Shadow Dragon Hard mode 5 Ironman run

[LincolnTheArcher]

This is probably the most difficult FE challenge I have elected to take on yet (Not that there is much to contest it). I'm attempting to run Fire emblem: Shadow Dragon in it's highest difficulty mode, without restarts. For anyone who hasn't played this mode, the first chapter contains enemies that kill your units in two hits, and take about 5-6 hits to defeat, even if you use Jagen.

This thread will essentially be how I keep up with the run. Level ups, dead characters, and so forth. Anyone who cares to lend support in the form of hints, guidance, and so forth will be welcomed graciously. I love FE, but I'm not very good at it (I've never been able to beat POR, so that should show what I mean).

I've already beaten Chapter 1, so I'll end this post the results of that chapter.

Starting characters: Marth, Caeda, Jagen, Cain, Abel, Gordin, Draug.
Recruited: Wrys.
Characters lost: Jagen, Cain, Abel, Gordin, Draug, Wrys.
Marth: Lvl 7, Swd Lvl B.
Caeda: Level 5, Lance Lvl A.

[Breadophile]

You already lost all but 2 characters? Good lord man. >_>

[WyvernSlayer]

I think at that point, I would attempt to start fresh. Losing that many characters is just savage.

[LincolnTheArcher]

Well, the good news is that without so many units, the exp didn't get diluted. Marth and Caeda get all of it. Now, Marth sits on a Fort and dodges everything. Also,fun fact - there are no hard mode bonuses for recruitable enemies. They're still about half as strong as the other enemies. It's really quite astounding.
Chapter 2:
Starting characters: Marth, Caeda, Ogma, Bord, Cord, Barst.
Recruited: Darros, Castor.
Lost: Ogma, Barst, Bord, Cord, Darros.

In essence, Goodbye, sexy scarred mercenary. We hardly knew ye.

[LincolnTheArcher]

Chapter 3:
Starting characters :Marth, Caeda, Castor, Julian(o), Lena.
Recruited: Navarre
Lost : Navarre
Summary: Myrms die like wet paper bags, as opposed to knights who die like high quality paper bags. Go figger.

[LincolnTheArcher]

Fun fact - on this chapter, you start getting weak faceless units to fill out your troop count of you don't have enough units. They step up, dish out a massive 2 damage, and get doubled and die, so I'm not going to list them.

Chapter 4
Starting characters: Marth, Caeda, Castor, Julian, Lena
Recruited: Merric
Lost: Julian, Lena.
Summary: Healer's down! Again!

[Toogee]

This is why I can't do Hard mode. I would be resetting left and right.

[LincolnTheArcher]

I've been having plenty of trouble. Chapter 5 was kicking my ass. At turn 10-ish they start sending out peg Knights and cavs, one each per turn, and they kill Marth in 3 hits. That was fun.

Chapter 5
Starting characters: Marth, Caeda, Castor, Merric, The Aurelis five.
Recruited: Wendell.
Lost: The Wolfguard and Merric.
Summary: Out with the old new mage, in with the new old mage!

[LincolnTheArcher]

Welp, I'm back. No, I haven't forgotten about this, just haven't gotten the chance to play in a while. I'm on chapter 7 now, so I'm posting TWO chapters today, instead of just one. But first, I would like to draw attention to the fact that chapter 6 is the first in this run where I haven't lost a single named unit. this is really nice.

Chapter 6
Starting characters: Marth, Caeda, Castor, Wendell (Who is now a sniper instead of a sage.)
Recruited: Rickard
Lost: a couple facelesses.
Summary: Well, give a useless unit a forged iron sword and they become... Slightly less useless. yay!

Chapter 6x
Starting characters:Marth, Caeda, Castor, Wendell, Rickard, and less-useless generics
Recruited: Athena
Lost: Nobody! Yay!
Summary: Enjoy it while you can. You will burn.

[Jack]

I read your title as if you were playing FE 5 iron man and thought "oh boy, good luck." Then I realized this was Shadow Dragon hard 5 and that's probably way harder.

[LincolnTheArcher]

While I'm not as familiar with the JP only games, I know that 4 and 5 were an unbalanced mess of fake difficulty (while still being fun, if you're into that), and thus a similar kind of "hard". They do have different good points, though-FE5 doesn't have extra difficulty levels, I think, while shadow dragon doesn't have a shitey lord that takes seven years to get his first level up. So hey, silver linings everywhere. Positive thinking can take you to the stars.

[Jack]

Why exactly would you say 4 and 5 were fake difficulty? The main difficulty of 4 comes from the sheer size of the maps and some difficult bosses (although I admit the weapon system is totally unbalanced, expecially magic) and 5's difficulty comes from stuff like low stat caps, virtually no free money, and the fatigue system. The low stat caps really makes it so you can't just overpower the enemies as easily and need to really use terrain and supports in some cases.

Sorry, 4 nd 5 are my favorite games in the series by a long shot so I can get defensive of them.

[LincolnTheArcher]

No problem-I totally understand. Like I said, I'm not as familiar with them. maybe saying I know that was a bit misleading... That's what I've been lead to believe.

[Jack]

Great games, if you're ever interested. Both games are legit quite hard, but they aren't as bad as they seem once you get used to the mechanics. Definitely don't go in blind though, or you might wind up with shitty kids in 4 or lose your entire team in 5 or something like that.

[LincolnTheArcher]

I know what that's like. When I was 10-ish I played through fe7, and a couple of times ended up starting the whole game over at chapter 27 when I only had the lords and Marcus.

[Jack]

Imagine my surprise the first time playing through 5 when I started up chapter 4x and literally my entire team except for Leaf was gone. I thought, "oh, maybe this chapter is like a side chapter or something and they come back in chapter 5?" Nope, any character that hasn't already escaped before Leaf escapes gets captured and doesn't come back until virtually the end of the game. And thus, back to the Prologue.