What are things in 3 Houses that you want to see in future games?

[ZeManaphy]

Regardless of whether you are still on your first path or just finished all 4, I think we can say what we like from 3 houses and want to see improved upon and utilized in future games.

My nominations go to 3D exploring. It was an improvement over Echoes ( Trying to move in Echoes while exploring dungeons was like trying to drive a car- you would have to break in order to stop ) In 3 Houses, exploring the monastery was fun at first, but when I reached part 2, I started to lose interest to explore  the Monastery since I could no longer recruit students.  In the end, I only did Monastery exploration as the story progressed to obtain resources. 

I would like dungeon crawling to return like in Echoes, but I would also like the ability to visit a explore the towns and interact with people in a similar way to the monastery. I found the click and point kind of disapointing when compared to 3D exploring.

What are your wants? 

Edited August 7, 2019 by ZeManaphy

[Armagon]

That thing where you can zoom in during battles and move characters around as if it were Valkyria Chronicles. It's not ideal as you lose a lot of information from the grid but it's just really cool seeing the scale of it all. Maybe in the next game, they could make it ideal though.

Also, now that weapons aren't classed-locked, i want it to stay that way. I still love the older Fire Emblem games but i can't imagine a new game in the series going back to class-locked weapons.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Armagon

[Light Strategist]

Not as a staple but I certainly wouldn't mind the idea of a teacher-student dynamic in a school-setting again. There are some improvements that need to be made to the formula, if only minor ones, but somewhere down the line or perhaps even as the next game in some kind of sequel form or something they could do it again.

Something as a staple I'd like to see is the freedom to use any weapon regardless of your specialty types. But still locking magic to magic-proficient classes like Mage or Dark Knight.

[Humanoid]

I think 3-range bows strikes the right balance in terms of range (though they might be slightly overpowered in other aspects). Maybe make Close Counters unable to double or somesuch. The ability to level up skills outside of combat is also welcome, doesn't necessarily have to be in a teaching context but I'd like to see it return. Adjutants are a good compromise too between having to hard-level everyone and the potential OP-ness of pair-up. And finally, the ability to use combat arts to make melee weapons do magic damage rather than needing to rely on fixed items like the Levin Sword.

For an in-betweener, I like how spell availability is automatically tied to ranks, but I would like to see some degree of choice of which spell to take rather than have it hard-coded for each character.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Well all the stuff I like in this game is just variations on older ideas. Though I think Battalions have some untapped potential. One issue regarding Fire Emblem's presentation I've had for years is its warped sense of scale. Are these armies and forts really falling to our teams of ten dedicated yet quirky troops? How large is a square on this battlefield, and if it changes map to map, shouldn't ranged attacks reach theoretically farther in those indoor or zoomed in environments? Battalions don't answer these questions, but I feel like they provide context. Our units aren't just lone heroes, they command entire squads at their back. Sometimes they fight for so long that their squad has to fall back yet the leader continues on. Badass. In early trailer footage it seems they wanted to do more with Battalions, and I'm interested how those mechanics might have changed the game.

Battalions just need more mechanics to be more interesting to work around. An enemy with a battalion is just a guy with slightly higher derived stats and will probably do a Gambit even in instances where his basic attacks would deliver several times more damage. Battallions should be something you always have to fight with and against, not just another combat art. All those guys breaking and running when the squad leader dies is kind of silly, especially when fighting a big empire. Those guys are all deserters, they risk imprisonment trying to run, don't they? Meanwhile if fighting a bunch of bandits or mercs, you might expect such selfish behavior. Maybe the player can cause enemy battalions to run through an intimidation mechanic. Earning a crit on the squad leader, detonating an explosive onto them, creepy dark magic that pulls them into the earth, things like that.

I'm a hard no on the teacher thing returning. Let that be this game's gimmick, lest it be overshadowed by later, better games doing the same exact thing. Having a home base where you can interact with your units doesn't require such specific context, and it really oughtn't take up more than half the play time either. Take the best bits of what worked in Monastery exploration and apply them to a castle town where you and your units earn leave after major military campaigns of three chapters or so. 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Glennstavos

[Green_Unit]

Seteth. That is all

 

[Meteor]

I think the spell recharging is my favorite new mechanic. I am generally a fan of weapon durability but I thought this was a great way to reward reason/faith mastery without breaking the game. 

[Garlyle]

I have to agree with other that the magic system is much better now. It makes more sense that you can keep casting Fire magic, and it's not some kind of item that breaks and you need to repair it. But it can exploit things, so it makes sense that we didn't get the famous Hammerne staff this time.

[timon]

Good things:

- Battallions and Magic (also the fact that everyone gets a spell list, makes it unique) are the big ones for me, though I'd remove Dark/Black Magic separation.

- Bows, though maybe they could even nerf them a bit (Close Counter is a bit too early maybe). I also love the "free for all" class/weapon system we've got, very nice to play around and create all sorts of combinations.

- Silent protagonist with choices, I know it's a controversial one, but I personally love the way they did the avatar this time, much much better than "generic answer" Robin/Corrin, even if sometimes the choices are between "yes" and "I agree", it still gives us some influence over their personality.

 

On the other hand, there are some things that I really hope will improve:

- First and foremost support system/paired endings, just let the player choose. No need for an extra "S rank" awkward conversation, just give me a button to press to get A+ between 2 characters and secure the ending, so I don't have to worry about managing a weird list of "close bonds" that no one understand to get the epilogue I want.

- Avatar customisation is another, not talking much about looks as I'd rather have good animated cutscenes than change hair color, I mean gameplay wise. Let me choose if I want my character to be focused on magic, or be a tank, a cavalier, an archer, whatever. The weapon system kind of allows this to happen, but we're still limited by Byleth's stats and strengths. And stop pushing swords goddam, just stop with the legendary swords, let me choose my main weapon please (it's not that hard to design 4-5 "avatar relics" and let the player choose his focus).

- Finally, class variety is garbage. As I said, I like the class system, but the classes in this game are just bad. Yes, I know Master Classes are supposedly "side grades", but we're still missing a lot.
No flying mage, no lance infantry, no armored mage, a lot of gender restriction (I'm fine with Pegasus and Brawler, those make sense, but some like Dark Mage or Gremory are stupid), and some logical progression missing. Even though there's no "promotion" system, it's absurd that a Pegasus Knight is "stuck" until lv.30, or that a guy who want to fly has to wait lv.20. It's a bit all over the place really.

[Flere210]

You don't need to create 5 relic, just give them a weapon like the soul calibur that change form based on the wielder.

[Fabulously Olivier]

The bow and magic mechanics. 

 

Combat arts.

 

The leveling and class system (one level cap, high enough that turn efficient runners won't come anywhere near max level but grinders can be free to do their thing, changing classes doesn't reset level).

[Lightcosmo]

The targeting marker showing you who the CPU wants to kill is a nice touch.

Good EXP gains. This is one thing about Echoes I can't stand, it's at a good pace in this game since the EXP is done like FE Heroes.

If Arts stay, characters learning different arts was something I liked as well. Added a bit of diversity to it.

[Wolfen09]

Likes:

Class weapon systems (all facets, magic recharges, myrmidons can use lances, etc.)

Budding talent and weapon experience system

Exploration

Support style and bonding

 

Dislikes:

Limited variety of classes, many overlap

Archers damnit, I don't need 40 archers on my team.

Lack of other content for exploration, maybe add a few locations

Unclear recruitment requirements, just tell me what I need so I don't waste half the game doing something wrong.

 

[dragonlordsd]

Kind of echoing what other people have said.

Things I loved and want to see continued:

Battalions were a great addition, I'd love to see that expanded on.

Training units in skills instead of having them be class locked is really nice. I've always objected to being able to reclass any unit to any other class, and this system I think is infinitely superior.

The camera in this game is the best so far, a huge improvement over the 3ds titles.

The demonic beasts were well done, though I know some people objected to them.

The forging mechanics from Echoes are back, and they work fantastically as usual.

Arrows to indicate AI decision - huge improvement. Lets players make much more informed strategic decisions.

Divine pulse - though I think it needs to go back to being a consumable like it was in Echoes, rather than refreshing every battle.

Having supports be animated, even a little bit, is a huge improvement.

FULL VOICE ACTING!!!! This is huge. I think people underestimate how much of a difference this makes.

 

Things I want to see brought back or improved:

The class tree NEEDS to be reworked, there are some major flaws. For example, there's no advanced class between pegasus knight and falcon knight. A wannabe falcon knight either needs to diverge into axes to be a wyvern, or do something else completely, which is frustrating. Several of the classes are functionally the same, such as warrior/brawler/warmaster. There needs to be more extreme distinctions in functions now that classes can wield any weapon.

GENDERLOCKED CLASSES NEED TO BE REMOVED. I mean, I'm cool if it were just pegasus knight female locked/warrior male locked. One class each, sure, whatever. But why do males get dark mage, dark bishop, grappler, brawler, hero, and warmaster, while females only get pegasus knight, falcon knight, and gremory? That's SIX male exclusive classes and only three female exclusive. WHY?

Edited August 7, 2019 by dragonlordsd

[timon]

42 minutes ago, lightcosmo said:

The targeting marker showing you who the CPU wants to kill is a nice touch.

That's a bit buggy btw, don't always trust it (though obviously with Divine Pulse you can just roll back). But I just almost lost a map because of a wrong targeting marker.

[Burklight]

I actually liked that this game had fewer classes than the last few. Sure, it gives you fewer choices, but it also gives you less to focus on when you're looking at the map. It's much easier to memorize 10-15 different enemy classes and know what they're stats are going to look like than the 25-30 nonsense of Awakening/Fates. 

I like that they brought back weapon durability. I like that the character designs were significantly closer to what was in Echos than in Fates.

I like that the pairup system is all but gone.

One of the only things I have mixed feelings on is the base stat system they're using for class changing. It encourages questionable decisions that a normal bonus stats for promotions wouldn't. It does keep units from getting stat screwed too badly, tho.

[Tribute]

I like ALOT about 3 houses.

To be completely honest, there's only one thing I want to revert back, and thats the two class system. I'm not a huge fan of the 4-tier classic classes. (I assume those were ported to echoes from the original, and not new to echoes).

I definitely want the return to shipping being only story based and no kids to stay around.

And also just the focus on writing a good story and characters as well.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Tribute

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

10 hours ago, timon said:

- First and foremost support system/paired endings, just let the player choose. No need for an extra "S rank" awkward conversation, just give me a button to press to get A+ between 2 characters and secure the ending, so I don't have to worry about managing a weird list of "close bonds" that no one understand to get the epilogue I want.

Yeah, do it like how Fates handled the decision of A+ supports. I’m sure it can’t be that hard compared to everything else. Just let there be a prompt asking if you want to do this now. If you say no, you can still come back to it later.

[Lightcosmo]

10 hours ago, timon said:

That's a bit buggy btw, don't always trust it (though obviously with Divine Pulse you can just roll back). But I just almost lost a map because of a wrong targeting marker.

Yeah, I noticed that. But in the future games hopefully they would fix that. The idea is solid, though.

[nevar]

Definitely the exploration bit is a HUGE plus for me. I just...love doing the activities and mingling with everybody. It's a nice break from story missions. The whole battle-after-battle-after-battle thing in the previous games never had bothered me, but experiencing the monastery made me realize I always want exploration to be a thing now in the future games.

Also, i never minded the whole avatar thing as long as they're not the focus of the game and imo they did a great job with Byleth. Easily my favorite of the avatars.

I like adjutants. It's a way to level up, at least a little, your weaker units and build support points. It's also not as OP as a pairup system (a good thing).

They seem to have really focused on better story telling this time around and what a relief that is. Hoping for more of that in the future.

[Sentinel07]

23 hours ago, timon said:

foremost support system/paired endings, just let the player choose. No need for an extra "S rank" awkward conversation, just give me a button to press to get A+ between 2 characters and secure the ending, so I don't have to worry about managing a weird list of "close bonds" that no one understand to get the epilogue I want.

Yeah definitely agreed there. It's kind of telling that the game has been out for nearly two weeks now and we still don't have a full grasp on how exactly the game uses that closest allies section to determine character endings. A simple choice to lock 2 A-rank characters together would have made things infinitely easier. The route they choose seems so oddly convoluted.

[MasterSlayerX]

22 hours ago, dragonlordsd said:

 

Things I want to see brought back or improved:

The class tree NEEDS to be reworked, there are some major flaws. For example, there's no advanced class between pegasus knight and falcon knight. A wannabe falcon knight either needs to diverge into axes to be a wyvern, or do something else completely, which is frustrating. Several of the classes are functionally the same, such as warrior/brawler/warmaster. There needs to be more extreme distinctions in functions now that classes can wield any weapon.

GENDERLOCKED CLASSES NEED TO BE REMOVED. I mean, I'm cool if it were just pegasus knight female locked/warrior male locked. One class each, sure, whatever. But why do males get dark mage, dark bishop, grappler, brawler, hero, and warmaster, while females only get pegasus knight, falcon knight, and gremory? That's SIX male exclusive classes and only three female exclusive. WHY?

I completely agree with rework on classes mainly on fliers . Both on the female side where Pegasus has no way to stick flier from 20 without axe mastery till later with falcon or males where they have to wait till 20 to get their first flier class . I also am not a big fan of fliers at all being able to use any magic as I was hoping at one stage to make one or two of my mages a flier due to their strengths in it . I actually think for Pegasus they should of had the falcon knight in the same tier as wyvern rider maybe able to use faith magic and dark flier being the advance tier using dark and black magic and needing it for the exam . As for male and female they could add gryphon rider or they could of made that wyvern class from sacred stones return to cover that gap . I actually would of liked more female. Classes maybe for exsample a different class using gauntlets for female only or something else in its place  .i don’t mind having male/female exclusive classes but I do think they needed to balance it out a bit more 

Edited August 8, 2019 by MasterSlayerX

[dragonlordsd]

1 minute ago, MasterSlayerX said:

I completely agree with rework on classes mainly on fliers . Both on the female side where Pegasus has no way to stick flier from 20 without axe mastery till later with falcon or males where they have to wait till 20 to get their first flier class . I also am not a big fan of fliers at all being able to use any magic as I was hoping at one stage to make one or two of my mages a flier due to their strengths in it . I actually think for Pegasus they should of had the falcon knight in the same tier as wyvern rider maybe able to use faith magic and dark flier being the advance tier using dark and black magic and needing it for the exam . As for male and female they could add gryphon rider or they could of made that wyvern class from sacred stones return to cover that gap . I actually would of liked more female. Classes maybe for exsample a different class using gauntlets for female only or something else in its place  .i don’t mind having male/female exclusive classes but I do think they needed to balance it out a bit more 

Definitely. It could go pegasus knight->falcon knight->wyvern lord (which already requires lances anyway), or it could go pegasus->falcon->gryphon. Or even kinshi.

@Burklight Said less classes, which I think is not wrong, I think more VARIETY of classes is necessary. The classes need to be more functionally different now that anyone can use any weapon. There have been a good number throughout history that got shafted, they could use to bring them back.

[Wolfen09]

One thing I will say that bugged me that needs to change is some of the weapon requirements for class exams.  If I want my axe and sword wielding character to promote to a cavalier/paladin I need Lance skills.  I know the requirements for like sword master make sense, but the cavalier/paladin has so many variances that pigeonholing us into lances and another weapon bugs me.  Why start Ashe with axes and bows if bow knight and paladin require lances and sniper only requires bow?

Edited August 8, 2019 by Wolfen09

[timon]

This talk of flying mages reminds me, they should really separate the usage of Faith and Reason. As of now if a class can wield magic it can wield anything (that's why it's just convenient to always level Reason on your healers), that could make Falcon Knight a bit broken. But if you make a class able to use just white magic and one able to just use Black/Dark the problem's solved (and we can avoid having 2 literally identical classes in Dark Knight and Holy Knight).

21 minutes ago, Wolfen09 said:

One thing I will say that bugged me that needs to change is some of the weapon requirements for class exams.  If I want my axe and sword wielding character to promote to a cavalier/paladin I need Lance skills.  I know the requirements for like sword master make sense, but the cavalier/paladin has so many variances that pigeonholing us into lances and another weapon bugs me.  Why start Ashe with axes and bows if bow knight and paladin require lances and sniper only requires bow?

Well character's strengths are not always tailored towards a class (Ashe's not the only one), I actually kind of like this, gives you freedom.

I think the Lance requirement on cavalry actually makes sense, and getting to C is not hard at all, but they really need to lower the Riding requirements or make it easier to get high up. Actually all the movement skills in general are awfully slow to get good at. Then again getting certifications is not that hard, I can't remember the last time I took a test with 100%, usually a 60 is enough to pass (and if it doesn't just wait for the week after and try again).