Difficulty Level

[Alertcircuit]

As someone who's beaten FE6,7,9, and 11 on Normal difficulties, Radiant Dawn is really difficult on Normal for me, to the point where I've considered quitting and starting on Easy. What have you guys thought about the skill level it takes for this game?

[Galestorm1233]

Personally I felt that Radiant Dawn is one of the best (if not the best) balanced FE games, it wasn't impossible but it made you have to be concious of every action you make and need to plan for several moves in advance, but then again I tend to like headbashing difficulty, so I may be a bit biased.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Galestorm1233

[Nobody]

I just started it on HM last weak. It was surprisingly much easier than I was expecting. Maybe it's because I didn't bother trying to train bad units, but what I played of it (part 1, which people say is the hardest), was actually quite easy. Yeah, easier than HHM, for me.

But I'm literally the only person I've ever seen saying that, so...

Just don't bother with crappy units, use Sothe, Jill, Volug, Nolan, and the other stronger units.

And yeah, if the game is too hard for you on NM, there's nothing wrong on starting it on EM. It's NM is actually harder than PoR's HM, for example. The EM would be more similar to PoR's NM.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Nobody

[Samias]

When I dove immediately into NM, it felt hard. I wasn't really even in a dire situation, but 1-4 kind of shook me up at the time. I didn't know who was good or bad (well, aside from Meg and Fiona, because their bases are terrible even to the untrained eye) and overall I didn't know what to expect. I was near the end of part 1 but I decided I guess I'd restart. I played through on Easy and it was easy, and then I revisited Normal and found it really wasn't that bad. There really isn't any shame on taking on Easy as your dry run and coming back with a lot more knowledge under your belt, even if the early part 1 objectives are not the same in easy as they are in normal. At least you get to see what the availability is like.

The biggest thing of all is that you get handed a lot of OP units. Use them when you have them. The game is designed with such limited availability in mind, so just focus on getting a few other units up to speed and don't worry about the rest.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

It's absolute no shame to play on easy. FE10 is probably the hardest FE game for the west on the lowest difficulty.

FE10 has much more differences between easy and normal mode than FE9 had. On normal there are in average 30% more enemies. They are 2 levels higher and have stronger weapons (especially more range weapons).

Like in FE9 you get double experience on easy mode.

FE10 has a weird difficulty curve. It depends on the three different groups.

The chapters with the Dawn Brigade are the hardest, because some of your units like Micaiah and Laura are very fragile. Micaiah and Laura can be killed by just one shot even on easy mode.

But thanks to the much experience you get on easy mode, your team will be fine after a few levels. So it would be theoretical possible to change your team from chapter to chapter. But for your first run I recommend to focus on a few characters, you really want to train.

Part 2 and in part 3 the chapters with Ike and Greil's Mercenaries are easier, because you get a very balanced and powerful group, who fight lower tier units.

Another thing I have to mention is that the availibilty of the characters is totally unbalanced!

Characters like Tormod, Muarim and Vika, who join in part 1, will come back for just one chapter before the endgame. So don't waste experience on them. Ilyana (a sidecharacter!) has the best availibility.

[Samias]

Another thing I have to mention is that the availibilty of the characters is totally unbalanced!

Characters like Tormod, Muarim and Vika, who join in part 1, will come back for just one chapter before the endgame. So don't waste experience on them. Ilyana (a sidecharacter!) has the best availibility.

I personally think it's bad advice to not use Tormod, Muarim, and Vika in part 1. I wouldn't spend any exceptional resources on them (for instance, they have no need for bexp or stat boosters to do well), but they're extremely strong in part 1 and great to fill out the team while you focus on training a few exceptional permanent units. Even if Ilyana exists in the most chapters per game, her best contribution after the first couple chapters of part 1 is to bring the money items over to the Greil Mercs because thunder magic is weak and inaccurate, her bases are only so-so and her growths are not terrific either. Compared to the GMs in part 3 she is a joke, whereas if she'd stayed with the DB, she still would have had some use as chip.

If a unit seems too good to be true, just bear in mind that this game is generous about handing you OP units all the time and expects you to be using them. Sothe, Tauroneo, Tormod, Muarim, Vika, Volug, and Nailah are amazing in part 1, with Nolan and Jill being easy choices for training due to Nolan having solid bases and Jill being a flier in chapters that could really use one. In part 2, most of the enemies are weak and Haar, Elincia, Lucia, and Geoffrey all get the job done. In part 3, Haar returns and he's still great, but most of the GMs are damn strong so you can have your pick of the litter here. For the DB, Tauroneo is still holding on even if the enemies are starting to catch up in strength, but you should have trained at least Nolan and Jill before Tauroneo finally drops off. In part 4, you get a ridiculous number of jacked units. The only unit who is truly a "waste of exp" is obvious.

[Topazd]

And of course, the "Easy" mode was called "Normal" in the original Japanese version IIRC, so I wouldn't worry about it if FE10NM feels a little bit harder than the other games might have prepared you for. Go for the Easy mode if you feel it might be more enjoyable for you.

[BrightBow]

The difficulty is nothing too special but this game really taught me to actually use Jeigans as tools rather then trying to have them avoid combat whenever possible.

The balance of the game is completely out of whack for countless reasons but surprisingly enough it works out in a way that is still fun. Like, Ike's team being so much stronger then the Dawn Brigade simple means that their respective maps have a different flow to them. Well, unless you are playing easy. Then Ike's team is plain invincible.

And Hard Mode is a true pleasure to play since at that point the strengths and weaknesses of the individual classes really start to shine. It's probably my favourite hard mode.

I just wish I could take Ike's Leadership Stars off and make him weaker.

Edited July 4, 2014 by BrightBow

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I personally think it's bad advice to not use Tormod, Muarim, and Vika in part 1. I wouldn't spend any exceptional resources on them (for instance, they have no need for bexp or stat boosters to do well), but they're extremely strong in part 1 and great to fill out the team while you focus on training a few exceptional permanent units. Even if Ilyana exists in the most chapters per game, her best contribution after the first couple chapters of part 1 is to bring the money items over to the Greil Mercs because thunder magic is weak and inaccurate, her bases are only so-so and her growths are not terrific either. Compared to the GMs in part 3 she is a joke, whereas if she'd stayed with the DB, she still would have had some use as chip.

If a unit seems too good to be true, just bear in mind that this game is generous about handing you OP units all the time and expects you to be using them. Sothe, Tauroneo, Tormod, Muarim, Vika, Volug, and Nailah are amazing in part 1, with Nolan and Jill being easy choices for training due to Nolan having solid bases and Jill being a flier in chapters that could really use one. In part 2, most of the enemies are weak and Haar, Elincia, Lucia, and Geoffrey all get the job done. In part 3, Haar returns and he's still great, but most of the GMs are damn strong so you can have your pick of the litter here. For the DB, Tauroneo is still holding on even if the enemies are starting to catch up in strength, but you should have trained at least Nolan and Jill before Tauroneo finally drops off. In part 4, you get a ridiculous number of jacked units. The only unit who is truly a "waste of exp" is obvious.

In general I recommend to use prepromoted units only for doing chip damage, because otherwise they "suck" experience.

Ilyana is not too bad and it's not a big deal to promote her in part 1. Yeah thunder magic is nerfed, but therefore it's effective against dracos. And you have to deal with a lot of them in part 3. And don't forget, how broken rexbolt is against dragons.

It's the same comparison like between Edward and Zihark. Zihark is already prepromoted in part 1, but Edward will be good or even better than Zihark in every stat except for magic and resistance, if he reaches Zihark's level.

And before 1-8 I would give Tormod's skill "celerity" to Rafiel anyway, because he can reach your units better.