A Berwick Saga question.

[The Void]

How is the game's difficulty compared to the DS FEs?

[Icon of Sin]

I'm guessing if you go blind it would be comparable, if not harder than a blind FE5 run due to its unique mechanics.

I've had this game for quite some time but the sheer amount of new elements have been daunting me a bit, plus Steam games and some others.

[BBM]

Well, I've only played through maybe a quarter of the game (really should get back to it), but it's not all that difficult (unfortunately, never played the DS FEs either, so can't really compare to those). I would maybe rate it somewhere between HNM and EHM? Don't be alarmed at one and two stat levels- the growths in the game are VERY low. I think I got like one 3-stat level in all the maps I played? To give you an idea, the lord has the highest DEF growth in the game- at a measly 18%.

I can also forward some mechanics info that Othin sent me when I first started playing (or just look at my BS playthrough thread). I was doing it semi-blind to keep it interesting, but if you want to make sure you don't miss anything, I'd recommend looking at YayMarsha's youtube videos. I found them helpful whenever I got stuck.

Note: if you're going to be emulating, for me, the FoW didn't show up. The first FoW map was highly confusing because of this, because it looked to me like enemies were appearing literally out of nowhere. Keep that in mind.

[Othin]

It can really depend on how much of a feel you get for the mechanics. What's more concrete is that the game offers permanent saves every five turns. The maps tend to be quite long, lasting a number of turns and with those turns themselves potentially taking a while to play, but you're not overly punished in having to go back to the start.

Overall, what I'd say about the difficulty is that it puts up a satisfying resistance, but is fair enough not to be offputting at any skill level. You do have to know how to actually work with the unique playstyle, but the early chapters give you a good chance to get a feel for it without having too much pressure until you can be ready for it.

[The Void]

How strong are the enemies in relation to the playable characters?

[Othin]

Varies dramatically. Basic enemies are weaker, but often a few are stronger, and not just bosses, either.

But even for the weaker ones, you really can't just sweep them aside with one or two powerful allies like you can in FE. They tend to put up a fight, whether through basic abilities or through special weapons and skills.

[Espinosa]

TRS enemies tend to be way better equipped compared to what we expect from FE games; right from the start too.

[Icon of Sin]

TRS enemy stats are just awful though. Luck never goes past 9 for generics and they get 1 or 2 stats per level.

[Espinosa]

I guess those stats were appropriate enough for a game using the 1 RN system. Doubling is still a problem for some units (like Raffin) requiring specific weapons, and ORKOing a problem for just about anyone when attacking a shielded enemies. It was done pretty well I say.

[BBM]

The enemies aren't difficult exactly, but ORKOing in BS, at least early on, really isn't a thing for anybody except Ward, the Jeigan, mostly due to how the doubling mechanics work. And he's only available for mandatory maps.

[Othin]

Yeah, it's limited in that doubling requires having a special weapon or skill, but it's not like FE4's "must have Pursuit or Adept or a Brave weapon or you're fucked". There are a bunch of methods, but they all have limits, whether they're rare, high-level weapons or unique personal weapons or skills that require special conditions or trade-offs to trigger or are just plain hard to get. So unless you have a character powerful enough to OHKO weak enemies, you have to use teamwork or get creative or use limited resources to quickly eliminate foes.

And of course they have their own ways to fight back. You can't really make enemy attacks "tink" unless you've got a good shield, and those are rare and expensive and get used up if you try to use them too much, and even that's only when you successfully block with them. And you can only reliably dodge when you're fighting really weak enemies and even then when they've got a really shitty weapon (typically axes), unless you've got a special skill to trump a certain weapon type and those are really rare.

So what it boils down to is, victory will NEVER be simple.