OK - I'm on chapter 13, I've just upgraded my Tactician (Conzor) to Grandmaster Flash BUT he still doesn't have a wife.

Things were going well with Cordelia but we just don't know if she's the one. Anna is on the scene now but things are moving too slowly, and ultimately he just wants to get with Flavia but she won't let him close enough.

Typical guy, unable to commit, we've heard it all before.

Any recommendations?

Started yesterday. I'm playing on Casual/Normal out of convenience and I'm loving it so far. Hopefully the game gets a little tougher but it feels appropriately easy for the beginning of the game. Seems faster paced and just a better experience sodas than other FE games. I'm really excited to get the relationship statuses up.

One thing I like is having that bottom screen. It's nice to see item descriptions and everything on the fly. Everything felt a little hidden in the other games n

@PogueSquadron

"Experience sodas?"

"other games n?"

Are you typing on a mobile device, sir?

@PogueSquadron

This was a funny post to read. Where the heck did "sodas" come from??

@TriforceBun

I'm guessing that "sodas" was supposed to be "so far" until it got auto-corrected. Incorrectly.

Hahaha. I don't even want to edit that. I was on my phone.

Anywho, the game is awesome. Yeah, I'm playing on Casual/Normal but it's helping the pacing of this game a lot. It's also nice to save whenever I want (why can't every difficulty do this?). I don't have to play a level for 30 minutes only to have someone die. I feel a little cheap doing it this way, but on the other hand I don't feel like I'm wasting time. No one's death is really in vain, as long as they got some levelling up in there.

The one thing I'm finding is that a lot of my units are pretty overpowered at this point. They're either incredibly strong, or incredibly weak. Is there any way to get exp for my weaker characters other than the usual "hit and run" techniques of old?

I'm also thinking about going back and playing with permadeath on at some point - or possibly upping the difficulty. I've heard good things about people playing on Hard/Casual. You can get a hard difficulty but you don't have to waste hours just for a stupid death.

@PogueSquadron

What wasted hours? I've only spent about 35 hours playing the game on hard/classic, and have a whopping 14 hours on my game clock.

Oh, never mind...

Yeah, I'm playing on casual/normal too. I will try classic mode afterwards to see how far I get but at least this way I get to see everything the game has to offer.

I have found that my healers, dancers or thieves are greatly underused - simply haven't needed them. Is this just a symptom of casual/normal?
Any grinding I'm doing is to get Donnel & Nowi up the ladder. I've got a feelin' bout those two.

@Super_Conzo

I'm playing Classic/Hard so I've made great use of healers. I leveled up the dancer, but mostly for support. I don't ever use her in a real battle. I also don't find the thief class all that great either since they can't steal in this game. They do get the pass ability which I can't say I've really taken advantage of. The lethality ability is great though.

I'm finding Normal/Casual to be too easy. Not so easy that I don't think the game isn't fun, because I'm loving all the Support stuff, and I probably have some units I can still use that are weaker....but yeah, it's easy enough that I'm not being incredibly strategic.

I should say, however, that it would probably be a lot harder on Classic. I wouldn't be as far as I am if I had to restart levels. Still, in terms of my characters' levels? They feel pretty overpowered, and that's something I don't think playing on Classic would've changed.

How do you guys feel about the difficulty? And is it true that you can't save whenever you want on Classic?

I agree. There are a handful of characters who could win each level blindfolded which is why I've been trying to use the B-Team; just to spice things up. Is that a failing on the game's part? Not sure. I suppose it's letting me select my own difficulty per chapter, but there are too many safety nets on casual/normal so I don't get a sweat-on like with previous games.

It's been a fun ride, just not heart-pounding like I expect classic mode to be.

@PogueSquadron

I wouldn't recommend Normal/Casual unless you're very, very green at strategy in general (not just in gaming, but in stuff like chess). Normal/Classic was the perfect difficulty for me to start off on--it's still a good challenge to beat the stages without losing people; some of your units will be quite powerful, but the trick is in protecting your weaker guys from the bloodthirsty enemies.

You can save when you want in classic, but it's a "soft save" (like in Majora's Mask) so that you can't restart mid-battle if you lose someone. So it's more like a glorified pause button.

@TriforceBun That really turns me off then. Why would they do that? Even Radiant Dawn let you use the Battle Save feature. It's the only way I got as far as I did in that game.

@PogueSquadron

Because what's the point in having permadeath if you can just save every turn and reset when you lose? While it's true you can say the same thing about resetting the game in general, at least there it's some sort of penalty (loss of time, having to redo the whole battle) instead of a quick reset.

@TriforceBun I dunno, I think that even if I can save before a turn, the threat of permadeath still exists. There is still very much the loss of time aspect, even with a hard save option. And in Fire Emblem, you always have to expect the unexpected, so you could always be costing yourself an hour (or two or three).

Sorry for the double post here.

Okay, so, Chrom and Sumia just got married. Right after Chapter 10, I believe, where you defeat Mad King Gangrel, and the war between Plegia and Ylisse ends. What I don't get is that they say that Chrom has finally found a wife. In the next cutscene, he says that it'll be too dangerous for Sumia, but Sumia wants to come with him. Chrom claims that their new baby is still too young.

It just seems...all so perfectly weaved into the story. Incredibly seamless. Does Chrom get married to someone at this point in the game regardless of Support status? If he got married at another time, would it seem this seamless? Or does this cutscene trigger as long as Chrom is married?

I also have to imagine that Chrom is the only one that gets this kind of treatment, as he's kind of the game's main character. Still, really cool stuff here.

@PogueSquadron

Well, it's no fun knowing how it works behind the scenes! But since you asked...Chrom automatically marries whoever he's closest to after you kill Gangrel. In your case, it was Sumia--the cutscene that follows still happens after chapter 11, with the only possible differences being the mother and her dialogue.

Oh wow. Damn, I wouldn't have put so much effort into it haha. I had them at S rank before the chapter started.

My other matchmaking attempts so far:

Jamie (me) and Cordelia
Virion and Sully
Miriel and Vaike
Kellam and Anna
Lissa and Donnel
Maribelle and Ricken

Most of them are predictable. I tried keeping some people together if they entered the game together. In Kellam's case, I tried matching him up with someone who could brighten his day a bit haha.

Hey - I was surprised at that convenient marriage moment too. Thanks for clearing that up.

I went with a lot of the same pairings as you. Virion and Sully don't get used much these days, but Vaike and Miriel are unstoppable!

Can't get Anna to take to anyone, I'll maybe give her a run out with Kellam, see how he fares.

Hate to break it to you guys, but Anna can only marry the main character.