Will probably start FE4 soon

[Makatak]

I've played through FE1, 2, and 3 (including book 1) over the last 2 weeks. Now I'm moving on to Genealogy of the Holy War. I understand that this game features a Romance System, where characters in the latter half of the game inherit skills and stat growths from 1st gen characters. Are there guides for how to make effective use of this system, or character rankings, or chapter guides, like there were on Serene's Forest for FE3?

[Lantairu]

I've played through FE1, 2, and 3 (including book 1) over the last 2 weeks. Now I'm moving on to Genealogy of the Holy War. I understand that this game features a Romance System, where characters in the latter half of the game inherit skills and stat growths from 1st gen characters. Are there guides for how to make effective use of this system, or character rankings, or chapter guides, like there were on Serene's Forest for FE3?

There are many guides on this game, especially the romance system, but there really isn't a definitive bestpairing for most kids. For instance, while I say it's best to put Levin with Fury to have the most OP character in 2nd gen, but there are people who will tell you to use Levin on Tiltyu, and others who even say LevinxSylvia is the best. So it will be up to you to decide what the best pairings are.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Lantairu

[Mekkah]

From my newcomers companion: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/3vnqgy/newcomers_companion_to_fe4_genealogy_of_the_holy/

My main recommendation concerning pairings for first timers is to not worry. Regardless of which pairings you make, you will be able to handle everything the game throws at you. So pair whoever you want together and see what happens. Worry about minmaxing in a second playthrough.

Every pairing gains points as the game goes on, every turn. Putting two characters next to each other greatly boosts how many points they gain per turn. Certain pairs will fall in love sooner than others. Some units also have conversations (see below) that will boost their love points.

As a rule of thumb, if two characters know each other, they will probably fall in love sooner than they would with other characters. These pairs also tend to work out fine for their children.

Cuan and Ethlin start out as a pair and cannot be paired to anyone. Don’t worry about pairing Sigurd, either.

[Jedi]

Good guide, I was going to say some of what you've already touched on there in a much less eloquent way haha.

[sirmola]

Just make sure everyone Is paired, and that no paired parents stay die. Also check the "secret events" section of this site (nothing in there is critacle, but you will NOT find any of it without a guide). Lastly, make sure that levin enters silesia castle during chapter 4.

[Baldrick]

Agree with Mekkah. You won't get any bad pairings by accident, and most units will have talk events with at least one of their better pairings.

To ensure everyone gets paired, visit the fortune teller in your home base. It will tell you who each character has the most love points with.

[Yojinbo]

People overrate pairings in comparison to other mechanics of this game. Item and money management are more important imo.

[mcdoga]

Can't help you with this one. I'm too busy using the sub children.

[Makatak]

I just struggled through chapter 1 as I moved my party (mostly cavalry units) through a dense forest at a snails pace only to get owned by a long range spell and had to reload a save to when I conquered the previous settlement. I hope there aren't too many maps like this or like Book 2 chapter 11 in FE3.

[Yumi_Fujibayashi]

you got Deidre right? she can use the silence staff to silence the dark mage at the last castle. there are hints on what to do in this game.

[Yojinbo]

The first part of the game is kind of daunting. Ch.1 is my least favorite chapter in the game and Ch.2 is just massive. Please make sure to get the Return Staff and the Warp Staff in Ch.1 to make your life easier.

[Makatak]

I should also mention that in the previous FE's, I was a savestate scummer. I'm too stubborn to let ANY unit, even a crappy one, die. And if I got my units into a compromising position and then saved, I would loadstate scum until the enemy missed or I got a crit to avert death. I can't imagine going through any FE without that. That doesn't work as well in FE4 because supposedly, the game loads many random numbers before they are even used.

[Baldrick]

When you have arena access, you can have a unit lose in the arena to burn RNs.

[Ansem]

also theres an option to save at the start of a turn so you might wanna utilize that you filthy casual

[Jugdral Defender]

As with what Mekka said, I wouldn't be too concerned with it. It's good to ask for advice, but if you get subs, of course the game can't make it impossible to win because of your (or lack thereof) pairing choices. My suggestion would be to just settle in first with the game before concerning yourself with the mechanics of the inheritance and pairing systems (unless you want to, of course).

Edited March 5, 2016 by Jugdral Defender

[sirmola]

I just struggled through chapter 1 as I moved my party (mostly cavalry units) through a dense forest at a snails pace only to get owned by a long range spell and had to reload a save to when I conquered the previous settlement. I hope there aren't too many maps like this or like Book 2 chapter 11 in FE3.

I'm pretty sure that you are supposed to use the silence staff on him. The game hints a it heavily.

[BrightBow]

I'm pretty sure that you are supposed to use the silence staff on him. The game hints a it heavily.

It's not just hinting. The game directly states to use the Silence Staff and that Sandima is too dangerous to approach otherwise.

Edited March 6, 2016 by BrightBow

[Jugdral Defender]

I'm pretty sure that you are supposed to use the silence staff on him. The game hints a it heavily.

The game will openly say to do a lot of things. A lot of the story's dialogue actually means what it says. Example, when Eltshan says he'll back Sigurd up in chapter one, you literally do not have to worry about Elliot trying to take the main castle. Eltshan does as he said and backs you up. The game will drop a lot of "hints" or literally imply to do what they say, so you should make sure you pay attention to the story fairly closely. It's not just there for story; it's actually telling you what to do sometimes during gameplay (this is for the OP btw; just quoting sirmola to continue the thought).

It's not just hinting. The game directly states to use the Silence Staff and that Sandima is too dangerous to approach otherwise.

Technically I'm pretty sure it's possible (I think I've done it but after playing this game eight times I can't be sure how I went about that), it's just REALLY risky. It depends who he attacks and you just have to hope they either don't die in one hit or the other enemies don't attack your injured unit if they were hit.

But yeah, use Silence. Especially if this is your first run, the game dialogue is there for an actual reason in this game as I mentioned above. I totally understand thinking it's just a storyline thing, but this game actually does go out of its way to imply you should be doing certain things (unlike, say, Radiant Dawn where they tell you at some point to free the horses during dialogue and you don't even have to because it makes no real difference in gameplay. In FE4's case, it tells you to use Silence because you should ACTUALLY be using Silence).

Edited April 1, 2016 by Jugdral Defender

[sirmola]

The game will openly say to do a lot of things. A lot of the story's dialogue actually means what it says. Example, when Eltshan says he'll back Sigurd up in chapter one, you literally do not have to worry about Elliot trying to take the main castle. Eltshan does as he said and backs you up. The game will drop a lot of "hints" or literally imply to do what they say, so you should make sure you pay attention to the story fairly closely. It's not just there for story; it's actually telling you what to do sometimes during gameplay (this is for the OP btw; just quoting sirmola to continue the thought).

Technically I'm pretty sure it's possible (I think I've done it but after playing this game eight times I can't be sure how I went about that), it's just REALLY risky. It depends who he attacks and you just have to hope they either don't die in one hit or the other enemies don't attack your injured unit if they were hit.

But yeah, use Silence. Especially if this is your first run, the game dialogue is there for an actual reason in this game as I mentioned above. I totally understand thinking it's just a storyline thing, but this game actually does go out of its way to imply you should be doing certain things (unlike, say, Radiant Dawn where they tell you at some point to free the horses during dialogue and you don't even have to because it makes no real difference in gameplay. In FE4's case, it tells you to use Silence because you should ACTUALLY be using Silence).

The levin event i mentioned earlier is also an instance of this. The game tells you to have him talk to the queen, who is in silesia castle, and that , and i quote, "it's important". Many people still miss it, probably because this is the first time in the game that having a non-lord enter a castle trigers an event.

Edited April 5, 2016 by sirmola

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Just relax and go through the details and pick what floats your boat. When it comes to skill inheritance, the one thing you DO need to concern yourself with is the distinction between Soldier/Citizen or Class/Personal skill. Children inherit only Citizen/Personal skills.

Oh and one more thing. For each playthrough, I recommend 2 save slots. Use one for "Chapter start" and the other for in-game save as you please. There's an option to have a popup at the beginning of every turn to ask if you want to save to the specified slot or not.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Sirius

[Jugdral Defender]

The levin event i mentioned earlier is also an instance of this. The game tells you to have him talk to the queen, who is in silesia castle, and that , and i quote, "it's important". Many people still miss it, probably because this is the first time in the game that having a non-lord enter a castle trigers an event.

Huge instance tbh! I've had people say "I didn't know how to get Holsety", and I'm like "Didn't you have Levin talk to Sigurd? It flat out stated it's important to go see Rahna". I think a lot of people mistake it for plain dialogue, but the game definitely has lots of helpful dialogue that's nudging you to do something.

Another instance for chapter six that's actually kind of almost a mockery of this and while it tells the truth, it also doesn't (putting this in spoiler tags just in case though I don't really think this is a spoiler):

There's an old man in a village to the top west corner above the first castle you seize who will say Johalva and Johan are both basically good boys and would probably join you. The wording sounds like they both would, but you can only recruit one of them. Because both of them also occupy the same character slot to save cartridge space the way subs share slots with the main children, you can't cheat both into your file at any time either. It tells the truth in that they would join up with you, because either of them can, but it's only one per file.

Probably an actual spoiler on non-lords entering castles for fancy weapons in the final chapter:

Final chapter, you will want Yuria to enter Velthomer castle. They won't directly tell you to have her enter, but you can't get the Narga tome otherwise, and unless want to beat the game the really really really obnoxiously difficult way, potentially with lined up sacrifices, you'll want that tome.

Oh and one more thing. For each playthrough, I recommend 2 save slots. Use one for "Chapter start" and the other for in-game save as you please. There's an option to have a popup at the beginning of every turn to ask if you want to save to the specified slot or not.

This is pretty important if you plan to ever go for an A Rank file without save states. If you have a unit that dies, the game will record that even if you reset and will lower your rank with each unit death that occurs unless you start the chapter over completely from scratch, straight from the main castle having done nothing (not even the arena) yet.

Speaking of resets, you should reset when you get to chapter seven. Celice's leadership is glitched to start at two stars, but it's supposed to be three. Some cheat codes also won't work without a reset (which I've had experience in that being the case), and if you ever have Levin!Sety, you'll want to reset asap. If you reset after you start leveling him, his speed will bomb back to around 16/17 regardless of whether or not it increased through leveling because of an error in the game itself, so you'll want to just reset and make sure his speed is not 30 when you recruit him. It'll get back up there, but it's not supposed to start there.

I say reset at chapter seven because I've attempted to reset on chapter six and Celice's leadership never fixed/stayed at two, so I waited and reset at chapter seven and it fixed.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Jugdral Defender

[sirmola]

The secret chapter 4 event involving silvia also freezes the game if you have not reset yet.

[Jugdral Defender]

The secret chapter 4 event involving silvia also freezes the game if you have not reset yet.

Are you sure it just takes a game reset? Each time I get to that point, I have to game save (for OP: no units moved yet allows in game map saves) and reset and load the file straight from the turn I have her enter the village. I've reset the game previously and it will still freeze unless I've done an in game save and reset on that chapter/turn (I haven't reset really early in the chapter because there was no reason to, but I've reset in previous chapters. It might be a chapter specific thing, but any sooner than that doesn't seem to make it work).

But yes, resetting is usually the key to solving problems. Resetting is your friend.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Jugdral Defender

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I've a general question about the A.I.:

Is it really so bad?

Have completed chapter 4.

I sent Jamka to Thove's castle against Pamela's pegasus army.

For some reason they all attacked him with their javelin from 2 range so he could counterattack.

The result was that the entire army except for Pamela (no range weapon, silver lance) was wrecked in one enemy phase.

Also the Silesian peg. knights were dumb. Weakened some enemies without finishing off any of them.

Not that I should complain about that, but I find the A.I. in this game very bad.

[BrightBow]

Well, supposedly the abilities of the AI depend on the leadership skills of their commander.

Kaga: Maybe you won’t be able to feel that against the enemies under low commander levels, but the units under high commander levels make concentrated attacks. For instance, in the first half, Eltshan’s troops are like that. They’ll certainly focus their attacks on one character, so even if they’re only dealing 1 or 2 damage they’ll keep coming, so they’re quite dreadful.

From http://serenesforest.net/general/interviews/holy-war/official-guidebook/

Although in this particular case my money is on enemies with 1-2 range weapons getting confused when trying to attack a Castle Gate. That wouldn't surprise me, seeing how there is a special command for that. So maybe if an enemy is able to attack normally, the game no longer checks if attacking through the castle gate is an option.

There is actually an AI toggle in the options, although it might only get unlocked after beating the game. If you set it on hard the attacks of enemies seem to get more focused at the very least.

Edited April 9, 2016 by BrightBow