Now that I've played fates (finally)...

[The Geek]

It's funny because, after over 30 resets, I STILL haven't beaten chapter 10 on hard mode. Yet the moment I switched to normal mode I beat it on my first try! Who'd of thought normal mode would've been THIS forgiving!?

I had the same experience except I didn't switch until Chapter 23. Freaking Snipers with Counter, man.

The biggest difference between the two modes is that enemies on Normal don't have skills, and enemy skills contribute a lot to Conquest's difficulty.

[Brand_Of_The_Exalt]

Keep in mind that a break from it by letting them enjoy the rest of the game is their choice. Just because you don't recommend it doesn't mean it's a bad choice for them personally.

While I know you're trying to be encouraging... you're overestimating how your own plays type fits the OPs.

Well, he's free of his own choices, I never told he wasn't, but if he's able to beat this map on the first try on Normal, I think he should try on the above difficulty, Hard which is a very good difficulty standard and a very good start IMO to make one's play evolve (mine evolved a lot and quickly thanks to Conquest, and that's also true for other video games). I was also just saying that it's a shame to be forced to keep a lower difficulty for the rest of the game because of one chapter (he could have made a bad start for example) and especially in a game like Conquet in which the difficulty is the essence of the game somehow.

I don't know him personally but I'm sure he'll agree on Birthright's difficulty, especially between chapters 16 and 23.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Brand_Of_The_Exalt

[eclipse]

This is just my opinion, but lowering the difficulty to Normal is not the best choice. I know this is your first walkthrough so it may frustrating to play it in Hard mode, but this is precisely where you develop your strategies and learn the mechanics, so it's the perfect time to get good habits and assimilate Conquest's "mindset" (couldn't find a better word, it's kinda hard to explain, that's all the way to play that exploits mechanics, your units' niches, the map, etc). And lowering the difficulty just prevents you from getting better, and make you rest on your laurels (especially if you beat it on the first try). And to play on a difficulty just above your level is extremely rewarding, you're very proud once you beat the game (same for chapters you find hard or are known as difficult). I haven't played on Normal Mode, but it can't be harder than Birthright Lunatic which is a joke.

I'll respectfully disagree.

TC just started the game, which means he needs to take in a new weapon system, skills, attack/guard stance, classes, and possibly stat manipulation (dunno whether or not he's been abusing tonics). When thrown in all together, it can be quite overwhelming. Hence why I won't fault him for lowering the difficulty.

However, doing Conquest on Hard makes it a whole 'nother game, so I'd suggest doing so after a playthrough or two, once things like attack/guard stance feel more natural.

---

As for me. . .I was stubborn, and took THREE DAYS to get past Chapter 10 on Hard. I still don't care for the sheer amount of chaos within the chapter itself! Good luck with the rest of the run~!

[Dinar87]

As for my play through I'm currently at chapter 18 on normal conquest and damn, the game has ramped up in difficulty. There's not a single non-promoted enemy unit to kill...and most of my characters are just barely below level 20. As you can imagine, fun times all around! Using Great knight Effie to murder everything seems like a good idea but then again I want my other units to level up. Hmm decisions...

[KMT4ever]

As for my play through I'm currently at chapter 18 on normal conquest and damn, the game has ramped up in difficulty. There's not a single non-promoted enemy unit to kill...and most of my characters are just barely below level 20. As you can imagine, fun times all around! Using Great knight Effie to murder everything seems like a good idea but then again I want my other units to level up. Hmm decisions...

It only gets harder from here. Promote as many people as you can this level. You do not want to go into chapter 19 with mostly un-promoted units. Also, making Effie a Great Knight instead of a General is going to make the next level a bigger pain than it already is, fair warning.

I think one of the biggest issues in Conquest is proper XP distribution. If a unit starts to fall behind it's hard to have them catch up because of how ruthless the enemy growth curve is. I like to run full teams and don't care for the children, so I'm constantly striking a balance between all of my units. Even then Silas, Arthur, and Laslow tend to fall behind.

My first run of Conquest was on Hard Classic, and Chapter 10 was what made me realize just how much of a pain it was going to be. Turtling up actually doesn't work as well as an aggressive approach, I found. If you don't kill as many enemies as possible on your turn they swarm you on theirs, and your units are way too squishy to live through that. By playing all through spring break I managed to blitz to Chapter 25 (Dinar, make sure your Corrin is strong for that one), but there the game broke me. I downgraded to Normal and the game became so much easier. The difference between the two difficulties is night and day, so I don't begrudge anyone who had to swallow their pride and take a step down.

[eclipse]

As for my play through I'm currently at chapter 18 on normal conquest and damn, the game has ramped up in difficulty. There's not a single non-promoted enemy unit to kill...and most of my characters are just barely below level 20. As you can imagine, fun times all around! Using Great knight Effie to murder everything seems like a good idea but then again I want my other units to level up. Hmm decisions...

The next few chapters will be FUN! And by that, I mean there's ways to cheese them, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Who are you using, and have you fiddled with reclass yet?

Edited November 21, 2016 by eggclipse

[Water Mage]

Ah, he's reaching the dreaded Conquest trio of chapters.

Chapters 19, 20 and 21. These chapters are what separate men from the boys.

Joking aside, it's kinda like Chapter 10, as it is another difficulty spike.

[shadowofchaos]

The next few chapters will be FUN! And by that, I mean there's ways to cheese them, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Who are you using, and have you fiddled with reclass yet?

Oh right... reclass... just saying... Normal Conquest is perfectly doable with no reclasses and no children on a blind run.

So if you hit a wall... there are ways to cheese the reinforcements.

Edited November 21, 2016 by shadowofchaos

[Dinar87]

Ah, he's reaching the dreaded Conquest trio of chapters.

Chapters 19, 20 and 21. These chapters are what separate men from the boys.

Joking aside, it's kinda like Chapter 10, as it is another difficulty spike.

That's funny because, while I am only playing on normal, 19 was easy peasy! Then again, it would've been more challenging if more enemies had that skill that deals bonus damage to beast wielding units.

[eclipse]

Chapter 19 can be cheesed on Hard by using a Wyvern Lord with a Beastkiller. Use an Arms Scroll if necessary.

[Ryo]

Ah, he's reaching the dreaded Conquest trio of chapters.

Chapters 19, 20 and 21. These chapters are what separate men from the boys.

Joking aside, it's kinda like Chapter 10, as it is another difficulty spike.

I personally think this is only true in higher difficulties, in Normal they aren't much of a spike compared to other chapters.

That's funny because, while I am only playing on normal, 19 was easy peasy! Then again, it would've been more challenging if more enemies had that skill that deals bonus damage to beast wielding units.

That would be Lunatic, and trust me, it's not fun... It can still be cheesed through by the method eggclipse mentioned though, among other things:

Chapter 19 can be cheesed on Hard by using a Wyvern Lord with a Beastkiller. Use an Arms Scroll if necessary.

[The Red Blur]

Just hopping into this topic now, but I can agree, even for a normal run, chapter 10 is HARD. I mean, I was playing on casual, yes, but I managed not to lose any units when I finally beat it (yay). I think the thing that screwed me over the most was the fact that Elise was my real main healer. Sure, I used Felicia, but Elise was just more effective for me.

[Tolvir]

If Chapter 19 is the one I am thinking of, then I had no issues with it.

If its the chapter with Kaden and all the Kitsune, then that was really easy for me. I didnt have any issues with it. Same with the Ninja chapter everyone talks about too. I found Benny to be extremely useful in that one. The ninjas cant do any damage, or very low damage to him the entire time, which makes him super useful to plug a hole with and leave him there. By the time they debuffed him enough to do damage, it was only like 2-3 points per, and with Benny's large amount of HP he can take it. If you build Xander and Corrin right they can do the same.

I found Chapter 10 to be relatively difficult, but not in a bad way. Typically games try to create difficulty by just bumping up enemy stats or damage, making them tougher, etc. Essentially creating a false difficulty through beefed up enemies. Fire Emblem Awakening's harder difficulties are a good example of that. Chapter 10 was a good balance. It had a large amount of enemies to where you needed to take some out each turn otherwise you would be overwhelmed, but not so much to where you were swarmed from the start. The enemies were around your current characters level, and were a good balance of being on an equal playing field, and being a bit weaker. The twist towards the end was a good one that you could react to if you were doing everything correctly, and not one that was complete and total bullshit. The reinforcements you receive actually mean something, as opposed to getting reinforcements who are underleveled/powered and are just dead weight.

Overall it was a good chapter, and I hope they keep whoever their level designer is right now because they really did a stand up job with Fate's level design. I just hope they take what they did with Fates and keep running with it and improving on it. (and if we are going to get a guest writer next time, can we get a good one please?)

I actually found the chapter that you get Pieri and Laslow to be one of the more difficult ones. With the reinforcements coming from behind, and how difficult it was to go through the middle part, it took me a good 5 tries to get through it. I had kept splitting my forces in two to go left and right once I had already lost due to the middle path, and kept having problems with some of the units up there. (Hoshidan archers hit like a ton of bricks, hate those guys.) That and Ryoma being promoted while all your units were still around level 10-13 was difficult. Him being right at the exit didnt help either.

[Dinar87]

Just in case anyone still cares I've beaten chapter 10 on hard mode. I used a combination of tonics, using Hiataka for rally defense, level 10 archer mozu (you can boss abuse on chapter 9), lots of camilla and getting lucky missing two lethal 60% hits from the enemy. I plan to eventually try the same tactics on lunatic! Wish me luck on the rest of conquest hard mode because I'll certainly need it!!

In other news, my teacher has been helping me with game maker pro and we've FINALLY been able to implement slopes...sort of. I'm sure we'll be able to fix the rest of it but that, plus beating chapter 10 on hard mode, has really made my day for me!!

Edited November 25, 2016 by Dinar87