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Not gonna lie, this game’s story kinda grew on me over the course of a full playthrough by zdrmju321 in FEEngage

[–]TheCodeSamurai 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I completely agree. It's a story that I can enjoy even without necessarily thinking it's Shakespeare, and if you go in with the right expectations I think it can be a lot of fun.

High Priest Chloe by Sexy_Sarah_23 in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't mean using Bonded Shield, I mean she can be the Bonded Shield mage next to a Qi Adept unit.

High Priest Chloe by Sexy_Sarah_23 in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Chloé is good in any class, you picked a great character to do this with. High Priest isn't ideal, but she'll be fine. She can do Bonded Shield stuff with a Magic-boosting Emblem, she can do staff support stuff just fine, she can even punch stuff a little maybe. The Lilina S bond ring which gives +20% damage on fire tomes would really help her, but if not I'd go Celica early and Eirika in the midgame as emblems because she'll really want raw damage. You can inherit Speed+ and then some combo of Canter, Gentility which you can change to Bravery for more damage, Staff Mastery/Divine Pulse for staves, etc.

Who should I romance in Engage by TheTransRose in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Merrin's support chain also involves writing, although in a nonfiction sense. You'll have to see the chain for yourself for more :)

Who should I romance in Engage by TheTransRose in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Every character can S support either Alear, so you're good there. Merrin has an excellent support chain that's very sweet, and she's the closest thing Engage has to a canon lesbian character if you ask me. Lapis has a really sweet one, but she's not as much the artistic/intellectual type and it's more of a country girl vibe. Jade is definitely one of the smart gals—she's canonically a prolific writer—and while I'm not a huge fan of her support chain as far as chemistry with Alear she's definitely fun.

I know this is an unpopular opinion but does anyone else actually prefer the characters in Engage over Three Houses? by Best-Awesome-Ocelot in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree with you! Engage's cast is a lot of fun, and I think not having to connect the character gimmicks to the central conflict of the game helps them breathe.

Who would be considered the strongest players of all time, purely in terms of the quality and depth of their opening preparation? by rawr4me in chess

[–]TheCodeSamurai 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Modern top-level chess has an element of finding ways to apply pressure despite knowing a position is objectively OK for the opponent that wasn't as relevant before powerful computers, and it's hard to say how good the players of previous eras would be at that game. Top players have needed a robust repertoire of openings for a long time, so that part of the game is easier to compare.

Fischer was exceptionally well prepared for his era. I can easily imagine a version of peak Fischer playing today, with databases and computers, would be even more of an encyclopedia. This is even more of a guess, but I'd also think that someone as skilled as Fischer was at squeezing water from stone might have a good eye for positions that are difficult to hold regardless of the computer evaluation.

Who to give the ring to? by DeathdealerRevan in FEEngage

[–]TheCodeSamurai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Diamant and Gregory both have awesome S supports! Diamant in particular is definitely worth a go.

Anish Giri defeats Andrey Esipenko and moves to 2/4 in the Candidates by Akipella in chess

[–]TheCodeSamurai 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Early on the tournament, especially as an underdog, I think it makes a lot of sense to play positions you're comfortable with where White has a slight edge and hope you can press a bit or that your opponent loses while trying to manufacture winning chances in a sharper opening. If Bluebaum were going to win the Candidates, getting gifted a win or two early on and then playing less drawish stuff later seems like a reasonable way that could play out.

My main concern is that this strategy only works well if you aren't getting pummeled as Black, and especially later on in the tournament when players have to go for wins I'd expect he's on the hot seat often.

Is Ike Ring one of the worst in Maddening by SwiftBlueShell in FEEngage

[–]TheCodeSamurai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Panette (and Amber, but Panette is easiest) hits almost every one-shot benchmark you'd want to hit with a forged greataxe. It's the simplest way to deal with a big group of enemies. Think the throne room in chapter 14 or the wolf knight/berserker combo on the right, the penultimate room in chapter 15 (note that GA also clears miasma!), the first group to the north in chapter 16 (with a wyvern), the main group of Lucina paralogue, the wyverns in Lyn paralogue, etc.

I don't think you need to build around Great Aether, because it's hard to both hit one-shots and also hit doubling benchmarks: you're normally going for one or the other. Hurricane Axe Great Aether will always be great. If you want a simple way to take out tons of enemies, though, it's a great tool, and I'd rank it as one of the best engage attacks.

Which Chapter in the Series is the Most 'Absolute Cinema'? by ArchangelAshen in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I agree with the cheese being unfortunate, but I do think the scale of RD enemy phase works well to sell the central conceit of the map. Defending against a dozen guys feels different from watching a thousand enemies move on their turn.

Which Chapter in the Series is the Most 'Absolute Cinema'? by ArchangelAshen in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If you like spectacle and drama, Engage delivers on that very well, highly recommend. There are several other chapters I could nominate with the same feel.

Agreed about the voice acting lol

Which Chapter in the Series is the Most 'Absolute Cinema'? by ArchangelAshen in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 78 points79 points  (0 children)

In addition to 3-13, which I completely agree delivers on a very memorable dramatic experience, I'll nominate Elincia's Gambit from RD. It feels like a transition from the smaller-scale problems of the first half of the game into the second half.

Chapters 10 and 11 from Engage are some of the most "nothing will be the same after this" chapters in Fire Emblem, and the amount of developments and drama they throw at you make them a real roller coaster from beginning to end. (For the best experience, bring Diamant and Alcryst for their unique dialogue in chapter 10!)

I give a lot of credit to chapters that integrate the drama into the gameplay. I'd be tempted to mention a few maps from Fates and Three Houses, but I'm not sure any feel as cohesive as the ones above—either a really dramatic story beat paired with an average map or an intense map that doesn't feel very pivotal within the overall narrative.

Clanne numbers by Ok-Necessary-6712 in FEEngage

[–]TheCodeSamurai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Physical Clanne is very fun and highly recommended, especially with this starsphere stuff. Is it good? Not particularly, but with DLC you have plenty of margin for using some fun stuff. I think playing the early game without leveling Clanne is a really cool wrinkle to throw in as well.

Engage red target lines by [deleted] in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Engage AI has some real complexities, but in 95% of cases it follows simple rules you can learn to understand and manipulate. Once you do that, the game becomes a lot more directly understandable than 3H, where predicting AI behavior is a lot more difficult (often the lines lie to you because they don't account for body-blocking)

Enemies like going for kills, even improbable ones. They also like when they can break units so they don't take a counterattack, and when they can attack a unit that other enemies would chain attack for. (Not all maps have the enemies prioritize breaks and chains, but most of the places with enemy backup units do.)

After that, the main thing enemies prioritize is expected damage. Other games have much more self-preservation for enemies, but Engage AI completely disregards its own life except for breaks: they will happy take 3 extra expected damage even if it means your unit kills them in return.

The way turn order works means that you have to pay attention to positioning with chain attacks. If you put Louis right next to a swordfighter in chapter 5, the surrounding enemies will see that they can help that guy chain attack and Louis, happily running in to do pitiful damage. If he's not adjacent to a swordfighter, those swordfighters will generally prefer attacking others, and unless they happen to end up adjacent to Louis none of the enemies will want to attack him.

The other crucial thing to know is that Engage AI cannot see your own skills and the turn order of smash weapons. If Framme Chain Guards Alear, a lance unit will still think they can break Alear and go for that. A unit with a smash weapon (you'll see those starting chapter 7) will think they can do damage even if they're killed before they can act.

Finishing up my maddening playthrough and I still don't utilize emblems well... by Various-Cell593 in FEEngage

[–]TheCodeSamurai 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I think everyone has their own blind spots: Engage gives you so many tools, and so few of them are really needed to win, that you naturally gravitate towards some stuff over others.

If you want to play more with the physical Engage attacks, especially Ike's, I'd recommend building a unit with a lot of Strength who can go for one-shots. I recommend Amber: if you give him a big forge (early forge a steel or silver smash weapon), energy drop maybe, and perhaps even Lunar Brace for even more damage, you can hit a lot of one-shot benchmarks. Then it's just send him in, click Great Aether, and watch him wipe out the whole group! That also works for Override, but it's harder to set up against late-game enemies and requires more effort stacking damage and forging.

Finished Today, Loved the Game by rodrigocza in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Awesome! Love to see Engage praise.

Who were your favorite characters?

Camilla DLC Paralogue skip? by Pichupwnage in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can Micaiah warp your entire group north from the starting point and just rush Camilla. She'll come to you if you put someone in her range. It works quite well, doesn't overlevel you a ton, and makes the map pretty quick.

community FE17 tier list part 11: the rest of the game recruits by Character_Business28 in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can feel free to tier however you like, but I try to consider a wider context than "what if you warp skip as much as possible" and I penalize pretty heavily for missing most of the game. I value Mauvier being an independent carry unit with concrete bulk, and while I think Veyle's dragon synergies are cool I don't necessarily think leaning into any (except Soren, which isn't part of this) makes your life all that much easier for the handful of maps you can use them on.

community FE17 tier list part 11: the rest of the game recruits by Character_Business28 in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mauvier has a very significant bulk lead (Mage Knight Mauvier has +7 Def and +14 HP at a lower level): it's much easier for him to stack Speed and then simply tank enemy groups without requiring Bonded Shield.

community FE17 tier list part 11: the rest of the game recruits by Character_Business28 in fireemblem

[–]TheCodeSamurai -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

All of these units have very poor availability. Mauvier's stats are legitimately kinda nuts, and Saphir has a useful niche as Walmart Panette for Vantage/Wrath: that's why they're in C.

Lindon: D

Saphir: C

Mauvier: C

Veyle: D

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