Topic: Fire Emblem: Fates

Marry Scarlet. It will make Kana a powerhouse of strength and defense.

@JaxonH: Damn, you've got me super hyped for this game now well done! I'm really glad I've steered clear of spoilers for this game now sounds like it'll be really worth it and I loved awakening so if they fixed its issues it sounds perfect!

@SuperWario:
I love Jacob, Felicia and Flora for pairing with MU ON THE BATTLEFIELD, because of the extremely good +HIT/AVOID skill they all have that's exclusively for pairing with MU. However, if you're breeding for stats I'm not sure I would recommend sealing the deal on that S-Rank.. There are many other characters with higher stats and better skills. The butlers/maids are pretty low defense and resistance, although Flora has excellent RES base stats.

As for Dread Fighter and Dark Falchon, I can thoroughly recommend Mozu. She's my top unit as a Dread Fighter. And you may not have used her much in Birthright but in Conquesr you NEED her to get through early chapters, especially Ch. 10 (most reclass her to archer to take advantage of 2nd launcher but I reclassed Nyx instead because Mozu was already a fairly tanky Dreadfighter by ch. 10 lol.

I also recommend Rinkah as a Dread Fighter. She was one of my more reliable units in Birthright as a Dreadfighter. Not my best, but top tier A-list unit for sure. As for aDark Falchon, pick someone with high magic. Orochi was UNSTOPPABLE as a Dark Falchon. And that Rally Movement skill definitely came in handy in the later chapters, as did having another flier.

***EDIT***
Azura made for one heckuva great Dark Falchon as well, although note you will lose your ability to sing. But personally, she was far more useful than just about every other unit I had so I valued her as an 8-movement glass cannon (her final stats were STR/MAG: 19 SKL: 29 SPD: 33 LCK: 29 DEF: 10 RES: 20) far more than as a Songstress. Her speed, skill and luck ensured she never got hit or crit by the enemy, and with a strong, forged spirit and naginata, and almost guaranteed double every time, she could use her large movement to flank the enemy with Orochi, and tag team massive damage.

@Sticker:
I am curious how to cover spoilers like that though, if you don't mind explaining how that's done...

@JaxonH: You just do [ spoiler ]texthere[ /spoiler ] without any spaces.

There isn't actually a spoiler here I'm just testing the spoiler blocking feature so don't worry about that
Test
And it works!!

@TingLz: Nah, I'd prefer they kept the transformation system. After all the Dawn Brigade level in Part III of Radiant Dawn (the one with fog of war mechanics) would be literally impossible otherwise.

NONSENSE! I like the stone system much better.

Funny enough, in PoR, RD, Fates, and Awakening, my best units were the half-breeds

Well, I dug my way through the Japan side of YouTube and found footage of the newest Fates DLC called "Memories of Bubbles/Foam".
Here's some footage if anyone wants to see it.

@Sticker: Haha you're waiting for dlc while we wait for the game I'm actually looking forward to it now as I've secured a special edition!

Many thanks to both @Sticker and @JaxonH, after reading their input, I think I have a better idea of what I'll be doing with some of my units.

I just hit Chapter 14 tonight, and maaaaan does the difficulty start to pick up at Chapter 10 and beyond. Even though I'm playing on casual, I still reset most of the time if a unit dies so I don't lose out on EXP. I only really play casual for the UI and save file benefits.

Anyways; I plan on following @Sticker's advice to marry MU to Scarlet. Scarlet looks like a relatively fun character with some pretty dope stat growths, and she also has some pretty fun Supports with the Avatar. Oh, and she has access to Trample, which by default makes her pretty legit.

I'm pretty sure I'll be making Mozu a Dreadfighter like @JaxonH suggested, but I don't know about Rinkah. I've tried using her in the past few maps, and she just...doesn't really do a lot outside take hits (which she can't do very well because of her low HP). Perhaps I'm just not using her right? I'm also debating if I wanna keep using Hana and Setsuna.

I do have two more questions though; When is the best time to promote my units? I've heard a lot of people say level 20 is the best as it gets you more stats, but I've also heard that reaching 20 unpromoted is REALLY difficult in Fates (Most of my units except for MU are still sitting around 11/14 at Chapter 14). Also, MU is currently sitting at level 17, are they any good skills I should reclass to get before promoting him to Master Ninja? The only skill outline I have for him right now is that I plan to reclass him to mechanist at some point to get Replicate.

BTW, what's up with the hot spring?

I've used it a number of times, but I don't think it has affected anything (no stat boosts, relationship boosts, etc.). Is it there just because?

Oh, and if a character falls in the Arena, do they die? (I've avoided using it so far)

The hot spring serves 1 purpose: fan service.

And nope, they don't die in the arena (would be silly if they do), also you can't use legendary weapons, as they get replaced with a common one for that battle.

@SuperWario:

Good call with Mozu- trust me she's crazy good as a Dreadfighter. Invest enough into her and her and she'll destroy almost anything. And healing 20% by starting turn in mountain, woods, waste or field is a decent skill, but it's the Aptitude that makes her incredible. Be sure to nab that Level 5 skill before changing to Dreadfighter. It's absolutely crucial.

As for Rinkah, she's not the best unit (not the worst either) but I absolutely adored her character and simply had to use her because she's just awesome. I leveled her up to 20 and promoted before using a Dread Scroll, but I can tell you she's pretty conpetant if you stick with her. But if you have your A team already, it's best not forcing yourself to use her.

As for promoting- Level 20 or bust! Promoting before 20 is such a waste. Because you only gain a few levels worth of stats. So it doesn't matter how hard it is to reach 20, the fact of the matter is unless you're 3 chapters from final boss, your stats will suffer after about 2-3 maps.

Because once you promote the XP growths slow down to a grinding halt. Ever notice how hard it is leveling up a pre-promote? Ya. It takes 4-5x as many kills to level up. So sure, you could promote early, and gain 3 levels worth of stats, but, had you not promoted you would have gained 3 levels worth of stats over the next 2-3 chapters with your pre-promoted growths anyways. AND, continue to gain levels and stats rapidly after that too, far surpassing that early pre promote.

So promoting early makes you more powerful for about 3 chapters, but each chapter after that you're actually less powerful that you would have been had you waited to 20.

And it's not that hard. I think I started promoting units around Chapters 15-20.

Question. I'm relatively new to the series. I'm confused about the difference between this and the two entries Conquest and Birthright and Awakening. Which would be the best to start with?

@Winter:

Fire Emblem Awakening is the 13th game in the series, released in the west in February 2013. It saved the series and was critically praised all around. There were a few complaints- the pairing system was overpowered in favor of the player- enemies could not pair and an A/S rank pair was nearly unstoppable. Also critiqued was map diversity.

Fire Emblem Fates is the 14th game in the series, released in the US in March 2016, and soon releasing in PAL territories. The game is actually 3 separate games- 2 main physical releases and 1 sold only as DLC. The pairing system has been modified and balanced (enemies can also pair, and there is now an offensive and defensive stance for pair ups- one the partner only defends and the other they only attack). Also, inventory management has been modified- aside from staves for healers, weapons have infinite uses. However, each weapon carries with it an inherent buff/debuff. Like silver weapons are stronger than bronze, iron or steel, BUT, they cost you -2 in strength/mag and -2 in skill every use (recovers after a turn). So if you spam silver weapon attacks your attack strength will continue to decrease.

Basically, all 3 games are identical up to Ch. 6. In chapter 6 you are forced to side with Hoshido (your blood family) or Nohr (family that raised you). Hoshido is Birthright and Nohr is Conquest. Each side is it's own individual game. There is also a third path- side with no one- which is the Revelation path only sold as DLC (has major spoilers for both Birthright and Conquest, so it's advised to not play until completing at least one of the main paths).

Birthright is modeled after Awakening- the maps are generally "Route the Enemy", they are much easier than Conquest's and grinding is allowed (can replay previous maps for XP, or gain XP through DLC/amiibo maps. The characters are fairly bland compared to Awakening or even Conquest, and the story is decent, until the last stretch of chapters- then it gets REALLY good and has a very impactful ending.

Conquest is modeled after older, pre-Awakening entries. Map objectives are extremely diverse (Route the Enemy, Sieze, Defend X No of Turns, Escape, Defeat the Boss, etc), they are very difficult and demand complex strategies, and grinding for XP is not allowed (exception being the XP DLC map). The maps themselves are some of the most amazing I've ever seen though, but this should only be played on Normal/Casual mode for anyone other than experienced, skillful players. Characters are amazing, just like Awakening was before it, and the story is decent (although a little out there). Haven't finished the game so no verdict on the ending.

Revelation allows grinding and has difficulty somewhere between Conquest and Birthright. This one I haven't played at all yet.

Best game to start with is perhaps Awakening, although, Birthright wouldn't be a bad choice either. The characters aren't that interesting but the gameplay in all 3 Fates paths is impeccable.

Anyone else wonder why they chose to re-use characters?

Mozu is basically just Donnel, but this time is a girl.
Rhajat is Tharja
Odin is Owain
Selena is Severa
Asugi is Gauis
Subaki is male Cordelia
Caeldori is Cordelia
Laslow is Inigo
Hayato reminds me of Ricken

@JaxonH: Thank you, that made it all much clearer! Will probably start with awakening

@JaxonH:

How do you replay maps in Birthright? I was never able to figure it out.

@LinktotheFuture:

I think random battles show up in the overworld map list, and change between each chapter.