Fire emblem 4 impressions/pairings

[Tuvy2]

Due to my brother forcing me to play FE4 I decided to post my thoughts and first impressions of the game. Fire emblem 4 has a lot of interesting ideas for a fire emblem game, they have large maps and a skill system. Both of these things have been overall enjoyable but they both have flaws. A skill for critting and doubling is absurd as well as only letting sword users have asta, sol and luna. The maps are at times, annoying, but most of the time they are bearable. The characters have hints of personality that are so far, okay, and overall the game has been fun so far.

I've decided to non optimal pairings in this game just for fun, which I am aware is a mistake, i'll post them below, as well as if i'm going with Luchar or Lucharba.

Spoiler

Edain----------Jamke 

Ayra-----------Lex 

Lachesis---------Finn 

Sylvia----------Azel 

Fury-----------Alec 

Tiltyu-------------Lewyn

Briggid-------------Beowulf 

Luchar

Feel free to tell me what to do with these parings as well as tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Also, what should I do for the child characters? 

[Coreyographed]

I know you said you were going non-optimal pairings, but a lot of people are fond of Lex x Ayra (I personally do Jamke x Ayra) since it turns out pretty well actually and gives the kids paragon. If you decide to do this, make sure to have Lex try to kill the boss with the silver blade so that he can pass it down to Ulster. Lewyn x Tailtiu is also considered really really strong as well to make gen 2 a breeze.

As far as gameplay goes, I understand your qualm about doubling and critting being tied to skills, but it actually makes sense to me given everything else about this game. It makes things a lot more predictable in an otherwise wide-scoped game. You don't have to waste time calculating attack speed on your own for every enemy, you can just check if they have pursuit. And no resets due to unlucky 2% crits anymore! I agree that Astra, Luna, and Sol being tied to infantry sword wielders is not the best design choice, but it helps them stand out in an otherwise cavalry-heavy game.

However, there is a way to get any unit to be able to crit. If a weapon gets 50 kills, it gains the Critical property. This is why it's advised to get 50 kills with Sigurd's Silver Sword before passing it down to Seliph.

What else do you want to know?

[Punished Dayni]

48 minutes ago, Tuvy2 said:

Edain----------Jamke 

Ayra-----------Lex 

Lachesis---------Finn 

Sylvia----------Azel 

Fury-----------Alec 

Tiltyu-------------Lewyn

Briggid-------------Beowulf 

Most are pretty optimal barring Alec/Fury, Sylvia/Azel (For if you decided that Corple should attack with magic :P)) or Brigged/Beowolf (It's still not a bad one either, Charge is good for Faval). Levin/Tiltyu (Because Chapter 6 Holsety and future mount Holsety is considered amazing), Aideen/Jamke (Well, somewhat for Lester at least), Lachesis/Finn and Ayra/Lex considered very good pairings, so these likely should be changed.

As for the complaints I agree somewhat. It makes this game stand out, but I'd rather see the skill system brought in line with the other games in a remake.

[Tuvy2]

 

21 hours ago, Coreyographed said:

I know you said you were going non-optimal pairings, but a lot of people are fond of Lex x Ayra (I personally do Jamke x Ayra) since it turns out pretty well actually and gives the kids paragon. 

 

21 hours ago, Dayni said:

Most are pretty optimal barring Alec/Fury, Sylvia/Azel (For if you decided that Corple should attack with magic :P)) or Brigged/Beowolf (It's still not a bad one either, Charge is good for Faval). Levin/Tiltyu (Because Chapter 6 Holsety and future mount Holsety is considered amazing), Aideen/Jamke (Well, somewhat for Lester at least), Lachesis/Finn and Ayra/Lex considered very good pairings, so these likely should be changed.

I worded that wrong. I'm not trying to have non optimal pairings I'm just doing what pairings I want. I'm just not going out of my way to do the MOST optimal parings.

[Coreyographed]

Ah, okay. Sorry, I understand now.

[Tuvy2]

I  do have a question though. How should I lure out Ayra? Last time I accidentally put Azel in the line of fire and ended up blocking him with Lex who in turn was killed by Ayra's astra. (Which is ironic)

[Zasplach]

1 hour ago, Tuvy2 said:

I  do have a question though. How should I lure out Ayra? Last time I accidentally put Azel in the line of fire and ended up blocking him with Lex who in turn was killed by Ayra's astra. (Which is ironic)

There are a couple of ways; you could always go the low-turncount way and burn RNs, but if you're not up for that (it's not really my cup of tea), you can use Alec to bait her because his nihil skill ensures astra won't proc.  The real secret is to get someone with range far enough away from Arya to hit the castle guard and then have Sigurd kill the castle guard and capture the castle real fast.  That will solve your Arya problem.

[Coreyographed]

Agreed. I always bait her out with Alec since he has nihil, keep her running around until Sigurd seizes the castle, and then she'll go check it out. That's when Sigurd can talk to her.

[Dandy Druid]

These are pretty good pairings.

Edain's son will have an awesome inheritance and growths.

Ayra x Lex may be considered optimal to son. Ayra's son will have problem with inheritance, but both children will be amazing.

Lachesis x Finn is a popular pairing. I'd pay attention to the "Talk" section in the character stat screens.

Sylvia x Azel is interesting- it's not widely used. Sylvia's son will benefit from this a lot. Her daughter may be good with a Flame Sword (if she can wield it)

Erinys x Alec- Alec passes down Nihil which is helpful for her daughter. I believe it negates archer critical damage, so that removes any "no fly zone". I'm not 100% positive on this though.

Tiltyu x Lewyn- my favorite pairing

Brigid x Beowulf- this one is really interesting. I wonder how the daughter will turn out.

[Punished Dayni]

8 hours ago, Dandy Druid said:

Erinys x Alec- Alec passes down Nihil which is helpful for her daughter. I believe it negates archer critical damage, so that removes any "no fly zone". I'm not 100% positive on this though.

That would be correct. Nihil prevents bows from doubling their attack and then applying the damage. So it also blocks critical.

It's the only real benefit of that pairing. The thing about it is that growths are what her kids are looking for, as they have do have the essential skills down. The father also affects Sety severely enough that if you want him using staves effectively there's only 2 or 3 dads who can do that. It's not like low magic dads can't be useful-  Noish giving charge and critical can be nuts for Sety despite the hit to magic. I just don't consider the low magic dads as good as the high magic ones usually. It also doesn't help that I would consider it pretty niche for Fee to have.

Ayra/Lex has two chances to get a sword at least. If you want someone to pass Lester a good bow, tough luck.

[Dandy Druid]

15 hours ago, Dayni said:

That would be correct. Nihil prevents bows from doubling their attack and then applying the damage. So it also blocks critical.

It's the only real benefit of that pairing. The thing about it is that growths are what her kids are looking for, as they have do have the essential skills down. The father also affects Sety severely enough that if you want him using staves effectively there's only 2 or 3 dads who can do that. It's not like low magic dads can't be useful-  Noish giving charge and critical can be nuts for Sety despite the hit to magic. I just don't consider the low magic dads as good as the high magic ones usually. It also doesn't help that I would consider it pretty niche for Fee to have.

Ayra/Lex has two chances to get a sword at least. If you want someone to pass Lester a good bow, tough luck.

Alec is just a terrible dad for most of the kids. I believe Erinys is his only "good" pairing, despite it only working for Fee. He's also good with Ayra, but then again, everyone's good with Ayra so meh. He's still one of the worse physical dads for her kids though.

[Punished Dayni]

Just now, Dandy Druid said:

Alec is just a terrible dad for most of the kids. I believe Erinys is his only "good" pairing, despite it only working for Fee. He's also good with Ayra, but then again, everyone's good with Ayra so meh. He's still one of the worse physical dads for her kids though.

I'd argue worst physical (And possibly plain worst) for Ayra, as pretty much everyone else can do something different for them. 

I do think he can work for some pairings: Lachesis does want his skills and Delmud can inherit any sword he has. For Sylvia he can distract her from other dads who'd want to be elsewhere, and he does give his skills at least. I don't even consider him that bad with Erinys (though I'd still consider no pairing over him: mainly because all the magic pairs are like that).

I think him mediocre, only really relevant on a few pairings (but he's not alone with that). It doesn't help Finn is him but better and admittedly lacking in some inheritance, but it's workable. 

[Dandy Druid]

50 minutes ago, Dayni said:

I'd argue worst physical (And possibly plain worst) for Ayra, as pretty much everyone else can do something different for them. 

I do think he can work for some pairings: Lachesis does want his skills and Delmud can inherit any sword he has. For Sylvia he can distract her from other dads who'd want to be elsewhere, and he does give his skills at least. I don't even consider him that bad with Erinys (though I'd still consider no pairing over him: mainly because all the magic pairs are like that).

I think him mediocre, only really relevant on a few pairings (but he's not alone with that). It doesn't help Finn is him but better and admittedly lacking in some inheritance, but it's workable. 

I just love how Alec's pairing with Sylvia is based solely on the fact that it's meant to keep her from falling in love with dads who are better utilized elsewere LEWYN, CHULAINN (actually Chulainn may be arguably better with Lene than Patty but that's another story. Nevermind, Patty edges her out but Combat Lene tho). Too bad Alec's inheritance and growths do nothing for Coirpre and Nihil isn't really useful for them since neither of them should be entering combat with Alec as a father.

[Tuvy2]

Thank you, I completed that chapter and now I want to know how I'm supposed to save Raquesis and her knights. I really want the knight ring.

[Punished Dayni]

3 hours ago, Tuvy2 said:

Thank you, I completed that chapter and now I want to know how I'm supposed to save Raquesis and her knights. I really want the knight ring.

Oh boy, this objective is a pain. Have all your cavalry charge for it, Sigurd and Quan should be there pretty quickly and the rest should be close behind. They should get there quickly enough to help the three knights out and Sigurd can at some point recruit Lachesis. From there, try to keep Lachesis back a bit for now, in case they charge too far ahead and kill themselves (Or Beowolf later on), but it's very doable to get to the second castle in 11 turns, which you'll need to save the villages in Chapter 2.

They'll also want to hold back during the final castle because the moving boss has a horseslayer. One way to do this is Return Lachesis to the base castle at some point, the knights will charge after her and they'll avoid enemies for a while then.

This chapter always takes so long for me, but these guys aren't why.

[sirmola]

It is worth noting that the village that gets destroyed first has a bargen ring. That being said, you don't really need it in the first gen, and the guy who can most easily get it in the second gen (from the enemy who drops it if you miss it in gen one) gets a lot of use out of it, and can't inherit it.

You can fix lex's son's weapon problems by having lex kill chagal in chapter 3, which allows him to get the silver blade drop, which he can then pass down to his kid.  Alternatly, you can have one of your three early other sword users inheret the weapon you want lex's son to use, and sell it in the starting castle's shop on the first or second turn of chapter 6, and have lex's son buy it.

[Flee Fleet!]

On 11/4/2017 at 2:35 AM, sirmola said:

Alternatly, you can have one of your three early other sword users inheret the weapon you want lex's son to use

yeah, just have Larcei give one or two of her swords to Ulster through the use of the Pawn Shop, and there! Inheritance problem solved.

 

 

 

[sirmola]

9 hours ago, Flee Fleet! said:

yeah, just have Larcei give one or two of her swords to Ulster through the use of the Pawn Shop, and there! Inheritance problem solved.

This is also true for Delmund, who can't inherit any swords from fin (except for enemy drops). As such, be sure to use one of the above methods for him as well. Fair warning: if fin is a father, the game takes away all of his items to paas to his kid and all of his lances count as uninhereted (given that non of his potential kids can use them at base). make sure to give the hero lance to eryns before the end of chapter 3. Fin will start with just an iron lance in gen 2, but he should be overleveled enough to not need it until he can get to a shop.

Edited November 5, 2017 by sirmola