The Battle Begins

The Battle Begins is the first actual chapter in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, after the prolouge. It is the first chapter where Ike, the main character of Path Of Radiance gets to go out into the field as a mercenary working in his father's mercenairy company. the chapter is rather easy on all difficulty settings and features little that should be a problem to any player.

The battle takes place in a small town that has been overrun by bandits. The townsfolk have appealed to the Griel Mercenaires for help and Titania leads a tiny force to go and combat the bandits. In this battle the player can control four characters. Ike, Titania, Oscar and Boyd. Being as it is the first level, the characters will be at a low level, all except Titania.

There is very little variety amoung the enemy units awell, making the level even easier. The majority of the enmey are axe users. Most are fighters, simalar to Boyd, these enemies have no particularly outstanding stats and can easily be dispatched in one or two blows. However a few of the enemies are of the Bandit class (see Brigand) these units are somewhat stronger, although not substacially. The Bandit units have more Hit Points and somewhat higher attack, although they have lower accuracy. Finally their is one or two Myridions amoung the enemy ranks, these units wield swords. These units are weaker in terms of attack then the axe-wielders, however they with hit their opponets more often.

in this level you will also be introduced to the prospect of 'Visiting'. Visit is a Command a character can use when standing infront of a house with an open door. In this battle there are three such houses that are open, although only two can be reached. The third house is automatically destroyed by the Bandits so they can demonstrate their ability to destroy houses who can be visited. The only enemy units who can destroy houses are those of the actual 'Bandit' class, so these enemy units should be destroied as soon as possible.

The houses that can be visited in the level contain and Iron Axe and a Seraph Robe. The Iron Axe can be found in a house to the South-East side of the map, just beside where the players units deploy. The house containing the Seraph Rode is to the North-West and it is suggested that the player hurry to this house because the Seraph Robe is a extremely rare status enhancing item, and a bandit will eventually reach the house and destroy it if the player does not reach it in time.

Also if the player of the game did not watch the Totourials that were available to be watched in the prolouge, Ike wil start off the first chapter with four Iron Swrods. If you do get these weapons be sure to trade a few to another character so you will not have to discard anything. If you did watcha totourial Ike starts with a single Iron Sword.

Strategy
There is very little strategey needed for Chapter 1: The Battle Begins. The battle is rather simple and requires the player only to be careful with his characters Hit Points.

Titania, being a pre-promoted Paladian can easily deafeat pretty much all of the enemies on the battle-field with minimal effort. However, Titania is as previously stated, a pre-promoted unit, and is the equilvant of being level 21, as aposed to Ike, Oscar and Boyd, who range from levels 1 to 3. Thus, Titania will receive minimal experience points for killing enemy units while the other three characters can receive a nice amont of experience from them.

If you want to get the most experience point out of the level, you can easily win the Chapter without using Titania at all. Simply have Oscar, Boyd and Ike kill off each enemy in a careful advance. If you do this you will have to occasionally heal someone with a Vulnerary however you will get the most training for your units out of the level.

The only thing to really take into acount is the Bandits who will be making their way to the open houses to destroy them. Although at a decently paced advance a player can easily reach both houses well before the Bandits can or will.

Hard Mode
On Hard Mode there will be quite a few more enemies to face, however the stratedgy doesn't change any. It may be somewhat more difficult to reach the North-Western house but it is still very do-able. The Chapter still, even on Hard Mode can be completed without using Titania whatsoever.