Social "Friends being fought for!" Ike General Discussion

[Champ Gold]

Why was Mia so bad compared to her PoR version?

 

[Mario766]

Yep, wind magic was real weak, but very accurate. Ilyana's thunder magic was strongest, but more inaccurate.

Which made it incredibly weird when thunder magic wound up being both weak and inaccurate in RD. With Ilyana's portrait art just looking... wrong, and no supports, she lost all reason to be included in your army...

Thunder magic has been bad since 4.

 

[Troykv]

Thunder magic has been bad since 4.

In Holy War Fire Magic is awful and Wind Magic is absurly OP (The Weight is unbalanced).

 

[Mario766]

In Holy War Fire Magic is awful and Wind Magic is absurly OP (The Weight is unbalanced).

Anything that isn't a Sword or Wind Magic was bad in 4.

For exactly that reason.

 

[Troykv]

Anything that isn't a Sword or Wind Magic was bad in 4.

For exactly that reason.

Yep... Well al least the Thunder Magic is decent with it's 7 WT (The Lances and Fire Magic have 12 WT, the Axes has 18 WT... Yep, negative Attack Speed).

 

[Ekans647]

What about Awakening? All magic is balanced there.

 

[Arrei]

Why was Mia so bad compared to her PoR version?

What do you mean? If not for Vantage, she would have been unuseable in PoR - not only did Zihark have a higher strength growth, but female Swordmasters had a strength cap 2 lower than male ones.

The Trueblades only had a difference of 1 and more balanced growth. RD Mia just had very low starting strength. 8, I think? But she has the advantage of being with the Greil Mercenaries, giving her plenty of exposure to level up with.

 

[Champ Gold]

What do you mean? If not for Vantage, she would have been unuseable in PoR - not only did Zihark have a higher strength growth, but female Swordmasters had a strength cap 2 lower than male ones.

The Trueblades only had a difference of 1 and more balanced growth. RD Mia just had very low starting strength. 8, I think? But she has the advantage of being with the Greil Mercenaries, giving her plenty of exposure to level up with.

It was probably due to RNG Goddess screwing me over in RD considering Mia had like coy stats in PoR but man she got gimped hard in RD and it doesn't help that others kinda outclassed her as well. I'm usually bad luck when it comes to level stats RNG

 

[Nidtendofreak]

It was probably due to RNG Goddess screwing me over in RD considering Mia had like coy stats in PoR but man she got gimped hard in RD and it doesn't help that others kinda outclassed her as well. I'm usually bad luck when it comes to level stats RNG

She's considered the best Trueblade in RD. Zihark is simply inferior, Edward on average barely has better stats than her and requires waaaaaay more baby sitting. While having to take the roll in the Dawn Brigade away from Zihark who's going to be more useful to that group even if he's not as good for the end game.

Mia is also pretty easy to cap ram with, particularly if you did a transfer from PoR. Skill and Speed with cap within a level up or two, and then you can use BEXP to make sure she gets the strength she needs. Zihark and Edward don't really have this ability.

 

[Arrei]

It was probably due to RNG Goddess screwing me over in RD considering Mia had like coy stats in PoR but man she got gimped hard in RD and it doesn't help that others kinda outclassed her as well. I'm usually bad luck when it comes to level stats RNG

Bonus EXP is the cure to your RNG woes. In RD, every level gained from BEXP gives three stat boosts, no matter how low the chance is. Pretty much the only stat you won't be able to max out without good luck is... well, Luck.

 

[Krysco]

From my numerous playthroughs of RD I've found Zihark to be the best potential Trueblade. He does his job of dodging and hitting just about as well as Mia but his crit chance is ridiculous throughtout the whole game, more so than Mia's. It's also probably rng favoring Zihark but seeing numerous combinations of crits, Adepts, Astras, and whatever else I may have equipped to him at the time is a beautiful sight to see. Mia is definitely the easiest one to level up though.

As for magic users...my experience is limited to PoR, RD, Awakening, Sacred Stones, a little bit of Roy's game (never finished it) and Shadow Dragon. I do recall magic users being meh in PoR and honestly, even in RD they weren't that amazing. Micaiah and Sanaki are decent enough although they have crippling flaws in Speed and Strength respectively (which can thankfully be cured by luck, bonus exp, or the likes of Speedwings and Energy Drops). Soren and Calill are easily the best ones imo. Ilyana is only really worth using because she's the only character who can do bonus damage to dragons without Dragonfoe equipped or using a Wyrmslayer (which is a badish idea on the third final chapter of the game)

 

[Arrei]

I just used a mage of each element so the SS level tomes wouldn't go to waste. Soren, Ilyana, and Sanaki. The ultimate tomes usually look pretty kickass, and Rexcalibur, Rexbolt, and Rexflame don't disappoint. Purposely went into Endgame without taking along all the laguz royals available just to use all the SS weapons, and even then I couldn't justify bringing mister Spoiler Dark Sage. Micaiah always just ended up blessing Nosferatu to cheese the dragon level, though.

Speaking of which, the heck was up with Ilyana's Arch Sage outfit? A tiny transparent miniskirt was not what I was expecting.

 

[Krysco]

Zihark has a good portion of part 1 to get some level ups and while others need it far more than he does, there are a few grinding points he can make small use of. In part 3 he can be moved over to Ike's team to get more exp and Unforgivable Sin is a grinding option for...almost anyone at almost any point in the game.

I've done an 'all mage' playthrough before using Micaiah (forced), Sanaki (forced option), spoiler dark mage, Ilyana, Soren, Calill, Laura, Rhys, Oliver, Bastian, Nasir (used Elincia before getting him) and...Tormod... so I've done a playthrough where I can compare all magic users both in terms of strengths and in terms of painfulness to use. I swear Tormod's group was forgotten about near the end of the games creation and was just thrown in at the very last second...either that or it's a BS way to make that one chapter more difficult, probably the latter.

xD as for Ilyana's Arch Sage outfit, I don't recall Calill's being much better.

 

[Troykv]

I just used a mage of each element so the SS level tomes wouldn't go to waste. Soren, Ilyana, and Sanaki. The ultimate tomes usually look pretty kickass, and Rexcalibur, Rexbolt, and Rexflame don't disappoint. Purposely went into Endgame without taking along all the laguz royals available just to use all the SS weapons, and even then I couldn't justify bringing mister Spoiler Dark Sage. Micaiah always just ended up blessing Nosferatu to cheese the dragon level, though.

Speaking of which, the heck was up with Ilyana's Arch Sage outfit? A tiny transparent miniskirt was not what I was expecting.

Oh... I need to use more the spoiler Dark Sage (I find curious that his promotion is the only Archsage with decent Staff Rank) in my next re-playing.

I like the transparent mini skirt, also the side-slits in Micaiah's Mage and Sage Outfits.

 

[Tino]

What it do, fellow mercenaries, Rosalina main here! When Sm4sh came out, Ike started off as one of my mains but I dropped him after a while because I haven't been using him as much as I thought I would. However, I found myself using him more often during my most recent For Glory matches to the point that I decided to pick him back up. I must say he's really a fun character to play as even before I dropped him and, perhaps, my favorite swordsman in the game.

With that being said, looking forward to spend some time here in this thread.

 

[Ekans647]

What it do, fellow mercenaries, Rosalina main here! When Sm4sh came out, Ike started off as one of my mains but I dropped him after a while because I haven't been using him as much as I thought I would. However, I found myself using him more often during my most recent For Glory matches to the point that I decided to pick him back up. I must say he's really a fun character to play as even before I dropped him and, perhaps, my favorite swordsman in the game.

With that being said, looking forward to spend some time here in this thread.

Well well. Look who came over from the Snake thread.

 

[Tino]

Well well. Look who came over from the Snake thread.

Well, well. Fancy meeting you here.

 

[Ekans647]

I've been for a while. Nice having you here as well.

 

[Tino]

I've been for a while. Nice having you here as well.

Thank you. It feels good to be here.

 

[Champ Gold]

What it do, fellow mercenaries, Rosalina main here! When Sm4sh came out, Ike started off as one of my mains but I dropped him after a while because I haven't been using him as much as I thought I would. However, I found myself using him more often during my most recent For Glory matches to the point that I decided to pick him back up. I must say he's really a fun character to play as even before I dropped him and, perhaps, my favorite swordsman in the game.

With that being said, looking forward to spend some time here in this thread.

You're here too?!

 

[Ekans647]

The Snake and Ike thread's and collapsing into one thread.

 

[Tino]

You're here too?!

I'm here too, man, not just in the Little Mac social.

The Snake and Ike thread's and collapsing into one thread.

it's like we're one big family here. xD

 

[Arrei]

The bond of the bandana. Bondana?

 

[Quickhero]

Zihark is best trueblade imo simply because I have no idea how I could actually beat the damn game without him. Part 1 is a mode filled with units that either don't come back for a long ass time or have characters that have stats that really hinder they're ability to do well in a hard ass game, but Zihark is neither. He has very good avoid with Volug support and he has a decent strength stat along with great speed that makes him able to beat the majority of units in P1 and it makes him able too transition well in part 3.

Mia on the other hand....ehh, she's good from what I've seen but I've just never felt a need to use her. The Greil Mercenaries have a ton of strong units, and I'd much rather train up Ike, Haar (like they need training tho lol), Soren, Shinon, and I would end up giving a lot of my EXP to Titania and Oscar because of their damn mobility. Mia just never really had a lot of space for me, and since she really wasn't ever going to provide much for me, after a while I just dump her. It's been true for 3 Hard Mode runs so idk if that'll ever change for me.

 

[Arrei]

That's kind of the problem - so many units on the Dawn Brigade suck that I can't justify having Zihark defect to Ike's army in 3-6. His role as a crutch is too necessary to let him level up with Ike's group.

Stefan is cooler anyway

None of my runs ever took a single paladin into Endgame, so that made it easy to feed Mia experience. Haar always got Urvan so I didn't need Titania, and Wishblade went to Nephenee despite Gatrie being beastly because he was held back by his poor movement, and I sure as hell wasn't going to use Makalov so if anyone was going to get the Vague Katti/Alondite, it might as well be Mia.

I always gave Mist Alondite for the luls, though.


Huh, I wonder where I got the idea that Mia only had 8 base strength before? She actually starts with 17 strength and 45% growth as opposed to Zihark's 35% growth. I must have gotten her confused with Mist.

 

[Quickhero]

@ Arrei Yeah, I didn't use any paladins for Endgame either, but they were so damn useful for part 3 I couldn't not use them. xD

I don't think I even had a lance user end game btw. o.o I don't know, I just have a less..ordinary method I use to beat the Endgame so I never have space for Wishlance.

 

[Krysco]

One problem with Zihark staying with the Dawn Brigade in part 3 is that his class is naturally at a disadvantage. Of the 3 chapters in part 3 where you control the Dawn Brigade, two of them involve laguz which hit hard and have ridiculous accuracy. If I'm not bringing him to the endgame, I leave him with the DB to make things a little easier but he does have his problems there. That being said, Edward is stuck with that problem and is usually a lower level and the only help he gets is Caladbolg.

Paladins are downright awful imo in RD. The only noteworthy ones are Titania and Oscar for their decent stats and the latters earth affinity, Renning (should that be put in a spoiler?) for being an easy way out if you got to endgame with no good units and Fiona who is a pain in the *** to level up but having Imbue for free AND an earth affinity that can be paired with 3 others very easily (Nolan, Volug and Zihark) makes her debatably the best. The rest are all pretty bad and even the good ones are just meh. I get that that's their point, to be well rounded rather than shine in any particular area but because of that, I find them boring and not worth the trouble of using. It doesn't help that there are so many of them with so few distinguishing features.

I guess I'm okay with Zihark leaving in part 3 cuz I always grind Sothe up to the point that I don't need Zihark.

 

[Troykv]

The Paladins get a big nerf... In PoR they are good in everything (27 capped stats, every cavalier has something good in his/her side, and Sol is one of the few good master skills).

 

[Mario766]

Everything in PoR was meh compared to Ike.

 

[Ekans647]

The Paladins sucked so hard because they all had bad growths and bases. The few good ones still had horrid availability.

As much as I like Trueblades in RD, I always found them hard to level up, so I generally choose Stefan and blessed Alondite. I also happened to like Stefan the best and preferred Stefan to Vague Katti. Generally my endgame team was:

Tibarn
Caineghis
Stefan - Alondite
Gatrie - Wishblade
Boyd - Urvan
Shinon - Double Bow
Soren - Rexcalibur
Pelleas - Balberith
Rhys - Rexaura
Heron - Rafiel

I choose most of them based of character preference rather than viability. I only used Rhys so I could give a blessed Rexaura to Lehran, who is one of my favorite characters. My final slot was always a toss up between Nailah, Ranulf, or Volke. What were your Endgame teams?

Did anyone like to use Whispers? I generally always used one for finishing off enemies, stealing, and Bane shenanigans.

The bond of the bandana. Bondana?

That is exactly what this is

 

[Mario766]

Bane was a terrible skill.

Assassins were better.

 

[Quickhero]

Did anyone like to use Whispers? I generally always used one for finishing off enemies, stealing, and Bane shenanigans.

I used Sothe cuz he is great for the reasons you stated, but Heather sucks ass so I guess kind of..?

Btw how the heck do you guys leave Zihark in part 3 and still manage? o.o That legitimately surprises me because I've had 4 playthroughs of RD (most on Hard mode) and Zihark has always been a necessity for me.

There was only one Whisper, and Bane was a terrible skill.

Assassins were better.

I'm going to assume that I'm not the only person who carries Volke to Endgame. :D

 

[Arrei]

@ Arrei Yeah, I didn't use any paladins for Endgame either, but they were so damn useful for part 3 I couldn't not use them. xD

I don't think I even had a lance user end game btw. o.o I don't know, I just have a less..ordinary method I use to beat the Endgame so I never have space for Wishlance.

Ah, now there's a shame. Nephenee is very well-rounded and lightning quick, and Gatrie is amazing. The man has growths of 60% in Str, Spd, and Def, as a General!

I generally brought Haar, Nephenee, Mist, Mia, Soren, Ilyana, Sanaki, Shinon, Caineghis, and Tibarn.

I never used Whispers. That should probably be Whisper singular, because who's going to use Heather when you're forced to bring Sothe? Knives suck and Bane is stupid when almost every other mastery skill just kills whatever you're attacking anyway.

 

[Mario766]

There's one good knife, but who gives it to Sothe when Volke exists.

 

[Arrei]

I couldn't be arsed to use Volke because he just joins so late. So Sothe gets a shiny Baselard to... do absolutely nothing with.

 

[Krysco]

I've used Heather and she's fun until you get to the endgame, especially endgame 3. She can't do jack to red dragons or the boss without bane (which the boss is immune to). If you have a **** load of free time and wanna break the game a bit, you could always grind Heather to level 20 Whisper in part 2.

I found Gatrie amazing when I first played RD but over time his flaws became more and more apparent. He has a great speed growth but a terrible cap, limiting his usefulness in the endgame and his resistance doesn't help.

Sothe is so painfully average but he's a forced option and he's free extra damage so there's no real reason not to bring him to the endgame unless you ignored him throughout the game.

Volke is good but he's one of those 'no work, all reward' kinda characters. There's him, Tibarn, Naesala, Caineghis, Giffca, Nailah, Renning, Oliver, Bastian and Stefan and that's enough units to fill the endgame. They're all either stupid, brokenly good or decent at best but none of them are characters you work for, you just get them. I get much more satisfaction seeing my hard work of leveling up characters and then seeing what they can do in the endgame...when the results are good anyways (**** using Makalov and Geoffrey, least favourite characters I've used).

Even though RD is not only my favourite FE game but my favourite video game, it has some clear flaws and one of them is the endgame itself. Dodging and physical defense (for the most part) stop mattering in the final two chapters and all that ends up mattering is HP, resistance, hit percentage, attack power both physical and magic and speed if it's high enough to double the aura. Gatrie and Haar go from being near unstoppable tanks to single hitting, inaccurate characters that you need to worry about keeping alive due to how prevalent magic is. The earth affinity goes from practically broken to useless while the heaven affinity gets the opposite treatment. Altogether, part 4 is the weakest part of the game which is a damn shame since it's been the cause of many playthroughs ending early of an otherwise amazing game.

 

[Trueblade]

heard you guys talkin' about trueblades

Mia always wound up the best whenever I played. Never got hit, always proc'd Adept or Astra and tore through armies. From the sounds of it, I guess I just get lucky and always get a ridiculous Mia.

 

[Mario766]

Honestly if you get Eddie or Mia trained well they both cap stupid amount of stats. Either one will be good.

 

[Ekans647]

Whispers are terrible, but I loved to **** around with them for no reason. I just wish they had a higher strength cap. Bane would've been more useful if it also put the enemy to sleep.

I did use Volke up my last endgame team, but I didn't give him Baselard. I actually gave him Stilleto and Gamble, which gave him a hideous 65-85% crit rate.

I've used Heather and she's fun until you get to the endgame, especially endgame 3. She can't do jack to red dragons or the boss without bane (which the boss is immune to). If you have a **** load of free time and wanna break the game a bit, you could always grind Heather to level 20 Whisper in part 2.

I found Gatrie amazing when I first played RD but over time his flaws became more and more apparent. He has a great speed growth but a terrible cap, limiting his usefulness in the endgame and his resistance doesn't help.

Sothe is so painfully average but he's a forced option and he's free extra damage so there's no real reason not to bring him to the endgame unless you ignored him throughout the game.

Volke is good but he's one of those 'no work, all reward' kinda characters. There's him, Tibarn, Naesala, Caineghis, Giffca, Nailah, Renning, Oliver, Bastian and Stefan and that's enough units to fill the endgame. They're all either stupid, brokenly good or decent at best but none of them are characters you work for, you just get them. I get much more satisfaction seeing my hard work of leveling up characters and then seeing what they can do in the endgame...when the results are good anyways (**** using Makalov and Geoffrey, least favourite characters I've used).

Even though RD is not only my favourite FE game but my favourite video game, it has some clear flaws and one of them is the endgame itself. Dodging and physical defense (for the most part) stop mattering in the final two chapters and all that ends up mattering is HP, resistance, hit percentage, attack power both physical and magic and speed if it's high enough to double the aura. Gatrie and Haar go from being near unstoppable tanks to single hitting, inaccurate characters that you need to worry about keeping alive due to how prevalent magic is. The earth affinity goes from practically broken to useless while the heaven affinity gets the opposite treatment. Altogether, part 4 is the weakest part of the game which is a damn shame since it's been the cause of many playthroughs ending early of an otherwise amazing game.

I agree. I don't really use statistically good characters, but rather the ones I like.

Also what they heck is proc?

 

[Quickhero]

Also what they heck is proc?

I actually have no idea what it's an abbreviation of, but I do know it's synomynous with activate.

So for example "Soren always procs Adept when I need him to" means "Soren always activates Adept when I need him to."