New Weapon Types for Next FE?

[TheChoZenOne]

So I was thinking, as we get closer to getting a new FE game. What new weapon types would you guys like to see? For me personally, I just want to see Martial Artist as a class. Units who specialize only in punching and kicking, doing flips and all that, (similar to brawling) but more of an ACTUAL martial arts type of fighting in their animations and style. It also wouldn't require a weapon to attack but maybe require a different system of durability maybe, (like stamina?). I think it would be really cool. What are other fun styles of fighting you would like to see used as weapon types?

[vanguard333]

Flails could be interesting; they would struggle with accuracy but can bypass any defense bonus from shields.

Another that I could see is guns, as in very early guns such as the Arquebus and the hand cannon. These would have 1-2 range like bows and spells and would be unable to double-attack, but they'd deal a lot of damage.

 

Personally, rather than see new weapon types, one thing I think would be really cool would be to see special subtypes of existing weapon types. For swords, that could be infantry-only greatswords; for lances, that could be pikes; for axes, poleaxes; etc.

[Benice]

16 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Another that I could see is guns, as in very early guns such as the Arquebus and the hand cannon. These would have 1-2 range like bows and spells and would be unable to double-attack, but they'd deal a lot of damage.

Something I was thinking for distuingishing firearms would actually be them having a really powerful attack- but they can only hit once per turn, (player or enemy) since early guns were not quick to reload. Perhaps Vantage could come innate to them as well.

16 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

For swords, that could be infantry-only greatswords; for lances, that could be pikes; for axes, poleaxes; etc.

Kaga did it first.

I do agree, though,  I would like to see that.

 

As for me, I'd like to see "Trick weapons", kind of like in Bloodborne, where it has two forms. For example, a large hammer where you can detach the handle to be used as a light and accurate sword, or attach it back on to be used as a chunky ol' hammer. (Perhaps I'm too much of a Souls nut, but I've felt that adding in weapons that scale damage off of dex/skill instead of Str would be cool, or weapons that use 50% of str and 50% of dex/skill to calculate the damage.)

Spears and lances as in Berwick would be neat as well, I suppose.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Benice

[Yexin]

51 minutes ago, TheChoZenOne said:

I just want to see Martial Artist as a class. Units who specialize only in punching and kicking, doing flips and all that, (similar to brawling) but more of an ACTUAL martial arts type of fighting in their animations and style.

well, this is literally one of my dreams regarding FE, as i love martial artist representation in RPGs (no, grapplers are not martial artists last time i checked)

i'd also like to see something resembling Yuna's invocations in FFX: a generally very frail character, unable to fight, who can use the "invocation" command to summon beasts or monsters (one at a time) that functionally take the place of the summoner and fight for them until they're alive or the summoner withdraws them, or maybe they could have their own "energy gauge" which could work the same as for laguz characters

[vanguard333]

46 minutes ago, Benice said:

Something I was thinking for distingishing firearms would actually be them having a really powerful attack- but they can only hit once per turn, (player or enemy) since early guns were not quick to reload. Perhaps Vantage could come innate to them as well.

That could work, though I think that might be going a bit far to the point of making them almost useless.

 

47 minutes ago, Benice said:

Kaga did it first.

I do agree, though,  I would like to see that.

I wouldn't know; I haven't played the games that Kaga made after he left IS.

Thanks.

[lenticular]

Mostly, I want for there to be better differentiation between swords, lances, and axes. I want for an axe user and a lance user to really behave and feel different from each other in combat, rather than being basically the same thing (with an optional dash of rock-paper-scissors on top if weapon triangle is brought back). I'd much rather see that as a higher priority than adding in new weapon types.

If new weapon types are added, what I really care about is that they fit the world and the setting and that they have decently well thought-out mechanics, rather than just being added for the sake of it. I'd say that FE does have a pretty good track record on that front, with most of the extra wepons that they've added at various points in the series being pretty good, both mechanically and thematically.

[X-Naut]

Flesh out the existing categories with sub-types to make them more distinct. Bring back blades as a power option for sword infantry, split spears and lances with the latter being geared more toward mounts, add a distinction between short and long axes, and bows have longbows and crossbows to examine.

[TheChoZenOne]

2 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Flails could be interesting; they would struggle with accuracy but can bypass any defense bonus from shields.

Another that I could see is guns, as in very early guns such as the Arquebus and the hand cannon. These would have 1-2 range like bows and spells and would be unable to double-attack, but they'd deal a lot of damage.

 

Personally, rather than see new weapon types, one thing I think would be really cool would be to see special subtypes of existing weapon types. For swords, that could be infantry-only greatswords; for lances, that could be pikes; for axes, poleaxes; etc.

Flails would be really cool!! I thought of whips actually too, that can be interesting!!

2 hours ago, Benice said:

Something I was thinking for distuingishing firearms would actually be them having a really powerful attack- but they can only hit once per turn, (player or enemy) since early guns were not quick to reload. Perhaps Vantage could come innate to them as well.

Kaga did it first.

I do agree, though,  I would like to see that.

 

As for me, I'd like to see "Trick weapons", kind of like in Bloodborne, where it has two forms. For example, a large hammer where you can detach the handle to be used as a light and accurate sword, or attach it back on to be used as a chunky ol' hammer. (Perhaps I'm too much of a Souls nut, but I've felt that adding in weapons that scale damage off of dex/skill instead of Str would be cool, or weapons that use 50% of str and 50% of dex/skill to calculate the damage.)

Spears and lances as in Berwick would be neat as well, I suppose.

That sounds like a neat concept!! :0

1 hour ago, Yexin said:

well, this is literally one of my dreams regarding FE, as i love martial artist representation in RPGs (no, grapplers are not martial artists last time i checked)

i'd also like to see something resembling Yuna's invocations in FFX: a generally very frail character, unable to fight, who can use the "invocation" command to summon beasts or monsters (one at a time) that functionally take the place of the summoner and fight for them until they're alive or the summoner withdraws them, or maybe they could have their own "energy gauge" which could work the same as for laguz characters

Yeah!! Martial arts is so sickin rpgs!! Also that would have been a cool concept for Hapi, to be able to use the "sigh" ability to summon monsters LMAO

1 hour ago, lenticular said:

Mostly, I want for there to be better differentiation between swords, lances, and axes. I want for an axe user and a lance user to really behave and feel different from each other in combat, rather than being basically the same thing (with an optional dash of rock-paper-scissors on top if weapon triangle is brought back). I'd much rather see that as a higher priority than adding in new weapon types.

If new weapon types are added, what I really care about is that they fit the world and the setting and that they have decently well thought-out mechanics, rather than just being added for the sake of it. I'd say that FE does have a pretty good track record on that front, with most of the extra wepons that they've added at various points in the series being pretty good, both mechanically and thematically.

Agreed, there can be better implementation to make them more unique and fun to use BECAUSE they are vastly different from eachother, you're right!!

Edited January 24, 2022 by TheChoZenOne

[Fabulously Olivier]

I don't necessarily want new weapon types yet. Most of the ones we have are in a good place, with magic and bows finally feeling distinct and good. Fists and staves, on the other hand, could use work. Namely, Brawling should really have a more distinct place in the melee family. And staves could be the melee equivalent to magic, with a wide array of versatile skills that don't drain durability. 

[DoomRPG]

I'd love if staves, like in RD, were usable as weapons. I personally like the idea of martial war priests charging ahead to smite the enemy like its a Warhammer. (I'm funny  I swear)

In all seriousness. I think it would be a good way to make staves stand out. Either as weapons OR spells.

As "Spells" its a spell you can have upwards of 40+ uses over. (Albeit they do fade between chapters. Maybe staves can auto-regen 5-10 uses.)

As "Weapons" the stats might be discount lances (So middle of the road overall.) but they all come with all sorts of handy effects!

Oh. And like actually allow the units intended to use them HAVE the stats to be effective k-thanks.

I'd also like if hammers became more of a dedicated subset. Hammers are a cool AF weapon with tons of attached symbolism. Imagine if we got an FE lord whose signature weapon was a maul?
 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Hm, how about combat staffs, like the Japanese bou? They could be defensively-oriented, as the wielder parries enemy blows while under direct attack, thus halving the damage received. On the flip side, their might would be low, and they'd have few positive offensive effects. Perhaps they could be used by Villagers, or a new iteration of the War Monk class.

[DoomRPG]

5 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Hm, how about combat staffs, like the Japanese bou? They could be defensively-oriented, as the wielder parries enemy blows while under direct attack, thus halving the damage received. On the flip side, their might would be low, and they'd have few positive offensive effects. Perhaps they could be used by Villagers, or a new iteration of the War Monk class.

That works too! Staves and combat staffs using the same rank but being separate purpose. I especially like the idea of introducing it alongside a new War Monk class, and maybe a tier 1to go along with it. (My idea for a tier 1 fighting priest is named 'Preacher' with the idea being they 'preach' with their actions.)


On a more unrelated/rambly note.

Personally I feel that if FE is going to go the route of all the weapons being 90% homogenious gameplay wise. They need to have as much visual variety as possible. If there isn't a real practical difference besides Combat arts I should be allowed to deck my army in whatever weapons I want. 3H's faires aren't enough (except if your min-maxing) so why don't I have an array of maces and morning stars, flails, halberds, actual lances, etc etc. Shovels! Those are good weapons too.

(As a note. If weapons are going to return to be distinguished from each other. I'd be more happy with the lack of visual variety. Because Its made up for in gameplay depth... Well, besides swords always being the worst option without Kaga around to cripple non-swords lol.)

But yeah. While I'd probably prefer the gameplay focus with less visual variety. If I'm not getting it FE should get like twenty different weapon types. So you can have a bunch of flair for each individual unit. Instead of 3H where unique martial weapons extends to "Gauntlets" (Which ARE cool. Even if animations are kinda eh, and a bit too memey for my tastes.) and "Not gauntlets" which is... Everything else.
 

[joevar]

as far as weapon types go, the only pre-modern weapon types that doesnt included yet in FE is: sickle type, blunt staffs, slings, gunpowder-based and throwing stick/balls. pretty much every other type more or less been in FE. but if we move on to sub type, theres a lot, like a very long list of option to go. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_premodern_combat_weapons

so like someone above, im of opinion: anything goes. and whatever being added, just make sure its appropriate for themes of the settings, and we all good.

Edited January 25, 2022 by joevar

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 1/24/2022 at 11:21 PM, DoomRPG said:

Personally I feel that if FE is going to go the route of all the weapons being 90% homogenious gameplay wise. They need to have as much visual variety as possible. If there isn't a real practical difference besides Combat arts I should be allowed to deck my army in whatever weapons I want. 3H's faires aren't enough (except if your min-maxing) so why don't I have an array of maces and morning stars, flails, halberds, actual lances, etc etc. Shovels! Those are good weapons too.

Speaking of shovels, one idea I've had is for weapon types that don't demand a concentration or skill. Basically, a type of weapon that anyone can use, kind of like a physical equivalent to the Spectre Card from Radiant Dawn. These could be heavy clubbing weapons (such as a Shovel, or a Bat), or low-Might melee knives (like in Path of Radiance). Basically, weapon types that even NPCs unaccustomed to warfare and "Villager" type recruits can use.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

Screw new weapon types; make weapons have stat requirements. 

Not enough STR? No doubling for you.

Not enough MAG? -50% range. Weak Fireballs don´t fly.

Not enough SKL? That´s a penalty to dmg/hit/crit/avo/critavo.

Not enough SPD.... Uhm?

[Benice]

On 1/24/2022 at 1:25 PM, vanguard333 said:

That could work, though I think that might be going a bit far to the point of making them almost useless.

I suppose it depends on the game. Like, if you're in a scenario where you really don't want to be taking more than one hit per turn, it'd be like stronger bows with a bit less flexibility or different uses. In a game like FE7 or 8, though, yeah, they'd be even worse than bows.

Something else that could be done with it is using two ammunition to take a penalty to hit and range, but also deal more damage; if I'm not mistaken, using two musket balls instead of one was a strategy employed from time to time. Since muskets were also often used in large numbers, perhaps there could be bonuses to, for example, hit and crit for each other gun-wielding unit adjacent to the one who's attacking.

---

I forgot to mention this in my previous post, but dual-wielded weapons would be something I wouldn't mind seeing; whether they do an on-hand/off-hand system where you can use a shield in one hand and a weapon in the other or if the dual weaons are just weapons wih unique effects, I feel like they could be really interesting; for example, using magic in one hand and a sword in the other. The way I'd envision it is the weapon in the unit's dominant hand strikes first, then the other weapon in the case of doubling. Though, there is a lot of other ways to implement it, I just thing dual-wielding weapons could have really unique animations and would make great prf weapons.

[vanguard333]

6 hours ago, Benice said:

I forgot to mention this in my previous post, but dual-wielded weapons would be something I wouldn't mind seeing; whether they do an on-hand/off-hand system where you can use a shield in one hand and a weapon in the other or if the dual weapons are just weapons with unique effects, I feel like they could be really interesting; for example, using magic in one hand and a sword in the other. The way I'd envision it is the weapon in the unit's dominant hand strikes first, then the other weapon in the case of doubling. Though, there is a lot of other ways to implement it, I just thing dual-wielding weapons could have really unique animations and would make great prf weapons.

Dual-wielding could be interesting. My one issue with it would be that, in real life, wielding two weapons (other than weapon-&-shield) was very rarely done in a dueling context, and pretty-much never done on the battlefield. The extremely few cases of battlefield dual-wielding were cases of improvisation when a better option wasn't available, like one Celtic story of a warrior using a spear and a sword because he didn't have a shield.

Dual-wielding was more prominent in dueling contexts, but even then, it was uncommon. The most common cases of it were cases of a sword and a dagger; the most notable examples being rapier-&-dagger and katana-&-wakizashi.

[DoomRPG]

13 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

Dual-wielding could be interesting. My one issue with it would be that, in real life, wielding two weapons (other than weapon-&-shield) was very rarely done in a dueling context, and pretty-much never done on the battlefield. The extremely few cases of battlefield dual-wielding were cases of improvisation when a better option wasn't available, like one Celtic story of a warrior using a spear and a sword because he didn't have a shield.

Dual-wielding was more prominent in dueling contexts, but even then, it was uncommon. The most common cases of it were cases of a sword and a dagger; the most notable examples being rapier-&-dagger and katana-&-wakizashi.

Yeah to sum it up. Real life duel wielding is an extremely impractical technique that was only feasible in dueling contexts when wielded by veteran practitioners. In general the value of being a "fragile speedster" drops astronomically in brawls. And battlefields tend to have a lot more participants than taverns.

However FE apparently can't make shields viable so yeah duel wielding sounds great. Maybe it can be done to give swords a slight advantage by being the only duelable weapons. So either 2swords or sword+magic. I'm guessing it would just be a type of stat boost sadly, with perhaps the chance for pretty wicked animation. Though I think it be decently balanced (probably if your using weaker swords.) To allow duel wielding a weaker galeforce-esque effect. First attack works normally, but the second plants your feet to the ground. Can't attack anything else? You just have to end turn.

[lenticular]

If Fire Emblem ever does decide to do dual-wielding, I hope that it does soemthing other than just give an extra attack. Fire Emblem already has ways to attack more (high speed, brave weapons, etc.) so I don't think that equipping a second weapon to get another attack would be very interesting mechanically. Instead, I'm imagining something more along the lines of a skill proc. If you have something along the lines of a main gauche or parrying dagger, then there's a skill-based chance of parrying an enemy attack. If you're going into the realms of fantasy and dual-wielding battle axes, then have a chance of performing a special two weapon flourish attack that has some cool effect and cooler animation.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

My version of "dual wielding" would be boring, but eminently practical. Basically, you'd have two equip slots (like in 3H), with the first your weapon, tome, or spell of choice. The second could be an "equippable", like a shield or ring... or it could be a backup weapon. When under attack, you'd counter-attack with your primary weapon (if in range), otherwise you'd use your backup weapon. Suppose my Cavalier has a Silver Sword in slot 1 and a Javelin in slot 2. When attacked at 1-range by a Fighter, they would counter-attack with the Silver Sword. But when attacked from 2-range by an Archer, they would counter with the Javelin. Kind of like how enemies with multiple weapons work in Genealogy, or how Priestesses function in Echoes. To compensate for the added versatility, the weight of both equipped weapons would be factored into attack speed calculations.

[Jotari]

On 1/29/2022 at 12:35 AM, lenticular said:

If Fire Emblem ever does decide to do dual-wielding, I hope that it does soemthing other than just give an extra attack. Fire Emblem already has ways to attack more (high speed, brave weapons, etc.) so I don't think that equipping a second weapon to get another attack would be very interesting mechanically. Instead, I'm imagining something more along the lines of a skill proc. If you have something along the lines of a main gauche or parrying dagger, then there's a skill-based chance of parrying an enemy attack. If you're going into the realms of fantasy and dual-wielding battle axes, then have a chance of performing a special two weapon flourish attack that has some cool effect and cooler animation.

You know, on retrospect, it is a bit funny that Brave Weapons even are what they are in the series. If you want an "attack twice sword" then dual wielding seems like the obvious choice. Instead they took a Killing Weapon from Gaiden and just randomly gave it a double attack effect (and took away it's killing effect making some grade A early installment weirdness that Shadows of Valentia should have ignored).

On 1/29/2022 at 5:20 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

My version of "dual wielding" would be boring, but eminently practical. Basically, you'd have two equip slots (like in 3H), with the first your weapon, tome, or spell of choice. The second could be an "equippable", like a shield or ring... or it could be a backup weapon. When under attack, you'd counter-attack with your primary weapon (if in range), otherwise you'd use your backup weapon. Suppose my Cavalier has a Silver Sword in slot 1 and a Javelin in slot 2. When attacked at 1-range by a Fighter, they would counter-attack with the Silver Sword. But when attacked from 2-range by an Archer, they would counter with the Javelin. Kind of like how enemies with multiple weapons work in Genealogy, or how Priestesses function in Echoes. To compensate for the added versatility, the weight of both equipped weapons would be factored into attack speed calculations.

I'd dig that. One thing I've always said I would have liked for Shadows of Valentia is a way to set your counter attack. So like you can set Lightning as Celica's counter attack so she can always counter from three spaces away, but then she will always use lightning even if a physical attack is better (for example if a Dread Fighter attacks her). You could even give a character a combat art as their counter attack, but that would be potentially dangerous as the HP drain feature of combat arts would be more detrimental if being applied on enemy phase. If added wholesale to Shadows of Valentia it would break the game's already easy difficulty  even further, but it could be a cool mechanic if a game is designed around it. And your idea for dual wielding gives it some kind of flash.

[Red Dingo]

Guns. Weapon Triangle advantage against everything, even other guns. Ignores DEF. Critical Hit is x4. Occasionally hosts a demon that makes your unit berserk.