I must say, three different houses, four routes you can take, a massive amount of support conversations... It's sometimes difficult for me to keep track of the overall story and mythos.
honestly aside from map reuse i think the reason they had the choice come after the battle on the map was because they wanted to make it a 'harder' choice between edelgard and the church
The low-key best new feature of the game is the "aggro-line" that it draws between enemy units and their target. There are so many times in previous games where I would move a unit out of range of one enemy, but not realize that some fucker on a horse from the back line can still run up and hit me. Seeing those red lines has save me so many times.
Also, hovering over the attacking unit gives a preview of the damage they'd do, which is great for determining if a unit can tank safely or if I need to get them out of there. It's such a great quality of life feature.
Oh man, the Petra/Bernadetta paralogue is even more brutal on Maddening, Flayn was actually incredibly useful for once, as she could rescue people out of enemies range and she tanked the Meteor. I am not looking forward to doing the Marianne paralogue, I believe that one was the worst on Hard.
There's no scenario where making Byleth the new archbishop isn't a complete disaster, isn't there? They canonically know shit-all about the church when they first arrive at the monastery. And their personal experience with Sothis is going to make for some, uh, interesting sermons.
I can just imagine them telling a congregation about how the goddess is a haughty layabout who thinks we're all senseless children, lol
Honestly I feel like any ending where Byleth ends up as some type of leader of Fodlan is a disaster. Which is like 3/4 endings. Like what do they know about leading a country.
But yeah, I wasn't quite expecting Verdant Wind to end with Claude fucking off back to Almyra and going "Alright Byleth, you're the monarch of the UK of Fodlan, have fun!" I assume SS is also similar. At least with Azure Moon, you can kinda rely on Dimitri... who isn't a super stable support, but better than Claude being a continent away. God.
Imagine actually thinking two mentally unstable people leading a kingdom/empire is a good idea.
My. F***ing. Sides.
Having nearly 600 hours into this game, out of everyone who is in a position to lead. The one whom I trust the most is of course is Byleth. Plus they will have the assistance of Seteth who is more than capable of a 2nd in command and Rhea if SS.
Vs a father who thought leaving his family was a good idea or a lapdog who got his own father murdered for betraying the hresvelg household. Well hubert's main problem is being a literal yes man with plays in the shadows and needing Ferdinand who balances a lunatic and her lapdog.
Ferdinand unironically stating he would lead the empire better than edelgard never not gets a chuckle out of me. Especially as unlike the latter, Ferdie actually has ideas, plans and thought his shit through.
On Dimitri, dude is a boar. Gustave ain't shit and Felix is a yes man as well no matter how many times he calls Dimitri the boar. While he is much better than El due to his compassion, that compassion is also his weakspot as it can always lead to Punished Dimitri. While I think punished Dimitri is hella fun, the potential consequences makes me pause.
Claude's ambition as well as his bloodline makes it necessary to return to Almyra. He'll be able to accomplish much more after he claims his birthright to Almyra. Of the 3 house leaders, Claude imo is best leader overall. NVM that he ain't got mental issues like the other two, he actually got the brains and the common sense to question everything. I'm often told he is a coward but that's actually a good thing. A true leader must prioritize the lives and safety of their citizens and that must take precedence over ambition.
The fact that he left Fodlan to Byleth should surprise no one. Byleth has the best supporting cast and the necessary qualities to rule. Not to mention Byleth will be going New Testament/Reformation with the Church of Seiros as it's new Archbishop.
Normally not fan of theocracies myself. Especially if a spiritual leader goes about claiming there's a goddess only they can see and hear. That is a whole other can of worms with great potential for abuse. but in the case of Byleth, I would make an exception as they truly have the mark of the exceptional to justify it.
After roughly 600 hours into this game, if there is anything I got legit gripes about this game it's gotta be the endings. I don't know who signed off on it or who QC'ed it but whoever was responsible needs to be fired.
Of all the FE games in the series, this game's ending cards are the worst. All routes even. CF being the easy one to point out but in truth all of them are guilty whether it's QC, bad writing, or something else.
Claude x Byleth ending card for example is the best of the worst plotwise but it don't change the fact that it's still pretty bad. I legit wonder if they did the ending cards the very last during development? Most of them read like it's been rushed.
That's not to say all the cards are bad. Some are very good actually, Dimitri x Marianne ending card for example. But the bad outweigh the good in quantity.
Should I play the remaining 2 routes that I haven't done yet (Golden Deer and Edelgard) with this DLC or I should wait for the last wave to get the full content of those 2 campaigns?
Should I play the remaining 2 routes that I haven't done yet (Golden Deer and Edelgard) with this DLC or I should wait for the last wave to get the full content of those 2 campaigns?
The thing that's being added main campaign wise iirc is the new classes that got datamined and I think
some new characters that may be students, but idk specifically the context of what class those students will be added too, if they're timeskip only, etc.
So far DLC is integrated into the main game. From what we know though, the next and final DLC wave is supposed to be a separate story from the main game, however.
The levels for the Saint Statues and Renown carry over (which you can use for various things in New Game+, such as buying supports you got in a previous run for Byleth or skills people learned in a previous run). DLC works with New Game+.
So far DLC is integrated into the main game. From what we know though, the next and final DLC wave is supposed to be a separate story from the main game, however.
The levels for the Saint Statues and Renown carry over (which you can use for various things in New Game+, such as buying supports you got in a previous run for Byleth or skills people learned in a previous run). DLC works with New Game+.
Chapter 13 will probably stop players cold without some planning.
I used Fem Byleth and just leveled her up in classes. I spent time in Pegasus for the Flying EXP and grabbed Darting Blow.
I made sure my other units were leveled, but Dorothea and Caspar didn't move until most of the map was cleared. They are in an area where the enemies can easily slaughter them.
This is the difficulty where you really have to be efficient with Monastery days and all the systems in place.
I'm playing the BL route on maddening (2nd playthrough) I'm currently in part two, the "War at Gronder" battle, and for the life of me I don't understand how the victory condition is "defeat enemy commanders" when Claude is virtually invincible. My Byleth and Lysithea can go toe-to-toe with his stats. I understand that he's got an anti lethal skill, but I'm trying non-1H KO attacks and nothing is sticking. Help!!!
I'm playing the BL route on maddening (2nd playthrough) I'm currently in part two, the "War at Gronder" battle, and for the life of me I don't understand how the victory condition is "defeat enemy commanders" when Claude is virtually invincible. My Byleth and Lysithea can go toe-to-toe with his stats. I understand that he's got an anti lethal skill, but I'm trying non-1H KO attacks and nothing is sticking. Help!!!
I had to soften him up with Sylvain+Thrysus and Bow Knight Ashe, then sent Dimitri in for the kill with Areadbhar+Atrocity. And then I had to have Flayn rescue Dimitri so he didn't get ORKO'd by a nearby warlock, lmao.
Haha I was just doing the Gronder Field battle in Azure Moon last night (Hard mode). Even just in Hard mode and carrying over two playtroughs of New Game Plus that was quite a challenge and brought me to my last Divine Pulse. Freakin' Claude and the rest of the Golden Deer are goddman beasts. Edelgard and friends went down like chumps in comparison.
Haha I was just doing the Gronder Field battle in Azure Moon last night (Hard mode). Even just in Hard mode and carrying over two playtroughs of New Game Plus that was quite a challenge and brought me to my last Divine Pulse. Freakin' Claude and the rest of the Golden Deer are goddman beasts. Edelgard and friends went down like chumps in comparison.
I had to soften him up with Sylvain+Thrysus and Bow Knight Ashe, then sent Dimitri in for the kill with Areadbhar+Atrocity. And then I had to have Flayn rescue Dimitri so he didn't get ORKO'd by a nearby warlock, lmao.
So how were you able to chip away of his health? I tried Byleth's weapon on him, and still zero results. What feels rigged about this is that I won't even forecast me making any damage on his health bar, even though my attack looks good, AND my hit rate looks good. But nope. Everything misses.
I Gambit-ed him a couple of times before going in for the kill with Dimitri. But I'm playing on Hard, so I don't know how viable of a strategy that is on Maddening.
So how were you able to chip away of his health? I tried Byleth's weapon on him, and still zero results. What feels rigged about this is that I won't even forecast me making any damage on his health bar, even though my attack looks good, AND my hit rate looks good. But nope. Everything misses.
Did he use Fallen Star on the previous turn? If so, he avoids all attacks in his next round of combat. Check his status indicator in the upper left of his stats page, and/or see if there's a Fallen Star popup during combat.
Me attacking him with Ashe was actually just to burn through the Fallen Star buff.
Did he use Fallen Star on the previous turn? If so, he avoids all attacks in his next round of combat. Check his status indicator in the upper left of his stats page, and/or see if there's a Fallen Star popup during combat.
Me attacking him with Ashe was actually just to burn through the Fallen Star buff.
Hahahaha I actually thought "oh maybe I should mention Edelgard's Raging Storm" when I was writing that post, but isn't it more entertaining to learn about it this way?
Playing through this for the first time and its been quite the rollercoaster. So I have a few questions regarding edelgards path
I helped her become Empress, sided with her and am fighting the church. I only recruited hanneman, manuel and shamir so no additional students. Having to kill the kids from other houses post time skip has been rough lol! I ended up killing Flayn, claude and seteth. Is there a way I could have avoided that? Also I'm just starting the 4th month post time skip, coming up on the battle with Dimitri. Am I near the end?
Playing through this for the first time and its been quite the rollercoaster. So I have a few questions regarding edelgards path
I helped her become Empress, sided with her and am fighting the church. I only recruited hanneman, manuel and shamir so no additional students. Having to kill the kids from other houses post time skip has been rough lol! I ended up killing Flayn, claude and seteth. Is there a way I could have avoided that? Also I'm just starting the 4th month post time skip, coming up on the battle with Dimitri. Am I near the end?
you can avoid killing flayn and seteth by defeating them with byleth, and you can get the option to spare claude by defeating him with edelgard or byleth. also if you didn't recruit lysithea you can recruit her by defeating her with edelgard or byleth i believe
also yes you're close to the end, Crimson Flower is the shortest of the 4 paths
you can avoid killing flayn and seteth by defeating them with byleth, and you can get the option to spare claude by defeating him with edelgard or byleth. also if you didn't recruit lysithea you can recruit her by defeating her with edelgard or byleth i believe
also yes you're close to the end, Crimson Flower is the shortest of the 4 paths
Ok thanks! For the first time in years I think I'm going to do a second playthrough of a game immediately after beating it. Seems like it will be different enough!
Ok thanks! For the first time in years I think I'm going to do a second playthrough of a game immediately after beating it. Seems like it will be different enough!
I can't recommend the Blue Lions path highly enough. Best Lord, best cast (fuckboi Sylvain and a bunch of nerds) and the arc of the story feels much more complete than Edelgard's.
I can't recommend the Blue Lions path highly enough. Best Lord, best cast (fuckboi Sylvain and a bunch of nerds) and the arc of the story feels much more complete than Edelgard's.
I can't recommend the Blue Lions path highly enough. Best Lord, best cast (fuckboi Sylvain and a bunch of nerds) and the arc of the story feels much more complete than Edelgard's.
Thats the plan! I really want to see how things would have played out if I would have taken the other choice but quite a few people have recommended trying that house. Think I'll go Blue Lions next. Also going to try to recruit as many people as possible.
We all have our preference, but I feel that Dimitri needs Byleth a lot more post-timeskip, whereas the Empress could have managed just fine without her.
Thats the plan! I really want to see how things would have played out if I would have taken the other choice but quite a few people have recommended trying that house. Think I'll go Blue Lions next. Also going to try to recruit as many people as possible.
I'm going through the Church route now, and will finish with Golden Deer, spending all my Renown to recruit EVERYONE.gif to Party Central, and leave Edie and Dimitri with nothing but jobbers.
We all have our preference, but I feel that Dimitri needs Byleth a lot more post-timeskip, whereas the Empress could have managed just fine without her.
I'm going through the Church route now, and will finish with Golden Deer, spending all my Renown to recruit EVERYONE.gif to Party Central, and leave Edie and Dimitri with nothing but jobbers.
Currently month 7 of the timeskip (Chapter 20) in Silver Snow, was wondering what Hilda is doing in Felix's room. They don't have any supports and her placement makes no sense. Felix is at the training grounds with Sylvain so what is she doing there.
Currently on a Crimson Flower run as my playtime has been reduced significantly since going back to work. I will be quickly reminded why I hate this route. Worst story. Worst ending. Most inconsistencies. Most plotholes.
Save me Patrick Seitz. Can't believe I'm bothering to collect S rank for both genders...
Currently on a Crimson Flower run as my playtime has been reduced significantly since going back to work. I will be quickly reminded why I hate this route. Worst story. Worst ending. Most inconsistencies. Most plotholes.
Save me Patrick Seitz. Can't believe I'm bothering to collect S rank for both genders...
I'm more used to posting in community threads so I tend to use spoilers pretty liberally lol
also hard disagree on worst story and ending, more like best story and ending. also I honestly have trouble thinking of any glaring inconsistencies or plot holes in CF
Yeah, Blue Lions Maddening Chapter 21 (and 22) have particularly obnoxious same-turn reinforcements. Having Canto or 4+ attack range (or both) on basically all of your units towards the end of the game is so overwhelmingly powerful that it feels like Intelligent Systems had to resort to STRs to maintain some semblance of challenge.
Personally, I'd prefer they balance the game by removing OP options rather than adding in same-turn reinforcements, but Canto and 4+ attack range are so fun and empowering to use that it's hard to imagine them going anywhere anytime soon.
I can understand taste and preference and not liking CF story. But that may be the one route with the least inconsistencies and plot holes.
Heck, if we're talking AM, the whole
Rodrigue death segment where: Why did über-knight Rodrigue offer his back instead of deflecting the blow? Why didn't Byleth rewind time? How is it that it's what snaps Dimitri out of his madness where it should have been just another tragedy along his downward spiral?
Having Canto or 4+ attack range (or both) on basically all of your units towards the end of the game is so overwhelmingly powerful that it feels like Intelligent Systems had to resort to STRs to maintain some semblance of challenge.
I don't recall a final difficulty setting being planned, but I may be wrong.
They can still increase stats, add more units, etc. I mean it's an RPG, when every enemy unit has 40 prt 40 rsl 80 atk and 40 AS, they'll pose a challenge. But at the same time it's a turn based RPG, so as long as you got the right setup and strategy, it's not gonna be "hard" like an action game can be.
