Fire Emblem: Awakening

Wolverine359

So who's got it/played it/has things to say about it?

For those wondering about current Fire Emblem: Awakening prices/availability:
GameStop: €44.99
GameStop.ie: €41.99 (including postage)
Tesco: €44.99
Xtravision: computer says no
Smyths: computer says no
Argos: computer says no
Amazon: £35.00 (so no)

richymcdermott

Got it today have yet to play it though since im currently at paper mario sticker star. Cant wait to get to get started on it soon though

Mr E

Got it too. Looking forward to getting stuck in.

Who is going for the realistic mode? (dead allies stay dead!)

penev10

Mr E wrote: »

Who is going for the realistic mode? (dead allies stay dead!)

Permadeath all the way! Makes each encounter much more tense.

Most maps on FE would be a doddle if you let yourself take casualties. There are always certain weak characters who you need to protect and gradually level up until they become beasts! It's what the game is all about imo.

The default pre-promoted characters they throw at you should only be used on Hard/Insanity also.

Banjo

So it inherently supports Nuzlocking? Cool
I think I played the GBA (or maybe DS?) version of the game, had the same thing. Hated it at first but if you iron-man save only, it makes battles so tense and I found myself becoming far less Gung Ho in how I approached battles, forces you to think about what you're doing.

The demo was good if a little simple (understandable given that it's an early section of the game).
Torn between trading a bunch of stuff in for this or Luigi's mansion, but with Monster Hunter occupying my every waking thought it'll be a while before I need to worry about it.

Retr0gamer

I'd pick this up as soon as possible. I've had awful trouble getting this game from the US and had to cancel my order to look for it on ebay, after 3 months playasia hadn't got it restocked. It looks like it will sell out quick here as well.

SgtBob

I bought it off the eShop last night. Only played the prologue. When I get home tonight, I want to get stuck in. Torn between playing this, monster hunter and DayZ at the moment. Argh!!

ShadowHearth

Banjo wrote: »

So it inherently supports Nuzlocking? Cool
I think I played the GBA (or maybe DS?) version of the game, had the same thing. Hated it at first but if you iron-man save only, it makes battles so tense and I found myself becoming far less Gung Ho in how I approached battles, forces you to think about what you're doing.

The demo was good if a little simple (understandable given that it's an early section of the game).
Torn between trading a bunch of stuff in for this or Luigi's mansion, but with Monster Hunter occupying my every waking thought it'll be a while before I need to worry about it.

I am sort of in same position. I want to get fire emblem and it looks like x com iron man thing, so all good. Problem is I just play too much of monster Hunter!
3DS became quite a beast games wise! Nintendo doing at least something right!

penev10

Basic tip for anyone unfamiliar with the series-

When you or the enemy attacks and the defender survives, the defender gets to counter (like in Advance Wars). This means if you attack an undamaged enemy they will usually survive and counter. Then on their next turn they will attack you first, effectively getting 2 attacks in a row (the last from your turn and the first from theirs). Without going into too much detail - this isn't a good thing (especially early on when your characters are at their most vulnerable).

So, rather than attack the nearest enemy asap, find the range of the enemy and set a character at the furthest end of their reach (preferably so each character can only be reached by one enemy each). You will be attacked but will get the two attacks in a row as explained above and will more than likely kill the opponent and leave you with more life than you would've had if you had attacked first.

Hope that makes sense

Retr0gamer

Protect your pegasus knights from arrow fire. They are your glass cannons and you can lose them in one poorly thought out volley of arrows which is not a good thing when you play with perma death on.

FLOODY777

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I am sort of in same position. I want to get fire emblem and it looks like x com iron man thing, so all good. Problem is I just play too much of monster Hunter!
3DS became quite a beast games wise! Nintendo doing at least something right!

Bought it in Gamestop earlier... They only had 3 copies!!! Was going to get it in Smyths for €39.99 (as advertised earlier this week)...but it was gone from their website today!

Retr0gamer said: "I'd pick this up as soon as possible"... Agreed. I understand the US still has stock shortages.

Will be juggling it with Monster Hunter.

Damn you 3DS for having such brilliant games!

Deano7788

Got the last one in the Crescent. I've only played for about 20 minutes but I do have 1 question: how do the characters stay upright with no feet? :pac:

cloud493

I lost my first character on like the 4th fight :mad:

Scavenger XIII

Bloody hell, they need a special mode for permanent death now? :pac:

That bodes very ill indeed, how long before you can buy level ups and the weapon skin and zombie mode DLC starts coming out?

johnny_ultimate

The death of HMV has really had a horrible effect on the price and availability of 3DS games Couldn't find this anywhere except Gamestop, and I refuse to shop there on a matter of principle.

Just ordered a copy off Amazon with a few DVDs I was looking for, so looking forward to giving it a go when it arrives next week. I've been waiting for a good commuting time killer!

Mr E

Scavenger XIII wrote: »

Bloody hell, they need a special mode for permanent death now? :pac:

Not really a special mode. The options are "Casual" or "Classic".

Casual means characters retire from battle if they get defeated, and they are back again for the next battle after they've had a little nap from their ordeal.

Classic means they're DEAD.

ShadowHearth

Another 6 day week at work. After work had to do groceries shoping and on the way back I jumped in to gamestop. got Fire emblem! :P

Thats it, 3DS is pretty much "The console to have" now. So many good games and more coming out.

ShadowHearth

Well, played for two hours so far. Looks like I will spend a lot of time with this for sure. I love such turn based strategy games. Though so far it looks like a bit too care bearish at the moment. enemies don't plan on defence or attack. They only notice you if you get in to their range. We will see it it will be better later. Or I just expect advanced wars level from RPG and strategy hybrid...

The whole anime and character story is just... Makes me shiver... I am not a fan of jrpg stuff at all, but this thing just turns it to 11. Even with that silisness I still extremely enjoy the game it self.
So I am playing on normal but classic all the way. Iron man mode is/the only way to play these games!

SgtBob

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Well, played for two hours so far. Looks like I will spend a lot of time with this for sure. I love such turn based strategy games. Though so far it looks like a bit too care bearish at the moment. enemies don't plan on defence or attack. They only notice you if you get in to their range. We will see it it will be better later. Or I just expect advanced wars level from RPG and strategy hybrid...

The whole anime and character story is just... Makes me shiver... I am not a fan of jrpg stuff at all, but this thing just turns it to 11. Even with that silisness I still extremely enjoy the game it self.
So I am playing on normal but classic all the way. Iron man mode is/the only way to play these games!

The thing I've noticed with enemies, they will hover 'round your weaker characters like vultures, be watchful of that.

cloud493

If I didn't care so much about losing characters, I'd be way further. Fredrick is a beast. But sumia is weak to arrows, and Lissa is just kinda frail, but also useful. Love this game

Mr E

Yeah same here. I'm 3 chapters in, and haven't lost anyone yet.

SgtBob

Learning to love/hate "L+R+Start"

ShadowHearth

Okay, looks like I got my arose handed to me. Lost a hero and after got in to battle which was sort of unfair. My highest level guys were 4 and I got pinned against level 8 enemies which just walked over me.
I presume I will need to start game from all over again? Does it work like x com iron man or I can just load game again?

Banjo

regardless of how the game mechanics work, you are honour-bound to start over : It's time to be a knight and do it right!
...that is unless of course you let the enemy reload and replay a battle if they lose

ShadowHearth

Banjo wrote: »

regardless of how the game mechanics work, you are honour-bound to start over : It's time to be a knight and do it right!
...that is unless of course you let the enemy reload and replay a battle if they lose

Aye. That's what I loved about iron man mode in x com. If you ****ed, then all over from start m8. So I was so during what way we got it here.

By the way, bait off topic. When I was picking up fire emblem in gamestop, I checked used 3ds games too. To my shock I found monster Hunter 3 there!!!! Someone in my town needs a proper spanking!!!!

cloud493

Yeah sumia and chrom are married :cool:

richymcdermott

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/04/22/fire-emblem-awakening-debuts-at-number-three-in-uk-chart/

Fire emblem debut at number 3 in the uk and also made a 49% boost in sales for the 3ds aswell. there is hope for humanity yet :pac:


http://mynintendonews.com/2013/04/22/3ds-uk-hardware-sales-sees-49-boost/

cloud493

This really is excellent. So satisfying to get through what looks like a tough battle without losing anyone.

iceferg

Do you have to use a master seal to change class . my robin shot up to level 20 pretty quickly a wont get any more experience until she changes class . In radiant dawn characters automatically change class when the get to level 20 . I only have one master seal & dont want to waste if she will change automatically .

cloud493

iceferg wrote: »

Do you have to use a master seal to change class . my robin shot up to level 20 pretty quickly a wont get any more experience until she changes class . In radiant dawn characters automatically change class when the get to level 20 . I only have one master seal & dont want to waste if she will change automatically .

Yeah, but you can buy them from stores a bit later on.

Banjo

Ok, finally had some time to play this - was on holiday for a week, trapped in a house at night with only basic TV channels, so I managed to get a respectable few hours under my belt. And quite a lot of unrespectable ones too - I am a wuss and refuse to let a unit die. Except for the Prince Marth DLC recruitable, since you can get him back by replaying it.

Is there anything you can do to stop a weapon from breaking other than not use it? Is there a repair option / skill / item? Seems cruel to let you spend thousands making a signature named weapon for your character only to have it break in the middle of a battle.

How do you gain new weapon specialisations? Donny needs a bow, 'cause he's too fragile for the frontline, and his momma made him promise not to die.

Is it cheating to use the DLC to grind levels, generate tonnes of cash and use that to recruit legions of heroes from previous games using the Bonus Box?

Deano7788

Banjo wrote: »

Ok, finally had some time to play this - was on holiday for a week, trapped in a house at night with only basic TV channels, so I managed to get a respectable few hours under my belt. And quite a lot of unrespectable ones too - I am a wuss and refuse to let a unit die. Except for the Prince Marth DLC recruitable, since you can get him back by replaying it.

Is there anything you can do to stop a weapon from breaking other than not use it? Is there a repair option / skill / item? Seems cruel to let you spend thousands making a signature named weapon for your character only to have it break in the middle of a battle.

How do you gain new weapon specialisations? Donny needs a bow, 'cause he's too fragile for the frontline, and his momma made him promise not to die.

Is it cheating to use the DLC to grind levels, generate tonnes of cash and use that to recruit legions of heroes from previous games using the Bonus Box?

There is an item later in the game the can be used repair weapons but it's fairly rare.

You can change classes from level 10 on using a second seal, and you can basically evolve them to a higher class using a master seal.

And no it's not wrong to use the dlc for that .

penev10

If you have a unique weapon with only a few uses left leave it with the convoy. As stated above you should get a Hammerne staff later on that can revive battered weapons. It only works 10 times though (but you should be able to find some end game shops that will sell you more)

I haven't played Awakening yet but its the same in all recent FE games so I'm presuming it'll work out as I've described.

Deano7788

penev10 wrote: »

If you have a unique weapon with only a few uses left leave it with the convoy. As stated above you should get a Hammerne staff later on that can revive battered weapons. It only works 10 times though (but you should be able to find some end game shops that will sell you more)

I haven't played Awakening yet but its the same in all recent FE games so I'm presuming it'll work out as I've described.

Yep that's exactly how it works in this as well.

Banjo

thanks chaps

When you change skill at Level 10+ you appear to lose all of your existing skills. Is there no "dual class" option or is that where the level 20 / Master Seal comes in?

Also, if you use a second seal to go back to your original class, do you go back to square 1 or do you pick up where you left off? (I only have one in stock and no one is selling them at the moment so can't test myself)

If anyone hasn't already grabbed Champions of Yore ep 1 for free, do so - it's easy enough to beat without losing a man, you can grind it like crazy even at the very early stages, and the 2 villages always seem to yield something worthwhile (at least, to a newbie like myself - stat boosts, weapons I'm too low level to use etc etc.)

Damnitt, another new recruit... what's that, 18? 19? Jesus.. is it wrong to be wishing certain team members would die so I didn't have to keep dragging them through challenges in a desperate attempt to keep them apace of the "real" team?

johnny_ultimate

Absolutely loving this game. Thrilling central battle gameplay, but all the ancillary systems are married to it beautifully.

Scavenger XIII

Honestly I see myself remembering this as one of the weaker Fire Emblems.

The battle system itself is as good as it's ever been, maybe better but the fact that you can endlessly grind your way to success just kills it for me.

I always found a big part of the enjoyment was making the most of what you could get and having your characters develop "naturally" as you couldn't just faff around and manipulate everything easily. Even FE8 which suffers similarly in my mind at least didn't let you revert and re-level your units.

Sure you can consciously not sit and grind DLC maps and such nonsense but even just doing the side missions and/or the odd map encounter puts you ahead of the game and gives you time to mollycoddle your units.

It's still a good game, but I just don't enjoy it on the same level as the others.

Also, no feet.

penev10

FE8's skirmishes were such dull encounters they'd put you off grinding!

I've never undertaken any real grinding in FE games, never seen the need. I've always thought of it as an option for playing it on hard but have never returned and successfully played the games on the highest difficulty.

FE9&10 had the bonus EXP you could dish-out back at camp. That was a pretty good idea and helpful for letting the weaker units catch-up.

Perhaps I'll play this one on Hard if you so easily become overpowered on Normal.

Banjo

Is there a science to getting an adjacent unit to join in on an attack or is it entirely random? I thought it might be related to their relationship or positioning relative to the enemy and their weapon range, but it basically seems to be "are you standing beside Chrom?"

Deano7788

Banjo wrote: »

Is there a science to getting an adjacent unit to join in on an attack or is it entirely random? I thought it might be related to their relationship or positioning relative to the enemy and their weapon range, but it basically seems to be "are you standing beside Chrom?"

It's determined by the relationship between the 2 units and the skill stat of the support. These are put into a formula that determines the percentage chance of the support attacking as well.

Scavenger XIII

Banjo wrote: »

Is there a science to getting an adjacent unit to join in on an attack or is it entirely random? I thought it might be related to their relationship or positioning relative to the enemy and their weapon range, but it basically seems to be "are you standing beside Chrom?"

Likely to be affected by relationship levels but not entirely sure, Chrom definitely starts off with a skill that boosts the chance of team attacks in any fight he's involved in though.

Syferus

The best English FE I've played by a mile. I can't speak to the reems of Japanese only one but It's not even close on our count. I'd go as far as to say it's Intelligent Systems' best tactical game, taking the Wars series into account. IS is probably the only one of Nintendo's first party developers that isn't creatively bankrupt, with the SM Galaxy/SM 3D Land team being the only other qualified exception.

Lots of depth and the option to grind (and that's all it is, if someone is weak-willed enough to not want to grind but do it anyways because you can I can't lay blame at the game's feet) is a huge plus. It makes the harder difficulties far more bearable.

You simply couldn't have a cast that large be any use if you didn't have the option to level them up outside a linear story progression.

richymcdermott

Nice to see the game sell very well since this could of been the last fire emblem game

http://mynintendonews.com/2013/05/23/fire-emblem-awakening-could-have-been-the-last-fire-emblem-game/

Banjo

Holy cannoli, Donny is good... Since he became a Merc, without me realising it, I think he's become the tank of the team. Indestructable, unrelenting and still wearing a pot on his head.

I'm at the stage where I have to choose

a wife for Chrom. I had neglected to build any relationships between him and anyone else really, other than MyCharacter which would be a marriage that dare not speak it's name, and which Nintendo has recently revealed they are morally opposed to The game chose Sully, despite the fact that they had only really spoken to each-other during that scripted scene in the 2nd or 3rd level. It felt wrong. Hell, they didn't even seem that thrilled with the idea. I'm not sure who to go for though. Suggestions? I was thinking Sumia, a bit obvious but I hear she can pass on handy skills (Gale? Galeforce? Something like that) if she knows them. Actually, I better teach her that skill... grind ho!

. I've reset so I can consider my options. I presume that's a spoiler, but I guess at this stage everyone's past that point. I was squeamish about letting people die though... I'll tag it out in case any of the 3 people in the world slower than me at this game happen by

Is there a recommended team mate that MyCharacter should team up with? I was leaning towards Tharja but that's more because she's gothy and wears solid gold underpants,and that intrigues me, than because she's effective in combat or offers some amazing bonus. If I'm about to start Chapter 13 and I haven't already gotten a couple of S-class relationships, have I screwed up my chances?


On that note, I have a friend.. Let's call him Jack… Jack got his MyCharacter to level 20 Tactician and then respecced to Mercenary. Has Jack buggered his opportunity to turn Grandmaster or can he use a master seal at Merc lv10 to access the promotion of his previous class? 'Cause having to grind out 10 levels of Tactician again would kill me. I mean him.

Deano7788

Regarding Chrom

Try to marry Olivia, it gives the best skills for the offspring. Use the dlc map to grind the relationship

.

Regarding MyUnit

Wait, there's a character you'll unlock after Chapter 13 that would be the best match. MyUnit is actually the only one they can marry and it creates a bit of a beast of a child. (

Deano7788

Oh, and yeah, Donny turns into a bit of a beast. Although I feel sorry for Frederick, he started off as my tank and is now kind of neglected.

Banjo

I wish you hadn't put "

Grind the relationship

" into spoiler tags, there are so many levels to that comment that need to be explored...

Not sure how you can get a better match than a soul sucking dirty witch in a skin tight skin colour bodysuit. But I'll wait and see

Deano7788

Banjo wrote: »

I wish you hadn't put "

Grind the relationship

" into spoiler tags, there are so many levels to that comment that need to be explored...

Not sure how you can get a better match than a soul sucking dirty witch in a skin tight skin colour bodysuit. But I'll wait and see

Yeah, I wish I hadn't typed either, now that I look back on it (although it seems to be very accurate once you hit S rank :eek:).

To tell you the truth, I didn't follow the statistically best relationships all the time. I often just went with which dialogue was the funniest at the earlier ranks, or who I felt were best suited personality wise.

johnny_ultimate

Panne and Kellam ftw :pac:

I have a core squad all varying levels of upgraded classes, although have to admit I've shamefully neglected others. My Pegasus troops are a joke. Only time I use them is to stand on forts so enemies won't spawn.

Banjo

Really? I don't use Kellam much at all, but Sumia and Cordelia are two of mt highest level units. And Ricken is all over Panne like a rash, they had an A relationship long before I knew that relationships mattered.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to start using the pair up option to build relationships. I'm using the Martha Dlc for "dates". Chrom is sorted, as us Virion, though I'm worried Tharja will eat poor little Donnie. Still waiting for my special someone....

penev10

Just started this and decided to go for Hard as I reckon after beating all the previous games I should be well able for this. Died 3 times on the first mission :pac:

Have persevered and found out that teaming up my character with the tank (obviously removing the tank's weapon so he can't rob any of my EXP!) works a treat as it gives me +4 DEF.

Hard to know what stat to favour at the start though as your character is a mage with a sword and you only find that out after you've picked your stat!