Fire Emblem: Fates - More waifu, more husbando, more sales!

[?q]

Yeah, all of Hoshido is a case study in Excellent Game Balance.

Yeah, Birthright Hard is probably slightly easier than Conquest Normal overall.

...and Lunatic is probably slightly harder, but only because of the lategame.

[commandercool]

I kind of thing Birthright is a legit bad game. I know some people like it, but it was pitched to new players and I feel like it's a pretty poor introduction to the franchise. It's so easy that none of the choices you make matter and the game basically plays itself. People complain about the double pricetag on Fates, and they're not necessarily wrong to do so, but given that Birthright was the more popular one by far (at least at first, did that bear out in the long run?) it's a cost I would gladly pay to not have had Birthright as my only new Fire Emblem game for a while.

[?q]

Quick searching says that Birthright was convincingly more popular by sales.  (Then again, packaging that screams "you're the good guys and the game is easier" versus "this is a CHALLENNNGE" probably helped...)

It's not really -that- bad by game mechanics, but it is pretty easy until, again, lategame Lunatic.  It feels like a different game design team did each of the three routes, and the one that did Birthright really phoned in the difficulty (Ch. 21 being the most egregious offender; there's no difference between Hard and Lunatic except enemy weapon ranks).  Birthright is pretty fun to screw around with, though - as opposed to Revelation, which is pretty much completionist bait featuring

Spoiler:

one of the most enjoyable plot twists in any Fire Emblem

.

IDK, though.  A lot of what makes Birthright easy is shaped like a lobster and suggests that YOU DIE, NOW; and it's entirely because in terms of game mechanics he's exempt from all of the balance fixes they made to the series formula.  I'm not sure how you can raise Birthright's difficulty such that it's difficult with Ryoma without also making it impossible without him.

It's also worth pointing out w.r.t. introducing people to the franchise, the people getting introduced probably aren't naturally good at FE, especially given the concept of permadeath if they choose to go that way.  Given that, Birthright does a good job of being a tutorial game where you can set the difficulty bar as low as you need to... or, if you'd rather not be hardcore about it, it lets you grind up the team you want and have fun with crazy overpowered units.  That's a legit way to enjoy the game as well.

[Hello Purvis]

Birthright is definitely the better one to play because it doesn't punish you for being less than perfect (Or looking up every last detail on the most broken shit). It lets you actually play the characters you like and lets you take your own pace. Infinitely less stressful and more fun. And you can even use the second gen at your own pace, rather than having to either time it precisely with no ingame indication of when is too late.

In short, it's actually fun. There's a reason why Awakening revitalized the series after it had been slagging for years.

Which is a shame, because I like Conquest's story and characters so much more, but goddamn it is so unfun.

Ryoma is a goddamn monster, though you do have the option to not play him. Or just not use a weapon that isn't Raijin.

Honestly, I can see what they were doing, trying to appeal to newer and older fans, but I think they screwed up in having two different games. Rather they should have had one story line with two different modes, one classic style and one awakening style, and just let you pick at the beginning. Maybe be able to slip into awakening style the same way you can downgrade the difficulty.

ALSO: Beat part III; thanks for the help!

[commandercool]

Yeah, I'm certainly not making the claim that Conquest is perfect. It's not at all. And it's certainly not a great intro for new players (although I don't know, maybe on normal mode with peradeath off..?). But I had some fun playing Conquest while Birthright just felt like a chore. It wasn't fun for me at all. I know I'm not everyone, obviously, but the difference is pretty striking. They way overtuned Birthright for easiness and Conquest for fucking you for doing things you had no reason to assume you shouldn't be doing.

Dragging both of them toward the mean would have made them better games. You'd think that would be Revelation, and it sort of is I guess. I found it to be excessively easy on Lunatic but I think a lot of that has to do with knowing enough about Fire Emblem to be able to really exploit the game mechanics and take advantage of all the resources it hands out. Unfortunately

Spoiler:

Revelation's story is kind of up its own ass, so I couldn't really recommend it to anyone as an introductory game either since it wouldn't make much sense or be that interesting without at least one of the other ones

.

I do ultimately really like Fates and I would lean toward calling it the best game in the franchise, but I feel like is has a looooong way to go. But I guess it came a long way from Awakening, so prospects are looking good even if I have a lot of criticisms of it.

[?q]

Yeah, I'm certainly not making the claim that Conquest is perfect. It's not at all. And it's certainly not a great intro for new players (although I don't know, maybe on normal mode with peradeath off..?).

The devs openly admitted that Phoenix mode was created for first-time Conquest players.  In addition, Conquest Normal has very, very few Skills; which are the bulk of what make Hard and Lunatic what they are, so the difficulty comes from the map design, complex objectives, and no grinding (without lolDLC).  It does, however, differ from previous FEs in that
*the generic enemies aren't joke tier
*there's no easy mechanical way to cheese the game
*there's no jeigan character who can wreck the game the way Marcus, Seth, and Titania could (Camilla and Jakob are both way too fragile to compare to them)
so I wouldn't contest that it's the hardest intro game released in the west, edging out Radiant Dawn.

Dragging both of them toward the mean would have made them better games. You'd think that would be Revelation, and it sort of is I guess. I found it to be excessively easy on Lunatic but I think a lot of that has to do with knowing enough about Fire Emblem to be able to really exploit the game mechanics and take advantage of all the resources it hands out.

Revelation was fun my first time around, but that was blind, LTC, and no-grind.  If any of those were taken away I'd probably have a lot less fun with it.  (This is why I haven't picked it up again.)  Also early Revelation is pretty tough if you don't know what you're doing, because your early team is pretty dreadful.

I'd turn it around and say that if they loaded Lunatic Birthright the same way they did Conquest and Revelation, there would be fewer complaints.  The superplayers could have their mode, the new players could have their mode, and everyone would come away satisfied.  C'mon, IS, that's why difficulty levels exist.

Making Conquest Normal easier would basically involve cutting back on the gimmicks, since the enemy density and stats are already lower.  Tapping the Dragon Vein a turn or two later in Ch. 10 (not removing it entirely because the reaction blind players have to it is hilarious), extending the turn limit for Ch. 12 by two turns, and removing the mirages from Ch. 19 all come to mind.  (The wind in Ch. 20 is already toned down for Normal.)

I do ultimately really like Fates and I would lean toward calling it the best game in the franchise, but I feel like is has a looooong way to go. But I guess it came a long way from Awakening, so prospects are looking good even if I have a lot of criticisms of it.

I think they hit a lot more than they missed in the game mechanics.  If they're going to do another Saturday Morning Cartoon-style plot again then they should spare us and intentionally go into spoof territory next time.

[CF7]

Me playing Conquest Hard. Meticulously check every enemy unit stats, skills, equipment and range. Calculate combined damage you take from enemies' attack in offensive stance. Take into account potential debuffs from ninjas/stat seals and how that will affect survivability of your units. Check the best optimal placement of your units who grant damage reduction to units. Check if there are some enemies, who can reach said reduction granting units and check if they can survive a potential attack. Check the ranges of the enemy units who can't reach you on current turn, but who would reach you on the next turn to plan around that too. Hit End Turn. Watch how enemy turn goes and see what could go wrong percentage wise, in case something going wrong, plan around that too, if when you restart the chapter. Repeat.

Me playing Birthright Hard. Place a couple units in the "purple range". Hit End Turn. Hit Start. Watch level up screens. Repeat.

[CF7]

Cleared Chapter 18 of Birthright and now doing children Paralogues i have unlocked, so i don't have to waste money on Master Seals (which, tbh, isn't really an issue, since the game pretty much throws ridiculous amount of money at you in normal chapters. I think before i forged +1 weapons for everyone i was sitting on 70k gold).
Birthright is slowly picking up its difficulty and it seems i can't be as careless as before. Because once again i just parked Corrin in attack range of 2 Sorcerers, who promptly murdered him in turn.

My Corrin married Scarlet, because everyone was either already taken, or kinda a bad parent for Kana. For some weird reason Scarlet can support only with Corrin, and i thought why not? Plus she's a Wyvern Rider, so she's useful by default.

Also can i have Elise back? Because compared to her, Sakura just plain sucks. Okay, pretty much every mage sucks compared to Elise, but still.

[Hikarin]

Also can i have Elise back? Because compared to her, Sakura just plain sucks. Okay, pretty much every mage sucks compared to Elise, but still.

By endgame, Sakura was stuck at the bottom of my unit list. Meaning, I used every unit besides her more recently. I didn't bother marrying her to anybody, because she always died when I tried to give her Support Points, and I couldn't reclass her because she was Lv. 7.

[commandercool]

Sakura isn't awful since she has fairly good HP for a cleric, but she is pretty underwhelming.

She did make a great mother for my husbando Sorcerer Forrest on my lunatic Revelation run, giving him Renewal to go with his Nosferatu abuse, but she didn't see much play other than being power-leveled up to the point of getting Renewal and S-rank support with Leo. And Renewal on a Sorecerer turned out to basically be overkill anyway, he probably would have been served much better by someone else's skill.

I believe her inferior leadership skill does stack with Elise's various damage reduction effects for a tiny drop in the tanking bucket, but it's not really worth running her just for that.

[CF7]

Sakura isn't awful since she has fairly good HP for a cleric, but she is pretty underwhelming.

Yeah, she is not as squishy and usually can take a hit, but her offensive capabilities are kinda lacking. Still haven't decided who her hasubendo will be, and it might be a little to late for that, anyway.

[commandercool]

 How fitting tben for her to marry fellow underwhelming royal Leo and produce an overwhelming force of adorable nature.

[theshirn]

Sakura makes an amazing mom for Rhajat or Forrest.  Witch Sakura!Rhajat is a goddamn monster.  That said, her -2 damage aura is actually really good and can be used to set up some great defensive formations.

[?q]

Sakura is just bad unless you sink a lot of effort into her.  Even the things she's good at (Renewal+Camaraderie+Miracle = mushroom princess) are pretty underwhelming, and it's hard to justify using her when you have units that do everything she can but better from the instant she joins.

In general all Skills with different names stack, so Quiet Strength and Lily's Poise would make for +1/-5.

For some weird reason Scarlet can support only with Corrin, and i thought why not?

No children?  NO PRIORITY.
There is a lot of fan angst over the lack of Ryoma x Scarlet, simply because of how hard the plot sets it up.

Personally I was hoping for more Reina and Shura supports, but etc.

---

Paralogue Ignatius:  Sent BENOIT EXPRESS and Camilla, Nyx, and Peri+Laslow to the right, and Precious, Silas, Keaton, and the kids down.  If Benny passes Wary Fighter to Ignatius, he can last until Turn 4 with minimum-promoted enemies.  Getting there, though, means that you have to kill off at least one of the Freeze Maids.  On Turn 2 I had Camilla one-shot a Maid, and then had Benny come behind her, switch her over to the Dual Club, and orcad an Onmyoji.  On Turn 3 (after Camilla got Frozen), they teamed up and went to recruit Ignatius, who very much appreciated being a Great Knight.  Laslow+Peri then wound up taking on three Great Knights, and then moved down to take out most of the four Onmyoji.  Master Ninja Laslow:  Actually really solid.  The left units took out the Berserkers, the left Great Knights, the Paladins, and the center Ninja because they have good terrain on their side (Silas's Armorslayer helped).  Sophie got the boss kill because why not.  The whole carnage played out over seven turns.

Nyx did barely enough to get Demoiselle.  Silas picked up Gamble.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with the Friendship Seal the boss dropped.  I feel distinctly trolled after reading Benny C Ignatius, and while I know the mother paralogues are generic reading Camilla's C support with Ignatius-son still makes me upset that I went through with this crack pairing.

Ignatius got +1 HP, +2 Mag, +1 Skl, +2 Spd, +1 Def, +1 Res, Strength+2, and Wary Fighter.  17 Spd as a Great Knight isn't really terrible, but considering Das Foxhaus is coming up soon Wary Fighter is probably going to stay useful.

--

Paralogue Dwyer:  This happened.  The enemies are actually pretty strong individually, and the promoted units six levels higher sprinkled in make for some difficulty if you're not going for the one-turn (not including the boss; the boss is a wuss).  The green units can hold their own against the first couple of enemies but the Spear Masters will wreck their metal butts.

Promoted Dwyer to Strategist and gave him the boss kill.  He got +2 Mag, +2 Lck, +1 Res, Demoiselle, and Live to Serve.  My convoluted plan of getting him Demoiselle and Gentilhomme worked; the consensus opinion is that Dwyer is in fact quite hawt :]  The time is probably going to be quick in coming when Nyx will be his pair-up bot, but for now he needs to get over E Tomes. :/

Keaton married Felicia-bot.  In my Fates fanfiction Felicia is a pro quarterback.  ...but seriously, as much as "clumsy maid" is one of the most anime of tropes I really like Felicia a lot more than I ever thought I would.

--

Paralogue Velouria:  So this Chapter is annoying.  I happen to have two magic users who are useless for the most part, so I had them stop up the forts so surprise reinforcements couldn't ruin my day.  Precious wound up taking most of the enemies in the first charge and Laslow+Peri took care of the Sorcerer reinforcements.  Seriously.  Master Ninja Laslow.  All the cheese of Birthright, now in Conquest.  Velouria doesn't get to do much in this Chapter, but she got an easy kill thanks to Tomebreaker.

Velouria gained +3 HP, +1 Str, +1 Mag, +1 Spd, +1 Def, apparently -1 Res, Better Odds, and Tomebreaker.  We'll see how good that 13 personal Str is momentarily.  Also, the fanservice is strong in this one.

Reclassed Velouria to Maid.

---

Paralogue Soleil:  I have never played this Chapter and wow is this unnecessary torture.  I was worried about it when it was just the units onscreen; I wasn't expecting just as many to show up as reinforcements.  The BENOIT EXPRESS and Sophie went to the top left top, Velouria and Nyx went to the top left left, Camilla and Kana went to the bottom right right, Laslow and Peri went toward Soleil, and Precious and Ignatius kind of didn't know where to go but ultimately joined Camilla and Kana (mothers and sons together! aww).  Dwyer and Silas eventually wound up in the bottom left somehow.  Benny held off the Berserkers through force of Wary Fighter, Velouria was frigging amazing with Tomebreaker and a bitty little Raider Knife, Camilla and Kana did their part against the Berserkers there, and Laslow was (once again) a force of nature.

These paralogues are really unkind to green weapon users.  So much magic, so many axes and swords.  I want to train Benny and Ignatius's axe ranks but WTD says no.  Having a -Res Corrin really hurt in this Chapter, as Precious was the only person who had to awkwardly back away from all the magic users.  When the last big push arrived, I did get a chance to swipe the Obstacles.  One was used under the center bridge to slowly pare away the enemies who chose to continue going right even when the Obstacle was removed.  The other one delayed Zhara and one of his pairs for a long time.  Zhara got thoroughly destroyed on Enemy Phase by Laslow.

I got a Mend staff; I'm guessing it's because I was able to protect a grand total of one soldier.  I guess there may be some ingenious way to protect two but yeah I don't know what the developers expected.

Kana and Sophie both got Draconic Hex.  Silas got Sol/eil.  Dwyer hit D Tomes, which is huge.  Velouria is well on her way out of E Knives.  I'm still mad at Camilla x Ignatius.  Soleil got +3 HP (whaddya know!?), +1 Str, +2 Skl, +2 Spd, +1 Lck, +2 Def, +1 Res, Lethality, and Luna.  I'm pretty sure I meant to pass her Elbow Room instead of Luna from Peri, but like hell if I'm restarting that.  So, yeah, fake stat boosters all around.  She's gonna get even better momentarily...

Reclassed Soliel to Mechanist with my last Heart Seal.  I have a :V at how it's a small step down from Hero in every stat except Mag (even) and Res (+4).  Time to grind the best weapon ranks in the game.

--

Invasion 2:  Sat Laslow, Camilla, Nyx, and Keaton out.  There are exactly zero enemy healers on this map.  Dusk Dragon wins games.  Lilith stole the kill on the boss, robbing me of a precious precious Master Seal.  She probably could have taken out the entire southern reinforcement set had she not gotten pegged by one of the Spendthrift Merchants.  Compared to the paralogues, this was ridiculously easy.  I can't even say that this was free experience, because my units weren't really getting experience.  They're all at or above Lv. 5 promoted, except Soleil.

--

Ch. 19:  Sat Keaton out.  All I did was select Benny+Precious, move them to where the foxes were, and press A a few times.  The Beast Killer did the rest.  The mixed foxes jumped on paired-up Kana and Sophie, who Hexed them into target practice.  Benny got Lunge and Rally Defense.  Ignatius got D Axes, finally.  Velouria got D Knives.  Soleil is so good that she doesn't need D ranks.  Gave the Talisman from this Chapter to Benny (20 Res on a Wary Fighter Wyvern Lord o.o )

--

halp halp the wind chapter is painful

[CF7]

I guess Sakura is going to end up single.
She's legit amazing as a healer, tho. But the main reason for that is her high magic stat and cheating 1-2 healing staves..

I just realised, that more than a third of my my team in Birthright consists of one class. Master Ninja (and BDread Fighter).
I think this is wrong, so wrong, but at the same time soooo good.
So the party composition is as follows.
2 Hoshido Nobles (Corrin + Kana), 1 Wyvern Lord (Scarlet), 1 Onmyouji (Sakura), 1 Falcon Knight (Hinocopter) 1 Songstress (Azura), 1 Swordmaster (Hana), 2 Snipers (Taco Lord and Taco Lord Jr (even more OP than his dad)) and 5 Ninja Masters (Kaze, Saizo, Midori, Asugi, Mozu (Actually a Dread Fighter))
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, game.

[?q]

I just realised, that more than a third of my my team in Birthright consists of one class. Master Ninja (and BDread Fighter).

The only person who's allowed to be a Bread Fighter is Corrin.  (Hoshido is totally the southern US, right?)

Also that's right, so right.  Immerse yourself in the Hoshidan Balance and feel the power course through you.
...although personally I'm more a fan of Mechanists.  One reason is that the female Mechanist animations are really cool.

What do you think of the Hoshido Noble class?

[theshirn]

Birthright kids run is just about ready to wrap up.

My biggest mistake pairing was Kaze/Mozu.  Not only did that mean I didn't even get a kid with Aptitude until chapter 16, but Midori turned out really, really, really bad.  

Hinoka!Caeldori was a beast from the word go.  Sakura!Rhajat is an unholy monster of destruction, finally capped magic (her magic cap in Witch is an obscene 42) and has ridiculous speed and a surprisingly huge health pool (capped that as well, though I think I tossed her a Seraph Robe at some point).  My Avatar married Kaden for a kickass Selkie and a weaksauce Kana.  Hana!Kiragi obliterates anything he attacks, Kagero!Shiro is a beast, and Rinkah!Dwyer has proven surprisingly great.  Everyone else ranged from passable to poor.

Need to figure out a gimmick run for Revelation, now.  I considered Transformers (robots in disguise!), but that actually only gives me a pretty small pool of units, even if I allow mothers to stick around: Corrin, Kaden and Keaton, plus six for wives and kids - one of the wives will be Azura to get Shigure the bloodline :V and plus one more for whoever Corrin's husband has.  11 total.  That's...not actually that bad, though it means my early unit choices are going to be even more starved that usual.  I'll mull it over.

[Mеа]

So I finally have time again to slowly dredge my way through this game. I left off on ch18 and had a significantly easier time than I foresaw myself having two or so weeks ago. So that's done now, and I upgraded my fire orb to lvl 3 to get flora after I can clear this next chapter, chapter 19. And, I'm glad that it's not time based because I hate feeling rushed, but my god do these stupid foxes have all the evasion stats. That and like a third of my forces are mounted on horsies, meaning super-effectivityness strikes me hard. I can't hit them, I can't tank them, and I have yet to see this illusion gimmick thing the game is warning me about. I've only tried this once just to get a feel for things but this is going to be, uh, rather interesting, to put things optimistically.

[commandercool]

Yeah, Nohr units being largely mounted is a dirty trick in that chapter. You'll probably figure this out, but there is kind of a trick to it that makes it much easier provided enemy AI cooperates. I won't spoil it, but I will say that the trick lies in what enemies in this chapter can't do that enemies in every other chapter in the game can.

Spoiler:

The foxes have absolutely no way to make ranged attacks, so you can make an Elise turtle with no risk. Park paired up Corrin, Camilla, and whichever knight you're working on in squares around her, and fill that last square with any other sturdy non-mounted unit, often an offspring. Have them move as a block and take care not to let any foxes break away and rush the units who aren't part of the turtle.

[CF7]

What do you think of the Hoshido Noble class?

Eh, i'd rather have Draconic Hex.

Currently on Chapter 24. The game got fun again. And the difference between Birthright in general and Birthlight Lategame is striking. It's like it was designed by different people.

Birthright Designer: Oh, shit, it's Chapter 20 and i am out of ideas. What am i to do now?
Assistant Dave: Let's just make some more plain maps, where you just kill everyone and win.
BRD: No, no, no. It won't do. Even i am sick of that.
Assistant Dave: Ugh, alright... I am out of ideas then...
BRD: Team, brainstorm time!
Bob the Troll: How about we just ask the Conquest team for help? They know their shit, you know...
BRD: That they do, but their shit is not for the new players.
Bob the Troll: It's okay. It's okay. They got that far, they know how to play the game by now.
BRD: Any other ideas?
Everyone: No...
BRD: It's decided. And i regret everything.

Birthright Chapter 21 onwards.
Conquest Designer: Welcome to HellConquest, newbies! Please enjoy your wonderful time here. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
P.S. Your tears are DELICIOUS.

[MewMewHeart]

Eh, i'd rather have Draconic Hex.

Currently on Chapter 24. The game got fun again. And the difference between Birthright in general and Birthlight Lategame is striking. It's like it was designed by different people.

Birthright Designer: Oh, shit, it's Chapter 20 and i am out of ideas. What am i to do now?
Assistant Dave: Let's just make some more plain maps, where you just kill everyone and win.
BRD: No, no, no. It won't do. Even i am sick of that.
Assistant Dave: Ugh, alright... I am out of ideas then...
BRD: Team, brainstorm time!
Bob the Troll: How about we just ask the Conquest team for help? They know their shit, you know...
BRD: That they do, but their shit is not for the new players.
Bob the Troll: It's okay. It's okay. They got that far, they know how to play the game by now.
BRD: Any other ideas?
Everyone: No...
BRD: It's decided. And i regret everything.

Birthright Chapter 21 onwards.
Conquest Designer: Welcome to HellConquest, newbies! Please enjoy your wonderful time here. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
P.S. Your tears are DELICIOUS.

Oh god... Chapter 21 made me cry on Birthright and not story wise... either.

[commandercool]

I mean, the problem with Birthright is that no matter how good, the chapter design gets the enemies have stupidity baked in. They'll always be exploitable. Chapter 21 is crazy exploitable.

[CF7]

I mean, the problem with Birthright is that no matter how good, the chapter design gets the enemies have stupidity baked in. They'll always be exploitable. Chapter 21 is crazy exploitable.

Yeah, that's true.
From recent memory.

There are 2 generals standing side by side.
My slightly tankier unit (Birthright doesn't have any real tanks, which is a pity) can survive 1 hit, but not 1 hit + half hit from Attack Stance. So i stack some defensive buffs, place the unit in their attack range to bait them, hit End Turn and... And one of them suicides against Scarlet equipped with a Hammer, who happened to be in his attack range, while the other general, who couldn't reach Scarlet gleefully attacks that tanky unit i placed in its attack range. Hurr durr derp.

[Hello Purvis]

Need to figure out a gimmick run for Revelation, now.

Bullworth run. You can only marry from opposing nation.

"We're gonna keep fucking each other til we're all the same color."

[Hikarin]

That's... gonna be difficult, if you're not playing Revelation. On either side, there's only a small number of foreigners.

And I assume you'd count your MU as Hoshidan, rather than Nohrian?

[theshirn]

Bullworth run. You can only marry from opposing nation.

"We're gonna keep fucking each other til we're all the same color."

I usually try to have my gimmicks pare down the number of people I can use based on specific weird criteria.  I like the Transformers run more now that I've thought about it, though it does have one major issue, and that is if I don't marry Jakob then it's purely the Corrin and Azura show until Chapter 13 (or whoever I do decide to marry shows up).  Revelation's join times are...really bad.

[?q]

Oh god... Chapter 21 made me cry on Birthright and not story wise... either.

The plot actually did make me cry.  Or at least marvel at how brazen they were about showing off plot holes.

The Chapter itself (Burning Falls) is an enormous waste of time with the second-worst gimmick in Fates and thankfully it can be skipped entirely.

(IMO the lategame starts with Ch. 23.)

Eh, i'd rather have Draconic Hex.

Fair.  I was impressed by how it's a physically-built class that Corrin can use with their Yato (that gives a Str bonus).  It also looks really cool.

---

And, I'm glad that it's not time based because I hate feeling rushed, but my god do these stupid foxes have all the evasion stats.

Yeah, the foxes' evasion is really uncalled for on a map full of Woods and Mountains.  It's worth fielding someone with Heartseeker, whether you actually attack with them or not, purely to push the odds to hit in your favor.  (e.g. Leo)

[Mеа]

I don't think I've yet felt as annoyed and frustrated as I was clearing a chapter than when I just cleared chapter 19.

Spoiler:

There's that nice little concave area to just shell up on 3x mademoiselles + Azura's and Elise's damage reducer, directly south of the boss which was nice,

and I guess overall it wasn't actually terribly difficult, but it was pretty stressful in an uneasy way. I feel there hasn't been any other chapter that was more a battle against bad rng than this chapter, and it was pretty grating. Now that's over with at least.

Flora recruited, and it turns out I didn't even have to beat the chapter first since she just showed up in my castle after closing the 3ds for awhile. I think I like her more than felicia already even though I only got one heart event to her yet.

And next chapter is wind, winds, windy winds. My gut tells me this isn't going to be terribly long or difficult, and certainly not as annoying as chapter 19, but looks like one small positioning error is going to screw me big time. And, of course, no cramped-ass map is complete without hexing rods and kinshi knights everywhere. That canoe theatre chapter, ch14, was one of my lesser favorite ones to do too.

[commandercool]

I don't think I've yet felt as annoyed and frustrated as I was clearing a chapter than when I just cleared chapter 19.

Spoiler:

There's that nice little concave area to just shell up on 3x mademoiselles + Azura's and Elise's damage reducer, directly south of the boss which was nice,

and I guess overall it wasn't actually terribly difficult, but it was pretty stressful in an uneasy way. I feel there hasn't been any other chapter that was more a battle against bad rng than this chapter, and it was pretty grating. Now that's over with at least.

Flora recruited, and it turns out I didn't even have to beat the chapter first since she just showed up in my castle after closing the 3ds for awhile. I think I like her more than felicia already even though I only got one heart event to her yet.

And next chapter is wind, winds, windy winds. My gut tells me this isn't going to be terribly long or difficult, and certainly not as annoying as chapter 19, but looks like one small positioning error is going to screw me big time. And, of course, no cramped-ass map is complete without hexing rods and kinshi knights everywhere. That canoe theatre chapter, ch14, was one of my lesser favorite ones to do too.

Pretty sure Demoiselle doesn't stack. I don't think any skill with the same name stacks.

Some people consider chapter 19 to be one of the hardest in the game, or at least they did when it came out. I don't. But yeah, you're pretty much spot-on with your guess aside from it not being terribly long. At least every time I've ever cleared it it was one of the longest chapters in the game. Gotta take it real slow. There's one scenario to watch out for though.

Spoiler:

Be careful about letting your units get too split up toward the end. It makes dealing with reinforcements trickier, but worse than that you can get back-to-back winds blowing you toward the top of the map, which could result in your guys getting forced into the boss zone while not grouped correctly, which can be very bad. It's not hard to avoid if you know to avoid it, but you can definitely get caught with your pants down.

[Mеа]

Pretty sure Demoiselle doesn't stack. I don't think any skill with the same name stacks.

oh  :V
well good to know for future reference