Fire Emblem Awakening Tutorial

Fire Emblem Awakening: Arguably one of, if not, the best Fire Emblem games to this day!

So I'm just going to go on record and say that I am a huge fan of Fire Emblem. I love the large amount of characters, the myriad of classes and class branches, and generally just everything about it. Like a lot of people, the inclusion of Marth and Roy into Super Smash Bros. Melee is how I first learned about the series. I don't think I had much interest in the series until an ex-friend taught me how to play. His example was Path of Radiance, with our good pal Ike as the main hero of the game. Obviously to a newcomer such as myself, it was... a lot to take in. Stats, weapon, weapon power, speed, etc., generally most of the jargon you'd see in an RPG. However, the only RPG-esque games I had played up to that point were Pokemon and Zelda, and while Pokemon is closer to a traditional RPG, it's not the exact same - unless of course you're trying to do a Nuzlocke Challenge, but that's a story for another post. But once the mechanics and the rock-paper-scissors type gameplay sets in, you're already a veteran at the game. It's easy to pick up, and in most cases, the games have a lot of replay value to them, most notably from the fact that you can't just infinitely level up your characters to over-power them(Except for Sacred Stones, Awakening, and Fates. I don't count Arena Abuse as there is still a good chance you can die and lose a lot of progress, but that can also be said for any of them, really) and so you just have to pick some people and focus on them.

But enough with the reminiscing on the basics. Today, I'm going to use Fire Emblem Awakening as my example for a tutorial on Fire Emblem, mostly in case some new players want to learn without being so intimidated, mainly by RPG elements, dialogue, and the dreaded perma-death! I would use Fates but I don't have it, and I want it, but I don't have the money and- *talks forever about why I can't get it yet and why I want it*

It may seem daunting at first, but after you get the basics down and you practise a little, anyone can become skilled at Fire Emblem. It's all about the right moves and playing to suit your playstyle. Let's begin.

- Understanding the Basics -

So the first thing to understand is that, unfortunately, this game will be a little difficult at first, if only because you're still learning and grasping the concepts of Fire Emblem. The main idea is that your team (The Blue Team) is fighting against the enemy team (The Red Team) in each map. Normally, your objective is to rout the enemy, but sometimes it's something more quick, like simply defeating the enemy leader. In other Fire Emblem games, there are more goals, such as Seizing a castle or throne, or lasting a set amount of turns, etc. But routing and defeating the enemy leader are Awakening's two goals. Now that you have a goal, let's take a look at the stats that every unit has, and what's important about them.

- Strength (STR) is the amount of damage that a unit will do with physical attacks, such as using a sword, lance, or axe, which are the main weapon triangle.

- Magic (MAG) is the amount of damage a unit will do with magical attack, which is through the use of tomes.

- Skill affects hit rate and the frequency of critical hits. If this is high, you're more likely to almost always have a 100% chance to hit an enemy and a decent chance of a critical hit.

- Speed (SPD) affects your avoid, which is handy in itself. However, if Unit A has 5 or more Speed than Unit B, then A will do two attacks when you fight Unit B. Always handy to attack more than once.

- Luck (LCK) generally lowers the risk of enemy critical hits, but it's also mainly going to tell you that it "has various effects." But avoiding enemy crits is especially useful, especially if they use a weapon with increased critical chances.

- Defense (DEF) reduces the damage from physical attacks. It's especially important to learn the difference between DEF and RES so that you're not caught off guard.

- Resistance (RES) reduces the damage from magical attacks.

- Attack (ATK) is the general power of physical/magical attacks. Needless to say, the higher the number, the stronger your unit is.

- Hit affects your, well, hit rate. The higher the number, the more likely it is that your unit will hit the enemy unit in battle.

- Critical (CRIT) is the odds that your unit will get a critical hit. Generally low no matter what, without the use of crit-enhancing weapons, but still fun to see yourself destroy an enemy.

- Avoid (AVO) affects the odds your unit will evade the enemy's attacks. Again, the higher the number, the better off you'll be.

- Weapon Triangle and Magic -

Early on in the game, you are told about the weapon triangle, which is a simple rock-paper-scissors system that states that every weapon has an advantage against another weapon, but is less useful against the other weapon. In some Fire Emblem games, this also applies to magic, but only if Dark and Light magic are in the game. Otherwise, all magic is neutral to each other but some are stronger than others and have added bonuses. Let's explain:

- Swords are strong against Axes

- Axes are strong against Lances

- Lances are strong against Swords

There are two other types of weapons in the game that are neutral to the whole triangle: Bows and Strike

- Bows are neutral to the whole triangle and are not weak to anything. However, bow-users can only attack from afar, usually two spaces away or diagonally from the target, and cannot counterattack adjacently when attacked. However, despite this weakness and their decent power against everything, Archers will destroy airborne units such as Pegasus Knights, as bows do additional damage to flying units.

- Strike applies to units who can shapeshift into beasts. In Awakening, this applies to Taguel and Manakete units, shape-shifters who use Beaststones and Dragonstones, respectively, to attack. Manaketes can also attack from afar like Archers can, so it's nice to have in a pinch. Additionally, when shifted, these units are very strong, with boosted stats all around.

Early on in the game, the Weapon Triangle is very important to know, if only because your units are weak and need more experience to become more powerful. Eventually, once your Skill and Hit get high enough, the triangle kind of becomes redundant. But even then, it might still come in handy in some cases, even when powered up; primarily when the opponents are stronger as you approach Endgame and they start to become a threat to you again.

Magic is very similar to how Manaketes work, but there is no shifting involved. Instead, magic-users can either attack adjacently or from afar as with Manaketes. But instead of STR being used, MAG is used for dealing damage. Magic users, in most cases, tend to have low DEF, but good RES, making them good for taking on other magic users, but also classes with low RES, such as Barbarians and Fighters. And all four magic types in Awakening are useful against everything, but they're generally neutral unless certain magic is used on certain units. 

- Fire magic is the 2nd weakest in terms of pure power, and is really just good overall. In other Fire Emblem games such as Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn, Fire magic is good against Beast units, making the connection of making them catch on fire because of their thick fur coats.

- Wind magic is the weakest in terms of raw strength but it has the highest hit rate, making it reliable in almost any situation. When used against any type of airborne unit, such as a Pegasus Knight, its power is increased and will do additional damage to them.

- Thunder magic is the second strongest magic type, and the strongest out of the trinity of Fire, Wind, and Thunder. However, it has the lowest hit rate out of the three, but has an additional chance of getting a critical hit on the opponent. Depending on the game, Thunder is strong against Dragon units, but in Awakening, the magic does not have this advantage.

- Dark magic is the strongest out of all the magic types, but also has the least amount of Hit throughout all four magic types. However, as your Skill and Hit increases, you won't have to worry about missing and you'll end up annihilating your foes with this fearsome magic!

- Weapons and Weapon Levels-

So, every weapon has a rank from E to A(S or SS in other games), with E being the worst and A being the best. You can't use higher ranked weapons without attaining the right weapon rank. So for example: Unit A has a Sword rank of E, while Unit B has a Lance rank of B. Unit A can only use Bronze Swords, or whatever rank E swords are available to you at the time. Meanwhile, Unit B can use Bronze, Iron, Steel, and Silver Lances, as well as almost every type of Lance, save for the Ultimate Lances that are usually one-time obtainable and once they break, they're gone for good. By using weapons more, the rank will gain exp and increase with time. Once the rank hits A, your unit can use every type of weapon in that category, be it Swords or otherwise. Some units even have more than one weapon they can use, so be sure to try and keep those ranks high.

- Skills -

Skills are very important as they can sometimes choose how you use your units. Every character starts with a skill, some may be unique to them, some may be unique to their specific class. For example, a Mage will come with Magic +2, which makes their magic attacks more useful and it benefits them in the long run. As your units grow and change classes, they will gain more skills to benefit them in the long run. It's up to you to decide which skills will fit your units the best, so there's nothing I can really say about it here.

- Promotion -

So obviously you don't want the same weak units all the time, and you won't. Once a unit in a base class reaches level 10, they can promote to a higher class, or - in the case of Awakening - they can reclass into another base class to obtain more stat boosts and more skills. However, unless you're in a rush to promote, it's almost always a better idea to let your characters grow to the maximum level of 20, so they not only obtain additional skills, but also gain much-needed stat growths. Considering that in this game, you can infinitely level your characters as much as you want, you could always wait until level 10(Or level 15 for promoted units) to get the class' skills, then switch over, but as with skills, the choice is ultimately up to you.

- Support -

As your units fight together in battle (which is shown by them being next to each other on the field or Paired Up) their bonds grow stronger and the benefits between them grow, such as a higher hit rate or dealing more damage to enemies. There is also a chance that, in battle, they will attack the enemy with you, or guard you from an attack. Before you enter a battle on your turn, you can see the benefits on the screen underneath the battle stats such as Hit and Crit. And through Support Conversations, your units will become closer. And if they reach S-Rank with another unit.....? (Aka, dramatic cliffhanger because I'm not spoiling things here xD)

- General Tips and Tricks to Remember -

So, now that the basics have been explained, I'm going to go over some tips and tricks for newcomers to Fire Emblem. Please note that this is just my opinion and it does not have to be followed to the letter. You're free to use these tips as you please and develop your own strategies based on your own playstyle. I just hope you benefit from these tips, and if you do, that's wonderful! If not, well.. there's not much else I can say other than I hope you developed your own style that benefits you the most.

- If perma-death is a little too intimidating for your very first run, do not be afraid to activate Casual Mode in the beginning. In Casual Mode, if a unit is defeated,they will retreat for the remainder of the battle. After you finish the battle, they will be ready to fight again. This lowers the challenge, sure, but if you're trying to ease into the game first, without worrying about losing units forever, this is perfect for a newcomer to the series.

- Probably the most important tip I can possibly give you is to take your time! There is never a time limit set in your battles. Using the X Button, you can see a purple area. This area allows you to see how far any of the enemy units can move and subsequently attack you from. It's a good idea to let them come to you and attack them when they get close, but be careful not to let them attack you. A good idea is to find enemies you know you might have trouble with, and hit the A button while highlighting them. This will make a red area appear because you essentially tagged them. This could be considered your "Danger Zone," as it gives you an idea of where not to be, so you're not caught unprepared for this enemy.

- Kind of an addition to the previous one, figure out what enemies will be the biggest threat. When you place your cursor over any enemy, the blue squares signify how far they can move from their current location, while the red squares are the places they can attack a unit if one is there when they finish moving. As with before, being just out of their range is always handy so that you can attack them first, and you can have a slight upper and that could easily result in a well-earned victory.

- Healers need to stay close, but in the back! A unit who cannot attack is a sitting duck for punishment. Units such as Clerics and Mages and Archers need to be kept safe, as their weaker DEF makes them easy pickings for the enemies, especially a Cleric, as they'll barely survive one hit from a strong enough enemy. Basically, keep them close enough to contribute, but not close enough that they'll get swarmed and die.

- Always look at your options. Your move is not permanent until you end the character's turn. You can easily approach an enemy, see how a battle would play out by viewing the stats, and deciding whether or not it's too risky. This can be a huge lifesaver as you won't be prone to making suicidal or reckless decisions and you'll come out with little to no casualties.

- Feeling a little weak? After completing Chapter 3, you can use the Armory to buy Reeking Boxes. For the price of 500 Gold each, a Reeking Box allows you to summon zombies known as Risen to the map where you stand. In every map at least one Risen holds a Small Bullion worth 1,000 G at the Armory, allowing for infinite money if you have the patience. These skirmishes also allow you to slowly, but surely, level up your army and have them become stronger for the chapters to come, as well as quickly build Support between units.

- Looking for quick Master/Second Seals? Unfortunately they don't start appearing in the story until as early as Chapter 8, but you can't buy them until you're halfway through the game. However, if you're lucky, you can find them through skirmishes when you use Reeking Boxes. Mostly the bosses will drop the weapon they have once you beat them(Indicated by the green text in their inventory) but typically Barbarians and Thieves will have items that will benefit you, such as a Speedwing to permanently increase your Speed stat, or the Seals. It's random, but keep trying and you'll eventually get lucky!

- Unsure of what skills to assign to your character? Tap the icon to read what it does for you. If you like the benefit, keep it. Once you get more than 5 skills, you will be asked to replace one, as you can only have 5 active skills at a time for each character. Some are good at first, but later become useless(in my opinion) while others have infinite use. It's up to you to determine what works best for you, so mix and match them and see what works out.

- Every now and then go to the Wireless option while on the World Map. You can obtain Renown Awards and get cool items in the Bonus Box if you haven't already. You can even have a set team of 10 units to send via Streetpass. Renown is earned after completing any map, be it a skirmish or story chapter. Eventually you can obtain wonderful rewards, and your Renown carries over across your playthroughs, so even at the beginning you can get wonderful items, such a Second Seal or a Large Bullion(Having that 10,000G early on helps a LOT, let me tell you) so keep checking back to see what you can get.

- Always look for units that aren't like the enemies, like.. unique sprites/characters. More often than not, there is a chance you can talk to them with a character(usually Chrom) and have them join your side. This does NOT, however, work with Bosses. They will NEVER defect from their side to join you. If you think an enemy may be able to be recruited, be sure to look for the Talk option near someone unique.

There you have it. I hope that this very long tutorial helps a lot of new Fire Emblem players get comfortable with this wonderful game. As I said a lot of times, feel free to develop your own way of going through the game. Everyone has a different play style. Some might want to use magic users more, maybe some want to use all kinds. The fun is in discovering what works best for you, and growing to love these amazing characters as your own in-game family. Of course there's a lot I didn't cover, but it wouldn't be a tutorial if I spoiled the entire game now would it? If you're interested in trying out Fire Emblem Awakening, be sure to go and download the demo from the 3DS eshop. You'll play through 3 chapters before it ends but it gives you a nice taste of what to expect from the game. The game DOES have DLC, but it's all very cheap and they do offer some good help to quite a few issues you might have while playing and grinding, such as money and exp. If you made it this far, thank you so much for sticking with me. I know this is very long-winded and probably over-complicated, but... well.. I do end up getting carried away when I explain a game, especially one I adore. If you found any of these tips helpful, I'm glad I could help. If you want to share your first-time experiences with me, drop a comment and let me know, I'd love to hear from you :) But thank you so much for reading this post, I appreciate it a ton! Have a wonderful day! :D