I Play FE4

[Peachy]

Because I made a few mistakes in my previous run, and I can't restart the chapter, I'm starting again. But, because I was mostly clueless as to what I was doing the first time, I'm doing this playlog to kinda learn what I have to do.

My Pairings:

Aideen x Jamka

Ira x Holyn

Lachesis x Beowulf

Fury x Levin

Sylvia x No One

Tiltyu x Azel

Briggid x Lex

I'm hopefully going to start in a few hours, once I'm done studying. Until then, I'd like to receive some information, because this is mostly blind (The farthest I got was 4 turns into Ch. 3, so I haven't accomplished a whole lot)

[Tables]

Cool, have fun!

What do you want information on would be a useful question... like, things to not miss in each chapter maybe? Mechanics/inheritance help? Advice on pairings (don't think you need any there, all of those pairings are between good and great, arguably except Jamka and he's still better than average).

[Peachy]

Mostly mechanics and info, because it seems like a lotta stuff comes from map convos, and they would suck to miss. Inheritance info is probably what I need the most info on. But I'll take advice on anything.

[Tables]

Map conversations, the easiest way to work out if there definitely is something, check the units menu, on one of the later pages it should show who can talk to whom. It doesn't show conversations with non player characters, though (e.g. Alvis in the prologue with Sigurd, Sigurd to Aira, Lachesis to Eltoshan).

Inheritance wise, your best bet is to read the inheritance page on this very site (should be easy enough to find).

The basic idea is that both children get:

Minor holy blood of both parents Major/Minor holy blood (these boost growths). Also major holy blood if both parents have the same holy blood (i.e. Aira/Holyn)

All personal skills (but not soldier skills, like Jamka's pursuit)

Then each child gets:

The growths of their same gendered parent and half the growths of their opposite gendered parent

The items they can equip from their 'main' parent (normally the main parent is the same gendered one)

Major holy blood of their main parent plus their holy weapon even if they can't use it

Starting stats slightly boosted by their parents stats (more by their main parent).

So bearing those in mind... shouldn't affect much, other than training all your parents up is quite useful.

Anyway, things to know for the prologue:

Alvis wants to talk to Sigurd. Make sure that happens.

There's a village with a speed ring, just southwest of Jungy. I personally like to give it to Fin since he's the most borderline doubling character I feel.

Oh, a few other useful tips:

Without spoiling anything (much), try to promote Fin by the end of chapter 3 (not at the start of chapter 4). It's not necessary but it's quite useful if you do.

Probably worth noting how pursuit activates and a few other skills.

First attack speed (AS). You AS is your speed - weapon weight.

If you have pursuit you double if your AS > opponents AS. If you're equal, no doubling.

Continue and Charge are boosted by AS. Charge interestingly is also boosted by HP and doesn't activate if your HP is below a certain level. Don't rely on them too much too often.

Criticals deal double damage before factoring DEF. Effective weapons (e.g. Bows on fliers, cutter on armours) are considered to automatically critical.

Hmm... hope these help.

[Smiley Jim]

This is from a while ago, but this is still valid advice.

Anyway, Aira and Holin are somewhat easy to miss, most notable Aira, who in order to recruit, you have to seize the castle that she is near(don't worry about her disappearing, she is linked to Verdane, not Genea.), which is difficult in itself as Aira can ORKO anybody you have if Astra goes off. I recommend using Alec to lure her away from the castle as he has Nihil and can't get ORKO'd. At which point you want Sigurd to sit his ass on the throne, then FINALLY you can talk to Aira. I mean, how would any FE4 noob know to do THAT?

Holin is also somewhat easy to miss because you have to win 7 consecutive arena matches to actually get him. And even if you DO get to him, he still has Luna and good stats.

Here are some of the easy-to-miss items:

-Silver sword(need to have Sigurd talk to Alvis in BotHK or vice versa)

-Hero axe(need to bring Lex to the end of a stretch of land southeast of Verdane castle with an iron axe in his cube)

-Hero lance(have Cuan talk to Fin after conquring Heirhein)

-Bargain ring(need to get it from a town south of Amphony that will be destroyed on turn 17-18)

-Pursuit ring(need to bring Ardan to an obscure stretch of beach south of Heirhein. Not an easy task as Ardan has 5 move.)

-Hero sword(have Aira talk to Lex/Holin in LKE. Make sure Aira and one of those two doesn't have a lover.)

-Knight ring(need to keep all three of Lachesis' goons alive in DiA, which is hard enough as they are almost as suicidal as the soldiers in Ch17 of FE7)

-Wind sword(need to bring Dew to Blaggi tower)

-Hero bow(have Midir/Jamka talk to Aideen in DitS assuming she and the reciprient are lovers)

-Defender(need to have Sylvia enter a specific village in DitS, which glitches unless you reset)

-Holsety(need to have Levin enter Silesia castle)

-Tyrfing(Sigurd needs to get his ass over to Vylon)

As for anything else, remember to raise all your units equally(you can skip Ardan if you want, as his mobility gets him nowhere fast), as another guy said, as this isn't the kind of game where you can solo it with just one guy, especially with all the shit trying to kill you(unlike, say FE7, where I can beat the game with just Hector, Raven, Dart, and Oswin.), and make sure they are properly equipped, too.

As for any inheritance issues, remember that male children inherit stats, growths, and items from the father and female children inherit stats, growths, and items from the mother. In the cases of Ethlin and Brigid, this is inverted(Faval and Leaf inherit from their mothers and Patty and Altenna inherit from their fathers). As for holy blood, both children will receive at least minor holy blood assuming the parent has holy blood to begin with. In the case of major blood, only the child that inherits from that person will have major blood. Also both children will receive the personal skillz of both parents(but not soldier skillz, so you can't pair Jamka with Aideen hoping your Lester gets Pursuit.)

As for anything else, here is a rundown of some of the mechanics:

- You can't DA without Pursuit and you can't crit without Critical. Just a heads up.

- AS=(Spd-Weight). And yes, you can have negative AS in this game.

- Pursuit users double if your AS>their AS.

- Adept activation is (AS+20%) in this game.

- Duel activation is(Player AS-Enemy AS+(HP/2))%.

- Crits double atk before applying defense/resistance. Also, a weapon can critical if it gets 50 kills or above.

- Sol, Luna, and Astra can only be used by infantry sword users(which is limited to mercs, thieves, and dancers).

Edited April 22, 2011 by darkandroid125

[Peachy]

When about should I get my characters promoting? Because when I started Ch.3, Lex was my only one at Lv.20.

[Silvercrow]

Ch4 is usually when I see more than a handful of people promoting.

[Celice]

Most of my people are beginning to promote at the end of Chapter 2 >.> Only stragglers are left by Chapter 4 for me. Not counting staff users, who can basically be capped at 30 with almost no effort at all >.>

[Tables]

I honestly don't get how people seem to get so much exp out of gen 1. Even if everyone passed the arena (which isn't hard as much as it is manipulating RNGs/prayer), that's only a few extra levels, and looking at my levels in my run around the end of chapter 2... my average level is about 14. So... just, how? I'm killing everything and hardly anyone is at 20.

Anyway, if all your main units are promoted at the start of chapter 4, you're fine.

Edit: I may have to watch Bal's run (Gen 1, I skipped that before) to get a better idea...

Edited April 20, 2011 by Cylon

[Peachy]

K. I be starting now.

Ch. 1

Turn 1: Alec and Noish kill the fighter closet to Chalphy. Sigurd follows the road south, and Ardan follows the Social Knights.

Turn 2: Ardan attacks the Bandit that approached Alec and Noish on the enemy phase, leaving it with 2HP. Noish finished it off. Alec took a counter on the previous enemy phase leaving him with 8HP. Azel kills the bandit on the village closest to his starting point. Sigurd kills a Hunter. Lex moves to the left side of the village, to act as bait for the nearby fighter.

Turn 3: Azel kills the bandit that Lex acted as bait for. Lex attacks a second bandit, and then retreats to the church. Noish, Alec and Ardan protect the northern village from the bandits. Cuan, Fin and Ethlin follow Sigurd towards Jungby.

Turn 4: Azel and Lex team up on another Fighter that nearly killed Lex. Alec, Noish and Ardan weakened another fighter, and Alec went south to receive some healing from Ethlin. Sigurd and Cuan each take down a fighter, while Fin slowly approaches.

Turn 5: On the enemy phase, Sigurd took a counter from a fighter, but didn't kill it. Fin took the kill. For reference, the only enemies alive are the ones around Jungby. Lex and Azel take the long to way to each Sigurd and Co, so that they can obtain the village money.

Turn 6: I get closer to Jungby. Sigurd stands on the nearby forest to draw in enemies for Cuan, Alec, Fin and Ethlin (hopefully) to kill. Azel got 5000 gold from one village.

Turn 7: Sigurd baited quite a few enemies. Lex got 4000 gold from a village. Fin and Alex teamed up to kill a hunter, while Cuan killed a Fighter. Ethlin got a crit against a Fighter (FYI, that was the first crit I've seen). Sigurd also weakened a different fighter.

Turn 8: Two of the three fighters around Jungby have been eliminated, and one has 2HP left. Sigurd, after killing a fighter, heads to save the Speed Ring village (though I plan on Fin getting it).

Turn 9: Mostly clean up, in prep to take on DiMaggio. Fin nabs the Speed Ring.

Turn 10: Sigurd dents DiMaggio, doing 28/45 damage to him. Alec also hits him, leaving him with 9HP remaining.

Turn 11: Fin kills DiMaggio. Sigurd takes Jungby.

Tomorrow, I'll play the rest of the prolouge. Here are stats for everyone to see.

Name Level HP Strength Magic Skill Speed Luck Defense Resistance Money
Sigurd 7   37   15      0     12    12     8    10        3      5000
Noish  4   34   11      0     7     8      5    8         0      2000
Alec   3   32   9       0     10    10     5    7         0      2000
Ardan  3   36   13      0     5     4      3    13        0      2000
Fin    2   32   9       0     9     10(+5) 8    8         0      4000
Cuan   5   35   17      0     10    10     5    11        3      5000
Midir  2   32   9       0     7     9      3    7         0      2000
Azel   1   30   0       10    7     9      2    2         6      10000
Lex    5   34   11      0     10    11     8    10        0      8855
Ethlin 2   28   5       9     12    12     8    4         6      4000

Edited April 20, 2011 by WINgull

[Peachy]

How important are the characters that I'm not paring? Because Midir keeps wanting to die.

[Tables]

Well, it depends. Midir is certainly one I don't care overly about if he's not paired, but having an 8/9 move unit hitting at 2 range means he can certainly get some useful stuff done. In the prologue, I'd say Midir is well worth saving since things just get harder from here (and to be honest, you should be able to hit and run with him and keep him out of danger...)

[Mikethfc]

Nobody has said it yet, so I'm not sure if you know but Lex can pick up a hero axe in chapter 1 by going to a certain spot(Girl of the spirit forest)

A good point is also to have a look at the menu to see who can converse after taking each castle, (you get 3 hero weapons like this)

As far as pairings go I've tried all of yours before apart from Lex/Briggid, only thing is Lex might be a better pair for Aira as because of the way items are done Shannan is likely to keep the Balmung but Aira/Holyn is still a good pairing and gives Skashaker Shahaske the boy a better start as he has better weapons.

Also whilst you're in Verdane so long as none of Kinbois's men get past you, you shouldn't need to defend Evans

[Tables]

My first playthrough had Lex x Briggid. It worked out pretty well, both characters appreciate Elite, and Patty potentially could sleep sword counter but realistically, Patty having decent defence and a chance of promotion is enough for her.

And, yeah, secret conversations are worth finding... not that'd you'd probably be able to find them. There's Lex in chapter 1, Ardan in chapter 2, and I think those are really the only main ones in the game...

[Celice]

If Adan has a lover, he can get a skill boost in Chapter 5. Or some stat. Cuan can speak to the neutral soldiers north of the beginning castle in Chapter 2. Tons of subs have special conversations and hidden tile events (including speaking with both Jake and Anna together)."

All the ones in the game are listed in the official strategy guide. I seem to recall a few more interesting conversations being mentioned in one of the unofficial ones, but I don't know where that went. The added comics about them might be swaying my memory a bit.

Edited April 23, 2011 by Celice

[Peachy]

Are the levels of the unpaired characters important at all?

[Tables]

Only in that they become better fighters for later chapters. To be honest, even paired fighters levels only matter a little.

[Celice]

Items and skills and blood are the most prominent and detectable factor in pairings. Level and stats may as well not matter at all--their addition is virtually non-evident.

[Darros]

And, yeah, secret conversations are worth finding... not that'd you'd probably be able to find them. There's Lex in chapter 1, Ardan in chapter 2, and I think those are really the only main ones in the game...

Celice in Chapter 10 gives a Life Ring, and if Arden is paired he gets +5 Skill in Chapter 5. The rest are substitute characters and Fee. Fees doesn't give anything IIRC.

Edited April 23, 2011 by Hawk King Tibarn

[Mikethfc]

Celice in Chapter 10 gives a Life Ring

Doesn't Celice need to kill the boss first for that?

[Darros]

Doesn't Celice need to kill the boss first for that?

Yes he does, but I'd say it's worth the one turn it takes to get with Leen + Leg and Knight.

[Tables]

For a ring that does basically nothing, for all of one chapter? I mean, sure, if you don't care about turns but if you do, that's not worth it at all.

[Peachy]

Finally got around to finishing the prologue, I dunno what was stopping me before.

I don't have a turn by turn playthrough, but I really don't think it was necessary. Alvis didn't steal any EXP from my guys, and Cuan baited them out so that Azel, Ethlin, Fin and Lex could get kills. Azel got the boss kill.

I gotta go, but if you want levels, post saying so.

[Peachy]

Just beat Ch.1. Aira was sure hard to recruit, as she didn't want to follow Alec to her left. One more turn, and she would have died.

I didn't get the Warp Staff, I hope its not too big of a loss.

I'm loving Jamka, he one rounded Sandima with a crit. He also got a lotta love points with Aideen.

Nothing eventful really happened on this map. It was mostly just recruit Aira, kill Gandolf, recruit Jamka, kill Sandima. I wish something extraordinary happened.

...Lex did get the Hero Axe though. :)

Stats:

Name    Level   HP  Str  Mag   Skl    Spd    Luk  Def  Res
Sigurd  14      44  17   0     14     14     11   13   3
Noish   4       34  11   0     7      8      5    8    0
Alec    6       34  11   0     12     10     5    9    1
Ardan   3       36  13   0     5      4      3    13   0
Fin     7       37  12   0     12     12(+5) 9    9    0
Cuan    8       39  18   0     12     12     5    13   3
Midir   4       33  10   0     7      9      3    7    0
Azel    5       33   0   12    8      9      3    2    6
Jamka   8       38  13   0(+5) 14     14     4    9    0
Lex     11      40  11   0     12     12     8    13   0
Dew     1       Base Stats
Deirdre 4       26  0    14    9      12     6    3    17
Ethlin  10      32  7    9     14     14     11   4    7
Aira    10      36  13   0     21(+5) 19     4    9    1
Aideen  6       31  0    14    8      10     12   1    11

Any advice for getting the Knight Ring? And is Ch.2 the Chapter where Ardan gets some kind of special ring?

How are my levels?

[Tables]

Missing the Warp staff is kind of annoying, it's a seriously useful staff, but you should live without. If you still have a savestate at the end of chapter 1, I'd try and get that conversation for it, if not, don't worry, just ignore it.

Levels wise... did you use the arena? Remember, the arena is free EXP and money, and if you 'die' in it you're only reduced to 1 HP - which can be a good thing anyway since it gives healers something to do. Your levels look generally okay, you're basically similar to my run but a few levels behind on most characters (and considering this is something like my 4th playthrough of the game, that's not surprising).

Chapter 2 has a few things to watch out for:

As you mentioned, Knight Ring. It's not hard to get, except for Lachesis' Paladins love suiciding themselves. Keep them healed up, and don't let Lachesis get close enough to enemies that the Paladins run off completely (be slightly careful in the north west, and when you advance towards the east be very careful.

This is the chapter where Ardan gets the pursuit ring. It's on the end of the little sand bar in the west of the map, south of the first castle you have to seize.

If you can, try to capture the first castle by turn 12 (ideally by turn 11). If you do, you can save all of the villages (if you do it on turn 12, you need to get continue or critical, turn 11 is luck free). Notably the village that'd be destroyed gives you the bargain ring, which is great (gives the bargain skill - great on someone like, say, Levin, who gets a kickass holy weapon).

Finally make sure to have conversations on this map. Off the top of my head you get the Light Sword, Hero Lance and a juicy +str conversation, all of which are obviously useful.

Oh, and consider sending Midir onto the cliff. You'll know what I mean when you see it (probably).