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pepsi-al · 3 months ago

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So, I've been playing the original NES/Famicom version of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light. I downloaded it on Switch sometime ago, and I've put it off for a while, and caused it to collect digital dust until fairly recently. I've had a pretty fun time playing it, and will put much of my impressions about the units here. I will be using "NES" as a synonym for "Famicom" for simplicity's sake. And so far, my impressions are as follows. Spoiler warning for those who haven't played. Though this is a 35 year old NES game. And I apologize for any repeated information throughout this blog post.

The trading and convoy systems both suck. Big time. One literally isn't trading. It's just one unit giving items to another, one. At a time. And if that's not bad enough, you're charged 10 Gil for every single transaction you make at the convoy, be it withdrawing an item or depositing one. Also, you have a Convoy capacity of 50. So chances are that, even if you're pretty conservative with your resources, you're gonna need a spare unit to act as a makeshift item storage. (Maybe that's why some units have such poor growths?) Thank God that these two mechanics got reworked and streamlined.

Res caps at 7. On top of that, Pure Waters, Parthia as an item, and the Barrier staff, all temporarily raise Resistance, with the amount raised dropping by 1 every turn, just as they always have done. But the difference here is that they don't raise Resistance past the cap, unlike in future titles. I even tried testing this out when I had given Linde a Talisman to boost her durability when fighting against Gharnef with and later having Wendell use Barrier on her, only for the Barrier staff to have no effect.

There's no battle forecast. Meaning that you have to make battle calculations yourself if you want to be sure that your units will come out okay. You also won't know if an enemy will drop an item or not unless you have previous knowledge like from personal experience from a previous playthrough or a guide like on Serenes Forest or the Spanish Fire Emblem resource called "Fire Emblem: Wars of Dragons", which does have an English Language option for most of its pages. (That's literally what it's called. Abbreviated as FireEmblemWod.)

Marth is undeniably a great unit in this. However, he's not invincible. 7 base physical defense, and 18 base HP can only get you so far. Luckily, that 18 base HP has a 90% growth. So, he's almost guaranteed to get more health. But still. You never want to give him more than he can chew. That same 7 Def has a growth rate of 20%. Which is not great, but also pretty par for the course in terms of Def growths and bases for most units in this version of the game. He's the only unit who can use Rapiers, which are surprisingly common in this game. Making him a great unit to eliminate Cavaliers, Paladins, and Armor Knights with. At the end of Chapter 6, he'll get the eponymous shield, the Fire Emblem, which lets him function as a Thief without the ability to use Master Keys. In Chapter 18, after speaking with Est, he'll get Mercurius, which boosts his stat gains, albeit by a random increase on level up. Which is a 25% chance to grow 2 points in one stat in all of the stats he gains on a level up. It's pretty solid, but not very consistent. (Why Mercurius is locked to him in this, I'll never know. But, at the same time, it's probably good that it is in this game, considering its effect.) However, this highlights a flaw of Marth's that prevents him from getting notably stronger than most of your units, that being that he can't promote. Most other units in this game have access to about another 10-20 levels, depending on when they promote. Marth has only 19 levels throughout the whole game to level up through, and his growths aren't high enough to help make up for his lack of promotion. (I can see why he was given 10 extra levels on DS.) He's also the only unit who will have the easiest time against Medeus. (More on him later.) But you need to defeat Gharnef in order to ensure that. As Gharnef will drop the Falchion. Speaking of, yes it can't break. But contrary to what you might think, it only prevents Marth from being countered by anything that isn't a Manakete in this game, on top of being effective against Medeus, specifically. It doesn't negate all non-manakete attacks, and in fact WON'T prevent Marth from being attacked at all. (It's also not effective against enemy Manaketes other than Medeus, unlike in later titles.) And it can be used like a Elixir, which is always a plus, and way better than the 10 HP recovery in the DS version. It also has 10 Mt, though, which isn't spectacular. While a nice weapon, it's not on the level of, say, Ike having Ragnell towards the end of Path of Radiance, or Sigurd having Tyrfing towards the end of Genealogy of the Holy War's first part, Dimitri having Areadbhar, or Edelgard having Aymr. I genuinely feel like Falchion had better outings on Super Nintendo, the 3DS, and in Engage. (And Gaiden and its remake, if you want to count them.) Definitely feed him stat boosters to help ensure ease against Medeus. But still a very solid unit without them. Undeniably one of the best units in this game, even if a tad overrated. Joins automatically in the first chapter, and is your main character. He dies, and you have to restart the entire chapter.

Caeda is easily your best Lance user, bar none. Her only downsides are that she's on the frail side to an extent, and her physical Strength is practically non-existent, being a 3 base and a 20% growth. Her ability to cap Speed easily makes her the best user of Silver Lances in particular. In fact, she'll likely cap Spd before she ever reaches Lvl 10. But without a Power Ring or two, she will struggle to kill foes at some point. Thankfully, her combat and her durability get a boost once she promotes. Still, a solid unit. Though she has better outings on the Super Nintendo, the Nintendo DS, and in Heroes. Her high Mov also means that she's the first to visit shops. Joins automatically in the first chapter.

Cain and Jagen are effectively two copies of the same unit. The most notable differences being that Jagen has more movement, durability, and can use more weapons, and Cain does get faster without stat boosters. That is at first. Jagen's growths generally don't let him grow any higher than his bases. (Unless you're lucky.) If you're not using stat boosters on him, what you see is what you get with him. But growths alone do not make a unit. And this fact is why I refer to him and Cain as copies of each other. Without stat boosters, however, Cain will undoubtedly surpass Jagen. But at the same time, unless you give him too much more than he can chew, Jagen's rarely going to die from things in this version of Shadow Dragon. If you give him a Speed Ring, he'll be doubling most enemies (14 Spd is no joke in this game), and giving him a Power Ring will drive his Atk with a Silver weapon to 25. Stat boosters really go a long way in this game, it's Super NES remake, and its Super NES sequel. Both join automatically in the first chapter.

On the note of Jagen's growths not letting him get any higher than his bases without stat boosters, I should mention that his poor growths are pretty much a way to discourage using him too much. Especially since EXP growths are all the same for everyone across the board, regardless of level: whatever the enemy gives you. For you, the EXP stat shows you how much EXP a unit has. Their level, as expected, goes up by 1, whenever you get 100 EXP. However, you'll notice that enemies have an EXP stat as well. What that generally means is that is how much EXP you'll get upon defeating one. No exceptions. It doesn't matter what level your units have, or if they're promoted. What you see is how much you'll get.

Speaking of promotion, your units' levels all truly reset after promoting. So there's typically no real incentive for using growth units over prepromoted ones beyond potential stat boost that vary from level to level and aren't even guaranteed to raise upon a level up. Adding salt to the wound, promotion gains on your unit are pretty wonky. They work like this: If your unit, at the time of promotion, has stats that match or surpass the base stats of the class they're promoting to, they basically get zilch except for movement, and access to another weapon type in the case of Mages and Clerics. If at least one of their stats are below the of the class they're promoting to, their stats will be adjusted accordingly to match that of the class they're promoting to. In Caeda's case, for example, on top of a level reset, a promotion for her behaves like, at most, 2 Dracoshields and a Power Ring. So that's worth considering. What units you promote is at your own discretion.

Abel is the only Cavalier you get who has a Strength growth above 40% until Arran joins. He's otherwise as useful as Cain and Jagen. And his growths, like with Cain, will let him surpass Jagen provided Jagen doesn't get stat boosters. Especially in Str, which he edges out over Cain. Both aren't lacking in the Spd department, which gives Abel a slight edge. Joins automatically in the first chapter.

Draug is there to help you form choke points and nothing else. Joins automatically in the first chapter.

Gordin is there to help you deal with earlygame fliers and nothing else. If you can get him up to Level 10 before you get that first Orion's Bolt, more power to you. Joins automatically in the first chapter.

Wrys is only valuable as your healer until Lena joins. Bench him afterwards. Recruit him in the first chapter by having Marth visit the westernmost village. Neat that he teaches you about the possibility of recruiting characters in villages.

Ogma is basically a Cavalier without a horse and without the ability to use Lances. Solid outing for his first time. But if you're playing through this game quickly, he will struggle to level up. Joins automatically in Chapter 2.

Barst is the best one among the three axe fighters that accompany Ogma. Unfortunately, like Marth, he will never promote, and axes have almost no variety in this game. They don't even have a legendary weapon. It says a lot when the strongest axe in the game is the Devil Axe, which has a base 21% chance of hurting its user. On that note, Axes can be pretty hard to come by at certain points. Like Ogma, he will struggle to level up without a mount. He also has the semi-unique niche of having a 50% Def growth, interestingly enough. The only other unit that shares that niche is Bord, who sucks. Joins automatically in Chapter 2.

Bord, as mentioned before, sucks. Cord also sucks. Don't bother with them. Both join automatically in Chapter 2.

Darros manages to be somehow worse than Bord and Cord. Bench him if you recruit him. Even though he has the unique niche of being the only ground unit who can swim effectively, he's not worth it. Recruit him with Marth in Chapter 2, will likely recruit himself to your team. I like that he teaches you about recruitable enemies, though.

Castor for a while is marginally better than Gordin, with the emphasis on "for a while". Recruit him in Chapter 2 with Caeda.

Julian oddly has solid growths despite being a Thief. However, he cannot promote, like Marth, and he's not important to bring into the final battle in this game except to open doors. And since he has no Weapon Level growth, he's not wielding Silver Swords without Manuals. On that note, Rickard is just Julian but joins later, has worse bases, has worse accuracy, and is less important. I've so far only ever used them to open doors and chests in this game, anyways. Julian joins automatically in Chapter 3, and Rickard joins after speaking to him with Marth or Julian in Chapter 6.

Lena is going to be your main healer throughout the game apart from Wendell and eventually Boah, Merric, and Linde. However, Priests and Clerics in this game have this odd mechanic that only ever lets them gain EXP if they manage to take a hit from an enemy and survive. Ugh... So glad that this was fixed in the Super NES remake and sequel. But yeah. In this game, don't bother leveling her up. Just use her as your healer and that's it. Thankfully, she eventually gets Hammerne, which is her Prf. And it can be used to fix some of your weapons and staves. So there's that. The only downside is that Hammerne cannot be used to repair Mercurius, Gradivus, Parthia, Excalibur and Aura. The most valuable of things to repair are Warp, Barrier, Physic, and Fortify staves. Keep that in consideration as you're using it. There's also a lone manual that you can get in the game. Since she can't level up without tanking hits, she's a solid candidate for it, opening possibilities of her using staves like the aforementioned Fortify and Barrier. There's not much competition for it, either, since Jeorge could possibly use it so he can use Parthia, he can take a few levels to reach that kind of capability anyways. So Lena edges out in competition in this regard. Joins automatically in Chapter 3.

Navarre in this is basically Ogma with slightly worse bases, but better growths. Either one is good, though they lack mounts and ranged options,. Just don't expect either one to be dominating. Recruit him in Chapter 3 by talking to him with Caeda.

Merric is your best offensive magic user, period. (At least until Linde joins.) However, with the way offensive magic works in this game, Str is wasted on him, Wendell, Linde, and Boah. Every tome's Mt is the magic user's attack power, no exceptions. But Skl has some value in determining crits, even though accuracy is similarly calculated by the tome's Acc and. Furthermore, he does come with Excalibur, which is strong enough to work as a boss killer as well as a deleter of problematic enemies such as Wyvern Knights, Armor Knights, Generals, Ballisticians, and Fire Dragon Manaketes. (Mage Dragon Manaketes are immune to magic, unfortunately.) It's worth noting that Excalibur in this game has no effectiveness against fliers and otherwise has almost identical stats to Thoron. So it is effectively replaceable at some point. And, of course, he's a prime candidate for Starlight and thus fighting Gharnef. Also, he gets staff utility after promotion. Meaning utility for things like Warp, Physic, Barrier, and Fortify, which is amazing by itself. Solid unit. Worth using him. Recruit him in Chapter 4 by visiting the northwestern village, by the squad of Cavaliers.

Matthis sucks. Bench him if you recruit him. He can be recruited by having him speak to Lena in Chapter 4.

Hardin is an amazing Cavalier to use right off the bat. Silver access at base. Solid bases. And good growths. He definitely deserves the moniker "Coyote". I've heard that some people call him "Jagen with growths", and I can definitely see why. Joins automatically in Chapter 5.

The same, however, cannot be said for his squad. The best one among them is Wolf. But that's not really saying much, seeing as he requires investment to use anyways, and you're not gonna get much long term use from his growths. His Skl growths prevent him from being any more accurate with Bows beyond what his Luck and his weapons themselves allow, and his Spd growth limits his doubling abilities. Sedgar sucks. Vyland sucks. And Roshea sucks. Don't use them any more than you have to. Especially in regards to enemy fliers in Wolf and Sedgar's case. They all join automatically in Chapter 5.

For Wendell, remember Pent? From Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade? This guy pretty much laid the foundation for Pent later on, though he joins earlier in this game and their remakes than Pent joins in his game. His bases are solid, especially his SPD, which is amazing, and his Weapon Level lets him use every single time and staff that isn't a Prf. His offensive utility depends on what tomes he has, so you won't be able to see him one round most enemies until he gets stronger tomes. Because of this, you're definitely gonna want him to weaken enemies. Alternatively, he can use Warp, Physic, Barrier, and Fortify staves no issues. With regular use, he should be able to do pretty well against Gharnef. Though he'll have lower HP than a promoted Merric or Linde, the key word here is "promoted", and he's still solid even after Merric and/or Linde promotes. Easily one of if not his best outing, here. Recruit him in Chapter 5 with Marth or Merric.

Bantu is easily your best tank throughout your entire playthrough until Minerva joins. Bantu outright benefits from the +12 defense the Firestone gives, due to himself having a 3 base Def and no Def growth. It also gives him 18 Atk, and no way to boost it without boosters. Making him pretty much a pure damage sponge for any enemy that doesn't use magic. (Enemies that can use magic are pretty much ripping through him, unfortunately.) Shame he got nerfed after this game. It's worth noting, however, that getting his Str to max gets him to 36 Atk; 4 points higher than the highest attack one can reach in this game with a Silver weapon. And that he's one of 2 units you can play with that can break the 20 Def cap, reaching up to 32 Def when maxed out. Which I would say is awesome, but impractical. Especially since he gets nothing from EXP. And you generally don't want anything with Def past 20 in this game, anyways. Recruit him in Chapter 7 in a closed off village near where you first see Minerva.

Caesar and Radd are essentially Ogma and Navarre with even worse bases, and lower availability. Casar also seems to have the worst growths of the mercenaries in this game. Don't bother with Caesar, use Radd only as a replacement. They join automatically in Chapter 8.

Roger sucks. Bench him if you recruit him. Recruit him with Caeda in Chapter 8.

Jeorge is your best bow user in the game. Sure, his growths are nothing special. You really want him, however, for his bases. He can use Silver Bows with no investment, and is a points in his own Weapon Level away from being able to use Parthia, which one-shots Wyvern Knights, and can be used as a Pure Water to prepare for Mage deletion. Definitely use him to delete enemy fliers and weaken or perhaps delete enemy Bishops. You can recruit him by visiting the northeastern village in Chapter 9, but you have to be quick about it, as there's a Thief looking to destroy it.

Maria is basically a replacement healer, and nothing more. One interesting point about her is that she can use every staff except for Hammerne (which is exclusive to Lena) and Aum (exclusive to Elice) right off the bat. But when you have guys like Wendell and eventually Boah do the same thing and with the ability to defend themselves using Tomes, you'll find that she doesn't have much use beyond being a replacement. She'll be locked up when you first see her. Unless you really need her for something, just have Marth recruit her so Minerva can recruit herself to your team, and that's it. Open her cell in Chapter 10, and then have Marth talk to her to recruit her.

Going back to Minerva, she's easily your best mobile tank, boasting 14 Def on top of 10 Mov. She's essentially an Armor Knight on Wyvernback. And that 9 base Strength gives her solid attack. However, that 6 base Speed with a 40% growth isn't particularly great. Meaning that she's behind your other units, offensively, for quite a while. But she's still a decent unit. Even if only to serve as a meat shield. Or Arena Abusing. Just keep her away from enemy Bishops, Archers, Snipers, Hunters, and Horsemen. To recruit her in Chapter 10, recruit Maria first, then she'll track Marth down to recruit herself to your army.

Linde in terms of gameplay pretty much laid the groundwork for later-joining female mages that tend to have their own benefits compared to their male contemporaries. Like Tailtiu, Tine, Lilina, Ilyana (PoR), Miriel, Nyx, Ophelia, Lysithea, etc. And it's nice to see where this idea has its roots. In her case, she's essentially a nuke, not unlike Micaiah in Radiant Dawn. Aura is that freaking strong in this game. 20 Atk and nothing that enemies can defend against it with? Yes please. Don't ever feel bad about using Aura. Definitely comes in handy in that chapter with all the Ballisticians. And useful against Wyvern Knights, Armor Knights, Generals, and Fire Dragon Manaketes, as well. Once she's trained up, she's essentially a second Merric. With liberal use, she'll even end up faster and more accurate than Merric, but more frail as a tradeoff. In fact, she'll likely cap Skl, Spd, and maybe even Luck, before you even see your first Bishop's Ring. Promote her or not, she's a solid candidate for Starlight. And if you promote her, she'll even be able to do everything that Wendell and Boah can, meaning utility for staves including but not limited to Warp, Physic, Barrier, and Fortify. Very solid. Recruited in the village in eastern town in Chapter 11.

Jake is literally a weaker version of Jeorge in this game. Stuck to 2 range and 4 Mov. Situationally useful against Wyvern Knights thanks to his Arrowspate. But that's about it. To recruit him in Chapter 11, talk to Anna in a house to the east near where you recruit Linde first, and then have Caeda to talk to him to recruit him.

Boah is pretty much a replacement for Wendell, should Wendell perish. Or to act as a second Wendell should the actual Wendell be carrying too much stuff to use the Tomes and Staves you want him to use. Also, he can double most enemies at base. Dude has quite a lot of utility in this game. Thanks to his bases, mainly, his growths are horrible otherwise, but still. Joins automatically in Chapter 12.

Midia is pretty interesting in this version of the game. The influence she has on Isadora from The Blazing Blade shines pretty greatly here, even gameplay-wise. Mostly identical bases to Jagen. Might not stack up to Cain, Abel, or Hardin, assuming you've been regularly using them. But still very solid. Especially since Paladins are so good in this game. Could use a Seraph Robe to bolster her durability. Joins automatically in Chapter 12.

Dolph and Macellan are a couple of jokers. Don't bother. Especially not with Macellan. Both join automatically in Chapter 12.

Tomas is a filler unit. Joins at Level 8. But his growths are horrid. Thankfully, there's not much competition for Orion's Bolts, since Gordin is the only character that could actually use one. Speaking of Orion's Bolts, I wish you could sell them in this version of the game.

Beck is the second of your Ballisticians, and just as situationally useful as Jake. He comes toting the Thunderbolt, the only weapon with effective damage against Ballisticians. But since Ballisticians have 4 Mov and 2 range in this game, it's better to use a Mage or Bishop to take care of enemy Ballisticians. He's recruited in a village along the middle of the three paths.

Astram is basically a replacement unit. Solid, but nothing more. If you have been using Ogma or Navarre by this point, he's pretty much a benchwarmer. If you haven't, he serves a nice use on your team. You definitely want his Wyrmslayer to deal with Manaketes, especially Mage Dragons, later on. Recruit him with Midia.

Palla will be nearing promotion when you first see her. Her bases are quite solid, just about a point away from being able to double most enemies. 7 Str is pretty par for the course for units that join you when you get her, and she has a 50% growth in that. So she's not exactly lacking in offense, even with her terrible Spd growth of 20%. However, she's competing with Caeda for that first Skydrake Whip. But it is understandable if Caeda's 20% Str growth turns you off from giving it to her, making Palla a solid alternative. Doesn't help that enemies in this game grow alongside your own units. And even if you don't promote her, Palla is still a solid and flexible unit. Like Astram, she too has the valuable Wyrmslayer, making her excellent against enemy Manaketes, especially Mage Dragons. She recruits herself to your team by speaking with Marth.

Catria, on the other hand, joins underleveled, literally Level 3, in the middle of the game. Her bases are also pretty low for that point in the game. Even though she does hover around her older sister's bases at Level 8, the issue is getting there. Not exactly hard to set up, but not exactly a breeze, either. Especially since you're getting about 35 or so EXP from each kill. Meaning there's not much EXP to go around for her if you're playing quickly. Decent filler, but not much else. Like Palla, she recruits herself to your team by speaking to Marth.

Arran is pretty much in the same boat as Midia. That said, his growths are pretty impressive, sans Def. But he'll be nothing more than filler or a replacement. You can recruit him by visiting the western village in the northwest quadrant of the map in Chapter 16. But recruiting him locks you out of recruiting Samson. It's up to you if you value better growths and movement (Arran) or better bases (Samson) in a replacement/filler unit.

Samson is likewise in a similar boat to Astram. But in his case, it's his bases that carry him. Unfortunately, he has worse growths than not just Astram, but Arran as well. Still. He's solid if you want a replacement unit or a filler unit. You can recruit him by visiting the eastern village in the northwest quadrant of the map in Chapter 16. Everything that I said about recruiting Arran and what you prefer from either one applies here as well.

Xane is, full stop, essentially a copy of your strongest unit. No investment required. Free to use right off the bat. Just place him next to your strongest unit, and have him transform into it. You don't even have to heal him in this version of the game after he starts mimicking your units, unless if the unit he's mimicking is already hurt. The only drawbacks are that he requires his own equipment, and that his transformation can only last 5 turns. Neither of which are a significant issue. Especially the 5 turn transformation, since keeping him next to your team is pretty easy. He cannot gain EXP when mimicking an ally, though, not that it matters. He won't ever need it. And a little bit of a funny thing about him in this game. He can mimic allied Manaketes, but has no real way to use Dragonstones without being given one. Perhaps that's foreshadowing about his true identity that early on in the series? You recruit him by speaking to him with Marth, in Chapter 16, in the jail on the east side of the map.

Est manages to join with slightly better bases and offensive growths than Catria. But she suffers from much of the same problems as her, but worse due to her later join time. Don't expect her to nab that first Skydrake Whip even if you spoon-feed her kills. At least she gives you access to Mercurius as soon as she recruits herself to your team just like her sisters 4 chapters ago.

Tiki is an actually useful example of "Magikarp Power". However, due to how high her Def is anyways, WITH her Divinestone BTW (20 Def, literally the cap every non-manakete unit can reach), you're not gonna want to give her Dracoshields at least. Maybe just one Seraph Robe, because some enemies won't even attack her if her Def is too high. (Especially since the Divinestone boosts combined with stat boosters helps her outright break the Def cap.) This isn't to say that she's useless. Far from it. Just, like with anyone else, be careful with how you use her, and she should be alright after some time being spoon-fed kills. She shouldn't have much trouble with enemy Manaketes, not even Mage Dragons, thankfully. Except maybe Medeus's bodyguard, but how quickly he goes down depends on how high Tiki's Str is. In fact, she can one-round the majority of Manaketes in the penultimate chapter with base stats alone, even Xemcel, the chapter boss. Oddly, in this version of the game, she can't do anything against Medeus, himself, even with stat boosters. As that she has no bonus damage against him whatsoever, and her Divinestone without bonus damage is just as strong as a Silver weapon. This means that she can only ever reach 32 Atk against him. She's not even denting him. She also cannot promote, just like Marth and the Thieves. Unlike Marth and the Thieves, her growths are generally high enough to cover for this downside. The only growth that she has that doesn't is in Str, and a Power Ring or two can fix that. She's definitely worth your investment should you use her. Especially since she's deleting enemy Manaketes without much effort. Recruit her by having Bantu speak to her.

Lorenz is a filler unit meant to fill the same niche as Draug. Solid bases, but not much else. His movement is his biggest weakness. Also worth pointing out is that, in this game, Generals are locked to Swords, and are considered a separate class from Armor Knights as well. Recruit him by speaking to him with Marth or Caeda.

Elice is mainly there to give you a means to revive a unit that died that you want to badly bring back. Could come in clutch, but it requires specific circumstances. Also, Aum in this version of Shadow Dragon requires Elice to be in a specific building. Which is actually where the Aum staff is located in the remakes. Other than that, she's a filler staff user.

Gotoh is pretty much mainly there to help you beat the game. Pretty solid durability, as well as capped Skl, Spd, Weapon Level, and even Res. Just have him use staves and delete high Def units and that's it. I also find it kinda funny how he tells you that he can't do anything to Medeus. This extends to every Bishop you have, as well. More on that later.

There's going to be secret shops towards the end of the game, one in Chapter 21, I.E. the one with all the Wyvern Knights and that one boss that, in the DS remake, looks like Ocelot, and another in Chapter 24, I.E. the penultimate story map in the game, that sell stat boosters for your units. On one hand, you're given a crap load of money to spend on them, on the other, you're still limited. I would recommend just giving stat boosters to your most important units such as those you're going to use to fight Medeus with. This means that you should focus mainly on Marth, any Wyvern Knight or Paladin you have that can use Gradivus, Linde or Merric, and, assuming you've been using him until now, Barst. Anyone else, you decide at your own discretion.

Medeus. Hoo boy. He's a doozy. First off, 35 Def? Yeah most of your guys aren't gonna scratch him. Even going back to the Awesome But Impractical 36 Atk Bantu, given that Medeus is on a throne, he's healing any scratches that particular Bantu would do on him. Secondly, his Earthstone has the ability to negate magic and ranged attacks. Not only does this render your Bishops, including Merric and Linde, useless against him (Gotoh wasn't kidding when he said that he can't do anything to scratch Medeus), it also eliminates the possibility of using Bows against him. Maxed out versions of Wolf, Sedgar, Castor, and your Sniper of choice wouldn't do anything to him with Parthia, anyways due to him being on a throne and having high Def. With Parthia and maxed Str, you're looking at 2 damage per strike. If you actually manage to miss the Starlight tome, and thus were unable to defeat Gharnef, then your best bet against Medeus is using either Barst with the Devil Axe (technically, any axe user could work here, but Barst is the only one whose growths give him long term viability), or a Paladin or a Wyvern Knight with capped Str toting Gradivus. But if you did indeed defeat Gharnef, then Medeus is pretty much a cakewalk, as you just need to park Marth next to him, equipped with Falchion, and wait a few turns. How long this takes depends on how high Marth's Str is, but it should be high enough regardless. On average with no stat boosters, you're looking at 10 damage per phase, same as with stat boosters force fed to either of Barst with the Devil Axe or the Paladin or Wyvern Knight with Gradivus. With stat boosters, 30, which no other method can match. Alternatively, and this will take the longest to do, you can use Barst with the Devil Axe, or a capped Str Paladin or Wyvern Knight wielding Gradivus, and hope for the best, given that he or she is doing 5 damage per attack, which translates to about 10 damage per phase. (Also, it's pretty funny how a Str capped axe user with the Devil Axe, or a Str capped Paladin or Wyvern Knight with Gradivus, both do as much damage to Medeus with a crit as a Str capped Marth can do with Falchion but no crit.) It's clear that the Falchion is the intended method, given the ease of use in trying to defeat him with it, assuming Marth has capped Str. At any rate, if you don't have the Devil Axe, if Gradivus broke, AND you haven't gotten Starlight and defeated Gharnef, then you're pretty much SOL and have to restart the entire playthrough. So make sure you defeat Gharnef and get Falchion, get the Devil Axe, and keep Gradivus intact, and give the units that can use them stat boosters until they max out, if you have the money for it.

And now, my breakdown of each class; how I feel about each unit in those classes is independent from this.

Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Knights

+ Access to Swords and Lances

+ High movement, 8 MOV for Pegasus Knights, 10 MOV for Wyvern Knights.

+ Unhindered by most terrain

+ Playable Pegasus Knights can potentially obtain a significant Def boost if their Def stat isn't high enough before promotion.

+ They can also get a Str boost upon promotion, but Caeda's the most likely one who will see that.

- Weak to Bows and Arrowspates.

- Wyvern Knights are also weak to Wyrmslayers.

- Cannot take advantage of terrain bonuses besides the healing effect of Forts, Gates, and Thrones.

- Lances are generally heavier than Swords, and thus are situationally useful as a result.

From a class standpoint, this is the best one in the game, no contest. The drawbacks listed here are generally nothing to worry about in most situations. They will generally have solid offense. And once they promote, they will be able to serve as effective baiting and chokehold units on having solid offense. But they're not invincible. Be smart with them, and they'll reward you.

Cavaliers and Paladins

+ Access to Swords and Lances.

+ High movement, 9 MOV for Cavaliers, 10 MOV for Paladins.

- Weak to Ridersbanes and Rapiers.

- Lances are generally heavier than Swords, and thus are situationally useful as a result.

Another great class to have. Second only to Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Knights. Their only downside in comparison is the lack of freedom over terrain, but they can in turn reap more terrain bonuses. They, however, won't be as durable as Wyvern Knights, Armor Knights, Generals, or Manaketes, however. Meaning that they're mainly used for offense, generally cleanup. Their high movement also helps ensure that they'll get a lot of EXP. They'll likely be ready for promotion by the time you see your first Paladin's Honor.

Freelancers

+ Free copy of your strongest unit.

- Requires his own equipment.

- Transformation lasts for 5 turns.

- Cannot use Falchion

Basically the best of the unique classes because it can be an extra of any unit you need. Just make sure he stays with the group, and he's solid.

Mercenaries and Heroes

+All around solid stats, leaning more towards SPD and Skl.

- Swordlocked, making Levin Swords your only option for ranged attacks.

• 7 MOV.

Best of the grounded classes, besides Manaketes and Freelancers. The key word here is "grounded", however. Since they can't boost their own MOV without Boots.

Lords

+ Can use Rapiers, Mercurius, and the Falchion.

+ Draws enemies towards him, due to the enemy A.I.

+ Essentially becomes a stronger Thief without the ability to use Master Keys once you obtain the game's eponymous object.

- Cannot promote.

- Marth falling in battle triggers a Game Over and thus a map restart.

• Everything about Mercenaries and Heroes applies here.

Great as a unique class, especially when considering that it's Marth's class. Just be careful when using him.

Thieves

+ Can open chests without keys.

+ Can use Master Keys to open doors and drawbridges.

- Swordlocked, making Levin Swords your only option for ranged attacks.

- Generally have low Str at base.

- Cannot promote.

- Cannot use Swords besides Iron Swords without Manuals.

- Low durability.

• 7 MOV.

Good class on paper. But in practice, you're just going to use them to open doors and bridges, and loot chests. Not much else use for them.

Manaketes

+ Weapons have infinite uses.

+ Weapons grant them high Def boosts, which makes them effective tanks, and can potentially make them break the Def cap past 20.

+ Tiki in particular has effective damage against enemy Manaketes (sans Medeus for some reason).

- Weak against Wyrmslayers.

• 6 MOV.

A solid semi-unique class. Like I said, they can break the Def cap, but you don't want to have them do that. Easily the best chokehold class alongside Wyvern Knights. Just be careful with enemies using magic or Wyrmslayers.

Clerics

+ Can use Staves

+ Staves can heal (even from long distances), enhance, or warp units.

- Are generally frail units.

- Requires taking hits to gain EXP.

- 5 MOV.

- Effectively requires manuals to increase Weapon Level.

A must-have for your team. Just don't let them in enemy range, despite the EXP gain. They're nowhere near durable enough.

Mages

+ Can attack enemies from close range or 2 spaces away.

+ Can deal effectively fixed damage.

+ Great against enemies with high Def such as Armor Knights, Generals, Ballisticians, and Fire Dragon Manaketes. Especially in a game where Res can only be boosted by Talismans, Pure Waters, Parthia, and the Barrier staff.

- Are generally frail units.

- Fixed damage means that the mage's offensive power cannot be increased, and that Spd is the only other main factor that determines overall total damage.

- Tomes have fixed accuracy, and thus cannot be influenced by the Mage's Skl or Luck.

• 6 MOV.

Amazing units from a combat perspective. But their uses are generally situational, mainly used to weaken enemies, or in the most extreme situations, delete enemy units. Thoron will be the best tome any Mage can use, overshadowed by only Merric's Excalibur and Linde's Aura. You'll likely be using them liberally to the point where they'll reach Level 20 before you see your first Bishop's Ring. Just try to keep them from being seriously injured.

Bishops

+ Combines the best of both Clerics and Mages.

- Has the disadvantages Mages have.

You'll generally be using these guys to be staffbots and extra chip damage. You can't go wrong with having them on your team, be it a promoted Merric or Linde, or a prepromote like Wendell or Boah.

• 6 MOV.

Fighters

+ Can use Axes.

-Are axe locked.

- Axes are the heaviest Weapon type in the game, being heavier than Lances.

- Axes are also the rarest Weapon type in the game, being carried by few shops.

- No Silver weapons.

- Cannot promote.

- Only Barst has the most impressive growths among the three playable Fighters.

• 6 MOV.

Another class that's good on paper. But they're meant to be used as combat units, making them trickier to use as a class. Doesn't help that only one of them can actually become a truly competent unit.

Pirates

+ Can use Axes.

+ Can cross water

- Are Axe locked.

- Axes are the heaviest Weapon type in the game, being heavier than Lances.

- Axes are also the rarest Weapon type in the game, being carried by few shops.

- No Silver weapons.

- Cannot promote.

- Only 1 playable Pirate in the whole game.

- The only playable Pirate, Darros, stinks as a unit.

• 6 MOV.

Again. Good on paper. But in this case even less useful in practice than Fighters due to Darros's poor growths.

Armor Knights

+ High Def.

+ Access to Swords and Lances.

- Cannot promote.

- Lances are generally heavier than Swords, and thus are situationally useful as a result.

- 5 MOV.

- Playable characters have generally poor growths.

You're gonna be using this class for chokeholds and, whenever possible, bait, and that's it. They're not exactly good to use in the long run due to poor movement and growths, and you end up getting other units that are better at doing what these guys are supposed to do.

Generals

+ High Def.

- Swordlocked, making Levin Swords your only option for ranged attacks.

- Cannot promote.

- 5 MOV.

- Only 1 playable General in the whole game.

These guys, or rather this guy, is basically there to serve as chokehold and baiting filler. Nothing more. Great bases sans Spd, and obviously MOV. But nothing else. Pretty much a worse version of the Hero class.

Archers

+ Can attack enemies 2 spaces away.

+ Every weapon is effective against Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Knights.

+ Very little competition for promotion items.

- No close-range option for offense, limiting their abilities as units and thus their opportunities for gaining EXP.

- 5 MOV.

- All playable Archers have poor growths.

Easily the second worst class in the game. Doesn't help that the units in it don't have much long-term usability. Luckily, they don't have to stick to their MOV, gaining +2 MOV upon promotion. But I heavily doubt that Gordin will be used long enough to be able to use an Orion's Bolt. Luckily, him and Tomas aren't the only Bow users that you can get. And between the two, Tomas is the one who's going to promote to be able to serve as filler, but nothing else.

Hunters

+ Can attack enemies 2 spaces away.

+ Every weapon is effective against Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Knights.

- Cannot promote.

- No close-range option for offense, limiting their abilities as units and thus their opportunities for gaining EXP.

- Only 1 playable Hunter in the whole game.

• 6 MOV.

Basically a marginally better version of the Archer. But not much else. Castor's growths are wasted in this class.

Horsemen

+ Can attack enemies 2 spaces away.

+ Every weapon is effective against Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Knights.

+ 9 MOV.

- Cannot promote.

- No close-range option for offense, limiting their abilities as units and thus their opportunities for gaining EXP.

- All playable Horsemen have poor growths.

Another class that's good on paper. They thankfully can keep up with the rest of your units. But that's not gonna matter when both of the Horsemen you can get have poor growths. Wolf has the best growths between the two. But they're still not high enough to make up for his lack of promotion, or for his bases being comparable to Cain and Abel. Speaking of, this class was made the promotion for the Hunter class in the remakes and sequel for this game. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Snipers

+ Can attack enemies 2 spaces away.

+ Every weapon is effective against Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Knights.

+ Is promoted.

+ Archers promoting to Snipers gain a substantial SPD growth upon promotion, allowing them to double many enemies, as well as a slight Def boost that would be the soonest seen by Tomas.

- No close-range option for offense, limiting their abilities as units and thus their opportunities for gaining EXP.

• 7 MOV

As stated, this is what Snipers promote to. Among them, Jeorge is easily the best, being 3 points of Weapon Level away from being able to use Parthia, which he's the best user of. And the abundance of Silver Bows immensely helps with any deficiencies in growths Jeorge may have.

Ballisticians

+ Can attack enemies 2 spaces away.

+ High Def.

- Cannot promote.

- No close-range option for offense, limiting their abilities as units and thus their opportunities for gaining EXP.

- 4 MOV.

- Only 1 Ballista is good against Pegasus Knights and Wyvern Knights.

Easily the worst class in the whole game. Good for nothing but filler. Only one of their weapons is good against enemy fliers. The only weapon they have that's effective against enemy Ballisticians is practically useless, given that Mages can do the same thing, and without fear of counterattack. And their MOV, being a measly 4, is pathetic. They have good durability, but that's the only thing that's actually notable about them. Thank goodness that they were reworked in future titles, getting buffs in the DS remake, and being merged with the Archer/Sniper class in the GBA and Tellius games.

On a side note, curse this platform for not allowing more than 10 images in a blog post.

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