Fire Emblem 8 Sacred Stones: Low Level HM - Prologue to Chapter 3

A lowest level game in Fire Emblem 8. Since "low level" in a Fire Emblem game could mean a good half a dozen of things, I suppose I should start off by explaining what this video series will be about and what I mean by "low level" here.

THE RULES - 'low level' implies that in the preparations menu for each chapter, I deploy the lowest levelled units in my party. Promoted characters count as being lv. 20+ of their current level (so Seth is lv. 21), whereas the trainees are their level - 10 (so they're a burden always in the party for a long while).

I'm not allowed to enter skirmishes on the map (sticking to the mandatory battles only), I can't grind at the Tower of Valni, nor can I boss abuse (attacking bosses equipped with 1-range weapons from 2-range repeatedly to grind up levels) or enter the arena (ever). This ensures the lowest-levelled characters do stay low-levelled.

The difficulty depends on being unable to train characters to be strong, because as soon as they reach a high enough level, they have to be switched out of the party for lower-levelled characters. This is made worse by the game forcing trainees a bit too late into the game (Amelia and Ewan - Amelia being the bigger pain in the arse to level since she targets the stronger defence stat) as well as critters like Marisa and L'arachel. It's also a problem that sometimes you basically have to have 3 healers in the party, reducing the number of units that deal actual damage for you (normally, one healer is more than enough).

The lords can be used freely; in fact, they're all we have to have some chances against the bosses. However, training the lower-level units is key to beating the other enemies on the map more efficiently.

This isn't a low-turn run for obvious reasons, so I'm allowed to build supports. I didn't do so in this video, even though many are immediately available (like Seth/Franz, Franz/Gilliam and a lot more). One thing about supports is that we want characters of about equal level (and movement, but that's a given) to build supports with each other, so that one isn't absent on the field when the other one is deployed. So something like Franz/Seth is a bad idea because we won't see Seth on the field for a long while starting with chapter 4 - it will need quite a few promotions for Seth to be low-levelled enough to see battle again.

This video shows the first four maps of the game, before you can first access the preparation menu and switch characters in and out. Though it can be played like a normal game, or a low-turn count game, at this point, I focus on training my lord by giving her a lot of experience and also babying Ross so that he doesn't suck so much. At least, I want him to not be doubled by most enemies right now. In a regular run, you'd just stop using Ross altogether and forget about him being in the game, but since he's a level 1 trainee he will torture us with his presence for a long enough time - so it's a good idea to start levelling him right here.

On the first map, the timing of that Vulnerary is strange - this is because no matter how many times you restart the chapter, you will get the same crappy level-up (HP, Luck and Skill I think) every time, and this seems to change the RNG rigged against you. Eirika gets strength, defence and speed upon level up (best three stats in the GBA FE games) so she is already able to one-round KO the bandits in Chapter 1, which is really nice.

To make this more interactive, here are two questions:
1) Shall I play with the battle animations on or off?
Having them off makes the videos shorter, obviously. Having them on allows to see animations (d'oh), which is a pleasant thing when there are critical hits all over the place, and also allows to see the accuracy numbers during enemy phase plus the weapons the enemies are wielding. I'm not sure how I want to go about it - normally I play with the animations but turbo once I see the desired numbers anyway.
2) Shall I take Eirika's or Ephraim's route?
I'm thinking Ephraim right now since that's the hardest IMO. Phantom Ship sounds excitingly hard without Seth and Duessel.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• fire
• emblem
• eight
• fe8
• the
• sacred
• stones
• tss
• ss
• eirika
• seth
• franz
• ross
• lowest
• level
• llg

[ErichtheTormentor]

You sure have a lot of challenges going on at the same time.

[MoogleBoss]

@ErichtheTormentor

Look who's talking!

[ultimateluigi9878]

I'm wondering about your rules and early promoting, it's not mentioned, but I'm assuming you've banned it. Now, if you CAN... did somebody say 10/10/1 Summoner Ewan?

[MoogleBoss]

@ultimateluigi9878

Early promoting can be done; however, the characters count as being lv. 20+ after promotion, so after being promoted they're most likely benched for a while again, until the rest catches up in levels. So, if we have Summoner Ewan promoted at lv. 10 and Garcia at lv. 18 unpromoted, Ewan can't be deployed until Garcia is promoted too, and at a higher level.

[ultimateluigi9878]

@MoogleBoss I could see this as a kind of "Well, I've only got to get useless unit X to level 10 before I have to stop worrying about them! Bye, Ewan and Amelia!", though it'd backfire if you ever actually had to ever use them again. Also, I bet Duessel will never see the light of day, the poor guy is Lv. 10 promoted...

[MoogleBoss]

@ultimateluigi9878

Ewan and Amelia fully promoted wouldn't be a burden anymore, though. Even if Amelia gets RNG screwed on her twenty+ level-ups, she can still perform neat tasks as a Paladin.

[ZidaneTribal93]

Best Fire Emblem (has monsters).

[MoogleBoss]

@Haromaro26

Yeah, not letting anyone die and recruiting everyone (should be pretty straightforward). Seems like the thing to do when playing Fire Emblem.

Ross ends up about as good as his dad (who can't be a Berserker) but needs a lot of babying to get there. Garcia has pretty respectable bases and a reliable CON stat right off the bat. I don't normally use either them, and just use Duessel and Gerik for axin', though.

[MoogleBoss]

@FFF813

Yeah, I'm trying not to give Vanessa/Tana/Colm too much experience so that I always have them handy for utility purposes. Perhaps keeping Franz at a low level is a good idea too, since he can travel far to save villages and take a hit or two if needed.

[MoogleBoss]

@cybermega

The lords will probably have a level lead since they're deployed always (unlike most everybody else), and they'll most likely be the ones to take on the bosses.