Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

In Progress Let's play Berwick Saga (PS2 Strategy-RPG from the director of Fire Emblem 1-5)

SasaPinjic

Literate
Joined
May 20, 2022
Messages
6
I dont have that save file anymore, i erase it when i restarted from scratch, and i play on real PS2 anyway, things wuld be much easier on emulator, thanks to savestat function.
Reason why i remained mounted was i had hurried to cover injured unid(Dean) and was position my self to attack by mounted spearmans, and RNG wanted that all 5 of them hit and retreat, so next can attack again, and again, and there were few archers in range as well, i manage to heal unit in between attacks , but not horse naturaly.
Reason why i used fancy horse is long term investment. +3 Defense and huge HP is big plus for any unit ( then i can use cheaper shields and still have same defense or better shields and to be more or less undamaged when mounted , you buy horse once and have permanent + def, otherwise, you have to buy better shields hole game, and they are very expensive/rare) , and i use Christine skill horse heal/care (not gona use unfortunate poorly translated name of skill lol) between chapter to keep them alive, i simply swap heavy wounded horse to her before chapter ends, and i give horse to somone else at first suitable oportunity in next chapter, plus i manipulate RNG in last battle of chapter to make sure there is some food that can restore horse HP in resturant in next chapter, and good horse to purchase as well (by manipulate i mean: save game before you kill last enemy or capture building, then finish chapter, fast skip all scens and if there is not what you want in resturant/stable, reload) , then i swap horse to somone who can heal horse by eating food effectivly.
For your question, who died/get crippled, in my cese, Marcel died few times before i get Reese to talk with him and give him spare shield,izerna gets criplled once,and she is critical to heal in mission, Christine several times, while tring to talk with NPC,and she is esential to remain not criplled to my tactic because of her heal horse skill , Arthur who is cruicial to capturing units with good equipment gets cripled , etc.
But,like i said, it is all in past, things are much easier now, i am in chapter 8 , and most of my mounted guys have Morachia warhorse and hardly taking any mayor damage while mounted, altough i try to keep them dismounted when i can naturaly.
I keep my time in side missions to train units skills, some random bandits or weak soldier left alive are good to train shileds, i just keep sending units with cheap leather shileds and without equiped weapons (so they cant hurt bandit) to get hit, and when they suffer to much damage , i return them to get pasive and no cost area +1/3 HP heal by izerna and i send some others to get trained istead, until eventualy bandit weapon is broken , while heavy armor soldiers when their weapon breakes are great for training weapons skills, since they have huge defense (+12) ,i take some slim spears or bronze sword and such and i just hit them, most of my guys do 0 damage, but they still gets weapons expirience ,even way past turn 24 (on Knight's pride map i sucsefouly trained weapon skills well after turn 200 by keeping strongest armored soldier alive , he had 14 basic defense , i braked his weapon first by Bringing Derrick and just alowed him to hit derrick until his weapon breaked) , just mages, Axemans and Elbert cant train this way, because they have to high attack and cant participate in free training ,they do more that 0 damage, so i give them more real targets.
 
Last edited:

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
Well if I had the save file, I could see what resources you had access to - but as you've made up your mind, feel free to continue as you wish. Good luck with the rest of the campaign.
 

SasaPinjic

Literate
Joined
May 20, 2022
Messages
6
Quick Question:
I am in "The Suplay Base" sidequest right now, and i was wondering, did destroying all thise fences and structures counts as kills, specificly , i aim to get Dean 60 kils, so will it work if i leave him to destroy them ?
If not, then to leave them to others to practice weapons skills levels.
 

SasaPinjic

Literate
Joined
May 20, 2022
Messages
6
Actually, to answer my own question, it counts.
I killed all enemies by keeping 20 fences/structures alive, then i saved and finished map, Dean/Izerna scene when he gets Mercy skill dint show, then i experimenting with reloading and killing structures and after i destroyed 15 of them, convinintly right when his axe skill raised to 40 , scene shows up.
Now he just needs 2 more levels to reach lv 15 to be promoted.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
Sorry for the long delay in updates, RL got busy. Have a teaser for the next mission:

AtUcYQs.jpg
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Oh right, this thread!

After a restart, my playthrough went pretty smoothly until the spike in Chapter 9. I'm currently using the bridge and then holding out with Clifford/Ward against the Four Riders until everyone moves into the fort walls. Sadly between chances of successful Rider charge + Ballista shots as you get closer to second gate, I keep losing someone to a mistake/crit. I think I'll get through, but Ch10 will be the real test.

I built up Aegina consistently this time - ignoring Owen and Perceval - and that's given me a pretty reliable source of armour killer with fire & air. Even did in a wyrm in one hit. Larentia with repairstone to keep the starting unique trident also manages to have enough attacking power alongside the mobility.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
You'll definitely want two trained mages for chapter 10. I mean, you can scrape by without but it's a lot easier with more magic to hand.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
Update 185: Chapter 10-1 - Scorpion's Sting (part 1)

Remember that supply base raid from last chapter? The information we retrieved has borne fruit.

eDHmatn.jpg


Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccPrRD_li50

AGaCzGk.jpg


Corona: I'd like you to send an escort with them on a short excursion to test these new prototypes. Their job will be to bear witness to the tests and guard them in case they run into any Imperial trouble.

Reese: That sounds simple enough. I will organise an escort party.

Corona: Thank you, Lord Reese. The tests will be held in the plains not far from the city. For any more details than that, you'll want to talk to the engineers themselves.

A short while later...

4M7hmtz.jpg


Klamp: I'll leave the explaining to... [turning to his right] Bianca! Hey, Bianca!

Bianca: Quit shouting! I'm not deaf!

6J0kOzM.jpg


Bianca: Yeah, well, I took after my father, and it's not like this blockhead brother of mine could do the job... The prototype design is based on one my father left behind in his notes. We call it the "Scorpio". Till now, we've had a big problem that prevented us from finishing, but now we've got some working prototypes.

73Gh9tV.jpg


:)

Klamp: Let's not bore them with all these little details.

Bianca: ...All right, fine. I'll give you the abridged version of the pitch I gave General Corona. The Scorpio has lots of features, but the biggest is its ease of use. Conventional ballistae depend on the ballisticians' skill in judging angle, wind speed, gravity and such. That requires finesse, and it takes a lot of time to get good at it. That makes it hard to train people to become ballisticians, not to mention replace them if they get killed...

Which is especially pertinent given the League is short on both time and manpower.

Bianca: These Scorpios are each equipped with a new sighting mechanism to overcome these problems. It's easy to use, and it does most of the hard work for you. As long as they don't screw it up, even beginners should be able to shoot like experienced ballisticians.

Ndc1Jma.jpg


Bianca: However, it's shorter ranged, and it's also got a big flaw. The way the calculations work, the sighting mechanisms only work well if you use multiple ones in tandem. A lone man with a Scorpio actually has worse accuracy on average than with a regular ballista.

Ward: So what you are saying is, Scorpios must work in groups to be worthwhile?

Bianca: That's exactly right. Something like a long chain of Scorpios all working as one.

Klamp: ...All right, that's enough explaining. Let's not bore them. As I mentioned earlier, I'll be there during the field test.

MQ6degm.jpg


Heh, I guess Klamp is mostly the brawn of this operation then. But before we see the new weapon in action, it's time for mission preparations.

w69KgJK.jpg


Only 8 deployment slots, so I'll need to choose carefully.

First, I'll do a little mount management and show a UI tooltip I overlooked previously:

kVskqzL.jpg


uxuwJCE.jpg


Elbert will get one of the Sinon Stallions I've been saving. Next, a quick look at the items obtained in the previous mission.

QZ1vANr.jpg


Crotalus is quite a nice weapon. As a side note, the name crotalus refers to a type of rattlesnake.

0FsQ8Xd.jpg


Since this mission will be taking place on open terrain, I'll be opting for a knight-heavy group: Christine, Elbert, Sherlock, Alvina, Arthur, Clifford, Esteban and Marcel.

We'll need some more equipment, so time to go shopping:

S0QR2CY.jpg


Alvina picks up a lady sword and broadsword, since her fauchard is a bit lacking in accuracy.

DCxwIIa.jpg


Marcel receives three leather shields. As you can guess, he'll be the tank for this mission.

MKmhdm0.jpg


Although he's slightly underleveled for it, I give Arthur a knight shield as a backup.

nkOEFNo.jpg


Clifford will get a limit shield, since my existing one is about to break, and a broadsword.

fzJB87N.jpg


Elbert is provided with a longsword and leather medium shield (I don't want to use up all the good shields just on this mission).

xa0akzW.jpg


Last but not least, a composite bow for Sherlock. With his skills being multiple shot-oriented, bows tend to break a lot sooner.

For a reason that will become apparent once we arrive at the mission site, Esteban won't be receiving any particular equipment. I've also distributed existing vulneraries among the group, since there are enough for now.

TvqcTvl.jpg


4HAazNV.jpg


MHdJbNT.jpg


Z8j9jUH.jpg


uHDbyWe.jpg


j3iK0vQ.jpg


s79jpJT.jpg


MFlBSn3.jpg


That should be more than sufficient gear to accomplish the task at hand, so off to battle:

VBpcIos.jpg


Klamp is in the centre at this crossroads, with 10 Scorpios in a diamond formation around him, followed by our forces in a wide circle-esque formation. We'll be spread thin defending no less than 5 different routes.

hHR4yPt.jpg


Obviously, Klamp is a non-combat unit and won't survive very long under fire.

MFYUrlT.jpg


Directly to the south, a single cavalry archer is visible, with some scattered trees in front. There are two single-hex chokepoints caused by the cliffs that will make defending easier.

9nZ7Wtm.jpg


Over to the southeast, two more enemy archers await. Assuming the southern enemies use their full movement, they'll be able to attack us on turn 2.

UlZnWYb.jpg


Directly to the east, the lone archer is much closer. He can potentially hit us on the first turn. There's no realistic way to seal this approach off either as it is 3 hexes wide.

xpmpQsY.jpg


To the north, the road winds around to the west with some forest nearby.

8vrxQcb.jpg


It turns out that there are some Imperial units at the far end of said road. Including some familiar faces:

FN1qCo6.jpg


r7NarMp.jpg


Why they are here will soon be revealed.

3mO6zey.jpg


Due west, there is another cavalry archer that can potentially attack Sherlock on turn 1 (although overwatch could interrupt him). The two waiting south of the cliffs will have to go the long way around to get in range.

2bFzvJP.jpg


As Bianca said, the Scorpio is fairly accurate, but has a significantly shorter range of 4 instead of the usual 7.

Puqr3o4.jpg


All of them also have overwatch, which will reduce the pressure on our team somewhat. However, the AI won't necessarily stay in overwatch every turn.

After moving a couple of units around, it's time to start the mission:

KQD2qqN.jpg


Klamp: Somehow, the information must have leaked to the Empire that we'd be running these tests today... We have to keep these prototypes out of Imperial hands! Otherwise they'll turn them against us! It's a good thing we brought along some veteran sharpshooters with us to operate the prototypes. As soon as the enemy comes in range, they'll be rained down on by bolts... and with the Scorpios' aim, they won't miss.

3EbbS4z.jpg


Klamp: Sinon Knights, you'll have to take care of the rest. The Scorpios are new and improved, but at close range, they're still just as helpless as any other ballista. ...Sorry to trouble you like this. Today was supposed to be just a routine trial run... Still, this is the perfect chance to test out the Scorpios in battle. Take a look and watch what our inventions can really do!


Over on the Imperial side of the battlefield...

nQyLQVz.jpg


9qACdRa.jpg


Luveil: Also, we need to keep testing the Pascanion's performance.

Sophie: ...But we have only the word of your informant, an apparent defector, that this mission will go well... We may be leading our best mounted archery division deliberately into a trap set by the enemy...

Luveil: That is why I'm sending our best, because they'll survive longer. Or can't you comprehend that? After a long, drawn out battle, our forces will be nearly wiped out... At that moment, we will ride in, destroying the enemy and their weapons with the Pascanion!

79jgTNg.jpg


Luveil [chuckling]: Father will surely be pleased with me...

Sophie seems unconvinced, but declines to comment further.

Luveil: But before that, we must take note of the enemy's new weapons. We will wait here for a while, and when the enemy force has tired itself out, then will be the time to strike. New, get in position, Sophie! And don't you dare mess this up! If you ruin this for me, I'll make you wish you'd never been born!

1LcRaDA.jpg


Esteban: This has got to be a joke... Why would she go back?!

7FKJtie.jpg


The objective screen indicates Esteban can talk to Sophie, which is what I'll have him do at the earliest opportunity. Given the short 12 turn duration, I would expect a large number of enemy reinforcements, so I'll play it safe and stay near the Scorpios.

SgRZ2Lu.jpg


jkmGWU4.jpg


If the Scorpios take losses, they will lose overall effectiveness as a group, so keeping all of them intact will improve our odds of making it through the mission.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
Just a quick bit of news for those concerned about the slow pace of updates recently: I'm currently away on vacation, so this Let's Play will be updated later this month. I'm also planning on Vestaria Saga LPs, including the untranslated bonus content Kaga added recently.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Good stuff. I've just started VS1. Graphics are a pity but formula is sound as ever.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
Just a quick bit of news for those concerned about the slow pace of updates recently: I'm currently away on vacation

Took a lot longer than I expected, so I neglected the LP. :P

Fortunately I still have my saves, so normal service will resume shortly :)

BGrZC8v.png
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
Update 186: Alvina (combat overview)

I neglected to include this after the chapter 10 main mission, so without further delay:

MVChur1.jpg

dtSMimY.jpg

5mUpvSX.jpg


Alvina has a few interesting attributes to distinguish her from Ruby, Elbert and Clifford who are otherwise similar paladin-class units. Unlike the former two, using both swords and spears from the start proficiently is no problem. She has a pretty strong, if inaccurate, personal spear in the Fauchard (as the name suggests, it originated in medieval Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauchard ). Durability, base attack and weight are all above average. The second strike works with adept too, although she's unlikely to activate it while carrying the paladin shield.

Her base stats are biased towards speed, and unusually for a paladin, 3 points in magic (the paladin shield is providing another 3 hence the total of 6 in the info screen, which functions defensively for this class). This means Alvina can almost completely nullify the additional lightning damage from raijin arrows, for example, as well as being much more resistant to magical attacks in general.

Shieldfaire, adept and throw are all useful general combat skills, but the addition of mercy also allows for Alvina to help capture enemy units. It's true that Larentia can also do this (and Dean after recruitment) but they have worse survivability, particularly against magic.

Finally, the Liga Courser is a valuable and tough horse, with 150hp in addition to the movement bonus. Christine can be used to swap it around, if required.
 

Thorakitai

Learned
Joined
Feb 26, 2020
Messages
303
What are some excellent tips or info that a first-time player should know? I got someone who's interested in playing the game but asks for beginner tips.

I've finished the game myself but I'm not confident in my knowledge of the game.

Constantly switching weapons to characters you want to use each chapter is the only reliable advice I can think of while I am debating whether I should recommend having the guy look up of guides detailing the actual effects of food and character class change and recruitment requirements.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
What are some excellent tips or info that a first-time player should know? I got someone who's interested in playing the game but asks for beginner tips.

I played blind the first time just to figure out things for myself. I would say the most important thing is to plan ahead and always have a backup move if your current attack fails.
 

Elthosian

Arcane
Joined
Mar 14, 2012
Messages
1,145
Kind of late to this but I've been playing this sporadically for the best part of the year and I'd say one good way to approach it is to play each map blind and then check one of the many Let's Play (like this gem here) or Map reviews in the internet to see whether you're missing some key feature. I'd say the game makes most of its mechanics fairly clear with extensive tutorials but up until chapter 3 I did notice I was missing just a couple things. Afterward I just rolled on my own, tbh.

PS: Endemic bless you for this thread, I check this every time I'm picking the game up after a month and want a refresher about the game's events!
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
Kind of late to this but I've been playing this sporadically for the best part of the year and I'd say one good way to approach it is to play each map blind and then check one of the many Let's Play (like this gem here) or Map reviews in the internet to see whether you're missing some key feature. I'd say the game makes most of its mechanics fairly clear with extensive tutorials but up until chapter 3 I did notice I was missing just a couple things. Afterward I just rolled on my own, tbh.

PS: Endemic bless you for this thread, I check this every time I'm picking the game up after a month and want a refresher about the game's events!

To be fair, I appreciate that kind of thing. It's far more interesting to have some curveballs thrown at you given the context. Difficulty could easily been have been higher in fact, but they playtested it based on not saving during battles.

Apologies for the lack of updates, I've been jetting around a lot in the last few months and didn't have a laptop handy.
 

Thorakitai

Learned
Joined
Feb 26, 2020
Messages
303
While I may have completed the game, my love for it never waned and thus I'm compelled to spread knowledge of it's existence as an excellent strategy game.

I've managed to have an interesting discussion with an anon regarding the game which at first started poorly then became a proper discussion regarding the game. Discussion regarding this niche game is rare and I'd like to hear you're responses the to the anon's insight.

Here's are some of his posts from start to finish with my responses as well. Pardon my behavior from these posts.

A: It's fun if your favorite part of FE6 is the missing, and your favorite part of 3H is the monastery.

T: FE6 doesn't give you many options to fix the shitty hitrates as Berwick Saga does."

>Main Lord has a skill that boosts the accuracy of units near him.
>Many characters have skills that increase the hitrates of their attack (but at a cost and some have cooldowns.)
>Plenty of starting personal weapons with high hitrates and grant multiple attacks.

A: Even with Reese's skill (the only consistently available +hit, to the tune of just +10), hit rates are pretty consistently in the shitter. I don't think you can defend it, it's not like Thracia 776 or something where you can pump it up quite high with key AoE boosts. Didn't Kaga say he found shaky hit rates "funny" and that's why he designed it that way, more or less?

T: "I need to always have 100% hitrates because I don't want to plan ahead and think of the consequences of attacking and just juggernaut like crazy."

So much for a proper challenging strategy game. Next you'll X-Com is unfair because of low hitrates.

Also, Berwick has less painful bullshit than Thracia like the surprise prison chapters, Leif needing to escape, Warp Tiles,etc.

A: >I need to strawman to defend my shit game
Berwick sucks man. It's just not fun or interesting. I don't think ever said it's unfair, it's just bad.

T: Says the guy who switched the goalposts.
>Compares it to FE6 (which doesn't give you options to balance the shitty hitrates) then compares it to Thracia and focuses on Reese's AoE aura and ignores the rest (which Thracia also has but is even more obscure.)

Berwick is a fun and challenging strategy game.

A: You can stack up 20-40+ hit in Thracia by midgame with good positioning. In BS your only consistent option is Reese's +10 hit skill. What's worse, you get punished with extra damage for missing in the game thanks to its weird combat system where damaging a foe cancels their counterattack. So in a real sense you not only miss a lot in BS, but get hurt for missing. Its combat is inherently unrewarding, and diminishes map coverage, as units must travel at minimum in pairs to only half-assedly cover for each other's perpetual impotence.
I swear Kaga was trolling while designing the game and not in a funny way.

T: Nice, I love a proper discussion about the game itself.

Judging by how you've constantly said you're constantly missing in BS, I'd assume that you only played the early parts of the game where most of the weapons you get are crap and the most of the characters (including Reese) are unremarkable. I'd also assume that you're frustrated by some of the bandit enemies that make up the early chapters that have high speed that makes them quite frustrating to fight against.

But besides the skills like Desperation, Aim, Deathmatch,etc that help you out and the appearance of better weapons as the game goes on, most of the enemies of the early chapters are weak and usually wield even worse weapons than you have. The turn system even gives you an advantage in that you always given the first turn to act, allowing you to perform the right action at the right moment.

For crying out loud, you get to hire powerful Jeigans at the very start of the game who remain viable even at the endgame.

A: I made it to Ch. 5 (defense map) doing all(?)/most of the gaidens and never felt like hit rates got substantially better, outside rare powerful prfs. Ch. 5 would be earlygame in any FE, and Berwick appears to have 15 numbered main chapters, but in that game Ch. 5 felt like midgame in terms of map scale and time investment. Which is another issue with the game, too much out-of-chapter base management, much like 3H. Some people will like this. The game is nothing if not ambitious, and the grounded, epic war story was at least refreshing. It really felt like Kaga's more modern answer to Genealogy, in terms of narrative.

Still, Berwick in many ways feels like the RNG slot machine casual players believe FE is. It's not uncommon to find yourself in a scenario where a random grunt endures for 2 turns longer than expected because you simply continue to miss him, and he continue to hit you, forcing a self-heal instead of another attack, which prolongs trading blows even more and prevents you advancing to more interesting objectives. The effect of this, again, is that it's wise to send units in pairs, reducing map coverage. Every unit feels like half a normal FE unit.
Some will say "git gud" in response to this critique but I don't find BS hard, actually. Just really tedious and repetitive. I even like extremely random, difficult games like Mystery Dungeons, where hit rate is capped at like 90 and throw hit is capped at 70 or so, but I don't think it works in FE. At least not when you lack sufficient tactical counterplay. It feels bad to be trying your hardest, to understand the key systems and incentives, to be experienced with the series, and 70 displayed hit is often the highest you can squeeze out of a unit.
I see why some people like Berwick and maybe it does get better lategame but it's a slow burn to get there and probably not for me.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
I think this anon went in with the "this is bootleg FE" mindset and didn't understand that there are numerous differences to how the game works. The flow of combat means that you cannot use the same tactics/strategy and expect it to do the same thing.

Your hitrate naturally improves by attacking and/or hitting over time, not just via equipment and skills. You get powerful mercenaries available from the start, too, so saying units are too weak is :?. There's also the Kingfisher, which is admittedly RNG in terms of the options available but can still offer useful bonuses.

In the very first map, Reese + Leon + Adel within 3 hexes of each other = 95+ hit for both Leon and Adel. Although they fall off later on, they're great in the early game thanks to deathmatch and vantage. Thracia and (early game) FE6 hard cap your hitrates. Berwick does not, although you do have to work harder for it. Side missions are generally easier to account for the lack of Reese and Ward. Sure, you can argue Ruby is overly weak relative to others for example, but she's the price of entry for Clifford.

The pre-battle management is all about equipping your team for the mission ahead (and some story, but you can skip that if you prefer). 3H has a lot of timewasting - why is it Byleth's job to give gifts to people? Berwick handles this kind of thing either through the side objectives in-mission or via fixed character relationships.
 

Thorakitai

Learned
Joined
Feb 26, 2020
Messages
303
I think this anon went in with the "this is bootleg FE" mindset and didn't understand that there are numerous differences to how the game works. The flow of combat means that you cannot use the same tactics/strategy and expect it to do the same thing.

Your hitrate naturally improves by attacking and/or hitting over time, not just via equipment and skills. You get powerful mercenaries available from the start, too, so saying units are too weak is :?. There's also the Kingfisher, which is admittedly RNG in terms of the options available but can still offer useful bonuses.

In the very first map, Reese + Leon + Adel within 3 hexes of each other = 95+ hit for both Leon and Adel. Although they fall off later on, they're great in the early game thanks to deathmatch and vantage. Thracia and (early game) FE6 hard cap your hitrates. Berwick does not, although you do have to work harder for it. Side missions are generally easier to account for the lack of Reese and Ward. Sure, you can argue Ruby is overly weak relative to others for example, but she's the price of entry for Clifford.

The pre-battle management is all about equipping your team for the mission ahead (and some story, but you can skip that if you prefer). 3H has a lot of timewasting - why is it Byleth's job to give gifts to people? Berwick handles this kind of thing either through the side objectives in-mission or via fixed character relationships.
Regarding that statement, my previous playthrough where I suffered the RNG's wrath in the early game and the training of high-investment units such as Sherlock, Czene, Faye and Esteban may have influenced that answer.
 

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
Regarding that statement, my previous playthrough where I suffered the RNG's wrath in the early game and the training of high-investment units such as Sherlock, Czene, Faye and Esteban may have influenced that answer.

Balancing deployment is admittedly tricky to do on a blind run, but you do get some pointers within the game itself. For example, Reese suggesting in chapter 2 that this would be a good time to train green troops.

Chapter 5's main mission, which is presented as a high-stakes defensive battle, is definitely not the place to be taking trainees.
 

Elthosian

Arcane
Joined
Mar 14, 2012
Messages
1,145
I jump into this game every other month for 10 hours a time and am currently working through chapter 10. Unless the rest of the game suddenly becomes trash I'm confident in saying this the best strategy/tactics game I will ever play. Other games have a lot of great things going on, but none feels like such a tight and well-designed experience as this one does. My only two issues with it thus far are the obscure recruitment requirements and how sloooow everything is, which admittedly are both really minor things.
 

Thorakitai

Learned
Joined
Feb 26, 2020
Messages
303
I jump into this game every other month for 10 hours a time and am currently working through chapter 10. Unless the rest of the game suddenly becomes trash I'm confident in saying this the best strategy/tactics game I will ever play. Other games have a lot of great things going on, but none feels like such a tight and well-designed experience as this one does. My only two issues with it thus far are the obscure recruitment requirements and how sloooow everything is, which admittedly are both really minor things.
Slow as the overa game speed (turning off animations) or how the chapters take a long time to complete?
 

Elthosian

Arcane
Joined
Mar 14, 2012
Messages
1,145
I jump into this game every other month for 10 hours a time and am currently working through chapter 10. Unless the rest of the game suddenly becomes trash I'm confident in saying this the best strategy/tactics game I will ever play. Other games have a lot of great things going on, but none feels like such a tight and well-designed experience as this one does. My only two issues with it thus far are the obscure recruitment requirements and how sloooow everything is, which admittedly are both really minor things.
Slow as the overa game speed (turning off animations) or how the chapters take a long time to complete?

I mostly meant the overall game speed, including battle animations (although making them map-only alleviates this to some extent), inventory management, and some interactions like buying food for your troops between missions. Of course, most of it stems from it being a console game from 2004-ish so I'd say it is understandable.

The chapters themselves can take a long time to complete, especially if you get your ass kicked or try to do all side objectives, but to me, they hardly ever feel like a drag. There is always a lot of stuff happening, and even if you restart a map, you can try completely different approaches to spice things up.

2WZ1jCW.jpeg


This, for example, is the full map of one of the missions in the second half (it only looks empty because I had already cleared 1/3 of it, but there are lots of hidden units in the buildings, ready to ambush); there are three main paths you can take to finish the mission while splitting up your units to varying degrees. Unlike most other SRPGs, your units can actually climb cliffs, albeit with severe evasion/movement penalties, so if you want, you can wrap things up rather quickly by rushing up as indicated. Of course, you really want to do the events in the lower right part of the map for money/story purposes. The issue? Your allies are also advancing from the other end of the map, so you need to provide some support quickly and cannot slowly pick off the ambushers one by one. Truly, a peak gaming experience.

edit: just scrolled up and saw you already had beaten the game but I hope this does get some more people to try it! Regarding your hit chance conversation from a few months back, I can't say I agree with the anon. I don't really recall how things looked by chapter 5 for me but the game gives you waaay too many options to enhance your hit chances. From specific swords/bows which have generous bonuses for hit % to the follow up skill which grants many units the ability to take another jab at the enemies.
 
Last edited:

Endemic

Arcane
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
4,450
You can send Larentia and Axel across the river too, although that's a much riskier approach.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom