What are the Top 3 Things you want in the next FE Game and why?

[DoomRPG]

Title

And last I checked I count as a "you" depending on whose referring to me. So I'll drop my own top 3.
Not neccesarily in an order of "most-least" more like "I'd love if just one of these happened."

Starting with.
Start limiting weapons/classes again.
Now. I believe that FE3H's biggest strength IS its "You can do whatever" versatility. So I don't want to completely backpedal to like. GBA levels of restriction. Where classes have 1 promotion (and 1 strictly superior option in SS case.) with only 1-2 weapons in 99% of cases.
Its more like I felt being completely and utterly unrestricted actively hurt some characters. (Lysithea reveals herself as a drama queen the instant she goes knight/warrior/not-mage.) As well as making the cast extremely samey from a gameplay perspective. Yes Felix is unusually good for a student, and yes Caspar is lul omega bad. But, its barely any effort to make Caspar as good as the average Felix.
Mages had it better so while I prefer the older games approach, if magic must maintain its 3H style. Than I'm okay with the cast of mages being every mage class24/7. But every physical weapon user being a mold that can be every other physical unit is just bleh to me from a character and thematic stand point.

Retool the Time Rewind System

Okay. I've accepted that time rewind is now apart of the FE package. As integral as the Weapon Triangle support conversations, one characterization gimmick characters. Increasingly worst avatars and blue haired lords that have to save the day. I'm k with it. But Please IS change it in order to encourage more strategic thinking. Divine Pulses in 3H is so ludicrously generous that even Maddening can be auto-piloted simply because mistakes have no consequences.

My personal suggestion/idea when I theory crafted the Pirate emblem fanfic. My time rewind was apart of a system called "Tactical Genius" Basically you get a set amount of points. And time rewinding was something you could do with those points. Though unlike Turnwheel or 3H. This time rewind had a limit where it could not go past character death. Your latest unit death was the earliest the rewind could go. But you could do other stuff. Like buffing your units for a turn using those same time rewind points.

Basically. For my n.2 want. Make time rewinding an actual decision and a part of the gameplay experience. Not something that can make every mistake meaningless, even on the hardest difficulty.

Allow the Avatars to not be walking plot devices please?

Byleth is easily the worst avatar yet in my opinion. Corrin is merely a mary sue.
Byleth actively hurts the characterization of Two lords. (Edelgard and Dimitri)
Byleth. Has so little character. They are closer to a genuine plot device. Rather than a sentient being. (Look. At least Corrin talks.)


Edit 1:

I haven't beat awakening just yet. But the fact Robin talks, and has more of a personality than being perfect. Is shocking to me given what happens after.

Like. please IS. I'm willing to write these avatars for you. For free. Plz. Please?
Pretty please.
I'm fine with the idea. In theory I love it. But please, stop. Doing it so bad. I beg you.


Edit 1: Also top 3 is not a hard limit! You can add as much as you want. I might edit it in more stuff myself!

Edit 2: Here's a fourth and fifth idea to represent that. Probably what I'd put on a 7 then 8 overall

Realize that RNG skills need to be 3-5x stronger than guaranteed skills in order to be valuable
I believe this is fairly self explanatory. But basically RNG skills need to be dramatically stronger than guaranteed skills in order to be worth it.
Vantage is a good example. It is among the best skills in whatever FE game its in. Especially if Wrath can pair with it, creating a unit who is nigh-guaranteed to be unkillable unless they get OHKO'd (Or extremely unlucky)

They also need higher activation rates in general. Things like Astra or Aether should be skillx2 while something like Miracle can be luckx4
Make them actually occur a meaningful amount of times in the first place.

Realize that Hybrid units need to have a 60/60/60 split between STR/MAG/SPD instead of 50/50/50. Or worse 40/40/40
Another fairly self-explanatory one, but to go into more detail.
A certain Shadow Mir has consistently argued, and I agree with them, that Hybrid units are consistently bad. Lorenz being the most recent example in how they often generate a unit that's not even second best at whatever they are doing. But frequently third and fourth. Even if they have good things going for them (Namely Lorenz having an excellent personal skill and a solid spell list.)

If a dedicated physical unit has 80% growths in STR and speed. and a magic unit needs 80% in MAG and speed. Than a hybrid should have 60% in each stat. The same goes for their DEF/RES. Not the highest. But high enough to actually work. (Same thing with base stats. Generalists should always get more stats overall than dedicated classes. So they can properly spread out and make up for the fact they are less min-maxed.)

Right now in Modern FE the closest the player can get to a generalist is often whoever is the strongest unit period. And that's more because they are above the level curve than anything to do with their growths, equipment, or skills.
 

Edited January 3, 2022 by DoomRPG

[ciphertul]

5 minutes ago, DoomRPG said:

Start limiting weapons/classes again.

So first I'm gonna agree with this as my first point, it hurts to many classes to have that freedom.

5 minutes ago, DoomRPG said:

Allow the Avatars to not be walking plot devices please?

Second, is that a would like the avatar to be more like a recruit and not story important. You are there fighting but this isn't your story. Also I would like to have full customization and NO special sword that only you can really use.

Third I would like some good new game plus or post game bonuses. 

[DoomRPG]

14 minutes ago, ciphertul said:

So first I'm gonna agree with this as my first point, it hurts to many classes to have that freedom.

Second, is that a would like the avatar to be more like a recruit and not story important. You are there fighting but this isn't your story. Also I would like to have full customization and NO special sword that only you can really use.

Third I would like some good new game plus or post game bonuses. 

Personally I'm perfectly fine with the idea of an Avatar having story importance, or heck, even being the main character!
Its just that IS has consistently proven to me that they cannot be expected to write that well. So in the case of IS, I think I would like the avatars more in line with Kris. (Who does have his own issues. But I'd say his unimportance compared to the other three avatar is pretty apparent.)
(I'd use Mark as my example. But personally I like my avatars to be playable on the field of battle. So Kris instead.)

More customization is neat though I can't help but feel that full fledged every aspect customization might be really difficult. Just from a design space. Would be wicked if it got in though. I'd put it around the top 10 things I'd want. Not sure on exact number.

Personally I feel 3H was fairly good at NG+ But well it also had zero Post game.

Now that I'm thinking about it, that would be a good top 4-6 I'd want.

[ciphertul]

2 minutes ago, DoomRPG said:

More customization is neat though I can't help but feel that full fledged every aspect customization might be really difficult. Just from a design space. Would be wicked if it got in though. I'd put it around the top 10 things I'd want. Not sure on exact number.

This would only work if the avatar wasn't major story focus, as you couldn't do animated cutscenes with them. I do mean more like as in growths, base stats and class.

 

3 minutes ago, DoomRPG said:

Personally I feel 3H was fairly good at NG+ But well it also had zero Post game.

It was a step in the right direction but they could do a lot more, maybe do a Tales like "Grade" system where you get so much of a bonus currency that you use for new game plus. They could have like boosted/reduced growth rates, more or less gold/exp or other things.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

29 minutes ago, DoomRPG said:

Allow the Avatars to not be walking plot devices please?

Allow the Avatar-character to be a flippin Avatar, with variable growths, stats, classes and not good-but-generic-swordie-nr4? 

Better map design. Scratch that, I´ll settle for less map reuse. 

Variable campaigns. Don´t want to go to place B but place D instead, to mix up the cast, items available and difficulty? Go right ahead.

[DoomRPG]

1 minute ago, Imuabicus said:

Allow the Avatar-character to be a flippin Avatar, with variable growths, stats, classes and not good-but-generic-swordie-nr4? 

Better map design. Scratch that, I´ll settle for less map reuse. 

Variable campaigns. Don´t want to go to place B but place D instead, to mix up the cast, items available and difficulty? Go right ahead.

Not really on this topic, but I should probably make a seperate topic in 3H forum sometime discussing how weird Byleth is as an avatar. Since, yeah. They solidified their design as if they were a character.
But then made them as much of a NOT character as possible!
Byleth would easily be more mary sue than even Corrin if they were... An actual character. As is, the narrative treats Byleth as a non-sentient macguffin. Which. Given the "sue" trope is primarily narrative not character, excludes them.

Anyhow should probably stop derailing my own topic. Woops.

[Shadow Mir]

Make axe infantry not suck: Fighters and the like tend to be hard to justify using a unit slot for, all because IntSys thinks it's hilarious to make them overspecialized in HP and Strength at the expense of everything else. There have been some good foot axes in the series, but those are the exception, not the rule, and they tend to succeed in spite of their class, not because of it. Radiant Dawn and the games afterward make things worse for them, because there's an alternate axe class in Wyvern Rider, which is just better in just about every way. This makes them even more undesirable and useless. Case in point: Fire Emblem Fates, which just so happens to be their nadir. Rinkah is utterly outclassed by Scarlet (this one is especially egregious as the former is the only natural Oni Savage in the game), and Arthur and Charlotte have the misfortune of being on the same side of the game as Camilla.

Improve hybrid classes or get rid of them entirely: In theory, hybrid classes are supposed to be flexible, as being able to attack either defense or resistance according to whichever is lower is supposed to be a massive boon. Unfortunately, that very seldom works out in practice, as instead, hybrid classes often end up falling victim to the "Master of None" trope. Not helping their case is the fact that most units tend to be blatantly slanted towards magic or physical, meaning trying to raise one of the weapon types often turns out to be nothing but a waste of time. Once again, Fire Emblem Fates stands out for this; it's nigh impossible to justify having an Oni Chieftain, Basara or Malig Knight (and the one character who starts in the latter class is massively improved by reclassing to Wyvern Lord asap).

Nerf critical hits: Triple damage is too much and often makes critical hits a death sentence for whoever is on the ass end of it. This makes the likes of Arthur and other units with particularly low luck a huge liability as a result.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Shadow Mir

[Roserfly]

Number 1: Have griffon riders be a thing in future games. Basically what I want is for griffin riders to complete a flying triangle with the other flying classes. Pegasus uses lances, wyvern uses axes, and griffon uses swords. Then it would advance to be falcon knights use lances, and swords, wyvern lords use axes, and lances, and Griffon knights use swords, and axes. 

Number 2: Customization of avatar character stats so you can personalize them to how you want them to be. Wanna be a magic nuke? You can have those stats. Wanna be a tanky bruiser? You can have those stats. But please for the love of God make sure the avatar character doesn't become a mary sue.

 

Number 3: No gender locked classes. Please they're just so archaic, and unnecessary. I know some classes have lore for gender lock like the Pegasus class line. Even then the lore is iffy at best, and the whole concept of gender lock is unnecessary.

[Yexin]

3) Add a "Martial Artist"-like class line

as i often say, i love the M.Artist/Monk (D&D Monks, that is) archetype, and i'd love to see them being properly introduced in the FE series, and the Grappler class line from 3H absolutely did not deliver in that aspect

 

2) Return to Trinity of Magic

either just "Anima/Light/Dark" or "Wind/Thunder/Fire" or even both, i just want at least one of them to be back

 

1) Stop with this "your choices matter" trend

Fates tried it, and its narrative... uhm... """leaves much to be desired"""; 3H followed, and it's narrative wasn't really an improvement from Fates

now can we PLEASE have a FE game with ONE, SINGLE, WELL WRITTEN story with NO branching paths unless they're pure flavor just like the GBA games did? or is it too much to ask?

[lenticular]

1. I want for unit builds to be more about choosing the skills you want, and less about there being a few choices that are objectively better but that you have to grind to get. I don't enjoy unlocking classes through supports or unlocking skills through classes or whatever. It all feels like a lot of hoop-jumping. Give me much freer choice with my builds, and balance the game around that.

2. I want difficulty levels to be changable on the fly, with both increasing and decreasing difficulty level being available at will. This is something that many games manage to do without any problem, and I don't see why Fire Emblem can't. As an example of the sort of problem that is caused by not having this, I have a friend who picked up Three Houses and started it on Normal/Classic because it was the first time she had ever played any game with turn-based tactics elements. She enjoyed it, but after she got used to it, she started to find it too easy, grew bored, and gave up on the game because there was no way for her to increase the difficulty.

3. I want a setting that is something other than "vaguely medieval western europe except with magic". There's nothing wrong with castles and knights and lords but it's been done plenty of times and I'd like to see something else again.

[Jotari]

The only thing I particularly want the series to do next is to return to Radiant Dawn's capacity style skill acquisition. I have no issue with how they've been handling skills these past ten years, but I think the whole pairing them so intrinsically to classes in acquisition isn't the only way in which skills can be handled. Simply finding skill scrolls in chests or when getting new characters might seem like a more basic way to get them, but it's extra resource management and it makes for a more defined and intentional design for when in the game you can get and use certain skills. And of the two games so far where they have handled it with capacity in such a way, neither have truly felt like they utilized the mechanic as well as it could be used.

And so yeah, that's the only thing I have any particular desire to see. Though I guess to force out three things...eh...maybe keep gauntlets around and give us armoured mages.

[Shrimpica]

• Nerf crits

Basically, make crits deal 1.5x damage or something. Crit classes like Swordmasters and Berserkers & Killer/Crit Weapons should still have the 3x damage tho.
Or maybe just make only those with the crit skill able to crit, with killer weapons giving this skill and crit chance.

• Nerf Wyverns

Give them a massive SPD and Res nerf, and also -1 Mov compared to Pegasi.

• Fun Higher difficulties

Do it like Conquest and less like any other game in the series. No stat inflation, no bullshit got em moments (especially ambush spawns), but give the enemies more dangerous skills and positioning instead

Edited January 2, 2022 by Shrimpresident

[Saint Rubenio]

Difficulty settings that aren't limited to "too easy to be fun" and "too poorly designed to be fun."

More than anything, this killed Three Houses for me.

Please, IntSys. I need this. You give me this and I'll keep an open mind for everything else. But this needs to happen.

Maps that are decent.

I'm not asking for every single map to be top notch. Conquest is one of my favorite FEs and yet the few bad maps it has are some of the worst in the entire series. But I'd like for maps to have more going for them than a random chest, inconsequential terrain and enemies.

More playable beards

I mean c'mon. The only playable character with a beard that isn't a disgrace in the last three non-remake FEs is Hanneman.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Saint Rubenio

[Metal Flash]

1. I also would like Griffon Riders to be a class to be included so that we complete the flying weapon triangle

2. Linear class progression again. This system of "anyone can be anything" just makes all the characters feel very same.

3. More varied map objectives, more stuff that isn`t just seize or defeat boss

Bonus things I just though of

4. More varied country inspirations beyond just "Medieval Europe", something like Ancient Greece, Ancient Persia, Ancient Rome, Mesopotamia, the works. Fates` Hoshido was a nice attempt to showcase of what else they can do.

5. CG cutscenes like Awakening and Fates, they still look amazing and look much better than what Echoes and Three Houses gave us. Heck, even Radiant Dawn`s cutscenes look better than the Echoes/Three Houses ones.

Edited January 3, 2022 by Metal Flash

[AnonymousSpeed]

Fun Gameplay.

Story that doesn't bite off more than it can chew.

Divorce mechanics.

Axe units which are based and so good that even Mir likes them because axe users are based and they deserve it.

Presentation that is above a 3rd grade level.

Recruits in the second half of the game.

No male pegasus knights.

[Florete]

1. Don't be like Three Houses (fat chance considering the game's popularity, though). Except Battalions and gambits, which are basically the only new thing about the game I liked.
2. One main story from beginning to end. GBA-style route splits are fine, Fates/TH-style are not.
3. More gay marriage options, including for pairs without the avatar.

[Roserfly]

1 hour ago, lenticular said:

3. I want a setting that is something other than "vaguely medieval western europe except with magic". There's nothing wrong with castles and knights and lords but it's been done plenty of times and I'd like to see something else again.

This. Three houses introduced places that are different (although we saw next to nothing about what these countries are actually like) with Almyra being Persian inspired. Brigid being southeast Asian inspired. These are two places that could be very interesting for future games to take place on, and would be an opportunity to experience a fire emblem game taking place in a culture inspired by something that's not the typical medieval Europe we see all the time from several different series. There's A LOT you could do with any non European/Japanese inspired culture for a fire emblem game.

[Alastor15243]

3 hours ago, DoomRPG said:

Okay. I've accepted that time rewind is now apart of the FE package. As integral as the Weapon Triangle support conversations, one characterization gimmick characters. Increasingly worst avatars and blue haired lords that have to save the day. I'm k with it.

You're giving in a bit too quickly, I'd say. It's only been around for two games. That's as long as save tiles were a thing, and they ditched that too. Hell, it's followed the same pattern: Add them in one game and make them this overkill thing you can basically ignore, and then spend the second game doing everything in your power to make the feature an essential and necessary part of gameplay. Hopefully the next game will scrap it and complete the cycle.

[DoomRPG]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

You're giving in a bit too quickly, I'd say. It's only been around for two games. That's as long as save tiles were a thing, and they ditched that too. Hell, it's followed the same pattern: Add them in one game and make them this overkill thing you can basically ignore, and then spend the second game doing everything in your power to make the feature an essential and necessary part of gameplay. Hopefully the next game will scrap it and complete the cycle.

I really hope your true tbh.
I do not like the time rewind mechanic. Look FE games are really easy. Even the hardest ones are jokes compared to say, XCOM. But making it so the games are impossible to lose, mistakes completely trivial.
Its too much. Make it a contested resource that requires thoughtful action at the bare minimum. (My "TG" mechanic I rambled on is pretty ideal from my perspective. But even then I'd prefer if it had no time rewind function. Your actions should have consequences.)

 

[LoneStar]

1. Add more ways of acquiring skills. I dislike mundane grinding in games nowadays. In the 3DS games you would put your unit in the subpar class (Dark Flier, Great Knight) just to get their skills and reclass your unit into the class you actually want them to be in. Then in 3 Houses Death Blow from Brigand is so over centralizing, even if I don't want that unit to be in an Axe specializing class it's in my best interest to get go through that process.
2. No cheap mechanics like ambush spawns. Surely there are ways to make the game challenging without being too unfair like with Conquest.
3. Improve the balance among classes. 3 Houses kind of tries to give classes their own unique thing, but when you can put anyone in almost any class, it just becomes pick the one that kills the best.

[ciphertul]

1 minute ago, DoomRPG said:

I really hope your true tbh.
I do not like the time rewind mechanic. Look FE games are really easy. Even the hardest ones are jokes compared to say, XCOM. But making it so the games are impossible to lose, mistakes completely trivial.
Its too much. Make it a contested resource that requires thoughtful action at the bare minimum. (My "TG" mechanic I rambled on is pretty ideal from my perspective. But even then I'd prefer if it had no time rewind function. Your actions should have consequences.)

 

It just needs the right amount of balance, Take Valkyria Chronicles it would be XCOM levels of bull if you couldn't save scum.

[DoomRPG]

9 minutes ago, LoneStar said:

1. Add more ways of acquiring skills. I dislike mundane grinding in games nowadays. In the 3DS games you would put your unit in the subpar class (Dark Flier, Great Knight) just to get their skills and reclass your unit into the class you actually want them to be in. Then in 3 Houses Death Blow from Brigand is so over centralizing, even if I don't want that unit to be in an Axe specializing class it's in my best interest to get go through that process.
2. No cheap mechanics like ambush spawns. Surely there are ways to make the game challenging without being too unfair like with Conquest.
3. Improve the balance among classes. 3 Houses kind of tries to give classes their own unique thing, but when you can put anyone in almost any class, it just becomes pick the one that kills the best.

Those are all really great ones f'sure.

Though particularly on 1. I'd love to hear about how you'd try to accomplish it. Because while I personally like classes giving skills upon level up. I understand that it often devolves into "Grind skills X Y and Z. Then drop into the flying class with most movement."
I think the "classes give skills." type thing would be much better if classes in general were more restricted (in general restrictions, if done thoughtfully, would help balance greatly. Like it was how 'wyverns' were balanced pre re-class. You often only got 1 wyvern, two if your lucky.)
That said I think items giving skills is a good idea. Though I'd personally lean towards "Scrolls are consumables that grant permanent skills that are often very situational." Things like the breaker skills, maybe a rare reaver skills. Rather than "Generally good" like Sol. With the idea that scrolls can permanently hinder a late game build if done carelessly.
Occult scrolls should also return in my opinion. Not as the only means to get mastery skills probably? But certainly a way to get them early. Solidifying one unit as your designated powerhouse.

[Use the Falchion]

2 hours ago, Roserfly said:

Number 1: Have griffon riders be a thing in future games. Basically what I want is for griffin riders to complete a flying triangle with the other flying classes. Pegasus uses lances, wyvern uses axes, and griffon uses swords. Then it would advance to be falcon knights use lances, and swords, wyvern lords use axes, and lances, and Griffon knights use swords, and axes. 

Amen to this! They could even do this with magic: 

Pegasus: Light Magic 

Wyvern: Dark Magic

Griffon: Anima Magic

 

 

Anyways, my top three things...

Also,ontinue improving supports. I LOVE how Three Houses allowed characters to have up to six supports theoretically (usually four at best though), and one of TMS#FEs best non-combat gameplay aspect was the side-story mechanic, where characters had to go through 6-7 events with Itsuki before maxing those out. (Now, the timing of some of them was TERRIBLE, and very few of these were actually entertaining, but the point stays the same.) I think this is something that FE took from Persona and should continue to improve on. Also, I'm putting Group Supports here to compact my three things.

2. Impactful but not isolating choices. Maybe it's just because I'm playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition right now, or maybe it's because I have Vestaria Saga on the mind, but I really want to see a game where players can make choices that shape some outcomes of the game outside of who lives or dies. Maybe it's how they defeat the enemies, or side-quests within a mission - things like this that give the battle and playthough a little more variety and texture. Now, these don't have to be character-focused exactly, and I don't want them to take over supports, but I think they'd add some fun and nuance to a battle. THAT BEING SAID, I'm not asking for character recruitment choices, ala the Harkin/Karel split. I HATE those. But maybe a depending on how a side-quest was completed earlier, it would determine who is recruited first. 

3. There are a lot of things I could put here: explorable dungeons, Axe/Lance/Magic/Dancer/Dagger Lord, a second generation, etc. But what I think I want most is the return of the Magic Triangle. I LOVE the Magic Triangle and the magic classes in the GBA game (partially because of nostalgia, partially because I think they're a good function.) I want to see that return SO FREAKING MUCH! I also really want a Sword/Dark Magic Wyvern Rider class. 

[fates is based]

Bring back Kinshi Knights and purposely make axe infantry good just to spite Shadow Mir

Edited January 3, 2022 by fates is based
Mistake

[Benice]

1. Complete overhaul of the Support System. I really dislike supports as a characterization mechanic pretty much everywhere except for FE9, and that's because it also used Info Conversations as well instead of relying on mass-supporting the cast. It's what really soiled Three Houses' cast for me, and I would love to see almost anything but more of that. I have absolutely no problems with a well-fleshed out cast, and I think that changing the way supports work would be a big improvement in terms of characterization.

 

2. I'd like for Archers to be locked to 2, maybe 3 range instead of up to 5. I'd also prefer if they didn't have great access to 1-range, but it really depends on what type of game the next one is. I'm not a fan of universal extremely long-range bows.

 

3. More diverse cast gameplay-wise than what TH did. Even if they do wanna keep customizability, I would quite like to see units be much more unique. Ideally both through join time and what the units are actually capable of even doing. Like, it's possibly different on Maddening, but on Hard, I felt like I could put anyone into anything and get the same results without any grinding at all.  Even if it is kind of funny that Warrior Lysithea could do this:

Spoiler

It was far too easy to do that. It was essentially just getting the Axe Rank to be in Brigand to get Death Blow and that's it.

So yeah. More unique units would be extremely nice.