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LttP: Fire Emblem Awakening or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Frederick

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Red Rudolph

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Got this for FIFTEEN BUCKS at Best Buy the other day. I've wanted to give it a shot since it arrived early this year, but it's just always been outweighed by other upcoming 3DS titles. I'm giving up solo gaming next year in hopes to spend my spare time being a little more productive, and this game plus ALBW are turning out to be the perfect capstones to 2013.

So far the characters are great, though some fit a little into anime stereotypes (looking at you, Sumia) and, as usual, the story has a lot of delightful twisting and turning. About how long does the storyline run? Also, I see there's a ton of DLC, and it seems like it could get pretty dang expensive if I wanted to experience it all. What's GAF's verdict on all the downloadable scenarios? Are some worth the price tag over others?

I'm only about 7 hours in (not counting resets, I assume), but it's already fantastic. Playing Classic mode on Hard difficulty, as I played the GBA Fire Emblem and had a basic idea of what I was getting myself into. A lot of game resetting, but that's the price of perfection. No spoilers, please, but I just wanted to see if there were any of you out there with tips, things to look out for, or certain classes to really strive for.

A couple of final question: Is Frederick supposed to be heads and tails sturdier than every other member of my team? This dude is carrying me through most battles. He's in a different league. What am I supposed to do with Donnel (or any other low-level newbies, for that matter)? Will he eventually make it worth my while?

Finally, let this be a safe place to reminisce about those battlefield waifus. I think I've already found mine:

Miriel_(Fire_Emblem_Awakening).png
 
Frederick is the best character in the beginning since he is already promoted to a Great Knight. The problem is that he doesn't get as much experience points as the other characters and if you use him too much your other characters will suffer. It's much more recommended to not use Frederick at all and to train the other characters since they can be much stronger than Frederick later in the game. If you level up Stahl until Level 20 for example and turn him into a Great Knight, his stats will be much better than Fredericks stats as a Level 1 Great Knight.
 
Using Frederick is the wrong thing to do. He's strong now, but as the game goes on he will be outshined and outclassed by other units you could spend your EXP on. He's already promoted, whereas your other units are not.

Don't rely on Frederick.
 
Donnel is a blooming beast, but he needs to get hits in and protected well at the start. Fredrick is very strong but gets outclassed later, it's not the best idea to have him soak in a lot of experience from others.
 
Frederick was on my team till the end, saved my arse on countless missions. I just placed him in front of the entrance, alongside a wizard, let them become best mates, watched the enemy units be annihilated. Immensely reliable, so go for it
 
Frederick is there to help you in the early stages, he's actually a pretty lousy character by mid-game. The only reason he seems so good is because he's a class ahead of everyone else.

Level Donnell while you can, otherwise it'll get very difficult to do so and that'd suck because he's arguably the most powerful character in the game.

Make sure to marry people because their children will be ludicrously strong, they'll inherit their parent's abilities.

Basically don't let Frederick carry you through the game, he'll get all the exp that the rest of your party really needs and you'll probably have to reset by the mid-game in order to have a usable party without excessive grinding.

EDIT: On the subject of DLC, the stuff I've played has been good but you're gonna want to buy the Golden Gaffe and EXPonential Growth packs, they're enormously useful.

and Tharja is waifu 4 lyfe
 
Frederick is completely needed if you're playing on the hardest difficulty. You have to rely on him like crazy in the beginning.
 
Yeah I'm like 5 hours in on Hard/Classic as well and Fredrick is really good (heard he's actually 20 levels higher than what his level actually shows) but he apparently tapers off eventually in usefulness.

At the point I'm at I've found less of a use for Fredrick compared to the start. I've managed to level up my main character and Chrom well enough on the enemies, though they used to die a couple times. They can handle themselves well now.

I've found Kellam very useful thanks to his strong armor. I'm pairing him up with Donnel; let Kellam get a hit in than Donnel get the finish. I've leveled him up a few times, though he still needs work.

Lon'qu I've found very good after leveling him up btw. He can block a decent number of attacks and can do 2x hits when paired. Good damage output too. I like pairing him with Fredrick.
 
Technically, you can still grind out XP even in hard, so using Frederick isn't absolutely terrible, especially if you grind out the DLC maps, as it costs you nothing save weapon usage. In Hard and up, the other 'spawn' items for the Risen cost significantly more than in easy/normal.

But yeah, don't overuse Frederick. Pair up the Avatar and Chrom, and make sure they both get levelled fast.
 
Imagine a random rpg. Imagine the devs give you a level 1-2 party and among these guys there is a level 30 character that stays with you for ever. Imagine if this guy had the stats of a level 15 guy, so he levels up slowly like a level 30 character but hits like a level 15 one, much stronger than the rest of your guys.

That's Fred for you, his real level is hidden, you need to add +20 to the level it shows.
He has pretty crappy stats for his actual level (14 str? Dude Chrom can get that by level 10-12 and still have +8 levels +class upgrade to get more stats, which Freds lacks because he is upgraded already)

Also train Donnel, he can easily get 2-3 levels in the chapter you met him. He becomes a beast pretty fast and can solo the game.

Busaiku said:
The game has unlimited EXP, and Frederick's not a bad unit, so it's ok to use Frederick.
Click to expand...

Yes, but we dont want new players to waste time grinding a lot to make up for Fred. Not everyone like to grind and is better if they realise they finish the game w/o random/dlc battles.
 
Frederick is a terrible character, definition of a Jeigan.

Seth and Titania had way more late game potential then him, hell even Sothe was more useful in the endgame and you even didn't have him the whole time.

edit: whit is why mission structure is the way to go, adds a whole other dimension to team building.
 
Red Rudolph said:
Playing Classic mode on Hard difficulty
Click to expand...

Good man.

Fredrick is your fail safe. He's a unit you can rely on to get you out of trouble, but it's not without a downside. If you rely on him too much, he'll hog the experience meaning you'll have to grind later to get your other units up to par.

The more effort you have to put into training unit, the better they'll be... typically, it doesn't always shake out that way.
 
If your worried about later on in the game grind up you player character and steam roll. The game only really catches up around the end game (note if your looking for challenge in this game do not do this).
 
You'll be fine if you keep Frederic for a while. He only becomes useless in the second half really. And really I recommend playing this game harder than normal. I played the game for the first time, no permadeaths (and I refuse to do that), but I grinded so much that the final battle I took out the whole place out with my waifu tag-team. Killed the last boss in ONE battle animation.
 
Frederick is fine starting out, but as quickly as possible get Donnel built up. Donnel basically can fight every battle himself once you level him up past his starting class and change jobs for him to a better fighter such as a Hero or an Assassin.

Cynthia with Galeforce + Donnel is pretty much a wrecking crew.

A good idea would be to make sure Donnel is near Frederick or a stronger fighter at first.
 
Frederick is what is, in Fire Emblem vernacular, known as a Jeigan or "Premote". Basically, he is a character that is meant to lend you a hand early on in the game, since he's already a promoted class long before you have access to class promotions for anyone else. But that comes at a price, since he doesn't have great growth and the people you recruit otherwise probably do.

On the other hand, Awakening does not have a pre-determined amount of experience like, say, Path of Radiance did. So it may not be a huge concern if he's sucking up experience other people could be getting, since you could just gring those people up to par.
 
Red Rudolph said:
I just pretend it's an alternate world where everyone has horse's hooves. They kind of "clop" when they walk anyway, so it's not difficult.
Click to expand...

You have a great idea there. I just recently started playing as well, and I am not going to be able to think about them any differently now.
 
There's so much content in the game. One of the best of 2013 no doubt, and the one I personally put the most time in if my 3DS activity log is correct.

Also definitely build up Donnel, he's a monster.
 
I see you guys talking about grinding, but I haven't seen that much to grind on. Random appearances by Risen here and there, but that can't be what you're all referring to. Is all the experience farming done on DLC maps?
 
All you need to know about Frederick is to improve his relationship with Chrom to see how much he "deeply" cares for him.
 
Red Rudolph said:
I see you guys talking about grinding, but I haven't seen that much to grind on. Random appearances by Risen here and there, but that can't be what you're all referring to. Is all the experience farming done on DLC maps?
Click to expand...
You can use Spotpass teams as well.
 
Fredericks a great support class, increased movement and his initial overpowerness is actually a boon, since paired up class don't get much xp, and while mediocre still gives a punch to the main characters dps even in late game.
 
Still my game of the year, tbh.

And yeah, Frederick becomes absolutely useless later on. Don't rely on him so much that you aren't giving any others a chance.

Lissa and Donnel were beasts in my first playthrough of the game. I made Lissa heal anytime she could, even if the other person was 1-2 HP down. She gained experience like crazy.
 
$15 is a steal for such a fine game, you did good getting it, I approve.

I rarely used Frederick except for some of the DLC. I didn't need him much in the main game but I kept building him up anyway.

You should think about getting some of the Scramble DLC when you're done with the game and want some more character dialogue.
 
My man, playing on hard I see. Frederick WOULD have been your typical Jeigan, however Awakening is very accessible and grinding is an option, on top of that the games balance is all over the place, so freddy will be fine assuming you aren't doing every other possible thing to ruin your game. (and even then...reeking boxes break everythin) so don't get to caught up on it. If you really wanna break the game strive for Pegasus knight, which leads to Dark Flier, which leads to gale force. if your units speed is I believe 5 points higher than your opponents you get two hits (this counts raised speed from pairings) Don't do pointless reclassing and don't raise every class to max level, focus on skills. Rally Spectrum is ridiculous, learned at grandmaster 15, and can be inherited.
 
Red Rudolph said:
I see you guys talking about grinding, but I haven't seen that much to grind on. Random appearances by Risen here and there, but that can't be what you're all referring to. Is all the experience farming done on DLC maps?
Click to expand...

Random battles respawn every day at 12:00 iirc

Fey said:
Still my game of the year, tbh.

And yeah, Frederick becomes absolutely useless later on. Don't rely on him so much that you aren't giving any others a chance.

Lissa and Donnel were beasts in my first playthrough of the game. I made Lissa heal anytime she could, even if the other person was 1-2 HP down. She gained experience like crazy.
Click to expand...

Yep, doing that she stays 7-10 levles ahead of Chrom/MU until the lategame
 
Red Rudolph said:
I see you guys talking about grinding, but I haven't seen that much to grind on. Random appearances by Risen here and there, but that can't be what you're all referring to. Is all the experience farming done on DLC maps?
Click to expand...

There are challenges via wifi you can do. You can fight old Fire Emblem heroes and get them in your "party". But there's no point in doing so. I just battled them for the experience. Unless they fixed it where you get no experience from them.
 
Frederick is definitely dying of neglect for me now that stahl and kellam have hit the tipping point of "basically indestructible to physical attacts."

Real story though: My first class Promotion: Lissa to a sage. Oh my goodness I never appreciated her magic stat til she learned to kill things.

And I KNEW Donnel would pull a Magikarp on me if I levelled him enough. Thanks for the confirmation.
 
Coincidentally I just started this today. Roommate got it for me as a Christmas gift thanks to the same $15 deal. 3 hours in and this shit is dope. And fresh.
 
Great game. Sunk over 120 hours on a single character doing Hard-Classic. I don't regret it at all!

You've just reminded me to slot the game again and think about doing a mage run through (as I was largely a swordsman this time around), as well as see if the new DLC is worth picking up.
 
Red Rudolph said:
I see you guys talking about grinding, but I haven't seen that much to grind on. Random appearances by Risen here and there, but that can't be what you're all referring to. Is all the experience farming done on DLC maps?
Click to expand...

The DLC chapters (which were free at launch so a ton of people had that), the spotpass teams (which you can endlessly summon over and over), and the random risen all make it so there's basically an endless amount of XP the game throws your way.

Definitely need to baby Donnel 1 xp point at a time until he premotes early on, I played the same as you "Hard Classic" and was getting wrecked trying to level him later on then went back and grinded a few levels and BAM, steamroll.
 
On a Hard/Classic mode, since I knew not to use the Jeigan/Prepromote type character, I used him as a meat shield or a way to abuse pair up to give defense to my weaker units, or to move healers around the map.
 
I'm having trouble getting Donnel into situations where he can gain EXP without getting smashed. Same for Chrom. I usually pair Donnel up with Lon'qou but that's not really getting him anywhere. I think the only character I've upgraded about 10 hours in is Kellam.
 
I'm 50 hours in (only 30 gametime though after many, MANY restarts), chapter 22 on Hard/Classic. I used Frederick to tank damage early in the game but at this point I don't even bring him into battles any more. Units like Kellam, Panne, and Cherche are leagues more savage.

The one bummer is I'm starting the realize that all the time I spent planning out skill inheritance will probably be for naught since I'm approaching the end of the game and have yet to recruit a single optional child character. I'll probably be wrapping things up by the time everyone gets the skills I want to pass down. Oh well.
 
Like most people on here you shouldn't rely on Fred. Try to level up your other members. Also try to marry everyone as it'll give you strong kids that are a big part of the game.
 
Chrom I first paired up almost exclusively with my character to increase their bromance perks. Then I paired him up with.. well a certain character that appears later.
 
I've already married my Tactician to Miriel, and the two of them are wrecking shop together. Absolutely loving the support and pairing systems. Besides that, Lon'Qu and Lissa are tearing it up, as is Kellam. Dunno how anyone can NOT use Kellam, that lovable guy. On the GBA FE, I beefed up a fighter to become the best on my team. Wanted to do something similar with Vaike, but his low defense... ugh. I'm really missing Dorcas.

Dorcas.jpg
 
About the DLC:

- Get the scramble pack.
- Get Future Past.

If you want some extra help with the game get the Golden Pack.
If you want extra challenge get the challenge pack, also get the golden pack to train for the challenges.

There are some dlc stages that give you new classes and skills, get the Bride class, the Dread figher class, the limit breaker skill and maybe the paragon skill. Skip everything else.

fredrancour said:
Frederick is definitely dying of neglect for me now that stahl and kellam have hit the tipping point of "basically indestructible to physical attacts."

Real story though: My first class Promotion: Lissa to a sage. Oh my goodness I never appreciated her magic stat til she learned to kill things.

And I KNEW Donnel would pull a Magikarp on me if I levelled him enough. Thanks for the confirmation.
Click to expand...

Donnel has two problems that only show up on the post game/dlc.
1. His caps arent good.
2. His class selection is pretty bad.
 
Picked up FE: Awakening a few days ago myself. First time playing a Fire Emblem title. Fredrick was my leading man for a few chapters, but after reading a tip somewhere, I started relying more on pairing up and switching. Love the flexibility of that mechanic.

9 hours in on hard/classic so far... Really hated it at first. Hated it so much I created a new game on normal. Bleh, way too easy. Went back to classic almost immediately.
 
Freddy's great as a meat shield in the beginning. Equip him with a weak weapon, lure enemies in, and cripple them (without killing them!) for your more brittle characters to finish off. I dunno if you need it on Hard (I only did a bit of Lunatic and that's the strategy I used), but make sure Freddy doesn't get any kills. :)

FE:A can be very fun, even if the map design is lacking. You'll definitely enjoy your purchase! Keep challenging yourself!
 
Definitely level up Donnel. After he proceeds through a few classes he'll easily be in the top 5 strongest characters in the game and will WRECK enemies.

Also, do all of the side missions that pop up through marriages and the ones that come up randomly. There are really helpful things (I'll put it that way so I don't spoil it for anyone) to be found in the marriage ones and all of them are good sources for EXP
 
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