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Fire Emblem: Awakening


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This game is amazing.  I say this because is simultaneously reaches out towards a wider audience by adding a casual mode, improving the interface a ton,  and juicing up the production values and it appeals to franchise enthusiasts with unprecedented tactical options offered via support relationships, unit pairing, and new classes.  The harder difficulties are absolutely insane (there's a reason it's called "lunatic") so that's also there for those who want to go there. It's awfully rare that a game can go broader and deeper all at once, this is something special.

 

It's also worth noting that I'm playing this on hard mode and oh my GOD this difficulty is no joke!  There's a pretty brutal difficulty spike in Chapter 5 on hard, but even aside from that just surviving is all I can manage most of the time.  Optional objectives, building supports between characters I like... that's all for normal mode.  I've had to abandon all but the most basic goals on most maps.  Also, strangely enough, the paralogue chapters have been all harder than their main story counterparts.  I've had to leave those for a couple missions after they pop up, because when they first appear I am absolutely not yet ready for them.

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I just don't think I could enjoy a game where characters perma-die. I collect everything and use nothing - I hate even using health potions in normal games so the prospect of losing characters I find stressful just thinking about it now.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You have options.  Obviously, if you push them all the way through to 20 then they get those extra stats.  If any of these characters seem to be getting consistently great level ups, go ahead and push that luck for all it's worth.  However if you have a character that you really want to get out of his/her current class or is too high level to receive reasonable experience from your current battles, don't be afraid to go ahead and turn them.  This Fire Emblem is MUCH more generous with class upgrade items than most others.  Obviously you've gotta ration them still, but don't let yourself get paralyzed into not using them.

 

I'm not sure the game makes this clear, but if you get a character to 20 then they class up even without any sort of special item.

 

If you have a character with just one key statistic that's important for them and it's maxed out, it might be a good idea to level up earlier so they can get to growing that stat again.

 

The big mistake you don't want to make is leveling anyone up to a new class before level 15.  You've gotta get at least that far both for stats and also because that's when the character will pick up the last skill within the class.

Edited by Frosted Mini-Wheats
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Are they still gaining experience points if used?  Maybe you need to hit level 21...

 

That doesn't sound quite right though.  Maybe you actually do need the item in this one.  I confess I'm not so far in the game yet - my semester schedule has dictated that my video gaming be mostly limited to bejewled.  If they're still getting xp then keep going!  If they aren't then you've just gotta find some money to buy 'em I guess.

 

Weird.  No automatic transition upon max level?  That would change the dynamic of the game considerably.  I'll make sure to stock up on more class change items.  Thanks for the tip off!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just started this game and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite JRPG's (P4G became one as well). Gawd so many characters and interactions. It's a bit overwhelming right now with all of the freedom I can have with weapon management and character pairings but I'll manage haha.

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  • 1 month later...

Who are you folks pairing Gaius with?  I really like him, and I really like his supports with Chrom, but I can't seem to find a suitable female.  I may end up having him marry one of the Pegasus Knights just because of the tactical power of that pair zipping around the map.

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I'm so sorry.  Not only is he indispensable for his thieving skills (can open any door or treasure chest without a key) but I really like his dialogue.  Unfortunately, the support conversations with the two pegasus knights (who would be my preferred pairings) are discussions of food and laundry respectively.  He deserves better.

 

Tharja I'm somewhat less attached to, but she's so useful combat wise that she's getting plenty of battle time anyway.  Leveling her support with Nowi for now until I decide what to do with her.

Edited by Frosted Mini-Wheats
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  • 7 months later...

So I took a dive at the demo today to compare to Etrian Odyssey IV. I can for sure see how awesome it can be but the demo is for sure a bit too short though hard mode is indeed a challenge and I can see how if you set your game perma death you WILL lose people on your first run through in the game.

I'm still undecided with which game I want to get but Fire Emblem for sure have one thing going against it... I missed that Best Buy deal.

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As someone who appreciates both, Fire Emblem is definitely the superior product of the two.  Etrian Odyssey does what it does really really well, but what it tries to do is so modest!  Fire Emblem is not only more ambitious an endeavor than Etrian Odyssey, but the game actually achieves most of those ambitions.  Not only does Fire Emblem have a story, but it's a pretty good story!  Not only does Fire Emblem allow for a wide variety of approaches to each encounter, but it's the good kind of player choice that actually rewards creativity.  Not only does Fire Emblem use some polygons instead of just 2D art for everything, but (finally) it actually looks pretty good in polygons.

 

Fire Emblem has the strengths of Etrian Odyssey (tough but fair difficulty, excellent soundtrack, long run time, polished game systems that have been iterated over the course of the franchise) and has much more besides.

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I'm holding off on this game for now. The three games I want to play right now are EO IV and Millennium Girl  and Awakening. The two EO games are going to be similar to each other so I don't want to fatigue myself playing them back to back. So IV first, then Awakening and then Millennium Girl.

 

Besides, I dropped a few hours into the demo for IV that will jump over to the full game. Pretty sweet deal. IV's price is about $10 off MSRP and it has been waning on Amazon (Gamestop is still at full price). Going to see what happens by tomorrow or Thursday.

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