Fire Emblem: Awakening

Demo content done, now on to the main event. I'm playing on Hard/Classic, and so far the challenge is what I expected. I have to plan ahead and really watch the battlefield, but so long as I do that I'm never in any serious danger.

Stopping Frederick from stealing all the XP is tough though. I want him as a meat shield, but I don't want him to kill anything!

ahrezmendi wrote:

Demo content done, now on to the main event. I'm playing on Hard/Classic, and so far the challenge is what I expected. I have to plan ahead and really watch the battlefield, but so long as I do that I'm never in any serious danger.

Stopping Frederick from stealing all the XP is tough though. I want him as a meat shield, but I don't want him to kill anything!

I need to figure out at what point I can do the thing I usually do with characters like him. Usually I take away all of his weapons. With all his weapons taken typically characters this strong can't steal XP because they can't counterattack. Additionally they have a higher avoidance rate because they're no longer in the weapons' Rock/Paper/Scissor triangle. So they're fairly effective for sending out into the field to absorb some attention / attacks and fight with the characters you actually want to min/max. I'll be trying that later today, hopefully.

I haven't gotten access to the preparation screen yet, so it'll be at least a couple chapters before that can be done. Thankfully just keeping him in the back has been sufficient so far, the battles haven't gotten tricky yet.

ahrezmendi wrote:

I haven't gotten access to the preparation screen yet, so it'll be at least a couple chapters before that can be done. Thankfully just keeping him in the back has been sufficient so far, the battles haven't gotten tricky yet.

Can't you just walk up to him and trade? That's what I did early in the other games.

Good idea, I'll do that at my next break.

Whew. My awesome and very understanding boss let me take lunch an hour early so I managed to snag one of the 3 copies a local Target received. Working in the game industry has its perks sometimes. Amazon pre-order cancelled... and if I were them (and the others who are probably bleeding pre-orders to eShop and/or lucky retailers) I'd be pretty annoyed at the shipping mess.

Haha, so I traded all of Frederick's equipment to my avatar, and of course next turn nobody attacks Frederick at all. Oh well, at least I didn't miss out on XP.

You could also throw him on as a support. +4 STR and +4 DEF can make a big difference for almost anyone, and if he has no weapon, the only interference I could imagine him doing is the "take a hit for my lead" thing.

Which he's already done a few times. The reason I want him separate is so I can send him out front as a distraction. If he's support, then the point character is still the one taking the hits, and he won't always jump in and take the hit. If he's unarmed and solo, I can send him out front to absorb a ton of hits.

This game is HARD. I'm finding it really tricky to keep all the balls in the air. Winning battles has not been too tough so far. But I also have to keep most characters from taking 2-3 hits, which will kill them. On top of that, I have to level up enough troops to be able to fight future battles. I have to manage the relationships among the troops. I have to be able to replace my equipment over time. And -- if I'm taking my time, playing deliberately to keep everyone safe -- suddenly I have to worry about enemy reinforcements riding in every turn or two.

Reinforcements don't always show up. It's only on some battles, and even then it's usually a limited number.

I cancelled my GS pre-order and just picked this up off the e-shop. I guess this game ended up being more popular than whoever does distribution for this game expected.

Gah, I hate protecting Clerics! I've always hated it, I still hate it, it is the bane of my existence!

For anyone still looking for physical copies, Target seems to be the main hope... but most Targets are only getting 3 copies each.

No dice at Target and Best Buy. I even tried GameStop in desperation to no avail

A few observations.

- This game is beautiful. Yes, it's still pixel art during battle, but I actually like this. The 3D effect in this game is my favorite in any 3DS game yet. It feels like watching a gorgeous pop-up book.

- Taking weapons away from XP sponges seems to work. I'm in Chapter 3 and Frederick has barely taken any damage. Regarding how useful that is if you hit the X button it will show you the range in which the enemy can attack. This is similar to Shadow Dragon on the DS. I just put Frederick into that range and they head towards him, allowing the characters I actually want to fight with to follow behind.

- Is the "Pair Up" system the new version of "Carry" from the old games? In other words will the secondary character in the pair be protected?

- I'm really enjoying the system of pairing up, conversations, fighting side-by-side, etc. The game is still Fire Emblem, but they've partially borrowed that mechanic from Disgaea, which I approve of.

- I really really love this game so far. I don't want to get hyperbolic yet so I'll just say that. I'm happy to be playing a new Fire Emblem, though.

BNice wrote:

No dice at Target and Best Buy. I even tried GameStop in desperation to no avail :(

IMAGE(http://www.maxconsole.com/maxconsole/contents/RKLS00000015240/icon_xl.jpg)

DSGamer wrote:

- Is the "Pair Up" system the new version of "Carry" from the old games? In other words will the secondary character in the pair be protected?

Yes. Damage goes to the leader of the pair, which is why you can also swap who is leader in the pairing. Sadly it's not equivalent to Carry, since you can't send someone like Frederick to go pick up your wounded Cleric and save them from getting hit. Your only option is to have the wounded unit pair with a stronger unit to get protection, since the unit initiating the action becomes the secondary in the pair.

ahrezmendi wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

- Is the "Pair Up" system the new version of "Carry" from the old games? In other words will the secondary character in the pair be protected?

Yes. Damage goes to the leader of the pair, which is why you can also swap who is leader in the pairing. Sadly it's not equivalent to Carry, since you can't send someone like Frederick to go pick up your wounded Cleric and save them from getting hit. Your only option is to have the wounded unit pair with a stronger unit to get protection, since the unit initiating the action becomes the secondary in the pair.

So still useful for that, but only useful when you can make the decision before the next turn. Got it. I remember doing things like sending someone to fight a boss, they get hit and almost die, then you send someone in to grab them. That wouldn't be possible. But if someone was in danger and couldn't get far enough away it could be useful for that.

Yeah, pretty much. The new system emphasizes preparation over reaction, which I think I like given this is a tactical game.

So... I just watched a cutscene and nobody had any feet. Anybody else encounter this (first cutscene of Ch. 2)?

ahrezmendi wrote:

Yeah, pretty much. The new system emphasizes preparation over reaction, which I think I like given this is a tactical game.

So... I just watched a cutscene and nobody had any feet. Anybody else encounter this (first cutscene of Ch. 2)?

Some of the reviewers mentioned this and speculated if it was just their early review copies, but apparently not.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Yeah, pretty much. The new system emphasizes preparation over reaction, which I think I like given this is a tactical game.

So... I just watched a cutscene and nobody had any feet. Anybody else encounter this (first cutscene of Ch. 2)?

I noticed that too. I guess it's an art decision.

I'm really getting into this game. I'm looking forward to digging into it over the next couple of days.

ahrezmendi wrote:

Yeah, pretty much. The new system emphasizes preparation over reaction, which I think I like given this is a tactical game.

So... I just watched a cutscene and nobody had any feet. Anybody else encounter this (first cutscene of Ch. 2)?

That's the scene in the swamp, right? I thought that was in the demo and they were meant to be in ankle-deep water. I do remember noticing that, though.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:

Yeah, pretty much. The new system emphasizes preparation over reaction, which I think I like given this is a tactical game.

So... I just watched a cutscene and nobody had any feet. Anybody else encounter this (first cutscene of Ch. 2)?

That's the scene in the swamp, right? I thought that was in the demo and they were meant to be in ankle-deep water. I do remember noticing that, though.

That's how I read it as well. We'll see if there are feet later in the game. Perhaps this is part of the plot.

Fire Emblem: Awakening is secretly about the diabetes :O

ClockworkHouse wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:

Yeah, pretty much. The new system emphasizes preparation over reaction, which I think I like given this is a tactical game.

So... I just watched a cutscene and nobody had any feet. Anybody else encounter this (first cutscene of Ch. 2)?

That's the scene in the swamp, right? I thought that was in the demo and they were meant to be in ankle-deep water. I do remember noticing that, though.

No, the scene in the Shepherd's Barracks. I initially thought it was an art direction thing, but then I noticed that all the characters are drawn high enough that they *should* have feet. The shadows even draw like they have feet, but they don't! It's freaking me out.

ahrezmendi wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:

Yeah, pretty much. The new system emphasizes preparation over reaction, which I think I like given this is a tactical game.

So... I just watched a cutscene and nobody had any feet. Anybody else encounter this (first cutscene of Ch. 2)?

That's the scene in the swamp, right? I thought that was in the demo and they were meant to be in ankle-deep water. I do remember noticing that, though.

No, the scene in the Shepherd's Barracks. I initially thought it was an art direction thing, but then I noticed that all the characters are drawn high enough that they *should* have feet. The shadows even draw like they have feet, but they don't! It's freaking me out.

It's Bioshock and missing feet all over again.

Alright, decision time. The difficulty settings state normal as being "for series beginners" and hard for "experienced players." I've beaten three Fire Emblem games. Normal or hard?

So, is it Gamestop's fault or is it just a shortage already?

I think the fault lies with individual retailers here, if it's really anyone's fault. Some businesses just don't send their trucks out on Sundays. Target stores have them, while Best Buy and Gamestop are saying it'll be there tomorrow.