FE10: Finished!
Final Team was:
Ike: Is Awesome. Physical tank with offense. Mine was fast cause i fed him speed wings so I can unlock SUPER PC, so yeah <_<. Fun fact is he didn't get an SS in Swords until E-4. Why? Cause I used him with axes a lot during Part 4 so...
Sanaki: Fed her a bunch of stat buffers, she was decent! ...yeah, she really needs them. Anyway, blessed Meteor so she could attack without fear of counters, generally worked. Using Shade/Stillness (forget which!) certainly didn't hurt things.
Micaiah: Extra staff user doesn't hurt, Magic Tank, Magic Nuking, used Rexaura cause it can actually break the Final Bosses Res, and its free damage against her as well. Gave her Resolve since unlike other Mages, she has Corona, thus can make full use of low HP boosts instead of accidentally offsetting. This never really kicked in though...
Sothe: ...amazing what 6 extra levels can do to him. He didn't seem all that bad this time! 28 Strength Cap is lose and fail though; even with Baselard, he struggles to kill some enemies. Though, his evasion was awesome, and I gave him Daunt to maximize it.
Kurthnaga: Tank. Not much else to him really! Night Tide is awesome. Believe I gave him Provoke to further make use of the tanking, and Adept cause his speed sucks and he doesn't double much.
Ena: Magic Tank! Imbue makes her never need healing. Blood Tide is also awesome.
Elincia: Dragon Foe on her butchers E-3. Otherwise, she kills things dead unless they are generals on defense panels, and can use staves. Good evasion offsets the lowish durability to physicals some. Took Dragon Foe off for the last 2 chapters in place of something minor. Oh, she also had Savior, for all that she never used it. Ended up blessing Amiti which actually did help since she managed to hurt the Auras in the final battle some!
Nephenee: Is Nephenee. Can't remember what skill I gave her for some reason. Anyway, evades stuff, high defense to tank stuff if she's hit, kills things with Forged Javelins. That pretty much sums up what she was doing...until she get Wishblade...then she got better! Wishblade was her Blessed Weapon.
Mia: Never gets hit! Vague Katti was her weapon. Gave her Adept and Cancel. Why? Cause that set up lets her kill Red Dragons with a Brave Sword doing 5 damage a hit if she's lucky!
...ok, seriously, its cause Adept compliments her awesome speed, and Cancel lets her avoid counters some. She had Tempest Blade, Brave Sword and Killing Edge for back ups and such.
Reyson: Had Paragon only cause there was really not much else to give him! He's not really getting into fights so...anyway, Heron, etc.
Giffca: Closest thing I used to a Laguz Royal. Why? I wanted to be remotely fair, but at the same time, I wanted a trump card to fall back on in case things got iffy. Giffca was the obvious character; stats are close to Caineghis', Laguz Gem is like Formshift except he can't attack turn 1. Didn't even need the Laguz Gem in E-3 cause he starts with a full gauge (all NonHerons seem to), and Lion Upkeeps are pretty awesome (not as good as Dragons though!)
Anyway, he's about as good as you expect, a slightly worse Caineghis, etc.
Skills he got included Wrath (I'm aware he didn't need it, but it was a left over!), Nihil (lets him attack Dheggy without fear of a OHKO, if nothing else), and Provoke (...I can't think of a better PC to give this too.)
Jill: Capped nearly every stat! Anyway, had a Forged Brave Axe. This...meant she couldn't hurt Dheggy, but wasn't a big deal anyway. She was one of my better PCs in any event. Mobile Tank that kills stuff, and isn't weak to Arrows. Dragon Lords are hax in this game. Can't remember what skill I gave her offhand though...think Savior was one of them, for obvious reasons.
Haar: Was worse than Jill since RNG wasn't as kind/ended up a lower level. Still was awesome for a lot of the same reasons. He got to wield Urvan. Also gave him Adept for that extra oomph since his speed wasn't quite high enough to double.
Mist: ALONDITE DEATH WIELDING GIRL ON A HORSE! ...more seriously, mobile healer so that Elincia could kill things. Wielded Fortify in the last battle. And yes, Alondite was her blessed weapon, no, it didn't really get much use. I gave her Parity as well, since it helps her get around those annoying +10 Defense Panels. She also butchered the bishop swarm in E-1. Also gave her Shade to avoid being targetted.
Shinon: Thinking he was better than Rolf overall. Rolf's better at insuring things die, but Shinon's more durable, and doubles more enemies. Either way, you should be using one of the two, since Double Bow is sick (and was his Blessed Weapon!) Completely decimated Dheggy since he could fire from Range 3, and doubled him. Had Parity, which in hindsight was a bit of a waste; he could avoid counters, so really, didn't need a Nihil like effect. Alternatively, though, let him be more effective against the Auras (gets around their panels AND their counters.) Also ended up getting Imbue cause he had room for it.
Pelleas: A bit disappointing until he got Balberith, then he was good. Another staff user too. Being able to use Lightning Magic is of course helpful for obvious reasons. Didn't use him in the final chapter, though, if only so I could give Balberith to the Super PC whose, well, better in every single way but physical defense (which is offset by him healing 40 HP a turn anyway!) Gave him Celerity for that extra movement boost.
Soren: Used him for the special Ike conversation. Blasted things with Rexcalibur as his Blessed weapon. No, can't remember what skill(s) he got offhand either. Didn't hurt that he could use Staves for an extra healer in a pinch.
Anyway, things I've come to realize this playthrough?
Laguz Thoughts are the only thing I'm going to bring up!
...I'm ignoring Dragons since they're...very different in many ways, and you have so little access to them, its hard to compare. Herons are of course excluded too!
First off, just to get it out of the way...
Caineghis =~ Tibarn > Nailah > Naesala.
These are the 4 best Laguz for...obvious reasons. Caineghis is a beastly tank who really doesn't die, and hits really damned hard. It says something that he can tank Ire. Also, twink potential. No, I'm not being silly; he has a potential of 4 open skill slots, and hellishly high CP like the others. Best PC in the game? Possible!
Tibarn's a more balanced Royal, and generally worse, especially with Arrow Weakness, HOWEVER, he flies and has ridiculous, which...really, is possibly enough to offset Caineghis. I'm kneejerking him as being worse, but yeah, he's close. Also candidate for Best PC in the game.
Nailah is Tibarn who doesn't fly, and lacks Arrow weakness (different elemental weakness, but they offset each other really.) Losing trade frankly. She's still of course completely bad ass!
Naesala is the worst Royal. Has the weakest Weapon of the 4, let alone he only starts with an S instead of an SS, so its ESPECIALLY noteworthy for being weaker, and lowest level, thus lowest starting stats. The overkill speed in practice means absolutely nothing compared to Tibarn and Nailah who double everything anyway (heck, Caineghis doubles most things!) He's Tibarn-, all things considered.
Of course, the term "Worst Laguz Royal" translates to "only 4th best PC in the game" so really, that's a pretty back handed insult.
But now, for the SLIGHTLY MORE INTERESTING PART MAYBE!
NON ROYAL/HERON/DRAGON LAGUZ RANKINGS!
1. Giffca: Obvious. He's basically a Laguz Royal without Formshift. Stats are similarly ridiculous, comes with his Mastery Skill...really, all he needs is a spare Laguz Gem. Heck, a Laguz Stone and some Olivi Grass and he's set. Kind of hard to argue this!
2. Ulki. Tough between choosing him vs. the #3 option, but...when it came down to it, the movement, and Vigilance are just too hax to ignore. Enemies don't break 20 hit against him ever, often getting 0s...exceptions being Crossbows, but he should NEVER attack those unless his first hit is an insured kill. Also immune to Criticals in practice for that matter. Definitely a very good PC who I don't regret using regularly.
3. Skrimir. Giffca-lite. He's worse in...well, everything, and lacks the innate Mastery. Still tanks very well, hits hard, and can actually double things in 4-P and 4-3. Lion Transformation rates are awesome if you don't mind using 2 Olivi Grass to get him to transform faster (they're Turn 4 with Olivi Grass instead of Turn 3 like Cats/Hawks/Tigers are), which using your Heron, can be made into a Turn 2 transformation. People who give him Wild Heart waste his potential on that note <_<
4. Janaff. He's...Ulki, all things considered...except with Insight instead of Vigilance. We call this a losing trade. See, Hawk's big awesome stat is Skill...and Laguz Weapons have high hit...the last thing Janaff needed was MORE HIT. And BETTER FoW PC! matters for like one chapter where he can be used (4-1.) Better offensively due to higher strength IIRC. Regardless, he's still pretty bad ass. Doubles just about everything, enemies have issues hitting him, things that do hit don't hurt hard enough...yeah. Hawks are awesome in this game...at least the PC ones. Enemy Hawks SUCK outside of how flight makes them harder to guard against.
5. Mordecai. 30 Defense or whatever in Part 2. That's all that needs to be said. He's an incredible tank when shifted, and Tiger rates, like Hawks, are adequate enough to make him not annoying to be used (turn 3 with one Olivi Grass.) He's a bit lacking on speed, admittedly, so his offense could use work, though, he does hit hard for someone who can only hit once at least.
6. Nealuchi. He's Janaff/Ulki with less offense, and slower transformation. Also rejoins a bit under leveled. He's solid enough, but felt he could use an extra boost somewhere. Slower transformation than the Hawks was really not needed.
7. Muarim. A bit surprised by this, honestly. I was thinking Muarim would be lower but...well, despite rejoining underleveled, his defense and strength are high enough that he last a decent amount in 4-4. The lack of usability hurts, and the fact that getting him Olivi Grass requires using other PCs turns and such.
8. Ranulf. Ok, it was tough between him and Volug, but handed it to Ranulf on grounds that Ranulf transforms faster, and is better out of the gate. Actually, Ranulf would be a fine PC if he WASN'T A FREAKING CAT. Cat's suck. They run out of gas too fast, and have one of the worst weapons (I think only Ravens have worse.) If he was a tiger, he'd be higher. Yes, transformation upkeeps matter that much.
9. Volug. Everything the cats wish they were! This is offset by having Lion Transformation Rates. I know you're thinking "but you just said that's easy to work around!" and you'd be right...the difference? Wolves have Tiger's Transformation Upkeeps. This means its harder for him to transform, AND its harder for him to maintain it. Its just like Ravens, except Ravens Fly so that compensates some (...Hawks are just silly admittedly.) Anyway, he likes to double things, and has good evade, but...felt something was missing, probably cause he's generally hard to keep up to speed (gets garbage EXP during Part 1 where he's either overleveled OR EXP Gains are slammed due to Wildheart, and then limited use in Part 3 to further catch up.) He's not bad, but definitely wanted more.
10. Kyza. A Tiger without what makes Tigers awesome, aka the awesome tanking. ALTERNATIVELY, Ranulf with better transformation rates, but lacks the overleveledness aspect that makes Ranulf actually good. I can see what they were aiming at with him; a midway between a Cat and a Tiger, and they did choose the right race (Tigers > Cats, period.) The problem? Generally balanced stats in a Fire Emblem game don't really mesh, FEs tend to be better when you work with extremes (notice how the highest laguz are those with either obscene defense stats OR really awesome evade? Kyza's more like "above average" in both. Alternatively, its like why Lyn and Hector are generally regarded as better than Eliwood.) Kyza's hit by this. Worst part? He joins when Mordecai Rejoins *AND* when Ranulf is starting to get forced, and Janaff/Ulki join not much longer after. Trying to work with that many Laguz at once hurts, and its obvious who are the better ones.
11. Vika. Ok, now we reach the real scrubs. Vika wins for the following reasons above the bottom two. First off, she flies; Ravens and Hawks have this nice niche of having Shove *AND* Canto to boot. Next off, she has Part 1 in her favor. She's actually really good there! Pity it doesn't last long, and she's near useless when she rejoins underleveled. All things considered, Vika is Nealuchi, if Nealuchi joined even more under leveled. Nealuchi's underlevedness hurt, but it wasn't un-salvageable (some bonus EXP or feed him a few kills, he'll catch up. He also rejoins earlier), Vika's is...Nino level...and when caught up, she's not much better than Nealuchi, let alone Janaff/Ulki...to say nothing of Tibarn and Naesala, who yes, now matter cause all that's left is really Endgame arc, and if you're using a Laguz, you're PROBABLY just going to use the Royals.
ANyway, yeah, she sucks after Part 1.
12. Lethe. Horrible fail. Even transformed in Part 2 where she's got a decent level edge, she STILL felt like the least effective character in Chapter 2-2, barring MAYBE Heather, who offsets this by not having to worry about being caught off guard (Read: Untransformed), has Rogue utilities, and can attack from Range to avoid counters anyway. Her evasion in the early parts doesn't really stand out, and her damage is poor. She's...well, exactly what's wrong with cats! Oh yeah, being a cat makes her suck too.
13. Lyre. Cause Lethe wasn't bad enough, the game hands you UNDERLEVELED LETHE! I really don't need to explain why she sucks. SHe's...quite possibly the worst character in the game. If she isn't, I'm open to who actually is. A Laguz whose underleveled, worst race in the game of them, and once caught up, STILL isn't very good.
Ok, got that out of my system!
Anyway, moving on from there...
DMC1 Hard Mode: Was trying to beat this before DLC3, but...failed, since Mundus is a whore and I don't feel like farming Red Orbs for an untouchable from the enemies in the area at the time. Also needed to start packing too, etc. Anyway, its fun otherwise!
FF4DS: Yeah, started this, just beat Antlion. Withdrawing thoughts for now, probably overkilled you all with the FE10 talk.
