Imperial Privilege

Path of Radiance was horrible.

Originally Posted by You

Path of Radiance was horrible.

What makes you say that?

Hector is love.

Hector is life.

Hector x Lyn best pairing.

Originally Posted by Imperial

What makes you say that?

It feel like a different game than the other fire emblems.

I started with sacred stones then blazing sword then sealed sword, then the ds ones and fire emblem is one of the games the more you play the more you understand how it works etc.

But with path of radiance I was like, "this doesn't play like fire emblem at all."

So basically path of radiance feels like a different game entirely. That is to say, if you start, you should start with path of radiance or think of it as a different game than fire emblem, because a lot of the stuff you pick up in the handhelds don't really help you in path of radiance.

Well that's only what happened to lil o'l me. Might be different for others.

Rule #1 of Fire Emblem: never ever let anybody die.

I didn't know that at first, but I purely blame that on Shadow Dragon being my first game in the series.

I would have personally recommended starting with Sacred Stones, because it is much easier. The whole game is like Lyn mode.

That's because in Shadow Dragon no one really interacts so it doesn't matter if they die.

Originally Posted by The Geek

Rule #1 of Fire Emblem: never ever let anybody die.

I am incredibly pedantic/obsessed with not letting any permanent deaths or losses happen in games of chance. I save and load like there's no tomorrow. I didn't lose a single unit in first three campaigns of Battle for Wesnoth...

It's not your fault. The Fire Emblem games are broken on the most fundamental level. You would think you can't possibly fuck something like this up but nooooope. Each new title does the premise freshly wrong and shits on former game balance in new and exciting ways.

Like the Rutger mission how did anyone not lose a character on that without savescumming holy shit.
Or the Linus/Lloyd one. Let's have a mission about endless scores of enemies BUT let's have myrmidion/hero boss at the end and let's also give him Light Brand because it will be fun to replay the mission over and over again after he always inevitably crits.

Since you're playing Rekka no Ken's first route, here's a bunch of advice:
- Eliwood promotes at something like mission 20. Don't give him kills or he becomes an exp sink. And fuck Eliwood in Eliwood's route. Use the fuck out of Hector instead. Matter of fact, he's the true MC of the game.
- Myrmidions are broken. Get Guy for your first playthrough and use him, it will make a lot of the game less autistic.
- DON'T LOSE FLORINA like half of the game's intended puzzle scenarios rely on the assumption that you have Florina.
- Dark magic is broken. Canas is also very good even for a shaman. Anima magic is really nerfed from Binding Blade, but all the mages you get including Erk are amazing to make up for it.
- Ranged magic is basically a win button. Conserve it.
- Training Serra and Priscilla will eventualy really pay off if you do. Hitting with offensive staves gives much more experience than healing.
- Weight limit exists in the game. If a character is carrying too much, he won't be able to double enemy units. The game never tells you this, but don't shove four weapons and a healing item on everything just because you can.
- Relatedly, Thieves can steal. But they can only do that when their inventory has an empty spot in it, and if there is a lot to take from units, you can end up passing some of the loot to other units with them until you get Merlinus. It's a good idea to check enemy inventories before the start of the mission - everything that's not a weapon or green is stealable.
- FOR THIS VERY REASON, DON'T LOSE MATTHEW IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE GAME OR YOU'RE FUCKED

I wish I had seen that before I switched over to The Sacred Stones, Ratman, but I will keep that post in mind if/when I go back to it.

The Sacred Stones is really what I was looking for. There have already been some trying levels (that damn Joshua kept killing my guys with critical hits when I tried to lure him close enough for the priestess to recruit him, but the upswing was the way he slaughtered the bad guys as easily as he had been killing mine once I got him) but it's not tooth-gnashing. Most of the challenge has been my blundering into another situation I didn't foresee.

I'm such a novice I have to keep a tab with the rock-paper-scissors weapons triangle open at all times, but I'm still stumbling through a lot of the basics. Sure, I'll send my Pegasus Knight to go kill the swordsman over there, but, oh wait, there was an archer in range because I stupidly assumed he couldn't move that far. I like Pegasus Knights from what little I've seen of them in both games, but I tend to toss them to the wolves a lot.

All of which is to say I must be a filthy casual if I don't typically like my games to come in flavors ranging from Brutal to Ball-Busting.

Sacred Stones is the one GBA Fire Emblem that's solid, good that you've chosen to start with it. It's like 20 chapters though, so Rekka no Ken is completely massive compared to it. It'll help you git gud but it won't really last long.

Originally Posted by Imperial

I wish I had seen that before I switched over to The Sacred Stones, Ratman, but I will keep that post in mind if/when I go back to it.

The Sacred Stones is really what I was looking for. There have already been some trying levels (that damn Joshua kept killing my guys with critical hits when I tried to lure him close enough for the priestess to recruit him, but the upswing was the way he slaughtered the bad guys as easily as he had been killing mine once I got him) but it's not tooth-gnashing. Most of the challenge has been my blundering into another situation I didn't foresee.

I'm such a novice I have to keep a tab with the rock-paper-scissors weapons triangle open at all times, but I'm still stumbling through a lot of the basics. Sure, I'll send my Pegasus Knight to go kill the swordsman over there, but, oh wait, there was an archer in range because I stupidly assumed he couldn't move that far. I like Pegasus Knights from what little I've seen of them in both games, but I tend to toss them to the wolves a lot.

All of which is to say I must be a filthy casual if I don't typically like my games to come in flavors ranging from Brutal to Ball-Busting.

Joshua won't attack Natasha. It's the axe fighters you really have to look out for. Also, feel free to rely on Seth and Eirika. Seth has good enough growths that he can be used throughout the entire game and Eirika is an amazing dodge tank.

But pre-promote hate.

I was warned that FEs always have that incredibly broken character from the start who is an emergency "I Win" button in case you're botching it, but otherwise shouldn't be used because they'll hog all the experience and get awful level ups out of it.

So imagine my surprise when Seth's two level ups have given him stat increases in all but one category. The guy is locked into Beast Mode.

Franz is a poor man's Seth, which is hardly a bad thing.

Eirika is snatching up kills left and right, and it's only half-intentional. Bad guys seem to like going for her because she has such low HP and Defense, but then she dodges everything and kills them on the counterattack.

Colm has been a surprise ace. He doesn't hit quite as hard as those three, but he dodges even more than Eirika. Not to mention the unlocking/stealing/seeing further in the fog bits

Garcia is great, and Ross is shaky. He's starting to hit as hard as his dad and sometimes harder, but his HP and Defense are way behind. He doesn't have Garcia's staying power. But he gains EXP so quickly that leveling him isn't too much of a pain.

Artur has been my go-to magic user. Thank God for him when I go up against armored units. His magic chews right through them. I haven't even bothered with that girl who comes with him. I don't like her personality, and Artur had already started gaining a lot of levels by the time I remembered she was available.

Joshua crits left and right and still does decent damage even when he doesn't. I know they needed to make him frail to balance him out, but I still spend a lot of time crossing my fingers with him.

Everyone else is decent-to-awful. Gilliam is a fantastic tank, but his piss-poor movement means he's usually a wasted spot, lagging behind the battle. Vanessa is great for traversing the map, but she never hits as hard as she needs to and folds like wet cardboard. I wanted to like Eimi, but she does pathetic damage and dies in one or two hits. I will probably bench all of them permanently once similar-but-better characters come along. I'm sure there are better tanks, Peg Knights and archers out there.

FE8 is ez mode. Most people will cap many stats. Seth himself is absurdly broken.

The trainees are absurdly broken regardless of what class you put them in.

You can basically solo FE8 with artur because of how broken bishops are (always critical damage vs monster units). Ross (with ewan and ameilia later) is special in that once he hits 10 he auto promotes into a regular unit after the chapter. Make him a pirate then go into berserker for easy crits

Originally Posted by Ratman

It's not your fault. The Fire Emblem games are broken on the most fundamental level. You would think you can't possibly fuck something like this up but nooooope. Each new title does the premise freshly wrong and shits on former game balance in new and exciting ways.

Like the Rutger mission how did anyone not lose a character on that without savescumming holy shit.
Or the Linus/Lloyd one. Let's have a mission about endless scores of enemies BUT let's have myrmidion/hero boss at the end and let's also give him Light Brand because it will be fun to replay the mission over and over again after he always inevitably crits.

Since you're playing Rekka no Ken's first route, here's a bunch of advice:
- Eliwood promotes at something like mission 20. Don't give him kills or he becomes an exp sink. And fuck Eliwood in Eliwood's route. Use the fuck out of Hector instead. Matter of fact, he's the true MC of the game.
- Myrmidions are broken. Get Guy for your first playthrough and use him, it will make a lot of the game less autistic.
- DON'T LOSE FLORINA like half of the game's intended puzzle scenarios rely on the assumption that you have Florina.
- Dark magic is broken. Canas is also very good even for a shaman. Anima magic is really nerfed from Binding Blade, but all the mages you get including Erk are amazing to make up for it.
- Ranged magic is basically a win button. Conserve it.
- Training Serra and Priscilla will eventualy really pay off if you do. Hitting with offensive staves gives much more experience than healing.
- Weight limit exists in the game. If a character is carrying too much, he won't be able to double enemy units. The game never tells you this, but don't shove four weapons and a healing item on everything just because you can.
- Relatedly, Thieves can steal. But they can only do that when their inventory has an empty spot in it, and if there is a lot to take from units, you can end up passing some of the loot to other units with them until you get Merlinus. It's a good idea to check enemy inventories before the start of the mission - everything that's not a weapon or green is stealable.
- FOR THIS VERY REASON, DON'T LOSE MATTHEW IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE GAME OR YOU'RE FUCKED

Lies. Lies and scandal. I've played near every FE game and had full inventories on speedy characters. Unequipped weapons and items have no effect on AS.

No Lute? Awww.

Seriously though, in all my playthroughs, Lute was my ace. Always had great speed and magic, and chewed through armies like paper. Plus Anima has a bit more power than Light. Then again, Artur gets Bishop classes and thus the Slayer skill, so he'll eventually be stronger versus monsters.

Originally Posted by Kirby

No Lute? Awww.

Seriously though, in all my playthroughs, Lute was my ace. Always had great speed and magic, and chewed through armies like paper. Plus Anima has a bit more power than Light. Then again, Artur gets Bishop classes and thus the Slayer skill, so he'll eventually be stronger versus monsters.

The game has the two routes, which incentivizes going back and doing things a bit differently. I may use the character's on Ephraim's route I'm neglecting on Eirika's.

Originally Posted by The Geek

Lies. Lies and scandal. I've played near every FE game and had full inventories on speedy characters. Unequipped weapons and items have no effect on AS.

This. You can have whatever you want in your inventory, it's only about equipped weapon weight. (and BLD, if FE5)

Fire Emblem 4 and Awakening are the best and MY SHIPPING is legit.