henrymidfields

FFX-2 and its worldbuilding and character arcs are quite underrated in that they are one of the few cases where I actually saw how important characters get, and live, their happy endings. In particular, a lot of Yuna's characteristics actually do make sense when I think about it - here she is, not only still alive when she was given a glorified death sentence in X, but also relieved of her duties with decorated colors. All her life, she lived under the expectations of being a summoner for the church and the people, and only now did Yuna have the chance to live her own life, which she didn't even dream of. The only problem is how, which Yuna has no clue. Hardly any wonder why she decided to start act like a dork - she's desperately trying her best to let her hair down by taking inspiration from her cousin Rikku. Likewise, it is also delightful to see how societies move on form past traumas from the prequel, or in a few cases how such traumas can develop (for example, the Ronsos vs the Guados).

I think a good part of the problem is how the plot especially in Fates Conquest is a mess in itself. Not only that, but it ends up bending backwards and sideways to absolve Corrin (Male or female, does it matter?) of mistakes that he made in Fates Conquest when it really shouldn't. I mean, siding with an obviously evil country, and acting like an extreme doormat all the way through against an obviously evil king, with equally spineless/clueless siblings? I'm gobsmacked at Sakura/Hinoka/Takumi forgiving Corrin so easily. I for one changed the story of Fates Conquest substantially in my part-LP/fanfic so that while Corrin is still somewhat naive, he now has a good reason to side with the arsenal of democracy Nohr. He in at least one occasion gets called out or disputed by others where he needs to be tough and fails to do so. (One even by his wife who is otherwise supportive of him!) If Garon and Nohr was not so evil (or not as obvious about it), if everyone else actually called out Corrin's behaviour, if Corrin him/herself actually caught onto life's lesson (or at least made an attempt to do so), and/or if Corrin was only naive about some things and was a bit smarter about others, then I think Corrin wouldn't be as ill-received as he is. (I certainly would consider him better.)

Effie in Conquest is actually good, with her ridiculous defense and Wary Fighter. It also helps that generally smaller maps mitigates disadvantages with less movement, Pair Ups give them utility, and Attack Stances allow easier opportunities to feed them needed EXPs.

There's actually one common thing from the plot that I liked in TMS#FE and Persona 3-4. I liked how the former three games gave due focus on the other characters and didn't have the protagonist necessarily hog the proverbial (and literal in the case of TMSFE) spotlight all the time. TMSFE had Itsuki help Tsubasa and others work on and break through their showbiz career. P3 had Minako working together with her dormmates, and particularly under Mitsuru's and Akihiko's guidance in exterminating the shadows. P4 not only had Yu discuss the mystery murders with his schoolmates, but out of this, had Yosuke and Naoto do all of the thinking of the logics behind it. It's clear that the plot only gets to where it needs to because of everyone working together, and we get to know and understand the teammates from their contribution to the main plot, in addition to their character arcs, side quests, and social links. This may not be all that easy for new FE entries, but for remakes, I want the story further expanded upon, with a number of extra cut-scenes (and maybe even character-specific arcs) for a few non-Lord characters that you managed to keep alive. They should give their insight and perspectives on the main conflict and battles. For some ideas in FE6: Major characters: Marcus manages the discipline of the troops for Roy and discusses training, and he can also provide insight on the politics of Lycia and Bern from past experience. He can also talk about how some people betray the alliance. Out of cowardice? (Eric could be this.) Out of personal greed? (Wagner in Chapter 6.) Or out of a not-so-unfounded fear of retribution and punitive sanctions from the invaders? (It would be interesting to write a script, if Leygance was this, and he became desparate after the disaster at Araphen.) Lilina and Roy could discuss how different actual practice is compared to theory learnt from Cecilia, and how it can be daunting. They can also talk about leadership and how they can exercise it. Heck, even have Lilina do the devil's advocate instead of Merlinus at times. If Roy romances Thany or Sue, the former can listen to the stories of Ilia/Sacae from the latter, and also have them as the leading scouts into the nation. Alternately, Lilina can do that instead - out from her desire to learn more about the different nations - if Roy romances Lilina. If a save state from FE7 Echoes is detected, then extra conversations may happen depending on who is Roy's/Lilina's parents. Lyn!Roy or Lyn!Lilina will have an extended conversation with Sue, and Fiora!Roy and Florina!Lilina will ditto with Thany. If Douglas survives in Chapter 16, then Lalum thanks Roy for sparing her father. During/after Chapter 16x, she also lets on further stories about how she got to the Western Isles, and how she and Douglas shifted things behind the scenes against Aracard and Roartz. Other characters: Cecilia, Perceval after Chapter 14, and Saul corresponds to the rebels and to Jodel and discusses how further political and tactical pressure can be applied against Aracard and Roartz. Saul and/or Dorothy can comment on why they are in the Western Isles with Roy at Ebracum in Chapter 11 - Jodel asked them to investigate the extent of Oro's corruption, and the whereabouts of the church's previously-sent auditors. And they can take statements from exploited citizens to be sent back to the Etrurian Vatican and appoint a replacement bishop to restore order and work out restitution. Dieck and Klein may have an extended conversation together if they already have support, and discusses the possibility of visiting the Rigel manor and the colosseum after Chapter 16 (or 16 Paralogue). Rutger reminisces his younger days in Chapter 20 of the Sacae route, and resolves to take down Bern to settle his accounts against them. Milady, Zeiss, Elen, and Guinevere convince Bernians to stand down and surrender, in Chapter 21. And for the 2-3 chapters leading up to it, they can do a "state of the union" discussion together. In any case, I'd like to see a more significant/visible role of teamwork affecting the plot, with Echoes!Sigurd, Echoes!Roy and Echoes!Eirika/Ephraim, and Echoes!Ike/Micaiah actively having to rely on others, and backing off every now and then to give focus for the others' characters' arcs. And have

World of Final Fantasy - I've reached the Cathedral, and just about to start my final quest to save Grimoire! Ironically, I only played 8 and 10 from the mainline entries.

When I was quite turned off by people's opinions on Echoes, and when I got sick of Fates Conquest and decided not to touch anything Nintendo-related for a while... I played Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Dancing All Night (story mode), and Persona 3 Portable, courtesy of Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Now I am playing World of Final Fantasy, and I am thinking of either getting Catherine: Full Body, Persona 5 Royal, or Final Fantasy 12. I intend to come back to Fire Emblem with TMS Encore and Three Houses.

I wouldn't mind if the AI acts a bit more like, as you said, more human, with them actually "thinking" about minimizing their losses and maximizing their objective fulfillment. I did notice, though, that at least for Fates Conquest, baiting the enemy was generally more difficult, as certain groups now act together. Another thing to note is that, some enemies just did not bother to initiate attack if they deemed it ineffective (eg most melee units against Effie). These two, I think, are a step in the right direction to discourage turtling?/baiting? play. It may be worth focusing on improved AIs (along with enemy weapons, stricter victory objectives etc) on higher difficulties for future games, instead of mainly having to face enemies with inflated stats. Plus, if your proposal above facilitates an more even footing footing of enemy units vs player units in chapters then more power to the dev team. This, I think should be the norm, as Three Houses was explicit about each units resembling battalions. And then, any battle which has one-sided number differences should be justified from the dictating plot in the chapter, and the objectives also defined accordingly. It could be an ambush chapter where the heroes need to escape to friendly territory, or a stealth chapter where the heroes need to elude the enemies, or a defend chapter where the heroes need to survive until the cavalry comes to the rescue.

I'd like to see a P5R DLC featuring an alternate story from Mitsuru's and/or Naoto's viewpoints, and their struggles against the corrupt Japanese government. While I won't get FE Heroes all the same, I still would be interested seeing TMSFE characters in that game. Bonus points if they all have alternate versions resembling P3-P5 characters. A DLC featuring the continuation stories from Three Houses. I want to see Edelgard vanquish the conspiracy once and for all!

That's a good question. Maybe what they can do in the next game is to either: Focus more on diplomacy and politics and make intentionally half-assed skirmishes. A form of brinkmanship, where troops are deployed simply to bluff/coerce the opponent into a particular detrimental action. Return back to the old days and have multiple players in the continent's politics. Sure, you have been a thorn in the antagonist's hand, but s/he has more threatening political and military opponents to deal with. Alternately, you are a threat, but the enemy just needs to buy some time before s/he gets a superweapon, reinforcements, or a political advantage that nullifies your threat/relative strength. Actually have a scripted chapter where the victory conditions are to survive for how many turns. The enemy finishes you off regardless, but you manage to barely survive. Or, do all of the three plot devices above.

Building off and extending this would be to have both good and bad guys on both the protagonists' side and the antagonists'. The villainous nation A who you happened to team up with either invaded you in the past, had a brutal slave trade, or only joined on your side due to sheer dumb luck when they were profitting off from weaponry and mercenary profit they provided indiscriminately. But you need your unlikely ally because they are the ones that can oppose the antagonist nations effectively when the rest of your allies have been weakened. On the other side happens to be a small nation B that you previously had good relationship with that you'd rather not fight against, but it happens because of either self-preservation (due to it sharing borders with main villain and antagonist Nation C), desperation for survival (B was brutally invaded by aforementioned Nation A, and had a better chance surviving with the antagonists), or past grudges and distrust against your allies. It would be nice to have shades of alliances/emnity, and how you trust one of your allies while not trusting another one. Or how you forgive (or even ally with) a former enemy who surrendered vs thoroughly punish another. Bonus points if a Tellius Echoes includes an allegory of Finland on the Axis side vs Soviet Union.

Ugh...do I really need to explain this??? replace that with Gary Stu, or whatever terminology for the person who ends up succeeding (or otherwise getting undue favour from the writers) just because they happen to be the protagonist. You now should know what I mean, dumbass.

One of the more noticable cliches that I noticed was how the majority of the plots are Main Lord/protagonist-centric in morality, agency, and success rate. I remember only once which this was flipped over in morality and success rate, which was Sigurd from FE4 who really screwed things up for everyone. And the only time I remember this was shaken up in terms of agency was with the Fortuna Entertainment in TMSFE - which seemed to have focused more on Itsuki's teammates for the majority of the story including side quests, which I believe was based on how Persona 3/4 similarly gave just as much focus on Minako's or Yu's teammates. At least I'd like to see non-Lord characters influence the main story a lot more - especially in Echoes remakes where the basic plot and script is already done. Another thing is how the male Lord ends up being portrayed as a paragon, while the female one rarely seems to have this luxury - though do you think Edelgard started bucking this trend? Is there any reason why we can't have a male lord screwing up the campaign like Sigurd did? Is there any reason why we can't have a female protagonist (barring avatars) that straight up kicks ass like all of the FeMC in Pokemon, or Minako in Persona 3?

Knows and appreciates Calvin and Hobbes

Someone I sometimes see.

Actually, you know what? Another thing that I'd like to see gone for one game is the dragon, or any other supernatural as the ultimate big bad responsible for the war and the whole plot. Instead, the final major battle before the main enemy surrenders and the war ends is a remnant army - which still has much charisma to mount their last effective opposition. Gameplay-wise, the difficulty should instead come from secondary objectives that don't rely on overpowering the enemy. For example, you need to convince enemy factions to surrender with either specified non-lord units, or lords with sufficient charisma to convince the antagonists that their cause is now lost. Or, you need to protect specified units and/or items (such as the ambassador or a king relaying the surrender message) before they get overwhelmed, like the Kyujo Incident that nearly derailed Japan's surrender process in the very last day of World War II. And failing in those objectives won't give you a game over, but will lead you into a sad/cynical ending, where, say, war flares up again, or a series of revolts happen against the now victorious heroes, with the protagonist assasinated not long after. And the story shows how humans are capable of screwing up society. The closest example would probably be Zephiel in Binding Blade, who was responsible for starting the entire war, and did so with his economic-military complex that is also known as Bern. And how can my preferred plot device work in this Echoes remake? Well, Chapter 22a (immediately after the real Chapter 22) has Roy and Guinevere surrounded by remnant soldiers who came to assassinate Princess Guinevere. If Guinevere is killed, then Brenya would declare herself as Queen, lead the citizens and remaining soldiers to revolt against the occupation army, and this would eventually force the Etrurian Army to pull out. Much of the blame would be shifted onto Lycia now, with Roy as the scapegoat, when Etruria itself washes its hands from the alliance to save its hide, and when Bern manages to conceal its real perpetrators via propaganda. Roy's campaign would end on a very cynical note then and there. If successful, then the whole story would end up framing Chapter 22 and 22a as the climax of the series, with Chapter 23 onwards being a glorified denouement to correspond with the relative lack of difficulty in those chapters.