Fayt's Playlog - H3 mode. (Another Playthrough, now with more difficulty!)

[Fayt Zelpher]

Alright, as you may or may not know, I decided a little while ago to give this game another run.

The difficulty will be H2 (Brutal mode) for this playthrough. During this run, I will be incorporating the following rules:

No warp-skipping chapters. After the boss has been killed, Marth may be warped to the seize point to save time. However, I may use warp staves to move characters around. (This will be done for some characters being recruited - Maria comes to mind.)

No killing off characters. Occasionally, I may choose not to recruit someone. However, all recruited characters must survive. This also means that I will not be going to Gaiden chapters. I will however allow Tiki to be killed with the Falchion to go to 24x. She will be resurrected with the Aum staff.

Reclassing is allowed. However, I do not plan on abusing reclass and switching all my characters' classes every chapter. (I don't intend to put a hard and fast rule on what that means objectively though, so there is fudge room here).

No Online shop. My DS can't access the internet through my wireless on account of the encryption on the router at my house... Sad but true.

Forgot to add this. No clock abuse for level ups. Just no. I want this to be a fair run.

Other than that, I really don't know what else to say. I've never done a playlog or anything like that, so I apologize if I miss important steps or stuff like that. I won't give turn-by-turn accounts, but I will post general chapter strategy and keep you guys informed of my levels and the like.

Oh, and since they're not posted on the site, I will be giving all boss stats for H2 mode. Don't blame me for small errors - autoleveling of enemies means that stats will have some variation.

So, if there are characters that you'd recommend, please do so. I don't want to play with only top tier characters, but please don't 'recommend' bottom-tiered ones. Stay in the top/high/upper mid/mid range please.

And with that out of the way, I suppose I'll get started.

Current team:

Marth

Caeda

Barst

Lena

Ogma

Cain

Wolf

6 others yet to be determined.

Edited August 10, 2010 by Cocytus

[Psych]

Catria and Merric?

Catria seems good as Archer -> Sniper when I do it.

[Deliriyum]

To make things interesting I suggest you use

Abel(cavalier->anything

Draug(dark mage->Sorcerer

Darros(knight->General)

Castor(Hunter->??)

Julian

Lena

Nabarl(Cavalier->dracoknight)

Athena(Peg->Sniper)

Matthis(Cavalier->Sniper)

Dolph(mercenary)

Jake

Horace(??)

Catria(peg->sniper)

Ymir(Hero)

The classes are just my suggestions.

Edited July 30, 2010 by Core

[Fayt Zelpher]

Catria and Merric?

Catria seems good as Archer -> Sniper when I do it.

Well, right now, the only two units that I'm certain that I'll use are Rena/Lena and Shiida/Caeda. And Marth, of course. So, I've got three. I plan on using maybe 13 characters for main?

[Deliriyum]

Well, right now, the only two units that I'm certain that I'll use are Rena/Lena and Shiida/Caeda. And Marth, of course. So, I've got three. I plan on using maybe 13 characters for main?

You'll have fun with my lineup for you.

[Fei Mao]

To be honest it's better to do the gaidens for extra exp and items since the people you keep alive won't be don't anything. But W/E it's your run and such.

Some stuff you should do.

When you get to chapter 4 forge a rapier or wing spear with +3 MT (It'll one round Cavs, or near)

Reclass Jeigan to sniper. (Helps a lot to weaken stuff and extend his use.)

I wouldn't having Lena as part of your team since her growths are pretty unreliable unless if you are going to use her for staffs or hammerine.

Use Wendell also, helps to weaken stuff till he is no longer needed.

People/Reclass I recommend

Abel and Cain Cav--->Paladin or Sniper

Katua Pegasus--->Sniper

Merric Curate--->Sage (It'll help him level up faster since people are bound to get hit)

Linde Cleric--->Sage (Same as Merric)

Beck (If you don't mind using a boots on him, or bear his low movement)

Chainey

Oguma (Keep Merc but go fighter if his strength is lacking, though mind you his speed growth suffers as a fighter.)

Edited July 30, 2010 by Generic Officer

[Fayt Zelpher]

Alright, chapter 1.

Nothing too bad. Draug makes an excellent tank. Jeigan weakens the pirates. Cain and Abel pick them off. Caeda goes after the thief near the bottom. Marth didn't do much, since he was pretty far behind after going to the village to get the money. Caeda bought a Javelin.

Boss Stats:

Gazzack (H2 Mode)
Class  Level  HP  Str  Mag  Skl  Spd  Lck  Def  Res  Weapon Ranks
Pirate    05  27  10   00   04   09   00   06   00   C Axes

Nothing too bad, right? Caeda, Abel, and Gordin all try to get some chip damage on him from range. Cain and Jagen use swords to attack at melee distance. Moral of the story? 40 percent accuracy is not great for hitting your foes.

13 turns. Could have done it faster, I imagine. But I'm not going for efficiency here, so I'm not too worried. Easily could have been 11-12 if I'd gotten luckier with my attacks.

Chapter 2. Reminder to self - those pirates can walk on water. 2 deaths due to thinking that I had chokepoints when I really didn't. Ugh. Anyway, 3rd time's a charm, right?

EDIT: Indeed it is. Ogma is really good, both offensively and defensively. Definitely a strong unit and one I'll probably use a lot this playthrough.

Anyway, used Cain to block the top, Draug and Jeigan do tanking. Caeda and Marth take out the (slightly weakened) cavaliers. Everyone gets chip damage in on the pirates. Recruited Darros and Castor.

Gomer (H2 Mode)
Class  Level  HP  Str  Mag  Skl  Spd  Lck  Def  Res  Weapon Ranks
Pirate    07  31  11   00   06   10   00   05   00   C Axes

Marth kills the boss on a lucky critical. 10 turns. Probably the last update for today...

Edited July 30, 2010 by Cocytus

[Darros]

Use Cain, and Palla too. :)

And Norne, defy the games laws of HM

[dondon151]

No warp-skipping chapters. After the boss has been killed, Marth may be warped to the seize point to save time. However, I may use warp staves to move characters around. (This will be done for some characters being recruited - Maria comes to mind.)

Wait, so let me get this straight.

- You are not allowed to "warpskip."

- You are allowed to warp characters (no clause against warping characters to kill boss).

- You are allowed to warp Marth to the seize tile after the boss is removed.

These rules are self-contradictory. Additionally, please be aware that warping Marth to the seize tile after the boss is removed is considered half-skipping, which is a form of warpskip.

[Narga_Rocks]

Wait, so let me get this straight.

- You are not allowed to "warpskip."

- You are allowed to warp characters (no clause against warping characters to kill boss).

- You are allowed to warp Marth to the seize tile after the boss is removed.

These rules are self-contradictory. Additionally, please be aware that warping Marth to the seize tile after the boss is removed is considered half-skipping, which is a form of warpskip.

Well, how much it is "warpskip" depends on how he plays the maps. He could mean (in reference to the Marth thing) that he'll be running around killing stuff, and then when he's done with it all (near-rout or actual rout) he'll warp Marth. Technically he's skipping the 2 or 3 turns it might take Marth to reach the throne, but is the really anything to worry about if nearly all the enemies are dead anyway? I'd only call it half-skipping if he's leaving a lot of the map alive.

But yes, those rules do seem contradictory. No warpskip, but the other rules seem to allow it just fine.

[Fayt Zelpher]

Wait, so let me get this straight.

- You are not allowed to "warpskip."

- You are allowed to warp characters (no clause against warping characters to kill boss).

- You are allowed to warp Marth to the seize tile after the boss is removed.

These rules are self-contradictory. Additionally, please be aware that warping Marth to the seize tile after the boss is removed is considered half-skipping, which is a form of warpskip.

I will not be warping characters to kill the boss. I will only warp characters to enemy territory in order to do stuff that would be tricky otherwise, such as recruiting Maria in that chapter. Marth can't be warped to the seize square until a near-rout has been reached (as in, no more than 5 to 6 enemies left on the map). I know that my rules do leave this open for interpretation, but in playstyle will force me to kill most enemies.

In all honesty, that clause is more for 'You've routed the map and killed the boss. Now, Marth's on the other side of the map, and it's going to be 10 turns of moving Marth to the seize square.' In other words, more of an issue of me saving time (real time) than half-skipping maps.

[AstraLunaSol]

I will only warp characters to enemy territory in order to do stuff that would be tricky otherwise, such as recruiting Maria in that chapter.

You can actually rescue Maria fairly easily without warping, you just need 2 door keys or a thief to accompany Marth. And someone that is capable of taking down that Master Seal Hero of course.

Edited July 30, 2010 by Michalis

[Darros]

You can actually rescue Maria fairly easily without warping, you just need 2 door keys or a thief to accompany Marth. And someone that is capable of taking down that Master Seal Hero of course.

You dont even need the second key if you can waste a few more turns going around the castle, or just using a flyer/Minerva.

[Thor Odinson]

If you want to make it easier, train up either Wolf or Sedgar in the chapter with lots of armors, horsemen, and cavs (the one where Caesar and Radd joins) as a General. They tink off of them after two levels, and horsemen are easy levels since they're promoted.

If you don't want to trivialize the game by using Wolf/Sedgar, make sure you train a high defense unit anyway. For emergency tink!bait purposes.

[El Rey León]

If you want to make it easier, train up either Wolf or Sedgar in the chapter with lots of armors, horsemen, and cavs (the one where Caesar and Radd joins) as a General. They tink off of them after two levels, and horsemen are easy levels since they're promoted.

If you don't want to trivialize the game by using Wolf/Sedgar, make sure you train a high defense unit anyway. For emergency tink!bait purposes.

Well it is H2 so I'd agree with this advice.

[Darros]

If you want to make it easier, train up either Wolf or Sedgar in the chapter with lots of armors, horsemen, and cavs (the one where Caesar and Radd joins) as a General. They tink off of them after two levels, and horsemen are easy levels since they're promoted.

If you don't want to trivialize the game by using Wolf/Sedgar, make sure you train a high defense unit anyway. For emergency tink!bait purposes.

Agreed, tink!bait is always useful, especially when its HM.

And if youre using Est, without Arena, use the Triattack!Ridersbane on Horsemen/Pallys for quick nonabusive levelups.

[El Rey León]

I don't think Est is worth it on HM. Palla and Catria are more than enough, though it's best to just stick with training Caeda and Minerva due to better availability.

[Darros]

I don't think Est is worth it on HM. Palla and Catria are more than enough, though it's best to just stick with training Caeda and Minerva due to better availability.

Sounds advice. Also, wing spear hax. *is currently trying FEDS H5*

But the triangle attack is auto-crit, which may be an advantage to him.

[Thor Odinson]

Caeda is ridiculously godly on H5. And due to Wing Spear being so hax, you can even earlypromote her and not lose utility. She should cap SPD by level 12 LATEST anyway.

If you get promoted Lena's tome rank to C, she will most likely be tink'd by Gharnef, and you can use her+Starlight against him and watch him bounce off. PEMN, but usually she is the first to hit 20/0, thus promote, then the first to hit 20/20 for me.

Unless you got lucky with Merric's Res like I did. 28 as bishop WTF on my H2 run.

Edited July 31, 2010 by Luminescent Blade

[Fayt Zelpher]

Caeda is ridiculously godly on H5. And due to Wing Spear being so hax, you can even earlypromote her and not lose utility. She should cap SPD by level 12 LATEST anyway.

If you get promoted Lena's tome rank to C, she will most likely be tink'd by Gharnef, and you can use her+Starlight against him and watch him bounce off. PEMN, but usually she is the first to hit 20/0, thus promote, then the first to hit 20/20 for me.

Unless you got lucky with Merric's Res like I did. 28 as bishop WTF on my H2 run.

True. I don't know if I'll early promote Caeda, but that Wing Spear is amazing and will be put to good use.

That's exactly how I beat Gharnef when I played it last time (which was also my first time) on NM. I intend to do the same again.

Holy crap that is godly.

Also, I'll use one of Wolf/Sedgar. Who would you recommend, and what class?

In addition, adding Ogma to the list of units being used. He's raping everything here. Too awesome not to use. Yes, he doubles on H2. Just barely, but that's all I need.

Edited July 31, 2010 by Cocytus

[Thor Odinson]

Caeda has the issue of godly offense+crap defense, so early promotion+Seraph Robe greatly helps her durability. It's what I did with H5 and it helped her a lot. At least she isn't OHKO'd anymore.

I approve of Ogma. He's my favorite character after Abel and Navarre. :>

Wolf is prettier but I prefer Sedgar for higher Defense growths and more levels to grow into (considering their growths, 2 levels is actually significant). That and he always got luckier with SPD as a General than Wolf did for me. As classes, General until he caps Defense, then to Hero for better SPD, then back to General after he hits 20/20 for ridiculous tanking.

[Smiley Jim]

Caeda is ridiculously godly on H5. And due to Wing Spear being so hax, you can even earlypromote her and not lose utility. She should cap SPD by level 12 LATEST anyway.

If you get promoted Lena's tome rank to C, she will most likely be tink'd by Gharnef, and you can use her+Starlight against him and watch him bounce off. PEMN, but usually she is the first to hit 20/0, thus promote, then the first to hit 20/20 for me.

Unless you got lucky with Merric's Res like I did. 28 as bishop WTF on my H2 run.

Hehe. I know. While I haven't played past H2 myself, I know how useful the Wing Spear is. Not that paladins are hard to take down, but the ability to automatically ORKO them is very useful(I don't forge wing spears; I spend my money on javelin forges to make them broken. I give those to Draug because no one else needs it). Also, I never early promote any units except Draug(and only because he caps his defense as a knight at, like, 13/0. My Draug must be getting defense blessed. Or I was rigging his level ups so he'd get def every level up until he capped it.)

About the Lena vs Gharnef thing. This playthrough, my Bishop!Rena got tinked by Gharnef in Ch15 despite getting doubled. PEMN, but usually I'm taking 2-3 damage(Rena usually has 20 res by C15) Looks like she might be able to tink him as a sage(she has a B in tomes, so she can use StarLight).

[Thor Odinson]

Your Draug sounds like my Ogma on my last FE12 playthrough. With that pathetic 20% Def (his 15 base + 5 class) growths that he has, he somehow reached 22 DEF, third highest on my team (first being Seth!MU and second being Catria)

He isn't this lucky on my current run, though. No more Ogmatank. :< but he's still Ogmacannon.

As stated above, early promoting Caeda is to get rid of her durability issues, as DK gives a hefty +5 to defense and she really needs that.

Maybe I Lenaspam too much, but she usually gets to 20/20 before Gharnef chapter for me. And Bishop has +3 Res to Sage, for -1 Mag and -2 Str. I usually have both Merric and Lena as bishops for that chapter because of that.

I think I got slightly blessed on H5 where Lena had 25 Res/ 21 Spd when I got to Gharnef. I think she was still tinked, or close to tinked.

That or I Barrier raised it to 30.

Edited July 31, 2010 by Luminescent Blade

[Fayt Zelpher]

Alright. Chapter 3.

Pretty straightforward, really. Cain, Abel, and Caeda head north with Julian. Lena heads down. Caeda recruits Navarre. Cain and Abel tank the top half, and Caeda does pick off duty with the javelin I bought her in C1. Jagen uses that silver lance to weaken enemies. Ogma follows behind him to get the KO.

Boss time:

Hyman (H2 Mode)
Class  Level  HP  Str  Mag  Skl  Spd  Lck  Def  Res  Weapon Ranks
Fighter   08  33  10   00   07   14   00   05   00   C Axes

Still working on a way to kill him. He doubles all my units but Ogma, dang it!

[Thor Odinson]

I'm pretty sure he doesn't double Navarre either.

I mean, he didn't double Navarre in H5, so I don't he how he could in H2.

But anyway, the standard method is park Ogma in front of him with Navarre's killing edge, heal if he actually gets hit, and if Ogma crits, finish off with someone else like Barst.