Fire Emblem

[Agent Gold]

Hmm... That Lunatic difficulty is just vague enough to make me think it could be a big let down. Traditionally their idea of harder difficulty has been more enemies in the same places, stronger enemies in the same places, and less experience (which is offset by the fact that there are more enemies to get experience from). It hasn't, on the other hand, been adjusting enemy strategies to make you think about the mission in a new way--the most you typically get in this regard is rearranging enemy units a bit and adding a bandit who forces you to move toward treasure/villages more quickly.

I'd love to see Lunatic difficulty mean "hard because it makes you think", but I'm sort of afraid Hard will mean "more enemies" and Lunatic will mean "more enemies than that".

Just to give an example of what I'm thinking of, the difference between Eliwood and Hector's stories in FE7 is a good example of making you think about things differently. Adding flying units to enemy forces, placing aggressive bosses closer to you, and having some enemies charge before they're provoked come to mind. This is the sort of thing I'd like to see a Lunatic do.

Hmm... That Lunatic difficulty is just vague enough to make me think it could be a big let down. Traditionally their idea of harder difficulty has been more enemies in the same places, stronger enemies in the same places, and less experience (which is offset by the fact that there are more enemies to get experience from). It hasn't, on the other hand, been adjusting enemy strategies to make you think about the mission in a new way--the most you typically get in this regard is rearranging enemy units a bit and adding a bandit who forces you to move toward treasure/villages more quickly.

I'd love to see Lunatic difficulty mean "hard because it makes you think", but I'm sort of afraid Hard will mean "more enemies" and Lunatic will mean "more enemies than that".

Just to give an example of what I'm thinking of, the difference between Eliwood and Hector's stories in FE7 is a good example of making you think about things differently. Adding flying units to enemy forces, placing aggressive bosses closer to you, and having some enemies charge before they're provoked come to mind. This is the sort of thing I'd like to see a Lunatic do.

I'm under the impression that Lunatic mode is the equivalent of Maniac mode from the Japanese versions of Path of Radiance (and Radiant Dawn?). I can't speak for exactly how they changed the gameplay, but looking into those changes would probably show some similar trends in what will happen.


The newly released information on FE13 sounds pretty cool so far. I'm still not sure if I really like the art style all too much (still vastly superior to SD at least) but the other information is promising sounding. I do have to wonder if we'll be getting Tier 3 characters based on the 40 classes revelation... do remember though, this very well might just mean that we have some very broken down, basic first tiers (for example, instead of Cavalier as a single class, they pull a Radiant Dawn move and we get "Sword Knight", "Lance Knight", and so on... depending on what they do with Magic, that could also contribute to this inflated number if they had the primary triangle AND the anima triangle as well and we have things like Wind Mage, Fire Mage, Shaman, etc).

The strategist class sounds interesting, I'm not sure how I feel about it but as long as they write them in effectively and not stupidly it has potential. Also I don't care that nonpermanent deaths are an option now, I'm never using it, I feel that its a property that makes FE unique and more interesting and without it the experience wouldn't be the same for me. Knowing the characters will permanently be gone if they lose all their HP promotes better strategy.

[Dinosaurshotgun]

So am I the only one that likes to play Fire Emblem without resetting every time I lose a unit? It seems more like how it's intended to play and it's why I enjoyed Shadow Dragon (and why Radiant Dawn frustrated me so much). It also makes it feel more like a real war with casualties... there's something about missing a unit that adds emotion to the game. I kinda wish there was dialogue specific to missing certain units.

[Deckard Canine]

By that theoretical standard, PoR has about 40 distinct "classes" and RD has more than 70.

So am I the only one that likes to play Fire Emblem without resetting every time I lose a unit? It seems more like how it's intended to play and it's why I enjoyed Shadow Dragon (and why Radiant Dawn frustrated me so much). It also makes it feel more like a real war with casualties... there's something about missing a unit that adds emotion to the game. I kinda wish there was dialogue specific to missing certain units.

I do that sometimes. And I can think of one bit of dialog that changes to reflect a casualty: In RD,

if Calill dies before Amy comes looking for her, Ranulf sympathetically lies that they'll reunite soon. In the meantime, Amy can use his furry belly as a pillow.

Yeah, if you take third tiers and then all those minor variations into account there'll be.. a really tiny amount of classes unless by over 40 they meant WAY over 40. It depends on what they're really defining as a class and then we have to take unique classes into account, whether a monster class would be one class, things like that. I guess the information isn't really that useful, but I hope it does mean they introdued some new standard classes.

And I reset every time since even if it doesn't feel like the "way it should be played" (which it doesn't in my opinion) I think I'm just too attached or something.


And yeah, I hope they handle this Lunatic difficulty well. It better not be like RD's hard mode, which amped the luck factors up by throwing tactical things like the weapon triangle and some terrain things out the window. And then they had the completely fake things like not letting you see enemymovement without counting.

I know expecting a lot can be a bad thing but I'm still very hopeful they'll put that off well.

Yeah, if you take third tiers and then all those minor variations into account there'll be.. a really tiny amount of classes unless by over 40 they meant WAY over 40. It depends on what they're really defining as a class and then we have to take unique classes into account, whether a monster class would be one class, things like that. I guess the information isn't really that useful, but I hope it does mean they introdued some new standard classes.

Spoiler: Let's take a look 

Spoiler: First, with the extranneous entries 

1. Hero
2. Vanguard
3. Myrmidon
4. Swordmaster
5. Trueblade
6. Soldier
7. Halberdier
8. Sentinel
9. Fighter
10. Warrior
11. Reaver
12. Archer
13. Sniper
14. Marksman
15. Armor Lance
16. Armor Axe
17. Armor Sword
18. Lance General
19. Axe General
20. Sword General
21. Marshall
22. Black Knight
23. Thief
24. Rogue
25. Whisper
26. Assassin
27. Bandit
28. Fire Mage
29. Thunder Mage
30. Wind Mage
31. Light Mage
32. Fire Sage
33. Thunder Sage
34. Wind Sage
35. Light Sage
36. Dark Sage
37. Archsage (Anima)
38. Archsage (Dark)
39. Light Priestess
40. Empress
41. Chancellor
42. Druid
43. Summoner
44. Priest
45. Bishop
46. Saint
47. Cleric
48. Valkyrie
49. Sword Knight
50. Lance Knight
51. Axe Knight
52. Bow Knight
53. Blade Paladin
54. Lance Paladin
55. Axe Paladin
56. Bow Paladin
57. Gold Knight
58. Silver Knight
59. Pegasus Knight
60. Falcon Knight
61. Seraph Knight
62. Queen
63. Dracoknight
64. Dragonmaster
65. Dragonlord
66. Lion
67. Lion King
68. Tiger
69. Cat
70. Wolf
71. Wolf Queen
72. Hawk
73. Hawk King
74. Raven
75. Raven King
76. Heron
77. Red Dragon
78. White Dragon
79. Dragon King
80. Dragon Prince

Spoiler: Now let's clean that up a bit 

1. Hero
2. Vanguard
3. Myrmidon
4. Swordmaster
5. Trueblade
6. Soldier
7. Halberdier
8. Sentinel
9. Fighter
10. Warrior
11. Reaver
12. Archer
13. Sniper
14. Marksman
15. Armor Knight
16. General
17. Marshall
18. Black Knight
19. Thief
20. Rogue
21. Whisper
22. Assassin
23. Bandit
24. Mage
25. Light Mage (Miciaiah)
26. Sage
27. Light Sage (Miciaiah)
28. Dark Sage (Pelleas)
29. Archsage (Anima)
30. Archsage (Pelleas)
31. Light Priestess (Miciaiah)
32. Empress
33. Chancellor
34. Druid
35. Summoner
36. Priest
37. Bishop
38. Saint
39. Cleric
40. Valkyrie
41. Horse Knight
42. Paladin
43. Gold Knight
44. Silver Knight
45. Pegasus Knight
46. Falcon Knight
47. Seraph Knight
48. Queen
49. Dracoknight
50. Dragonmaster
51. Dragonlord
52. Lion
53. Lion King
54. Tiger
55. Cat
56. Wolf
57. Wolf Queen
58. Hawk
59. Hawk King
60. Raven
61. Raven King
62. Heron
63. Red Dragon
64. White Dragon
65. Dragon King
66. Dragon Prince

I dunno. It seems like there's quite a bit even with those extra entries cleaned up a bit, at least 40 if we consider tier3.

And I reset every time since even if it doesn't feel like the "way it should be played" (which it doesn't in my opinion) I think I'm just too attached or something.

Also if you've invested a lot of time into it - "it" being the character that died.

And yeah, I hope they handle this Lunatic difficulty well. It better not be like RD's hard mode, which amped the luck factors up by throwing tactical things like the weapon triangle and some terrain things out the window. And then they had the completely fake things like not letting you see enemymovement without counting.

I know expecting a lot can be a bad thing but I'm still very hopeful they'll put that off well.

Didn't they put a lot of faith into the biorythms on Hard mode? In that the player should be expected to monitor their unit's biorhythms and plan accordingly in tune with the enemy biorhythms as well?

That was a pretty big factor on it too, as I recall.

[Moonside]

More news!

A trailer from the Nintendo Direct thing. Shows some battle sequences.
The official Japanese site. There's not much yet, just the profiles for the protagonist and the My Unit (which shows some of the possible looks for it), and the trailer.

[Doofenshmirtz]

And then Nintendo has announced a bundle.

Of course, a Fire Emblem-themed 3DS will be released with the bundle.

Spoiler: And its beautiful 

Now I wish I had waited for a 3DS, but oh well~

[Hammerlord]

And then Nintendo has announced a bundle.

Of course, a Fire Emblem-themed 3DS will be released with the bundle.

Spoiler: And its beautiful 

Now I wish I had waited for a 3DS, but oh well~

Yessss! I am now half-filled with regret. I waited a bit and bought the 3DS for 170 bucks. Now those bundle babies come up out of nowhere!

Anyway, I've been playing some Sacred Stones lately. Grinding FTW!

Anyway, I've been playing some Sacred Stones lately. Grinding FTW!

Oh, so how far through it are you? And who's in your party? Any specific promotions worth a mention?

[Hammerlord]

Well, at the moment, I'm around the beginning, to be honest. I forgot which chapter was the one you meet Ross, Garcia, Vanessa and the priest guy Moulder. It's like the 3rd time I play through the game. I'm probably going to do the same as my past runs. You know, Ross as a berserker, get Arthur to marry Lute, and leave Seth in the corners, only using him to soften up the beefy guys for the low leveled units that actually have a future ahead of them.

Still, I'm trying to decide what to do with Amelia and the red headed male mage, whom's name I totally forgot. I think I'll try turning the mage into a summoner, so he can combo with Knoll, but I'm not sure. Well, he wouldn't be much of help in sage form, since Lute can do the job throughout the game and having yet another sage kind of bugs me.

Playing the game in casual mode. Well, it's normal difficulty, but I'm not really planning to do self imposed challenges or anything alike just yet, so playing it should be an easy ride.

The chapter you get all those people is like chapter 2, so yeah.

Seth may be the starting paladin but he does in fact have a sort of future if you wait to use him when everyone starts promoting. He's actually really good all-around, kinda like Marcus in FE7 or Titania in FE9.

Also you should make Amelia into a huge general, it doesn't actually matter what you turn her into I guess but general is pretty popular and is in my opinion the best option, since she'll be wrecking everything while dodging a lot or taking no/negligible damage. Then again she'll do that a lot but General is just good and you get those cool giant swords. Ewan, the mage pupil, is probably better off as a Druid while Knoll is better as a summoner.


Gee speaking of Sacred Stones where did all you other guys doing that draft run go? I don't think I ever saw anyone else tell me they finished.

Does that mean I won :o

Well, at the moment, I'm around the beginning, to be honest. I forgot which chapter was the one you meet Ross, Garcia, Vanessa and the priest guy Moulder. It's like the 3rd time I play through the game. I'm probably going to do the same as my past runs.

Why not try shaking up your party by using different units or even just different supports? And who else do you usually use, anyway?

Gee speaking of Sacred Stones where did all you other guys doing that draft run go? I don't think I ever saw anyone else tell me they finished.

Does that mean I won :o

I haven't finished - although I'm close, chapter 19 - but since I can't find my vidya games that could kind of be an issue. Although I do intend to finish it, I swear!

[Hammerlord]

I usually stick with Joshua as a Sword Master, Franz as a Paladin, Amelia as a Great Knight (I think), Ross as a Berserker, Lute and Moulder as Sages, Arthur as a Bishop, Neimi as a Sniper, Cormag as a Wyvern Lord... I gotta take my time to remember. The ones I did write here are the ones I definitely know how they were used in my past runs.

Yeah, I should variate stuff a little bit. Have any suggestions, Lenore?

By the way, thanks for the tips, Dynawing!

I usually stick with Joshua as a Sword Master, Franz as a Paladin, Amelia as a Great Knight (I think), Ross as a Berserker, Lute and Moulder as Sages, Arthur as a Bishop, Neimi as a Sniper, Cormag as a Wyvern Lord... I gotta take my time to remember. The ones I did write here are the ones I definitely know how they were used in my past runs.

Yeah, I should variate stuff a little bit. Have any suggestions, Lenore?

Ever used Gerik? After all, he's the only Mercenary in the game, and he makes a fantastic Hero, too. And this may just be me, but I don't like doubling up on classes if I can avoid it.

[Nicholas1024]

Heh, I'm the exact opposite. I had 4 paladins by the end of SS, and no great knights or generals. XD

[Hammerlord]

Ah yes, Gerik! I used him as a Ranger in my first file! Having a Hero would be very nice!

I should try avoiding double classing. That would make the game much more interesting.

Also, I was thinking about getting Garcia as a Warrior and Natasha as a Bishop. So many possibilities... I think I'll check the Support's possibilities as well.

Ah yes, Gerik! I used him as a Ranger in my first file! Having a Hero would be very nice!

So did I, and having used him as a Hero in my draft run, I'd definitely recommend doing the latter.

Also, I was thinking about getting Garcia as a Warrior and Natasha as a Bishop. So many possibilities... I think I'll check the Support's possibilities as well.

Who would you intend to replace with them? I've never used either Garcia or a Warrior, but they do seem pretty great. Bishops are good because they tend to mow down monsters, and having a female one will almost certainly give you more support options. Natasha can support with Joshua, Seth, Franz, Cormag and Knoll (and get special endings with the first two), so that's definitely going to fit with the party you've outlined so far.

[Zelos Wilder]

There's not much use for Warriors. If you're willing to baby Ross, he's much more useful as an infantry axe unit, especially as a Berserker. The Warrior's bow equips doesn't provide much as they leave you open in close combat and you still have hand axes and such for range. And then you have your Sniper for srs bsns bow shooting.
or maybe I just like crit classes

Garcia is a decent Hero, though

[Ark]

Okay, I know that Doof finished with at least 330 turns or something, but he never gave me specifics. I'm bad at left the game at the last chapter for a while, but whatever, I finished up.

Anyway, final result is 193 turns. Since I'm lazy, I'll just give my thoughts on my picks instead of the chapter by chapter thing that I did earlier. I do think that a big reason I did pretty okay in this draft was because I picked two of the best units (Vanessa and Garcia are usually the first picks right after Franz) along with Moulder giving me quite a bit of an advantage early on.

Spoiler: my picks 

Erika: She did pretty well, but I relied on her for crits too much. She rarely gave me those crits (even with a Killing Edge >:/), but hey, she's around for quite a while, and having a mount definitely helped her out once she was promoted.

Vanessa: Best unit ever hands down. I got her to 20 around on the chapter right before you get the Elysian Whip from Cormag, so she was ready to promote right then and there. Having her carry units across the map was definitely my main strategy for a couple chapters, and the fact that she's able to hold her own in combat along with her amazing availability only make her that much better. I made her a Falco Knight just because.

Garcia: Amazing unit who can tank certain units due to his HP and can plow right through whatever comes after him. I promoted him into a Hero since he was really getting RNG screwed when it came to speed, so the extra boost from the promotion really helped. He still had some trouble with doubling some enemies, but he was strong enough to one-hit quite a few anyway.

Moulder: Okay, he kinda weighed me down for a bit since getting him to level 10 for promotion seemed like it would take forever, but man, it was worth it. Bishop's Slayer skill is the way to take out monsters, and all that time he spent leveling his staff rank as a Priest also let me take full advantage of the Warp Staff to essentially skip a couple chapters.

Kyle: I was really stupid and didn't level him up to 10 on the chapter before the Eirika/Ephraim split. This was a problem since there's that Sniper behind a couple of Mercenaries early on in the beginning of the first chapter of Eirika's story, and I didn't have a proper unit to tank the hits. Took a couple tries, but I managed to defeat that Sniper and turn Kyle into a Paladin. He deserved some stat-boosting items since he was promoted really early and did have a bit of trouble doubling some units, but hey, I'll take an early Paladin over a Cavalier getting wrecked.

Saleh: Awesome unit since he can plow through baddies with Light and Anima magic. Not much else to say other than he was great from the start.

Ephraim: He's kind of a loser, but hey, more damage and a mount is enough to make him a respectable unit for rushing through chapters.

Syrene: SHE SUCKS BUT DAT MOVEMENT AND A FLYING MOUNT YEAH

[Doofenshmirtz]

Personally speaking, I made Franz a Great Knight and whatever other Cavalier I have into a Paladin.
And I make Neimi into the horse-mounted unit with access to swords whose name escapes me. Makes a very good one, too.
Oddly, in this game, I had no use for two Snipers, and since Innes makes a fine Sniper already...

also, Colm, make him a Rogue. You can make Marisa or Joshua into Assassins if you want killing power.
Rennac just sucks as a Rogue.

[HandsOffMyBread]

So I just bought Path of Radiance, on Gamecube. I haven't played any of it yet, but how is it?

As far as I'm concerned, PoR is the best worldwide FE (I can't judge Japanese as I haven't played them). I always have trouble deciding if my personal favorite is PoR or FE7 (the first GBA one we got) but when it comes to which is a better game I definitely say PoR. There's a ton of really nice stuff in PoR, chief among them being skills which are simple but really add a lot to the game's depth and strategy. The whole Base system is awesome too, it provides a lot of extra story and characterization that, while totally optional, is a lot of fun and occasionally nets you rare items. Bonus EXP and promotions by level up rather than specific items are great features as well. About the only thing I dislike in PoR are the laguz, who I find pretty worthless to use (with a few exceptions), but that is honestly a purely personal thing.

Honestly PoR would always be my top recommendation aside from one thing; I think FE7 is a better entry to the series to get you used to how it works and what it is like. PoR is an excellent game though, one of my personal favorites and definitely in my eyes the best FE I've played.

[itsameluigi1290]

Hey, I was wondering, should I get the gamecube fire emblem, or the wii one? I get the names mixed up, so I don't remember which is which.

[Doofenshmirtz]

Hey, I was wondering, should I get the gamecube fire emblem, or the wii one? I get the names mixed up, so I don't remember which is which.

Considering the Wii one (Radiant Dawn) is a sequel to the Gamecube one (Path of Radiance)... if you care about the story, then start with the Gamecube one.

Now, for Fire Emblem Awakening... wow, it comes out next month in Japan... how fast does the time fly, right?

We've got more info from Famitsu. We get more info story-wise (Apparently, the story will take place over 2 continents...)

Gameplay-wise, branched unit promotions have been confirmed, and we add a new(?) class branch for Clerics: Battle Clerics which can use axes and have better strength than Sages.