Board 8 > I just got fire emblem birthright (playthrough?) *some spoilers obviously*

(+) Yeah! (+)

a few questions

so early on I picked Lancer as my talent but it still started me as a swordfighter. I'm about 5 chapters in and I'm still using a sword.

well, actually, that's really the only question I had. anything else I ask would be in the line of 'what the hell is going on' but I don't truly want people to answer that

anyway so far the game has made no sense;

it opens with a lady jumping into a lake

then a bunch of people fighting a war in the most bizarre tutorial battle I've ever experienced

my character ascends from regular awakening tier mary sue to "Ascended" Mary Sue, as she discovers she is a princess with not one but two loving royal families that are both fighting over her.

then she wakes up but some of the siblings she met are her real siblings

then I find out my dad is evil and I get sent somewhere to die

my friend turns into a mascot dragon

she flies me to a pocket dimension??

when I come back out I meet my other brothers and sisters who apparently are my real brothers and sisters. so apparently it's like, the dream was time travel or something. or a future vision. either way I find it odd that my character just dreamt about all of these people not too long ago but somehow doesn't recognize them or observe the eerie fact that everyone from the dream where they were my siblings is claiming to be my siblings in real life.

then I go outside and meet lake jumping girl again

apparently she is also a swapped princess from the evil kingdom

well alright then
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oh my other question is when do I start getting more units?

I've never played a FE game that sends you 5 chapters in without like... having a team
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MariaTaylor posted...

so early on I picked Lancer as my talent but it still started me as a swordfighter. I'm about 5 chapters in and I'm still using a sword.

It determines a class you can Second Seal into I think.

MariaTaylor posted...

oh my other question is when do I start getting more units?

Very soon. You're still in what's effectively the tutorial.
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The first six chapters are the prologue, basically. The same in all three versions, and then you "choose" a side and the real game starts.

And your talent is your second natural class that you get to change into with a Heart Seal.
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Good to see this username, MariaTaylor. Enjoy this game - it's good!
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The story is terrible and not worth following. Just play it for the tactics.

Although BR is kinda easy so... good luck?
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Tag.

Darn, it's kind of a shame that you picked a female main character because now you won't get best girl Felicia until way later when she's basically worthless. Though I guess Jakob's pretty cool too.
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I gave up on this game halfway through because it was too easy. Hope you have a better experience than me!
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Peridiam posted...

The story is terrible and not worth following. Just play it for the tactics.

Although BR is kinda easy so... good luck?

It has a better story than Conquest at least. ...Which means basically nothing but still!
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Jakob > Felicia
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Kenri posted...

Peridiam posted...

The story is terrible and not worth following. Just play it for the tactics.

Although BR is kinda easy so... good luck?

It has a better story than Conquest at least. ...Which means basically nothing but still!

What the

Conquest has a much better story
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I mean, the stories in Conquest and Birthright are both terrible, even for FE standards. Conquest has a better story, but it's really negligible.

the gameplay tho
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that is the best summary I have ever heard
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Jakob is awesome, guys.

I like how during the emotional climax where my brothers and sisters start slaughtering each other he just shows up out of nowhere

anyway I'm playing the game blind so I ended up just letting a few of those enemy brothers get killed. honestly I did not see any way to talk to them or try to spare them.

although this happened later on in a few maps with the boy soldier who claims he was my forgotten childhood friend. amnesia mary sue form activated. and yet even after I killed him in battle he still recruited to my side. is this how recruiting works now?

also I brought jakob to my secret pocket dimension and he helped me build my own city

that is kinda cool

I picked between the routes at random when I was buying the game but it seems as if birthright is the easier one? with that in mind... eh, I feel pretty good about this still. one thing I like is how all the unit types are different from what I know and understand. it feels like I'm constantly seeing new things.

plus if I like this enough I'll buy the other route and then I can experience a more difficult game.
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oh also I turned into a dragon

no big deal

it was literally just so ridiculous that my brain is still trying to process it
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Manaketes are in plenty of FE games >_>
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not as the main character, though
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Jakob was my husbando on birthright
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Jakob is no husbando. But I haven't found a suitable one yet.
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Re: killing characters and them not dying, Fates is much much more lenient about enemies you defeat in battle just being KO'd and not necessarily dead. It doesn't really follow FE tradition in that regard.

Mac Arrowny posted...

What the

Conquest has a much better story

I honestly can't even understand this position. Birthright is super generic but at least it's coherent. Conquest makes no sense whatsoever.
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I liked Conquest's story better simply because it's more interesting. Birthright's is just boring.
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so you can feed beans to this pet dragon in order to make it stronger huh.

alright I'm hanging out in the castle right now I suppose I'll talk about the units I've recruited to my side so far. one thing I will say is that I feel like in previous games with a player insert character they always give somewhat of an excuse for why people listen to you. in this one it's just like... everyone decides to follow your orders for some unspecified reason.

oh also she gave me a gold bar. trading beans for gold. seems like a fair deal.

and what the hell is this weird private quarters thing. it's like... I'm looking at the characters face up close through a pov camera. is this some kind of pov porn thing.

Valis, the Nohr Princess - this is me. I'm okay aside from being a furry that transforms into a dragon. basically I'm not okay.

Rinka - seems very out of place in a cast full of mostly royal characters. I've gotten her to support with a few people so far but she seems like she is mean to everyone. I approve. also does she have two hair colors or is that red thing part of her mask that she isn't wearing? believe me, the answer does not matter. both responses are equally dumb.

Kaze - the only unit I feel any affinity for so far. this guy is badass. ninjas are badass. enough said. what the hell are they though? he feels like a mix between a mage and a thief. apparently he can debuff people by hitting them. definitely the most mechanically interesting new thing I've seen in this game.

Red Sister - s-somehow can't complete a f-full sentence without s-stuttering

Blue Sister - not really my sister I don't think but it's hard to keep track with all these royal brats around

Jakob - possibly my new favorite series Jeigan. I love how ridiculous and unneeded he is. just adds to the enjoyment of him being a prepromote that I will never use. they even made him the butler who looks after the castle so he has something to do when he's not in battle.

Flower and Other Flower - a pretty decent comedy duo. I liked their introduction I guess but I was also very tired at the time so I would have found anything funny. presumably I'll have to get them to support if I want to hear them banter togethr. did not expect Other Flower to be a male pegasus knight though. wtf has this world come to?

silas - probably the most unnecessary character in the game so far, plot wise. but he we needed someone to fill the cavalier slot so I guess he is.

other ninja - apparently I needed two ninjas

orochi - i seriously have no idea what this girl is supposed to be or what she does. it looks like her weapon is a debuff weapon as well but also seems like she is less versatile than a ninja. so ... basically... a sub-par ninja? apparently I needed two ninjas and a third less versatile ninja.

is diviner the not-japan equivalent of mage or archer? I guess I'll find out soon.
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paralogues are like optional side missions

and challenges are like for grinding right?

just making sure because I don't want to grind but I also don't want to miss any side missions if they are actually important content (like recruiting new people and stuff)
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MariaTaylor posted...

is diviner the not-japan equivalent of mage or archer? I guess I'll find out soon.

Diviners are basically Birthright's take on mages.

paralogues are like optional side missions

Yeah, and I think after the first one, the rest are unlocked by having your units get S-Rank supports.

and challenges are like for grinding right?

Yup.

Also, it's important to make sure you have Valis get an A-support with Kaze ASAP.
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oh really? I'm planning on using him a lot anyway but is there a non-spoilery reason you can explain why he's so special?
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MariaTaylor posted...

oh really? I'm planning on using him a lot anyway but is there a non-spoilery reason you can explain why he's so special?

He literally just dies forever for absolutely no reason if you don't get him to A rank before doing chapter 15. This isn't even seriously a spoiler, it's just fucking random. I'm saving you a little bit of grief here.

haha wow that is seriously troll tier.

imagine if a player was using him as one of their main units and didn't get him to rank A.

that seriously is very likely to have happened in this topic if i wasn't told otherwise.
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Happened to me, I was pissed

I actually thought it was just supposed to happen and that was why the game gave me so many ninjas, but then I looked it up and learned the truth - thankfully, I was smart enough to make a separate save and go back, so I could grind Kaze up to A rank before redoing chapter 15. Chapter 15 is pretty long so I was annoyed, but it wasn't that bad. it would have been really bad if I hadn't been wise about my saves though

There's a really stupid game design choice involving him. Have your relationship at A to sidestep it.
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Oh or Para can cover it
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Yeah I didn't want to be too spoilery but it is pretty fucking dumb. Luckily I was warned beforehand, but I can imagine being super pissed if I wasn't. It's totally bizarre, and nothing like it happens in either Conquest or Revelation.
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I just got lucky with that
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I wouldn't have gotten pissed either way though but eh I guess it's good to know

maybe?

it might have been funnier if you guys just let it happen to me but I guess now we'll never know

speaking of things that are funny this male pegasus knight can't even fly up a small incline on the map

literally what happens when you get a man to do a woman's job...
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Haha sorry if you would have rather been surprised by the bullshit - I just thought it was so terrible that I really wanted to nip it in the bud. And if you did as directed and got him to A you never would have known about the death thing anyway.

anyway just finished that battle. adorable freckle girl joins the team.

I gotta say right now though the game is very easy I am absolutely in love with the fact that you have more control over the team synergy options. the thing I disliked the most about awakening and what ruined the game for me was how supporting attack and defense was % based. this is actually SUPER IMPORTANT on higher difficulties especially with supporting attacks.

if there's a 7% chance that my ally attacks the enemy and kills him, opening up a tile for a second enemy to come occupy that space and get an additional attack on me, and then this triggers twice in a row an dI get attacked 3 times in a turn and die... that is really, really hard to play around. especially because you need to be able to build defensive walls with your units, but the game punishes you with 7% of 7% chances to have something good happen out of your control which is actually a bad thing.

in this it seems like you can always make a team attack trigger on request and team defense triggers at regular intervals which you can identify and plan around. so while Awakening added a team up mechanic that reduced the amount of strategy and increased the amount of dumb luck, this game has fixed that mechanic in order to reduce the amount of dumb luck and add a new dynamic of strategy that I never had to consider before in previous games.

also got the C Support for Kaze. I like how it's just about his life being so difficult because women are literally obsessed with him. wow, seems hard.
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flower and other flower literally hate each other and it only makes me want to force them to become best friends

is this what shipping is

have I shipped
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Yeah, I do like how they handled the team attack/defense mechanics in this. I still think it is almost always better to be paired up to avoid getting focus fired (since it protects you from their team attacks as well as giving you a free block every few attacks), but it is a great deal more interesting than Awakening.

Marrying off all the most stupid and unlikely pairs of people is fun. god just wait until you get the monk in a chapter or two he's my fave

MariaTaylor posted...

flower and other flower literally hate each other and it only makes me want to force them to become best friends

is this what shipping is

have I shipped

Nooooooo don't fall to shipping
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Heads up. If you don't want to permanently lose out on content, A- rank Kaze before chapter 15.
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hello user save us maria please be sure to raise your character's support level with kaze
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basically I can now choose between a more offensive or a more defensive formation than normal

in awakening you could only do your regular formations, more or less, but then sometimes something would randomly activate that would increase your offense or defense and you couldn't really account for it from a strategic "planning ahead" perspective.

this paralogue map was super easy but it also gave me a chance to mess around with the mechanics and figure out how they work. prior to this I wasn't actually sure why they sometimes attacked or not, or how the blocking was triggering. but I got it now. and by the end of the map I came up with a few cool tricks

which I'm sure everyone in this topic other than me already knows but hey I like figuring stuff out for myself.
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Nah, I got it figured out at about the same time you did. But yeah, it is cool that you can choose to have an offensive or defensive formation, and that it always works, so you can account for what's going to happen. It's well designed.

edit: ok if you like figuring stuff out then don't read this >_>

You've probably noticed by now, but the weapon triangle has been changed. The diviner's scrolls and the ninja's shurikens are good against different things. The shurikens debuff and are generally weaker, while the scrolls are stronger but also less accurate. Bows are the third part of a new triangle with those two. And the two triangles overlap. I forget off hand how the new triangle works with the old triangle, but it's all color coded now. Just have to remember blue > red > green > blue.
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I have been playing this game for about 40 hours and still literally cannot remember how the bow/magic/throwing triangle works for the life of me. weapon triangle stuff has sort of phased out of being important though.

thanks for the consideration mnkboy097 but I can't not read it since it's already there

I read stuff instantly when I look at it
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my current plans are

offensive push to kill melee stuff:
ranged attacker strikes melee foe, melee ally moves next to ranged attacker and triggers a team attack. enemy is dead.

debuff formation for things that can kill me in two hits, like a boss:
melee attacker moves next to boss, check to make sure he can survive 1 hit.
kaze moves behind melee attacker and attacks the boss.
debuff triggers, team attack triggers.
boss attacks
melee attacker counter attacks debuffed enemy, kaze team attacks debuffed enemy
heal/repeat as needed
note; adjust strategy as needed if the boss has a ranged weapon

defensive wall strategy;
find out how many tiles I need to cover
ensure I have that many units x 2
build a wall of paired up units
pick blockers the same way I would do in a classic fire emblem game
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Paratroopa1 posted...

I have been playing this game for about 40 hours and still literally cannot remember how the bow/magic/throwing triangle works for the life of me. weapon triangle stuff has sort of phased out of being important though.

The way I remember it is pegasus knights. Pegasus knights are good against magic and bad against bows, which means magic => swords and bows => axes. Kinda weird and doesn't really work for any other class but I find it helpful.
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all you need is the colors man
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took a break to eat some pizza and do other stuff

also checked my unit logbook. turns out the two-tone-hair girl is actually a princess, so I guess that explains some stuff.

getting back to playing now
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