"Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave": How to get started with this monstrous strategy game
With these 14 tips, you will master the start of "Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave".
«Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave» is an incredibly complex game. With all its deep gameplay mechanics, it is not easy to get started with Nintendo's strategy epic. A lot of information gets lost in the numerous tutorials or is never clearly communicated.
But don't worry. I'm here for you. After over 160 hours of gameplay, I have put together 14 tips that will help you at the beginning of your epic adventure. Of course, no spoilers, I promise.
Which difficulty level should I play on?
The difficulty level in «Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave» is divided into two settings. First, you choose between «Easy» and «Hard». This option primarily affects the battles. How smart are the enemies and how aggressively do they behave?
My tip: Choose the higher difficulty level, especially if you are familiar with the series or strategy games in general. If the difficulty is too high for you, you can lower it at any time. The reverse is only possible with detours. If you want to increase the difficulty, you have to play through the entire prologue again. Tedious.
After that, you decide whether you play «Classic» or start the adventure as a «Beginner». In Classic mode, your units are gone forever if they fall on the battlefield. Only choose this mode if you are resistant to frustration and are prepared to spend significantly more time with the game. Everyone else should choose «Beginner» – don't let the name put you off.
Which hero should I start with?
You are free to choose which hero you want to start the Hero Games with. Each character has their own combat style, which manifests itself in, among other things, their cursed «Fire Attacks». Cai roasts enemies with wide-area fire attacks. Dietrich teleports several spaces forward. Theodora tears chunks out of the ground and throws them across half the battlefield. Leda plays magical songs that summon beasts to fight by her side.
I recommend starting with Cai. The story of the little boy from the sleepy fishing village of Ribeira is the best way to introduce you to the vast game world of «Fortune's Weave». The tutorials feel more beginner-friendly than in the other paths.
I recommend Theodora as the last hero. The powerful monarch offers the most exciting, but also the most complex gameplay of all the characters. In addition to her fire technique, she can recruit so-called battalions. This allows her to deploy powerful forces to launch area-of-effect special attacks or defensive maneuvers. Cool, but you should master the basics first.
Should I complete individual paths or switch back and forth?
«Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave» consists of three parts. In the first two parts, you choose one of the four heroes to play through the story with: Cai, Dietrich, Theodora, or Leda. Each of the four paths functions as a self-contained timeline in which you save the respective hero from death. Only in the final part do the four timelines merge into one continuity.
You can switch between the four heroes at any time during parts 1 and 2. Go to a Pale Raven base in Dagsion and select the «Vault of the Obelisk» option. Don't worry, your progress in the current path will be saved. Once in the vault, you can start the remaining paths by touching the respective obelisks.
There are numerous overlaps between the paths. You will repeatedly recruit the same team members, complete the same side quests, and unlock the same locations on the world map. If you want to keep these repetitions to a minimum, I recommend completing (at least) one hero path completely first.
Once you have saved a hero (i.e., completed part 1 and part 2), you will unlock valuable features in the remaining paths. For example, the game skips side quests that you have already completed in the finished path – you still get the rewards for them. The progress of the blessings in the five temples is also carried over to the new path. You also get the option to collect experience points much faster. In short: You reduce the tedious grind and can focus on the essentials.
Get rewards for heroic deeds
«Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave» offers a cross-path achievement system: «Heroic Deeds». The game rewards you with crystals when you reach certain milestones. Defeat 100 enemies, play for 50 hours, repair 20 weapons, and so on.
Don't forget to exchange these crystals for valuable «Redemption Perks». You can do this either in the Vault of the Obelisk or at a Pale Raven base in Dagsion. This gives you cross-path boosts for experience points, reduces purchase prices at merchants, or helps you find many more resources in dungeons.
Feed the Pale Raven
Speaking of the Pale Raven: Feed the hungry animal. At every opportunity that arises. This is how you build a relationship with the game's actual protagonist, Eshmel. A good relationship with Eshmel is worth its weight in gold in later battles. The powerful warrior will occasionally parry deadly blows. Without her help, I would never have survived some of the more brutal battles.
And while you're at the Pale Raven: Definitely check out the «Foresight». This «spoiler» gives you insights into the next battle. You find out which enemy types await you, what class levels you should have, which attacks are practical, and which items are recommended. Perfect for starting a proper preparation.
Recruit, recruit, recruit
Dagsion is teeming with potential team members. It pays to play by the «Pokémon» motto «Gotta catch 'em all». Seize the opportunity as soon as you can recruit a character – even if you don't like them. The number of team members you can use in a battle grows quickly, and you never know when your bench might prove useful.
Furthermore: Even units you don't currently need could be very helpful later in the game. Why? I won't reveal that here – because spoilers.
Can I recruit the same allies in different paths?
In all four paths, you will encounter the same potential recruits in Dagsion. Depending on the path, the requirements for recruitment differ significantly. For example, Cai has to try harder to convince a powerful gladiator to join his crew. With Dietrich, it works much more easily.
If you recruit a character in one path, they are not blocked in the other paths. The paths are separate timelines that exist independently of each other. For example, I recruited the alcoholic mage Yang Jie with three heroes and trained him differently in each path.
In the final part of the game, all timelines flow into one another. Then you have to decide which version of a multiply-recruited character you want to save. A pity, I would have liked to run around the battlefield with three Yang Jies.
Test the mouse mode
«Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave» offers a mouse mode. You can activate or deactivate it at any time by simultaneously pressing the shoulder buttons on a Joy-Con 2 controller.
With the Joy-Con 2 controller, you can command your units across the battlefield faster. The mouse is particularly practical when you are fighting your way through menus or examining character profiles.
Make the game faster
In «Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave», you will spend a lot of time in battles. The combat animations look damn cool, but they also drag the whole game out – even if you fast-forward with the A button.
I advise you to make the following optimizations to make the game «faster»:
- General > Events > Skip: Choose «Press» instead of «Hold» here. With this setting, you can skip dialogues, animations, event battles in dungeons, and enemy turns with a click of the plus button. With the default setting, you have to hold the plus button for a while until the game skips content.
- General > Other > Game Speed: Switch from «Normal» to «Fast». This way, your units and enemy units move much faster across the battlefield.
- Combat > Combat Animations > Attack Animations: Choose «Only your units» here. You will repeatedly get into battles where three factions face each other. With this setting, you don't have to watch two enemy units beat each other up – a combat animation is only started when they attack your units. Under «Combat Animations», you can also adjust other animations according to your preferences.
Skip Part 2
Speaking of «making the game faster». After the Hero Games (Part 1), the second part of the game begins. You only have to play through this with one hero. For the other three, there is the option to skip the entire storyline.
Why would you want that? The story in Part 2 is, unlike Part 1, very linear. You experience exactly the same battles and exactly the same story with every hero. But be careful: If you skip the second part, your characters might not develop the way you would like. If you want to keep full control, you have to fight your way through the same scenarios four times.
Use dungeons to level up your entire team
There is quite a lot to do on the world map. Dungeons are the best way to level up your team quickly and efficiently. Even units that do not actively participate in the battle receive many experience points. Don't be afraid to tackle dungeons intended for higher levels. They are usually much easier to master than the level gap suggests. Along the way, you also collect many valuable resources in dungeons that are otherwise only found sporadically on the world map.
Get the «Blessing of Aurora»
In the temples of Dagsion, you can unlock six blessings that give you temporary buffs in battle. Focus on the «Blessing of Aurora». It is by far the most helpful. If you unlock all levels of the blessing, the following advantages are available to you:
- Level: Physical attacks deal half damage for 1 round
- Level (additional): Magical attacks deal half damage for 1 round
- Level (additional): Removes «Underworld Strength» from enemies for 1 round
Especially the first two levels saved my ass countless times. When you are surrounded by nasty enemies in later battles, you can only survive with half damage. The third level is particularly useful in the third act, where you often face enemies that possess the «Underworld Strength» ability.
Return to Dagsion regularly
I really messed up my first run with Cai. I spent his free time between story battles almost exclusively on the world map. Exploring dungeons, collecting resources, taming dragons.
All well and good, but I should have returned to Dagsion much more often! At the end of Cai's path, I was confronted with a disastrous conclusion: combat stats too low, not enough points for the really good blessings, and too few well-trained team members.
Rule of thumb: Whenever the game tells you that «weekly activities are available again», you should head home. This ensures that you train regularly and work in the temples to receive blessings. In addition, you improve your relationships with potential new recruits much faster with regular dates and gifts.
Save refinements for Da-Mina weapons
By refining your weapons at the blacksmith in Dagsion, you can quickly gain attack power with relatively little effort. My tip: Don't waste your valuable upgrade resources on measly wooden or bronze weapons.
Focus your upgrades on special weapons with names, such as the Thunder Sword, the Reaper, or the Smash Axe. Also powerful are Da-Mina weapons – every invested upgrade resource is worth it there.
Don't be a fool and waste your licenses
For your units to evolve into new classes, they must pass exams. To take part in an exam, you need licenses.
I am an impatient person. When I see that a unit has a 70 percent chance of passing an exam for a new class, I take the risk.
Don't be like me. Don't be an idiot.
Licenses for exams are rare. And expensive. It's better to wait until a unit can pass an exam with 100 percent certainty. And I really mean 100 percent. Because it actually happened to me that I failed an exam with 99 percent.
My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
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