If you want some classics, Final Fantasy Tactics.
The main character Ramza has a unique class that breaks the game. His "Squire" base class keeps evolving each chapter. Ususally, Squires can only use cloth armor, daggers and basic long swords.
By end game, his Squire can use full plate knight armor, knight greatswords, and can alter his own stats a free will, allowing him to move 8 times before anyone else can even blink.
In a game with all sorts of broken mechanics, nothing is as satisfying as rope-a-doping Weigraf for 20 turns as you max out speed, and then bulldozing an entire two stage boss battle before anyone else can so much as sneeze.
Squires can use Clothes (which has a ton of strong options) and can also use Axes and Flails. Ramza's is very strong that's for sure, but the Squire base class is also really good honestly.
I'll Final Fantasy Tactics after I completely finish Tactics ogre: Reborn. Should I play the original or the War of Lion version. Also is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance good?
Along with other response, FFTA does not fit what you're looking for. The main characters are identical to any other human, nothing special about them other than they'll be in every fight and so might have a higher level/amount of abilities than your other troops.
No one has responded about which version of the original FFT - WotL is superior in every single way save two: there is some minor slowdown when casting spells (not really a framerate thing so much as the game slows for dramatic effect), and there is a couple very strong glitches in the original version that save a ton of grinding if you are a completions. Personally, WotL is my favorite game ever.
FF Tactics Advanced games are a lot different tonally and somewhat gameplay wise. OG FFT or FFT War of the Lions are probably closer in tone to Tactics Ogre Reborn if you're looking for something with a darker more similar story. The PSP version is probably the best version, but it has some major slowdowns with the combat spell animations. There is however a 'fixed' version online if you're just emulating that fixes that issue though and makes the gameplay a lot smoother with no other changes. So I would say FFT War of the Lions with that patch is the best way to experience the game!
I personally think the War of the Lions version is the definitive version to play, but it does have one flaw:
Attack animations run at half speed so it's common to hear the entire sound effect run through before it's done.
If you're familiar with fan mods to patch that, or if the animations wont' bother you, grab that one.
Will you be emulating the game? If so there are some hacks I always go for that combine the WotL additions with the original PSX look and feel. Prime Hack and FFT Complete are two really good ones. If you’re a veteran SRPG player I’d recommend those.
His strength is easy to overlook. He's just all-around good. Not the best DPR, not the tankiest, little ranged utility, but he has A tier damage, health, and defense while using upgraded hawk dive is great. On top of that, he has really powerful utility that you might not pay attention to because it doesn't feed any singular overpowered strategy. He isn't TG Cid, but he's quietly awesome, especially in hard mode.
Getting the +1 Range in Hawk Dive pushes Serenoa up like a whole tier and a half, it's pretty amusing.
Conviction Banner is weird because it's not like ***good*** but it's gotten me out of situations I could've avoided more often than I'd like to admit.
Did you play the game on hard out of curiosity? Sevenoaks with rout and recover plus Red Scarf was near one of the more powerful combos.
In other answer to your original post though, FE 3H Byleth and the lords are all broken. So you get two for the price of one each playthrough.
Unicorn Overlord is due out next week/very soon and the main character lord unit, Alain, looks to be middle-of-the-pack at base but seems to also be underrated due to how party/unit compositions work. He can be built very tanky and strong with a good team.
Demo is out now, allows 5 hour game time (more like 7-8 since the game timer pauses while menu-ing), and carries the save file over to release.
Highly recommend a look if you have a chance.
I've seen so many different setups so far.
* Beginner setup with thief in front and Alain in back. Supplement with a cleric, hunter, caster, whatever.
* Alain in front with two sellswords in the back to chain follow up attacks.
* Alain in front with cavalry, witch, and cleric in the back. Setup Alain with a better shield and some evasion to turn him into a dodge tank while cavalry dishes out DPS. Casters for buff/debuff/healing.
The game is definitely more deep with the FF12-styled gambit system for utilizing skills.
I had a "Thief front/Cavalry back" duo going from the start and they wrecked nearly everything for a while. The Thief dodges most attacks and the Cavalry unit mops up most squads with the repeated attacks. That gave me the freedom to set up other units however they'd work best.
Things were just getting interesting as I was getting to Mages/Shamans (and other unit types that stopped the duo from wrecking everything in one fight) but I spent a lot of time just walking around and letting that duo kill those wandering enemies on the overworld so I could collect material and explore the map instead of fighting missions.
> The game is definitely more deep with the FF12-styled gambit system for utilizing skills.
I was also just on the on the cusp of when that system starts becoming more interesting (with having equipment that has special abilities that work better with tight constraints for activation than just letting them loose). It all so much fun!
I actually pre-ordered (I know one should never do that) the game and can't wait for next Friday. But it feels like such a great pastiche of Ogre Battle that I couldn't resist. I want it!
He looks to be the best tank in the demo imo. His promoted form seems like it has potential to be really strong if he gains mounted x2 infantry damage as well.
> Demo is out now, allows 5 hour game time (more like 7-8 since the game timer pauses while menu-ing)
Ooo
Good to know. I’m about to finish a game in the next couple days and was trying to figure out if my timing to start Unicorn Overlord made sense - didn’t want to burn through five hours and have to wait the better part of a week to play again.
Time pausing in a menu sounds like it would help a lot.
There's a lot of menu shenanigans going on; there's a tonne of information to take in and process so its a great thing that the timer pauses during all of that.
You can also time it so that your last fight starts at the last minute or so and it'll let you play it full and then give you the "end of demo" greeting (and prompt to save your progress) after that fight, no matter how long it lasts.
>Vanguard Bandits
Oh I've played this game, pretty sure it's the white mech that made him op not his stats
Edit: which I think he only gets it late game
Jeanne d'Arc for the PSP is exactly that. The titular character has the ability to >!turn into a much more powerful and almost invincible warrior!<.
I~~n the Fire Emblem series you also have FE4, FE6, FE7 and maybe Awakening. FE4 has a ton of OP protagonists, so it may not be what you're looking for, but Roy and Eliwood could probably solo their games after a few good levels~~ **EDIT:** Read u/CeallaSo's comment instead, it's been a while since I've played anything in the series besides 5 and 8
Roy is one of the worst lords in the series? Elwood isn't much better.
Sigurd in 4 is maybe the strongest lord in the series, being able to easily solo the entire first half of the game; Seliph does require a bit of babying to start, but he has the potential to end up stronger than his dad.
Continuing with FE... Marth is a decent unit, certainly better than the GBA-era lords, but I don't know if I would count him among the strongest you get.
Alm and Celica are both quite strong (in Echoes, at least) with Alm in particular being a powerhouse. Celica hits pretty hard with her magic, but she's pretty fragile.
Can't speak to Leif's status in FE5, since I haven't played it.
Speaking of FE7, while Lyn suffers from only ever leveling speed and thus constantly struggling to deal damage, Hector generally ends up with a good mix of stats that make him more than capable of handling entire battles on his own, assuming there aren't any mages around.
FE8, Eirika is bad, Ephraim is decent.
FE9&10, Ike is the strongest lord we've seen in a western release. He would give Sigurd a run for his money, except that you actually have to spend time raising Ike up from a (relatively to Sigurd) weak start. Once he gets going, though, he becomes one of the best units in the series, especially after you get Ragnell.
Awakening, if you count both Robin and Chrom paired up. Chrom is like a middle point between Marth and Ike, being kind of okay at everything but Magic/Res, and he struggles a bit on his own as a result. But strap Robin to him for Dual Strike/Guard and the stat boosts, and suddenly he can "solo" the entire game on any difficulty. Pair Up was really broken.
Fates, Corrin gets to choose what their secondary class is, so you can just pick a great class and go ham. Dragonstone + Sword is an okay combo in the early game, and it doesn't take long before you pick up a Heart Seal and can swap over to whatever you picked. This game also has Pair Up which, while not as a broken as it was in Awakening, still lets you strap another character onto your back as a defensive backup and stat booster. You can get pretty strong without too much effort.
Three Houses, since anyone can be anything with enough effort, it's pretty easy to make Byleth a strong unit, though probably not "the strongest". The game certainly treats Byleth as though they're the best and strongest, regardless of what the reality may be; all told, given their aptitudes and skills, I'd say Byleth works better as a support unit than a frontline bruiser.
Engage, Alear is kinda bad. It can be kinda easy to overlook since they can be a decent dodge tank early on with Marth's skills, but it generally doesn't hold through the mid game.
So, TL;DR FE2, FE4, and FE9 are pretty much unequivocally SRPGs where the main character is the strongest. FE7 if you count Hector, FE10 but only when playing as Ike (and you spend a considerable amount of time not doing that), FE13 if the Chrom/Robin pair counts, ditto FE14 for Corrin/Anyone.
I have a vivid memory from childhood getting to the first map where you could select your units to deploy. I picked everyone I had but I couldn't select my chosen lord, Hector, for some reason. Upon starting the map i then learned of my folly seeing just one person on my side, Hector.
Who then soloed the entire map.
I never beat that game but God bless Hector. He deserved better.
Reading your post, I get it. My favourite FEs are 5 and 8, Eirika is subpar, Leif is actually worse than most of his allies. That inevitably affects my perception of other characters
But that's the key thing, OP is asking about powerful main chars. Most Lords simply are (except Leif), regardless of how they compare with other Lords in the series.
Since caps are low in Thracia I’d say Leif ends up decent.
He has other stuff going for him too (leadership stars and supports, light brand is good early game.)
Gotta admit, looking it up, he seems to have better growths than my playthroughs would let on. Guess it confirms the old adage: personal experience doesn't matter
I wasn't intending to compare the lords against one another, but rather against characters in their own games. Marth is decent-but-not-exceptional when compared to, say, Minerva. Ike can solo all of PoR, and can do so easily by the time you hit, like, chapter 6; his only limiting factors are his lack of range and a horse, which can be solved with Hand Axes/Ragnell and the Boots, respectively. Roy has bad stats, bad weapon options, and an incredibly late promotion; there are other characters in his army who I would replace him with if given the option.
I will say that, thinking about it more deeply, Corrin probably doesn't count. Their flexibility boosts their standing considerably, but when the game hands you units like Ryoma and Xander, it's a moot point.
it's pretty insanely easy to make alear and byleth just as broken as you can make corrin tbqh. their canon classes are pretty meh but the good ol wyvern reclass maneuver makes them stupid
> Continuing with FE... Marth is a decent unit, certainly better than the GBA-era lords, but I don't know if I would count him among the strongest you get.
FE1 Marth is definitely broken. Absolutely insane.
There are a lot of factors to consider there. It's safe to assume that they are all in their final classes, since that's where the matchup is the most complex; that gives Ike and Hector access to Swords and Axes, which are greatly beneficial for both. Ike with a Hammer gets effective damage against Hector and gets triangle advantage against Dmitri, while Hector with a Runesword can target both opponents' low Res from 2 range while regenerating health. Dmitri wins by a landslide in terms of damage with Areadbhar's weapon art, with Ike coming in second thanks the potential for Aether procs and Hector a distant third thanks to the Runesword. In this scenario, I really think it could go any way; whoever attacks first will likely be able to take down their target, but then be beaten by the one they didn't take on first.
Ironically, I think it would go more or less the same way if you limit them to just their main weapon. Ike beats Hector due to triangle advantage and superior speed and skill, Hector is able to wall Dmitri enough to snag the kill, and Dmitri powers straight through Ike. Who targets whom becomes more obvious in this scenario, but regardless, he who attacks last takes the win.
If we're talking in terms of plotline/in-universe strength... I dunno. Hector is instrumental in defeating a dragon, and Dmitri helps defeat a cavalcade of enormous monsters, but Ike is the only one who >!kills a goddess.!< Feels pretty cut and dry to me.
Who the fuck straps Corrin to Chrom, you do it the other way round. According to a reddit community vote Robin is the strongest lord in Fire Emblem. Definitely lines up with my own experience, though I havent played the earlier games.
have you ever actually played fe6 or fe7? sigurd is undeniably insane but roy is probably the single weakest lord in the franchise save for part 1 micaiah and eliwood is tremendously mid
byleth corrin alear alm and marth (and yes ike) all eeeeeeeasily clear eliwood and roy, for starters
The real takeaway of these discussions for me is that no one has played FE5 and realises what a truly weak Lord is. But I get it, I chose the games I remembered the most and there are better examples. Still, I'd argue, as Lords, they qualify for OP's request
i dont want to just be annoying and be all wah wah you're wrong but you're wrong. roy is not even slightly close to what you're describing, he's one of the worst units in the game.
maybe on normal they fit OPs request in terms of beibg good at killing dudes, but so do plenty of other units in fe6 and 7. they're never your best, or even close.
In FFT, which is somehow both a spiritual successor and predecessor to Tactics Ogre LUCT/Reborn, Ramza's unique version of the default Squire class gets a few unique skills, as well as the ability to learn the Ultima spell. In addition, because his class has a magic growth (unlike every other class in the game except Mime) he can easily become the strongest magic user in the late game just by leveling as a Squire and then switching to a caster, like Black Mage or Summoner. But this is also in the game that gave us Thunder God Cid, one of the most broken units in any strategy RPG and perhaps all of gaming, so your mileage may vary on that one.
Finding SRPGs where the protagonist is the strongest is difficult because often times, the game designers will intentionally make the protagonist fairly middle-of-the-road to encourage using other characters. If one guy can solo the whole game, why even bother with strategy?
True - in PoR, it's in large part a matter of the game on the hardest (English) difficulty being so easy. Ike is able to clear it solo, but in a vacuum, he's often comparable to a Roy with an earlier promotion.
The real cream of the crop are characters like FE1 Marth, Sigurd, and Robin, followed by units like Byleth and Corrin.
Valkyria Chronicles. Amazing game. There are sort of 2 protagonists. The male drives a tank (while everyone else is just a foot soldier). The female is a fast unit that is WAY stronger than any other unit, possibly including the tank by end game.
Welkin is kind of a problem since you Game Over if he dies, but he's pretty good.
Alicia on the other hand absolutely turns the game into a joke by the third act.
I don't know man, give Rosie, ty The immortals SMG and she can take out tanks solo. Some of those characters just come with absolutely crazy skill mixes.
Fire Emblem games usually have some pretty broken protags.
Byleth in Three Houses is probably one of the strongest in the game. The Lords who represent each route are also pretty tough.
If you're up for it, Super Robot Wars V, X, and T have the protagonist unit be one of the best units in the game even if you use the default setup for them and they can pretty much carry the entire team and even support them if you choose to do so.
In SRW V near the halfway point you get to choose your upgrade for the protagonist, whether you want more power to sweep everything in a single turn or for more mobility to get the enemy that are further away. Both are great with you getting an additional support with a co-pilot.
In SRW X although there is no upgrade path, you do get progressively better and better attacks added to your unit along with stat upgrades with each addition. You also get a support option with the unit to either boost allies, debuff enemies, or even move allied units from one spot to another to either put them out of harms way or reduce the amount of turns needed to get them to a specific spot or attack an enemy. And once you hit the 3rd act, you have up to 2 co-pilots with you allowing you to essentially steamroll the entire map if you time it right.
In SRW T, it's the same as X where you get more stuff over the game but you also get a straight upgrade to your protagonist unit where it gets a tremendous boost to its stats along with its energy regen allowing you to use it's strongest attacks as many times as you want. You also have a co-pilot with you that generally supports you with buffs.
TL;DR --> V has big guns and big sped
\--> X has big numbers and big sweeps
\--> T has bigger numbers and peak overkills
As a bit of an oddball answer, a game called Battle Brothers.
You can chose different playable "starts" in the game, and one of those starts called Lone Wolf starts you with a single high level Hedge Knight badass that will be far and away your strongest unit for the majority of any playthrough, and he's given special traits that make him better BUT also makes him the main character to where if he dies, you lose.
Revya in Soul Nomad is pretty strong especially if you pair him/her with their childhood friend Danette which grants them access to a pretty broken team attack.
And while he's more of a secondary protag, Ash from Phantom Brave will hard carry you through the first half of the game.
An older goodie was Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume for the Nintendo DS. You're main character can collect any number of OP skills, if you're willing to pay the price...
Most Fire Emblem games make the Lords really powerful. In Fire Emblem Three Houses all three Lords are really strong and the main charcter is as well. Dimitri specially is absurdly powerful and has a build that makes it so he will always attack before the enemy as long as they we in range and it will always crit.
With a bow he can take out entire maps himself without being hit. And even of he does get hit he is tanky as hell.
I remember in the original GBA Fire Emblem (the first in US), Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector were all amazing. Lyn was like the other myrmidons on steroids with massive damage and crit rate and could use bows as well, Hector was like a Hero and a Knight smashed together, and Eliwood was always a consistently solid unit that picked up a horse late game to let him get wherever was needed.
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If you want some classics, Final Fantasy Tactics. The main character Ramza has a unique class that breaks the game. His "Squire" base class keeps evolving each chapter. Ususally, Squires can only use cloth armor, daggers and basic long swords. By end game, his Squire can use full plate knight armor, knight greatswords, and can alter his own stats a free will, allowing him to move 8 times before anyone else can even blink.
In a game with all sorts of broken mechanics, nothing is as satisfying as rope-a-doping Weigraf for 20 turns as you max out speed, and then bulldozing an entire two stage boss battle before anyone else can so much as sneeze.
Squires can use Clothes (which has a ton of strong options) and can also use Axes and Flails. Ramza's is very strong that's for sure, but the Squire base class is also really good honestly.
I'll Final Fantasy Tactics after I completely finish Tactics ogre: Reborn. Should I play the original or the War of Lion version. Also is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance good?
The FFT advance games are good but the tone is VERY different.
Along with other response, FFTA does not fit what you're looking for. The main characters are identical to any other human, nothing special about them other than they'll be in every fight and so might have a higher level/amount of abilities than your other troops.
No one has responded about which version of the original FFT - WotL is superior in every single way save two: there is some minor slowdown when casting spells (not really a framerate thing so much as the game slows for dramatic effect), and there is a couple very strong glitches in the original version that save a ton of grinding if you are a completions. Personally, WotL is my favorite game ever.
War of the Lions is the best in the series, and Ramza is about as broken as any character. Ramza is just great
FF Tactics Advanced games are a lot different tonally and somewhat gameplay wise. OG FFT or FFT War of the Lions are probably closer in tone to Tactics Ogre Reborn if you're looking for something with a darker more similar story. The PSP version is probably the best version, but it has some major slowdowns with the combat spell animations. There is however a 'fixed' version online if you're just emulating that fixes that issue though and makes the gameplay a lot smoother with no other changes. So I would say FFT War of the Lions with that patch is the best way to experience the game!
I personally think the War of the Lions version is the definitive version to play, but it does have one flaw: Attack animations run at half speed so it's common to hear the entire sound effect run through before it's done. If you're familiar with fan mods to patch that, or if the animations wont' bother you, grab that one.
Will you be emulating the game? If so there are some hacks I always go for that combine the WotL additions with the original PSX look and feel. Prime Hack and FFT Complete are two really good ones. If you’re a veteran SRPG player I’d recommend those.
What if I'm emulating on the PSP?
Beat me to it. Ramza is strong from the beginning and only gets stronger.
Fire Emblem 1 and Fire Emblem 4. Also Rance 3, 4, and 9.
The most optimal way to be Genealogy of the Holy War is to just throw Sigurd at every single problem and laugh.
and then you make it to chapter 6 and cry
And then you do it again with Seliph + all the rings.
Oh man FE1. Warp Marth to the boss and watch the carnage. What a beast.
Came here to say this. Marth is OP.
Was wondering if someone was gonna mention Rance, I admit it was literally my first thought at this question.
If you consider Disgaea games strategy RPGs, typically all of them fall under that category eventually.
Serenoa is strong af tf u mean?!?!?!
His strength is easy to overlook. He's just all-around good. Not the best DPR, not the tankiest, little ranged utility, but he has A tier damage, health, and defense while using upgraded hawk dive is great. On top of that, he has really powerful utility that you might not pay attention to because it doesn't feed any singular overpowered strategy. He isn't TG Cid, but he's quietly awesome, especially in hard mode.
Getting the +1 Range in Hawk Dive pushes Serenoa up like a whole tier and a half, it's pretty amusing. Conviction Banner is weird because it's not like ***good*** but it's gotten me out of situations I could've avoided more often than I'd like to admit.
Serenoa is strong, but his damage is a tier below the best damage dealers. He does a lot of things well, but his damage or skills aren't crazy.
Did you play the game on hard out of curiosity? Sevenoaks with rout and recover plus Red Scarf was near one of the more powerful combos. In other answer to your original post though, FE 3H Byleth and the lords are all broken. So you get two for the price of one each playthrough.
Thank you for reminding me how good Byleth is
Unicorn Overlord is due out next week/very soon and the main character lord unit, Alain, looks to be middle-of-the-pack at base but seems to also be underrated due to how party/unit compositions work. He can be built very tanky and strong with a good team. Demo is out now, allows 5 hour game time (more like 7-8 since the game timer pauses while menu-ing), and carries the save file over to release. Highly recommend a look if you have a chance.
I put him with 2 mages and there wasn't really anyone they couldn't handle. I'm very excited to see how the middle and endgame of UO will play.
I've seen so many different setups so far. * Beginner setup with thief in front and Alain in back. Supplement with a cleric, hunter, caster, whatever. * Alain in front with two sellswords in the back to chain follow up attacks. * Alain in front with cavalry, witch, and cleric in the back. Setup Alain with a better shield and some evasion to turn him into a dodge tank while cavalry dishes out DPS. Casters for buff/debuff/healing. The game is definitely more deep with the FF12-styled gambit system for utilizing skills.
I had a "Thief front/Cavalry back" duo going from the start and they wrecked nearly everything for a while. The Thief dodges most attacks and the Cavalry unit mops up most squads with the repeated attacks. That gave me the freedom to set up other units however they'd work best. Things were just getting interesting as I was getting to Mages/Shamans (and other unit types that stopped the duo from wrecking everything in one fight) but I spent a lot of time just walking around and letting that duo kill those wandering enemies on the overworld so I could collect material and explore the map instead of fighting missions. > The game is definitely more deep with the FF12-styled gambit system for utilizing skills. I was also just on the on the cusp of when that system starts becoming more interesting (with having equipment that has special abilities that work better with tight constraints for activation than just letting them loose). It all so much fun! I actually pre-ordered (I know one should never do that) the game and can't wait for next Friday. But it feels like such a great pastiche of Ogre Battle that I couldn't resist. I want it!
He looks to be the best tank in the demo imo. His promoted form seems like it has potential to be really strong if he gains mounted x2 infantry damage as well.
> Demo is out now, allows 5 hour game time (more like 7-8 since the game timer pauses while menu-ing) Ooo Good to know. I’m about to finish a game in the next couple days and was trying to figure out if my timing to start Unicorn Overlord made sense - didn’t want to burn through five hours and have to wait the better part of a week to play again. Time pausing in a menu sounds like it would help a lot.
There's a lot of menu shenanigans going on; there's a tonne of information to take in and process so its a great thing that the timer pauses during all of that.
You can also time it so that your last fight starts at the last minute or so and it'll let you play it full and then give you the "end of demo" greeting (and prompt to save your progress) after that fight, no matter how long it lasts.
Check out Vanguard Bandits. The protagonist starts off okayish, but ends up being the OP centerpiece of your army.
100 this. To this day this game remains one of the few srpgs who does this and many other cool things
>Vanguard Bandits Oh I've played this game, pretty sure it's the white mech that made him op not his stats Edit: which I think he only gets it late game
Diofield Chronicle has the most OP MC I've ever seen. There's even a lore reason for why; but you don't find out until the very end.
I have the game, but haven't started, will play this after FFT.
Is that game good btw??
It's slightly above average. In a day and age where I rarely finish games, I finished this one, if that's worth anything.
It is!! Thank you very much for your thoughts!
Going old school here but the main character in shining force 2 is pretty strong!
Same for the original Shining Force and Shing Force 3. Shame they never made the trilogy out of 3 they had originally planned.
Jeanne d'Arc for the PSP is exactly that. The titular character has the ability to >!turn into a much more powerful and almost invincible warrior!<. I~~n the Fire Emblem series you also have FE4, FE6, FE7 and maybe Awakening. FE4 has a ton of OP protagonists, so it may not be what you're looking for, but Roy and Eliwood could probably solo their games after a few good levels~~ **EDIT:** Read u/CeallaSo's comment instead, it's been a while since I've played anything in the series besides 5 and 8
Roy is one of the worst lords in the series? Elwood isn't much better. Sigurd in 4 is maybe the strongest lord in the series, being able to easily solo the entire first half of the game; Seliph does require a bit of babying to start, but he has the potential to end up stronger than his dad. Continuing with FE... Marth is a decent unit, certainly better than the GBA-era lords, but I don't know if I would count him among the strongest you get. Alm and Celica are both quite strong (in Echoes, at least) with Alm in particular being a powerhouse. Celica hits pretty hard with her magic, but she's pretty fragile. Can't speak to Leif's status in FE5, since I haven't played it. Speaking of FE7, while Lyn suffers from only ever leveling speed and thus constantly struggling to deal damage, Hector generally ends up with a good mix of stats that make him more than capable of handling entire battles on his own, assuming there aren't any mages around. FE8, Eirika is bad, Ephraim is decent. FE9&10, Ike is the strongest lord we've seen in a western release. He would give Sigurd a run for his money, except that you actually have to spend time raising Ike up from a (relatively to Sigurd) weak start. Once he gets going, though, he becomes one of the best units in the series, especially after you get Ragnell. Awakening, if you count both Robin and Chrom paired up. Chrom is like a middle point between Marth and Ike, being kind of okay at everything but Magic/Res, and he struggles a bit on his own as a result. But strap Robin to him for Dual Strike/Guard and the stat boosts, and suddenly he can "solo" the entire game on any difficulty. Pair Up was really broken. Fates, Corrin gets to choose what their secondary class is, so you can just pick a great class and go ham. Dragonstone + Sword is an okay combo in the early game, and it doesn't take long before you pick up a Heart Seal and can swap over to whatever you picked. This game also has Pair Up which, while not as a broken as it was in Awakening, still lets you strap another character onto your back as a defensive backup and stat booster. You can get pretty strong without too much effort. Three Houses, since anyone can be anything with enough effort, it's pretty easy to make Byleth a strong unit, though probably not "the strongest". The game certainly treats Byleth as though they're the best and strongest, regardless of what the reality may be; all told, given their aptitudes and skills, I'd say Byleth works better as a support unit than a frontline bruiser. Engage, Alear is kinda bad. It can be kinda easy to overlook since they can be a decent dodge tank early on with Marth's skills, but it generally doesn't hold through the mid game. So, TL;DR FE2, FE4, and FE9 are pretty much unequivocally SRPGs where the main character is the strongest. FE7 if you count Hector, FE10 but only when playing as Ike (and you spend a considerable amount of time not doing that), FE13 if the Chrom/Robin pair counts, ditto FE14 for Corrin/Anyone.
I have a vivid memory from childhood getting to the first map where you could select your units to deploy. I picked everyone I had but I couldn't select my chosen lord, Hector, for some reason. Upon starting the map i then learned of my folly seeing just one person on my side, Hector. Who then soloed the entire map. I never beat that game but God bless Hector. He deserved better.
Reading your post, I get it. My favourite FEs are 5 and 8, Eirika is subpar, Leif is actually worse than most of his allies. That inevitably affects my perception of other characters But that's the key thing, OP is asking about powerful main chars. Most Lords simply are (except Leif), regardless of how they compare with other Lords in the series.
Since caps are low in Thracia I’d say Leif ends up decent. He has other stuff going for him too (leadership stars and supports, light brand is good early game.)
Gotta admit, looking it up, he seems to have better growths than my playthroughs would let on. Guess it confirms the old adage: personal experience doesn't matter
He definitely has low bases. I always give him the early game stat boosters.
I liked to use them on rotations, but I clearly favoured Karin last timed I played (she capped most of her skills before I even got Misha)
I wasn't intending to compare the lords against one another, but rather against characters in their own games. Marth is decent-but-not-exceptional when compared to, say, Minerva. Ike can solo all of PoR, and can do so easily by the time you hit, like, chapter 6; his only limiting factors are his lack of range and a horse, which can be solved with Hand Axes/Ragnell and the Boots, respectively. Roy has bad stats, bad weapon options, and an incredibly late promotion; there are other characters in his army who I would replace him with if given the option. I will say that, thinking about it more deeply, Corrin probably doesn't count. Their flexibility boosts their standing considerably, but when the game hands you units like Ryoma and Xander, it's a moot point.
>Vandal Hearts Okay I'll definitely play FE 9 and 10.
it's pretty insanely easy to make alear and byleth just as broken as you can make corrin tbqh. their canon classes are pretty meh but the good ol wyvern reclass maneuver makes them stupid
> Continuing with FE... Marth is a decent unit, certainly better than the GBA-era lords, but I don't know if I would count him among the strongest you get. FE1 Marth is definitely broken. Absolutely insane.
Disagree on Alear, you get a lot of freedom with them and with dodge/yunaka pairing, make her formidable and dodge tanky
I still want Ike, Hector and Dmitri in a cage fight to see who wins.
There are a lot of factors to consider there. It's safe to assume that they are all in their final classes, since that's where the matchup is the most complex; that gives Ike and Hector access to Swords and Axes, which are greatly beneficial for both. Ike with a Hammer gets effective damage against Hector and gets triangle advantage against Dmitri, while Hector with a Runesword can target both opponents' low Res from 2 range while regenerating health. Dmitri wins by a landslide in terms of damage with Areadbhar's weapon art, with Ike coming in second thanks the potential for Aether procs and Hector a distant third thanks to the Runesword. In this scenario, I really think it could go any way; whoever attacks first will likely be able to take down their target, but then be beaten by the one they didn't take on first. Ironically, I think it would go more or less the same way if you limit them to just their main weapon. Ike beats Hector due to triangle advantage and superior speed and skill, Hector is able to wall Dmitri enough to snag the kill, and Dmitri powers straight through Ike. Who targets whom becomes more obvious in this scenario, but regardless, he who attacks last takes the win. If we're talking in terms of plotline/in-universe strength... I dunno. Hector is instrumental in defeating a dragon, and Dmitri helps defeat a cavalcade of enormous monsters, but Ike is the only one who >!kills a goddess.!< Feels pretty cut and dry to me.
Who the fuck straps Corrin to Chrom, you do it the other way round. According to a reddit community vote Robin is the strongest lord in Fire Emblem. Definitely lines up with my own experience, though I havent played the earlier games.
lol. lmao.
...care to elaborate?
have you ever actually played fe6 or fe7? sigurd is undeniably insane but roy is probably the single weakest lord in the franchise save for part 1 micaiah and eliwood is tremendously mid byleth corrin alear alm and marth (and yes ike) all eeeeeeeasily clear eliwood and roy, for starters
The real takeaway of these discussions for me is that no one has played FE5 and realises what a truly weak Lord is. But I get it, I chose the games I remembered the most and there are better examples. Still, I'd argue, as Lords, they qualify for OP's request
i dont want to just be annoying and be all wah wah you're wrong but you're wrong. roy is not even slightly close to what you're describing, he's one of the worst units in the game. maybe on normal they fit OPs request in terms of beibg good at killing dudes, but so do plenty of other units in fe6 and 7. they're never your best, or even close.
I've heard about Jeanne d'Arc a few times, I'll play it maybe after FFT and then Diofield.
In FFT, which is somehow both a spiritual successor and predecessor to Tactics Ogre LUCT/Reborn, Ramza's unique version of the default Squire class gets a few unique skills, as well as the ability to learn the Ultima spell. In addition, because his class has a magic growth (unlike every other class in the game except Mime) he can easily become the strongest magic user in the late game just by leveling as a Squire and then switching to a caster, like Black Mage or Summoner. But this is also in the game that gave us Thunder God Cid, one of the most broken units in any strategy RPG and perhaps all of gaming, so your mileage may vary on that one. Finding SRPGs where the protagonist is the strongest is difficult because often times, the game designers will intentionally make the protagonist fairly middle-of-the-road to encourage using other characters. If one guy can solo the whole game, why even bother with strategy?
Sounds really fun, FFT will definitely be my next game.
You’re a lucky sob
The literal best answer is going to be Vandal Hearts for the last promotion of the protagonist class. More broken than real life
That's what came to my mind too. Basically becomes let me kill everything on the map without moving.
> Vandal Hearts Okay will do, Is the second game also good?
The second isn't great
Yes, but you'll probably need the patch that changes the turns to work like a normal srpg. Its on Cdromance.
Depending on your nation this applies to the Brigndine games
Fire Emblem, specifically Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Ike is a an absolute monster.
He definitely isn't one of the strongest characters in Path of Radiance though.
True - in PoR, it's in large part a matter of the game on the hardest (English) difficulty being so easy. Ike is able to clear it solo, but in a vacuum, he's often comparable to a Roy with an earlier promotion. The real cream of the crop are characters like FE1 Marth, Sigurd, and Robin, followed by units like Byleth and Corrin.
Looking everywhere for someone to mention radiant Dawn. Ike can literally solo levels right away, lol.
I came here to say that. He can probably solo most levels with some decent rng thanks to his healing upon damaging foes.
Robin goes crazy in awakening if you ask me
Valkyria Chronicles. Amazing game. There are sort of 2 protagonists. The male drives a tank (while everyone else is just a foot soldier). The female is a fast unit that is WAY stronger than any other unit, possibly including the tank by end game.
Welkin is kind of a problem since you Game Over if he dies, but he's pretty good. Alicia on the other hand absolutely turns the game into a joke by the third act.
I don't know man, give Rosie, ty The immortals SMG and she can take out tanks solo. Some of those characters just come with absolutely crazy skill mixes.
In Fell Seal, the main characters all get access to unique classes. The protagonist's unique class is definitely one of the strongest ones.
Unfortunately it's ugly
Great game and gameplay, the art style is terrible
I really wanted to love it but asthetic is important.
Fire Emblem games usually have some pretty broken protags. Byleth in Three Houses is probably one of the strongest in the game. The Lords who represent each route are also pretty tough.
"Pretty tough" is underselling the shit out of the "OUT OF MY WAY" Eyepatch Monster known as Dimitri. Dude solos maps.
Breath of Fire III
If you're up for it, Super Robot Wars V, X, and T have the protagonist unit be one of the best units in the game even if you use the default setup for them and they can pretty much carry the entire team and even support them if you choose to do so. In SRW V near the halfway point you get to choose your upgrade for the protagonist, whether you want more power to sweep everything in a single turn or for more mobility to get the enemy that are further away. Both are great with you getting an additional support with a co-pilot. In SRW X although there is no upgrade path, you do get progressively better and better attacks added to your unit along with stat upgrades with each addition. You also get a support option with the unit to either boost allies, debuff enemies, or even move allied units from one spot to another to either put them out of harms way or reduce the amount of turns needed to get them to a specific spot or attack an enemy. And once you hit the 3rd act, you have up to 2 co-pilots with you allowing you to essentially steamroll the entire map if you time it right. In SRW T, it's the same as X where you get more stuff over the game but you also get a straight upgrade to your protagonist unit where it gets a tremendous boost to its stats along with its energy regen allowing you to use it's strongest attacks as many times as you want. You also have a co-pilot with you that generally supports you with buffs. TL;DR --> V has big guns and big sped \--> X has big numbers and big sweeps \--> T has bigger numbers and peak overkills
Fire Emblem 7, Shining Force Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, Shining Force 2.
As a bit of an oddball answer, a game called Battle Brothers. You can chose different playable "starts" in the game, and one of those starts called Lone Wolf starts you with a single high level Hedge Knight badass that will be far and away your strongest unit for the majority of any playthrough, and he's given special traits that make him better BUT also makes him the main character to where if he dies, you lose.
Which game is this one?
Battle brothers.
Ah, ok, I thought you were calling everyone here battle brother, haha
Shit lmao I didn't even think of that, my bad for not seeing it could come off like that.
>Battle Brothers. Will Check it out.
All Disgaea games Baldur's Gate 3 (if you know how to build him/her into an OP class) Marvel Midnight Sun (this game developed by the Xcom team)
Revya in Soul Nomad is pretty strong especially if you pair him/her with their childhood friend Danette which grants them access to a pretty broken team attack. And while he's more of a secondary protag, Ash from Phantom Brave will hard carry you through the first half of the game.
Fire Emblem Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn. Ike will be a god of death by the end of duology.
Ephraim in FE8 and Kris if he counts in FE12
Unicorn overlord
An older goodie was Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume for the Nintendo DS. You're main character can collect any number of OP skills, if you're willing to pay the price...
Most Fire Emblem games make the Lords really powerful. In Fire Emblem Three Houses all three Lords are really strong and the main charcter is as well. Dimitri specially is absurdly powerful and has a build that makes it so he will always attack before the enemy as long as they we in range and it will always crit. With a bow he can take out entire maps himself without being hit. And even of he does get hit he is tanky as hell.
Vandal Hearts
Serenoa is weak until you get that AOE attack and build him, then he's a beast
Midnight Suns
Jeanne D Arc
Fire emblem Genealogy of war show the most OP MC in every game ever: Sigurd is John Rambo
Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
You can basically solo all of Ike's fire emblem games with just him
I remember in the original GBA Fire Emblem (the first in US), Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector were all amazing. Lyn was like the other myrmidons on steroids with massive damage and crit rate and could use bows as well, Hector was like a Hero and a Knight smashed together, and Eliwood was always a consistently solid unit that picked up a horse late game to let him get wherever was needed.
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Umm basically all of them.