Gameplay Hopes and Expectations

[Alastor15243]

If Warp Ragnarok is as busted as the trailer made it look, I'd love to see another shot at the absolutely busted movement tech we saw in Thracia. That was the best part of that game, the crazy stuff you could do with staves.

[Hawkwing]

No Durability: I loved this feature in Fates and SoV as it encouraged experimenting with different weapons. In other Fire Emblem games, I typically stuck with iron and steel weapons along with the expected 1-2 range backup just because they did the job for the most part, and I usually only whipped out the big guns for a particularly dangerous/annoying boss or the final handful of maps where durability doesn't matter. It does depend on the rest of the game design for which system to choose. Echoes small arsenal worked because you could only equip one item and had to decide who would be the best person for the job of wielding the right tool. The balancing on Fates weapons was seriously hit or miss, but the system itself was fine, several weapons just need adjusting.

More Reliable Ways to Activate Skills: A multitude of other strategy games have shown that cooldowns or building up to an ability can work. I think Fire Emblem could work with such a system, instead of having abilities be activated by RNG. I believe Heroes uses this method, and that seems to function just fine.

Have The Emblem Mechanic Offer New Strategies: We haven't seen how it works yet, but give me a reason to equip Roy over Marth, or have different combinations of emblems totally change the way you can approach a map. If done right, this mechanic can lead to a ton of experimentation and replayability.

Have the Rewind Feature be Optional and Design Around Permadeath: By this I mean, let us choose whether to have a rewind feature or not before starting the game, similar to deciding between "normal or hard" or "casual or classic". Heck, maybe even have various options for how generous or rigid the rewind can be. Also, make sure the game is designed with ironman runs in mind from the get go. There are some Fire Emblem games where trying to continue after every death is more punishing than it should be.

[DefyingFates]

This is almost certainly not happening, but if old Lords are coming back it could be fun to have some chapters (either part of the story or paralogues) set in their home worlds a la Fates' "Before Awakening". Or better yet, in maps set in some time or place in those worlds we haven't seen before to flesh them out some more. We could get some fun trivia out of that I think: possibly seeing Sothis' adult form, learning Fateslandia's real name, meet Nada Kuya...

Again, I doubt this is happening (it's just a random shower thought I had earlier in the day), but if we got a Season Pass which just put out 2/3 chapter stories set in the various FE worlds with a premise like that I'd get it in a heartbeat.

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

6 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

This is almost certainly not happening, but if old Lords are coming back it could be fun to have some chapters (either part of the story or paralogues) set in their home worlds a la Fates' "Before Awakening". Or better yet, in maps set in some time or place in those worlds we haven't seen before to flesh them out some more. We could get some fun trivia out of that I think: possibly seeing Sothis' adult form, learning Fateslandia's real name, meet Nada Kuya...

Again, I doubt this is happening (it's just a random shower thought I had earlier in the day), but if we got a Season Pass which just put out 2/3 chapter stories set in the various FE worlds with a premise like that I'd get it in a heartbeat.

I kinda hope we get that but I guess some bond convos will be enough.

[DefyingFates]

15 minutes ago, Mage Goddess Lysithea said:

I kinda hope we get that but I guess some bond convos will be enough.

I've said before that I hope the Emblems get at least some Supports so that they don't feel like glorified equipment. Is that what you're referring to with "bond convos"?

[SumG]

The big question I have that I haven't seen discussed much yet is whether or not the game has different routes.  The last two mainline games have both has significant route splits which meant many more maps/missions compared to earlier installments of the franchise, and that's before counting the large increase in paralogues in those games.  And while there's a case to be made that there wasn't enough content to fully flesh out all of the routes, I'd argue that each of Fates and Three Houses had at least twice the unique mission count of a GBA/Game Cube era game.

So what is the campaign going to look like in this game?  Is it going to be a single route?  If so, will it default to the ~25-30 missions most of the other games have had when following a single campaign.  Will that be acceptable compared to the mission counts present in Fates/Three Houses?  How many optional missions will there be (paralogues, skirmishes, side quests, etc.)?

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

1 hour ago, SumG said:

The big question I have that I haven't seen discussed much yet is whether or not the game has different routes.  The last two mainline games have both has significant route splits which meant many more maps/missions compared to earlier installments of the franchise, and that's before counting the large increase in paralogues in those games.  And while there's a case to be made that there wasn't enough content to fully flesh out all of the routes, I'd argue that each of Fates and Three Houses had at least twice the unique mission count of a GBA/Game Cube era game.

So what is the campaign going to look like in this game?  Is it going to be a single route?  If so, will it default to the ~25-30 missions most of the other games have had when following a single campaign.  Will that be acceptable compared to the mission counts present in Fates/Three Houses?  How many optional missions will there be (paralogues, skirmishes, side quests, etc.)?

I believe the leak mentions somewhere that there’s no route split so basically a traditional straightforward adventure from start to finish which imo is a good thing. While I enjoy Fates, Echoes(which kinda was a route split) and Three Houses I feel a singular story is better for the narrative and writing side to stay focused. The games file size is very big more than the base version Three Houses which is impressive of course factors can vary why that is but I’m guessing paralouges, side quests etc is gonna be plenty in this game. There might be more main chapters to compensate no routes.

[DefyingFates]

7 hours ago, Mage Goddess Lysithea said:

There might be more main chapters to compensate no routes.

True, but remember that longer doesn't necessarily mean better. I'd gladly take a concise, well-told 22 chapter story (~the length of a single route in other games) over a 50+ chapter story that's been bloated to heck and back. The extra file size could just mean higher fidelity graphics/ worlds or more paralogues - the latter of which would help flesh the cast (originals and Emblems alike) out more.

9 hours ago, SumG said:

How many optional missions will there be (paralogues, skirmishes, side quests, etc.)?

I think these are a given, given how useful they are for adding content outside of the main plot. After all, every modern FE has included them (even Conquest!) so I think it's safe to say they'll be here too. There doesn't seem to be a calendar system (only a day/ night cycle) so I'm really hoping we're able to do stuff after the credits have rolled akin to SS, Awakening, Echoes and non-Conquest Fates. Even if there's no story content left, it'd be great to have that extra time to finish paralogues, Supports and the like.

[Azz]

9 hours ago, SumG said:

The big question I have that I haven't seen discussed much yet is whether or not the game has different routes.  The last two mainline games have both has significant route splits which meant many more maps/missions compared to earlier installments of the franchise, and that's before counting the large increase in paralogues in those games.  And while there's a case to be made that there wasn't enough content to fully flesh out all of the routes, I'd argue that each of Fates and Three Houses had at least twice the unique mission count of a GBA/Game Cube era game.

So what is the campaign going to look like in this game?  Is it going to be a single route?  If so, will it default to the ~25-30 missions most of the other games have had when following a single campaign.  Will that be acceptable compared to the mission counts present in Fates/Three Houses?  How many optional missions will there be (paralogues, skirmishes, side quests, etc.)?

Personally, I would prefer a singular story with no split routes. At most, route splits on the level of the GBA games where you may have at most a 5 chapter route split or 1 or 2 chapters are different depending on choices you made would be what I would find fine, but I think it's time to step away from having a game based on route splits and choosing factions for the whole game. Fates did it best where you had a couple chapters and were thrown into it but missed the mark completely with the story and TH was a slog on repeated playthroughs because the first half of the game was always the same and the latter half was near enough the same over it route with the one route that was mostly different being incredibly short.

I would like a longer game than TH (I know the four routes kinda made up for the fact each route averaged around 20 chapters but I still felt like it was still too short even considering that). I would like to see 25-30 personally. If we're by twt updates, it seems as if the story is rather fast paced (between the Alear and Vander update we saw what looked like that prologue and chapter 1, the windmill village looks like chapter 2 and the map we saw in Cramme's update looks like it could be chapter 4 or 5, which feels like a final chapter to me for the the first mini arc where we meet Alfred, the first of the main four we see with Alear in the trailer fighting the Fell Dragon).

For paralogues, I don't really mind. I enjoyed the character focused paralogues of TH but I also think having more story focused paralogue like FE5-7 had would be cool to see again.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Azz

[Crubat]

I REALLY don't want another route split, I want a simple singular linear story that's well written, as well as being a highly replayable game (akin to awakening). Maybe too high of a hope but I think it can definitely happen.

[SumG]

2 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

I think these are a given, given how useful they are for adding content outside of the main plot. After all, every modern FE has included them (even Conquest!) so I think it's safe to say they'll be here too. There doesn't seem to be a calendar system (only a day/ night cycle) so I'm really hoping we're able to do stuff after the credits have rolled akin to SS, Awakening, Echoes and non-Conquest Fates. Even if there's no story content left, it'd be great to have that extra time to finish paralogues, Supports and the like.

Right, I wasn't questioning whether or not this content would exist, but more how extensive it's going to be.  If Engage is only going to have a single route, then one strategy the devs might use to increase the amount of content in the game to a similar level to Fates/Three Houses might be to add in more of the optional material.  But in Three Houses there are 26 paralogues (albeit some are route-locked).  I know I've heard that there are some people who don't enjoy the paralogues/side quests/auxiliary battles very much, so I wonder if it's feasible to expand on that number while still keeping players happy.

[DefyingFates]

5 minutes ago, SumG said:

Right, I wasn't questioning whether or not this content would exist, but more how extensive it's going to be.  If Engage is only going to have a single route, then one strategy the devs might use to increase the amount of content in the game to a similar level to Fates/Three Houses might be to add in more of the optional material.  But in Three Houses there are 26 paralogues (albeit some are route-locked).  I know I've heard that there are some people who don't enjoy the paralogues/side quests/auxiliary battles very much, so I wonder if it's feasible to expand on that number while still keeping players happy.

My bad! I misread your comment 😐

Even if people didn't like the side content in Three Houses, if Engage does only have a single route then I wonder if those same people would change their minds since the paralogues would compensate for the lack of replayability that multiple routes would provide. That logic that makes sense to me, at least!

[joevar]

2 hours ago, Azz said:

I would like a longer game than TH (I know the four routes kinda made up for the fact each route averaged around 20 chapters but I still felt like it was still too short even considering that). I would like to see 25-30 personally. If we're by twt updates, it seems as if the story is rather fast paced (between the Alear and Vander update we saw what looked like that prologue and chapter 1, the windmill village looks like chapter 2 and the map we saw in Cramme's update looks like it could be chapter 4 or 5, which feels like a final chapter to me for the the first mini arc where we meet Alfred, the first of the main four we see with Alear in the trailer fighting the Fell Dragon).

I like longer game too. but i think they wont get past around 30 chapters. unless they didnt take perma-death in mind at all, which to all ironman-er out there, goodluck.. i guess? also balancing reasons and possibly plot reasons too (why it takes so long before they finally confront the final boss)

[Metal Flash]

I hope there is no route splits, stick to one route please. I also hope we get less reused maps, that Fhaergus town showed up in three times in the same route. 

[Ivy Wife Supremacy]

1 hour ago, joevar said:

I like longer game too. but i think they wont get past around 30 chapters. unless they didnt take perma-death in mind at all, which to all ironman-er out there, goodluck.. i guess? also balancing reasons and possibly plot reasons too (why it takes so long before they finally confront the final boss)

That’s the expected amount of main chapters I’m expecting the game to have. It would be cool if you can choose any region to tackle in order but I guess for story consistency sake it likely won’t happen. I guess if there’s a mini timeskip ala Awakening to split arcs(not a drastic one for different characters designs like Three Houses) can justify a longer campaign but I guess we’ll see.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Mage Goddess Lysithea

[Dark Holy Elf]

8 hours ago, Azz said:

I would like a longer game than TH (I know the four routes kinda made up for the fact each route averaged around 20 chapters but I still felt like it was still too short even considering that). I would like to see 25-30 personally.

I think it's odd that you would consider Three Houses short, since in my books it's already one of the longest FE games, even on one route? Chapter number isn't everything. Genealogy is a far longer game than its 12 chapters suggests, and Three Houses is much longer than its 18-22 as well. It's certainly longer than the 29-chapter Path of Radiance, for instance. Even if you skip all out-of-battle content (which I wouldn't, personally) the longer average length of 3H battles combined with the multitude of paralogues and quest fights means that 3H is taking longer.

I generally am not too bothered by the length of games. I'm more likely to complain that a game is too long than too short (a short game is perfectly enjoyable if it has replay value, a long game can drag) but honestly the games I would personally consider the longest in the series (RD and 3H) are ones I greatly enjoyed anyway; I tend to find FE gameplay engaging enough to not drag. I definitely do hope the game has good replay value, since that does mean quite a lot to me, but short of it rejecting everything the series has been innovating for the past decade plus I'm not too worried.

Other hopes for the gameplay

• no weapon durability
• no same-turn reinforcements
• no tying content (either story or difficulty modes) to NG+; this one if fresh in my mind after Hopes
• more robust choices in difficulty mode e.g. with respect to rewinds
• return of some sort of support system; I was definitely fond of linked attacks as an implementation
• return of an overall high-flexibility class system, similar to (but by no means identical to) the 3H system, but with fewer gender-locks.

[Vexal]

My personal hopes for the game
 

• the base hub is more like My Castle and the usual barracks rather than 3H's Monastary when it comes to size. The monastary's size is part of what made it a drag and they had to make it so that Byleth would slow down for running through areas too quickly due to loading
• Weapon proficiency is primarily gained through use in battle rather than passively gained through systems in the hub
• Get rid of the between-tier-weapon-ranks
• Please don't let our early game mage feel incredibly weak at the start. Please.
• While tomes are back, I do hope elements aren't limited on a per-character basis. I've never liked these types of systems as it can make certain spells bad on the basis it doesn't fit the characters base stats and growths.
• Don't let strength offset weapon weight that overtakes the bld stat.
• Design the game with permadeath in mind and not with the rewind in mind. The rewind feature itself is fine, just don't design around us having it.
• Don't give higher tier weapons penalties. The recent Framme twitter clip confirmed the lack of durability on weapons while staves still have limited uses, and while the first tier of Body Arts don't benefit from the brave effect like the iron tier does, I do not want a situation similar to Fates where the higher tier of weapons just aren't worth using due to their penalties being too high. Weight is enough of a balancing act.
• No same turn reinforcements
• Awakening or RD style forging. Still my favorite style of forging. In order to prevent this from being problematic with infinite durability, my personal suggestion is to either make it so that the weight increases with each upgrade, or make it so that the weapon gains 'uses', and after those uses run out it reverts back to normal
• Give us a steady pace of character recruitments
• If there is a route split (Entirely possible given the world layout), just make it the map order rather than any major plot events being altered
• More character rings than the ones we see in the mural. I want my Oliver ring D: 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Vexal

[Use the Falchion]

Paired endings - they've been a staple for decades at this point, and I like shipping. 

Second Gen Units - Honestly I'm neither hoping nor expecting this to show up, but I like (the idea of) second gen kids. Yet, if a Genealogy remake is next up, I'm 100% fine waiting until then. 

Malig Knight return - Based on the leaks and the first trailer, it looks like one of the girls (the one with the fancy hat) may promote to that. Maybe. 

[Metal Flash]

Sorry if I mentioned this already

• Late game recruits - please don`t frontload units as heavily as Three Houses did. 
• More complex recruitment requirements - not too absurd, but some units needing more than just being talked to for them to join your army would be nice
• More difficulty options - this way, more players can find their ideal level of challenge
• Better enemy balancing on higher difficulties - more clever use of skills and weapons, less stat sponges that take forever to kill and are in numerous number

[DefyingFates]

2 hours ago, Metal Flash said:

More complex recruitment requirements - not too absurd, but some units needing more than just being talked to for them to join your army would be nice

As long as we don't get someone who joins partway through a chapter who needs to be spoken to with a specific person; I hate when that happens.

glares at FE6&7

[Metal Flash]

4 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

As long as we don't get someone who joins partway through a chapter who needs to be spoken to with a specific person; I hate when that happens.

glares at FE6&7

While annoying, it is far from the worst recruitment requirements I have seen.

Spoiler

In TearRing Saga, there is a character that requires you to

-Train a weak character

-Go to a specific house with a specific item

-Have said weak character fight and defeat a tough boss

-Have a specific character recruited to prevent them from leaving the army

And for your troubles, you get a one-trick staff user.

 

[vanguard333]

I've been saying in other threads that I hope that Alear being a divine dragon is actually utilized throughout the story (unlike Corrin being half-dragon), but I hope that it is also thoroughly utilized in the game as well. I hope that Alear is able to transform into their divine dragon form starting from an early point in the game and that the transformation is very versatile in gameplay. This is the second time that an FE game has a dragon protagonist, and I hope that this time, them being a dragon is at the forefront of the gameplay.

It would especially be cool if the dragon form had something similar to the monster mechanics from Three Houses: taking up multiple tiles, barriers, a special AoE attack; stuff like that. I know it's unlikely, and I'm not asking for something identical to the monster mechanics, but I would just like for the transformation mechanic to be a real game-changer and not just essentially another weapon.

Edited October 13, 2022 by vanguard333

[DefyingFates]

9 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

It would especially be cool if the dragon form had something similar to the monster mechanics from Three Houses: taking up multiple tiles, barriers, a special AoE attack; stuff like that. I know it's unlikely, and I'm not asking for something identical to the monster tactics, but I would just like for the transformation mechanic to be a real game-changer and not just essentially another weapon.

Now you're just getting my hopes up. I doubt dragon forms would be that complex, but it would be nice if they were fleshed out a bit more. I don't know if that would work if dragons are part of the secondary weapon relationship being theorized in the Japanese tweets thread though...

[PrincessAlyson]

15 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

It would especially be cool if the dragon form had something similar to the monster mechanics from Three Houses: taking up multiple tiles, barriers, a special AoE attack; stuff like that. I know it's unlikely, and I'm not asking for something identical to the monster mechanics, but I would just like for the transformation mechanic to be a real game-changer and not just essentially another weapon.

Oh, I would really love something like this. They probably won't, but I can hope! I definitely wanted a playable dragon or monster unit in 3H that utilized those mechanics, but alas, enemy only stuff. Having the player be able to do something like that would provide more strategic options.

[Maimishou]

People already complain about the avatar characters. Giving Alear the same mechanics as Three Houses's Demonic Beast would only make that hatred for them worse since they'd be OP in a way other units wouldn't. Say what you will about IS, but I don't think they're dumb enough to do that. At least not before the final battle and even then I doubt it.