thunderstrife

I mean, it depends how you define the quality of the series. Obviously 1, 3, 11, and kinda 12 were lacking a lot in this respect since they reflect a very early manifestation of the series where tactics was the focus and characters were very peripheral. (I can't speak for Gaiden since I haven't played it). FE4 and 5 had a decent amount of characterization for important characters, and not as much for other characters - I'd say that FE13 is better than 4&5 in this regard. FE6-10 had really thoughtful supports and characterization as we have come to expect from FE games and every character is given at least something unique even if it's a re-hashed anime character trope. I would say that FE13 matches up pretty well with this standard. Hope that answers your question.

Mark's stats and growths are based on MUs and his/her mother's so best/worst would have an indirect, but not direct, effect.

I find Liz's character to be very annoying in the beginning, but she fades a bit into the background toward the middle/end as far as talking is concerned so maybe not. I don't find Mariabel annoying personally, she's basically Clarine (as opposed to Serra who I thought didn't pull off the stuck-up thing well). Personally have no problem with Sumia (or Cynthia) even though they fall under that shy/clumsy character trope.

I seriously doubt Paris will be Ike - why would it be? Ike will be DLC if anything.

So we're expecting Paris/whoever (the last Spotpass map character) in 2 weeks?

Do you feel weird playing most RPGs where the main character is male? M!MU: Mariabel, Olivia, Serge, Sumia F!MU: Donny, Grego, Ronku

Yes, a Japanese 3DS will play FE12.

I'm in basically the same position as you (except I can read Japanese at about an intermediate level), and I ultimately decided to wait it out. If the 3DS wasn't region-locked I'd have bought it same-day as the release, but I couldn't justify shelling out like $250 for one game (I have a U.S. 3DS so I would only be using it for the one game).

The problem with reclassing in FE11/FE12 was that there were basically no limitations. Like, you could reclass every unit, every chapter, with no penalty. At least the new way forces you to make decisions about who you want to use, what class you want, etc. The old system required no foresight: you could have most/all your units mounted in a large-map chapter, and then immediately switch everyone to magic users for the next. And I'm confused what you're saying about this game forcing you to pick from classes with "low/no weapon rank" - but how is that not true in FE11/FE12? If you reclass Nabarl to Cavalier, his lance rank is going to be the class minimum. The new system gives a reason to actually objectively look at different units and compare them. Like "Sumiacan promote laterally to X, Y and Z, whereas Tiamo can access A, B and C" rather than every "who is better" debate just boiling down to stats and availability. If you ask me, some limitations make the game WAY more interesting - because it forces you to utilize strategy which is what attracts most people to Fire Emblem.

Yea, that's my thought every time I see these topics. Even producing+using every kid requires the use of a lot of units. I think in any given game I'll only end up using 2-4 kids, and maybe a normal mode playthrough with all of them. Anything beyond 1 or 2 reclassings per child (including parents' changes) seems impractical.

It's definitely a matter of preference. Personally, I haven't played the game yet, but I can't imagine it surpassing my reverence for FE5 which I thought was amazing (mostly because it presented a challenge without resorting to hard modes which essentially just juiced up enemy stats - yawn). That said, I felt that FE7 and FE8 were pretty weak titles (of the GBA I liked FE6 far about those 2), I felt they were pretty barren mechanics wise and the chapters felt very repetitive (with some exceptions). I can empathize a bit on re-classing. I feel like even branched promotions tend to create blatant biases in class choices - in fact, I think it has yet to be balanced in any of the games where it has been tried. It also tends to eat away at unit's individuality if you play for story/characters at all. I can also say that this game *SEEMS* like FE8 where pretty much all the characters are good (to an extent), which I suppose can be taken either way. Personally, as far as uniqueness goes by unit, I would have LOVED to see personalized states and Prf weapons rather than only class-assigned units. I would definitely have to disagree with your friend about melee/magic mix units. I think they are the most fun and interesting units to incorporate into your army - it opens up a little more strategy (e.g. a swordmaster is obviously just interested in strength, whereas a mage knight/etc might excel at one or the other, or both, and be valuable to the player in a different way).