It took me over a year, but I finally beat Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance...
... and no, I don't regret setting it on Hard... even if it did make it a lot more frusterating, it was worth it in the end... :) (not because of added content or anything, though there is an additional part to the final boss fight, but satisfaction at beating it in a harder form...)
... now I just need to replay the final mission and keep Soren alive so that I can see how many kills he had, since he was one of my most-used units... (maybe later...)
Also, since I beat it on Hard and have FE and FE:TSS for GBA (and a GC-GBA link cable), I unlocked all six trial maps...
I certainly give you credit for setting it to hard. The game was hard enough on the medium difficulty.
Indeed, kudos to you. The Medium kicked my ass every which way, I didn't even want to think about Hard by the time I reached the end.
A very good game though, one of the Cube's best.
Oh, and Makalov FTW.
Quote:Oh, and Makalov FTW.
Heh... ah, no. :)
Top five most used characters (by kills)
1. Ike - ~125
2. Marcia - ~95
3. Ilyana - ~75
4. Mia
5. I forget (Jill?)
... Soren would have been second for sure if he hadn't died...
Only Ike (so, so good) and Astrid (thanks to Paragon and giving her Provoke and a bow, which helped incredibly so, so often in distracting enemies while not killing them so others could get the XP) were max level.
*goes back to trying to beat the final mission without losing characters* (in addition to Soren, I also lost Tanith and Nasir, though I didn't use them that often so I didn't care nearly as much... and Nasir and Soren (and maybe Tanith? I couldn't quite tell) retreat, not die, so all it affects is the kill ranking and whether you can use them in the trial maps)
Bah... why do enemies with Vantage override your characters with Vantage... oh right, because IS hates people who play Fire Emblem and wants them to lose, repeatedly and cruelly...
What do you mean no? Makalov is awesome. He starts out weak, but if you let him develop, he's a monster. By the time I finished the game, he was one of my top performers, in fact...
*boots up game to make a point*
Makalov (level 9 Paladin):
STR - 22
MAG - 5
SKL - 17
SPD - 18
LCK - 12
DEF - 23
RES - 7
For comparison:
Titania (level 17 Paladin):
STR - 18
MAG - 7
SKL - 22
SPD - 21
LCK - 21
DEF - 21
RES - 15
She does have him beat in skill and speed by a couple points, but she is also 8 levels ahead of him. A comparably leveled Makalov would probably blow her out of the water.
So, <b>YES</b>, Makalov F<font size="4">T</font><font size="5">W!!!</font>
I don't usually use many Paladins... I didn't use Makalov once. :) (level 10 Sword Knight) My only Paladins were the ones who start as one -- Titania, who I didn't use much at all after the early part of the game and Geoffery, who I barely touched, and Astrid, who as I said I got to level 20 thanks to Paragon (double XP is awesome...) and found useful for Provoke and a mounted archer (S bow, E spear. :))... mages and Pegasus Knights are better than Paladins. :) Soren is better than any of those paladins anyway... Ilyana would be too if I'd been luckier with her speed (Soren has 25 speed at level 17, Ilyana 17 speed at level 15... Mist also could use some more speed. Just 18 speed at level 17 (all rank 2 units of course, Sage/Valkyrie). Oh well, she's mostly a healer anyway.)... I already gave her Vantage and she has an A rank in Lightning (see: Rexbolt)... double attack Rexbolt would be even awesomer than one attack with it is. :) I just wish I'd gotten Soren an A rank in Wind though, he only has A in Fire... though neither of those have a spell like Rexbolt in this game, since that boss at the end with the light Rex spell doesn't drop it.
That's one problem with FE games, as you get to midway through the game they start adding huge numbers of characters to your roster without letting you take any more into battle, forcing you to choose just a few of the dozens of ones you have available... it's always tough... the "total wins" thing at the end of each game is interesting, to show you how much you used each one over the whole game. It is too bad that FE: POR can't save every time you do anything like the GBA ones do, though, so it can't keep track of losses (deaths/retreats) or kills from times when you reset the system...
Oh yeah, that 125-odd kills for Ike is propped up by the fact that I send him up the center alone in the final mission, where he gets like 15-20 kills (max level + Aether? Almost unstoppable against anyone other than Ashnard...)... even without that he's still in first, though, just by less. I prefer to not use units which can't gain XP, but in that case I thought I had to in order to beat all those guys before Ashnard comes down (on turn 8 he charges you), and since Ashnard attacks anyone other than Ike within range if he can, and he moves 10 squares which is farther than any of your units, and only Nasir and the laguz generals can also hurt him (and in Hard the Laguz general only comes after you beat Ashnard the first time) you need Ike up there alone... so all that XP goes wasted. :(
How can you not like Paladins? They've got movement, strength, defense, and multiple weapons. Translation: They're perfect. OK, not perfect, most of them are weak against magic, but they're still far-and-away the best units in the game. BTW, Pegasus Knight vs anything other than magic = death. And don't even get me STARTED on their bow weakness...
I never used Astrid, nor Geoffrey. I preferred Oscar.
My final party in my last game (which I did better in), included:
Ike - Level 15 Lord
Ena - Level 10 Dragon
Oscar - Level 17 Paladin
Boyd - Level 15 Warrior
Rhys - Level 19 Bishop
Soren - Level 13 Sage
Titania - Level 17 Paladin
Makalov - Level 9 Paladin
Shinon - Level 9 Sniper
Haar - Level 15 Wyvern Lord
Devdan - Level 13 Halberdier
Stefan - Level 15 Swordmaster
Zihark - Level 4 Swordmaster
Elincia - Level 3 Princess Crimea
And I chose Tibard as my laguz king helper. Zihark, though low leveled, had levled up by reaching level 20 as a myrmidon. As such, he had better stats than Mia, my other Swordmaster, even though she was level 10.
Anyway, obviously our play styles differ. You prefer ranged combat like bows and magic, while I prefer brawling. Two strategies, but both saw us to the end of the game :).
My most-used (and favorite) unit in Fire Emblem (7, GBA) was almost certainly Florina... 8's Pegasus Knights weren't quite as good as Florina and Fiora, but they were still good, as is Marica. Tanith definitely doesn't match up though, and joins later and high level (lv.10 Falcon Knight)... as for bows, either give them the guard that blocks against that (as I did for Florina in FE7) or kill the archers before they can attack your flying units... :) To make my opinions on this even more clear, in Path of Radiance my party in the final mission included all five flyers. And the only unit on horseback was Mist. :D For some reason, I liked Jill and Haar better than the Wyvern Riders in FE7 or FE8 and actually used them extensively...
rank 2 units: (by level, Epilogue file, didn't use any quick-promote items to skip levels)
Ike - Level 20 Lord
Astrid - level 20 Paladin
Mist - level 19 Valkyrie
Tibarn - level 18 Hawk (joins promoted at level 18)
[Nasir - level 18 Dragon] (joins at level 18 near the end. I used him, but not enough to level.) (died in last mission)
[Soren - level 18 Sage] (died in last mission)
Ilyana - level 17 Sage
Marcia - level 17 Falcon Knight
Haar - level 15 Wyvern Lord (joins promoted at level 10)
[Tanith - level 15 Falcon Knight] (joins promoted at level 10) (died in last mission)
Mia - level 14 Swordmaster
Tauroneo - level 14 General (joins promoted at level 14, barely used)
Rhys - level 14 Bishop
Bastian - level 14 Sage (joins promoted at level 13)
Lucia - level 13 Swordmaster (joins promoted at level 12)
Calill - level 12 Sage (joins promoted at level 6)
Jill - level 11 Wyvern Lord
Geoffrey - level 11 Paladin (joins promoted at level 11, never used)
Stephan - level 9 Swordmaster (joins promoted at level 8, little used, though Mia got great use out of his awesome Vauge Katti)
Largo - level 7 Berserker (joins promoted at level 7, never used)
Nephenee - level 6 Halberdier
Devdan - level 4 Halberdier (joins promoted as level 4 Halberdier, didn't use)
Titania - level 4 Paladin (joins promoted at level 1)
Volke - level 3 Assassin
Shinon - level 2 Sniper (joins promoted at level 1)
... I used Zihark enough to get him to level 20 Myrmidion, but then stopped so he didn't rank up. Similar for Oscar (level 14), etc. I wish I didn't have to use Rhys since his speed and HP are ridiculously low so he's double hit almost every time and dies very quickly (so I need to keep him away from any enemies all the time), but he's the only healer for a long time and I always need more than one healer around, so...
I know Paladins are strong, but I would rather use other units I like more -- Swordmasters, Pegasus Knights, Archers, and Mages, primarially...
Looking at my current playthroughs of FE7 and FE8 and looking at the active party for the last mission I was on...
FE8: mission 9 (Hard). Using 2 Pegasus Knights, 2 mages, an archer, 2 healers, Eirika (swordmaster-ish), a Swordmaster, an axe user, and a Knight.
FE7: misson 23 (Eliwood Normal). Hector: lv.19; Lyn: lv.18; Eliwood: lv.16; 2 Pegasus Knights, archer, dancer, 2 other axe users (one of them required for a conversation, otherwise I'd have another dedicated mage), 2 healers/mages, 1 dedicated mage. I'm trying to force myself to use Eliwood, but he's so bad... Hector and Lyn are far better... Florina is my highest-level unit of course (well, tied with recently joined prepromote Hawkeye at level 4 of rank 2).
Yes, I will concede that while playing FE7, Vanessa was one of my MVP's, but only because she had a seemingly ridiculous critical hit rate, even with normal weapons. I'm sure it was luck, but it seemed just about every battle had her doling out one or more criticals. So she leveled fast and furious and did, eventually, become one of my coveted "final picks" for the last battle.
With that one exception, though, my peg knights have been nothing more than liabilities. Archers pop up everywhere and they of course gravitate towards pegs, so if there is even a couple archers on the field, your area of movement can be severely limited. Not to mention if there is a ballista on the field, then you can forget taking to the skies at all.
I dunno, flyers just don't do it for me.
and...
Quote:Titania - level 4 Paladin (joins promoted at level 1)
Wh...what didn't you use Titania at all? She's your greatest resource in the early game, hell through the WHOLE game. Your dislike of paladins aside, simply not using one of your strongest units is foolish.
In the end, he did actually WIN the game so I wouldn't knock his strategy.
Looking at that list, the biggest difference between FE9 and FE7/8 is that this time I used a mounted archer instead of a normal one... in 7 I used Rebecca first and Will second, and in 8 I used the foot archer girl too, but here I used Astrid, not Shinon or Rolf (though I did use Rolf in the earlier parts of the game, as his level 11 status shows, I stopped using him as the party got larger and larger), once she joined. I was tempted to use the horse-archer in FE7, but like many characters, I just didn't have the party space...
Quote:Wh...what didn't you use Titania at all? She's your greatest resource in the early game, hell through the WHOLE game. Your dislike of paladins aside, simply not using one of your strongest units is foolish.
I used her a little in the early part of the game where you don't really have any other choice, but as soon as I got more units, yeah, I stopped -- and all along I tried to minimize use, because as in every FE game you can't use the early prepromote Paladin much if you want to rest of the party to level much... (Seth in FE8, Marcus in FE7)
Quote:Yes, I will concede that while playing FE7, Vanessa was one of my MVP's, but only because she had a seemingly ridiculous critical hit rate, even with normal weapons. I'm sure it was luck, but it seemed just about every battle had her doling out one or more criticals. So she leveled fast and furious and did, eventually, become one of my coveted "final picks" for the last battle.
With that one exception, though, my peg knights have been nothing more than liabilities. Archers pop up everywhere and they of course gravitate towards pegs, so if there is even a couple archers on the field, your area of movement can be severely limited. Not to mention if there is a ballista on the field, then you can forget taking to the skies at all.
I don't know if any Paladins in FE7 or 8 got any more levels than that from me either... but really, come on, it's not that hard to deal with flying units. Weaker archers can easily be handled by flying units; some can't (in the last mission of FE9 there is a tough archer on the right side in Hard, he kills flying units in one shot most of the time... so I had to take him out in one turn, since of course flyers were a major part of that group... but yeah, you either kill them before they can attack you (not that hard, with the range flying units have), get a guard item that lets them not take extra damage from arrows, or hold them back until other units clear out the archers. Most of the time it's not any more of an issue than "keep magic-damage-prone units away from mages" is...
Ballistae can be an exception, of course, and keeping lower-level flying units out of their ranges is highly advisable, but higher-level ones can do okay, and flying units often have good dodge numbers...
... as for Vanessa, mostly purely for character art/design reasons, I like her less than Florina, Fiora, or Farina, or Marica or Tana. She is probably better than Tanith though, or the other FE8 one. For some reason I didn't think the FE8 Pegasus Knights were quite as good as the FE7 ones... they were still good though, certainly.
... Essentially, I'd say that killing archers first just becomes a habit after a while... :) (and as I said, in FE9, unlike 7 or 8, I used the Wyvern Riders a lot too, and they are even MORE restricted, having to avoid both bows AND magic! Jill and Haar are great though...)
(looks at other FE8 file, in level 19 Normal mode... 2 archers, 2 Swordmasters, all 3 pegasus knights, both lords, 2 healers, 3 mages, a thief, and a dancer... sounds pretty typical for me. :))
Quote:I'm sure it was luck, but it seemed just about every battle had her doling out one or more criticals.
This, and great dodge rates, are why I like Myrmidions/Swordmasters... (and find axe users and their horrible hit percentages a real pain most of the time, with a few exceptions like Hector)
That is a good point... Not having that paladin fight means others level up more.
Quote:That is a good point... Not having that paladin fight means others level up more.
In every Fire Emblem game there is a pre-promoted Paladin available in the beginning of the game which new players will likely overuse, not realizing that they shouldn't if they don't want the rest of their party to be underlevelled... tricky, aren't they... :)
Dark Jaguar Wrote:In the end, he did actually WIN the game so I wouldn't knock his strategy.
I'm not knocking his strategy, you'll note a few posts up that I even told him that though our play styles differ, they both saw us to the end of the game. Look, I'll even save you a scroll:
Me Wrote:Anyway, obviously our play styles differ. You prefer ranged combat like bows and magic, while I prefer brawling. Two strategies, but both saw us to the end of the game.
Anyway, I tend to gravitate toward the big, heavy units like Paladins, Warriors, Berzerkers and most mounted units. Not Knights and Generals though, their abysmal movement range does not make up for their great defense, IMO. Unless I can find an item that increases their range, they go unused, most of the time.
In FE7, my absolute favorite unit, unquestionably, was Rath. Even more once he leveled up and was able to use swords. In 8, it was a toss-up, but I liked Cormag quite a bit.
Most of my favorite units are mounted, Paladins, Cavaliers, Rangers, and such. Their movement is what I like about them. Granted, I see the value of peg knights, I do, but I personally don't like how vulnerable they can be. Not even considering archers, their overall defense isn't very good either. I don't know, they really just didn't do much for me, with the exception of Vanessa.
I will say that a strong arsenal of magic is definitely a plus. I loved Pent in FE7, and paired with Erk (also leveled to sage), they made a powerful team. I had a very powerful Moulder and Ewan (summoner) in 8, and my Soren wasn't too shabby either in POR.
Quote:This, and great dodge rates, are why I like Myrmidions/Swordmasters...
As do I, but I was referring to my Vanessa in that particular playthrough.
Quote:In FE7, my absolute favorite unit, unquestionably, was Rath. Even more once he leveled up and was able to use swords. In 8, it was a toss-up, but I liked Cormag quite a bit.
And my favorite unit in FE7 was Florina, and my favorite one in FE8 was almost certainly Lute. :) Didn't use Rath... Rebecca was my primary archer, and Will secondary (both were Snipers, but Rebecca much higher level).
Quote:I will say that a strong arsenal of magic is definitely a plus. I loved Pent in FE7, and paired with Erk (also leveled to sage), they made a powerful team. I had a very powerful Moulder and Ewan (summoner) in 8, and my Soren wasn't too shabby either in POR.
Pent... Pent was good, but I already had a pretty good Erk, and was using Lucius and Canas sometimes as well (and then Priscilla and Serra, once they ranked up, though since she's mounted Priscilla got more use attacking)... and then I decided to level up Nino at the end (managed to get her to Sage, somewhere around level 3-5)... there just isn't room for all of them. Canas didn't make rank two...
(However, I did find Dark magic was the key to beating the final boss, though... Eliwood was awful and underlevelled because of how useless he usually was so he was too slow and got double-hit by the dragon when I attacked it with Durandal (and thus killed, game over), so I had to find another way to beat it... I managed it with Athos using Luna, which took out like a third of the dragon's HP. :) Most of my party did no damage at all, other than Athos, Eliwood (who would die if he tried), and Florina, who could do like 2HP damage with the best spear... so yeah, Athos saved me there.)
One thing I noticed in that list of your was was only one healer, Rhys... you don't usually use two healers? I've found in all three FE games that having two healers on the field all the time is really, really useful... so I used both Priscilla and Serra in 7, Rhys (despite how bad he was in combat, he was needed) and Mist in 9, etc.
Quote:Most of my favorite units are mounted, Paladins, Cavaliers, Rangers, and such. Their movement is what I like about them. Granted, I see the value of peg knights, I do, but I personally don't like how vulnerable they can be. Not even considering archers, their overall defense isn't very good either. I don't know, they really just didn't do much for me, with the exception of Vanessa.
I mentioned Myrmidions because Pegasus Knights often have better dodge rates than horse knights, helping out sometimes with their defense... if you dodge the attack, you don't take any damage at all. :) Florina was one of my only units to max out in my first playthrough of FE... I like their great mobility and ability to move across map obstacles, particularly in FE7/8 (since FE9 makes a major cutback in mobility by not letting them stop over buildings and walls and stuff -- stopping over a building and attacking people on the other side was a central, and great, part of mounted unit strategy in FE7 and 8... it's too bad that they removed it. I guess to make up for it they added the ability to move after attacking if you have remaining movement points though, and that is cool.
Quote:Anyway, I tend to gravitate toward the big, heavy units like Paladins, Warriors, Berzerkers and most mounted units. Not Knights and Generals though, their abysmal movement range does not make up for their great defense, IMO. Unless I can find an item that increases their range, they go unused, most of the time.
I've found Knights good in the early and middle parts of the game as blockers to absorb damage and stuff... a lot of my other units need to keep away from enemies, and flying units might be off elsewhere (going over the water or whatever)... but yeah,their bad mobility is kind of a pain. Still, I have used them for a while sometimes.
Soren played double duty with healing, but it was mostly Rhys, using Physic staves, and don't forget Elincia. That, and I always keep a healthy supply of vulneraries. I don't like strictly healing units, mostly, they're a liability and bring down the overall attack potential by restricting the number of attackers. So I usually use only one healer and try to be proactive and <i>avoid</i> damage :D. On top of that, they level so slowly when they just heal, they get 9 exp per heal. that takes a while before they can be upgraded to something more useful.
Truth be told, Rhys was actually one of my more versatile magic users, I crafted a great Light magic tome for him and he was quite powerful, able to hit for over 20 points of damage. You'll note from his levels how much he was used. I had Rhys with me nearly every mission.
Yeah, and I had him with me every mission, and Mist with me too every (or nearly every, but probably every; I don't quite remember) mission after I got her... vulnaries can help sometimes, but they don't replace a healer, not even close. They only heal 10HP after all, not much... and while avoiding damage is nice, you can't do that all the time, and what are you going to do? Reset not just for losing characters but for getting hit? :D
I also like to often split up my forces, and if at all possible want healers to be with each group... and while Soren and Ilyana can indeed heal once they rank up, I preferred to use them for attacking, not healing during battle.
... and at level 14 rank 2 my Rhys had 14 speed. Mist was also in bad shape speedwise, at 18, but that's enough that at least she wasn't usually doubled... and she had enough strength to be able to handle her weapons without a penalty, quite unlike Rhys (Rhys in the last mission + lifedrain spell = 3 speed...)...
As for Elincia, she was indeed a fine healer, but she's only in the game for three missions... (or four at most)
Quote:On top of that, they level so slowly when they just heal, they get 9 exp per heal.
So heal every chance you get, even if it's just for 1HP from a levelup or something. That's what I often do, in all three FE games (that have been released here)...
See, that's the thing. I keep my forces fairly tight. I keep them in a huddle or a line, and I keep them together. Thatw ay they can all cover for one another if need be. It also conforms well to my dislike of healers, I only need one to lock on to the one in the worst shape, where ever he is, and take care of him.
I never really used Mist, though I did pile tons of bonus exp onto her and eventually she became a valkyrie having never seen a battle besides the first. Then she was of somewhat more use, better mobility and could attack if need be, even if for only a couple hit points.
Bonus Exp was a great system, I liked that almost as much as the custom weapon creator. Although I DID like the system that SS had which was to keep the entire supply on the hero that could be accessed if needed. Sure, FE7 had Merlinus but that's not the same.
Now that's where we differ. Where you use healing items instead of healers, I have a general disdain for healing items (across all games, everywhere, except Zelda) and go for healers and healing magic instead. In an RPG, if it's possible to get some healing magic on a character, that'll be my very first goal, even if it's just some low level thing. One can usually count on every character in my party having a healing ability if at all possible. MP is a lot cheaper to restore, as a general rule, than items.
This is a strategy game, not an RPG, DJ... (I know, "strategy-RPG", but I don't like that label, and think that they are all actually just strategy games.) Only healers have healing magic. Not anyone else.
I agree that I prefer magic to items, though... that's one of the best things about Guild Wars: no items (well, there are a few consumable items, but they are special ones, not normal ones, are not easily replaced, and are mostly just for fun... holiday reward items and stuff.). :) In strategy games though, using units or buildings to heal and not items is the norm... if the game has healing at all (see: Orcs in Warcraft II)...
I know, I was just sort of drifting off subject.
Anyway, the major difference here is that equipment, which is used when healing, has a durability rating, which essentially is no different than an item stack.
Quote:Anyway, the major difference here is that equipment, which is used when healing, has a durability rating, which essentially is no different than an item stack.
Yes, you're right about that in theory... still though, the application is different (with how normally "item use" games mean "using lots of items up" while here it is "using a few items for a long time, each with a lot of uses"...), making it not nearly as annoying as something like Diablo II and its constant "mash potion buttons" gameplay... (to say nothing of Dungeon Siege... I get bored even just THINKING about that game...)
I never got into Diablo... never even played the second one. Not sure why it was so popular. I don't consider it up there with Blizzard's best games.
Quote:See, that's the thing. I keep my forces fairly tight. I keep them in a huddle or a line, and I keep them together. Thatw ay they can all cover for one another if need be. It also conforms well to my dislike of healers, I only need one to lock on to the one in the worst shape, where ever he is, and take care of him.
Ah, I don't do that at all. Whenever the map branches, I send groups along each route... of course I have the units cover eachother (and weaker units that are in the back), but watching enemy movement/attack ranges is more of a key here than forming a good line is... and as I said, I heal every time I get the chance, whether or not it's needed, in order to level the healers up more (since in rank 2 they can attack as well, lessening the issue)... multiple healers are an absolute necessity. When you have only one, the healer can't heal themselves except with vulnaries, which don't heal much (unless you use Elixirs, which are expensive), which can be a real problem... and as I said, you can't divide your forces effectively.
I do use vulnaries sometimes, but healers are far better (and cheaper!).
Quote:I never really used Mist, though I did pile tons of bonus exp onto her and eventually she became a valkyrie having never seen a battle besides the first. Then she was of somewhat more use, better mobility and could attack if need be, even if for only a couple hit points.
As her level makes clear, I used her a lot from the first mission you could use her in all the way through to the end. While she would have been better with magic than swords as the upgrade (like Priscilla as a model), she did decent with swords too... helped in the Black Knight fight, if I remember right (not vs. him, but to kill those helper monk guys who come, and to heal Ike)...
Quote:Bonus Exp was a great system, I liked that almost as much as the custom weapon creator. Although I DID like the system that SS had which was to keep the entire supply on the hero that could be accessed if needed. Sure, FE7 had Merlinus but that's not the same.
Bonus XP was okay, but I never got much of it... Hard gives you maybe half the amount of bonus XP that normal does, if I remember right, and Bonus XP is also tied to how fast you complete the mission (faster = more), which I was often far off of... I used what I got, and it helped some at times and was a nice addition I guess, but I didn't find it hugely useful one way or the other.
... Astrid getting 2XP from every bonus point you give her was cool, though... (despite using her in a lot of missions she would never have been even close to 20/20 if not for Paragon...)
Quote:I never got into Diablo... never even played the second one. Not sure why it was so popular. I don't consider it up there with Blizzard's best games.
I liked Diablo II quite a bit the first time though, but my interest in replaying it, or playing it online, was always pretty minimal... it's a good game, but I just didn't have much of any interest in going through similar areas again and again just to level up and get items... I beat the game in single player. That was enough. (Oh yeah, and I got Diablo II as a birthday present; I had asked for it I think, but wouldn't have bought it for myself unless it was very cheap I'm sure... which is why I never got Diablo I.)
Having completely failed to keep myself from going to GameFAQs GoD forum and FESS (and thus avoid lots of spoilers), the game is sounding so, so great... I want it now... :( :(
I've recently begun a new game of FE7, one that (much to my shame) I never saw to completion. I made the critical error of babying my Lords to keep them from dying, oblivious to the fact that without them, you cannot win. By the time I realized this, I was facing down a huge goddamn dragon and could do nothing to it. At the time, restarting sounded too daunting, but now I think I may finally cross this one off my list at long last.
NEVER baby your hero units :D.
You can beat the dragon, though. Use Athos with a Luna tome. That was how I beat it, since Eliwood was a very low level because of how bad he is and Hector and Lyn (and everyone else) do no or negligible damage to the Dragon... but Luna ignores resistance and does good damage every hit, so I got the dragon's health low with that before finishing him with Eliwood (since Eliwood's problem was low speed that meant the dragon double-hit him when he attacked with Durandal, gauranteeing his death and a game over, but since he did a huge amount of damage with the weapon, having him do the last hit was the fastest way to finish it off.).
Well, I'm well on my way through, having fun with it again. Right now I'm at the mission right after you get Dart. I'm already playing this game differently. First, per ABF's strategy, Marcus is strictly used for protecting Merlinus and in case of extreme emergency (such as an imminent party members death without intervention). Also, I'm using Rebecca instead of Wil as my primary archer and I'm liking her better so far. Hector's got some of the best defense in my party, so a common strategy for me lately has been to send Hector in and draw the fire while taking next to no damage, then funneling in my other units and letting them pick them off one by one.
How do you consider Eliwood to be "bad"? I think he's great, and I've never had a problem with his speed. Sure, he's nothing compared to the green blur that is Lyn, but he's not slow by any definition.
I just never thought he was that good... he didn't have as good dodging skills as Lyn, or as good damage potential as Hector. He didn't have enough speed at the end to avoid being double hit by the dragon when attacking it with Durandal, the only weapon other than Luna that I found could actually make much of a dent into its health...
I played and beat FE7 once. Then I started again in Hector Normal mode, and got most of the way through before the cart messed up and erased itsself. I started again but am at mission 23... haven't played in a while. Anyway, both the first time and this time, Lyn reached level 20 first, then Hector, and Eliwood... I don't remember if he did the first time or not. In this game Lyn and Hector reached level 20 some time ago, but Eliwood is just level 16... I doubt he'll be a high enough level to beat the Dragon this time either. :)
It's not that Eliwood is awful, but just kind of average, I felt. I preferred to use other units...
Quote:Also, I'm using Rebecca instead of Wil as my primary archer and I'm liking her better so far.
In this game Rebecca is level 20/3 (Sniper) and Wil is level 18... I used both, but Rebecca more than Wil. :)
My highest level unit, though, is of course Florina, at 20/4. Well, Hawkeye is that level too, but he started there...
It's always kind of sad when Lyn and Hector reach level 20, though. All three times I played Lyn reached the cap well before you get the rank up, and in the last two times Hector did the same... it's frusterating that I just have to stop using them for a while, since they are Lords and not normal units so I can't just rank them up like I would anyone else. They're both such good units...
Quote:Hector's got some of the best defense in my party, so a common strategy for me lately has been to send Hector in and draw the fire while taking next to no damage, then funneling in my other units and letting them pick them off one by one.
Not as effective as Provoke + bow knight in PoR, but yes, that works too... :)
Sorry, but I'm still not warming up to Florina or peg knights in general. I gave her a shot, I really did, but at the end of the day, I'd much rather use Kent and Sain to run the enemy down as much as fly toward them. Not to say her usefulness is lost on me. She was a great asset to me during the Pirate Ship mission. Safely attacking over the water with a Javelin helped immensely.
You know what it was? I just remembered. I almost never used Lyn, not even much in the first 10 chapters. I don't think I even got her past level 10, because I never thought she could fight well and was always afraid of her dying and kept her out of harms way (bear in mind, this was my very first FE game and much of her potential was lost to me in my ignorant state :D). When the final battle rolled around, Lyn is forced into the battle, and there is a Sage with a Bolting in an inaccessible room, and one hit from him took her out, thus a game over. Bolting's an inaccurate spell, but he used it with chilling accuracy. That's why I never beat the game. I probably could pull it through now, now that understand the game mechanics so much better, but at the time it seemed impossible, and Game Over after Game Over finally frustrated me to the point of think it impossible.
Now though, I am on a winning road (no pun intended), and I think I shall beat the game this time.
Holding back your lords is like playing WC3 and holding back your hero units! Ya just don't do it man ya just don't do it.
"Oh, well I'll just keep him back here, he's not really THAT tough..."
Right, miss out on RESSURECTION EVERY DEAD BODY ON THE FIELD ON YOUR SIDE.
Back in Warcraft 2, and even Starcraft, abandoning "heroes" was almost expected. Keep them at the base unless they are needed for something, they really aren't THAT impressive. Not in current FPS games, and certainly not in the standard TBS.
Quote:You know what it was? I just remembered. I almost never used Lyn, not even much in the first 10 chapters. I don't think I even got her past level 10, because I never thought she could fight well and was always afraid of her dying and kept her out of harms way (bear in mind, this was my very first FE game and much of her potential was lost to me in my ignorant state ). When the final battle rolled around, Lyn is forced into the battle, and there is a Sage with a Bolting in an inaccessible room, and one hit from him took her out, thus a game over. Bolting's an inaccurate spell, but he used it with chilling accuracy. That's why I never beat the game. I probably could pull it through now, now that understand the game mechanics so much better, but at the time it seemed impossible, and Game Over after Game Over finally frustrated me to the point of think it impossible.
Lyn would definitely be at least as high a level as Florina is if I could rank her up as soon as she reached level 20, and Hector wouldn't be too far behind... Lyn won't help against the Dragon, but yeah, it is definitely best to not be taking a massively underlevelled character into the final mission (though my Eliwood wasn't too useful, he was at least level 20/5 or 20/10 or something... erm, unless he didn't quite reach level 20 before being ranked up. I have no idea, but he couldn't have been too far off.)
Yeah though, I can see what you mean about Lyn... you really have to rely on that dodge, and when she fails to dodge (against enemies with high hit chances and stuff) she can get hurt badly... but still, she'll do a better job of dodging than pretty much anyone else, so I used her heavily. In the final mission you need to be careful, but you need to be really careful with everyone there... the enemy groups are so strong...
Bolting usually isn't a problem... but you can kill the dragon pretty quickly. Athos uses Luna to attack it, healer heals Athos from range, Dragon attacks Athos and gets hit by Luna again, you heal Athos, you attack with Athos, you use your other healer to heal him, and then repeat (or use Durandal, if its health is low enough to be taken out in one hit or your Eliwood's speed is good enough to not get hit twice by it. If somehow Eliwood is able to attack twice... well, then I'd think it'd be over quite fast...). Those Bolting guys shouldn't get many shots in.
I didn't like the dragon much at all, though. It was really annoying to have a boss that almost no attacks could actually damage... but on the other hand, TSS's final boss seemed easy because it was vulnerable to more types of weapons, not requiring as much frusteration with "what the heck can I do to actually HURT this guy???" like I had in FE...
Quote:Sorry, but I'm still not warming up to Florina or peg knights in general. I gave her a shot, I really did, but at the end of the day, I'd much rather use Kent and Sain to run the enemy down as much as fly toward them. Not to say her usefulness is lost on me. She was a great asset to me during the Pirate Ship mission. Safely attacking over the water with a Javelin helped immensely.
I disagree, but unit preferences are opinion. Well, other than "avoiding using the trap unit in the early missions is a bad idea".
Well, I finished my playthrough of Fire Emblem 7's Eliwood Normal Mode, so you know what that means... character levels! :)
I noticed some differences from the first time I played the game... I don't have the stats available, but I'm sure I used Marcus a bit more, and I remember using Sain much more, and Jaffar (who almost maxed). Nino was more like 20/5, and Erk like 20/15 or higher... I think the lords ended up about the same places, though...
Maxed or Rank Two characters that started in rank one. (battles,wins,losses) from the epilogue is listed for a few of the top ones... Florina and Rebecca were the two most used units by a good margin, number-of-battles wise, followed by Hector, Wil, Eliwood, Fiora, and Lyn (last two tied).
R1/R2 - Name (Battles/Wins/Losses)
20/20 - Florina (185/101/13)
20/20 - Priscilla (68/45/3)
20/19.19 - Nino (84/64/3) (maxed four categories! ... well I did use Afa's Drops and several stat-up items... speedwings, health up, something else...)
20/18.85 - Serra (63/36/1)
20/17.47 - Rebecca (182/101/13)
20/17.33 - Lyn (128/57/4)
20/14.91 - Lucius (101/75/3)
20/12.98 - Fiora (128/61/12)
20/12.20 - Hector (139/67/5)
20/11.92 - Erk (98/63/4)
20/10.23 - Wil (138/52/3)
20/6.38 - Canas (68/40/9)
20/5.02 - Eliwood (129/48/8) (made myself use him some since you have to have him in every mission...)
20- - Ninian/Nils
20- - Athos
Used but it doesn't show in levels
Matthew - 8.84
Prepromotes (trying to rank by use)
Hawkeye - level 5.39. Used some.
Jaffar - level 14.81. Used a little, not much.
Pent - level 8.27. Used a few times, in one or two missions. (10/10/0)
Louise - level 4.47. Barely used, since I had enough good units already...
Renault - level 18.52. Pointless for anything other than his supports
Karel - level 8.63
Marcus - level 2.24.
Geitz - level 3.44
Isadora - level 1.49
Vaida level 9.00 (unused)
The rest -- Guy, Dorcas, Oswin, Dart, Raven, Kent, Sain, Heath, Legault, Rath, Bartre, Lowen - between levels 1 and 12 of rank one. I did take Raven with me for several missions to get his A support with Lucius though, but didn't actually really use him for combat...
I'm on Mission 30, and as of now my MVP is, far and away, Sain. Kent isn't too far behind, and the two of them have level A support status, so they're a nearly unstoppable team.
My Eliwood is a bit lacking, which has me worried about the final mission, but my Hector and Lyn are more than capable.
This playthrough I restricted myself in many ways. Besides holding back on Marcus pwnage, I also waited to use stat-up items until the unit hit level 20, I never did that before, I classed them up as soon as I was able. It's a good strategy, Sain and Erk have both become quite powerful as a Paladin/Sage (respectively). I did, however, make an exception with Serra. If I waited till she hit level 20 to level her up I'd be doing it...well around now. And you know how I feel about characters who cannot fight.
I LIKE Canas and want to use him, but he's so slow...anyway he's up to level 17. If I really push him towards those Class-2 enemies I might be able to coax the Druid out of him before facing Nergal.
Oh, and as for supports, I didn't focus too heavily on them this play. I picked a few strategic matchups I wanted (Sain/Kent, Lyn/Rath, etc.) and just let the supports natually unfold. The results:
Rebecca-Dart - A
Lyn-Rath - A
Marcus-Merlinus - A
Sain-Kent - A
Pent-Louise - A (obviously)
Pent-Erk - B
Eliwood-Hector - B
Lyn-Eliwood - C
Lyn-Florina - C
Rebecca-Wil - C
Rath-Guy - C
Matthew-Guy - C
Marcus-Eliwood - C
Sain-Rebecca - C
Sain-Serra - C
Erk-Serra - C
I should have it beaten within a few days, that is unless I once again reach the final battle and cannot win it...but not this time! This time I've got a worthy party to take on the final challenge! <i>En Garde!!!
P.S.: I changed the thread name, since "Hah!" was dumb :D</i>
Ah, supports... I had
Eliwood/Lyn - A
Rebecca/Wil - A
Hector/Florina - A
Erk/Priscilla - A
Matthew/Serra - A
Lucius/Raven - A
Nino/Jaffar - A
Pent/Louise - A (of course)
Lyn/Florina - B
Serra/Hector - B
Priscilla/Lucius - B
Eliwood/Ninian - B
Rebecca/Nino - B
Marcus/Merlinus - C
... that is, I got supports for the characters I use. The most conspicuous exceptions are Canas and Fiora... I'm not sure about Canas as for some reason I've never really paid attention to his supports, but I meant to do Fiora-Sain. I just didn't get around to it... I was dragging Raven around for several missions just for support with Lucius. I couldn't really afford two such things, to also do Fiora-Sain with the barely-touched Sain being unfit for combat, of course... oh well.
Quote:P.S.: I changed the thread name, since "Hah!" was dumb
No, it was the perfect thread title for what I made it for... :(
Quote:, I also waited to use stat-up items until the unit hit level 20, I never did that before, I classed them up as soon as I was able.
I've always done this if I can... what else do you do? Switch over to other characters? Wasting XP by using maxed units to kill things is stupid...
...oh wait, you mean using stat up items before the character reaches level 20? I have never done that, and wouldn't. It wastes levels...
As for Serra and Priscilla, well, as you can see from looking at my chart there, they were two of my highest-levelled units. Oddly Serra was the one who reached rank two sooner, by a good margin, and was ahead for a long time (and was even my second-highest levelled unit for a while, just behind Florina), but on one mission Priscilla killed a bunch of bosses and went all the way from level 20/12 to max... Serra ended up at a pretty high level too, though. I just heal every possible time I can, level up additions, etc, and they seem to level up on par with the rest of the team.
Quote:My Eliwood is a bit lacking, which has me worried about the final mission, but my Hector and Lyn are more than capable.
How I killed the dragon this time
30 damage - Athos uses Luna (1x30)
20 damage - Nino with Excalibur (2x10)
12 damage - Hector with Baskilos (2x6) (Hector with Armads would have done 2x20, but I wanted to kill the dragon with another unit, so I just used Baskilos...)
A few damage each from Florina (2x2?), Rebecca, and Lyn (2x1); maybe Lucius too, I forget
the last bit - Nino with Excalibur again
I could have done it more easily with just Athos and a healer, or with Hector with Armads, or with a good Eliwood, but I did that instead. It seemed easier than the first time, where nothing other than Athos with Luna seemed to do anything (without killing the unit; Eliwood was useless again since his speed with Durandal is too low and he gets double-hit when he attacks the dragon with it.). Canas only had 34HP at the end, so he couldn't attack it without dying since it does 37 damage every time... otherwise he could use Luna on the dragon too, for great effect.
Quote:I LIKE Canas and want to use him, but he's so slow...anyway he's up to level 17. If I really push him towards those Class-2 enemies I might be able to coax the Druid out of him before facing Nergal.
I used Canas less the first time, barely making rank two... this time though, he maxed the same time as Nino -- at the end of the map where you face Lloyd (or Linus, if you do things differently from me and instead face Lloyd early in the game; I never have, with the way I play.). Of course, he reached level six and she reached level 19, so it's obvious which one I used more... yes, Canas is slow, and has some issues dodging sometimes. Still though, Dark magic can be great in some situations, so having a competent dark mage is a real plus.
Quote:and just let the supports natually unfold.
If I just did that (no effort to get supports), I'd get like two, total... I hate the support system in FE. They have all these great conversations, but the barrier to getting to them is just so ridiculously high... really, the only sane option is reading an FAQ that lists them all. The idea of playing the game through the fifty times or whatever that it would take to get them all is ridiculous.
I always hear about Nino. How the hell are you supposed to get a decent mage out of a level 5 Nino with only 3 missions left. Having someone as weak as her in missions that late in the game is just asking for trouble.
Oh, and if you just included Raven to build his support with Lucius, what's the point? I tried to build supports between the characters I actually USED so they could benefit from them...
Out of curiosity, who here prefers the Advance Wars games over Fire Emblem?
*raises hand because he's Sure*
I like Advance Wars, but the character development, combat system, and storyline of FE appeal to me more, so yes, I prefer Fire Emblem.
I agree EM. Advance Wars is a lot of fun, but there is a lot more depth to Fire Emblem, and you feel a closer attachment to characters who you keep battle after battle than combat units you build and dispose of.
lazyfatbum Wrote:Out of curiosity, who here prefers the Advance Wars games over Fire Emblem?
*raises hand because he's Sure*
The Wars series never really grabbed me... I guess I've played too many strategy games, and I'm not even one of those super fans of the genre. Fire Emblem was different though. It was the first of them I played where each unit had an actual life, where I wouldn't want to have to tell the boy's momma back home he "was" a hero. The goal of war, gentlemen, is not to die for your country, but to make those other guys die for THEIR country! So yeah, I prefer Fire Emblem.
It's not really storyline or anything (though I've mentioned before that it seems very strange that the commanders don't seem to care at all about their own soldiers and have occasionally battled each other for "fun"), it's the nice twist of being basically set with fixed units you upgrade and no subunits of any kind that you have to choose to develop in certain ways from battle to battle, who are gone FOREVER when it's done. Advance Wars I can play a million ways on the PC, but not quite so much with Fire Emblem.
So since most are leaning towards FE, who here would compare Final Fantasy tactics (and advance) to FE?
To me, the gameplay of FFT trumps FE and is much more of a role playing game as each character can be built from the ground up, learn specific skills as well weapon and armor upgrades, magic and summons, etc. So who's with me?
I like FFT, and all manner of similar games like Disgaia.
Fire Emblem has it's own charms though. I wouldn't say "better" but it's a change of pace. Certainly there's less to do but there's something to be said for simplicity.
Quote:I always hear about Nino. How the hell are you supposed to get a decent mage out of a level 5 Nino with only 3 missions left. Having someone as weak as her in missions that late in the game is just asking for trouble.
Oh, and if you just included Raven to build his support with Lucius, what's the point? I tried to build supports between the characters I actually USED so they could benefit from them...
You have Nino for six and a half missions, actually -- you get her midway through mission 26, then she's there for 26x, 27, 28, 29, 30, and the final mission (there is also 29x, but that's just five turns of buying stuff, so it doesn't really count). To get her to this high level (20/19) I used her a lot... First, I used the Afa's Drops on her, to increase bonuses, as well as Speedwings and a healthup item. She starts at level five and when used properly gains levels very quickly -- she reached level 20 in two missions, essentially, since I didn't really use her in 26, but began instead in 26x and hit level 20 before fighting Lloyd at the end of 27, so when I finished level 27 she was 20/2 I believe.
Nino certainly is not a whole-game mage solution, of course; for that I use Erk, and he ended up at a reasonably high level. I also used Lucius a lot this playthrough, and he was one of the highest-levelled units this time... but once you get Nino I can't help but use her a lot, and she got really good quickly -- as I said, she maxed out FOUR categories. Of course, that is probably thanks to the Afa's Drops, but even so... she levels pretty fast. I remember the first time having to be really careful and protect her with troops in front all the time in order to level her up, but this time with better strategy I minimized that while still levelling her quickly. She did usually need protection, but so does almost everyone...
As for the supports, why not? It was for the conversation as much as anything... it's not like it says what bonus the supports give you anyway as far as I can tell, so I've never really paid much attention to that side of it, even if it is perhaps the more 'important' aspect of the support system (which, as I said, I think is broken).
Quote:Out of curiosity, who here prefers the Advance Wars games over Fire Emblem?
Advance Wars is good, but Fire Emblem is definitely better. I like the setting better, for one thing... I've always loved fantasy. The death system and stories are quite good too, unlike Advance Wars' more normal 'throw units at it' system and horrible plots. still, Advance Wars was a great, great game (series) too.
Quote:So since most are leaning towards FE, who here would compare Final Fantasy tactics (and advance) to FE?
To me, the gameplay of FFT trumps FE and is much more of a role playing game as each character can be built from the ground up, learn specific skills as well weapon and armor upgrades, magic and summons, etc. So who's with me?
Fire Emblem is a lot better than FFT. It's more strategic, simply! FFT is much more RPG-ish, while FE is a lot purer strategy game. I prefer the strategy-game approach. Oh, FFT is a good game, but I definitely would rank FE much higher. Really though, I think that they are two very different kinds of approaches to strategy game design, so a direct comparison can be somewhat misleading...
I have nothing but love for FFT, just ask the hundreds of hours of my life lost to it, but out of the three now in the running...I'm sorry to say I have to give the win to FE again.
That is, I do NOW. Now, as in, when I'm currently ADDICTED to Fire Emblem. Ask me again when I'm on a FFT binge (and, eventually, it will happen again) and my answer may shock you :D
Blind! You're all blind! Blinded by the light! Another loner in the night! FFT takes FE its underage leash-drawn biotch.
FE: move here, attack. Move here, attack. Move here, attack.
FFT: Move here, cast Odin on 7ht panels, avoiding wizard with reflect. Move here, steal helmet with 50% chance on knight, 40% chance on archer. Move here, throw stone at monk causing him to fall 5ht making him critical, he goes berserk.
THAT'S strategy!
As for Wars, I have to say that it's more strategic than FE as well though it seems to be cut from the same cloth. I'm playing AWDS like crazy right now and you really learn to appreciate the strategy elements when you go through survival (turn, money and time) where it pits you against seemingly impossible odds. Sure, you can just crank out units but you'll run out of money eventually and a more skilled tactition can sweep you up in no time flat. I've seen plenty of missions where I saved up for megatanks and unleashed hell only to be trounced by rockets and artillary who always stay out of the movement range of the tanks but within firing range paying attention to the location of forests which cost 2 move points for tanks. Or pulling a move where they bait a unit (mdtank) but what you dont see is that there's a rocket protecting two spaces around it and the battleship that they built last turn still docked but within range. You move in to cause 7hp damage to mdtank but they KO your megatank during a well timed tag and then overthrow you.
I just dont find that level of strategy in FE.
How far have you played through one of them? It involves a sort of meta strategy, in that you have to decide who to send into battle not with the end of the current scenario in mind, but with future scenarios in mind. Sure you don't have the same number of options, but in a sense that reduces FFTA to "you'll basically win no matter what just by doing whatever you want at the enemy" in the later stages of the game when everyone's leveled up to these awesome unstoppable tanks, like ALL Final Fantasy games. Though, admittedly, I tend to also play Fire Emblem by levelling up a few omni warriors and sending them with a couple groups here and there.
You know what's weird? Why did they call the DS game "Advance Wars DS" instead of "DS Wars"? I checked the history of the series, they generally take the name of the system it's on followed by "Wars" like "Gameboy Wars" or "Famicom Wars".
But that's the beauty of FFT, you could have a level 99 knight with two swords and Excalibur in each hand with the strongest armor and still find a challenge from the randoms and bosses since the enemies level is dynamic based off your average guild level (you can cheat it by purchasing a bunch of level 1's but then the game becomes stupidly easy).
I think they went with the advance name just for the sake of the already confusing series names. Titles that we didnt get, Japan didnt get, etc. Its as bad as FF used to be. Here's hoping for the unreleased US versions hitting the virtual console. But it wasn't actually a continuing story line (an official series) until late in its life as a series.
I really hope Battalion Wars II gets CO powers. I can just imagine playing it, using a CO power like increasing the distance of indirects and firing 10 mile volleys at tanks you can only see on the radar.
You're saying the word "strategy", Lazy, but what I'm reading is "RPG". "I'm level 99 and have this equipment and armor etc etc"? That's RPG stuff more than it is strategy, though more RPG-ish strategy games do have some of those elements of course... but strategy isn't just about that, it's about, well, strategizing. And I would absolutely say that FE has much more strategic depth than FFT. Really, how much do you need to worry about formations, positioning, etc, in FFT? Some, but not as much as in FE. Range matters, but not as much with the small maps... formations do some, but less with the smaller units-on-the-field counts... etc.
It gets even more clear when you compare FFTA to FE7... FE7 isn't just a far better game, but it requires much deeper strategy and more tactics. FFTA requires strategy too, but it's just not the same, not even close... I know that FFT is (a lot) better than FFTA, but still. It's not as good as FE.
Quote:Though, admittedly, I tend to also play Fire Emblem by levelling up a few omni warriors and sending them with a couple groups here and there.
But then you run into a challenge which would be much easier with a more balanced group, and not just a couple of units levelled far beyond the rest...
Quote:I think they went with the advance name just for the sake of the already confusing series names. Titles that we didnt get, Japan didnt get, etc. Its as bad as FF used to be. Here's hoping for the unreleased US versions hitting the virtual console. But it wasn't actually a continuing story line (an official series) until late in its life as a series.
Yeah, that's pretty much it. They decided to stick with that one name instead of changing it for every platform... Battalion Wars got a different name (in the US) because it's considered a separate series, part of the Wars game style but not an Advance Wars game.
You played FFT right? The armor, helms etc offer HP and MP upgrades as well as status effects. For example, you have a level 10 knight who has level 5 squire and level 2 chemist, but you're going in to a battle where you know you need a wizard. You change his job to wizard but he's one hell of a weak level 1 wizard. So you give him clothes, hats, acsesories etc to make him more powerful in certain ways, like boosting the amount of MP he can use, or boosting his MP strength. You could even give him a charm that automatically casts reflect or shell so that magic attacks dont effect him as much. You're telling me that isn't a huge part of that strategy element? Or that FE is a more strategic game because it DOESN'T have that?
As for location and positioning... you did play FFT right? :D