Unpopular Play Choices/Styles in Fire Emblem

[Randoman]

I think a topic like this is different enough from the opinions thread to warrant a separate thread. Plus, it comes with a lot less hate and negativity.

Anyways, what play choices/styles do you commonly do that most FE players don't? Things like always raising a certain hard to use character, never using certain characters despite being considered the best, constant arena abuse/grinding in certain FEs, always letting certain characters take down certain bosses for story reasons (Eg: Linde must always take down Gharnef) are fair game.

I tend to rig level ups whenever I can in FE games. Savestates, Mila's Turnwheel, FE11 map saves, you name it.

I have a strange habit of hoarding statboosters in FE and never using them. Well, in games with arenas, I use statboosters until I run out while making my teams. But otherwise, I just hold onto them and collect them. Even in FE15, I've saved stat-boosting fountains and didn't use them for my "good" file.

For most of the FE games I've played, I've done a playthrough of them using every non-prepromoted character in my final team. Yes, even characters like Roshea, Radd, and Macellan from FE11 (who I found strangely fun to use and feed kills to).

Ever since my bad experiences of overusing prepromotes in my first FE3 Book 1 and FE7 playthroughs, I have rarely ever used prepromotes for an FE game's main story ever since. I don't even let myself use Seth or Frederick in the main story.

Unless I'm going for ranks or there's some award/side chapter for it, I don't particularly care for turn counts whatsoever.

In FE3 Book 1 and 2, I've lately developed this weird habit of not levelling Marth at all until I get the Star Orb. Then I give him kills and EXP like crazy so his stats are much more higher and optimal than normal.

In many of my FE11 playthroughs, I level up Elice to level 20 and promote her in her joining chapter. I even go up to turn 47 to get experience from all the reinforcements.

In all except 1 of my FE2/FE15 playthroughs, I've never used Catria or Palla in my final team on Celica's route. I think part of that has to do with me wanting to use nothing but Valentian characters since it feels a bit redundant using FE characters that already are playable in 2 mainstream games (not counting remakes). On a somewhat similar note, I've never used Zeke in my final teams either.

I refused to use Clarine, Cath, or Raigh completely in my first 8 playthroughs of FE6 (Cath, I didn't even recruit for 7 of them). Not for stat reasons, but for how annoying I find their personalities. I have been forcing myself to use Clarine in my latest FE6 playthrough though, because I'm trying to make a "headcanon team" FE6 playthrough and based on Clarine being promoted in both Cipher and Heroes, she seems canon.

I don't know how common this one is, but I've actually raised Wallace to 20/20 in one of my playthroughs. He turned out almost as good as my Oswin, but then again, I did rig Wallace's levels.

Since I don't like how you're forced to have Lyn do the Battle History report and you can't pick a character, I've cheated Afa Drops in Lyn Mode and used them on different characters, just to make it so that it would be a different character (Eg: Wil, Florina) doing the Battle History report instead of Lyn.

[Armagon]

I don't play for low turn counts, unless a chapter requires it for a reward/Gaiden chapter.

I make an effort to trains most Ests. In fact, I pretty much use Sophia over the other two Shamans in Binding Blade. The only two Ests i don't train are Corpul (because he starts as a Lv.1 staff-locked unit in a game where Lv.20 is the minimum promotion level requirment) and Gwendolyn, because Knights just suck tbh.

Regardless of the game, i always promote ASAP. Yes, waiting until max level gives better stats but that just takes too long, especially for the healers.

Because of how bad Genealogy of the Holy War's gameplay is, the game is one of the few rare times i use cheats. The main cheats i use are infinite turn cheats (for getting to the villages before the bandits, who start very close, destroy them) instant level ups (i hate waiting until Lv.20, and that cheat actually makes healers useful), infinite weapon durability (the weapon shops in FE4 don't have a whole lot, so i would rather just use the weapons i already have), and all stats level up, because i'm just here for the story. FE4's gameplay sucks and i would rather make it easier on myself.

The only other time i use cheats in FE is in Binding Blade, specifically, Ch.21, because i despise that chapter, mainly due to bullshit reinforcements.

I don't do this often, but in Sacred Stones, Ch.15, i promote Knoll into a Summoner, and then have his phantoms just wear out the durability on the two bosses there. It takes me like 60 turns but it's beautiful.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Armagon

[SoulWeaver]

I avoid every Royal in most of my Fates playthroughs with the exceptions of Camilla and Sakura, who invariably get some sort of extra boost, be it the Boots, Paragon, my Dragon Herbs, occasionally Dark Falcon/Dread Fighter/Great Lord so they have access to the Skills and/or weapons of said classes(Dark Falcon Camilla is pretty good considering she doesn't have access to Axes and Sakura actually makes a decent Dread Fighter, though not an optimal one). Every now and then I use one or two of the others, and I always train them all up with the rest of the group, they just somehow never make it onto the battlefield. I also generally try to recruit two of the Paralogue Bosses - always Nichol, the other depends on the Route - and use them, generally with one of the abovementioned boosts. 

I used Jagen as the sacrifice in Shadow Dragon and also let Frey, Cain and Abel all die in the same Chapter so I could have an archer-exclusive team because archers.

I max out the stats, Level, and Skills of my Avatar's spouse in Awakening and then make him/her a Dread Fighter/Bride if said spouse is a character I happen to like(spent like 24 hours completionisting Cordelia, for example, and am currently working on Stahl). If I'm using a Male Avatar, I then usually do the same to my non-Morgan child character, but make them a Grandmaster as their final Class as opposed to Dread Fighter/Bride.

[Flee Fleet!]

I don't care for turn counts. Which makes it easier for me to use footies in FE4.

I like to train Ests, and will train them, because it's usually worth it. The only ones that sucked even with training was Sophia. 

I like using armor knights. Some of them I'll always use, such as Oswin, Arden, Wendy, and Gilliam. It also makes it easier to approach enemies with them, as they have high defense (except Wendy at base...).

I always try to train my units till they reach level 20 whenever an arena passes by. This in turn allows me to get healers to level 20 to heal them. In the case of FE4, I get two or three units to boss abuse some random boss.

In the GBA games, I'll just sell Steel weapons, since units, for me, tend to perform better with iron and silver weapons. 

 

That's all I have for now.

 

[Ronnie]

I level grind when my units can't make a dent on enemies. Fire Emblem is the only RPG where I suck at keeping everyone balanced because hit rates and RNG hate me.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Ronnie

[SpearOfLies]

Too awesome to use syndrome is quite common. I cannot take it as uncommon.

 

After my shadow dragon female only,  I start to use more female characters than male. Because they are good? Nope, because they are squishy.

 

I start to play more pecurial challenge on hard more than play lunatic. It's more fun limited yourself from doing something so you are forced to be more creative than playing "the most optimal" way.

 

I love train weak unit but hate grinding. Translate: I don't like use arena abuse and free maps. This doesn't stop me from doing it but I'm really don't want waste too much time. I love to train underleveled unit. More underleveled more joy! But if they don't start to turn good, I bench them.

 

I hate use horse units. I love use mage units. Fates' mages suck </3

 

I hate to use pre-promoted units. Unless they are mages.

[Anacybele]

I think my play style might not be that popular. I tend to use defense-oriented characters who can take a lot of hits and then smash the opposition. Other people seem to more often favor speedy glass cannons. I personally don't like them because they die on me a lot.

Defense and strength are my preferred stats in FE, so I tend to like characters who have that. Frederick being the most notable, I'd say. Ike has a good amount of both too, but Frederick is even more defensive and still has a lot of strength as well.

And come on, my go-to axe in Heroes is a +Def Frederick that runs Armored Blow. :P

[Hero_Lucina]

I use prepromotes. They're really cool imo.

[MediocreLee]

I, too, hoard stat boosters until the very end of the game.

I like playing the waiting and defending game, where I'll slowly inch my units towards the objective in hopes the enemies attack first, then I counterstrike the following turn.  Basically, I'm not a huge fan of being mostly offensive in battle.

If I'm playing on emulator and I don't get a satisfying enough level up in terms of stats, I will load a previous save state to hopefully get a better one.

Sometimes, just sometimes, if a map gave me a really hard time and I've spent a long time on it and a unit dies, I just let them die and don't reload.  Going through frustrations is never fun.

Arena abusing...I don't know if this is popular or unpopular anymore, but I <3 arena abusing.

Ests are cool, I don't like the character Est, but her archetype is gnarly for me sometimes.

[Ronnie]

4 hours ago, Anacybele said:

I think my play style might not be that popular. I tend to use defense-oriented characters who can take a lot of hits and then smash the opposition. Other people seem to more often favor speedy glass cannons. I personally don't like them because they die on me a lot.

 

2 minutes ago, MediocreLee said:

I like playing the waiting and defending game, where I'll slowly inch my units towards the objective in hopes the enemies attack first, then I counterstrike the following turn.  Basically, I'm not a huge fan of being mostly offensive in battle.

I'm on the same boat with you guys. In a game with permanent death I will gladly take units who can take a hit.

[saisymbolic]

I also hoard stat boosters. It wasn't until Fates that I actually began using them, and even then it's only when I have almost maxed out a stat on a character and am too lazy/frustrated to rely on RNG to give them that stat during level up.

I use Aran over Nepehnee every time in RD.

20 minutes ago, MediocreLee said:

Arena abusing...I don't know if this is popular or unpopular anymore, but I <3 arena abusing.

Arena abusing was one of my favored past time is FE7. I spent hours leveling up characters and even more hours raging hard when my units subsequently lost and died.

[Magical Glace]

I always bench Shinon in Radiant Dawn as soon as I possibly can and use Rolf instead.  Also, I train both Soren and Ilyana when playing Radiant Dawn, in addition to Micaiah.  I also make sure to use Rolf whenever I play FE9, rare as that is.

My team when playing Conquest wound up having a lot of mages, between Odin, Elise, Nyx, Leo, Forrest, and Ophelia.  

Actually my teams in just about everything consist primarily of mages and archers lol, with some obligatory frontliners to keep all of them safe.  Said frontliners are usually a pegasus knight, a myrmidon, and the lords.

I pretty much always use Wolt in FE6.  

[Rezzy]

I usually like using Ests in games I play.

I don't really care about turn count.  In the GBA games, I'll spend 40 turns standing there, just to get Supports.

 

[Anime27Arts]

If I find a character I really like, I will level them up and sometimes replace more story important units to add them. 

Except for in FE2/15, I refuse to use any villagers. Mozu did nothing at all in her level and Donnel only killed a healer so I could recruit him as a unit to keep on the bench.

When playing on classic mode,  no matter how hard or tedious a level is, I refuse to let a unit die,  even my most hated unit.  I will immediately restart the level and keep trying until everyone makes it out alive. 

When pairing units together I pair them based on their personality, or what makes a better story for the family.  Even on my second or third play through pairings are based off things like cannon hair colors or other ships I would like to test out, regardless of whether it made the child usable or not.

I absolutely hate using the Arena to level up units because RNG hates me.  I've had to restart the game too many times because of it.

I really do not like to use axe units unless they wield another weapon.  Axes have extremely low accuracy, and I cannot rely on them. Most often I will use a mage or an archer to take out lances to avoid the use of axes.

I will not play a Cain or Abel on the battlefield if I do not have enough room for both of them once I have both of them.

Much like if I lose a unit, if I lose a nearby village I will restart the game.

Shadow Dragon spoilers

Spoiler

When asked to sacrifice a unit I legitimately thought the game was joking and I tried taking on all the units without sacrificing anyone.  Once I realized that wouldn't work I sent Frey there because he's the only one I didn't know and I figured he'd come back later in the story extremely strong and tough and not dead....after finishing the level I felt awful when I realized he was dead... I refused to touch the game for the rest of that month.

 

[Rezzy]

10 minutes ago, Anime27Arts said:

If I find a character I really like, I will level them up and sometimes replace more story important units to add them. 

Except for in FE2/15, I refuse to use any villagers. Mozu did nothing at all in her level and Donnel only killed a healer so I could recruit him as a unit to keep on the bench.

When playing on classic mode,  no matter how hard or tedious a level is, I refuse to let a unit die,  even my most hated unit.  I will immediately restart the level and keep trying until everyone makes it out alive. 

When pairing units together I pair them based on their personality, or what makes a better story for the family.  Even on my second or third play through pairings are based off things like cannon hair colors or other ships I would like to test out, regardless of whether it made the child usable or not.

I absolutely hate using the Arena to level up units because RNG hates me.  I've had to restart the game too many times because of it.

I really do not like to use axe units unless they wield another weapon.  Axes have extremely low accuracy, and I cannot rely on them. Most often I will use a mage or an archer to take out lances to avoid the use of axes.

I will not play a Cain or Abel on the battlefield if I do not have enough room for both of them once I have both of them.

Much like if I lose a unit, if I lose a nearby village I will restart the game.

Shadow Dragon spoilers

  Hide contents

When asked to sacrifice a unit I legitimately thought the game was joking and I tried taking on all the units without sacrificing anyone.  Once I realized that wouldn't work I sent Frey there because he's the only one I didn't know and I figured he'd come back later in the story extremely strong and tough and not dead....after finishing the level I felt awful when I realized he was dead... I refused to touch the game for the rest of that month.

 

FE12 Spoilers

Spoiler

It turns out Frey was only "mostly" dead, and he makes a full recovery and is recruitable in FE12.

 

[The Baroness of Blainswal]

I sometimes use characters or classes that are widely considered terrible just for the sake of it.

[KoimanZX]

I rarely reclass characters, instead opting to keep them in their default classes as I dislike the disconnect between the portraits and the models (except Tsubaki, whom I like to reclass to something like Dread Fighter to help his strength and HP as well as remove his bow weakness; although I usually bench him after I marry him off as I dislike his character). I do, however, reclass avatars just because it is part of their gimmick.

I almost never use prepromotes (I have never used Seth, for example) as the non-promoted characters have more room to grow. I also wait until level 20 to promote for best results.

I like my tanks and prefer not to rely on dodge-tanking.

I hardly ever choose the optimal, +Speed/-Luck build for avatars as I would rather not have gimped attack power.

I like capping stats.

[DragonFlames]

I see I'm not alone with most of the things I do. That makes me unexplicably happy *sniff*
Onto my list:

1. I never use prepromotes, unless they come at a time when everyone else is already promoted, I really like the prepromote (more on that later) or it's Radiant Dawn or Echoes.

2. I rarely use Cavaliers, since their hight movement doesn't usually make up for mediocre stats. And the characters of this class usually aren't that interesting either.

3. I only use characters I like. You could be the best unit in the game, if I don't like you, you're benched.

3.1 Related to the above, I always make an effort to use my favourites, no matter their class, growth rates, stats or join time.

3.2 Related to the above, I always show extreme amounts of favouritism towards my favourites. They get the kills and the stat boosters.

4. I don't usually find Dancers that useful and making room on my teams just to include them is painful, since I'll have to leave out one of my frontliners. The exception is Ninian, because I always want her to A-support with Eliwood.

5. I don't give flying Pegasus Dung about Turn Counts, unless it's for a Gaiden chapter or hilarity.

6. If I reclass, it's only for stats and skills, nothing more, since I also don't really enjoy the clash between portrait and model. The exception are Villagers and any unpromoted fellow. In the latter case, I always look for the promotion that fits their portrait best.
The exceptions are Robin and Female Corrin, where I decide on a class for them when picking assets and flaws.

6.1 Related to the above, when there are children, I always try to make them viable in their canon classes.
The exception is Morgan, whom I also decide a class for when deciding on pairings.

7. Playing defensively is my way to go: lure out one enemy at a time, then bumrush them with my guys, rinse and repeat until every enemy is dead. I hate rushing into the enemy frontlines and I hate chapters that make me do that.

8. If there are save states, mid chapter saves, Turnwheels or you can save while playing in general, and I absolutely despise a boss, I always reset until I get the most brutal kill as possible on them.

9. Depending on my mood, if there is a chance I can kill a named enemy / boss in a hilarious or ironic way, I'll try to do so. Examples include defeating Flora with a Fire or Ragnarok spell in Fates or killing Sigurd with Valflame in Awakening's DLC. Even just killing the final boss of any given game with the resident loli character, a joke weapon, or even better: both.

[ChibiToastExplosion]

I use horse units (especially blonde ones) not because they are good/bad, but because the horsies are cuties.

[Bread]

• I turn off battle animations frequently. Battle animations become boring very quickly. Even in GBA style or the upgraded battle animations in SOV. 
• I avoid using cavaliers.
• I don't typically use Jagen archetypes. 
• When I play on emulators, I always have it on 2x speed for GBA games. It feels too slow without it. 
• I'm paranoid about conserving weapons. Whenever I get a Sleep Staff, Hammerne, rare weapons, etc I never use them. I always feel like I might need them later, but I end up not using them at all except some rare weapons near Endgame. I know it's better to heal every turn for healers, but I actually don't because I don't want to waste supplies, which usually ends with my healers underleveled. 
• I give nearly all my units some sort of vulnenary just in case. 

[Shadow Mir]

On 7/15/2017 at 0:03 AM, KoimanZX said:

I hardly ever choose the optimal, +Speed/-Luck build for avatars as I would rather not have gimped attack power.

Honestly, I'd say that build isn't optimal, at least in Birthright - with a huge majority of the units on that route lacking in defensive ability, I'd say +Defense would be better.

Anyways...

That reminds me, I much prefer using -Skill instead and avoiding -Luck like the plague because Skill hasn't done a good job of remaining relevant as a stat, for one, and second, making up for lower hit rates is generally easier than making up for lower crit evade - and I'd rather not have to worry about everyone and their grandma having crit on my main character

Much like Ana and Lee, I often go Fishing for Mooks (ergo, lure them in with a unit that can survive, mostly of the high defense variety, then pound them into submission the next turn).

I tend to avoid most infantry axe users like the plague because they tend to be awful.

Related to my first point, I tend to avoid units with very low Luck (Moulder, Arthur, etc.) unless they have some quality that makes up for it (which most of the low luck units I can think of don't).

I tend to fall victim to Too Awesome to Use syndrome (though I sometimes use stat boosters in spite of that).

[KoimanZX]

On 7/16/2017 at 10:46 AM, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Honestly, I'd say that build isn't optimal, at least in Birthright - with a huge majority of the units on that route lacking in defensive ability, I'd say +Defense would be better.

Anyways...

That reminds me, I much prefer using -Skill instead and avoiding -Luck like the plague because Skill hasn't done a good job of remaining relevant as a stat, for one, and second, making up for lower hit rates is generally easier than making up for lower crit evade - and I'd rather not have to worry about everyone and their grandma having crit on my main character.

I just remember +Speed/-Luck being considered the best build due to Speed being the best stat and Luck being considered a dump stat (of course, we know the you certainly do not agree with that sentiment; I am just saying that is what I have seen). Granted, That might have been from the GameFAQS board for Awakening, so I guess I would take that with a pinch of salt. I remember going with -Resistance builds with boons such as +Strength, +HP (which is good for Fates), +Defense, and +Luck. 

[X-Naut]

I have a habit of getting carried away with shopping for basic weapons... not to the extent that my convoy is loaded with them but I like to have, say, two copies of everything in reserve, and more for Javelins and Hand Axes.

[henrymidfields]

Arena abuse is a legitimate way to raise characters, and I've used it in both Binding Blade and Shadow Dragon DS. The developers consciously included it, you actually incur risks (of having to start over if your character dies while training, or running out of money) while you are using it, and not every unit can viably train and level up in it, thus it is not a true cheating device.

If there is an Est that has good growths (or otherwise becomes a good asset in endgame) and reasonably easy to raise, then I will use that character. I didn't use Sophia as she is a pain in the neck to raise, but I did use Est herself in Shadow Dragon by sending her to the arena. I am also using a Sniper-reclassed Mozu and enjoying her deadly attacks consisting of: a) an absolute minimum of 20 (and often 40+) damage per strike; b) 99% of them being doubles; c) a near-guarranteed 80% (and often 100%) accuracy; and d) 20-40% critical activation rate.

I also use and abuse random My Castle Weapon drops, and Skills acquired from the internet. Again, the developers added that into the game, thus it is legitimate. No ifs, ands, or buts.

[BakanGin]

I use all units with good bases.

Will not complete all support options.

Try to train everyone and make all characters have lower levels.

And go on Lunatic difficulty for my first time playing a game.