Marston

All of them of course. That aside: - Champions of Yore, Lost Bloodlines, Smash Brethren, Rogues and Redeemers. These are all DLCs that get increasingly harder, starting with around level ~4-7 unpromoted units in the first Champions of Yore going up to a whole team of level 20 promoted units, as strong (or maybe even stronger) then endgame enemies. Lost Bloodlines (2) and Smash Brethren (2) give you each access to a new class (Dread Fighter and Bride). Champions of Yore (3), Lost Bloodlines (3), Smash brethren (3) and Rogues and Redeemers (3) give you a new skill each, with the one from Rogues and Redeemers being the most important one if you want to really tackle the hardest stuff, as that one increases your stat caps by 10. All DLCs give you another character when you beat them. - Golden Pack gives you access to maps for EXP, Gold and strong items. This is the grinding DLC, it's quite useful but since you could also grind on the normal game, this just speeds things up (by quite a bit actually). - Challenge Pack gives you three challenges that are quite hard (at least, I guess they are harder then the last Rogues and Redeemers and Paralogue Maps, I actually haven't played this one yet). - Scramble pack gives you quite a bunch of character conversations. If you are interested in those, buy this. There are really quite a few. - Future Past is probably the only DLC that I would really say is "necessary", as this 3-part story really feels like a sort of addon to the game. The difficulty is probably at least around endgame, maybe even a bit higher than that. If you are not interested in the above, I would say buy at least this one. - Apotheosis, the ultimate challenge. That's it, the hardest map in the game. I didn't try it yet, but I have seen things - I just know my characters are not strong enough yet. I also think, if you want to really do this you will need some other DLCs, especially Rogues and Redeemers for the Limit Breaker skill and most likely the Golden Pack to grind gold and Exp a lot faster.

I have no idea how I did it, but I managed to beat chapter 12 on the first try due to mad dodging and guard skills. The sad thing is that Chrom, Tharja and MU all got most of the experience, but eh, I survived. On the first try. Srsly, what the fuck. I took a look and a try at chapter 13. Looks quite managable. I only lost because a sniper spawned and one shottet Henry. Also, I need another Nosferatu so that Tharja can tank again. The one I have only has 1 use left. ;___;

After months I've started playing again. Beat chapter 11 yesterday, but it could have been better. I don't grind (I play DLC maps only once), but I forgot that Gangrel starts moving as soon as someone comes in range of his "squad". So, I did survive it (after a few tries) but I probably lost quite a few reinforcements I could have killed to gain more Exp. So, Valm arc next. I only have 4 couples at the moment, will get interesting. And I actually managed to win a single battle against Risen a few chapters back - but only because a Streetpass team spawned on the same location and pretty much trashed them, while I leeched some Exp. xD

Everytime I tried to drink something like beer or whatever it tasted horrible. Reason enough to not try anything again. The only exception so far has been red wine, but yeah, I drank that once. A single glass.

Yeah, Holsety. I actually managed to miss that one, so I didn't have that.

Yeah, I am sure about that, but it's also one of the games that only had one difficulty. And that was definitly more on the harder side, at least for someone who played it for the first time.

Well, pretty much anything from Touhou wins. So, something else. Something old. As bad and easy as this game was, the whole soundtrack was just superb:

Akiko Shikata! <3 God, how I love her songs. Anyway, now for somethign completely different. I hope you like metal:

Regarding this whole "expert vs normal player" and "not being prepared for map XXX" debate, let me tell you something from my side of view: I am probably a normal player, maybe a bit average. I have played most of the FE Games (not 1-3 and not really 5-6, 12 I am currently playing), but most of them only once and on normal mode (FE 11 on H2, 12 currently on H1 and Awakening on Hard) unless there were several routes (FE 7/8). Now regarding this status thing: During my playthroughs, I barely use them. Yes, I had often a few my characters asleep or going berserk on some maps, but it wasn't so hard that I thought to myself that I now HAVE to use Restore. Also, I actually never have used a pure water. It's one of those items where I simply see absolutly no need for it on normal mode. And the status staves are nice to have, but you can play through the game without much problems except for maybe a few maps. I have started several of the games on hard mode. No idea how far I have gotten there, FE 8 I am in "Father and Son", FE 9 I was somewhere after the 4-part chapter (as that 19?), in FE 10 I was in the finale of part 2. But that was years ago. If I would start "Father and Son" now, I would probably don't give any of my characters Restore, Pure Water or something similar, simply because it was not necessary. So, am I now not prepared? I can still change it (even though the save is during preparation, so I can't go back to the world map) but just for the first time trying to do the map I wouldn't use that stuff because from my memory, it isn't needed. Regarding this CoG discussion, I don't even remember which chapter that was. Therefore, I also wouldn't buy additional staves or pure water. And I am pretty sure no one would really do that on the first playthrough, especially since said things are nice to have but by no means necessary to beat the normal mode, which you have to beat in order to unlock hard mode. Now, take a look at FE 4. I finished the game for the first time last year and had much more problems with it. I abused save states (simply because it would annoy me to no end to reload the whole turn each time) because the game was so ridiculous compared to newer games. But also, this was one of the few games (if not the only one till now) where I really had to use restore quite frequently. Just the starting enemies from the Finale are more then enough with all their siege tomes and status staves: Lastly, some of the things posted here, like "It is hard to Low Turn Count chapter Y in game Z", that is something no one who playes the game/hard mode for the first time will do. You can't really judge LTC, 0% Growths or something similar with a normal (hard mode) run. The game allows it, but it was hardly designed for that in the first place.

I just tried the first two prologue missions on H1 and H2 and yeah - for the first playthrough I definitly don't need a Prologue 1 were I can't even oneround the first enemy and heave to heal in order to beat the friggin Prologue 1 boss. So I will just play through the game on H1 for the first time. But anyway, thanks for the answers.

Regarding reclassing, how exactly does that work? It changes the stats, does it also change the growth rates of characters? So could I basically turn a knight into a mage and have a somewhat decent magic user? I am currently not using reclassing in Shadow Dragon, but on H2 it is not really necessary, however I am sure in the higher difficulties it is a must and also will be for FE 12 H2/3.

Well, I am at chapter 10 with more or less normal play (well, Chrom by now basically can start to kill waves with a good partner), but the beginning is just insane. And I really don't need something like that again on a first play through. Maybe I just take a look at the first few maps on H1 and H2 and decide for myself, but if I am not mistaken, this time the prologue is also included in H1 and above, unlike Shadow Dragon, right?

This depends on the game and the person. If I just take a look at Fire Emblem, FE 7 and FE 9 on normal mode are probably the most balanced ones in the series. FE 8 was to easy were FE 10 was to hard. I think Advance Wars did a much better job regarding difficulty. Often you are in a disadvantage in the beginning and you have to use your units - who are not vastly more powerful like overlevled characters in Fire Emblem - right to be successfull. Difficulty should definitly be more about skill then about stats, but as soon as you can grind or in the case of Fire Emblem create one single powerhouse who can solo whole chapters, it becomes extremely difficult to balance things out. Just take a look at various games. In World of Warcraft, once your group has received better items, your stats increase and you can ignore mechanics completely. In Fire Emblem (or pretty much any tactical RPG), you can just feed most/all of the EXP to a few units so that they start to castly overpower all enemies to the point were they don't even take damage. On the other hand we have something like Dark Souls, which of course was designed to be hard, but it's not unfair hard (like Lunatic+), it just kills you if you don't pay attention. And while higher stats help, if you don't take your enemies seriously, you just die, no matter how strong you are.

I have to add, I don't mind a challenge if it isn't as ridiculous as H5 or Lunatic on Awakening (which I am also playing, but it's just retarded sometimes). I have also played Radiant Dawn until the finale of part 2 on Hardmode, but I don't remember how hard that really was. Were would be H2 then? Lunatic is probably just as ridiculous as H5 or Lunatic in Awakening.

Hello there. I am currently playing Shadow Dragon on H2 and will probably start FE 12 after this one. My question, were exactly are the three hard modes difficulty wise, compared to other games? I haven't finished all games on hard or above (simply because only played most games once or twice if there was more then one route), but I thought the difficulty of FE 7, 9, 10 on normal and 13 on hard was pretty good (not to hard at the beginning but also not to easy later on). So, on what should I play this then? H1? H2?

Might be, but Mist is one of the few chars I can use at the moment. xD I will probably use other units later on, but at the beginning I take what I can get.

I have now beaten chapter 4 with only 5 units (Chrom, MU, Edward, Nanna and Mist). Actually had to restart because I only have crap gear and Edward had to use a Bronze Sword (well, and a Glass Sword, at least he could one round a fighter in the first round). I now have also recruited Fee and Wolt and done Golden Gaffe once to get some money, because I don't have enough to buy more items. Maybe I try to recruit Eirika or Florina and then start C5 or I just go and do C5 now. Maybe I also do the Donnel side quest before. But yeah, missing Supports does make the game indeed quite a bit harder as well as having only a few classes (healer, archer, pegasi and myrmidon) at the beginning. All other units/classes are to strong at the moment (next would be level 7 - yeah no, not yet, maybe after side quest 1 or C5).

I actually haven't really used any of the DLC chars before, so I have no idea which one of them is totally broken. xD And as for recruiting, just summon the character on the map and beat them or play the DLC Map that allows you to get the card. But I still think this makes the game harder, even if it is only because of the missing/lower support bonus you receive.

Hello there. Since no one in the other forums where I am active wants to try this out, I though I will probably find someone here. If you have a topic regarding challenges for the game, I am sorry to post this topic. Anyway, back in the day when the game was still new and I was still playing through the game in hard classic some of the people who where faster tried to beat the game using only DLC characters (well, and Chrom/MU, because they are required and many/all missions). Back then this was of course much harder because you didn't have access to all SpotPass characters. So, I would like to do this challenge now. And I would like it if someone joins me in this playthrough. So, what is allowed and what isn't? - The challenge is played in Hard Classic mode. If a DLC character dies you are not allowed to recruit that character again. If you want to play lunatic, good luck with that. You will probably be unable to recruit anyone without grinding excessivly before you do that. This brings us to the next point... - You may choose one of two playstyles. -- First: Only Chrom and MU are allowed as well as all DLC characters. You are not allowed to use any other character except for the first few chapters (until you are able to summon SpotPass characters). If you choose this one you also have to recruit all characters using only Chrom and MU (which will render a lunatic challenge pretty much impossible unless you grind both to level 20 - and that will make the main storyline pretty much too easy). -- Second: During the main storyline, you are only allowed to use Chrom and MU. However, in order to recruit DLC characters you are only allowed to use all other "normal" characters (so no Chrom/MU/DLC chars for recruiting). You are allowed to grind with this team as much as you like, but you still shouldn't grind to level 20 and start to recruit low level pre promotes for chapter 4. You should still play normally, this grinding is more of a workaround for people who would try this challenge on lunatic mode. I will choose this one. And let's just say, it was already a pain in the ass to recruit Mist. - Grinding in general for all other characters is not allowed unless totally necessary, in which case you are allowed to do a normal skirmish or two with you normal team (which you would probably do from time to time during a normal playthrough anyway). There is however one exception: If you start the game and recruit a new character you are allowed to level this charater to bring him up to the necessary level. Mist for example starts out as a level 1 healer, where as Lissa will probably be around level 5 by chapter 4. So you would be allowed to level Mist until she reaches said level. Just don't overdo it, I will try myself to only grind if it is really necessary (like the Mist example or if I am really stuck in a chapter during the main story). - Don't recruit and then use characters who vastly overlevel the main storyline. This affects mainly the first few chapters, because you only have access to a few low level (1-5) units and you probably won't fill up your whole team. If you have a few characters that outlevel your enemies that's fine, but please don't start to recruit level 10+ units to deploy them at chapter 4. Most of your team will probably be around level 3-7 by this point, so just try to have a party with an average level, just like a normal playthrough, okay? So, that's pretty much it. Any suggestions? Someone wants to join me? I haven't really seen anyone try this out, but then again, if you google "DLC challenge" you just find stuff regarding the DLCs and not something like this.