Questions from a newbie

[carlos]

Hi,

This is my first time playing a game of this saga, and I have several questions regarding it:

1- My main characther, the proffesor, is a swordmaster. I have read that Lysithea is the best mage in the game, so Im trying to recruit her, but the issue is that as my character is skilled in sword+dex+etc but not faith/magic, it seems that im not able to do it, even if I have given her a lot of gifts and fought with her and now we have the level B support. What else could we do? Do you need to play the same class as the character that you want to recruit? Because in that case I would only be able to recruit sword players or similar.

2- I have recruited catherine and she seems really OP. She kills almost all regular enemies with a normal atack. Now I have just recrutied the other proffesores (Manuale and the other guy), I have not tested them in battle yet, but are they so op too? Is it better to play with them rather than with your students? Are there parts of the story when you can only play with your studes? I have just finished the battle of the eagle and the lion, and there I couldnt play with other than my students.

3- With sylvain, I think that his heroic lance got broked without using a combat art, is it possible? Since I thought that only combat arts consume durability. But I think that I did a regular atack and it broke

4- Regarding difficulty: I find this game really easy, Im playing in hard/casual. I find easy to win all the battles, even not using all my units or gambits, just with regular atacks and going straight forward, since I have 3-4 characters than kill everyone in a single atack, or even with counter atacks, so I dont need to worry. Is always like that? If so, what would you recommend me for a new run, go madness/casual or hard/permadeath? Would you recommmend me to use NG+? I have read that you can keep your battalions and renown.

5- I just read that they released recently a new game, engage, but it has much worse reviews than this one. Is it so? Is much worse? Since I want to explore more about this saga, but the other games seems too old right?

Thanks in advance

[Punished Dayni]

Can I ask before continuing what route you're on? I'll try to answer before that, but that would be helpful info.

1. You got her to B already? Good, she can randomly ask to join your class. Evey week, you have a chance that characters with B supports ask to join you. This is random, but you can reload if it doesn't happen.

2. Catherine is particularly powerful stat wise, I wouldn't say Manuela or Hanneman are as powerful, but they can have their uses and because it's hard you can likely get away with it at least a little. There's at least one more moment where you can't use the staff and are locked to just your students you picked from the beginning.

3. No, 3H is a game where weapons have durability at all times. You can repair weapons at the smithy, but you need resources, Umbral Steel in this case if I recall correctly.

4. 3H is kinda easy in fairness, especially with Divine Pulse around. You can try Maddening, but I did find it pretty rough when I played it. NG+ is more about carrying that stuff and renown over so you can get more bizarre builds going (like if you wanted to focus on Lysithea in melee combat or something)

5. Engage is.... interesting. I'd argue better gameplay for sure, musically I might prefer it, visually it's kinda unfair to say Engage ends up looking better but I'd say that's true and if you ever play Engage don't worry about the story, it's a weak point. As for playing other games in the series, plenty of people have gone back and played them and I'd argue anything after the NES is playable at least. Thing is pretty much all of them would be via emulation unless you have the hardware and the games and because I don't know what you're working with I want to avoid recommendations for now.

[Shadow Mir]

1. That's not necessary (also, the fact you're asking about her implies you didn't pick the Golden Deer). Also... imho, she isn't that much better than the other mages. If she is even better than them at all, which I am NOT sold on. That being said... she has a chance to ask to join your class at B support. This can be used to recruit most other students, too (except Ferdinand and Caspar, that is).

2. There is one chapter where you are forced to use the students of your initial class. It's particularly notorious. 

3. Weapons in many games of this series have durability. Once a weapon's durability hits zero, it breaks. In most games, this would mean it disappears... but this game allows you to repair weapons. Also, if you can help it, try not to have your weapons break on Enemy Phase. Unlike in most games, you are still stuck using the broken weapon, which is bad.

4. It's kinda easy, Maddening aside... until you get past the halfway point. Then the gloves come off.

5. I wouldn't put much stock in reviews, honestly. It's still perfectly playable.

On the older games: you will prolly have to emulate them. Though honestly, anything from before Blazing Blade (the seventh one, for the GBA) prolly ain't worth investing time into playing. 

[Dark Holy Elf]

Most of your other questions have already been answered well, I'll just add some details:

1. If you have a B support with Lysithea, you can recruit her by training the professor to D+ Faith. Rhea and Manuela can teach it, just ask them for faculty training each week. Do choir as well, which provides a small boost. As mentioned, Lysithea might also randomly ask to join your house if you wait.

5. The lower reviews are primarily because people view the writing/story as a downgrade. I still think Engage is worth playing, myself, but I do agree with the review differences broadly.

2 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

Can I ask before continuing what route you're on?

Based on the fact that Lysithea is not in their house and that they recruited Catherine prior to Hanneman and Manuela, they must be teaching the Blue Lions.

[carlos]

Hi,

 

Thank you all for your answers! Indeed, im with blue lions. I have other few questions:

1- Since heroic relics get broken too, and they have even less durability and its really dificult to repair them (just with umbral seals, which you cannot buy from what I saw), whats the point on this weapons? You should not use them, and save them for the final boss or something like that? In that case, in dont seem really useful if you can use them twice per run, right?

 

2- Sometimes when enemies atack my units, I get "no damage" from their atacks, why is that? Since they should do at leasy a bit damage.

 

3- In 3 fights I have faced the dark knight, but I have not engaged him, I have just filled the other requirements to finish the quest, since it seems that the game is done so you avoid him, is it correct? or should I try to kill him?

 

4- Whats the point of doing seminars or resting in the free days? I think that the best is battles, since it gives you exp, skill points, items, weapons...and, if you need to raise the motivation of your team, you can do one day of explore so you can eat with them, go to the chorus/church etc and other activities. But I have never done rest or seminars since I find them much worse, or not?

 

Thank you again 🙂

[Zapp Branniglenn]

29 minutes ago, carlos said:

Hi,

 

Thank you all for your answers! Indeed, im with blue lions. I have other few questions:

1- Since heroic relics get broken too, and they have even less durability and its really dificult to repair them (just with umbral seals, which you cannot buy from what I saw), whats the point on this weapons? You should not use them, and save them for the final boss or something like that? In that case, in dont seem really useful if you can use them twice per run, right?

 

2- Sometimes when enemies atack my units, I get "no damage" from their atacks, why is that? Since they should do at leasy a bit damage.

 

3- In 3 fights I have faced the dark knight, but I have not engaged him, I have just filled the other requirements to finish the quest, since it seems that the game is done so you avoid him, is it correct? or should I try to kill him?

 

4- Whats the point of doing seminars or resting in the free days? I think that the best is battles, since it gives you exp, skill points, items, weapons...and, if you need to raise the motivation of your team, you can do one day of explore so you can eat with them, go to the chorus/church etc and other activities. But I have never done rest or seminars since I find them much worse, or not?

 

Thank you again 🙂

1. Heroes relics that are outlined in Gold (these are the ones that require the wielder to have a crest) are repaired with Umbral Steel. You don't need to use them if you don't want to, but they can be powerful with Combat Arts especially. You may not have much Umbral Steel now, but they're the most common material drop from monsters in most missions.
   1. To get more, you want to break all their armor pieces to inflict a Full Break. You need to hit all their squares twice before they get repaired by their big AOE (you know that's coming on the next turn if they start roaring). To break their armor faster, look out for that monster's weapon weakness (Sword, Lance, Axe, or Bows if it's a flier), those weapons will break a piece in one hit. Gambits also break the targeted piece one hit, while damaging all others in the AOE. Monster Battles are tricky to master. You'll want to practice going for the Full Break.
2. If the enemy's Atk stat does not surpass your unit's Prt stat (Or Rsl stat if it's magical damage) then they take 0 damage. You can do the math yourself, but the Aggro lines will also tell you how much damage an enemy will do to their intended target, so pay attention to that.
3. Killing the Death Knight early on is very difficult, but it can make for a fun challenge on repeat runs. You'll run into the Death Knight a lot as the game goes on, and eventually you're expected to fight him. You'll get strong enough to take him on though, so try it out when you feel you're ready.
4. There really isn't much of a reason to pick seminars. You're absolutely correct that Explore and Battle are more lucrative in terms of bonuses, but you can pick seminars once you start to get tired of all the busy work. To get more out of seminars, look at what skills they teach. If you adjust your unit's Goals to include one of those skills, they will attend the seminar. Up to six attendees total. So in this way you get to choose who gets the bonuses.
   1. As for Rest, again, not much point beyond just passing your turn if you don't want to do any busy work. I would pick Seminar over this any day.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Zapp Branniglenn

[carlos]

Thank you! I will try to fight the death knight in my next battle then.

 

I have few more questions (hopefully the last ones):

 

1- In the mission the An Ocean View you get 2 weapons that are suited for 2 crests, but other characters can use them too. Is it worthy if I use these crest weapons with users that dont have that crest? Since I dont use the ones that have them.

 

2- Are the crests really important when you decide your team? Since I have seen that its a bonus that happens from time to time but it doesnt seem really critical.

 

3- If you go for battles, the best is to do paraloges to get heroic relics? Or is it better to do the battle quests or other neutral battles that appear each month (even some of them with special monsters)

 

4- In this run im doing blue lions. Which class would you recommend me for NG+ in Maddening? Also, I have read that there are not 3 paths (one per class) but also other paths like the church of seiros or something like that, is that correct? But there are just 3 classes right?

 

Thank uou as always

[Shadow Mir]

8 hours ago, carlos said:

1- Since heroic relics get broken too, and they have even less durability and its really dificult to repair them (just with umbral seals, which you cannot buy from what I saw), whats the point on this weapons? You should not use them, and save them for the final boss or something like that? In that case, in dont seem really useful if you can use them twice per run, right?

Umbral Steel is gotten from fully breaking Demonic Beasts. To do this, you need to hit their barriers twice (once if your weapon or combat art is effective). Also, breaking them paralyzes them for that turn. Incidentally, anyone with a Crest avoids taking damage from using relic weapons.

8 hours ago, carlos said:

2- Sometimes when enemies atack my units, I get "no damage" from their atacks, why is that? Since they should do at leasy a bit damage.

If the unit's attack stat is not enough relative to the Prt (or Rsl if magic) of the attacked unit, they deal no damage. This can be mainly seen with armored knights and Fortress Knights: attacking them with weapons that aren't anti-armor will likely accomplish a fat load of nothing.

8 hours ago, carlos said:

3- In 3 fights I have faced the dark knight, but I have not engaged him, I have just filled the other requirements to finish the quest, since it seems that the game is done so you avoid him, is it correct? or should I try to kill him?

Generally, you should avoid him. But eventually the game expects you to defeat him.

8 hours ago, carlos said:

4- Whats the point of doing seminars or resting in the free days? I think that the best is battles, since it gives you exp, skill points, items, weapons...and, if you need to raise the motivation of your team, you can do one day of explore so you can eat with them, go to the chorus/church etc and other activities. But I have never done rest or seminars since I find them much worse, or not?

Not much, really.

5 hours ago, carlos said:

1- In the mission the An Ocean View you get 2 weapons that are suited for 2 crests, but other characters can use them too. Is it worthy if I use these crest weapons with users that dont have that crest? Since I dont use the ones that have them.

Not really. Those are Sacred weapons.

5 hours ago, carlos said:

2- Are the crests really important when you decide your team? Since I have seen that its a bonus that happens from time to time but it doesnt seem really critical.

Not really.

5 hours ago, carlos said:

3- If you go for battles, the best is to do paraloges to get heroic relics? Or is it better to do the battle quests or other neutral battles that appear each month (even some of them with special monsters)

The real reason to do paralogues is for the battalions tied to them, among other benefits. Aside from those, I mostly only do quest related battles.

As to your last question,  you're right that there are only 3 classes. But as to there being 4 routes... the specifics of that are a big spoiler.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Shadow Mir

[Samz707]

On 5/28/2023 at 10:40 AM, carlos said:

Hi,

This is my first time playing a game of this saga, and I have several questions regarding it:

1- My main characther, the proffesor, is a swordmaster. I have read that Lysithea is the best mage in the game, so Im trying to recruit her, but the issue is that as my character is skilled in sword+dex+etc but not faith/magic, it seems that im not able to do it, even if I have given her a lot of gifts and fought with her and now we have the level B support. What else could we do? Do you need to play the same class as the character that you want to recruit? Because in that case I would only be able to recruit sword players or similar.

2- I have recruited catherine and she seems really OP. She kills almost all regular enemies with a normal atack. Now I have just recrutied the other proffesores (Manuale and the other guy), I have not tested them in battle yet, but are they so op too? Is it better to play with them rather than with your students? Are there parts of the story when you can only play with your studes? I have just finished the battle of the eagle and the lion, and there I couldnt play with other than my students.

3- With sylvain, I think that his heroic lance got broked without using a combat art, is it possible? Since I thought that only combat arts consume durability. But I think that I did a regular atack and it broke

4- Regarding difficulty: I find this game really easy, Im playing in hard/casual. I find easy to win all the battles, even not using all my units or gambits, just with regular atacks and going straight forward, since I have 3-4 characters than kill everyone in a single atack, or even with counter atacks, so I dont need to worry. Is always like that? If so, what would you recommend me for a new run, go madness/casual or hard/permadeath? Would you recommmend me to use NG+? I have read that you can keep your battalions and renown.

5- I just read that they released recently a new game, engage, but it has much worse reviews than this one. Is it so? Is much worse? Since I want to explore more about this saga, but the other games seems too old right?

Thanks in advance

You can briefly switch to increasing that skill (By using that class or faculty training) to recruit someone then switch back.

Catherine is good but falls off, the students generally will get more stats when levelling up, at least allowing them to become onpar with Catherine.

All attacks consume durability, Combat Arts just consume them faster. 

For what it's worth, Classic mode means you have to avoid units dying, so I play on Classic, you have the turnwheel, so you can still fix it if someone dies but it requires you to go back and prevent them dying.

The first FE game I loved was FE7 on the GBA and I played in 2008, the older games are outright better than some of the new ones in my opinion.

[Barren]

While it is generally easier to avoid the death knight when he shows up, I’ve always managed to beat him in a number of ways.

This would require you picking up a Rapier via Abyss’s shrine where you offer reown points but it is relatively cheap and effective.

One example I can offer is in chapter 4, have Byleth be in position to lure the Death Knight. Myrmidon is recommended here so you wouldn’t be slow. The Death Knight does have a 1/4 chance to crit so it isn’t full proof but odds are you won’t die in one hit and more likely than not he won’t be able to double you. This is on maddening btw.

From there you just use battalions to lock him down and then pass the Rapier to Yuri who should have Wind Sweep at the point for a free attack. Then if need be have someone with a steel/training lance finish him off with Knightkneeler pending on how much HP he has left.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Barren

[Bartozio]

3 hours ago, carlos said:

1- In the mission the An Ocean View you get 2 weapons that are suited for 2 crests, but other characters can use them too. Is it worthy if I use these crest weapons with users that dont have that crest? Since I dont use the ones that have them.

There's a small bonus to having characters use weapons that match their crest, but it's generally not all that impactfull (in this case they recover some hp at the start of each turn I think?). Basically, I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you.

3 hours ago, carlos said:

2- Are the crests really important when you decide your team? Since I have seen that its a bonus that happens from time to time but it doesnt seem really critical.

Not really. The only thing I think that really matters in regards to crests is that having one means you don't get -10 hp penalty whenever you use a heroes relic. Because of that it's useful to use at least some characters with a crest, although that's pretty difficult to avoid regardless.

3 hours ago, carlos said:

3- If you go for battles, the best is to do paraloges to get heroic relics? Or is it better to do the battle quests or other neutral battles that appear each month (even some of them with special monsters)

Paralogues generally offer better rewards and have more enemies to fight, so they're more rewarding to pick. You can only play each paralogue once however, and only if you fullfill the criteria to unlock them (basically always involves having recruited the right characters).

3 hours ago, carlos said:

4- In this run im doing blue lions. Which class would you recommend me for NG+ in Maddening? Also, I have read that there are not 3 paths (one per class) but also other paths like the church of seiros or something like that, is that correct? But there are just 3 classes right?

I think most people consider the Golden Deer class the easiest on Maddening, so I'd recommend that one. There's a pretty big difficulty spike between Hard and Maddening, to the point that I've seen people who found Hard too easy struggle to get through Maddening.

There is indeed a fourth route, though I'd recommend only asking about it after you've completed the game once, since it involves some spoilers.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

10 hours ago, carlos said:

1- In the mission the An Ocean View you get 2 weapons that are suited for 2 crests, but other characters can use them too. Is it worthy if I use these crest weapons with users that dont have that crest? Since I dont use the ones that have the

Yes, it is fine for anyone to use these tools. The Spear of Assal demands A-rank in Lances, so you might not have anyone who can use it yet. Caduceus, however, is an excellent staff, giving extra attack range to your offensive Mages. It has infinite durability and no weapon rank requirements, so you should bring it every map.

10 hours ago, carlos said:

2- Are the crests really important when you decide your team? Since I have seen that its a bonus that happens from time to time but it doesnt seem really critical.

No, the Crests aren't very important. The biggest benefit they bring is specialized combat arts. For instance, if Ingrid is using Luin, she gets an attack that nobody else can use. They also prevent self-damage from wielding any Relic - so, Dedue will take damage when using the Aegis Shield, but Sylvain will not.

10 hours ago, carlos said:

3- If you go for battles, the best is to do paraloges to get heroic relics? Or is it better to do the battle quests or other neutral battles that appear each month (even some of them with special monsters)

Paralogues tend to give the best benefits, but they're also the most difficult and time-intensive, on average. Quest battles (piece of paper next to them) are much easier, giving little EXP, but some cool rewards for completing the quest. Monster battles (red exclamation point) are a little tougher, but offer a chance to earn valuable ore by breaking the monster's shields. The "regular" auxilliary battles are rather boring, and give few rewards.

10 hours ago, carlos said:

4- In this run im doing blue lions. Which class would you recommend me for NG+ in Maddening? Also, I have read that there are not 3 paths (one per class) but also other paths like the church of seiros or something like that, is that correct? But there are just 3 classes right?

If you choose to lead the Black Eagles, then there will be a point in the story where it "splits", with two different possible continuations. If you choose to lead the Blue Lions or Golden Deer, that doesn't happen. Three houses, four routes.

I recommend doing either of the other houses next time. Just whichever one you feel like.