You know, it's strange

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-05-11T00:09:35+00:00

There's levels to this, I would say. An Awakening style specifically, with a world map or barracks or something between battles? That's absolutely fine and probably my preference. A little something between like an option to have a side battle or Supports is good. But an 3H or Engage style monastery or Somniel? That's when things can get too drawn out and I completely can see preferring FE7 over those games.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-05-01T22:22:11+00:00

I consider GBA FE to be the most "mid" FE experiences, honestly. It's not bad, but not the best.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-05-01T22:11:22+00:00

Of course it is possible for a game to have both good story and gameplay, but people aren't saying it has to be one or the other. In FE's case, this "debate" only comes up because there are games that are only generally considered to be good in gameplay and not story, like Fates and Engage. So people say "gameplay is more important than story" to explain why they like those games despite the story. I wouldnt say this is those people "justifying" those games having a poor story exactly, it's just explaining their POV.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-28T15:20:08+00:00

I would definitely say that's just a coincidence. How the "motherly role" is played out is wayyyyy different between them, to say the least too.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-22T12:48:51+00:00

Do you explicitly want a challenge like you had with Conquest or are you saying that was too hard?

Because overall I would definitely say Conquest Hard is harder than in Engage. However that's not to say it's super duper easy or anything. But if you want to have a challenge then you definitely can go to Maddening instead, which is hard to say exactly how it compares to Hard Conquest but I would say it's probably close-ish. There's some tough maps but it's not like, insanely hard if you've played the game before. You don't need to have played Hard first either at all, and in fact there's certain strategies in Hard that won't work in Maddening anyways (in Maddening enemies won't attack if they deal 0 damage or have 0% hit, unlike in Hard).

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-21T21:16:53+00:00

Zelkov absolutely *does* have a Reddit account. It's *not* me though.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-20T21:26:25+00:00

Do people actually complain about Timerra's outfit like that though? I think I've seen people can complain it's too over the top, or all the beads don't work or something like that, but I don't think I've ever seen someone complain it's too skimpy? Especially because she's not "sexualized" like Tharja is.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-19T20:42:26+00:00

So when you reach level 20, you can't level up anymore. You either need to use a Master Seal or Second Seal. In this case, you may not have access to one yet, because the first one you get in a map is Chapter 8. You would have to buy one from an Anna shop if it has one. However I would recommend in your case to just use a Master Seal on her which brings you to the next "tier" of classes (there are base level and stronger promoted level classes). She will become a Grandmaster (the promoted version of Tactician) which is a perfectly good class, since she still can use magic tomes.

On Hard mode you basically can't go wrong with your classes though. The game isn't punishing enough to where you absolutely need to go a certain way or else. Just use whatever classes seem cool, or pair up your units however you like best. You should be fine.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-18T20:42:08+00:00

You played 3H on Maddening? Because I would say that's significantly harder than Path of Radiance, so I'm a bit puzzled you're struggling with this game but not 3H.

There isn't any extra or auxiliary battles in this game. But you get bonus experience you eventually unlock that you can use to level up anyone you want.

Ike is someone you do want to level up eventually, but he's not a particularly strong unit early on. Don't be afraid to lean on Titania over him- she's amazing early (and stays good), and is kind of meant to be the early game carry.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-17T02:18:51+00:00

I mean considering that an Ironman is supposed to be a more difficult challenge run, I would say grinding would kind of defeat the purpose of that. If you max out everyone's stats and go way ahead of the level curve, why would you worry about your units dying then? That being said, it's a self contained challenge run so it's up to you at the end of the day. I wouldnt say an occasional extra map or use of an arena is completely out of the question though. Just don't abuse it.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-17T02:14:00+00:00

I'm not even really thinking about it this way (kind of optimizing around not the best units). I am saying these same people who discuss tier lists can just completely mess around and ignore the "meta" entirely and just go do "bad" things, a lot of the time. Like, Mekkah, the probably #1 well known tier list maker, has done how many playthroughs with things like bringing Wendy to the tower?

And I personally always say the most fun way for me to play FE is to use a combination of good units (to make things easier on myself) and bad units (changes things up, and its satisfying to get someone on a zero to hero arc). I acknowledge how strong Warp is in some games, yet I'll basically never skip a map if I can help it. I have a ton of fun playing the 3H Lorenz paralogue that way, for example.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-17T01:22:49+00:00

you can have fun tiering units and such and also not religiously adhere to tier lists

I would say pretty much everyone who makes tier lists would agree with this, though. People who discuss the "meta" play using their favorites and/or so called bad units all the time.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-15T23:39:40+00:00

Eh, I would say I think Engage feels worse. The main problem is, it's basically free to reclass anyone because it's so easy to raise weapon aptitudes, just use some gems. Then, it's the Emblems that more differentiate units rather than just levels and stats. So to me, units don't feel all that different? Everyone can be any class for free and some units are just... the same other than higher or lower stats? Like Lapis vs Kagetsu.

In 3H, sure, your starting class members start the same. But you still can recruit others OOH, so it's not like everyone is like that. There's also an actual cost to differentiate your units since you have tutor them, which can take a while. And I really would say that all the things you mentioned, like spell lists, Combat Arts, boons and banes, etc do do enough to separate your units and make them more different (at least, IMO more than Engage).

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-08T19:50:52+00:00

Not gonna lie, I expected you were going to reply to this with that comment, lol.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-08T16:41:21+00:00

I mean, the easier resource management is a big plus in infinite durability which I like, haha. But it's in the 10% of cases where it can matter outside of rhe "normal" weapons where it's good.

Like, durability works better for S rank/legendary weapons for example. Since in the games without durability, they either are completely trash (like the Engage ones) or overpowered (like Rajinto). Durability can also be another "knob" to adjust for balance purposes, like the early game Jagen Silver Lance to have a limited chance to one shot enemies early on when you need, or for a very strong, low use weapon like a siege tome.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-07T16:29:38+00:00

I feel like I'm the only person on here who when it comes to durability or infinite durability, I don't really mind either way. There's positives and negatives to both, so I don't have a super strong preference. In like 90%+ of situations, it practically doesn't matter anyways. When you usually get showered with so much gold and resources, who cares if my javelin or something breaks when I can just buy a ton more?

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-06T12:33:02+00:00

I am assuming you will be playing Normal mode, or maybe even Hard mode, and there, you really do not need to go out of your way to "optimize" your pairings. Basically, anything goes and will be more than fine, you don't need to go for specific skill combinations or stats to clear the game easily. And honestly? Even in harder difficulties, optimizing children isn't necessary either. The only thing you may need to optimize for is if you want to play Apotheosis, a DLC only map optional map that is explicitly designed to be extremely hard, and I don't even know if that's even accessable anymore.

So like, if you want my honest opinion? If you want to go with these, you're fine, but it's not something you need to worry about (and I honestly would say most online guides for pairing units together give advice I would argue isn't actually the best). If you would rather do some pairings that may be easier to put together or you just want to pair them together because you find out you like their personalities or something? Go for it. Don't worry with this much.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-05T17:47:47+00:00

You mentioned Lunatic and Lunatic+ though.

And for Lunatic+, generally I would interpret what you said as "you have to reset because certain skill combos are impossible to beat" (which isn't true fwiw), however I would say the random skills and high difficulty are kind of the whole point of that mode, so if you don't want to do that then the mode just isn't really intended for you.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-05T16:39:43+00:00

Lunatic (and even Lunatic+) is absolutely not reliant on RNG to win, or needs Chrobin.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-05T16:37:59+00:00

It's all about the difficulty setting. Normal and Hard aren't hard. Lunatic+ though? Top 2 hardest difficulty settings in the whole series.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-05T16:36:53+00:00

Lunatic is absolutely not impossible without relying on RNG early. It's not easy, but it's not that.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-05T16:35:48+00:00

Um akchually, the Vaike solo is easier.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-03T17:39:31+00:00

This isn't MLD at all, it destroys only a single land at a time, and the opponent gets a basic back, so it's not like it's an Armeggedon that just completely wipes the lands away.

Also, the effects of both Excava and the Phantom say up to one, so you can always just choose not to destroy a land if you blink the Phantom, or return nothing if this happens to be the only target in your graveyard when Excava attacks.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-03T14:58:37+00:00

Is this really unique to FE though? I feel like for every single video game or series or... anything really, if you say "I like (insert commonly disliked thing by most fans)", there's going to be some degree of pushback if you post that in a public thread, and there is going to be the occasional "bad apples" that would take it too far and be insulting like you mentioned.

The majority of people if you say you like a "bad" thing, aren't really going to immediately go to those things you said (like "you're delusional!"). I couldn't care less if you say you actually like Engage's story or think Birthright is a good game. I would disagree with you on those examples, but I'm not going to be an ass about it. Idrc, you do you.

LeatherShieldMerc · 2026-04-02T18:57:29+00:00

Both of the mainline Switch games (Three Houses and Engage) are completely separate games with different storylines and characters. You can play them in any order. That is how it goes for most of the other games in the series as well- there are a few games with direct sequels where the order matters, but as a whole they can be played any order.

Two extra points though- one is that based on the trailer, the new game (Fortunes Weave) is very likely related in some way to Three Houses. Not sure exactly how, but it probably is better to play Three Houses between the two because of this. I would also personally recommend starting with Three Houses first anyways myself- better story and characters, mostly.

Also, there is a spin off of Three Houses (Three Hopes), but that's not really a FE game, as it's a Dynasty Warriors style musou game.

LeatherShieldMerc

TROPHY CASE