Fire Emblem: Awakening: Because it's still a strategy game first and a marriage puzzle game second

I'll try it out. I just got Henry so I haven't seen too many of his supports.

Well shit, I thought FE was going to arrive today with my 3ds, but it's not coming till middle of next week, leaving me gameless. Once again the shortcomings in my strategic game manifest themselves.

I've been really enjoying this game, playing 'Casually Hard' difficulty setting.
I never would have figured that playing match maker for my units would be so tough to figure out.

One down side is that the game has crashed on me twice. Once was on the world map so no big loss, but the other was over an hour into a battle, chapter 12, so be careful out there.

How does Casual mode work? If someone goes down, are they out a fixed number of missions or is it variable?

No, you just can't use them for the rest of what ever map you were on. They can come back the very next map you do.

Your game crashed???? Are you playing a downloaded copy and not a hard copy? Because I have no problems with mine.

I'm playing the cartridge one, apparently I'm not the only one who's having the issue based on what google says.

...Oh dear. Thanks for the warning then! Now, I won't majorly freak out if it happens to me (I'll still freak out a bit though)!

Whoa, it's never crashed for me. Are you using a standard 3DS or an XL?

3DS XL which I love since I'm a giant.

Is it just me or are the paralogues always 1000x more difficult than the regular fights? I'm playing on normal though I've found the regular fights to be incredibly easy, but I get my ass handed to me at least twice every time I do a paralogue. I feel like my units are way overleveled for the regular fights, but for paralogues they seem to be a mix between just right and bit underleveled.

I know! The only paralogue I found easy was the first! I hade to reset the other two at least 5 or 6 times before I finally got a startegy down that worked!

They get ridiculously hard once you get to the children recruitment paralogues, too. It's so annoying because I want to get them as fast as possible so it makes it easier for them to catch up, but it's almost not worth the frustration of having someone get killed and having to restart 1294123 times

AAAAAAAHHHHHGGG AND I'M ONLY ON CH. 9! *sigh/sob want all the kids* Thanks for the heads up though....

I think I'm grinding too much. Chrom is already Great Lord and MU has capped Tactician twice before promoting to Grandmaster. And I just got Cordelia.

Also, there are so many good pairings I can't make up my mind who to get married aaaaaaaargh.

Pairing wise, there are only a few that I've actually designated as pairing for inheritance perposes. Such as my pairings Maribelle/Donny and Gaius/Panne (though Gaius and Panne's support if pretty cute and funny too.)

Edit; FACK I JUST SAW THAT I USED GAIA INSTEAD OF GAIUS! ASDFGHJKLIEUFH WHY JAPANESE NAMES SO MUCH EASIER FOR ME TO USE/REMEMBER?!?!?!

I thought about doing a min/max pairing for children (I'm an obsessive mechanics whore), but then I realized it was way more fun just pairing fun pairs together. So far Chrom x MU and Gaius x Sumia are my two S pairs. Soon they'll be joined by Cordelia x Stahl, Miriel x Ricken, Sully x Lon'qu, and probably Donnel x Panne. Still can't decide on Lissa or Maribelle.

I posted a list of all the pairings I wanted to do, either simply because I like their support or for actual strategy reasons on the first page...

Cherche is actually the one I have no idea what to do with, mostly because I forget she's there. I'm thinking of putting Sully with Libra, but still in decicion box.

Does pairing up give you better support amount than just having the two units standing next to each other? I prefer having the unit on the field (And I'm still just not used to pairing them up because I've never had the option while playing this type of game before), and none of my characters are above a B, most only at D or C. I think I'm gonna end up with Kellam and Miriel being my main pair. Chrom and "Demon"(MU) are pretty tight bro's. They hang out all the time. I like how he hurls spells following Chrom's slice and dice.

Ummm.... I think it might.... I mean, I got to an S suport between my MU and Chrom pretty fast after Ch. 3 (or whatever that chapter was that lets you finally pair up) and I had B supports with Sully and two of her romantic supports in two or so chapters. Faster than when I first got my C support at least. I think. My memory is really bad. I know it can spread supports around pretty quickly if you have a group of pairs that can support with each other.

I want to register a complaint about Paralogue 2 on Hard:

So I started my main character (Dr Fuck) with speed as a strength and magic as a weakness, and he started the game using a magic book. Is the weapon fixed and I don't have to worry about it before too long?

He should be carrying a Tome and a sword, those are the tacticians weapons. You should be able to switch between the two.

Wow, did I accidentally overpower Chrom. I used a Second Seal on him at ~level 15 Lord to make him a Cavalier. Then i leveled him to Cav 10 and Second Seal'd him back to Lord, and realized he started back at level 1 Lord. So I grinded him back to Lord 10 then used a Master Seal to make him Great Lord. And now he's ridiculously overpowered compared to the rest of my squad.

Also, I end up doing a lot of relationship grinding for my B-Team and C-Team members just so I can make sure everyone's married off. Pairing works well for this, especially with woefully underpowered characters like Olivia who gets 1-shot by a stiff breeze.

My pairs so far are:
The A Team
Chrom (Great Lord) x Sumia (Dark Flier) - He's just a beast, and she almost works better paired.
MU (Grandmaster) x Tharja (Sorcerer) - Sure she's creepy, but in a kind of endearing way. Also these two just melt faces off of anything that gets near them.
Lon'qu (Swordmaster) x Cordelia (Falcon Knight) - They complement each other well.
Libra (War Monk) x Sully (Paladin) - Made sense for the effeminate man and the tomboy woman to get together.
Gaius (Assassin) x Panne - Pretty cute support conversations here, although I'm reluctant to continue using Panne as a Taguel as she doesn't promote. Will probably Second Seal Panne to Wyvern Rider.

The B Team
Virion (Sniper) x Maribelle (Battle Cleric) - The pairing of the nobles, and a bit surprising how dominant Maribelle is in that relationship. Too bad her strength is too low to make her very useful as a regular combatant.
Vaike (Warrior) x Lissa (Sage) - Sage has been somewhat underwhelming as a class, and Vaike had a few really poor level-ups.
Ricken (Dark Knight) x Nowi - Young boy meets young (appearing) girl. Probably the best of my B Team members.

The C Team/Unmarried/Work in Progress
Kellam (Knight) x Miriel (Mage) - I really liked this support conversation path, although both are unpromoted and pretty much out of regular rotation.
Gregor (Mercenary) x Cherche (Wyvern Lord) - Good weapons combo between them, although weak to magic. Not sure if I'm going to use them regularly though, once they're married.
Stahl (Cavalier) x Olivia (Dancer) - Just because?
Donnel (Villager) x Anna (Trickster) - Just because?

^ Relationship grinding can be a pain. I basically paired up couples every batte till they were at S, then I dumped the ones I never wanted to use, like Ricken and Miriel. The nice thing about it was that it made me give every unit chance instead of making a reverse harem as usual.

Right now I'm replaying the game because Virion-fathered Inigo's hair bothered me a lot more than I thought it would. In the end, Chrom's best contribution is not Aether, but dat pretty blue hair that I must have on Inigo.

So I spent many hours grinding levels and support for Donnel and Olivia, and I gotta admit, they definitely get better. Donnel is freaking beast mode with his stat gains, and I expect great things from him in his new Fighter Class (and even better things once I promote him). Olivia, while still not top-tier, is a really great partner for Donnel with her abilities, and is actually somewhat survivable now (just reclassed her to Myrmidon).

Also realized that Anna can only really support with MU, so she's out of the rotation now. Gregor x Cherche have a really good set of support conversations, and Gregor is just pretty funny, so they've both been bumped up to the A Team.

My new roster is:
The A Team
Chrom (Great Lord) x Sumia (Dark Flier)
MU (Grandmaster) x Tharja (Sorcerer)
Donnel (Fighter) x Olivia (Myrmidon) - Beast Mode + the ability to attack twice.
Libra (War Monk) x Sully (Paladin)
Gaius (Assassin) x Panne (Wyvern Rider)
Gregor (Hero) x Cherche (Wyvern Lord)

The B Team
Lon'qu (Swordmaster) x Cordelia (Falcon Knight) - Cordelia is more useful as a flying healer, as Lon'qu's stats are noticeably lower than Gaius's, and they serve a similar role.
Virion (Sniper) x Maribelle (Battle Cleric) - Situational characters.
Vaike (Warrior) x Lissa (Sage) - Vaike isn't as good as Donnel, so Lissa gets more use as a two-way caster.
Ricken (Dark Knight) x Nowi - Ricken is quite good, but MU and Tharja are on a whole other level. I don't like using Nowi, so Ricken gets more fighting time of the pair.

The C Team/Unmarried/Leftovers
Kellam (General) x Miriel (Mage) - Haven't really seen a need for a wall like Kellam yet, and Miriel can't keep up with MU, Tharja, and Ricken.
Stahl (Cavalier)
Anna (Trickster)

Is it possible to switch difficulty modes after you start a game? Playing last night, I realized there is no purpose for me to play in Classical at this point. I don't give two shits about it or the imaginary gamer cred it carries with it.

After a few days of playing this off and on, I have determined that I am absolutely terrible at this game. I mean, I'm having fun! But I'm playing on the casual difficulty, and I'm still having characters drop like flies, didn't manage to recruit the one kid offered as a recruitable so far--I misplaced him and he died in the first enemy round--and generally just sort of...sucking at things. Also, having trouble figuring out a lot of the basics of equipment, because they didn't really explain that part during the tutorial beyond "You have equipment, look at the rock/paper/scissors thing! Pretty!"

Anyone know of a good hand-holding newbie guide for the game that isn't awash in spoilers? I'm sort of having trouble finding help for my incompetence, because it's so hard to find any guides that aren't walkthroughs or aimed at people who already know the plot.

No, it isn't. You have to start a new game if you want a harder difficulty or to change between Classic and Casual. And really, once you hit Lunatic, if you don't choose Casual for it, your not gonna have any units left by the end of the map, unless you're really really good at this game and blessed by the gods of luck. The computers on Lunatic and Lunatic+ are fucking cheaters. It's not even funny.

You could try Serenes Forest.

So I just recently used a Second Seal (i know, talk about slow) for a basic class change, and the difference in the power level blew me away! I am so accustomed to the older games where you have to grind a unit up of level 20 and maybe then they'll be able to handle being thrown into the middle of a mob (usually they'll also need to be promoted to be promoted). But changing a lvl12 Vaike from Warrior to Barbarian- it didn't matter that he was level 1 again- he always attacked twice and four levels later had two health bars! I can see why some posts on the web say changing class makes Normal mode incredibly easy.

Are you talking about a Second Seal or a Master Seal? Second Seal is a lateral class change. Master Seal is the class promotion to a noticeably more powerful iteration.

Oh, and for some characters you have to Second Seal to a different class before you can Master Seal to a better version. Donnel, Panne, Nowi, and Olivia don't have promotion classes, so they have to Second Seal to a different class before they can promote. Like the promoted classes, though, they gain a really decent skill at level 15 (Donnel and Olivia do, I can't remember for Panne and Nowi), so it's best to wait for at least level 15 before reclassing them.

Panne does, I don't know what Nowi gets though. I'm close to finding out though.

Second- I'm also blow away by how easy it is to re-grind him. Since unlike with a Master seal, It's easy with very little exp gain decrease.

They both do, Beast and Dragon Bane respectively. Serenesforest.net has a great list for skills and what class/level they can be gained at.