Favorite/Least Favorite Chapters

[Frizz]

With the vast amount of chapters there are in the Fire Emblem series, there's bound to be some in particular that stand out for you, whether it's the pride and joy of your life, or if it's the bane of your existence. In this thread, feel free to discuss how a certain chapter's Fog of War mechanic makes the chapter much more harder than it needs to be, or how having to protect a unit with abysmal stats in order to recruit them makes you want to tear your hair out. I'm looking at you in particular, Battle Before Dawn. Alternatively, feel free to help fellow Fire Emblem players with difficult chapters by providing them specific strategies that worked for you.

While my knowledge on Fire Emblem chapters is limited due to the fact that I've only completed two games, Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem has two chapters—Chapter 11: Anri's Way, and Chapter 13: Frozen Land—that are rather bothersome for me.

Anri's Way first. It's set in a desert, and it's riddled with Wyverns. They have a movement of 12, and their Breath attack negates any non-Manakete's Defense Stat, which more often than not, reduces your units HP to dangerously low numbers. Other than that, the chapter's not too bad. You can just huddle up your units in the lower right corner, and have your most sturdiest units guard the more fragile units, while Archers and Mages with Shaver or Excalibur finish off the Wyverns, with healers restoring the frontlines' HP and Phina dancing for them just in case you need to heal one more time.

And then there's Frozen Land. The map isn't too bad either, and it isn't quite as infested with Wyverns as Anri's Way, but in their stead, there are Ice Dragons. They're not too terrible, but they're rather bulky, and there are Ice Dragons reinforcements as well.

As for favorites? It'd have to be Chapter 16x of Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem. I'll be tagging it as a spoiler just in case there are those who haven't played FE12 yet.

Spoiler: Why Chapter 16x of FE12 is my favorite FE chapter (so far)

Chapter 16x - Reunion is probably my most favorite FE chapter by far. The prologue chapters as well as the Gaiden chapters all lead up to this one specific chapter by building Katarina's character, as well as showcasing her unstable and shaky relationship with the other assassins—Kleine/Clarisse and Eremiah/Eremiya in particular. In a sense, Katarina does not fit in well with the other assassins as she has a much more kind and caring nature than that of her peers, who are rather cold and distant. This is seen as a weakness, which subjects her to verbal abuse by Eremiah/Eremiya. By Chapter 16x - Reunion, Eremiah/Eremiya has Katarina convinced that she is a mere puppet and that she is worthless. Kris absolutely refuses to fight Katarina and instead tries to convince her otherwise by talking to her three times in battle. The first time around, Katarina mentions that she had a dream that the two of them were Royal Guards and saved many people and received their thanks. The second time around, Katarina quickly ends his attempt at a conversation, and asks him to fight her. By the third time around, Katarina asks why he refuses to fight her, despite him knowing that she'll kill him if he doesn't kill her first. He responds to this by saying how he's her friend and gets her to remember their time together as knights-in-training, and how she said they'd be "an unstoppable team". Katarina denies this, saying that it was all a lie and that everything she did was to decieve him, and that she doesn't care about him at all. Kris however, sees through this, and points out the fact she's crying—Kris knows that deep down, Katarina wants to fight alongside him. However, she believes that it's too late for that, as she's already committed "too many unforgivable sins". Kris then responds how although it won't be easy because of people from Altea and the assassin organization will turn her a cold shoulder, she'll have to start atoning for them regardless. He also promises her that no matter what happens, he'll stand by her side. With this, Katarina bursts out into tears and rejoins the Altean army. By the end of the chapter, she confronts Marth and asks him to execute her in order to atone for her sins. Marth refuses, saying that she would only be running from her sins, and would rather have her atone with her life. When Katarina asks how to do so, Marth simply states that she has to think for herself since she's always followed orders.

This chapter has a major impact on Katarina's character. In Chapter 20x - Depth of the Abyss, Katarina states how she now personally wants to be of use to Kris, rather than being ordered to do so. This carries on to most of her dialogue, such as her "C" support with Kris, as well as in all of her dialogue in How's Everyone.

So, that's it for me. What about you guys? What chapters really grinds your gears? Or what chapters tickles your fancy?

 

[Moydow]

For favourite chapter, the first one that comes to mind is Elincia's Gambit, the endgame of Part 2 of Radiant Dawn, and typically one of the first maps where players realise the awesomeness that is Haar in that game. Overall one of the best designed maps in the series, and with one of the better story moments behind it too. So good it got brought back in Fates as DLC and wasn't totally ruined by it.

Video for those unfamiliar with it and who don't mind spoilers:

Though my favourite method is to just charge Haar straight down to the boss and end the map on turn 1 or 2. :p

Least favourite is literally any desert map. Just no fun when everyone except your flying units are reduced to 1-2 move.

 

[Deleted member]

Desert Maps are infamous for being the mpst boring and frustrating maps in the entire series, but one among them somehow managed to make things right and that is:
Chapter 15: Scorched Sand

Not only is this a high point in the game's story, with not only two major antagonists showing up as bosses but it also marks the reunion of Eirika and Ephraim. It is also the perfect example of a feature I miss a lot in current titles and that is Boss convos, featuring ones for Joshua when fighting Caellach and for Cormag against Valter, both of which vary depending on the route(and of course Eirika has the best version of them).
In terms of gameplay, this map fixes the whole problem of desert tiles by making them optional. It's a small fix but it does wonders as you're not forced to slowly walk towards rhe enemy but units that can make use of unrestrained movement can bemefot from the terrain. The two bosses also present an unique setup that's rarely ever present in FE maps.

 

[NSSKG151]

Favorite Chapter for me is Fates: Conquest chapter 10 where you defend the exit from Takumi's army. Really any chapter where I fight Takumi was fun for me. I also like the battles in Fire Emblem Echoes Chapter 3, Alm's side where you have to fight Desaix and rescue Mathilda as well as the battle where you fight Tatarrah while trying to keep Delthea alive. I always amused myself by attacking Delthea with Alm's subdue attack which left her with 1 HP and then using some of my units to surround and box her in. The battle in Chapter 4 on Alm's side where you convince Zeke to fight the Rigelian army if Tatiana is with was also quite fun.

Least favorite chapter is all the desert and swamp levels from chapter 3 and 4 from Celica's side. I hate that I am practically required to use Palla and Catria to get through those levels quicker while the rest of my army are back at the starting area due to them only moving one square at a time. Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest chapter 19 is also one of my least favorite level due to an annoying gimmick where you can't attack some of the kitsune until after they attack you and the majority of them also has the beastbane skill and have high attack and speed thanks to life and death.

 

[AmericanDJ]

There are probably a lot of favorite and least favorite chapters that I might be able to think of if I thought long and hard enough about it, but not all of them are coming off the top of my head.

As far as least favorites go, I'm not a huge fan of Swamp and Desert maps (except for Sacred Stones chapter 15), as they tend to be some of the least fun maps to play in their games.

I'm also not a fan of Battle Before Dawn in The Blazing Blade (since there are quite a number of things that make that chapter both difficult and annoying to play through).

When it comes to favorites, I guess I could say FE7 Chapter 19E/20H, Awakening Chapter 10 (mostly because of the music), and Conquest Chapter 15, are some that I can think of off the top of my head.