Fire Emblem Catch All

Nope. That was only a problem with pre-promotes. XP is based on total level. So you got a prepromote like Vander that was actually level 15 (or so) while the rest of your team was level 1, and fighting level 1 enemies so he got crap XP.

Now if your main team is level 12 and fighting level 12 monsters, the promoted unit will still be level 12 behind the scenes, so get the same XP. But you will have better stats, fight better, survive better, etc. Promoting immediately is best in this game, no doubt.

Stele wrote:

But you will have better stats, fight better, survive better, etc. Promoting immediately is best in this game, no doubt.

I disagree, I have been playing around on a couple different save files with both randomized and pre determined stat growth (you can choose the latter after beating the game when starting. Regardless, having promoted some early and waiting for 20 then promoting others (comparing on different save files, same characters but with random Vs stable growth) the characters will max out more stats by level 20 after being promoted than if they were promoted at 10. Also you’re missing out on 10 levels of growth, it’s good short term but not so much long term I think personally. I mean getting the power up is useful if you’re having trouble, but if you’re willing to grind a bit I personally think that being patient and upgrading weapons will cover the power creep in a similar, if not more efficient way than using master seals early. And you still have the improved weapons.

TL:DR I guess the real question is short term power up Vs reaching max stats overall faster.

Maybe by your first level 20 in your advanced class, but not by the same internal level.

The only drawback to promoting early is that you’ll have to use a second seal to reset the advanced class sooner, but that really shouldn’t be an issue — you’ll have access to buy unlimited second seals (and resources to afford them) before you need them, even if you promote as early as possible.

Yeah 20 isn't the end. You just second seal them into the same class and they go from 1-20 again. Engage is different than other games in the series. You never miss out on XP by promoting. You do miss out on a stat boost, often extra weapons, and advanced class level 5 power the longer you wait. There's 0 downside to promote ASAP.

I've got 4 or 5 of my main team on their second run through advanced class already.

Promote as soon as you have enough seals to do it. This is the way.

Oh, also, advanced classes generally (although not exactly always) have better growth rates than associated base classes, so you potentially gain fewer stats per level if you wait to promote (assuming your RNG luck roughly adheres to the growth rates).

zeroKFE wrote:

Maybe by your first level 20 in your advanced class, but not by the same internal level.

The only drawback to promoting early is that you’ll have to use a second seal to reset the advanced class sooner, but that really shouldn’t be an issue — you’ll have access to buy unlimited second seals (and resources to afford them) before you need them, even if you promote as early as possible.

With random, maybe at internal level but there’s still ten levels of growth to be considered as well. With non random stat growth there is a major difference. With non random stat growth, I’ve noticed the best stat growth is given between levels 15-20 with most units getting at least 4 stat boosts per level. I mention this because hard and easy are randomized stat growth on first playthrough (whichever is your first, you can choose for your second) but whatever they’re calling the difficulty above hard mode is actually non randomized, and you have to beat it first to get randomized stat growth.

Ok I should not be posting while on medication. I think I see what you two are saying , i had misunderstood. Rereading, we’re talking about total level, not shown level.? Sorry about that. If that’s the case then I am very mistaken and should back down.

Yeah there are fixed growths on Lunatic, or whatever it's called now (Maddening?). But I think the same applies. Whether it's level 11 or level 10 + 1 promotion.

Admit I haven't actually looked into that, so not 100% sure. Probably lots of tests and confirmation on reddit, I just haven't got that deep into the precise stats because Maddening doesn't sound fun to me.

zeroKFE wrote:

Oh boy.

So, I've never played Awakening or Fates, but ever since Three Houses they've been on my list to go back and try someday.

Well, while googling around about Engage, I was reminded that the 3DS eShop is getting decommissioned soon, so I was like, "damn, guess I'd better get those games bought and downloaded now then." So I do that, but then after a frustratingly long time struggling to search the medieval torture device that is the 3DS shop it starts to become clear that there is no option to buy the DLC from the shop -- it must be bought through an in game portal. And for both games, the in game portal isn't just something in the menu (although thankfully Fates lets you buy the other story scenarios from the menu) -- instead, you have to play five or six chapters into the game before it becomes available.

So, I guess I'm going to be taking a brief break from Engage while I play through the opening hours of both games so that I can buy things before the shop goes away. Yeah, I know that technically I still have almost two months left here, but best to get it taken care of as soon as possible.

But yeah, man, what an absolute peak Nintendo bullshit experience this whole thing is.

Reminder, tomorrow (today), Feb 28th is the last day for this.

Not sure why Fates DLC is ending a month before the rest of the eshop but it is. News articles everywhere today (27th).

I fired up the old 3DS and while it looks like I did purchase the other path years ago, I never purchased the final path. Huh. $20 Nintendo, you got me, just in case...

I think I am the wrong person for this game. I have not clicked with any of the characters yet (other than the ones from other games I can't play).

Mechanics are fun and I will finish this game but I am holding out hope that the later game characters will be more up my alley.

Stealthpizza wrote:

I think I am the wrong person for this game. I have not clicked with any of the characters yet (other than the ones from other games I can't play).

Mechanics are fun and I will finish this game but I am holding out hope that the later game characters will be more up my alley.

Don't get your hopes up. I'm about to tackle chapter 20 and still don't care about any of my characters outside of their combat utility. This game just isn't good for that.

Thankfully, the combat has remained both tactically interesting and challenging throughout. That's the reason to stick with it.

Dyni wrote:
Stealthpizza wrote:

I think I am the wrong person for this game. I have not clicked with any of the characters yet (other than the ones from other games I can't play).

Mechanics are fun and I will finish this game but I am holding out hope that the later game characters will be more up my alley.

Don't get your hopes up. I'm about to tackle chapter 20 and still don't care about any of my characters outside of their combat utility. This game just isn't good for that.

Thankfully, the combat has remained both tactically interesting and challenging throughout. That's the reason to stick with it.

I would argue that’s the draw, the challenge and tactics. That was the appeal of the series originally, before awakening. It became closer to persona up to and including 3h, but the draw for the series used to be gameplay, tactics, and permadeath. Character relations were secondary and served to help give stat boosts (avoid/attack/accuracy/crit), and flesh out the story. Maybe characters would get married, but to get the secret endings like fire emblem advance’s full death quote (which I still maintain makes Nergal one of the most tragic FE villains to date), you have to accomplish a number of difficult, nearly impossible in game actions. The story could be stronger. But I do feel it is a nice throwback to the older generation with the QoL upgrades that make the newer games beginner friendly. Overall I think it may be the best FE since awakening, if not RD. (Edit: forgot a word)

Oh, I agree that's the draw here, but Stealthpizza specifically mentioned not clicking with the characters.

It is odd for me since I can usually get attached to at least one character and be sad if I lose them but so far everyone is just a weapon type to me.

Ah yeah, that's fair. Sorry, misunderstood a bit. Seems to be a running theme for me in this thread, ehehe.

Favorite engage character is Goldmary for her battle line please die. Ivy and Merrin may have been my power houses but they come in second and third.

It was fun but even knowing that the mechanics are great I don't know if I will go back to it.

Any chance of them pulling an Atlus and releasing HD versions of the old games on pc ?

Idk about pc, but I heard a rumor maybe two or three months before engage that the next remake will either be sacred stones, or genealogy, for the switch. I can’t seem to find any updates though, nor where I saw it originally.

I really should finish Engage. I almost started an Echoes run on 3DS yesterday.

Dr.Incurable wrote:

Idk about pc, but I heard a rumor maybe two or three months before engage that the next remake will either be sacred stones, or genealogy, for the switch. I can’t seem to find any updates though, nor where I saw it originally.

That sounds good until I remember how good nintendo is at supporting old systems and online stores.

I really want to see genealogy done with the Echoes production values.

Alright I'm back in. Won chapter 23 this morning, with 0 resets or deaths. Go me.

Was nice to finally bring 14 characters in. Still having Alcryst use the Claude S-ring that gives +1 bow range is so good and it's nice to be able to bring him along with all the other Emblem equipped characters.

Guess it would finally make sense if you had the DLC and could bring all your extra emblems too. Hopefully the final missions are all 14 instead of 12.

Yeah, they are.

(Can’t recall about the late paralogues, but I think they are too?)

I’m not sure if I’ll beat this game. I’m finding the Somniel stuff to be really boring and tedious and it’s undeniable that on Hard / Normal you have to actually min/max these activities, collect all the fragments and improve your party members at the edges to gain every advantage.

I’m finding this so tedious I’m contemplating just bumping the difficulty down to normal to see if i can skip the Somniel stuff.

Yeah, the Somniel stuff is what eventually killed my run. Having to go through all of that after every battle just got to be too much. I probably did not strictly speaking need to do it, but in games like FE it is hard to pass up any advantage no matter how small. It ended up just becoming a chore and I have enough of those in real life.

Weirdly, I never had that problem with Three Houses, even though I'm pretty sure I spent far more time on the between mission stuff there. Maybe the story was carrying it better, or because the impact of the chores was more meaningful? I'm not actually sure, my Three Houses runs are far enough in the past I don't have a super precise memory of them, but I definitely didn't come to loathe the monastery time the way I have the Somniel time.

I dropped difficulty down pretty early when it was clear how much I would have to do there or how much grinding I would need to do to skip it.

I usually play my first run in a way that I am having fun and if I play a second run that is where I will grind.

I think the three houses ones felt like they meant something in the story. These feel like busywork put in only because this is a video game and the hub needs stuff for you to do.

Yeah I just go to the farm to grab iron from my dogs. Then do the 3 XP battles. And then upgrade any weapons if I can. And back to battle.

My slimmed down experience once I realized I don't care that much about cooking and could never ever use all of the fruits I've gathered from roaming around in the early game.

The value of the activities there is very high early on, but it does drop off (amusingly, as you get more activities you need them less), especially once you've settled on a team and gotten most of them a skill or two and decently bonded with their most appropriate emblem matches.

After that, your need for bond currency drops off, and it becomes more a nice to have thing if you want to build variety in your team. Granted, if you're playing on classic and thus in danger of losing key team members, then yeah, that's likely to feel a bit more compulsory. But you certainly could still get away with just doing the fast/easy/fun activities and passing on the rest.

Case in point: Even though I was playing on Hard/Casual and thus didn't NEED the extra bond currency, I definitely did spend a lot of time building alternative options and/or catching skills on characters that were already overpowered, and even still I stopped bothering with fishing before long, even though it's definitely the biggest earning activity.

4th and final DLC is out already for Engage.

2.0 patch for the rest of us with more free weapon refining materials post Ch 4.

I'm in the middle of Ch 24 battle myself. Loving the unique mechanic for this one.

It’s rough. The last Xenologue is just crazy. Probably the toughest map in the game for me. I’ve had to restart twice and I’m still struggling to figure out how to solve it.

A couple weeks later and I finally started Ch 25. Not sure why this one is so tough to finish.

I think it's the between battle stuff getting tedious. The combat really is the best it's ever been and I love the actual fights.