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I'm a newcomer to Fire Emblem; Should I play Casual Mode


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I just got Fire Emblen Awakening as my first game in the Fire Emblem series, but I'm not sure if I should play Casual Mode. I'm not that big a fan of difficulty, especially being one new to JRPGs in general, but I heard Casual Mode gets berated a lot in the FE community. As a complete newcomer to the franchise, what mode should I play?

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As someone that started with Shadow Dragon on the DS and has played through several other games in the series including Warriors, I would suggest Casual. My reason for this is you mentioning difficulty. Some people that play Classic usually restart a chapter when they lose a unit. I'm guilty of this as it does up the difficulty in trying to keep every unit alive. Although not everyone plays like that and just goes with the flow in losing a unit forever in a playthrough. So I'd say Casual like Kefka said to learn the mechanics until you decide (or not) to move up to Classic.

 

Plus, losing units ends up making the game harder in the long run.

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As someone who's been regularly following discussions for years, it's always been my impression that it's universally agreed that Casual Mode is a great feature for the Fire Emblem series, so I find it weird that anyone could get the idea that it's something worth criticizing unless they're not putting any thought into the claim. All it really does allow the player to reduce the game's tedium by removing the permanent death mechanic, and is a completely optional experience that doesn't take anything away from Classic Mode.

 

Generally speaking, I think your decision to playing on either Casual or Classic should ride on whether or not you are willing to deal with the consequences of losing your characters in battle.

 

Personally, I like playing on Classic because by design it encourages more efficient play if you maintain keeping everyone alive, but I do also like to play on Casual if I feel like doing a playthrough where I don't want to have to think that much. There are totally valid reasons to play on either mode regardless of your prior experience with the series and it's worth remembering that.

 

That said, I'm inclined to recommend trying the game first on Casual and either Normal or Hard difficulties and see how you feel about it. If the gameplay doesn't feel that engaging I would suggest changing things up, though definitely don't consider playing on Lunatic without planning ahead since unfortunately it isn't a well designed difficulty setting.

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Welcome to Fire Emblem! It's one of my favorite seroes. Now this is gonna sound cynical but in regards to the "but I heard Casual Mode gets berated a lot in the FE community. " The fact is there is truth in that, but only because a vocal portion of the FE community are toxic morons. Their opinion doesn't matter and you should play however you find the most fun. Luckily there is little (if any) of that on this forum and in general you probably won't find people like that too often, if and when you do just don't pay them any mind.

 

For me I play classic but reset when a character dies. I like the characters and having them all but also like the challenge of treating any death as a "game over." I'd say choose casual vs classic based on your willingness to replay maps. If that sounds unfun and tedious go casual. Or just go casual and if it feels too easy or you feel like you want to do better at a map just reset on a case by case basis. 

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It'd be one thing if Casual was featured in a way that genuinely trivialized playing on Classic or was otherwise actually flawed somehow, but as it stands it's a great alternative that eloquently offers a solution to players who have been put off by the traditional gameplay while also catering to players who wouldn't mind the convenience it provides. I'm sure there really are people who do think it's a stupid mode, but that just reeks of silly elitist gatekeeping.

 

The only game where I feel Casual Mode is questionably implemented is in Fire Emblem Echoes, because Mila's Turnwheel makes Casual largely redundant with how generous it is with letting you take back turns and basically accomplish the same thing. But even then it's still inoffensive to have Casual because it ultimately doesn't detract from the game in any way.

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Since it's been an option I've always played on Classic and frankly I don't know why I do since generally I just reset if a character dies anyway. Even if you're a veteran FE fan there's no big reason to ignore Casual Mode, and the only people that are going to give you shit for using it are elitists that you don't want to talk to anyway.

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My first time beating a Fire Emblem game (Awakening) was on Casual and, to be honest, that mode was the sole reason I bought that game over the other, permadeath-only, games. I don't really have the patience or ability to wrap my head around trying to keep everyone alive and the notion that if you run out of characters, progress halts and you straight up cannot continue (I assume it's that way). I say go for Casual and if you find it too easy, try again on Classic. The most important point is to play the game in a way that you get enjoyment out of it. :)

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Like other people here, I'm just going to suggest to play Casual, especially for your first time. There's no need to jump into higher difficulties so soon on.

 

There's only one real benefit to playing Classic in the newer games, in my opinion, and that's that it helps you formulate strategies to minimize the loss of units in a given map. While those sorts of strategies aren't useful in games where you can just play Casual mode, if you ever decide to go back and play earlier FE games (before Casual mode is a thing), you might find the sudden change difficult to adjust to.

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I played before Casual existed and just dealt with it. Eventually I started resetting on deaths, but never played anything with Classic.
In my first playthrough I took some of the deaths. It's not that bad. If you get slaughtered you can reset anyway.
Everybody's already said Casual, but don't let it scare you off if you feel like being challenged.

The more important advice is to not use the pre-promoted unit too much early on or you'll hate life. The one that's really strong and gets barely any xp per kill. They're a newbie trap and always make the later part of the game harder for you. Better to use them once other units catch up. 

Have fun y;

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I'm a bit of a perfectionist and have gotten into the habit of resetting my game every time a unit falls, regardless of whether I'm playing Classic or Casual, but that's just me.  You have options for a reason.  Play whichever mode makes you feel comfortable.

Edited by Reilly
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On 4/14/2018 at 7:24 PM, avalonknight said:

If I remember, having certain characters die in Classic Mode can change the story in some ways. That alone can put a lot of weight on certain characters. Though the cost can be too much for some players.

Not really.

 

Some characters will become “critically injured” and unable to participate in battle, but will still show up during cutscenes.

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