Anyone else annoyed that you can't reliably arena grind until chapter 15?

[Katie]

Probably my biggest pet peeve. Sure, you get two arena chapters before then, but the first one, Chapter 3, lacks a vendor, so the only indefinite way to heal is to march your grindee over to one of the forts, which makes the process even more time consuming. This was a problem FE3 book 2 also had, but FE3 book 2 gave you an arena just two chapters later, in chapter 5, that was conveniently near both some vendors and the seize point, not to mention said chapter also had a secret shop that sold promotion items, meaning if you wanted to, you could go all out and grind your units to 20/20(I don't have the patience for it myself, but it's nice to have the option). Unfortunately, FE12 moved said arena to chapter 9, and while chapter 9 has a vendor thankfully, chapter 9 is all but a timed mission, because eventually Astram and some other heroes show up, and you don't want to fight those guys, especially Astram, as you want Astram is a recruitable who doesn't join yet and you'll at least want Mercurius if not the man himself, so your only real option is to distract the heroes with kiting/luring/meatshielding strategies while you grind, which again makes the process even more tedious and time consuming. Sure, there's always the drill grounds, but those cost money, and your only reliable source of income is, you guessed it, arena grinding. Certain chapters(*cough*chapter 11*cough*), would be much more bearable if I had the option to arena grind before them, but nope, FE12 has to starve you of the opportunity until your 5/8(I did the math) of the way into the main story. I will admit Chapter 15's arena is very convenient though, since it happens to be the chapter where you recruit Est, who will almost definitely by underleved, even if she solo'd the one prologue chapter she's available for, and getting underleveled units up to par are what I mainly use arenas for, besides amassing a large horde of gold so I'll never have money issues of course, but FE3 also had an arena in that chapter(in fact, book 1's Est recruitment chapter ALSO conveniently had an arena), so FE12 gets no points there. They admittedly did conveniently add an arena to chapter 21 as well, which is nice for getting your endgame team those last few levels, but it doesn't make up for moving chapter 5's arena to an inconvenient chapter.

On a separate, but related note, I just realized for an Est, Est has pretty good availability in FE12. She gets a prologue chapter, 9 to 10 main story chapters(depending on if you count her recruitment chapter), and two Gaiden chapters. It's not terribly good availability, but for an Est it's terrific. I think only Sophia has better availability, and her status as an Est is often contested given that she doesn't end up that great even if raised, but I'd argue she is, because her growths are better than most FE6 units', it's just that they just aren't weighted in a way that is useful to the player. Seriously, even something as basic as swapping her Speed and Resistance growths would be a huge improvement.

But I digress. Anyway, this is seriously my biggest issue with FE12, besides fucking chapter 11. Fuck that chapter. And as I said, Chapter 11 wouldn't be as bad if it weren't for the lack of real grinding opportunities until chapter 15, so the issues are closely interwoven for me.

[Moblin Major General]

Staves are the only things you ever really need to buy, though. There are so many characters available in this game that if you recruited all of them, and you were watchful of all the chests (and maybe even some desert grinding, because of the previously mentioned CH.11), then you don't really need to but weapons except for Rapiers and Wing Spears, especially when you get good weapon's from How's Everyone. The one thing about CH.11 in FE12 that is better than in FE3/2 is that the broken ass Warrior was replaced with Jake. Now, if I could only get Caeda up to where he is...

[Katie]

Now, if I could only get Caeda up to where he is...

That's actually one of the biggest issues I have with chapter 11. I play on freaking Casual Mode, but that doesn't make a difference when Caeda dies before I can even get to Jake, prompting a restart. Fuck those goddamn Wyverns. Whose idea was it to make what are essentially 12 move Manaketes anyway? One of the worst cases of Fake Difficulty in the series IMO.

[Topazd]

One of the worst cases of Fake Difficulty in the series IMO.

How come? They have cardboard for def/res and are susceptible to effective damage from very easily accessible weapons.

On a more related note, I honestly prefer the drill grounds over the standard rendition of the arena; it's a nice conjunction of fund & exp management. Although, since arena grinding gets unrealiable on the harder settings to begin with (save Tiki/Nagi), I suppose it wouldn't have hurt to keep the arena in its initial place for the people that do really need it.

[Katie]

How come? They have cardboard for def/res and are susceptible to effective damage from very easily accessible weapons.

They have 12 move, more than any unit you have has, so protecting your squishies is nigh impossible without major turtling. And I'd hardly consider 9 base Def "cardboard".

[Knight Falchion]

No. I much prefer the drill grounds if I want the extra levels since it requires me to at least manage my funds. As for chapter 11, I don't find it too bad because I'm usually able to handle the wyverns with effective weapons, especially magic. Chapter 12 is much harder for me.

[eclipse]

They have 12 move, more than any unit you have has, so protecting your squishies is nigh impossible without major turtling. And I'd hardly consider 9 base Def "cardboard".

9 Def isn't cardboard during Paralogue 2. However, the damage only goes up as the chapters go on, so by the time you see those wyverns, they're pretty frail.

You get Parthia beforehand, so one-shotting them isn't a problem, unless all your bow users are B-rank and below (and if they are, a forged Steel Bow works wonders). There's also a secret shop that sells dragon-effective weapons right before things really go pear-shaped.

[Illiterate Scholar]

The game wasn't really designed for savestates and grind for EXP. Would be even more evil if they only put arenas in chapters with no shops whatsoever.

[Aircalipoor]

The game is really generous with exp and gold, so I don't see the benefits of the arenas. And you do have the drill grounds, if you want a level or two. But I don't like arenas in the FE series in general.

[Katie]

I did realize one thing you can do. Before chapter 3, you can buy a bunch of heal staves from battle preparations, and then arena grind in chapter 3. You can't grind indefinitely, but as long as you've bought enough Heals, you shouldn't run out.

[Gradivus.]

Where does this map have an arena?

[dondon151]

That's actually one of the biggest issues I have with chapter 11. I play on freaking Casual Mode, but that doesn't make a difference when Caeda dies before I can even get to Jake, prompting a restart. Fuck those goddamn Wyverns. Whose idea was it to make what are essentially 12 move Manaketes anyway? One of the worst cases of Fake Difficulty in the series IMO.

git gud lmao

[X-Naut]

Not really when the matches are rigged against you so hard.

[Katie]

Where does this map have an arena?

Oh shit. They removed that one too.

[Moblin Major General]

Oh shit. They removed that one too.

Well, they do give you 8 prologue chapters to train almost everyone you have up until that point. I could understand why FE3 gives you an arena there, as many of the levels gained by this point in FE12 aren't there in FE3/2.