Zorafin

I've played this game twice so far. Once I got to the last boss before realizing I had no way to deal with her raidwide damage (fortify will do I realize), and another I got to part 4 before I lost motivation. So I know the game, I just don't know how to effectively get through it. Tier 3 before part 4? That seems tough. Most of my units aren't anywhere near that. But, I think I might have a grasp of things a bit better now. I think I have the confidence to try again now. I think some mistakes I made were not using Sothe due to fear of him taking exp, not using Volug for the same reason, and not using Nailah as well as I could. Probably if I can manage that and pour bonus exp into them, I may be fine.

I just feel they don't give you the tools to complete the chapter. That can be fun sometimes, but it's exhausting and frustrating when you go from a stronger group. So, focus on five units. Alright. What about on chapter 2+, same deal? It seems like Micaiah, Sothe, Nolan, Jill, Laura (until Micaiah's promotion), Aran, Zihark, Volug, and anyone they throw at me with decent levels should be good for that. I just try to get them through the chapters and level them via bonus exp I gain from easier Crimia/Greil chapters, and dump anyone who isn't pulling their weight, right?

I feel like these are the only chapters holding me back. Enemy levels raise much faster than mine, I'm stuck with very few defensive units, most of the units I get are garbage, and I can't leave any of them behind. So, how do I get through these? So far, the only thing I can think of is save bonus exp for Dawn Brigade chapters, and unload on all my units in an attempt to keep them leveled. Besides that, I don't know what to do.

So it's supposed to be that cavalry are weaker than infantry to compensate for their higher movement, but they just forgot to do that in Path of Radiance, making cavalry overpowered in that game. Well that's a shame.

I was under the impression mounted units were supposed to have lower stats to compensate for their increased mobility and ability to move after attacking. But I just compared stats between mounted and ground units, and they're virtually identical. Well what's the point of using any ground unit then?

FE4 had some amazing ones as well. They were killing machines in that game. I don't see anything wrong with my archers. They aren't as insane as mercenaries, but they seem about as strong as paladins. They can get a solid hit in, don't have to worry about counter attacks, and can pick off enemies in the back while my melee focus on the front. They fit into any group very well, especially after gaining a horse - which just makes them more insane. I just got bow knight recently, and I love how they can pretty much hit anything on the map.

Er, yeah. Sorry, that's what I mean. At the start of the game, villagers got roughly the same exp as Alm, maybe a bit more. But myrmidons also kinda get the same exp that he does too, despite them being two tiers higher. Because of this, it seems easier to level three tier classes like mercenary than two tier like mage.

I've noticed that no matter what, it's really easy to get a character up to lv5. And really difficult to get a character past lv10. This is regardless of that character's class. So I can't help but wonder, does exp gain ignore class?

I'm more concerned with getting through the game as easily as possible. If you're at the final boss, and your characters aren't capped, and you always promote when the next tier gets more exp than the previous tier, then you're not really wasting any levels. There's not much difference ending the game at level 10/20 and at level 20/10. That being said...I may restart the game if I decide to get the dlc and get the ability to grind, to max my stats as much as possible. But that's only if I end up loving the game. I haven't really liked any FEs since Radiant Dawn, and even that one I didn't complete (I didn't get the AoE healing staff ; ;).

I just looked through the general questions thread. It seems like this game is actually pretty hard. I get really frustrated when I play perfectly for an hour and am forced to reset through some minor mistake. I'm just going to play on Normal and hope that my characters don't turn into solo machines.

I'll bet the main game will get really boring if you overlevel your units like that, too. Alright, that's good information. It's kind of odd, since most FEs are better off if you wait as long as you can until you promote.

This seems to be the general consensus, right? There is some merit in capping each class in the off chance that they'll gain a couple more stat points, but overall you're better off with the promoted units. And you'll likely not be lv20 with your final unit at the endgame anyway. This is what I'm gathering from what people are saying. It seems like maybe it'll be worth getting to 20 every time before promoting if you buy the grinding DLC, but the game will be more fun if you don't. But, there's an exception to this for the two lords.

Basically, I hate spending an hour going through a level and dying at the last second due to an unlucky crit. But I also hate soloing a map with a single character who can't get touched. I tried playing with Casual on Hard in Awakening, and remember that my Myrmidon couldn't be touched after he reached lv20 and I reclassed him to a thief. Then I did the same in Fates, and I would lose my Knight to archers. So, what difficulty should I play this game on? One where I can get through most maps without resetting too often, but still have to struggle strategically to do so?

I'm going to play the main game as far as I like, and see if I feel like I want to play more. If I do, I'll see what DLC interests me. If it all seems interesting, I'll buy the whole pack. If not, I'll buy a few little packs.

I assume each slot on the map corresponds to the number I have my units ordered. I don't know which is which though. So I just want to keep one of the mages... Well Linda's still lv1. No point in leveling her up when I can give the same exp to someone else I guess.

I'm still on book 1. I'm taking about an hour on each chapter, though I think chapter 10 is going to take me closer to 2. Chasing after that damn thief is stressful...and I died right at the end due to a crit from the boss. I couldn't do chapter 7. I felt like I tore the enemies down fast, and I still couldn't get through fast enough to beat the reinforcements. Now that I've learned that exp doesn't scale to level, I regret leaving behind all that exp. I kinda feel underleveled, especially with how the game expects me to hurry. I just learned that there are a tiny number of promotion items in this game. My original goal was to promote Rena, Marich, and Linda. But I only have 2 promotional items for mages. Who should I dump? At the rate I'm going, Rena is going to cap first. And, I get my second promotional item at...chapter 18? So late in the game?

I'm noticing that I'm gaining the same amount of EXP no matter what level I am compared to the enemy. Is there no exp formula in this game? Is it just static?

So the only way to do the level is to use the warp staff?

That can't be the only way through it. I considered it many times, but I figured if I couldn't get through this one, there's no point in cheating through it since future levels will be just as hard. I had the same problem in the last level, though to a lesser extent. The only way I could get through it was sending all my fast units to the reinforcement points before my main force got there. I had no other way of dealing with the reinforcements. I should probably ask. Are the reinforcements infinite? I just figured they were. If they stop after a while, I can get through. Though it would take forever.

Okay, so... I got up to chapter 7, and I don't think I can play this. Right at the start I'm swarmed by a group of 20, 10 of which are archers. Then once those are down, 5 units spawn per turn. Once I saw the reinforcements coming, I tried pushing through them. But I could not kill them faster than they were coming. By the time they finally got one of my characters, there were 24 on screen - more than what I started with. I have never seen a fire emblem game with reinforcements this brutal. Normally they're a couple of units that mess with your strategy. These end up being stronger than the first units you fight - which were strong enough. How are you supposed to deal with this?

Wow, that sounds better than even the GBA ones or Path of Radiance! Thanks for your inputs. I'll probably pick it up after I'm finished with Echoes.

I've been scared off from the early Fire Emblems, since the later ones are esoteric enough as they are. I've played most of the series by now though, and FE3 caught my eye. I love the artstyle of 4 and 5, and 3 seems to be a continuation of that. Playing through 3 will also let me see all of Marth's adventures, which will allow me to de-mist the mystery around him. However, there's a lot to fear about early RPGs. Secrets needed to do well are completely hidden from the player, terribly balanced difficulty, and boring gameplay can make some - most - unplayable. So, How is FE3? Would I enjoy it if I jumped in blind? Do I need to look up guides and secrets like I did in 4? How crushing is the difficulty?