Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

[Hawkwing]

So, I know there's a Wii thread but other games have their own threads.

For Christmas I recieved a Wii and FE. Hence forth it has mostly consumed my free time. I was just wondering who else has played this?

And if you have just make a little discussion about it.

I think that this one is much harder than its prequel on the GC. I'm dissapointed that Largo isn't in this one, so now there's no more Bandits/Berserkers, so no the only walking axe units are warriors/reavers. I like that they added a 3rd tier to the classes. I also like the increase in difficulty level.

My favorite new cast members is probably Nolan and Edward because it reminds me of using Ike and Boyd to dominate. Just leave them next to each other and watch them decimate. The new support system, I like it. The fact that you can choose who you have a support with is nice, but I miss the quality of support dialogues that the GC one had.

My favorite characters this time around are Gatrie and Nephenee, they completely dominate lives.

My least favorite characters are some of the laguz, they just suck this time around unless you have the Royalty ones. The only good non-royalty laguz are Ranulf and Skrimir. Meg also sucks pretty bad, shes an Armor Sword that has almost no defense. Supposedly as she gets leveled up higher shes good because she's much faster than any of the other generals.

I would just like to hear your thoughts on this game, maybe some party setups, or support combinations you use that you find particularly useful. I'd like to completely wreck this game my 2nd time around. I'm going to replay FE on the GC to max out some characters that I use frequently in this one so I can get the stat bonuses from transferring them over. So any cool things you guys have found along the way I'd love to hear.

[Jam Stunna]

I played Path of Radiance, but never finished it because I let someone borrow it (dumb move on my part). I want to play this game at some point, but not until I finish PoR. I haven't heard too many good things about it though, and honestly I was less than impressed by the series' switch from GBA to Gamecube. So all things considered, I'm not in that much of a rush to play it.

[Zombie]

I need this game. I keep seeing it at the store, but for some reason I never pick it up. I really enjoyed path of radiance, so ill have to pick it up.

[Hawkwing]

I played Path of Radiance, but never finished it because I let someone borrow it (dumb move on my part). I want to play this game at some point, but not until I finish PoR. I haven't heard too many good things about it though, and honestly I was less than impressed by the series' switch from GBA to Gamecube. So all things considered, I'm not in that much of a rush to play it.

most websites gave this game a high rating. the only sites that gave it a low rating griped about the difficulty level. but if you can beat PoR then RD should only give you moderate difficulty.

I will admit that this game is MUCH harder than the last one, on average i play a map about 3 times. But you just have to plan ahead, know what the enemy is going to do based on what you did, and keep vulnerable targets outa range.

I wouldnt let some bad reviews make you shy away from this game. It's excellent.

[Bahamut]

I want this game too...but $50 is a bit much to me - I almost never pay full price for a game anymore. Super Mario Galaxy, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Bioshock - I got all of these at a discount, and have Super Smash Bros. Brawl preordered at a discount as well.

[Jam Stunna]

Yeah, Fire Emblem 6 was pretty hard. I like the ridiculous difficulty of Fire Emblem games though.

[EvilZereno]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... this is the BEST game on Wii to date. It easily consumed 65 hours or so on the hardest mode, and it was a blast to play. I did nothing for two weeks straight except this game. I died on average maybe 2-3 times on each map, and sometimes 6 times on the MUCH harder maps. Its a brilliant game. I felt sad at the very end when you have 60+ characters to choose from, and you can only take like...what...14 or so into the last 4 maps. Quite a few characters missed out. My favorite character ended up being Mia... when she maxes out... she is intense. She could take on multiple fleets at one time. Ending team was Ike, Boyd, Harr, Shinnon, Nephenee, Naliah, Titania, Gatrie, Oscar, Tibarn, Giffca, Cainegis and a few others.

I loved the difficulty, the intense and in depth story, and the old school gaming feel of it. I wish more games were like this.

[irriadin]

This game is entirely underrated. It has a very involving storyline with memorable characters, and the gameplay is incredibly satisfying. While it can be incredibly frustrating at times, the unforgiving game design (in terms of the characters deaths being permanent) really makes you think about the moves you make every turn. Each character has his or her own story, and that makes the death system even harder.

I'm currently on the third part of the last mission, and I have to say, this is probably the best Fire Emblem I've played (those include all FE's released in the US).

As far as support combinations and team-building goes, I've found that Shinon and Mia make an excellent duo. Give Mia the skill Adept when she reaches her third class, and she'll be nearly unstoppable. As a general rule of thumb, don't bother using any of the laguz apart from the royal ones... even ones like Ranulf can't measure up to the likes of Tibarn or the wolf queen. Gatrie and Nephenee also are a good duo, particularly if you give Gatrie the skill "Taunt" which causes enemies to target him in preference to other units. Anyway, here's my core team, separated by support pairs:

1-2 Ike and Soren - I had to give my Soren a few speedwings to allow him to double most enemies. Once he gets to that point, he's very powerful. Just make sure he has Shade equipped. Ike is probably the most powerful unit I have... his only weakness is his low resistance.

3-4 Gatrie and Nephenee - I gave Nephenee the skill "Imbue" which allows her to "tank" enemies very well, since her magic is about 13. Imbue recovers that amount after every turn.

5-6 Mia and Shinon

7-8 Titiana and Oscar - These two are FANTASTIC when paired together. They have incredibly high evasion, allowing them to effectively handle tons of enemies and recover themselves using the special skill Sol. Oscar is slightly more fragile than Titiana, so using Imbue or Pavise might compensate for that.

9. The Wolf Queen - Let me put it this way... she is ridiculously good. She is INSANELY fast and her evasion is on par with Mia's.

10. Beast King

11. Tibarn - I love Tibarn. Just be careful around archers.

I also really liked Empress Sanaki, if only her HP was higher... Equip Shade on her or you'll regret it.

[SwordBreaker]

I've never been able to get into the Fire Emblem series for some reason. Like most non-Japanese Nintendo fans, Smash Brothers Melee was my first exposure to the series. Bought FE for GBA, played it a bit, then lost interest. The strategy formula didn't really sink to my head as much as Final Fantasy Tactics. And being the fanboy that I am, I always compare any turn-based stratagy game to FF Tactics.

Anyway, I've been hearing that Radiant Dawn doesn't really show that it's a Wii game. I'm wondering if this bothers anyone. Personally, it's fine with me. Unfortunately, I've not played the GC one yet so this will have to wait.

[irriadin]

I've never been able to get into the Fire Emblem series for some reason. Like most non-Japanese Nintendo fans, Smash Brothers Melee was my first exposure to the series. Bought FE for GBA, played it a bit, then lost interest. The strategy formula didn't really sink to my head as much as Final Fantasy Tactics. And being the fanboy that I am, I always compare any turn-based stratagy game to FF Tactics.

Anyway, I've been hearing that Radiant Dawn doesn't really show that it's a Wii game. I'm wondering if this bothers anyone. Personally, it's fine with me. Unfortunately, I've not played the GC one yet so this will have to wait.

This doesn't bother me. I play it with a GC controller, even.

[Hawkwing]

This game is entirely underrated. It has a very involving storyline with memorable characters, and the gameplay is incredibly satisfying. While it can be incredibly frustrating at times, the unforgiving game design (in terms of the characters deaths being permanent) really makes you think about the moves you make every turn. Each character has his or her own story, and that makes the death system even harder.

I'm currently on the third part of the last mission, and I have to say, this is probably the best Fire Emblem I've played (those include all FE's released in the US).

As far as support combinations and team-building goes, I've found that Shinon and Mia make an excellent duo. Give Mia the skill Adept when she reaches her third class, and she'll be nearly unstoppable. As a general rule of thumb, don't bother using any of the laguz apart from the royal ones... even ones like Ranulf can't measure up to the likes of Tibarn or the wolf queen. Gatrie and Nephenee also are a good duo, particularly if you give Gatrie the skill "Taunt" which causes enemies to target him in preference to other units. Anyway, here's my core team, separated by support pairs:

1-2 Ike and Soren - I had to give my Soren a few speedwings to allow him to double most enemies. Once he gets to that point, he's very powerful. Just make sure he has Shade equipped. Ike is probably the most powerful unit I have... his only weakness is his low resistance.

3-4 Gatrie and Nephenee - I gave Nephenee the skill "Imbue" which allows her to "tank" enemies very well, since her magic is about 13. Imbue recovers that amount after every turn.

5-6 Mia and Shinon

7-8 Titiana and Oscar - These two are FANTASTIC when paired together. They have incredibly high evasion, allowing them to effectively handle tons of enemies and recover themselves using the special skill Sol. Oscar is slightly more fragile than Titiana, so using Imbue or Pavise might compensate for that.

9. The Wolf Queen - Let me put it this way... she is ridiculously good. She is INSANELY fast and her evasion is on par with Mia's.

10. Beast King

11. Tibarn - I love Tibarn. Just be careful around archers.

I also really liked Empress Sanaki, if only her HP was higher... Equip Shade on her or you'll regret it.

you've got almost the exact same thing i have except i have soren linked to shinon and boyd linked to ike. Nephenee and Gatrie are a devestating combo, especially when Neph has Imbue. I also gave it to her due to her high magic as a fighter. My Gatrie is also one of my fastest people and can even double Swordmasters. i don't mind the last part where you can only bring a few choice people in because theres a core group of people i like to use anyways. I barely ever bring the herons in, it scares me to do it cause they're so weak.

[irriadin]

you've got almost the exact same thing i have except i have soren linked to shinon and boyd linked to ike. Nephenee and Gatrie are a devestating combo, especially when Neph has Imbue. I also gave it to her due to her high magic as a fighter. My Gatrie is also one of my fastest people and can even double Swordmasters. i don't mind the last part where you can only bring a few choice people in because theres a core group of people i like to use anyways. I barely ever bring the herons in, it scares me to do it cause they're so weak.

If I can help it, I never bring the herons. They're a huge target for all kinds of enemies. They also are incredibly weak and fragile.

[Strike911]

@ Bahamut : How are you getting discounts on games? Lucky.

@ everyone else : My sweet God how I love the Fire Emblem series. I highly enjoyed Advance Wars way back in the day, when I tried the GBA Fire emblem it felt like a new and fresh take on the same type of strategy style. So I played the GCN version and felt like the game was so polished and refined, and the story was actually pretty good (especially so when compared to most of nintendo's stuff!). So I almost bought this game at launch but decided against it... I will own this.

I do have one question though. I've gone through Path of Radiance and I heard that there is some kind of connectivity between the wii version and the GCN version. What do you get if you played the previous version?

Fire Emblem is so underrated. Spread the love. Like herpes!

[Bahamut]

@ Bahamut : How are you getting discounts on games? Lucky.

Liongames.com tends to have decent preorder deals if you pay attention i.e. getting on their mailing list (like I have SSBB preordered for $43 shipped). Cheapassgamer.com & cheapass price intuition (for how long to wait for a game for a discount based on how it did, etc.) lets me score on other discounts too.

[Strike911]

Liongames.com tends to have decent preorder deals if you pay attention i.e. getting on their mailing list (like I have SSBB preordered for $43 shipped). Cheapassgamer.com & cheapass price intuition (for how long to wait for a game for a discount based on how it did, etc.) lets me score on other discounts too.

ah ha! Very cool! Thanks for the links.

[Aninymouse]

Here's a link for those who want to start a new game with transfer bonuses: http://serenesforest.net/fe10/transfer.html

Of all the benefits, the weapon experience boost seems to be the most worthwhile. The stats don't help all THAT much (and you can only level up so many people to 20/20 in PoR,) but for characters like Ilyana, Zihark & Tauroneo (pretty much any tier-two units from part one as well) it can be a significant help.

Just as a caution... certain "versions" of Dawn will freeze up if you try to have it read data from a memory card with any kind of save on Easy in PoR. So, basically, don't get cheeky and try to max out a ton of characters on Easy like I thought I could... You have to delete your Easy mode files on your gamecube.

There's a secret ending in Dawn that has a HUGE list of requirements... Here they are (minor spoilers):

Transfer Ike/Soren "A" support from PoR

Send Black Knight into 1-Final

Make Ike fight the Black Knight in Part 3 Chapter 7 (and both survive)

Soren attacked Micaiah in 3-7

Spared Pelleas

Soren attacked Pelleas in 3-Final

Pelleas attacked Valtome in 4-2

Pelleas attacked Izuka.

Brought Pelleas to Endgame

Make Pelleas fight Sephiran in Part 4 Final Chapter-4

Pelleas survives

Soren survives

Saw the Pelleas-Almeda Epilogue Scene. (basically, your second time playing Dawn at least)