I actually had to redo Chapter 9 because my strategy fucking sucked. Everyone died except Azura, Niles, Odin, and Elise and I just gave up lol. First time that's happened to me in a Fire Emblem game in...ever actually. crazy
Second go, I had Corrin go by herself to Nyx, kept Silas with the others to defeat the Hoshidans at the entrance, then I sent Elise, Niles, and Odin off to the side to get the chest and the others through the front door. Got back to Corrin and Nyx, paired Effie with Arthur and had her absorb most of the spears/arrows towards the middle before having Azura drench them in acid. The rest of the map was a breeze.
I liked this Chapter a lot because we get to play as Solid Azura in Metal Gear Emblem
Moving on, even though I'm playing Casual, Chapter 10 was an absolute nightmare. Honestly held up pretty well unit-wise until Silas finally succumbed to all of the clubs towards the left, Takumi activated That Fucking Dragon Vein and Oboro began to wreck shit. Thank Christ for Niles otherwise those Pegasus Knights would've probably cost me the chapter in one more turn. this chapter was a lesson in keeping vulneraries handy at all times in case Jakob is surrounded by pegasus knights and is too busy fending them off with stale bread to heal you
All I can say about Chapter 11 is that I want
Counter Azama and that this route has made me miss him and Setsuna so much. fUCK that room of lunge ninjas though, I reset because Niles died before I could get the chests and sent Effie to wreck shit instead like I should've in the first place. *clink* 0 dmg *switch* *clink* 0 dmg *switch* *clink* 0 dmg *switch*
Chapter 12 was an excellent chapter with an interesting gimmick, the only downside is that Dragon Vein which turns the whole map into luck city. Again, fuck ninjas, because thanks to them and that Poison Strike ability, Corrin was the ONLY unit that died and so I had to kill Ryoma instead. Surprised that Effie was able to take him out in one hit tho.
Chapter 13 was brutal both story-wise and gameplay-wise. Again, Effie saves the day, but damn, everyone died because my defensive strategy was compromised thanks to having that one outlaw appear on the map so it was suddenly a mad rush to off him before he got to the first village. Reina continues to be the most off-putting character ever and her calvary plus Orochi's mages just fucked me up so much that by the time the reinforcements arrived, the only four units I had left were Jakob, Charlotte (good character btw), Benny and Effie (notice how she seems to be my Ryoma in this game) and through sheer bulk managed to clear the rest of the map.
Look, I was on board with the whole "we can be aggressively NICE people" Corrin trying to bring about change story, but fuck I hate Nohr so much with Garon/Iago/Hans. The ending to Chapter 13 was needlessly sad (poor Scarlet...I married her in birthright because it was either her or Reina, and Reina is Reina, so hearing that she was brutally murdered wasn't nice) and Corrin honestly turns into such a wimp after that. if I was Corrin I would've chased after Angry Takumi regardless of whether he'd shoot me in the arse with a light arrow or not