One tanking mount after the next. This is so great!
I absolutely love Lowen! I'm probably the one around here actually that prefers Lowen over both Kent and Sain.(Or maybe not...) In the past, I've liked Kent and Sain a bit better but my views on them have changed over the years. They're still great cavaliers all around. But honestly, it's just my personal preference of mine if anything. Lowen is often overlooked because you pretty much have used Kent and Sain in Lyn's mode.
There's no doubt that Kent and Sain are both excellent knights. But take this from someone who skipped Lyn's mode and just to look at it from a different point of view… Let's say, you didn't play Lyn mode, and took a straight dive into Hector or Eliwood's mode.if you've been using Lowen, by the time you'd reach chapter 15 or 16 depending on the mode, he should be pretty caught up with them level wise, or if not he might even be slightly higher than both of them. If you go with Eliwood's mode he has excellent availability throughout the whole game. He's there from the get go until endgame. Or If you play Hector's mode, there's really only a chapter difference.
But even so, Lowen will become a very balanced cavalier and even better as a Paladin. Sain is better in strength, Kent excels in speed and skill. As FD and Tiki pointed out, Lowen is definitely more of your HP/tanky mount knight. He starts off with D's in both swords and lances. So he can literally start off using steel weapons if you want him to. He's also a level away from using the killing weapons which are always just totally fantastic in any Fire Emblem game.It probably won't take him too long to rank both swords and lances all the way to A. Especially if you play Hector's hard mode, or any of the higher mode, if you're not a huge fan of using armor knights, I think you'll definitely like him a lot due good mobility and high defense. Surprisingly enough, Lowen can gain some pretty good magic resistance for a knight.
In terms of support options, it's not too shabby. He gets Eliwood, Marcus, Harken, Isadora, and Rebecca. Lowen's got the fire affinity too, so his support bonuses he gives to others can be a tremendous help to them when they're near each other.. Units like Rebecca can benefit a great deal from supports from Lowen, and if I recall correctly they make a pretty decent combination together.
I also really like his characterization too. He's got a pretty snazzy mug as well(And I'll always love Hobo Lowen. Thank you Nino. ) When I got into FE7, I wasn't a huge fan of Lowen at first, but he really grew on me over the years. There are people that actually consider him to be kind of dull and boring. But I don't really see how that is myself. He's a hard working knight that always tries his best. He tends to be frantic and doesn't have a lot of self-confidence in himself. What I really like about Lowen is how dedicated he is at his duty and there's just a whole lot of heart to him. He feels that he's not that great of a soldier compared to Isadora or Harken, but he always tries his to improve no matter what. I've always found that about him interesting.
I personally liked the Lowen supports with Marcus myself. He's always tough on Lowen but deep down he knows the boy has potential. He even downright knows how much work he puts into his training. And heck, all the training does pay off for him. Another favorite support of mine is the one with Eliwood. Lowen is so tripped over the mistakes he makes, but Eliwood treats him as another decent person would so I like that.
He's also one of the fellow suitors to get an ending with Rebecca. Isn't that cute?
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 7:36 pm
To be fair, if there is a single most powerful stat in FE overall, it's not speed or power or defense. It's movement. So I wouldn't cringe over those old files for that. That doesn't make units with lower movement useless, but it makes the ones with good movement that much better. FEA may have been a godsend in that you can pair lower movement characters with mounted ones, but even in the GBA era, you could Rescue and drop a particularly less mobile character if you needed them somewhere in a hurry. And when the tankiest units in the game tend to have lower mobility, having a mounted tank is pretty nice for a change.
As a support unit, so many of his partners join at the same time he does and WANT to support with him. He's Rebecca's very first choice (and they're a cute pairing), and high up on Eliwood's and Marcus's lists as well.
I'm not saying he's better than Kent or Sain, because they're all very good and Kent and Sain have many things going in their favor as well, but Lowen definitely can deliver. If you're open to using Marcus, Marcus and Lowen is a fantastic combination.
To be fair, if there is a single most powerful stat in FE overall, it's not speed or power or defense. It's movement. So I wouldn't cringe over those old files for that. That doesn't make units with lower movement useless, but it makes the ones with good movement that much better. FEA may have been a godsend in that you can pair lower movement characters with mounted ones, but even in the GBA era, you could Rescue and drop a particularly less mobile character if you needed them somewhere in a hurry. And when the tankiest units in the game tend to have lower mobility, having a mounted tank is pretty nice for a change.
As a support unit, so many of his partners join at the same time he does and WANT to support with him. He's Rebecca's very first choice (and they're a cute pairing), and high up on Eliwood's and Marcus's lists as well.
I'm not saying he's better than Kent or Sain, because they're all very good and Kent and Sain have many things going in their favor as well, but Lowen definitely can deliver. If you're open to using Marcus, Marcus and Lowen is a fantastic combination.
My mindset though back then was that the lower move-range units WERE crap because of it. I had serious delusions of believing that a superior team was having the advantage of distance attacks (aka the bow/mage/spear(/javelin) users) and long distance mobility (aka mounted/flyer units) anyone else--minus the thief or swordmaster unit I used--was complete "trash" and "useless" to me. I have since discarded that thought and belief after FE9 REALLY kind of smacked me with a wakeup call. And FE11 drove it further into my skull.
Now, as I said, I'm very open and trying new things instead of being biased and closed minded and just believing in the petty things I used to. I've seen Marcus and Lowen's support and I'd seriously be willing to use Marcus for that reason, too. Hmm. I guess I'll have a bunch of new possibilities and things to try out through my next few runs of the FE games I have~! =D Thank you, FD for your responses.
And thank you, too, Tiki and Rhys. It's making it easier for me to accept things or be able to say I'm willing to try. ^^
This is simply here to get your guy's attention to and give credit~ <3
Ninja Ryu11
ThePersonInFrontOfYou
Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:52 pm
Thanks to everyone posting for a fantastic Lowen Week.
It's now Lance Week.
As in the FE6 character. Not the weapon type. 'Dat Green Knight.
So we've got Sir Lancelot this week. Watch as he'll sweep you away with his speed~
Like before with Allen, he's the green starting cavalier of the Red/Green archetype. Again, they're not all that different from each other statwise but both are great to have around especially for the Roy/Lance/Allen support triangle. I don't think I need to state again that Lance and Allen are the best Paladins you'll get right? Always use them whenever you can. That is unless you want to try out other units... Which I can definitely understand.
Early on, he'll be very useful for doubling most enemies in the beginning. And even when he promotes to the Paladin class he'll still be able to do so. He does have low strength and not so great luck at first, but he continues to improve as he grows. Sometimes he may not get the stats you'll want, but he'll never turn out to be bad at all.
In terms of personality,well he's the panther for sure. Lance is very calm, collected and very diligent at his duty as a knight. At the start of FE6, Lance was the one that scouted ahead to Pherae to check on things with Eliwood, with him being all ill and sickly for the entirety of FE6. I haven't gotten all of his supports, but I've always enjoyed the one with Lance and Clarine. And I also liked his conversations with Allen as well..
Oh yeah, in the Hasha no Tsrugi manga Lance actually makes a cameo. And if I remember right, he had a pretty cool moment in one of the chapters.
Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 11:52 pm
So I can finally add my two cents now that my Internet has returned!
AHHHH LANCE *foams at the mouth in spazz* He's my FAVORITE Cav/Paladin in FE6 EVAR.
I really have loved him from the get-go. Allan in my file totally ended up subpar compared to Lance and kind of fell by the wayside in Lance's dust. |D
High speed, High-ish HP, good Str, good Def, decent Res? Yes plz. I love him to pieces. He's usually my MVP of chapters alongside Wolt.
Their supports are great, imo. How Wolt learns things from Lance and they both resolve to become the best they can to serve Roy all the better.
So they're a two-unit Death Squad in my file. I can usually send them down one side of the map and clear that side while everyone else STRUGGLES to clear the other side. |D It's kind of comical. That changed a bit once I got past that one chapter I was stuck on that I informed you all of before. I think it was Chapter 19 on Sacae side with that Lightbrand-wielding Swordmaster Boss. I spent most of that chapter giving Miledy and Zeiss TLC and they GAVE BACK AND MOAR. But this is not about those two, this is about Lance.
I honestly can't really say anything bad about him. Love him and his aqua-hair to pieces. |D
---
Oh dear. You hit her fangirl mode big time with this topic. Well, I don't have much to say about Lance. I've not personally played FE6 (I have all Mand's memories, but it was before I was existing so none of it is my personal thoughts or opinions) so I really can't say anything except that I like his aesthetic design and his seriousness and approaching things logically is a lot like me.
Ah Halvan. What a cool name. He's the other starter axe Fighter you'll get in the beginning of FE5. I am more of a fan of Othlin so I'll admit that I eventually stopped bringing him along at some point. But he does have a pretty cool looking headband at least! And I apologize if I don't have much to say about him..
Though, he doesn't get a super cool Hero Promotion like Othlin does, but he can promote into a Warrior which isn't half bad.
Which means good Hp, Strength, build, and gaining the ability to use bows.. And I'm sure that could be useful against fliers too.
It's actually kind of interesting because well, aside from FE4. The first three fire emblem games before it never gave axe fighters a promotion class. FE5 was really the first game that had fighters promote into Heroes. There's even exceptions like Makua(Who we'll discuss later at some point) Later on FE8 and FE13 branched out the classes so fighters can become heroes again. Though, FE11/12 technically has reclassing options too.
Now if you're not using Othlin, Halvan isn't too bad a choice either as far as Axe users go. He does have the ambush/vantage skill on him so striking first can be pretty useful. Like say if you had him use the hammer against armors he'll have the advantage. He shouldn't have too much trouble doubling most enemies, and once he does promote into a hero his speed should start improving.
It is rather unfortunate that he doesn't get support bonuses from anyone which is kind of a shame, but he can give bonuses to Eyvel at least it's something.
Halvan is the only one who can visit the village on the very far right side of the map. He visit's his sis and she gives him a brave axe as a parting gift before he leaves. It's a very good weapon indeed, but anyone can use it since it's not his signature weapon like Fin's Brave Lance. Last time I gave it to Othlin and he destroyed stuff, but Halvan can use it fairly well himself.
As far as his character is concerned. He's definitely a much more calm and composed fighter. He is very much aware that the village is in danger but he doesn't jump right into action. I like the fact that Halvan has a reason to fight. He leaves his own village to fight against the empire, and there's the fact that his sister is left behind to stay and watch the house while he's gone. So yeah, he has things on his shoulders weighing him down. I also like the fact that him and Othlin have a friendship going between them. I mean they've been friends being village neighbor for a long time.
EDIT: I've actually made an error about Halvan. He CAN become a hero when he promotes, but not a warrior as far as I'm concerned? So this changes things and I do want to say a few more things just for clarification.
Wait. I thought Eyvel gave HIM the bonuses but he didn't give support bonuses to anyone else.
Anyway, Halvan is also pretty cool. He's not the offensive destroyer that Othin is, but I once heard him referred to as Othin-lite, which seems quite accurate. He definitely has a lot going for him still.
Like Ambush.
And a PCC of 4.
So he's a more defensively oriented character. And it can be argued that defenses are more desirable than offenses because it can be very easy to get your offenses high enough to kill many enemies far into the game.
And as has been mentioned he does get you the Brave Axe. He isn't entitled to it, but it DOES happen to work very well with Ambush (can't kill 'em with one hit? Two increases the odds by a LOT most of the time). Plus, he grows build fairly quickly and Brave weapons make capturing FAR easier. So while it isn't just his weapon, it works so well on him.
I use him. You can use so many more characters in FE5 thanks to the Fatigue system it's not like picking Othin means you can't use Halvan.
And for clarification, "Fighters" (Othin and Halvan) become Heroes in this game. "Bandits/Barbarians" (basically just Marty) become Warriors.
The only classes that have multiple possible promotions are Myrmidons and mages, with the promotion tied to the character. Because they really want Miranda to never have Staff utility in a game where staves rule over all. But we'll save that for another day.
Halvan. Cool guy.
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 1:54 pm
Well... When I looked at serene's it had a dash next to Halvan for support bonuses. So I just figured that he didn't get any bonuses.(I still don't understand why he doesn't get any from Othlin.=/ They're like bros man! )
But with Eyvel it had Halvan next to her name? Is it that she gives him bonuses or is it the other way around? Since I'm actually a tad bit confused myself on this. XD
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