Doing a Hard Mode, classic style run

[cloudropis]

No random fights, no DLC maps, I'll still use second seals but just to reclass to the same class or a very similar class (like PK to Dark Flier, Fighter to Barbarian). I won't do Paralogues as soon as they're available but no later than 1-2 chaps after their unlocking.

The things I'm concerned the most are money, and the later chaps where enemies wield forged weapons that made my time tough even on my first run (Hard mode with DLC and random battles to keep everyone's level at average). I know I can just do a MU x Chrom solo, but I don't want to. Also, what pairings are recommended? General suggestions?

Also, is training Donnel recommended? He's a pain to train but when he promotes to Mercenary he automatically becomes the team's strongest member.

Edited November 21, 2013 by cloudropis

[Interceptor]

Don't train too many people, is my suggestion. You don't need to AvatarxChrom solo, but maxing out your deployment slots with combatants is bound to leave people behind eventually.

Donnel is fine in Hard Mode if you can put up with babying him. It'll even help your money situation a bit, with Armsthrift and such.

[LordFrigid]

Agreed with the above...I recently finished up a Hard/Classic run (granted, I'm not at the point where I'm bored enough to try doing restrictions...unless not having access to DLC maps counts as a no-DLC restriction) and trying to train too many units definitely started hurting at around Ch. 12-ish. Not to the point where it was unplayable, but it was a little rough for a few chapters while I worked on over-leveling some of my units (relative to the rest of the army).

I didn't find gold to be too much of an issue, but then again I pretty much equipped all my tome-users (which happened to be the majority of my fighters) with basic stuff like Thunder and Wind . And physical characters never really got anything above Steel. Exceptions, of course, were if I happened to pick up something from fights, etc.

When are you defining as "later chaps"? I think the last map I really "struggled" with was Demon's Ingle (Yen'fay). After that point I had enough Galeforce users to brute-force my way to victory...which was a mixed blessing...I had it relatively easy for the last maps, but training up a !@#$load of Dark Fliers on the way there really hurts because of the Archers and Wind Mages scattered...well...everywhere. Not my smartest decision lol.

Donnel, from my experience, had pretty sweet defense after some kill feeding. His res. still sucked though.

[Shadow Mir]

Can't really say on most other subjects, but Donnel, IMO, is not worth the hassle.

[cloudropis]

I'll try training Donnel anyway. BTW yes, Yen'fay chap is more or less the point where enemies just love unleashing forged weapons.

What are some good pairings? Chrom x FeMU, that's a given, but what about the other ladies?

[LordFrigid]

I actually reset to do a Lunatic run...but you can always check out The Pairing Thread. I don't really feel qualified to speak on the effectiveness of pairings, since my first & second runs I just threw random people together...and my third run (the hard/classic I was talking about) I made a big ol' game plan for pairings, skills, etc, but got bored after finishing the last chapter and reset to try Lunatic.