Unusual Recruitments in Fire Emblem
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- 00:00 - Intro
02:09 - Gaiden
03:27: Mystery of the Emblem
5:54 - Genealogy
10:46 - Thracia
14:29 - Binding Blade
15:31 - Blazing Blade
17:14 - Path of Radiance
18:55 - Radiant Dawn
20:24 - Shadow Dragon
22:25 - Awakening
22:58 - Fates
24:25 - 3H and conclusion
Fire Emblem is well known for its large cast of recruitable characters, but some recruitment requirements are a little weirder than your bog-standard talk conversation. I talk about some of my favorite non-standard recruitments in the series!
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My favorite is still Oliver in Fire Emblem 9/10, where the characters like Ike don't want him to join them lol.
It was funny, but I was annoyed. He died in Path of Radiance.
Oliver is a joke character, and the joke is at the expense of the rest of the cast. These days, I just kill him. I think that's unironically a better ending for the rest of Tellius than recruiting him.
Ike literally going "uh can you actually go back to being an enemy?" Is so based
In my first playthrough I legit had no idea you could recruit him, and when I saw him rushing towards the heron I thought "Well thats a reset" and then he just recruited himself and I was laughing like crazy
It's funny but I honestly wish they didn't bring him back it just feels wrong in this case
Stefan feels like he was On-Disc DLC
He was definitely a game guide seller
Yeah it’s pre-dlc dlc designed to sell game guides. Huge trend in the early 2000’s rpgs of all kinds.
You know you brought me into another Fire Emblem phase!
(Pls make more fe vids)
@@BoneyGaf Sure that's a trend and probably why it was so specific but all the set dressing is a natural extension of a specific convention introduced in 1994 and general ones from gaming history. Not only is it in the desert chapter that already has hidden treasure, (and this game tells you that is a thing) he still appears and gives you his sword if you don't use the right character, is in a suspicious dead end, the solution is related to the chapter and the easter egg that gives more information about who recruits him is a prominent mage in said desert.
Fun fact on the Nagi recruitment. If you give Tiki the Falchion and then allow her to die then it counts as both not having Tiki and the Falchion, so you can reliably recruit Nagi and keep Tiki if yo keep your one charge of the Aum staff
@@Raharu95 I did that in every playthrough once I learned about it! I'm not an ironman runner (I always restart when someone dies), so I didn't have anyone else to use the Aum staff on.
@@gyppygirl2021 The first time I played I lost Cord early on and used Aum to resurrect him because I didn't have any other options. Obviously, he was useless at that point.
But Gotoh is underrated, he comes with a siege tome!
@Raharu95 same. It was fun to have both dragons against Medeus. I waited until the last chapter before the chance to recruit Nagi so Tiki could level up and I wouldn't have to worry about not having the Falchion
I love those weirder recruitments because it really sells your army as this ragtag group of anime people who are only here because they share some common goal. It's not just a story of a bunch of important guys that were already on the same side (ehem... Fates... ehem), sometimes you just have to go out of your way to prove your respect for an enemy general's troops to sway them.
I'll definitely admit that's one thing about I was never a fan of
The army didn't have the "ragtag" feel I like from other games
One interesting missable case in Three Houses is that Hilda from the Golden Deer is normally not recruitable through the first half of Red Eagle playthrough unless the player chooses Silver Snow route. Only then, she is recruitable for only ONE chapter (CH 12) and no others, and she also has her prereqs to recruit like normal students.
Which, as a side note, makes her the only "right hand" unit for the leader that turns out to be recruitable in all stories -- Her counterparts in the Eagles (Hilbert) and Lions (Dedue) never cross this line, which also helps show how different the Deer are to the others (being that they're a loose coalition of allied independent territories as opposed to the Empire or Kingdom for the other two)
Hmmm Red Eagle? Did you mean Black Eagle
The thing about PoR Stefan is that there _is_ a base conversation that hints at his existence ("occasional reports of strange figures wandering the dunes in the northeast"), and that oddly isolated area of the map is rather suspicious in general, but there's no hint at all that you need to get him with one of your Laguz, and you need to step on a specific singular tile to do it. So it's both a little easier to realize he exists than your summary mentions, and also a bit harder to actually recruit him blind. And then in Radiant Dawn, he's just completely hidden, and you only get the _chance_ to find out you missed him because of a base conversation just before the tower several chapters later -- which is just mean.
If I recall right, if you step on that space with anyone else. He atleast gives you his sword. So its a consolation prize if you don't figure the whole thing out
@@Yarharsuperpirate Yeah, that helps. Though, what doesn't help is that the most valuable prize in my opinion isn't the Vague Katti, or even Stefan himself. It's the Occult scroll you get from a base conversation if you recruited Stefan.
It is a Laguz chapter and there is a hint to that if you get the sword with a certain mage character in a dessert map.
The game also lets you know hidden treasure exists so that's another thing to go off of.
I think Path of Radiance Shinon deserved a mention. To recruit him the second time, a player needs to first talk to him with Rolf, then defeat him specifically with Ike. I suppose defeating him Ike isn't that tough a requirement since Ike just promoted and can get experience again, and narratively, having Ike beat Shinon up after being such a jerk earlier feels good. But there's no clear signs that Rolf and Shinon interact. Even if a player deduces that Rolf must have learned how to use Bows from the only Archer in the Greil Mercenaries, there's no actual confirmation until they have their conversation. And after said conversation, Shinon stays an enemy with no clear clue that Ike defeating him will make him survive post chapter.
I also wish non-standard recruitments would make a return. There's so much character work that can be done in them, and they also make the side objective more engaging that "move main character in that direction".
I think you're right, Path of Radiance Shinon is a pretty cool recruitment!
Yeah I remember looking it up and not understanding how Rolf tied into recruiting him and then actually doing it and going “awww!” when the anti-social sniper felt bad for the kid and taught him everything he knows.
I would argue that that unorthodox way to RE recruit shinon is a stroke of genius. Not only do you have to do some guessing and learn that Rolf can’t have just taught himself, but you have to fight and beat Shinon with Ike. You have to prove to Shinon through the Daein way he follows that you are stronger than him. And I love it for that.
Rolf implies Shinon made his bow early on, thats really the only hint the game outright hands to you
@@perpetuallyconfused09I thought it was that Shinon taught Rolf how to make bows? Maybe I'm misremembering?
One of my favourites is Saber in SoV who you recruit by giving him Celica's Golden Dagger. Immediately on the next map you can trade it off him. Saber you got played brother.
I mean, can you miss Saber's recruitment?, I think the game pretty much tells you to recruit him
The lack of oliver B lining to rafiel once he’s in his range then forcing himself into your army is saddening.
Recruiting Sylvain immediately just for playing female Byleth will always get me.
And I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually lock a character recruitment behind fishing.
(whether through impressing them or literally fishing them up)
Makes me wish male Byleth had an alternative instant recruit. Maybe could have done that for Leonie? So she can get on his good side and learn more about Jeralt?
I can imagine fishing up a sleeping manakete
I think a pretty interesting one is Lysithea for 3H. Specifically because she's the only character who can be recruited post-timeskip without having recruited her previously and she's the only on map recruitment who wasn't a part previously of your army. On Crimson Flower, if Byleth or Balthus defeats her during Chapter 14, they can recruit after the map and she'll join as a level 29 Mage. It's not too unique by the rest of the series' standards, but it's very unusual in Three Houses since no one else is recruited like that.
Honorable mention to Sylvain who you can recruit regardless of your skill level if you’re playing as female Byleth lmao.
And unfortunately due to 3H's teaching system she sucks when recruited this way.
@@BigKlingy I mean, saying she *sucks* is a little strong, because Lysithea, but yeah.
Even when recruits come to you with above average bases, you really feel the lack of skill ranks. It takes a lot of effort to get them up to speed and often times it isn't even worth it.
Tbh with how rushed 3H very clearly is, this feels like a feature they probably wanted to implement more and they just didn't have the time. There's more than enough "grey area" characters that really should be recruitable this way.
@@BigKlingy Yeahhh. She’s still Lysithea, so the growths, subject strength and spell list is still there, but her stats have lagged behind in Mage, she’s extremely behind in skills (B Reason, B Authority, E+ Faith) and she’s at a point your other mage like Dorothea is probably a Gremory already. Combined with the fact that it’s Crimson Flower, so you only have 3 Chapters+ The Final Map left to fix her, recruiting this way is extremely detrimental, if you wanted to use her, you ought to have recruited her pre-timeskip. Still, neat that it exists at all
Oliver. He’s an extreme PoS and major boss in PoR that you’re glad died in that game…only to find out in RD that he was secretly kept alive so you’re incredibly eager to “correct this error”…only to find out that despite being the boss of the map, he’s fully recruitable with a unit that wasn’t in PoR and the reason is also kind of infuriating because he clearly hasn’t learned any lesson lmao.
And it gives is the greatest Ike line of all time
@@jouheikisaragi6075 Don't forget Sephiran, he literally says "I confess that your presence has me bewildered. Could this be part of Yune's plan? I simply never would have imagined you here. Your presence proves that Tellius is unravelling at the seams. Judgement cannot come soon enough."
@@jouheikisaragi6075 “Could you please rejoin the enemy?” Ike is such a badass.
Stefan is interesting to me, particularly with Mordecai's recruitment of him. Because the way the dialogue goes implies Mordecai found the sword and Stefan revealed himself.
Which in general seems weird because that's the same sword he starts with meaning he just drops his sword and lets anyone pick it up. But he reveals himself if the one who finds said sword is a laguz.
Man, not changing your outro to "subscribe so you don't miss recruiting an upload" was criminal :P
My favourite "unconventional recruitment" is Jaffar in FE7. On paper he's simple, talk with Nino and he joins after the battle. But in context, you've just gone through a several chapter mini-arc of him and Nino questioning their loyalty to the Black Fang. Battle Before Dawn makes protecting and recruiting both major side objectives, with Jaffar throwing himself into a horde of enemies to save Nino. It's the perfect climax to the Bern arc and as a kid I replayed BBD over and over. I missed him on my first playthrough due to a few tripups: he stays green after Nino talks to him and the recruitment theme doesn't play. But I managed it on my second run, which was its own reward. He was my Xavier.
I feel modern FE can't do these methods anymore because how people engage with the characters and get attached to them has fundamentally changed. Now, it's all about supports, design and marriage with the Avatar, and I think the developers are afraid of having players miss these. In an interview, the Three Houses developers said players often didn't get attached to late-game recruits and they wanted to fix that by introducing everyone at the Monastery from the start. I feel this takes the "mystery" out of recruitment though. I like having some rando pre-promote with a portrait show up late game and figuring out how to get them to join. (They did that with Lindon, but he was the ONLY enemy recruit so many people didn't know what to do with him)
4:26 My favourite thing about this is in the remake, Sheema and Samson will return to being enemies if you kill any of the Gra soldiers AFTER recruiting them. (You can make the game unwinnable this way if you give either the Lightsphere first, but if you did that you 100% deserve it)
Fully agree with "losing a character just hits different, especially if you had to kill them."
There's a character in Unicorn Overlord who seems to join you via beating an Arena, and they're very popular for... reasons.
I think Rennac's method could be a good antidote to the modern FE games being afraid of players missing things. Let anyone recruit the character for a fee, but someone specific can do it for free.
18:18 Or when you look at the portrait gallery unlocked after beating the game and see there's still one ??? there. That got me so damn intrigued when I first played. What's also cool is I then looked up a guide that explained how to recruit him, but it was text-only, so his appearance really surprised me. (Wasn't expecting an adult green spikey haired guy with purple robes and a rainbow sash).
I like the Severa recruitment too.
I'm still upset that you don't get any unique dialogue for visiting the house containing Nino and Jaffar in Four-Fanged Offense, not even with Legault.
First time I played BBD I had the Uber Spear from Vaida (thank you mine glitch!) so the chapter never posed any problem.
Awakening has some great ones. Donnel is literally a training arc where he has to earn his spot in the army and if you pre plan with glass lances and rally boosts or backpack a good unit donnel can solo the map while everyone else is cheering him on.
Severa one is very fun. Kinda reminds me of gordin in shadow dragon where you actually have to read the dialogue so any skippers or auto battle modes give you an auto off. Course my severa is always op so she can take care of herself when going through map.
Fates is alright. Mozu is a less interesting donnel map. Kaze is reverse recruitment as you need to get support up or lose him.
3 houses boring. Just solo byleth to get everyone early and beat up any traitors before getting them back. Simple.
Wow how could I leave out Donnel, yes, that is a good one!
@@actuallizard i think it's because it's so well known it sorta brushes aside.
Could be an easy part two to this as Fe has so many unique ways to recruit units
Kaze is basically a recruit able unit because he is meant to die in the story. I was so upset when that happened to me because I liked his character. I was going to promote him!!
Say'ri is a another really cool one too. In the midst of needing to save her, you also get to see how badass she is. Unless your RNG is pretty bad, Say'ri can dodge those Knights for basically the whole map. It makes you want to give her a sword ASAP.
Pairing Donnel up with Kellam is always the easiest way I found to get him that level he needs. Since the extra defense makes him able to survive basically everything on the map. Then its just planning what kills you can safely give him
Delthea in echoes had a very easy solution given to you basically right before this chapter.
Leveling up Alm's royal sword gives him the subdue art, just whack her with that and she'll be at 1 hp for the rest of the battle be unable to do anything for the rest of the map.
im honestly glad xavier is as weird as he is because it gives a definite answer to the most annoying recruitment. i dont think anyone else comes close. like karla and stefan are easier to miss completely but xavier is hard even if you know what to do.
I would argue PoR Shinon is a pretty solid 2nd place, as you have to somehow get Rolf (an archer that by this point is likely either grossly underleveled because you haven't been using him or slightly overleveled because you have) over to him without accidentally killing either Rolf or Shinon and then make sure specifically Ike kills him. That being said, it is a very distant second place.
@@webbowser8834 I mean if you aren't used to unequipping units to avoid killing weaker enemies in a counterattack or keeping weaker units from being killed by those they recruit, a lot of units have unusual recruitments.
@@goodpeople25 I guess that's fair enough.
Shoutouts to Ilios in fe5, a character who on the surface is a very straightforward recruitment. He’s just an enemy you talk to, but is notable for the fact that completely arbitrarily, Olwen has to be dead or skipped entirely for him to be recruited(it doesn’t work if she’s been captured), and you have to talk to him with Karin, which the game gives you absolutely zero hint of this, because it’s not even like they know each other or something. Karin just kinda annoys him into joining. So not a difficult recruitment, but one that practically no one would get on a blind playthrough.
Also not a recruitment exactly, but shoutouts to Zihark in Radiant Dawn who can defect to the Laguz Alliance in 3-6 by having him talk to Lethe or Mordecai. Jill can also defect, but you have to talk to her as an enemy like a normal recruitment, but Zihark can talk to an enemy to turn into an enemy, who you then get to use next chapter.
I love the "reverse recruitments" in RD.
Ilios always baffled and annoyed me. LOL
If they ever remake that game, they'd better give us a good reason why Olwen has to be dead! Or... just make it so you can recruit both of them...
Everyone knows the best recruitment is capture in fates. Niles and orochi making friends by kidnapping them and breaking their souls or feeding them until they switch sides
Jokes aside. I love the fates capture system it's amazing and basically gives you a third army. I wish they were your main party in the third route where corrin and azura need to recruit bandits and sell swords to help them keep norh and hoshido off their backs and get these characters side stories. Niles and orochi wouldn't be needed and we'd get a true third route. Honestly sounds good for a fated remake.
Also personal skills and give them to the amiboo too.
bonus points for 2 specific units.
1. Haitaka: a hoshidan spear fighter boss in CQ Chapter 9 with Rally Def
2. a Master of Arms unit in CQ Chapter 23 with 4 different Rally skills
@@lilsunny7399 yeah haitaka is probably the best known capture. He has it all. A class you don't get in norh. Rally to help your army prepare for attacks. Good growths. Great class as a lance unit
Rally man indeed. But some of the others have good uses or classes to them that can balance the team.
It would be so cool to see Corrin pull up with all the capture bosses and amiboo against anakos
The only engage recruitment I remember is Anna being in a box, just funny and somewhat fitting for the money hungry mascot.
Stefan can be recruited in radiant dawn in the same method as in path of radiance.
You have to have Micaiah wait on the specific spot though. But I think Mordecai or Lethe can do it if you have transfer data?
@@GreatAether58 yes
You know what shouldn't have been a missable recruitment but ended up being one for me? Kellam on my first playthrough of awakening. I guess his character gimmick was so strong it affected me in real life, huh.
Also surprised you didn't mention Oliver
I'm now imagining Kellam is always in the background in the story‚ just that no one notices him. Grima reveal‚ he's there. Lucina reveals her identity‚ he's there. On the final map‚ there and gives his line if Robin sacrifices themselves.
I really like Delthea's recruitment specifically because if you can position yourself well enough you can warp skip the map. The requirement is defeat Tatarrah iirc and defeat boss maps are extremely rare in Echoes/Gaiden
Can't warp skip. Delthea will RETREAT if you defeat the boss, but you must still rout the enemy. My strategy was to use Clair to rush in for a crit kill on Tatarrah, but she does need several dodges + the crit itself.
@@Averi0 Thank you for correcting me. Most of the time I use Clair to bait out delthea because she's one of the few decent res tanks available in the game. I then rush Alm and Silque up to take care of Tatarrah. I suppose the rest of my army devours the rest of the arcanists before alm can finish off the boss so I didn't remember.
If I were to guess, I think the fact that Sheena's soldiers don't attack you (thus making it easier to not kill them) while the mercs in Blood Runs Red will attack you makes a big difference.
One weird thing about the Stefan recruitment is that only Mordecai and Lethe can recruit him. I really don't get why a specific character I won't name because p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ c̶a̶r̶e̶ t̶o̶o̶ m̶u̶c̶h̶ a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ s̶u̶r̶p̶r̶i̶s̶e̶d̶ spoilers doesn't get to recruit Stefan and just gets a slightly altered version of the Vague Katti dialogue.
Slightly? It's more than half different text in english? And the game shows exactly why that character didn't/couldn't recruit him. (maybe if they put that chapter later on but this is about the worst time on that front)
Something to note about Severa in Awakening is that while she can be recruited that's only if Holland lives. if Holland dies she will turn hostile and become an unrecruitable red unit. She even has unique dialogue that plays if he does die.
Seems like a good place to talk about Volo from Berwick Saga. His normal recruitment is just hire him a bunch and then he joins but you don't get any of his story/dialogue. So most people go this route and now Volo has a reputation as this brooding edgelord who never talks. To get his backstory, you have to...
1a.) Defeat the endgame boss when he shows up in chapter 3. Technically possible, but requires savescumming.
1b.) Get Faye killed before she talks to the endgame boss. This can only be done in chapter 3, since if you kill her anywhere else before then she just respawns next chapter.
2.) Hire him a few times (5+ happiness)
3.) Deploy him in Ch. 7, then have him visit a random church on the map.
As an aside, Volo's unit design as a replacement for Faye/Faramir is fantastic, since he has his own exploit to fight the final boss if you can't use her endgame weapon. The Miracle Charm item prevents death once and then breaks. The deathmatch skill initiates 5 rounds of combat. But the miracle charm doesn't break until after all 5 rounds have passed. So you get 5 whacks at the final boss and then live. The game even hints at this because there's an inaccessable unit on the final map, and if you check his stats you'll see he carries a miracle charm and the deathmatch skill.
The most unusual recruitments are DLC characters (Echoes Cipher DLC, Ashen Wolves, Engage Dlc)
It's such a strange recruitment, I miss it every time!
Sounds almost as strange as FEH recruitments.
Fates also has a few memorable Child paralogues. Midori’s map is a kill boss map but the boss is trying to escape which is sort of a rarity in fire emblem. And also Nina’s map is the same but she is the boss of her map.
I love ALL ActualLizard videos!!!! ❤
I think you would enjoy Berwick Saga, their recruitment system is the most interesting one in the series.
I think you are probably correct! I'm playing Tear Ring Saga right now and enjoying it a lot, will probably go to Berwick next
@@actuallizard Berwick is very much a culmination of everything Kaga has learned over the course of making games. It showed me just how much potential an FE game/FE like has.
When I first played Geneaology I didn't know you could recruit Ayra so i just killed her. Gotta say; the scene with Shanan hits way different!
When I finally after years recruited Karla I was so excited. Used her for that last kashuna chapter.
So I like that Xavier has a schizophrenic recruitment. But I have no idea how in the heck someone would ever do it first try
That's the neat part. You don't.
Sylvain's Alternate recruitment is one of my favorite conditions. " Hey, that new teachers pretty hot.I should Abandon my country"
Also obligatory Jill anti-recruitment mention bc that shiz is always funny
I love the fact that Jill can defect from your army if you aren't careful with her around Shiharam. The game makes it obvious that something will happen if father and daughter encounter each other on the battlefield... so it's not like there's no warning. :p
Delthea’s recruitment is a tricky puzzle
Rapier and Royal blade:
“Laughs in subdue”
My first time playing Hector mode and I couldn’t afford to recruit Farina as I could never get much money in the GBA games, but also because my overpowered Florina was murking everybody in sight so there was no point using her even if I could have.😂😂
I had a few ideas for potential unusual recruitments:
-Spend a certain amount of gold at a certain shop and the unit joins you. The idea is the unit was needed at the shop because business wasn't going well, but you just paid off their short term debt and you're clearly getting plenty of gold.
-Have one temporary unit that is force deployed for a few chapters and has immediate access to a strong weapon, but who clearly doesn't want to fight (perhaps because the enemies are the temp unit's countrymen, or the temp unit is a pacifist). Then, if that unit's level is still low enough at a certain point, another more powerful unit is grateful that you spared the temporary unit from too much fighting and joins your side.
-A monster unit (or maybe even some kind of dragon or wyvern) that you get by finding an egg item and holding on to it for a while. The unit might even immediately have a one sided A Support with the unit carrying the egg when it hatches.
Not a weird recruiting in Path of Radiance but Jill is actually capable of leaving your army if she sees her dad in one of the chapters while Ike is marching through Daein. She will turn red and become an enemy if her and her father see combat or if he talks to her on enemy phase and Jill is left next to him. So sort of a weird recruitment for the enemy?? She can avoid this only if she A rank supports Mist prior to seeing her father. Then, when they talk. She will say she cannot join him, something I think about making friends and discovering who she is. Very cool moment.
Another part of the vigilantes is that they are in the way of recruiting zihark. Bit, they aren't worth much xp so it is better to try and spare as many as you can.
I've never bothered with the vigilantes. It's more dangerous to try and recruit Zihark later because of the Black Knight timer, so I just send Mordecai or Lethe up there, get Zihark, and leave the vigilantes to their fate. If one or two of them survive, it's a nice bonus, but going out of my way to save all of them isn't worth it in my eyes.
The only thing I dislike about recruitment is that it can force you to play with a guide, and that tends to create spoilers.
Like, if you can just use your lord to talk to everyone, that's fine because you always have your lord.
But a ton of recruitments involve bringing a character you might not even use, and the only two ways to find out are checking every character in your army one by one, or using a guide.
Absolutely nothing beats Oliver recruiting himself. It's comedic genius using the game mechanics.
Shoutouts to TearRing Saga for having two crazy recruitments with Sierra (who normally joins in Chapter 31, but can be recruited much earlier if you kill Shigen before the end of Chapter 24, and he comes back alongside her anyway lol) and Leteena (whose recruitment is basically Lehran's recruitment on steroids)
Also in Rev, Fuga joins instead of Izana if you build a hot spring, cuz stupid story death moment
With Volke in RD, you forgot to mention that while you can't haggle the price down, he does still lower it for you solely because he REALLY does not like Izuka and is willing to discount his rate just for the chance at the bastard's throat. He won't do it for free of course, man is a professional but it speaks about his stance on the whole thing
I was with you most of the video, but... DUDE. You made Hubert your DANCER??? So random xD
Stefan's recruitment in PoR is definitely weird. I'm surprised you didn't mention the similar odd requirement to get him in RD. It also involves one specific tile, but this time Micaiah has to be the one who stops there. I think Mordecai or Lethe can still do it if you have transfer data though.
Overall I agree, I would like to see these odd types of recruitments make a return. Not Xavier level though. I only played Thracia 776 once and didn't bother with recruiting Xavier. I knew about the requirements and decided it wasn't worth it.
It's hilarious that killing Shura and taking his boots is an option. I completely forgot that one exists. Maybe because I didn't do it. Still funny though!
My memory is a little hazy on that chapter but I seem to recall that after Xavier's men talked to their respective child, they don't need to make it out alive.
I definitely remember a few of those knights turning green then getting immediately capped by Xavier and his bow... then he goes "spare them your justice"(in the translation).
Path of Radiance Shinon. You have to first talk to him with Rolf, then kill him with Ike. At the end of the map it's revealed that he survives and rejoins your army. That, and it's genuinely a good question if you want him back or not. Not only did he abandon you in your darkest hour, he went and joined the enemy army that conquered your country. Being a constant jerk to Ike and unapologetically racist really don't help his case.
It actually kind of bothers me that he canonically survives and rejoins the Greil Mercenaries in Radiant Dawn. That feels like something that should have been a transfer data bonus - if you re-recruited him in Path of Radiance, you can get him back in Radiant Dawn. A strong reward for going out of your way (since he's the best sniper in the game bar none).
One notable thing a friend of mine and I discovered while I was playing through Thracia about Xavier's recruitment that's potentially useful, is that once the Named Armor knights turn Green, they can die and it won't count against the recruitment. I'm not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but it saved my single recruitment of him since I made my friend a promise I'd do it once.
Surprised FE Walhart didn’t end up on the list where you have to fight him with chrom at least once to recruit
Imagine charging in to save your friend and instead of being horrified and traumatised at being warped back again and again, you just keep trying out of spite. Situational, dynamic storytelling is one of FE's greatest strengths.
For Three Houses you could mention Lysithea's map recruitment in CF. While it's not unusual for FE as a whole, it's unique for Three Houses specifically in that she is not only the only unit who functions like this but it is also the only route that features it.
The FE12 prologue has quite an odd way of "recruiting" units. The unit you get is entirely dependent on the dialogue options you choose at the end of each prologue chapter. Of course, this doesn't carry over to the main game, but it's definitely a unique way to build your army.
thanks for the video lizard
A thing I liked but was not often repeated is karrel/haken dilemma and you forcefully lose access to one character on the behalf of another one, Fe should do that more
In FE12 Katarina also takes 3 conversations; and in FE7 I do remember Karel requiring Lyn to step into an specific portion of the map.
Yeah, Katarina is interesting as you have to talk to her with Kris tnrice, while she is busy blasting you with Nosferatu. I like her because she is one of the few lategame recruits who is actually worth using, and because her story is good, and makes Kris more than just "that weird self-insert".
And you remember wrong with Karel, IIRC he always shows up when you progress the map, the unusual thing is that depending on how you handle the map (how many doors you open for one version, or how many promoted enemies you kill for another), either him or Harken will appear.
But, Oliver jumpscare!
Personally id argue that completely staffless misha is a more obtuse recruitment or Non 24x eyvel but xavier is definitely the most obtuse intended one
How did you not mention Shions rerecruitment in the FE 9 section? You have to talk to him with Rolf and then defeat him with Ike.
I feel like we should give Stefan credit for pulling that 'desert tile only activated by specific characters' trick not once but twice since that's also how he joins in radiant dawn. Also, I feel like Shinon in 9 is also worth mentioning since he has the unique position as needing to be talked to with one character ,then defeated in combat by another one, and then not actually joining until AFTER the chapter is over. No other unit in the series has ever required you to outright 'kill' them to get them to join, even less so by just one specific other character.
On the note of Sephiran's and Pelleas recruitment, I do think something like Selena becoming acquirable on a subsequent playthrough could be fun, but it should absolutely not be done like with Sephiran and Pelleas. Since doing both is required to unlock the true ending, such as even seeing Ashunera at all and finding out the truth about Daein's lineage, it sucks having to basically play the game twice just to get the full context, especially since RD is the longest single path fire emblem game. Something like having a camus join or something is one thing, but having characters who massively influence the plot by not dying and leading to the true ending locked behind subsequent playthroughs of such a long game kinda sucks, and I say this as the number one radiant dawn defender.
Three Houses does actually have a pretty funny unique recruitment. As you said in the video, to recruit students you need to have a stat and a skill be at a particular level before they'll agree to join you (i.e. Dorothea wants Charm and Authority) with the required being lessened the higher your support with the character (possibly even getting waived as a requirement).
Sylvain is no different, wanting the player to have 25 Charm and C rank Reason magic before he'll join you if you have no supports with him.
...But that only applies for Male Byleth. Female Byleth can recruit him simply by asking him to join as soon as possible. It's a funny nod to his skirt-chasing mannerisms.
This reminds me of a rom hack that I've been working on and off on that has some really wacky recruitments, since I challenged myself to have at least 3-5 recruitable characters in each chapter, bar the final one. Some are normal like joining automatically, or talk convos, but others are weird.
For example: there's one character with an Xavier like recruitment, but different. Essentially, you need to talk to him with a weak unit you get earlier in the chapter, and then him and his officers all turn from red to green. Then, while they're green, you need to help all of his officers return to their families (this battle takes place in a city, so it's not as hard as you think). then, after that, you speak with him again with the same weak unit.
Btw, did I mention that this unit is required to get two other recruitments the next chapter, in which he needs to kill a specific mini boss, and then talk to that boss's children to recruit them.
And idk if this is even the hardest one, because there's some real tricky ones, like the ambush spawning boss that you have to kill none of their soldiers to get, or the unit in which you need to fail a Donnel type mission in order to recruit at a late-game chapter. Overall, there's some fun ones I have planned, but most players will definitely miss some.
I found Stefan on my first playthrough blindly. I was like "wait what?!" LOL
Interesting tidbit, IIRC Severa's paralogue has another thing where if you kill said villager she becomes a red unit
No mention of Zeke or Est in Echoes! They're both post-battle recruitments, but I feel like they count for this since they require you to perform some significant sidequesting detours
You can miss on Zeke if you're not taking the long route, but if you play normally, you'll recuit him anyways
For Three Houses, I would've mentioned, how Silvain can be automaticly recruitet, in Black Eagles and Golden Dears, if you've chosen Byleth to be female
One idea I once had was having recruitable monsters that the player can unlock via fulfilling specific requirements such as say, finding a tome that allows promoted dark mages to summon them or full on recruitable monster characters who have extremely obscure methods of recruitment specifically because they're non humans(like say, bribing them with money like if they were an SMT demon or the Stefan method of walking onto a specific tile as a specific unit). One in particular I imagined was a Necrodragon you could recruit by casting restore on it as an enemy and they regain their sanity or will and join the player to get back at the villain who denied them their peaceful rest
Is it weird that I really liked your voice? Such a chill voice, idk. Makes me want to watch more videos.
there is one funny recruit in 3h, where sylvain will immediately join you without needing to boost your stats or supports at all if you are girl byleth.
I messed up hard not saving Tatiana before fighting Zeke in Echoes not realizing I would miss out on both and had to restart my run. Fortify is just way to handy to miss out on, regardless of its late availability
Ilios from Thracia also has an odd recruitment requirement similar to Nagi. Ilios is a Mage Knight that can be recruited by talking to him with Karin, but only if Olwen is unrecruited or dead.
Have you not played BSFE yet? The Satellaview game. I recommend checking it out! It has a very unique recruitment due to its live-broadcast nature.
Basically, Satellaview let you play the game while it transmitted audio and some data in real-time over the satellite transmission. This makde it possible for characters to be recruited in a sort of "real-time" manner. In the case of Malice and and Dice, they have a conversation with your characters over the audio and then get recruited through that. It's extremely unique and relies on Satellaview's unique aspects, which I find super interesting!
no talk about path of raidiance jill reverse recruitmend were she becomes a red unit again? or of course, how could you forget about the one and only oliver in radiand dawn?
Slight correction, Hugh offers 4 different rates, not 3
Bartre the beast!
Capturing a castle to be able to recruit characters would still work in modern FE. Wouldn't it just be the same as visiting a village to get a trigger? And then after the trigger you might be able to use information you gained there to talk to the specific unit. Or to keep it similar flavor-wise, you could "capture" the village, depending on the setting of the chapter.
In Soviet Daein, Shiharam recruits YOU.
Stefan is desert recruitable again in Radiant Dawn
I got the Nagi chapter on accident because Tiki fell and I just wanted to see the end of the chapter then remembered in the old game Marth's sister can revive fallen units afterward so I got Tiki and her potential mother or older sister? I wish she was givin some backstory because Divine Dragons are rare I guess compared to others
5:00 Ive also found that not killing those vigilantes is a lot more difficult to do unless you ignore zihark or recruit him with an untransformed laguz. Because otherwise they will all kill themselves on them, quite easily may i add snd you just lose all kf it
imo missing characters is fine too, it gives me something to do and look forward to when replaying the game.
also fun fact, i've never recruited jade in engage because of that. she always gets herself killed before i reach her and i've never bothered to reset because of it lmao
23:45 BOOOOOTS
Delthea, my beloved..
You forgot Legault's recruitment, while a standard one (because you have to talk with Eliwood/Hector I think so), if you don't talk to him, he just leaves with the goodies from the chests and that's it, you never see him again in the game lmao
Stefan was a reward for Nintendo Power subscribers before the internet was so ubiquitous
For Echoes, you can just use Alm's Subdue combat art (which can't kill). It's like, the one time I actually used that Combat art in the whole game.
Surprised you didn't mention Harken/Karel in 7, which has completely different requirements dependent on which maps you land on and no communication is given from the game said requirements are
Tbh, I think FE4 is the best example of the paid recruitment. Mostly because you actually get to effectively keep the money you pay him since everyone has their own wallets in that game lol
Surprised Shinon isn't mentioned in the Path of Radiance section.
Mentioning FE7 chapter 14 reminds of something that happened recently. On my most recent fe7 playthrough i had forgotten that you need Priscilla to get raven and you need him to get Lucius. I wasn't even doing an iron Man but i decided to not reset when Priscilla died because i was so close to the end of the map anyway and because of that i missed out on both raven and lucius 😭
I don't think we'll ever find a weirder unit than Karla -
You should have mentioned creature campaign recruitment during the fe8 section instead of offhand later. Repeat clears of a tower is indeed a weird recruit method.
You forgot about Oliver in radiant dawn! He recruits himself!
A bit strange to bring up Blood Runs Red, but not the chapter that awards you an Ashera Staff if you avoid killing the priests.
Shinon was kind of rough too, having to have Rolf talk to him, Ike kill (read as defeat) him, and then get him after the map.
Friendly reminder that 3H Sylvain was a free unit if you played as F!Byleth, which is funny.
"You dont have a way to kill medeus, you dont have tiki!"
"But what about the falchion?"
"Lol"
22:25 I'm gonna kick myself - that Severa map gimmick is really cool but my ass broke it immediately thanks to the Lucina Can Recruit mod I had on when I played this map. It's a great mod, helps flesh out Lucina more by allowing her to talk to & recruit everyone from her future, but it can also lead to some unwanted side effects as mentioned 🙃 .
Guess the intended design is gonna be saved for the Thabes playthrough.
I like unusual recruitments, but there are definitely times where the process feels overly obtuse. I love FE9 and FE10 to death, but Stefan just never has any sort of hints or clear methods. You just have to stumble upon his singular tiles. It's fitting for his character, and he doesn't need to be found because he isn't super relevant. The sword is pretty damn good, though, and I do feel like I'm missing out if I don't at least grab that from him. Either way, I don't know what you mean by giving a "better hint" I think any hint is a "better hint" than no hint at all, lmao.
Katarina also is a bit unusual to recruit since you need to not kill her during prologue then talk to her 3 times in the map.
The chapter beginning pretty much tells you to talk to Katarina with Kris, the tricky part is: 1. Not killing her 2. Not dying in the attempt
@@AzumarillConGafasBv Hopefully i can do it in 3 times it is possible to recruit her in turn 1 but you need warp and dancer for it to work.
Maybe its because shes my favorite character in FE11 but even when I recruit Tiki and have Falchion I still let tiki die the chapter before holding falchion so I can get nagi
I love fe7 to death, but I still haven't recruited karla lol