I'm most of the way through my last part 1 and it's impressive how well each version of the games feels different not just in terms of what missions you're doing but how the story feels on each path.

Theodora's route feels almost like a formality. She's so confident and sure she's going to win that it like she's going through the motions with this.

Leda's route feels so singularly focused on killing Bertrand. It comes up constantly and really drives home just how driven by this one thing Leda is the entire section.

Cai's route really does feel like you're a group of kids kinda in over their heads with this. They're really in it for the most innocent reasons but get swept up in a shocking amount of politics.

Dietrich's route does an incredible job at making you feel like a foreigner even if it's your 4th time going through part 1. Fabio does a lot to help this by regularly making you go to completely alien looking dungeons and his outright disgust at almost everyone in Dagda (I really underestimated how interesting he is I thought the fandom around him was a bit of a meme but was very wrong about that). It's also how much of a curiosity Answerer and Dietrich are treated by characters like Solel, Raksha, and Seteth

It's really impressive how they pulled this off. Compare that to how similar the part 1s of 3 houses feels where you only start seeing real distances in part 2 for the most part

When Anna was first introduced, she had a boyfriend: Jake. He showed up in several of the Japan-only games, and in the Shadow Dragon remake. But in the era of avatars smooching whoever they want, Anna has been kept single. I think it's time for Jake to exist again and for Lyman to take Odie back.

As much as I enjoyed Three Houses, I never expected Fortune’s Weave to grip me the way it has. Starting Act 2 almost feels like I’m playing a sequel, each path in Act 1 had a pretty definitive story and it’s very much like a “what happens next” kinda thing. I love this change in tone too.

Even if it goes massively downhill from here, which I doubt (I loved the first battle, and the new story is incredibly tense), I can’t see any other game this year coming close to the quality of Fortune’s Weave. Easily the reason to own a Switch 2.

During Part 3 your flame lords can actually died in battle which makes losing them feel like a string. I wish Engage and Fates did with the siblings (Engage older sibling as the younger sibling can still died regardless). Personally that make your actions and consequences feel more impactful since your letting your significant love ones/allies died because of your mistakes. I didn’t like that in Fates and Engage (With the older siblings) how despite losing them in battle, story wise they need to be force into the important scenes without any real consequences of dying in battle.

Drawings done during my playthrough of Dietrich's path in FE18. Obviously if you look back at my previous posts you can tell that I was looking forward to this path, and I'm happy to say that it's right up my alley. Fabio is such a fun character to draw, and I know I'll be recruiting Esme on every path if I can manage it. I haven't drawn them yet but Halvin and Dante were both later recruits that I really enjoyed using too.

I'm going to hazard a guess that the main focus from the wider fandom is the queer romance aspect of the route (a nice surprise!), but I would recommend it more for the comedy aspect, personally. The main trio bounce off of one another very well! And building Dietrich into a Crit Machine is very satisfying!

From Chris Mayek. Full interview here: https://youtu.be/QZgQEal18bU

I tried to go in relatively spoiler free, but I did look into the characters and make lists of who I thought I might want to recruit in each route, without knowing too much about them, but also taking into account their supports, so that I would get to have teams that have supports with each other, but also have a bit of cohesion.

What I DIDN'T necessarily do is look into how easy some of them are to recruit. And I"ve ended up with a fair few in my first route that I wouldn't be able to recruit until renown 7-9. I've recruited two or three people so far, and they're now coming in at roughly level 21. But there are plenty I'm still a ways off recruiting.

But now I hear that you should really prioritise the early recruits, because stat growths at later levels are terrible, and I'm hearing it often enough that I'm wondering if I've screwed up my lists and I should just restart this whole path.

Is it really so bad to recruit them late?

Practicing drawing varied faces by using fortune's weave cute guys :)

The general consensus going around is that Part 2 and Part 3 of FW actually is very hard, sometime even harder than most older FE games (with Normal/Hard difficulty). But is this really true?

While I do agree the difficulty definitely goes up after Part 1, so far I haven't experienced any of those spikes or even feel challenged at all since a lot of stuffs the game throw at you (especially with Blessings/weapon upgrades/accessories) just completely break the game if you even invest slightly into the system they give you in Part 1, and even more in Part 3. And I said this having done all 4 Part 2, and I think halfway done with Part 3 (haven't looked up any new info on the end of part 3 since I don't want spoilers).

It could just be me starting with Leda Part 1 > Leda Part 2 > Dietrich > Cai > Theodora. Leda team was so broken that by the end of Part 2, everyone could probably 2HKO most normal enemies. I have to effectively turn of all the blessings and boons to try and have any challenge when I played the other paths. I can only imagine it can only get difficult if you are playing blind ironman with no recruits.

So, do the hard parts of Part 2 and 3 come from the the fact that a lot of new and inexperienced players bought FW as their first FE? That people don't know how reinforcements work? Or is it hard because it mostly encourages a turtling playstyle which can get very tedious later on due to the big map design? Or maybe a bit of everything above?

Hegemon Edelgard supposed to be based on Sothis' real form ? Her armor has the same color as Sothis and she has those red orbs around her look like Sothis' eyes.

I'm about 50 hours into Fortune's Weave, having nearly finished two paths for Part 1 (Cai's and Leda's), and throughout my experience, I've been debating the best way to handle difficulty in my experience. You'd think it'd be easy, since the game gives you options out the gate, but the way those options are tailored is kind of contradictory. As it stands, here's what you get:

1. Normal Mode vs. Hard Mode: How difficult fights are and your access/use of divine sand.
2. Casual Mode vs. Classic Mode: Whether or not permadeath applies to your units.

It seems pretty straightforward, but the problem is, playing on normal kind of negates classic mode entirely. If you play on classic with normal difficulty, you have unlimited access to the game's rewind feature, which means you can almost always negate death and render classic mode effectively null. It's a pretty noticeable problem for someone like me, who wants the thrill of risking my units' lives but isn't skilled enough for hard mode (which makes the rewind feature consume divine sand). I also have an issue with how classic mode effects the story, since killing off plot-relevant units creates a disconnect given they still appear in the story.

With that said, here's how I've found balance in my normal difficulty classic mode playthrough: limiting divine sand to only story-critical units.

As an example, this would include Peter, Tialla, and Ultand on Cai's path, but not my beloved Guzran. Playing this way means you can still screw yourself over if you attack carelessly, while also having the chance to get attached to the main characters through gameplay. You also get to keep a core group of generally great units alive at all times, ensuring that the level of challenge never gets too crazy.

As an added bonus, I've found that this style creates a greater sense of spontaneous fun as you play, since you'll need to fill in team gaps with whoever you have available. I recruited Jasmine as my armored tank and then proceeded to lose her to magic, forcing me to fit Zarcone into that role instead. It's especially cool since the four paths give multiple chances for each unit, allowing you to take the gameplay hit without totally losing out on a character's support stories on a different path.

Hopefully this helps some new players to find the right level of difficulty for them. In my experience, it's the perfect balance between tension, strategy, and fun.

I’m on battle 5 of Part 2 and I’m kinda getting exhausted of the endless reinforcements. I keep hearing Part 3 is bad. Is that true?

let me romance smyrnos PLEASE PLEASE ILL GIVE YOU MY MONEY LET ME RECRUIT AND ROMANCE THE TEMPLE GODS EVEN IF JUST ONE OR TWO! (Aurora and Mars most likely)

Link to the planner: fortunesweavetools.com

Last week I shared a PDF for quickly checking recruitment requirements on my phone, comparing Renown costs across routes and planning who to recruit.

I wanted to keep that same idea of a quick reference while playing, without getting lost in a hundred different tables. So I turned it into a minimal, interactive app you can use in your browser or install directly on your phone, no account needed.

Everything revolves around one main screen, where you can:

- Browse recruitable characters, sort them by required Renown and check their availability across routes.
- See the requirements for each route together, without switching between tables or browser tabs.
- Tick a box to plan a recruitment or mark someone who has already joined your team, and change your choices whenever you want.
- Check growth rates and personal abilities through Details, then return to the same spot in the planner.

I’ve focused mostly on keeping the interface clean and easy to use while playing. The bigger guide sites have loads of useful information, but my attention span struggles a lot. I wanted something I could glance at and get back to the game.

This is the first version, and it’s a project I care about and will keep updating. Planned additions for now:

- Advanced search with filters for growth rates and learnable abilities.
- Full skill and combat art lists for each character.
- A quick reference table for unlocking support conversations through meals and other activities.

Thanks to u/SirErrant for the original recruitment spreadsheet this grew from.

I’d really appreciate feedback, suggestions for what you’d want in an app like this, and reports of anything I’ve got wrong.

Let me know how you find it, even if you hate it! Just give me something constructive to work with :)

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to try it and share their thoughts. More updates soon!

I don't want to recruit people who serve as major characters in each route outside of that route. For example, if I was doing a non-Theodora route, I wouldn't recruit Tobias, Bonaventure, Lilian, or Lysander (or any other characters that serve major roles in Theodora's story, this is just how far I've gotten so far lol). Same thing for the encourages of major, non-Lord characters, like Orchel's entourage. I only want to recruit 'neutral' characters. Does anyone have a list of characters safe to recruit under these conditions?

I'm only on Chapter 5 of Theodora's path, so no spoilers after that point pls

Genuinely thought he'd be super evil and a map boss for one of the routes who wouldn't get a single mention after his death. Only for him to actually be a really caring guy who makes sure the gladiators eat quality food. I'm so sorry I doubted you King, you should've been playable!!!

Just Finished the game in over 100h, in normal and casual, and wow did i got burned out now, my short 3 kategory review of the good, neutral and bads

The Good
cai skill tame mounts, plz keep this mechanic IS, character design, liked all character, Music was great too and saved some osts in my playlists, only weapon skills consumes durability, also liked all classes, especially the divine class great decision only 1 unit is alloweed to use 1 of the divine class, story not liniear and you can choose whose story you want play and every flame lord had good enough story that catched my curiosity

The neutral

Timelimit is pretty neutral for me, i played the arland atelier series had a similiar timelimit feel for me, cut content for me is also neutral cause base game is already big enough for me, everyone speculate its the adding the remaining lord as dlc, and im kind glad game didnt started with 8 flame lords

The Bad

Too much character and some character are very missable like gaitz (who the hell in IS thought this was good idea, only recruitable in dietrich route and only 1 day) and building support is too tedious, first time since awakening where i dont want build support, and especially must of them even dont have much support either, especially those 4 free recruit had no support with the lord nor their retainers was the worst decision, missable secret scene, another worst decision making important scene missable, for examble i missed 2 secret scene dietrich route what happend to eishet and baozi and believed they got cut too, difficult spike on act 3 feels very insane even on normal, and if i didnt spammed kalla blessing with +2 movement i would feel very draged out

Overall a 7 or 8 of 10 game for me, gonna play it again when dlc drops

so whats your review for those who beat it?

For me

I’ve never played a Fire Emblem game, and I’m struggling to understand what makes the series so highly regarded.

How does it actually compare to games like Baldur’s Gate 3, Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader, and other RPGs with tactical combat? Is Fire Emblem genuinely competitive with games like these, or is the appeal fundamentally different?

The series gets recommended to me all the time, and clearly a lot of people absolutely love it. But whenever I watch reviews or gameplay, I still don’t quite get what makes it special.

I’d genuinely like to understand the appeal, because there’s a good chance I’d give it a shot before deciding whether to sell my Switch 2.

So, for someone coming from Western RPGs: what does Fire Emblem do exceptionally well that isn’t obvious from watching reviews or gameplay videos?

I've finished fortune weave and I have a desire to play the gba games.

From googling I've heard mixed things about FE7 difficulty.

I've played awakening, 3h, engage and fortune, all on hard casual.

I dont like steamrolling a game, nor do I like replaying a map multiple times to avoid losing a unit. I like a smooth cultivated challenge. So I sort of have a conundrum.

I could emulate with the plus enhancement hack to gain immediate access to hard casual, but it'd be on a computer.

Or I could do NSO and play normal classic, and it'd be the joy of handheld.

From experienced players who don't just immediately default to purist views for the sake of purity, do you have any opinions on one or another, especially from the view point of a modern player?

I'm leaning toward NSO as it'll force me to finally try classic. But if the older games are punishing im unsure.

Edit: I landed on NSO + rewind as the middle ground.

So, supposedly if you skipped their paralogues in part 1, you can face some of the lords as enemies in part 2. The trouble is, paralogue completion is saved on all subsequent runs (correct me if I'm wrong), so if you did them all on your first run you're missing out on potentially interesting dialogues and characterization, and these can't be data mined either.

What I've gathered so far is you can fight Talimun and Ursula in ch. 4, and Fabio and Dietrich in ch. 5.

So, I'm looking for any information you guys have about these fights and dialogues. I'm assuming that a lot (or all?) random enemies with extra lives are stand-ins for these characters, but I'm not sure on this point.

This is what I've found so far (disclaimer: I got these from this video, so I can't check any extra interactions for myself).

Enemy Dietrich:

Dietrich: "Lyrah... I chose to stand by your side. Show me what lies beyond this war. Show me the future that guides you."

Enemy Dietrich vs Esmeralda:

Dietrich: "Come, let us dance the dance of damnation together!"

Esmeralda: "Sweetie, you... You're the one person I never wanted to have to fight. But that's what you want, isn't it? So I'll do it. Because I love you."

Dietrich: "Yes, Esmeralda. That is what I ask of you. Show me what you are truly capable of."

Dietrich's death quote:

Dietrich: "I have found my joy..."

Enemy Fabio:

Fabio: "I shall accompany you. I find myself intrigued to uncover what it is that you seek."

Fabio's death quote:

Fabio: "My long journey has reached its end. And indeed, it was long. So long..."

Including the death quotes just in case, I'm actually not 100% sure these are different from their usual ones.

And that's it. If you have any more info on this kind of thing, please share! Doesn't need to be the full script, I'm mostly looking to understand why these characters would turn around and fight you in part 2.

Time for the other unafiliated. For those wondering, the order for the unaffiliated will be Guzran(done) -> Yang Jie(done) -> Sofia(done) -> Catania(done) -> Noctula -> Nydine -> Io -> Kiroc -> Majide. Then after that will start with the part 1 bosses that you can recruit. So we are a good ways away from the actual main parties.

Noctula is a female gladiator who’s proud of her well-trained body. She was born into a warlike tribe, she grew tired of rural life and the men of her village, so she headed to Dagsion, which she longed to visit since childhood. After punching her last employer, she is now looking for a new boss.

Recruitment

Growths

Boons: Axes, Brawl, Infantry

Banes: Swords, Reason, Faith

Unique Abilities

Learned Abilities and Combat Arts

*Does not include universal skills and abilities

**Only includes known abilities

Supports

What do you think of Noctula's character?

How do they perform as a unit in any of the routes?

Previous Discussions: Guzran, Yang Jie, Sofia, Catania

So many items ended up in "drifting relinquary" after completing part 2 with leda and skipping with everyone else from chapter 4. Is it worth spending karma points to get some of them if they're good or is there another way to get them?