[EmblemPrincess]

^Huh? That never happened for me in TSS. In fact, I'm at a hard chapter, if I remember right. I haven't touched the game in ages cause got frustrated with it.

 

[jigglyppuff8]

That chapter wouldn't happen to be 6, would it? Because that's when I stopped touching it.

 

[EmblemPrincess]

Oh no, I'm way farther than that. I got past the point where you have to choose to follow either Eirika or Ephraim. I chose Ephraim cause I thought he was awesome. Eirika's meh.

 

[Chris Lionheart]

Ah, a Fire Emblem thread. What FE thread wouldn't be complete without Make Your Move's own FE fanboy?

As for Shadow Dragon, it is definitely worth your money. Aside from the one required unit killing (which only happens in Normal where they actually have the Prologue), sacrificing units is optional (and often not worth it). (Arguably) the only real benefit to sac'ing a unit is for Athena, who is a pretty good swordmaster (though I prefer Navarre, Radd, and especially Catria to be my swordmasters). SD is definitely not the worst game in the series (*caughSacredStonescaugh*), but it does have it's downsides (such as an almost complete lack of characterization and personality due to a lack of support conversations).

Personally, my favorite game in the series is Radiant Dawn. The storyline is nothing short of brilliant and it builds on the great story of PoR very well. The gameplay is remotely challenging on Easy (and Hardcore on Normal and Hard). The characters are more interesting (with the exception of the Dawn Brigade who didn't have their personalities already established in PoR or fleshed out in RD). The graphics are pretty cool (not that they are terribly important)... the game is just really really fun. Some of the best money I've ever spent.


Edit:

Spoiler

@Those Who Support Illyana

Illyana is definitely not as good as you give her credit for. While I do love her in PoR and she is quite the cutey, Illyana's stats in RD are absolutely loathable. Without PoR stat boosts, Illyana's speed and skill are absolutely pathetic when you first get her, meaning she will not double or maybe even be doubled and not hit for anything (it doesn't help that Thunder Magic is not only the weakest magic for non-criticals but also the least accurate). With stat boosts, Illyana gets some decent bases, as she may actually be able to score a hit (though she still won't be doubling much). Her growths are lackluster at best.

Compare her potential to grow to Soren:

Illyana
Hp- 55
Str- 45 (Generally useless for a mage, but it does help them not be weighted down by heavy tomes)
Mag- 50
Spd- 30
Skl- 60
Lck- 40
Def- 30
Res- 50
If only Illyana's growths belonged to a mage in another game, right?

Soren
Hp- 40
Str- 25
Mag- 80 (HOLY....)
Skl- 60
Spd- 35
Lck- 35
Def- 25
Res- 70
That is just... wow...

Now Illyana does admittedly win in Hp by a good margin, strength, lck, and def. Soren is carrying Res but more importantly has a lead in Spd and a very high lead in Magic.


Now we'll compare maximum stats:

Illyana
Hp- 45
Str- 24
Mag- 39
Skl- 34
Spd- 30
Lck- 30
Def- 24
Res- 38

Soren
Hp- 50
Str- 23
Mag- 40
Skl- 34
Spd- 32
Lck- 30
Def- 24
Res- 36

Soren has +5 hp, +1 mag, and +2 spd. Illyana has +1 str and +2 res. The winner here is painfully, painfully obvious. Illyana's lower speed cap means that she will NOT be doubling end game (and may be doubled often on anything but easy.) Her lower hp cap means that she will not be able to take a hit as easily. Her lower magic cap will only magnify her already low-damage elemental tome by reducing her maximum damage by 1 on a single attack and 2 on a double.


Now if we were to compare their innate skills:

Illyana carries Shade... an often underrated skill. This provides some chance that enemies will not even attack her. That is definitely a good bonus, is it not? This Shade might look a lot better on Micaiah, however, who is actually a required unit and just as flimsy as Illyana.

Soren carries Adept, which is an unarguably amazing skill. It gives him a fair chance to attack twice instead of once on each attack it triggers on, effectively giving him up to 4 hits... which is likely 3 more hits than Illyana could score on a good day.


Now if we compare their affinities:

Illyana is a Light Affinity, which is one of the worst affinities in the game. It only gives +0.5 def and +2.5 accuracy per support level. This means that at C rank, her and her partner will gain 1 defense and 3 accuracy, at B they will gain 1 defense and 5 accuracy, and at A rank, they will gain 2 def and 8 accuracy. Not very impressive.

Soren is of the Dark Affinity, which is one of the games better affinities. It provides +0.5 attack and +2.5 avoid per level, meaning that with C rank, the bonus will be +1 Attack and +3 Avoid, at B rank the bonus will be +1 Attack and +5 Avoid, and at A rank, the bonus will be +2 Attack and +8 avoid.

While Illyana's defensive boost is definitely better than Soren's offensive boost, the avoid boost is far better than the accuracy boost, giving Soren an advantage, especially when he is paired up with someone of the Dark or Earth affinity (such as Ike, who many pair him up with).


Now for starting:

Illyana is a level 12 mage who joins in the Dawn Brigade, a group that fails horribly and needs every bit of experience they can get just to keep Micaiah, Nolan and any combination of Zihark, Jill, Aran, and/or Edward going strong. To make matters worse, Illyana has some bad bases, only decent with PoR bonus and not much potential to level up. And to add salt to the wound, Illyana will be leaving the Dawn Brigade, who desperately need any unit that you have leveled up, making her a horrible candidate to use in Part 1, as she will be of no use to the Fail Brigade in Part 3.

Soren is a Wind Sage who joins with the Greil Mercenaries, a group that has ample experience to go around and lots of amazing units. Using Soren can really do nothing but help them, as he has great potential to grow and is, unarguably, the best Sage in Radiant Dawn. Soren can be leveled up without a terrible amount of babying due to his great bases and loads of tanks around to keep him protected. What magic user is competing with Soren.... Rhys? I think not. Soren also benefits from PoR bonuses just as much as Illyana does (and do to being better in PoR as well, he is more likely to get better bonuses).


In summary, Illyana is simply not worth using. I compared her to Soren to show simply how big the cap in usefulness is between her and another Sage. If you compare her to anyone but Tormod, you will likely find that the other Sage is a more tempting option (and atleast Tormod is better in Part 1). Illyana is a bad unit stat-wise, support-wise, and experience-wise. She needs lots of babying for a group that is already full of lots of babies. It doesn't help her one bit that Thunder is now the worst type of tome in the game when you are not factoring in criticals and bonus vs. dragons. And guess what.. she does not wield Thunder exclusively... Soren, Tormod, Calill, Bastian, and Pelleas can all wield thunder magic effectively, making her one level of arguable usefulness a moot point. Oh, but she is useful against the Dragon King! I think not. The Dragon King will DESTROY Illyana thanks to her horrible speed, hp, and defense, unless, of course, you are planning on using a Bolting (I would). Illyana may be a pretty face, but she is one of the worst units in Radiant Dawn.

 

[kirbywizard]

Ah, a Fire Emblem thread. What FE thread wouldn't be complete without Make Your Move's own FE fanboy?

As for Shadow Dragon, it is definitely worth your money. Aside from the one required unit killing (which only happens in Normal where they actually have the Prologue), sacrificing units is optional (and often not worth it). (Arguably) the only real benefit to sac'ing a unit is for Athena, who is a pretty good swordmaster (though I prefer Navarre, Radd, and especially Catria to be my swordmasters). SD is definitely not the worst game in the series (*caughSacredStonescaugh*), but it does have it's downsides (such as an almost complete lack of characterization and personality due to a lack of support conversations).

Personally, my favorite game in the series is Radiant Dawn. The storyline is nothing short of brilliant and it builds on the great story of PoR very well. The gameplay is remotely challenging on Easy (and Hardcore on Normal and Hard). The characters are more interesting (with the exception of the Dawn Brigade who didn't have their personalities already established in PoR or fleshed out in RD). The graphics are pretty cool (not that they are terribly important)... the game is just really really fun. Some of the best money I've ever spent.

I find it hard choosing one favorite so I have to say Fire Emblem GBA and RD. They where both great games. Sadly RD a few characters in RD did not get much character growth yet I still liked most of the characters in Dawn Brigade over some of the characters in PoR for some reason <_<. FE GBA was pretty fun if you didn't arena abuse to early in the game.

 

[§leepy God]

♪ Theres no reason to put spoilers for a game that came out just about two years ago, and we all know about the girl with an endless stomch and how she stands, lol. †