Help me get over my fear of character death

[Wolfen]

I first started playing Fire Emblem a few years ago on my GBA. However, I have never beaten an FE games cus my characters keep dying. So I'd restart the chapter again and again until I could make it through without people dying.

I know I could just let them die and move on. But what if I need that unit later? So I need some tips on how to make sure everyone survives. or at least tell me how to move on without a certain character.

K, thnx, bai.

[Alex345]

First of all, which game are you playing? Or are you playing multiple games?

Don't send your units out in a battlefield by themselves to die. Characters that you have just recruited are usually weaker than the rest of your party. Take advantage of the weapon triangle. Heal damage on turns where you can't attack anyone. Have a healer in every chapter where necessary. Don't send out units you haven't trained even if you have a lot of deployment slots open. Focus on training 8-11 units so your party doens't lag behind in stats. (This wasn't very coherent XD)

Those are just general tips.

[Wolfen]

First of all, which game are you playing? Or are you playing multiple games?

I'm on chapter 18 in FE7, chapter 8 in FE4, and I had gotten almost to the end of FE8 then deleted my save in frustration.

[Alex345]

I can't give advice for FE4 since I've only played 6+. I'm sure someone else can help with that though.

For FE7, I assume you're doing Eliwood mode. Use Hector and Oswin, they can take a few hits. Only focus on about 7 units right now, and watch out for nomads. They'll get Florina/Fiora pretty easily. Bring either Priscilla or Serra for healing. Raven has a pretty good offense as well.

For FE8, the earlygame chapters aren't very difficult. You can use the first floor of the tower after C8 so you're party is way ahead of the enemies. Seth can pretty much solo the entire game, I'd recommend using him.

[viyut]

1 - The game gets hard from now on

2 - LoLsety

3 - I guess this means you are on CH19 -Best strategy- send Promoted Ephraim(Seth works too) (Inventory: Javelin, Reginleif(or Horseslayer), Elixir) to left corner and kill riev (that ends the chapter).

[Wolt]

You could try to take things slow in the GBA FEs, unless you need to go somewhere fast, not rushing in everywhere would seem like a good idea, and pairing units together is also good, so you don't get surrounded.

[Naglfar]

Make sure your units are well-equipped, don't send anyone off on their own unless they're brilliant, and pay attention to your moves - never, ever make a move that may result in a unit getting killed (make sure none of your units are in range of more enemies than they can handle, be mindful of range in general, and for god's sake, check enemy inventories for anything that might do bonus damage). Don't worry if you make the occasional mistake, though, it happens to the best of us. Maybe. I can't say, I'm not pro like some people.

Don't ignore Seth and FE7!Marcus, they aren't just experience sinks. They're genuinely good units (best in their respective games, in fact), and it will do your turncount well to have them go out and make things a little easier for your weaker army earlygame, when it matters. Especially when Marcus loses his ability to help out later on. Seth really just stops being godly and sits at good, there's a limit to how much usefulness you can lose when your slightly flawed lategame has Vidofnir for you to ORKO everything with anyway.

tl;dr: To make sure nobody dies, make moves that ensure nobody can die. When all else fails, read a tier list or rating thread and learn about the limitations of your units.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Naglfar

[Guest Avarice]

You make me feel like a pro. I've played every American released game on the hardest difficulty mode and never lost a character, sometimes while using awful units to increase the fun. It really depends on your strategy, and it sounds like you need to change yours. If all else fails dont worry about your turn count, take the chapter turn by turn and figure out a strategy that works.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Avarice

[Silent Mercenary]

I haven't played FE4, so I can only help a little there. If you're at chapter 8, then that means you've already passed 75% of the game, so for that chapter, I reccomend having your teams at Alster and Lenster close together, with most of your mages in Alster to take on the knights. Take Conote first then go to Mease through the mountains to avoid the arrows firing at you. Next chapter, your archers and mages will be very important for the hordes of dragon riders and Hero-weapon users.

For FE7 and FE8, take all the advice above, and try to buy various Physic staves on the secret shops which are always handy for long-distance healing even the smallest wounds (not much for 2 HP less than for 8+ HP), that way your healers are safe from harm. Promote your magic units once they're at a high level (17+) to assure ranged-offensive/healing units that can take more than one hit. Don't be afraid to use pre-promotes (Marcus/Seth/Duessel, Pent/Saleh, Hawkeye), but give them Iron weapons or Fire to weaken the enemies instead of killing them. Always be wary of archers/snipers, reinforcement-spawning forts and enemies with Bolting, Slayer weapons or Sleep/Berserk staves. In FE8, be careful with stone!gorgons and archmogalls with shadowshot too. Good luck with everything.

[whase]

a good way to get over that fear is to do a roam only PT.

setting your units like the computer would kills at least half your characters.

since it would be all out of your hands, there's nothing you can do about it.

anyways, I'd even suggest using a maximum of 10 units for FE7. one for each weapon type (excluding staves) and your 3 lords. there's no need to use any other units, if you're careful and use your terrain. Lynn could even solo her own 10 chapters if you wanted and Eliwood could solo a few of his first chapters too. going with a few strong units if way easier for later chapters, but might be a little harder to start with.

[Celice]

For FE4, I always use basically everyone, 'cause... that's the setup of the game. Some better than others. Never let anyone die, small cast, all part of the plot, to an extent.

Other games, you get, what, twelve characters for the end of the game? That means 12 tkaen from the entire cast are all you really need to care about. Find the ones you like, if someone dies, big whoop. You'll be dead too, later, maybe. It can be a feeling, but don't let unit death be a bother. You won't be bothering with them either, even if they're alive--the ones you'll not care enough to let live.

[Parrhesia]

For GBA, everyone that doesn't matter dies. I mean, Amelia is always going to be the load on the team, so kill her strategically after nicking her 'wings. Remember, everything is controlled by stats, and there is NOTHING one guy can do that another cannot.

[Inui]

I'm on chapter 18 in FE7, chapter 8 in FE4, and I had gotten almost to the end of FE8 then deleted my save in frustration.

FE7: Abuse Marcus/Oswin/other durable and prepromoted units and just massacre the entire game in your sleep.

FE4: You stopped in the second generation? You have an army of broken children with holy weapons. Just use Oifaye a lot early on and then holy weapon units like Aless and Shanan and it's a piece of cake.

FE8: Fire Emblem: Seth's Solo Adventure.

[Thor Odinson]

For FE8, if you don't want Seth to drag along an untrained lord everywhere while he WTFPWNS the entire game, train Eirika and support those two together. 1) Eirika is awesome when promoted, save lack of two range. 2) Trained Eirika is not a burden on Seth. 3) PAIRED ENDING YAY. They are the only people you'll ever need for this game. Maybe a thief and a flyer (rescue utility for said thief) on the Desert chapter but that's it.

If you were on Last Hope, like I've read above, then rush those two. Use Seth to clear a way for Eirika who could do with a Riev kill for EXP. Sieglinde does quite nicely there.

You'll also never have to worry about money, as only using Seth and Eirika means that you can sell all promotion items, and buy more expensive weapons and lots and lots of Elixirs.

FE8, like stated above, is "Seth's Solo Adventure", but training the main lord makes things even easier.

It's easy enough to get both Seth and Eirika to 20/20, and they are good enough to two-turn endgame. one turn if either Seth or Eirika gets a lucky critical.

For FE4, Make sure you level Celice. If anything, give him a bajillion kills and hope he hits level 20 ASAP. Personal experience also says to give Lakche a 50+ kill Hero Sword and watch armies get overkilled, but that's personal bias.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Luminescent Blade