#fireemblem #fireemblemengage #feengage In this video I go over why the early game in FE Engage is easy and demo a basic early game team comp that breezes through it.
Early game is easy but definitely matters. You have two (or three, if you count recover on Celica) exp steroids to snowball a few units along with certain important skills (canter, sword/lance power, etc) that post chapter 9 units just don't have access to. You can easily get 3 units to level 16 ish (or more if you're efficient with exp) since there's just so much exp available for more or less free early on.
And yet i keep struggling on the early game. Shows how bad i am.😅 But It's like you said i dont know how to properly invest on characters or who to invest besides alear. I'd say Chloe too, but I don't think im using her right because she hardly doing any damage.
Ehhhhhh, like everything, it depends on how good you are. When I first started maddening without DLC I struggled really badly on Chapter 5. I mean I couldn't do it at all. My whole team would just be dead and I'd fail to finish the map, literally. Later, with DLC (silver lance on Sigard Louis makes this map a joke) and just becoming a better player, it became rather easy to complete with 0 deaths. A "meme" as you say. A joke. IMO the game only becomes easier as you progress because you have more capabilities. Now if you don't have any good units that's on you but generally speaking if you've got a few combat carry units and a bonded shield user you're gonna be okay. Chapter 15 is easier than Chapter 5 because you have so many options by chapter 15 whereas Chapter 5 without DLC and Heroes weapons etc. you're really constrained. I guess Chapters 18 to 26 are the only kinda challenging chapters.
Early game in games should not be hard, BUT this is also after 1,000 hours of game later so the early game should be super easy for you otherwise the game is designed poorly. A bad game would have every run be just as hard as the last and no amount of game knowledge will ever make it easier. A game designed well will have the game easier the more you know about the game and get real experience with it. First playthrough of Engage? It is the hardest Fire Emblem ever made and this includes the early game, and that still stands. Once we know how the game plays, get game knowledge, get real experience with the game, now the game is a lot easier - especially the early game being a joke by this point. Engage is designed so well and it is the most balanced Fire Emblem has ever been. Every single unit in this game is good in some way and contributes in a meaningful way, except Vander which sucks past very early game. The Lunatic/Maddening is actually fun for the first time ever, usually it is just very cheap difficulty and not fun, thus never worth playing. This is what happens when developers take their time with a game, not add too much, and really polish the game up and put love and care into everything the game has to offer and not put in useless fluff and bloat. Fire Emblem: Engage 10/10 and game of the year and one of the best games released in the last 20 years. And yes, I beat The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
@@IcedCoffeeGaming 2nd run it is way easier, and the game would definitely been hard on your first run keep in mind that Engage is very balanced, well designed, and has rewinding and all of these factors combined give the elusion that the game is easier than it is because you are not getting frustrated at the game and having a lot more fun, but in reality it is the hardest fire emblem Fates Conquest does not have rewinding so you feel the difficulty a lot more as a result.
@@miahmagick Almost but not quite. More like a lite version of a no-growths run. Similar to a Pokemon challenge run where you try to catch every one and level them all up together by cycling out all but your lowest level 6.
You should kinda always use Roy. Hes 5 free levels for a moment when you engage. That can make another strong unit, or bump up a unit to hard carry status. Honestly, Roy is very underrated as an Emblem. Think about it this way, "Would I want (any) unit to have 5 free levels with no work if possible?" The answer would be unequivocally yes, wouldnt it? Lol 5 free levels is almost better than some of other Emblem effects. Only things like Twin Strike, Bonded Shield, and Assign Decoy are really better.
Beat the game on maddening mode for the first time yesterday, it was my second run in maddening ( I had to gave up on the first one cuz I messed up my units so bad) and the early game felt really easier than during my first try, having a better understanding of the game, not spreading too much ressources/exp on useless characters that I will bench anyway, picking up good skill for my carries. it felt like I was playing another game on my second run.
I just finished my 3rd run last night with full DLC. Hard carries: Rafal (engraved dragon stones on his base class, cracked, Eirika), Zelestia (Levin Sword on her base class, Sigurd), Boucheron (warrior with Edelgard, MVP all game). Lesser damage units that are still very effective: Alear (corrin), Gregory (Lyn), Madeline great knight with Ike. It was very, very easy. Kinda too easy tbh.
Wait, do I see a double chain guard on Anna? Thats a limited resource!!!!!! God dammit thats FAVORITISM!!!!1!!! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The only early game chapter that can still hold some risks is Chapter 8 - but if you have enough experience with the game even that one is not really that difficult. At the same time in low deploy and certain comps where you force yourself to not use certain units or emblems of course the first couple of chapter can turn into an rng luck fiesta depending on what you limit yourself from using.
I feel anyone who thinks early game is difficult are either, A) playing Maddening for their very first run and are thus learning as they go, B) are conflating the entire early game with chapters 10 and 11 because of the long, staged nature of Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 taking the Emblem rings, or C) do not understand how to allocate early resources efficiently. The key is honestly just to not invest Exp and resources in too many early game units. For your Lythos and Firene units, pick like 2-4 max that you want to carry with you into the mid game and then just use the units you get upon nearing Brodia to patch your holes. The ease of the early game is part of the reason I push back against anyone arguing that it is too hard to get units like Alfred, Etie, and Boucheron to usable/good levels by the time you get units that can replace them. If you just make the choice early that you want to run X specific couple of early game units, then they perform fine later because there is a lot of EXP available in the early game assuming you aren't trying to build all 13 units you can get before making it to Brodia evenly. I've done a few Maddening runs to this point and I always limit myself to Alear and no more than 4 out of those 13 pre-Brodia units (so 5 units total) making it to the mid-game, with the rest just being filler/chip/meat shields. You get 9 more units before reaching Solm. Again, pick no more than 4 of those you want to carry into the mid-game. You'll get 13 more units before hitting the end-game, of which you can carry 5 with you to your final team. You're obviously free to do what you want and this is just how I balanced my teams for what was for me a fairly smooth difficulty curve, but I do stand by the idea that no one should find the early game too difficult unless they spread their Exp thin.
The Well in general makes the game easy. I feel this game on maddening was some what challenging when there were no DLC updates. But then again, it was a blind playthrough. This game in general is one of the easiest Lunatic/Maddening Fire emblems.
The early game is basically the developers handing you a specific set of tools, and you need to figure out how to use them correctly. The mid game you get a bunch of units far more powerful than what you had in the early game, and you need to manage them in a way that makes it so they can hold up late game. Late game is where you get to put your team to the test and make sure it can handle whatever the game throws at you. In terms of difficulty, the mid game is the easiest by far. Early game vs. late game is kind of apples and oranges. They test very different skills. For the early game, strong play is very specific. Late game, you have a much wider array of effective tactics available, but also a tougher enemy. I'd call early game tougher than late game, as I think it requires much stronger fundamentals of the game in order to do well. Late game, you can do all sorts of wild stuff, and mostly you just need to be able to pay attention to a lot of things happening and not overlook things.
I agree with your assessment here. Early game can be hard if you don't play well. Late game can be easy if you've built cracked units and you don't really need to play all that well when you're one rounding everything including Sombron.
Hm... Is this a different file than the investment video from earlier this week? I don't know your recording/splicing schedule 😅 Fensilar has Marth engraving instead of Sigurd this time. Now Sigurd engraving is on Anna's levin sword. Even in the last video, Folksvanger(?) went from Marth to i think Lief or Micaiah. I ask this because you know the game inside and out by now. Is there a reason to change engravings or is it just a -accidental in this case- waste of bond fragments
Early game is indeed a meme. Its all over the place. That being said you want a real challenge? Try to the play the game normally with no hard carry units. Ironically maddening and maddening low teams feel like 2 different games.
I think that only argument for early game being hard, might be that it's hard to Iron Man, and if you're not willing to sacrifice somebody some of the maps can be a pain in the ass.
Do you think eties defence brings her down for use I mean I was going to use etie in a playthough early is like preschool it's very simple and do you use chloe Anna timerra because they good or you like them?
Chloe/Alear/Framme are arguably the best early units, the first 2 because they can pop off on combat classes and Framme is free staff/chainguard XP so doesn't take anything from anyone but still levels. Anna can be a great unit long term, Timerra can be good depending on playstyle but objectively both can perform at a high level when used correctly
ICG only does Maddening runs, so there are next to no skirmishes, especially this early in the game. You can have up to 3 Master Seals and 3 Second Seals prior to Ch10, not counting getting lucky with the well. You just need one of each for anyone who isn't Clanne or Celine (they just need a Master Seal, no Second). Celica gives Tome Mastery at Bond Level 6, Roy gives Sword Mastery at Bond Level 6. Levin Sword you just have to upgrade a Steel Sword at the Smithy, costs 100 iron, 10 steel, 1000g.
Anna uses Miciah as a staff bot for CH7/8 to level to 10, using great sac when available or AOE heaing small groups while you beat the maps then master->second seal her post CH8 when you get second seals
sure if you do this this and this it's easy but knowing what those things are takes a lot of game knowlege or tactic skills which the average player doesn't have especialy not on there first playtruw
the hardest part of the early game is deciding who you want on the team and whos getting put on the bench
Especially in a blind run. You don't know what future maps will favor, nor if seemingly bad units aren't actually bad. e.g. Framme
Excatly
Exactly
Early game is easy but definitely matters. You have two (or three, if you count recover on Celica) exp steroids to snowball a few units along with certain important skills (canter, sword/lance power, etc) that post chapter 9 units just don't have access to. You can easily get 3 units to level 16 ish (or more if you're efficient with exp) since there's just so much exp available for more or less free early on.
And yet i keep struggling on the early game. Shows how bad i am.😅 But It's like you said i dont know how to properly invest on characters or who to invest besides alear. I'd say Chloe too, but I don't think im using her right because she hardly doing any damage.
Jade really wanted to axe Kagetsu a question, huh?
Would you rate Levin sword Anna higher than Pandreo in Maddening (no DLC)?
They are similar with subtle trade offs, overall both will 1 round on it and have endgame builds
Ehhhhhh, like everything, it depends on how good you are. When I first started maddening without DLC I struggled really badly on Chapter 5. I mean I couldn't do it at all. My whole team would just be dead and I'd fail to finish the map, literally. Later, with DLC (silver lance on Sigard Louis makes this map a joke) and just becoming a better player, it became rather easy to complete with 0 deaths. A "meme" as you say. A joke. IMO the game only becomes easier as you progress because you have more capabilities. Now if you don't have any good units that's on you but generally speaking if you've got a few combat carry units and a bonded shield user you're gonna be okay.
Chapter 15 is easier than Chapter 5 because you have so many options by chapter 15 whereas Chapter 5 without DLC and Heroes weapons etc. you're really constrained. I guess Chapters 18 to 26 are the only kinda challenging chapters.
I think map knowledge matters more early game but builds can carry lack of map knowledge latergame.
Early game in games should not be hard, BUT this is also after 1,000 hours of game later so the early game should be super easy for you otherwise the game is designed poorly. A bad game would have every run be just as hard as the last and no amount of game knowledge will ever make it easier. A game designed well will have the game easier the more you know about the game and get real experience with it.
First playthrough of Engage? It is the hardest Fire Emblem ever made and this includes the early game, and that still stands. Once we know how the game plays, get game knowledge, get real experience with the game, now the game is a lot easier - especially the early game being a joke by this point.
Engage is designed so well and it is the most balanced Fire Emblem has ever been. Every single unit in this game is good in some way and contributes in a meaningful way, except Vander which sucks past very early game.
The Lunatic/Maddening is actually fun for the first time ever, usually it is just very cheap difficulty and not fun, thus never worth playing. This is what happens when developers take their time with a game, not add too much, and really polish the game up and put love and care into everything the game has to offer and not put in useless fluff and bloat.
Fire Emblem: Engage 10/10 and game of the year and one of the best games released in the last 20 years. And yes, I beat The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
I found the early game easy on my 2nd run and moderate on my first
@@IcedCoffeeGaming 2nd run it is way easier, and the game would definitely been hard on your first run
keep in mind that Engage is very balanced, well designed, and has rewinding and all of these factors combined give the elusion that the game is easier than it is because you are not getting frustrated at the game and having a lot more fun, but in reality it is the hardest fire emblem
Fates Conquest does not have rewinding so you feel the difficulty a lot more as a result.
True challenge run is to keep everyone alive and at the same level without heal grinding exploits.
So play badly and don't use staves?
@@miahmagick Almost but not quite. More like a lite version of a no-growths run. Similar to a Pokemon challenge run where you try to catch every one and level them all up together by cycling out all but your lowest level 6.
true
You should kinda always use Roy. Hes 5 free levels for a moment when you engage. That can make another strong unit, or bump up a unit to hard carry status. Honestly, Roy is very underrated as an Emblem. Think about it this way, "Would I want (any) unit to have 5 free levels with no work if possible?" The answer would be unequivocally yes, wouldnt it? Lol 5 free levels is almost better than some of other Emblem effects. Only things like Twin Strike, Bonded Shield, and Assign Decoy are really better.
Beat the game on maddening mode for the first time yesterday, it was my second run in maddening ( I had to gave up on the first one cuz I messed up my units so bad) and the early game felt really easier than during my first try, having a better understanding of the game, not spreading too much ressources/exp on useless characters that I will bench anyway, picking up good skill for my carries. it felt like I was playing another game on my second run.
I just finished my 3rd run last night with full DLC. Hard carries: Rafal (engraved dragon stones on his base class, cracked, Eirika), Zelestia (Levin Sword on her base class, Sigurd), Boucheron (warrior with Edelgard, MVP all game). Lesser damage units that are still very effective: Alear (corrin), Gregory (Lyn), Madeline great knight with Ike. It was very, very easy. Kinda too easy tbh.
Wait, do I see a double chain guard on Anna? Thats a limited resource!!!!!! God dammit thats FAVORITISM!!!!1!!! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The only early game chapter that can still hold some risks is Chapter 8 - but if you have enough experience with the game even that one is not really that difficult. At the same time in low deploy and certain comps where you force yourself to not use certain units or emblems of course the first couple of chapter can turn into an rng luck fiesta depending on what you limit yourself from using.
watching these videos to try and figure out what the fuck i just bought
I feel anyone who thinks early game is difficult are either, A) playing Maddening for their very first run and are thus learning as they go, B) are conflating the entire early game with chapters 10 and 11 because of the long, staged nature of Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 taking the Emblem rings, or C) do not understand how to allocate early resources efficiently.
The key is honestly just to not invest Exp and resources in too many early game units. For your Lythos and Firene units, pick like 2-4 max that you want to carry with you into the mid game and then just use the units you get upon nearing Brodia to patch your holes. The ease of the early game is part of the reason I push back against anyone arguing that it is too hard to get units like Alfred, Etie, and Boucheron to usable/good levels by the time you get units that can replace them. If you just make the choice early that you want to run X specific couple of early game units, then they perform fine later because there is a lot of EXP available in the early game assuming you aren't trying to build all 13 units you can get before making it to Brodia evenly.
I've done a few Maddening runs to this point and I always limit myself to Alear and no more than 4 out of those 13 pre-Brodia units (so 5 units total) making it to the mid-game, with the rest just being filler/chip/meat shields. You get 9 more units before reaching Solm. Again, pick no more than 4 of those you want to carry into the mid-game. You'll get 13 more units before hitting the end-game, of which you can carry 5 with you to your final team.
You're obviously free to do what you want and this is just how I balanced my teams for what was for me a fairly smooth difficulty curve, but I do stand by the idea that no one should find the early game too difficult unless they spread their Exp thin.
The Well in general makes the game easy. I feel this game on maddening was some what challenging when there were no DLC updates. But then again, it was a blind playthrough. This game in general is one of the easiest Lunatic/Maddening Fire emblems.
The early game is basically the developers handing you a specific set of tools, and you need to figure out how to use them correctly.
The mid game you get a bunch of units far more powerful than what you had in the early game, and you need to manage them in a way that makes it so they can hold up late game.
Late game is where you get to put your team to the test and make sure it can handle whatever the game throws at you.
In terms of difficulty, the mid game is the easiest by far. Early game vs. late game is kind of apples and oranges. They test very different skills. For the early game, strong play is very specific. Late game, you have a much wider array of effective tactics available, but also a tougher enemy.
I'd call early game tougher than late game, as I think it requires much stronger fundamentals of the game in order to do well. Late game, you can do all sorts of wild stuff, and mostly you just need to be able to pay attention to a lot of things happening and not overlook things.
I agree with your assessment here. Early game can be hard if you don't play well. Late game can be easy if you've built cracked units and you don't really need to play all that well when you're one rounding everything including Sombron.
Hm... Is this a different file than the investment video from earlier this week? I don't know your recording/splicing schedule 😅
Fensilar has Marth engraving instead of Sigurd this time. Now Sigurd engraving is on Anna's levin sword. Even in the last video, Folksvanger(?) went from Marth to i think Lief or Micaiah.
I ask this because you know the game inside and out by now. Is there a reason to change engravings or is it just a -accidental in this case- waste of bond fragments
Early game is indeed a meme. Its all over the place. That being said you want a real challenge? Try to the play the game normally with no hard carry units. Ironically maddening and maddening low teams feel like 2 different games.
Yknow I have ANOTHER feeling about this video
I think that only argument for early game being hard, might be that it's hard to Iron Man, and if you're not willing to sacrifice somebody some of the maps can be a pain in the ass.
The difficult part in early game is min/max things in my opinion
Do you think eties defence brings her down for use I mean I was going to use etie in a playthough early is like preschool it's very simple and do you use chloe Anna timerra because they good or you like them?
Chloe/Alear/Framme are arguably the best early units, the first 2 because they can pop off on combat classes and Framme is free staff/chainguard XP so doesn't take anything from anyone but still levels. Anna can be a great unit long term, Timerra can be good depending on playstyle but objectively both can perform at a high level when used correctly
How do you get mage knight so early ? Do you spam skirmishes ?same thing with levin sword
ICG only does Maddening runs, so there are next to no skirmishes, especially this early in the game.
You can have up to 3 Master Seals and 3 Second Seals prior to Ch10, not counting getting lucky with the well. You just need one of each for anyone who isn't Clanne or Celine (they just need a Master Seal, no Second). Celica gives Tome Mastery at Bond Level 6, Roy gives Sword Mastery at Bond Level 6.
Levin Sword you just have to upgrade a Steel Sword at the Smithy, costs 100 iron, 10 steel, 1000g.
Anna uses Miciah as a staff bot for CH7/8 to level to 10, using great sac when available or AOE heaing small groups while you beat the maps then master->second seal her post CH8 when you get second seals
What's Alear's and Chloe's internal level here?
10+current level I think
sure if you do this this and this it's easy but knowing what those things are takes a lot of game knowlege or tactic skills which the average player doesn't have especialy not on there first playtruw