Difficulty Spikes in Conquest (spoilers)

[Captain Karnage]

So I've recently beaten the Conquest version of Fates (normal, casual, and no grinding) and I can say, there are some really inconsistent difficulty spikes late game.

(and from what I can assume these late game chapters on hard and up will probably make Radiant Dawn look like FE7)

Right around Ch 20 I noticed the game's difficulty got increadibly difficult .

so here are my thoughts on the last 8 chapters

ch 20 a decent challenge and I really liked the wind mechanic

ch 21 this one made me pull my hair out, but I am super fond of escape missions

ch 22 very challenging, this is where the game began getting way too hard (this is when I swapped over to casual)

ch 23 f%ck this chapter!! I really mean it, this chapter almost made me give up on beating the game it got so hard

ch 24 can go strait to Hell, I have never played a chapter so difficult that MY ENTIRE TEAN WAS COMPLETELY WIPED OUT

ch 25 was not as bad as the ones that came prior (the cutscene killed me at the end)

ch 26 no where near as hard as ch 23 (personally I think this is where ch 23 should have been in game)

ch 27 this was no where near as hard as ch 23, once you realize that the enemy healers need to be taken care of first, it becomes much easier

Then I reached the final chapter, and you know what, I didn't loose a single unit, IT WAS THAT EASY

so are there other chapters you've noticed that seem to get way too difficult way too fast in the other versions

Edited October 29, 2015 by Captain Karnage

[CompteSecours]

I'm at chapter 18 hard and i found the difficulty pretty balanced until now. Except chapter 10 who is really hard when you discover it.

[nordopolica]

Nohr Hard is very manageable but frustrating in some parts, like Chapter 10.

The difficulty curve for the most part I found quite nice and it gives you ample resources to train your units up to the point they need to be at, at least in my experience. Most units comes at a reasonable time and level, except maybe for Charlotte who comes at level 9/10(IIRC?) when Benoit comes at Level 15 when most of your units will ideally be pushing into the 16-20 range. Honestly overall I found it far less frustrating than Invisible Kingdom hard just because of all those gimmicks. Nohr gave me a really nice challenge and actually made me think whereas in Awakening I enjoyed it because I could pretty much turn my brain off and do what I wanted.

After I got into a good rhythm with a good team built up honestly I didn't have much trouble with it, though, particularly the final few chapters which I pretty much breezed through. Last boss was one-rounded with a double-crit from 20/17 Berserker Charlotte. I'd like to try it on Lunatic but unfortunately I'm too much of a weenie.

[Avarice Shadow]

The chapters I found most difficult were, Ch10, Ch21, and Ch22. I'm currently on chapter 24(I'm on Hard Mode btw) but I haven't tried it as of yet. So far though, I'm loving the difficulty it forces me to think much more about what I'm doing, which is what I love about this game already. I won't touch Lunatic Mode quite yet after I beat Hard Mode since I want to get better at the game before I take it to the next level.

Edit: I mixed up the chapter numbers. Fixed it now.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Mystical_Ice

[Ryo]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned C12. I could barely escape in time, let alone killing the enemies. Thankfully the difference between Hard and Lunatic isn't very significant in this chapter.

[Miatt]

Yes, the chapters 10 and 12 are very difficults.

The 10 is horrible, in each mode I barrely manage to finish the chapter.

And for the chapter 12, if you have only trained Elise as Healer you're fucked(And you must have Camila)

[CompteSecours]

Mmmhh... I had no healer for chapter 12 and it went fine. The dragon vein is really useful and the vases can boost/heal you

Edited October 30, 2015 by CompteSecours

[NekoKnight]

C12 was obnoxious. It was such a hassle getting through all those vases and positioning my units so they don't get killed by ninja bum-rushes that I didn't even bother to fight Ryoma. I just got the two chests and escaped, the first chance I got.

[CompteSecours]

Ah, i remember the one when you recruit Charlotte/Benoit. Fucking Takumi D:

[Ryo]

Ah, i remember the one when you recruit Charlotte/Benoit. Fucking Takumi D:

I approached Takumi from the south and used Cut Through to pull him down into my group where they can safely surround and kill him and he didn't even have a chance to counter-attack. You need to give the enemies a taste of their own medicine sometimes >:D

[DLNarshen]

I think you're the first person I've seen who actually liked the wind in Ch. 20. Nohr's difficulty is pretty fair on hard. While it doesn't really feel like any game that came before I'd say it's comparable in difficulty to FE7's HHM. Just don't try Lunatic if Ch. 21 Hard had you pulling your hair out; you'll be bald by the time you're done with Ch. 25, 26, and the final.

[Tooru]

In ch 12, there is a "Def+4" at the beginning and some "Def+2 ???+2" in the middle. As soon as you know where they are, ch 12 will be an easy chapter.

[Duke of Dozel]

Chapter 18 was a bit tough. When staffs and high stat prepromotes start showing up. Killing the generals guarding the Hoshido royals was also annoying without Elise spamming weakness. But Berserker Asura is still the crit champ for me.

[Ryo]

Chapter 18 was a bit tough. When staffs and high stat prepromotes start showing up. Killing the generals guarding the Hoshido royals was also annoying without Elise spamming weakness. But Berserker Asura is still the crit champ for me.

You can use the gold you got in chapter 17 to buy a Hammer. They most likely won't be OHKO-ed but that would speed things up.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Ryo

[Duke of Dozel]

Well those generals could two shot just about everyone except Xander and my knights. I had to play smart. So I just had sorcerer Leon finish them with Elise staff botting them. Tricky, but I got it done.

I also forgot that it had to be done in 20 turns so the first time I nearly beat it, I got a game over haha

[nocturnal YL]

Nohr Lunatic here, just finished it not long ago. Did not grind until Chapter 20, at which point I started losing patience. I refrained from using units that are not mine except Ignis's paralogue, Chapter 23 and Final.

I talked about Ignis's chapter in the Q&A thread.

Chapter 23 was hard because of all those enemies on the building's roof blocking the stairs, carry the skill Kirikomi (Cut Through), are a mixed bag of physical and magical units, and will all move at once. Any unit that I actually have (not the fancy, 45-Def, 35-Res ones), no matter how powerful, will get mercilessly killed the momemnt they step in. Hinata (who was guarding a bridge for those who haven't played) wasn't a threat, though, since his team can be skipped by flying the team across the gap.

I don't know about the Final Chapter, other than that I have lost all my patience, and the eneny healers carrying Weakness means that one of your units will get -12 in all stats if you just charge in without thinking. It looks horribly hard in Lunatic; I haven't tried myself, and I don't want to. I just wanted to beat the game so that I could start my next playthrough.

ch 24 can go strait to Hell, I have never played a chapter so difficult that MY ENTIRE TEAN WAS COMPLETELY WIPED OUT

Chapter 24 was not too difficult to me. It's annoying and required lots of calculations, but it's beatable. Just don't think about skipping all those optional enemies and reinforcements. And you'll need units with high Def. Def and Res are important stats this time, but your units won't excel both.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned C12. I could barely escape in time, let alone killing the enemies. Thankfully the difference between Hard and Lunatic isn't very significant in this chapter.

I did it in just two tries. Belka with a Reverse Club makes those Samurai enemies pretty useless, and my biggest regret in that chapter was that she criticalled Ryoma before I could get the Kodachi - twice. That's what my first reset was for, and I ended up giving up. I think that's the only one in Nohr, not counting visitor ranks.

Edited October 30, 2015 by nocturnal YL

[Tooru]

Chapter 23 was hard because of all those enemies on the building's roof blocking the stairs, carry the skill Kirikomi (Cut Through), are a mixed bag of physical and magical units, and will all move at once. Any unit that I actually have (not the fancy, 45-Def, 35-Res ones), no matter how powerful, will get mercilessly killed the momemnt they step in. Hinata (who was guarding a bridge for those who haven't played) wasn't a threat, though, since his team can be skipped by flying the team across the gap.

If you can skip Hinata, you can beat him by tanking from the right side.

[nocturnal YL]

If you can skip Hinata, you can beat him by tanking from the right side.

In Lunatic, the rightmost two stairs are blocked. And even if you solve that by using Draw on the enemies occupying those stairs, the central enemies will still use Cut Through to give you hell. A highly defensive Guard Stance team may survive the immediate Enemy Phase, but the swapped position between both sides will mean that the rest of the team needs to take them out ASAP.

Not the hardest map I've seen, but it still gave me some major headache.

[PuffPuff]

Doing this path on Classic is no walk in the park even to elite players.

I can only do Classic on Normal. Hard and Lunatic can go straight to hell. Aka: Luck factoring maps.

[Tooru]

In Lunatic, the rightmost two stairs are blocked. And even if you solve that by using Draw on the enemies occupying those stairs, the central enemies will still use Cut Through to give you hell. A highly defensive Guard Stance team may survive the immediate Enemy Phase, but the swapped position between both sides will mean that the rest of the team needs to take them out ASAP.

Not the hardest map I've seen, but it still gave me some major headache.

I don't understand why you are mentioning "stairs" and "Cut Through": anyone who is fighting with Hinata will not get any "Cut Through".

Edited November 1, 2015 by Tooru

[nocturnal YL]

I don't understand why you are mentioning "stairs" and "Cut Through": anyone who is fighting with Hinata will not get any "Cut Through".

Oh, I think there's some misunderstanding here. I was talking about the enemies on the roof. I did not intend to fight Hinata at all. I don't know if it's possible to lure the enemies from the right side. You can't from the front; they won't move until you've entered Takumi's shooter's area, and having seven units gang up on you isn't going to be fun.

Nine enemies (counting Guard Stance teams as two) are quite a lot to miss if the goal here is to gather experience, but I though it was too risky.

Edited November 1, 2015 by nocturnal YL

[Dollysama]

In my opinion, Chapter 17 is the hardest chapter by far (lunatic/classic), especially if you're trying to keep Saizou alive. Damn those ninja's.

[Ryo]

Chapter 17 itself isn't hard, the only reason it is is because of Saizou :p

[Tooru]

Oh, I think there's some misunderstanding here. I was talking about the enemies on the roof. I did not intend to fight Hinata at all. I don't know if it's possible to lure the enemies from the right side. You can't from the front; they won't move until you've entered Takumi's shooter's area, and having seven units gang up on you isn't going to be fun.

Nine enemies (counting Guard Stance teams as two) are quite a lot to miss if the goal here is to gather experience, but I though it was too risky.

Front: you need 3 tanks to take 7 hits; any unit can reach any tank.

Right: you need 2 tanks to take 4 hits; some units are out of range.

That is how it becomes possible.

In my opinion, Chapter 17 is the hardest chapter by far (lunatic/classic), especially if you're trying to keep Saizou alive. Damn those ninja's.

If you don't mind to use too many turns in this chapter, you can have 7 units stay in a narrow path to make it impossible for Saizou to go out XD.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Tooru

[DaveLeon]

Now that I've seen this topic I have to ask.

I'm right now trying this chapter and I remember that when you aproach the sniper tower thing that is in the outside reinforcements come from the four forts that are a few tiles down from Takumi.

My idea is to block these forts as I aproach the sniper tower. I can have Effie, Xander and My Unit blocking incoming attacks from the main enemy forces.

The thing is, blocking this forts won't allow enemy units to spawn, right? In that case this trategy can make this chapter way easier, but I just wasn't sure about this, since I have used this strategy in many othe FE games, but not this one yet. I have already beaten Hinata and his men and I don't want to lose that progress.

If the info is needed, I'm playing Classic Hard. Thanks a lot :)

Edit: ok, never mind. I've just read somewhere else that they do not spawn. So if this is of use for anyone here it is.

Since this is the last reinforcement wave and that enemy units cannot usa stairs the rest is quite simple.

Edited July 2, 2016 by DaveLeon