[What is your unpopular Fire Emblem opinion?]

On 4/4/2024 at 11:15 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

Although I think it is time to drop an unpopular opinion here, I don't think all stats need to be equally valuable. How many points of defense equals a point of speed is a silly question, even if one of them is generally better than the other, because we don't play these games in general, we are forced to play with the specific things we have.

There's still an argument to be made that Skill(/Dex) ought to be more impactful for what it is. Luck is often treated as a personal stat and is a big fat 0 for enemies across half the series. It's okay for it to be treated as a weaker stat. But Skill's is considered a core stat and a defining part of a class's stat profile. It should be more weight to it if it's the focal point of a class.

Part of the problem IMO is that there are too many ways to quick-fix Hit that can be piled on top of each other. Weapon triangle, supports, a litany of skills, forges, etc. If you want to make Skill's impact on Hit more relevant, you could start by taring those options back. But I think a rework of the stat is also welcome... spoilering for those who don't want to sift through it.

Spoiler

Step 1, revert to DSFE Hit/Avoid: Skill = 1 Hit, AS = 1 Avoid. Notably there is no Crit component, and I'll get to that.

Step 2, add a Skill check during combat. If you have more Skill and are fighting at a weapon's preferred range, you gain Hit, Avoid and Crit equal to the difference, up to a maximum of +20. In addition, the loser's Dodge is reduced to half Luck.

Speaking of Luck, that would grant full Dodge (except in the above) and cycle between granting Hit, Avoid and Crit in whatever order you see fit.

Lastly, what's preferred range? It's the range a weapon type is most "at home" at and would apply to all weapons of that type. Naturally this would be 1 for all of swords, lances and axes and 2 for bows. Daggers would likely be 2 for novelty as fists would also be 1, duh. Magic could vary based on type, but under no circumstances is anything getting 1-2 preferred, you will see weapons with none sooner. Weapon triangle could also require fighting at preferred range.

 

Basically, I wanted to strike a balance between reining in how much stats can swing Hit/Avo while making it more dynamic where it counts. The most notable effect is on crit rates, with even the critical hit welfare package of 0 Luck enemies requiring you to win the Skill game for meaningful crit chances. With Luck, maverick crit chances become rare to non-existent, especially on throwing weapons, longbow range, siege tomes... things you generally don't want to see critting.

Which conveniently brings me to my own unpopular opinion: I think WT interactions should be 1-range only. The weapon triangle is based on weapon grappling interactions that only happen IRL up close, and dropping it at 2-range might help alleviate the pressure on swords lacking common 1-2. It also reinforces bows and magic as the go-to's if you want reliable ranged attacks when hand axes can't sneak extra the Hit on all those lances.

Mind you, this can only be said of the weapon weapon triangle. Alternative WTs are another can of worms I don't want to touch right now.

[Minor Character Appreciation Thread]

1 hour ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

As mentioned in the replies, my pick is Ilios. I think his delusions of grandeur while lacking any of the talents to merit it make for a fun character, nothing overly deep but endearing to me. He's also genuinely obscure compared to a lot of other characters, but I guess I've have to change my pick if he gets into Heroes. Kinda shocked Batta hasn't.

Ilios is humorous in that he's quite capable in some respects (as a Mage Knight) but still very inept in others (flopping HARD as a noble), ironically in the ways he valued more. Kinda reminds me of how Abel excelled as a knight but proved totally unprepared for the life he sought afterwards.

[Minor Character Appreciation Thread]

He's no favorite of mine, but I saw the Castor debate and want to throw my lamb-eared hoodie into the ring... I'm about 50/50 leaning more towards Jotari's stance on him. I can believe the tragedy in his past including the supplemental backstory, but it doesn't excuse him for parasitizing off his own allies and I do think he's lying in the second story. IMO it's more of an "I've been through this crap enough, I want enough money to make sure it never happens again!" line of thought that motivates him. He's still a skeevy swindler though, and I have a hard time liking characters whose default mood is sad sack. If he dropped the wussy mask more often and characters actually confronted him on his behavior I'd like him way more.

 

Now I don't leave this topic empty-handed so I'll talk about an archer from those games I do like. Gordin has a really compelling story for a rank-and-file starting knight: as a newly-minted knight or not even a full-fledged knight yet, he gets separated from peers and family in humiliating circumstances and through sheer chance gets brought into exile with his prince. As the only archer ang being several years their junior, he's all alone save for that red-headed volunteer girl, and he has to look outside their circle for support. When he returns home, he's a lot more capable but he's still stuck in that awkward spot between the other senior knights and his juniors; and to his chagrin people associate him more with the latter. This leads to him growing distant and eventually joining his mentor in Archanea when the second war is all said and done.

Overall, he feels like the best-developed Altean knight, and while it's subtle you get a sense he's grown between games. In the War of Heroes he's taught his brother Ryan to follow in his footsteps, and he inadvertently teaches his own teacher a new trick. Which, humorously in a meta sense, is basically Hunter's freaking Volley. It's a shame his unit design does a poor job at reflecting this, but personally I headcanon he's just not at 100% at that time. He's so busy getting everything in order behind the scenes so Altea isn't at a loss for archery talent when he leaves, that it bites into his fighting ability... yeah, that sounds like something he would do. Overdo it trying to prove he's not some hapless greenhorn anymore.

 

Also gonna shout-out Fiora as a multi-faceted tragic character I really like. You have her backstory with Pent and her mission, and then there's her strained relationship with Farina over an incident that jeopardized another mission, her goofier interactions with Kent and Sain, and her general motherly attitude despite all she's been through. I think she exemplifies the Ilian pegasus knights rather well. Also my favorite as a unit, she has the right balance between decent starting stats and availability.

[What if every game had Fates style capturing?]

One important facet is who gets to capture. Thracia 776 let everyone without a bowlock capture, but Fates made it the personal skill of two specific units. If you're going full Fates then that has a profound impact on how useful the feature actually is. Also worth noting is that Fates capture sends units to Box 1 of the PC a holding cell and doesn't let you keep weapons, although part of this is because of the no durability system.

While bosses might come to mind because of faces, I think the generics are the main prize. Fates does not let you capture bosses indiscriminately and you can't nab monsters or their equivalents, but generics are otherwise fair game. This has substantial repercussions on Hard+ where enemies get significant stat bonuses, including higher ranks in (3)DSFE. Some noteworthy prizes include the Chapter 7 Wyvern Riders in Binding Blade, H5 Chapter 3 Fighters in Shadow Dragon if those are available, and practically every promoted enemy in the early midgame.

[FE12 Fan Criticizes FE12 Maps For Far Too Much Of His Time]

5 hours ago, Shaky Jones said:

I will say this though. Give 1 more defense to Draug, and 1 more speed to Gordin. It'd help a lot for this chapter and makes reclassing just a tad less necessary. Also, it'd make people possibly consider actually using Gordin.

Better idea, throw Gordin's "Ryan Minus" growths paradigm where it belongs: 🚽
(also yeah pls give Draug a real defense base, seriously he's a Knight for crying out

And I'd probably give the map a 6 or 7 out of 10, it's a good premise if a slightly overbearing on enemy stats.

 

FE12 maps generally improve the earlygame over FE3, and this might be the best improved. Between more horizontal space and a different forest layout the thief is no longer constantly hiding in Dracoknight shadow, and you can choose between Catria or Dracoknight!Arran to track him down. Two more Dracos to challenge you on the boss but they come out of the lesser mooks, and the map makes better use of the cavs and space by trying to flank you with one. As @Jotari said it's also a rare example of a moving boss that doesn't compromise his seize. Cord exists but his recruitment and performance on this map are inoffensive vs later additions.

You brought up how top-heavy enemies are compared to FE11, and I agree it's an improvement; but it feels inefficient to drop enemy defenses and then raise the HP values. Slightly lower HP without Def penalties would be fine with the game's higher power standard compared to FE3. The only enemy type who might be too bulky at class base are Cavaliers, who as a class should've had one less when Roderick and Cecil both join with personal deficits. It's most pronounced on the Dracoknights: while FE3's 13 Defense is probably too much, being even harder to straw ORKO with a loaded prologue unit would drive home the value effective damage brings to the table. Totally agree that you'd need better bows if you did that though; I wish the remake didn't nerf bows by 1 Mt/10 Hit here more than ever.

One last gripe, seeing level 1 promoted enemies next to level 1 unpromoteds will never feel right. I wish they capitalized on the prologue's inclusion to scale the main game up a little when that arc fills the Level 1 Babyland role.

[FE12 Fan Criticizes FE12 Maps For Far Too Much Of His Time]

On 3/8/2024 at 7:24 PM, Shaky Jones said:

If Caeda can get away with recruiting dozens of men behind his bride's back, I don't think she cares about manipulating the results of Marth's personal recruited army

To be fair, the prologue's sequence of events reads better if you imagine Kris as Jagen's nepo baby 🤪

In the case of P-8, I can see the argument that the map might be too overbearing but there is absolutely incentive to push back, it's called "not dying." And it's a lot more dynamic than most defense maps where you pick the points to choke; you have to manage a line that constantly shifts, leveraging your one healer, remaining vulneraries and even the throne while still killing the intruders because they will likely KO a weakened unit if they reach the next enemy phase. Could it be improved? You bet, and you could even change it up drastically...

 

On 3/8/2024 at 7:58 PM, Jotari said:

*If the map were a legit defend map with Katarina moving only on turn 10/12, then not only would that work better for gameplay, but it'd be nice for the plot's gameplay story integration too, since you wouldn't have to reduce Katarina's HP to zero and then not kill her. She could simply run away with a full HP bar. Also, hello, how many guards did she drug. Marth has a whole kingdom here. Surely some more guards can come to his rescue in 12 turns.

Like this right here. It could be a much more suspenseful map if you dropped the prep screen, dropped the tutor units and made it just Marth and the platoon holding out until familiar faces join as reinforcements. It'd take a big overhaul and very careful design to avoid a softlock though, especially if platoonmates got KO'd earlier.

And the drugging bit is why I don't like how the tutor units are handled, specifically the senior knights. Two are the "wrong" choice in the vague chapter splits, they're being matched or even outdone by their juniors so quickly, they do jack for the narrative after you recruit them and do jack at all if you don't. (Cain being a generic drill sergeant notwithstanding) It's like the devs are intentionally making them look bad to make the new guys look better.

 

Anyway, narrative grievances aside. I was sort of hoping you'd keep posting more than one at a time but it's your thread, you do what you do. I'll just group my chapter replies as I see fit, and Chapter 1 stands out enough to get its own post.

I think this chapter's a tad too overtuned for the "first" chapter. You said it yourself, Gordin and Draug get ORKO'd by Barbarians at base without reclassing and the entire 7th Platoon save for certain Kris builds get OHKO'd or one-rounded as a Knight. Draug even gets one-rounded on Maniac! I'm amazed the Hunter one-rounds no one by comparison, and Chapter 2 sees average enemy Atk dial back a point or two. It further emphasizes the scaling problem Kris introduced, and while the prologue gave you a taste this is where the game more or less tells you it's here to stay.

I also think silvers could have been added more gradually. P-8 sprinkled a few on select enemies, keep doing the same here and slowly work your way up to full silvers by Chapter 5 or 6. Midgame could also use this approach and sprinkle in a few silver forges earlier but we're a long way from Anri's Way.

At least more map space and reclassing softens the problem. Also glad they cleared that clot of mountains blocking the pass.

[FE12 Fan Criticizes FE12 Maps For Far Too Much Of His Time]

If the prologue was skippable I might be inclined to replay FE12 more. It's just such a drag compared to the main game and my opinion on it has only soured over time. I think the biggest problem is the game's desire to kingmake Kris; customizable units work as a piece to fill out the existing team, not as an early carry who's expected to stand one head above everybody else. This leads to some "creative" solutions to making a map beatable when some of your carry's stats can swing by ten points between runs, including testing for some things I'd argue have no business being tested for.

I'm also partial on the tutor units as I'll call them. While I appreciate how they flesh out the squad, I don't like that you're given the units as they'll join later on. This creates awkward an conflict of interest on who to invest in and outright screws over a few late-joiners when they return. It doesn't help that most are tied to possibly the worst "route splits" in Fire Emblem. Storywise, it also feels like Kris is cheating their way through exams when you can ditch most of the platoon and just use tutor units. Caeda and Gordin are the most egregious examples; the former is their future queen playing peon to a bunch of new recruits, including during an actual emergency. The latter should also recuse himself or not be allowed to join when his little brother's in the platoon, not to mention how distasteful his recruitment is.

 

P-3 thru P-5 is rock bottom. An Escape Room with two Fighters who cannot be 3HKO'd by your non-Kris units, 2HKO them in return and in some cases require you to reroll for Skill stats to bait a 2% crit chance. fun /s The only positive thing I can say is I've never seen Ryan miss Caeda despite the sub-80 hit rate. Don't know if that hit's aimbotted but I'd hate to be the guy who learned it's not. Then it's immediately followed by the worst of the worst route splits in a vague after-chapter choice and the less I have to say about that the better.

Thankfully it's uphill from there, with the only real bumps being Cecil making you wrap up preps on P-6 and Katarina hitting a bit too hard. (i.e. I think all the tutor units should survive a round at full) Aside from her P-8 is definitely the high point of the prologue and is a unique spin on a defense mission.

[What ideas for seasonal themes you would like?]

20 hours ago, Jotari said:

I'm a sucker for canonical alts pulled from obscure parts of the series. So the seasonal I want the most is a "Disguises" seasonal where characters are somehow obscuring their appearance.

While not quite the same, characters who've been in disguise would legit be a great concept for a Ninjas banner instead of X base class.

[High investment units]

I think the key question you need to ask is "What's in it for me?" Some people will get a sense of accomplishment out of making their favorite face go Zero to Hero; other players are looking for something they can't get out of anybody else, at least as easily. The latter is what separates units like Lachesis from the Ninos, Rolfs and Megs.

[What realistic aspects of history do you want to see?]

15 hours ago, Coreyographed said:

Full plate heavy armor was so incredibly expensive back for a lot of societies in history that it would have been prohibitively expensive to have a full military outfit of fully mounted or full-plated soldiers until a certain level of wealth was achieved. Additionally, horses (and by extension wyverns and pegasi) would require extensive resources to keep well-fed and taken care of. I do really enjoy what Three Houses tried to do with a weapon slot and an equipment slot for things like shields and staves as alternatives to full plate armor.

In the era of full reclassing that we are in, I think that perhaps the armor knight gets some tweaking as a different type of reclassing that you only have so many of, and they can equip special types of armor exclusive to armor knights. This would be similar to the Archanea games where you could only reclass so many units to the number of base units of that class + 1. It represents how many actual, expensive, but incredibly useful suits of armor you had. The reclass would have the unit retain the weapon ranks of what they were previously in, maybe?

Mounts as well could be restricted by how many your army could actually reasonably maintain and take care of, or else have to spend additional gold. And perhaps they would be affected by the environment as well. Cold-blooded reptilian mounts like wyverns shouldn't be deployable in arctic regions, and maybe horses pegasi wouldn't be able to handle the heat of a desert as they are not built very well for it. (The amount of mounts you can deploy could be upgraded if we keep a base-camp style hub, for instance).

This actually ties into a pet peeve of mine, that some games grossly overuse armors as the go-to enemy type. That arguably part of the problem with armor knights: with how often they appear as enemies the devs have less incentive to tone down their flaws. If they were treated more as elite infantry and designed with that in mind we might see more meaningful armor knights. I think modern FE has been moving in the right direction in this regard, save for deployment limits like you said.

And on the subject of deployment limits, I can tolerate mounts on indoor maps but the terrain should actively disfavor them. Three Houses has stairs that slow down cavalry considerably in places, and I think fliers could just have indoor maps be their desert equivalent. Another change I'd advocate is for one-tile doorways to be their own terrain type, and that they and pillars become uncrossable on mounts. The former would create infantry-only sections on maps while the latter gives them exclusive cover.

[What Supports would you have liked to have seen in New Mystery?]

Seconding Samuel/Phina, the joke practically writes itself and they'd have a more even dynamic than Phina with Navarre.

Draug and Norne already have a non-talking support and are implied to be at least somewhat close for what little crumbs they get. Gordin's part of the triangle and makes off like a bandit in comparison, let them have something.

Arlen should absolutely have something with Wendell and/or Merric. Something to show that he's trying to make amends and change his ways. Problem is I think some directions wouldn't be suited towards a support since they need more than two people.

Etzel/Wendell could give us some context on the former's debt to Khadein if nothing else.

Castor has a couple options. Caeda, Barst or a Talysian if you want to build on his home relations, Jeorge or Gordin if you want to do something with his ending, Darros to touch on his pirate background and Lena's heist crew if you want to reference that. I think Malice would be an interesting partner on account of their deadbeat dads.

On 2/17/2024 at 2:28 AM, Jotari said:

^Low effort, but still proud.

Pfffhahaha that is great. Agreed on Yuliya and Jubelo with their fellow Grustians btw, and I'll go further by saying Yuliya should've been an alt recruitment option for Roger!

[Stat growths, Stat Caps, and Overcap Question]

2 hours ago, atNilla said:

So then in maddening mode, stats just outright stop getting points added to their tally each level up once theyre capped?
And if I swap to a class with a lower stat, like from berserker's 96 to sages 43, then back, her HP wouldnt jump back up to 96?

First question, yes. You're not gaining a stat if it's capped until you reclass to something where it isn't.

Second question, it will jump back to 96 if you reclass back.

[Stat growths, Stat Caps, and Overcap Question]

Reclassing a character subtracts the class bases from the character's stats then adds the new class's bases to that stat. Characters' personal stat totals are preserved upon reclassing, meaning you will never lose stats if you decide to change back, but the stat is still constrained by the new class's cap.

Capped stats cannot be proc'd on level-ups, so if you somehow jump from one cap to another then either 1) the promotion bonus was less than the gap between caps or 2) you temporarily pivoted to another class and leveled that stat above the base class's cap.

tl;dr answer to your question, Anna will gain whatever Luck promotion bonus she's due but it will not jump to 25 due to "hidden procs."

[What are your New Year resolutions?]

Write monthly journal entries in the cool journal my sister got me for Christmas.

[I propose the creation of some new Archetypes. *Spoilers*]

I think you meant Julius for the second one, because Julia's more of an unwanted byproduct of Manfroy's master plan.

[Mechanics/ Systems or character/ story elements you'd like to see in future Fire Emblems?]

GBA had a purple faction for 4-player multiplayer. It'd be neat to have a "chaotic neutral" faction and I've thought of how an enemy commander could be characterized as honorable if they dispatched some units to go after the opportunistic bandit intruders mid-battle.

Now for my own point. One thought about Seize maps I've had is to add a "zone of control" where your faction must outnumber the enemy faction within that zone to successfully seize. It doesn't have to be the same size every map; in some cases it can be a box around the point, where in others it's limited to the point. Something to make certain maps more resilient to skip tactics.

I think a similar concept could also make Escape maps more palatable, where the zone is a "safehouse" and all units within that space will auto-escape alongside your lord. Might require culling or routing the enemy in that zone. Lightens the logistics of transporting your entire army from Point A to Point B slightly.

[Supports ruin official couples, but not necessarily because of shipping, it's because of Perma Death]

I think supports in general could benefit from being less formulaic, and for more than just official coupling. Like, must all pairs have 3-4 conversation interactions? Some could get away with just one or two, and if one needs five or six to get their arc across then go for it! Also, let characters with an established relationship start with bonuses again. Why must everyone build it from the ground up?

Three Houses was a step in the right direction with some supports only going up to B and certain pairs having plus supports to fill in the gaps.

[General US Politics]

Kevin McCarthy Ousted from House Speakership | Time

aaaaaaand he's gone.

Fifteen attempts to get the gavel and now nine months later, he's the first House Speaker to be ousted in U.S. history. He even dared them to do it during the post-resolution trash talk, thinking it wouldn't happen.

Maybe he'll be reinstated but it's not a good look.

[More effectively integrating the New Mystery additional characters into the story]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

This is exactly the issue with the "just show up characters". We've had "just show up" characters in the past and it's fine. But it feels egregious in New Mystery because there are so many characters and the show up with little rhyme or reason. As I said in the OP, the BS Characters in particular needed the most focus here as they have no personal connection to Marth, and it's weird no attempt was made to give it to them, especially when 4/6 of them are from Grust and Macedon, the regions you send the first third of the game in.

Norne definitely works well as a character if she's integrated into prologue, but now that I'm playing through the prologue I realize that would mean you get three archers...which...idk is was going to say is to much, but maybe that's better actually? Lunatic+ has a huge focus on attacking enemies who can't counter and there are no javelins or hand axes in the prologue, so an extra archer could actually be really useful.

Aside from it meaning getting three swordies at once, I see no reason not to team up all the mercenaries. I rather like Radd and Caesar since integrating them into my fan game. Though personal feelings aside, Dice and Malice are more necessary characters to have in the game, as it's actually pretty cool they integrated the BS stuff.

Oh I agree that the BSFE characters need it most, them and the gaiden gang. OG Book 1 characters at least have the chance to be fleshed out in a hypothetical re-revisit, but these characters borderline don't exist without their New Mystery inclusion. That said, this game already has a bloated cast, which is part of why I opted to cut a few OGs and made some characters' recruitments a two-parter.

On Norne, there's the option of kicking Gordin back if you want her to take his place entirely. Jeorge calls him to Archanea and he either returns in Chapter 5 to warn you about his teacher's intentions, or alongside Linde after getting roped into being her escort. Neither's a long delay but it avoids Chapter 1 archer oversaturation, keys you into the Jeorge recruitment and is an opportunity to strengthen him as a unit.

[More effectively integrating the New Mystery additional characters into the story]

I've thought about this myself and here's what I would do:

First off... everyone is not here. Cord, Bord, Caesar, Radd, Beck, Dolph, Macellan and Tomas are out. They at least appeared in Shadow Dragon and I struggle to find a place where they would make a meaningful addition. I can see Dolph, Macellan and Tomas all cameoing at some point around the third arc, though, and maybe a few others if you get creative. Now, for the characters who do make it in...

• Wrys is another character who I'd be okay with cutting, but I'd honestly keep his join situation as is. The only difference is that Frost also appears as a temporary or NPC unit in Chapter 3x, and the mission is to escort them to safety instead of seizing. He'd still join later in the game, probably the same time as before, but saving his life earlier gives better context for joining you.
• Barst is joining with Ogma's crew, there's no excuse when he was right outside Olbern Keep and that corner of Chapter 4 is a shitshow.
• I have no objections to Frey and Norne joining when they do, aside from joining further forward so that Norne isn't caught so easily. I like having someone else around to confirm that others besides Caeda escaped. I do like KMT's idea of having Norne show up in the prologue too, it'd make her thing with Kris less out of nowhere.
• Dice and Malice now fill Radd and Caesar's roles and form a much more threatening duo. They don't join in Chapter 6x though; instead, they retreat and show up again in 10x, with the prerequisite now being to spare them earlier. Here they show up under your control from the start, more in a bit.
• Roger can stay where he is so that we have another armor between Draug and Sheena, and I actually like his motivation for joining. The catch is that you now have two new recruitment options: Marisha who can charm him to try and one-up Caeda (if only you knew...), and Yuliya who rips him a new one for bending the knee to their kingdom's tormentor.
• Etzel is now relegated to Chapter 10x, investigating mysterious activity in the basements rather than fighting Altea. He joins cornered with Dice and Malice, and as for Horace... more on him later.
• Jake can stay where he is. He's clearly supposed to demarcate the first Secret Shop in no man's land. Maybe let other women recruit him with a different conversational flavor? (probably annoyance)
• I'm not touching Belf, Leiden and Roberto so that stretch of game still has recruitments, the only change I'd make is giving them an appearance after killing Lang to thank Marth for his services. They could also play a role in helping Marth get across Chiasmir Bridge by harassing Astram's group with guerilla attacks. Something to make the in and out of Chapter 8 less of an ass pull. Speaking of Chapter 8...
• I won't object to leaving Darros as a midgame recruitment, but I have a much better idea: he drives the spare boat Cain brought to get Marth away from Hardin, then resurfaces in Chapter 15 in place of Dolph.
• I'll leave Athena in her paralogue, with the only difference being it's 12x instead of 13x. It gives better continuity between 13 and 14, although either way she's going to need help with her rejoin performance.
• Now, for the one I skipped: Horace becomes the boss of Chapter 18. He can be recruited by talking with Linde, Jeorge or Astram; in other words, another Archanean character. It could be an after-combat thing where you defeat but spare him, but you need to strike up a talk first.
• Lastly, Ymir and Nagi are unchanged. The former can be mentioned as watching Grust in the Sable knights' absence, while the latter is hard to place anywhere else. If you want to be more faithful to FE3 and leave Michalis dead then endgame needs somebody to pick up the slack.

I could bounce around a few other alt recruitment ideas for characters not listed here, but this is exhaustive enough.

[A Fun Pokexercise: 12-Type Teambuilding]

Gen I:

Spoiler

1. Gengar (Ghost/Poison)
2. Rhydon (Ground/Rock)
3. Charizard (Fire/Flying)
4. Poliwrath (Water/Fighting)
5. Jynx (Ice/Psychic)
6. Parasect (Grass/Bug)

Hard as I tried, I think it might be physically impossible to exclude Parasect unless you cheat with regionals.

Gen II:

Spoiler

1. Houndoom (Fire/Dark)
2. Lanturn (Water/Electric)
3. Crobat (Poison/Flying)
4. Scizor (Bug/Steel)
5. Piloswine (Ground/Ice)
6. Heracross (Bug/Fighting)

By the way I'm banning legendaries from my lists, although that's not too relevant with Johto.

Gen III:

Spoiler

1. Salamence (Dragon/Flying)
2. Metagross (Steel/Psychic)
3. Breloom (Grass/Fighting)
4. Camerupt (Fire/Ground)
5. Walrein (Water/Ice)
6. Sableye (Ghost/Dark)

Nothing against pseudos, though!

Gen IV:

Spoiler

1. Staraptor (Normal/Flying)
2. Drapion (Poison/Dark)
3. Gastrodon (Water/Ground)
4. Infernape (Fire/Fighting)
5. Bronzong (Steel/Psychic)
6. Abomasnow (Grass/Ice)

Look Mom, no cross-gens!

Gen V:

Spoiler

1. Galvantula (Bug/Electric)
2. Scrafty (Dark/Fighting)
3. Chandelure (Fire/Ghost)
4. Seismitoad (Water/Ground)
5. Archeops (Rock/Flying)
6. Sawsbuck (Normal/Grass)

Last one, and I mainly went this far so that Electric doesn't stay left out.

[I've been wondering, wouldn't healing magic have a higher chance of giving somebody cancer?]

That's what Restore staffs are for.

[Mechanics/ Systems or character/ story elements you'd like to see in future Fire Emblems?]

This mention of beasts reminds me of another concept I'd like to see: taking the 3DS concept of shifter status to its logical conclusion. Ditch the dedicated shifter classes and let them transform in any class, if you need a limitation then bring back dismounting and have it require being unmounted. Make the transformation akin to FE3/Tellius where it is a mid-map reclass.

[Mechanics/ Systems or character/ story elements you'd like to see in future Fire Emblems?]

Stamina and fatigue as a per-map resource. Unlike Thracia 776 it replenishes after each map, but if you run out you suffer the penalties immediately, which is disabling all your skills and EXP/WEXP gain. Mid-map replenishment would be heavily limited, and it also doubles as the cost for Arts and innate spells, giving them a more concrete currency.

On 9/9/2023 at 7:39 PM, lenticular said:

• Magic that is a hybrid between the Three Houses system and the more normal Fire Emblem system. Basically, magic comes from tomes and staves, each tome/stave has a given number of uses, but those uses are per battle and will regenerate to full after every battle. So if I get a Rescue staff or a Bolting tome, I can give it to whoever I want, and then they get (eg) 2 uses per battle as opposed to 5 uses ever. (A similar system could also be used for physical weapons as a way to balance powerful regalia, and to apply some limits on weapon usage without having to have the tedium of weapon repair.)

I had a similar idea, except instead of low use, full regen you get more uses with gradual regeneration. Base regen rate is halved rounded down if you use it at all in a map, creating a dynamic where you can splurge in exchange for having to ration later. Basic tomes get 20-25 uses with a base regen around 40, with advanced tomes dropping off harder in regen rate than in uses. Think 10-15 uses with a 3-5 regen rate for high level spells, and you can probably guess what Warp, Rescue etc's regen rates are.

[So, uh, the Ukraine-Russian situation]

Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is presumed dead after a plane crash outside Moscow - ABC News

For context, Prigozhin is the leader of the Wagner Group, who have been helping Putin in the war effort. Relations with the army eroded over several months which led to what was essentially an armed protest two months back in late June. Negotiations with Belarus mediating defused the situation before it became a full-on coup, but such an uproar is speculated to have put a target on Prigozhin's back... well, this might be it. Details are still emerging but heavily lean towards kill confirmed, never mind the likelihood this was a Kremlin plot to remove another rogue element.