So far so good.  The demo really impresses me and it's more of the same.     

I decided to get all of these characters from SpotPass and found out that you have to pay for them and I have hardly any money.

I'm playing on Normal Mode, so I'm pretty lame...

Glad to hear you're enjoying it! As others will likely say, from what I've seen in this thread it would appear as though the way to go is decide who you want to form bonds with early and stick to it. And pair up!

@Bold- I did not know this. Will have to keep an eye out in future.

Figuring out who you're going to pair up together seems to be the strategy.

Also, when in doubt, send Frederick into battle first.  The guy's a tank. 

So... end of Chapter 9... any tips? :/

No matter the choice the result is the same.

Turn up your volume to max for Chapter 10.

First thing's first: recruiting Anna.

Got Anna. Spoiled some of the plot for myself thanks to the good old online Marriage & Children guides. Totally worth it because having children with recruiting Lucina gives me motivation.
I will certainly finish my first playthrough later this week at the rate I'm going.

I haven't been this excited about character marriage since Dragon Quest V. Which is an amazing game, as I have said for the umpteenth time.

I'm currently wasting time at work (justified because they gave me a lot of new info to think over today) trying to work out a better set of combos for raising the children. I'm thinking Male Avatar should marry Sully, making Morgan F into a cavalier (since none of the other children are one naturally), but then what should Male Avatar's skills be to boost Kjelle? Another knight-like tank, perhaps...

So is the outcome of the end of the game determined in Chapter 25, or the End Game.