Welcome to Gaia! ::

You're the greatest Tiki. XD

But as silly this may sound, but I'd actually try to pair Sigurd with Sylvia if he wasn't stuck with Dierdre. sweatdrop

Guys, we gotta start talking about Lissa!

Lissa was one of the characters that I was afraid I would really dislike. And like most of the characters I was expecting to dislike in Awakening, I ended up liking Lissa quite a bit. Of course, since her design was one of the first two posted, a lot of people, myself included, were scared that her bizarre steampunk fairy princess getup would reflect most of the outfits in the game, which thankfully it didn't. Remember when everyone was talking about her headdress and how it looked like underwear on her head and such? Aww man, it's been over a year now. How time flies.

In addition to that, I was afraid she would be annoying. She's the prankster little sister, but I wouldn't call her annoying. I think that she's interesting as the youngest of her siblings, though. Especially since she feels insecure when placed next to her older siblings, even more because she acts like a kid and not like a "princess." I think her supports with Chrom are sort of average, but when put together with her fear of being a b*****d child since she doesn't have the mark of the exalt paints a picture of this looming insecurity she carries with her. Whether or not the two feelings are directly related or not, she seems to have a bit to feel insecure about. It's just an underlying thing I think is fun.
Also, you can't forget to mention that her sage outfit looks exactly like Emmeryn's. That together with the knowledge that Lissa is and will be as caring and protective as her future self is made out to be is also fun.

I thought I was going to hate Lissa even before the game came out. I thought her outfit was stupid and she just seemed like she was going to be a really bratty and annoying version of Mist.

But she actually turned out to be a really great character, I think. I feel like she's sort of rebelling against any archetype or stereotype in a way. I enjoyed her interactions with people and seeing her scream and just hide her face during that cutscene is hard hitting.

I also enjoy her as a unit because she's so easy to level and her stats back her up. For me, she did make a decent war cleric- much better than Maribelle at any rate- and she rocks the dark flier class, which is good, seeing as passing galeforce to Owain is a must do.

But her sand dollar bonnet is still stupid.

Lissa is seriously the best executed of the three royal Ylissean siblings in this game, I think. That is a somewhat unfair comparison since neither of her siblings demonstrate amazing country-leading skills, and Lissa is never put in such a position, but it holds all the same. I didn't have any positive or negative expectations of her before the game came out and liked her dress but disliked that tragic table cloth on her head.

She benefits from having the greater number of supports the way the game is set up that certain main characters on top of being in as many cut-scenes as she’s in. Better yet, between her fear of being a b*****d without the brand which she gets to have addressed by her son and her desire to prove herself as a contributing member of her family with her station, trying to be a good Shepherd and a good princess at such a young age, combined with the inevitable whining and whimsy of a young teenager (I can’t remember if she’s 13 or 14, but she’s really young), she winds up being a character with more depth than the vast majority of the cast of Caricature Emblem. Love her friendship with Maribelle, as well.

And try Chrom/Lissa, Zelym.

As a unit… depends on the context.

In-game, no-grind:
She, just like all of the cast, is usable. I actually find her growths kind of underwhelming. Her total growth rates are on par with the majority of the cast, sure, but a lot of it is in Luck which is generally less than ideal and her Strength and Magic growths are a bit close to each other and consequently more mediocre and unpredictable. This applies to the growth rates of her starting class as well. But since she starts out just healing, her stats really aren’t of much import. She’ll always be useful as a healer if you want to keep using her (and literally essential for healing in Lunatic early on). I think she’s a mediocre offensive unit compared to other options, honestly. Libra will always be the better axes-and-staves person if you’re into War Clerics/Monks (I’m not) and Miriel and Tharja are better offensive units when it comes to tomes. It doesn’t help that after you reach a certain quota, being a better healer doesn’t make you contribute more. Rescue being E Rank exacerbates this. With that in mind, she's not one of my favorite units to consistently use for the long term.

But if you want to give her lots of favoritism and resources, she is a good user of them.

Post-game/grinding/max stats:
She’s better here. Galeforce already makes her one of the best Gen I parents for post-game shenanigans, but having access to Tomefaire as well is even better. My only qualm would be a lot of pairings people like for her don’t necessarily have a lot of synergy for Pair Up in the Post-game, although that depends on your preferred final class for her. If you’re breeding just for Gen II stats, she’ll probably be with a magical husband and this isn’t a problem. Lack of an offensive activation skill to combine with the standard Limit Breaker/Galeforce/Tomefaire is a bit disappointing also, but it justifies space for defensive and supportive skills you normally can’t find space for on other common set ups, I suppose. In spite of minor setbacks, Galeforce alone really puts her towards the front of the pack for Gen I characters.


When it comes to pairings for her and such, I’m actually a fan of Stahl/Lissa. Cute supports. Marries another Shepherd without it having to be Frederick (the greater age difference with the latter making me not a fan of them together, personally). And although Stahl/Lissa is my favorite pairing for her, (and in spite of it not being the best synergy for them pairing up together all the time), I like various aspects of the dynamics she has paired with Vaike, Donnel, and Lon’qu, also.

Overall, quite a fan of her character, underwhelmed with her as a serious unit for most playthroughs, but she more than suffices.

And with as many younger-sister-with-staves as there are in the series, I'm all the more impressed that they managed to make Lissa as unique and original as they did. I certainly don't think anyone sees Lissa as a Mist-expy or anything of the sort.

I've had weird luck with Luke and Rody, but usually end up rejecting them both for Cecil, especially in my FE3 runthrough when Lady Sword use was so important. But we're here to talk about Luke.

He's the red-green knight stand-in, the blue-clad green-haired impulsive guy that was made more like Sain in FE12 than he had been before (I think thta Johan is the real proto-sain, but that's a stupid thing to argue). I think it's sort of phoned in, but his reaction to Wrys got a giggle out of me. I don't have too much to say about the guy as a character.

I know Rody is usually considered the better of the starting cavaliers, but I've had bad luck with the guy myself. Luke I've had better luck with, but I usually end up benching him anyway. Maybe next time I'll get better luck with Rody and will use him and Luke longer, eh.

More people post in here, I don't have much in me right now.

Ah.. Luke my boy, I do remember him.

In FE3 book 2, unlike there being a starting red/green cavalier duo.(Of course Cain&Abel are still there as well), there's three cavaliers but treated much like fresh recruit knights in a way. Quite frankly, he doesn't get any dialogue in the original but then againCecil, Ryan, and Rody doesn't either. They're just treated as the young fresh recruits that are kinda there along for Marth's journey. However, FE12 actually does things differently! Luke actually has a personality. I like the fact that we got to spend a bit more time with the characters in the prologue chapter. Luke is very much the goofy, cocky knight of the squad. He tries to be the cool one of the group but it's more played for comic relief. And he gets some funny lines here and there.


Truthfully, I didn't really use him much in my first playthrough of FE3 book 2. His growths seemed to be fairly decent enough, but I benched him at some point. I know Tiki never had luck with Rody, and that is quite understandable. But I had him in my file along with Cecil, who is fantastic as always. I'll give Luke a try one day and give a better opinion on him. Sorry, I wish there was more to say about him... sweatdrop

The FE12 fan translation is a shining diamond of FE translations, definitely the best. They made conscious effort to stay close to the Shadow Dragon translation and appear as professional as they could be.It's not Mother 3 caliber (that one had a professional translator on board plus an extremely dedicated community), but it's definitely good. I embrace the cheese of Shadow Dragon as you all should know by now, and while it manifests in some places in FE12 I wonder about how it would look after an official translation.

When I say phoned in, I was referring more to the prologue itself, probably because I had already played FE3 and have been a little resistant some of FE12's plot changes. I sort of wish it were shorter and less handholding. I just feel like the characters that are FE3/12 exclusive were put into little compartments for the prologue. I'm down with adding more personality, but I can't help but feel it was sort of forced. Luke is "the flirty brash one," Rody is "the straight man," Cecil is "the tough girl," and so on. It might be the translation, but I think it is more the game itself. Not to mention a lot of FE12's "personality" add-ons end up being adding quirks to characters instead of actual situations.

Benched? Sacrificed?
Not much to say for Frey.

In Shadow Dragon: On higher difficulties, he doesn't exist- the lack of the tutorial means he gets auto sacrificed. On lower ones, he winds up benched.
As a character, it's...Shadow Dragon neutral What character?

In New Mystery, he maintains being forgettable.

I dunno, I don't have much of an opinion on him since he's gotten the fastest "General Hannibal's Award of General Uselessness" I've ever deemed to pass out. Early join, early bench, not much else to say.

(On a meta note: Glad it was Lissa because I missed it. On the other hand, that does mean Lucina week is quite a ways away.)