X-Naut

There's still an argument to be made that Skill(/Dex) ought to be more impactful for what it is. Luck is often treated as a personal stat and is a big fat 0 for enemies across half the series. It's okay for it to be treated as a weaker stat. But Skill's is considered a core stat and a defining part of a class's stat profile. It should be more weight to it if it's the focal point of a class. Part of the problem IMO is that there are too many ways to quick-fix Hit that can be piled on top of each other. Weapon triangle, supports, a litany of skills, forges, etc. If you want to make Skill's impact on Hit more relevant, you could start by taring those options back. But I think a rework of the stat is also welcome... spoilering for those who don't want to sift through it. Which conveniently brings me to my own unpopular opinion: I think WT interactions should be 1-range only. The weapon triangle is based on weapon grappling interactions that only happen IRL up close, and dropping it at 2-range might help alleviate the pressure on swords lacking common 1-2. It also reinforces bows and magic as the go-to's if you want reliable ranged attacks when hand axes can't sneak extra the Hit on all those lances. Mind you, this can only be said of the weapon weapon triangle. Alternative WTs are another can of worms I don't want to touch right now.

Ilios is humorous in that he's quite capable in some respects (as a Mage Knight) but still very inept in others (flopping HARD as a noble), ironically in the ways he valued more. Kinda reminds me of how Abel excelled as a knight but proved totally unprepared for the life he sought afterwards.

He's no favorite of mine, but I saw the Castor debate and want to throw my lamb-eared hoodie into the ring... I'm about 50/50 leaning more towards Jotari's stance on him. I can believe the tragedy in his past including the supplemental backstory, but it doesn't excuse him for parasitizing off his own allies and I do think he's lying in the second story. IMO it's more of an "I've been through this crap enough, I want enough money to make sure it never happens again!" line of thought that motivates him. He's still a skeevy swindler though, and I have a hard time liking characters whose default mood is sad sack. If he dropped the wussy mask more often and characters actually confronted him on his behavior I'd like him way more. Now I don't leave this topic empty-handed so I'll talk about an archer from those games I do like. Gordin has a really compelling story for a rank-and-file starting knight: as a newly-minted knight or not even a full-fledged knight yet, he gets separated from peers and family in humiliating circumstances and through sheer chance gets brought into exile with his prince. As the only archer ang being several years their junior, he's all alone save for that red-headed volunteer girl, and he has to look outside their circle for support. When he returns home, he's a lot more capable but he's still stuck in that awkward spot between the other senior knights and his juniors; and to his chagrin people associate him more with the latter. This leads to him growing distant and eventually joining his mentor in Archanea when the second war is all said and done. Overall, he feels like the best-developed Altean knight, and while it's subtle you get a sense he's grown between games. In the War of Heroes he's taught his brother Ryan to follow in his footsteps, and he inadvertently teaches his own teacher a new trick. Which, humorously in a meta sense, is basically Hunter's freaking Volley. It's a shame his unit design does a poor job at reflecting this, but personally I headcanon he's just not at 100% at that time. He's so busy getting everything in order behind the scenes so Altea isn't at a loss for archery talent when he leaves, that it bites into his fighting ability... yeah, that sounds like something he would do. Overdo it trying to prove he's not some hapless greenhorn anymore. Also gonna shout-out Fiora as a multi-faceted tragic character I really like. You have her backstory with Pent and her mission, and then there's her strained relationship with Farina over an incident that jeopardized another mission, her goofier interactions with Kent and Sain, and her general motherly attitude despite all she's been through. I think she exemplifies the Ilian pegasus knights rather well. Also my favorite as a unit, she has the right balance between decent starting stats and availability.

One important facet is who gets to capture. Thracia 776 let everyone without a bowlock capture, but Fates made it the personal skill of two specific units. If you're going full Fates then that has a profound impact on how useful the feature actually is. Also worth noting is that Fates capture sends units to Box 1 of the PC a holding cell and doesn't let you keep weapons, although part of this is because of the no durability system. While bosses might come to mind because of faces, I think the generics are the main prize. Fates does not let you capture bosses indiscriminately and you can't nab monsters or their equivalents, but generics are otherwise fair game. This has substantial repercussions on Hard+ where enemies get significant stat bonuses, including higher ranks in (3)DSFE. Some noteworthy prizes include the Chapter 7 Wyvern Riders in Binding Blade, H5 Chapter 3 Fighters in Shadow Dragon if those are available, and practically every promoted enemy in the early midgame.

Better idea, throw Gordin's "Ryan Minus" growths paradigm where it belongs: 🚽 (also yeah pls give Draug a real defense base, seriously he's a Knight for crying out And I'd probably give the map a 6 or 7 out of 10, it's a good premise if a slightly overbearing on enemy stats. FE12 maps generally improve the earlygame over FE3, and this might be the best improved. Between more horizontal space and a different forest layout the thief is no longer constantly hiding in Dracoknight shadow, and you can choose between Catria or Dracoknight!Arran to track him down. Two more Dracos to challenge you on the boss but they come out of the lesser mooks, and the map makes better use of the cavs and space by trying to flank you with one. As @Jotari said it's also a rare example of a moving boss that doesn't compromise his seize. Cord exists but his recruitment and performance on this map are inoffensive vs later additions. You brought up how top-heavy enemies are compared to FE11, and I agree it's an improvement; but it feels inefficient to drop enemy defenses and then raise the HP values. Slightly lower HP without Def penalties would be fine with the game's higher power standard compared to FE3. The only enemy type who might be too bulky at class base are Cavaliers, who as a class should've had one less when Roderick and Cecil both join with personal deficits. It's most pronounced on the Dracoknights: while FE3's 13 Defense is probably too much, being even harder to straw ORKO with a loaded prologue unit would drive home the value effective damage brings to the table. Totally agree that you'd need better bows if you did that though; I wish the remake didn't nerf bows by 1 Mt/10 Hit here more than ever. One last gripe, seeing level 1 promoted enemies next to level 1 unpromoteds will never feel right. I wish they capitalized on the prologue's inclusion to scale the main game up a little when that arc fills the Level 1 Babyland role.

To be fair, the prologue's sequence of events reads better if you imagine Kris as Jagen's nepo baby 🤪 In the case of P-8, I can see the argument that the map might be too overbearing but there is absolutely incentive to push back, it's called "not dying." And it's a lot more dynamic than most defense maps where you pick the points to choke; you have to manage a line that constantly shifts, leveraging your one healer, remaining vulneraries and even the throne while still killing the intruders because they will likely KO a weakened unit if they reach the next enemy phase. Could it be improved? You bet, and you could even change it up drastically... Like this right here. It could be a much more suspenseful map if you dropped the prep screen, dropped the tutor units and made it just Marth and the platoon holding out until familiar faces join as reinforcements. It'd take a big overhaul and very careful design to avoid a softlock though, especially if platoonmates got KO'd earlier. And the drugging bit is why I don't like how the tutor units are handled, specifically the senior knights. Two are the "wrong" choice in the vague chapter splits, they're being matched or even outdone by their juniors so quickly, they do jack for the narrative after you recruit them and do jack at all if you don't. (Cain being a generic drill sergeant notwithstanding) It's like the devs are intentionally making them look bad to make the new guys look better. Anyway, narrative grievances aside. I was sort of hoping you'd keep posting more than one at a time but it's your thread, you do what you do. I'll just group my chapter replies as I see fit, and Chapter 1 stands out enough to get its own post. I think this chapter's a tad too overtuned for the "first" chapter. You said it yourself, Gordin and Draug get ORKO'd by Barbarians at base without reclassing and the entire 7th Platoon save for certain Kris builds get OHKO'd or one-rounded as a Knight. Draug even gets one-rounded on Maniac! I'm amazed the Hunter one-rounds no one by comparison, and Chapter 2 sees average enemy Atk dial back a point or two. It further emphasizes the scaling problem Kris introduced, and while the prologue gave you a taste this is where the game more or less tells you it's here to stay. I also think silvers could have been added more gradually. P-8 sprinkled a few on select enemies, keep doing the same here and slowly work your way up to full silvers by Chapter 5 or 6. Midgame could also use this approach and sprinkle in a few silver forges earlier but we're a long way from Anri's Way. At least more map space and reclassing softens the problem. Also glad they cleared that clot of mountains blocking the pass.

If the prologue was skippable I might be inclined to replay FE12 more. It's just such a drag compared to the main game and my opinion on it has only soured over time. I think the biggest problem is the game's desire to kingmake Kris; customizable units work as a piece to fill out the existing team, not as an early carry who's expected to stand one head above everybody else. This leads to some "creative" solutions to making a map beatable when some of your carry's stats can swing by ten points between runs, including testing for some things I'd argue have no business being tested for. I'm also partial on the tutor units as I'll call them. While I appreciate how they flesh out the squad, I don't like that you're given the units as they'll join later on. This creates awkward an conflict of interest on who to invest in and outright screws over a few late-joiners when they return. It doesn't help that most are tied to possibly the worst "route splits" in Fire Emblem. Storywise, it also feels like Kris is cheating their way through exams when you can ditch most of the platoon and just use tutor units. Caeda and Gordin are the most egregious examples; the former is their future queen playing peon to a bunch of new recruits, including during an actual emergency. The latter should also recuse himself or not be allowed to join when his little brother's in the platoon, not to mention how distasteful his recruitment is. P-3 thru P-5 is rock bottom. An Escape Room with two Fighters who cannot be 3HKO'd by your non-Kris units, 2HKO them in return and in some cases require you to reroll for Skill stats to bait a 2% crit chance. fun /s The only positive thing I can say is I've never seen Ryan miss Caeda despite the sub-80 hit rate. Don't know if that hit's aimbotted but I'd hate to be the guy who learned it's not. Then it's immediately followed by the worst of the worst route splits in a vague after-chapter choice and the less I have to say about that the better. Thankfully it's uphill from there, with the only real bumps being Cecil making you wrap up preps on P-6 and Katarina hitting a bit too hard. (i.e. I think all the tutor units should survive a round at full) Aside from her P-8 is definitely the high point of the prologue and is a unique spin on a defense mission.

While not quite the same, characters who've been in disguise would legit be a great concept for a Ninjas banner instead of X base class.

I think the key question you need to ask is "What's in it for me?" Some people will get a sense of accomplishment out of making their favorite face go Zero to Hero; other players are looking for something they can't get out of anybody else, at least as easily. The latter is what separates units like Lachesis from the Ninos, Rolfs and Megs.

This actually ties into a pet peeve of mine, that some games grossly overuse armors as the go-to enemy type. That arguably part of the problem with armor knights: with how often they appear as enemies the devs have less incentive to tone down their flaws. If they were treated more as elite infantry and designed with that in mind we might see more meaningful armor knights. I think modern FE has been moving in the right direction in this regard, save for deployment limits like you said. And on the subject of deployment limits, I can tolerate mounts on indoor maps but the terrain should actively disfavor them. Three Houses has stairs that slow down cavalry considerably in places, and I think fliers could just have indoor maps be their desert equivalent. Another change I'd advocate is for one-tile doorways to be their own terrain type, and that they and pillars become uncrossable on mounts. The former would create infantry-only sections on maps while the latter gives them exclusive cover.

Seconding Samuel/Phina, the joke practically writes itself and they'd have a more even dynamic than Phina with Navarre. Draug and Norne already have a non-talking support and are implied to be at least somewhat close for what little crumbs they get. Gordin's part of the triangle and makes off like a bandit in comparison, let them have something. Arlen should absolutely have something with Wendell and/or Merric. Something to show that he's trying to make amends and change his ways. Problem is I think some directions wouldn't be suited towards a support since they need more than two people. Etzel/Wendell could give us some context on the former's debt to Khadein if nothing else. Castor has a couple options. Caeda, Barst or a Talysian if you want to build on his home relations, Jeorge or Gordin if you want to do something with his ending, Darros to touch on his pirate background and Lena's heist crew if you want to reference that. I think Malice would be an interesting partner on account of their deadbeat dads. Pfffhahaha that is great. Agreed on Yuliya and Jubelo with their fellow Grustians btw, and I'll go further by saying Yuliya should've been an alt recruitment option for Roger!

First question, yes. You're not gaining a stat if it's capped until you reclass to something where it isn't. Second question, it will jump back to 96 if you reclass back.

Reclassing a character subtracts the class bases from the character's stats then adds the new class's bases to that stat. Characters' personal stat totals are preserved upon reclassing, meaning you will never lose stats if you decide to change back, but the stat is still constrained by the new class's cap. Capped stats cannot be proc'd on level-ups, so if you somehow jump from one cap to another then either 1) the promotion bonus was less than the gap between caps or 2) you temporarily pivoted to another class and leveled that stat above the base class's cap. tl;dr answer to your question, Anna will gain whatever Luck promotion bonus she's due but it will not jump to 25 due to "hidden procs."

Write monthly journal entries in the cool journal my sister got me for Christmas.

I think you meant Julius for the second one, because Julia's more of an unwanted byproduct of Manfroy's master plan.