Jump to content

So Many Optioms


xigbar7
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hey guys, stupid question time

 

i’ve more or less only played the gba fire emblems for the last decade or so but I’m really looking at getting a Switch to play this game. It’s just that reading about it makes me feel mildly inundated with all the new customization options, and I want to avoid poor build decisions when possible. Anyone got some good general wisdom or a ‘guide for dummies’ that makes the differences more digestible?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No you don't have to do everything on the first run.  Since you choose a house, you're going to play through the game multiple times anyway.  Tell your inner completionist to keep quiet and just jump in!

And don't feel bad about NOT recruiting everyone.  It makes the plot more. . .interesting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Normal/hard or lunatic difficulty?

Hard. Want to relax first play through but my understanding is the game is easier in general and I literally can’t play FE8 on normal mode anymore and I’ve seen the two compared in terms of challenge often.

 

2 minutes ago, eclipse said:

No you don't have to do everything on the first run.  Since you choose a house, you're going to play through the game multiple times anyway.  Tell your inner completionist to keep quiet and just jump in!

And don't feel bad about NOT recruiting everyone.  It makes the plot more. . .interesting.

My understanding is that you CANT recruit everyone on a single play through. I’m not totally unfamiliar with that since you have to choose between Bartre or Echidna in FE6 and Wallace (lol) and Geitz In 7. Just seems like it is more pronounced here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, xigbar7 said:

My understanding is that you CANT recruit everyone on a single play through. I’m not totally unfamiliar with that since you have to choose between Bartre or Echidna in FE6 and Wallace (lol) and Geitz In 7. Just seems like it is more pronounced here.

Who you recruit and why is a bit spoiler-y, so I'm going to leave it out.  It's possible to recruit the vast majority of the cast minus some obvious choices.  Except you don't have to do that.  For example, the story does not care about Ignatz - you can recruit him if you're on a non-GD run, but you won't get a Game Over if you don't.  Trying to recruit all of the cast in that situation is really stressful, so don't feel bad if you miss them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, xigbar7 said:

My understanding is that you CANT recruit everyone on a single play through. I’m not totally unfamiliar with that since you have to choose between Bartre or Echidna in FE6 and Wallace (lol) and Geitz In 7. Just seems like it is more pronounced here.

It kind of is, as certain characters cannot be recruited period, and some others have some conditions regarding recruitment. Also of note, some characters may leave after a certain point in the story depending on your house..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

It kind of is, as certain characters cannot be recruited period, and some others have some conditions regarding recruitment. Also of note, some characters may leave after a certain point in the story depending on your house..

Hmmm, ok. That’s the sort of thing that increases the number of grey hairs I have. And why I’m asking. I’ll have to do some homework.

 

4 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Who you recruit and why is a bit spoiler-y, so I'm going to leave it out.  It's possible to recruit the vast majority of the cast minus some obvious choices.  Except you don't have to do that.  For example, the story does not care about Ignatz - you can recruit him if you're on a non-GD run, but you won't get a Game Over if you don't.  Trying to recruit all of the cast in that situation is really stressful, so don't feel bad if you miss them.

Gotcha. I will try to play mostly blind then, I just want to have a strong team at the end. I’ve always been the guy that tries very hard to recruit units I have zero intention of using. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, xigbar7 said:

Gotcha. I will try to play mostly blind then, I just want to have a strong team at the end. I’ve always been the guy that tries very hard to recruit units I have zero intention of using. 

EVERYONE.  CAN.  WORK.  You may have to get creative with them, but it's possible.  Even if you do a no-recruit run, you'll still have a solid core in the form of your own house!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, xigbar7 said:

Hmmm, ok. That’s the sort of thing that increases the number of grey hairs I have. And why I’m asking. I’ll have to do some homework.

 

If you want to know....

Spoiler

Hubert and Dedue can't be recruited, and neither can the other house leaders. Hilda is recruitable if you are a Lion, but not if you're an Eagle. (By the way, if you do some stuff while leading the Black Eagles, a route split opens regarding some stuff I won't talk about because it's major story spoilers.)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't be afraid to just stick with the default/obvious class progressions. While you can put anyone into (almost) any class, some are pushed more heavily by the game, and those default options are all going to be fine. If a character starts out wielding a lance and has skill with lances and they say "hey, you should train me in lances and riding", then turning them into a paladin will always be a decent choice. If you just follow the path of least resistance like this then the builds that you end up with mostly aren't going to be completely optimal, but they'll certainly be good enough, especially for hard difficulty. You can start considering how to optimise builds or trying weird offbeat builds once you have a better grasp of the game's mechanics.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if it’s hard mode then as long as you don’t do things like fortress knight Lysithea you will be fine. Just look at their boons and banes, are they physical or magical, and what you don’t have on the team and try to go from there. Is a team of all wyvern lords the “best”? Yes. Is it necessary? No. Is it fun? I mean kinda, but for your first play through and not on lunatic I wouldn’t worry about it, just don’t make all of your squishies tanks or such and you will certainly be fine.

But as far as options go, not recruiting Dorothea is the worst way to play the game. 😉

Edited by Sooks
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went into my first run mostly blind, playing Hard. You don't have to worry about being optimal unless you do Maddening, trust me.

I say that because honestly the game's usually not going to bite you for your choices. And that includes how you level your units.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a class called Mortal Savant, that you might think is a final class for sword units, but it's actually best for certain mages actually. Not only did I do this to Felix my first play through, but also Catherine lol.

Mostly just focus on the strengths that characters have, you don't need to do any "Meta" stuff on Hard mode.

It depends on how many playthoughs that you want to do, but I advise against trying to recruit everyone especially for a first playthough. Burn out is a real thing with this game, and even Hard mode is sleep at times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally, I would avoid the Holy Knight class (Dark Knight does everything it can better, and even that's arguably not worth it), and the Dark Bishop class is not worth it for how much trouble it is to get. Also, flying classes can only use flying battalions. Speaking of which, don't neglect working on authority, even for units with a bane in it. As to recruitment, I would recommend Dorothea, Petra, and Ingrid, at the least, especially the second one... I will also note that the paralogue featuring the former and the latter is where you can get one of the few high-rank flying battalions. And that most of the time, exploring the monastery is the best use of your weekends in this game.

Edited by Shadow Mir
Link to comment
Share on other sites

- When you learn a new skill or combat art, but your list is already full, you won't get the option to add it right away. Instead, you have to go into the "Inventory" menu to manage arts and skills.

- Batallions are good. Use them whenever possible, with 1 or 2 exceptions. 

- Motivation is exhausted when tutoring, and replenished from meals and gifts (during Exploration).

- Try to focus a unit in limited areas: Authority, a movement type (if relevant to class goals), and two or three weapon/magic types. Don't overgeneralize, with the possible exception of Byleth (if you're using ranks for out-of-house recruits).

- From a certain point in the game, weapons can be repaired and/or improved at the Forge, with the right ore. So don't worry too much about exhausting the uses of powerful weapons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

- From a certain point in the game, weapons can be repaired and/or improved at the Forge, with the right ore. So don't worry too much about exhausting the uses of powerful weapons.

Speaking of which, try not to have your weapons break on enemy phase if you can help it. Unlike in most other games. where a broken weapon disappears and you automatically equip another weapon to replace it (assuming you have another usable weapon), once a weapon breaks, you still have it equipped, and it'll be easier for enemies to get follow-ups against you if your weapon is broken, as a broken weapon has 20 weight.

Another tip that came to mind - you'll want to train your healers in Reason, as while faith does have some offensive magic, most of it sucks, especially Nosferatu, with it 1 might and 8 weight.

Edited by Shadow Mir
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Another tip that came to mind - you'll want to train your healers in Reason, as while faith does have some offensive magic, most of it sucks, especially Nosferatu, with it 1 might and 8 weight.

On a similar note, offensive mages should get some Faith training - at least up to D. That way, they can provide some extra healing when your "dedicated white mage" is otherwise occupied. And even when you don't really need it, Heal is still free EXP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

Speaking of which, try not to have your weapons break on enemy phase if you can help it. Unlike in most other games. where a broken weapon disappears and you automatically equip another weapon to replace it (assuming you have another usable weapon), once a weapon breaks, you still have it equipped, and it'll be easier for enemies to get follow-ups against you if your weapon is broken, as a broken weapon has 20 weight.

Another tip that came to mind - you'll want to train your healers in Reason, as while faith does have some offensive magic, most of it sucks, especially Nosferatu, with it 1 might and 8 weight.

 

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

On a similar note, offensive mages should get some Faith training - at least up to D. That way, they can provide some extra healing when your "dedicated white mage" is otherwise occupied. And even when you don't really need it, Heal is still free EXP.

Ok so I’m on chapter...3? 4? And I’m just wondering when I can start actually putting these guys in to classes. I ran with Edelgard’s squad since it seemed like it had more magic options although I’m definitely gunning for that light haired young girl that has the high magic growth as one of my out of house recruits.

 

Ive switched the avatar over to myrmidon to accelerate speed development and Edelgard to a Fighter for more axe focus. But I’m having her do flying practice with Petra with Dragon lord as a possible future goal. I’m also considering great knight but only if I can build some speed on her first. Bernadetta seems like a good Bow Knight candidate, and Ferdinand and Sylvain (I started as a girl to get him free) are my intended cavalier duo that I’m use to having from the gba games. 

 

EDIT: Nevermind lol I just need to get them to level 5. Probably going to do a random battle or two to bring the team up and get things moving.

Edited by xigbar7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, xigbar7 said:

 

Ok so I’m on chapter...3? 4? And I’m just wondering when I can start actually putting these guys in to classes. I ran with Edelgard’s squad since it seemed like it had more magic options although I’m definitely gunning for that light haired young girl that has the high magic growth as one of my out of house recruits.

 

Ive switched the avatar over to myrmidon to accelerate speed development and Edelgard to a Fighter for more axe focus. But I’m having her do flying practice with Petra with Dragon lord as a possible future goal. I’m also considering great knight but only if I can build some speed on her first. Bernadetta seems like a good Bow Knight candidate, and Ferdinand and Sylvain (I started as a girl to get him free) are my intended cavalier duo that I’m use to having from the gba games. 

 

EDIT: Nevermind lol I just need to get them to level 5. Probably going to do a random battle or two to bring the team up and get things moving.

In case you're wondering, intermediate classes can be accessed at level 10, advanced classes at level 20, and master classes at level 30.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

In case you're wondering, intermediate classes can be accessed at level 10, advanced classes at level 20, and master classes at level 30.

Is there any benefit to staying as a Noble/Commoner between levels 5 and 10? Monk seems to offer at least some incentive for my magic user while they wait for stuff like Hubert going Dark Mage. And they mostly have Better growths.

Edited by xigbar7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, xigbar7 said:

Is there any benefit to staying as a Noble/Commoner between levels 5 and 10? Monk seems to offer at least some incentive for my magic user while they wait for stuff like Hubert going Dark Mage. And they mostly have Better growths.

No. Hp +5, which you get by mastering it, is the best it has to offer.

Edit: Also, Dark Mage requires Dark Seals to access. Unfortunately, Dark Seals are hard to get (and the classes gated behind them aren't exactly amazing considering what you have to do to get them).

Edit 2: I neglected to state this earlier, but characters have unique spell lists.

Edited by Shadow Mir
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it hasn't already been said, you should definitely plan your units' end game classes early so that you can properly train their skills in a decent amount of time. That being said, ending in an Advanced class instead of a Master class is totally fine. Some master classes won't really offer much, and some units are kinda forced to stick to an advanced class (ie. Linhardt since the braddah cannot get Gremory LOL).

And you can definitely do side-promotions to pick up mastery skills, like Death Blow or Vantage, then reclass back into whatever they were before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback.

 

Really loving the time spent and many optional events between each real “chapter” map. Makes the game more immerse and allows for a more realistic perspective on passage of time.

 

I would probably have planned out my characters more if I had known how freeform the customization is. I am definitely more encouraged to go in certain directions. It’s not that I would defy the intended course of a character so much as I would have taken a more direct route from the get-go. 
 

I don’t hugely like how hard it is to recruit out of house magic units since building reason/faith on the main unit takes time.  But on the flip side I feel like it’s easy to devote time to only half of the out of house units to grab what my starting units lack and fill out my roster with the appropriate implements.

 

 

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...