The Future Past 3

"The war in the future of despair has reached its final battle. Can the future of the children really be changed?"

- Opening Narration

The Future Past 3 (Future of Despair 3 in the Japanese version) is Xenologue 25 of Fire Emblem: Awakening.

Overview
Lucina, Severa, Gerome, and Laurent are fighting, encamped by some stairs. Unfortunately a massive army of enemy units is quickly swarming the battlefield. To make things worse, they are lead by Grima. The children need the help of Chrom and his army to survive. All four must survive the map to complete the episode.

If the mothers and fathers move next to the children of this world, a special conversation can be viewed. Lucina, Gerome, Severa, and Laurent can also trigger a special conversation with themselves. This map is a must for those who are interested in another future where only the children survived.

The Future Past 1 and 2 are not required to receive or play this episode.

Script
The script for this Xenologue can be found here.

Strategy
Out of the three chapters in the "Future Past" series, this is undoubtably the hardest. Unlike the 2 prior chapters, this chapter requires you to defeat the enemy commander, Grima, to end the battle. Also, Lucina, Gerome, Severa, and Laurent will all end up starting the battle with 1 HP, meaning that one attack will leave them dead from the start. To make matters worse, more Risen will come in swarms after the number of enemies drop to/below a certain number, making it difficult to fight as time wears on.The right side of the field will summon Warriors, Berserkers, Sorcerers, Sages, Wyvern Lords, and Pegasus Knights. The left side of the field will summon Heroes, Swordmasters, Tricksters, Assassins, Dark Riders, and Griffon Riders

Make sure that your units have lots of HP and the skill Armsthrift if possible, since multiple battles with one unit will be very likely. Other recommended skills are Sol, Counter, Galeforce, Aether, Astra, Luna, Lifetaker, Renewal, Miracle, and Pavise. Make sure that the children are safe for at least the first two turns, since they will all carry healing items and head for the stairways. Once they are all safe, you can begin your counter attack. Enemy flying units pose the most danger to the children, so it is recommended to take those out as quickly as possible. It is also a good idea to make use of the "Pair up" system to increase your chances of taking out an enemy in one battle, as well as increase your evasion rate. However, the Warrior units will have the "Counter" skill, making it near-suicide to simply attack them with a single unit. Send "paired up" units with the Sol skill to attack the right, while the others to attack the left and defend against the middle. Take out the Sorcerers at the top corners of the battlefield to reduce any sudden magical damage from a distance. After thinning out the enemy lines for a bit, send your strongest unit (preferrably a unit with Sol, Aether, Lifetaker, and/or Renewal) to attack the enemies surrounding Grima.

Grima is the enemy commander of this battle, and the most difficult to defeat. Regardless of whatever difficulty setting you chose at the beginning of the game, he/she will always have the Aegis+, Dragonskin, and Hawkeye skills. It is highly recommended that you send in a "paired up" Chrom to attack since Exalted Falchion is the most effective weapon against him/her, not to mention that the ability to recover 20 HP each turn will help Chrom last longer than most units.

Before participating in this battle, it is highly recommended that your increase several of your units' stats to the maximum, as well as all Weapon levels to A rank. Weapons that guarantee at least 2 attacks, such as Brave Sword and Brave Lance, are also recommended since it is a good idea to defeat most of your enemies with one battle.