I FINALLY own this game! (post of a newbie)

[Kirie]

For what it's worth, Hard isn't all that much harder than Normal (at least, not if you're an FE veteran, and especially if you're doing things like getting Supports and using Pair Up), but Lunatic mode is a very big jump up from Hard, especially those first few levels when you have such limited resources. Not saying this to scare you away (Lunatic is my favourite mode, after all!), but just letting giving you a bit of a head's up so that you know what you're getting yourself into. We have a thread here on SF, The Lunatic Club, for people to discuss ideas and strategies, so feel free to hit up there if you'd like any advice or are having any troubles with some particular sections.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Kirie

[Czar_Yoshi]

Well, you're playing on the easiest difficulty with grinding. Normal is balanced around teaching the ropes and gives you two or three major mistakes worth of leeway before you start dying, so yeah it's going to go down. I'd advise stepping up to Hard/Cla after this and playing with a full team (keeping your units relatively equally leveled) but never touching Risen, DLC or the Wireless menu, and then doing all the DLC after you beat the final chapter. It's a pretty good difficulty. Lunatic is kind of a different beast: enemies are so strong that "normal" gameplay flat-out doesn't work and you have to adapt to new strategies that start out extremely rigid and often punish you for doing anything that isn't a purely beneficial choice in the long run- it can still be fun for some, but it's not just Hard, but harder. It's a different game.

Troop numbers: a little math suggests that you already killed 100,000 or so of those in Cht.14. But no, you never will kill all of them.

That Yen'fay deal does seem kind of odd, though the game actually does (during postgame) let you see what would have happened if he had refused Excellus.

[Rxmonste]

I do not recommend that you jump straight into Lunatic from Normal. It's already a big leap from Hard. Try hard first, you're playing on Normal which isn't designed around the idea of grinding your units because the enemies are super weak. It's designed for FE newcomers, ones that were put off by attempting previous entries. Too bad you can't change difficulty on the fly, oh well.

[Star and Moon]

I actually got this game a week or two ago myself. I really like it, the gameplay, visuals, story, everything. I also really like not having the stress of perma-death, it's great to have for a challenge but I wish it could have been optional since the beginning.

Anyway, have fun!

[bookwormbabe29]

Hoo boy, me again and do I have updates. Before I start though, replies!

As a point of reference, I have played most of the fire emblem games on the hardest modes and done so often, the exceptions being Radiant Dawn (have problems with the system) and New Mystery as my japanese is very poor. I picked normal mode to do a run of every mode, really. I wasn't sure if it would unlock anything, and I figured a quick run with a tutorial would let me learn the new mechanics. I expected it to be easy, but some of these stages have been so easy the enemy can't hurt me. At all. I know I've done some Risen battles, but I don't feel I really did any 'grinding' with my main team. I didn't use reeking boxes for the main team, or do every single Risen battle. Yes, I did grind the heck out of my bench warmers to build relationships, but I'm not fielding them in the main battles. If I did, I could just field Donnel alone and laugh as nothing could hurt him. If doing any Risen battle is grinding, than I guess I'm a grinder. I don't feel I should have to try and make myself weaker by avoiding exp or using bronze weapons the entire game to enjoy this, you know? I'm not sure if it makes sense here or not, but I feel there should be a difference between 'easy mode' and 'god mode' where the enemies don't even have a chance.

Anywho, I realize now I'm going to need to do more runs than expected to get the support conversations of every husband/wife/child combinations, especially with the avatar. I suppose I'll do a hard run with a male avatar next, try to unlock what I can with that, move on to Lunatic and Lunatic+ from there.

That said, updates! Been on a binge of fire emblem, and have run through a lot. I'll try to be short as there's a lot of ground... Strap in if your'e interested ;)

First for this post, 'conqueror.' Was surprised to find Walhart this early, but wasn't going to complain. Split up for two sides and set up standard defenses, let the enemy charge. A nice lot of exp later, we advance the killing machines up. Walhart manages to do damage, but is quickly defeated.

For 'sword or the knee' we split into three parties and rushed the enemy. I was expecting something 'more' from Excellus, a trap, a scheme, something. It had decent units here, but the challenge was minimum. I deployed Anna to assist with chests, and Say'ri killed all of the named generals as payback. Killing Gangrel was far more satisfying, as this battle seemed anti-climatic.

With 'five gemstones' the layout was changed up, which felt good. Having units I couldn't reach sniping me added urgency, even if their hit rate was low. I split my units thin trying to be everywhere and grab everything quickly, and needed healing in a few spots. After the last battle feeling like a let down, this map felt refreshing. The story was fun too, even if the 'betrayal' was not terribly shocking. Avatar being controlled was hinted at too strongly, though Lucina's judgement scene (with her being avatar's daughter) was nicely done.

"Ill presage' kicked up the difficulty, much to my pleasure. The enemies were few, but they could challenge my units. Having saved before the fight, I sent a flying unit alone into the middle of a group to see how the numbers stacked up, and was actually defeated. I reset of course, and was excited to play this stage. I paired up, and lured out two fighters from each side. It was enough, as my units did enough damage to finish them up and brace for the other two of each side. Them dead, I was free to heal and move up. The last four were too predictable and easily lured out, and Aversa herself seemed weaker than the enemies in this stage. This was an 'easy' stage still, but it wasn't 'god mode' where I didn't even have to try. That is good in my mind, and I felt pumped that the game wasn't letting me win anymore. Eager, I rushed on.

"Invisible ties!" Sooo much fun. The story reveals were great, with the avatar's history coming to light, and the bait and switch there... have to be honest, I did not see Basilio returning. And like above, while the enemies were not maddening hard, winning wasn't guaranteed. I played the stage defensively, pulled my troops back and let the enemy rush me. Having more units to send in, I tried out 'Ymir' a street pass tactician I hired at some point and had never used. His stats are not great, but he has 'rally spectrum' which helped out my units more than sending in a bench warmer. Once the initial wave was done, it was time to clean up the rest. It was fast paced, and importantly fun.

"Awakening' wasn't quite as challenging as the last few stages, feeling like a buffer to build exp more than anything. It was short and sweet, and the enemies fell without much challenge.

At this point, the chapter reads 'to kill a god' so I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'm getting close to the end. Before moving on, I better finish up those paralogues I've been saving. I only have... 13?! Wow, ok. I'm not going to go into EVERY stage detail, as at this point the fights were quite easy. 13 side quests later, I meet the children characters:

The kids seem to be very much like their parents, or quite opposite. Morgan (M) (chrom/avatar) is another amnesiac to go with the 'near identical' path, along with Laurent who is so much like Miriel even daddy Gregor is asking what he inherited from him. On Morgan, it's somewhat charming. With Laurent, it feels more repetitive. Cynthia is a toss up, as the 'tripping' thing is old at this point, but her over eagerness is fun to see, especially as she plans her entrances and those for her parents (Sumia/Frederick). Inigo was hilarious, and with parents of Virion/Olivia, he is clearly a kid after both his parents. Love it. Noire....hoo boy. She, um, has her mother's spirit, while still being being shy/hidden like Kellam... I suppose? Hilarious character, either way.

On the opposite spectrum, we get Brady (Maribelle/Stahl) who is nothing like either of them. I can only imagine Donnel is supposed to be her husband or something, as WOW. Yarne is a frightened rabbit, and I hope Panne/Vaike can teach him some courage. Owain was funny, but like everyone else I have to wonder if he has rocks in his head (Lissa/Ricken). Kjelle is a toss up, having Sully's outlook without the attitude (and being so adorable in that armor! Lon/qu/Sully must be proud). Severa has an attitude problem i'm not crazy for, I'm guessing daddy Gaius spoiled her with too many sweets. Gerome (Cherche/Henry) has his 'kind heart concealed with a mask' thing going on, with is ok, but I'd wish Henry could teach him to smile or something. Nah (Donnel/Nowi) clearly decided she didn't want to be anything her parents and is book smart.... go figure.

I also grabbed Tiki, which was required a bit of thought to do. For the kids stages, I let Inigo go to town killing most of the field, Kejlle had her duel, Owain, found his sword, etc. Nothing too surprising. For Yarne's stage, i fought both groups for a LOT of enemies, but none of them were really challenging. End of the day, my main units had hit 20/20.

For now, I needed a break lol. I'll likely finish up this run soon at this rate. Still, many more runs to go lol.

[Czar_Yoshi]

I'm not sure if it makes sense here or not, but I feel there should be a difference between 'easy mode' and 'god mode' where the enemies don't even have a chance.

Technically, you're not playing on easy mode, you're playing on Normal. And, well, becoming invincible is slightly normal here, so it's aptly named.

This comes about because damage and the like is based on addition/subtraction rather than multipliers and the system is designed to work even with extremely low numbers, causing things to get completely out of hand should you manage to get someone ahead of the stat curve. This is pretty easy to do as the exp formula doesn't do nearly enough to promote keeping your team at the same level. The best thing you can do if you don't want it to happen is to field a full team every time and spread your exp as evenly as possible- and get more than a full team into rotation should that not work either. Alternately, a good few of the DLC maps are far above even the final chapter in difficulty, and as they let you tackle them at your own pace you can make them as easy or hard as you want. I'd strongly recommend getting a few (especially the Scramble Pack and Future Past Pack) and doing them after your Hard run.

Cht.23 is usually either people's favorite or least favorite chapter in the game, so hopefully you continue liking it.

[Rxmonste]

Well, you've come far, haven't you? To Slay A God, eh? If you have any of the Spotpass maps (The orange paralogues on the map if you added them) then they will all unlock after you finish To Slay A God. You can play them if you want and then there'll be one last story chapter to wrap things up.

[bookwormbabe29]

I did a LOT of stages in rapid succession, yes. I was having a bit of an off day honestly, and I tend to drown my troubles in video games. As for Czar Yoshi, I hadn't thought of it like that, but it does make sense.

I finished 'to kill a god' which wasn't as hard I would have thought. It was a slow and steady march to Aversa, and she didn't have much to throw at us. The biggest surprise was after the stage, finding brave weapons for sale. The promise scene was nice, the story builds the suspense, but the battle seemed drawn out to me. It could have done with some ballista's or something new to throw at us.

At this point, my 'orange' (spotpass?) stages opened up. The first one I try has....Gangrel? Alive? Confused as all heck, I reset and check out the others. And now we have characters from sister Emm to Yen'fay showing up, all who are supposed to be dead. I admit, I had to look this up online, as I was not understanding the 'what?" factor in finding these characters. As I understand it, they are are bonus stages for after the main game is done, and you get to recruit these people? I'm torn, as I'm not seeing the appeal of recruiting the villains in this one. Honestly, if they were going to let people use these characters, I would have preferred it not messing with the story. Conflicted, I pass on them for now, not sure what to do about them.

After that, it was just 'endgame.' This was nuts, with the never ending supply of enemy units everywhere. Not wanting to get overwhelmed, I rushed the boss and hoped for the best. We took some damage from their sheer numbers, but nothing we couldn't handle. Still, it gave a nice sense of urgency, as it seems they will wear you down if you wait too long. I paired up Chrom/Avatar to challenge Grima, and Chrom scored a crit with Aether, so that was game. I let the avatar score the final blow this run, and had a nice ending scene.

Overall, I quite like this game, and the story. It certainly borrows a lot of elements from previous games, but with plenty of it's own additions. Some of the characters are a bit over the top in their stereo types, which was distracting at first, but they grow on you. I expect a lot more runs in my future.

For now, there are still the spot pass battles I haven't done, and the other DLC stages I bought (bought 3 packs). I should likely take a stab at those before I start the next run, but recruiting the dead characters feels wrong to me. I should also grind up the parent/child supports to unlock those in my new gallery. A FE fanatic's job is never done lol. Still, I've bested the game on normal, so my first run is done. I didn't see anything like new game+ or anything, so I'm just loading up my file from before I challenged the last stage, and see what mischief I can find. Maybe I'll use the 20+ stat boosters I'm sitting on lol.

[Kirie]

There are a few things that carry over to later playthroughs. Your "renown" from each battle accumulates over multiple (finished) playthroughs, so the more times you complete the game, the more free renown items you can unlock. Similarly, if you beat Lunatic mode, you unlock Lunatic+ mode.

And, yeah, those extra SpotPass levels characters are kind of a point of contention among some fans. I prefer to think of them as kind of bonus characters that you get just for fun (like how you can play as some of the bosses in FE8's Creature Campaign) and pretend that the plot magic that says they survived doesn't actually exist in the game's storyline.

[Czar_Yoshi]

The Renown system is this game's NG+, though it's not explained very well and often tends to confuse people, so here's a rundown on how it works.

You get Renown for clearing battles- 10 for normal chapters, Paralogues, and Risen. I think DLC maps count, but don't remember for sure. You get 50 from battling or recruiting (with gold) Spotpass and Streetpass units, as well, and you can have a cap of 99999. Every time you beat Grima and watch the credits, the amount of Renown that file has at the moment is saved, and when you start a new file you'll automatically have that Renown. However, your Renown is saved even if it's less than the amount that's already saved- if you have a file with 30000 Renown and 50000 saved and beat Grima with the 30000 file, your saved Renown will be set to 30000, so be careful when playing multiple files at once. Usually doing this just means you have to watch 10 minutes of credits again, but if you accidentally delete the file you had the Renown on and it doesn't carry over...

Renown is used to unlock the items in the Renown menu. It does not buy them- this is a common misconception. If you have 1000 Renown, it will unlock all the items that require 1000 or less, and you can just take those items. You get one of each per file, and taking them doesn't lower your Renown. There are some extremely useful ones in there, such as a Second Seal (which you can claim after Cht.3. The earliest the game normally gives you one is in Cht.8), so it's good to have at least a little.

Anyway, the game letting you play as the villains isn't really anything new- most FE games have actually done it at some point or another. The differences are that Awakening (and SS) allow you to use them outside of dedicated challenge maps, and more controversially tries to explain why they're there, as opposed to just dropping them into your party. They try (flimsily) to explain why they're there, and even allow your Avatar to marry them. If you don't like them, that's just fine.

However, you may want to give Yen'fay a chance, as he's got a bit of a different story than just "I survived lol". There's also Priam, who isn't even in the game to begin with and is kind of cool.

If you want to grind out supports... The father/child ones are by far the most tedious. Remember that just getting an S support between two parents doesn't cut it; if you get that and leave you'll just have to get it again if you ever want to have those supports in your log. However, as the father supports are all actually just slight variations on the same support, just adjusted for manner of speaking... Many people don't even bother getting more than one of them.

[bookwormbabe29]

Ok, a question or two for some 'extra' stuff if you'll permit:

I'm working on some supports at the moment, and looking at the support log it shows my current avatar 'Cara.' If I play a new game with another avatar, does 'cara' get replaced, or is she there for ever? Can you unlock both male and female avatars at the same time? If I play another female avatar, would 'Cara' be replaced for her? With several planned runs, I was planning to save over this file, and now I'm wondering if that means I'll lose the supports I unlock. Some clarification would be wonderful.

Second, my avatar logbook. I think I have a handle on my street pass team, but the logbook still confuses me. Right now, there are three in my log book: the two tacticians I've hired (Sarah and Ymir) and a low level version of myself (Cara) at level 7 unpromoted. As I understand it, this carries over so I can hire Sarah/Ymir on my other files. So I guess that means I can hire Cara on other files too, yes? I'm not sure why she is stuck at level 7 though. I can only guess I set something up when I was testing online options up, and don't remember what I did. Can I update 'Cara' to be her current level somehow? Can I hire multiple copies of the same person, like having 20 Ymir or having 5 versions of Cara on the same team? I've tried looking this up, and I'm only confusing myself more. I'd rather not mess up the file experimenting, so any clarification would be wonderful.

...Wow, just reread what I wrote for spelling, and I ended both paragraphs the same way. Weird. Anywho, sorry to be all 'noob' here, but I figure if anyone knows what is going on with a fire emblem game, this is where I'd find them, you know? (I love this site, I really do)

[Czar_Yoshi]

The support log has two entries for Avatar and two entries for Morgan (both male and female). Every unit with a customizable appearance- this includes Avatar and all the children except Lucina (their hair color changes based on the father) will appear in the support log as they did in the last file you saved with them unlocked. So, the Avatar-F win the support log will appear as Cara until you start a new file, choose a female Avatar, and save. Then that Avatar will show up, and if you load your original file again and save you'll see Cara back. Only the appearance changes; all Avatars of the same gender count as the same character for support log purposes.

The Avatar logbook is probably best described through an example, so here I go.

Say I've summoned Mystery -> Katarina's spotpass team and recruited her. She'll show up in my party, and also in the Logbook at the level I recruited her. Then say I raise her a bit and change her class, get some more skills/levels/etc. She's still in the Logbook in the same form as she was when she first appeared there.

Then say I load another file that doesn't have Katarina recruited. If I go into the Logbook, she'll be there the same way she appears in the first file- at base. I could recruit her there for gold and she'd join my team at base.

Now say I load the first file and go back to Katarina in the Logbook. I have options to recruit and update her. If I try to recruit her, I'll be given the choice to pay gold and get her (she'll replace the one I already have- I'm effectively resetting her to base) or update her. If I update her, the Logbook Katarina will be changed to my own, and will have all the changes I've made. Base Katarina is gone now, and if I go back to the second file to try to recruit her I'll see the updated version.

However, if I had recruited base Katarina in my second file before updating her and then gone back to the Logbook after doing so, I'd still have the options both to recruit her for gold (updating the stats of the one I already have to match the one in the Logbook) or update the one in the Logbook, setting her back to base.

So you can only have one of each unique Logbook unit at a time in a single file. However, you can get "multiples" of units that are extremely similar but not the same: there's also a DLC Katarina, who counts as a different character than Spotpass Katarina. She'll have a different Logbook entry and be treated as a separate unit.

Avatars work the same way: whether you recruit them from Streetpass or save them from the files you play through, they'll be in the Logbook and you can recruit or update them as you like. However, you can't use the Logbook version of your current file's Avatar to update their stats. Because you can create Avatars with identical appearances and traits, you can get an army of identical units this way... Though it's fairly time consuming as you have to make files for and raise each one individually.

Also, you can only have 20 Logbook units recruited at once on any one file, and the Logbook only holds 99 units- pretty easy to fill if you're fighting a lot of Spotpass teams, as units get added to the Logbook even if you defeat them but choose not to recruit them. The Logbook sorts units based on recruitment cost, and once it hits 99 adding a new one will delete whoever happens to be the cheapest at the time. There's a Lock command you can check in the Logbook menu that prevents units from being deleted, though.

[bookwormbabe29]

That helps a ton! Thanks for that. The child hair color really fascinates me, and I've googled a few images of various hair color. It makes me want to look at the official art for the children characters and try to figure out the hair sets to see who the fathers are.... though knowing this fan base it's probably been done already lol.

You're alright, Yoshi. You're all right.

[eclipse]

Yep. . .IIRC, the "default" color is their mother's (with the sole exception being Lucina for obvious reasons).

[Czar_Yoshi]

You'll probably wind up getting frustrated if you try to find the children's default hair colors, because doing it different ways sometimes yields different results. Official artwork aside, there are two places in the game where you can encounter children with no parents: in Streetpass teams and in the Future Past maps (both cases assuming that you don't have the child in question's mother married yet). Most amusingly, Morgan-M's hair appears pink.

If you really want to dig around for pairings the game may very tentatively suggest as canon, you should look here.