FE7: Finished this, don't want to touch another GBA FE ever again.
As far as things went on this playthrough, I ended up doing a lot better with growths, doubly so since I attempted to at least work with the non-Hector characters.
Chapter 23 (or whichever one had the snow) was a bitch and a half. Whoever decided snow on an already -long- map was a good idea should be dragged out into the nearest parking lot and shot. Repeatedly. In the head. And then burned. With fire.
This aside, it's okay. Still not a big fan of it in the DL on the basis that FE duellers tend to be rather plain compared to others, but what can I say?
Anyway, character overview, starting with my endgame party (Lords, Nils, Athos, Lucius, Guy, Raven, Pent, Rath, Fiora, Canas)
Eliwood/Eliwuss: He actually turned out respectable on this runthrough, though his stat gains felt like they started to fall off around the end. Doesn't help that the last fight feels like it's meant for a smaller party.
Hector: Holy. Shit. And I thought he was a nightmare on my last playthrough. Once again, he pretty much steamrolled everything I aimed him at, and then some. His stats all-around were nothing short of insane (Even with -very- good RES), and he singlehandedly annihilated the Reed brothers in the final battle without even a scratch, with a little help from Nils and a Swordslayer to start. From what I've heard of them, that says a lot. MVP by far.
Lyndis: She took off this time as well, basically playing the role of a Myrmidon on crack. By the time she promoted, she was ripping through enemy forces with a mere Iron Sword. By the second to last chapter, though, she had a full complement of Silver weaponry and Killing Edges. Her stats lend very well to bow use as well, which adds a -lot- to her usefulness once she promotes. Was pretty much necessary for the unenviable task of taking out Morph Uhai in the final chapter.
Nils/Ninian: Always useful. Adds extra moves or buffs people. Very useful when you know when to use the buffs.
Athos: His stats are solid. But honestly, he didn't need to jump in on the action except once to heal the party after dealing with Morph Uhai. So I'm still not sure on how well off he is.
Lucius: Next best in the party for raw magic power. He's supposedly unstable, but turned out well. Very much a blitzing mage whose only problem is his absolute inability to take physical damage whatsoever.
Guy: For most of the game, I had to admittedly babysit him. He's unimpressive as a myrmidon, and between the seeming damage problems and his apparent issue with dodging compared to others, he was a headache. The second he promoted, though, he never failed to amaze. Especially with 65% Killing Edge critical rates. Took out Brendan, never got the chance to fight Nergal since his RES was bad enough that he'd get oneshotted exactly.
Raven: For all that he really did nothing in the final battle, he was generally reliable. Guy with less crit but more durability, power, and weapon variety. I say that's a decent enough trade
Pent: Uh...damn. This is a prepromo done right, really. Neglect/Get RNG-Screwed/get killed with Erk or Nino? He's still more than adequate for the job if you want an anima user. Doesn't hurt that he -also gets staves-, just in case you didn't feel like leveling up one of the healers (god knows it's a despised task). Invaluable against Wyvern knights whenever they showed up, oddly enough.
Rath: Yeah, I used him over Wil or Rebecca. My opinion, Rath's probable the best archer in the game once promoted due to his mobility and presence of a melee option. As a sign of me being way too used to D&D and its stat-split, turns out said melee option hurts like hell too. Became even more of a terror once he got Rienfleche. Because the S-rank non-spell weapons were still amazing.
Fiora: Yeah, I used her over Florina. Solid damage, amazing mobility and evasion, and a magic tank like no other. Okay, there is the problem of being weak to arrows (and the Delphi Shield or whatever got irrevocably lost in the chapter where it appeared. Fuck that map.) Pretty much took out Morph Kenneth and the nameless gespenst druid on her own with the Spear. Probably the only one I can see who -doesn't- benefit from the alternate weapon option gained, just because she's that good with lances.
Canas: Only dark mage in the game. And he turned out well for me. Good thing, too, because Luna use was a way around some of the less friendly bosses of the game (Ursula, Limstella, helped with the Dragon). With aid from Lyn, took out Morph Ursula pretty handily. Really, Luna's the big reason why he's useful. Flux has decent base power, and Nosferatu has some use, but...yeah. Also, feels like I ended up getting some decent stats with him altogether, since he didn't seem to ever have trouble dying once he got past the early phases.
Honorable mention goes to those who were regular party members but didn't participate in the final battle.
Matthew: Well, what can I say? The real problem with him is that he's a late promo no matter what you do, because there's only one Fell Contract and you get it via the goddamned Sonia map. More than pulled his weight once he hit Assassin, literally activating his instakill on the order of 5-6 times in the second to last fight. If it worked against bosses, I'd have brought him in the final chapter.
Louise: She's got an automatic A support with Pent, which mitigates her own issues. She also appeared when Wyvern knights started popping up like crazy, and finally gave me a use for those damned Ballistas. Still not as good of a bow user as Rath, but she's not bad.
Jaffar: I probably could have taken him into the final battle, really. Low HP, but it seems like no matter what, things had trouble actually doing anything to him. And that was with WTA. His critrate was better than Matthew's as well.
And now, the fail of FE7. Bosses.
Lundgren: ...he's nothing special as a villain, but at least seems to be doing enough evil shit on the basis that he's more of a villain than Nergal. That aside, he's got really good defensive stats for the time, and his Silver Lance isn't helping anyone any. I remember him not having too much in the ways of magic defense, but he simply doesn't -care- what with the fact that he'd probably oneshot the likes of Erk in-game. Immobile, but gate. Still has the most ineffective poison ever.
Uhai: Is there.
Aion: Is there, just to get made into someone completely mockable by the likes of Kishuna.
Kishuna: Appears to make half of Aion's group into free experience before disappearing, never to show up again. With no lines. Best villain ever.
Darin: Manipulated into megalomania by means of Ephidel. He's just a pathetic bastard who thinks he can rule the entire place. Lundgren did the ubertank thing a hell of a lot better than he did, though.
Ephidel: ...For someone who, I presume, was on the same level of power as Sonia, you'd expect him to at least bother doing -something- other than standing there, looking evil, having Jaffar kill people, and getting annihilated as Nergal leaves. Then again, looks like he was yet another Sage, so I don't think much would have really been lost there.
Linus: Uh...wow. Clearly rose to the status of one of the Four Fangs by means of nepotism, because he -SUCKS-. Barely memorable.
Jerme: Fails forever.
Ursula: Okay, I do have to give her credit for her range bullshit. She's respectable enough on that end, with enough magic power to take people out. Magic defense was also insane for the time, but she fell to a single Luna crit. ...okay, so that's more just demonstrating the usefulness of Luna. No real plot presence, as is usual.
Sonia: Okay, I have to give her massive credit for the fact that she chooses to be in the most annoying level of the game, and pulls Ursula's game off better than Ursula. Complete with more respectable defenses. Also has the argument for being the most villainous character in the game.
Lloyd: Oh hey I'm going to try to take on the people that killed my brother, and either get killed or kill myself afterward. Yeah. He'd have an argument (on top of much better positioning, since he actually has a gate) for being at least decently competent.
Denning: Uh, okay. I don't get the joke here.
Limstella: Most competent human boss in the game? She definitely has an argument for it, what with her solid defenses on both fronts, strong magic, and assload of HP. Can't evade too well, but she doesn't need to, arguably. Plotwise, just a direct minion of Nergal. She rates 'most competent boss' to me, though.
Nergal's Robot Master Refight Morph Collective: These guys...varied all to hell, really. I guess Nergal really was trying to be Dr. Wily here, though, since you even get their weapons when you kill them. In short, though...
* Morph Uhai: Holy SHIT. They pretty much fixed everything that was wrong with him, and he's scary as hell. Rienfleche is insane, as is his speed and power. Move wrong and he slaughters a party member with two hits of 35 damage.
* Morph Brendan: He likewise hits hard. But unlike Uhai, he lacks the speed, instead depending on the fact that he's likely to 2HKO people who have WTA on him, and OHKO anyone else.
* Morph Darin: He moves now. He still fails completely at life. Is pretty much the game's way of saying "here, have a free S-rank spear".
* Morph Ursula: Excalibur hits hard, and her RES is still respectable, though not as good as it used to be. DEF's rather bad, though, and her weapon's heavy.
* Morph Jerme: Amazingly, he sucks even MORE. Doesn't even drop anything.
* Morph Lloyd/Linus: These two deserve special mention on the basis that they have solid stats...before factoring in the A Support. Lloyd's the real terror here, what with having an actual critical rate off of Regal Blade, and I -really- lucked out with what I used on Hector there. Swordslayer crit took him out, and then Linus was rather helpless as he got subsequently killed with a Brave Axe crit. Had I not been so lucky, the fight would have gone a lot worse.
* Morph Kenneth: ...I don't ever remember running into this guy. Needless to say, the fact that he was still doing damage to Fiora after she got RES-buffed says something in his favor.
Nergal: ...he's there, he supposedly got turned evil by using evil magic, he wants to become god. He fails as a villain, and fails pretty spectacularly as a boss, too, given that he's been handing out S-ranks like candy and still can't OHKO anyone other than Guy. Mind, Hector can two-round him with either Armads or Basilikos, but the point stands that his stats fail to keep up with the awesome weapons you got earlier in the fight. Also, you'd think he'd take advantage of his S-ranks in magic a bit more.
Dragon: Lolwut. Plotless final that...almost does better than Nergal at being a boss. he's got something on the order of 120 HP, and monstrous defenses. If it weren't for the fact that those legendary weapons suddenly become way more useful than the S-ranks, I'd argue that he'd be a lot more competent. In practice, he was about equal, being taken out in four actions. Then again, bias due to generally good stats on all of my Lords (Especially Hector who was doing in excess of 50 damage on both the dragon and Nergal), and Luna hax.
