How balanced would you say this game is compared to other FEs?

[Retsudo]

In terms of characters, weapons, etc.

Also, you can look at all modes.

[Topaz Light]

I've played through it twice, and the Avatar (My Unit/Kris) is pretty dang broken, but otherwise it seems reasonably balanced to me. Most of the characters, I've found, are usable if you're willing to put in the effort, even if they're not all amazing. Although, if it matters, Hard mode seems to slip back into Normal difficulty near the end, save for the final boss's chapter, although it may have been that the enemy's stat boosts were negligible at that point and I just didn't notice much of an increase in difficulty compared to Normal mode.

I haven't played any difficulty above Hard, though, so you'd be better turning to someone else for info on those.

[PKL]

Lunatic mode renders a lot of the cast unviable, but that's kinda common sense. That difficulty doesnt particularly care about balance as much as it cares about giving you a challenge.

You can reasonably use a lot more units in Maniac Mode. Though some are better than others as usual. I like this mode a lot.

Almost everyone is usable in Hard if you're willing to spend a bit of money for Drill Ground training.

And everyone is viable in normal lol.

[dondon151]

i found maniac mode to be as hostile to bad characters as lunatic mode was. it's more manageable if you decide to take your time and grind on enemies a little bit, but don't expect even the decent characters like frey, leiden, and minerva to compete with the good characters.

[Emperor Hardin]

Some classes such as General and Hero have limited use once you get to stat caps. Others such as Paladins and DracoKnights are gods the whole way through.

This mainly effects the Avatar/MyUnit.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Emperor Hardin

[fatgamecat]

I tend to mostly look at balance issues that make the game easier for the player, as those are more important for maintaining a challenge.

With that said, the Rainbow Potion makes the game somewhat easier, but it's far from an iwin button. More like a boost that will help the better players cut off a few turns here and there, but won't save anyone with bad strats.

My Unit is probably the most imbalanced part of the game, esp. a Knight MU with +DEF stat boosts. Early-mid game enemies on Lunatic Reverse don't pose much of a threat to MU if his DEF is so high that they barely chip him. Late or end game however he can be killed pretty easily as enemies will have capped stats and uber forges.

Overall clearing FE12 lunatic reverse with all A ranks and low turn counts is a daunting challenge even if you use knight MU and the rainbow potion. Easily one of the most difficult FE challenges in the entire series.

Edited March 7, 2013 by mjemirzian

[Inference]

FE12 doesn't have much balance, if any at all. The prologue characters are all really good thanks to their immediate access to buckets of free experience when the meat of the game hasn't even started yet. Then the really strange part kicks in when Palla and Catria show up on Chapters 2 and 3 with retarded bases and growths, while other characters like Warren, Bord, and Cord, show up as if they're still in prologue with elementary bases. They never seem to stop chucking units with low bases at you, all of whom could have been better if they were available right from the beginning. But since not everyone can have that kind of availability, you're left with a plethora of characters you will never be using on anything other than a mere whim. ("Hmm, Belf, isn't he that guy they tried to name Vergil once? Yeah, I'm definitely using you.")

The difficulty jump in certain chapters is pretty noticeable, like throwing those annoying Wyverns at you on a Desert chapter in 9, and then just swarming you with dragons in 12, 13, and 14.

[fatgamecat]

FE12 is a very balanced game on Lunatic. There is nothing the player can do to trivialize the game's difficulty like in most SRPGs. Most of the cast being fodder is par for the course for difficult tactics games.

Edited March 9, 2013 by mjemirzian

[Inference]

Yet another player singing the praises of FE12 Lunatic. Do you mean to tell me people actually enjoyed playing through that shit? It was more of a masochistic experience for me.

[fatgamecat]

Whether anyone enjoyed it isn't related to whether it's balanced. But yes I did enjoy it.

[Inference]

We're probably interpreting balance two completely different ways anyway. I wasn't thinking as much about the unit placement as I was some of the illogical design choices. I will say, though, that I was not complaining about the unit count at all later in the game where most units were joining with Silver weapons.

[Vennobennu]

I like the difficulty curve in FE12; the later chapters were as difficult or more so than the first few for me (on Hard / Maniac), which is pretty rare for Fire Emblem. Killing the final boss without losing anyone is actually a frantic affair unless you come in with a pile of Again/Warp/Rescue charges.

Not a big fan of how almost everyone past Merric (and a many before him) start out so weak on even Hard difficulty; some form of difficulty bonuses might've made late-joining characters actually worth the trouble of recruiting them. It's kind of funny how much Astram and the Wolfguard are outclassed by the generics around them on higher difficulties.

[fatgamecat]

We're probably interpreting balance two completely different ways anyway. I wasn't thinking as much about the unit placement as I was some of the illogical design choices. I will say, though, that I was not complaining about the unit count at all later in the game where most units were joining with Silver weapons.

To me the question of balance is whether the player has access to features that can significantly reduce the game's difficulty. In that regard FE12 is a very balance game. It also helps that even on Lunatic Reverse there is little reliance on RNG to earn an AAA score assuming good strategy.

What design choices were you thinking of?

[Constable Reggie]

Characterwise, the balance is a mess. Basically everyone after the Sable knights is reasonably unusable on hard mode or higher.

Difficulty wise, it's really balanced. The way the levels are designed, it greatly emphasizes tactical strategy, at least moreso than other Fe games. Positioning is extremely important in this game. I've only finished up to Maniac mode, so I can't speak for Lunatic and higher, though I reckon it's probably the same.

Edited March 12, 2013 by Constable Reggie

[Rapier]

i found maniac mode to be as hostile to bad characters as lunatic mode was. it's more manageable if you decide to take your time and grind on enemies a little bit, but don't expect even the decent characters like frey, leiden, and minerva to compete with the good characters.

... Why Minerva? She's got her regalia and great stats altogether. I find Frey to be average and Leiden needs a lot of babying to become a good unit, but I haven't played with them on H2.

I think most units are useable in Maniac. I'm currently doing a playthrough with the Xth Platoon (the one MU belongs to) only and the units turned out to be very broken and more than capable to stand against the difficulty (I'm using Marth, Tiki, Female Mage MU, Cleric Cecil, Sniper Ryan, Hero Luke and WyvernKnight Rody).

[MacLovin]

The difficulty levels are good, and I don't particularly care about units after Beck/Sable Knights.

Besides, rainbow pot and sirius kind of ease the way while letting other units grow. [Peanuthead]

[Fruity Insanity]

Lunatic is not very balanced, IMO...

Mostly because you can only use a certain set of units to make the game viable to play. I mean, you bench, like, so many of the units...

Even Tiki, as powerful as she is when trained, wasn't a good choice because it's just so annoying to train her... (I still always use her, though... :P)

I played the game, like, five or six times... and each time my team came down to:

Marth, MU, Caeda/Shiida, Minerva, Sirius, Julian, Merric, Malliesia, Feena, Tiki, and Catria...

There were other units I would've used, but... It didn't feel right taking out any of the above to make space...

But IDK. Maybe it's just me.

I still love the game, though.

[PKL]

^ Not using Palla or any of the 7th platoon? o_o

[Fruity Insanity]

^ Not using Palla or any of the 7th platoon? o_o

W-well... I couldn't make any space... :P (Tiki > Palla in the long run???)

I dunno, I found one-shotting the dragons in the last few chapters useful. Also, with Tiki, I was able to beat... what's that chapter again? -- Well, the chapter in which you you get Nagi. (And Michalis) -- with less Again Staff charges.

Although, in Lunatic and Lunatic Reverse, you can't get those extra dragonstones... which sucks. Not that I used them. -_-'

The only time I got them was in my first playthrough. Which was on Hard. (And I didn't use the stones because I wanted to saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeem~ :P)

Then I jumped to Lunatic and never went back.

[Shadow Mir]

Lunatic is not very balanced, IMO...

Mostly because you can only use a certain set of units to make the game viable to play. I mean, you bench, like, so many of the units...

Even Tiki, as powerful as she is when trained, wasn't a good choice because it's just so annoying to train her... (I still always use her, though... :P)

I played the game, like, five or six times... and each time my team came down to:

Marth, MU, Caeda/Shiida, Minerva, Sirius, Julian, Merric, Malliesia, Feena, Tiki, and Catria...

There were other units I would've used, but... It didn't feel right taking out any of the above to make space...

But IDK. Maybe it's just me.

I still love the game, though.

I haven't played the game, but this is similar to how I feel about Lunatic, both here and in Awakening.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Levant Fortner

[eclipse]

If you want to screw around and use anyone, that's what Normal/Hard are for.

[fatgamecat]

I will admit the lack of viable units in Lunatic is a balance issue in terms of the roster you have access to. However, I'd rather have a restricted viable cast list than access to units or features that easily trivialize the game's difficulty. FE12's balance against the player is preferable to FE13's balance in favor of the player.

[Shadow Mir]

If you want to screw around and use anyone, that's what Normal/Hard are for.

I suppose you're right. I never was a fan of Lunatic and other "harder than hard" difficulties as far as FE was concerned anyways.

I will admit the lack of viable units in Lunatic is a balance issue in terms of the roster you have access to. However, I'd rather have a restricted viable cast list than access to units or features that easily trivialize the game's difficulty. FE12's balance against the player is preferable to FE13's balance in favor of the player.

Maybe, though I don't like being restricted to having to use a specific set of units just to make Lunatic mode bearable. And I think having to face silver weapons right after the prologue (and for pretty much the entire game after the prologue, while I'm at it) is outright ridiculous.

Edited April 1, 2013 by Levant Fortner

[grandjackal]

Well, compared to other games...

A good portion of Archanea games tend to revolve less around balance and more just what you feel like doing. If you wanna play it real quicklike, the strong champions are pretty obvious, but if you just feel like playing the game like a normal human being, no one feels outright useless either.

Jugdral series tends to want you to transition units rather than just steadily use who you choose to use, and in that sense it does well, but if you're the kind that likes your choices to matter rather than the game just telling you to use all of them because you can, FE4 at least gets stale real quick. FE5's also incredibly cheesy with staff shenanigans. FE5 wants you to bust out all the cheese.

Elibe era is pretty cheesy, but similar to Archanea in that the game doesn't hold a gun to your head and tell you what you can and can't do. FE8 has a pretty balanced cast (ignoring Seth, seeing as he singlehandedly breaks the game...), FE6 being a bit more like FE1 or 3 in that there are some clear idiots in your army. FE6 also has a humongous acc issue making it a bit of a luckfest...Yeah, that's a problem.

Telius is probably the most heavily imba games in the series, notably in how BEXP in 9 is really stupidly handled, and FE10 is just a mess of a game. FE10'st he only game in the series I was willing to sell for something else. Have to say, Oblivion's not that bad of a game, despite what many say. Flawed, but it's sure as hell better than FE10.

Well I like FE11 because it presents a legitimate challenge (Ignoring warp...) while not exactly restricting you to one thing only (as reclass does serve to make things work better if necessary), so it's balance is...ok? If we're quickrunning then yeah the game is imba, but again most humans play it the way they want, and in that sense I think 11 did well enough. FE13 I feel hit that out of the park and is probably the best game in the series, though few have funny opinions about the game.

Then we come to 12...And the game hates fun. It tried it's best to be the ultimate challenge. It is, but it kills fun in the process. I don't like having a gun to my head and told to do the exact movement the game wants me to (like I can read a computer's brain), while at the same time trying to beat the house in a game of blackjack, and having my head blown off if I screw up at either one. A lot of new extra characters were thrown in and they are 100% meaningless because a specific few characters are just that absurdly powerful/the enemy is too strong for them to handle in higher difficulties. In lower difficulties the game is just a Marth MU duo, and in higher difficulties we come with the problem I mentioned above.

Oh well. At least 12 gives you the option to say "money will fix any problems I have" as opposed to 6 where you're forced to suffer acc gambling, or 10 which just straight makes your decisions for you. So as far as balance goes, I'd say 12 ranks as third worst, just beneath FE4 and just above FE6. That doesn't mean 6 or 4 isn't fun, just imba.

Edited April 1, 2013 by grandjackal

[fatgamecat]

Difficulty is not balance. Balance is generally the effectiveness of features the player has access to. If there are a few options the player has available to them that are extremely effective relative to the other ones, it's an imbalanced game.

FE12 Lunatic does have a lot of unviable recruits, but that's not a major balance issue. There's not much RNG involved in getting an AAA, esp. if you're using the Rainbow Potion. FE12 Lunatic is one of the most balanced FE modes because not only is there no feature to trivialize the game with (although Rainbow Pot does make it a good deal easier), but they went out of their way to prevent boss chipping and such.