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[Laughing Banana]

I bench stahl because there are better characters to invest your time in

Yea.

Isn't the point of Stahl that he's supposed to be average? I swear it mentions somewhere that he's the most average guy in the army or something.

I still might pair him up with Tharja. This curse thing is comedy gold, and whoever turns out to be Tharja's baby is gonna need a good dad. Because I kinda feel like Tharja has a sick sense of humor and won't make for a great mom.

I dislike his gameplay utility, but his personality is actually great. He is the one that fits the nice guy trope the best in Chrom's army. Really, he is actually a very sweet/decent person (as shown in his various supports such as Cordelia or Panne.

He's pretty good once you turn him into a Great Knight and he gets Luna. In the early game I just used him to piggyback Lissa, though.

Vaike's got a shitton of hp and can get Counter relatively quickly.

Is there a reason why you quote me twice here? Hahaha.

Counter is pretty useless though for normal gameplay. You need to cripple a character so much for it to become viable.

Stahl is great... he just has a few flaws that end up stacking together

For starters, you absolutely need to fix his speed stat to make him any good. His SPD growth it 50% which is nice, but he has a base speed of 6. He is the poster boy for "Speed screwed" characters. For example, I had a level 10 Stahl with 8 Speed. What I do is reclass him into Myrmidon for the above average Speed growth, and reclass him back into Paladin when i'm done.

He's supposed to be Mr. Average, but his growths are anything BUT average, har har har. Once he gets going he's one of the best units in the game.

I should probably focus on him more on my next Female walkthrough, but... hmmm... since I will try that in Lunatic I doubt he will manage to earn his keep there.

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

Isn't the point of Stahl that he's supposed to be average? I swear it mentions somewhere that he's the most average guy in the army or something.

I still might pair him up with Tharja. This curse thing is comedy gold, and whoever turns out to be Tharja's baby is gonna need a good dad. Because I kinda feel like Tharja has a sick sense of humor and won't make for a great mom.

Pffffft.

 

[CorvoSol]

Pffffft.

She kinda scares me.

 

[PBalfredo]

 

[Soulhouf]

Speaking of RNG, I missed a 98% hit twice at the beginning of Lunatic mode and was hit by a barbarian with 3%. That was the ultimate troll I've seen so far >_<

 

[chaosblade]

Speaking of RNG, I missed a 98% hit twice at the beginning of Lunatic mode and was hit by a barbarian with 3%. That was the ultimate troll I've seen so far >_<

On the paralogue you get Cynthia, she had 3% crit when I attacked a dude and got two in a row.

Fortunately the RNG has yet to screw me that hard, though it sure seemed like it was building up to it on my first playthrough.

 

[Laughing Banana]

I got -three-.... THREE!... 1-stat level up for Severa consecutively!

It's a worse feeling than to get killed by a 3% critical chance.

 

[Hours Left]

I got -three-.... THREE!... 1-stat level up for Severa consecutively!

It's a worse feeling than to get killed by a 3% critical chance.

The game is trying to tell you something.

 

[chaosblade]

I got -three-.... THREE!... 1-stat level up for Severa consecutively!

It's a worse feeling than to get killed by a 3% critical chance.

This was Tharja on my first playthrough.

One stat. One stat. NO STATS. One stat. Two stats? OH MY GOD CONGRATULATIONS!

 

[Javier]

Wow, Lunatic+ is some serious bullshit. Chapter 1 needs to be restarted to make sure the Bandit with the Hammer doesn't have Hawkeye, and the only effective technique for that map is for sword-equipped Frederick to avoid a Hammer hit at 30%. Now I'm stuck at Chapter 2.

I can feel the incoming rage for later maps. And yes, I'm playing Classic and resetting on all deaths.

 

[Draxal]

Marrying Nowi is creepy.gif

Ya, doing second playthrough with a femmu trying to use different supports this time so I can't force Donnel on her.

Ricken's the only other palatable choice for me.

And it's really, bad because she is like 1000 years old, I really don't like her at all.

 

[Gestahl]

^^^^Nowi and her design probably sums up a good number of the major issues plaguing modern anime and JRPGs. Couldn't even get through Magi without one showing up. Though Nowi kind of ups the ante with her personality and naming her child Nn or whatever in the Japanese version.

Wow, Lunatic+ is some serious bullshit. Chapter 1 needs to be restarted to make sure the Bandit with the Hammer doesn't have Hawkeye, and the only effective technique for that map is for sword-equipped Frederick to avoid a Hammer hit at 30%. Now I'm stuck at Chapter 2.

I can feel the incoming rage for later maps. And yes, I'm playing Classic and resetting on all deaths.

Friends don't let friends play Lunatic+

 

[MechaX]

Ya, doing second playthrough with a femmu trying to use different supports this time so I can't force Donnel on her.

I forced Donnel on Tharja my first time through. Poor guy.

I also married Nowi to Vaike. I am extremely more disturbed by that pairing.

 

[fatgamecat]

Wow, Lunatic+ is some serious bullshit. Chapter 1 needs to be restarted to make sure the Bandit with the Hammer doesn't have Hawkeye, and the only effective technique for that map is for sword-equipped Frederick to avoid a Hammer hit at 30%. Now I'm stuck at Chapter 2.

The first 4 chapters are RNG heavy as you indicated, but once you have full access you can break the game pretty easily. I still suggest FE12 Lunatic if you want a more balanced and complex challenge that isn't as RNG heavy.

 

[chaosblade]

So having gotten all the kids, in order, I went and googled opinions of paralogue 16 because that was a hella-awesome map.

And apparently people hate the paralogue map designs? God(s), people are so boring. Several of those were a lot more interesting than the story maps, many of which are basically open fields with a few obstacles spattered here and there.


Suffice to say Chapter 19 is going to be fun anyway with my hilariously overpowered party. It's probably going to be 2-3 turns of enemies running en masse to their deaths.

 

[Warrior_Keoni]

Ya, doing second playthrough with a femmu trying to use different supports this time so I can't force Donnel on her.

Ricken's the only other palatable choice for me.

And it's really, bad because she is like 1000 years old, I really don't like her at all.

She's the type to appeal to the Japanese male audience...borderlining a bit on creepy but whatever.

Anyone paired Lon'qu with Olivia yet? Dying to know what the supports are like.

 

[Draxal]

So having gotten all the kids, in order, I went and googled opinions of paralogue 16 because that was a hella-awesome map.

And apparently people hate the paralogue map designs? God(s), people are so boring. Several of those were a lot more interesting than the story maps, many of which are basically open fields with a few obstacles spattered here and there.


Suffice to say Chapter 19 is going to be fun anyway with my hilariously overpowered party. It's probably going to be 2-3 turns of enemies running en masse to their deaths.

I honestly thought the maps from Gaiden looked extremly inorganic and out of place (Inigo's especially), but I really liked Sevara's and Nah's.

I think the earlier maps were the better maps of the game, the last 3 maps were extremely poor.

 

[Robin64]

Still 11 days left until this hits Europe and it feels like you guys are all done and just doing endgame stuff now. Might start an EU thread for us lot to swoon over stuff that's old hat to American and Japanese players, not sure yet. Feels kinda shitty being so left behind. :\

 

[chaosblade]

She's the type to appeal to the Japanese male audience...borderlining a bit on creepy but whatever.

Anyone paired Lon'qu with Olivia yet? Dying to know what the supports are like.

Most of the support convos are up on youtube.

Lon'qu x Olivia

 

[zroid]

Still 11 days left until this hits Europe and it feels like you guys are all done and just doing endgame stuff now. Might start an EU thread for us lot to swoon over stuff that's old hat to American and Japanese players, not sure yet. Feels kinda shitty being so left behind. :\

I dunno, there aren't a ton of people regularly posting in this thread anymore. Presumably when it's out in Europe, you lot would dominate the discussion. Which is fine, and how it should be.

I'm honestly looking forward to hearing some fresh takes on the game. Most of us here are all quite firmly entrenched in our views by this point, and it's not very interesting.

 

[McNum]

She's the type to appeal to the Japanese male audience...borderlining a bit on creepy but whatever.

Isn't half the fun of having a character like Nowi to pair her up with someone and be amused at the creepiness? I mean there's really no way around it, pairing her up with practically anyone is going to look a bit weird, technically a thousand years old or not. So why not just do it and laugh at the awkwardness? OF course, I haven't got the game yet, but I'd imagine it's what I'll do.

I dunno, there aren't a ton of people regularly posting in this thread anymore. Presumably when it's out in Europe, you lot would dominate the discussion. Which is fine, and how it should be.

I'm honestly looking forward to hearing some fresh takes on the game. Most of us here are all quite firmly entrenched in our views by this point, and it's not very interesting.

Well this thread is getting a little old hat, it's 200-ish posts away from its final fate. An EU OT might be needed anyway. New thread, new release, new impressions.

 

[ffdgh]

I will not be satisfied until this reaches 20k posts.

Also laurent's hair is never colored correctly.....

 

[Draxal]

Isn't half the fun of having a character like Nowi to pair her up with someone and be amused at the creepiness? I mean there's really no way around it, pairing her up with practically anyone is going to look a bit weird, technically a thousand years old or not. So why not just do it and laugh at the awkwardness? OF course, I haven't got the game yet, but I'd imagine it's what I'll do.

It's beyond creepy, I only paired her with Donnel in the first playthrough because of gameplay reasons (passing on peg knight class) and the fact that he was the least ... awkward of her marriage choices.

I honestly just fastfoward through her conversations, sorry Japan I like alot of your things, but this is definitely one that I don't.

 

[zroid]

Since this one's reaching the limit and a new thread will surely be needed soon regardless, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a new OT going for the EU release. However, I don't like the idea of keeping this one running concurrently. Even if this thread doesn't reach 20k posts by the EU release, I would suggest locking it anyway and just putting up an OT2 instead of an EU OT which fractures the fanbase.

 

[PK Gaming]

The only Nowi support pair I can tolerate is Gregor's.

For some reason it just... works.

 

[ffdgh]

Ricken X nowi is the only thing I consider...not overly creepy and red haired nah <3

Kellam s support with her just sorta....happens lol tho black haired nah is....weird.

 

[McNum]

I will not be satisfied until this reaches 20k posts.

Also laurent's hair is never colored correctly.....

And my math is off, it's 2,000, not 200 posts left... Well I'm sure being off by a factor of ten won't cause any trouble if that happens in the game. The enemy has a 9% chance to critical? I'll take it!

Seriously, though, one of the most funny things in Fire Emblem is when an enemy does get a critical hit, and the character just takes it with little damage. Or even better, does a complete NO DAMAGE no-sell. Big spectacular windup... *tink*

I'm mostly looking forward to trying out Pair Up, though. Rescue was awesome in Path of Radiance, and being able to do the Pegasus Air Drop strategy without having to get off the Pegasus, so to speak, will be a fun twist on that old plan. Secret best feature, though: No limits on the number of supports. "Well I like you enough for an A, but I already have a B and a C as well..." No, As for everyone! And one S.

I am also looking forward to seeing if Nowi really is that bad. I mean, she looks... strange. There's "playing up cuteness", which can work, and there's that. I'm hoping it's partially a ruse to lure in foes. Attack the cute little girl, get mauled by dragon. But that's probably just hoping against better knowledge here.

 

[chaosblade]

And my math is off, it's 2,000, not 200 posts left... Well I'm sure being off by a factor of ten won't cause any trouble if that happens in the game. The enemy has a 9% chance to critical? I'll take it!

Seriously, though, one of the most funny things in Fire Emblem is when an enemy does get a critical hit, and the character just takes it with little damage. Or even better, does a complete NO DAMAGE no-sell. Big spectacular windup... *tink*

I'm mostly looking forward to trying out Pair Up, though. Rescue was awesome in Path of Radiance, and being able to do the Pegasus Air Drop strategy without having to get off the Pegasus, so to speak, will be a fun twist on that old plan. Secret best feature, though: No limits on the number of supports. "Well I like you enough for an A, but I already have a B and a C as well..." No, As for everyone! And one S.

I am also looking forward to seeing if Nowi really is that bad. I mean, she looks... strange. There's "playing up cuteness", which can work, and there's that. I'm hoping it's partially a ruse to lure in foes. Attack the cute little girl, get mauled by dragon. But that's probably just hoping against better knowledge here.

You just have to remember that Pair Up works the opposite of rescue, in almost every way. Most importantly the fact you can't remove a unit from the field to protect them with Pair Up.

And the problem with Nowi is that she acts about the same age she looks. Both of these factors are problematic. And as much as I hate characters like that, she's still not the worst character in the game.

Spoiler

I hate you Severa, if you weren't awesome in combat I would let you die in your paralogue.

 

[Chrom]

Since this one's reaching the limit and a new thread will surely be needed soon regardless, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a new OT going for the EU release. However, I don't like the idea of keeping this one running concurrently. Even if this thread doesn't reach 20k posts by the EU release, I would suggest locking it anyway and just putting up an OT2 instead of an EU OT which fractures the fanbase.

I'm with you on that. I think I remember Aeana talking about possibly bringing this OT back to Gaming for the EU release a long while back, but you bring a good point that given where we are right now, either an OT2 or EU OT would probably be more suitable than that idea. I'd like to see an OT2, personally.

 

[McNum]

You just have to remember that Pair Up works the opposite of rescue, in almost every way. Most importantly the fact you can't remove a unit from the field to protect them with Pair Up.

And the problem with Nowi is that she acts about the same age she looks. Both of these factors are problematic. And as much as I hate characters like that, she's still not the worst character in the game.

Spoiler

I hate you Severa, if you weren't awesome in combat I would let you die in your paralogue.

Can't you change who's the primary unit in pairings? Or does the enemy get to attack whichever unit it picks? Also, can you use a staff on the other unit in the pairing? A pocket cleric would be nice to have, I'd imagine, but might be a bit overpowered.

The thing that bugs me about Nowi, apart from the obvious, is that she's also the easiest route to a

Spoiler

Manakete Morgan

, but I know there's another way:

Spoiler

Tiki

. She's just recruited rather late, isn't she?

 

[Chrom]

Can't you change who's the primary unit in pairings? Or does the enemy get to attack whichever unit it picks? Also, can you use a staff on the other unit in the pairing? A pocket cleric would be nice to have, I'd imagine, but might be a bit overpowered.

You can switch the primary unit, but not immediately after Pairing Up. You can't do both on the same turn. Enemies always attack the primary unit.

Staves can't be used on the other person in the Pair Up because his or her distance from the staff user would be 0, and all staves require at least 1 range.

 

[Anteo]

Have you read HenryXNowi? The S rank conv is so weird, like "Hey I heard you are alone all the time, so Why don't we get married and have lot of manakete kids that you can play with for hundreds of years?" or something like that.

 

[chaosblade]

The thing that bugs me about Nowi, apart from the obvious, is that she's also the easiest route to a

Spoiler

Manakete Morgan

, but I know there's another way:

Spoiler

Tiki

. She's just recruited rather late, isn't she?

That character is recruited fairly late. Around 2/3 of the way through the game, and that paralogue can be challenging if you do it immediately after it opens (assuming you didn't do much/any extra leveling).

You can switch the primary unit, but not immediately after Pairing Up. You can't do both on the same turn. Enemies always attack the primary unit.

Right, and the primary unit is always the one that you join, not the currently selected unit.

So if you have an already-used character with 4HP in the wide open field, you're going to need some luck for them to stay alive during the enemy phase. Fortunately S-rank dual guard can be effective at very high levels.

And speaking of which, S-rank dual strike is ridiculous with Chrom and dual strike+. Him and Olivia paired up have a 91% chance at dual strike, and Chrom still has a fair bit of skill levels to go.

 

[Chrom]

And speaking of which, S-rank dual strike is ridiculous with Chrom and dual strike+. Him and Olivia paired up have a 91% chance at dual strike, and Chrom still has a fair bit of skill levels to go.

91%? Is that with or without Rightful King factored in? Either way it'd be an understatement to say that's very good.

 

[McNum]

That character is recruited fairly late. Around 2/3 of the way through the game, and that paralogue can be challenging if you do it immediately after it opens (assuming you didn't do much/any extra leveling).

I take my time in Fire Emblem. Wouldn't be surprised if EXPonential Growth is out before I get that far. I'm planning on getting most of the DLC for this game. It looks good.

Right, and the primary unit is always the one that you join, not the currently selected unit.

So if you have an already-used character with 4HP in the wide open field, you're going to need some luck for them to stay alive during the enemy phase. Fortunately S-rank dual guard can be effective at very high levels.

And speaking of which, S-rank dual strike is ridiculous with Chrom and dual strike+. Him and Olivia paired up have a 91% chance at dual strike, and Chrom still has a fair bit of skill levels to go.

Okay, let me check if I get this right. In Path of Radiance, the air drop goes like this: A strong unit, Ike, Nephenee or similar, runs to a square next to the intended route to pass the obstacle/enemy lines. A Pegasus Knight, like Marcia, flies up next to Ike, uses Rescue (or Savior), then flies off towards the destination using Canto. Next turn, find a spot and use Drop. Then they take on the counterattack in the Enemy Phase.

In Awakening, this is done by having the carried unit run up to the Pegasus Knight and use Pair Up. Then you move the Pegasus Knight. When you arrive at the destination you don't break the pair up, you just fight as one and tag between the units if one is getting overwhelmed. Tag out the Pegasus Knight if the enemy is using archers there.

That's pretty much the difference in a nutshell, right? This also seems really useful to cover empty space. Have the slow units pair up with the fast ones and only move the faster units until you need more space. Or fight paired up, of course.

 

[Lusankya]

91%? Is that with or without Rightful King factored in? Either way it'd be an understatement to say that's very good.

Rightful King can't influence Dual Strike.
But with Dual Strike+ and S support level it is:
(Lead & Support Unit's combined Skill / 4) + 60% +10%
So for chaosblade Chrom's and Olivia's Skill adds up to ~84. I guess his Olivia is an Assassin.

 

[chaosblade]

I take my time in Fire Emblem. Wouldn't be surprised if EXPonential Growth is out before I get that far. I'm planning on getting most of the DLC for this game. It looks good.



Okay, let me check if I get this right. In Path of Radiance, the air drop goes like this: A strong unit, Ike, Nephenee or similar, runs to a square next to the intended route to pass the obstacle/enemy lines. A Pegasus Knight, like Marcia, flies up next to Ike, uses Rescue (or Savior), then flies off towards the destination using Canto. Next turn, find a spot and use Drop. Then they take on the counterattack in the Enemy Phase.

In Awakening, this is done by having the carried unit run up to the Pegasus Knight and use Pair Up. Then you move the Pegasus Knight. When you arrive at the destination you don't break the pair up, you just fight as one and tag between the units if one is getting overwhelmed. Tag out the Pegasus Knight if the enemy is using archers there.

That's pretty much the difference in a nutshell, right? This also seems really useful to cover empty space. Have the slow units pair up with the fast ones and only move the faster units until you need more space. Or fight paired up, of course.

Sounds right.

As long as the pair is currently selected you can switch between the two at will and even trade with each other or access the convoy (but only once for those). So you can check the pre-battle screen and if you don't like the result, switch to the other character and see if it's better.

And since pair up also provides stat boosts (unlike rescue, since that lowered stats) there is incentive to keep units paired up. So you can pair up a unit with high speed with a lower speed unit and it might give them enough to double an enemy they normally couldn't.

Rightful King can't influence Dual Strike.
But with Dual Strike+ and S support level it is:
(Lead & Support Unit's combined Skill / 4) + 60% +10%
So for chaosblade Chrom's and Olivia's Skill adds up to ~84. I guess his Olivia is an Assassin.

Yeah, 45+2 skill for Olivia, 34 skill for Chrom, plus the pair up bonus adds up to 85 with Chrom leading and 88 with Olivia leading.

She's a swordmaster now though, assassin will be next once she hits 15 for swordfaire.

 

[CorvoSol]

The only Nowi support pair I can tolerate is Gregor's.

For some reason it just... works.

Nah, I like to put Gregor with Panne.

Gregor is one of my favorite characters. I love his hilariously bad russian accent.

 

[Chrom]

Rightful King can't influence Dual Strike.
But with Dual Strike+ and S support level it is:
(Lead & Support Unit's combined Skill / 4) + 60% +10%
So for chaosblade Chrom's and Olivia's Skill adds up to ~84. I guess his Olivia is an Assassin.

That's right.

Swordmaster, Falcon Knight, and Bride ought to be able work as well, but yeah, Assassin would be optimal and probably more likely if Chrom doesn't hasn't capped Skill.

 

[Warrior_Keoni]

You just have to remember that Pair Up works the opposite of rescue, in almost every way. Most importantly the fact you can't remove a unit from the field to protect them with Pair Up.

And the problem with Nowi is that she acts about the same age she looks. Both of these factors are problematic. And as much as I hate characters like that, she's still not the worst character in the game.

Spoiler

I hate you Severa, if you weren't awesome in combat I would let you die in your paralogue.

Japan's anime culture seems to be focused around moe/loli and tsundere characters. I wouldn't be surprised of the next iteration of FE has even more of these types.

 

[PK Gaming]

Japan's anime culture seems to be focused around moe/loli and tsundere characters. I wouldn't be surprised of the next iteration of FE has even more of these types.

its a pity, since FE4 was basically the complete opposite of that

...

FE4 needs an immediate remake...

 

[Trojita]

It should be |OT2| and mention "Out now in Europe-land!" in the title. It can go in gaming. All new OT's can for a short time.

 

[Gvaz]

I tried playing radiant dawn but I'm like five battles in and there is just so much garbage compared to FEA

 

[GuardianE]

I just started this the other day. It's my first Fire Emblem, so I decided to choose the Classic Mode of play.

I may end up regretting it. I hate losing characters in JRPGs. Like, a lot. As soon as they go down, they're gone forever, right?

 

[backlot]

I just started this the other day. It's my first Fire Emblem, so I decided to choose the Classic Mode of play.

I may end up regretting it. I hate losing characters in JRPGs. Like, a lot. As soon as they go down, they're gone forever, right?

Yeah, they're gone unless you reload your save.

 

[GuardianE]

Yeah, they're gone unless you reload your save.

Yeesh. It's a love/hate thing for me. I absolutely love the idea behind it, however I'm terrified of losing someone. I feel like it's the appropriate way to play Fire Emblem, though.

How difficult would it be to go through an entire playthrough without losing a single character?

 

[chaosblade]

Yeesh. It's a love/hate thing for me. I absolutely love the idea behind it, however I'm terrified of losing someone. I feel like it's the appropriate way to play Fire Emblem, though.

How difficult would it be to go through an entire playthrough without losing a single character?

Considering luck is always a factor, even on the lowest difficulty you're probably going to lose someone to a crazy, unlikely critical hit or a series of unlucky hits from enemies.

And I don't really think there is an "appropriate" way to play, different people get different things out of it. I consider a level/chapter failed if someone dies, casual, classic, it doesn't matter. I'd still reset. Other people feel the opposite and will push through with whatever units remain and deal with the decisions they made and the hand they're dealt.

 

[Nohar]

Yeesh. It's a love/hate thing for me. I absolutely love the idea behind it, however I'm terrified of losing someone. I feel like it's the appropriate way to play Fire Emblem, though.

How difficult would it be to go through an entire playthrough without losing a single character?

In Normal Mode, it shouldn't be difficult at all, as long as you don't act reckless on some maps. In higher difficulty modes, you can guess that it will become far more... well, difficult.
There are many ways to break the game from what I read. Really, you shouldn't worry too much.

But, yeah, an unexpected critical is always something to be wary about.

 

[GuardianE]

Considering luck is always a factor, even on the lowest difficulty you're probably going to lose someone to a crazy, unlikely critical hit or a series of unlucky hits from enemies.

And I don't really think there is an "appropriate" way to play, different people get different things out of it. I consider a level/chapter failed if someone dies, casual, classic, it doesn't matter. I'd still reset. Other people feel the opposite and will push through with whatever units remain and deal with the decisions they made and the hand they're dealt.

In Normal Mode, it shouldn't be difficult at all, as long as you don't act reckless on some maps. In higher difficulty modes, you can guess that it will become far more... well, difficult.
There are many ways to break the game from what I read. Really, you shouldn't worry too much.

But, yeah, an unexpected critical is always something to be wary about.

Thanks for the advice. Before I continued, I just wanted to make sure that the game wasn't going to be so hard that you will be expected to lose people in combat. I've already been a victim of a one-shot critical.

Yeah, I get that there's not really an "appropriate" way to play any game, but I'm generally not one to take the easy route, especially when there's a specific purpose to the difficulty mechanic. Perhaps "intended" or "ideal". I would try not to limit my experience just to make a game easier for me.

I'm impressed with the game so far.

 

[The Awesomest]

Yeesh. It's a love/hate thing for me. I absolutely love the idea behind it, however I'm terrified of losing someone. I feel like it's the appropriate way to play Fire Emblem, though.

How difficult would it be to go through an entire playthrough without losing a single character?

The developers themselves can't agree on the "right" way to play Fire Emblem. What I do is pick Casual mode, not because of permadeath, but because Casual allows you to save the game in the middle of battle. That way when someone dies I can restart from the beginning of the turn instead of the beginning of the entire chapter.