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How I Lost Lucia and a Quick Ballista Rant


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Welp, I'm in the middle of a playthrough of Path of Radiance, and I just finished Chapter 24. My army and I were on our merry way, and things were going great. A couple of my units were finally getting up to A Rank in their weapons, Ike had just defeated Rikard (The boss of the chapter), everything was awesome. And then WHAM, the one last ballista I hadn't gotten scored a crit on Lucia and knocked her out instantly. After getting over the initial shock, I had Rhys put the asshat to sleep so that wouldn't happen again, and subsequently had Kieran avenge Crimea's loss and kill the unit arming the ballista.'

Mind you, this SAME EXACT SITUATION happened on my first playthrough where Soren got hit by a critical from the same guy! I reset that time, because I couldn't go on without Soren. I didn't reset for Lucia because she didn't have any items I needed, and I already promoted both Mia and Zihark, but I still feel bad about it (Even though she'll just resurrect herself for Radiant Dawn. XD). I also lost Brom earlier in chapter 11, although that was more my fault, because I completely forgot about the wyverns. 

But yeah, I hate ballistas. Mostly because they feel so cheap. Seriously, you literally just have to sit there and take it until you can finally get over to them. Plus, if you have a flying unit, they're pretty much useless until the ballistas are taken care of, because their range usually takes up a good portion of the map. They're not even that useful for your own units (Unless it's a defense mission), because by the time you get to one, it's either out of charges, or you've already killed most of the other enemy units getting over to the ballista in the first place! So yeah, ballistas have caused me dozens of resets, and Chapter 24 of Path of Radiance is one I'm not a big fan of for it's placement of them. What are you guys' thoughts on this reoccurring element in the franchise? Thanks for reading! :)

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I can understand your frustration. At the same time ballistae are a weapon that would be deployed, so while they can be annoying to deal with. It also feels like something that WOULD be there. Fun fact Ballistae go as far back as FE4 if not further.

I'm not sure how I feel about them I don't like being shot at when I can't counter at the same time I like seeing the enemy have forces and weapons that seems like they WOULD have. I guess ultimately I like ballista and don't want to see them leave. However if Fire Emblem starts having archers function like they did in Echoes something that some people at least think will be the case based onf the FE16 trailer. It's debatable than if we' ll even need ballista. But I do think ballista can add a sense of realism to the game and I like them for that reason.

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I don't remember Ballistae being much a of a threat in my playthroughs but given how Snipers get a crit bonus in PoR, I can see some players having this unfortunate mishap on this particular chapter because of that.

If you ask me what I remember most about Ballistae, it's probably the comical losses youtubers suffer from them like this one here by Mangs. So easy to overlook the Long Ballistae...

Edited by Dr. Tarrasque
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You don't have to sit there and take it when you have a bulky enough Paladin or a flier with the anti-air neutralizer.

Besides, PoR ballista are among the worst in the series (unless you fly), try Blazing Blade's that become invisible when rode in the fog and can MOVE.

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I'm with @Dr. Tarrasque - I never saw ballista as a major threat in PoR, at least not if a sniper isn't at the helm, in which case low defense and/or luck units beware. Most of my rage against ballistae can be directed at one game in particular - Shadow Dragon. One level has you go through a map where ballisticians are pretty much the only enemies on the map. Ugh.

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Ballistae are hardly a threat to me in FE9. You can highlight enemy ranges, so a fragile unit misplacement should never happen. Ballistae Atk doesn't add in Str either, it just uses the weapon's ~20 Mt, so anyone with decent to good Def won't be taking much damage (and Lucia in this regard is quite poor with a 10 base).

As for fliers, the Full Guard is obtained without difficulty fairly early on, making ballistae survival for at least one flier a cinch. For the rest, well okay 36-44 Atk is hefty, but base Haar's 20 Def 47 HP can still shrug off a hit and do a little enemy phasing- thanks to FE9 only doubling Mt for the effective bonus.

Ballistae do favor the enemy, but I'm fine with some enemy-exclusive tools. And PoR is certainly a game where they aren't a major issue.

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The only game I've played in the series I can remember with ballistas is Blazing Blade and in that game they seemed so inaccurate that it wasn't worth getting them. Sure it keeps the archers out of harms way, but I'll gladly take a chance if it means they can actually contribute damage in fight.

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