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 Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2014 9:36 am
Yeah, Nolan is pretty amazing. When we were doing best/worst in series, for Fighters/Warrios is was basically just a struggle between Nolan and Othin. And I put it like this: Othin is the epitome of offense, Nolan is the epitome of defense.
When you get him, he's one of your bulkiest units in the DB and it is a huge blessing to have someone that can take a few hits as opposed ONE hit. He's also got an Earth affinity which is what REALLY makes him the golden standard of survival for his team. You've got Volug and Zihark who also both have Earth for 'dat double Earth which eventually makes you virtually untouchable. It doesn't matter much in Part 1, but it REALLY comes into play come Part 3.
He DOES have less than perfect hit early on though. Even with all that speed for a Fighter, he frequently doesn't reach the 100% mark, the typical curse of the class. When forging becomes available I always forge him some extra accuracy. It eventually stops being a problem but it is interesting he starts with a less-accurate Steel Axe instead of an Iron Axe. The power is often overkill and you lose some potential accuracy. Intentional to balance Nolan...? Perhaps.
So he eventually has the Earth/Earth A support (or should) and becomes an unkillable wrecking ball for a group that NEEDS something like that. Can't forget his defense-boosting Tarvos. Awesome defensively. Got it. But he also has some fantastic tricks up his sleeve. For one, he's the best user of the early hammer you get in the game, but even more important is his incredible use of Beast Foe once he promotes to Warrior. I went into detail about this strategy in Leonardo week, because it is one of the best things Leonardo can bring to the table. But I also pointed out that unfortunately for Leo, the much-more usable Nolan can do the exact same thing except with far greater power and survivability (technically the same power because of how crossbows work, but he can fall back on his axe much more reliably). Just slap a Crossbow on him, slap Beast Foe on him for Part 3, and watch him obliterate the Laguz-heavy chapters. He'll be simultaneously untouchable and able to one-round virtually everything Beast or Bird. So... 99.99% of their Laguz enemies in Part 3. I think there are MAYBE a couple of dragons in their last chapter in Part 3. Maaaaybe. If you fight them at all. Come Part 4, because the DB is frequently underleveled, Nolan and his support partner ALWAYS go with Tibarn's army for me. Because the Beastfoe+Crossbow strategy is a goldmine on Izuka's exp festival. From Part 3 forward, I never fight an untransformed Laguz because of the lower exp. It's simply not necessary when you have units like Nolan who can reliably take on transformed Laguz.
Nolan also hits the essential speed cap for End game of 34 to double spirits, which DOES make him an amazing candidate for the Urvan. Probably the best candidate for it followed by Jill probably. Haar and Titania want a Brave Axe because of their lower Speed Cap.
He's actually one of my units who has maxed out ALL stats before. Oh bexp, silly exploitable bexp.
He also has the second highest total growths in the game IIRC, second only to Micaiah. I could easily look that up to be certain, but don't feel like it. It's just miraculous that they gave fighters a spread like they did with him. To actually prioritize speed over strength. No doubling issues here after he gets going.
As a character, we all love Nolan for being the TRUE leader of the Dawn Brigade, and an EDUCATED Fighter reading books and such. A shame he didn't get fleshed out supports, but the designer notes are something. Best Fighter in the series. One of the best units in the game.
You put yourself at a disadvantage by NOT using him.
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Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 9:48 pm
Well! It's one Fighter after another! It's Boyd week! Quite a happy coincidence.
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Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 9:12 pm
So.... Boyd is quite the Fighter. Love using him in FE9. Don't really use him in FE10 unless I'm going out of my way to do so. He DOES have a lot of unique niches about him in the series and in both games he's in though. Also, anti-Fighter FE players (and there are a lot of y'all) seem to like Boyd more than most Fighters if they HAVE to use one.
I'll start out with some of the unique qualities about him. For one, he's terrible at FE10 style Bexp Abuse. His stat growth distribution is rather solid, but he doesn't cap ram multiple stats at a fairly lower level. It's level 17 in Tier 2 before he's expected to cap just one stat (HP) and he'll have 260% growths left for those few levels so it's not much abuse anyway. Tier three, he can cap more stats and make Bexp level ups look more impressive... at level 15. By the time he's reached that level it's not really necessary. That all sounds like a very bad niche, and it kind of is. But it flips into a sort of positive on Hard Mode of FE10. You know, the one where Bexp is reduced and much harder to expend for Bexp Abuse on multiple characters? Suddenly, characters that capitalize a lot from Bexp level ups can't take advantage of it simultaneously and are likelier to get level ups with fewer remaining growths. But not Boyd. He'll enjoy the entirety of his good growths for a very long time.
I want to make it clear he doesn't have bad growths in FE10 just because he's not goot at Bexp abuse. It's just the way his stat caps are distributed in relation to his growths.
He's also the only Fighter type in the series to be able to participate in a Triangle Attack with his brothers. Love that they have a Triangle Attack. Totally didn't think to talk about it during Oscar week, who is also in a unique position for having access to it and not being a peg or Knight in FE6. And with fabulous strength, you KNOW Boyd can make use of it if you happen to be using him to pull off the Triangle Attack. A shame they're very frequently impractical. Been thinking of making a topic to discuss them, but that's for another thread. ANYWAY. It's a cool novelty you can play with on him if you're using his brothers. Oscar's always good so that's easy to justify. Too bad Rolf... is not. So easily considered 'good'. He's usable but not practical. But again, that's something to discuss another week.
Personally, I think Boyd shines in FE9. In FE10, when you get a lot of units at the exact same time as him and you KNOW you're using Nolan who you can bring to Endgame, it's easy to dismiss him. Nolan is just so much more essential to use in the DB than Boyd is for the GM. He's certainly usable and gets the job done but he really doesn't stand out in comparison with the people he's competing with for deployment. Axe user? Titania is much easier to level to third tier AND has Canto and horse utility. Shinon has him beat on Crossbow shenanigans. As a plain-old damage dealer, he gets the job done, but really, most of your units do. He'll actually have a harder time getting to third tier than most in most conditions because of the lack of exploitable niches like Bexp Abuse and the like. Use him if you want to, but if you don't you're not really losing out too much circa FE10 if you don't.
FE9 though. Where he comes very early and he's much more justifiable for a slot. And there isn't some OTHER Fighter that's virtually essential. Boyd's got it going on in FE9.
As a character... he fits THAT role. You know the one. But the stuff he has going on with his brothers definitely sets him apart from just being THAT Fighter guy. The conversation with Rolf's mother in FE10 is still totally awesome. And Boyd did have to grow up very fast to help Oscar as a provider in the Greil Mercenaries. Oscar had to sacrifice his chosen career. But that alone implies having already been an adult with a job. Boyd, though. Boyd is younger and also forced to work to provide for their family. It makes sense that he's the Fighter. Props to Boyd for that.
Plus he gets one of the few canon Tellius pairings with Mist. Suck it, Rolf!
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 1:41 pm
Oh the irony FD. First Nolan, and now we get to discuss Boyd now!
Boyd is your early starting axe fighter in FE9, and not to mention he's the only fighter that can promote into the warrior class in that game. He joins right after Ike's training prologue chapter along with Oscar, and Titania. Eventually Boyd does really begin to grow pretty high HP, very good strength, and even enough speed to handle his own. So I find him to be a fairly solid axe user in FE9, and he has excellent availability to boot. There's only a few chapters where he's gone, but that's mostly for plot reasons. Still, he's pretty much available for the reminder of the game and there's lots of time to use him if you want to. He joins the ranks right after Ike's training prologue chapter at level 2. He automatically comes with the tempest skill which is a skill I don't find to be very useful to be honest. But I'll go into skills a bit later…
Boyd also gives Rolf or Oscar critical bonus support by standing right next each other. And of course the three brother's special attack if you're using all three of them. It's more of the icing on the cake if anything…Skill wise... I really never cared about biorhythm skills like Tempest or Serenity. So I usually remove them for other skills at some point. Though, in Boyd's case… It's kind of tough to decide on skills because I don't think he really needs them at all to be good. I often find Counter or Resolve could work for him because of the high hp. Colossus does look pretty cool, but it rarely activates and it wastes an occult scroll which someone else can benefit from it.
I think I prefer Boyd in FE9 compared to FE10 because you have more time to use him. He feels more downplayed in FE10. Though, It's not like FE10 Boyd is terrible or anything like that, that's not at all what I'm saying. There's certainly worse axe users in the series than him. The problem is that he's completely outclassed by Nolan and there's not really any good reason to use him. And like FD said, other units can do the same things he does if not way better. But if you do decide to use him, he's actually not that bad. Just don't expect him to be as great as Nolan.
As a character, he tends to be a bit of a goofy showoff at times. But deep down, he's a pretty cool guy and really cares for his family. It's not just Rolf and Oscar, but everyone in the Greil Mercenaries mean the world to him. Sure, they often poke fun of him for his silliness but there are moments where he really does stand out.
Awhile back, Tiki recommended me to read the FE9 support conversion with Boyd and Ulki. And I really found it to be very strong because there is a misunderstanding between them. The whole theme of PoR had elements of racism certainly. But this scene really made me respect Boyd even more than before. Boyd was just trying to be friendly to Ulki and trying to open up since they're comrades at this point. But, Ulki had a sense of guilt and felt he couldn't accept his friendship because of how different they are as Beorc and Laguz.
To be completely honest, I personally don't like or dislike BoydxMist as canon as it is. I'm not really huge about RolfxMist either. There's obviously fans that don't like the way things ended. But really, it's not like Mist falling for Rolf would make things any better. FE10 barely gave any of the Greil Mercenaries any screen time.
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2014 8:31 pm
Thank you for participating!
It's now Gilliam Week.
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 11:54 pm
Gilliam is kind of unique in a way being the only armor knight that starts off as that class in FE8. I'm aware that Amelia can become an armor knight too, but she starts off as a recruit. Generally, Armor knights/Generals are often criticized, or rather that is to say overlooked units for having low movement(Usually 4 or 5 depending on which game we're talking about), terrible resistance, speed. etc And therefore Armors have been known to have a hard time keeping up.(I'm looking at you Ardan) To a small extent, I do agree that they do have their faults but really most of the armors in the series have been like that, so in some cases they tend to be pushed aside for other better units.
But Gilliam is actually an excellent unit to have around. He's certainly not as great as Gatrie in FE10, but now that I think about it I do consider him a bit more useful compared to most armor knights in the series. It mostly has to do with the new classes and how it changed things about the series. Like, you actually have an option to become either a general or a Great Knight. It's a really cool concept and I really like this direction IS came up. it gives YOU the player a different approach to play through the game. Everyone will have their own ideas and particular preferences for who they want to promote.
And even the later FE installments like Fire Emblem: Awakening returned with sacred stones game mechanics by further expanding it. Armor knights such as Kellam can become much more efficient through this and no longer have to be stuck to only becoming generals, so now they can become great knights too! (We'll get to him at some point in the future)
Gillaim joins fairly early on in the game in chapter 1. So if you plan on using Gilliam, he has very good availability throughout the whole game and he will contribute to the team with his solid good defense, and decent enough strength. He does have some issues with speed and resistance in the beginning, so magic users can probably hurt him if you're not careful enough. And sure enough he will drag on a bit at times, but once he reaches promotion he gets better.
The real question is whether you should go with General or Great Knight? It's all subjective really… But personally coming from me, I think he can make a fine general if you want to make him one. He'll definitely cap out defense there's no doubt about it. You could give him the boots item that is, if you're worried about him keeping up with everyone in your squad. Though, I prefer promoting him into a Great Knight for the one extra movement instead of the usual 5 generals. Plus, if he was given the boots he could have 8 movement and that makes traveling efficient much better. Also, he can wield and master all three swords, lances, and axes which is awesome.
I suppose he'd miss out on having Great Shield, but let's be realistic about this, when we get down to it Great Shield is a pretty useless skill. It rarely ever activates and when it does nothing good really comes of it. I've never felt like it was a skill I needed to help me out in a jam when I needed it at the moment. Now that I think about it, Great shield tends to activate in the worst possible moments for enemies which is kind of annoying.(Even in FE4 it was horribly trollish)
As for Gilliam's character and personality, well he's a knight dedicating to serving the Frelia army. He may seem to be a bit of a gruff and serious type knight Not to mention he's got a pretty rocking goatee going on there with his mug. Sure, he does have his tussles here and there, but kind and funny moments too. My favorite support has to be the one with Gilliam and Garcia. They're both in a competitive arm wrestling contest to see who's the strongest. It makes for some really funny and silly scenes.. I also found the Franz and Gilliam supports interesting too. I like that they demonstrate how the different the disciplines are for Renais and Frelia. Both countries have two different points of views of training, so I like that they explore that and learn something new from each other. But I enjoy all of his supports alike.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:54 am
Alright, so in an attempt to pitch in and bring more to the proverbial table (though I'm not sure I'll be able to offer much, tbh) I shall attempt to be a bit more active in jumping in on the discussions.
Right then, so, Gilliam, was it?
Personally, I never used him except the first few chapters before I got "better" units. (And I that was simply my mindset back then, when I was younger and hated Armorknights and Axe-wielders and all that. Yes, FD, I was one of those you mentioned on Boyd week. Things have changed though.) So I would just normally give him the boot, stuff him in the corner and let him collect dust.
Rhys hit it on the button, too. The lack of movement and keeping up. Back then, I was all about mobility, and long-distance. I cringe when I load my old FE8 endgame file on my GBA cartridge. It literally is all Paladins, Fliers, Snipers and Magic-users. with the exception of Joshua being one of the few units that didn't fit the category, mainly because of his Swordmastery-crits out the wazoo--but that's a different story. Anyway, yeah. I cringe at it.
Since having started that FE7 Draft that kind of went by the way-side and playing FE: Awakening, it has really helped me expand my range and I really started challenging myself. In my FE7 draft, I virtually had NO mobility--save Marcus, but I refused to really use him unless I had to cause he'd sap the exp from other units that needed it. And by the time I did get a Flier unit, it was Heath and that's pretty far in-game, tbh. I also had Wallace... And As I said, I had issues with Armorknights. Still somewhat do at times, but I'm getting better... |D
Anyway, getting back on track, Gilliam. I've started a new FE8 file and though I am guilty of not touching it for about three months, I've been thinking about using/trying units I just generally stuffed in the corner and dismissed. Gilliam's been one of those I've been considering using. True, he has lack of mobility and the Res and Spd fail, but those aspects can be helped, as Rhys mentioned, too.
And his bringing up the Great Knight aspect is a good point, too. As I said, I honestly never bothered to use him so I never got to promote him to one or anything like that so, that's definitely going to be taken into consideration when I do get around to using him.
That said, I do have a newfound love for High-def units. Knight classes are generally underrated and overlooked, but when you're playing higher difficulties and still trying to come into your own and not give up--they are a lifesaver. As I've said before on the Blast and in prior discussions of FE gameplay, I've never really tried playing the Hard Mode files, ect. So when I finally dared to with the FE7 Hard Mode draft, I came to realize pretty quick how it can be tedious. And I...don't even want to think of HHM. |D And I also tried Lunatic mode on Awakening, got to...urr.... The one chapter with the Risen appearing. Yeah, seriously. Got only that far, kept dying, flipped tables and stopped there before I gave myself an even earlier grave. |D
SO, I do have appreciation for our slow-moving, but incredibly beefy defenders known as Knights. xD
And Gilliam... Hm. Well, I've seen some of his supports. The one that pops to my mind first is his convos with Neimi. The mental image of him holding flowers while trying to smile while glaring--best image ever. |D Those eyebrows, man. They're just gonna come alive and eat you with the way he deadpan glares.
The other support I can recall off the top of my head is...I think it was with Vanessa or Syrene? Urr, details are kind of sketchy in coming to me, but they were discussing her dedication. I thought it was really sweet how he was encouraging her.
Annnd...that's all I got. As I said, I really didn't bring much to the table and to be honest, I feel a bit embarrassed. (Which is one of the other reasons I refrain from putting my two cents in on the discussions cause I feel foolish like I'm being an idiot for how little I really know of the series even though I've played for a while. D: )
But, uh, I figure I should at least try to put myself out there and contribute, no matter how little it really is. It's the thought that counts, right?
Here's to me trying to discuss more in the coming weeks! =D
----
...And so now that she's said her piece, I've only got a little more to add:
In my file, Gilliam's turned out fairly decent. What's been mentioned--the res/spd/ect thing was a bit of a hindrance at first, but unlike my counterpart here, I always try to give units a fair try. He struggled, but it eventually evened out quite a bit. I've not promoted him yet, but I'm leaning towards Great Knight. Not just for the mobility boost, but as Rhys mentioned--the ability to use all three weapons. I've always been more or less about balance. I'm...awkwardly meticulous about that. So having a balanced mix of units and or/having units that can wield more than one weapon type to overcome parts of the triangle is one of the things that plays a big part in my strategies.
I also think he's a pretty decent guy, Knightly aspects aside. His interaction with Neimi--humor aspect aside, him knowing her Grandfather or whatever and admiring him was something I appreciated for reasons I probably couldn't put in word without coming out sounding weird and awkward because I can't word it properly. It's...well, generally they don't give the Knight-charas much personality and depth--and he's one of the few through supports and stuff that you see he does have some. =)
So, yup. That's it. Carry on, peeps.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 5:35 pm
Thank you all so much for posting~! It really is appreciated and does bring a lot to the table. I’m really hoping some of the weeks will generate a discussion of crossing points and it feels like this week is heading that direction.
Onto Gilliam. He has the highest Defense growth in the game (not counting Myrrh, who has hyper-inflated growths because of how her class works) and doesn’t have the lowest Speed growth. Same speed growth as Gerik and Ross, to put it in perspective. It’s still a low 30%, but it’s not SUPER low. As a unit, the thing is the value of Knights varies from game to game in the series and is very dependent on the mechanics and features of the game (extra bad circa FE4’s giant maps, extra good circa the DS formulas making dodge-tanking virtually impossible). And their use also varies highly upon playstyle.
Bring in FE8’s introduction of promotion paths and it interacts with Knights and the above points about varied value and playstyle and a lot of neat things happen. One thing that definitely turns people off from using Knights is their super low mobility in much of the series which forces players to take longer than they would otherwise to do things with those units. Great Knight getting increased mobility is such an enormous assistance in this regard. It makes Gilliam so much more viable while still playing briskly. For drafts, Gilliam is actually NOT that bad a choice between a mounted promotion and his awesome availability. His defense definitely gives him a lot of niche uses in the game, too. Particularly since GBA enemies are not very strong. He can absorb a LOT of physical attacks. Those speedy monster dog enemies that I’m forgetting the name of (Mauthe Doog?) are often difficult to double and tend to be very accurate. Gilliam will probably GET doubled, but take no damage. It actually makes him one of the best candidates for them.
Does anyone actually prefer General for him? I know there are fans of the General Amelia approach but fans of that generally think SPEED TANK. Which is NOT what Gilliam would be. Gilliam will be pretty slow regardless of his promotion path. Why not give him movement to keep up? I really can’t think of a substantial advantage General has over Great Knight in FE8. Great Shield on someone that already has super high defense and shouldn’t be absorbing magic comes off as highly redundant. And both classes have the full weapon triangle. The only instance in which General might be better is if you plan on capping everything for everyone in the post game and doing the boots-generating exploit. In that case, the higher base movement of Great Knight becomes nulled out and General typically has higher caps (that won’t be reached in normal play unless you’re doing skirmishing).
Pretty armor color.
As far as supports go, I actually really like his support with Moulder (most underrated FE8 character). And it’s actually because they’re two… older characters. Games like these seem to constantly focus on unbelievably young super-talented characters and I understand that that’s the way it’ll be and player demographics is a part of it. But people not in their teenage years or young 20s DO exist and do things. And frankly, their larger life experience justifies that they should be stronger logically. Big fan of the Gilliam/Garcia support as well (again, two ‘older’ men). Their A support is literally Garcia talking to Gilliam about fatherhood and making a family with someone. And I love that he has a paired ending with Syrene. I used to prefer Syrene/Kyle, but I may actually prefer Syrene/Gilliam these days. I’ll have to give it some thought.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 6:38 pm
Sure thing, It's always a blast discussing Fire Emblem stuff. XP But I definitely agree with you about Moulder, FD. I'm not sure why people dislike him... But we'll get to him when the time comes for Moulder week. Or rather shall I say Moulder the BOULDER?!  In all seriousness though, I'm actually recently discovering how much I really like Moulder and Gilliam supports myself so far. It sounds like someone's playing tricks on Moulder's ears~
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Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2014 3:10 am
OMG, Rhys. I swear, you have a image reaction for EVERYTHING. |DDD And I laughed SO hard at seeing that.
I actually like Moulder. But I'll save a lot of my comments for whenever we get to his week.
And, totally welcome, FD. As I said, I'm gonna try to give my input in the coming discussions. Just saying as fair warning: It's probably not going to be much because I lack a lot of knowledge about the games in general because I played most of them when I was younger and was so damned biased and iffy on so much if I didn't like it, I ignored it. So, now with me going BACK and replaying and trying stuff differently, I am redeveloping opinions and seeing things I missed in my closed-minded-ness.
So, if that's okay with you, some of my comments may just be me saying "I really like this chara for *dumb reasons* and I really don't know much else, but I'm trying so bear with me." Cause your, Tiki, and Rhys' discussions of the characters tend to be really informative for me and give me new depth/insight to them. =D
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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:29 pm
Thank you all so SO much for particpating this last week.
Lowen behold, it's now Lowen Week.
(this is also the first instance of the character determination being influenced by characters being in multiple installments and a character's week featuring ALL games they're in - it would've been Marcus Week were it not for Marcus debuting earlier thanks to FE6)
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:19 am
Alright, then. Lowen it is~
I've honestly never used him too much, either. I used him for a while in 7, but kind of dropped him like a hot potato after a while. Mainly because I was more in favor of Kent and Sain. Lowen just...meh. I never seemed to get as good of growths with him as I did the other two. His hair...makes me giggle. |D It's like one of those english sheepdog's.
I am going to try using him exclusively instead of Kent and Sain in my next FE7 run through, though. Just to see if he can actually get on par from my other games. *nod* I'm also really guilty of aesthetic appearances when using units. O_o I'm so vain at times. I'm working on that aspect, too. I can only recall one support conversation with him I liked right off the bat and it was with Eliwood with his cooking. I thought that one was pretty neat. =D
I've used Lowen, though I don't really have much input to give. He's...a general all around unit, neither excelling or really lacking in anything, just middle-of-the-road for all intents and purposes. If you're the kind that just likes Cavaliers/Paladins and a lot of mobility, he's a good addition for that. In terms of his personality, he's a decent guy trying to do his best and live up to any expectations he thinks others have of him. His conversation with Eliwood as Mandi mentioned was a good one. His with Marcus, too.
Then again, as I've said, I tend to use units with more than one weapon, so usually that's one of the reasons I use him for. Other than that, he'd probably get stuck in my non-used units list to collect dust because there are other units with better abilities/stats but, even if it's just doing chip damage or absorbing a hit with the weapon triangle, he's useful. I know Mand has a general preference for Sword users and magic/bow users and that's all well and good, everyone has their own style, but it can limit or cause more difficulty. That's why I try to have a mix/broad range of units or units that can wield multiple weapons to cover those issues of weapon triangle and damage output, ect. Means to an end, I guess?
Anyway, there you have it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:15 pm
Lowen's niche is actually as the tanky Cavalier.
He's not a red/green cav, so he's automatically not going to be as popular, and he doesn't have Lyn mode for some extra leveling early on, but he IS one of the top three units in the game for Defense growth, only beat by Oswin and Hector. 40% defense growth. In the GBA era, that's really, really good. Big growth percentages for the defensive stats are not given out as frequently as big offensive growths.
He's weaker offensively than Kent and Sain by contrast, but enemies tend to be so weak in FE7 compared to your own units if you get the kill, it doesn't matter the vast majority of the time. And between a Fire affinity and weapon triangle control, he can improve his weaker points fairly easily.
I'll say more later. But he's definitely a solid choice if you're willing to use him.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:51 pm
AWRIGHT, Time for some Lowen Lovin! For those who don't know, I LOVE me some Lowen. Hes tough, adorable, his horse is a sorrel, he cooks, cleans, slices, dices, let's give it up for Lowen! He's my fuzzy cavalier sheepdog tank. And I do mean TANK. Shinon, if you haven't had a Lowen with excellent HP and defense, you haven't lived Lowen. Sain and Kent tend to be used over him (I suspect partially due to Lowen's stats as "the third cav" and the fact that he wasn't in Lyn mode so not as many people like hi character), but Lowen is a very common candidate for Hector hard mode due to his tankiness and his availability. He isn't the fastest, sure, but he can move around and take some serious hits. We were talking about Great Knights last week? Well, since FE7 doesn't have those, Lowen gets to be our armor knight on a horse, with the benefit of not being weak against armor slayers. He's also got a good array of supports, among them being Eliwood and Marcus. Pretty much all of Team Pherae, actually, plus one Rebecca. That means two horses and one lordly rider-to-be. I've had Marcus and Lowen/Isadora and Lowen support one another in the mindset that they're both mounted and can go as far as the other one can go (and Lowen can benefit from some extra accuracy and avoid). As his personality goes, he's a lovable novice that aims to please and loves food. It's not like his personality is just food either, he just carries tons of it around and it gets used as a basis for conversation, props, and a lovely battlefield picnic here and there. It fits into his persona instead of being an all-encompassing quirk like with Illyana. He comes from a peasant village and was inspired by Lord Elbert to become a knight, and Lowen's daddy cooked for Elbert's daddy.. I actually really enjoy his supports with Marcus, as Marcus gets to play drill sergeant for a bit and then finish out with some steamed dumplings in their A support. His supports with Eliwood are lots of fun too. Quote: Lowen: Ever since Lord Elbert went missing... Lord Eliwood’s meals have grown smaller. You don’t eat! The Lady Eleanora and General Marcus have been quite concerned. Yet when you left on your journey, and I began to cook for you, we found you would eat more... I’ve been cooking ever since. A good chef and loyal knight can be important when dealing with such heavy matters. With Lowen, it's the little things. Little things that mean big things. There's a simplicity and earnestness to him that I really enjoy, though the fact that you are acting as one of the royal family's most trusted knights means that you aren't just a little guy anymore. Just like the unassuming mop-top cavalier in the mustard armor can have spears break against his chest.
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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:09 pm
Well, also to be fair I've also mentioned that my luck is usually VERY terrible and the FE games troll me by not giving me good growths. The RNG Gods hate me. I honestly would try for a few levels but usually thing just went super derp very fast. As I said, I'm trying out units I didn't use much or never even gave chances, Tiki and FD.
Thank you for your input about them, seriously. It does help me learn more. And yes, Tiki. Part of it back when was because of the lack of Lowen in Lyn mode and the slight boost in levels Kent and Sain got from that, not because he was the "Third Cavalier" because, as I said in my prior post for Gilliam, I CRINGE AT MY FILES BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL MOUNTED/FLYING/LONG DISTANCE UNITS. With the exception of a thief and swordmaster usually.
But yeah, I will stick with him my next play through and pray I get to see how awesome you say he is, Tiki!
...Hm. Now that you say it, I do recall he had super High HP in my file--his Def wasn't what you said, though, but it was decent. And yes, those aspects you pointed out in the support conversations about him is one of the reasons I like him. In a way, kind of reminds me of me for a while. Mandi here couldn't cook or clean or anything to save her life for a while and I did it. |D Now she's pretty self-sufficient. =D
They probably didn't need to know that, Stef. ¬¬ But yes. SO DOES THAT MAKE ME A LORD CLASS AND YOU MY KNIGHT? <3 *shot*
...Let's not get into that. |D
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