To all jaded number crunchers

[Tylandras]

Sure you can tell me exactly what chance every character has of maxing out a particular attribute, but how are you at strategy?

I've thought up an unconventional team to try hard mode (maniac if you're feeling brave) with. Oh, and use fixed growth mode so you can't abuse bonus exp...

Here is the team.

Ike - Can't really choose otherwise...
Boyd - Probably the best on the team aside from Ike.
Mia - Considered the worst of the swordmasters?
Ilyanna - Scared yet?
Mist - I don't know why she gets such bad reviews... I use her all the time. My healers are generally only ever healing and being able to move afterwards (once promoted) is useful...
Marcia - I like her but she is fragile so she fits into the general idea of this team.
Mordecai - I usually use Lethe so I wanted to see how Mordecai would work out.
Brom - What madness is this of which you speak?
Sothe - Once again, madness I know, but, once again, I've used him before just for the sake of story continuity into RD.
Astrid - I can't say I've ever used her...
Reyson - It wouldn't feel right without him.

I'll be trying this on hard mode. I just want to see how good I am at turn based strategy as opposed to blitzing through with the best characters in the game. The only reason for posting this is to see if anyone else is up for a challenge. 

Come on, prove to me that there are still some strategists left on the board...

P.S. You can use other characters if you really need to until the entire team turns up.

[Ice Dragon]

That actually looks amazingly like my team for regular runs... Wayu (better joining time than the other Swordmasters), Elaice (early mage, plus Shadow), Mist (mobile healer and Silver Blade Ambush-Cancel user), Marcia (early flyer), and Stella (Elite) are all regulars for me, though it'd be random growths so I can affect the level ups a bit more.

I might try something like this some time, though I'd have to change it up a bit to exclude most of my usuals...

...And I'll need some free time first.

[Neofox]

Considering I'm one to argue that nobody is useless in this game, I don't see how one could have too many problems using the team you described. Especially since most come relatively early with decent stats.

Not sure how Mist gets a lot of negative reviews, though... Last I checked, most consider her superior to Rhys.

[Charliecane]

That was more or less the same team I used when I last played a few months ago. Aside from throwing off my "rhythm" a bit, it wasn't what I would consider challenging.

[Ice Dragon]

The only negative reviews I ever hear about for Mist are about her offensive skills, which aren't actually too bad, provided you actually use her enough to use Silver Swords and Silver Blades and aren't stupid enough to have her attack Dragons (hell, in my last playthrough, she got to run around with the Varg Katti).

If you want more of a challenge, cut your army down by at least half. Or don't use Ike.

[ultimateluigi987]

Not using Ike would be almost impossible due to Endgame in Hard... but it could be possible.

[Ice Dragon]

Lv 18 Ena can easily solo the final chapter on JP Normal if you give her at least Ambush (I also gave her Anger (Wrath) and Brave (Resolve), though they activated so rarely it didn't really matter except on Ashnard). JP Hard isn't too much harder, though I haven't yet tried. I wouldn't know about NA Hard.

[Lord Fuckboy]

If you want more of a challenge, cut your army down by at least half. Or don't use Ike.

I'd actually find that less of a challenge because of less units to manage and more EXP to go around, but to each their own.

[Tylandras]

Where to begin...

To Ice Dragon: Mia may come early but on fixed growth mode her strength wont be doing her any favours by the end. Played with her enough to know that. Ilyanna is fine in the beginning but by the end fixed growth mode will hurt her speed. Mist I'll agree with but I still don't see why she ever needs to fight... Marcia I also like, but she isn't the strongest of the fliers. Astrid may be ok, as I said I've never used her, but she wont fill my usual pladin role as a result of the bows.

To Fay Spaniel: Everyone can be used, but this group isn't even close to the best you could produce.

To Musashi: Is there anything constructive you could add about making it more difficult?

To Ice Dragon once again: Reducing numbers makes PoR even easier. Soloing with Ike is remarkably easy save for chapter 17. The challenge here is meant to be using the less awesome characters...

Would it be harder to constantly swap the team you're using around? Everytime you get a new character, kick out the first of the old ones or something...

[Tino]

To Ice Dragon: Mia may come early but on fixed growth mode her strength wont be doing her any favours by the end. Played with her enough to know that.

Let her kill with Slim weapons or Steel weapons and her Strength actually becomes pretty nice. If you let her kill with Iron weapons only, she may indeed have some problems with her Strength.

Ilyanna is fine in the beginning but by the end fixed growth mode will hurt her speed.

If you don't let her kill too much with D Rank weapons, she will end up with fine Speed. Of course, her Speed isn't anything exceptional, but she at least makes up for it with pretty decent Strength.

Mist I'll agree with but I still don't see why she ever needs to fight...

Both Mist and Rhys are pretty bad fighters. Both shouldn't fight much. But, if they have to fight, Rhys is the better fighter.

Marcia I also like, but she isn't the strongest of the fliers.

Marcia is the second best flier in the game, only being beaten by Jill, who is one of the best units in the game.

Astrid may be ok, as I said I've never used her, but she wont fill my usual pladin role as a result of the bows.

She can get Axes upon promotion. And Paragon lets her reach that promotion quickly.

To Fay Spaniel: Everyone can be used, but this group isn't even close to the best you could produce.

Sure. The best team would look something like this.

Ike
Titania
Boyd
Oscar
Jill
Kieran
Reyson
Rhys
Mist
Marcia
Makalov
Astrid

To Musashi: Is there anything constructive you could add about making it more difficult?

I can. You can do Single Character Challenges, Iron Weapon only challenges, No promotion challenges etc.

To Ice Dragon once again: Reducing numbers makes PoR even easier. Soloing with Ike is remarkably easy save for chapter 17. The challenge here is meant to be using the less awesome characters...

Agreed. More characters = Harder. Less characters = Easier.

Would it be harder to constantly swap the team you're using around? Everytime you get a new character, kick out the first of the old ones or something...

I actually did this once. It's pretty hard to pull off, because you will likely have lower levelled characters only. But it is a fun challenge.

[Neofox]

To Fay Spaniel: Everyone can be used, but this group isn't even close to the best you could produce.

What do you mean? You could go through the game with relative ease using pertty much anyone. Only an elitist believes that only the (often arguable) best units are the only ones worth using.

[Tino]

What do you mean? You could go through the game with relative ease using pertty much anyone. Only an elitist believes that only the (often arguable) best units are the only ones worth using.

You can indeed beat the game with almost any team, but that doesn't mean there is no "best team". And this team indeed isn't exactly the "best team".

[camus the dark knight]

Everyone should know by now that even though I number crunch, when it comes to  actually playing the game, I value playing skill over stats...

The term "Best" is based merely on how you play, as such, best can be any character depending on your play style.

Stats are just tools, it's how you use them, your skill, that decides how good your end product play through turns out.

[Lord Kratos]

The team in the first post looks pretty solid. The only low tier character there is Mia and maybe Sothe. It lacks some awesome supports but good team nonethless.

Sure. The best team would look something like this.

Ike
Titania
Boyd
Oscar
Jill
Kieran
Reyson
Rhys
Mist
Marcia
Makalov
Astrid

Replace Rhys with Tanith and you got the best team, I think. </random comment>

[Tino]

I see Tanith and Rhys about equal in terms of usefulness. However, because Rhys joins in Chapter 2. Plus, if you replace Tanith with Rhys, you have only one healer.

[Neofox]

Replace Rhys with Tanith and you got the best team, I think. </random comment>

How can it be when it lacks any kind of sage in it?

There's so many awesome characters in this game that it's really hard to make a team and say "this is the best possible".

[Lord Kratos]

Tino: having one healer is not bad when all your unit have so amazing durability they never die (be it Sol, Aether, massive HP or avoid or whatever)

Fay: why a sage over a mounted unit that isn't Haar?

[Neofox]

Fay: why a sage over a mounted unit that isn't Haar?

You talk about how great sages are all the time, so you should know already. Especially when the ones in this game are all statistically impressive.

[Lord Kratos]

In this game being mounted is awesome and then their movement is lower than the other foot units.

I'm not saying they are bad or anything, just that a mounted unit is better (also, particularly in that team, Tanith's supports work better than the supports of sages)

[Neofox]

I don't want to turn this into a debate, but you overrate the importance of movement. If you really think movement matters most, perhaps we should start another topic to argue this...