Am I a bad FE Player or?

[BlueLeafeon]

Does Awakening have a pretty nasty Early Game Hell between chapters 0-4? On Hard Mode and beyond, I mean.

I had to reset chapters 1 and 2 like 4 times and I really don't remember having THIS much trouble with it before. Does Classic mode make the game harder or something? (I beat the game on hard/casual before.)

[Jedi]

Nah the only change between Classic/Casual is the permadeath mechanics, also I'd kinda agree the first few chapters in general are kinda brutal unless you're playing on Normal.

I just have tons of FE experience so maybe it doesn't seem to much to me until Lunatic, but I can see where the early chapters on HM would give one struggles.

[Zerosabers]

The chapters before 4 on hard can be pretty difficult if you're not super familiar with Fire Emblem. Also with casual you didn't have to reset if somebody dies, on classic you do so that also might be why it seems so much harder.

[Ansem]

technically you dont have to reset when anyone dies except for chrom/robin

[BlueLeafeon]

I've been playing FE since FE8 first came out, but I suppose I'm not the BEST strategist in the world despite this.

One part of the issue is that almost nobody comes with vulneraries, so you have to use Lissa more. Except that leaves her open for attacks. :|

The other part of the issue is how slowly game mechanics unlock. You can't even visit any shops until after chapter 3.

[Crysta]

do you have an aversion to using frederick?

i mean he's not required but he certainly helps when you fuck up in those chapters

[Serpent of Sheol]

The first four chapters are generally the hardest, yes. The use of Frederick past normal determines how much trouble you may have. On normal, you can get away with not using Frederick at all, the same goes with Hard. On Lunatic, you can solo with him and it would be pretty easy, but you should still be careful and it's inefficient do do so. On Lunatic+ it's much harder to just use Frederick, and a couple areas of it are pretty RNG. (Actually, chapter 2 is all RNG.)

[Augestein]

The first four chapters are generally the hardest, yes. The use of Frederick past normal determines how much trouble you may have. On normal, you can get away with not using Frederick at all, the same goes with Hard. On Lunatic, you can solo with him and it would be pretty easy, but you should still be careful and it's inefficient do do so. On Lunatic+ it's much harder to just use Frederick, and a couple areas of it are pretty RNG. (Actually, chapter 2 is all RNG.)

I would disagree that you can solo with him pretty easy. Fredrick is strong, but really, I think you should be using him for that delicious +3 defense and +2 speed he gives with Pair Up. If things go wrong, use him as a RNG shield...Freddy isn't good for very long because of how fast the enemies become with their super weapons.

As for this game, it's not you, the game is very unforgiving in the early game on harder modes.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Ahhh the early game vortex of doom. While in hard mode, you can get away with not using Fred because the Chrom/Avatar pair up is pretty damn good. But Lunatic? Not using the Fred is a bad idea. Fred/Avatar pair is pretty good there. (just keep Chrom away from death)

I've been playing FE since FE8 first came out, but I suppose I'm not the BEST strategist in the world despite this.

One part of the issue is that almost nobody comes with vulneraries, so you have to use Lissa more. Except that leaves her open for attacks. :|

The other part of the issue is how slowly game mechanics unlock. You can't even visit any shops until after chapter 3.

With Lissa, just do the thing where you can check enemy ranges, and try to keep her out of the murder zones.

[Jedi]

(just keep Chrom away from death)

Early game Chrom in lunatic is allergic to weapons. Deadly allergic I might add.

[Serpent of Sheol]

I would disagree that you can solo with him pretty easy. Fredrick is strong, but really, I think you should be using him for that delicious +3 defense and +2 speed he gives with Pair Up. If things go wrong, use him as a RNG shield...Freddy isn't good for very long because of how fast the enemies become with their super weapons.

As for this game, it's not you, the game is very unforgiving in the early game on harder modes.

Ah, I should clarify. What I meant is that on Lunatic+, Frederick loses his use as a powerful main combat unit solo. On Lunatic+ I found it much more useful to use Frederick for his defense pair-up.

[TheSilentChloey]

I've been playing FE since FE8 first came out, but I suppose I'm not the BEST strategist in the world despite this.

One part of the issue is that almost nobody comes with vulneraries, so you have to use Lissa more. Except that leaves her open for attacks. :|

The other part of the issue is how slowly game mechanics unlock. You can't even visit any shops until after chapter 3.

Turn off slide guides in the options menu. That way you almost have full access to most of the gaming mechanics (Pair Up etc). It should help.

If not make sure you are watching the enemies' skills and ranges like a hawk and keep Lissa as far out of that range as possible (hard I know, but I have it down pat in normal). I find that having the way blocked to her by your units has its merits. I find that while I've only ever done normal; those things still help (I did try hard on chapter 1, and my Robin took a beating and almost died because I refuse to do what is known as Frederick emblem because Robin and Chrom miss out on vital EXP).

Another idea is to play out all possible strategies in normal mode then use the best possible ones on hard. That is my current goal before Fates comes out in my area.

[Czar_Yoshi]

Another idea is to play out all possible strategies in normal mode then use the best possible ones on hard. That is my current goal before Fates comes out in my area.

This doesn't work as well as you might think, because it's very difficult to quantify overkill. Say you try two strategies, and one is very effortless to pull off and crushes the foe, while another takes a ton of work and leaves the foe just as dead- you can't really tell from playing on a lower difficulty whether the easy road will still shut down the enemy, or whether the hard road will somehow give you exactly what you need to win.

On top of that, higher difficulties have more enemies, which means more exp. If you try to spend that exp like you would in lower difficulties, you won't be spending it efficiently, and that equates to trouble.

Actually, chapter 2 is all RNG.

I strongly suggest checking out this thread, because it's very much not. While the RNG can screw you over through missed hits and the like, careful positioning can handle the zerg no matter what skills generate.

Does Awakening have a pretty nasty Early Game Hell between chapters 0-4? On Hard Mode and beyond, I mean.

It does, yes. Awakening's difficulty curve in general is extremely wonky, but things start off very hard while you have forced deployment, no shops and only a handful of preset units to work with. Once you can start choosing who to train (and getting enough levels to make a difference) and the terrain changes from favoring the enemy to favoring you (Cht.8) things get much easier, and you have a lull until around Cht.11-12 to train up your team. Things start getting harder from there, and it ramps up all the way to the finish, but if you built your team nicely you can see a huge power spike from the recruitment of the children (and the exp from their paralogues) that will see you through for a while. The relative difficulty can go up and down for a while from there depending on what else you do.

[eclipse]

Of the early chapters, on Hard. . .

Prologue - Frederick in back will help Robin survive, and if you want Chrom to grab some experience, pass Frederick down!

Chapter 1 - Pay close attention to enemy ranges, and use the forts!

Chapter 2 - Probably the roughest out of the early chapters, by a lot. You'll need to use pair-up to keep people out of range, and using Frederick to clear out a few things (with Chrom in back) should make life a lot easier. Once the enemies before the bridge are clear, the rest of the map is a cakewalk.

Chapter 3 - Chrom can talk to Kellam and pair up with him. Kellam can then ferry Chrom out of danger. . .or straight into it. My favorite pairing in this stretch is Kellam and Sumia - he gives her the bulk she needs, she gives him some sorely-needed speed.

Chapter 4 - This chapter's difficulty is dependent on Robin. The stronger your Robin is, the easier it is, since enemies have 1-2 range. If in doubt, have Robin pair with Chrom/Kellam/Frederick (depending on what he/she needs). If Frederick is free, have him pair with Chrom/Sumia, arm a Javelin, and go ham. Frederick with Kellam will cause Marth to do laughable damage.

Edited December 19, 2015 by eclipse

[Refa]

Yeah, you're bad at FE. If you use all of your tools effectively (Pair Up, Frederick, Robin), early game HM shouldn't be a problem.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Only the first three turns in chapter 2 are the tricky point in HM earlygame for me, because all the enemies in the bottom half of the map move towards you.

Chapter 4 is a bit nasty because of the two mages. Sumia with the javelin is good against them, but she has a disadvantage against all the fighters.

The best unit would be Robin, because he can counterattack against all enemies with 2 range weapons well, but he also needs defense and resistance to take the hits.

Marth is easy to kill with high defensive units like Kellam x Frederick or units, who can double him like Chrom x Sumia.

Also the killer lance from the first paralogue is very nice to have against him.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Luxian]

^I'm not sure she should try the Paralogue before Chapter 4 if she struggles with other chapters, I felt Chapter 4 was easier than the Paralogue, without grinding and without getting anyone killed.

And in hard mode's prologue, you can do well without Frederick, using the narrow alleys between the stalls, or the bridge at the left, this way you can fight 2 enemies instead of one, having Lissa protected and if you don't want Frederick to swallow all the Ewp, you should unequip him. You can even not use vulnaries, however watch out for mage's skills, and the Thunder Mage 1% crit that sometimes killed Frederick (yeah it happens...)

Chap 1 is hard because there are a lot of fighters, I suggest that you split your team, a tank group and a decoy group but keep them close enough to have them assist each other group in surviving, and stay near the fortresses, never leave Sully, VIrion, and Lissa alone. Pair Sully with Chrom if you want to get rid of some fighters, but switch him with Virion or Frederick, to have her survive. VIrion should always stay with Sully or Frederick.

Chap 2 is rather difficult, but I suggest you to use the narrow path at the south west of your map, below the mounatins, Again, you lower the enemy's number, but Stahl is still a bit weak so air him at least with Sully if he doesn't do well with the avatar. Pair Miriel with Frederick or let her behind the frontrow, she'll be fine, and Virion too. That just leaves Vaike who he actually terrible in this chapter. Try to put him in the mountains and have him kill low HP enemies. Don't forget about the mountains and the fortresses. I don't suggest you to take the path at the leftof the mountains, there is a risk you forget some enemies might cross the mountains and kill the guys behind your tanky units, and someone would get killed.(I'm mainly thinking about Lissa, or Miriel)

Chap 3 : Get Kella with Chrom and head back. I use to pair up Miriel with Kellam so she can exp, and I get Sumia & Chrom pick therest.Pair her with Frederick if you want to feel safer. Just have everyone go through one door, and not both.

Chap 4 : Best is to let Robin or Chrom& Sumia hndle the fights. others are either too sllow, either not enough defense/HP

[TheSilentChloey]

I'd say Chrom x Robin over Sumia. Especially if you're going F!Robin. It makes for a better Lucina in the end

[Ebony]

I'd say Chrom x Robin over Sumia. Especially if you're going F!Robin. It makes for a better Lucina in the end

I'll disagree - to me it felt that Lucina and Morgan had everything they needed with mothers and without Chrom's rather lackluster mods. I usually go Chrom x Olivia. It's trickier but I think it's where I've gotten the best Lucina so far.

[TheSilentChloey]

I'll disagree - to me it felt that Lucina and Morgan had everything they needed with mothers and without Chrom's rather lackluster mods. I usually go Chrom x Olivia. It's trickier but I think it's where I've gotten the best Lucina so far.

And cramps Lucina into fewer classes and options while you're at it. Leaving Lucina to be a Great Lord while you're wasting time with Olivia to get her up to standard in less than two chapters.

*shrugs* I use +def -luk to balance out Chrom's mods and it works.

Edited December 20, 2015 by TheSilentChloey

[Ebony]

And cramps Lucina into fewer classes and options while you're at it. Leaving Lucina to be a Great Lord while you're wasting time with Olivia to get her up to standard in less than two chapters.

*shrugs* I use +def -luk to balance out Chrom's mods and it works.

Lucina doesn't really need to be anything else though. Her magic usually isn't too great so that limits a lot of choices. Paladin she gets off the bat and she'll be fine with. Olivia isn't hard to train either, actually she's almost always one of my easiest to train units in the game.

Balancing out isn't exactly a wise idea - just capitalize on what he -does- do right. Usually +Str or +Spd work very well with Lucina. If you attempt to balance, you get a Lucina who performs no where close to as good as anyone else, along with Morgan.

[Czar_Yoshi]

There was a guy not too long ago who used a +HP/-Lck Chrom!Morgan. Despite having exactly the same mod total as any other Chrom!Morgan (or a Cord!Morgan, for that matter), he managed to have not a single one of Morgans mods greater than +2. Lack of a weakness isn't a strength when also coupled with lack of a strength.

[Mackc2]

Those earlier chapters are definitely far more difficult than pretty much everything else on my no-reset hard mode three of my character died in those first four (Two of those where in chapter 2) and I only totalled 10 deaths overall in the whole thing

[BlueLeafeon]

This makes me feel better to know that it's not just me struggling with the first four chapters.

Turn off slide guides in the options menu. That way you almost have full access to most of the gaming mechanics (Pair Up etc). It should help.

Hard mode has them off by default, I believe. Either that, or I'm so used to turning them off when I boot up the game, I didn't even notice I did it. I was using the Pair Up feature, but even then, all those enemies with VERY high hit rate and attack were still overwhelming my units.

It's definitely dumb how they restricted game mechanics so badly in the first four. Supports, I believe, are unlocked at chapter 1, wireless at chapter 2, shopping at chapter 3, and then barracks and other features at chapter 4. IMO wireless should be chapter 3 and shopping at chapter 2. <<;;

I did have an aversion to using Freddie--I was mostly using him to cover for Lissa. Now I know what my error was, and I'm sure I could beat hard mode on classic now.

Those earlier chapters are definitely far more difficult than pretty much everything else on my no-reset hard mode three of my character died in those first four (Two of those where in chapter 2) and I only totalled 10 deaths overall in the whole thing

O_o; Wow. That's...harsh.

Edited December 20, 2015 by BlueLeafeon

[Luxian]

Well, Inventory, Skills, Wireless, and Shopping at Chap 3 and Barrackand Outrealm Gate at Chap 4.

IMO, you shouldn't judge yourself based on the first Chapters. Maybe you struggle at the beginning and shine later...And somtimes the RNG is just toying with you (was that the case ?) Okay, I admit I'm a bit optimistic, but the first chapter were indeed tough even in hard mode and even more in lunatic modee.

Those earlier chapters are definitely far more difficult than pretty much everything else on my no-reset hard mode three of my character died in those first four (Two of those where in chapter 2) and I only totalled 10 deaths overall in the whole thing

I feel sorry for you...