How difficult is Awakening?

[Gold Vanguard]

Is it harder than Thracia 776 and Radiant Dawn's hard mode? Or is it easy?

[Westbrick]

Depends.

Normal Mode is about equivalent to FE8 Hard Mode.

Hard Mode is about equivalent to FE7 Eliwood Hard Mode.

Lunatic(+) w/ heavy Sorcerer use starts insanely tough, but ends no more difficult than Normal Mode; probably about HHM in difficulty overall.

Lunatic(+) w/o Sorcerers is without question the most difficult mode in the entire series.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Westbrick

[Andreyas]

I saw a playthrough that was Casual mode and the enemies got harder in the later chapters.

[Ema Skye]

What makes Sorcerors so overpowered? Its a 7 Mt tome with 65 Accuracy. Nosferatanking is awesome and all, but what makes it so much better in this game than all the other games?

idk, maybe I'm missing something but I fail to see how Sorcerors are any more awesome than Griffon Knights and Dark Pegasi.

[Agro]

I imagine that being able to take a hit and then regain whatever HP you lost is a very, very useful trait.

[Westbrick]

What makes Sorcerors so overpowered? Its a 7 Mt tome with 65 Accuracy. Nosferatanking is awesome and all, but what makes it so much better in this game than all the other games?

idk, maybe I'm missing something but I fail to see how Sorcerors are any more awesome than Griffon Knights and Dark Pegasi.

It's not even remotely close how much better Sorcerers are than other classes in FE13; in fact, they're far and away the best class in Fire Emblem history. The reason? They cannot die. They cannot die. Once you get a Sorcerer!MU, the only chapter that can't be essentially soloed- even on Lunatic- is Final.

[Lord Raven]

Looks like they also deal extra damage like 10-20% of the time, reduce enemy avoid, and then finally they have +50 hit/avoid against tomes...

[Ema Skye]

Nosferatu is only 65% accurate, which is hardly what I'd call reliable. One miss and your done. You didn't really answer my question Westbrick (though Lord Raven kinda did). Nosferatanking has always been viable in any game with the tome, so what's different this time around? Yeah, they can't die. Same goes with every GBA Druid that goes to town with Nosferatanking.

[Agro]

Nosferatu is only 65% accurate, which is hardly what I'd call reliable. One miss and your done. You didn't really answer my question Westbrick (though Lord Raven kinda did). Nosferatanking has always been viable in any game with the tome, so what's different this time around? Yeah, they can't die. Same goes with every GBA Druid that goes to town with Nosferatanking.

They don't lose 7-8 AS from Nosferatu? And Nosferatu is pretty much unlimited? Not to mention if you have Curse then Nosferatu pretty much has 80 hit. Also reduced Avoid formula means higher Hit for everyone. On top of that, you get hit, and Vengeance activates probably 30-40% of the time, meaning that you deal extra damage if you're hit and then you regain that HP. Then you get hit again, and you do more damage, and regain that HP.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Agro

[Thor Odinson]

And then all those cries and supports and etc

hitrates can get pretty high there

[Lord Raven]

Nosferatu is only 65% accurate, which is hardly what I'd call reliable. One miss and your done. You didn't really answer my question Westbrick (though Lord Raven kinda did). Nosferatanking has always been viable in any game with the tome, so what's different this time around? Yeah, they can't die. Same goes with every GBA Druid that goes to town with Nosferatanking.

They mentioned that they have a lot of survivability

45% HP growth with 10% Defense is nothing to scoff at, especially since Henry and Sariya already have good base defense growths. Dark Mages themselves have 50% HP/10% Defense. (For reference, 15% Defense is Generals/Great Knights, 10% is Dracoknights/Lord/Mercenary/Hero/etc, and 50% is the highest class HP growth for regular classes)

[Westbrick]

Nosferatu is only 65% accurate, which is hardly what I'd call reliable. One miss and your done. You didn't really answer my question Westbrick (though Lord Raven kinda did). Nosferatanking has always been viable in any game with the tome, so what's different this time around? Yeah, they can't die. Same goes with every GBA Druid that goes to town with Nosferatanking.

Weapon weight is gone. Sorcerers are incredibly solid defensively. Buyable Nosferatus are available early and cheaply. Shaman/Sorcerer skills are rather great.

Oh, and you won't really be missing with Nosferatu with proper use of supports/doubling.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Westbrick

[Ema Skye]

Alright, I get it now. Thanks.

[Karasz]

I would think that the ultimate Sorceror build in terms of skills is to have the following skills: Curse, Crimson Curse, Life Absorb, Vengeance, and Accuracy +20 (Sniper-only Skill). Makes Nosferatanking very viable, and will make sure that whichever unit has the spell and all these skills is unable to die. For now, though, I think only MU, Mark, Sariya, and Noire have the potential for all 5 skills from the get-go (though I believe whoever marries MU has access to every class, therefore their kids can also use this build). But yeah, one of them ought to solo any map...provided they have shit-tons of Nosferatu spells on hand.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Karaszure

[Agro]

(though I believe whoever marries MU has access to every class, therefore their kids can also use this build).

No, the children of whoever marries MU has access to every class.

[General Banzai]

Depends.

Normal Mode is about equivalent to FE8 Hard Mode.

Hard Mode is about equivalent to FE7 Eliwood Hard Mode.

Wait, so Hard Mode is actually easier than Normal Mode?

[Othin]

Reclassing is viable, but not worth it in this case. If you're not grinding, it's best to just go Dark Mage --> Sorcerer and stay that way, or Strategist --> Dark Mage --> Sorcerer for MU. Other classes are just not worth bothering with.

Although I'm not sure why one would actually do this in the first place.

Wait, so Hard Mode is actually easier than Normal Mode?

No, it isn't. Maybe Westbrick means HHM?

Also, from what I've found, the three difficulty levels never really get near-equal, not even with tacking a Sorcerer or two onto a team. I can believe that using just Krom and Sorcerer MU lets you trivialize everything, though.

Even more than in past games, it seems tiny teams are really overpowered in this game, especially because of the leveling allowed by Change Seals and the stat bonuses from Double. That's so boring, though. I've generally been attempting to use ~20 units per playthrough, which really isn't too useful when the total number available only ever goes up to 16, but the game is also much more interesting this way.

I should go into more detail about the difficulty levels. Enemies grow fast: from Ch17 on, the last third of the game, enemies all are promoted and using Silver weapons or better, even on Normal: the raw enemy strength, even relative to the increased raw player strength, is the highest it's ever been in the series. Of course, you also have more ways to address that, and that's fine. Enemies also charge on their own or in groups rather than ever waiting for you to lure out and pick off one or two: on any given map, about half the enemies will charge you from the start, and others are in groups that will start moving if you enter the range of any of them.

I haven't played far in Lunatic yet, but it gets really interesting. From the start, enemies are far stronger than your characters: in Ch2 in particular, enemies can often one-round your characters, at least if they're not in Double. Double gives small, useful stat bonuses at this point, but you also have to carefully get in and out of it to make sure you have the attackers available when you need them. Frederick winds up at the only character capable of taking on multiple enemies at once and surviving, but even he doesn't last too long, and he's vulnerable to occasional enemies with Hammers. You can catch up over time, but on anything I'd call a "normal" playthrough, it seems the enemies keep having tricks that force you to think like never before in the series.

[1st Mate Bob]

Wait, so Hard Mode is actually easier than Normal Mode?

I thought the same thing when I read that, but didn't want to say anything.

[LegendaryHero0]

I should go into more detail about the difficulty levels. Enemies grow fast: from Ch17 on, the last third of the game, enemies all are promoted and using Silver weapons or better, even on Normal: the raw enemy strength, even relative to the increased raw player strength, is the highest it's ever been in the series. Of course, you also have more ways to address that, and that's fine. Enemies also charge on their own or in groups rather than ever waiting for you to lure out and pick off one or two: on any given map, about half the enemies will charge you from the start, and others are in groups that will start moving if you enter the range of any of them.

This. I like this. I haven't seen this in a Fire Emblem game yet, but is something that i've WANTED to happen. I imagine it adds a whole different way of strategically dealing with the enemy force itself. It felt like before, the terrain was the biggest determining factor, and the enemies were simply obstacles.. this seems great~

Do you feel like it's changed it significantly/added new spice to the strategy, Othin?

[Othin]

Do you feel like it's changed it significantly/added new spice to the strategy, Othin?

Yeah, it does. From what I understand, it's shared with FE12 Lunatic, but applied to all difficulties here - the higher ones more so, of course. I haven't played much FE12, though.

[Airship Canon]

5 Slayers + Nosfertank = Unkillable (+50 Hit/Avoid vs everything except Bunnies and Dragons... how common are bunnies and dragons as enemies?) + Nosfertank.... that's a tad OP. Of course, Nosfertanks are always OP.

[Anouleth]

It's not even remotely close how much better Sorcerers are than other classes in FE13; in fact, they're far and away the best class in Fire Emblem history. The reason? They cannot die. They cannot die.

I could say the same for Paladins in FE9...

They don't lose 7-8 AS from Nosferatu? And Nosferatu is pretty much unlimited?

Nosferatu was pretty much unlimited in FE6, and it was relatively light (6wt when most druids had ~5 CON).

Edited June 6, 2012 by Anouleth

[Westbrick]

Wait, so Hard Mode is actually easier than Normal Mode?

Yes, assuming we're in a bizarro world where FE8 isn't the easiest game in the series by leaps and bounds.

To avoid derailing the discussion into an FE7HHM vs. FE8HM thread, let me just clarify what I meant: the jump from NM to HM is only a modest increase in difficulty.

Even more than in past games, it seems tiny teams are really overpowered in this game, especially because of the leveling allowed by Change Seals and the stat bonuses from Double. That's so boring, though. I've generally been attempting to use ~20 units per playthrough, which really isn't too useful when the total number available only ever goes up to 16, but the game is also much more interesting this way.

This is very true. I've compared FE13 to Pokemon before in that using a "balanced" team is actually more difficult than powerleveling one or two units.

You can catch up over time, but on anything I'd call a "normal" playthrough, it seems the enemies keep having tricks that force you to think like never before in the series.

Unfortunately, this doesn't hold true with heavy Sorcerer use. In fact, every mode (except for perhaps Lunatic+; I'll let you all know how that goes when I start the mode) can, if the player wishes, be trivialized through the same formula: heavy Sorcerer/Manakete use in Normal/Hard, heavy Sorcerer use in Lunatic. By about midway through the game, there is no strategy beyond "deploy Sorcerer w/double partner (presumably Krom) into field of fire."

I will say that Final on Lunatic requires a little bit more strategy, but even there you can complete the chapter in two turns, no sweat, with the right forging and setup.

Nosferatu was pretty much unlimited in FE6, and it was relatively light (6wt when most druids had ~5 CON).

I don't know much about FE6, but my Lunatic run required I use about 50-60 Nosferatu tomes. That's an amount that demands they can be bought often and for very cheap.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Westbrick

[Anouleth]

Yes, assuming we're in a bizarro world where FE8 isn't the easiest game in the series by leaps and bounds.

To avoid derailing the discussion into an FE7HHM vs. FE8HM thread, let me just clarify what I meant: the jump from NM to HM is only a modest increase in difficulty.

This is very true. I've compared FE13 to Pokemon before in that using a "balanced" team is actually more difficult than powerleveling one or two units.

It's true to an extent in most FEs, actually. Smaller teams usually have an easier time than large teams.

[Westbrick]

^True, but not nearly to the extent of FE13: in lategame Lunatic, bringing anyone other than Sorcerer-of-choice / double partner constitutes a serious liability, not just an inconvenience or sub-optimal way to play.