Fire Emblem: Awakening

In case it's not clear, DSG believes perma-death is integral to the series. As a newcomer, I actually think Hard/Casual might be harder than Normal/Classic, but I haven't tried it to know.

What's weird to me is perma-death in a series where you have these delightful relationships and even marriages between characters that might die at any moment. I want to see that writing come to fruition!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

In case it's not clear, DSG believes perma-death is integral to the series. As a newcomer, I actually think Hard/Casual might be harder than Normal/Classic, but I haven't tried it to know.

DSG is correct. I'm glad they added another option but its inarguably integral to the series.

Which of those two modes is harder probably depends on your play style. If you're comfortable losing characters then you may be right.

SixteenBlue wrote:

Which of those two modes is harder probably depends on your play style. If you're comfortable losing characters then you may be right.

I should be comfortable losing characters. I enjoy playing XCom most on Ironman.

Well, I guess my thinking is that the difficulty of a classic-style mode tends to be extremely front-loaded. It starts off tense because you could lose anyone at any time, but eventually you get to a point where you have a contingent of super-powered characters that are unlikely to die unless you become completely careless on Normal difficulty. I figured that Hard/Casual would take away the threat of permadeath, but it would prevent my characters from becoming too much stronger than the opposition and preserve some of the challenge into the mid and late game.

Am I off base?

Dyni wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:

Which of those two modes is harder probably depends on your play style. If you're comfortable losing characters then you may be right.

I should be comfortable losing characters. I enjoy playing XCom most on Ironman.

Well, I guess my thinking is that the difficulty of a classic-style mode tends to be extremely front-loaded. It starts off tense because you could lose anyone at any time, but eventually you get to a point where you have a contingent of super-powered characters that are unlikely to die unless you become completely careless on Normal difficulty. I figured that Hard/Casual would take away the threat of permadeath, but it would prevent my characters from becoming too much stronger than the opposition and preserve some of the challenge into the mid and late game.

Am I off base?

That sounds good to me. For what it's worth, my first playthrough of Awakening was on Normal, and I completed the final mission in two turns without taking damage. I knew about halfway through I was on the wrong difficulty, but didn't want to restart.

I've subsequently replayed in Hard/Classic and Lunatic/Classic. Hard seems like the way to go, in terms of overall balance across the campaign.

Realistically, I think the distinction between Classic and Casual is whether you want to savescum yourself, or let the game take care of that for you. So that's not as important to get right IMO.

Dyni wrote:
SixteenBlue wrote:

Which of those two modes is harder probably depends on your play style. If you're comfortable losing characters then you may be right.

I should be comfortable losing characters. I enjoy playing XCom most on Ironman.

Well, I guess my thinking is that the difficulty of a classic-style mode tends to be extremely front-loaded. It starts off tense because you could lose anyone at any time, but eventually you get to a point where you have a contingent of super-powered characters that are unlikely to die unless you become completely careless on Normal difficulty. I figured that Hard/Casual would take away the threat of permadeath, but it would prevent my characters from becoming too much stronger than the opposition and preserve some of the challenge into the mid and late game.

Am I off base?

You're actually not off base. When you play Classic mode and if you focus on trying to save as many party members as possible it does lead you down the road of min/maxing. You end up being as careful as possible to try and save party members (and the XP you put into them). Eventually the curve flattens out and you have an unstoppable killing force. To me this has always been the draw of SRPGs. Part of the reason I prefer Fire Emblem to Advance Wars is because it feels like there is a story progression there. As my characters level up they should be stronger. It should be fun to watch them grow more powerful and by the end I don't mind if it's easier. Whereas in a game like Advance Wars it's a flat curve or it gets steeper as you go.

It's obviously personal preference. My picture and link were a joke because having cut my teeth on classic Fire Emblem I think that's the definitive way to experience the game. But that isn't fact. That's just my opinion based on my experience. I played through first on Normal/Classic and then Hard/Classic. In BOTH cases the game got easier later in the game. That's just how it goes when you min/max and grind a little (playing random battles and fighting against Street Pass teams). I think you'll find the same thing will happen in Hard/Casual except that you may not min/max as much early in the game.

So I'm just before the final chapter, but the spotpass paralogues have just opened up. Do I need to play through them before it, or will I still be able to access them afterwards?

Ok. So added this game to my Pick of the Month in the Pile thread. Got to mission 2, and kept dying. Over. and Over. I was playing on Classic, so I kept restarting.

I'm scared of losing characters. I feel like if you let them perma-die then you are screwed in the rest of the game because that's less people you can bring into the next fights. This thinking is correct, right? It's like the recent X-Com game... if you let your veterans die then you are pretty much toast and either have to restart or try to grind out some newbies before you start the next story mission.

This is my first FE game. I've always been very interested (and actually have copies of the fan translation games on my hard drive), but... ugh. It's confusing.

I might just restart on Hard/Casual, but this isn't seasoning me for the other games in the series.

Vrikk wrote:

Ok. So added this game to my Pick of the Month in the Pile thread. Got to mission 2, and kept dying. Over. and Over. I was playing on Classic, so I kept restarting.

I'm scared of losing characters. I feel like if you let them perma-die then you are screwed in the rest of the game because that's less people you can bring into the next fights. This thinking is correct, right? It's like the recent X-Com game... if you let your veterans die then you are pretty much toast and either have to restart or try to grind out some newbies before you start the next story mission.

This is my first FE game. I've always been very interested (and actually have copies of the fan translation games on my hard drive), but... ugh. It's confusing.

I might just restart on Hard/Casual, but this isn't seasoning me for the other games in the series.

Yes and no. You get at least twice as many characters as you can take into battle, but if enough die you can get in trouble.

Regarding your last sentence, I don't really see a reason to go backward in the series. Awakening is head and shoulders above the rest in every regard, I'd argue.

Vrikk, a few thoughts.

Vrikk wrote:

Ok. So added this game to my Pick of the Month in the Pile thread. Got to mission 2, and kept dying. Over. and Over. I was playing on Classic, so I kept restarting.

I would say that making it a pile game could be risky. The game is going to take some time to learn. It's going to take some time to appreciate it or even to figure out if it's for you. I would take your time and not get too frustrated with it.

Vrikk wrote:

I'm scared of losing characters. I feel like if you let them perma-die then you are screwed in the rest of the game because that's less people you can bring into the next fights. This thinking is correct, right? It's like the recent X-Com game... if you let your veterans die then you are pretty much toast and either have to restart or try to grind out some newbies before you start the next story mission.

As Blind said, yes and no. Most Fire Emblem games (can't remember how it works in this one as well) have characters that can only be recruited by talking to them with other characters. So it might be possible that losing a character to permadeath also causes you to lose another character down the line. Also you obviously lose the XP and whatever grinding you put into that character, nevermind the investment in the character themselves. So it's a perfectly rational thing to do, if you're new to the series, to put it on Casual. My point earlier is that I'd turn down the difficulty before I'd take out permadeath. That's the more "pure" FE experience. But if you're used to X-Com and want the game to "feel" more that way, Nintendo put that option in there.

Vrikk wrote:

This is my first FE game. I've always been very interested (and actually have copies of the fan translation games on my hard drive), but... ugh. It's confusing.

I might just restart on Hard/Casual, but this isn't seasoning me for the other games in the series.

Like Blind said, I wouldn't worry so much about other games in the series. I've played this game through twice. I will probably play it through a couple more times. It's the most replayable and enjoyable entry in the series to me. The other games are really fun and you should absolutely play them if you get into the series, but there's no reason to run away from the series because of this. Nintendo rounded off that edge in case someone didn't have the time or patience for what it takes to poke and prod around the edges in permadeath games. It's perfectly reasonable to not be in love with this or to not enjoy having a character die cheaply at the end of a battle after spending half an hour on the battle. I would just personally turn down the difficulty if it were me.

concentric wrote:

So I'm just before the final chapter, but the spotpass paralogues have just opened up. Do I need to play through them before it, or will I still be able to access them afterwards?

you can access them afterward.

I'm playing on Normal/Classic, and there's enough challenge that I've had to replay a bunch of missions when folks die. I've even had to abandon some side missions and come back later.

I finished the main campaign earlier today. So fantastic. I'm going to just savor the experience before heading back to do the last few paralogues. What a great game.

This game is inmy backlog

I got maybe half way through this game, twice, and got stalled, but I'm really itching to play it again.

I'm a couple hours in so far and am really enjoying this.

I just unlocked the online stuff, and there is a ton of stuff in my bonus box that looks like it is way stronger than the characters and items I have right now. I just put this thing in my 3DS for the first time the other day. Is that stuff available to everyone, and is it as game breaking as it appears?

Dyni wrote:

I'm a couple hours in so far and am really enjoying this.

I just unlocked the online stuff, and there is a ton of stuff in my bonus box that looks like it is way stronger than the characters and items I have right now. I just put this thing in my 3DS for the first time the other day. Is that stuff available to everyone, and is it as game breaking as it appears?

It is available to all, but it takes a long time for your characters to be able to use A-class weapons, so I'm guessing it's not a huge deal.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
Dyni wrote:

I'm a couple hours in so far and am really enjoying this.

I just unlocked the online stuff, and there is a ton of stuff in my bonus box that looks like it is way stronger than the characters and items I have right now. I just put this thing in my 3DS for the first time the other day. Is that stuff available to everyone, and is it as game breaking as it appears?

It is available to all, but it takes a long time for your characters to be able to use A-class weapons, so I'm guessing it's not a huge deal.

Yep! You can definitely use that stuff to make the game easier, but only by really gunning for certain weapon proficiencies and stuff. And the special weapons tend to break faster -- just use them as soon as you can, or whenever you need a little boost.

chairkicker wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:
Dyni wrote:

I'm a couple hours in so far and am really enjoying this.

I just unlocked the online stuff, and there is a ton of stuff in my bonus box that looks like it is way stronger than the characters and items I have right now. I just put this thing in my 3DS for the first time the other day. Is that stuff available to everyone, and is it as game breaking as it appears?

It is available to all, but it takes a long time for your characters to be able to use A-class weapons, so I'm guessing it's not a huge deal.

Yep! You can definitely use that stuff to make the game easier, but only by really gunning for certain weapon proficiencies and stuff. And the special weapons tend to break faster -- just use them as soon as you can, or whenever you need a little boost.

By the time your characters can use them, it will be against enemies with similar capabilities and weapons.

Gotcha. I see what you mean. It looks like only Frederick can use any of the weapons available right away.

So I see that there's about $50 worth of DLC available. Any of it worth getting?

Dyni wrote:

So I see that there's about $50 worth of DLC available. Any of it worth getting?

Gonna give this one little bump since the thread isn't too active.

Here's a good breakdown of what's available: http://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Downl...

I was mostly interested in more story and character interaction stuff, so I got and enjoyed the Scramble Pack and the Future Past set. Most of the rest of the DLC seemed to be geared towards fans of previous installments of the series (which I am, but not to that extent) or towards accumulating special junk that doesn't mean much when you're already at the end of the campaign.

There are two DLCs I didn't get that let you unlock two new character classes. Those would probably be the ones I'd look at next, if I wanted to get any more.

Darkhaund wrote:

This game is inmy backlog

Been drinking?

The biggest problem with the DLC is that, like chairkicker said earlier, it's mostly older characters. If you beat those maps you can bring Marth and other major characters into your party. But since they can't interact in the pairing system you lose the benefit of a relationship. So I found most of that DLC fan service at best and useless at worst.

chairkicker wrote:

Here's a good breakdown of what's available: http://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Downl...

I was mostly interested in more story and character interaction stuff, so I got and enjoyed the Scramble Pack and the Future Past set. Most of the rest of the DLC seemed to be geared towards fans of previous installments of the series (which I am, but not to that extent) or towards accumulating special junk that doesn't mean much when you're already at the end of the campaign.

There are two DLCs I didn't get that let you unlock two new character classes. Those would probably be the ones I'd look at next, if I wanted to get any more.

DSGamer wrote:

The biggest problem with the DLC is that, like chairkicker said earlier, it's mostly older characters. If you beat those maps you can bring Marth and other major characters into your party. But since they can't interact in the pairing system you lose the benefit of a relationship. So I found most of that DLC fan service at best and useless at worst.

Are you saying that none of the DLC characters can interact in the pairing system? What character interaction is there if they can't utilize Support?

I grabbed a few of the streetpass characters, but I see that there is little incentive to use them in battle if they can't pair.

I mean you can't have Marth and a regular character develop a relationship and have a kid, which is one of the major systems in the game.

That's right. You unlock bonus characters from the the DLC. These don't really interact with anybody else in supports, etc. From my perspective they're pretty dumb.

The character interaction I was talking about is that there's lots (as in: LOTS) of dialogue between characters in some of the DLC maps.

Dyni wrote:
chairkicker wrote:

Here's a good breakdown of what's available: http://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Downl...

I was mostly interested in more story and character interaction stuff, so I got and enjoyed the Scramble Pack and the Future Past set. Most of the rest of the DLC seemed to be geared towards fans of previous installments of the series (which I am, but not to that extent) or towards accumulating special junk that doesn't mean much when you're already at the end of the campaign.

There are two DLCs I didn't get that let you unlock two new character classes. Those would probably be the ones I'd look at next, if I wanted to get any more.

DSGamer wrote:

The biggest problem with the DLC is that, like chairkicker said earlier, it's mostly older characters. If you beat those maps you can bring Marth and other major characters into your party. But since they can't interact in the pairing system you lose the benefit of a relationship. So I found most of that DLC fan service at best and useless at worst.

Are you saying that none of the DLC characters can interact in the pairing system? What character interaction is there if they can't utilize Support?

I grabbed a few of the streetpass characters, but I see that there is little incentive to use them in battle if they can't pair.

The Scramble pack DLC has lots of interactions between the characters of FE: A, but not with those from earlier games. Meaning conversations during the battle. Chairkicker is absolutely right - it's a little overwhelming how much there is. You'd need to replay the DLC multiple times to see all of it.

You can use Marth and other older characters unlocked by the DLC in regular campaign battles. I never did, because I didn't really see the point - they're rather low level when you get them, as well as there being no opportunity for building relationships with them.

Alright, thanks for the info. I think I'll grab one of those two packs to see how I like it and proceed from there.

Dyni wrote:

Alright, thanks for the info. I think I'll grab one of those two packs to see how I like it and proceed from there.

Awesome. If you do, note the difficulty levels for the maps... The Scramble Pack ones are pretty easy, and the Future Past maps are among the hardest. (And DLC difficulty scales way past anything you'll find on the critical path to the end credits.)