Topic: Fire Emblem Path of Radiance

Fire Emblem Path of Radiance is out now for Nintendo Switch 2 via the NSO GameCube app.

Started a new save, and am currently on chapter 3, I believe. Any strats are welcome, such as which characters would be best to give items to like speedwings.

I've also started playing this. Have the original disc somewhere. It's quite an easy start but has a bit of a difficulty curve later if I remember rightly.

#ForTheFireEmblemFans

@Ignatius_Cheese
Have you beaten the game before? Any tips? I'm not new to FE. I've beaten Awakening, Fates, Shadows of Valentia and Three Houses, and almost best Blazing Blade and Engage. I've also played at least 1-2 hours of all other entries (including JP-exclusive releases which I have in English on my modded 3DS).

But PoR is different. It has unique mechanics like Biorhythm and Bonus XP, and feels like a game that will ramp up in difficulty which, if I'm not prepared, may pose an issue later on.

Glad you created the thread. I’ll be diving in later again tonight. I’ll be on ch 3.

@JaxonH That is a super awesome collection! I wanna collect for Fire Emblem, but it is very pricey.

@KoppaiTalks
Thank you! The Shadow Dragon crystal is worth $2,000 as they were only available as a reward for regional Gamestop managers that secured a certain number of preorders for the game. Total quantity unknown but likely only a few hundred in the world (I've seen replicas lately though on eBay going for $150).

All the sealed games were much less expensive when I bought them. Like, I only paid $200 for Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn combined, and like $300 for the GBA pair. Still expensive but nowhere close to what we see today.

The hardest to procure, actually, were the 7 Genealogy of the Holy War figures from Japan. They're rare, pricey (especially the "secret hidden bonus character"), and even when you do get them the parts are often broken because they're so delicate. Had to superglue a few swords and fists and stuff 😀

@NintendoByNature
I just got to Chapter 8, where I think I finally will have access to a base with Convoy. It was not easy getting all the item drops and all 3 chests in the last map, shuffling items via trades constantly trying to make room for one more item. All my characters are maxed with 4 items atm I think. Granted, my Short Spear only has 5 uses left, Heal only has 4 and Hand Axe only has 3. So there's that.

@JaxonH Thank you for giving me an excuse to showcase my slightly different kind of FE collection. My full N-SR collection (no plans to get every promo and + card, way too expensive) of FE Cipher cards consisting of almost 3000 unique cards.

6 binders full of cards + starter and custom decks:

The first page, where it all started:

My SR+ pulls (the valuable stuff) and some R+:

Some R+ cards, including ones from my favorite Cipher artist Konfuzi Kokon (Flora, Felicia and Titania) and Kellam who chose to stay hidden for this picture (foil, you can just about see his weapon and top of the head if you zoom in close):

Tokyo Mirage Sessions got its own set too:

Final set mural:

And some Path of Radiance cards to bring us back to the topic:

I'm new to Path of Radiance. By the time I got into Fire Emblem, the Tellius games had already shot up in price. I'm glad I finally get to experience at least the first half of the story.

I'm currently in Chapter 11. I like the characters and the story so far. Not that the story is that much different from any other Fire Emblem story at this point. I like the Laguz. One card I'd still like to have in my collection is this R+ for Lethe:

Cipher has spoiled some things about the game for me (recruitable characters and who the Black Knight is) but I don't really mind it that much. Now I actually get to know the characters.

I really like the discussions at base between battles and I'm glad the base is just a simple menu. Newer games have bit too much going on outside of battles. Running around school grounds in Three Houses gets tedious after a while.

@Late
That's quite the collection! I respect the dedication to amass 3,000 cards. That's absurdly impressive, even to me.

I like the expanded sim elements between battles but I agree it could become tedious due to the load times. Instant fast travel would have shortened it a bit, on top of which it was a little large with too many activities. Condense it down a bit (like Engage did) and it's just right. Especially with faster loading of NS2, I think Fortune's Weave could thread the needle perfectly.

@Late, as someone who probably has at least 2,000+ Pokémon cards (some of which are duplicates, of course), that collection gets my absolute respect 🫡.

I don't collect them like I used to though. Not because of scalping, but just because I'd rather spend my money on other stuff and my life has other priorities and responsibilities now.

I started playing last night, and I already killed off Boyd. 🙃 I've been enjoying it!

Loving this game man. I’ve learned to utilize the save states though so I don’t kill off any main characters. Gatrie and Titania are absolute UNITS btw

@NintendoByNature thank you for the save state tip. It’s like a QoL remaster now that we can practically rewind our mistakes 😁

Personally, (I know it's bizarre) I enjoy seeing the story changing when you accidentally kill a character. I find the unique dialogue that happens if and only if a specific character dies interesting enough to where I let deaths happen. It does make the game harder, but it kind of makes the game feel more personalized, like my choises matter.

@CobaltFan
A true hardcore FE player, I see. Only in FE7 did I let deaths ride. Every other game I've used save states or rewind cause I hate losing units.

@NintendoByNature
I'm on Chapter 8, I think. It's a defend map with 3 corridors to blockade. I got a little too bold and sent Oscar out into the thick of enemies on the right, took out an archer, then got bombarded by multiple knights, mages, archers, I thought I was toast. But he survived the round, barely!

But then he was trapped and couldnt escape back to the center of the map I'm defending so I had to send 3 other units out, some quite fragile, to kill off the Knights blocking his retreat. Finally cleared the last square with my final unit and he was able to retreat. But then my 3 units had to survive the next round! And only did so because my myrmiddon dodged 3 consecutive attacks.

6 more rounds to defend!

@CobaltFan as @JaxonH said you are a true FE purist if you can say goodbye to your troopers after a mistake (serious collection envy btw Jaxon!). I can’t stand to lose anyone other than where absolutely necessary because I’ll never see the support conversations otherwise. I think the first emblem has an instance where you cannot keep everyone alive for example.

Either way, few games can beat the high stakes of a fire emblem battle because of these kinds of considerations.

@NintendoSupporter
One of my favorite ways to play the newer FE entries is on Classic Mode with permadeath, but on Normal Difficulty with Rewinds. That way, you still feel the tension of permadeath being a potential outcome, without the stress of it actually coming to fruition most of the time.

Casual Mode forfeits that high stakes feeling, but preserves the full array of support convos. Classic Mode preserves the high stakes feeling, but forfeits the full array of support convos. Classic Mode + Rewinds = Best of Both Worlds, imo. But it's only really a feature in Fire Emblem games starting with Three Houses.

@NintendoSupporter definitely worth creating one at the start of every turn. Cheating? Maybe a tad. But I want to keep All my characters.
@JaxonH Absolutely get your point. I don’t mind losing characters in each battle and having it come down to a few of my characters vs a few of the enemies characters. But I want them back in the next chapter for sure. I love this genre and all the options available. And I especially love FE and how it allows everyone to play as they wish.

@NintendoByNature
Although the JP-exclusive Fire Emblem 12 on DS was technically the first to offer Casual Mode, I believe it was Fates that really busted accessibility wide open. In that game, I liked playing how you play- on Casual so units return but while in Hard Mode to add some challenge, since I'd have to lose all units for a failure state.

With Rewinds though I can finally appreciate the tension of Classic Mode. Such a great addition. I have a few ideas for future games. I thought Engage nailed the gameplay, but I think Vulneraries are so cheap, may as well make them permanent but limited to 1 use per battle, with certain units having a skill that adds a 2nd use during battle, or perhaps halfway through the game you earn a 2nd use for all units. And have it not take up an inventory slot.

For limited weapon uses, I can go either way. But I like the weapon triangle. Unfortunately I don't think it'll return in Fortune's Weave, as it appears to be cut from the cloth of Three Houses, but ya can't win em all, I suppose.

I do hope some of the refinements of Engage make their way into Fortune's Weave though. It has the potential to be the best gameplay in the series yet.

Peak.

I think the problem I have with permadeath, in the FE context, is similar to the problem with fog of war: its a rule that only really applies to the player. Sure, name enemy units generally stay dead, but the enemy always has a full level-dependent set of free nameless mooks on each map. And if you can kill a name enemy, the following maps are built around the idea that you did. It basically means that unit conservation is only a problem for you, not the computer.