I'm halfway through Path of Radiance. Is there anything I should know for Radiant Dawn? (Should I break the "blind" run and look at character guides?)

[Original Alear]

20 hours ago, swoon said:

Listen bud. It's the reputation I've seen it garner on Reddit, GameFAQs, damn near everywhere I see Fire Emblem discussed. You cannot blame me (someone who has YET to play it) for being wary of it. Gosh damn dude.

Not blaming you in particular. It doesn't bother me if it's considered hard, I'm just surprised.

[swoon]

1 hour ago, Original Alear said:

Not blaming you in particular. It doesn't bother me if it's considered hard, I'm just surprised.

Sorry. I shouldn't have been so defensive.

 

RD's difficulty has even garnered complaint posts on FAQs and Reddit; legit I've seen quite a few who just absolutely vent about how they can't complete it - comments were often polarizing though. I guess it's somewhat of a controversial take but the fact it gets debated a lot should be telling.

 

I don't know how many FEtubers share the sentiment but back when BlazingKnight was really active, when he critiqued Conquest's worst chapters (On Hard mode) he still stated Radiant Dawn was a much harder entry. And I know Conquest also tends to gravitate towards the top of peoples' hardest FEs.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by swoon

[lenticular]

Comparing difficulty can be weird, because it often isn't clear whether you're comparing the games' hardest or easiest difficulty settings. If you're looking it from the perspective of someone who isn't very good at Fire Emblem and just wants to get through the games and doesn't want them to be too hard, then it makes sense to compare the easiest settings. But for someone who is a veteran of the series and is actively looking for the hardest challenge they can get, they'll want to compare hardest difficulties.

My intuitive sense is that Radiant Dawn is probably one of the harder games when you are only counting the easiest difficulty setting, but not when you are counting hardest difficulty settings. Radiant Dawn Easy is definitely harder than Conquest Normal/Phoenix, for instance, but I would say that Conquest Lunatic/Classic is probably harder than Radiant Dawn Hard. And I do say "probably" there because I've never actually played Radiant Dawn Hard because it has the ridiculous decision to remove basic UI/QoL from its hard mode and that doesn't sound fun to me (and is something that different people will adapt to differently; some probably barely notice, btu for others I can imagine it making the game way way harder).

[Shadow Mir]

On 9/16/2023 at 9:14 AM, Jotari said:

No, getting to Zephiel in time isn't much of an issue. Sure you start far away, but Jaffar is going to agro the enemies.

. . . You might be right. Man, I really wanna take a shot at HHM again... especially after seeing some peeps try and phail to ironman it.

[samthedigital]

12 hours ago, lenticular said:

And I do say "probably" there because I've never actually played Radiant Dawn Hard because it has the ridiculous decision to remove basic UI/QoL from its hard mode and that doesn't sound fun to me (and is something that different people will adapt to differently; some probably barely notice, btu for others I can imagine it making the game way way harder).

I'd recommend using an action replay code to bring back the QoL features if you ever feel like playing RD on hard mode; I quite like Hard with the enemy range viewer turned back on. Having played both though I'd say that Conquest is more difficult if only because it takes more time to understand the game's mechanics. Radiant Dawn otherwise has some more difficult maps in my opinion, but the difficulty is naturally a lot less consistent.

[Shadow Mir]

On 9/16/2023 at 12:10 PM, Original Alear said:

I haven't even beaten hector hard mode. I don't think I've even started it.

Hmm. Speaking of, HHM has to be the one time a game completely alters a chapter's enemy lineup. First is Cog of Destiny, the HHM version of which just might be the hardest map in the game. Then we have The Value of Life, the HHM version of which is better called Oops! All Berserkers! And no, it ain't necessarily a party for sword users.