Topic: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

[BlackNMild2k1]

Why did no one tell me this game was so addictive?
I've lost two weekends in a row to this game and countless hours of sleep because of apparent time travel.

This game has been sitting in my back log fever since last Christmas, and I just happened to put it in 2 weeks just to see how the game played and haven't quit playing since. (I'm actually typing this out during the enemies turn).

Has anyone else played through this game? I'm at Chapter 8 in the mines. And I have a few questions about the level right before the one I'm on.

[DAaaMan64]

GAWD I LOVE THIS GAME.

It's a great game. I know exactly what you mean by addiction. I started it on a rental and then pushed real bad to get it for my birthday... totally worth it. heh

[BlackNMild2k1]

Its been a long time since I have picked up a game and played for what felt like maybe 2-3 hours and my whole entire day(which turned into the whole weekend eventually) was gone.

Last time that happened was when Zelda 64 came out. The only difference with this game is that I will remember to take breaks to eat and sleep. But I'll be damned if a battle that felt like 30 minutes didn't sometimes last for 1.5-2hrs. I still can't explain it. even when watching the minutes change on the clock. crazy.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I have a question. Is he main group of mercenaries supposed to be so broke? I running low on weapons, and if I hadn't recruited some players from the other group down at the river, I would have run out of weapons already.

Am I doing something wrong?

[DAaaMan64]

I have a question. Is he main group of mercenaries supposed to be so broke? I running low on weapons, and if I hadn't recruited some players from the other group down at the river, I would have run out of weapons already.

Am I doing something wrong?

Make sure your going through those optional dialog things between battle. You'll get some nice weapons and money from that.  I don't recall being especially broke, but it's been several months.

Its been a long time since I have picked up a game and played for what felt like maybe 2-3 hours and my whole entire day(which turned into the whole weekend eventually) was gone.

Last time that happened was when Zelda 64 came out. The only difference with this game is that I will remember to take breaks to eat and sleep. But I'll be damned if a battle that felt like 30 minutes didn't sometimes last for 1.5-2hrs. I still can't explain it. even when watching the minutes change on the clock. crazy.

SUPER HUGE TIP FOR THIS GAME:

When you get to Haar, you have a chance to get him on your team, GET HIM. HE'S LIKE THE BEST IN THE GAME. It's a must.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Oh, I got him and he is one of my 3 bad asses*. I know I can send him any where (as long as they don't have a wyrmslayer) and not worry about him too much (except for fire & lightning magic casters -they always die first).

Another thing is when you are buying things in the shop (I finally have money now that we made a HUGE alliance [27k exp & 20k gold]) how do you know you have anyone that can even use the item you are about to buy?

I just bought a book of Thoren (really powerful lightning magic) and no one can use it. I have 4 magic casters & 3 of them use lightning, but none can use that book. it cost me 2700 and now I want to return it.

Bad Asses
1) Ike
2) Haar
3) Tatania

I could take a squad of 30 people using those three. the only assistance needed is by a healer and  that Laguz that lets you move twice. Unstoppable force

My second string squad (aka sidekicks)
1) Oscar
2) Gatrie
3) Nephenee
4) Brom
5) danved
6) Kieran

Absolutely useless in almost all situation
1) Ilyana
2) Jill
3) Heather

Everyone else is supporting cast at this point or isn't part of my team right now

But absolutley useless in every way and is only there to serve up as a distraction to the enemy:
1) Meg (seriously, whats the point of even having her on the battle field?)

[DAaaMan64]

You DON'T know if someone can equip an Item I don't think. I think you have to go through each person individually to see if they can equip it, I think it also depends on the color/element of the book too. Check that.   I was never a magic player, I almost never used them. So I am not a good helper with magic.

Isn't this game awesome? Titania is real good, I agree. You should work on your Gatrie and Brom, those two, together, can absolutely destroy if you level 'em up almost all the way with the right weapons. I basically used them as a wall to protect my team. They are awesome and endlessly useful.

And yes, there are several stupidly useless characters. 

[BlackNMild2k1]

Isn't this game awesome? Titania is real good, I agree. You should work on your Gatrie and Brom, those two, together, can absolutely destroy if you level 'em up almost all the way with the right weapons. I basically used them as a wall to protect my team. They are awesome and endlessly useful.

And yes, there are several stupidly useless characters. 

That is exactly what I use them for. They are almost impenetrable when standing next to each other. I use them in every corridor I can. For slow advancement(blocking access to supporting characters like the healers & Laguz pre-transform) and defensive levels (place them front and center on the steps - no one is coming up that way)

Is there anyone that is basically useless now, but becomes an indispenseable asset later on(especially when powered up)?

[DAaaMan64]

Not to my knowledge, but you should keep them around 'cause sometimes randomly they give you items in those conversations you can have between battles. Remember what I'm talking about?

[vudu]

I haven't played Radiant Dawn yet, but Titania wasn't good for anything but a meat shield in the GCN game.  Yeah, she was awesome at first, but she has mediocre level-ups compared to lots of other players, and since she was pre-promoted, she took away experience from other characters that really needed it early on.

Has she been changed so much in this second game, or are you guys setting yourselves up for a difficult second half of the game?

[DAaaMan64]

No. I've completely the game, Titania is quite competent. She's not always good to send out on her own, but in most fights, she'll be fine. I often had Oscar tag along with her, but for some reason, Oscar becomes pretty useless later in the game (No matter how much I leveled him, he just seemed a few steps behind). Give her some good axes and she's a good character.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I pair Tiania and Oscar up together too (cause they are both on horses). Titania takes out most enemies with one double attack while Oscar just can't seem to finish the job on one turn (no matter how I level him up).

As I said before, Ike, Haar & Titania are my 1st string hitters. I can put them out on the attack and not have to worry too much as long as my second stringers are there to lighten the load (take out some of the weaker enemies or finish off the ones that didn't quite get killed)

I haven't played the GCN one & I'mnot done with the Wii one yet, but I'm already looking forward to the next in the series. I must resist picking that game up this week. I don't want to miss New Years like I missed whatever happened 2 weekends ago and most of last weekend.

[WuTangTurtle]

I haven't played Radiant Dawn yet, but Titania wasn't good for anything but a meat shield in the GCN game.  Yeah, she was awesome at first, but she has mediocre level-ups compared to lots of other players, and since she was pre-promoted, she took away experience from other characters that really needed it early on.

Has she been changed so much in this second game, or are you guys setting yourselves up for a difficult second half of the game?

I know exactly what you mean, I used her early in the GCN game quite a bit and had the cpu difficulty catch up on my weaker characters.  I had to give all my bonus exp to my weaker characters and then in battle I had to put up a wall of defense for them so they wouldn't die in a single hit or two.  In general you should always lvl up some of the weaker characters, there are a lot of them that lvl up very well in terms of stats.

I still need to finish a lot of backlogged games before i even purchase Radiant Dawn.  Glad you like the game though BlackNMild2k1.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Funny thing is, that I haven't really touched much Wii in a year and it was this ame that got me hooked into it again. I've had this game collecting dust since about this time last year too. Wish I had picked it up sooner, all the money I would have saved from those nights out at the bar.

[Monteblanco]

I finished this game a few months ago. It is really a fantastic game despite being somewhat under-appreciated by the critics. Radiant Dawn was my first Fire Emblem and I am now very eager to play the upcoming DS release.

[WuTangTurtle]

isn't the DS game just a remake of the first Fire Emblem game on NES?  Unfortunately I'm not too interested in it, mainly because the artwork looks so bad.  The GBA ones look way better imo.

[bosshogx]

isn't the DS game just a remake of the first Fire Emblem game on NES?  Unfortunately I'm not too interested in it, mainly because the artwork looks so bad.  The GBA ones look way better imo.

Check out the thread in the DS section for my thoughts on what I've played thus far.  Sadly, the new DS game seems to be a few steps backwards in just about every way possible.  *sigh*

As for RD, you will soon come to understand that Nepheenee is a unstoppable force of destruction once she gets a few levels under her belt.  You could quite literally beat the end maps with her and Ike alone.  Actually, every character is good if you train them up, some just have better level caps or stat bonuses than others.  It really comes down to personal taste.  As with most new Fire Emblem players, you seem to be sticking with a lot of Cavalry and Knights.  Maybe on your next run through, you can try switching it up to Sword Fighters and Mages.

To see if any of your lightning casters can use Thoren, check their lightning level mastery (either E, D, C, B, A, S, or SS) and compare what is required to use Thoren (probably a C or higher).  The best lightning mage in your company ends up being Illyana, who is also quite the bad ass with some experience and an "A" support.  Using weapons with a higher weight value, like Steel types, increase the speed at which you level up weapon mastery.  Basically, once your characters strength (or magic for mages) equals the weight of a steel weapon, you should switch him/her over to them permanently.

That's it for now, hope you continue to enjoy the game.  I am a fountain of FE knowledge, so feel free to tap my brain if you have any questions about anything in the game.

[DAaaMan64]

bosshogx,thanks your posts are long and informative

[bosshogx]

bosshogx,thanks your posts are long and informative

Sometimes my regular email buddies say that I'm just a bit too long winded.  I just get to writing and I don't know when to stop.   

[vudu]

As for RD, you will soon come to understand that Nepheenee is a unstoppable force of destruction once she gets a few levels under her belt.

HOLY FUDGE!!  Nepheenee's back?  I really need to get around to picking up this game.

[bosshogx]

HOLY FUDGE!!  Nepheenee's back?  I really need to get around to picking up this game.

I think just about every character returned from PoR and got enhancements if you transfer your GC save information.  At first I was upset to see that she started as a Halberdier when you first get her, but that was before I realized that units promoted again to a 3rd and final form.

She was the leader of the female side of my final party, followed by Mia, Ilyana, Jill, Mist, and Astrid.  Sprinkle in Ike, Rolf, Boyd, Kieran, Soren, Oscar, and Reyson and you've got yourself a nearly untouchable squad.  Man, I gotta play this game again...

[decoyman]

It's funny how we all have favorite characters that we swear by, but they're often different from many other peoples' because of the way they leveled up.

For example, my Ilyana is worthless. Totally and utterly worthless. As is Astrid. And don't think I didn't try to level those two up, either. Because I tried (even if they weren't very good, at least they were kinda cute), and their level gains just weren't that great overall.

Nephenee was pure win, though, I'll agree with you there