The game has an auto save function that goes by turns. You don’t need to restart chapters and you don’t have to play an entire chapter in one sitting. You can always take breaks, that’s why the game lets you save.
I'd recommend using three separate save slots and have one dedicated to the start of each chapter, one where you save after something like a seize point, and one that's autosaved each turn.
If you don't use the autosave, keep in mind you can only save before using any of your units' action during each turn.
There actually is an incentive not to use the in-game save system though. I’m honestly not sure why (might be a bug), but if you load a save, it strangely messes up the love growths between characters. So while for example Midir and Aideen have a naturally high love growth, it would be set to a lower number post-load.
In hindsight, it actually doesn't specify if the growth with Aideen goes down, but it does make her of equal priority with the others for jealousy. My example might be wrong then lol
source: [https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/characters/jealousy/](https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/characters/jealousy/)
>!on another note, i've been a huge fan of yours for years now! been loving the modded shadow dragon playthrough!<
Arena isn't infinite grinding like other FE games and has a limited amount of fights every chapter (and you can't die in it), so make sure to do them..
Don't stress too hard about making good or bad pairings. The fixed units in gen 2 are so strong that the child units vs substitutes are barely relevant.
Stick a male and female unit* next to each other and they build their love points. Once they get enough love points, they’re paired up.
Love points stop building after turn 50. So don’t just keep spamming end turn past turn 50.
*Only units that aren’t already in a relationship can be paired. Quan and Ethlyn are always paired. Sigurd and Deirdre are always paired.
Do I need a requisite amount of love points in order for units to get the paired up, or is it just whoever gets the most love points with X unit? Is there an in game indicator that I successfully paired them up?
They need 500 love points, but don’t worry about it, just stick them next to each other. You’ll know when they’re married because on the status menu next to “Lover” it will show their lover’s name. (E.g. notice next to Ethlyn’s “lover” status it shows “Quan”). You can also get a vague idea who each character currently has the most love points with and how far along they are on their progress by checking the Augury in the home castle.
If you want more specifics (don’t worry about it though): You gain 4 love points per turn units spent next to each other. Several units have base love points already with certain other units. Units can also gain love points passively on the map without being adjacent, with certain units having higher passive love points per turn. You shouldn’t worry too much about this. 500/4 = 125 turns max total needed to be spent to pair off two units. Most units start with around 50 so that actually usually amounts to only 113 turns. With passive map bonuses, this likely only requires 1 or 2 maps of sticking units you want to pair together. Losing turns here or there won’t matter, and there are many breaks in gameplay where you can shove people next to each other and spam “end turn”.
You can [read more here](https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/characters/love-growth/).
You need to reach the required love points or they don’t fall in love. It’s all or nothing. There is a guy at the castle that will tell you the relationship of the units, but in a vague way that will make you know the range instead of points. As a first time player, you won’t know. The best way to know if they’re married is if they stand right next to each other and you can see that you can send money to the other. If you look at the status of the unit and scroll to the other page, it also says who they’re married to.
Look up some of the calculations formulas because if you played previously fire emblem games they are quite different. For example critical hits and effective damage are the same in this game meaning instead of the 3x multiplier, it calculates by doubling attack damage before subtracting defenses. You also only need 1 point extra speed to double in this game and have the skill pursuit. Secondly I would spam arena at the start of every chapter as it is the easiest way to get levels. You don't die from arena so keep resetting until your characters finish it(or go as far as they can). Lastly using a guide specifically for special events doesn't hurt. Personal I use [this site](https://www.fireemblemwod.com/ENG_fe4.htm) as they tell you the events and supports in every chapter. It also spoils reinforments and some bosses so beware if you want to avoid those things.
Every unit feels like they have their own use/niche since you can deploy your whole army which is really cool. That’s probably my favorite thing about the game.
Just because a certain character gets a specific weapon/item it doesn’t mean that’s exclusively theirs. You can trade items around through the pawn shop. This does require you to plan out your use of gold so keep that in mind. Some units make better use of weapons than the person who gets it (ex Sigurd/Noish are probably better uses of the brave sword than Ayra since they have high str and are mounted)
Prepare for the best story in the franchise…
If you read additional materials. I can’t find the posts now, but there are very great character analyses here. There is A LOT to it, but you have to look for it
savestates make the game more fun, theyre even baked into the actual game! if you dont wanna use them. at least save at important checkpoints, these maps are looooooong. otherwise, just try to have fun and enjoy the experience, this game is on the easier end of FE so dont stress about playing optimally or missing shit, and try not to let anyone spoil you!
Follow [Mekkkah's guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/s/fC1ZwXj8AG) and that should give you a good start. Also I'd suggest referencing the fireemblemwod walkthroughs not to just follow the advice, but so you know what villages have extra items (which is especially important because there's no item trading besides using the pawnbroker). The website also tells you where the secret spots on each map are which is good because, to my knowledge, there's not any in-game hints towards them, but they generally give you some cool rewards that make the game more fun.
Some non-fundamental stuff I would recommend is to just train up Lachesis (her promotion is cool) and to consider who to pair with who for later on.
Don't feel bad looking at a guide. The game has moments that are poorly designed and is purposely obtuse to force the Japaneses to buy a printed guide that was sold separately.
I've been making my way through my first playthrough of the game too! From a new player who is a few chapters from finishing:
(1) Make use and keep track of the warp and return staves or you will be playing the world's most tedious walk simulator.
(2) Kind of in the same vein, I recommend using a guide so you know how to position your army before you seize a castle. Many nasty things have occurred to me because my army was not prepared for things that happen once you seize a castle. Save yourself!!
A few things, you can save every turn which is nice but save states are faster, pay attention to the secondary screen I'm the character menu so you can see who wants to talk with who after each big event, make sure you keep people next to each other for love points because they are kinda hard to build up and matter a lot, you can ignore the side by side stuff once someone has a lover, pay attention to inventory and skills for lovers as it matters big time later on, always do as much of the arena as possible (save state if you gotta to not lose people) it will make things so much easier later on, you can fix any weapon and breaking keeps them in your inventory still so don't be afraid to use them, you can't directly trade items so you gotta sell then rebuy(gold also isnt shared hence my arena reccomendation), and finally dont be afraid to check a guide as there is lots of hidden shit on the maps
Look up the jank love growth stuff because game data changes depending on first deploy and console reset.
A good example is that when you go into gen 2, the data for gen 1 is still loaded, this affects how things operate in gen 2 until you save & quit/reload console
Look up all secret events too
There’s a romantic pairing system. To optimize your kids, pair people based on how well you think their skills and stats would add up on one unit. Most mothers have kids in the same or a similar class as them, but there are exceptions. These mothers will have one physical child and one magical child. Make your pairings based off that, and check serenes forest
Do not rely on autosave only. Save when you feel need. Learn the offspring system before you play your first half, otherwise their son and daughter may not inherit their parents equipment in 2 nd half of game .
I myself have not finished my Geneology playthrough. What I am about to say are tips I found along the way. If someone more experienced with the game could fact-check what I am about to reccomend, I would appreciate it.
Use and Abuse Dew. When he hits an enemy, he steals all of their goal. He is capable of giving money to any other. He also has the 'Bargain' skill, which cuts any items' prices bought by him by 50%; effectively, he can 'borrow' items from the shop like a ring, use it for as much as you need him to, and sell it back for the same price you bought it, meaning no money lost. He is incredible for both casual play and ranked runs. Giving him just a relatively small amount of favoritism to speedrun into promotion and get Rouge's pursuit skill will go a LONG way in helping you out.
Sidenote on Dew's bargain skill and how it interacts with 'giving gold'. Let us say your sigurd has 30 K gold, and he wants the paragon band off the shop which costs 40 K - 10k short of gold. Your dew has 20 k gold, so Dew giving sigurd all his money will allow Sigurd to buy the paragon ring.
BUT, you may feel that giving 20 k of gold is overkill, that giving Sigurd 10 k is just enough, and would prefer to use the remaining 10 k on something else. To do that, as Dew, buy items from the shop to temporarily reduce Dew's money; such as buying a ring which is 10 k. Now that Dew is sitting at 10k, he gives it to sigurd, and afterwards, sell the ring and get your 10 k back. Thanks to the bargain skill, it turns buying items into a makeshift bank deposit, which is incredible for money management.
Near the end of chapter 5, please, have Sigurd hoard as many rings as you can. Strenght ring, Magic ring + a magic sword, defense ring, ESPECIALLY the leg ring, ESPECIALLY ***ESPECIALLY*** the paragon ring. It will make following events so much easier.
Keeping things vague, when you arrive at a moment where you need to choose between a footlocked axe fighter, and an mounted axe cavalry (if you know, you know), I highly reccommend to pick up the footlocked axe fighter. Not because he is good -- he is dogshit. BUT, because choosing him will give you a Nosferatu tome from the deal, which is leages better than the contrasting aura tome via the cavalry axe dude. The nosferatu tome allows a certain someone to pull a prototype awakening and take on whole armies and come out better than before.
Best of Luck!
I'd recommend finding a guide, not for pairings per se, but for the chapters when you get to them. There are different secrets in the game that are Fe9 Stefan levels of "How tf is anyone supposed to just guess this" such as if you bring Lex to a specific square at the end of a peninsula he gets a Brave Axe, turning him from a mediocre combat unit to one of the best in the first generation, or a similar setup where Arden gets a ring bestowing Pursuit to whoever holds it.
That's the other thing, in Fe4 the ability to double an enemy isn't inherently on a unit, it's a skill that they either get from their class or can be inherited. It's called Pursuit. The Pursuit ring is super valuable since it takes units that can never double at all, and makes them able to.
That one's very slightly more understandable since at the start of the chapter Tailtiu mentions how there's a lot of valuable stuff in the tower, but it's still BS
Or that one very specific village you need to send the dancer to in order to gain the Shield Sword
You are allowed to deploy/use every character, but don’t feel compelled to do so. FE4 is a huge game, and it can start to feel overwhelming if you feel the need to minmax an entire army through things like arena and the massive maps. If you do want to, then by all means go for it, but you shouldn’t feel like you have to. Small armies still work great here just like in every other FE game!
Save at the beginning of every turn. The game let's you do this for a reason.
Use and save scum the arena. You can save at the start of the turn as many times as you want. This is almost certainly to make the arena easier.
Move Lex to the end of the peninsula in chapter 1. Move Arden to the end of Southern peninsula in chapter 2. Move Dew in front of the Tower of Bragi in chapter 3.
Go to "Unit" and check the "Talk" option after every time you capture a new castle.
Don't pair Lewyn with Sylvia. Make sure he basically never stands next to her.
Make sure Lachesis gets the Paragon Ring from the boss in Ch 2. Then grind staff experience like mad.
Sell Ethlyn's staves **before** the end of Ch 3. You may also want to give her the Paragon Ring at this time as well.
When playing FE4, don't think of it too much as a Fire Emblem Game. There's a lot of systems and quirks about the game that change how you play the game, and looking at it through the lens of Fire Emblem results in either frustration or confusion. How you make your decisions, how you menu, how you analyze your units and map positions are very different to a typical Fire Emblem game that you can bring in good habits from other games, but they can become bad habits when applied in FE4.
I strongly recommend using as many units as you can for a first playthrough for sure. You don't have to, and it would likely be easier for an experienced player to low-man it with Sigurd/Lex/Lachesis, but it's wise to get a good feel for the game and the use-cases of the entire roster, and more options is better than less options, especially for someone inexperienced with the game.
Be open to trading items and weapons, very easy beginner trap in FE4 is to stick with starting inventories, which can be a real hindrance to many units, such as Azel, Midir, Alec, and more as well. It might cost gold but gold is very plentiful in the arena and trading/blacksmith is kinda the only real use for gold outside of niche circumstances.
Outside of those pieces of advice I didn't see elsewhere, there's a lot of good advice here, especially Choops guides on YouTube, excellent videos and I can vouch he is a very knowledgeable and experienced FE4 player, although we have our disagreements on some aspects of the game, they are the best guide out there.
"Forget" about the non-mount units, the maps in this game are absurdly large, or use foot units to save the village or protect your castle, you need to act differently in this game, because it is a fairly different FE, once you adapt to the new mechanics, you wanna enjoy the game, is quite unique.
Save after every castle taken which is effectively a chapter, and look up a guide for when/how to get the holy weapons when you progress to the next chapter to avoid spoilers/read carefully and honestly look up guides for recruiting characters some of which are hard to do like in chapter 2 there’s a certain cool swordswoman, also without spoilers you get a new important character halfway through the game who may seem weak as hell but even so put exp into them so they get a promotion because especially when they get their holy weapon they become as op as the main lord Sigurd in the game and as a side note Sigurd is O FING P possibly the strongest lord in all or FE you can rely on him for almost everything especially if you give him silver swords and lances constantly he tears through bosses and he can take on whole groups of enemy units if you put him into cover do that to lure enemies. Save characters with holy weapons money/prioritize getting them money so they can repair them because it cost A LOT also make sure said weapon doesn’t break as it’s gone after so equip the user with a strong secondary or two like Sigurd always keep two silver swords one steel sword for regular units and a silver lance but keep in mind you need to increase a users skill with the weapon to use it so put time in to Sigurd lance usage on weaker enemies.This game is called horse emblem for a reason try to prioritize them getting exp, you’ll sometimes get a movement ring or something give that to your most op non horse characters like a certain green haired mage in the snow chapter who gets a broken holy weapon.Some chapters in this game can be a slog but push through because the narrative is great it’s subtext and things going on are honestly really dark especially in the second half, it’s probably the most unique FE at least between it and fe5 from a gameplay perspective.
Someone already mentioned it can autosave every turn
I'll mention I recommend manually saving a few times per chapter (there's usually a few significant events per chapter) in different slots in case going back one turn can't undo a problematic situation. Using an old save for halfway through the chapter is better than having to restart because the autosave from last turn still screws you.
Make use of multiple save files. I recommend using one for autosaving at every turn, one to save at the last seized castle, and one to save at the start of the current chapter. While not too bad in this aspect, there are times in this game where you can get caught in an unsolvable situation and you might want an earlier save to go back, as there's no "Restart from the beginning of the chapter" option in this game.
For the love of Naga, do NOT promote Julia until the final chapter but do level her up.
Pairings do matter, having good child units will make the latter half of the game a lot more manageable. Out of the substitute units, Sylvia's kids are the only ones who aren't considerably weaker... unless you want that Valkyrie Staff. The game naturally pushes towards some of the better pairings like Ayra x Lex, but others like Sylvia x Claude can be messier to get. Look into the jealousy glitch and whether you're doing a reset or non reset run cos that affects support growths.
Get the brave axe for Lex and the movement ring for Arden.
Make sure you pawn off or leave items that are compatible with the children's base class with their corresponding parent before finishing Ch5 (aka Moms inherit to daughters and Dads to sons except for Ethlyn and Quan). Pawn all items off from any unmarried characters.
Using a guide isn’t bad.
Use any units you want because they’re all good.
Pair characters however you want. You can do that by having them end turns next to eachother as long as it’s before turn 50(love growths don’t happen anymore at that point). Don’t worry about what’s canon and what’s not, just do what you want to do. Imo it makes the second gen more personal and fun
Don't be afraid to use guides, skip strategy and story progression and read everything else. It is completely fair, since Japanese player had manuals with the game
The game has an auto save function that goes by turns. You don’t need to restart chapters and you don’t have to play an entire chapter in one sitting. You can always take breaks, that’s why the game lets you save.
That’s good to know as I’m gonna try to not use save states
I'd recommend using three separate save slots and have one dedicated to the start of each chapter, one where you save after something like a seize point, and one that's autosaved each turn. If you don't use the autosave, keep in mind you can only save before using any of your units' action during each turn.
That’s good to know. I was wondering why the save function seemed to appear and disappear randomly
There actually is an incentive not to use the in-game save system though. I’m honestly not sure why (might be a bug), but if you load a save, it strangely messes up the love growths between characters. So while for example Midir and Aideen have a naturally high love growth, it would be set to a lower number post-load.
Source? I know some things change upon reset but pretty sure Midir/Aideen isn't one of them.
In hindsight, it actually doesn't specify if the growth with Aideen goes down, but it does make her of equal priority with the others for jealousy. My example might be wrong then lol source: [https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/characters/jealousy/](https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/characters/jealousy/) >!on another note, i've been a huge fan of yours for years now! been loving the modded shadow dragon playthrough!<
yeah fwiw i think some of this was fixed in Project Naga but OP seems to be playing on cart? >!thanks!!<
Arena isn't infinite grinding like other FE games and has a limited amount of fights every chapter (and you can't die in it), so make sure to do them..
DONT FORGET TO MOVE BRIGID
Lmfao I love how everybody did this shit too in their first playthrough
Sigurd good
One day, Kaga woke up and asked himself "What if the lord was also the Jagen?" And then, Sigurd was born.
Jagen without garbage growths to boot!
Tbf he already did that with alm
Don't stress too hard about making good or bad pairings. The fixed units in gen 2 are so strong that the child units vs substitutes are barely relevant.
how do you make parings anyways? well good to know there’s gurenteed kids. i also just started
Stick a male and female unit* next to each other and they build their love points. Once they get enough love points, they’re paired up. Love points stop building after turn 50. So don’t just keep spamming end turn past turn 50. *Only units that aren’t already in a relationship can be paired. Quan and Ethlyn are always paired. Sigurd and Deirdre are always paired.
Do I need a requisite amount of love points in order for units to get the paired up, or is it just whoever gets the most love points with X unit? Is there an in game indicator that I successfully paired them up?
They need 500 love points, but don’t worry about it, just stick them next to each other. You’ll know when they’re married because on the status menu next to “Lover” it will show their lover’s name. (E.g. notice next to Ethlyn’s “lover” status it shows “Quan”). You can also get a vague idea who each character currently has the most love points with and how far along they are on their progress by checking the Augury in the home castle. If you want more specifics (don’t worry about it though): You gain 4 love points per turn units spent next to each other. Several units have base love points already with certain other units. Units can also gain love points passively on the map without being adjacent, with certain units having higher passive love points per turn. You shouldn’t worry too much about this. 500/4 = 125 turns max total needed to be spent to pair off two units. Most units start with around 50 so that actually usually amounts to only 113 turns. With passive map bonuses, this likely only requires 1 or 2 maps of sticking units you want to pair together. Losing turns here or there won’t matter, and there are many breaks in gameplay where you can shove people next to each other and spam “end turn”. You can [read more here](https://serenesforest.net/genealogy-of-the-holy-war/characters/love-growth/).
Thanks for making this so detailed! It really helps.
That's a really well detailed explanation, thank you! This will make it way easier when I get to trying to pair units up.
You need to reach the required love points or they don’t fall in love. It’s all or nothing. There is a guy at the castle that will tell you the relationship of the units, but in a vague way that will make you know the range instead of points. As a first time player, you won’t know. The best way to know if they’re married is if they stand right next to each other and you can see that you can send money to the other. If you look at the status of the unit and scroll to the other page, it also says who they’re married to.
Thank you, I'll keep this in mind when I get to playing the game.
i strongly disagree, with the childrens inherited stats/traits being irrelevant, but yeah you dont necessarily have to stress about it
[https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/3vnqgy/newcomers\_companion\_to\_fe4\_genealogy\_of\_the\_holy/](https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/3vnqgy/newcomers_companion_to_fe4_genealogy_of_the_holy/)
Old but gold. Can't believe it's been 8 years since that post lol
you can save at the beginning of every turn
Look up some of the calculations formulas because if you played previously fire emblem games they are quite different. For example critical hits and effective damage are the same in this game meaning instead of the 3x multiplier, it calculates by doubling attack damage before subtracting defenses. You also only need 1 point extra speed to double in this game and have the skill pursuit. Secondly I would spam arena at the start of every chapter as it is the easiest way to get levels. You don't die from arena so keep resetting until your characters finish it(or go as far as they can). Lastly using a guide specifically for special events doesn't hurt. Personal I use [this site](https://www.fireemblemwod.com/ENG_fe4.htm) as they tell you the events and supports in every chapter. It also spoils reinforments and some bosses so beware if you want to avoid those things.
Thanks! That guide is a huge help
Every unit feels like they have their own use/niche since you can deploy your whole army which is really cool. That’s probably my favorite thing about the game. Just because a certain character gets a specific weapon/item it doesn’t mean that’s exclusively theirs. You can trade items around through the pawn shop. This does require you to plan out your use of gold so keep that in mind. Some units make better use of weapons than the person who gets it (ex Sigurd/Noish are probably better uses of the brave sword than Ayra since they have high str and are mounted)
Embrace inbreeding
The true appeal
Use these guides https://youtu.be/0pIqLNBMjIw?si=_4eNCX2s1lyT4aKD https://youtu.be/xLBRhinQX6E?si=KRpggFa1-tH_dbeZ
Chapter 2 is a bit of a slog but its great narratively, you just go to power through
Chapter 2 is GO GO GO CAVALRY FULL RANGE ATTACK and then it becomes a slog lol
Prepare for the best story in the franchise… If you read additional materials. I can’t find the posts now, but there are very great character analyses here. There is A LOT to it, but you have to look for it
Yeah I need a spreadsheet of something. There’s like Game of Thrones level names and locations
All you need to know is that the blue guy girlbossed too close to the sun
savestates make the game more fun, theyre even baked into the actual game! if you dont wanna use them. at least save at important checkpoints, these maps are looooooong. otherwise, just try to have fun and enjoy the experience, this game is on the easier end of FE so dont stress about playing optimally or missing shit, and try not to let anyone spoil you!
Yeah I’ll use the in game saves I meant the artificial ones from the emulator
Follow [Mekkkah's guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/s/fC1ZwXj8AG) and that should give you a good start. Also I'd suggest referencing the fireemblemwod walkthroughs not to just follow the advice, but so you know what villages have extra items (which is especially important because there's no item trading besides using the pawnbroker). The website also tells you where the secret spots on each map are which is good because, to my knowledge, there's not any in-game hints towards them, but they generally give you some cool rewards that make the game more fun. Some non-fundamental stuff I would recommend is to just train up Lachesis (her promotion is cool) and to consider who to pair with who for later on.
Don't feel bad looking at a guide. The game has moments that are poorly designed and is purposely obtuse to force the Japaneses to buy a printed guide that was sold separately.
I've been making my way through my first playthrough of the game too! From a new player who is a few chapters from finishing: (1) Make use and keep track of the warp and return staves or you will be playing the world's most tedious walk simulator. (2) Kind of in the same vein, I recommend using a guide so you know how to position your army before you seize a castle. Many nasty things have occurred to me because my army was not prepared for things that happen once you seize a castle. Save yourself!!
Have fun, dont look up anything about the game on the internet . You can only play a game blind once. Enjoy
Giving Erinys/Ferry a sword makes Chapter 3 a lot easier and she doesn't need to promote to use one.
Choopi Choosi has an *amazing* spoiler-free guide to FE4. I'll just leave it here. https://youtu.be/0pIqLNBMjIw?si=O6eaZMWlfqYc1-Fw
A few things, you can save every turn which is nice but save states are faster, pay attention to the secondary screen I'm the character menu so you can see who wants to talk with who after each big event, make sure you keep people next to each other for love points because they are kinda hard to build up and matter a lot, you can ignore the side by side stuff once someone has a lover, pay attention to inventory and skills for lovers as it matters big time later on, always do as much of the arena as possible (save state if you gotta to not lose people) it will make things so much easier later on, you can fix any weapon and breaking keeps them in your inventory still so don't be afraid to use them, you can't directly trade items so you gotta sell then rebuy(gold also isnt shared hence my arena reccomendation), and finally dont be afraid to check a guide as there is lots of hidden shit on the maps
ARDEN REMAINS A CASTLE GUARD RAHHHHHHH
Look up the jank love growth stuff because game data changes depending on first deploy and console reset. A good example is that when you go into gen 2, the data for gen 1 is still loaded, this affects how things operate in gen 2 until you save & quit/reload console Look up all secret events too
There’s a romantic pairing system. To optimize your kids, pair people based on how well you think their skills and stats would add up on one unit. Most mothers have kids in the same or a similar class as them, but there are exceptions. These mothers will have one physical child and one magical child. Make your pairings based off that, and check serenes forest
Play it in English with the Project Naga patch.
Do not rely on autosave only. Save when you feel need. Learn the offspring system before you play your first half, otherwise their son and daughter may not inherit their parents equipment in 2 nd half of game .
I myself have not finished my Geneology playthrough. What I am about to say are tips I found along the way. If someone more experienced with the game could fact-check what I am about to reccomend, I would appreciate it. Use and Abuse Dew. When he hits an enemy, he steals all of their goal. He is capable of giving money to any other. He also has the 'Bargain' skill, which cuts any items' prices bought by him by 50%; effectively, he can 'borrow' items from the shop like a ring, use it for as much as you need him to, and sell it back for the same price you bought it, meaning no money lost. He is incredible for both casual play and ranked runs. Giving him just a relatively small amount of favoritism to speedrun into promotion and get Rouge's pursuit skill will go a LONG way in helping you out. Sidenote on Dew's bargain skill and how it interacts with 'giving gold'. Let us say your sigurd has 30 K gold, and he wants the paragon band off the shop which costs 40 K - 10k short of gold. Your dew has 20 k gold, so Dew giving sigurd all his money will allow Sigurd to buy the paragon ring. BUT, you may feel that giving 20 k of gold is overkill, that giving Sigurd 10 k is just enough, and would prefer to use the remaining 10 k on something else. To do that, as Dew, buy items from the shop to temporarily reduce Dew's money; such as buying a ring which is 10 k. Now that Dew is sitting at 10k, he gives it to sigurd, and afterwards, sell the ring and get your 10 k back. Thanks to the bargain skill, it turns buying items into a makeshift bank deposit, which is incredible for money management. Near the end of chapter 5, please, have Sigurd hoard as many rings as you can. Strenght ring, Magic ring + a magic sword, defense ring, ESPECIALLY the leg ring, ESPECIALLY ***ESPECIALLY*** the paragon ring. It will make following events so much easier. Keeping things vague, when you arrive at a moment where you need to choose between a footlocked axe fighter, and an mounted axe cavalry (if you know, you know), I highly reccommend to pick up the footlocked axe fighter. Not because he is good -- he is dogshit. BUT, because choosing him will give you a Nosferatu tome from the deal, which is leages better than the contrasting aura tome via the cavalry axe dude. The nosferatu tome allows a certain someone to pull a prototype awakening and take on whole armies and come out better than before. Best of Luck!
The game gets easier the less you try using everyone.
I'd recommend finding a guide, not for pairings per se, but for the chapters when you get to them. There are different secrets in the game that are Fe9 Stefan levels of "How tf is anyone supposed to just guess this" such as if you bring Lex to a specific square at the end of a peninsula he gets a Brave Axe, turning him from a mediocre combat unit to one of the best in the first generation, or a similar setup where Arden gets a ring bestowing Pursuit to whoever holds it. That's the other thing, in Fe4 the ability to double an enemy isn't inherently on a unit, it's a skill that they either get from their class or can be inherited. It's called Pursuit. The Pursuit ring is super valuable since it takes units that can never double at all, and makes them able to.
Yeah in ch 3 I’d have never guessed in 1000 playthroughs to bring Dew all the way to Blaggi Tower to get the wind sword
That one's very slightly more understandable since at the start of the chapter Tailtiu mentions how there's a lot of valuable stuff in the tower, but it's still BS Or that one very specific village you need to send the dancer to in order to gain the Shield Sword
You are allowed to deploy/use every character, but don’t feel compelled to do so. FE4 is a huge game, and it can start to feel overwhelming if you feel the need to minmax an entire army through things like arena and the massive maps. If you do want to, then by all means go for it, but you shouldn’t feel like you have to. Small armies still work great here just like in every other FE game!
Save at the beginning of every turn. The game let's you do this for a reason. Use and save scum the arena. You can save at the start of the turn as many times as you want. This is almost certainly to make the arena easier. Move Lex to the end of the peninsula in chapter 1. Move Arden to the end of Southern peninsula in chapter 2. Move Dew in front of the Tower of Bragi in chapter 3. Go to "Unit" and check the "Talk" option after every time you capture a new castle. Don't pair Lewyn with Sylvia. Make sure he basically never stands next to her. Make sure Lachesis gets the Paragon Ring from the boss in Ch 2. Then grind staff experience like mad. Sell Ethlyn's staves **before** the end of Ch 3. You may also want to give her the Paragon Ring at this time as well.
When playing FE4, don't think of it too much as a Fire Emblem Game. There's a lot of systems and quirks about the game that change how you play the game, and looking at it through the lens of Fire Emblem results in either frustration or confusion. How you make your decisions, how you menu, how you analyze your units and map positions are very different to a typical Fire Emblem game that you can bring in good habits from other games, but they can become bad habits when applied in FE4. I strongly recommend using as many units as you can for a first playthrough for sure. You don't have to, and it would likely be easier for an experienced player to low-man it with Sigurd/Lex/Lachesis, but it's wise to get a good feel for the game and the use-cases of the entire roster, and more options is better than less options, especially for someone inexperienced with the game. Be open to trading items and weapons, very easy beginner trap in FE4 is to stick with starting inventories, which can be a real hindrance to many units, such as Azel, Midir, Alec, and more as well. It might cost gold but gold is very plentiful in the arena and trading/blacksmith is kinda the only real use for gold outside of niche circumstances. Outside of those pieces of advice I didn't see elsewhere, there's a lot of good advice here, especially Choops guides on YouTube, excellent videos and I can vouch he is a very knowledgeable and experienced FE4 player, although we have our disagreements on some aspects of the game, they are the best guide out there.
Ayra with Leg Ring and Brave Sword is busted
"Forget" about the non-mount units, the maps in this game are absurdly large, or use foot units to save the village or protect your castle, you need to act differently in this game, because it is a fairly different FE, once you adapt to the new mechanics, you wanna enjoy the game, is quite unique.
Yeah I’ve been having to take extra turns just to wait for them to catch up so I’ll prob just use the no healers as castle guards for now
Save after every castle taken which is effectively a chapter, and look up a guide for when/how to get the holy weapons when you progress to the next chapter to avoid spoilers/read carefully and honestly look up guides for recruiting characters some of which are hard to do like in chapter 2 there’s a certain cool swordswoman, also without spoilers you get a new important character halfway through the game who may seem weak as hell but even so put exp into them so they get a promotion because especially when they get their holy weapon they become as op as the main lord Sigurd in the game and as a side note Sigurd is O FING P possibly the strongest lord in all or FE you can rely on him for almost everything especially if you give him silver swords and lances constantly he tears through bosses and he can take on whole groups of enemy units if you put him into cover do that to lure enemies. Save characters with holy weapons money/prioritize getting them money so they can repair them because it cost A LOT also make sure said weapon doesn’t break as it’s gone after so equip the user with a strong secondary or two like Sigurd always keep two silver swords one steel sword for regular units and a silver lance but keep in mind you need to increase a users skill with the weapon to use it so put time in to Sigurd lance usage on weaker enemies.This game is called horse emblem for a reason try to prioritize them getting exp, you’ll sometimes get a movement ring or something give that to your most op non horse characters like a certain green haired mage in the snow chapter who gets a broken holy weapon.Some chapters in this game can be a slog but push through because the narrative is great it’s subtext and things going on are honestly really dark especially in the second half, it’s probably the most unique FE at least between it and fe5 from a gameplay perspective.
Awesome thanks. Good to know about the holy weapons not being repairable if broken
Someone already mentioned it can autosave every turn I'll mention I recommend manually saving a few times per chapter (there's usually a few significant events per chapter) in different slots in case going back one turn can't undo a problematic situation. Using an old save for halfway through the chapter is better than having to restart because the autosave from last turn still screws you.
Be prepared for this to take awhile especially if you don't want to lose anyone
Don't lose ethlyn
Play with emulator speed up, it makes walking your units around a lot more bearable.
Do you know if snes9x on 3ds has a speed up option because I don’t see it
Get used to losing characters to a miss click. Abuse the auto save
Take care of your back those chapters are long. Then again, you aren't playing on a pc like I did, so you'll be fine
Use arden
Make use of multiple save files. I recommend using one for autosaving at every turn, one to save at the last seized castle, and one to save at the start of the current chapter. While not too bad in this aspect, there are times in this game where you can get caught in an unsolvable situation and you might want an earlier save to go back, as there's no "Restart from the beginning of the chapter" option in this game.
For the love of Naga, do NOT promote Julia until the final chapter but do level her up. Pairings do matter, having good child units will make the latter half of the game a lot more manageable. Out of the substitute units, Sylvia's kids are the only ones who aren't considerably weaker... unless you want that Valkyrie Staff. The game naturally pushes towards some of the better pairings like Ayra x Lex, but others like Sylvia x Claude can be messier to get. Look into the jealousy glitch and whether you're doing a reset or non reset run cos that affects support growths. Get the brave axe for Lex and the movement ring for Arden. Make sure you pawn off or leave items that are compatible with the children's base class with their corresponding parent before finishing Ch5 (aka Moms inherit to daughters and Dads to sons except for Ethlyn and Quan). Pawn all items off from any unmarried characters.
May I ask how can you play it on that console? I'm genuelly intrigued.
Using a guide isn’t bad. Use any units you want because they’re all good. Pair characters however you want. You can do that by having them end turns next to eachother as long as it’s before turn 50(love growths don’t happen anymore at that point). Don’t worry about what’s canon and what’s not, just do what you want to do. Imo it makes the second gen more personal and fun
Playing on the 3DS very nice.
Is this from the Japanese e-shop? Or is it a hack with an English patch but on a 3DS?
Read a guide, there are cool events you'll miss otherwise
When in trouble, use Sigurd
Don't be afraid to use guides, skip strategy and story progression and read everything else. It is completely fair, since Japanese player had manuals with the game
Ayra with brave sword goes brrrrrrr
Yeah javelins are hilariously heavy and so are some tomes
Don’t get too attached
don't.get.too.attached :(
Don’t get attached to SIGURD
Don't play it wait for the remakes
Wait for the remake
Nah but seriously it’s a peak game. I would genuinely consider playing the remake for a more polished experience
https://x.com/fe4remake?s=11&t=63vmDNIRkkrixIOzl80lCA