monkymeet

Maybe Elincia ends up marrying for solely political reasons, this random prince, and gets stuck in a loveless marriage for the rest of her life. Marrying for love? pffft (clearly watching too much GoT)

I can't stand Geoffrey for some reason. So just to spite him, I'm going to go with IkexElincia. Or one of them crack shippings. Elinciax3-13Archer

As a gay person, I find this to be in poor taste. Using sexuality for "entertainment" purposes is not cool, dude

Snipers are still cool, to an extent. For me, I found myself never using pre-promotes when I first started. Now, I love them to death. In fact, most of my favorites are pre-promotes now. Isadora, Harken, Seth, Percival, Titania, Pent...

So, I've been playing and thinking a lot of Fire Emblem, especially Awakening. And game design, of which I am still rather amateurish but really enjoying, but hey, what else should I do with my free time? I've always enjoyed the replayability of Fire Emblem. The RNG and random growths are one of the best points about the game, one that separates it a lot from other SRPGs. It allows for heavily replayability, as the player is forced to adapt to how the RNG has decided to act. It's one of the ways that Fire Emblem has allowed for motivation to replay the game to begin with. Previous iterations, with its support systems had a way of motivating us to play so many times just to unlock all those fancy little blurbs that so many of us enjoy. This, I have found, to be a much better game design choice than the artificial choice that is granted in many modern games such as Mass Effect, where choice actually means little other than to see a brief difference in interaction. Choice should truly matter if we want the audience to really care about them. Of course, Awakening removes that need. We can grind forever and unlock a good number of supports on a single playthrough. There's also the issue of the children, which is my biggest gripe. There's a much lower incentive to really care too much about pairings compared to, well, Fire Emblem 4. There's the issues of balancing the skills, and as is, Galeforce is both a wonderful, yet terribly designed skill. It's great, but there's little incentive to really pass down any other skills since its a female skill and we want the male children to have it because otherwise they'll never get it. Similarly, Agressor/Axe-faire are arguably male-skills that are good, yet need to be passed down to the female children, but less so. Other than skills though, pairing seems much less important other than choosing our favorites and shoving them together. For some that love FE for its characters, I see no issues with this. But from a specific gameplay perspective they mean much less. This is compared to FE4, where pairing has a huge impact on half the game! Of course, with our current narrative (another large problem, but that's a discussion for another time), but the fact remains there's a much lower impact on our pairings for the core of the game. Of course, this can be argued that endgame is just as a large part, but I'm just talking about the campaign portion of the game. So, how can we effect a stronger importance in the pairing? (Of course, people might say the children are completely superfluous, but I want to talk about making them an integral part of the game). There could be a limiting class options to fewer, but I don't think anyone really wants that to happen. Re-classing is likely here to stay, and having three class options isn't completely unreasonable (though, maybe having overlap of promoted classes, like class options fighter/mercenary). Herein lies my idea. I think that lowering class growths and having a greater impact by personal growths would make certain gameplay more interesting. You look at the children's growth rates. Lucina's strength growth, for example, will always vary between 51% to 61% for a Lord. I feel having a stronger influence of pairing would make for a larger impact of who you pair and why. Let's take Lissa. If we wanted Owain to be a magic-based unit, we would want to pair Lissa with a magic dad. However, if class growths were incredibly low (or even nonexistent), then making Owain a Myrmidon would a terrible idea, in this circumstance. Let's say, maybe having Libra!Owain, grants a terrible 20% strength growth would be impractical for campaign purposes as a physical based unit. This would motivate us to be more careful about pairing and getting what we want or plan. Of course, with enough perseverance and grinding, we could ultimately get about this, but that would provide more reason to choose our fathers more carefully. As is, even Libra grants Owain a 50% strength growth as a myrmidon. Perhaps also passing down weapon ranks would also be a good option. Henry!Noire should have more than E-rank Tomes as both parents should have higher at most points, which would also raise the instant usability of certain pairing combinations. Second Sealing Noire to Sorcerer would be a great idea then since that was our intention? Making a magical baby that has instant use as a magician? Maybe average all the weapon ranks of the parents... Of course, this is actually a rather small part of the game, and the children 1) aren't even needed and 2) need those higher growths to make them usable at the time we can finally recruit them. But I think I want to start thinking about choices about during the designing process of Awakening that could make it a more interesting and better game and having some discussions about it. After a rather large obsession during my first month with it, I feel I can start stepping back and looking at more of its flaws (really, I feel the plot is the biggest problem, but that's a writing issue than game design) such as the poor design of Lunatic+, lack of map variance, and balancing pair-up, which I know have been discussed quite often on the forums. I dunno since I know my arguments aren't exactly 100% solid or even coherent -___-, but I do enjoy discussing such aspects. If this goes wells, I would be down to start more of these topics!

FeMU. Just because I like my paired ending. "Stahl proved he wasn't average in every way..."

I wrote into my fan-fic campaign Ellen and Lain. Female Red/Green Knights woo~ But really, we need more axe-wielding females. Axes are the best.

Weapontomes should show up. Magic weapons that attack defense. Perfect for mage-slayin'

I stole a template because I'm lazy~ Name: Fenix Gender: Male Age: 21 Starting Class: Prince Weapon: Sword *, Fire C (FE4 style, so no WExp) Promotion: Master Lord Appearance: Tall, somewhat slim but with a rather toned body. Dark Brown hair with rather severe blue eyes. Dark armor with a dragon emblem printed on his right shoulder. Height: 6'3" Weight: 170 lbs Base Stats: Lv. 5 HP: 31 Str: 12 Mag: 6 Skl: 12 Spd: 9 Luk: 8 Def: 9 Res: 5 Mov: 6 Gold: 5000 Major Blood [Placeholder - Sword], Minor Blood [Placeholder - Fire] Inventory (Mt, Wt, Hit, Rng Rank, Worth, Uses): Iron Sword (6, 3, 80, 1, C, 1 000, 50) Flamebrand (6, 6, 60, 1-2, Prf, 12 000, 30) Effective against Armors and Mounts, hits Res Skills: Charisma (+10 hit/avoid in 3 square radius), Pursuit (normal units can still double attack if AS > 5, but Pursuit lowers this to AS > 2) Growth Rates: HP: 85% Str: 35% Mag: 60% Skl: 50% Spd: 35% Luk: 30% Def: 45% Res: 40% Promotional Gains (FE4 style): Str: +1 Mag: +5 Skl: +2 Spd: +2 Def: +2 Res: +3 Mov: +2 Weapon Gains: Fire Magic A + Horse Mount Story/Personality: I've actually been writing some things in my free time for quite a while, but here goes. If you haven't noticed, he specializes in Magic Swords It's a bit of a mix between FE4 style and some more modernizations that I felt necessary. Prince Fenix, the young and ambitious young Prince of [placeholder], had always been troubled by the common people's plight. Despite the prosperity of his nation, the fervent and supportive populace, he could tell during visits to neighboring countries that such happiness was not prevalent everywhere. His father, weakened by sickness, had always been a non-confrontational regent. The king, surrounded by his sycophants and flatterers did nothing other than prosper off the advantageous relationships with the bordering countries. So once his father had passed away, Prince Fenix began to weed out the corruption within his own ranks, though sparing the wives of children unless they were complicit. From there, he gathered his most loyal generals, his sister, the bastard child (his half-brother, and though not known until later, had Major Blood [placeholder Fire]), and closest friends on a campaign to conquer the continent and bring peace and prosperity to all. Priority would be the [Placeholder - Merchant based] nation. They could provide the needed ships for later, as well as gold since his nation was relatively small. However, before he did anything rash, he needed to plan things out completely. He sent a message to meet with the Empress Hana, the Mistress of the Wyvern Nation among the Alutian Mountains. Her geographical location, along with her fiercely military-based country would prove to be a beneficial marriage for himself. Upon meeting the imposing, yet just as ambitious Empress, he knew everything would fall into place. With their nations bordering the country of [Placeholder - Nomads/Desert], they could formulate a quick, two-pronged attack to conquer as well as provide a buffer to their southern nations in case the North decided to start attacking right away instead of appeasement. The mobility of Empress Hana's efficient wyvern forces would allow for quick battles and movement which he needed compared to his relatively slow soldiers. (His nation is well known for their effective and efficient soldiers, excellent with the lances and formations, but not quite as mobile as calvary or flying units) With the buffer created, he would have to the freedom to conquer the rest of the south. The [placeholder - Knights], despite their powerful and defensive geographic location would swiftly fall when surrounded by the might of the Wyvern nation' and the relatively small, but effective [Placeholder - Fenix's country] (due to brilliant battlefield tactics) armies. The Merchant nation, with their mercenaries, would also quickly fall. They would provide the ships needed to continue north to continue more pincer attacks. His similarly charismatic sister Lena would lead her assassination squads to pick off unpopular lords as well as begin spreading propaganda in the North. From there, winning the hearts of the people would be easier. She would marry another Prince, though he was unsure who would fold first and who would be most beneficial. There's quite a bit on her, too, from her scandal with one of her handmaidens (who will ultimately also play a large part as a planted religious leader to further gain the favor of the masses) to her own moral dilemmas on whether they are doing the right thing. Prince Fenix, as he progresses, notices his originally strict morals begin to fall apart. He becomes darker, more cynical, even a bit scared as to what he has become. But he can't stop now. And as the people cheer for the arrival of his forces, he must begin making harder and harder decisions. Gameplay: Fenix is a rather well-rounded unit. He deals more damage physically at first, but his magic skills become more and more prominent. His Holy Weapon, the fire sword Lucifer (sorta placeholder), is an excellent weapon (granting +10 mag, +10 ski, +10 spe, and the Nihil skill), though it's not until near the end of Generation 1 does it really come into play after he attacks the Holy Caves of Rultanis and comes into possession the Holy Weapons. Until then, his useful Flamebrand will prove useful with its effective damage, though it is relatively expensive to abuse too much. It is upon promotion that he really shines, with his high movement and flexibility to attack from afar. Despite his seemingly low speed, Pursuit proves to be useful to still allow double attacks often.

FeMU x Stahl Together, they settled in a small village to peacefully live out their lives. Stahl proved that he was above average in some ways...

Clearly he's spriting stuff. Dat Noish mug. Sigurd's is a bit weird.

Wait, four pages?

Is FE4 April Fool's a thing?

Best: FE9!Marcia Worst: FE6!Wendy Nominating Best Moustache category

There was a lot of talk about Libra on like, page 4-5. But nothing was really done. He really needs to go up. Instant 8-range physic, great durability with decent res/def/hp growths especially when compared to other non-Anna staff users, doesn't run a large risk of being doubled often because 14 speed at Chapter 9 is pretty solid. C-axe is a nice little cherry on top allowing for attacking opportunities if needed.

Lucina's sibling can't wield the Falchion, despite the support. CYNTHIA FALCHION

Obviously, Owain needs named weapons. I tend to have them as slight misspellings of previous games' weapons, much like MISSILETAIN

Amatsu should be here. Above scrub tier, at least. Swordies don't have 1-2 range other than the Levin sword. Forged Nosferatu is also great, although a weaker Aversa's Night. Forged waste is also fun, especially since hit rates aren't a huge deal with all the supports

It's like playing Final Fantasy 13 all over again!

Frederick would be a magical valet. Much like Jeeves. Not a butler. A butler serves the house; a valet serves his master.

I think Libra is a little bit too low. He's a rather durable healer with really nice bases (and C-rank staves for Physic) that shows up and easily usable for a long time afterwards. And durable is great for a healer, considering Lissa and Maribelle are made of paper. Nice attack as icing. Anna is the only other character that might be dependable to not die super easily and support with Staves, but she's in her proper place (and she can't use Physics immediately).

I feel that a male would be preferable, as that usually allows for two children with access to all classes, along with Taguel/Manakete children to have access to the same. This is purely for Endgame, since it won't likely happen enough for really matter for the core game. Unless you do ChromxMU, I suppose, for a nice Lucina. And if you know what class access you want for Endgame, it could be pretty equal, ultimately.

But she's so genki!

Pretty much, I have the tanky main with 1-2 range and then a glass-cannon/high attack paired up. That way it's pretty high chance to take advantage of a strong 1-range weapon at any range.

1-Mag/2 range. Unless you're hypothesizing using multiple rescues. That requires... 4 more units I believe