Topic: Fire Emblem Engage for Nintendo Switch

@Ryu_Niiyama Sounds like a good strategy, but honestly I don't think it would work on some of the skirmishes I've been doing. These are maps where the enemy can attack you at all angles, and I tend to have 10 or enemies on me at once.

That said, I notice that one skirmish in particular that I found impossible to complete was a "gold corrupted" one. I can't even beat them with my best members for the most part. Maybe I should just avoid these?

Whew! Just beat Chapters 11 and 12.

Wow. I had to restart on Ch 12 after losing Framme. But nailed it on my 2nd try. That was one heckuva set of chapters!

@Buizel
I've heard others say that, but they've been no different than story missions for me, some even easier. And I don't think I'm particularly great at these games (though I can sense I'm improving).

They level based on your highest level unit (in total levels). So if you have one super high unit, expect a rough time. Best to keep all units leveled together.

Still, you can keep EXP and try again if yoy lose, so it really doesn't matter how hard they are. You're gaining XP either way. If you've lost units and feel you can't rewind and win, just hit the failure condition sticking Alear out in the open and loss, then keep EXP and try again.

You can also stick to Training Battles, since lost units don't die permanently in those.

Of course, you always have the option of dropping to Normal and/or Casual
if needed (unless you're already on the lowest difficulty). Hard Mode is definitely the hardest this series has been since Fates Conquest, and should not be underestimated.

So there's a few options for your consideration.

@Ryu_Niiyama
No. But you do unlock the ability to choose fixed or random Stat growths after beating the game, for new runs.

I feel the game respects my time perfectly, but that's just been my experience. I've had no issues, not in skirmishes, not in main story, not in Somniel... Three Houses forced making an hour long loop in the monastery even post-time skip and on multiple runs. Not that it bothered me as much as others because, Idk, it just didn't, but Engage definitely respects my time more, especially with Somniel not only taking half the time, but largely being optional.

@edhe
Nope. Its all how leveled your highest unit is. Donation level just affects Gold/Silver Corrupted rates.

@JaxonH everyone is different. I have no idea how the monastery loop takes you an hour. Especially on a second run or up. I just increase support ranks (meals), tea time Rhea’s high maintenance self, farm the greenhouse and altar (for renoun), restock on smithing stones and see what the online folks are selling. I don’t think that takes 20 minutes if you fast travel everywhere. Even the teaching loop is super quick and no I don’t auto teach. I just focus on budding talent and training goals based on what class I want them in. Then I battle until I am bored to farm exp and money. Then I loop it again. If it’s a class I already own I spend more time in skirmishes so I can farm renown and then buy the previously unlocked support/class/skill levels. Which means I can focus on the new class more.

In Engage i have to go to the somniel after every battle and collect ingredients, feed sommie, eat using that rando dining system (3H was way more straightforward), polish the rings, sell anything extra because money is hard to come by even with gold corrupted skirmishes, do mini games to farm stuff to sell, donate to the countries, do the tempest battles to farm orbs. It doesn’t feel optional the way it does in 3H to me unless you just abandon units you put time into. Which has its own dilemma given that gold and safe places to get exp are harder to come by. I don’t dislike the game but I now see the way I respond to the gameplay loop this is a short session kinda game whereas I can grind 3H and make significant progress. I can prepare better in 3H which my brain responds to better, as opposed to feeling forced into a disadvantage in Engage. Especially given that the ring system gets sorta reset after a point. Now that I know that I can prepare better. It’s not a knock, just different. But I will be switching back to 3H and playing this in between instead of the other way round.

How much priority are people putting on crafting bond rings? They seem good, but since you can just re-assign emblem rings for whoever you're taking into battle, it doesn't seem like you need that many. You do want some, that's for sure. The expansion provides 2 Emblem Rings, and the Heroes crossover content provides 3 S-rank rings which I've used from the start. And I have crafted about 20 rings beside that, landing 1 S-rank ring, 2 A-rank rings, a few B's, and the rest C's.

But as the story progresses and you gain more emblem rings, the reliance on Bond Rings diminishes. Since Bond Fragments are almost always better used to level up bonds with Emblems in the arena, I never spend them on crafting rings.

That said, I have pretty much bonded all my units with the Emblems I want them to inherit skills from (gave Edelgard's Lineage to everyone, gave Michaia's Silence Imminity and the skill where healing with a staff also heals the user 50%, to all my healers, and got everyone else bonded with Sigurd for Canter when they eventually reach 1,000 SP).

So maybe it's time to shift focus to crafting bond rings now? I also have this urge to collect them all to fill out the Ring notebook with lore entries for all the characters. Then again, perhaps a better strategy would be to ration the bond fragments 50/50, and use half to increase bonds with Emblems, and the other half to craft bond rings. Because without rationing, they all end up getting blown at the arena.

@Ryu_Niiyama
For sure. Ya it does take me an hour though. But I'm the type of person that takes my time. Even in Engage, I'm at chapter 13 and already have 40 hours in. I talk to everyone and do every little thing possible, and inventory management always takes a chunk of time. I like it though. I like micromanaging.

Not knocking you btw, just providing my own perspective. Enhoy what you enjoy.

I've been lurking on GameFAQS, and it appears that the online relay battles don't actually work as intended. Has this been mentioned in the thread?
Apparently, if you select join a random relay trial, you're unable to find an ongoing session. I've only attempted it once, and it said there weren't any available, but, conversely, I started my own one a few day's ago, and no-one's been able to join it and finish it off for me. I've read that joining via Takeover ID should work fine, so I wonder if anyone would like to continue mine?
The code is 5TGNLRT. It shouldn't be too difficult, as I started it around the time I unlocked the online features.

@edhe
No, they don't. I tried and couldn't get the take over function to work. I did start a new one, but never got a notification anyone finished it.

I'll check out your relay. Idk if I'm strong enough to help beat one of these, but I'll give it a go!

I tried the custom battle thing too where you fight a team on a custom map... I got slaughtered. Absolutely brutalized. Was like yup, let me just revisit this post game 😀

@edhe
Ok, I took over and did ok!

Alear got hit on final enemy phase leaving pretty low health, but I'm actually pleased to report I did better than I expected. Got some lucky misses and even used the Obstruct staff at the end to save Chloe from an archer.

Who's next? We need 3 more takeovers to finish. Come prepared though. It's a tough one. Just an FYI

5TGNLRT

@JaxonH I am doing bond rings because you lose a bunch of the emblem rings for story reasons. (You get more but it’s slow at least where I stopped anyway) That’s part of the reason I restarted. Plus I didn’t have the dlc when I started. (Not getting the heroes bonus. I’m not reinstalling that) I also finally learned how SP works so I pretty much had to start over or I was gonna ragequit this game.

Nah I figured you weren’t knocking me. Yeah i know the monastery and abyss pretty well by now so I don’t mind fast traveling. That shaves the most time but I sorta already have a routine. So aside from snagging missions I am in and out of the monastery and only there when there are good fish or special meals. Since my professor level is maxed even with all the students it isn’t that hard to level support super fast. Especially after I finally figured out you can just dump gifts until they rank up.

Now the meta for this of course looks horrible. Everyone is wondering how the new professor can teleport, why she has a wheelbarrow of gifts for a person, why she buys all the crappy seeds and spends her time eating like 6-8 meals at a time in the dining hall but doesn’t gain a pound. And the audacity of always inviting the Archbishop to tea!

@Ryu_Niiyama
Ya, I reached that point, but because I didn't know ahead of time I hadn't prepared. Thanks to the 3 S-rank bond rings from Heroes though, and 2 DLC Emblems, and 2 you get after, and S-rank ring I pulled by luck, I'm doing OK.

Btw I never knew the secret to gardening stat boosters in TH. I almost completely ignored that feature.

For SP, I made my mind up early I want 3 things. 1) Lineage from Edelgard for 20% EXP boost, 2) Healing skills from Micaiha for my healers, and 3) Canter for every unit, which is the long term goal I'm saving up for. So every time I hit the arena, if I got new units, I get them up to scratch with Lineage and/or healing skills, then Level 5 Sigurd. It takes a while to hit 1,000 SP so nobody has actually gotten Canter yet, but several units are close.

I do have a tendency to switch my Emblems up for each map and not stick with one character (mostly anyways, I do loosely stick with a character when I can, but if I rotate different units in I won't hesitate to swap rings). This has resulted in a lot of different units learning lots of various proficiencies. Though I have no long term class goals aside from default promotions.

Did you play chapter 13? I hear it's pretty tough (but then again, so was 11-12). I think before I proceed, I'm going to hit some skirmishes for some gold and EXP. Just unlocked master seals, physics and all sorts of killer weapons in the shops, and I'd like to indulge. Plus I need to iron out my leveling for the latter half of my group and get them caught up. Some units I think I'm benching though, like Etie, since Alcryst is at equal level but superior stat wise, and I only need 1 archer.

@JaxonH I restarted after beating 13. I just really felt I didn’t like where my unit growth was going. I made Etie a bow archer so she can bring the pain to a wider stage.

Oh yeah the stat boosting farming changed my world. That and I reclass a lot to farm skills (and to fix Catherine’s crap stats). I usually talk to the teacher in abyss to see where they are growing and and adjust with stat boosters. The game is still challenging but sound strategy means nobody dies. Plus it meant more gifts and food for more meals as well. Don’t sleep on gardening. If I could figure out how to get better ores beyond online visits and skirmishes I would essentially have a divine army capable of demolishing cities. Fear the second coming of Sothis for she will judge the world.

Since I am focused on growth I will likely stop chapter 14 (and grind the early chapters) and just farm tempest trials until the rest of the dlc opens up. Since there is no new game plus this will be a one run through (until I replay in a few years) for me.

Holy moly, this game sounds incredible with headphones! It's not just the wake-up animations- this while game has a soundscape beyond anything external speakers can do justice.

I'm hearing so many things I wasn't before. The pitter patter of Alear's running footsteps, creaking doors opening, crickets chirping at night, wind rustling trees, even the instruments of the soundtrack offer a 3D sound bubble...

I don't think I can go back. I really don't.

Granted, the Sennheiser 800S are known as having the largest soundstage of any headphones on the market, so naturally that's helping. But I tried my Hifiman Aryas and it still sounds great. Sure, the Soundstage isn't anywhere near as impressive. With the 800S it's an actual experience

@Ryu_Niiyama
Hey, whatever works for you!

After my Hard Classic Run I'm going back to Three Houses to finish Blue Lions playthrough. I never did the DLC either, but I'd like to finish the Edelgard church route and Golden Eagles first. So much game, I couldn't do it all in one go. And that's fine, it gives me something to come back to every time I get in the mood.

After that, I think I'll finish my Fates Revelations run. And by then, hopefully the Engage DLC will be out, which this time I will actually play right away since I'll be done with the game.

@JaxonH do the dlc first. It’s short and nets you new characters, classes and renown farming (fighting to earn gold/level up, buy cheap seeds, sacrifice to pagan altar for renown… rinse repeat). That now explains your monastery loop. You can unlock most of your earlier run progress by spending renown. Shaves time.

Yeah Fates is next on my list. I want to do a Japanese run of birthright and finish the dlc paralogues. I will likely finish revelations too. I got close and then the switch came out and I think I will restart.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Did you ever play Shadows of Valentia?

That game was quite good. Basic gameplay (probably my least favorite gameplay-wise of the Awakening era games onward) but the story helped carry it. And it's not that the gameplay is bad. Even basic FE gameplay is fun as heck. I just mean comparatively speaking.

I've been playing on hard mode w/ permadeath and the difficulty spike starting on chapter 10 was pretty intense. Then I was pounding my head against a wall trying to beat the Lyn paralogue and had to swallow my pride and do a few skirmishes (which I feel is a bit cheesing). Then I realized paralogues don't disappear when you continue the story and felt like a *****. I'll defeat you one day Lyn...

Anyway the character designs and plot/dialog are honestly embarassing to witness but I enjoy some of the new mechanics like Break. This is the first FE I've played since Awakening, which I was kind of soured on.

This spreadsheet explains support pair up Stat bonuses. It's kind of complex in this game and depends on the unit.

But if you want an idea of the bonuses it's in the Support section, at the bottom

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1qFcABi455ZzLh0Drz...

@moomin
Ya, I just got Lyn's paralog, saw recommended level 19 and noped the heck out! I'll come back in a few chapters.

As for characters/plot, I actually really like the designs, and have been rather enjoying the story if I do say so. Of course, I absolutely adore Awakening as one of my favorite games of all time, so it may just come down to taste.

Lyn's paralogue is particularly nasty because you have to play aggressively to prevent enemy reinforcments from showing up after so many turns (there are six units and each calls up four enemies), and then after all that you still have to face Lyn and her insane quadruple copy ability.

@JaxonH the Lady of the plains does not play. She beat the daylights out of me several times before I finally got a no death run. I like her additional skills though. If she’d fought like that in the story I would have said the fell dragon won this route.

Didn’t really play valentia. I bought it day one but it was too late in the 3DS lifespan and I am sure you have heard me whine about hating the 3DS screen size (granted I have always hated Nintendo handheld screen sizes until switch because of the eye strain they cause). I’m still bitter I never got a capture card with av out. Anyway I played enough to unlock the dlc store and that’s it. I played gaiden when I was a teen so I would rather finish off fates first. Granted I don’t remember a lot of what happened as I spent most of the time looking up words and guides but I saw end credits. I just have to get in the mindset to play 3DS again.

@JaxonH I'm actually playing on Normal which is making this all-the-more frustrating! Honestly it feels like I need to double-check the difficulty sometimes --- I can't imagine what Hard and Maddening are like

The skirmishes being based on your highest character level makes sense as I do have one or two units at level 6 or 7 into their advanced class, whereas most of the units I'm hoping to train are yet to reclass, so there is a bit of a mismatch. But that still strikes me as a design flaw --- if the purpose of skirmishes is to train your units, why would you base their level on the highest-level unit? An average (or at least weighted average of sorts) seems a lot fairer to me. Or maybe just don't level scale at all.

I welcome your suggestions but tbh I want to avoid as much grinding as possible. I think my solution moving forward will be just to avoid the gold corrupted if they're causing me too much trouble...they're an optional means to an end, after all.