Eddie'd get more than 3 levels to Soethe's 1, I'm pretty sure. :P Prepromotes = suck is a good rule to live by, though there are some notable exceptions.

Astrodust, it sounds like you missed the point of the game entirely. Yes, your units are generally superior to the enemy, so you can typically win 1v1 battles easily. But your enemy almost always has the advantage of numbers. 1v1 battles aren't the focus, the entire map is. The point isn't simply to kill everything in sight, it's to attack in such a way that none of your units can be killed in the counterattack. Like Arkk said, thinking ahead is crucial.

I'd agree but it depends on the levels too. It takes more to go from 3 to 6 than 17 to 20. Early on, the ratio would probably be more like 5 to 1.

If your enemy doesn't outnumber you, be freakin' afraid. Either they've got some nasty guys on their side or they will be getting tons of reinforcements every turn.

As I read this thread, I'm more and more convinced, that I'll buy this game, as it comes to europe. This sounds like a real RPG I like: turn-based, perma-death, very different character classes with different tactics to use and some amount of difficulty. Very fine. Yes, I also liked Final Fantasy X to some degree, but for me it was always more like a movie (I like movies), it didn't relly filled my RPG needs. If I play a Pen and paper RPG, then my character earns also perma-death, if I act dumb.

Yeah, I think astrodeath just wants fire emblem to be a different game. The whole point is that people get stabbed once or twice and they are dead....dead dead, not just dead, dead and gone. Just like real life. You hit a guy with a battle axe and all he's wearing is a robe, he ain't survivin' that.

It requires a great deal of strategy (more than just hit-heal-hit-heal), you have to think about character placement, how to use each class, plan in the long run your characters development, and be extremely careful, considering the consequences of every move. If you think it's just random and your guys are getting slaughtered, then yeah I gotta go with the "noob" theory.

Also most people don't do the battle save reset thing, that's just cheap.

Don't get me wrong; I make sure to allow my other party members to get as much experience as possible as well.  The thing is that I make sure to only have him fight against the large groups, while the other characters fight the stragglers.  I know that if that enemies large army was to be allowed to get to close, any one of my characters could be taken down.

Note: I admit I had to reset twice, but this is the first time that I have played a SRPG so I figured that I would have to eventually.

Astrodust. welcome to Fire Emblem. These are pretty standard fairs of the game. They are their, for better or worse.

-The Main character's stats are never the same. The lords (what is normally the class of the main character). I assume you talking about Michia(spelling?) as she seems to be a magic character.

-Laguz are a Jeigan unit. In which I mean, they take away experience and are statistically inferior to the rest of the characters. They are only there to help you with early parts of the game, and to suck EXP. The Laguz aren't statistically inferior though. Thier stats are good but in early segments in the game they'll eat all the exp.

-If your in a situation with fog, and are getting ambushed, you should probably 1)hva e a scout to help you see. Either a their or a person with a torch. 2) Put all your week characters inside of a block with tougher guys on the outside.

-Stats work simply. Each character has a set chance of getting 1 for each stat when he/she upgrades. It's based on the class. Knights get more defense and Mages get more magic. The advantage to FE is you can calulate the damage and everything. Heres some stats
Damage=Attacking character's Mt=Defending characters Def
Mt=Strength+Weapon's power
Double attack: Spd>Spd+4 of other character

There are a lot more. These are the easy ones to help you out.

Your problems are
1)Your a n00b: FE is a hard game to pick up and play because it will hurt you in the beginning. You'll love using your Lv1 Paladin you get in the beginning of the game, only to realize everyone in your party is 13 and he/she is Lv2 at the last chapter in the game. Playing the Gameboy Advance one, I had to restart my game becuase I couldn't beat the last chapter. Just play and you'll learn
2)Play Path of Radience first: PoR is really the first FE game you should play. It's easier then many of them, and with Bonus experience and a Jeigan unit that can be used for the entire game, it's generally a more n00b friendly title.

We all started out as noobs...that's the beauty of SRPGs. There are soooo many different ways to play them. Your strategy will constantly evolve as you get better as a player. I plan on playing this game on each difficulty just to see the differences in the flow of the battles.

i really wanna get FE i dont mind the problem

There's a word for this: it's called cheating. If you save before every level-up, and reset if you don't get the stat boost you want, umm, yeah, your characters will get super-powerful and max all their stats. And I suppose you'll never miss either if you save before every attack, and reroll on every miss. Very strategic...

Hey, it's your game, you can play it any way you want. But I think you've missed the entire purpose...

Winning should never take priority over fun.  I don't know about you, but being able to time travel backwards and reverse any mistake sucks the fun right out of it for me (agreeing with Sullla).