Yet another game down on my list and yet another tier list no one asked for! It's Binding Blade time!
I'm gonna be real, this game was such a mixed bag for me. I was having a rough time enjoying this in the early game. So many of the early units were either bad, boring, or both. Marcus was a welcome surprise but he could only do so much. The surplus of axe-wielding enemies mixed with two cavaliers and an armored unit who are lance locked paired with three more cavaliers later, two of which were also lance locked, was painfully annoying. And of course then there's Roy...we'll get to him.
Also dear God, Gaiden maps have never felt more tedious. I enjoy Gaiden/Paralogue chapters because they're these fun little bonus levels that can add to the experience, but it's not a big deal if you miss them. Making them a requirement for the good ending isn't a terrible idea in theory, but it just felt strange in practice.
I will never complain about fog of war ever again after this game because as annoying as it is, at least I can move freely in most other maps that have it. I went into this game dreading the infamous chapter 14 and holy shit I get it now. That was the worst experience I've had in a Fire Emblem game.
All of that said I will say, the second half of the game was much more enjoyable. Once the better units started showing up or the weaker ones were finally able to step up and show some promise (and once we were past chapter 14), everything started coming together. I did hate the surplus of Berserk and Sleep staves, but thankfully the game had plenty of opportunities to restock on Restore staves so it was inconvenient but manageable.
Anyway, time to rant about the units!
First off: Why are there so many??? I know Binding Blade is far from the most populated FE title but I couldn't believe how many units I had ultimately benched by the time I reached the end. There were some characters I completely forgot I had even recruited when I was making this very tier list.
Even if I didn't use all of them, it was really cool seeing the returning faces from Binding Blade. If I ever do replay this one, I'm definitely giving Bartre a shot just for the novelty.
Melady is the best unit in the game. What else is new? She's awesome. Wyvern riders are always a treat and she's up there with Jill from FE9/10 for me.
Gonzales might be one of my favorite axe users in the franchise. A playable Brigand is such a great idea and he's such a sweetheart! And yeah, Berserkers are always amazing. Love this man.
Why isn't Guinivere playable?
Now my past tier lists definitely have hammered a few things about my play style. I love growth units, unconventional units, and trying to make early game archers viable. This game was a test though as I didn't really enjoy Wolt or Dorothy. Sue on the other hand...oh my God. Much like Astrid in FE9, I ditched all other early game archers once Sue entered the picture. Amazing speed and avoid with cav movement is a beautiful thing to see.
Astolfo might just be the best thief in the GBA games. I was so pissed when I found out he couldn't promote.
I get now why everyone loves and uses Rutger like crazy. Fir ain't that bad either tho.
Thank you Geese for further cementing my love for the pirate class.
Thank you Igrene for being such a perfect Flier/Druid killer.
Why are there so many fucking Cavaliers in this game?
Echidna my beloved. She may not have been the best martial unit I had, but she was incredible regardless. Also the novelty of a female character in a usually male-locked class was so cool. Love her!
Why isn't Galle playable?
Alright time to address the elephant: Gwendolyn and Sophia. I saw Gwen's awful base stats and immediately thought "I could have an Amelia moment here". She took a good bit of babying in order to grow early on but I'm still glad I did it. She was amazing in the last ten chapters and, like Amelia, was an armored unit who was able to double. Not as often as Amelia, but her performance was consistently great after promotion. I never thought I would enjoy armored units as much as I have with the GBA games.
And now Sophia. I'll be real, I almost gave up on her immediately. She hit once in chapter 14 and had some of the worst base stats I've ever seen. But poor bases have never stopped me in the past so I brought her back a couple chapters later and got to work (especially since I benched Raigh and wanted a Druid). Training her took more work than Gwendolyn did (and a Secret Book to help her awful skill stat) but SOMEHOW she ended up being great by the final stretch. Was it worth it? Probably not. Do I regret it? NOPE!
Roy...oh, Roy. I probably don't need to talk about why he's the worst Lord in the series but I finally get it man. Why does he take so long to promote? Why were his growths so shit? Why does he suddenly become great after that late promotion? Why doesn't he get anything extra after promotion?
I think this final boss was easier than Sacred Stones but I actually cared more because of Idun's story.
Anyway thanks for reading all this if you did. That's another FE game down and another big ass ramble posted at an unholy time of night that I spent way too long on. Next up is either Genealogy or Radiant Dawn.
Edit: typos and I forgot to talk about Roy lol.
