Is Maddening EASY with the Fire Emblem Engage DLC?!

[@lancerguy3667]

If there's one thing I learned from my time in the Soulsborne fandom, it's that gamers on the internet will never stop finding arbitrary and pointless things to feel superior about, so you're best off just doing what works for you. One thing I like about the suite of features in Engage is that it's supremely easy to tailor the difficulty to perfectly stimulate the dopamine receptors in your brain simply by picking and choosing which features you avail yourself of and which you don't.

[@LinkKing7]

Absolutely, that's the nice thing about gaming in general, you can just create your own journey the way you want it to be

[@Milkysponge]

Only thing I wish is that you could set how many uses you get on time crystal; I want enough that I can correct stupid mistakes but not enough to create scenarios where I septouple down on a bad play because I can brute force it with enough attempts and I have no self control.

[@mizutsunebubbledragon3382]

Yea, i refuse to play a game on the hardest difficulty only just to seek validation from others. I wanna enjoy the game, not make it chore. I'll gladly up the difficulty if i feel the experience is stale or boring but I'll do it for myself. I think most ppl joke about this kind of stuff but the toxic elitists do exist sadly

[@BlueSunStudios1]

@@mizutsunebubbledragon3382 There was honestly no avoiding this kind of scenario in any way to be blunt save for making the games harder which would have had a different, possibly just as unpleasant outcome instead.

[@mizutsunebubbledragon3382]

@@BlueSunStudios1 very true, unfortunately.

[@Zaemoncho]

Im just gonna say, leaving the broken soren aside, his chapter was so damn hard. Dunno why but I chose to let the soren paralogue sit intil ch15, and then i did it and all units were so stronk. Axe units would do 57 dmg, fliers had 28-30 speed while super invested Chloe had 24 with tonics and a speed emblem. My Jean had 20 base, my Anna 20, my Kagetsu Warrior 19 base speed. Oh it was hard. Harder than ch11, and I only had tiki and edelgard at that one. I had so much fun, and yesterday I beat t after 4 hours. I use more than half the time crystal, but safely cleared it, barely without deaths. At every turn there was lethal danger, and the stage had a feel of danger imbedded through aoe volcano explosions and smoke. The emblem itself may be broken, but the stage is pure fire emblem goodness. Getting the thief in the left was so hard I had to keep chasing till he was just 1 round away from escaping with the item. Byleth allowed not only to chase him, but killing soren. Favourite emblem.

[@Noahs_Chair]

9:31 Categorys, That's how people do stuff. In Speedruns every time there is a massive meta change a new category is created to not completly destroy the embiroment that was before. Then time sets what's the healthiest state of the metagame. Fe doesn't have this because It's a single player game and there is no ranks of people competing but generally everything that is Paid DLC is ban and updated is seen as okey because It's the most accesible version of the Game. Because everyone has these its use as a standart to talk about the Game without having to go into specifics and anything done under these is generally aplicable to everything else.

[@Samsonsamurai]

What I’ve learned about single player games, do what ever you find fun. Who cares it’s your game. I saw people talking about the soulsborne games and I think that’s a different story purely in a pvp way. If I face a magic spammer in pvp yeah imma hate you but if you use that in pve it’s your game

[@LinkKing7]

Preach!

[@solareflare47]

I don’t think so personally, it may be because my first play through was blind maddening, but i had dlc for my first run and no dlc for my second one and my second run was way easier. Personally I feel the base emblems are just as strong. I think the only thing thats super busted is Tiki’s starsphere but I never inherited personally because I knew that specifically would ruin the difficulty. Though after completing a solo Alear run, i realized Micaiah engraving is what really breaks the game LMAO

[@solareflare47]

LMAO i commented prior to fully watching the video and you mentioned similar things. Though for me chapter 11 was not particularly difficult for me even blind. It truly shows imo how different players find different things difficult based on their play style (like i found 10 harder). But yea I agree, the later bonuses with the wave 2 dlc is pretty strong and can definitely ruin the difficulty. I won’t shame anyone with how they play but you can definitely tell maddening wasn’t balanced with the DLC so if they truly want the full maddening experience no DLC is def the best way to play. Either that or like you said introduce a higher difficulty. As for the last point of whether it was worth it, imo doing Tiki’s map right at the get go when you’re like 6 levels under DEFINITELY made it one of the hardest maps in the game. So in some ways imo if you beat Tiki map on maddening you probs could beat the whole game with no DLC for sure LMAO

[@darrylrios44]

Yo I bought the dlc recently and only have the 3 houses ring I have not beat tiki or the others. And I'm only in Ike chapter I need help

[@namelessbag]

Completely agree with this video. The devs are basically backsitting and playing the game for you by forcing the DLC rewards unto you. Hopefully they eventually add a way to refuse the rewards and add a newer difficulty that is clearly balanced towards the DLC because as of right now, Maddening is trivialized by it.

[@Nocturne989]

As others have pointed out...if you've beaten the Wave 2 paralogues on Maddening pre-Chapter 10, you aren't having any problems with 11 regardless.

[@toney001]

I've beaten them both right after chapter 8 and right after chapter 11 (I wait until I have both Alcryst and Diamant just so I have more of my main team assembled for xp purposes) and I can tell you they are way easier at chapter 9 for one simple reason: enemy units are not promoted. There's a massive difference with that alone.

[@Nocturne989]

@@toney001 Fair, but a quick glance at this thread shows that most did not have that's same experience

[@vaquishers]

Ya I didn’t have too much problems admittedly, tho at chapter 17, I’m starting to become hard locked to my best units for stages when I want to build other characters I should’ve already built but didn’t cus it’s my first run My Chloe is doing way too much with edelgard and she is easily my second best character and second highest level

[@lanceareadbhar]

Yeah, I think the Chapter 11 map specifically is the only one thematically where I wish they took away access to the bracelets, at least until you've beaten the game once on any difficulty. I look at it as more the DLC cheating the player out of the first time experience. I feel the same way about the first time playing Chapter 17. That said, there are plenty of people that will only play it once so, they have the right to use whatever resources they purchased from the game. I'm just glad Maddening doesn't seem built around the assumption that you bought the DLC as that would be a bigger issue for me.

[@arcaneace8313]

@@lanceareadbhar If anything maddening is built around you not having them too much which is why I kinda wish they'd put in a maddening+ because the mechanics in engage are a great so a super super hard mode sounds like a great time unlike the garbage that was lunatic+ in awakening.

[@takarahayashi4124]

honestly if you can beat the DLC maps to get those emblems early game on Maddening, you deserve to use them. you've already shown to be able to beat super hard maps with super limited resources.

[@urahara1446]

in the end, it all comes down to Bismix's Death Mode sketch

[@LinkKing7]

Maybe one day they'll make that a thing and be inspired by his video...

[@cherrytree3400]

tbh "play the game how you wanna play it" is basically the best take anyone can have on this imo

[@GMKGoji01]

That's what I was TRYING to do, but I am not emotionally prepared to watch Lilac take Celica.🥺

[@danielmayer38]

I just need to say that Wave 2 DLC maps are SIGNIFICANTLY harder than Chapter 10/11 on Maddening. If you can beat those maps, you'd have beaten 10/11 already.

[@Tooms100]

I think that they're definitely hard, but most of all they're annoying as fuck, especially Camilla's map, that shit was just boring for no reason.

[@davidteru539]

@@Tooms100 use the teleport a lot and some archers, you finish in like 6 turns

[@Veristelle-]

@@Tooms100 Micaiah Warp/Rewarp make it far faster

[@knewbridge]

Personally what’s messing with the balance for me isn’t even the bracelets or resources, it’s all the extra levels from the DLC maps

[@Tooms100]

@@Veristelle- yeah it doesn't help that I didn't have Micaiah or Celica back yet

[@matt6888]

You really have to work hard for the DLC rings. Some of the hardest and slowest maps in engage on maddening. After you complete them and use the new OP rings especially Hector and Soren + overleveled units, you basically completed the run after that. The rest is nowhere near as hard as no dlc maddening.

[@toney001]

100%. That said, the earlier you do them the easier they are (because they won't have promoted units if you do them before C10), and it's a snowball after that.

[@godqueensadie]

Optimising resource use, unit growths, using optimal classes, the best gear, the best units, and using proven strategies also makes the game easier

[@alexeilassistant]

Swinging the bat at the hornets nest i see. I'm nearing the end of my second playthrough, maddening casual (bc i don't wanna actually go crazy) and the later maps are making me wanna click the dlc button to try and help myself out of the hole

[@LinkKing7]

I'm never one to shy away from putting my opinion online. I'll swing the bat anywhere if I have something to say about it 😎

[@AzureShadow42]

Tiki's paralogue is only hard if you aren't expecting the reinforcements. If you go in prepared to deal with them, it's a gigantic exp pinata that massively overlevels your team and trivializes the early-midgame as a result. The existence of the map itself reduces the difficulty of the game more than the Tiki bracelet does.

[@stickytim64]

Honestly true. That map not only solidified my love of etie as a unit but also massively over leveled my entire team. On the flip side, it was a really intense map and im glad i had chloe with micaiah because getting that physic staff and using it over walls was really helpful to avoid getting obliterated by the dragons.

[@Aqalex]

The DLC maps are also loaded with ennemies. Do 2 maps after chapter 11 and you're overleveled until chapter 21 and it feels like playing on normal.

[@blizman96]

Happening on my current run. It's very weird

[@swhawk]

Tiki's paralogue is very challenging if you attempt to do it right after clearing Chapter 6, which is when it unlocks. Personally, I decided to do it after clearing Chapter 7 and Anna's paralogue, so I could field better units (including a promoted Alear). With that, it was very hard but still doable, even when I made things harder for myself by bringing an untrained Anna with Micaiah's Ring to level her up. I feel like the argument of Wave 2 bracelets making Chapter 11 easier is a bit of an exaggeration. From how I see things, it is clear that Wave 2 and Wave 3 bracelets are intended to be obtained after getting the Emblem Rings that interact with each Emblem Bracelet (i.e. Chrom with Lucina, Hector with Lyn, Soren with Ike, and Camilla with Corrin). This is what I did personally (because I was already in Chapter 14 when the Wave 2 update was released). From my experience, the post-Ch11 Emblems give you enough tools to take on Camilla's, Hector's and Soren's maps even when the enemies' levels scale up to make them be promoted classes. Lyn, Byleth, and Corrin are just very strong, and I don't think the pre-Ch11 Emblems are strong enough to make the Wave 2 paralogues be an easy experience at all. So, I guess it's a trade-off: You either have an easy Chapter 11 after clearing very hard Paralogues, or you have an easier time with the Paralogues after clearing a slightly harder Chapter 11. And do note that Chapter 11 can already be quite easy with RNG-manipulated Olwen S Bond Rings, which lower the difficulty much more than the Wave 1 Bracelets.

[@theprofesionalist7927]

I mean I haven't found out how quickly you can rebuild your ring collection post CH11, but I just found it easier to do it pre CH11 cuz you've got more options for different builds based on ring variety at that point in the game. Plus, as cool as it is to see Ike talk to Sorren, isn't it sort of a plot whole when the DLC character says "I won't join your team unless you prove that you're just as worthy to lead me as this one person who's already on your team!", like...shouldn't the mission at that point just be have a character with the Ike ring equipped go talk to Sorren and then...bam! the missions is done, am I the only one who thinks that this is obvious sequence breaking and that the game doesn't even acknowledge that you broke the sequence by setting up an alternative scenario that matches the alternative dialogue interactions.

[@Stringblazer]

After I beat the game on hard I purchased the dlc and started my maddening run, I struggled a little early game (mostly chapter 5) but the dlc maps tossed me around a lot. The first time I had to use all my time charges was for Camilla's map. Part of that was me being unprepared and not bringing the right units. However when I got to ch11 I was shocked at how little trouble I had with it, and I wasn't making significant use of Tiki or Edelgard for it, which were the only dlc bracelets I had then. I just knew exactly what I was in for and placed units accordingly. I never even got frozen because I only placed covert units in the back so they could dodge in the trees. Knowledge really is what defines the difficulty to me

[@KINGD353]

Yessh... I can tell you're better at this game than me. My first all rewinds map was tiki. Her phantom dragon reinforcements ruined me, and I almost had to leave jean to die in chapter 11. Although that second one was my own fault. I thought everyone had to escape not just alear so he was in the back trying to protect Jean lol

[@Stringblazer]

@@KINGD353 Tiki map was a struggle for me too, I didn't bring any archers so taking down each phantom was a real ordeal. I had to make extensive use of Miciah and an obstruct staff to hold off enemies. And even then I almost had to reset after like an hour of effort.

[@cupie2255]

The issue I'm having with the DLC is how over leveled my characters feel now after completing those maps packed full of enemies and reinforcements. I even tried to mitigate it with some warp skipping which I'm not really a fan of(because I actually want to play the game), but that Camilla map was just a huge and unfun slog to playthrough the first time, so I made an exception here.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Like that's really the thing for Maddening. It doesn't matter if the DLC emblems themselves are strong, it's that you get extra grinding maps to get over the level curve of the game and just coast. Tiki exacerbates the issue if you use her. The fact that Tiki, Hector, and Soren are all hilariously broken is just gravy.

[@jesserebelo3583]

The fates map being an unfun slog just like the game it came from is so funny to me, it wouldve been made even funnier if one note characters like bunet or amber were force deployed on it, the true fates experience

[@Maconviking]

I know there’s no “right” answer to this question, but I think the increased power gained from the dlc rings is indisputable. Do with that info what you will in your own maddening play-through.

[@nir4s63]

Even if you forgo using DLC braclets/rings u still get 3 (at least right know) maps to farm and special item on Tiki's Paralogue

[@korinoriz]

​@@nir4s63That's where the argument that the fact the maps are difficult comes in. In other words, they're a challenge within themselves, so it can be argued that's a reward for the struggle, as with vanilla maps.

[@Maconviking]

@@korinoriz I think the argument being made about the dlc maps is the exp gained from the maps, not the inherent difficulty of said map. So simply having the opportunity to gain lvls from these maps regardless of their difficulty, in theory makes the game easier in the long run when compared to playing without dlc. All that said, this doesn’t mean any runs are invalid or less than. It is just a fact that a maddening run without dlc is harder than one with dlc. How much harder, you may ask? Who knows or really cares, but a least a little bit harder 😂

[@Maconviking]

@Anakin Skywalker you’re making up strife, and becoming part of the problem by not understanding the discussion here. Literally no one is arguing that people shouldn’t play the game the way they want to play. The argument is about how the dlc changes the game, not about how to play. Instead of being instantly offended by a discussion, maybe just participate in the actual dialogue.

[@crushingon]

The DLC stages in Maddening are easily the hardest stages in the game. Specially lategame Camilla. This game really makes you work hard for the broken emblems, and some aren't even that much better than what you already have.

[@gonzak8986]

The simple fact that you have more leeway in leveling up from these maps, make it easier regardless of the eficiency of the dlc emblems. It does indeed break the balance of your levels vs the enemies. Is that a good or bad thing for Maddening? Thats up to you.

[@danielmayer38]

I literally came down to the comments to say this. I was at Chapter 10 and wanted to get Hector or Sorin before the chapter. The maps were significantly harder than 10 and 11 and I didn't even end up getting them. 🤷‍♂️

[@danielmayer38]

​@@gonzak8986 if that's your issue then it's actually Lineage that breaks it.

[@crushingon]

@@gonzak8986 For Tiki I had to wait until chapter 8 because Tiki's paralogue was near impossible without a promoted archer (I used Warrior Etie) and a half decent axe user like Diamant. Any earlier and it was virtually impossible. The last batch of DLC released as I was finishing Chapter 22, so I had to suffer Camilla's paralogue against straight up capped level enemies, 41 speed chickens fling at you from all directions tearing anyone down with 30 mag Levin Swords. Sure, I came out with surplus levels AFTER it, but since the divine paralogues scale off your level, that also meant the rest of the divine paralogues were also stronger. And honestly after the bullshit I had to go through you bet your ass I deserved that slight advantage.

[@bradypinnell7782]

@@crushingon you can do tikis prologue right as you get access to it, clear the outside of the castle, take a step in to start the reinforcements, stay outside of the castle and put yunaka on the heal tile, she'll evade basically everything, and the rest of your units can be just out of range, and clean up every odd turn. the waves do stop after a certain amount, once theyre all gone, its fairly straight forward. camilla can be fairly easy too if you warp/rescue using micaiah straight up from the spawn, theres a nice choke point using the bridge, and you can rush down camilla before the reinforcements get to you, bonus points for have a covert with lyn tag camilla once to get her to run at you instead. in terms of gaining additional levels, you could also use some of your under leveled units, or intentionally give exp to people you wont use, so you just get the bracelets and not the exp

[@AlfredKamon]

Meh, this is a silly debate to begin with, and I believe you brought some good arguments in the video. Whether it's a "true Maddening" run or not it shouldn't really matter in a single player offline game, and at the end of the day, as long as the experience is fun for the player, that's fine. At the same time, it's undeniable that the game becomes way easier and exploitable with the DLC (and I say this as someone who completed both a hardcore Maddening run AND a Maddening DLC run). You get so many ridiculous resources in wave 2 that completing the divine chapters as soon as they unlock is perfectly doable, and the trade off is immense (even just for the extra EXP which is so scarce in Maddening, let alone for the resources themselves i.e. Emblems). That being said, I had fun in both my runs for completely different reasons, the first one was super challenging yet fair, the second one with the DLC was a bit challenging but very exploitable and grindy in a way I still enjoyed. Judging others for how they play and enjoy games is such a boring, elitist behavior. Peace out!

[@jmagicd9831]

I think restricting use of DLC and extra resources is what challenge runs are for after replaying the game. As for FEH weapons, they aren't that game-breaking. The Folkvangr doesn't add much until you get more sword units which happens relatively late. The Fensalir actually does double on Chloe when I play it (this is after promoting in Chapter 7). I'm still on my first run in Brodia trying to not spoil myself too much, but one challenge I'd love to try in this game is 0% growths though I don't know how to set that up if anyone has resources for that.

[@IamJerf]

Giving Fensalir to Chloé is the best option because she just becomes a speed demon. I +5 the weapon and engraved it so its WT became 5 with some Crit and Avoid boost. Her + Edelgard became a powerhouse

[@degreeskelvin3025]

0% growths would completely ruin every unit you've used up until ch7. Even Vander lol

[@KINGD353]

@IamJerf huh... I guess I used it wrong. I gave my Lance to Alfred. Lol

[@jmagicd9831]

@@degreeskelvin3025 That’s the whole point. You have get creative with the units who join in that chapter

[@ela2fast414]

Dlc make early and mid game easier. Endgame isn't that much affected as those parts, but still edelgard, hector and Soren are really strong on the battlefield and tiki can unlock a lot of potential for a lot of units. Dlc do make easier the game

[@godqueensadie]

I'm actually using Tiki to keep my favourite middling characters on par with better units

[@ela2fast414]

@@godqueensadie oh yeah, that's usefull too

[@zoltorortegus6259]

Hector has a major road block though, I can't imagine anyone getting him early game(he's basically immune to physical attacks, and even if you turned Anna into a magic user, you will only have Celine, and Anna as main magic users. Seeing how you don't have Byleth or the Dancer until late game, good luck, someone will surely end up dead trying to get him early) Him, and Tiki are easily the hardest DLC maps too(although for different reasons). On the upside, late game magic users will not only 1 shot him, but will also be immune to his attacks(so he's one you basically plan ahead for, now that we know what skills you can inherit from him, we can save up SP for his str/def, instead of learning Ike's def/axe skills. We'll use Ike to engage with, while Hector is better off just being used to inherit skills from.

[@lavadragon6444]

@@zoltorortegus6259 I mean you can wait for Citrine and thunder but again Hector's map just has a bunch of stuff making it hard (the poison fog is a nightmare to any unit with only decent bulk). Getting Tiki b4 him would get the job done easier but then you have to deal with the dragons where only 2 units (Etie and Alcryst) can rlly one shot them. The only strategy to getting Hector easily is to poison him (most likely needing Alear to be adj to chip him) and then getting him low with tiki's flame breath and Edelgard's flame gambit. Luckily the maps scale to level but it is easier getting him after Seadall

[@zoltorortegus6259]

@@lavadragon6444 Yea, we might as well just consider Hector a late game addition, Tiki's hard enough, but Hector is probally even harder. You really should have your final team or close to it, to get him. I'm right at the last battle(Hard/Classic), with my final team, and while Hector himself was a joke with this team, the map was still pretty hard(got to love 80% crit anna with Ike+Steel Greataxe)

[@lethargicwizard]

One person's achievements don't take away from, or invalidate, anyone else's, especially in a single player game. If restricting yourself to no DLC gets you special bragging rights among your niche group of other people doing the same, then that's cool. That's the best possible place for that energy, and nowhere else.

[@AsbakNL]

I do feel the dlc emblems are great if not better the sooner you get them because you can get them to bond lvl 20 without a paralog chapter

[@Ajia_No_Envy]

I mean the paralouge chapter is the chapter you get them in, you're just unlocking it all at once

[@Nocturne989]

...but unlike the main emblems you have to unlock them...by completing a Paralogue lmao

[@MasterStacona]

because you have to do a paralogue to get them

[@AsbakNL]

@@Nocturne989 yeah and then at say chapter 6 you can have rings/bracers that go upto bond lvl 20 giving more stats more abilities compared to when you can unlock the others

[@reelvex6575]

Doing the divine paralogue maps on Maddening before Chapter 11 makes you way overpowered.

[@cluanneyoula4634]

I like your analogy of "some deranged lunatic telling you you're invalid". It hits me hard cause I just realized that's more or less backseating...and I've done that a lot...

[@FishSandvich]

The problem with maddening I've found is the difficulty spikes hit so hard that it feels like you have to follow a script to complete it without any deaths. Fixed growths, exp penalties, and pitiful SP gain reinforce this. Some units just cannot realistically perform in maddening. If you choose to try and invest in them, then the opportunity cost screws over your would-be-carries. I can make it to chapter 17 in maddening with 0 issues at all, but as soon as I get there I hit a brick wall and just quit. Bosses being completely immune to game mechanics so they turn into DPS checks just feels bad. My point of all this is: anything that gives players more flexibility to deviate from 'the most optimal' route is better for the health of the game. (they should have fixed SP gain instead of just giving us consumables though since it doesn't actually fix the main issue, just temporarily fixes a symptom)

[@leargamma4912]

Instead of fixing the issue at its source, covering up the symptoms with the dlc is a lot like pharmaceutical companies. And that's not good.

[@arcaneace8313]

I used the worst units in the game without DLC. Every unit is viable you just have to be smart about it

[@ElijahLotusShield]

make sense since 17 is the difficulty spike and what i see in 17 is about what i see end game but easier. it is the map that made me "get good" in my maddening playthrough. I do believe that maddening is supposed to be difficult enough to only be beatable only if the player made the best choices, otherwise i think the difficulty would be too easy. Even now people can beat it with a more subpar lineup.

[@Aeddy35]

The narrative that a Fire Emblem game or chapter is so hard that it forces you to play one way is never actually true. People have said things like Conquest Endgame "forces" you to rescue skip or lategame FE12 bosses "force" you to rig crits when in reality you can do both of these things on 0% growths with reliability. Even claims as absurd as Awakening Lunatic can't be beaten without DLC or spoon-feeding Robin every kill are said, even though people have beaten Lunatic+ doing neither.

[@frankstarkiller]

I think Dlc is made with madenning in mind. The fact that some players remains greiving about the different boon other players get over dlc " the dlc is: you need help? You want to keep playing? we got you". Anyone else that doesnt live this experience should be glad the devs care to keep growing our niche RPG a win for us all with engage

[@slanax]

The real purpose of the busted DLC rings is to let you get away with using your terrible pet unit who's bad and statistically objectively worse than half the roster and especially Kagetsu, and I think that's beautiful wonder if Tiki or Hector can make Vander viable longterm

[@LinkKing7]

You can probably make anyone viable long term, I doubt Vander is entirely beyond saving. Worst case scenario he can be a staff bot since they so good in this game no matter what!

[@slanax]

@@LinkKing7 I mean the only thing a Lucina Martial Master needs to throw out 100% Bonded Shields is being Lv10+ and Vander does have that so-

[@Choops6969]

90% of this video is debating arguments i dont think anybody has ever made.

[@argosleuf]

Don’t like your own comments. This isn’t Reddit.

[@yukotrey9422]

Idk why this a conversation. Play the game how you bois wanna 🤣

[@tylerowens]

With the free resources you can't choose to decline, you can just keep track of how much you got and not use that (if it gives you 30 silver, 30 is now 0 in terms of how much silver you have, etc). And yeah, that is a little annoying, but given how much prep and theory crafting time people put into maddening runs that seems like a drop in the cognitive load bucket 😂 I just finished my first playthrough of the game on Normal/Classic with the DLC. It seemed about on par difficulty wise with Normal/Classic playthroughs of other recent FE games to me.

[@toney001]

It's not just the resources. It's the whole package, but mainly the massive exp lead that you get on those 4 maps that throws the game literally out of balance. This could be fixed easily though... the paralogues scale with your units, so they could at least add that as an option to the main story.

[@Hornnnnnn]

reverse recruitment is the true way to play

[@spacepenguin3590]

What does reverse recruitment mean?

[@gideonantonissen6275]

​@@spacepenguin3590 i believe it meant characters that joined later are early and vise versa

[@Hornnnnnn]

@@spacepenguin3590 a mod where u get all the playable characters in reverse order. IE: veyle is the main char, mauvier is vander

[@elk6008]

Tikis map was very difficult for me she was essentially the first boss I fought. I had to restart her map because I used my crystal

[@WintersEnvy]

i honestly did not know that the waves of ice dragons stopped spawning in after 8 waves for my first 6 hours of attempting

[@muuhnkin4611]

@@WintersEnvy for me they spawned until the end of the map

[@WintersEnvy]

@@muuhnkin4611 huh strange they should have stopped spawning after the wave of 3 ice dragons

[@toney001]

@@WintersEnvy They do. I discovered this on my maddening run and repeated the strat of "camping them out" for runs #2 and #3, making the map a breeze if not a chore.

[@rpghero46]

Tikis map is harder them most story chapters so if you did tiki you already did an extra challenge. plus if you dont understand the mechanics and have strategy it dosent matter what you use you wont win.

[@slurmp9008]

Something should be said for the fact that most of the emblem rings from the DLC are not better than base emblem rings. Byleth 4-man dance, Micaiah map wide full heal, Celicas warp ragnarok + Echo, Lucinas bond shield, Lyn, these are all just flat out better than any of the DLC emblems. Hector is at best a sidegrade to Ike. The only thing that gets easier from having them, is the brief period of time where you don't have many emblem rings, and you have to bring more than 8 units. So you get a few more engages than you would have, which indeed makes it easier. But it's not by the amount that I think people think it is. The money you get, and the weapons make more of a difference than the emblems. And at least the emblem maps are harder than most of the maddening chapters

[@slurmp9008]

Just use all the money on donations, and don't use the dlc weapons or items. (I actually think the SP scrolls are fine, 3000 isn't actually a lot in the grand scheme and SP is way too gated to begin with)

[@LinkKing7]

I actually think Ike is still better than Hector tbh, but yeah you're right. Outside of Soren, I don;t think the DLC emblems are as broken as people make them out to be. Soren though, just creates an immortal unit for 4 turns, not even fair.

[@VangolaGear]

I agree. The difficulty of those maps are high enough that it’s harder than most Bond Max paralogues. Meaning I think it’s fair game to use them. Besides. It’s. A. Game. Who cares how I beat a given difficulty as long as I had fun doing so.

[@joshawatt3604]

Personally, I just didn't buy the Engage dlc yet. Not because I can't or because I am against ppl using it but because I want to wait for all of the dlc to be out and not only use half the dlc now and have to replay the entire game again to experience the whole dlc. (Also, looks like we're getting extra story content aswell)

[@LinkKing7]

Tbh, the extra story content is what I'm really waiting for above all else!

[@danielsimmich1858]

It’s only a true maddening run if you bought the game using only pennies you found on the floor of your local theatre. Anything else is invalid (DLC may only be bought with nickels taken from the bottom of fountains and wells)

[@zeterzero4356]

Somebody once said to me "if you aren't playing D&D exactly rules as written and use any kind of homebrew, than you aren't playing D&D but some other game entirely." That bothers me still because the person in question was basically saying another person's achievement in game didn't matter because there was homebrew rules or tools used in their game. That irked me, more because it was like saying the other person's fond memory of their experience....didn't matter or count. This feels similar to that where you have people scoffing at others for "not doing a true run" or "using a crutch". It's a GAME. It's fine to be happy you did your own super whacky hard core one character maddening run with no heals using only your left foot and a broken joycon that drifts more than an anime Toyota Sprinter, but don't think you're any better than the person playing with the DLC or blow raspberries at them like they're a toddler building sand castles while you're building skyscrapers. This game is for FUN. If competing is fun to you than find people who enjoy that competition without being bitter about it. Don't try to lull it around like your big stuff. The is ZeterZero with the daily rant. Next up sports with LinkKing7.

[@AlDesentis]

Kind of bizarre that people are arguing about "valid" maddening runs, maybe now we can talk how a no armor Megaman X3 run makes your enjoying of your game worthless. Play your game, enjoy it how you like. Then, if you feel like it, go back and impose yourself with conditions. That is the gist of it.

[@Jamstaro1]

Doing all the dlc island maps. Makes the game trivial until like chp 18 then it kind of just becomes hard mode until the very end. Either way you play it. I'd save the dlc islands until after chp 11. To have the hardest challenge and to really test the games limits. (Hell even ban bracelets after you've gotten them. So all that's affected is levels.) It's up to choice. But it's extremely satisfying to slam the dlc out as early as possible because it is an actual challenge that early. Same as waiting all the way until post game. Either way. Just enjoy the game the way you want. And it'll be a blast.

[@nevermoresalt]

so far in my experience, the game is still challenging even with the dlc. Maybe not as much as if you didn’t have them but honestly, as long as there is still a challenge then I honestly don’t care what people think 🤷‍♀️

[@kylestillwell7031]

Does it make the game easier? Yeah.... But is it worth it to have some fun rings that fill in gaps left by other rings? Absolutely. Soren might be OP, but without him, mages.... Don't have great emblem rings. Some great bond rings, sure, but engaging is fun, and Micaiah and Celica are not as fun as Soren on a sage or Camilla on a Mage Knight

[@everdash]

I never understand the argument of, "Too much" DLC or that it makes things too easy. If you think so, just... don't get it. It's optional. No one is forcing you to use it. You're literally choosing to download things that make it "too easy" for you and then complaining that it's too easy.

[@SPZ-gv2on]

I beat a maddening run first then bought the dlc to have fun messing with mechanics. It for sure makes maddening way easier though. The stat boosters help a lot early game, and the tiki paralogue is relatively easy with forged steel bows which gives you an incredibly strong emblem with good inheritable skills early. The map also gives a lot of xp and you will be ahead of the normal curve. With all that said, the dlc is super fun though. Messing with all the new skills is amazing and feels like it fleshes out the game further. I do like it but imo it's definitely easier than the original very tightly balanced maddening run.

[@jakksonkobalt]

After thinking about it some more, this video just points out the most toxic part of the gaming fandom. That being: "You aren't a TRUE gamer because you aren't playing with your feet while sawing off your arms with three blindfolds on and no sound." Just let people play how they want to play, games are meant to be fun. There is a similar thing in the Pokemon Nuzlocke community where people dismiss others. "Oh, that is barely even a nuzlocke, you aren't even playing with hardcore rules."

[@Void_Serenity]

Personally, I steer away from doing 'personal' challenges where you constrain yourself from using certain mechanics because it doesn't feel right to me. Others can do that if they want and that's well and fine, it's a single-player game, who gives a fuck? Have fun. All I would want is a difficulty where I can grind as much as I like and be able to use any tools at my disposal, all while being presented with a challenge. I'm looking forward to my Maddening playthrough of Engage, after I've grinded to take the Tempest Trials for a spin and see what it's like.

[@latioshunter]

Its a single player game at the end of the day, if someone else is getting angry that you won in maddening with the dlc, then thats on them for trying to feel superior(when most likely they haven't even touch maddening)

[@ZeltArruin]

I do think it should have the option to not get the dlc items/gold and be able to pick them up later

[@MasterStacona]

fire emblem is fun because it lets you win with YOUR strategy that YOU came up with and still be challenged while doing it (unless it is normal / normal-casual, but that is meant to be easier on purpose)

[@29go]

Dlc on maddening the maps the very tough,you earn those bracelets

[@godqueensadie]

Imagine telling other people the acceptable way to play with their toy

[@naotoueda2838]

Tbh, I don't mind about the difficulty I just want a option to turn off the DLC extra resources

[@bradypinnell7782]

while not exactly an off button, you do have 2 options. you can just keep track of what they gave you and not use it till you think its fair or you can use some of the gold they give you, buy some random weapons, enhance the shit out of em, use all the resources they give you, then sell them/drop them. same with bond fragments, make a bunch of rings, never use them.

[@MasterStacona]

the trials offer difficulty that is higher than maddening, so there are higher difficulties in the game already

[@jakksonkobalt]

My only experience with fire emblem before engage were Blazing Blade, Sacred Stones, and Shadow Dragon. So, I am pretty well versed, but not that well versed. I was actually thinking about playing on Maddening mode in this game, but good thing I didn't because even with the DLC and playing in easy mode, the game has been kicking my ass and causing me to play through the same turn over and over to get a position where none of my units die. Early on, my initial thought was that the game's very much increased power level left the game very easy, but as you go through, the increased power level makes the game SO much more difficult than previous fire emblem games. When I was playing Sacred Stones, only like 3 maps in the game had me going over and over, resetting and save stating to get through. Blazing Blade was even easier for me. Chapters 13-17 have been very rough in terms of time crystal use and probably have taken me longer than they should have. Each chapter takes me around and hour and a half to clear while constantly skipping battle animations. I feel like I should be farther in the game, but the game keeps killing my units which takes time to undo. Sure, I am not min-maxing or playing optimally, but I just play the way I like playing just as I do in every other fire emblem. The main issue in terms of the difficulty in this game is the increased power level. Lack of weapon durability means everyone is using the best weapons all the time and enemies get given better weapons to compensate. Emblems make units so much stronger, so normal enemies seem to have stats increased to make them more of a challenge. Boss battles have more health bars and go berserk with emblems, making them more powerful than normal. As far as I see it, in other FE games, each of your units is vastly stronger than each opponent, but you are outnumbered. This game keeps the outnumbered part, but makes the gap in power between players and enemies much smaller unless you start min-maxing.

[@leargamma4912]

I think this game is a blend of Awakening, FE4, and Thracia. The enemy has access to OP abilities that you also can use(FE4-5). The tools at your disposal allow you to min max and do wacky builds like with awakening, but the challenge is not so grueling or stacked. I don't like it when enemies with unnecessary novellas for skills are piled on. It makes everything a cluttered mess and at that point I can't even think about strategy. With this one, the blend of map gimmicks, enemy variety, objectives (except chapters 16-22 and paralogues) and tools to work around them are just enough to make your own strats and do whatever you feel like.

[@michaelpodgorski1692]

It's easy without, so I couldn't say it ruins Maddening, it just makes it more easy. Actually, some of the tougher maps are the DLC, and they scale.

[@toney001]

I agree. My gripe with them is that they break the rest of the game, and I'm on my 3rd maddening run. I've already broken the game enough by myself at this point... I'm just trying different units/classes.

[@grainedkruschev4146]

it aint even about whether the DLC making your run "legit" or not, its that the game is of such a high quality for its price tag, that you cant really justify the price of the dlc. for $60 usd, you get a quality game with 50ish hours of gameplay, how much time does it take to complete the dlc. for a price tag of 30usd, you should get no less than 25 hours of gameplay, but does any of the dlc add up to this? i dont think so. maybe down the line it will like the ashen wolves dlc but that remians to be seen

[@Yangblaze11]

There is a xenologue in wave 4 so it's pattern will likely be exactly the same as Three Houses.

[@LinkKing7]

We don't have all the waves or the xenologue yet so we'll see if it reaches 30 hours. With 5 rings and the map length I think it adds like 5 hours as it is now, maybe another 2 with the ring. I doubt the Xenologue will be a whole 20 hours of content but maybe they'll surprise us

[@dessam3939]

End of the day you still have to beat the paralogues to get the dlc bracelets so it’s not like it’s a walk in a field of daisies

[@KINGD353]

I stand by my belief that the rings sans edelgard do not make the game easier. If you can get through their maps you earned that shit. Hell I'd go as far as to say the gold and sp books are ok because I honestly feel like the game doesn't give you enough. Especially with sp. I see them as fixing a flaw with the game. Stat boosters and ingots though... yeah they just make them easier.

[@LinkKing7]

I used to feel like SP is in very low supply, but given how powerful certain skill combos can be, I'm starting to think it's honestly quite balanced

[@teono6057]

IMO any playthrough is a valid one, if you play on maddening it's a maddening playthrough as simple as that. DLC or not, Bond ring resetting for Olwen or not, time crystal or not

[@devinbrundidge8422]

As someone who is trying to solo Maddening with Etie (I say trying because I'm stuck on Ch4 lmao) I am that deranged lunatic and it is my job now to start barging into people's rooms and telling them their runs are invalid.

[@LinkKing7]

If you can manage to do that, I think you've earned that right 😂

[@thebluePumpking]

I can verify it, LinkKing reads comments and he is always a cool guy to comment with!

[@LinkKing7]

Always reading and replying when I can!

[@SinRayquaza]

Tiki's map is stupid. Engage is kinda made to attract FEH fans who(some) probably never played Fire Emblem. Tiki's map would punish unsuspecting newbies and its still a pretty challenging map for vet due to it massive size. I generally feel like you earn your DLC rings cuz all those maps are kind of a pain and/or annoying. The resources they gave out on DLC 2 is a bit much bit you can just NOT use it if you feel it'll ruin your experience but you do you 😀

[@robertm5110]

I beat maddening classic using what the game gave me which included DLC, before wave 2 was available, and that’s fine. If someone plays through it now and uses wave 2 DLC, that’s also fine. Either way, your save file shows that it’s Maddening Classic with the icon showing you beat the game.

[@Demedich1]

Honestly 2 of the DLC maps are harder than chapter 11 IMO. I don’t think it should matter to a maddening run because you have to earn those emblems.

[@DemiLuna1]

The dlc bracelets definitely make things easier, i did 2 playthroughs, one with and one without. The broken one isn't even Soren, Hector is so absolutely stupid on any tank :'D however, if you want to change things etc, you can just choose to not use them, etc. Do whatever you like, play whatever you enjoy and never feel bad about it.

[@toney001]

Hector alone is fantastic. Hector and Soren together will break a lot of the challenge by just making sure that at least 3 units will throw themselves into an impenetrable wall and die.

[@LinkKing7]

The problem with Hector is that if your defense or resistance is too high, enemies will avoid your tank, so engaging with him ins't always a good idea. My views on him have shifted a bit, but Quick Riposte is amazing regardless

[@DemiLuna1]

@@LinkKing7 Oh right, I don't play maddening, I play hard mode, so I forget sometimes the AI is a bit different on maddening. So I'll just add the addendum of hard mode or below. Quick riposte is so good and even relatively cheap to inherit.

[@Requinix17]

Great take. My experience with Maddening Classic+DLC has been super fun so far (up to chapter 15). The DLC paralogues, and paralogues in general are really very tough especially if you take them on as soon as they're available. (For Tiki's paralogue, I failed the map until I realized my Alcryst could one-shot the fliers if he had a strength tonic, an upgraded bow, and when standing next to Alear, and even then it was hard.) The difficulty of the main mission seems to be getting very easy in comparison though, maybe they should buff the main mission enemies to scale to your level. But in terms of the enjoyment factor I really don't mind the way it is. There are a million ways to challenge yourself in maddening, that's part of the charm of the game. It would be cool if they actually included a bunch of customizable challenge mode/options in the game itself but players are always going to be a step ahead in thinking of new fun things to try.

[@moonlight2870]

You're only a real fire emblem player if you lose every map at least three times. Otherwise you're a baby.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

You lose maps?

[@moonlight2870]

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 a bare minimum of three times, yes

[@Michael-tc5ff]

Comment triangle

[@ciarannihill]

As someone whose Maddening Mode playthrough was at chapter 24 when the DLC Wave 2 came out it hasn't broken much for me since the enemies in the maps themselves are substantially more powerful than even endgame enemies are, generals with over 70 attack and nearly 60 defense are commonplace.

[@viceroycat6376]

You say you read most comments, read this. Please keep making content for FE, there isn't enough content creators for this game. Keep it up!!

[@LinkKing7]

I read and I respond and I will definitely keep making content, there will be another video out very soon!

[@redwings13400]

The great thing about single player games is that you can play them however you want, and it doesn't ruin the experience for anyone else! If you think the DLC makes things too easy and less fun for you, then don't use it!

[@MorphFE]

Easy answer, do Maddening blind first 😉 Honestly I'd lean towards the FEH weapons actually been better than the free silver weapons, they are cheap to refine compared to silver and end up as strong/nearly as strong with much lower weight

[@Ephraim225]

I only have one real complaint, it's that you can't "Turn off" DLC like it's a mod, if you bought it, the extra resources are going into your inventory no matter what. It's ultimately an inconvenience more than anything, though.

[@victor-manuelribeiro]

Playing maddening with fixed growth is really fire emblem ? 😛. Nice video, I use as much as I can the dlc and I don't find maddening easier 😂, for me it's hard map so good reward. I agree on the "everyone play the game like he want". A lot of things can be done with this game and it's awesome for that

[@korinoriz]

Edit: Linkking roughly said what I said in the video. Whoops! I think the long and short of it is, as much of a cop out answer it is, "both sides" want validation in one way or another. "Purists", for lack of a better term, want to feel validated they beat the game without using rather powerful tools behind a paywall/not in the base game, playing the "intended" or "true" difficulty , or something along those lines. On the other end, there's the people who argue it doesn't help that much, like stated in this video, or that "it's part of the game", etc. Though I'm not in this camp I can definitely sympathize with it being disheartening having people invalidate how you play a video game, especially after struggling also. In the end anyone can play however they want, of course. It's when it's brought up in discussion that problems arise. Especially since it can be argued it's all rather arbitrary, as the tweet in the beginning demonstrates. Fates lets you buy units/skills, a fair majority tend to agree that's "cheating", especially in Conquest, but other than that where's the line? No My Castle Features? No free weapons? No visiting other castles? You can beat Punch Out blind folded after all.

[@styxxiii]

don't worry bro, it IS a based take

[@LinkKing7]

Excellent, the validation I need to make sure I'm winning these days!

[@RenegadeVash]

I personally take tiki because the growth she provides allow me to use any of early game units even if they have bad growths.

[@bradypinnell7782]

i personally think this is the best way to use dlc, to compensate for units who got screwed due to their class or growths, even the exp maps from fates, certain units just suck, but i like em anyway and wanna use them

[@biraininhe1]

Even without DLC i found out with "corin + yunaka" i could cheese the map as long as i want. I don't have problem with chapter 11 either, i build yunaka as soon as possible so when she goes to jungle, the enemy just miss the spell prevent movement.

[@Raime69]

Yes the DLC is gamebreaking but you do have to clear the paralogues to get most of the rings. I did the Soren and Camilla maps 1 chapter before you get back Micaiah on maddening and they were soul suckingly slow. No resets, just incredibly boring and tedious. I do not think either are worth getting until after chapter 19 when you can cheese with micaiah warp/entrap. Tiki and Hector are fine though.

[@Yangblaze11]

I was just playing the Soren map two days ago (right after I got Timerra) and the map sucks so I agree that it is tedious , worst part is I decided that I wasn't prepared to do it at the point I did and now have to do the map later.

[@Raime69]

@@Yangblaze11 You know it's gonna be bad when the map starts with "Due to the high number of enemy staves, staff animations have been set to player phase only"

[@Yangblaze11]

@@Raime69 It really said that? I play with the animations for staffs off so I didn't know that the game did that.

[@LinkKing7]

Oh the Camilla map SUCKS. I did it post game the first time and it took like an hour and a half. The other two were far more bearable but I wish I'd warp skipped camilla

[@czar17_28]

I’ll say, on Normal/Classic I restarted once during the chapter and beat it on my second try. No real headstart on forging optimally or using the “best” units. I’ve restarted like 7 times since then due to WolfKnight crits and underestimating enemy numbers by Chapter 13. I’ll buy the DLC after atleast one Maddening Run on classic, but I haven’t even finished the game yet. I honestly just want the build diversity to endlessly grind every unit to max and be content with that.

[@Smuggers.]

I took all my engage rings off for 11 on maddening, but if you're completing hector and tiki's paralogues before 11 you are definitely already having no trouble with 10/11. Getting Edelgard for free as early as you do is kind of strong though given that you only have to pay for it. Also, good luck beating soren early on in maddening when the boost to player power will be at it's greatest, I've tried before and after chapter 11 and that map is frustrating at this point in maddening, it makes the actual maddening campaign and hector's map look like a joke. The 20 silver ingots, FREE BOOTS, and money gated silver card and sp are basically pay2win cheats. I don't really like getting power boosts just for paying money, I much prefer the content and things that have to be earned in game. The dlc is actually fun though.

[@toney001]

The DLC maps are the easiest at chapter 9, specially Soren. Having to do that map when all the units are promoted is cancer.

[@searing123]

I plan on doing a vanilla maddening run with no dlc rings. But the dlc rings are a lot of fun

[@jerrytealeaf]

Whether something is too easy or broken is subjective for a single player game but it's undeniable that the DLC powercreeps your units beyond what they can do in the base game.

[@abrahammunguia6536]

I feel this game's difficult is on the spot. With or without dlc, is really doable with ease. You don't have to worry about much, yes, canter is super good and you should try to get it but then again, rushing for canter will ease some of the parts but not by that much. I think the issue is...we should choose whether we want the resources or not. Sure the dlc maps are hard but they also provide with quite the EXP to compensate. I think it's a matter of using resources. Do you want to invest your time on this dlc, knowing it will make your life easier at the expense of trivializing some parts? If yes, go ahead and enjoy. If not, just don't do them. Easy as that

[@gamefreak173]

i enjoyed the dlc maps, i did tiki paralogue as soon as it was available and farmed the dragons for xp which made me so far ahead of the story that it took a lot of chapters for the game to catch up.. The hardest one for me personally was the soren one while trying to get both chests without suiciding a unit in. since i played maddening 2 times before getting the dlc it makes it infinitely easier because you have the rings even in chapter 11, my 2nd maddening run i almost softlocked had to get lucky rng because i used a bunch of squishy units while in chapter 11 and prayed the leif emblem unit didnt crit. Meanwhile the dlc with tiki took like 5 turns to clear chapter 11 in like 10 minutes lol

[@driftwisp2797]

The challenge is definitely in the way you choose to play. I don't have any DLC/FEH. I'm still on my first playthrough, hard/classic. I like to push aggressively, because stalling feels cheesy. I don't use vulns unless it's required to save a life, because that's what staves are for, right? I split as much as possible when there are multiple paths. That's clearly intended, and it's fun to figure out which small groups I should use to deal with the enemies on each path. I try to split XP as evenly as possible because as a kid soloing FE8 with Seth wasn't fun. I'm still hoarding my stat boosters because "Who knows who I might want to use them on later?". I try to only use rewinds if someone's life is at stake or I make a misclick, and I try to rewind as little time as possible. Sometimes I need to spend four or five charges finding a way out of a single death because I don't want to rewind to the previous turn and avoid the situation entirely. I struggled on Chapter 10. I had to rewind the very first turn because I used Chloe to kill the balista and canter away, but then she got frozen in a spot where I couldn't help her and she died. I struggled with the final boss even after baiting his ult onto an armor knight. It's the closest I've come to running out of time crystal charges so far. Chapter 11 was a walk in the park for me. I don't think I used a single rewind for the entire chapter, and I had no deaths even though the Freezes caught me by surprise and I had to send half of my forces back to save the frozen units. When I finished the level I thought "I guess they intentionally made the level really easy because you have to do it without rewinds or emblems". I was shocked when everyone was calling Chapter 11 a difficulty spike. Most of the difficulty in the level is that it forces you to play the game in the same way I always have, so I didn't even notice.

[@uchihajunior5648]

The real problem is that the dlc maps give a ton of exp to your units, i was over 15 levels above the recomended for each chapter in my post wave 2 maddening run, and i had 3 maddening playtroughs with no dlc and then boght the dlc when wave 2 droped, but damm, the game becomes so easy with the extra dlc exp, on my first dlc playtrough, i breezed trough the entire game, that's why on my next dlc run, i only took level 20 advanced class units to the dlc maps, i made shure to not let anyone on those maps that could get exp, then after beating all those maps i continued the game normaly, and then the run went way more balanced, i didn't feal overpowered anymore, and then it was way more fun then runninng around with unkillable units.

[@dave9515]

Thats true but most say it makes the game easier by adding broken rings. The argument of it negates the thematic tie in with chap 11 and makes you gain a lot of levels is a fair argument.

[@uchihajunior5648]

@@dave9515 they should have made it so you only have access to the bracelets after chapter 15, and only be able to do 1 divine paralogue for each new emblem you get from that point (also make divine paralogues give no exp), for example: Once you beat chapter 11 you have lycina and lyn, so you can do 2 divine paralogues, especificaly tiki's and hector, then once you get ike you can get soren, then when ypu get corrin you can get camila, this would make the most sense.

[@autumn2ashes211]

Honestly I was never not gonna buy all of the DLC for a Fire Emblem game so to me this is just part of the game lol.

[@dashhh16]

Hahaha as soon as I got diamant and Albert, I completed every single DLC map on Maddening mode (except for Chrom’s one, that one was a little bit beyond my current FE capabilities). My observation was the following… As soon as I reach ch11 (which was nothing short of a breeze). I managed to solo the entire map (when the 4 puppies show up) with only 2 units. I was able to complete chapters (I believe all the way to ch18) with no much effort nor planning whatsoever.

[@jaydani116]

What I don’t understand is why this conversation is so prominent with engage when I don’t remember it being nearly as controversial with DLC in the past. Awakening and fates literally gave you the option to infinitely grind if that’s what you wanted. Not sure where the shift from, “Play however you want” to “Why even bother playing maddening if you get the DLC” came from, but it frustrates me to no end. I play fire emblem to have fun, and if having extra resources makes my maddening run more fun, then why would I not use it? If pushing the game difficulty to its limit is what you find fun, then that’s great! But not everyone enjoys spending hours per map, and this obsession with how everyone else chooses to play their game is really making me want to avoid any discussion about the game at all.

[@jaydani116]

That being said, I do obviously agree that the dlc makes parts of the game easier. As you mentioned a lot of the difficulty does come from not knowing what to expect. I’m still working on my first play-through, so maybe my opinion will change when I attempt my second run.

[@bradypinnell7782]

a few reasons why its more popular now, or seems like it. the other games didnt allow you to do the hardest difficulty straight from the start, and most content and discussion around things tends to die off as games get older, so by the time you could do the hardest difficulty it was a bit more quiet, and the casual people had got their first story playthru, so why would they care as much. and fates allowed you to break the game just as easily without dlc, cuz you could buy units or skills using the online features. engage however does allow maddening from the start, and it is being regarded as one of the most balanced/difficult in a while, if not of all time, so people will be more vocal. the other thing is most people spent the whole lead up to the game worried about emblems breaking the balance of the game to begin with, so its kinda of natural for them to assume more = easier. everyone will play whatever makes them happy for sure, but what is the point in looking for a discussion if you dont want other peoples opinions, in a strategy game the thing we will talk about most is strategies, its only natural people will care how other people play.

[@laprayprey]

I think DLC does make your experience more interesting and gives you more flexibility to make more units viable for Maddening difficulty. I don't think it's fair to judge a run's validity based on how much handicap you decided to give to yourself but I do find it funny to see comments like "now beat the game without DLC, no rings etc and suffer as much as possible". Things I noticed between my my Maddening run without DLC and one of my friend's run with DLC was that my friend was able to promote Framme by chapter 11 while my Framme could barely survive after chapter 8 even though I really wanted to keep using her because of Chain Guard mechanic. That being said, I don't think DLC breaks chapter 11 at all, since the enemy Freeze Martial Monk / Micaiah AI almost always targets the unit closest to it (took me a while to realize) and I was able to manipulate its AI by baiting out the freeze with a staff unit who had a rewarp staff in inventory and rewarp out at turn 2. Overall I don't think a run with DLC should be frowned upon (countless other games have DLCs that make their games easier on a much larger scale) and I plan to purchase the DLC because this is a good game and I'm willing to see how broken the DLC can be.

[@LinkKing7]

Broken is also just so much fun, especially on subsequent runs when you want to see how disgusting you can make your units be!

[@juicyjuustar121]

The game is definitely much harder without the DLC, though it's also much more fun for me. I've been playing on Hard, and I love the strategic flexibility and utility the DLC Emblems provide, as well as the insanely fun and challenging DLC paralogues. I had to restart the Chrom+Robin paralogue THREE TIMES to beat it, it was that tough for me. And the reward was... Probably worth it I guess idk I didn't use the Chrobin bracelet lmao Point is I think the DLC made the game a deeper experience for me, but its without a doubt easier with that content

[@truezephyr4431]

Really my take is that it doesn't devalue maddening so much as it creates more areas for said challenge runs. I.E. Someone says "DLC Ironman" or "No DLC maddening." Hell, even "No DLC iron man maddening." It just makes more possibilities for content. It's interesting to watch/play with the tools, but equally so and for different reasons makes playing without it fun too! IMO, "purist" takes are usually bad in general so I just don't take them seriously, anyway. Having more categories just means more options for subsequent plays. Replayability in FE is always the most important feature to me.

[@cecil937]

Something that I found to be a good level of difficulty for me is to selectively use the DLC in addition to Ironman rules. 1. The steel and silver weapons are well fodder. 2. DLC stat boosters get sold. 3. Only El, Tiki, and one DLC bracelet are allowed. No more paralogues are allowed. At the end of the day though, it’s all about what you find fun to play.

[@thorscape3879]

Lunatic is not significantly hard be it with or without DLC. The additional Emblems are nice to have but they don't really reduce the difficulty all that much. At best you're reducing the turn count by 2 or 3. Doing Tiki's map before Ch10 is absolutely grueling and more than "makes up for" the "loss in difficulty" after it.