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Taka

Member
Apr 27, 2018
989
So I saw this on the FE subreddit

Some dude (DeathChaos25) hacked the game and is already playing on Lunatic Maddening mode, which is pending free DLC and hasn't yet been released officially. We also knew there was a second, even higher difficulty level, but now we know that it's called Infernal.

Video at the link illustrates that on Maddening, rather than remaining stationary as he does now, Death Knight will actually move around on early maps and wreck you on turn one if you're not careful.

Some more details from the dataminer:

There is a higher difficulty called Infernal, but it is literally unplayable, maps either have no units (rendering it impossible to complete) or the maps DOES have units but they're all Lv99 with insane stats.

Despite all my hacking and prodding, I had not actually played the game, so I thought it'd be fun to do my first playthrough in Lunatic/Maddening.

I've been asking other players who have played on Hard to know the differences, and (so far) the only map that really sticks out is the 3rd map, with the first "real" battle vs Kostas in the canyon.

For some reason this map has enemies with 11 AS everywhere, and Kostas himself can actually also move, and poses a very big threat (for example, he could ORKO all of my units from full HP with the exception of Petra and Byleth).

The biggest common example seems to be that, all archer enemies have Poison Strike, while all Thief enemies have pass.

I don't know if Stats are different, so here's a screenshot of Kostas and you can compare I guess.


So tl;dr on Maddening it looks like at least some bosses (not just Death Knight) can actively move around and one shot most of your favs. All archer enemies have Poison Strike and all thief enemies have Pass (Lunatic mode on Awakening had some shit like this). Some units have just generally been buffed.

And we still know basically nothing about Infernal.

Get ready to min/max!
 
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Dark_Castle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,147
Jesus, that sounds intense. Unlike Black Knight who moves slow, Death Knight who may not be as strong as Black Knight is actually on a horse and thus have high movement range.

Three Houses actually has many neat ideas for the maps, even for non-paralogue ones, but on hard or lower, it's made largely irrelevant unfortunately due to not being hard enough especially if you've put some time in the social aspects. Sounds like Maddening+ will help out a lot.
 

FiXalaS

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,569
Kuwait.
Sounds very nice.

Thieves and by extension assassins passing units means healers will forever stay behind for Physic.

Dark Knight moving around though from turn one.. oh god. B rank lysithea from ch1 😂😂 must recruit asap, I wonder if you can grind her enough.

I think though if this is done on a ng+ run with all statues upgrades and buying skill proficiencies, it will be easier than it seems.
 

Deleted member 2791

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
19,054
It's not part of the expansion pass though. It's supposed to be a free update. At least one of them.
 

Dphex

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,811
Cologne, Germany
and why is it not officially in the game if someone can play this when hacking it? the game on hard is too easy, would have been nice to have a challenge at release, not later...especially when it is in the game files.
 

Elfforkusu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,098
and why is it not officially in the game if someone can play this when hacking it? the game on hard is too easy, would have been nice to have a challenge at release, not later...especially when it is in the game files.
Presumably what's in the game (but disabled) is unfinished. Infernal is clearly so, but it wouldn't be surprising if the patch that enables Lunatic/Maddening mode also changes some stuff in it.
 

Dark_Castle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,147
and why is it not officially in the game if someone can play this when hacking it? the game on hard is too easy, would have been nice to have a challenge at release, not later...especially when it is in the game files.
Good thing Three Houses have multiple distinctive routes and I definitely plan to wait for the new difficulty to drop and start a NG+ run with another house on higher difficulty.
 

chiayiii

Member
Apr 19, 2018
58
Is it just me, that video looks terrifying.
I remember playing on hard, and just completely ignored death night initially because my units barely did any damage.
 

ryushe

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,813
I secretly hope that one of those difficulties has it that the game autosaves after every move/death.
 

Tora

The Enlightened Wise Ones
Member
Jun 17, 2018
8,637
and why is it not officially in the game if someone can play this when hacking it? the game on hard is too easy, would have been nice to have a challenge at release, not later...especially when it is in the game files.
I regret choosing normal (It's my first FE), some of my units still die when i'm reckless but it's too easy :( Game's awesome though
 
OP
OP
Taka

Taka

Member
Apr 27, 2018
989
Is it just me, that video looks terrifying.
I remember playing on hard, and just completely ignored death night initially because my units barely did any damage.
Sounds like you missed out on them Dark Seals.

It's simply a matter of finding a unit who can tank the first hit, and then loading up a mage with Dark Spikes.
 

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,898
Fire Emblem Three Houses: Difficulty Modes

1. Fuckin' Easy
2. Just Easy
3. DLC: Stupid Fuckin' Hard
4. DLC: The Regret Zone

that's a good spread
real comprehensive
good to see another Fire Emblem game with quality difficulty balance
>.>
 
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Busaiku

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,371
So basically Lysithea is now mandatory, making Golden Deer the canonical route.
 

Xlad

Member
Oct 19, 2018
1,004
Fire Emblem Three Houses: Difficulty Modes

1. Fuckin' Easy
2. Just Easy
3. DLC: Stupid Fuckin' Hard

that's a good spread
real comprehensive
good to see another Fire Emblem game with quality difficulty balance
Well as some one who never play FE before Normal work fine :p
 

Laur

Member
Oct 27, 2017
366
Cool, the game is too easy post time skip even on hard/classic. My most enjoyable moments were all in the beginning maps and I'm struggling to finish my first run due to not being engaged in the gameplay anymore.

Also you are given way too many divine pulses, I have 11 now. Around 5 at maximum would be enough so that the choices you make still have weight.
 
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Kinsei

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
20,513
That Death Knight change actually sounds pretty good. He wither has a turn timer for starting to move and/oror he only moves once you enter his range. Either way it adds something extra to think about on the map, while not being a super unreasonable challenge if you haven't built up a unit like Lysithea or Hubert.
 

Chirotera

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
4,260
Never could get into the harder difficulties of these games. There's being challenging then there's so hard it's more frustrating than fun. I don't know why people enjoy the latter but good on the people that do.
 

Eumi

Member
Nov 3, 2017
3,518
Death knight heard y'all talking shit apparently.

I am excited and grateful for the new memes this will inevitably bring us.
 

BaconHat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,096
Huh, from what i've read of ppl talking about maddening and infernal when the game just came out, it seemed maddening only had data available for the first map.
Good to know it looks like its gonna be a free update instead of a difficulty tried and then ultimately replaced by lunatic.
 

Moist_Owlet

Banned
Dec 26, 2017
4,148
Cool, the game is too easy post time skip even on hard/classic. My most enjoyable moments were all in the beginning maps and I'm struggling to finish my first run due to not being engaged in the gameplay anymore.

Also you are given way too many divine pulses, I have 11 now. Around 5 at maximum would be enough so that the choices you make still have weight.
The gameplay is legit bad at these awful default difficulty levels. It's so easy that none of your decisions matter and a dozen divine pulse uses take all tension out of the game completely. It feels like a social sim that is sometimes interrupted by a bad strategy game. If this was a game without the fire emblem title I don't think it would be getting anywhere near the praise it has.

They really fucked up the difficulty balance at release. We got braindead easy and easy as our two starting choices. Looking forward to this coming out when all the other fall games release and there are other things to focus on because of course that's when it will come out. Game was a massive disappointment.
 

BBsnakes

Member
May 9, 2019
218
The gameplay is legit bad at these awful default difficulty levels. It's so easy that none of your decisions matter and a dozen divine pulse uses take all tension out of the game completely. It feels like a social sim that is sometimes interrupted by a bad strategy game. If this was a game without the fire emblem title I don't think it would be getting anywhere near the praise it has.

They really fucked up the difficulty balance at release. We got braindead easy and easy as our two starting choices. Looking forward to this coming out when all the other fall games release and there are other things to focus on because of course that's when it will come out. Game was a massive disappointment.
lol
 

Disclaimer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,418
The gameplay is legit bad at these awful default difficulty levels. It's so easy that none of your decisions matter and a dozen divine pulse uses take all tension out of the game completely. It feels like a social sim that is sometimes interrupted by a bad strategy game. If this was a game without the fire emblem title I don't think it would be getting anywhere near the praise it has.

They really fucked up the difficulty balance at release. We got braindead easy and easy as our two starting choices. Looking forward to this coming out when all the other fall games release and there are other things to focus on because of course that's when it will come out. Game was a massive disappointment.

Are you still early in the game? Because that doesn't hold true at all post-skip or during certain paralogues. Hard is, at times, harder than most other entries' hard.
 

Ramsay

Member
Jul 2, 2019
3,621
Australia
The gameplay is legit bad at these awful default difficulty levels. It's so easy that none of your decisions matter and a dozen divine pulse uses take all tension out of the game completely. It feels like a social sim that is sometimes interrupted by a bad strategy game. If this was a game without the fire emblem title I don't think it would be getting anywhere near the praise it has.

They really fucked up the difficulty balance at release. We got braindead easy and easy as our two starting choices. Looking forward to this coming out when all the other fall games release and there are other things to focus on because of course that's when it will come out. Game was a massive disappointment.
You really would not like Birthright or Sacred Stones at all. IIRC, even Lunatic on Birthright was significantly easier than Three Houses on Hard (and the map design was significantly worse), and Sacred Stones didn't have Lunatic (although the map design wasn't bad unlike in Birthright).
 

HaremKing

Banned
Dec 20, 2018
2,416
I have no idea why bosses don't move for the majority of FE 3 Houses.

There's not even a seize mechanic which was the excuse in the older games.
 

Deleted member 29682

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
12,290
I have no idea why bosses don't move for the majority of FE 3 Houses.

There's not even a seize mechanic which was the excuse in the older games.

Is it not difficulty dependent? On normal a lot of bosses seem to stay where they are, but I've been playing NG+ on hard and those same bosses seem to have much larger aggro ranges.
 

ggdeku

Member
Oct 26, 2017
758
Bring it on. This is probably the easiest hard mode in the series so I hope maddening hits closer to the sweet spot between hard and whatever the crazy super difficulty mode is.
 

DecoReturns

Member
Oct 27, 2017
22,003
Bring it on. This is probably the easiest hard mode in the series so I hope maddening hits closer to the sweet spot between hard and whatever the crazy super difficulty mode is.
Nah. There's been other Hard modes that are far easier.

Sacred Stones is also very easy on hard.

Eliwood's Hard Mode as well, the harder chapters is the first few.

Awakening's as well even with the Same turn Reinforcements. (Tho Three Houses has something like this in some instances).

Path of Radiance is also incredibly easy on Hard.

Tho Three Houses in general is pretty easy for us that have been playing Fire Emblem games for a long time. Give me those unfair Hard modes. I love those.
 

HaremKing

Banned
Dec 20, 2018
2,416
Tho Three Houses in general is pretty easy for us that have been playing Fire Emblem games for a long time. Give me those unfair Hard modes. I love those.
It's pretty easy for anybody who has played a decent amount of SRPGs. Like I watched CohhCarnage complete his Blue Lions playthrough on Hard/Classic with barely any struggles whatsoever, and this was his first FE game. I only ever saw him restart a mission once, and that was because he wanted the full loot from the bonus objective, not due to any difficulty of the map itself.

It's not the easiest hard mode in the series, as I'd give that to Revelation/Birthright, but with Stride, Rewind, easy repair of strong weapons, a mountain of gold just handed to you, it's easier than most. And the person who said that FE3H hard mode is harder than other FE Lunatic modes, I'm gonna call bullshit on that.
 
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Moist_Owlet

Banned
Dec 26, 2017
4,148
You really would not like Birthright or Sacred Stones at all. IIRC, even Lunatic on Birthright was significantly easier than Three Houses on Hard (and the map design was significantly worse), and Sacred Stones didn't have Lunatic (although the map design wasn't bad unlike in Birthright).
I actually did dislike sacred stones. Boring as hell.
 

Jimmy Joe

Member
Aug 8, 2019
2,194
Lysithea does get Dark Spikes at B, it's true

But I think if I try really hard I can get Hubert to A in Reason pretty early. Maybe not that early. But pretty early!

I don't suppose NG+ would just let me give Hubert Dark Spikes, would it?
 

DPT120

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,525
Lysithea does get Dark Spikes at B, it's true

But I think if I try really hard I can get Hubert to A in Reason pretty early. Maybe not that early. But pretty early!

I don't suppose NG+ would just let me give Hubert Dark Spikes, would it?
It does. If you unlocked it in a previous playthrough you can use renown and buy the skill level.
 

Doskoi Panda

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,898
Are you still early in the game? Because that doesn't hold true at all post-skip or during certain paralogues. Hard is, at times, harder than most other entries' hard.
This has not been my experience. This is the easiest Fire Emblem game I've ever played, and I'm playing Hard/Classic.
To be fair though, I haven't played Birthright, because I can't stomach Fates at all. Probably the most disappointing game I've ever bought.
 
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