Mandokarla

Affecting local exp gain could be super busted or super worthless, but I love this idea. I think it would be really interesting to see how the tier-list focused people on this website would place such a character with that ability. I like Archive a lot, +5 to 3 stats if you have an inventory full of tomes. It's very strong, but it also means no vulneraries and such, which isn't a big deal. Magic Mentor would be interesting to see implemented, I'm not sure if I like the idea or not.

lvl10 and xl5 and 15 skills. Out of combat damage on a melee is strange, and potentially overpowered depending on how it's calculated. Being able to reposition large numbers of enemy units with a skill activation, especially in random directions, has equal potential to fuck you and the enemy over. There's a reason entrap staves have only 2 uses and are single target: moving the enemy is super strong. Same reason lunge is super strong, and limited to single target.

I think activate-able movement-manipulating skills are gamebreaking personally. I think this is actually a pretty dope set of ideas. Unburdened is a good one too, but I don't know if Strength/Speed should be the penalty for that. Definitely not strength -- it doesn't make much sense to hit less hard if you're carrying a vulnerary. Maybe do a change where it's speed only. The Counterstrike sounds like it could actually be an activated skill that deals 1.5x damage if counterattacking, with like a skill% chance to trigger.

If you could choose to create a new class for a fire emblem game, what would it be? Assume Fates' skill system, because I find it fun. For me, I've long played with a few concepts for mage classes, because I'll always be a caster at heart, but I actually came up with a class/class line that would fit into an early Renaissance themed FE that I want. The class is Fencer and promotes to Duelist. These would replace the myrmidon/swordmaster class set in this new era FE game, I think. They would have essentially the same stat spread, but I want to give a swordlocked class some kind of reason for being deployed. I want to give them early survivability via dodgetanking, and set them up lategame as bosskillers -- as the level 15 promoted skill would show. Fencer skills: Level 1: Level 10: Duelist: The Duelist will get a 10% innate critical rate bonus upon promoting, as well as +2 strength, +4 skill, +3 speed, +1 move, + 2 def, +1 res, and -2 mag. They will probably remain swordlocked, because as much as I'd love to see flintlock's and early muskets in an FE game, I think giving a Duelist flintlock access would be unnecessary, even if it might be thematically fitting. Level 5: Level 15:

So instead of taking a no-risk rng chance that a freeze/enfeeble might miss, using a unit that has a decent chance of not being needed to heal at the bosskill point of the map anyway, you are guaranteeing an rng chance of your unit missing and potentially dying as a result? That in itself makes no sense to me. At all. Denying an option because it might not work, even if that option failing costs nothing but a turn for a unit, is still denying a helpful option. You hate gambling so much, so I feel safe in assuming that you don't even sneeze at the boss until the immediate area around it is clear and safe, so it's not like a you can't take your time. Staff hit rates are not good, but they're not THAT bad. If you don't like or use them anyway, it's not like you're wasting a valuable resource. I just don't get it.

My Ophelia didn't have or need bowbreaker. I had a guard gauge from his minions set up, somewhat easy to do, and Ophelia crit needlessly anyway. 93% ish hit chance, 40 ish crit. Ophelia prf weapon more than did the job. I did this yesterday. I also still had 4 or so freeze staff uses if I needed them, which I didn't. I did this yesterday on Lunatic. Ophelia was a level 35 Witch at the time, and only my healers are currently under xl10, so I've not lost much exp. Everyone is contributing their fair share, even Izana -- I found I haven't ever given him enough credit, he's quite helpful as a healer/rally bot. My Camilla could have handled it as well, though she's actually levelcapped. She's just too good. Also, even if we weaken Ophelia to her level 30 witch state, she still has (with her Corrin mother pairup) ~37 Mag, against Takumi's mere 13 res. Lightning would leave him with 3 hp -- 3 hp that is accounted for with a rally and or a tonic. That's not counting the throne, nor the fact that Ophelia is fast and has a strong chance of quading him as a result. This isn't taking the throne into account, but without the throne he has 55 avoid, if I did the quick mafs right. That is quite manageable, especially considering WTA. Actually, I don't know if I'd need the tonic for my Oph, she's had S tomes for awhile now, which gives +3 attack and +10 hit IIRC. Fuck she's busted.

Takumi really isn't that bad. You very much should have a decent mage and a lightning tome by now, or a brave weapon. Camilla with a brave axe did good work on him, Xander still does the job as mentioned, any mage worth mentioning can deal with him pretty well with a lightning tome (if you don't have Ophelia by this point you are missing the best non-corrin unit in the game). Staves can fuck with his avoid if you need it to, and enfeeble exists. Takumi has always been the restful phase of that map for me.

Considering I'm of the opinion that Revelations shouldn't exist, I'll focus on BR/CQ. The worst map in my opinion is one of the following from Conquest: Eternal Stairway, Fugas Wild Ride, Furry Genocide. The first one is simply annoying and doesn't add much, the second is not awful --- unless you want both chests. If you want both chests, be prepared for a lot of annoying tedium. I hate the furry genocide because I generally don't like lategame chapters that encourage lowmanning. Effie + Beast Slayer is the only stress-free way to play that chapter, and that takes fucking forever. Every other way either requires super specific setups, rng in the form of hunter bow/knife/etc, or (what I did on lunatic) get Camilla with hand-axes and vulneraries to cheese the furries from the mountaintop. She didn't have D lances at this point, but if I had thought ahead she would have, and it would have been easier.

I never want to see an Avatar/MU implemented in a Fire Emblem game ever again. They have all sabotaged the agency and focus of those stories, they all are just kind perfect for no good reason (especially Corrin -- who is, at least in Conquest. As for story/setting, I'd actually be very interested in the tech level of the next fire emblem game moving forward about a century. I would be interested to see EARLY-renaissance timeframe, with really, really early muskets or something of the sort. Make them the ranged equivalent of axes or something. I want IS to bring us a politically heavy, GoT style story with betrayals and complex motivations behind the characters, in a slightly new setting. No more final god/dragon/demon boss. I want there to be no supernatural influence on the storyline -- make it driven by people exclusively. There can be a church that causes problems, but let them just be some crazed loonies without an actual god.

I didn't ask for this.

I agree with your evidence, she is a fantastic character. It's a shame that trying to user her as a unit is equivalent to playing Russian roulette. I personally still like Leo more, but Nyx is top 3 for sure in terms of characterization. She's written more on a pre-3DS writing quality, where characters were less tropey and more maturely handled. For the most part.

That does sound interesting. I did get him on my BR run, but I only saw his father support. That does sound interesting, and I did see some of that. I like the "maybe someone else should do it" angle.

Can someone elaborate on Shiro? Seems like a lot of you like him -- I only played BR once and Rev once, (and I intend to never play them again, if I'm to be perfectly honest) so I'm less familiar with most of the Hoshidan cast.

Who do you all consider to be the best written characters in the mess that is Fates? There aren't a lot of them, but the few good ones stand out much more as a response. I personally find Leo's supports to be pretty damn good on average. He brings out a lot of good in other characters, which develops them as well -- and does so without sacrificing his own development. His support with Charlotte reveals why shes a gold-digger, but also he encourages her to be herself, and not the weak damsel-in-distress BS that she thinks men want. With Nyx, Leo helps her work through her insecurities and guilt. With Xander, his inferiority complex is shown and addressed in a reasonable, and human, way. He is simultaneously very capable, and flawed -- the former as a result of the latter. He is one of the only voice of reason in all of Conquest, being able to be pragmatic in the face of a difficult situation or decision. I don't think there are many characters that are as well handled as Leo. I think some characters are overhated/underappreciated (Niles, the Awakening trio, even Camilla to a much lesser extent), but I think Leo is actually well written.

I wound up beating the stairway by only deploying Odin, Ophelia, Camilla, and Corrin. I paired Corrin up with Camilla T1, had Camilla lunge the right side stoneborn. Odin paired up with his daughter and she triggered first dragon vein. Turn 2 I moved Camilla up, lunged the next stoneborn by the second dragon vein, warped (witch) Ophelia onto the dragon vein and used it. T3 I repeated. T4 I flew camilla into the leftmost escape square, equipped an steel axe, and waited. Warped Ophelia next to her, escaped Ophelia. Camilla survived the next turn, and escaped. Felt good.

I still have the two lunge ninjas, I haven't used them yet. I have an idea for them later on, but I'll need to look ahead. Midori is actually in a place right now where she can do decent damage to golems. I went and tested against Boo camp stoneborn (which I know are MUCH weaker, and don't have wary fighter) and she was ALMOST one shotting them, which will give me the little bit of damage I didn't have last time, on a flyer. I hate the stairway. Anything that makes it even slightly easier is my best friend.

I actually really like FE4's maps for the most part. I find them really relaxing. I hate the gimmickyness of Revelations maps.

Shit thanks. The one I've seen doesn't translate menus at all, so this looks playable. I'll have to check into these and play FE5 after I finish Fe4.

All of the supports are on Youtube anyway. The game also further demonstrates the hilariously obvious lack of moral grey area in Fates, with the "clearly good" Birthright units being forced on you early, and all the Conquest units worth mentioning come later. Like, Odin, the unit that makes Conquest Lunatic borderline easy for the midgame, comes in chapter 18 or some shit. No. Don't keep Odin and Laslow away from me that long.

I'm most concerned that Jugdral will be forever damned to rot in SNES hell. If they never remake Jugdral, that would be a tragedy. And thanks, I know there's been a new one in development, so that might be it

In FE7 I'll have to say Pent and Canas, especially in their supports. They are just two big fuckin nerds (nerds than can solo armies, but nerds nonetheless), and they get so excited to share their nerdiness with eachother and their wives. FE8 I think Forde is a fantastic character, Ghast's video on the subject pretty solidly convinced me. I love Joshua, he is a fun character with the "hidden runaway prince walking amongst the people" kind of arc I tend to be fond of for some reason. L'Arachel is a character that sways between annoying and hilarious for me, It's a shame she's a pretty shit unit. I think Cormag is underappreciated as a character, his supports with Artur and Duessel are really insightful and show that he isn't just a dumb angry solider he appears to be.

So, Awakening's story is far and away better than Conquest's. You will not find very many, if any, people who will think the opposite. As for gameplay, Conquest's gameplay is difficult in a very rewarding way for 75% of the game. There's a cluster of three maps in the mid-late game that are gimmicky at best and dumb as hell at worst. The rest ranges from decent to excellent, Chapter 10 Conquest is my favorite chapter in all of Fire Emblem. If you buy Awakening, start on Hard. That's the only way to get a challenge. Awakening is, in my opinion, balanced poorly. Normal can be done while sleeping, Hard is decent, Lunatic is bullshit, and Lunatic+ is...worse. Awakening's difficulty also comes in the form of a design choice many people hate -- ambush spawns, when enemies show up and move on the same turn. It's pretty shitty, though the game usually warns you that they're coming a few turns before. You just don't know exactly when, or where, they'll appear. If it's your first 3DS Fire Emblem game, I think Awakening is the better option overall. From there, I'd get Birthright and Conquest in that order (I say that because I played BR after CQ and Revelations, and that kinda made it lackluster to me in terms of gameplay). I would recommend never getting Revelations, but that's entirely my bias, as I feel the game shouldn't exist at all, for a multitude of reasons.

The Grimleal theory is fascinating, I'd buy it. It offers a lot of answers and it doesn't interfere with any other canon as far as I know. I'm worried about Jugdral too, but I actually like the massive FE4 maps -- I found them relaxing -- and I'm sure those will get axed. I need to actually finish FE4, I stopped playing two chapters into Gen 2 because I got busy. I haven't played FE5, because the translation patches are...lackluster from what I've seen. I'd like to see the lack of trading in FE4 removed, just because it's an old, obtuse mechanic, but because of certain other mechanics that are built upon, or because of, that feature I'm not sure how that would come about. I feel like FE4 could use some writing tweaks too, just to clean up some of the inconsistencies with the Loptyr cult -- I, for some reason, took it upon myself to dig through a thread talking about them awhile back. That all said, messing with FE4's writing is really risky, and I want it to stay dark and gritty in nature.

I'm glad we were able to talk this out, I'm sorry for the knee-jerk criticism. I feel clearer on it all, and I hope things are good between us. I honestly feel like this was a pretty bad case of Tone Deaf Internet Syndrome -- none of the audible/visual cues in normal conversation. The minimalist approach to remakes is pretty accurate. I hope IS is willing to change more things with FE4/5/6 remakes down the line. Rebalancing, changes in mechanics, etc. I think I will go read that article, and the one on the Grimleal piqued my interest as well.

My goal wasn't to get you in trouble, I don't get a kick out of that. My phrasing was, upon review, pretty blunt and shitty myself, so I am also wrong here. This thread was on a topic I was/am interested in (I enjoyed Echoes, but I will never claim it is the best FE on any scale aside from presentation), but your responses to a lot of other people looked pretty shitty from my perspective. It is not debate, it is the manner the debate is conducted. You (understandably) responded to hostility with more hostility (your first response to another comment), and while that's understandable, it still benefits nobody. Superlb actually pointed this out, and you responded with something that, in an emotionally deaf medium, seemed both condescending and dismissive. After this you had some decent back and forth -- the main distinction between yourself and the commenters seeming to be where the acceptable level of quality for a Fire Emblem game lies (the "settling for okay" comments). The point where you simply replied to somebody's comment with "No." was the point where I came to the conclusion that "OP is an asshole". A harsh and likely untrue conclusion, which I apologize for. Tl;Dr my goal with that comment, as poorly executed as it was, was to cut the bullshit. I did a pretty dumbass job of it, which is what I get for not actually formulating my ideas before I rub my face on the keyboard. As for my book, I'm not super far into it right now, only around 20k words due to multiple rewrites (I've finally settled onto a set of world mechanics I like, and I've reworked a few characters to feel more genuine and flawed). Original fantasy setting, I've written out a tentative history and I'm wavering about how defined I want my landscape to be before writing it out. I really like my starting point, so I'm finally at a place to move forward with plot. If it turns out anywhere near how I want it to, it should be a pretty good debut novel. Which means it will likely result in a decent fantasy novel, but a debut work is never going to be perfect. ------------------------------- To detour into the original thread topic, I think Echoes is well received largely due to presentation -- the art looks fantastic, the OST is my favorite in the franchise, I really enjoyed the voice acting aspects even though some people had some reasonable complaints with it. I enjoyed the rather bland gameplay actually, but more from the perspective that I could actually imagine armies clashing on a more realistic battlefield. It is still definitely near the bottom of the barrel in terms of engaging FE gameplay. The only truly hard map was Nuibaba's fucking abode because the best way to deal with that map is to Warp/Rescue cheese it, which is gimmicky and annoying.