So I've been thinking lately that I want to make another big Fire Emblem topic since the chapter ranking one I made a few months ago was fun. The dilemma is that I can't really decide what I want to do with it. So I'm going to do a playthrough, and you guys can decide what game I'll play, and which difficulty. The following games aren't options: FE9, because I don't own it, FE1, because it's ancient and I don't know of a translation and I could play either remake of it, FE2, because it's a cool experience once but very tedious (good soundtrack though), and FE12, because it's currently Japan only and a fan translation is still a work in progress.
I don't really have a set "first to three" or anything in mind, just pick stuff and I'll do it. I promise to actually finish, even if you give me something painful like Shadow Dragon H5 or FE6 hard mode and its annoyingly bad hit rates against everything. I also am open to the idea of more random rankings of chapters, games, characters and such. Really I don't care much, I just feel like posting a bunch about Fire Emblem stuff, so request it and it's got a good chance of happening.
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Mistake you're making - overlooking the fact that we might not want to be saved.
From: MalcolmMasher | #005 Rank: various incarnations of the weapon triangle.
Okay!
1. GBA Weapon Triangle. - Pretty sure there are differences between the games (FE6 is +/- 10 while the others are 15, I think) but it's the same general principle. Mainly gets top spot because of the reaver weapons adding a bit of extra fun to it, so a sword-locked unit isn't necessarily screwed against the legions of dragon knights and cavaliers you tend to run into (although they probably still will be in a lot of cases <_<).
2. FE4 Weapon Triangle - The biggest difference maker in the series (no damage changes but +/- 20 hit/avoid is huge). The magic "triangle" is a bit weird though. The Fire > Wind > Thunder > Fire part is fine but the Light = Dark > Anima part is sketchy, mainly because it means that characters like Azel get totally ****ed by the dark mages in arenas.
3. Shadow Dragon Weapon Triangle - The various bonuses added by weapon ranks are a pretty cool touch. Unfortunately in practice it can be kind of shaky. Sword users get attack bonuses, but who do they need them against most - the legion of lance users whose weapons negate those bonuses! The lack of a magic triangle annoys me too.
4. Radiant Dawn Weapon Triangle - Pretty good in theory since it basically combines elements of the GBA and FE4 triangles. Unfortunately then they take it out of hard mode so being only half-existent kind of takes it down a notch.
5. FE5 Weapon Triangle - lol 5 hit/avoid, so exciting and tactically relevant!
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
Alright. Despite the order of votes I'm thinking I'll go with FE8 first simply because it's a quicker game to play through and the translation patch for FE5 I have will make me have to relearn menu symbols, which was a pain last time I did it. I'll do both games in the end though, and I might even start on FE5 partway into Sacred Stones, if that doesn't get too confusing to follow. So now the question is: Which route should I go in FE8?
EDIT: And also, two options. 1. Cheese the hell out of it. 2. Not use Seth.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
I haven't played an FE game before, I picked FE8 because my girlfriend is like that game's biggest fan. And now she's asleep. So I dunno, uh, follow your heart!
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"You caused the rain to bleed." ~SCP~ http://img.imgcake.com/Jeffzeropngus.png "Thanks Punny!"
I vote for Radiant Dawn, as it is oddly my favorite Fire Emblem. Well, FE7 is about even, I just like console games more than handhelds. Of course the Wii isn't much of a console, but... whatever.
Play Radiant Dawn dammit. And use Edward, because he's one of my favorites that a lot of people seem to dislike.
-- ~Halo Rolling around at the speed of sound. http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/2417/sonicspeed.jpg
From: Jeff Zero | #009 I haven't played an FE game before,
Change this, damn it.
I'll probably get around to Radiant Dawn eventually if people actually care about these playthroughs. Shame I don't care for Edward much (the whole "blocks axes with his face" thing is slightly problematic)
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Mistake you're making - overlooking the fact that we might not want to be saved.
I'll probably get around to Radiant Dawn eventually if people actually care about these playthroughs. Shame I don't care for Edward much (the whole "blocks axes with his face" thing is slightly problematic)
This was only a problem in the beginning I think. Once he ranks up, he pretty much dodges everything.
-- ~Halo Rolling around at the speed of sound. http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/2417/sonicspeed.jpg
From: Jeff Zero | #013 Yeah. We own both the GBA games. (There were two, right?) I'll fix it eventually. Girlfriend's favorite series and all.
Three of them on the GBA, but only two were released in North America (7 and 8, 6 was the last one to be Japan-only, at least until the recent FE3 remake that sadly seems to have the same fate).
From: ShadowHalo17 | #014 This was only a problem in the beginning I think. Once he ranks up, he pretty much dodges everything.
True, but unfortunately the way the game is laid out makes it hard to justify putting much experience into more than one or two characters because the Dawn Brigade guys get shortchanged so hard in part 3. And that "one or two" is always going to be Nolan and Jill for me because I like flying units who end up not sucking and because Nolan is basically the first Fighter who doesn't suck since FE5.
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Mistake you're making - overlooking the fact that we might not want to be saved.
ShadowHalo17 posted... Honestly I like all the Swordmasters a lot, they're my favorite class. I just wish their Mastery Skill was better.
Play FE4. Swordmasters are utter god tier.
Anyway, this is a cool topic, love FE. You should just play through them all! I'd read it. Just rebeat FE4 myself and started on Thracia the other day!
-- I'm too tired to drive anywhere, anyway, right now, do you care if I praise Black Turtle? Call me numbers.
Nolan is pretty good. He's the closest thing you have to durability other than Sothe, and he's ridiculous in part 3. Giving him whatever the best crossbow at the time is and the Beastfoe skill means he destroys all Laguz enemies with 1-2 range and the only "drawback" is needing to position him so he doesn't awesome himself to death by killing enough that they can keep hitting him until he dies. He's the absolute all-star for the two chapters where it matters, and that unique axe of his makes him pretty cool in the other one too and gives him a chance to survive in part 4.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
From: dragon22391 | #020 Anyway, this is a cool topic, love FE. You should just play through them all! I'd read it. Just rebeat FE4 myself and started on Thracia the other day!
Then pick a FE8 route for me so I can get started!
:)
Playing as many as there's interest in seeing playthroughs for is the ultimate goal, really.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
From: Panthera | #021 Nolan is pretty good. He's the closest thing you have to durability other than Sothe, and he's ridiculous in part 3. Giving him whatever the best crossbow at the time is and the Beastfoe skill means he destroys all Laguz enemies with 1-2 range and the only "drawback" is needing to position him so he doesn't awesome himself to death by killing enough that they can keep hitting him until he dies. He's the absolute all-star for the two chapters where it matters, and that unique axe of his makes him pretty cool in the other one too and gives him a chance to survive in part 4.
Yeah but Edward and Zihark just dodge anything anyway.
I think I actually focused so much on Edward in my last playthrough that I actually had him as a Trueblade in that Laguz chapter. That was fun.
-- ~Halo Give into the Night. http://a.imageshack.us/img443/8466/shadowhalo.png
I tend to be wary of relying too much on dodges unless the odds are really heavily in my favour, and Radiant Dawn enemies are a bit too competent for you to trivialize their accuracy the way someone like Arthur with Holsety can in FE4, at least not without relying on Earth supports because that affinity is pretty absurd.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
I don't really "abuse it". I use it since it's helpful but I don't try to rig super unlikely stuff. I do usually abuse save states when I play FE6 though, although that's mainly because too many boss fights in that game come down to idiotic "land four hits at 55% accuracy while he 2HKOs you in return" situations because thrones are a bit better than in 7/8 and enemies have actual speed and luck stats.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
So now the question is: Which route should I go in FE8?
You shall play Ephraim route on Hard Mode. The people want Thracia 776, but for now they shall have to be content with Phantom Ship. Also, Ephraim route has better antagonists.
Do whatever you like with Seth.
-- I don't like this duchy. Now, it's an adventurer.
From: BoshStrikesBack | #029 Haven't seen an Edward fanboy in a while! Sorry, but Nolan is waaaaay better, especially on HM.
Never played HM, never will. Not interested. On Normal, Edward is plenty enough, and like I said, I just prefer Swordmasters, they're just so badass. Edward has the best Trueblade appearance too, his red coat is way awesome looking.
-- ~Halo Time to rock, Scott Pilgrim style. http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/907/bandfinisher.jpg
Pfff only wimps restart when someone dies. Real men shoulder the losses and power on, never forgetting the blood and tears shed to pave their way to victory!
Well then, Ephraim route Hard mode it is. Not a no-restart attempt, primarily because of three things - Phantom Ship, Father and Son, and that stupid Fighter with a Halberd in chapter 5 (or 6, whichever the fog of war one is) whose location I always forget. Fog, berserk staff, and fog. Also I'm a minor perfectionist so no-restart runs aren't my thing anyway (don't you dare suggest it when I do Thracia 776, I'll murder you in your sleep for even suggesting 24x is halfway reasonable in such a run <_<). I'll get started on this within the next hour.
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Mistake you're making - overlooking the fact that we might not want to be saved.
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones playthrough commence!
Prologue
We're off to a stellar start here as I accidentally load up FE6 at first. Go me!
The background gets revealed and then the story happens. The "good guy" country has been invaded by the "bad guy" country, and (one of) the heir(s) to the throne must escape! This could be half the series still for all I know!
This battle is notable for the best and worst boss ever. On the one hand, he's brave enough to fight Seth. On the other hand, he's stupid enough to fight Seth. Yeah. Eirika kills a dude with a critical (because I'm 99% sure the game rigs it to happen) and Seth kills the other, then murders the boss on enemy phase. 1 turn victory, yay.
Chapter 1
Now we're running somewhere. Hey, a chapter 1 where the boss isn't some random bandit. That's actually somewhat rare.
Seth charges, stuff dies. Eirika manages to sneak in a kill on a soldier that was weakened by Gilliam (oh yeah, Gilliam the lame knight shows up alongside Franz, who is basically the mini-Seth once he gets some experience into him, sadly he only got one kill here). Franz and Seth combine to carry Eirika closer to the castle but I left her slightly short of where she should have been, so I only seized on turn 4 when it should have been 3. Oh well.
We rescued Princess Tana! Something tells me this isn't the last time I'll be doing that...
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
Not something you see in your average Fire Emblem game! Am I playing Gaiden again? Dear god I hope I don't get mobbed by Dracozombies in a volcano. You know, you'd think from my feigned surprise here that I hadn't played this game several times before. Also, I now have Vanessa and Moulder. The former is your standard weak Pegasus Knight who struggles against early game axe users but can fly so it's cool, the latter is nicknamed the Boulder by some because he's a priest with oddly high Con. And Gilliam is officially a permanent part of the team. "Yay"
Chapter 2
I have a bone to pick with the intro narration text thingy here. It refers to how this is where Eirika "sees the destruction of Renais with her own eyes", or something along those lines, but her reason for fighting in chapter 1 instead of detouring around was already that she'd seen the people suffering under the Grado invasion. Tad inconsistent. Anyway, we're trying to find the future main character now and naturally that involves fighting bandits.
In this chapter, I get Garcia, a Fighter who will chip stuff to make himself useful before getting benched forever, and his son Ross. Ross is one of the special Trainee classes, which basically means his starting level is -10. His stats are terrible and growths are actually pretty standard, only the bonus ten levels of growth let him be better at high levels. Odds are I'll be going too fast for him to gain much experience.
Standard approach to this chapter, Vanessa rescues Ross so I can recruit him, everyone charges south except Gilliam who visits villages. Eirika doesn't even manage to double the enemy bandits here because she needs to gain a point of speed from base and she hasn't leveled yet. Kind of sad. With a chip shot from Ross (gotta love the accuracy on that Hatchet) she 2HKOs one, and gains...no speed. Woops. Does get strength at least. Seth clears out the south, Garcia deals with the stuff near him except the archer, which he weakens but then runs away from to heal (stupid AI not being helpful). Vanessa gets it instead, while the Ross/Franz/Eirika team handle the two bandits who come from the mountains. All villages saved, 5 turns taken. Could have been faster but I think it would require a critical hit somewhere.
Chapter 3
We go on an epic quest to rescue...a bracelet. Okay, it ends up being more important but really, it does feel kind of goofy at this point. And we recruit the standard bad early game Archer (Neimi) and our Thief (Colm), the latter being rather handy for getting useful items.
"Seth charges" is a bit of a theme, huh? The others work at breaking down walls to clear a path, though he does get caught up killing an archer so he can't advance. Garcia gets the southern chest, Colm loots the north, Franz gets what EXP he can from the thief and southern bandit, Eirika crits a bandit to death and gets a good level then gets carried to the throne. Seize on turn 6, once again could have been faster but as long as I'm doing things at a decent pace I'm not too worried that I could have sped it up more.
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Mistake you're making - overlooking the fact that we might not want to be saved.
From: Panthera | #040 Am I playing Gaiden again? Dear god I hope I don't get mobbed by Dracozombies in a volcano.
hahaha, stupid FE2 world map =(
use Ross, screw Garcia
there definitely is a translation of FE1 since some guy on Something Awful is LPing it (along with LPs of FE 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, as well) so there is one, if you want to try it out. Serenes probably has a link to it.
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2010 Game of the Decade Contest - some guy named Black Turtle won the guru for this http://backloggery.com/articuno2001/sig.gif
Monsters? I really *am* playing Gaiden again, huh. Yeah, FE8 kind of took a lot from that game. Shame there's no 100 EXP Mummies to kill, but them's the breaks. Oh, there's a couple of mages in this chapter for me to recruit. Artur will probably get used a bit, Lute probably won't.
So the zombies (technically called Revenants but who cares) in this game are trash. Strength and HP are pretty much the only stats they have, and they don't even have too much of those. The skeletons are a tad tougher, and the eyeballs are a tad dangerous because they fly and their attack is 1-2 range magic, so most characters will be eating it on their terrible Res stat. Artur has WTA over them at least, and Seth doesn't care. Also, L'arachel and her buddies show up briefly here. "Yay".
Seth charges south, Gilliam goes to poke at a zombie, Artur crit-kills a zombie, Eirika and Franz head east and Franz does way too good a job killing the reinforcement skeletons. Colm hits up the north village while Vanessa goes south to recruit Lute, and kill some skeletons along the way. Reinforcement zombies come from behind and Gilliam and Garcia...okay they sort of stumble about dealing with them but Colm and Eirika finish the job. 4 turn completion, yay.
Post-battle, Seth talks about how the Revenants are the weakest of the monsters but they're stronger than any normal man. This continent apparently is afflicted with a horrible plague of leprosy for that to be true. These things are pathetic.
Chapter 5
The story here is...it's a city. And there's a cleric named Natasha running away because she's been declared a traitor and she knows plot-relevant information. She'll join up, as will Joshua the myrmidon. Also, this is cameo city, because both Cormag and Saleh, characters I will recruit later, appear here briefly. Oh, and so does Tethys in a village. And Amelia, also in a village. Why is everyone in the world here?
On turn one I **** up and accidentally put Vanessa in range of several enemies I wanted Franz to lure. Luckily for me she dodges the Fighter and wipes out the Soldier with a critical hit. Things get a bit messy when I lure the middle enemies in in a bad way. Vanessa tanks an arrow with 1 HP left (hooray for having grown exactly the right stats to do it!) as she goes about visiting every village. Natasha recruits Joshua, who promptly wipes out an Archer. Eirika, Franz and Colm combine to handle the strangely powerful bandit reinforcements, Franz also collects the Armorslayer and kills a soldier or a fighter or something. Seth gets the Armorslayer and charges the boss. Could have done it with the Silver Lance too but I'd rather save that and it didn't cost any time to do it this way. Completed in 5 turns. Saving all the villages nets a Guiding Ring, which I'm sure Moulder or Artur will put to use eventually.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
From: Articuno2001 | #041 hahaha, stupid FE2 world map =(
Hey, the chapter 4 world map music is really damn good <_<
use Ross, screw Garcia
I'm going to be dropping both before long. The speed I'm completing chapters makes it hard for Ross to gain experience, there's just no time for him to do more than chip once or twice per map, and I'm not going to be doing random encounters. I like Ross and I've had crazy good experiences with him in the past (I once had him cap strength one level short of the lowest level he can possibly cap it at) but it's not going to work out this time.
there definitely is a translation of FE1 since some guy on Something Awful is LPing it (along with LPs of FE 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, as well) so there is one, if you want to try it out. Serenes probably has a link to it.
Huh, cool. Last few times I've checked Serenes they've had nothing listed for it, I guess I'll look into that someday.
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Mistake you're making - overlooking the fact that we might not want to be saved.
Hey, it's that dude with the lances that will be the main character later! Ephraim is the best tactician ever. "The enemy is attacking us, we're brutally outnumbered, what do we do?" "Attack their base". "...there's four of us, sir" "CHARGE!" He says the line "What harm could a little reckless besieging cause?". Dude is totally insane. There's dialogue here hinting that there's a traitor amongst the ranks. I wonder who that could be...
So this is a big map with a ton of enemies and we have four dudes. I think it's pretty obvious this will be an Orson charge, but I'll try to get what kills I can for Ephraim so he's at a tolerable level, his stats are pretty good and promoting to horse is great so I want to be sure he has respectable stats when his pony comes along. I ignore the treasures, much as it pains me to pass up a Killer Lance. Ephraim manages to get to level 6, which isn't too bad; he'll gain levels easily enough in future chapters thanks to Reginleif destroying armor and horses. Orson murders stuff but has to get lucky on 68 displayed hit against the boss. I trade for his valuable stuff (gee I wonder who that traitor could be) and seize on turn 8.
Oh, right, characters. Forde and Kyle are your standard cavalier duo, though Franz is better. Ephraim is one of the stronger Lords in the series. Orson is the crutch who dominates the map and totally won't betray us or be evil or have anything like that going on.
Chapter 6
So this is the fog chapter with that Halberd fighter lurking. Got to be careful. Oh, and there's some civilians to save from a giant spider. Those spiders are actually fairly strong enemies, hitting hard and being quite durable.
Before beginning I buy some stuff, notably a Torch staff for Moulder to gain some experience with, a Restore staff for later in the game, and some weapons. Also, I give the Dragonshield to Franz, figuring he could use it. Technically Seth is the best option for ensuring his complete domination continues, but this method means Franz can handle a bit more combat and thus has better odds of gaining enough levels to get really good.
This chapter can be a bit of a pain, lots of enemies hiding beyond your field of vision, ready to annoy you. Fortunately I've played it enough to have a vague idea of where things are (besides that Halberd Fighter, may he burn in hell). Run into a hell of a cluster**** in the middle when I lure too many enemies and forget to block Eirika off enough and she dies. What a shame, try again. This time, the same cluster**** happens but I handle it better. Garcia draws in the Halberd dude and halves his life on the counter attack, Artur blasts a knight, my healers try to stay out of the way.
Seth eventually moves off to challenge the boss while the rest of the team defends against the cavaliers that come in from behind. I get some pretty decent level ups in this chapter, which is always fun. Seth nukes the boss with ease and since the spider never even got close to the civilians, I earn an Orions Bolt. A promotion item for archers. In a game with one archer. Who I will never use. Hooray for spending money! Completed in six turns, not as fast as is possible but again, no big deal, and I'm happy with how I managed to clear out the annoying middle section.
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Mistake you're making - overlooking the fact that we might not want to be saved.
Sorry :( Someone said to do whatever I wanted with him, and I figured A) I haven't done a true "Sethskip" run before, and B) most people probably haven't because the "Jeigan characters are always awful and should never be used" mindset is so prominent. So I felt this would be the most interesting run for me and the freshest for the readers.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
I haven't done a "Sethskip" (I try to rout every map) but I have used him heavily once or twice. Though I guess it's just as easy with or without him if you play as slowly as I do.
Well if you play slowly he could just lure in everything one at a time and dominate that way <_< But yeah, if you take the slower approach the games are pretty easy unless you use the absolute garbage characters.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust
Forgot to mention last time that at the end of chapter 6, we get the "big reveal" that Eirika's bracelet is half of a key to the chamber the Renais Sacred Stone is hidden in.
Now we go on a "rescue" mission to save Ephraim, as if that guy needs any help. We're storming a castle that is supposedly well defended, although it does have a bit of a weakness to an attack from four dudes. For some reason this chapter gives us the scene where everyone in the army says a line before the battle, which is usually reserved for the final chapter. I can't say I understand why that happens.
Vanessa is the true star of this chapter, carrying Seth and then Eirika across the river/mountains to enable early access to the boss. Artur and Joshua go north to clear out the enemies there to give her more freedom, although it's probably not needed. Everyone else goes east to get what experience they can. There's an Energy Ring to steal from a mage here but there's just no way to get it without wasting an extra two turns ferrying Colm into range, and his survival over there is suspect anyway. This boss actually requires Seth to use something more than Iron to ORKO, kind of a shock. He gets it done with his Silver Lance, and Eirika seizes on turn 5.
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We clasped our hands, our hands in praise of a conquerors right to tyranny In Punk We Trust