How to Be Better in Fire Emblem 7

[Espinosa]

Did a quick search to see if this has been discussed before but it didn't generate anything.

Found this while googling for something else (not really tips on how to get better at FE7, though I guess I could use some):

http://www.wikihow.c...n-Fire-Emblem-7

Some very dubious pieces of advice here, unintentionally making the game harder for the player if one were to follow them, including:

4 Use your low level units; using characters like Marcus seems very easy at first, but you will soon realize all the experience points will be wasted.

5 Don't use Marcus.

11 Low level units that come late are usually some of the best units in the game.

15 Raise all of your units equally. (I.E, don't have a Warrior Lv. 1, and have another Warrior lv. 12) Balance it out and have both Warriors lv. 6. Two strong units is better than one!

19 Use the Arena to level up. Your butt can get saved so many times when you have level 20's and they are level 15.

There's apparently a discussion tab and one person there did humbly suggest that using Marcus is a must for ranked runs, and the site does give you a chance to approve or disapprove of the articles. Maybe somebody could give it a better try?

What mystifies me is that Sacred Stones camera screenshot at the top of the page, though.

[Ϲharlie]

I wouldn't even bother with something like that. The Sacred Stones screenshot and things like "SCARCLY use steel weapons. They are a death waiting to happen." show the level of quality we're working with here.

[dondon151]

It doesn't teach you how to be good at playing Fire Emblem.

2 pieces of advice from the pope:

1. Know exactly what all of your units are capable of doing. Sometimes you might discover a facet of utility that you hadn't considered before.

2. Plan a lot. Count squares, subtract your AS from enemy AS, subtract enemy def from your atk (and multiply by 2 usually), etc. Figure out what weapons you need to bring, and what objectives you need to achieve. You can usually get away with less than you think.

[Jack of the Dead]

ok, the guy tells you to level up characters... and says don't use florina... because she is weak early on... Do you like contradicting yourself or what?

Use whoever you want! (except 2 of the best characters in the game)

[Geriba]

Fantastic link. /hipster glasses

To be fair, it's easy to overlook the "optimal" way to play Fire Emblem, and I'm sure each of us has felt the don't-use-Marcus sentiment at one point or another. But still, this article is pretty embarrassing (and hilarious). Yet I still can't bring myself to call this the worst "guide" out there, because that one by IGN still exists. I'll see if I can find it. It's an unholy abomination of terrible advice and Nino dry-humping.

EDIT: http://boards.ign.com/fire_emblem/b5750/56493522/p1/?68

Also, who the hell likes Mystery of the Emblem the best? First time for everything I guess.

[Anouleth]

Fantastic link. /hipster glasses

To be fair, it's easy to overlook the "optimal" way to play Fire Emblem, and I'm sure each of us has felt the don't-use-Marcus sentiment at one point or another. But still, this article is pretty embarrassing (and hilarious). Yet I still can't bring myself to call this the worst "guide" out there, because that one by IGN still exists. I'll see if I can find it. It's an unholy abomination of terrible advice and Nino dry-humping.

EDIT: http://boards.ign.com/fire_emblem/b5750/56493522/p1/?68

Also, who the hell likes Mystery of the Emblem the best? First time for everything I guess.

I think that FE3 is considered to be an amazing classic in Japan. Think Link to the Past, but with FE.

[Silvercrow]

I was going to say it looks like it was just outdated--I think we all went through the "omg train my units screw marcus!!!" phase at some point. But it was last edited in November 2011....

But yea, I would say don't bother as well. Aside from the fact that not a whole lot of people are going to be playing FE7 for the first time nowadays, I would say it's probably not worth the effort to fix up a site of questionable reputation.

[Caliban of Sycorax]

Lords are naturally better than most units, apparently.

*Looks to Lyn and Eliwood, then looks to Marcus, Florina, Sain, Pent, and a majority of other units*

Hector, yes. Lyn and Eliwuss, no.

Also, lolmineglitch.

[Raven]

I remember the days when I would avoid using Marcus, regardless of the costs. In Talons Alight, it's so easy to kill the boss with Marcus and stop any reinforcements from appearing before turn 2 is over it's not even funny. But I would not use this method, instead facing the hordes of reinforcements that came.

[Geriba]

I think that FE3 is considered to be an amazing classic in Japan. Think Link to the Past, but with FE.

Well yeah, but Japan's preferences aren't exactly... normal.

EDIT: Apparently Japan's moved on to bigger and brighter things.

http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29886

[Ϲharlie]

Also, who the hell likes Mystery of the Emblem the best? First time for everything I guess.

People with refined and distinguished tastes, that's who.

[Rapier]

Marcus is a trap to newcomers on Fire Emblem because they mis-use him, but he's a fine addition to the team. Not using him is a mistake that newbies oftenly make.

It doesn't teach you how to be good at playing Fire Emblem.

2 pieces of advice from the pope:

1. Know exactly what all of your units are capable of doing. Sometimes you might discover a facet of utility that you hadn't considered before.

2. Plan a lot. Count squares, subtract your AS from enemy AS, subtract enemy def from your atk (and multiply by 2 usually), etc. Figure out what weapons you need to bring, and what objectives you need to achieve. You can usually get away with less than you think.

Telling that to a newbie who's only played FEs two or three times won't work, unless they're perfectionists and elitists.

[Anouleth]

Well yeah, but Japan's preferences aren't exactly... normal.

EDIT: Apparently Japan's moved on to bigger and brighter things.

http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29886

Sure, but the point was that it does have a signficant fanbase.

[Caliban of Sycorax]

In all honesty, though, unless you're drafting/doing ranked, you don't really want to overuse Marcus if you plan on having other units. In casual play Marcus falls short because a trained Sain is much better, as is a trained Florina, both of whom have the same movement, with better stats. The strategy they outline is for casual players, really. Because in casual runs you can afford the arena, you can afford to use Nino, and you can afford to raise your units. Of course, doesn't mean that they're still right, because even in casual runs Marcus is still useful, because he can run around and rescue villages, or rescue Merlinus in 13x.

[Espinosa]

What I notice from watching different let's players on YouTube is that they all seem to compensate for Marcus's absence by fielding frail units with high speed, like Erk and Guy, and putting them into the range of several enemies at once, and then scream in horror when 40% accurate attacks miss 10 ten times in a row during enemy phase.

And really, if you arena abuse, you have more of a reason to use the ol' Marcus - Marcus conveniently solos the maps, then his mates train in the arena. I don't understand though, if Marcus is to blame for "hogging exp", why is it okay to level Raven to 20/0, promote him and then have HIM hog that exp. Sure, Raven ends up with stats enabling him to be competent in Endgame thanks to his growths when trained fully, but where did all the paranoia of levelling lower-levelled units go?

Just doesn't seem consistent, that's all.

[Geriba]

All true, but I feel the inclination to mistrust Marcus is a natural one. There's a cardinal rule in gaming that applies especially to RPGs: if something is too good to be true, then it probably is. From personal experience, the first time I played FE7 (which was incidentally my first SRPG) and observed Marcus rolling over the early chapters, I simply assumed that his performance wouldn't last. Still didn't keep me from using him throughout the game, but I made sure to train a handful of other units.

[Kngt_Of_Titania]

People with refined and distinguished tastes, that's who.

This man speaks the truth.

[Elieson]

Orson reconfirmed my original skepticism of Jeigan units (that was before I was aware though)

[Thor Odinson]

I started on 8, and Seth was basically my saving grace. Then I heard those silly people say "don't use Seth because he sucks" and was like wtf are you smoking.

Although I did have a period where I doubted other Jeigans besides Seth, I learned.

[Parrhesia]

I discovered GameFAQs did FE shortly into my FE8 file.

I continued to USE Seth, Innes, Duessel and Dozla, I just was under the belief I was a terrible player for using them over guys like Ewan and Tana.

[The_Purple_Knight]

Nah I refuse to ever use Marcus EVER . I don't think in all the 4 times I've played fe7 I've let him get a single kill . The only jeigan character I use is Seth because his not really a jeigan. I just can't stand units with bad growths I will never use any of them for anything. I'm not as bad as some people though if youve ever watched nickriddle let's play fire emblem games he will literally restart the chapter if it comes to ether restarting or using a jeigan his suprsingly good at most fire emblem games his slow early game but usually speeds through mid to late game chapters much faster then players who go for an "efficient" play style . By not using jeigans an approaching early chapters at an extremely slow pace his units usually end up higher level the most people think is possible in early game and then breezes through the entire game . What I'm basically saying is that why using jeigans sparingly and have units pick off there leftovers is a great strategy , Babying weak units with good growths actually pays off well and the Midgame and lategame ends up considerable easier which I've noticed me and other casually players care about more .

[Renall]

Nah I refuse to ever use Marcus EVER . I don't think in all the 4 times I've played fe7 I've let him get a single kill . The only jeigan character I use is Seth because his not really a jeigan. I just can't stand units with bad growths I will never use any of them for anything. I'm not as bad as some people though if youve ever watched nickriddle let's play fire emblem games he will literally restart the chapter if it comes to ether restarting or using a jeigan his suprsingly good at most fire emblem games his slow early game but usually speeds through mid to late game chapters much faster then players who go for an "efficient" play style . By not using jeigans an approaching early chapters at an extremely slow pace his units usually end up higher level the most people think is possible in early game and then breezes through the entire game . What I'm basically saying is that why using jeigans sparingly and have units pick off there leftovers is a great strategy , Babying weak units with good growths actually pays off well and the Midgame and lategame ends up considerable easier which I've noticed me and other casually players care about more .

But what are his total turncounts? Saving a bunch of turns in later chapters doesn't make much difference if the balance is weighted out by going too slowly in earlier ones. For LTC/Efficiency people, that matters. It's slightly different with Ranked.

[Paper Jam]

I don't understand though, if Marcus is to blame for "hogging exp", why is it okay to level Raven to 20/0, promote him and then have HIM hog that exp. Sure, Raven ends up with stats enabling him to be competent in Endgame thanks to his growths when trained fully, but where did all the paranoia of levelling lower-levelled units go?

Unless you're partial to arena abuse (which, to be fair, Raven and other sword users are pretty good at), Raven won't reach 20/0 until pretty late in the game, when the enemies are of higher level and "hogging exp" isn't as much of an issue.

The problem with Marcus in the early game is that when he kills an enemy, he gets about 4 experience points, whereas Eliwood or Lowen or Rebecca would have gotten about 30 experience points. As the rest of your team catches up to Marcus' level and the enemies become stronger and give you more experience, this becomes less and less of an issue.

[arvilino]

Marcus does get quite alot of EXP from bosses(due to the base amount all bosses give), so if you use him intelligently he doesn't have to hog EXP but he can still contribute quite well and still get levels and though other units do catch up to him and even get better. It's far enough through the game that you can't really say he wasn't worth using.

Though I think alot of early game EXP(outside Ranked runs) goes to waste even if you don't use Marcus. I mean Dorcas,Bartre and Rebbeca all getting more kills at 30 EXP can be more wasteful than Marcus getting 3 EXP per kill if you never plan on fielding them regularly. You can atleast send Marcus out much later and still have him do useful stuff even if he's not fielded in many chapters.

[The_Purple_Knight]

But what are his total turncounts? Saving a bunch of turns in later chapters doesn't make much difference if the balance is weighted out by going too slowly in earlier ones. For LTC/Efficiency people, that matters. It's slightly different with Ranked.

I'm not sure however I was able to utilize his strategies and get pretty high ranks even an SSS in fire emblem 5