Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon!!!

[Evastio]

Anyone got their hands on this game yet? It's a remake of the first Fire Emblem, the one that has Marth in it.

I'm really enjoying it. I'm liking the new features like the prologue tutorial, extra characters, side quests (which give you extra characters) that are accessible if you don't have many characters on your team, and the class swapping system (which I haven't used yet since I plan to stay as close as I can to the original on my first run-through). Basically the class swapping system allows you to change your character's classes like from Mage to Cavalier, Archer to Curate, and other things.

Friend Code List

ljkkjlcm9: 373849838910
Evastio: 412503737334
Creeping Shadow: 442568117671

[JKTrix]

It's not out in the US until February. So enjoy it, you European folks.

I unfortunately won't be joining you once February rolls around. February is surprisingly busy as far as game releases go.

[XxSephirothxX]

I'll definitely pick it up once it's available in the US. It's a strange and confusing thing when Europe gets first.

[ljkkjlcm9]

Yeah, definitely getting this when it hits state side.

THE JACKEL

[Jiro]

Would like to pick this up, but who knows if it'll see an Aus release. Been missing a bit of FE action lately

[Creeping Shadow]

This hasn't come to the US yet.

Nice to hear you got your hands on it Evastio.

[Evastio]

I guess I'll try to explain the game for those of you who haven't played it.

There's four prologue tutorial chapters (which help but don't really explain things in depth as much as FE 7 or 8 do). In one of the chapters you have to sacrifice your characters in order to let the Marth and the others escape. It's a story event where you bring a character to a fort, they dress up as Marth, and run away, getting killed after the chapter ends. They've added a new Cavalier named Frey though so I guess it kind of implies that he was the one sacrificed in the original Fire Emblem.

There's also extra chapters and characters you can get if you have less than 15 characters (or 5, or you killed Tiki and don't have the Falchion) at certain points. I haven't done any extra chapters or gotten any extra characters though, except for Norne the Archer. I resetted when I got her though since I thought Gordin would be with me even after he died in the prologue but he didn't show up.

There's also the reclass system, which allows you to change characters from Clerics to Pegasus Knights and Fighters to Dark Mages (a new class that wasn't in the original, but they're basically just Mages since they still use Anima magic like Fire and Thunder since they didn't add Dark or Holy Magic). The characters' stats also change according to the classes they're changed to. Note that there are restrictions such as Hunters being unable to change to Archers and males unable to be changed into Pegasus Knights. Marth, Thieves, Manakeets (or Mamkuts), and Ballisticians can't change classes either. Also, they've added classes from the other Fire Emblem games like Berserkers, Warriors, etc. to Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon, which'll hopefully make people stop thinking that characters like Barst and Darros are useless. Myrmidons have also been added. Nabarl and Radd have been changed from Mercenaries from the NES/SNES Version, to Myrmidons to the DS Version. Astria and Samson are both still Heroes and not Swordmasters though.

As for the gameplay, I feel it's easier compared to Fire Emblem for the SNES. Shiida now comes equipped with a Wing Spear which is good against Armored and Mounted Units. You can now buy and sell things in the preparations menu as well as use stat boosting and upgrading items. Speaking of upgrading items, there's only one now which is the Master Seal. I'm assuming they did that because you could cheat with the items like change a Cleric to a Pegasus Knight, upgrade them with the Elysian Whip, then change them to a Bishop, basically using an Elysian Whip to upgrade your Cleric into a Bishop. All of the unique class upgrading items are now Master Seals, so don't worry about class upgrading items being rarer now. There's also Bullions now (think Gems from the previous Fire Emblem Games) which come in Small, Large, and Extra Large Sizes, the Small one selling for 10000 Gold and the Extra Large for 30000, which really helps out with money. There's also the grid system with blue squares showing where you can move, red showing where you can attack, etc. The battle window now shows your hit percentage and the damage you and the enemy will deal. There are also some other changes like Ellis being unpromoted, Samson being at level 10 instead of level 1, Hammerne having 12 castings instead of 3, the Falchion having more attack power, and unpromotable units being able to reach level 30. Marth can also talk to newly recruited units if he wasn't the one who recruited them.

There's also new bonus features like the story viewer, (it shows all cutscenes, character conversations, etc. There's also separate cutscenes to view for each character you can sacrifice in the prologue, so it's best to choose someone different every time if you're a completist) music player, Wi-Fi Battling, Wi-Fi character loaning, and Wi-Fi shops (haven't accessed any of the Wi-Fi stuff). Overall, it's a really great game for both newcomers and veterans of the Fire Emblem series and the upgraded graphics, upgraded soundtracks, new soundtracks, and all of the new content make it a welcome addition to any DS game library.

Sheesh, I'm starting to sound like a game reviewer. Also, I'm guessing it doesn't have Fire Emblem 3 included since Nyna actually proposes to and marries Hardin in the end, which would result in Hardin not falling for Gharnef's trap, stopping the whole conflict that FE3 revolved around.

[ljkkjlcm9]

I don't want someone to die!

THE JACKEL

[Dr. Acula]

I want this.

[Jiro]

Having to kill a character makes me cry, I've never lost a man yet (or I've tried again)! Still, it sounds quite great and I'll definitely check it out if I can find it

[Evastio]

Well, if you guys are really adamant on not sacrificing characters in the prologue, there's only two ways I know around it. You can kill Gordin since he's considered an enemy (unless Marth talks to him), though I guess that kind of means you sacrifice Gordin, and you'll be without a bow user until the second chapter (unless you get Norne). Or you could play hard mode and skip the prologue altogether. Frey won't be there though so that kind of means he got sacrificed. Also, Hard Mode on Fire Emblem games is brutal since the enemies are so much stronger than you. There's different Hard Mode difficulty levels though so I guess you could choose one of the easier difficulties.

I've also finished my second playthrough, where I didn't stay to the original since I used the Reclass system, I used every character that wasn't in the original, and I completed all of the sidequest chapters (too bad you have to kill off a lot of your characters to access them).

I guess I'll explain Reclassing more. Basically, characters that are class changeable belong in either two groups, the Pirate-Mercenary-Fighter-Dark Mage-Knight-Hunter Group or the Cavalier-Pegasus Knight-Archer-Mage-Cleric-Myrmidon Group (the upgraded versions of those classes are also in those groups). Cavaliers are specifics to males and Pegasus Knights to females (don't ask how Medea is an exception to that since I don't know either). Any class that can change classes are restricted to changing into classes in their group, so a Mage can change to a Cleric, but not a dark mage. You're probably also wondering how fighting classes are when they change to magic classes. From my experience, they're okay, but their magic stat is quite low and their strength is usually higher than their magic, despite being magic casters. You kind of have no choice but to make one of your physical fighters a dark mage though (unless you're willing to kill off a bunch of your characters to do the side quests so you can get one that's already upgraded). I don't there's any problems making a Mage into a Cleric though or anything like that. I changed one of my Knights into a Pirate and he turned out great so I'd assume it's the same for magic classes. Also, I'd highly recommend against changing Shiida into anything else. Her being a Pegasus Knight makes it really easy reaching recruitable enemies and converting them before they reach your characters (and she converts a lot of characters). She also has the Wing Spear which is powerful and usable only by her, and she can't use it as any other class (unless you cheat and make her a Knight or something).

Also, they've added travelling mercenaries to the game (don't confuse these with the Sword fighting mercenaries). If too many of your characters die, you'll get some new characters that will join you temporarily to make up for not having many characters. They don't have any personalities or faces for that matter. They basically have the generic enemy picture for their face picture, except they're not enemies. I don't know when they leave though since I killed them off, wanting to access the gaiden chapters. They come with weapons equipped on them and they get stronger the farther you are into the game. I wouldn't recommend using stat boosting items or Master Seals on them since they'll leave anyways. I haven't seen them leave but one of the houses I visited told me about the travelling mercenaries, not knowing what he was talking about until my second playthrough.

Anyways, regarding the new characters (that have faces and don't leave you) there's Frey, Norne, Athena, Horace, Etzel, Ymir, and Nagi. Frey is a typical level 1 Cavalier that you get near the start (no need to kill off people to get him, though technically he is the one that gets killed in the original), having higher strength than Abel and Kain, though Kain has the highest luck and Abel skill. Norne you get if you complete all the prologue chapters with four or less characters. Compared to Gordin, she gets more speed but Gordin gets more defense. They're both good archers though. Athena eez vun of the few (decides to stop it with the French accent, though she does speak with one and makes Marth talk with one at one point) sidequest characters that you can get that aren't promoted. She's a good Myrmidon, though I don't know how she compares with the others like Nabarl and Radd. Horace (General), Etzel (Sorceror), and Ymir (Warrior), though they're all promoted already have decent stats, though levelling their pre-promoted forms at level 20 then promoting them will probably get you better characters stat-wise (I tried it with Draug and Barst on my first run-through). They can all still hold their own in battle though, and kill off enemies as efficiently and successfully as non pre-promoted characters, and take and evade attacks. I'd at least give Etzel some consideration seeing how he's the only Sorceror you get in the game. Even if you change someone into a Sorceror, their magic stat will be low since you always have to change someone from a physical fighting class to a Dark Mage/Sorceror. Nagi you get at the last chapter if you don't have both Chiki or the Falchion after finishing Chapter 24. She's a level 15 Manakeet who starts with a Divine Stone (enabling her to kill Medeus in two shots). She's a very good character, though getting her means you won't get Gotoh, which sucks but I guess is a fair tradeoff.

So I guess I've explained everything you're all curious about. Feel free to ask me any more questions.

[ShunNakamura]

I actually sat down and played with growth rates and average stats and that sort of deal(I usually do with this kind of game).

Frey is friggin' awesome. His average stat total at max level is greater than any other character I bothered checking.

Anyways Serenes Forest is a nice place to check growth rates. And the Average stats for various characters at base classes are listed there.

Athena is kinda guh when compared to Nabarl.

Name	HP	Str	Ma	Skl	Spd	Luk	Def	Res
Athena	75	25	 0	40	50	25	10	 0
Nabarl	90	30	 0	40	50	40	10	 0

The numbers represent the chance of a stat gain on level up.

And Frey is just awesome(and he looks cool too).

Name	HP	Str	Ma	Skl	Spd	Luk	Def	Res
Abel	65	40	 0	50	50	25	20	 0
Frey	80	35	 0	55	55	45	20	 0
Cain	75	35	 0	50	50	40	20	 0

Norne vs Gordin

Name	HP	Str	Ma	Skl	Spd	Luk	Def	Res
Norne	60	25	 0	40	55	30	20	 0
Gordin	60	20	 0	40	35	40	30	 0

Gordin has a LOT of defense. That is the same as the first knight you get and is a match for Draug!



However if you want the most broken characters ever!

Name	HP	Str	Ma	Skl	Spd	Luk	Def	Res
Wolf	160	100	 0	85	85	50	65	 0
Sedgar	160	80	 0	95	85	30	85	 0

Can you say 'thank goodness they start pre-promoted and thus have only half as many level ups'?



Starting stats, levels, and stat caps of course effect how much you ending stats are, so a good growth doesn't always equal good stats(Frey though starts at level 1, has decent starting stats(not great though), and as a cavalier has fairly high stat caps; so in the end he ends up with really high stat totals unless you get RNG screwed with him).

[ljkkjlcm9]

I want this game, but I have Disgaea DS, and that Disgaea is like a lifetime committment. So I'm not sure when I'll get this even when it is available.

THE JACKEL

[Evastio]

I was wondering, has anyone gotten a Falcoknight using an Elysian Whip bought from the Wi-Fi stores? I haven't been able to do that myself and I'm curious as to how Falcoknights' stats compare to Dracoknights.

[ShunNakamura]

No luck on my side for a whip.


However, Serenes Forest has a growth chart here.

It really looks to be in favor of the Dracoknight. However, if you check their max stats here. You'll notice the Falcon Knight has higher caps in several stats. Characters with very high growth on their own could find the Falcon Knight as more handy. And if you look here you see the gains from promotions.