I started Awakening a few years ago but never finished. Advice for returning to the game?

[MoskalMedia]

Hello everyone,

I am a huge Fire Emblem fan and the series has been a huge part of my life since childhood. I grew up with Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, FE7, and The Sacred Stones, and I have beaten those games several times. I started playing Fire Emblem: Awakening a few years ago and I loved the game.

During my first Awakening run, I got about 2/3rds of the way through the game, and I wanted to finish it. However, I think that was during my last semester of undergraduate classes in college, and at the time, I just got too overwhelmed by schoolwork. I put the game down, got too busy, and never picked it up again.

Well, now I have a Master's degree and I'm finally done with school! I am getting back into gaming and I am excited to return to the Fire Emblem games. I want to replay Awakening and then go on to play Fates and Three Houses afterwards. I have a few questions about Awakening before I start the game up again, and I figured I should ask the board here.

 

1) Does the Support Conversation log record ALL the supports you've unlocked, regardless of whether you've beaten the game?

Since I was 2/3rds of the way through the game the last time I played it, I got a lot of support conversations from my old save file. I know that when you beat the game, you unlock extras, like the Support Conversation log. Would I need to finish that incomplete save file in order to get the supports registered? I was originally going to delete the old save file and just start fresh. Should keep that save file until I beat the game again?

 

2) How hard is hard mode?

I originally played the game on Normal Mode. I remember that there were some surprisingly difficult moments in the early game, but I think I reached a point where the game went from being moderately challenging to super easy. Is Hard Mode a huge step up from Normal Mode? I'm thinking that when I start the game again, I should do it on Hard instead of Normal this time, as long as it's not really difficult.

I would like to be able to get all the child characters. While I intend to get good skills for them, I don't think I'm going to obsessively try to get the best possible stats/skill combinations for the child characters. Is it too difficult to do this in Hard Mode? 

 

3) Is the DLC worth it?

I know the game has some DLC chapters, but I don't know much about the DLC. Are the DLC missions worthwhile? Do they add anything to the story, or are they similar to the trial maps in previous games?

 

Finally, do you have any other tips/advice for starting the game again?

Thank you so much for your help!

[Ertrick36]

3 hours ago, MoskalMedia said:

1) Does the Support Conversation log record ALL the supports you've unlocked, regardless of whether you've beaten the game?

Since I was 2/3rds of the way through the game the last time I played it, I got a lot of support conversations from my old save file. I know that when you beat the game, you unlock extras, like the Support Conversation log. Would I need to finish that incomplete save file in order to get the supports registered? I was originally going to delete the old save file and just start fresh. Should keep that save file until I beat the game again?

Supports are saved onto a general game save file, separate from file saves for each character you make.  So I'm pretty sure they'll remain logged.  Just to be safe you could make a new save without deleting the old, unless that isn't doable for whatever reason.  But I'm pretty sure they'll remain.

3 hours ago, MoskalMedia said:

2) How hard is hard mode?

I originally played the game on Normal Mode. I remember that there were some surprisingly difficult moments in the early game, but I think I reached a point where the game went from being moderately challenging to super easy. Is Hard Mode a huge step up from Normal Mode? I'm thinking that when I start the game again, I should do it on Hard instead of Normal this time, as long as it's not really difficult.

I would like to be able to get all the child characters. While I intend to get good skills for them, I don't think I'm going to obsessively try to get the best possible stats/skill combinations for the child characters. Is it too difficult to do this in Hard Mode? 

Not as ball-busting and unfair as Lunatic mode.

But really though, early game is always the most difficult in Awakening.  I'd recommend that if Normal has felt super easy to you at this point you should try to make the jump.  The other main thing to bear in mind, apart from the game obviously being more difficult, is that reeking boxes, which you use to spawn risen on the map, are more expensive (the price goes up from 500 gold to 4,800 gold), so it's not as easy to grind, though if you use the Spotpass system to summon rival armies to fight you could grind that way.

You should still be able to play the game without obsessing over min-maxing 2nd Gen, ultimately.  There's plenty of wiggle room still.

4 hours ago, MoskalMedia said:

3) Is the DLC worth it?

I know the game has some DLC chapters, but I don't know much about the DLC. Are the DLC missions worthwhile? Do they add anything to the story, or are they similar to the trial maps in previous games?

There are a few different kind of DLCs in this game.

1. Challenges - they make up the majority of the DLCs and usually come in threes.  Probably the best of these is Apotheosis, but all of them can provide interesting challenges.  They are: Champions of Yore 1-3, Lost Bloodlines 1-3, Smash Brethren 1-3, Rogues and Redeemers 1-3, Death's Embrace, Five-Anna Firefight, Roster Rescue, and Apotheosis (you could technically consider The Future Past 1-3 challenge maps as well, but they're unique, as I'll explain later).  Most of these give you a gift of a special hero, and some will also give you a single special item (e.g. a skill called "All Stats +2", an item to reclass into a special Bridal class) as many times as you play them.
2. Grinding maps - you use these to either gain experience, money, or high quality weapons very easily.  There are only three of these maps: The Golden Gaffe for money, EXPonential Growth for experience, and Infinite Regalia for the weapons.  You can play them as many times as you want and always get rewards from them.
3. R&R maps - these are much more laid back, easy maps, but you get the opportunity to witness conversations between many characters that may reveal things you would never otherwise learn about them or may otherwise further expand on characters' bonds.  Two of these also have special CGs containing four characters for each map (four from the 1st generation, four from the second generation, both based on popularity polls done in Japan) donning special garments.  There are three of these: Harvest Scramble (contains no CGs, but plenty of conversations between same-sex characters), Summer Scramble (CGs of 1st gen characters and conversations between many 1st gen characters), and Hot-Spring Scramble (CGs of 2nd gen characters and conversations between many 2nd gen characters as well as a few between the 2nd gen characters and your custom created character).  You don't get any rewards from them apart from a bit of experience and either a Master Seal or a few Seeds of Trust, but I guess you could consider the conversations a reward in themselves.
4. Future Past - I'd say these are unique because it's a combination of challenge and a mini story in itself.  It explores the world that Lucina and the other youths had fled from, and you must use your army to help save all of them from a grizzly end, even going so far as assisting Lucina in defeating Grima.  It is a three-part series, and you gain nothing but experience from it, but it's cool to see an alternate future where Lucina and her allies have to save the day instead of Chrom and Robin (albeit, with help from Chrom and Robin, but Lucina in Future Past is treated like she's the main hero of the story even though you don't control her).

You should bear in mind that the challenge maps and the Future Past maps are meant for high-level parties.  Apotheosis probably has the strictest requirements in terms of power scale - it's the one map where you probably want to min-max and acquire the absolute best weapons and skills you can.  But overall, I'd say the DLC is worth it - much better than DLCs for later games in the series, even.

[Shadow Mir]

14 hours ago, MoskalMedia said:

1) Does the Support Conversation log record ALL the supports you've unlocked, regardless of whether you've beaten the game?

Since I was 2/3rds of the way through the game the last time I played it, I got a lot of support conversations from my old save file. I know that when you beat the game, you unlock extras, like the Support Conversation log. Would I need to finish that incomplete save file in order to get the supports registered? I was originally going to delete the old save file and just start fresh. Should keep that save file until I beat the game again?

It should.

14 hours ago, MoskalMedia said:

2) How hard is hard mode?

I originally played the game on Normal Mode. I remember that there were some surprisingly difficult moments in the early game, but I think I reached a point where the game went from being moderately challenging to super easy. Is Hard Mode a huge step up from Normal Mode? I'm thinking that when I start the game again, I should do it on Hard instead of Normal this time, as long as it's not really difficult.

I would like to be able to get all the child characters. While I intend to get good skills for them, I don't think I'm going to obsessively try to get the best possible stats/skill combinations for the child characters. Is it too difficult to do this in Hard Mode? 

If normal mode felt easy to you, then you might want to try playing on hard mode - it's a step up, though not unfair on the scale of lunatic mode. Two things to note; first off, reinforcements will appear before enemy phase, and second, you can't grind as easily because reeking boxes get their price hiked. Also of note, enemies start using forged weapons later on (you'll know that a weapon is forged when its text appears in blue).

14 hours ago, MoskalMedia said:

3) Is the DLC worth it?

I know the game has some DLC chapters, but I don't know much about the DLC. Are the DLC missions worthwhile? Do they add anything to the story, or are they similar to the trial maps in previous games?

Like was stated before, the DLC comes in several flavors - grinding maps, challenge maps, scrambles (character-based maps), and Future Past (in particular, the latter gives insight as to the world that Lucina and friends fled from). As far as challenge maps, Apotheosis gets special note, as the enemies are capped, use (illegally) forged weapons and take halved damage from everything (they have a skill that is otherwise exclusive to the Big Bad and the final boss of the game). On the part where enemies are capped, I will also add that a good deal of the enemies have caps that are far above their class caps (for example, the first boss general has 75 strength - which is far above the 50 cap that the class has). They also have powerful exclusive skills, like a Pavise variant that always activates, for example.

[MoskalMedia]

Thank you all so much for your thorough replies! This helped clarify everything for me. 

I have another question about reclassing that just occurred to me. The first time I played the game, I was a bit inexperienced with reclassing, so I think I made a few mistakes. Mainly, I kept thinking about promotion in terms of regular Fire Emblem games and not promoting some of my characters until they were a higher level; whereas in this game you can just promote a unit at level 10 if you want to without having to worry about it, since you can always reclass later.

Let's say I want to pair Robin with Lissa, and I want to pass down Galeforce to Lissa's children. What would be the best way to go about this?

1) Get Lissa to level 10. Use a second seal on Lissa to make her a Pegasus Knight. When she becomes level 10 Pegasus Knight, promote her into a Dark Flier. Get her to level 15, pass down Galeforce.

2). Get Lissa to level 10. Use a master seal on her so she becomes a War Cleric. When she reaches level 10, use a second seal and reclass her into a Dark Flier. Get her to level 15, pass down Galeforce.

Which option would be the easiest/quickest choice for passing down the skill? Is there an efficient way to make my characters get good skills quickly through reclassing? 

[TheSilentChloey]

On 9/30/2021 at 8:33 AM, MoskalMedia said:

Thank you all so much for your thorough replies! This helped clarify everything for me. 

I have another question about reclassing that just occurred to me. The first time I played the game, I was a bit inexperienced with reclassing, so I think I made a few mistakes. Mainly, I kept thinking about promotion in terms of regular Fire Emblem games and not promoting some of my characters until they were a higher level; whereas in this game you can just promote a unit at level 10 if you want to without having to worry about it, since you can always reclass later.

Let's say I want to pair Robin with Lissa, and I want to pass down Galeforce to Lissa's children. What would be the best way to go about this?

1) Get Lissa to level 10. Use a second seal on Lissa to make her a Pegasus Knight. When she becomes level 10 Pegasus Knight, promote her into a Dark Flier. Get her to level 15, pass down Galeforce.

2). Get Lissa to level 10. Use a master seal on her so she becomes a War Cleric. When she reaches level 10, use a second seal and reclass her into a Dark Flier. Get her to level 15, pass down Galeforce.

Which option would be the easiest/quickest choice for passing down the skill? Is there an efficient way to make my characters get good skills quickly through reclassing? 

With Lissa, both ways take equally as long, but one way gives her lance experince if you wanted to dip into falchon knight and the other starts her at e rank lances and tomes.  Persoanlly I'd go Cleric level 10, Sage Level 10, Dark Flier level 15 if only for the stats and tome experience to make her able to use more useful/powerful tomes quickly as well to easy up the grinding.

Another thing to note is that with the second seal it'll bring up all of her class options inclunding base classes if she's in a master class but in a base class it'll bring up only the base classes as I'm sure you know.  E.g, Cleric has two promotions, War Cleric and Sage, so using a master seal will only show those two classes, conversely if you use a second seal you can see which classes said cleric can use.