HillCountry

Well, Wrys is finally killed by map developer. Item location on the main site mentions Aum in Chapter 23. I have Aum for Shadow Dragon but didn’t have chance to use it. I want to see how it’s working with Wrys. But the chest is not accessible for the lunatic run. So Wrys became the first unit got killed. Not too bad for a bottom tier unit. There are so many much better units that I cannot remember at all. FE12 is different from others in the series. From the very beginning, the enemies are armed with silver weapons. And the game maintains good balance by limiting attack speed throughout the game. For example, in Chapter 16, the reinforcement warriors come in at 22 speed, and cannot be doubled by the paladins. I passed around starsphere to kill all of them off, makes me feel like earlier chapters of Awakening, when Fred was passed around to kill off the enemies. But forged weapon and speed management is ruined by the atrociously retard enemy. This is the worst game for enemy AI. Their attack is based on who is the weakest that can be attacked vs who can be killed. So I just put my weak units behind the strong ones. Dragons with 1-2 range and the stupid glowers for 40 damage, cannot kill any of my units without choke points. Finally, I am done with FE6 through FE16. I will put into some thought on the games.

10 Chapters later, I still remember Wrys, because he got killed by a bush on the road. I sent my cavalry trying to get in the range of Knight. The closest one, moving at the max range, was still one space short, all due to the many bushes on the road. I think the map developers want him killed. Think a couple of maps earlier, they make a single safe space for Catria to sit on, and move the thief right in her attack range, so that she can get her Ladyblade. Here the developers just put one more bush. Well, who needs an old geezer as nurse? Luke’s face even went pale looking at Wrys, when he was expecting a beautiful you girl cleric. I can replay to still save Wrys by using Aran. But I got a good status boost with my unit when level up on turn 1, and I am already RNG screwed badly wasting effort leveling up Rody. I kind of feel a little slow on the unit development. So, RIP Wrys. You can only blame the bush on the road. I do remember you for the effort in the early chapters of Shadow Dragon. You are the only one I lost playing 11 games (FE6 – FE16).

The biggest gripe is that those Gaiden chapters are not available unless you systematically kill off your units. At least make those chapters playable, just does give the extra units. I ended up not playing any, as I don’t have the habit of losing any of my units. The enemies are the most difficult to kill in the series. I have about 1600 battles but only 600 wins. It will take around 3 battles to kill 1 enemy unit. With this, the map is very loose. A few enemies at a time, then recover sitting on a fort, then next battle. This is my least favorite FE games. But at least you can choose to play hard 5 for new game.

Typically, I train around 10 units in FE. Radiant Dawn is different. It forces you to use way more units and they are just so bland that I cannot remember any after the tedious game. At least 34 units gained 3 levels or more and I don’t know how many battle wins, but I guess it may double that of the Path of Radiance. It is a tedious game, as I spent hours before the final chapters preparing all the weapons and stuff to bring. I still didn’t bring Fortify which may be the most important item in the final battle. Luckily, I still have access to all the skills. Thieves rule in this game. Part 1 is Sothe, who helped build up the team and Part 2 is Heather, who got all the items to be used. And Generals are decent. Gatrie and Brom got high speed and resistance and huge defense. Snipers are OP and I use all three, they shoot at the enemies, and they cannot counter. I put Counter on Shinon, so maybe he cannot fight back but will get something back.

I played Echoes and liked it better than the blades.

I always thought this website is serene forest. Now I know it’s actually Serenes Forest after playing Path of Radiance. Path of Radiance has big change on graphics, above the later 3DS games. I would think people got wowed at the time when they first playing it. It will take Switch to produce the same graphical effect. Bonus EXP is an interesting concept. You can promote any units within 10-20 to the next level. Reset if you don’t like what you got. And you can easily promote your lower level units when they are too far behind. Mist class changed into Valkyrie immediately after Ch 15 of the desert. Canto is game breaking. I have all units on mount, except for Ike, Soren, and Ilyana. Volke got Knight Ring. Combining with most overpowered songster in the whole series Reyson, you can have four units move again. Titania helps a lot before Ch 17. She feels like a mother figure to Ike and really contribute to the team. I like this unit way better than your traditional starting knight such as Seth who never sees a single battle. Unfortunately She falls behind all the other Paladins after Ch 17.

I liked Sacred Stones better than Blazing/Binding Blade. At least I can choose to play Hard mode the first time. I played Erika till Chapter 14 then switched over to Ephraim. I really liked Last Hope (Ch 19), River of Regrets (Ch 17), and Darkling Woods (Ch 20). For Last Hope, I put Ephraim and Vanessa on stairs at the bottom, Cormag and Lute at the top, and Colm to the right. I am mostly using the 12 units for this map. I used Rennac to get the contents of three treasures on the left. Unfortunately, the reinforcement thief came in and his speed was one more than Rennac. Luckily, Rennac just got Speedwing and he used it and stole the lockpick from the thief. I think this is a good game design to have untrained unit just a little inferior to the enemy. Same thing for River of Regrets. I divided up my groups to put Garcia right at the choke for reinforcement Cavaliers. Vanessa and Tana with a mage by the boss to handle Druids. Cormag and Neimi and a mage to handle Wyverns. I would rate this map higher if some other reinforcements came from bottom, as I still have 4 or 5 idle units. I finished Darkling Woods in 5 turns. I moved Neimi with Long Bow sitting in the bush sniping at Morva. She was not hurt at all when surrounded by all the enemies, including the other Boss Riev. Natassa will have to use 3 warps to move units around, including sending Ephraim to seize the gate. I would think I can do 3/4 turns, as I let Ephriam move around the mountain by himself. I can simply fly him over to the staging area to be warped.

Just finished FE6/7. Both are good Fire Emblem games. I played the prequel first. My biggest gripe is that they are not allowing hard mode before you beat the regular game. For Blazing Blade, I cannot play Hector Hard Mode even after I beat the regular Eliwood. This does not make sense as I already went through the game once. And I am not impressed with their maps. I consider Awakening and Fates have the best of the maps in the series. I think a decent map in the two games is FE6 Arcadia. Clearly mage rules in this map, but the game only give a single Guiding Ring so far. I used it on Clarine. It is a good investment, as Clarine has the best avoidance of the crew. But for this chapter I come with most non-promoted units, except for Thany and Lott. Still, I should be able to finish the chapter in about 15 turns, getting all the hidden items. I am using 2 flying units to shuttle Chad around and have picked up 5 in 6 turns. Hindsight I should have the second thief unit to light up right side. Unfortunately, Thany went sleep, and no units can do Restore. I planned Lilina just right and immediate get promoted when she reaches level 20 in this chapter. Overall, I do miss other nice things common for the later games. The quality-of-life improvement as showing the enemy attack range. The BGM. No more voice acting, and I just quickly scrolled through the text, so I don’t bother with support dialog.

It seems FE4/FE5 have issues with emulators. I plan to start with FE7, then FE6.

I only played the latest 4 installments of the series. Now I am thinking to play the other 8 before Engage. I am going with emulators. Just wondering how playable are the early games, especially between FE4 and FE8?

I am introduced to this amazing series with Three Houses. I have played Awakening, Fates, and Echoes since then, mostly on lunatic. Looking forward to the new game.