Anything to know before starting Genealogy of the Holy War?

[coldhand25]

The main reason I want to play it is because I often hear that it has a great storyline, and memorable characters (basically the main reasons what I look for in any game). Why I've not started it already is because I'm afraid I will make stupid mistakes early on, and end up having bitter memories of it, or give up halfway through. I'm not really familiar with the gameplay of the Jugdral series, I've played the GBA and some latter titles only. So, the point is, is there anything I should know before sitting down and playing it? Units worth using, units that aren't, what to watch out for, etc. Any tips are welcome, really, just please don't post spoilers, I was stupid enough to let FEH reveal some parts of the plot to me already....

[redlight]

Just use horses is all I can really recommend.

It's also a very polarizing game. You might become easily bored so if you don't like it all that much after the first one or two chapters then don't force yourself

[Gregster101]

1. Use a guide. You can play through the game just fine without a guide, but there's a lot of useful shit that you'll miss without one on hand like the Brave Axe and the Pursuit Ring

2. Use these pairings for your first play through:

-Ayra x Lex/Dew/Nosh/Chulainn

-Edain x Midir

-Lachesis x Beowolf

-Sylvia x Claude

-Erinys x Lewyn

-Brigid x Lex/Dew/Chulainn

-Tailtiu x Azel

 

[Briver]

It's a really good idea to plan out your marriage pairings beforehand and make sure you actively try to cultivate them while playing as you'll only have about 5 chapters to do it (albeit super long chapters that are basically multiple normal FE chapters in length). Gregster's suggestions will do you fine.

[Ertrick36]

I'll say a few things.

• Turn on auto-save as soon as you get into gameplay.  That is, on turn 1 of the Prologue, as you can't turn it on from the main menu.  And set the auto-save to a different slot than your manual saves - it's a good idea to use multiple saves in each chapter in case you get stuck.
• Don't be afraid to use the really powerful units.  The rule of "starts good, turns out mediocre" that normally applies to most FE games doesn't apply in this game.  Sigurd will always be very powerful, and a later Jeigan-esque unit you'll get will always be useful enough to kill most units.
• Also don't be afraid to use the heck out of all weapons and staves.  There's a blacksmith feature in this game that'll enable you to repair every weapon to max uses so long as you have money (which there is an abundance of), so there's no point in saving, say, the silver sword you get very early on for later enemies.
• If you want to trade between units, you can't do it normally.  You have to sell the trade items to the pawn shop, and then have the recipients buy them back.  And money is not shared across the army, every unit has their own money so you'll have to consider how to best distribute the villages' earnings.  The nice thing is, however, that spouses can give one another all their money back-and-forth, and thieves can give all their money to whoever they want and earn it quite easily.
• Healbot as much as possible.  Again, weapons and items can always be repaired, and that applies to literally every staff, even the obligatory resurrection staff you get late in the game.
• Use and abuse the arena at the beginning of every chapter until it can be abused no more.  Go until either you're forced to stop or until the unit has hit a point where the enemy is unbeatable.  This is one of the best ways to earn your better combatants money.  Sigurd should be capable of beating every foe in the arena in every chapter, and so should Seliph.  Most units will likely get hung up on either the third or fourth opponent in each chapter.  Maybe see later on if you can eek out some more arena victories at the end of each chapter.
• Look in the unit status menus to see who can talk with who.  And pay attention to some hints.  When fighting enemy units you can recruit, a special theme will play and they'll do a death scream when killed - and of course they'll have all sorts of dialogue before and during the battle.  There's one character in particular that many people miss acquiring, but through keen attention to detail you can probably figure out how to recruit that character.
• Don't worry too terribly much about pairings.  Generally speaking, the units that get conversations with one another are at least decent pairs.  There's only one exception I can think of to this rule, and it's mostly because that unit is a latecomer who hardly has any conversations before the end.  People will tell you to plan pairings and crap, but in all honesty the only way you can screw up is by not having everyone pair up.  And even then, you're not totally screwed.  If all else fails, you'll always have at least one good unit - the protagonist - and that's all you should technically need to beat the game.  In my personal opinion, as someone who is currently on his second run of this game, planning pairings is only something you should do after you've already played the game once.
• Use the Project Naga translation, it's just a better, fuller translation than anything else that's out there.

At the end of the day, Genealogy is more of an enjoyable story than it is an enjoyable game.  Some parts are genuinely fun challenges, but for the most part it's the worst aspects of Horse Emblem with a side of Main Character Bias.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Ertrick36

[coldhand25]

@redlight Thank you, I'm going to use those horses then.

@Gregster101 I'm going to look up a guide then, and try to get the pairings you recommended, thanks for the tips.

@Briver Huh, I'll do make sure then to get those pairings fast, thank you!

@Ertrick36 All these points are really helpful, thank you for taking your time and writing such a lot of information! :) I already wish there was a trade function though, as I use it a lot in other games, but the blacksmith seems good enough at least, I will make sure to use my equipment as much as I can. I still hope the gameplay will be at the very least good enough for me to not stop. If the story is good, it takes a lot for me to quit anyway.

Thanks for the help everyone, I think, I have enough information now to start playing without the fear of screwing everything up :D

 

[Byliyth]

It's good to develop deep emotional connections with all your characters! :)

Edited January 15, 2019 by Byliyth

[Tuvy]

1 hour ago, Byliyth said:

It's good to develop deep emotional connections with all your characters! :)

Why do you do this?

[Tuvy2]

23 minutes ago, Tuvy said:

Why do you do this?

Someone had to make the joke bud.

Also use Beowulf, 10/10 unit despite the cost.

[SuperTroll Maxim Lapierre]

Give Ethlin the Relive Staff in Ch. 2. Makes the first part of the chapter far more manageable.