This one was for fun, some thoughts on the characters as written and as units:
Nancy: S+, best mom, makes the best chicken ever, a strong character who I felt a lot of grief and sympathy for, but fully capable a taking names and kicking ass when able. A strong pre-promote, with understandable reasons for her shaky bases. I’d love to end her arc healing her and letting her deal with her frustration and grief with an axe to the heart of a certain someone
Sarah: The best of the Est; She was valuable as both a niave, but good natured girl with a lot of potential, and a soaring thunderbolt of salvation. The wyrmpike was basically her weapon of choice once I gave her a body ring, and while she was caught in a few clutch match ups with gladiators and wyverns, she never left the team and carried more then a few maps and help secure some of the tight objectives
Scott: Great character writing, really understood why he struggles with leadership, his feelings, and his relationship with others. Started off sturdy with a useful hatchet, A ranked with Arianna, and tore up battlefields as my team zerker. I threw the gauntlets on him to shore up a shaky defense and skill, but at no point was he a liability. I look forward to seeing where his story ends
Arianna: The co-lord in chief and my archer of choice. I’m not a big fan of her promotion (but thats very subjective and personal), but between her ability to pick off valuable targets as my archer lord, a valuable Proficiency bow that made short work of all but the toughest targets, and a solid skill, speed and luck balance to make her a surprisingly good dodge tank, even if I could drop her, I wouldn’t. Her story still feels somewhat unexplored, but as the strong moral and leader who helped everyone in the party, I like what writing she does have
Kayla:The glue that holds the family and the army together, my best and favorite healer by far. Due to the fast pace and split in experience between multiple healers, she was slow to promote, and as such a bit of a liability for most of the game, it was worth taking her on every mission if just to either help everyone else in the party morale wise, with a lot of talks revealing either her troubles or theirs to try to mend, or putting in the work with enough magic to even make heal staves valuable as far as the last chapter
Kristia: Rushed for the mage ward and never took it off her. She was a bit speed screwed, which was mitigated a bit by the ward, but otherwise surprised me by being as much of a heavy hitter as her brothers, as tanky as scott (especially with Nosferatu), and gradually opening up from being the quiet dark magic girl to showing a lot of depth in her care for her family. Really the only thing is she could use a lighter personal tome to help her early on when she is still prone to being doubled
Rielly: I love Nephnee, so I was already on board with a humble farm girl soldier with the potential to be a solid critical monster. She didn’t quite reach that impossible standard, but she proved valuable, both in her gaiden chapter and as a faster and surprisingly resistant Sammy alternative. Being fast enough to double with javelins was a boon in more then a few chapters, and the variety of lances, including the powerful greatlances, meant even with middling strength, she could put in the work. I would like to see more interactions with her in the future, but her talks with both Nikko and Wade were funny and sweet and at an otherwise tense point in the game
Will:That 40% speed is a real make or break for the young pyromancer. I struggled with the RNG and he only finally cleared double digits after promoting. That, and the more potent tomes weighing him down (and missing the first wind tome by not rushing an early thief fast enough) hurt his potential slightly, but once I was able to stock up on lightning and wind tomes and he finally got more then 10 speed, he held his own well enough. Him gaining staves was also a major boon with how frequently the endgame required splitting into teams to focus on objectives. He is the epitome of the the younger brother to a T, the baby of the family which made me chuckle with how close he reminded me of my own younger siblings, but he wasn’t too much of a burden or too annoying to warrant leaving him out of the team (plus I felt compelled to use all Seven Siblings, for obvious reasons)
Andrew: His arrival was clutch, adding more magic power to help hit otherwise tough targets, and his writing wasn’t bad, as Joe did earn a bit of admiration even from me, but choosing him or either of the sibling mages, unfortunately, he hit the bench before he really had a chance to prove his worth, and I prefered Wade as both a character and a unit. Still, not bad, he just came in right before the party got to big to include him and he lacked a mechanical or character edge to warrant keeping him onboard
Brandon: The horse lance to finish to the triangle, and Katie’s lordly beau, he was clutch in rushing his Gaiden to meet the timer, and his personal lance was pretty valuable in horse heavy chapters, but his tendency to antagonize both Ryan and Scott was enough to only want to use him as needed. I don’t think that needs to change though, considering both his loses as a captain, and position as a noble with less outside perspective. He earned his place well enough, but I personally preferred other characters in tight 12 party missions
Katie: Two full Rapiers ensured she could break near any line, and being the fastest and most skilled unit by a pretty big margin, on top of being a lighthearted, romantic sort on top of her knightly stature, did a lot to carry her up through promotion, but then Michelle made an absurd comeback and she went from duelist to sword paladin and I benched her. In future chapters where I will need a larger team to finish objectives, or have to run to target priority enemies, she and her sweetheart will likely hit the battlefield running though
Keegan: My thief of choice and a surprisingly valuable combat unit on top of his utility, I enjoyed having Keegan around, as much for his writing as his abilities. He feels like that antagonistic relative whose a bit of the prodigal son, but by apologizing and growing as a character with a bit of humor and humilty, as well as being clutch with his dagger, he was much needed spice to round things out. His thief skills felt a tad underutilized, and I would prefer to give him rogue skill to free up space for useful swords come late game, but the ability to pick off targets as a second archer and potential to crit (especially with support from will) proved a fair trade
Luke: A bit slower and prone to getting magicked into dangerous lows compared to Scott, Luke still earned his keep by both having good interactions with Serah and being a valuable wall of hp dishing out massive axe swings. He struck a nice balance between Scott, Ryan, and Weston/Brandon, and I frequently gave him a variety of utility axes so he could assist on blitz missions to break lines, target thieves, and hold chokepoints. Plus I always love twin bickering, especially the 5 minutes older bit
Michelle: Possibly the ultimate comeback unit. She was invaluable early game, especially with her Sai, but I had to bench her for a bit to get the who family together, but on missions where I needed a bigger team to take on multiple points of interest, and I was able to supplement her kit with a killing edge, well she surprised be enough to bounce back from lagging on the bench to quickly catching up with mostly promoted characters. She was a bit of an axe magnet for some reason, and her writing felt a little underwhelming (I honestly thought she would talk to Nike at some point), but she surprised me enough to earn her spot from here on out
Sammy: unbreakable and unflappable, she only needed one good eye to get her revenge and prove her keep. Side by side with Luke as an unbreakable wall, she also proved invaluable especially with an axebreaker and a horseslayer to cover her weaknesses. She wasn’t as tough as Nikko when he showed up, but her better balance in stats and her triangle coverage with lances alongside reilly and Katie, plus her balanced professionalism alongside arianna, really clenched her value to the team
Weston: I feel bad, as I could honestly rank him higher if not for the fact his niche was covered by both Katie and Luke. He helped carry with Scott early game, even going toe to toe with the wyverns so Scott could save Joe, but between Katie being a faster swordfighter with a great personal weapon, and Luke being a sturdy sibling, he unfortunately hit the bench; Apparently I missed a useful personal weapon for him as a result, so on a new fresh run, he will likely stay on the team throughout mid to end game at the least, especially with his dynamic with Katie
Joe: A great father figure who kept Nancy safe and a great leader to everyone under his old command, He is a great jeigan, and I appreciate he had a useful bow to both pick off targets and funnel the AI into targetting him on more then one chapter. Scott had, of course, caught up to him when he finally joined up, but passing the torch and giving Arianna her incredibly bow meant that while as a unit he was already past his prime, as a charcter he was the bedrock of the Army
Johann: I want to use Johann more; Coming in with huge Strength and the ability to smash Generals with just enough speed to avoid doubles, I loaded her(?) down with the static stat boosters in the finally chapter so they had a chance to catch up with the rest of the team, and I was not disappointed with the result, even with their growths. I would like to see some more talks hopefully in future releases, but as a potential replacement to Nancy, they almost reach those impossible heights
Kjetil: I think his design, class, and sword do more for him then his bases and level. As one of three est-types coming in with little room to grow, a tight team, and some liability if not carefully trained in a game without too much time to lure and weaken to help train, he will have a hard time earning his keep. I want to see if he’s the hero he can be, that he aspires to be, but it’ll be an uphill battle for sure, especially alongside Johann
Nike: The palette, the grimace, the back to the camera… the edge is so sharp it can even slice the unsliceable. He had more depth then his appearance belies, the bravado dropping occasionally, but as an armor slicing demon swordsman who was in dire need of a killing edge, he was a nice alternative to michelle and invaluable on the larger team ops
Nikko: A man of few words and a very specific role, he only suffered by both having more interesting characters around and before him. Had my Sammy not turned out a well balanced and valuable general, and Luke not been the second axe alongside Scott where there weren’t enough utility axes for three, he really needed a bit more to him to help, even as useful as he was
Ryan: I like his character a lot more then his abilities, as a headstrong charismatic sort with clear goals (he reminds me of an even more extreme Ephraim, for obvious reasons), but only having 9 speed and being vulnerable to everything but bows (including armor/horse slaying and magic), he really had a tough time doing more then leading the charge with a big hit, or putting in a finishing blow to plug holes in the defensive line. If his abilities or character develop further, perhaps cooling his head to be a more collected leader to his men, or getting a monster of a lance to make him and better analogue with Brandon, he’ll continue to earn his place
Serah: The exp split was ultimately what hurt her; without the advantage of Kayla’s multi-chapter headstart, she really leaned on being a fast, resistant flying trabadour to carry her to the end game. When she did finally promote, she was a much needed light mage to further balance to weapon triangle, but due to middling magic, her role was still mostly keeping up with Luke and keeping him safe, fitting for their dynamic
Alex: he got in a few clutch hits, especially against reinforcement paladins, but being one of three ests and another lance wielding horseman, I unfortunately benched him
Ariel: A sniping thief with a magic bow sounds invaluable, but as a second assasin and archer when I didn’t need either hurt her viability a bit. Still, she was useful in stealing from various thieves and securing treasure and a few choice kills
Cale: I love his character, boisterous to the point of absurd, and perhaps a slight mentor to Scott, his stats and Scott already being the superior Zerker hurt his viabilty in a team stacked with useful axe units. Still, his mission and character writing are great, and his talks are liable to be hilarious
Emily: Noble and strong, and a solid pre-promote, sadly I had already commited to the mage siblings with no room to spare
Jeremiah: I suspect he and michelle would have great synergy, and being a wyvern he would be a flying tank who only needs to avoid wind magic and bows, but he was grounded to keep the siblings together
Jordan: I only had so many dark tomes to spare, and Kristia was already irreplaceable. I suspect his knowledge relating to the plot could have a lot of value; Perhaps he and Ariel could have a Gaiden chapter to help with their viability and further develop the Magus plot?
Shelton: Even with a personal bow (potentially), Arianna was literally irreplaceable. If he could be reworked to have more of a niche (more defensive stats? Infantry status with a crit bonus?), he could prove invaluable. A shame, as he and Weston both seem viable
Wade: His mustache and character are endlessly amusing, and being another healer on a tense mission was vital, but I took his stat item and had to bench him to keep Kayla and Serah on the exp curve to keep up
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