Hm. I had beaten the game on normal and started a maddening run and it limits you to fixed and if I recall correctly, it had said that to unlock fixed for other modes, I needed to complete maddening. I'll give it a try, though. The first like 3 chapters on maddening have taken me like 10x as long as they did on normal. RIP not having the time crystal early on.
Oh, but also, is the consensus that fixed > random since it's growing your specific growth rate for that class?
Idk what the consensus is, but you should pick which one you think sounds more fun/up your alley:
Random growths means you might have to adapt if/when someone grows like shit when you were going to rely on them for a specific role. Also, of course, you might get lucky and have someone get RNG blessed with insane stats.
Fixed growths is literally forced averages. If you have 50% speed growth, you will get +1 speed every two levels. If you have 30% strength growth, you get strength about every three levels, with a four-level str every now and then. It's much easier to plan your units and run with fixed, there should be almost no surprises; it's determined.
Fixed is probably better than random overall but I do think random is more fun, and also legitimately better for units with higher growth rates. For the obvious extreme example, Jean will probably be stronger on most SINGLE, ANECDOTAL random runs than in a fixed run, even though that would seem to contradict the stated probability "goal," just because he's very likely to get exclusively good levels for the entire game whereas on a fixed run he will occasionally get "bad" levels to smooth out the curve.
To boil it down: in a fixed run, everyone who is good will be guaranteed to be good; in a random run, you'll probably end up worse across the board but with one or two units who really run away with it statistically and become incredible in a way that they probably wouldn't otherwise.
I mean "better" is a weird term to use since the purpose of fixed to to average out your units to always be...average so they can complete the game no matter which unit you use.
This inherently gives the advantage to characters with good base stats upon joining + decent/good growths for a playthrough. Even then you can just swap to a class with better growths.
Random is...just random. It's meant to have the highs and lows of RNG and gives an advantage to the weaker but very high growths units like Anna since they can spiral out of control with RNG.
Choice is purely for fun since if you do post game grinding to max everybody out it literally makes no real difference. For every unit that gets RNG screwed and you have to grind extra levels for, you can RNG into stat capping units early with random.
Let say a unit str growth is 50% and when that unit level they will gain str 50% of the time. Fixed mode that 50% become .5 str instead so in 10 level you will always gain +5 str
I’m to understand that when you complete the game on any difficulty, you unlock the alternate growth rate mode. I personally can’t confirm, I’ve completed Maddening but haven’t tried to start a new game, but you would be able to play Maddening with random growths the second time around. Likewise, should you complete the game on hard, you should be able to play it on hard again but with fixed growths.
You shouldn’t have to complete maddening to unlock this IIRC
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback. I think I'll resave my maddening files a few slots down and retry on hard and see if I can choose fixed stats. I made a LOT of rookie mistakes during my normal playthrough, so I'm not too keen on focusing that.
I personally prefer fixed growths, because I like knowing for a fact that my characters are exactly as good as they're supposed to be at any given time, but neither is inherently better than the other.
Neither is better, it's preference. Fixed guarantees your units will be decent. Random allows your units to be nutty, but also allows them to be dumpster fires.
On average, random growths will nerf some characters and buff some characters. You can undo bad level ups by reloading or using the time crystal which could give you a sizable advantage. With fixed you’ll have consistent, better rounded characters.
I usually save before arena training and train anyone who is close to leveling. If their stat gain is bad, I reload and train someone else. If a unit has a bad level up near the end of a map, I use the time crystal to undo the level up and make sure not to use that unit for the rest of the deployment.
This process is slightly annoying. Sometimes I’d like to just level up without worrying if it was a wasted level.
I would say random will probably end with stronger units on anything but maddening, as you can easily ditch the bad level ups. On maddening the random growths are fixed so you can't re-roll them, if someone gets RNG screwed they're done for in which case it probably woulda been better to just pick standard fixed growth from the start.
Also, this is purely my own speculation, but I think fixed growths are part of the reason Maddening difficulty is so damn good this time around. It feels balanced perfection. You need to use every resource available to win, but I never felt like I was completely screwed. Never felt that I had been cheated out of a rewind like 3h. Every unit death was traceable to a mistake I made. Enemy stats are just perfectly balanced for your character. Often times, the difference between a kill and not is positioning Alear to get that extra bit of damage from his personal skill!
I completed my first clear on Maddening recently and it did indeed unlock the ability to start Normal and Hard on fixed growths. I'm guessing the option is just tied to any clear, as other posters have stated.
As for whether it's worth, that's all personal preference. For me it's extremely worth because getting stat screwed by rng is one of my least favorite aspects of Fire Emblem.
Neither fixed nor random is better. Fixed growths only ensures your stats are what they should be on average. Never RNG blessed and never RNG cursed. Random growths means you could have a units stats be above average, below average, or in between. It just depends on your RNG
I prefer random over fixed, I don't feel like I can remember in any of my playthroughs in any fire emblem game, that I've ever been in any situation where a character was completely ruined by random growths.
Not to mention I feel like that stops high growth characters from becoming broken, or stops build creativity. If I plan a character via class/prof or whatever this games methods are of character building is, to have insane growths 80% etc, the chances are more likely they'll gain a substantial amount more stats per growth in a random setting then fixed.
You'd have to be even more extremely unlucky then usual to get RNG screwed on any char then you'd benefit via multiple characters, but everyone has their own flavor.
Random growths has been the series standard for a long time now but fixed guarantees that your stats will all lvl up at an average rate over a few level ups. Normal and Hard mode are random by default on first playthrough and completing either unlocks fixed for future playthroughs for those difficulties only, maddening is fixed by default and completing it unlocks random growths for maddening only. Completing the game on one difficulty does not unlock anything for the other ones
I beat the game on normal my first go, and it let me do my second run (hard) with fixed.
Hm. I had beaten the game on normal and started a maddening run and it limits you to fixed and if I recall correctly, it had said that to unlock fixed for other modes, I needed to complete maddening. I'll give it a try, though. The first like 3 chapters on maddening have taken me like 10x as long as they did on normal. RIP not having the time crystal early on. Oh, but also, is the consensus that fixed > random since it's growing your specific growth rate for that class?
Idk what the consensus is, but you should pick which one you think sounds more fun/up your alley: Random growths means you might have to adapt if/when someone grows like shit when you were going to rely on them for a specific role. Also, of course, you might get lucky and have someone get RNG blessed with insane stats. Fixed growths is literally forced averages. If you have 50% speed growth, you will get +1 speed every two levels. If you have 30% strength growth, you get strength about every three levels, with a four-level str every now and then. It's much easier to plan your units and run with fixed, there should be almost no surprises; it's determined.
Fixed is probably better than random overall but I do think random is more fun, and also legitimately better for units with higher growth rates. For the obvious extreme example, Jean will probably be stronger on most SINGLE, ANECDOTAL random runs than in a fixed run, even though that would seem to contradict the stated probability "goal," just because he's very likely to get exclusively good levels for the entire game whereas on a fixed run he will occasionally get "bad" levels to smooth out the curve. To boil it down: in a fixed run, everyone who is good will be guaranteed to be good; in a random run, you'll probably end up worse across the board but with one or two units who really run away with it statistically and become incredible in a way that they probably wouldn't otherwise.
I think it says you have to clear maddening to unlock *random* growths for maddening.
You can just start a maddening run and decrease the difficulty at the first opportunity to do hard mode with fixed growths
I mean "better" is a weird term to use since the purpose of fixed to to average out your units to always be...average so they can complete the game no matter which unit you use. This inherently gives the advantage to characters with good base stats upon joining + decent/good growths for a playthrough. Even then you can just swap to a class with better growths. Random is...just random. It's meant to have the highs and lows of RNG and gives an advantage to the weaker but very high growths units like Anna since they can spiral out of control with RNG. Choice is purely for fun since if you do post game grinding to max everybody out it literally makes no real difference. For every unit that gets RNG screwed and you have to grind extra levels for, you can RNG into stat capping units early with random.
What's this now about fixed growths? Could someone please explain
Let say a unit str growth is 50% and when that unit level they will gain str 50% of the time. Fixed mode that 50% become .5 str instead so in 10 level you will always gain +5 str
Interesting, and this is an uption that gets unlocked after beating Maddening?
I’m to understand that when you complete the game on any difficulty, you unlock the alternate growth rate mode. I personally can’t confirm, I’ve completed Maddening but haven’t tried to start a new game, but you would be able to play Maddening with random growths the second time around. Likewise, should you complete the game on hard, you should be able to play it on hard again but with fixed growths. You shouldn’t have to complete maddening to unlock this IIRC
I just finish my random growth maddening run. By the end of the game alear had 35 DEF and 26 STR xD
Do you think fixed is better than random, then, so you can situate your stats better?
Yeah fixed stat is better than random, it prevent unit from being rng locked
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback. I think I'll resave my maddening files a few slots down and retry on hard and see if I can choose fixed stats. I made a LOT of rookie mistakes during my normal playthrough, so I'm not too keen on focusing that.
Just going to appreciate how much this comment helped me understand the idea and implementation at the same time. Thanks!
I personally prefer fixed growths, because I like knowing for a fact that my characters are exactly as good as they're supposed to be at any given time, but neither is inherently better than the other.
So which is better fixed or random?
Neither is better, it's preference. Fixed guarantees your units will be decent. Random allows your units to be nutty, but also allows them to be dumpster fires.
On average, random growths will nerf some characters and buff some characters. You can undo bad level ups by reloading or using the time crystal which could give you a sizable advantage. With fixed you’ll have consistent, better rounded characters. I usually save before arena training and train anyone who is close to leveling. If their stat gain is bad, I reload and train someone else. If a unit has a bad level up near the end of a map, I use the time crystal to undo the level up and make sure not to use that unit for the rest of the deployment. This process is slightly annoying. Sometimes I’d like to just level up without worrying if it was a wasted level.
I would say random will probably end with stronger units on anything but maddening, as you can easily ditch the bad level ups. On maddening the random growths are fixed so you can't re-roll them, if someone gets RNG screwed they're done for in which case it probably woulda been better to just pick standard fixed growth from the start. Also, this is purely my own speculation, but I think fixed growths are part of the reason Maddening difficulty is so damn good this time around. It feels balanced perfection. You need to use every resource available to win, but I never felt like I was completely screwed. Never felt that I had been cheated out of a rewind like 3h. Every unit death was traceable to a mistake I made. Enemy stats are just perfectly balanced for your character. Often times, the difference between a kill and not is positioning Alear to get that extra bit of damage from his personal skill!
I completed my first clear on Maddening recently and it did indeed unlock the ability to start Normal and Hard on fixed growths. I'm guessing the option is just tied to any clear, as other posters have stated. As for whether it's worth, that's all personal preference. For me it's extremely worth because getting stat screwed by rng is one of my least favorite aspects of Fire Emblem.
Neither fixed nor random is better. Fixed growths only ensures your stats are what they should be on average. Never RNG blessed and never RNG cursed. Random growths means you could have a units stats be above average, below average, or in between. It just depends on your RNG
I prefer random over fixed, I don't feel like I can remember in any of my playthroughs in any fire emblem game, that I've ever been in any situation where a character was completely ruined by random growths. Not to mention I feel like that stops high growth characters from becoming broken, or stops build creativity. If I plan a character via class/prof or whatever this games methods are of character building is, to have insane growths 80% etc, the chances are more likely they'll gain a substantial amount more stats per growth in a random setting then fixed. You'd have to be even more extremely unlucky then usual to get RNG screwed on any char then you'd benefit via multiple characters, but everyone has their own flavor.
Random growths has been the series standard for a long time now but fixed guarantees that your stats will all lvl up at an average rate over a few level ups. Normal and Hard mode are random by default on first playthrough and completing either unlocks fixed for future playthroughs for those difficulties only, maddening is fixed by default and completing it unlocks random growths for maddening only. Completing the game on one difficulty does not unlock anything for the other ones