Current Events > Playing Fire Emblem 3 Houses for the 1st time. Any tips? Part 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

Compsognathus posted...

He is referring to the Abyss. An area explored in the DLC.

marthsheretoo posted...

It's a DLC hook.

Oh ok. Thanks. I think Ill get the DLC on my 3rd playthrough

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DepreceV2 posted...

Oh ok. Thanks. I think Ill get the DLC on my 3rd playthrough

The DLC is no joke btw. Maps are very hard.

Also Hapi best girl.

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I liked the DLC because it was kinda a classic dose of FE. With minimal things in between the fights, no instruction, and limited class change.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

The DLC is no joke btw. Maps are very hard.

Also Hapi best girl.

Glad to hear its hard

Compsognathus posted...

I liked the DLC because it was kinda a classic dose of FE. With minimal things in between the fights, no instruction, and limited class change.

Very nice

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Compsognathus posted...

I liked the DLC because it was kinda a classic dose of FE. With minimal things in between the fights, no instruction, and limited class change.

Yeah, playing through that reminded me how much I miss old FE.

Echoes doesn't really count because Gaiden was a grind game

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OK. I dont know how to feel about Lorenz as a person. He is somehow a complete ass but a very kind person too. Its weird as hell. Also,

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I saw that last week lmao

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Wait... I just thought about something and looked it up to confirm. In FE7, why doesnt Lyn and Guy have support conversations? They are both from the plains

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Because if you are actually using Lyn, why are you raising Guy and vice versa. You don't need two mediocre, frail sword-locked footmen.

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Compsognathus posted...

Because if you are actually using Lyn, why are you raising Guy and vice versa. You don't need two mediocre, frail sword-locked footmen.

Im not talking about Hard mode LMAO. Just regular story. I typically use both even in HHM as long as Guy has decent stats. Ill make Lyn work regardless

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I basically never field Guy, since he is very comparable to Lyn and I'm forced to deploy her on more chapters.

Raven does all the sword infantry work I need.

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Compsognathus posted...

I basically never field Guy, since he is very comparable to Lyn and I'm forced to deploy her on more chapters.

Raven does all the sword infantry work I need.

Yea. If Im picking between Guy or Raven in HHM Im going Raven all day. I just found swords to be the most reliable and consistent in FE7. I tend to stray away from Axes outside of Paladins, Generals and Heroes. MAYBE a Berseker if one gets blessed. Warriors getting access to bows felt pointless because of the Hand Axe/ Short Axe

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Hand Axes and Javelin's is why I basically don't bother with sword-locked units. FE7 is far too enemy-phase centric to not be able to counter ranged attacks. Lyn and Guy just can't perform like someone with a Hand-Axe.

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Compsognathus posted...

Hand Axes and Javelin's is why I basically don't bother with sword-locked units. FE7 is far too enemy-phase centric to not be able to counter ranged attacks. Lyn and Guy just can't perform like someone with a Hand-Axe.

Yea I guess thats true. I personally dont like relying on Hand Axes and Javelins because of the lower hit rate and might but the logic is sound. You cant deny the versatility. I havent played the game in so long that Im sure I was inefficient overall. I think I got S rank in every mode outside of HHM where I got an A. That could be wrong though since Im going off of memory

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Oh I'm not sure I could S Rank HHM anymore, I could once, but honestly I don't even enjoy it that much and rather play lower difficulties so I can just do different things without being punished.

Same with Three Houses. I can and have beaten Maddening, I know the strats and meta-builds but now when I want to go back to play I go to NG+ hard so I can screw around. Does having an a level 2 Edelgard with Death Blow, Darting Blow, Axefaire, Axe Proficiency 5, while having a level 5 King of Lions Corp battalion snap the game in half? Absolutely. Is it fun? You bet it is.

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https://youtu.be/Gvd5ETrG04w

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I have some fishing questions.

1. Do you only have 3 chances total with 1 piece of bait to snag a fish before your bait is gone or is it random/depend on the bait
2. Does it matter if you get a perfect run? Does that effect the quality of the fish or does it just help you catch the predetermined fish?
3. Should I use my 5 star bait on Golden fish days or should I wait for something specific?

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DepreceV2 posted...

I have some fishing questions.

1. Do you only have 3 chances total with 1 piece of bait to snag a fish before your bait is gone or is it random/depend on the bait
2. Does it matter if you get a perfect run? Does that effect the quality of the fish or does it just help you catch the predetermined fish?
3. Should I use my 5 star bait on Golden fish days or should I wait for something specific?

1) Yes. My stance is to pull on red fish or the third fish of the bunch.
2) Perfect nets you better fish than non-perfect
3) Using your 5* bait on Golden Light days gives you a chance to catch the Goddess Messenger (Rainbow Shadow). Which can be cooked into a meal that gives your students several +1 bonuses for the month. In my opinion it is rarely worth it in Maddening and completely not worth it in lower difficulties.

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Compsognathus posted...

1) Yes. My stance is to pull on red fish or the third fish of the bunch.
2) Perfect nets you better fish than non-perfect
3) Using your 5* bait on Golden Light days gives you a chance to catch the Goddess Messenger (Rainbow Shadow). Which can be cooked into a meal that gives your students several +1 bonuses for the month. In my opinion it is rarely worth it in Maddening and completely not worth it in lower difficulties.

Speaking of Maddening, what exactly is it like? I think Im going to do that difficulty on my first Blue Lions play through. Is it just more difficult or is there more to it?

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Maddening's difficulty largely draws from enemy quality and to a much lesser degree enemy quantity.

Enemies have notably higher stats, particularly speed, and improved skills. Generally speaking you will not consistently double enemies throughout the entire game without the use of combat arts, and some of the speedier enemies (like Assassins) will double your units throughout the entire game. It makes enemy management way more important. Things like Gambits, which you can basically go through Hard Mode having never used on anything but monsters, way more important. A well placed gambit can lock several enemies in place, buying your team some breathing room, when they would otherwise be massacred. This in turn make charm and authority much more important stats, more charm = better gambit accuracy. More authority = better battalions.

Since very few of your units will be able to ORKO any enemy, team work is a lot more important. Being able to safely chip enemies with bows and magic until they get into safe kill range is very important. Rallies are also very valuable, particularly in the early game in allowing units to get kills they otherwise couldn't or avoid getting killed themselves. Enemy avoid is way higher too, to the point where most physical units want to master the archer class just to get Hit+20. Ignatz, a completely unremarkable unit in the lower difficulties becomes a strong early game champ in Maddening because his Rallying abilities and innate Hit+20.

Finally, combat arts and weapon utilization are much more important. In Hard Mode it is totally possible to beat the game with just Iron+ weapons without ever really using Combat Arts. This won't happen in Maddening, you'll use your Relics a lot. Silver+ will eventually be your go to weapon for most encounters and you'll use the hell out of Combat Arts. The -5 durability you get off of using Temptest Lance is always worth it if it lets you net a kill you otherwise wouldn't get.

"Brave" Combat Arts are particularly valuable and are generally the only way to regularly secure ORKOs. Swift Strikes turns, Sylvain, Ferdinand and Seteth into your player phase offensive powerhouses. Point Blank Volley for Leonie and Cyril basically functions the same way. Hunters Volley and Fierce Iron Fist, which are locked to the Sniper and Grappler classes are so important that units prefer to stay in those classes over promoting to Bow Knight and War Master. Vengeance is another notable combat art that Dedue and Bernie can learn. It isn't a Brave art, but when done appropriately does allow for those two characters to consistently ORKO units through careful HP management.

You'll notice I'm emphasizing early game quite a bit, that's because like most FE difficulties, they are hardest in the beginning of the game before you can really develop your units. Eventually, you'll get the skills you need to get the combat arts you want and the difficulty drops off a lot, particularly after Hunting By Daybreak. But Part 1 is pretty damn hard.

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Maddening's difficulty is kind of lopsided. I find it very tough for the first few chapters, then it levels off until the midgame/specifically the reunion chapter, and then part 2 is largely easy until the last map or two on any given route. Basically, the beginning, middle, and end are all very tough and everything in between is pretty tame.

Special shoutout to Blue Lions reunion, which is especially bullshit due to your unit placement in it. Mercedes & Annette show up together and get crushed by anything that looks at them, and you get Gilbert, who is an outright liability if you want to try to keep him alive since almost any enemy one rounds him at base on maddening.

The most jarring changes to maddening come in the form of stat thresholds. Being a fast unit is actually pretty bad on maddening, because very few units can actually keep up with the speed that they need to double, barring heavy use of stay boosters. Yuri and Petra can do it, and Felix is borderline (my maddening Felix eventually fell behind in speed and I just went gauntlets on him to try to salvage him later on).

Tanking is pretty similar in that so many units get doubled that tanking is unreliable just due to how strong enemies get. On my current CF maddening run, Balthus is my literal only real tank. Edel and Byleth can take hits if need be, but they aren't super reliable at baiting enemies. If you do BL, Dedue is a godsend for a good chunk of the game due to his personal skill. He carried my NG maddening run pretty hard just because he was the only one who could actually take a hit for a lot of the game.

For the most organic experience with it, I'd recommend not using NG+ on it. NG+ trivializes a lot of the earlygame just because you have so many resources. I think it's worth doing a fresh file maddening run at least once just for the hardest overall experience, though I've done NG+ on subsequent runs just to cut down on monastery time.

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https://fe3h.com/meta/2020/08/14/the_maddening_jump

This is actually a pretty good "what to expect from Maddening" Guide in fact the whole website is pretty valuable from a strategy perspective.

But yeah, that article mentions it but I want to reiterate how important it is to have multiple saves, particularly a save at like chapter 11 and 12. Hunting By Daybreak can actually end your game if you aren't prepared for it. So if that is your only save you'll start over.

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Compsognathus posted...

1) Yes. My stance is to pull on red fish or the third fish of the bunch.

Minor correction: 3-4 fish will appear per piece of bait. Sometimes you'll get a 4th, sometimes you won't.

Whether to take the gamble on a fourth fish showing up is a matter of your goals. If you're trying to rack up exp with the fistfuls of fish event, it's better to pull the third fish and not gamble. If you're aiming for a goddess messenger or a gold/platinum fish, it's best to try for a 4th fish.

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Wait. Flayn and Byleth are related in someway right? Like distant relatives? If they are related then if you decide to marry her... isnt that like marrying your cousin or something? lol

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DepreceV2 posted...

Wait. Flayn and Byleth are related in someway right? Like distant relatives? If they are related then if you decide to marry her... isnt that like marrying your cousin or something? lol

It's kinda vague. Flayn, is the daugher of Seteth. Seteth is a child of the Progenitor God (Sothis). But whether that is literal in that Sothis is their actual mother versus figurative in it just being a name for their race, isn't particularly elaborated on. Byleth is Sothis reborn, sorta, but even that isn't super literal, so much as Byleth is a host of Sothis's power/personality.

So if we want to be really literal, Flayn is Sothis's granddaughter and with Byleth being Sothis reborn, then Flayn is Byleth's grandaughter. But I don't think that is how the game would like you to see it.

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DepreceV2 posted...

Wait. Flayn and Byleth are related in someway right? Like distant relatives? If they are related then if you decide to marry her... isnt that like marrying your cousin or something? lol

I mean you can S-support Rhea on Silver Snow and she's the daughter of the spirit residing in Byleth's body, the genetic basis for Byleth's mother who was a homunculus, and gave blood to Jeralt many years ago to save his life when he protected her so she's related to Byleth in at least three different ways. It's best to not think about it too much.

Also let's be real, it's Fire Emblem. Thinly-veiled incest is kinda baked into the franchises DNA.

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Gheb posted...

To be fair, I don't think Seteth is literally a child of Sothis in the same way that Rhea is. Meanwhile if you consider Sitri her daughter then Rhea is literally Byleth's grandmother on his mom's side of the family, related to him by blood on his father's side, and spiritually his daughter through Sothis.

But at the same time, Rhea is literally the daughter of a goddess and a basically immortal dragon that's been alive longer than pretty much everyone else so rules don't really apply to her. Also her support is wholesome as fuck.

OmegaShinkai posted...

To be fair, I don't think Seteth is literally a child of Sothis in the same way that Rhea is. Meanwhile if you consider Sitri her daughter then Rhea is literally Byleth's grandmother on his mom's side of the family, related to him by blood on his father's side, and spiritually his daughter through Sothis.

But at the same time, Rhea is literally the daughter of a goddess and a basically immortal dragon that's been alive longer than pretty much everyone else so rules don't really apply to her. Also her support is wholesome as fuck.

Don't forget you can S-support Sothis, which in a way is just really self-involved masturbation.

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Alright. Does Leonie want to fuck my Dad or something? I get that he trained you but every time you talk to me its about my Dad. I mean damn

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You know one of my least favorite things in FE games? Figuring out who gets Stat Up items. It is just an endless series of second guessing.

Do I give Giant Shells to someone who already has high defense since defense is a stat that snowballs? Or someone with terrible defense?

Speed ups to slow characters to prevent doubling or fast characters to ensure they double?

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Compsognathus posted...

You know one of my least favorite things in FE games? Figuring out who gets Stat Up items. It is just an endless series of second guessing.

Do I give Giant Shells to someone who already has high defense since defense is a stat that snowballs? Or someone with terrible defense?

Speed ups to slow characters to prevent doubling or fast characters to ensure they double?

https://youtu.be/QcSsowS8v6U?t=176
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Compsognathus posted...

You know one of my least favorite things in FE games? Figuring out who gets Stat Up items. It is just an endless series of second guessing.

Do I give Giant Shells to someone who already has high defense since defense is a stat that snowballs? Or someone with terrible defense?

Speed ups to slow characters to prevent doubling or fast characters to ensure they double?

There's almost no wrong answer. You can use them to spoil your favorites, or you can use them to help someone who is falling behind. Either way works.

FE YouTubers have made pretty good points about this, in regards to how these things are tools to help you finish the game. Just don't hoard them, and you'll be fine.

The other way to look at it is to consider that you could easily beat the game without using any of them. It's perfectly possible to beat FEs while never using any stat boosters. Considering that, using them on whoever you want to is just going to help you in the long run.

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Oh I know all the logic behind using stat boosters, but part of my dumb lizard brain wants to be as logical as possible with them.

Which means using them all as soon as my people hit their advanced classes and the base stat system can no longer be gamed. And it really is just that moment when I have a bunch to use at once that I catch the paralysis. When I use them as I go, it isn't a big deal at all.

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This I do is something I will have to look up before going into Maddening. I will have to maximize everything possible

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DeadBankerDream posted...

https://youtu.be/QcSsowS8v6U?t=176

If a unit has 10 speed and 5 constitution, they can use weapons 5 weight or less without any loss in speed.

WTF?! I never knew that! I knew more constitution made it easier to wield heavier weapons but I didnt know you can statistically make it possible where you have the same speed when using an Iron Sword vs a Steel Sword! That just blew my damn mind

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I will say that Three Houses might have the best designed weapon weight system of franchise.

CON from the GBA games is too rigid in my opinion. Body rings are the only way you can change things and those are very limited.

The Tellius weapon weight system on the other hand is just completely a non-factor beyond mages.

Three Houses gives you the ability to offset weight through multiple means so it isn't permanently damning, but is still relevant enough that it can't be ignored after the earliest part of the game.

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Gheb posted...

I will say that Three Houses might have the best designed weapon weight system of franchise.

CON from the GBA games is too rigid in my opinion. Body rings are the only way you can change things and those are very limited.

The Tellius weapon weight system on the other hand is just completely a non-factor beyond mages.

Three Houses gives you the ability to offset weight through multiple means so it isn't permanently damning, but is still relevant enough that it can't be ignored after the earliest part of the game.

I still think the lack of a true weapon balance/magic triangle, outside of skills, is a massive blow.

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The constitution system is great because it gives another layer to unit individuality. Of course the point of Three Houses is that everyone can be everything! (still gender locks, though!) so it wouldn't be relevant there. I just don't like how much the weight being affected by strength screws over magic units. Which is kind of weird since basically all magic units in the GBA games had shit constitution, but again there it felt like a part of the characterization rather than just a lame penis-y game mechanic.
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DepreceV2 posted...

I still think the lack of a true weapon balance/magic triangle, outside of skills, is a massive blow.

I think the lack of the weapon triangle along with the importance of Faire skills and the limited number of skill slots a unit has, heavily incentivizes becoming a 1 weapon type unit.

There just aren't enough skill slots to warrant having two different breakers for two different weapon types and your primary weapon type is going to wildly outperform your second weapon because that will be the weapon you have the Weapon Proficiency, Faire, and Breaker skill for. The only reason you might use a secondary weapon is if it is a bow for the 2-3 range or to avoid an enemies Breaker (basically only on Maddening).

I think that if they brought back a classic weapon triangle, along with making Faire skills rarer and for specific classes, it would heavily increase weapon variety for units.

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https://youtu.be/Qbdsa2yYVQw

This is basically the TH general by now, so I'm reposting my mixed feelings on some awesome character choices vs. Linhardt getting really screwed over.

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Save

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Finished blue lions and golden deer, doing the dlc route then I'll go back to do silver snow and crimson flower.

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Mberer posted...

On maddening?

Doing my story runs on normal, so I can also get a crap ton of reputation stocked as well as get really good characters like Petra to have a rank skills to boost up to, so I can equip better stuff from the start. <.<

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