Starting tips

[GawainBS]

But we has established that Skill was a good bonus. :p

[Talvisota]

But we has established that Skill was a good bonus. :p

I've always gone for Speed bonus and Luck flaw.

Luck doesn't seem to have a gigantic impact and my character got pretty standard growths in it over the course of the game.

Speed helps you get those 2x hits early on and obviously prevents you getting 2x hit yourself.

[Klokinator]

What are the Tier Lists?

Pointless bullcrap that should be ignored unless you want to play the game at hyperspeed with the "best" units (statistically speaking) in a carefully RNG manipulated environment.

[Randa]

Resistance isn't a bad flaw. It hurts near the end of the game but their are ways to fix it.

[Talvisota]

Resistance isn't a bad flaw. It hurts near the end of the game but their are ways to fix it.

The thing that's good about resistance is you know where you stand with it. Your character just has to make sure to avoid magic using units.

Picking something like Speed or Skill as a flaw has a much more neuanced effect on the game. It's harder to stratergise with such a huge flaw.

I prefer to have very specific jobs that each of my characters do so having a magic-avoding tactician isn't a huge problem.

[Interceptor]

I only like -SKL or -LCK as flaws, personally; particularly LCK, since it leaves your defenses alone, and the lack of crit avoid is not a BFD. The "hidden" penalty to your SPD (growth and cap) is kind of annoying with a -RES flaw.

[Florete]

What are the Tier Lists?

Not what Klok's petty whining said but something you shouldn't bother with at this point regardless.

Galeforce is cool, but not nearly worth bothering with on a Casual run.

Going with Skl or Lck as flaw isn't going to make much of a difference. Go Lck if you really want higher skill activations, but I tend to prefer -Skl myself because I like the wide range of bonuses Lck gives, Armsthrift included.

[GawainBS]

Gods, Armsthrift. Right, weapons degrade. I HATE weapon durability in games. Nevertheless, I think I'll stick with LK as a flaw.

[Naglfar]

Pointless bullcrap that should be ignored unless you want to play the game at hyperspeed with the "best" units (statistically speaking) in a carefully RNG manipulated environment.

can we not fill the newbie's head with (inaccurate) shit like this please

skills really don't matter at all unless you care about turns or postgame, which shouldn't be on your mind at all right now. if you're playing on normal casual of all things, you can put together no team too awful to get away with. there'll be plenty to do once you're done with your first or second playthrough and you have some idea of how the game works.

[Donnel]

Galeforce and Lethality are good for faster killing to level up your characters, especially children.

Strongly suggest to play casual Normal/Hard first, and get a general feel.

You will definitely want to re-run this game allot of time, its just too much fun.

From Lunatic onwards, galeforce/lifetaker won't be that strong due to the on kill requirement and lethality is no good if you can't tank.

You'll understand the usefulness of Sol over Astra when you play lunatic.

You'll also be aware that there are more kills on enemy turns than on yours, even if you get x2 move from galeforce.

Hence its good to play both difficulty to get the feel of the importance of different skills.

[GawainBS]

How do you earn XP? By taking actions? Or by making kills? Is XP divided over the party?

[Vashiane]

How do you earn XP? By taking actions? Or by making kills? Is XP divided over the party?

Damaging enemies, killing enemies, and using a stave grants you XP>

[Talvisota]

You earn EXP everytime your unit kills an enemy character. If both of your units are paired up and they kill a character together then the EXP will be split between them.

In order to divide EXP across your party you need to make sure you keep using all your character evenly- so no one get's left behind.

[Naglfar]

uh

combat experience: you get a small amount for damaging an enemy and a chunk for killing one. in the case of pairing up, the rear unit can get the former kind of experience if they do damage, but if the enemy dies the leading unit will get the kill experience regardless of circumstances. experience gain is calculated separately, it's not split between the units.

staves give experience per use too, generally more valuable staves yield more experience.

also you get some for dancing.

[Shadow Mir]

uh

combat experience: you get a small amount for damaging an enemy and a chunk for killing one. in the case of pairing up, the rear unit can get the former kind of experience if they do damage, but if the enemy dies the leading unit will get the kill experience regardless of circumstances. experience gain is calculated separately, it's not split between the units.

staves give experience per use too, generally more valuable staves yield more experience.

also you get some for dancing.

In addition, there's a chance you may get experience when you step on an event tile (sparkling tile).

[Karasz]

So, Luck or Resistance as flaw? Resistance seems important, since I like to be in the thick of things.

Neither. Take Speed as a flaw. If you pair up your Avatar with almost any other unit, they'll usually gain a good boost to Speed, which is enough to double just about anything.

[GawainBS]

Neither. Take Speed as a flaw. If you pair up your Avatar with almost any other unit, they'll usually gain a good boost to Speed, which is enough to double just about anything.

Wow, Speed? Other people were raving how SPD is so important.

[Shadow Mir]

Neither. Take Speed as a flaw. If you pair up your Avatar with almost any other unit, they'll usually gain a good boost to Speed, which is enough to double just about anything.

I'm honestly surprised you'd recommend a speed flaw over a skill flaw.

[Vashiane]

Speed's a risky flaw to have, especially towards the endgame, and IF you do a speed flaw you'd have to stay paired with a speedy character, such as one of the pegasus knights or Lon'qu.

Now, in Normal mode you can get away with practically anything so long as you don't foul up completely. I would NOT recommend a speed flaw for harder difficulties.

[Interceptor]

SPD flaw is totally insane if you're in a situation where caps are important. You lose -3 off the top, which can really hurt.

Caps aren't important if it's Normal mode.

[Talvisota]

Yeah for the way I play Speed is arguably the most important stat in the game.

The difference between you getting a 2x hit on the enemy and them getting a 2x hit on you is major.

Being able to hit the enemy twice can negate a low attack, taking out enemies quickly can negate a bad defence etc.

Besides if you're planning on pairing up to negate a weakned speed stat then you may as well do that for any other flaw.

It's much less risky to choose a bad RES or LUCK and then pair your MU up with someone who can compensate that.

But yeah that's just my take, don't overthink it in Normal mode!

[Shadow Mir]

Yeah for the way I play Speed is arguably the most important stat in the game.

The difference between you getting a 2x hit on the enemy and them getting a 2x hit on you is major.

Being able to hit the enemy twice can negate a low attack, taking out enemies quickly can negate a bad defence etc.

Besides if you're planning on pairing up to negate a weakned speed stat then you may as well do that for any other flaw.

It's much less risky to choose a bad RES or LUCK and then pair your MU up with someone who can compensate that.

But yeah that's just my take, don't overthink it in Normal mode!

My two cents on the whole thing is that the adverse effects of a skill flaw aren't that bad relative to having speed, luck or even resistance as your flaw.

[Talvisota]

Yeah I must say I don't have any experience of choosing a skill flaw.
The only reason I didn't pick it it was that surely it would lower Ignis activation?

[Shadow Mir]

Yeah I must say I don't have any experience of choosing a skill flaw.

The only reason I didn't pick it it was that surely it would lower Ignis activation?

Hmm. For me, that wouldn't be that much of an issue since it's not like it's a sure thing.

[Raine]

I agree with Levant on this one. Lethality's really only good in streetpass and only really good against characters who'd otherwise be a pain to take out any other way. The computer more often than not is easily taken out by other means and I would honestly pick Sol over Lethality on a character any day. I did manage to get Inigo and Lucy's lethality up to around a 25%-- but Rightful King is just an awesome skill like that. The only other person I kept Lethality on was Stahl!Kjelle. Though she does have a pretty beast (79) attack with a forged brave spear, I couldn't find anything that sully or stahl gave her that was more useful... ended up building her: Aegis, Lethality, Luna, Pavise, [LB/Dual Guard +]