Fire Emblem: Awakening

[RollCasket]

Omg this game...OH MY GOD THIS GAME...

So, this game has been consuming me basically since the day it came out. I've logged just over 80 hours into my two different save files now and am still going strong, in fact, the 3DS is in front of me as I type this =P I think it's safe to say I'm addicted to this game, which is kind of weird as I've played other FE games and honestly I wouldn't say I liked them over other SRPGs I've been into like Shining Force series, Disgaea series, and Final Fantasy Tactics...but I think this game has shot up into my number 1 favorite SRPG, pretty easily.

I think probably the biggest factor in it's addictive nature is building up your army and the often funny and sometimes touching support conversations as your characters build up relationships on the battlefield and eventually get married and have a kid...who you ALSO can get into your army through events later in the game. The build upon THAT aspect, the kid inherits skills, stat growths, and available classes of the parents, which has made me obsess over getting "the perfect kids" as much as possible. Why all this building up? Well, aside from the fact that they're adding content over time that will get increasingly more difficult to the point where you NEED godly characters...there's also the fact that there are spotpass teams of varying difficulty, and you can streetpass other people's teams to fight as well. So of course, this makes me want to build up the most broken team possible lol.

It's still early in the year, but I honestly think it'll be pretty hard for another game to top it as my game of the year. There's just so much great about this game =P

[Soeroah]

Hasn't come out in Australia yet, but yeah, most people I've heard say it's great.

[Bear]

Well, between this, Etrian Odyssey 4, SMT 4 and Crimson Shroud, Nintendo finally sold us on a 3DS. I wasn't too keen on the OOT remake and I'm not too sure about New SMB, but between some seriously solid RPGs and the knowledge that more great games will come, Pie and I took the plunge and nabbed a XL today along with Fire Emblem. It's funny because I was thinking about FE all day and the idea of getting the 3DS and then you posted this here and I threw my hands up and said "That's it! We're getting this now!" lol

I was seriously not prepared for how amazing this game and the 3DS itself looks. I mean, seeing the demo unit in stores was a pretty good idea, but it really was nothing more than that. Granted, the slight fuzziness bugs me a bit on DS games, but FE doesn't seem to suffer from the blown up screens. Sitting down for the first half hour and seeing FE strut its stuff it, coupled with the cool created avatar and brisk intro with a tutorial that isn't heavy handed, it has me so happy we finally got this.

Pie and I will report in as we take turns on our individual save files~

[RollCasket]

Yeah I'm honestly having trouble not playing...or playing something else, which is a weird problem lol. But now we have another excuse to meet up, for streetpasses! And also to discuss character's romantic match-ups lol.

You should also really get Kid Icarus as well, just on the writing alone you'll love it. Since you mentioned SMT and are playing FE, if ya didn't know they're also working on a SMT X FE game that I'm instantly sold on.

[RollCasket]

Where are my reports damn it! I require reports! Currently I've put in about 110 hours total and I'm fixin to start a Lunatic playthrough where I've gone so far as to plan all of the pairings for maximum stat and skill potential. Though I thought my main hard playthrough was going to be my final FINAL team, there were a few choices I wanna fix so figured I might as well do it on Lunatic and min/max the heck out of everything.

How far are you chapter wise? What're your thoughts so far? Did you get much into the supports yet?

Also I dunno how many other Fire Emblem games if any you've played, but make sure to always have Chrom talk to any named people on the battlefield (except bosses of course) as these are the recruitable characters and you won't get a chance to get them again. For the supports also, if you haven't gotten far enough with them yet, the "S rank" support is marriage, so if you want to pair them with someone else, just stop at A rank or just don't view that S rank (or save it, view, then reset lol).

[TheNesta]

I heard this game was okay? I dunno.

[RollCasket]

lololol...says one of the few people who has played it more than me =P

I re-RE-did my lunatic playthrough...doing much better this time. Kinda backed myself into a hole the last time and knowing what I had done I had myself setup much better this time. 1 more mission and I can jump into the dlc stuff and beef out the team a little bit.

Totally ready for my super broken Morgan from Avatar x Nah, lol.

[RollCasket]

Speaking of, I JUST opened up the dlc maps on my Lunatic playthrough, aka, the flood gates are open lol. I HAD made a post about how I couldn't get past chapter 3, but I took a deep breath, ate dinner, then did quite a bit of inventory fiddling and changed the strategy around a bit and finally beat it. After that awful mess (fuckin forged hammer unit), chapter 4 was a joke. I was afraid Marth might give me some trouble but apparently not...at least other than the slight surprise that he comes after you in lunatic mode as opposed to staying put till you engage in hard mode.

I COULD start mass leveling and whatnot now...but I think I'll break for the night, that damn chapter 3 man...that was taxing =P Sadly the only pairing I have with the avail characters is Sumia and Fredrick so I still have to be careful especially of any other girls getting near Chrom...can't screw it up!

[Bear]

Don't kill me Roll...but I kinda put FE down in favor of Etrian Odyssey 4. I was loving FE a lot, although I was pitifully not far, but my battles were taking like...a really long time from my own obsession for perfection to not let anyone die (classic) and to maximize moves for the sake of relationships.

EO4 was a lot more easy for me to pick up and put down on top of being awesome. Plus having Pie play EO3 side by side with me playing 4 was also another part of why we've been spending time with it. When I get back to it, there shall be reports...oh how there will be reports lol

[RollCasket]

Nooooooooo~ ::kills Bear:: I was tempted to get EO4 but...I never finished any of the other ones so I figured I should prolly pass on this one =X

In the case of FE though I think the best way to start is hard/casual or normal/classic. Once you get past a certain chapter things become MUCH easier regardless of difficulty. I've literally put in around 165 hours into this game with no signs of slowing down anytime soon lol. My newest lunatic playthrough I'm working on some specific characters that I can't talk about yet, but I already have two characters completely maxed out and either of them can probably take out a whole army themselves. Not that it means anything to you yet, but their ratings are 348 and 331 which is pretty crazy...and higher than anyone in my previous playthrough, so I'm liking my decisions overall this time.

But yeah, I can understand taking longer on a classic playthrough as you really have to be careful and abuse Fredrick along with any terrain advantages like forests and forts to give you an edge. Also, when you're able to get them, Rescue staves are insanely useful to save those weaker units (or guest units).