29th January 2007, 9:56 PM
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...
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)
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. :))
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)
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)