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

[commandercool]

Leo is in no way the worst unit in the game because he has good stats (particularly HP, Mag, and Res on top of a strong defensive class), uses magic, comes with a free Prf Thunder +2 with benefits, has a decent personal Skill that is only bad in comparison to the stuff the other royals have, and really only suffers from bad Skl and a class/cap that does his Spd no favors.  He's the least of the Nohrlords but overall he's probably somewhere in mid tier.

I have to treat him as though he's basically Elise defensively because his speed is so poor. He has 19 speed right now at level 15 (he would have more but he's very difficult to level). The only things on my team that are even close to that bad are Effie (doesn't matter AND is considerably higher) and Xander (has solid defense and is married to Mozu for a Resistance buff if necessary). He may have good HP, but it's not really worth much when he has mediocre defense and shit-tier speed. Maybe I just got bad levels for him, but I've used him in almost every game he's been available in and he always ends up this way. I honestly wish I'd spent the experience elsewhere, and I'm using Peri.

What he does have, though, is really solid defensive stance bonuses, especially for Corrin to receive. He also pairs really well with Bolt Axe Camilla, which is basically what I'm using this time around.

Edit: Oh yeah, and Heartseeker is just really good. I think the best use I've gotten out of Leo this run has been parking him next to evasive bosses and passing before everyone unloads on them, but to be fair, that's been super useful.

FWIW most of that gold (43000G if you sold everything in the five chests except the Seraph Robe, plus the three S ranks) comes from the end of Ch. 26.  You haven't always had it.

I just could have been way less cautious with my gold and theoretically zeroed out before if I had remembered that this windfall was coming.

[Undinehunt]

It's been so long since I've been in this site.... and it's Fire emblem that gets me back in.

Out of silly curiosity and the chance that this may have been answered before, has there been a guide to optimal pairings? Saw one on Reddit but seeking to know if there's one here too. Then again might be pointless if the kids are useless at this point.

Edit - Geez I want to edit that name of mine so bad... Made this when I was what 13?

[Mеа]

Can't change nicknames but display names can be changed at any time

[Undinehunt]

Thank you kind cat! Now a slightly better username

[?q]

[Leo] has 19 speed right now at level 15

He's three behind his average, and his average isn't good to begin with.  I agree, don't try to salvage that.

---

It's been so long since I've been in this site.... and it's Fire emblem that gets me back in.

<-halfghost

Out of silly curiosity and the chance that this may have been answered before, has there been a guide to optimal pairings? Saw one on Reddit but seeking to know if there's one here too. Then again might be pointless if the kids are useless at this point.

Truthfully the only reason you need optimal pairings is if you're going into "competitive" My Castle battles, in which case you should save yourself dozens of hours and hack the game because that's how you put yourself at parity with a lot of people.  Otherwise, if you're planning for kids do it well in advance, and if you're not planning for kids take what you can get without going wildly off the weapon ranks.

I'm not really big into child characters and I've only begun to analyze how to get the most out of them but if I'm not mistaken the strategy for getting good ones looks like
*The sweet spot for getting children is prior to Ch. 21.  You get unlimited seals and it's the first Chapter where Offspring Seal gets them to 20/6 so they immediately pick up their third class Skill as well as good weapon ranks.  Plus, there's a decent chunk of the game left.
**I've read good things about early Dwyer and such but you have to burn a Heart Seal on them, and tbh it's probably more efficient to use that Heart Seal on the father instead.  Early kids are probably fine if you want to reclass your child into something they don't have any weapon ranks for and Skill inheritance is taken care of.
*If you try to "fix" kids and make them "well-balanced" you'll get forgettable results.
*Try to get class inheritances that the children can use, obviously.
*Any kids that have E ranks (other than knives and bows) are never not going to have those E ranks unless you're devoted enough to those kids to dump an Arms Scroll on them.
**If you're like me and wind up doing silly things like Strategist Sophie in my previous run, the Arms Scroll is mandatory but because of base inheritance you can get an additional +3 in the off-stat from the mother, so they won't be quite as bad as you'd expect.
*Whoever female Corrin's child is - and I don't mean Kana - should be able to take full advantage of Corrin's talent.
*There are two magic children plus Dwyer on each route, and two magic parents plus Felicia on each route.  Overall who goes where is probably a wash.
*Camilla and Hinoka are great overall parents on their respective routes, but Mozu is better than both of them purely because of Aptitude.
*Azura is a better mother than Charlotte if you're going for big Str/Spd.
*Effie and Kagero pass huge Str; Effie passes some other good stats and questionable classes/Skills while Kagero passes maybe one more good stat (Spd) and Ninja which everyone can be all over.
*Selena and Oboro pass decent defensive stats and mediocre other stats; Selena also passes a good class (and potentially Darting Blow) while Oboro passes a mediocre class.
*Peri and Setsuna pass good Spd and a good Skill (Elbow Room and Quick Draw respectively); Peri also passes the Cavalier tree (if you need more than Elbow Room) as well as Str and Res while Setsuna passes Kinshi Knight and wishes her screwed-up kid the best.
*Rinkah and Beruka pass decent Skl and Def; Rinkah also passes down Death Blow and generally worse stats elsewhere while Beruka passes Wyvern tree.  Beruka loses to Camilla every time though.

so if I really wanted to optimize my first guess would be
Jakob + Peri (reasonable cavvy Dwyer)
Odin + Elise (maxing out Ophelia's Mag)
Leo + Felicia (Nyx is taken)
Hayato + Orochi (maxing out Rhajat's Mag)
Azama + Sakura (Kinshi Knight access or making a good Onmyoji)
Xander + Azura (but Xander + Charlotte is much more celebrated)
Ryoma + Oboro (Apothecary Skills, Spendthrift, Replicate)
Takumi + Mozu (Aptitude, Life or Death, Spendthrift, Quick Draw, Bowfaire, Certain Blow, Rend Heaven, Lancefaire, come on now this is silly)
Kaze + Hana (Life or Death, Spendthrift, Vantage, Astra, Replicate)
Silas + Effie (super-strong Sophie with Elbow Room, Luna, Aegis, Pavise, Sol, Strong Riposte, Axebreaker, Shirukenbreaker)
Subaki + Hinoka (not as silly as Ryoma+Oboro but still basically Shiro II)
Saizo + Setsuna (she had to go somewhere)
Hinata + Kagero (strong Hisame with Master Ninja access)
Kaden + Rinkah (worst child gets dump parents)
Niles + Nyx (for Shining Bow Nina)
Laslow + Selena (for additional 8 Mov action with your ninja breaker sol daughter)
Benny + Beruka (a whole family of high-defense Generals/WyvLords)
Keaton + Camilla (good stats everywhere, Trample, Strength+2)
Arthur + Charlotte (how to make Percy a Berserker without making him a Berserker)

and I have done precisely zero of those pairings so my experience is etc.

---

Ch. 14.  It's that time again!  I built the second Armory and purchased Javelin for Peri and Javelin+Beast Killer+Killer Lance for Benny.

I promoted Nyx because she was at Lv. 18 after the last Chapter and I was in a rush for Dat Vengeance.  This was probably not a great decision, since she got like 36 EXP from this map instead of the level she could have gotten... but on the other hand, with Magic Tonic she was able to sashay across the top of the map with Nosferatu and one-shot everything except the Sky Knights that met her once she got to the right side of the map.  Keaton (, your superior) is kind enough to recruit himself in a position that lets him Dual Strike, so the archers and one of the Sky Knights died pretty quickly.  Camilla and Benny let the Pass Samurai suicide on them.  Then, Camilla + Laslow were able to make the 9 Mov journey to hit the Hexing Rod miko.  In the following Enemy Phase, Laslow took grievous damage from the Poison Strike Archer adjacent to the ex-miko, so he was out for the rest of the map.  I let the forward Freeze and Enfeeble wear themselves out before triggering the second half of the fight.  Precious got below half HP countering the Oni Savages and Silas became invincible again.  Between him, Keaton, and Beast Killer Benny, the Sky/Kinshi combos died pretty painlessly (for my team).  Leo took care of the Bolt Naginata one.  I didn't really have a good answer to Kumagera so I had Nyx nail the Entrap maiden and bait the Archers, and then let Keaton try for an 8% critical (which he got) with Nyx standing behind him as a backup.

Ch. 15 happened.  The whole purpose of it is to get Corrin to 20/1, and it worked.  Promoted Precious to Hero, which means that she can use Grim Yato now.  She has 27 Spd and like 23% crit on everything with near 100% accuracy; this should get entertaining.

I think I'm going to hold off one more Chapter before promoting everyone else, since they're still hanging around Lv. 17 and there are going to be a bunch of child paralogues.

[CF7]

Currently on Ch 23 and at least it's interesting.
Previous map was kinda stupid, because it's a huge trial and error mess and you can't quite prepare for it, without knowing about all the bullshit it's going to throw at you, in advance.
Some things that happened. Azura died to surprise reinforcements fliers. Corrin died, after being frozen and unable to escape, to that dude near Sakura, because his magic damage is absurd and Corrin's res is well... yeah. Corrin died yet again because she was boxed in with some dudes after the final trap was activated. It's just bad game design, imo.

Unlocked Soleil's (Camilla) paralogue right after that chapter and i guess the sooner you have access to it, the better. Because of me playing it kinda late in the game it was not fun. Soleil can't be promoted immediately, due to her being a neutral unit. Because of that she'll be doubled and dead, if pretty much any enemy unit gets to her. But after some frantic running around and and more or less doing okay i cleared it with 1 casualty and that casualty being Kumagera. Apparently game thought, that having such an amazing unit in my army, is making things a little bit too hard for it, so the game decided to kill him by critting him twice back to back with 4% and 5% chance to crit respectively. How ridiculous is that? Oh, well, he will be forever remembered as an amazing wall of murder death.

[commandercool]

Getting back to hacking away at the endgame after not touching it for a few days.

It's... Really hard.

Spoiler:

I don't really know how to approach that big mess of enemies in the middle of the map. They're positioned such that if you get in range of even one of them you're in range of all of them, so you get mobbed by nearly every enemy in the stage in one turn. And worse than that, they have a ton of super-effective weapons among them, so between that, their very high stats, their huge numbers, and the overlapping web of Enfeeble users tanking them is impossible. But rushing them is also impossible because they're too densely packed.

I tried sending a big group up to meet them expecting a few people to die but hoping that the remaining units would be able to fight back, but everyone died. Partly that was due to two random 10% critical hits they got, but given that my Skill is tanked by Enfeeble and they have so many attacks to make, I feel like I almost have to plan for a critical hit or two. I might be able to bait out a few of the Generals without pulling the rest of the mob, but if I do try to take it slow that's just more and more stacking Enfeebles that are more or less one-shotting my units by making them useless. So yeah, not really sure how to approach this.

Didn't help that I forgot to consume all of my Tonics that run though. Oops. :derp:

[?q]

@commandercool: 

Spoiler:

I don't think you can pull the Paladins and Maligs separately.  You can try pulling the Generals from the left chokepoint, and the ninja from below the center rock (two away from the first Maid), but if there are any Generals left they'll move to assist the Ninja.  You probably want to move south from the left side of the map to mitigate how many of the mounted enemies can reach you.

---

Changed my mind and promoted Keaton at 16.  He really only needs to do two or three things in this run, so I'm putting him on the fastest track I have.

Gave the Ch. 15 Spirit Dust to Nyx, basically ensuring she'll cap.  Gave the Ch. 15 Goddess Icon to Silas, who's below his average.  Gave the Ch. 15 Speedwing to Silas, who is now only 2 below his average :V  Gave Laslow the Ch. 14 Seraph Robe in hopes that it will make Sol/eil better (it won't; HP inheritance is pretty much always 0 if I understand the math correctly).

Played through Ch. 16.  The enemies on this map were too strong (and my own units, not so much) to attempt any kind of quick-clear.  Except Nyx, who danced her way around the left side of the map, but even then I had to be careful not to aggro a Berserker and Sorcerer on the same turn.  Benny/Camilla went north to take care of the north Hero while Keaton went south to take care of the south Hero.  The most dangerous enemy on the map is the Silver Hero/Shining Adventurer in the center-right; I baited them with Dual Guard Benny, let Xander one-shot the Adventurer, and then took the Hero out with a mix of Laslow and Camilla.  The final score was 7000G on turn 11, I think.  Benny took the boss kill.  Chose to be NOHRIAN SCUM and get Boots; I'm not sure who they're going to yet.

Paralogue Kana:  Decided to be inefficient and get a child paralogue to push my levels a bit before promotion.  Benny obligingly hit his level cap on Turn 1, and after promoting to General the only thing that could stop him was the Seal Defense Spear Master (the nastiest enemy on the map), who he critted on Enemy Phase.  Other than that, Nyx took out the Archers, Peri+Javelin+Laslow took out the Diviners, and the bottom of the map kind of died.

Kana inherited +2 Str, +1 Spd, +2 Def, Gamble, and Elbow Room.  Getting Kana this early means that he'll have no tome rank when he promotes, so I might make him a horsie when he grows up.

Gave Benny the Boots.  This is absolutely probably not a terrible decision.

Paralogue Sophie:  This map requires really aggressive play, and I honestly had no good way of taking out the General and Berserker on the island.  By having an enemy block off the island and having two player units back up the bridge, the Villagers will go around the lake, so I was able to get four of them to bugger off.  Silas used the first and second turns scraping up enough EXP to hit Lv. 20, then recruited Sophie.  I immediately reclassed Sophie into Nohr Noble and, with Nyx, cleaned up the top.  The island took a lot of tries to get right, but the AI hosed itself by putting the left Troubadour where normally the left Paladin would go when the left side charges, so Keaton and Benny could choke off that bridge while the rest tried their scrubby best to deal with the Berserker.  Nichol got orcad by a Dual Guard Nyx.  Five villagers survived, so I got a Partner Seal (more useful than the Friendship Seal for six).  I also got an Energy Drop that went to Precious.

Sophie inherited +1 Str, +2 Mag, +1 Spd, +2 Lck, +2 Def, -1 Res(??), and Gamble.  I think I'm going to try to keep her as a Nohrlord until she picks up Draconic Hex.

Nyx finally got her VENGEANCE, so she's reclassing to her final class via Partner Seal now (OMG I HAVE A HEALER NOW).  Camilla hit A with Benny (who has TOTALLY never punched a bear in the face) so hopefully in two more maps I can get his child.  Silas is reclassing to Hero.  Laslow hit 20, so he's promoting just in time to meet a bunch of fellow ninja.  Promoted Peri at 19 to Great Knight.  Kana and Sophie will probably languish a little at max level, but there's a Master Seal Kana can use at the end of the next Chapter.  Sold the (completely worthless) Blessed Lance and purchased a Killing Edge.  I'm now basically out of money.

Actually, not only am I out of money, but I just realized I need 10 seals to get everyone into their final classes.  I'm pretty sure there's exactly 20000G between now and the cut-off.  As in reality, early kids were a mistake.

Ch. 17:  There are maybe three enemies on the whole map who can scratch Benny.  After debuffs.  Since the Mokushujin have human AI (i.e. they won't blindly attack him), this allows me to bottleneck large groups of enemies until I'm ready for them.  (If it weren't for this, there would be a lot more killing-six-enemies-at-once-on-player-phase moves.)  Other than that, Ninja Laslow is pulling his weight so hard, and Peri hasn't been awful either.  All my swordies and especially Nyx struggled.

Between splitting up/leading the enemies around and getting Saizo to take the least direct route to the boss available, this Chapter is mostly AI manipulation.  The ninja aren't really that tough, but you don't want to deal with more than one at a time on enemy phase.  So, it's not difficult, but it's long and grindy.  I stand by my earlier statement that the best person to take Kotaro on is Saizo... even if he critted and stole the boss kill.

Peri married Laslow.  Sophie and Kana both hit Lv. 20, and I promoted Sophie because while they're more or less the same Sophie has a better personal.  Nyx is halfway to D Staves, a Strategist that is a shadow of her former Sorcerer self. :/  Vengeance isn't looking so hot with that sweet 21 HP.

[commandercool]

Conquest lunatic cleeeeeeeeeared!

Casualties included:

Rallyman
Shura
Kana
Leo
Shigure (my son)
Niles
Mozu (my MVP)

Okay, uh, now what?

[Hikarin]

One unit clears?
Revelation?
Castle Battles?
Full Support Log. There.

[commandercool]

One unit clears?

Ryoma in Birthright.

/theorycrafted

Revelation?

Did a while ago, is much easier on lunatic than Conquest.

Castle Battles?

Lolno.

Full Support Log. There.

Same basic problem as the first and third ones, I hate grinding.

I'll probably pick up all of the DLC when that's all out and do a DLC run. Maybe. I said I would do that with Awakening and then never got around to it.

[theshirn]

Gimmick runs are fun.

Try the Conquest Ladies run.  I did that on Hard.  Dunno that it's even possible on Lunatic!

[Hikarin]

Try the Conquest Ladies run.  I did that on Hard.  Dunno that it's even possible on Lunatic!

If he gets all DLC, Witch!Anna with +1Mov and Paragon is a powerful option.
That alone might make the first half possible. Anna scales into endgame easily, so you can make her your carrying unit while Kamui (I call FeMU Kamui and MaMU Corrin) and other girls nab EXP. After Chapter 11 or so, Anna can't take as many hits, but by that point the others should be okay enough to soak up a single, non-critical hit. And then pray that they don't get Lunged on.

I'll probably pick up all of the DLC when that's all out and do a DLC run. Maybe. I said I would do that with Awakening and then never got around to it.

I was going to suggest this, but I wasn't sure if you were up to the purchases.
There's a DLC child storyline where the plot is okay you actually get really good background on the children, since you don't see too much without grinding out support logs. It's an episodic thing; about 7 segments. It's short compared to the main game, but it's worth playing for worldbuilding, among other things.

And I don't know if there's an Apotheosis equivalent yet. They released End: Lost in the Waves for the child storyline, so I think the endgame DLC is in line.

[theshirn]

I ended up grabbing Anna for the ladies run just for chapter 10; it just got really bleeding hard to hold with so few units.  I also did get Witch and stuck that on Elise, but I didn't end up nabbing the Paragon or extra Boots for the run.  Admittedly, on Lunatic, you'd probably need every edge you could possibly get...

[CF7]

Conquest lunatic cleeeeeeeeeared!

Congratulations.

I am on Chapter 25.
I can clear both starting groups on both sides semi-reliably, but then i am kinda hitting the wall. Chain lunge on the left or that corridor of death on the right. Still i haven't tried some things yet. Plus i can go back to the base and buy some tonics.
Also my Corrin can actually defeat Da Boss on her own, but then i am missing on all that delicious exp and 2 chests. Party levels are 20/15-16 mostly.

[?q]

Congratulations!  The mountain has been summited.

If you don't want to do another ordinary playthrough to see units you didn't use, gimmick runs would be your next best option.  If you like, I can generate a randomly reclass set for you and let you see how far you get (that's what I'm doing).

One unit clears?

Don't do this.  You will come away hating the game as it comes down to spamming healing items while waiting for things to suicide on you.

Full Support Log. There.

Don't suggest things you're not willing to do yourself.~

--

Also my Corrin can actually defeat Da Boss on her own, but then i am missing on all that delicious exp and 2 chests.

You want the left chest, which you don't really need to deal with Chain Lunge to reach.  The right chest is almost certainly not worth the heartache of the death trap hallway.

--

Gave Silas Saizo's Speedwing, so hopefully he's back up to speed (so to speak).

Ch. 18:  Hello and welcome to the first installment of Maids Shut Down Everything.  It's really tough to start this map because almost all of the aggro points are covered by Enfeeble and/or Freeze.  Camilla+Benny and Keaton+pairupbot were the only units on the right, and they both went south.  Benny had the Beast Killer and Keaton IS one himself, so they were pretty well-suited to take on the cav rush despite how one of the Paladins carries Beast Killer and one carries Armorslayer.  Keaton wouldn't have survived if it weren't for Better Odds.  On the other side, Precious+Silas choked the south point and got Frozen into place for four turns.  Laslow softened up the Generals that came to beat on the little axe maiden while the kids and Peri spent their idle time wearing out the left Enfeeble staff... or... would have if I hadn't screwed up moving Peri and thus pulling the Heroes.  Change of plans - Peri+Sophie and Laslow pulled the Heroes and Sorcerers while everyone else eventually killed off all the southern units.  I didn't have many good answers to the doubled Generals, so VowSilas with Armorslayer, Camilla with Savage Blow, and Kana with Dragonstone with a fair bit of Dual Guarding wore them down.  By the time everyone turned around to go to the top of the map, the front line of Heroes and Sorcerers were entirely taken care of, so it was a matter of baiting the last Fimbulsorc and setting up the Zola room clear.  I only got the chest on the right, which contains an Energy Drop (the other one contains a Master Seal aka 500G).  Zola got Keatoned with Nyx delivering the last hit.  I forgot Zola carries 10000G so I'm not as messed over as I thought I was.

Nyx hit D Staves.  She's a decent magic striker but 21 HP / 5 Def / 19 Res is the walking dead.  I really doubt the reason I reclassed her so soon will be worth it. 
Master Ninja Laslow is basically amazing. 
Benny got Wary Fighter so he should be set for the rest of the game. 
Keaton's pulling his weight, which is making me glad I drafted him. 
Precious got Sol.  Reclassed her to Great Knight for the greater Elbow Room + Luna.  Gave her the Energy Drop as well.
Benny married Camilla.  Benny deserves much better than Camilla.  Noooo don't make this canon.  But it allows me to reclass Benny to Wyvern Lord, which means ALL ABOARD THE BENOIT EXPRESS.

Looking at Ignatius' and Soliel's paralogues now that I don't have to worry about buying Master Seals for them.  Mistakes have been made.  I'll probably (try to) do Ignatius, then Dwyer, then Soleil, then Invasion 2.  Except I probably won't judging from my posts ITT.

[commandercool]

Congratulations.

I am on Chapter 25.
I can clear both starting groups on both sides semi-reliably, but then i am kinda hitting the wall. Chain lunge on the left or that corridor of death on the right. Still i haven't tried some things yet. Plus i can go back to the base and buy some tonics.
Also my Corrin can actually defeat Da Boss on her own, but then i am missing on all that delicious exp and 2 chests. Party levels are 20/15-16 mostly.

This is what you were saving your staves for, basically. Just go nuts with Entrap, Freeze, and maybe Rescue and you can circumvent the killboxes.

[Hello Purvis]

Speaking of DLC, how do you even deal with III: The Changing Tide?

Like, I'm sure there's something hyper obvious than I am missing, but I can't work out how to do it without getting a lot of someones killed. There's just no room for error with your healing so limited, and I am Error.

[Hikarin]

Don't suggest things you're not willing to do yourself.~

I was actually planning to do it once I beat Conquest and Revelation. I mostly did it for Awakening after a few weeks, so I expect this to take a couple of dedicated months, since I'll have to run 6 save files at once. They'd all be on Easy though; it's just for the character background.

[theshirn]

Speaking of DLC, how do you even deal with III: The Changing Tide?

Like, I'm sure there's something hyper obvious than I am missing, but I can't work out how to do it without getting a lot of someones killed. There's just no room for error with your healing so limited, and I am Error.

Shiro should kill most things.  A useful strat is to have him paired with Asugi or Caeldori, let them take a hit or two and build up dual guard, switch Shiro in and rampage.  Asugi and Caeldori can heal from their skills every turn, so if possible they should take a hit or two.  (On my Birthright kids run, I have no one who can use staves because I'm dumb, so I've gotten a lot of mileage out of Mitama's skill as well, but that sadly is not useful here.)

on a related note it is still bullshit that they went with asugi instead of usagi

[?q]

Speaking of DLC, how do you even deal with III: The Changing Tide?

Like, I'm sure there's something hyper obvious than I am missing, but I can't work out how to do it without getting a lot of someones killed. There's just no room for error with your healing so limited, and I am Error.

Spoiler:

This map comes down to Shiro - specifically, who you pair with him and how you use him.  The Little Cheese is easily your best unit, but the stats on this map are carefully calibrated such that he cannot outright destroy everything, so it comes down to how much risk you manage with Vantage and random crits.  After some testing, all of my successful clears of this map have gotten out in four turns but they all rely on the same sorts of dicey hit/crit rates that litter Heirs of Fate.  Also, Caeldori with a pair-up can one-round both Kana and Forrest, but the hit rate on Kana is like 66% and she needs to hit both.

I was actually planning to do it once I beat Conquest and Revelation. I mostly did it for Awakening after a few weeks, so I expect this to take a couple of dedicated months, since I'll have to run 6 save files at once. They'd all be on Easy though; it's just for the character background.

Kana + variable parent supports for the whole cast.  Also sibling and non-sibling supports where applicable for Kana and Shigure.  There is no Easy Mode.

I mean, if you really want to do it, sure, but I'd ask what you're getting out of it before spending the time.

on a related note it is still bullshit that they went with asugi instead of usagi

I disagree.  It's bullshit that they went with Asugi instead of Rhyne.

[Hikarin]

I mean, if you really want to do it, sure, but I'd ask what you're getting out of it before spending the time.

Character background. A lot of it. For example, I didn't really get how much of a depressed nutjob Henry (FE: Awakening) is until I went through his lines (I mean like, Lover's Suicide with FeMU). Another good one is Maribelle. I didn't go through her lines at all, because she came off as a complete jerk at first, but going through her logs actually shows that she cares about other people and has respect for others, to a point.

tl;dr It gives me a whole new perception on all of the characters. They have deep, well-written backstories, and it's worth grinding them out.

[theshirn]

I disagree.  It's bullshit that they went with Asugi instead of Rhyne.

...I am forced to agree.

Character background. A lot of it. For example, I didn't really get how much of a depressed nutjob Henry (FE: Awakening) is until I went through his lines (I mean like, Lover's Suicide with FeMU). Another good one is Maribelle. I didn't go through her lines at all, because she came off as a complete jerk at first, but going through her logs actually shows that she cares about other people and has respect for others, to a point.

tl;dr It gives me a whole new perception on all of the characters. They have deep, well-written backstories, and it's worth grinding them out.

Gaius/Maribelle is probably my favorite support in any Fire Emblem.

[?q]

Character background. A lot of it. For example, I didn't really get how much of a depressed nutjob Henry (FE: Awakening) is until I went through his lines (I mean like, Lover's Suicide with FeMU). Another good one is Maribelle. I didn't go through her lines at all, because she came off as a complete jerk at first, but going through her logs actually shows that she cares about other people and has respect for others, to a point.

tl;dr It gives me a whole new perception on all of the characters. They have deep, well-written backstories, and it's worth grinding them out.

I would be surprised if the transcripts were not already online someplace, but if physically playing through the game adds to the experience, who am I to tell you how to have fun?  Go for it (>")>

I think overall Odin's supports have been the ones I've enjoyed most.  His A support with Leo is really neat, and his A support with Ophelia is interesting as well, but my favorite part was his friend confession (at A rank, Bond five times in Private Quarters). 

Spoiler:

He tells you that he is secretly OWAIN, hero of another world brought here to save this one!  "...don't tell anyone, okay?" ...which is completely true yet completely indistinguishable from almost everything else he says.  I think his secret's safe.

 

Honorable mention to Jakob, whose shtick is funny and interesting but would get him decked if he tried it anywhere outside a fantasy world.

--

No update on my run tonight.  Too busy cowering in fear over how awful these two paralogues are going to be.

[CF7]

Ch 25 was cleared using 1 Freeze charge and 2 Entrap charges. Overall it was easy.
Ch 26, though... That was something very very special. Where do i even start...

Spoiler:

First room is downright easy (yeah, a bunch of heroes is easy by Conquest's standards) compared to the bullshit in the final room or Faceless/Stoneborn room.
Mages' room is manageable, if you park all your units by the door, and then rush the room with everyone.
Faceless/Stoneborn. Sigh... That was some Grade A bullshit. Like, seriously. Also, letting one of your wolfskins to get Entrapped is a valid strategy, since they can finish faceless and the maid quite easily and that lets you cluster together around the door more tightly. And then you rush the room, but most likely something will survive and you'll have to plan around that too.
And then the mess that is the final room. So you're either dealing with a bunch of super armored knights with Beast Killers, or a bunch of heroes with axes first. I went with heroes first because of Selena/Soleil and their Axe Breakers. Then i somehow dealt with the knights using a combination of Armor Slayer/Hammer/Elise/Dragonstone+ and some more damage from the rest of the team. Hans is kind of easy, because of his pitiful 1 range. Reinforcements are not too numerous to pose any kind of threat. Iago was shurikened to death by Jakob and that's that.

Staff charges used. Freeze - 2. Rescue - 1.
And i can't even use the stuff from chests or drops from Bosses, since no-one is proficient enough with the types of these items. Elise's tomes are capped at B. Noone can use S rank axes. My only shuriken user is Jakob and he is capped at B as well.
Fuck you, game. Fuck you hard.
Oh, right. If i feed 1 Arms Scroll to Jakob, he'll be able to use

Spoiler:

Bifrost

. So, at least it's something.

On the plus side, everyone, who matters is 20/20 or 40, save for Shigure and Siegbert, who are both 20/19.

Haven't even looked at Ch 27, since i am kinda burned out after Ch 26.


Edit: Aaaaaand Conquest  Hard/Classic cleared.
Retired: Endgame - Azura, Shigure, Keaton, Selena, Jakob, Niles.
Do i want to try to do deathless Endgame? Probably. Right now? Not likely.

[theshirn]

Yeah, I actually find the lower max ranks to be somewhat annoying, especially with how slowly you seem to get wexp now.  I think I've had maybe two people hit an S rank in anything in my several times through the games so far (both swordmasters).  I really also dislike the S-rank weapons being class-locked on top of that - are you not using one of these specific classes, and have been for a while?  No?  Get outta here then.

[CF7]

So... I started Birthright on Hard/Classic with no additional grind restriction. Let's see how much easier it is compared to Conquest Hard/Classic.  :V

P.S. Either my Felicia got rng screwed or her growths are that bad, but out of 5 level ups so far she didn't level up in str/mag even once.

[?q]

Congratulations on the clear!  Conquest Hard is really tough on the first clear, so welcome to the club of those who have suffered.

P.S. Either my Felicia got rng screwed or her growths are that bad, but out of 5 level ups so far she didn't level up in str/mag even once.

As a Maid, 20% Str and 45% Mag.  This might be why most of Felicia's characterization is about suggesting that maybe she should get a different job. :V

Yeah, I actually find the lower max ranks to be somewhat annoying, especially with how slowly you seem to get wexp now.  I think I've had maybe two people hit an S rank in anything in my several times through the games so far (both swordmasters).  I really also dislike the S-rank weapons being class-locked on top of that - are you not using one of these specific classes, and have been for a while?  No?  Get outta here then.

Hitting S in any weapon type is really, really hard; you have to basically front-line that unit all game or use an Arms scroll on someone you've front-lined for like two thirds of the game.  Ryoma can do it; someone you've been abusing Nosferatu with can also reach S.

But yeah, a lot of good builds get capped at B in their best weapon rank and it's really dumb.  Thematically I can see why they did it (most classes get A in their primary type and B in their secondary type, and those that only use one thing get S except Ninja and Maid because Ninja needed to be more overpowered), but in practice it feels like an artificial limitation.

And i can't even use the stuff from chests or drops from Bosses, since no-one is proficient enough with the types of these items. Elise's tomes are capped at B. Noone can use S rank axes. My only shuriken user is Jakob and he is capped at B as well.
Fuck you, game. Fuck you hard.

The good news is that you can sell the S-ranks for massive cash, and then spend that on buying brave stuff or all those tomes you've been putting off until you had money for them or tonics for the whole team or whatever.

[CF7]

The good news is that you can sell the S-ranks for massive cash, and then spend that on buying brave stuff or all those tomes you've been putting off until you had money for them or tonics for the whole team or whatever.

That's what i did. Bought tonics for everyone, got some gear upgrades and did some forging.


Anyway.

Birthright is such an Easy Modo even on Hard. I am not sure if it steps up its game, but so far i am not impressed. I am SO not impressed, that i actually checked the difficulty to see it i accidentally picked Eas Normal. Aaand, nope. It was set to Hard. So much for that.

Enemies are slow, while your units are quite fast, so you pretty much can double them most of the time.

Enemies's AI is back to standard FE AI. I.e. stupid, suicidal or stupidly suicidal.
Notable things.
Enemy unit breaks formation to hit one of my guys, even if it's for 0 damage. In Conquest enemies won't suicide into your units, if they can't hurt them.
If 2 units can reach 2 different targets, but both can't reach the same target they will attack different targets. In Conquest they will move to the same target and use attack stance to hit one of your guys for more damage.
Have no idea what self-preservance is. Rush and kill at all costs, even if said rush is ineffective. For example in Conquest damaged enemy units will move to healers to get healed if they can't kill your units, or if there's no healer nearby to the nearest fort, so their chances of survival are actually improved.

Equipment boosts your stats. For example mages get various stat boosts. Also Guard Naginata exists. Its very existence makes tanking trivial. +5 to def/res is kinda a big deal.

Sakura's unique passive ability is basically Demoiselle and Gentlihomme combined. Which is as bonkers as it sounds.
Also speaking of Sakura. 1-2 range staves. So you don't have to worry about enemy units reaching your squishy healers, since you can heal your damaged units from a safe distance. Hurray!

Did i mention OP ninjas? Because you are given OP ninjas who are fast, do amazing damage (Saizo says hi) and they debuff enemy stats so your weaker units can finish off enemy easier.

Map gimmicks. Dragon Vein that heals ALL your units to full. There are 4 on the map. Which is just plain cruel to the poor enemy units, who already have too many problems on their own.

[theshirn]

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