swoon

Initially I was planning my roster for the Ilia route but just theoretically, how well could these guys do if I went Sacae instead? Would it be feasible or is it a death wish Tiers are based off deployment amount for each Sacae chapter. Also could use some insight on the Christmas Cavs; I could've sworn it was a popular move to use both Allen and Lance to the Endgame but in more recent posts people were saying you level them both at the start but bench the weaker one when they can both promote.

Fair enough. I guess for my 18th pick it really can just be a thief or some random pre-promote since only one chapter allows 18. What are your thoughts on the Christmas Cavs? Both or just one?

Sorry for the late response. Had a lot of processing to do with the advice I've gotten haha. But I've seen quite a few threads and a comment Mekkah made on reddit (thought he might've been being sarcastic) where people tend to use both Allen and Lance, even on Hard Mode. Trust me I would've loved to, but objectively if I use Fir then just like the Smash UItimate roster I would have too many Swordies in my run (Roy, Rutger, Shanna, Milady, Lance/Allen, Perceval, Deke, etc). Given my coverage of swords ESPECIALLY with Rutger on the team using Fir would spread my supply of swords a bit thin. Also to everyone who's interested in critiquing again I revamped my unit list. I removed Yoder from the list as only his recruitment chapter allows for 18 units and he automatically joins as the 19th. As such the 18th slot is still open and I'm not sure who to slot in. I considered Zeiss but I'm thinking given the late recruitment of Niime... I could PROBABLY throw in Lilina as a vanity pick (since she recruits 2 units anyway) and it kinda just feels right to use her alongside Roy? I don't know... I'm second guessing using both Allen and Lance because I could've sworn using both was the popular option but I guess not? Candidates I'm considering for the 18th pick are: -Zeiss: Advice I've heard is give him a speedwing or 2 and he can become Milady Lite -Thea: Though not as good as Shanna, given I'm using Shin I might as well slot in Thea alongside her sister to skew the EXP towards the Ilia route. Elysian Whips come in good supply early so I could bring her all the way. -Lilina: Out of 17 other units who were planned purely for meta purposes, she would be the sole Waifu pick. Given I don't plan on bringing Saul to endgame anymore, it still means I'd need just 3 Guiding Rings. I heard she struggles with speed on Hard Mode (on normal mode I found she didn't really struggle to double enemies) but still hits like a truck, which is still something. Plus it's an extra tome/staff user -One of the situational picks: Meh, Chad will prolly be at a high enough level to be decent.

Sorry. I shouldn't have been so defensive. RD's difficulty has even garnered complaint posts on FAQs and Reddit; legit I've seen quite a few who just absolutely vent about how they can't complete it - comments were often polarizing though. I guess it's somewhat of a controversial take but the fact it gets debated a lot should be telling. I don't know how many FEtubers share the sentiment but back when BlazingKnight was really active, when he critiqued Conquest's worst chapters (On Hard mode) he still stated Radiant Dawn was a much harder entry. And I know Conquest also tends to gravitate towards the top of peoples' hardest FEs.

Again, can't blame me for thinking that when I know nothing about it and that's just the popular opinion of it. Idek if this added anything of note to the convo

Listen bud. It's the reputation I've seen it garner on Reddit, GameFAQs, damn near everywhere I see Fire Emblem discussed. You cannot blame me (someone who has YET to play it) for being wary of it. Gosh damn dude.

Well see, the biggest reason I wanted 4 endgame staff users was; say on Chapter 22 where your party is split and there's an unreachable Berserk staff. Having 2 staves on each side would be contingency for if one of my staff users got hit by it - as on Normal mode most of my resets on 22 were because one of my carries (Fir, Perceval, Milady) were Berserk'd AFTER my solo staff on one side (Clarine or Cecilia) were Berserk'd the turn before. Clearing 22 felt somewhat hollow because my win condition was purely based on Berserk: -Is Cecilia/Clarine Berserk'd? Yes: -Do one of your archers get berserk'd? Surround them on four sides to prevent retaliation -Does Niime/Perceval/Fir/Roy/Milady get berserk'd? Runs dead, reset No: -Does anyone get berserk'd? Restore I'm guessing exceptions to your "full-time" Saul+Clarine rule would be a chapter like 11A (The one where you get Lalum) where you have 2 routes; the open path downwards and through the cracked wall to the right?

So on Normal mode it's not this super demanding unforgiving installment that can softlock you for playing "wrong"? Forgive me for asking but, in what ways can you tell if a unit is bad? One sentiment I heard is looking at their bases; as it'll tell you "all you need to know". Or something

I'm about halfway through Path of Radiance on Hard mode (international) and have begun mentally prepping myself for Radiant Dawn, probably Normal mode. Is there anything I should know for this game? I'm aware it has quite the reputation for being among the most difficult, and a striking critique I hear about it is it's infamously unbalanced cast - although I don't know how overblown or true this sentiment is. Is it even worth doing a pure blind run of this game or is it perfectly justifiable to look up the optimal characters and chapter guides? I somewhat broke the blind rule for my Binding Blade run after finding out it does that multiple endings shtick and even did it for pinpointing the stronger characters - although this proved unnecessary as there are obviously no Hard mode bonuses on Normal mode and my ending cast was still mostly waifu > meta. Games I've beaten: Awakening (Lunatic; but I also lowmanned), Fates (All paths; Normal), Echoes (Hard), Three Houses (All Routes; Hard), Blazing Blade (Normal), Binding Blade (Normal)

I used a character guide from Mekkah for reference and constructed a list of planned units - I tiered the list based on the varying slots you're allowed in each chapter: Most chapters from what I recall allowed up to 12 units with the highest availability (Chapter 21) being 18 + Yoder. (Ah, I'm just now seeing I messed up as I included Yoder and only total up to 18 units WITH him, but that's why I said I could use some pointers) Looking at this list these are the strengths I see to this roster: -Promotion items won't be in contention (2 Hero Crests, 2 Knight Crests, 2 Elysian Whips, 3 Guiding Rings) -A lot of mobility to get Villages and Rescue/Drop (Milady, Shanna, Perceval, Lance, Allen) -Selection of staff users, especially for the Restore staff for Sleep and Berserk (Clarine, Better Call Saul, Promoted Lugh, Niime, Cecilia if I need her) -Depth for fliers (Archers in Klein and Igrene, Aircalibur users in the above mentioned) On my Normal mode run I wasn't too impressed with Klein and I think Igrene was out-performing him. But I'm aware Klein gets Hard Mode bonuses and should be a much stronger unit. This list is done in unit priority for the late game; even though he was put in 15-16, Deke is likely be in rotation for the majority of the game. It's just when we hit the late game and he'll have to compete with Milady, Perceval, Rutger, the Christmas Cavaliers? He'll likely be prioritized less - I've heard that while his bases are strong his growths are only decent. By my understanding that means he somewhat falls off? Feel free to correct me, I'm not the best with numbers and am still new to this. A unit I would've liked to use is Shin, but using him risks me triggering the Sacae route and that one was already rough on Normal. So yeah, feel free to give me pointers, replace and add some units if you'd like. I'm aware I likely made a lot of errors. I do have one question, for Hard mode how paramount is it to plan out my supports? In Normal mode I didn't really bother with my Supports and just tried to play the game at a brisk pace without grinding them, but I'm aware the jump from Normal to Hard is quite significant so I may need to spend some chapters burning turns to gain them.

It's okay. Tbf it was only Normal mode and I do wanna do a Hard mode run of 6 as well. But I wanted to do a first runthrough of as many games as I could first before playing Engage (to get most of the references it may throw at me) and before doing challenge runs.

Ah, I played 7 already. In fact I played it before 6 haha

Yes, I'm aware. I watched Mekkah's spoiler free guide and I'm aware it's much more bearable if you're following along with something. My hesitance is because I'm conflicted on if I truly wish to play a game using the spoiler free guide for the whole journey or if I want to go full blind. Did you use the spoiler free guide on your playthrough? And if so, did it feel any less fulfilling knowing you didn't go in 100% blind? Or did it hit just as hard?

How does Path of Radiance Hard compare to Binding Blades Normal (Sacae Route)?

Hey guys. After finishing Echoes I just decided to binge as many FE games as I could to try and really immerse myself with this franchise besides just Awakening, Fates and Smash haha. I recently just finished FE6 Normal (Sacae) and I absolutely loved it. I would say it's my favorite FE by far but it could just be recency bias so it's still tentative between that or Three Houses. I'm really eager to attempt a Hard mode run of it but I think I primarily want to go through as many different games' stories first before I do runs purely to test myself. (Unless it's a game where you can pick difficulty on your first playthrough) I did start Sacred Stones but something about it just kind of turns me off from playing right now. Maybe it's how Eirika's sprite graphics look compared to how FE7 and FE6's sprites looked? And I've been heavily debating between this or Path of Radiance. Also been more and more tempted to try out Thracia, however I am aware that it's one of the harder installments of the series so it may be best to get a few more games under my belt, and a lot of people seem to recommend playing Geneology before Thracia so I'd need to mentally prepare for those huge maps. But I do know with the Radiant Duology and Thracia they're considered to have some of the strongest storytelling in the series, plus offer a good challenge. FE6 had a simple story (not bad in my opinion) but the challenge was thrilling to overcome. I don't know I just thought it'd be cool to get some recommendations from you guys for what you would personally recommend to play next and on what difficulty? Games I've finished: Awakening (Lunatic), Fates (All Routes on Normal), Echoes (Hard), Three Houses (All Routes on Hard), 7 (Normal), 6 (Normal)