Jump to content

FE4: Tips


Alike
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm thinking about starting Geneology of the Holy War. Since this game is a bit more complex, what are some overall tips. While I dont want any spoilers in it, I already know about Alvis's family BBQ and the 2cd Gen. 

I'm trying to play this game mostly blind and am avoiding strategy or pairing guides.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General tips? Alright

Set in for the long haul, these maps take a while.

Use anyone with Royal Blood, they're good.

Arena Abuse is your friend, without it units honestly fall behind.

You get three units in the Prologue, Turn 3 I believe, who leave at the end of Chapter 2 or 3, I forget which. Don't be afraid to use said units, but keep that in mind.

Pretty much any pairing is good, feel free to use any dumb idea that pops into your head.

Don't use Deidre, just don't.

I'll leave Gen 2 more ambiguous, but remember

Hannibal is daddy.

Edited by DarthR0xas
Link to comment
Share on other sites

From what little I know of the game in my single playthrough, Arena works differently than the GBA games, the only determining factor that changes outcomes are your weapon choices before going into battle, since the RNG for the outcome of the battle has already been decided, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

If you die in Arena, the character doesn't "die", instead they get left with 1 HP and has to be healed with a staff, which takes up the staff-user's turn, starting the battle for that map proper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sigurd and Seliph are both gods and pretty much should be used.  This will be my only unit advice.

The only pairing advice I'll give you is simply that you should try and pair every female character from the first six chapters.  The 2nd gen will still get the same amount of characters regardless of pairing, but these substitutes are usually worse than the units they're replacing so it's generally a good idea to make sure you get proper offspring.  The only exception to this is a pair of support units, as they'll pretty much always be bad at combat and their supporting functions (healing and the like) don't require good stats to be effective.

Turn on autosave, for the sake of your own sanity.  As soon as the prologue boots up and you gain control, go into config and turn that good shit on, it doesn't matter which save file you use.  This will make it so that the game saves every turn.  Don't think of this as a crutch, this is the kind of game where even the prologue chapter could last something like 50 chapters even if you're not grinding (which you honestly can't in that chapter anyway).

Make sure to use the pawn shop.  That is your main means of trading items between units; you sell an item to the weird-lookin' fella, and have the item be bought by the unit who you want to have it.  There is no proper item trading between units in this game, though spouses can give all their money to one another and thieves can give their money to anyone in the army.

Don't be shy about giving promotions.  Promotion in this game is more like a stat boost than it is a proper shift to a new class tier; if you promote at 22, you're still gonna be level 22, it's just that you'll be more powerful.  You get a promotion by reaching level 20 and selecting the option in the home castle.

If you want to pair units up, the most surefire way of doing so is by having them stay next to each other at the end of every turn.  So if you want to pair Adean up with Midir, have them be adjacent to each other at the end of every turn possible.  Keep in mind there's a "jealousy" system that applies to the women; generally speaking, it's a good idea to keep desired pairs away from other women.

I know you asked to not be spoiled on specific game tips, but this bit is such BS and everyone agrees it's BS, so I see no harm in telling you.  In Chapter 1, there's a character who starts out as an enemy.  Her name is Ayra.  You can get her as an ally, but only after you capture the castle she's guarding.  So what you want to do is find a way to get around her so that Sigurd can capture that castle, and then have Sigurd talk to Ayra.  This can be difficult, but the result is that you may get some of the best 2nd gen units in the game, and a generally pretty solid unit for the 1st gen.  The game does a fairly poor job of explaining how to do this.

Also, there's a bit where a character named Lewyn will be asked to visit a castle.  This isn't the best explained hint, but you actually are literally supposed to have him visit that castle.  You'll know it when you see it, and you'll be very grateful if you do this.

Lastly, in chapter 5, make sure all parents have the best items possible before you finish it.  Also, there may be a good scene waiting for you if you have Seliph stand next to water towards the end of chapter 10; water is a good way to put a fire out.

49 minutes ago, Alike said:

Do you really need to arena abuse, i dont usually grind in these games

The thing is, you might as well do so.  There are six or seven arena ranks in every chapter (ranks which are separated per unit), and once you fight the last rank you won't be able to fight in the arena again for another chapter.  Plus, it's a really good way to actually get your army outfitted if you can't be bothered to save every village in perfect condition.  And some units will be bad enough that they have nothing better to do, although don't feel obligated to level every unit up if you feel they are too bad to use.

I feel like Ouendon Cyrus gave a good description for it.

1 hour ago, DarthR0xas said:

You get three units in the Prologue, Turn 3 I believe, who leave at the end of Chapter 2 or 3, I forget which. Don't be afraid to use said units, but keep that in mind.

You're thinking of the Lenster trio.  The guys you get from the Thracia peninsula (one of them is the father of the protagonist of Thracia 776).

On that note, you may want to keep from pairing a certain bachelor from that group.  Sorry, I said I'd only give one piece of pairing advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There isn't really "Arena Abuse" in this game.

There are a limited amount of opponents in the arena of each chapter. If a character beats one of them, they have to fight the next guy on the list. So there is only a limited amount of EXP and money that you can gain that way.

Arenas are an important way to earn money. The other common method is to save villages. Every character has their own stash of cash, so it's important to find a good source of income for everyone that you want to use a lot so they can buy and repair their weapons.

 

Anyway, my biggest advice is to use the game's own save system instead of save states. And it's probably best to save and load at the beginning of each chapter because there are some bugs that only occur if you don't properly load your game every now and then. In any case, you can save at the beginning of every turn before you move any units.

Edited by BrightBow
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  1. This is the first game with skills. Pursuit is a skill that allows a unit to double during attack, making it a great skill. It shouldn't be a skill, since every other game has doubling based on speed, but just a warning, if they don't have pursuit, they'll most likely not double.
  2. That being said, if a unit does not double, check their equipment. Some weapons and rings allow characters to gain a skill or an increased stat so keep on an eye out for them.
  3. Don't worry about getting to all of the villages in time. You can still beat the game without missing anything of great importance. You do want to visit them though, just don't stress out about it.
  4. All units class change at lvl 20 and they stay at that level. The max level is 30 in this game.
  5. Even if you beat the arena with one character, all other characters can still go into the arena. For example, if Sigurd clears the arena, he can not fight there anymore, but all the other units can.
  6. Weapon Rank is based on a number of factors; unlike other games, where weapon level is based on how much you use a weapon type, in FE4 it is based on class and holy blood.
  7. A tiny glow in the Holy Blood Chart menu means Minor Holy Blood. A flashing glow means Major Holy Blood. In general Major > Minor.
  8. A select few characters have Major Holy Blood, so make the most of it and really... prepare them for battle.
  9. I won't list you any pairings, but do not be afraid of pairing some people up. The game is pretty good at implying who works well with whom, so if in doubt, check to see if they have a conversation with anyone.
  10. That being said, there's a lot more decent pairings than what guides list anyways. Although there are bad pairings and fantastic pairings, even mediocre pairings can spawn useful children.
  11. Enjoy. I hope I did not spoil anything specific.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Alike said:

I'm thinking about starting Geneology of the Holy War. Since this game is a bit more complex, what are some overall tips. While I dont want any spoilers in it, I already know about Alvis's family BBQ and the 2cd Gen. 

I'm trying to play this game mostly blind and am avoiding strategy or pairing guides.

if it's your first time, my advice is that you should just play the game from start to end as it is, while learning all the specific features this game offers in the meantime. there's also plenty of secrets regarding items and characters, but if you don't want spoilers, leave them be for now.

after that, you could eventually start a second playthrough with all optimized stuff. it will probably be easier and take even less time to get to end game, since you'll know exactly what to do/how to do it the second time around.

as for other small tips:

- give the Elite ring to Sigurd when you can, and keep it. it will help a lot, and not only with exp. you'll understand why later, in 2nd gen.

- try to use as much as possible the best weapon you have on your characters, and plan well about who's going to get the last hit for kill count. after 50 kills, any weapon unlocks its critical chance.

- Leg ring on dancers is a very good utility build, as the game is based mostly on horseback units. you can move up to 4 units again with dancers in Genealogy.

- try to balance out stats rings and weapons. it's always better to have a well balanced army, rather than few godlike characters and a bunch of weak units that can die anytime.

- use arenas whenever you can. they help with both leveling and gearing up.

- don't abuse Crusader weapons. they're not cheap to repair. Steal and Bargain rings help with that too, as well as thiefs and visiting villages.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I played FE4 for the first time I was using this guide: 

Spoiler

 

It is basically a relatively spoiler free explanation of how the game and its system works aimed at saving you the frustration of messing up by simply not knowing how things work. I had it pinned in my browser and looked it up while playing all the time, definitely recommend. =) 
Edited by AwakeningNoob
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My own suggestion is to use save states... regularly.

If you think you won't, there's some traps laid here and there for you to fall in. 

Also, you need to use the Arena and it doesn't feel like a grind anyway. It does not waste a turn, there's a limited amount of time you can use it per character and it is the way you make money. 

Edited by Vince777
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/4/2018 at 11:45 PM, Vince777 said:

Also, you need to use the Arena and it doesn't feel like a grind anyway.

I don't know if one really needs to use the arena.  I mean, if you want to get that AAAA rank, it'd be stupid not to, but Genealogy isn't exactly the toughest nut in the series to crack.  I guess if you wanted to use a bad unit like Arden.

I'll advocate the usage of the arena, but I don't think it's a necessity for a first playthrough.  If OP doesn't want to use it, they can make do without it.

On 11/5/2018 at 12:04 PM, Burklight said:

Don't miss the Hero Axe in chapter 1 or the Bargin Ring and Pursuit Ring in chapter 2. 

But those are pepperoni secrets; the fella would need to look up the special secrets guide to figure out where to go to get these things.

They're basically like the secret shops.  Except you get basically no indicator whatsoever to where they are, or that you're on the right space, not to mention they also require you to use specific characters to get them, making it that much more difficult to find them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only reason he's saying he does not want to use the arena is because he's seen what arenas are in the other games. FE4 arenas are something entirely different. I hope he at least gives the mechanic a try to see what it is. 

In FE4, you don't have a million ways to make money and not using the arena is a mistake imo. It's not like you can cheese it for infinite money anyway. 

 

Edited by Vince777
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think using the arena is a good idea. It's a good way to get exp and money, unlike other FE games units can't be killed (they're left with 1hp) and get fully healed if they win, and you can use it from the home castle at the beginning of the chapter without using up your turn. Also (spoilers but this is something you might not find by yourself)

Spoiler

clearing the arena in chapter 2 lets you recruit a new character.

Don't forget to check which characters can talk to each other. You get more backstory and sometimes they give each other useful items or permanent stat boosts.

Try to pair all the women with someone, but don't stress out about pairings too much. The children usually turn out okay no matter what, and there are good characters you're guaranteed to get in case they aren't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Zkitty8 said:

Don't forget to check which characters can talk to each other. You get more backstory and sometimes they give each other useful items or permanent stat boosts.

also that.

you should always check who can speak with other people everytime a chapter starts, and also everytime you conquer a castle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If dancers are good in other games, they're downright silly in this one. You can dance for all adjacent units. Try to surround the spot where you'll be dancing with units who'd like another turn. Even if you only get an extra one or two tiles of movement, it certainly doesn't hurt in a game where keeping up with mounted units is one of your foot units' biggest struggles. Don't worry all too much about Item uses, always use your best items. If you kill 50 enemies with a weapon, it gains the ability to perform critical hits, and you can indefinitely repair your best weapons with the abundance of money you get. Speaking of money, there's a cap of 50,000 gold on the money each unit can carry, and each of your units can only freely share money with their partner(Unless they're a thief). Try to either spend your money if you need to, or give it to your partner if you're at the cap and going to save villages or fight in the arena. Also, I noticed you were hesitant about arenas. In this game, fighting in the arena isn't some cheesy grinding strategy, but rather a limited and balanced resource for exp and gold. Each character can only beat an arena enemy a maximum of seven times per chapter. Arena battles don't take turns, so just starting each map off with a bit of arena training on each unit is an effective and non-spammy strategy to get a little more power and money. A personal,  less gameplay based tip from me is not to let moving slowly through the large maps get you down. Sure when every map is easily two or three or more times bigger than a "large" map in any other fire emblem game, it can sometimes be boring and/or intimidating to spend turns just traversing tricky terrain or sending your units along some massive expanse to reach the eventual cluster of enemies, but I've found that it can help just to try to immerse yourself in the world of the game. Pretend you're a part of Sigurd or Seliph's party, imagine them trudging through the sands of Yied or navigating the forests of Verdane or Silesse. Feel the relief of your Cavaliers as they see their slower companions arrive to support them on the battlefront. Personally I love stuff like that in fantasy games, but if it's a bit cheesy or nerdy for you, hey, just focus on avoiding terrain penalties and getting your units where they need to go as soon as possible. Hell, maybe if you get good enough, you'll be able to pull all sorts of fancy warp/return/return band gimmicks to play with maximum efficiency. That can be pretty fun too! I hope this helped you out, good luck, and have fun in Jugdral

Link to comment
Share on other sites

General tips for the game:

1. If doing arena abuse, save and then abuse as much as possible for each unit. If the unit cannot defeat a specific enemy, reset and arena abuse again untill you reach the point where you had lost earlier.

2. Save the villages. They always give good rewards and some of them are really useful.

3. Since units in this game are very scarce, train every unit as much as possible except the generals as they are extremely useless here.

4. Have the habit of saving as it helps a LOT in the long run. Don't think these maps can be beaten in one sitting.

5. Some of these powerful weapons can only be achieved by a certain event. Read the guide for such weapons as you can only get them once and it will be a lot easier.

6. Don't worry about money as you get plenty. As a matter of fact, the arena abuse itself is good enough.

7. Repair the best weapons you have as they are the ones you will be using the most.

8. Make good use of the ones that have holy blood in them as they are often the most powerful of the others.

9. This is the first game that introduces the weapon triangle so make use of that tactic.

10. Couple with anyone of your interest and do not worry about how bad the gen 2 units end up being as it is almost impossible to screw a lot of them.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...