Fire Emblem is still a lot of fun and I've been enjoying my time with it lately, but the battles are the least interesting of these 3 listed games, and it seems like they also have the least amount of mechanics and stuff to do.
I'm really looking forward to replaying Hyrule Warriors and I'm glad they're bringing in all the content from the 3DS version because I never played that version of the game. I heard it had really terrible framerate issues on the 3DS so I didn't bother with it.
The thing that really makes DQH stand out to me as the best of the 3 are the monster tokens. Being able to drop various monsters to attack or defend an area really adds another level of strategic depth to those games. In some ways it makes it feel almost like a tower defense game or perhaps even a RTS in some way. Plus I also feel that each character feels and plays way more uniquely in that game.
Fire Emblem is still a lot of fun and I've been enjoying my time with it lately, but the battles are the least interesting of these 3 listed games, and it seems like they also have the least amount of mechanics and stuff to do.
I'm really looking forward to replaying Hyrule Warriors and I'm glad they're bringing in all the content from the 3DS version because I never played that version of the game. I heard it had really terrible framerate issues on the 3DS so I didn't bother with it.
The thing that really makes DQH stand out to me as the best of the 3 are the monster tokens. Being able to drop various monsters to attack or defend an area really adds another level of strategic depth to those games. In some ways it makes it feel almost like a tower defense game or perhaps even a RTS in some way. Plus I also feel that each character feels and plays way more uniquely in that game.
The framerate on the 3DS version never bothered me, but I was also running on a New 3DS with 3D off (it did dip *significantly* if you turned 3D on). Also you'll be amazed how much the 3DS version improved the mechanics. Pretty much any feature from Fire Emblem Warriors you liked that wasn't in the Wii U Hyrule Warriors is probably there. They added the character switching and basically rebalanced the entire game so that the DLC maps were included as part of the natural difficulty progression. So basically you just play them in order instead of hitting a brick wall on the Twilight Princess adventure map because of its crippling difficulty.
I'm honestly extremely excited to buy that game for a third time as it was probably my favorite Wii U game and I nearly 100%'d the 3DS version too (lost steam on the very last DLC adventure map and maybe had some cleanup to do on the last couple in terms of skulltulas and such, but otherwise I played the HELL out of that... I think I had like 300 hours clocked in last I looked?).
Really all the more reason I was somewhat disappointed by Fire Emblem Warriors. The main thing being that every character played basically the same. Even baring the weird roster choices, the fact that who you picked didn't *really* matter other than weapon triangle was pretty lame. I feel like even in the original games these characters had way more diversity based on natural skills, starting class, available weapons and such... One of my absolute favorite aspects of Hyrule Warriors was that every character played differently, so especially as you went through the adventure maps you kind of got to learn each one (as they forced you to use them to earn certain rewards). So like, as a good example, Agitha was someone who is really hard to play at first, but as you play her more you kind of learn she has this really deliberate playstyle - each combo is meaningful depending on your situation. Like she has good ones for massive crowds of enemies, good ones for stunning powerful captains, etc. And then you'd switch to, say, Darunia, and his playstyle was totally different and he'd have different combos that worked well in situations. That's the kind of thing I was missing in Fire Emblem Warriors. In fact, maybe I didn't play it enough but it almost seemed like most characters had the *same* combos regardless of weapon which was really disappointing. Maybe that was just me not learning the game enough yet though.
Yeah, the uniqueness of the characters in both Hyrule and DQ seems a lot better.
To be honest, I haven't played much more than the first chapter of DQH2, and I don't even know what the roster in that game really looks like. But I loved the roster of DQH1. And I regularly switched up my team, just because playing as all of the different characters was a blast.
For the Fire Emblem franchise, it definitely does feel like they're holding a lot back for a sequel. I'm honestly surprised Celica is in the game at all. And it's weird that they put her in, but not Alm.
And I really do hope they do the "Echoes" treatment for other old games that have never made it outside of Japan (officially).
I'd love to see an Echoes version of Geneology of the Holy War, and Thracia 776.
And of course, whatever brand new Fire Emblem game they put on the Switch is most likely going to be super glorious and amazing.
Honestly I just want that treatment for all the games pre-Awakening at this point. I think Genealogy and Thracia (maybe combined since Thracia is a side story to Genealogy?) should be priority since those two have never come out overseas and I hear Genealogy is at least really beloved in Japan. I don't think Binding Blade has come out either and that has Roy.
I'd also kind of like to see New Mystery of the Emblem as the weird game that did get a DS remake but did not come out overseas, likely due to poor sales overall of the series here. I am mostly just interested that the avatar character they added for the remake shares my name though (God help me when they add him/her to Heroes)
For the Fire Emblem franchise, it definitely does feel like they're holding a lot back for a sequel. I'm honestly surprised Celica is in the game at all. And it's weird that they put her in, but not Alm.
I've seen speculation (though I don't think any confirmed sources stating) that Lyn and Celica were added last minute due to the bit of backlash at the unveiling of the roster (which did not include them). It seems like the original intent was purely to have the game take from Shadow Dragon, Awakening, and Fates.
As for further Echoes, I remember reading a translation of an interview with the game director (I think) where they were asked if Genealogy of the Holy War would be next. They replied that there hadn't been anything seriously planned out internally, but that they personally would like to do a Binding Blade remake.
And I really do hope they do the "Echoes" treatment for other old games that have never made it outside of Japan (officially).
I'd love to see an Echoes version of Geneology of the Holy War, and Thracia 776.
And of course, whatever brand new Fire Emblem game they put on the Switch is most likely going to be super glorious and amazing.
And give me a combo remake of 6/7 together for one grand story.
If they do jam both games into one package, I wonder how they'll handle the order of the games and the actual child units (Roy, Lilina, Sue, etc.).
Will Echoes: Elibe follow the publication order (first 6, then 7) or the chronological order (first 7, then 6)?
And if they go the chronological order, will IS select canon parents for the kids, leave the whole thing unmentioned, or make it dependent on whoever you paired up in 7?
There aren't that many "child units" (in the sense of Awakening in Fates), so I don't think they would do the whole genetics and inheriting skills thing, mostly for balance reasons. That'd give those five or fix units kind of an unfair advantage.
And I really do hope they do the "Echoes" treatment for other old games that have never made it outside of Japan (officially).
I'd love to see an Echoes version of Geneology of the Holy War, and Thracia 776.
And of course, whatever brand new Fire Emblem game they put on the Switch is most likely going to be super glorious and amazing.
And give me a combo remake of 6/7 together for one grand story.
If they do jam both games into one package, I wonder how they'll handle the order of the games and the actual child units (Roy, Lilina, Sue, etc.).
Will Echoes: Elibe follow the publication order (first 6, then 7) or the chronological order (first 7, then 6)?
And if they go the chronological order, will IS select canon parents for the kids, leave the whole thing unmentioned, or make it dependent on whoever you paired up in 7?
With a Echoes style remake, they should just release the game chronologically. 7 first with canon parents for the kids in 6. Modernize up the gameplay, rebalance the characters/classes, and add QoL (casual mode, bonus xp, faster combat and UI stuff, etc) changes without going too overboard (unlimited XP maps, powers, etc).
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
And I really do hope they do the "Echoes" treatment for other old games that have never made it outside of Japan (officially).
I'd love to see an Echoes version of Geneology of the Holy War, and Thracia 776.
And of course, whatever brand new Fire Emblem game they put on the Switch is most likely going to be super glorious and amazing.
And give me a combo remake of 6/7 together for one grand story.
If they do jam both games into one package, I wonder how they'll handle the order of the games and the actual child units (Roy, Lilina, Sue, etc.).
Will Echoes: Elibe follow the publication order (first 6, then 7) or the chronological order (first 7, then 6)?
And if they go the chronological order, will IS select canon parents for the kids, leave the whole thing unmentioned, or make it dependent on whoever you paired up in 7?
With a Echoes style remake, they should just release the game chronologically. 7 first with canon parents for the kids in 6. Modernize up the gameplay, rebalance the characters/classes, and add QoL (casual mode, bonus xp, faster combat and UI stuff, etc) changes without going too overboard (unlimited XP maps, powers, etc).
This is what I'd prefer. Though I've noticed in Heroes they have been veeeeeeeery careful not to directly ship any of those characters even if they hint at the pairups
Make the Echoes of 7 sprite-based and all will be well.
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
edited May 2018
Finally got my first box of Cipher cards that I ordered. My + card was some character I didn't recognize from Genealogy T_T FML.... I looked at the possible cards and I think I literally would have been happy with any other card save one or two (I at least know the main characters from Genealogy so like, a Seliph or Julia would have been totally cool still). This is some Pegasus Knight girl who kinda looks like a cross between Catria and Ayra... I have no idea who she is Also it was only a R+ and not an SR+
Of course this means I immediately had to order another box I am still crossing my fingers for that SR Robin.....
Freaking $25 if I try to buy it by itself T_T
Also I realized the R+ of Kellum literally makes him invisible as a hologram on the card. That is freaking amazing and I must have that card now...
If they ever decide to remake FE6, I do hope they make getting the proper ending a bit less obtuse. You should not need to consult a walthrough to reach the proper ending in a Fire Emblem game.
Wow. Talk about some major shenanigans in FEW. I have been working on unlocking Celica. And I had done quite a few battles, and finally unlocked the battle, which I thought was the last battle, to defeat the named wizard guy (forget his name) using only other mage characters and assumed I would unlock Celica. Nope. That spawned 3 more boss fights on the map, each of which is guarded by 2-3 prerequisite trash battles to unlock them.
The wizard fight was rough, because I really only have 1 good tome user, and that's Tharja. The battle was either level 40 or 41. And Tharja is 36. My other options - Leo (21), Elise (28), and Robin (12). Yeah. It was a pretty rough battle. Failed a few times just because I got overwhelmed by map mechanics cause all my mages suck. The way I ended up winning was a bit of a gambit. I basically just ignored all map mechanics and rushed Tharja to the commander's fort as quick as I could, and made it a DPS race of Tharja versus the wizard guy, versus the rest of the map falling to pieces to my massively underleveled mage squad. Somehow managed to win, but it was close.
By the time I have completed this Celica unlock, I think I will have completed enough battles to cover another complete campaign. Jeez. Talk about making me work for it.
Yes, I have all the DLC. I have thus far ignored Linde because I have no idea who she is...
Mostly I ignore tome users entirely, because they seem, well, terrible.
I don't feel that their weapon triangle is balanced very well. For the classic triangle of Sword, Spear, Axe, it works okay when you're talking about AI controlled characters. When you send your dudes out on an assignment like to take a fort or attack a specific target, the weapon triangle definitely seems to matter. But for whoever the player is actively controlling, the weapon triangle really doesn't seem to matter for dick.
But then there's this whole other triangle that never gets explained very well. Magic beats heavy armor. I know that much from playing the core FE games. And archers beat fliers. But like... beyond that I'm kinda lost. And enemy mages have WAY TOO MUCH health for supposedly being casters.
And anyway, I don't really use mages that much unless I have to, because they just don't seem very good. Even against targets that they should be good against, I find that they suck, and that there are other, better options. For example, Frederick. When you come across him as an enemy captain on these History Mode battles, he should be a prime target for a mage to kill. But it takes mages for frickin' ever to kill Frederick. It's easier to just send Rowan or Chrom after him (in my experience.)
So I don't use mages. And I've never once used the dragonstone characters. I think there might only be one? Is Tiki the only character who uses dragonstones? I've never used her. But there are a lot of characters I've never used. I basically pushed through the entire campaign with Rowan, Chrom, Cordelia, Takumi, and Camila.
To continue a note on my no-grinding/no-paralogues/limited-pair-up/unfamiliar-characters Hard run of Awakening: man, this game is not designed to be played like this. Coming off of doing similar runs in Conquest (which is more-or-less the ideal way to do it) and Birthright (where it is very do-able) I'm finding that my team is pretty constantly underleveled compared to the opponent. And I'm not trying to use a ridiculously huge team - just +3 compared to the fieldable limit. I've had to play very defensively.
Also: enemy reinforcements that appear and attack in the same turn are nonsense. It's not fun, and has forced me to either save-scum long maps or have a guide open. Case in point: the chapter at the Mila Tree. It's a long and thin map, set up (it seems) pretty obviously for there to be three main bands of enemies that you'll have to deal with, as well as three Thieves with loot heading for the exit. So first turn I have Olivia dance a Cordelia+Gaius in range, and take out the one with the Master Seal (from a position where they can't be killed). Sumia flies forward and kills the Gold carrying one before being Rescued back to safety. I decide not to try for the Speedwing. The rest of the first three turns is baiting and clearing out the first band of opponents, after which the boss makes comments about reinforcements coming, so I group my units defensively rather than engaging band two. A bunch of guys appear at the bottom of the map, and I move against them. Okay. The next turn, four Falconknights appear at the map's sides, one of which swoops through everyone and kills Olivia. Reset. Switch out my (kind of bad) Gregor for Lon'qu, go again, this time being careful to have squishy people in the centre of the map by the time the Falconknights show up. Okay. Next turn: four Bow Knights from the south ride in and snipe all my fliers.
Extremely frustrating, and no way to naturally adapt to it. They just show up, and if you were unlucky in your previous turn's decisions, you're screwed. I eventually beat it (at one point I sent Stahl off on his lonesome as a distraction to pull a third of the enemy away, and he survived with one HP before riding into a pair-up with Sumia and flying back to the group) so at least I got some memories out of it. But it's bad game design.
//
As for something completely different, I've been giving thought for awhile to what my "ideal" Fire Emblem would look like. So I wrote down some of my musings:
Magic
One of the things I loved the most about Shadows of Valentia was the magic system, where spellcasting costs HP. With the added benefits of negating cover and low resistances, magic users were scary to face off against, and extremely powerful (but potentially fragile) to use. So I'd like to see that return, though with a bit better resistances (somewhere between SoV and Fates) and get rid of the fixed accuracy too - that just resulted in magic users having to lean a little too hard on their supports to reliably hit anything.
Flowing off of that, is to completely get rid of Staves as a weapon type and fold them into the magics like in SoV. Fates had the awkwardness of getting rid of weapon durability while keeping it for Staves, presumably to make it so that people couldn't just constantly be using Rescue and such. But it was much better balanced in SoV, where support spells had a high HP cost as a limiting agent. You wouldn't use them every turn, but you wouldn't be afraid of using them either. I loved that.
On the other hand, something that never clicked with me in Fates was the 'ranged triangle', where [Tomes > Bows > Daggers > Tomes]. (I had to look that up. It feels like it's randomly assigned. The basic weapons triangle always seemed at least a little intuitive, in a rock-paper-scizzors doesn't-make-actual-sense-but-good-enough sort of way. Swords can dart in against clumsier Axes, Lances can outrange and poke at Swords, Axes can chop aside the Lances.) So, get rid of that and go back to Bows and Daggers being neutral.
Why mention this in the Magic section? Well, divide up the Tomes and re-introduce the magic triangle. Previous games that have had magic triangles could get a bit overly complicated:
Jugdral had: [Light && Dark > (Wind > Thunder > Fire > Wind)]
GBA games had: [Light > Dark > Anima > Light]
Tellius had: [Light > Dark > (Wind > Thunder > Fire > Wind) > Light]
I like the simpler GBA scheme, so would want that.
Anima magic contains the classic Fire/Wind/Thunder Tomes, giving them a fair amount of diversity. Light magic would have pretty weak spells like Shine, but they'd have a low casting cost to compensate. It would also be supereffective against any undead sort of things (if the story goes that route) and would be where the majority of the support Staves would go (Heal, Rescue, Rally [stat(s)], etc.). You could even keep the physical models/names of the staves (rather than making them tomes), but they'd all fall under Light magic. Dark magic meanwhile would have powerful, inaccurate spells like Flux and Ruin that cost a lot of HP to cast, as well as trickier ones (like Nosferatu, which steals life, or Mire, which has increased range). Dark magic would also get a lot of the status Staves, like Freeze, Silence, and Seal [stat(s)].
Classes
I like the third tier classes from Shadows of Valentia (and Radiant Dawn), so bring those back. They're neat, and I like the greater amount of growth it feels like your units go through. On the other hand, I missed the branching promotion paths in SoV, so bring those back as well. I worry a bit that this will result in there being a bit of clutter and a lot of third tier classes that the player may never use (or feel like they need to look up a chart to plan out where they want to end up, which I hate the thought of), but... here's what I'd propose some of the class trees look like:
Maybe first tier should branch and then the second tier classes only have a single available promotion? There are perhaps more possible third tier classes shared than some people would like, but I think that the character's previous growths and skills will differentiate, say, a Falconknight who started as a Cleric (mainly a defensive Light wielder, adding some mobility and weapon diversity) compared to one who began the game as a Pegasus Knight (flying nimble attacker gaining some support magic).
When it comes to leveling I know a lot of people would like to see stat gains become fixed, like in Heroes. Personally, I enjoy a bit more randomness, but can see how it's frustrating for your favourite character to become hard to use after a string of bad level-ups. So I'd propose a mixed system: keep the current RNG, but have a Unit Rating floor that has to be reached for each level. If the RNG wants to give you +1HP and nothing else, and you've previously had some great level ups, then you'd be high enough above the floor that you'd have to live with it. But if you've had a few bad gains and the RNG wants to give you that +1HP, then internally it will redo the RNG until it puts you at or above the level's floor.
On a visual level, I like how in the games with reclassing/branching promotion units tend to have custom models for their 'canon' classes, while being generic otherwise. But there's no reason games going forward can't do as SoV did and allow units to at least keep their colour schemes. If I want to make Effie a Sorcerer she should at least be a pink and gold Sorcerer.
Skills
Divide skills into two groupings: passive, and active. Passive skills would be ones that are always "on", and work in a way that they already do in Awakening and Fates. So, for example, Vantage would always kick in when below half health, allowing that unit to strike first. Active skills meanwhile would work like Combat Arts in Shadows of Valentia: selected when a unit attacks or ends their movement, and at a cost to HP. So Astra, rather than triggering on a Skill*0.5 rate, would be selectable for an HP cost. I feel like Heroes' system of putting active skills on a cool down timer would also work equally well, but if I'm bringing in SoV's magic HP costs, it feels like better design to have a similar HP-costing system rather than introduce another mechanic. Either way, in SoV and Heroes I find that giving the player control (at a cost) of the skill's activation is much better than leaving it to chance.
I don't particularly care for the way SoV distributed skills though; tying them strictly to the weapons (mostly). I was thinking that every unit would have six skill slots. The first slot would always be taken up by that unit's personal skill, as in Fates. These were quirky and neat, and added to the various characters in a fun way. The next four slots would be learned by achieving a certain level in a particular class (two in first tier, one each in second and third tier), and characters could reclass as in Fates and Awakening to amass skills to equip in these slots. I'd limit them to four though - maybe even reduce this to three, so that you can't turn characters into quite the monsters they could become in those games. Finally, a single slot would be open to skills that would change depending on the item equipped, like in SoV. So a Swordmaster equipped with a Steel Sword might have:
(Where Sunder increases the Steel Sword's critical hit chance for one attack, and is tied to that weapon. If the Swordmaster equipped say, an Armourslayer, then they'd lose the active Sunder and gain a passive Supereffective v Armour instead.)
The Tellius games had a system I liked better than the currant one though, with a Skill Capacity Gauge. There, different skills "cost" different capacity and you only had so much room. So rather than restricting skills to a certain number, you could load up a character on minor skills like Cancel, Gamble, and Discipline for 10 capacity points each, or equip Astra for 30 capacity points. I'd be more in favour of bringing this system back, in which case Personal Skills would just be locked in. In such a system you'd probably drop active skills being associated with weapons (and certain weapons' passive skills wouldn't need to show up on the gauge, they'd just be inherent to the weapon as they are now).
So in the above example, the Swordmaster would have a gauge of 50cp:
You could also do things like increase the cost of certain skills outside of their learned class rather than making them unusable (like Locktouch for Ninjas/Outlaws). So if the Swordmaster had done some time as a Thief, they could choose to set up like:
Where Locktouch would normally only be 10cp to equip for a Thief and its' promotions (and Shade 20cp). I think this is a pretty solid system. Like in the Tellius games, the capacity gauge would increase with the tiers. 30cp's for the first, 50cp for the second, and 70cp for the top tier.
On the other hand, get rid of those games' ability to trade certain skills between units by unequipping them and turning them into scrolls. That didn't sit right with me. Instead, bring back Rings from SoV, and allow some of them to just inherently have skills attached to them. So if you have a Paragon Ring in someone's inventory, that character has the Paragon skill active (with no need to fit it into the Capacity Gauge). Same thing could be done for the traditional Boots item: rather than being consumed to boost a unit's Movement stat having them in the inventory will grant that character Movement +1.
And speaking of Tellius, I'd like to see Canto return as an option for mounted units (allowing them to finish their movement after taking an action). Make Canto available as an equipable skill for all mounted units at 10cp, while unmounted units can all take Shove and Swap for 5cp each.
Weapons
One of the things that I wasn't crazy about in Shadows of Valentia was limiting the units to a single item, so I'd like to see units have five inventory spots again. I did like the return of Weight as a mechanic (reducing the unit's Speed) and would like to see it return. I also think that a weapon's Wt would be a better way to balance certain high Might weapons than bringing back durability or Fate's method of self-debuffing. Other items would have a weight characteristic as well, even if for most things it is 0. But what this would do is create a situation where different units would favour different approaches. So a Swordmaster, who depends on their Speed for Dodging, might restrict themselves to:
So the Swordmaster would have a Speed reduction of -4, while the General would have a penalty of -18. This could be used to balance Javelins and Hand Axes as well - giving them a high Wt rather than just making them flatly unable to double.
Hopefully with the improved look of the game, weapons would also be modelled on characters if you do load them up. Maybe not all five potential items, but at least one in hand and two strapped across their backs. Tomes and consumable items could be represented by a pack.
Bows would have an increased range: 2-3, with Longbows being at 2-4. However, attacking from more than 2 spaces away would incur accuracy penalties. I really liked the increased range in SoV, so'd like to see that come back. I'm less in favour of making Bows able to counter at a range of 1 - archers having that vulnerability is something that I think should come back. Close Counter and a skill to negate the accuracy penalty would be found among the Bow wielding classes, though.
I liked Shields and the aforementioned Rings in SoV, so would like to see them return. Shields present a bit of a problem though (in a game not restricting you to a single item like SoV does). It wouldn't make sense for a character to load themselves up with five Shields for all those bonuses. So, I'd let Shields have two sets of stat buffs - one for having it the inventory and one for having it equipped. An Iron Shield strapped to the unit's back would offer +2 Defence while still having it's full Speed reduction (by the Wt). Equipping it would give +5 Defence, a Mt of +[whatever], a Speed of -[Wt], and maybe Shields would have an inherent effect similar to Freeze when attacking (reduces opponent's movement to 0 for the next turn) to represent a shield bash stunning the opponent.
Rings would be like in SoV, sometimes giving stat boosts, sometimes offering Skills (Recovery, Paragon, Tome Range +1, a "cursed" ring that has Arthur's Misfortune, etc). They'd have a Wt of 0 in general, and be rare, find-able items not available to buy.
Gameplay/Story
Allow Pair-Ups, Dual Attacks, and Dual Guards to continue working like in Fates. The maps as well - while there were certain times in Conquest that things felt a little on the gimmicky side. But I'd like to see chapters that involve Area Defence, Rescuing Allies, Escorting Allies, Saving Villages, etc. blended in with a fair number of standard Route and Seize maps. Dragon Veins (specifically) I wouldn't bring back, but I would like to see active map changes: stuff like draw bridges being able to be lowered, flood gates opened, and the occasional powerful magic being used to upend the playing field.
I assume that First Person exploration will be expanded upon (like the My Castle in Fates and the Dungeons in Shadows of Valentia). I think this could be pretty fun in towns and villages, exploring and finding items, but there would hopefully be a map that would let you quick jump to important places when you revisited. I'm a bit uneasy about Dungeons - they kind of enforce grinding on the player, but it seems the way IS wants to go, and it's not a terrible experience at first. But returning to Dungeons is a pain, so I'd definitely hope there's an option upon entering to not have to face already defeated foes. Maybe whatever replaces Mila's Turnwheel can have a Pokémon Repel ability to make enemies on previously defeated floors run away from you instead of at you?
Speaking of: Mila's Turnwheel mechanics need to be in the game. Not to the extent that it got to in SoV (where you could build up to having twelve mulligans per battle) - keep it to three or so. But as the series has moved away from disposable, low-depth characters to what we have now, the expectation is that players will not just let a character die. Classic Mode will hopefully always be available for people who want to do that, but the games should go forward with Casual Mode in mind as the main way to play. And for that, the Turnwheel was amazing. (It was also great for if I was playing tired and miscounted the spaces an enemy could move after I re-positioned units, getting one killed. Brain farts forcing me to restart the map is annoying.)
Supports are part of the series now, and the game has to have them. SoV's on-the-battlefield ones were a bit light, but that was made up for by the voice acting giving the units a lot of character. The full voice acting needs to return. There were also too few of them in general, with some characters only sharing a single conversation. I prefer the support conversations to be accessible via menu like in Tellius, Awakening and Fates. This gives them a bit more room to be about a greater variety of things, with less "Why are you telling me this when I just gutted that dude and oh-my-god-move-there's-three-pegasus-knights-coming-to-kill-us." But while SoV had too few conversations, Fates had too many. A lot of conversations were uninteresting or bad. If you can't think of anything interesting two characters would have to talk about, they don't need to talk. So somewhere in the middle. The return of base conversations should also happen - characters talking to one another (or to the player) depending on how far along in the story you are. These were great in Paths of Radiance, great in SoV, and should become a series staple.
As for the characters themselves, the SoV cast was more on the realistic side. Which is nice. But while I appreciate their effort to dial back after Fates'... bold personalities... I would like to see units with a little more oomph. But unlike Fates, not everybody should be these wacky caricatures. You can have a mix of realistic and zany. In fact, having more normal people around helps them stand out. And related to this: bring back an avatar, but make them more Robin level of plot involvement. Not totally superfluous, but not the main character. Corrin kind of feel silly, because while you can customise them to a degree, it's so limited by the plot. Corrin has to be in their mid teens. Unlike Robin, who I could actually make look oddly like myself at the time. And for the male avatar's options: facial hair, please. Actually, for all the characters. Give me some dudes with moustaches, beards, and mutton chops. And black people, please. It's a fantasy series. The last game had Japanese Happyland bordering Franco-Germania Darktimes; if you say your made up continent has all sorts of people then it does.
Other little bits: Bonus Experience seemed odd in SoV (I have no idea how it gets rewarded). It was much better implemented in the Tellius games, where you gained it into a pool at the end of maps depending on meeting certain objectives, and distributed it to who you wanted between maps (weighted so that lower level characters got more out of it). So do that again. That's a handy way to bring someone up to speed without having to grind them up. They also tried to bring back Fatigue in SoV, but I always found food to be so plentiful that it was easily ignored. Fatigue is a concept from the Thracia 776, where units actions made them fatigued, and once it hit a certain point they'd have to sit out the next chapter. This was intended to make you use the whole cast, but what ended up happening was that players would need a guide to know who to rest when, so that they didn't end up with a unit unable to be selected in a chapter where they were needed to recruit someone. If Fatigue were to return, I'd keep it to SoV's stat debuffs rather than Thracia's time-outs, but it's a mechanic that I'd rather just go away. If you want a person to use the whole cast, design the chapters with fielding almost everyone in mind.
Finally, kids. The way that they were forced into Fates was terrible, but the relationship/generations aspect of it and Awakening were fun. So I'd like to see kids return, but better integrated into the story. And you can't do Awakening's time-travelling shenanigans again, so make the story based around a time skip, and bring the kids into the main plot (instead of paralogues). I'm thinking that the first half of the game builds up to a bittersweet victory, with your band of adventurers all going their separate ways. Maybe the main lord becomes the villain for the game's second half? Whatever it is, your avatar character would then spend the second half shepherding the lord's kid to reunite everyone and take down the real evil that they thought they had defeated before.
The kids would all be introduced as tier two units, at an appropriate level for the map. So, for example, if there was a Mercenary character in the original party, by the time of the midgame climax you'd have promoted them to Hero and married them to a Bow Knight. Further in the game, you might be wandering around a new town (or returning to an old one, twenty years later), and there'd be a big gathering in the main square. The local authority just captured the Sage son of a local rebel, who's name you recognise as the Hero you used to know. The avatar tells the new lord that we need to rescue them, and that's the next map battle. It'd play a bit like Forrest's recruitment paralogue from Fates (where you have to stop his execution), but half way through the original Hero and Bow Knight would show up as allies with a couple men and also be trying to free their kid. You could actively recruit them with the lord or avatar, or wait until after the map when they and the kid would join you.
These missions would have variables: if the parent that the kid is tied to died previously, then the kid would have a generified alternate backstory, and they'd still join you (but without the stat bonuses and skills from potential parents). If the Hero never married, everything would still play out, only the spouse would be replaced in the chapter by another generic soldier (who would not join you) and the kid would again be lacking the special bonuses and skills. (This would necessitate a grab-bag chapter at some point, to reintroduce all the characters who never married). If you didn't use a character, they'd be leveled up to a certain floor, in their canon promotion. (So if you had reclassed the Mercenary into a Wyvern Rider and fast-tracked them up to a level 15 Malig Knight, that's what they'd be. If you benched them and they were still a level 8 Mercenary, they'd get advanced to a Hero of the level that's appropriate for that stage of the game.) And yes, that would mean that everyone would get two portraits aged twenty-some years apart.
... there's a theory floating in the fandom that Cipher Series 14, which should release in September, hasn't had info released about it as normal because it will feature the Switch cast...
Cipher Series 13 had a stream today, in which Series 14 was confirmed to be based on Awakening, Hoshido, and Tellius. Furthermore, Series 15 will be New Mystery, Nohr, and Jugdral. So there won't be any Cipher reveals of the Switch cast.
... there's a theory floating in the fandom that Cipher Series 14, which should release in September, hasn't had info released about it as normal because it will feature the Switch cast...
Cipher Series 13 had a stream today, in which Series 14 was confirmed to be based on Awakening, Hoshido, and Tellius. Furthermore, Series 15 will be New Mystery, Nohr, and Jugdral. So there won't be any Cipher reveals of the Switch cast.
I'm still so baffled at why they were super secretive about set 14 when it's literally the most vanilla set they've done (seriously, almost every Cipher set has either Awakening, Fates, Radiance or some combination of the three). Saw someone suggest maybe it was because the set was so boring (variety-wise) that they wanted to keep it secret until they had better stuff to announce :P Quite possible.
(Also I totally woke up at 6am to watch it. Was pretty fun. I laughed at them running the chat at the top which was 99% Japanese but when they showed the Sonia card someone wrote "BE GONE THOT!" haha
I am also incredibly baffled by them eating bananas with the peels on for some reason...
Also the voice actress for Loki is the most adorable ever)
There was a leak/rumour that proved to be false (about a FE Direct), where the person who put out the information mea culpa'd that they had crossed some wires with multiple sources. That person had been told that the game's name would be Elegy For The Brave.
Which is sufficiently nonsense-y for old school Fire Emblem, and I kind of hope it's true. (Googling to double check tells me that Bill Shatner sang a song with the same name, which...)
The FE: Memories "leak" didn't seem too genuine to me, but it does fit with the newer 'one-word' naming style of Awakening, Fates (Conquest, Birthright, Revelations), and Heroes.
Ope, and just as we talk about it there is a possible leak:
Fire Emblem: Reawakening.
Which sounds like a remake, going against what little has been said about FE: Switch...
Hmmm... not sure I like the sound of that... hopefully fake?
Another possibility is a direct sequel to Awakening. Time travel stories afford sequels which intersect with the original plot from a different perspective (Back to the Future 2) or take place in an alternate timeline (Steins;Gate 0).
Yeah, I've seen that picture before with other games slotted in.
My current stance is that they're all fake.
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
edited June 2018
For some reason been in the mood to watch an FE Shadow Dragon let's play, mostly to just kind of finally learn the story and characters from that game. Stumbled on this one and wanted to share since I'm enjoying the hell out of it:
Especially all the anime jokes thrown in ("FIVE POINTS!"). The intros especially have been pretty great.
What's the release date? I missed it because I'm at work and Nintendo is rapid firing the shit out of this conference. It's like a whirlwind. I can't keep up.
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physi_marcPositron TrackerIn a nutshellRegistered Userregular
What's the release date? I missed it because I'm at work and Nintendo is rapid firing the shit out of this conference. It's like a whirlwind. I can't keep up.
The fact that the action menu has Magic separate from Attack, and Combat Arts available makes me hopeful that they've gone the way that I wanted.
Also interesting to see that weapon durability is back.
Three Houses is a bit of a bland name though, and it was odd that one of the areas on the map is just named Leicester. (Go Foxes!?)
Edit: Oh shit, just noticed that the Axe Fighters in the cut-scene are wearing kilts. Definitely a heavy British flavouring, I guess.
Also, a lot of enemy units are named, unique characters. So... I'm wondering if there are going to be three versions (like Fates) or three routes. The green-haired "teacher" seems like a customisable Avatar.
What's the release date? I missed it because I'm at work and Nintendo is rapid firing the shit out of this conference. It's like a whirlwind. I can't keep up.
Spring 2019
I guess I know when I'm finally buying a switch then.
The fact that the action menu has Magic separate from Attack, and Combat Arts available makes me hopeful that they've gone the way that I wanted.
Also interesting to see that weapon durability is back.
Three Houses is a bit of a bland name though, and it was odd that one of the areas on the map is just named Leicester. (Go Foxes!?)
Edit: Oh shit, just noticed that the Axe Fighters in the cut-scene are wearing kilts. Definitely a heavy British flavouring, I guess.
Also, a lot of enemy units are named, unique characters. So... I'm wondering if there are going to be three versions (like Fates) or three routes. The green-haired "teacher" seems like a customisable Avatar.
I'd assume Three Houses goes the way of Fates with the two sides and thus we might see the same story from three viewpoints instead of 2? (I think that was Fates, the one with Ryomi and Xander).
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Hmm...Seems like there might not be a pair up function this time but every hero will lead a squad of sorts.
Not sure but it seems like squads will be more than just aesthetic also I like it as it gives the feel of being a large scale battle.
Or maybe because the game is called Three Houses there will be a tri-faction system and we will be piecing the story together in fragments from all 3 perspectives.
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1. Dragon Quest Heroes
2. Hyrule Warriors
3. Fire Emblem Warriors
Fire Emblem is still a lot of fun and I've been enjoying my time with it lately, but the battles are the least interesting of these 3 listed games, and it seems like they also have the least amount of mechanics and stuff to do.
I'm really looking forward to replaying Hyrule Warriors and I'm glad they're bringing in all the content from the 3DS version because I never played that version of the game. I heard it had really terrible framerate issues on the 3DS so I didn't bother with it.
The thing that really makes DQH stand out to me as the best of the 3 are the monster tokens. Being able to drop various monsters to attack or defend an area really adds another level of strategic depth to those games. In some ways it makes it feel almost like a tower defense game or perhaps even a RTS in some way. Plus I also feel that each character feels and plays way more uniquely in that game.
That doesn't really make them any different than the rest of the clones in the cast.
The framerate on the 3DS version never bothered me, but I was also running on a New 3DS with 3D off (it did dip *significantly* if you turned 3D on). Also you'll be amazed how much the 3DS version improved the mechanics. Pretty much any feature from Fire Emblem Warriors you liked that wasn't in the Wii U Hyrule Warriors is probably there. They added the character switching and basically rebalanced the entire game so that the DLC maps were included as part of the natural difficulty progression. So basically you just play them in order instead of hitting a brick wall on the Twilight Princess adventure map because of its crippling difficulty.
I'm honestly extremely excited to buy that game for a third time as it was probably my favorite Wii U game and I nearly 100%'d the 3DS version too (lost steam on the very last DLC adventure map and maybe had some cleanup to do on the last couple in terms of skulltulas and such, but otherwise I played the HELL out of that... I think I had like 300 hours clocked in last I looked?).
Really all the more reason I was somewhat disappointed by Fire Emblem Warriors. The main thing being that every character played basically the same. Even baring the weird roster choices, the fact that who you picked didn't *really* matter other than weapon triangle was pretty lame. I feel like even in the original games these characters had way more diversity based on natural skills, starting class, available weapons and such... One of my absolute favorite aspects of Hyrule Warriors was that every character played differently, so especially as you went through the adventure maps you kind of got to learn each one (as they forced you to use them to earn certain rewards). So like, as a good example, Agitha was someone who is really hard to play at first, but as you play her more you kind of learn she has this really deliberate playstyle - each combo is meaningful depending on your situation. Like she has good ones for massive crowds of enemies, good ones for stunning powerful captains, etc. And then you'd switch to, say, Darunia, and his playstyle was totally different and he'd have different combos that worked well in situations. That's the kind of thing I was missing in Fire Emblem Warriors. In fact, maybe I didn't play it enough but it almost seemed like most characters had the *same* combos regardless of weapon which was really disappointing. Maybe that was just me not learning the game enough yet though.
To be honest, I haven't played much more than the first chapter of DQH2, and I don't even know what the roster in that game really looks like. But I loved the roster of DQH1. And I regularly switched up my team, just because playing as all of the different characters was a blast.
For the Fire Emblem franchise, it definitely does feel like they're holding a lot back for a sequel. I'm honestly surprised Celica is in the game at all. And it's weird that they put her in, but not Alm.
I'd love to see an Echoes version of Geneology of the Holy War, and Thracia 776.
And of course, whatever brand new Fire Emblem game they put on the Switch is most likely going to be super glorious and amazing.
And give me a combo remake of 6/7 together for one grand story.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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Honestly I just want that treatment for all the games pre-Awakening at this point. I think Genealogy and Thracia (maybe combined since Thracia is a side story to Genealogy?) should be priority since those two have never come out overseas and I hear Genealogy is at least really beloved in Japan. I don't think Binding Blade has come out either and that has Roy.
I'd also kind of like to see New Mystery of the Emblem as the weird game that did get a DS remake but did not come out overseas, likely due to poor sales overall of the series here. I am mostly just interested that the avatar character they added for the remake shares my name though
I've seen speculation (though I don't think any confirmed sources stating) that Lyn and Celica were added last minute due to the bit of backlash at the unveiling of the roster (which did not include them). It seems like the original intent was purely to have the game take from Shadow Dragon, Awakening, and Fates.
As for further Echoes, I remember reading a translation of an interview with the game director (I think) where they were asked if Genealogy of the Holy War would be next. They replied that there hadn't been anything seriously planned out internally, but that they personally would like to do a Binding Blade remake.
If they do jam both games into one package, I wonder how they'll handle the order of the games and the actual child units (Roy, Lilina, Sue, etc.).
Will Echoes: Elibe follow the publication order (first 6, then 7) or the chronological order (first 7, then 6)?
And if they go the chronological order, will IS select canon parents for the kids, leave the whole thing unmentioned, or make it dependent on whoever you paired up in 7?
Roy could sorely use it, though. That boy sucks.
With a Echoes style remake, they should just release the game chronologically. 7 first with canon parents for the kids in 6. Modernize up the gameplay, rebalance the characters/classes, and add QoL (casual mode, bonus xp, faster combat and UI stuff, etc) changes without going too overboard (unlimited XP maps, powers, etc).
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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This is what I'd prefer. Though I've noticed in Heroes they have been veeeeeeeery careful not to directly ship any of those characters even if they hint at the pairups
Of course this means I immediately had to order another box
Freaking $25 if I try to buy it by itself T_T
Also I realized the R+ of Kellum literally makes him invisible as a hologram on the card. That is freaking amazing and I must have that card now...
The wizard fight was rough, because I really only have 1 good tome user, and that's Tharja. The battle was either level 40 or 41. And Tharja is 36. My other options - Leo (21), Elise (28), and Robin (12). Yeah. It was a pretty rough battle. Failed a few times just because I got overwhelmed by map mechanics cause all my mages suck. The way I ended up winning was a bit of a gambit. I basically just ignored all map mechanics and rushed Tharja to the commander's fort as quick as I could, and made it a DPS race of Tharja versus the wizard guy, versus the rest of the map falling to pieces to my massively underleveled mage squad. Somehow managed to win, but it was close.
By the time I have completed this Celica unlock, I think I will have completed enough battles to cover another complete campaign. Jeez. Talk about making me work for it.
Mostly I ignore tome users entirely, because they seem, well, terrible.
I don't feel that their weapon triangle is balanced very well. For the classic triangle of Sword, Spear, Axe, it works okay when you're talking about AI controlled characters. When you send your dudes out on an assignment like to take a fort or attack a specific target, the weapon triangle definitely seems to matter. But for whoever the player is actively controlling, the weapon triangle really doesn't seem to matter for dick.
But then there's this whole other triangle that never gets explained very well. Magic beats heavy armor. I know that much from playing the core FE games. And archers beat fliers. But like... beyond that I'm kinda lost. And enemy mages have WAY TOO MUCH health for supposedly being casters.
And anyway, I don't really use mages that much unless I have to, because they just don't seem very good. Even against targets that they should be good against, I find that they suck, and that there are other, better options. For example, Frederick. When you come across him as an enemy captain on these History Mode battles, he should be a prime target for a mage to kill. But it takes mages for frickin' ever to kill Frederick. It's easier to just send Rowan or Chrom after him (in my experience.)
So I don't use mages. And I've never once used the dragonstone characters. I think there might only be one? Is Tiki the only character who uses dragonstones? I've never used her. But there are a lot of characters I've never used. I basically pushed through the entire campaign with Rowan, Chrom, Cordelia, Takumi, and Camila.
Also: enemy reinforcements that appear and attack in the same turn are nonsense. It's not fun, and has forced me to either save-scum long maps or have a guide open. Case in point: the chapter at the Mila Tree. It's a long and thin map, set up (it seems) pretty obviously for there to be three main bands of enemies that you'll have to deal with, as well as three Thieves with loot heading for the exit. So first turn I have Olivia dance a Cordelia+Gaius in range, and take out the one with the Master Seal (from a position where they can't be killed). Sumia flies forward and kills the Gold carrying one before being Rescued back to safety. I decide not to try for the Speedwing. The rest of the first three turns is baiting and clearing out the first band of opponents, after which the boss makes comments about reinforcements coming, so I group my units defensively rather than engaging band two. A bunch of guys appear at the bottom of the map, and I move against them. Okay. The next turn, four Falconknights appear at the map's sides, one of which swoops through everyone and kills Olivia. Reset. Switch out my (kind of bad) Gregor for Lon'qu, go again, this time being careful to have squishy people in the centre of the map by the time the Falconknights show up. Okay. Next turn: four Bow Knights from the south ride in and snipe all my fliers.
Extremely frustrating, and no way to naturally adapt to it. They just show up, and if you were unlucky in your previous turn's decisions, you're screwed. I eventually beat it (at one point I sent Stahl off on his lonesome as a distraction to pull a third of the enemy away, and he survived with one HP before riding into a pair-up with Sumia and flying back to the group) so at least I got some memories out of it. But it's bad game design.
//
As for something completely different, I've been giving thought for awhile to what my "ideal" Fire Emblem would look like. So I wrote down some of my musings:
Magic
One of the things I loved the most about Shadows of Valentia was the magic system, where spellcasting costs HP. With the added benefits of negating cover and low resistances, magic users were scary to face off against, and extremely powerful (but potentially fragile) to use. So I'd like to see that return, though with a bit better resistances (somewhere between SoV and Fates) and get rid of the fixed accuracy too - that just resulted in magic users having to lean a little too hard on their supports to reliably hit anything.
Flowing off of that, is to completely get rid of Staves as a weapon type and fold them into the magics like in SoV. Fates had the awkwardness of getting rid of weapon durability while keeping it for Staves, presumably to make it so that people couldn't just constantly be using Rescue and such. But it was much better balanced in SoV, where support spells had a high HP cost as a limiting agent. You wouldn't use them every turn, but you wouldn't be afraid of using them either. I loved that.
On the other hand, something that never clicked with me in Fates was the 'ranged triangle', where [Tomes > Bows > Daggers > Tomes]. (I had to look that up. It feels like it's randomly assigned. The basic weapons triangle always seemed at least a little intuitive, in a rock-paper-scizzors doesn't-make-actual-sense-but-good-enough sort of way. Swords can dart in against clumsier Axes, Lances can outrange and poke at Swords, Axes can chop aside the Lances.) So, get rid of that and go back to Bows and Daggers being neutral.
Why mention this in the Magic section? Well, divide up the Tomes and re-introduce the magic triangle. Previous games that have had magic triangles could get a bit overly complicated:
Jugdral had: [Light && Dark > (Wind > Thunder > Fire > Wind)]
GBA games had: [Light > Dark > Anima > Light]
Tellius had: [Light > Dark > (Wind > Thunder > Fire > Wind) > Light]
I like the simpler GBA scheme, so would want that.
Anima magic contains the classic Fire/Wind/Thunder Tomes, giving them a fair amount of diversity. Light magic would have pretty weak spells like Shine, but they'd have a low casting cost to compensate. It would also be supereffective against any undead sort of things (if the story goes that route) and would be where the majority of the support Staves would go (Heal, Rescue, Rally [stat(s)], etc.). You could even keep the physical models/names of the staves (rather than making them tomes), but they'd all fall under Light magic. Dark magic meanwhile would have powerful, inaccurate spells like Flux and Ruin that cost a lot of HP to cast, as well as trickier ones (like Nosferatu, which steals life, or Mire, which has increased range). Dark magic would also get a lot of the status Staves, like Freeze, Silence, and Seal [stat(s)].
Classes
I like the third tier classes from Shadows of Valentia (and Radiant Dawn), so bring those back. They're neat, and I like the greater amount of growth it feels like your units go through. On the other hand, I missed the branching promotion paths in SoV, so bring those back as well. I worry a bit that this will result in there being a bit of clutter and a lot of third tier classes that the player may never use (or feel like they need to look up a chart to plan out where they want to end up, which I hate the thought of), but... here's what I'd propose some of the class trees look like:
Maybe first tier should branch and then the second tier classes only have a single available promotion? There are perhaps more possible third tier classes shared than some people would like, but I think that the character's previous growths and skills will differentiate, say, a Falconknight who started as a Cleric (mainly a defensive Light wielder, adding some mobility and weapon diversity) compared to one who began the game as a Pegasus Knight (flying nimble attacker gaining some support magic).
When it comes to leveling I know a lot of people would like to see stat gains become fixed, like in Heroes. Personally, I enjoy a bit more randomness, but can see how it's frustrating for your favourite character to become hard to use after a string of bad level-ups. So I'd propose a mixed system: keep the current RNG, but have a Unit Rating floor that has to be reached for each level. If the RNG wants to give you +1HP and nothing else, and you've previously had some great level ups, then you'd be high enough above the floor that you'd have to live with it. But if you've had a few bad gains and the RNG wants to give you that +1HP, then internally it will redo the RNG until it puts you at or above the level's floor.
On a visual level, I like how in the games with reclassing/branching promotion units tend to have custom models for their 'canon' classes, while being generic otherwise. But there's no reason games going forward can't do as SoV did and allow units to at least keep their colour schemes. If I want to make Effie a Sorcerer she should at least be a pink and gold Sorcerer.
Skills
Divide skills into two groupings: passive, and active. Passive skills would be ones that are always "on", and work in a way that they already do in Awakening and Fates. So, for example, Vantage would always kick in when below half health, allowing that unit to strike first. Active skills meanwhile would work like Combat Arts in Shadows of Valentia: selected when a unit attacks or ends their movement, and at a cost to HP. So Astra, rather than triggering on a Skill*0.5 rate, would be selectable for an HP cost. I feel like Heroes' system of putting active skills on a cool down timer would also work equally well, but if I'm bringing in SoV's magic HP costs, it feels like better design to have a similar HP-costing system rather than introduce another mechanic. Either way, in SoV and Heroes I find that giving the player control (at a cost) of the skill's activation is much better than leaving it to chance.
I don't particularly care for the way SoV distributed skills though; tying them strictly to the weapons (mostly). I was thinking that every unit would have six skill slots. The first slot would always be taken up by that unit's personal skill, as in Fates. These were quirky and neat, and added to the various characters in a fun way. The next four slots would be learned by achieving a certain level in a particular class (two in first tier, one each in second and third tier), and characters could reclass as in Fates and Awakening to amass skills to equip in these slots. I'd limit them to four though - maybe even reduce this to three, so that you can't turn characters into quite the monsters they could become in those games. Finally, a single slot would be open to skills that would change depending on the item equipped, like in SoV. So a Swordmaster equipped with a Steel Sword might have:
1. [Personal Skill]
2. Duelist's Blow
3. Vantage
4. Astra
5. ----
6. Sunder
(Where Sunder increases the Steel Sword's critical hit chance for one attack, and is tied to that weapon. If the Swordmaster equipped say, an Armourslayer, then they'd lose the active Sunder and gain a passive Supereffective v Armour instead.)
The Tellius games had a system I liked better than the currant one though, with a Skill Capacity Gauge. There, different skills "cost" different capacity and you only had so much room. So rather than restricting skills to a certain number, you could load up a character on minor skills like Cancel, Gamble, and Discipline for 10 capacity points each, or equip Astra for 30 capacity points. I'd be more in favour of bringing this system back, in which case Personal Skills would just be locked in. In such a system you'd probably drop active skills being associated with weapons (and certain weapons' passive skills wouldn't need to show up on the gauge, they'd just be inherent to the weapon as they are now).
So in the above example, the Swordmaster would have a gauge of 50cp:
10cp (locked in): [Personal Skill]
10cp: Duelist's Blow
10cp: Vantage
20cp: Astra
You could also do things like increase the cost of certain skills outside of their learned class rather than making them unusable (like Locktouch for Ninjas/Outlaws). So if the Swordmaster had done some time as a Thief, they could choose to set up like:
10cp (locked in): [Personal Skill]
20cp: Astra
20cp: Locktouch
Unequipped: Duelist's Blow (10cp), Vantage (10cp), Movement +1 (10cp), Shade (30cp)
Where Locktouch would normally only be 10cp to equip for a Thief and its' promotions (and Shade 20cp). I think this is a pretty solid system. Like in the Tellius games, the capacity gauge would increase with the tiers. 30cp's for the first, 50cp for the second, and 70cp for the top tier.
On the other hand, get rid of those games' ability to trade certain skills between units by unequipping them and turning them into scrolls. That didn't sit right with me. Instead, bring back Rings from SoV, and allow some of them to just inherently have skills attached to them. So if you have a Paragon Ring in someone's inventory, that character has the Paragon skill active (with no need to fit it into the Capacity Gauge). Same thing could be done for the traditional Boots item: rather than being consumed to boost a unit's Movement stat having them in the inventory will grant that character Movement +1.
And speaking of Tellius, I'd like to see Canto return as an option for mounted units (allowing them to finish their movement after taking an action). Make Canto available as an equipable skill for all mounted units at 10cp, while unmounted units can all take Shove and Swap for 5cp each.
Weapons
One of the things that I wasn't crazy about in Shadows of Valentia was limiting the units to a single item, so I'd like to see units have five inventory spots again. I did like the return of Weight as a mechanic (reducing the unit's Speed) and would like to see it return. I also think that a weapon's Wt would be a better way to balance certain high Might weapons than bringing back durability or Fate's method of self-debuffing. Other items would have a weight characteristic as well, even if for most things it is 0. But what this would do is create a situation where different units would favour different approaches. So a Swordmaster, who depends on their Speed for Dodging, might restrict themselves to:
1. Killing Edge (Wt. 1)
2. Armourslayer (Wt. 3)
3. Vulnerary (Wt. 0)
4. Paragon Ring (Wt. 0)
5. ----
Whereas a General, who has low speed anyway and relies on their high Defence, could be fully loaded with weapons:
1. Silver Lance (Wt. 6)
2. Javelin (Wt. 5)
3. Beastslayer (Wt. 3)
4. Hammer (Wt. 3)
5. Concoction (Wt. 1)
So the Swordmaster would have a Speed reduction of -4, while the General would have a penalty of -18. This could be used to balance Javelins and Hand Axes as well - giving them a high Wt rather than just making them flatly unable to double.
Hopefully with the improved look of the game, weapons would also be modelled on characters if you do load them up. Maybe not all five potential items, but at least one in hand and two strapped across their backs. Tomes and consumable items could be represented by a pack.
Bows would have an increased range: 2-3, with Longbows being at 2-4. However, attacking from more than 2 spaces away would incur accuracy penalties. I really liked the increased range in SoV, so'd like to see that come back. I'm less in favour of making Bows able to counter at a range of 1 - archers having that vulnerability is something that I think should come back. Close Counter and a skill to negate the accuracy penalty would be found among the Bow wielding classes, though.
I liked Shields and the aforementioned Rings in SoV, so would like to see them return. Shields present a bit of a problem though (in a game not restricting you to a single item like SoV does). It wouldn't make sense for a character to load themselves up with five Shields for all those bonuses. So, I'd let Shields have two sets of stat buffs - one for having it the inventory and one for having it equipped. An Iron Shield strapped to the unit's back would offer +2 Defence while still having it's full Speed reduction (by the Wt). Equipping it would give +5 Defence, a Mt of +[whatever], a Speed of -[Wt], and maybe Shields would have an inherent effect similar to Freeze when attacking (reduces opponent's movement to 0 for the next turn) to represent a shield bash stunning the opponent.
Rings would be like in SoV, sometimes giving stat boosts, sometimes offering Skills (Recovery, Paragon, Tome Range +1, a "cursed" ring that has Arthur's Misfortune, etc). They'd have a Wt of 0 in general, and be rare, find-able items not available to buy.
Gameplay/Story
Allow Pair-Ups, Dual Attacks, and Dual Guards to continue working like in Fates. The maps as well - while there were certain times in Conquest that things felt a little on the gimmicky side. But I'd like to see chapters that involve Area Defence, Rescuing Allies, Escorting Allies, Saving Villages, etc. blended in with a fair number of standard Route and Seize maps. Dragon Veins (specifically) I wouldn't bring back, but I would like to see active map changes: stuff like draw bridges being able to be lowered, flood gates opened, and the occasional powerful magic being used to upend the playing field.
I assume that First Person exploration will be expanded upon (like the My Castle in Fates and the Dungeons in Shadows of Valentia). I think this could be pretty fun in towns and villages, exploring and finding items, but there would hopefully be a map that would let you quick jump to important places when you revisited. I'm a bit uneasy about Dungeons - they kind of enforce grinding on the player, but it seems the way IS wants to go, and it's not a terrible experience at first. But returning to Dungeons is a pain, so I'd definitely hope there's an option upon entering to not have to face already defeated foes. Maybe whatever replaces Mila's Turnwheel can have a Pokémon Repel ability to make enemies on previously defeated floors run away from you instead of at you?
Speaking of: Mila's Turnwheel mechanics need to be in the game. Not to the extent that it got to in SoV (where you could build up to having twelve mulligans per battle) - keep it to three or so. But as the series has moved away from disposable, low-depth characters to what we have now, the expectation is that players will not just let a character die. Classic Mode will hopefully always be available for people who want to do that, but the games should go forward with Casual Mode in mind as the main way to play. And for that, the Turnwheel was amazing. (It was also great for if I was playing tired and miscounted the spaces an enemy could move after I re-positioned units, getting one killed. Brain farts forcing me to restart the map is annoying.)
Supports are part of the series now, and the game has to have them. SoV's on-the-battlefield ones were a bit light, but that was made up for by the voice acting giving the units a lot of character. The full voice acting needs to return. There were also too few of them in general, with some characters only sharing a single conversation. I prefer the support conversations to be accessible via menu like in Tellius, Awakening and Fates. This gives them a bit more room to be about a greater variety of things, with less "Why are you telling me this when I just gutted that dude and oh-my-god-move-there's-three-pegasus-knights-coming-to-kill-us." But while SoV had too few conversations, Fates had too many. A lot of conversations were uninteresting or bad. If you can't think of anything interesting two characters would have to talk about, they don't need to talk. So somewhere in the middle. The return of base conversations should also happen - characters talking to one another (or to the player) depending on how far along in the story you are. These were great in Paths of Radiance, great in SoV, and should become a series staple.
As for the characters themselves, the SoV cast was more on the realistic side. Which is nice. But while I appreciate their effort to dial back after Fates'... bold personalities... I would like to see units with a little more oomph. But unlike Fates, not everybody should be these wacky caricatures. You can have a mix of realistic and zany. In fact, having more normal people around helps them stand out. And related to this: bring back an avatar, but make them more Robin level of plot involvement. Not totally superfluous, but not the main character. Corrin kind of feel silly, because while you can customise them to a degree, it's so limited by the plot. Corrin has to be in their mid teens. Unlike Robin, who I could actually make look oddly like myself at the time. And for the male avatar's options: facial hair, please. Actually, for all the characters. Give me some dudes with moustaches, beards, and mutton chops. And black people, please. It's a fantasy series. The last game had Japanese Happyland bordering Franco-Germania Darktimes; if you say your made up continent has all sorts of people then it does.
Other little bits: Bonus Experience seemed odd in SoV (I have no idea how it gets rewarded). It was much better implemented in the Tellius games, where you gained it into a pool at the end of maps depending on meeting certain objectives, and distributed it to who you wanted between maps (weighted so that lower level characters got more out of it). So do that again. That's a handy way to bring someone up to speed without having to grind them up. They also tried to bring back Fatigue in SoV, but I always found food to be so plentiful that it was easily ignored. Fatigue is a concept from the Thracia 776, where units actions made them fatigued, and once it hit a certain point they'd have to sit out the next chapter. This was intended to make you use the whole cast, but what ended up happening was that players would need a guide to know who to rest when, so that they didn't end up with a unit unable to be selected in a chapter where they were needed to recruit someone. If Fatigue were to return, I'd keep it to SoV's stat debuffs rather than Thracia's time-outs, but it's a mechanic that I'd rather just go away. If you want a person to use the whole cast, design the chapters with fielding almost everyone in mind.
Finally, kids. The way that they were forced into Fates was terrible, but the relationship/generations aspect of it and Awakening were fun. So I'd like to see kids return, but better integrated into the story. And you can't do Awakening's time-travelling shenanigans again, so make the story based around a time skip, and bring the kids into the main plot (instead of paralogues). I'm thinking that the first half of the game builds up to a bittersweet victory, with your band of adventurers all going their separate ways. Maybe the main lord becomes the villain for the game's second half? Whatever it is, your avatar character would then spend the second half shepherding the lord's kid to reunite everyone and take down the real evil that they thought they had defeated before.
The kids would all be introduced as tier two units, at an appropriate level for the map. So, for example, if there was a Mercenary character in the original party, by the time of the midgame climax you'd have promoted them to Hero and married them to a Bow Knight. Further in the game, you might be wandering around a new town (or returning to an old one, twenty years later), and there'd be a big gathering in the main square. The local authority just captured the Sage son of a local rebel, who's name you recognise as the Hero you used to know. The avatar tells the new lord that we need to rescue them, and that's the next map battle. It'd play a bit like Forrest's recruitment paralogue from Fates (where you have to stop his execution), but half way through the original Hero and Bow Knight would show up as allies with a couple men and also be trying to free their kid. You could actively recruit them with the lord or avatar, or wait until after the map when they and the kid would join you.
These missions would have variables: if the parent that the kid is tied to died previously, then the kid would have a generified alternate backstory, and they'd still join you (but without the stat bonuses and skills from potential parents). If the Hero never married, everything would still play out, only the spouse would be replaced in the chapter by another generic soldier (who would not join you) and the kid would again be lacking the special bonuses and skills. (This would necessitate a grab-bag chapter at some point, to reintroduce all the characters who never married). If you didn't use a character, they'd be leveled up to a certain floor, in their canon promotion. (So if you had reclassed the Mercenary into a Wyvern Rider and fast-tracked them up to a level 15 Malig Knight, that's what they'd be. If you benched them and they were still a level 8 Mercenary, they'd get advanced to a Hero of the level that's appropriate for that stage of the game.) And yes, that would mean that everyone would get two portraits aged twenty-some years apart.
Cipher Series 13 had a stream today, in which Series 14 was confirmed to be based on Awakening, Hoshido, and Tellius. Furthermore, Series 15 will be New Mystery, Nohr, and Jugdral. So there won't be any Cipher reveals of the Switch cast.
(Here's an imgur gallery of bits of the stream, if anyone's interested in Cipher. @Warlock82 )
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
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I'm still so baffled at why they were super secretive about set 14 when it's literally the most vanilla set they've done (seriously, almost every Cipher set has either Awakening, Fates, Radiance or some combination of the three). Saw someone suggest maybe it was because the set was so boring (variety-wise) that they wanted to keep it secret until they had better stuff to announce :P Quite possible.
(Also I totally woke up at 6am to watch it. Was pretty fun. I laughed at them running the chat at the top which was 99% Japanese but when they showed the Sonia card someone wrote "BE GONE THOT!" haha
I am also incredibly baffled by them eating bananas with the peels on for some reason...
Also the voice actress for Loki is the most adorable ever)
They're just hardcore Griffin McElroy fans.
There was a leak/rumour that proved to be false (about a FE Direct), where the person who put out the information mea culpa'd that they had crossed some wires with multiple sources. That person had been told that the game's name would be Elegy For The Brave.
Which is sufficiently nonsense-y for old school Fire Emblem, and I kind of hope it's true. (Googling to double check tells me that Bill Shatner sang a song with the same name, which...)
The FE: Memories "leak" didn't seem too genuine to me, but it does fit with the newer 'one-word' naming style of Awakening, Fates (Conquest, Birthright, Revelations), and Heroes.
*Main character dies in combat*
"Wait, no, that's not quite how it went."
*Game resets to the start of the last turn*
Fire Emblem: Reawakening.
Which sounds like a remake, going against what little has been said about FE: Switch...
Hmmm... not sure I like the sound of that... hopefully fake?
My current stance is that they're all fake.
Especially all the anime jokes thrown in ("FIVE POINTS!"). The intros especially have been pretty great.
Spring 2019
Switch Friend Code: 3102-5341-0358
Nintendo Network ID: PhysiMarc
Also interesting to see that weapon durability is back.
Three Houses is a bit of a bland name though, and it was odd that one of the areas on the map is just named Leicester. (Go Foxes!?)
Edit: Oh shit, just noticed that the Axe Fighters in the cut-scene are wearing kilts. Definitely a heavy British flavouring, I guess.
Also, a lot of enemy units are named, unique characters. So... I'm wondering if there are going to be three versions (like Fates) or three routes. The green-haired "teacher" seems like a customisable Avatar.
I guess I know when I'm finally buying a switch then.
I'd assume Three Houses goes the way of Fates with the two sides and thus we might see the same story from three viewpoints instead of 2? (I think that was Fates, the one with Ryomi and Xander).
Not sure but it seems like squads will be more than just aesthetic also I like it as it gives the feel of being a large scale battle.