62 replies to this topic

[Magnus Blade]

Mah boi.

As others mentioned, he has quite a challenging start. But it isn't so bad. Given the load of fighters/bandits you fight in early game, he has WTA for a nice bit of early game to give him a nice boost start to keep up with the other Greil Mercenaries. With growth rates like that (Plus any band of your choice), RNG screwage is close to rare. Though he'll most likely still have problems dealing damage and taking it if he refuses to gain any strength/defense on the first few level ups.

Mid-game, he still has his uses. Since this is HM, he won't jump to level 20 until around say...Chapter 14-16 ish if you are constantly putting him to work and trying to level everyone up equally to at least have a few promoted before he does. Given that he promotes just about 2-3 chapters after that, you basically won't have to wait too long to start placing him back in the front lines.

From mid to late, he destroys the game. Literally. By promotion and on Chapter 18-19, he's already solid enough to be late game material after a couple of level ups. He receives some pretty sweet promotional gains (Mainly +3 gains in certain stats). He then breaks the game if you feed him an occult. Though against the Black Knight and Ashnard, it's a little unreliable that Aether is your only hope to dish out some good damage for the kill if you don't want to waste skills on Ike for those battles only, since those skills can go to better candidates who need them more desperately than he does. But that's only if you want Nasir (Not factoring him in my rating). :\

I have no hesitations on giving my favorite character a 10/10. Not because of bias, but he's most likely one of the best Beorc units to have on your team. Plus he's forced. Takes little effort to make him tough as a rock.

Edited by Magnus Blade, 27 March 2012 - 04:28 PM.

[myraceislaguz]

With me close to finishing up PoR for my first time, this is what I think.

9.5/10

Ike starts out fairly weak (but to me better than "the professional") and dies easily if you aren't careful with him. Then his stats explode (leveled up each stat once). Then he promotes. Then he gets Aether. Then he gets FREAKING RAGNELL and becomes a beorc god among beorc. Plus, bias.

[dondon151]

seriously guys?

ike is super mediocre

[Sangyul]

I like Ike. He's my favorite FE lord of the games that I've played with, in both of his games. He has the strengths of Hector, Lyn, Eliwood, Eirika, and Ephraim combined into one: great growths all around (40% defense and resistance growths, whaaat?); high caps to take advantage of his growths; and a great personal weapon come endgame. And the thing that puts Ragnell above the likes of all other legendary weapons before it (minus Falchion) is that it doesn't break. And it also has 2-range. That is awesome!

But Ike is not without his problems. His bases, while not terrible, are shaky and he will probably have a little trouble surviving at first. He doesn't fly or have a mount, and he never will. He's sword-locked for the entire game, which does hamper him a bit. And he exists in PoR, which is a game in which everyone is usable thanks to BEXP. And apparently Marcia, Jill, and Titania may break the game. But ... Ike is pretty much a really good unit. He also has an awesome affinity. Plus, he doesn't take forever to promote, unlike SOME other lords. (Pretty much all of them in the GBA games). I think his strengths mostly overcome his weaknesses.

I don't do bias points.

9/10

Edit:

9/10 (-.5 for no pony, -.25 for not being Sigurd, -.25 for Swordlock).

Sigurd doesn't exist in this game. So I don't see why you'd dock him for not being Sigurd. Especially since we're not comparing FE9 to FE4.

Edited by Boron, 27 March 2012 - 04:52 PM.

[fuzz94]

He is pathetic earlygame but grows like a monster. Although he could be stuck at level 20 for a while, when he does promote he becomes a boss. By the end of the game the kid is almost unstoppable, and then Ragnell just makes him all that much more beastly.

9/10 +1 bias (mainly for being a tank in his other appearances)

so that makes 10/10

[Hyde]

5/10

Ike is basically Eliwood with boosted growths. I think his bad start is much worse than a lot of people in this topic are making it out to be. I can't pull up any numbers, but I distinctly remember Ike struggling a bit even after promoting the last time I played PoR.

Edited by Charlie, 27 March 2012 - 04:53 PM.

[Scarlet]

As I'm seeing a lot of "but he gets RNG-screwed" thrown about in here, I'd like to point out that the OP states that these ratings assume Fixed Mode. In other words, no stat screwage (or blessing, for that matter) can occur.

[ALEXANDER]

Pros:
Good growths
MASTERY RAPE
Earth affinity
Uses Ragnell
Availability (duh)

Cons:
Early durability is poopy (He wants that first seraph robe)
Sword locked means no 1-2 range outside of magic swords/Ragnell
Slow and laggy as hell SSBB doing it wrong


Rating: 9/10

[Tyrant Sage]

So mediocre and underwhelming. Swordlocked, late promotion and foot movement. Not even that special after promotion.

5/10.

[Esaka]

8.5

He takes a while, so yeah. Does pretty good for a foot unit. He is around forever so you might as well use him

[Peekayell]

Finally, a game I know enough about to participate in one of these! Easily among the best lords ever to grace Fire Emblem. Sigurd still beats him, though. I find that earlygame he's powerful enough with the Robe boosting HP, but whenever I do a runthrough he suffers from Roy Syndrome for a few chapters as he just awkwardly sits there and doesn't get any XP for kills. Promoted? Give him Aether (And Parity for the Black Knight fight), and watch shit get real 9/10 (-.5 for no pony, -.25 for not being Sigurd, -.25 for Swordlock).

Read the rules. No "Not X character" reasonings. Ill let it slip this time, since its only .25. Also, @ a lot of people saying he is prone to RNG screwage - Read the rules before voting please. This is Fixed mode, theres no way to get a screwed ike here. Ill let it slip this time though since its the first day and it doesnt seem to be affecting the scores too much.

[Little Al]

9/10

Sure he has a shaky start, but then again, so do others in the game. Even early joiners not named Titania. He's pretty good once his growths kick in, and better still after promotion. Aether is a good skill and all, but he can also take advantage of that Wrath scroll (best scroll to give him, IMO) during almost the same time Aether is available. Then we have Resolve which, especially when combined with Wrath, gives him the power of the Valkyrur definitely helps with Ashnard. Unfortunately, Resolve almost shares Ragnell's availability, but hey! What can you do?

The only other issue is the lack of 2-range outside of the Sonic Sword, Runesword, and Ragnell though.

Edited by Little Al, 27 March 2012 - 05:49 PM.

[General James]

Ike is overrated as all hell, but he is still good.

Spoiler -

He starts off a bit(READ:very)unimpressive. 5 str is the lowest out of your initial group(yes, Oscar has a higher str base than Ike), so he isn't hitting very hard at first(esp. with sword-lock), and he also has the lowest HP base out of the group. 5 def is tied with Boyd, except that he(Boyd)has 11 higher HP, so his durability is better anyway. The Ch1 seraph robe will fix Ike's HP problem, but you might be saving it for a flimsier unit. He also has poor avoid for a while except against axes, and even those have ~50 hit on him. In short, Ike is blocking axes with his face. Now, he is doubling since the enemies are dumbasses and like to weigh themselves down, but his Atk is still low enough to not one-round for a good while.

However, Ike grows very well, and will soon leave those humble beginnings. He has ridiculous offensive growths(50str/55spd) and great defensive growths(75HP/40Def/40Res); however, those growths will need to get him out of his hole before he's considered above average, which is about Lv10. Once he starts growing, he will soon kill shit in 3-4 hits at least, double everything, and get 4HKO'd or better at decent hit rates, which is good by this game's standards. Earth affinity does Ike a lot of favors since it grants him a ridiculous avoid boost, but in all seriousness, his avoid isn't anything special until he gets a B support, which is around Ch11-12.

As far as his promotion goes, he promotes at the end of C17, around the same time as everyone else(unlike Roy, who promotes at the ass end of his game)and gets great promo bonuses(including +3 Str/Def), and access to his mastery skill, Aether. Basically, once promoted, Ike is a monster. He will kill everything he touches in 2 rounds at most(usually one)and his HP/def and avoid means he isn't getting close to dying, and even if there is something that he can't two round, he has Aether as a backup(he has 18% activation at 20/1 IIRC). His supports are probably established by now(B Oscar/B Soren; Oscar could even be at A if you don't want to give Soren the A with Ike), so he has great avoid. As if that's not enough, he gets Ragnell in Ch27-2, and from there, a giant walks among you. 44 Atk at 1-2 range and 52HP/23Def(28 with Ragnell bonuses) is just ridiculous.

The only thing destroying his bid for a ten, or even a nine, is his shaky earlygame, infantry move, and his lack of 1-2 range before he gets Ragnell.

8.5

Edited by Mercenary James, 27 March 2012 - 05:49 PM.

[Zeem]

What a badass.

Ike is doubling almost everything from the start. He reaches level 20 pretty fast, and he has to wait until after chapter 17 to promote. Once he does, he'll completely solo the rest of the game (even though he probably will before hand, since FE9 isn't too difficult). Aether or Resolve/Wrath will further the massacre, and Ragnell's the icing on the cake.

9/10, +1 bias because Ike's a fucking badass. 10/10.

EDIT: His bases are pretty mediocre, but his growths help him out a ton. Plus, earlygame is an axe fest. Well, at least until chapter 4. His DEF growth (40%) is pretty good, though, so he should hold his own against the soldiers.

Edited by zeldamaster456, 27 March 2012 - 06:17 PM.

[Hamlet]

Gary Stu 0/10

Ike starts decent. He has swordlock throughout the game, which helps in the first few chapters when he's in axeland. Afterward, though, he's in lanceland. And he needs all the help he can get in lanceland.
Statistically he rocks, but he needs constant babying. He needs to be babied for the first nine chapters after he promotes to be able to beat the Black Knight in 27, which, we're assuming will happen in optimal situations minus Ena, right?
He rocks with either Aether or a Resolve/Wrath combo, as well. And he can claim those fairly easily over other units.


Also, -1 BIAS BECAUSE I HATE HIM UTTERLY

6/10 after bias.

[Hyde]

As I'm seeing a lot of "but he gets RNG-screwed" thrown about in here, I'd like to point out that the OP states that these ratings assume Fixed Mode. In other words, no stat screwage (or blessing, for that matter) can occur.

That's actually not true. Fixed mode doesn't ensure your characters reach their averages. A lot of different factors influence a character's stat gains in fixed mode, and characters can still be "blessed" or "screwed" depending on your actions. For example, My Mia capped strength not too long after promoting when I last played fixed mode, putting her well above average in that area.

If anything, "assume average stats" would be a better stipulation.

[Sangyul]

Read the rules. No "Not X character" reasonings.

I think that his "not Sigurd" docking was particularly ridiculous because Ike and Sigurd don't even exist in the same f*****g game. If FE4 rate the unit threads don't let "not Sigurd" be a reason to dock points from characters and FE8 rate the unit threads don't let "not Seth" be a valid reason for point deduction, why would "not Sigurd" be allowed in rating Ike, when the two don't even exist in the same game?

Edited by Boron, 27 March 2012 - 08:13 PM.

[Gone2Ground]

Dude...-.25! It was a joke! Seriously! It was more -.5 for Swordlock.

[Sangyul]

Dude...-.25! It was a joke! Seriously! It was more -.5 for Swordlock.

My point isn't that you took off a fraction of a point. It was the reasoning itself that was ridiculous. Like I said: if we're not allowed to compare characters in Sigurd's game to Sigurd, then why would we be able to compare Ike to Sigurd when they do not even exist in the same game?


It's not because you took off points. It's because bringing up "not Sigurd" for a character not even in his game is ridiculous.

[Tyrant Sage]

ITT Boron does not understand the concept of trolling.