It's fucked. To the point where I started a game on Easy but found it way too EASY. Chapter 2's Risen were doing 0 damage. So I'm back to the Hard game.

I'm just about to start chapter 5 and I'm playing on hard as well. What's so fucked about it?

@Nux said:

I'm just about to start chapter 5 and I'm playing on hard as well. What's so fucked about it?

Have you done any grinding on the Paralogues for levels? I think I'm going to have to - I've just done every chapter in order so far and no extras, and there's just so. many. enemies that keeping everyone alive is very, very hard. Especially given where some start out. I'm doing the FE thing of restart if ANYONE dies, and I've had some die right when I was about to finish the map. It's brutal.

I hit the same wall to be honest. I've been grinding for gold, gear, and levels in the DLC though, so I think I'm finally up to the task. I swear the jump between normal and hard is way bigger than I thought.

Also, that suicidal AI. It flat out doesn't care. It'll go for the guaranteed kill every time even if it puts units in immediate danger. Kinda hard when I need to think tactically and the computer can do whatever the hell it feels like.

I'm considering restarting on Normal. I've hit the same Chapter 5 wall, and I'm not sure how else to proceed other than either letting some of my characters die or grinding on the DLC stages. But I don't know how much gold I can get out of those DLC stages, so I could just end up using up my gear in the process.

@Ataribomb said:

I hit the same wall to be honest. I've been grinding for gold, gear, and levels in the DLC though, so I think I'm finally up to the task. I swear the jump between normal and hard is way bigger than I thought.

Also, that suicidal AI. It flat out doesn't care. It'll go for the guaranteed kill every time even if it puts units in immediate danger. Kinda hard when I need to think tactically and the computer can do whatever the hell it feels like.

That's my issue. I started a Normal game after spending two days on this (trying to save everyone), and it's so, so easy to the point where it feels comical. If it gets harder (which I don't know if it does - haven't heard) then I'll stick with Normal. But if it's this easy the whole game on normal? No thanks.

I'm assuming you guys are having trouble because you're rushing up the hill to save those two idiots before they die but in the process you over extend yourselves and lose characters, right? I had the same problem and here's what I did that made this impossible mission more in line with what you'd expect.

At some point earlier on I got a Rescue staff(I'm assuming from the Paralogue). Use it to save those two. No more units in immediate danger, no more rushing in to save them just to die. From there I could take the map at my leisure.

gave some advice for it on another topic

once you save mirabell it isnt too hard to hold up in the corner and survive

i did it withou DLC grind (did take 4 tries to get right strat)

Did this chapter earlier tonight and it is pretty rough. The rescue staff a guy above mentioned is a good idea. For some reason in my game I didn't even think of it so I flew Sumia up to the edge of the cliff and had Maribelle hand Ricken off to her, flew him down to safety, then used Sully with Kellam supporting to ride into the fray and keep Maribelle safe long enough for everyone to retreat. It ended up working well, but it took me a few tries to find the right combination of opening moves to save them. Rescue staff would have been a better idea, but I can't remember where I got it at this point.

Okay, so here's how I ended up doing it. I had to bite the bullet and lose someone, but I was at the point where the rest was so perfect, I had to take it.

I did Paralogue 1, which is where you get the Rescue staff. I used that to bring down Mirabelle and Ricken to the rest of my party. Now, I ended up losing MIrabelle to Wyvern riders, and I just had to accept it and move on. The rest of it was pretty easy, especially with Celica's Gale on MU which annihilated the boss. Then it was just cleanup.

yeah thats an all right loss, though she is a pretty good char but not the best

what you are really going to be missing is a mobile healer, but chapt 5 is one of the toughest peaks in difficulty

@azrailx said:

yeah thats an all right loss, though she is a pretty good char but not the best

what you are really going to be missing is a mobile healer, but chapt 5 is one of the toughest peaks in difficulty

Vulneraries and Elixirs. And I've been pairing Lissa with Stahl. So, yeah. I figured there's more healers down the road, but I haven't done the whole "check out Serene's Forest to make sure" thing yet.

there is one but also dont be afraid to reclass your base characters if you want, hell idealy you want to to pick up good skills

also later pegi knights can use staves when upgrades, so can mages

i recommend promoting around level 15, as it balances easy levels versus skill gain

@theimmortalbum said:

Okay, so here's how I ended up doing it. I had to bite the bullet and lose someone, but I was at the point where the rest was so perfect, I had to take it.

I did Paralogue 1, which is where you get the Rescue staff. I used that to bring down Mirabelle and Ricken to the rest of my party. Now, I ended up losing MIrabelle to Wyvern riders, and I just had to accept it and move on. The rest of it was pretty easy, especially with Celica's Gale on MU which annihilated the boss. Then it was just cleanup.

Losing Mirabelle makes it so you can't get another character down the line. If you're cool with that that's cool, just thought I'd let you know.

^ thats a maybe

i didnt marry everyone for their kids myself

Oh, if you're talking about kids, then eh. Yeah. I didn't think about that, and dumb me accidentally saved over that slot (I totally meant to save in a different slot). I might take this as an opportunity to restart that game.. maybe..... no. I can't. I need to just deal with it.

My tips are go aggressive during turn one and kill as much as you can to the north and the west. If you can manage that, then the rest of the stage should fall into place. The reinforcements do eventually stop coming so just be mindful of the enemy's attack range and make sure you're always getting the first hit.

@theimmortalbum: tbh its so early in the game it might be worth it, and by now you have probs learned so much more of the games systems that it will work out well

@azrailx said:

@theimmortalbum: tbh its so early in the game it might be worth it, and by now you have probs learned so much more of the games systems that it will work out well

So I did restart. And I've decided after putting 20 hours into this game and I have two games, one on mission 5 hard, one on mission 6 hard, and a Normal on mission 4.. that I'm playing Normal. I just want to progress for a while!!

I'm so happy to see this thread and realize that I'm not the only person who ran into a wall here! This chapter was brutal! I may have never restarted a Fire Emblem map as many times as this. If not for the L + R + Start quick reboot I may have lost my mind. I eventually made it through though, take heart! My strategy was to rush north just long enough to open a space for Ricken and Mirabelle to escape, and then I paired Sully up with the knight to form a nigh impenetrable wall on that single file mountain pass. The mobility of a pegasus knight for getting people around, as well as her ability to snipe with javelins while hovering over cliff face that nobody else can reach her on is absolutely vital to how I pulled this off.

At the end of the day I wrapped it up with zero casualties and a tidy bundle of support conversations to boot. Don't give up - it can be done.

Rescue is your friend. Hard mode is a fair challenge if you don't grind or min/max but if you do it turns into a cakewalk very quickly.

Glad to see im not the only one, I finally gave up on keeping everyone alive and let Mirabelle die. Now im on chapter 13 and the difficulty is more like how I remember the other games.

Damnit. I'm about to go back into my restarted Hard game and beat my face against this for a while, I suppose.

i just used the rescue wand to teleport them to relative safety. the wizard dork kid still died tho. :D

(i did reload my save a *cough* couple times there, but when that kid died the last time i just said "fuck it" )

I managed to not have too much trouble with this one on hard after a false start or two. RNG may have been on my side, tho.