I played the game 4 times, all on normal. First game was just for the story, didn't elaborate much beyond kill them all. My guys were all fighters and no casters. Actually levelled Mia, Ed, Stefan and Lucia at max all together, with stolen/bought tempest blades for the final. Absolute ownage. Nolan died in the desert in part 4 against Numida.

Second play, I used the Nephenee/Brom team. Brom had provoke, disarm and another, which made him get more than what he needed in exp, and since he has the highest def ratio in the generals, lots of attacks just got wasted on him. Right next to him was the awesome Nephenee, with Imbue to match her high magic stats, making her absolutely unkillable. She endured one of Levail's Impale blows, killed him in two hits straight, got his Wishlance, and was healthy by next turn's end. Adding to that, I gave her daunt, since an enemy you can't bloody kill no matter what you do IS scary. And it supports Brom nicely too. The rest was a better mix of units in general than my first play, added Vika and Lyre to the team, and both Mist(Vague Katti) and Elincia(Amiti) were absolute terrors as well.

Third play was similar to second, except for more mages (Ilyana/Pelleas/Soren) none was godly, but I never specifically helped them either. Got Kurthnaga so strong with Paragon/Blossom he was on par with his father.

Fourth was Laguz time, plus the usual Mist/Elincia+Nephenee/Brom. I maxed Mordecai, Volug, Lethe, and Vika using Paragon/Blossom and Bexp (and seraph robes and Luck charms so as not to waste bexp on hp and luck stats). Use Bexp to get to 99 exp, then enter level and get that level with Blossom. 4-7 stats guaranteed. I never tore down Ashera so fast. Laguz are no more expensive to use, considering I do forge weapons to overkill my ennemies. And in the tower, if you use the laguz gems wisely along with a heron level 30+, no problem with transformation whatsoever.

I hate the laguz kings. Too uber. so far as i see, theyre kings because theyre strongest, but it shouldnt mean that Vika posesses less potential than Naesala in the end. Same with skrimmir/caineghis and volug/nailah. Cats and tigers dont have kings their race so its excusable.

Lastly, I dare any of you to get this game going without ever restarting for a character. I didn't get far. Can you?

I did get past micaiah's chapter without anyone dieing (the fourth time through lol). Everytime i play I like to use Sothe (you know I used to pronounce that Soth-ae lol). In the micaiah chapters he is a beast but later on he becomes about average. I'm currently playing again and have decided to use volug this time. I just never really had much motivation in training my laguz honestly. I love nailah. I know she's a queen and is supposed to be great but still. I love to use nephenee and brom combo. I never took them to the final battle but I will this time. This is also the first time I've used the soren/ike combo and the mist/boyd combo. I've never used Meg, Fiona, and a few others and I'm wondering if its worth it to acutally level them up. Anyway, I digress.

Has anyone actually gotten all the events that you can get? I cant seem to unlock Lehran in the end... (seriously I know how but it never happens!!!! Wth!!)