So I'm getting this in a few days...

[Hippoman]

And it will be the last English FE I haven't played through.

I know it has sort of a...stigma about it for being easy and...uh...not FireEmblemy, but it's 10 dollars and well I'm interested. I've done some research, but there are a few things I'd like to ask Serenes members who have played the game.

1. Seth is my Jeigan, right? Except, he's the best unit in the game? How is he compared to Titania.

2. Father and Son and Ghost Ship. These names keep coming up when people are talking about difficulty in this game. Are these like the Cog of Destiny/Elincia's Gambit/Victory or Death of this game, those incredibly annoying chapters that come up and blindside you?

[Florete]

1. Seth is my Jeigan, right? Except, he's the best unit in the game? How is he compared to Titania.

He's pretty much just like Titania with Swords instead of Axes. Not much to say.

2. Father and Son and Ghost Ship. These names keep coming up when people are talking about difficulty in this game. Are these like the Cog of Destiny/Elincia's Gambit/Victory or Death of this game, those incredibly annoying chapters that come up and blindside you?

You won't even see them if you choose Eirika's route. I haven't played them in a while myself, though, so I couldn't tell you what to do if you end up on them.

[Lord Raven]

He's probably, relatively speaking, better than Titania but you can't really do cross-game judging. I solo'd hard mode with Seth (well i had difficulty with one of the chapters in the second half of the game, namely Fluourspar's Oath cause I was trying to keep Gerik and Tethys alive too).

I'm playing the Hard Mode patch now, and Phantom Ship was awful on that. It's not as hard as CoD, i forget what Victory or Death was, and I don't remember Elincia's Gambit being particularly hard either. Father and Son doesn't look too bad on my FE8 HM Patch run either, but it doesn't help that the chip damage managed to compound and allow me to gain a shitton of levels.

I liked FE8 though.

[ThatGuyDownTheStreet]

Seth is an Oifey, making him extremelly usuable within the game. Compared to Titania, he is much better especially consdering how different the difficulties between FE8 and FE9/FE10 are so different. You could say those two chapters need a lot of tactics, but they are only avaible on Ephraim's route.

[Joerachi]

Seth is an Oifey (Jeigan with good growths), he has god bases, and has averages comparable to Franz.

Father and Son is plagued with status staves. Duessel can pretty much solo Ghost Ship along with some other god units you may have been training.

[Raven]

Not FireEmblemy? It's pretty FireEmblemy to me.

And Seth is awesome in terms of bases and growths, and so remains a consistent unit throughout the game.

I can't remember Father and Son, but Ghost Shit is quite difficult because of the limited space of your units, the number of enemy units, the starting positions of NPCs L'Arachel and Dozla who need to be talked to by the Lord to recruit (or need to survive the chapter, I think), and later strong enemy unit reinforcements appear very close to the starting position of your units.

[Quintessence]

Seth is a very reliable unit, he is Eirika's loyal knight and has both good bases and good growths, what makes him an all-around character. He won't get trouble by early-mid game.

And about the chapters, they have their difficulty but once you clear enough playthroughs their difficulty will be seriously lessened.

[whase]

1. Seth is my Jeigan, right? Except, he's the best unit in the game? How is he compared to Titania.

I have only used him twice in my many PT's. I hear he's good, but both times I used him he turned out my worst unit.

2. Father and Son and Ghost Ship. These names keep coming up when people are talking about difficulty in this game. Are these like the Cog of Destiny/Elincia's Gambit/Victory or Death of this game, those incredibly annoying chapters that come up and blindside you?

the first 7 (or 8, dunno exactly) or of regular FE difficulty. after that the game is just as easy as you want it to be. The tower allows you to train all your units and float through the game without trouble. or you could restrict yourself to no using the tower or certain broken units.

either way, it's as good a fire emblem game as any other.

(and for that price, you can't go wrong)

[Thor Odinson]

Seth is god of FE8. I found that using him and just a lord to play the game is actually easier than using a full team. Though, I play Eir route far more than Eph route due to how much easier it is to get Seth and Eirika to support A, So I don't remember Eph route too well. Eir route was pretty cake, though. Just feed him all the bosskills. He actually has really nice growths. I did an Eir-route Sethsolo and well... the hardest part was actually just him running out of Javelins and Eirika's busy being base level on the back of his horse. And he can't get to them. And I didn't even have a stat-blessed Seth.

I found VoD to be pretty easy, honestly. Cog of Destiny's a bitch, however. Worst than Ghost Ship IMO. You have Seth. You have Duessel. Nothing much to worry about.

Father and Son is, well, like CoD, Statuses up the ass. The Druids aren't /as/ bad as CoD's but it's midgame as opposed to lategame and your units' res stats are utter crap. I don't remember if they sell restore in a previous chapter/map shop, though. If they do, you're good to go. If not, well...g'luck.

It's one of my favorite FE's. And not just because Seth is my favorite character//shot

Edited July 11, 2011 by Luminescent Kitty

[luigi bros]

Seth is just like Titania. Right from the start he's great and stays that way unlike a Jeigan. However, just like a Jeigan he steals EXP. Just don't use him too much at first and start using him once your characters promote.

As for those chapters, just be careful. I've only played Normal Mode so I don't know about Hard Mode. If you pick Eirika's route you skip those chapters completely. Ephraim's route in general is more difficult, but IMO more enjoyable. With ghost ship just watch out for back attacks by monsters. And in Father and Son, watch out for the Druids by the throne with Berserk Staffs.

Hope this helps.

[Hippoman]

Ohhhhh boy. Berserk Druids... I remember the days of rushing Priscilla halfway across the map just to realize I took the wrong stave, and Heath is about to fly around murdering everyone around him. Good times...

And by routes, do you mean there is a physical choice of which character to follow? I tried to read up without spoilering myself, all I know is not to use Orson spoiler wise.

But branching promotions sounds like fun, and I'm pretty pumped for this one now. Alright, thanks everyone! Any general tips I should know?

[Joerachi]

Yep. After chapter 8, you can choose to go with Eirika or Ephraim. Ephraim mode is easily harder, but if you're playing on anything but hard, it's not really that hard.

[General Banzai]

There are three trainee units who start really weak and unpromoted, named Ross, Amelia, and Ewan. You might think that using them would pay off in the end, but it actually doesn't as they're typically inferior to other people of the same class who join much higher leveled.

[Raven]

I must add that it is possible to raise Ross to a Lv10 journeyman the chapter after he joins, with all the walls and enemy units on the other side of them. He will promote before the start of the next chapter into a Pirate or Fighter. I choose Pirate so I can get Berserker Ross, who will tear everything a new one. Abuse his Hatchet.

[General Banzai]

I must add that it is possible to raise Ross to a Lv10 journeyman the chapter after he joins, with all the walls and enemy units on the other side of them. He will promote before the start of the next chapter into a Pirate or Fighter. I choose Pirate so I can get Berserker Ross, who will tear everything a new one. Abuse his Hatchet.

Ross isn't that difficult to train, but his stats just aren't very good.

[Raven]

Ross isn't that difficult to train, but his stats just aren't very good.

I won't argue against that. Just looked at his growths and surprised to see his Spd is only 30%. But in comparison to the enemy units, that should be good enough to compete (as in double) against most of the enemy units as he gets levels. The kid's always turned into a reliable Berserker for me.

[RNG Princess]

Sacred stones is a really fun game ^^' I hope you enjoy it also if you're not playing efficiently/rushthrough don't worry about who you use since any character can become pretty solid although like General Banzai said some characters are really hard to train. I recommend to have a summoner ^^' theyre fun to use. I love that in this game every flier is useful.

[Raven]

Sacred stones is a really fun game ^^' I hope you enjoy it also if you're not playing efficiently/rushthrough don't worry about who you use since any character can become pretty solid although like General Banzai said some characters are really hard to train. I recommend to have a summoner ^^' theyre fun to use. I love that in this game every flier is useful.

Syrene did one good thing in my FE8 draft tourney a while back, and got killed promptly after completing her task. May she R.I.P.

[Maou]

However, just like a Jeigan he steals EXP.

[Anti-Social Meta Knight]

Father and Son is a touch annoying. Not as bad as Phantom Ship, but still pretty bad for a few reasons.

1) Status staves by the fuckton. Expect to have Sleep or Berserk hit your front line, and pack Restore staves accordingly. If the RNG dislikes you, though, you'll find quite a few Silence staves quite eager to shit on your parade, so mind those.

2) Keep a close eye on your flyers. This map loves to throw axes at you, and there are a few archers packing longbows scattered around the middle of the map. Just be very careful about where you place flyers and you should do just fine.

3) Rennac shows up behind the staff wielders as an enemy. If you're looking to recruit him (I do - he's actually quite good, and he has some sexy Res), bring L'Arachel and send her to the left side. If you send her to the right, you'll end up having to blitz that side, leaving you wide open for staffwhoring. Of course, if you send her to the right and play it safe, Rennac might slip through your fingers.

Nyeh. Outside of that, FE8 isn't terribad, though. I've always preferred Ephraim's route because it gets you an early Duessel and Cormag, as opposed to Eirika's route which provides Gerik, Tethys and Innes first. It's your call, though. ^^

As far as Seth 'stealing' XP, so does everyone else. He's just worse at it because his payoffs are lower.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I like FE8. I think its fun. I dont play on hard modes though so i dont abuse Seth very much. He does, however, stay on my team for utility, back up, and support reasons. (Yeah Lumi, i love that pairing too!) Even if Seth isnt used a WHOLE hell of a lot, he still stays useful even when killing stuff. (plus if you choose to be cheap and arena abuse for cash, Seth rules in there.) FE8 gives you a lot of options. You can totally do the game in hard mode from the get-go and can completely ignore Tower/Ruins/skirmish abuse for extra challenge. Plus the two separate routes allow for more challenge. (Ephraim's route is a little harder.) Ghost Ship on a normal mode, isnt that bad. (dunno about hard mode. Id imagine it to be a bit...murderous there.) Even if you dont grind your guys, that level in normal mode isnt awful. Father And Son is a bitch due to the Berserk staves. (theres a few guys in the upper part of the map who have them. DAMN THOSE GUYS!) So if you have a Barrier/Restore staff and some Pure Waters on hand, its not that bad of a nightmare. (Again, i dunno about hard mode)

Banzai mentioned the trainees. These guys arent worth using when doing a run with no grinding. (Or just want to bumrush shit) They are kinda fun to use if you want to level them up and have them spam stuff. They arent THE GREATEST EVER! But they arent downright horrible when leveled either. I find Amelia makes a decent to good general. Shes an ok Paladin but not awesome.

You get choices when promoting units. I dont really recommend one promotion over the other aside from Swordmaster being better than Assassin. Its all up to you really. (I vastly prefer Falcon Knight over Wyvern Knight because of sword useage. Pierce is a decent skill for Vanessa and she isnt bad as a Wyvern Knight)

After you finish the game (on either route), you unlock Creature Campaign. This means you can go into the Tower of Valni or the Lagdou Ruins and fight monsters and unlock secret characters. (guys who were NPCs in the main game.) This, i find, to be fun and a good time killer. Lagdou Ruins is kinda hard but enjoyable.

Edited July 13, 2011 by Florina

[kel]

If you want a more challenging and authentic FE experience, start on hard mode and don't abuse the tower or map encounters. Eirika's route is a bit easier than the Ephraim's. But, Ephraim is a hell of a lot stronger. You really can't go wrong with either route.

Ghost ship is kind of a tricky level because there are a lot of flying magic users that swarm in at the end, and the enemy boss that spawns right behind the starting point. Father and Son I honestly don't remember being that hard...just bring a staff user for Restore.

Going into the game, all you need to know is that pretty much any unit that you want to use, you can. They're all decent enough to warrant taking into the final battle. The trainees are interesting but I find them to be pretty annoying, although Ross does make one mean zerker. The prepromotes are all pretty good too, except for Syrene. She's probably the worst unit in the game, honestly. Get a bishop in your party, you'll be glad you did in the end game.

[dondon151]

The prepromotes are all pretty good too, except for Syrene. She's probably the worst unit in the game, honestly.

Syrene's a tier higher than the worst units in the game.

[RNG Princess]

Syrene's decent for a prepromote ^^' not the best but Dozla is probably the worst, iirc she has good hit rates, deals good damage, has good weapon ranks, doubles and flies.

or Innes is the worst idk lol

Edited July 14, 2011 by Queen_Kittylincia

[Loki Laufeyson]

Dozla is probably the worst. Innes is bad only because of his class. Syrene isnt really that bad and is really handy in that one level.....umm the one with the gorgon eggs. Shes handy as a utility unit in the Rausten chapter too. In the Forest chapter, she does ok as back up.