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

[Dark Holy Elf]

1 hour ago, Florete said:

Shouldn't the experience rank prevent the "juggernauting" to begin with?

Yeah honestly that's a good point. If the mechanics of the experience rank were improved, then the stat booster thing becomes less necessary.

Thinking on it I'm honestly just not very happy about the ways stat boosters tend to interact with "serious" play (I think they're fine for a more casual, "give them to your favourite unit(s)" standpoint). In most games the objective "best" strategy is to dump a large number of them into a pivotal PC (such as a flier, or Robin-type) or two. This is not very interesting and feels kinda degenerate. So a ranking which discourages their use entirely at least puts a band-aid over the problem. But I agree that it is unsatisfying to give the player resources and then discourage their use.

[ciphertul]

Just now, Dark Holy Elf said:

Yeah honestly that's a good point. If the mechanics of the experience rank were improved, then the stat booster thing becomes less necessary.

Thinking on it I'm honestly just not very happy about the ways stat boosters tend to interact with "serious" play (I think they're fine for a more casual, "give them to your favourite unit(s)" standpoint). In most games the objective "best" strategy is to dump a large number of them into a pivotal PC (such as a flier, or Robin-type) or two. This is not very interesting and feels kinda degenerate. So a ranking which discourages their use entirely at least puts a band-aid over the problem. But I agree that it is unsatisfying to give the player resources and then discourage their use.

Maybe they could on higher difficulties limit the amount of boosters on a single character. Like how you can only use 1 boot on a character in Fate.

[DoomRPG]

31 minutes ago, ciphertul said:

Maybe they could on higher difficulties limit the amount of boosters on a single character. Like how you can only use 1 boot on a character in Fate.

No idea where I'd put it in specific. But this idea sounds pretty amazing tbh. I think it handles the problem excellently and ass more thought to using what statboosters on what character.

I think I'd make it so that on higher difficulties each character only gets 2 statboosters of the same type. Encourages you to specialize your units in a specific stat.
(And probably rebalance the statboosters until they were roughly the same value. Goddess icons giving +10 lck per use. Secret books +4 skill.)

[IonicAmalgam]

1) A smaller roster set with more meaningful supports and unique roles for each unit.
2) More meaningful Postgame Content, similar to how Awakening had significant postgame content
3) I like the challenges from Shadows of Valentia

Edited January 4, 2022 by IonicAmalgam

[leshyver]

1) Refocus the game around the battle maps rather than the menus/monastery/supports. This is the meat of the game, this is where I like my time to be spent and ideally the storytelling to happen.

2) Have a single difficulty setting with toggles for different game modifiers (casual vs classic vs ironman, 0% growth vs normal growth vs double xp, enemy stat growth multiplier, bonus items, number of rewinds per map etc). Some very good examples for this system are XCOM and Invisible Inc (go play invisible inc it's fantastic). Create a bespoke experience and let the players mess with it. A ranking system also achieves something similar but it's a bit more indirect.

3) Have few but meaningful and well constructed combat mechanics. I understand the appeal of the giant soup of mechanics in games like 3 houses (think about it: limited durability items, spells are learnable, combat arts, forging, squads that influence stats and actually need to be repaired after battle, gambits, supports, personal skills, class skills, learnable skills, a billion level bars...) but I prefer when there are fewer mechanics that are designed to work well together. I feel games like FE4 or SoV achieve a better balance.

[MagicCanonBalls]

1. Bring Throwing Dagger back. I like it in Fates and Heroes, low mt but it gives debuff and other utilities. It also looks cool to see characters throwing the dagger.

2. Better class system. Gives everyone a set of classes that they can change into, but not gender restricted. Male Pegasus or Female Warmaster should exist. 3H lets Lysithea be a warrior but Hilda with prf axe can't be warmaster. And personally I would like to see Griffon Rider return, it's a cool looking creature, much better than wyvern. 

3. 3H Spell system, and gives avatar the ability to choose their own spell. It could work like DnD, where you can choose from a list of spells you wanna learn when you level up. And the choices available are based on your total level and magic classes. Some spells are class-locked, meaning if you change to another parallel mage class, some of the spell you learnt can still be used, but some will grey out.

Not having avatar in the next game (new or remake) would bump me out, but at this point I am too invested to not play whatever IS gave us next. It would probably take 2 consecutive game with no Avatar for me to lose interest in the series.

*4. One thing I forgot to add that I really wanted for a long time. Prf weapons. FEH has gotten me hooked on these. It doesn't have to be OP like the way it is now, it could just a mixture between different weapons' effects or gives extra stats like atk/spd +1. Fates sort of has this, like Arthur Axe, it can be used by any male unit but it add a personal flair to the weapon design. I know the setting allows Fates to have 2 sets of weapon design, but I do hope to see more diversity in weapons. A bit disappointed that 3H has 3 different major culture but their weapon designs are all standardized, it can probably be explained that it's because Rhea demands so, but having an in-universe explanation doesn't lower my disappointment. It's a game, just change the lore a bit to fit the gameplay better.

Edited January 5, 2022 by MagicCanonBalls

[NinjaMonkey]

1. Get rid of the dating sim elements - I don't play FE to play as a matchmaker.

2. Limit classes again - Having anyone be whatever class they want strips units of their uniqueness.

3. No avatars

[The Boonsman]

The next game needs better planted difficulties

Hard is a little too easy to not just get stuck in the loop of not paying that much attention, and Maddening is a little too difficult at points to really get a fun experience out of with it's maps just not being very fun and requiring more Min/Max styles every playthrough. It needs more Variety, so having 4 difficulties, 3 above normal would help more. This is a must.

 

Weapon Mastery Bonuses to come back / Weapon Triangle in general

Weapon Triangle has always been important, giving the ability to have bonuses that can be canceled out at TWD alongside the weapon triangle effects makes combat a lot more consistently interesting. As it stands with 3 houses, I see a lot of players who play on Maddening go for breaker skills anyways to give them specific niches, so it's still wanted by fans. 

 

Have a lot of odd classes in the next game if there's a 3rd tier system

If the games introduce the 3 class tier system, have some promotions branch into more unique, more interesting class promotions with specific niches. That was always one of the best parts of Awakening/Fates/3 houses where the unique class options and promotions you can sneak into. If the classes are fun to use, then odds are the game will be good with it.

 

And if I had to bring back a mechanic from another game:

Bring back Fates Pair up

This is just a personal feeling but Fates Pair up is just the most fun way to get approach combat, with how many extra combat layers it adds. This isn't a must, but it could be interesting to see how it could be used.

[Keikyushi]

1. Cut the preparing between battles. The monastery is way too much.
2. Give us more late game units for ironman runs. On the topic of ironman, I'd like an official ironman option too (that will preferably unlock something cool)
3. Cut back the class freedom. Branch class promotion and reclass are fine, but what I really like is set-in-stone 3-tier classes like in Radiant Dawn. That makes each units unique and different from each other performance-wise
4. Better map design. That's a given. No open field, no ambush-spawn BS or anything like that.
5. Shorter but more memorable supports. I like the way it is in Echoes, short but is still enough to show the characters. Long supports just make me don't want to read them. Also bring back the 2D sprite support (or maybe even Live2D sprite) instead of the 3D animation thingy in 3H
6. And lastly, show, don't tell. 3H is really guilty of this. I would appreciate the game show me a cutscene or a battle scene to explain what is happening instead of dumping a text lore on me.

EDIT: And make Anna relevant again! At least give her support with some of the cast, goddamn it!

Edited January 19, 2022 by kienquocsi

[genesis]

A base to Roam and dungeons to explore but not mandatory or as time consuming as the monastery 

Limited Classes per character I think Fates and Awakening had the perfect class system: except avatar, there's 3-4 class branches per character. 

Unique, fun classes: bring back shapeshifters, witches, maids butlers or other dagger classes, pirates, bard, summoner etc...

[Morgan--Grandmaster]

1. Get rid of gender restrictions: "Oh, you want to make Linhardt a Gremory because his skill line is perfect for it? Too bad! Start giving him swords, or you're stuck with a measly Advanced class where he can only take full advantage of one of them...forever!" This one stinks from both a gameplay and narrative perspective. I'm okay with name or costume changes (i.e. Maid/Butler in Fates), but just like how there can be and are male nurses and female construction workers, don't let something a unit can't control limit them from reaching their full potential. 
2. Returning Features: Dungeons, Physical distance weapon classes like maids/butlers, and ninjas, Shapeshifters, Brawlers, Infinite time on a single playthrough, A+ supports
3. Give everyone multiple supports. Part of what encourages a player to experiment with the entire cast are the supports and support bonuses. If characters are, say, Avatar-only, I usually have them Pair-Up with me for a couple battles, but once I reach A support, or get the option to S support, they fall by the wayside for another unit to take their deployment slot permanently and get benched for the rest of the game.

[plat3009]

I have literally only one wish:

BRING BACK PAIR UP!!! It was such a cool and fun mechanic, and in Fates I think the mechanic was perfected. Dual Strikes added a good amount of depth to player-phase actions, and it isn't a one-sided mechanic either because enemies can pair up too. It also gives units more utility because if they suck at combat, they can at least back up a stronger character with stat boosts. Adjutants are super lame in comparison tbh

[vanguard333]

1. One story that doesn't have too many branches.

The last two main FE games (Fates and Three Houses) have been about huge branching narratives, and both of them show signs of overambition/biting off more than they could chew. I hope, for the next game, they focus on telling one story rather than telling three-to-four stories, and telling that one story with the same level of care and ambition as they put into Three Houses' four stories.

2. A smaller base, and more than one base.

Let's face it; they're going to reuse as much as they can from Three Houses; they put in all that work, and they're not going to scrap it after one game, and one of those mechanics is the explorable base in the form of Garreg Mach Monastery. One thing I think most people can agree on is that exploring Garreg Mach is initially fun, but it gets very repetitive and it's probably too big for its own good. To that end, I'm suggesting that they do something in-between Three Houses and the Tellius games in terms of the base mechanics: the base is explorable like in Three Houses, but it's very small and it changes with the different chapters, like in the Tellius games. 

3. Varied Maps and Map Objectives.

Again; take the, for lack of a better word, grandiosity of Three Houses, and apply that to maps with the kind of quality and variety seen in the Tellius games.

[AnonymousSpeed]

I just realized I never responded to this thread properly. I have cut my original list back to these most important three.

On 1/2/2022 at 5:14 PM, AnonymousSpeed said:

Divorce mechanics.

Recruits in the second half of the game.

No male pegasus knights.

[joevar]

10 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I just realized I never responded to this thread properly. I have cut my original list back to these most important three.

objection! the thread clearly ask for "what (3)" and  "why". i still cant find it after looking in previous pages.

so.. start your essay now

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by joevar

[Fabulously Olivier]

* Simple story, well told. Reign in your ambition and stick to no more than 2 paths, if any paths at all.

 

* A purely political conflict. ESPECIALLY if you have branching paths, make it Fates but good and nuanced.

 

* Drop the calendar system and encourage faster playthroughs.

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 2/1/2022 at 12:05 PM, joevar said:

objection! the thread clearly ask for "what (3)" and  "why". i still cant find it after looking in previous pages.

so.. start your essay now

aight fam

1) Divorce mechanics

The primary driving force of good fiction is misery and intrigue, ergo the more misery and betrayal can be propagated within the world of the game, the better. It's even more better when real world misery is involved, such as when a loser sees his waifu divorce him. Those tears would be truly delicious.

I also think we should realize that marriage is not something which becomes entirely static once the ceremonies are completed. I'd like to see how characters interact once they're already married, how they handle the married life and children, and what maintenance they do on their relationship. You see, all relationships require maintenance, and if Fire Emblem wants proper character drama, it's going to depict the true reality- people who don't take proper care of their loved ones suffer consequences for their negligence. Like getting a messy divorce.

2) Recruits in the second half of the game

If you're doing an ironman or a unit gets RNG screwed, late-game recruits are a critical tool to supplement the players ranks. Furthermore, their later joining time of a unit, the more options the player has access to in general. This means later units can be designed in more diverse and creative ways, with more classes and weapons available to them and different statlines being permissible, often making them more interesting than earlier units. Getting a new unit is also an exciting experience, it's fun just to get new units to play around with.

3) No male pegasus knights

I'm not one of those radical "no gender restrictions types", but I agree troubadours and fighters and grapplers probably shouldn't be. For Pegasus Knights though, I'm quite opposed. The general female exclusivity of the class is one of the few interesting and distinguishing features of Fire Emblem's usually bland fantasy settings. There's also the fact that it simply makes more sense. A man can use a staff on a horse if he's a mage knight, but can't be a troubadour? A woman can be an axe infantry if she's a hero, but can't be a fighter? Meanwhile, with Pegasus Knights the explanation is that men can't ride pegasi, which is at least a working explanation that lends some mystique to the class.

[Metal Flash]

4 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

1) Divorce mechanics

The primary driving force of good fiction is misery and intrigue, ergo the more misery and betrayal can be propagated within the world of the game, the better. It's even more better when real world misery is involved, such as when a loser sees his waifu divorce him. Those tears would be truly delicious.

I also think we should realize that marriage is not something which becomes entirely static once the ceremonies are completed. I'd like to see how characters interact once they're already married, how they handle the married life and children, and what maintenance they do on their relationship. You see, all relationships require maintenance, and if Fire Emblem wants proper character drama, it's going to depict the true reality- people who don't take proper care of their loved ones suffer consequences for their negligence. Like getting a messy divorce.

That first paragraph sounds like something Kaga or George R.R Martin would think.

While I would like to see more relationships while the characters are together, I have no idea how you would have characters "maintain" said relationship in a game like Fire Emblem. Like, how would the player keep, say, Eliwood and Fiora, from having that divorce? 

[AnonymousSpeed]

12 hours ago, Metal Flash said:

Like, how would the player keep, say, Eliwood and Fiora, from having that divorce?

They can't. Just like growth rates and my parents, whether they stay together is random and out of your control.

Although Three Houses already had all the students salivating over the avatar and their suggestions, so I guess your answers could have some impact over whether a minor conflict is resolved smoothly or utterly spirals out of control. Deploying both of them when Roy is sick is probably not a good idea either.

[Metal Flash]

4 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

They can't. Just like growth rates and my parents, whether they stay together is random and out of your control.

Thanks, I hate it.

[Jotari]

10 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

They can't. Just like growth rates and my parents, whether they stay together is random and out of your control.

Although Three Houses already had all the students salivating over the avatar and their suggestions, so I guess your answers could have some impact over whether a minor conflict is resolved smoothly or utterly spirals out of control. Deploying both of them when Roy is sick is probably not a good idea either.

Or how about the divorce happens because you raise a support level too high with another character after the marriage, leading to an affair XD It would make it a nightmare to try and not have characters raise support points with each other. Would be a way to just outright not have to write around the Schrodinger's nature of romantic A supports though.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Jotari

[AnonymousSpeed]

4 minutes ago, Metal Flash said:

Thanks, I hate it.

Yeah, me too.

Just now, Jotari said:

Or how about the divorce happens because you raise a support level too high with another character after the marriage, leading to an affair XD It would make it a nightmare to try and not have characters raise support points with each other.

But I love this. It's perfect. How would the Chrom-F!Robin support not cause marital tension?

Broken Home Lucina now available to summon in Fire Emblem Heroes.

[GlitchWarrior]

I'll put mine here next

1: I actually despise modern FE's take on teambuilding, with every unit being built from the ground up from the beginning of the game; I very much prefer it when the cast has a good amount of well-trained or at least suboptimal but usable units through the midgame. Furthermore, bring back the old unit class system. If anyone can do anything, everyone except for dedicated mages can fill any gameplay niche that isn't "dedicated mage" decently well. Units feel samey like that and I hate it. Side note: also bring back the weapon triangle and class-locked weapons. Having a brigand whip out a silver bow and take out enemies like that makes classes more stats than they are roles on the battlefield.

2: If we're going to have a "player character," go back to them being a customizable avatar- but DON'T write half the plot- or worse, all of it- around them- and more importantly, write them as a character. You could hypothetically have three personalities to choose from at the beginning of the game, and dialogue would be altered to match, but the point is, make sure they're written in a way that gives them an identifiable personality- but not a dumb one. Byleth and BR Corrin have their personalities buried underneath shallow game writing, and CQ Corrin and Kris are an actual brain-dead lizard and an intolerable "knightly" guy with no real traits, and all four of them warp the world around them to make everyone love them except the obvious villains- MarySue-ism at its finest. Even Robin isn't safe from this, as they're generally flawless, but at least they have a character.

3: This is a weird one. But I never thought Fire Emblem looked good in 3D, at all. The SNES and GBA entries are my favorites graphically, and it's a shame that a need for everything to be 3D because it's just what people are doing these days actually hurts my sense of imagination and wonder a little, as well as the creativity of the battle animations. I'd love to see them keep the voice acting and the QoL improvements, but I want to see FE return to a sprite-based aesthetic. 3DSFE's overworlds look pretty good to me, but I don't like the battle animations all that much. Maybe it's just me but this is my general opinion.

[DoomRPG]

On 1/31/2022 at 11:21 PM, AnonymousSpeed said:

I just realized I never responded to this thread properly. I have cut my original list back to these most important three.

Quote

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

 

Spoiler

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.

 

I am the OP. And I'm quoting myself because three was never a hard limit. I edited in more stuff purely to illustrate that.

Similarly you can only post one, or even just two things.

So I really hope you find the time to add your other desired things in paragraph format. Your a complete oddball and that makes your thoughts interesting to read. It provides impetus for me to consider them when I otherwise wouldn't.

That said. On a side note. Your third point provides the stimulus necessary to provoke a violent urge to slam my face into the keyboard in protest. (Exaggeration. Of course.)

Either classes are universal. (Sub optimal.)
Or there is an equal amount of gender segregation that has equal value and thus expands the strategic depth of the game by having classes with restricted access. (Optimal but will never be achieved. And also gender segregation is a really stupid way to decide this. My implementation would probably be a buff/agile/int split. Buff girls can fighter all day, but forget about swordmastering. Agile dudes can't fight there way out of a pastry bag. But they can sword stuff good. And it takes a well trained mind. rather than body, to mage, or to tame  a pegasus.

And ofc some characters (thought not all) would be two. At a penalty to their other stats of course.

Giving pegasus knights as female exclusives with no counter balance is dumb because it makes being a women objectively superior for the simple fact pegasi exists. Ideally equality should be achieved if avatars are allowed to be both genders.
Alternatively. You have the entire planet be FE amazonia, and in which case the fact women being objectively superior fits with the setting. Though that's a really archaic setting and fits Fateswakening the most with how horny they were. And unless its a spin off (where being wacky and gratuitously pandering is okay.) I'd hate for it to return.
 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

16 minutes ago, DoomRPG said:

Giving pegasus knights as female exclusives with no counter balance is dumb because it makes being a women objectively superior for the simple fact pegasi exists. Ideally equality should be achieved if avatars are allowed to be both genders.
Alternatively. You have the entire planet be FE amazonia, and in which case the fact women being objectively superior fits with the setting. Though that's a really archaic setting and fits Fateswakening the most with how horny they were. And unless its a spin off (where being wacky and gratuitously pandering is okay.) I'd hate for it to return.

How about a new, male-exclusive mount? Depending on the setting, this could be anything from Bears to Camels to Elephants, or even an oversized Komodo Dragon. Ideally some creature whose terrain interactions differ from the standard horse.