Linda (Requiem)
Got the inspiration to make a second post here, this time about Linda from the FE7 hack Requiem. This hack is a very interesting case where, just like vanilla FE7, it features two different story parts, Val Mode and Ash Mode. And just like FE7, after beating the game once, you can start a new file directly from Ash Mode, which is great because Val Mode is inarguably the least fun part of the game. I already made a post about how skipping Val Mode improves the game in a variety of ways, and one of those ways is the playable cast. Just like vanilla FE7, units who join in Val Mode receive new base stats if you skip Val Mode (or if they retreat during those maps). But compared to FE7 units like Kent and Sain, whose bases are only marginally increased when joining in the main mode, Requiem’s rejoiners get significantly larger buffs that completely transform them.
Linda is the most impressive case for these buffs by far. In Val Mode, she is literally just FE7 Rebecca. Near identical bases and growths, she is absolutely awful. She even has the gall to join with E rank bows–Rebecca at least had D rank! And due to the general nature of Val Mode, where the two ridiculously overpowered prepromotes are best off stomping through the whole thing, it’s unlikely you’ll want to or reasonably be able to train Linda up very much. This means that when she rejoins during Ash Mode in a normal playthrough, she still has her terrible stats and E bows, preventing her from using the Break Arc (an armor-effective bow) she rejoins with. A truly terrible unit in every sense of the word.
But if you skip Val Mode, Linda now rejoins being autoleveled up to 10. Her bases are not actually fixed like some of the other rejoiners, so they can fluctuate, but it honestly doesn’t really matter much. Going from “literally Rebecca” to having offenses around 8/10/12 is super nice and makes her way more usable, even better than Skye the nomad who just joined right before her! As part of being autoleveled to 10, she also now joins with D rank bows, letting her use that Break Arc she joins with. And you wouldn’t think effective weaponry in an FE7 hack would be all that good, let alone on an archer, but turns out she can very easily double and 2HKO armors with this thing, making her very satisfying to use even without many enemy fliers hanging around. The game seemed to understand that this armor-killing role was fun too, since in a couple of chapters you also pick up a magic bow she can use.
Linda is really not a complicated unit at all, but she’s great proof of how simply having good stats and cool weapons is enough to make a unit fun sometimes. She is, at the end of the day, a pretty basic archer who is good at killing stuff (she even gets a personal crit boost on promotion as an added bonus). But this simplicity is what makes her satisfying to use. And it’s especially satisfying when you contrast this performance with how garbage she is if you play with Val Mode. People always like to say that archers in FE7-9 are bad, but just like with Rath and Innes, Linda demonstrates how easy it is to make them good: just give them stats and weapons.