Florete

Sounds fun. Gaiden/Echoes: I'm going to go a bit out there and choose Mycen. I think it makes sense to pick someone from the other side of the story, and I don't want to go with Alm for...reasons. Mycen still has a nice connection to Celica and an important role in the story overall. His map can be the prologue of Echoes. Genealogy: I think Julia would be interesting to have. Seliph or Deirdre seem the most natural to go alongside Sigurd, but in a way that's kind of exactly why I'd rather have Julia. It's not what you'd expect, but it could still work in a nice way. Her map can be some portion of the final chapter. Thracia: I honestly don't know enough about Thracia to make a good choice, but Nanna or Eyvel both feel like good options. If I had to pick one...Eyvel, for the potential interaction with Sigurd. I don't know what the map would be. Binding Blade: Hear me out - Eliwood. Yes, old Eliwood. It's a bit of cheating to get all three FE7 lords in and it'd be funny to see Lyn's and Hector's reactions. Idunn would also be pretty hype, though. His map can be Valorous Roland. Hey, Lyn's map is from Binding Blade, so Eliwood's can be from Blazing even if he's representing Binding in this case. Sacred Stones: While Lyon is tempting, I'd instead choose L'Arachel. Mainly because she's a personal favorite, but she does work thematically. Her map can be based on Last Hope, Rausten Court. Radiant Dawn: Sothe. Probably doesn't need explaining, but I guess I will anyway; Micaiah's closest ally, knows and reveres Ike, would bring a knife using Emblem in. I honestly don't know what a fitting map would be, though. Maybe RD 3-6 since it's the start of him fighting against former allies and the fog is thematic for him as a rogue. And it's a pretty notorious map in general. And for fun, if I were to add another Archanean Emblem, I'd go with the Whitewings, Minerva + Palla/Catria/Est. Yeah, all four of them would be there, with Minerva as the primary. The sister trio could even have a special interaction with Celica.

Spoiler tags are pretty pointless without knowing what game is being spoiled. How am I supposed to know if I've played the game being spoiled or not? I realize for some games even knowing that there is a "spoiler death" at all can be considered a spoiler, but if someone is opening this topic they should have already accepted that fact. I don't really have a #1 so I'll just mention a few that stuck out for me. I'll start with Resident Evil 4 Remake since I just played it and thus it is currently on my mind: FE7 Radiant Dawn Okami Hollow Knight And last but certainly not least (in fact, probably the most impactful one in this post), NieR Automata

I love it in RD specifically. I think it works for what they wanted to do with the game. However, I wouldn't want it to be a regular thing in the series.

I think that's splitting hairs, yet still it wouldn't make Mark the first: Jorge is in FEH (as are the ones Othin mentioned above).

Lma-to-the-freaking-o. If I'd seen that Lyn/Mark art outside the trailer I'd have thought it was a hoax, not because it's bad (it's not), but because I wouldn't believe the mad men at IS would actually do it. This is hardly the first time a non-fighter can fight in FEH (Merlinus, lots of dancers, etc).

Might we finally see the Mani Katti in FEH? I know it wouldn't technically make sense, but they probably don't care about that.

That's one application (and one that people do quite often, regardless of what you might think of it). The point is to use her to her own strengths, while you seem to want her to just fit your own desired role for her. As far as other units doing the job better, I never said she was good, but there are more reasons people use units than them being the best option for anything. Maybe you disagree, but I would not see Lapis as a better unit without her personal skill, so it's not "outright detrimental." I don't rely on crit triggers with most units regardless, so if I'm using Lapis the drawback of her personal is barely noticed by me. This is not narrow at all, this is how people play and is a primary feature of the game. Your list ignores the fact that you have a team full of units, of which Diamant is only one. No single unit has access to more than two weapon types, therefore no one can break everyone. So what if he can't break swords? You should have someone else to break them. Great Knights (Generals are immune to weapon triangle breaks) usually aren't defensive enough that he can't do damage to them with a stronger weapon, and a hammer/poleaxe/armorslayer is absolutely damaging them, and he's definitely going to appreciate the higher hit here. But again, if he can't, so what? If Diamant can't even damage these guys, most likely none of your physical units are and you actually want to take them out with your magic units. Why would you have him attack someone he can't damage, let alone be worried about giving them +15 hit? Sword and knife enemies tend to be more accurate and speedy, so he appreciates the extra hit and probably wasn't relying on dodging anyway (if they weren't pre-broken and he's not finishing them off). Arts users are a joke when you initiate on them. That leaves tomes as the only enemy type where maybe his skill is doing more harm than good...though it's really more like Sages specifically, since Mage Knights are a bit faster and are weak to poleaxes. The fact that you'd even mention scenarios where he's already at 100% hit sounds, like Lapis above, as though you're not thinking of applying the skill properly and just trying to have him do random stuff. Diamant's skill means he can more freely use weapons that aren't as accurate; a hammer/poleaxe on him has almost as much hit as an iron axe on someone else; a steel sword now has as much hit as a slim sword; a killing edge has as much hit as an iron sword. Etc. Lastly, his skill isn't helpful against bows when he's attacking them up close (which is most of the time), because they can't counter and therefore it's not triggering.

I'm not Jotari, but I do feel similar in this regard. On the surface, Three Houses does appear to have the better story, but I ultimately enjoyed Engage's more (not saying Engage's was great, though). Three Houses had such crazy pacing and presentation issues that I was never able to get very invested, and it really felt like it bit off more than it could chew (a lot of those subplots aren't payed off well, if at all). Engage's story, while overall pretty bland, never takes itself too seriously and achieves what it sets out to do competently enough. For me, that's what it would mean to say that Engage has the more competent story. Like, I laughed at multiple parts of Engage's story, some of which I don't think we were actually meant to laugh, but that is still more joy than I ever got from TH's story, which had me in a constant state of waiting for it to get good until...it ended.

She works well in fog clusters. I don't see Lapis as someone you rely on to do heavy damage to begin with, but as someone who draws in less accurate enemies and/or gets in safer hits before others finish them off (or finishes the job herself after drawing them in). Lapis is far from a perfect unit, but her personal skill is not "outright detrimental." She's not a star, but it helps her play a role. Giving enemies an extra 15% hit chance doesn't matter if he breaks them or finishes them off. Yes, there are other ways to increase hit, so what? This is another one. He also has axes after promotion in his special class. He's not exactly a dodge-tank to begin with so you're probably not relying on him avoiding attacks to keep him alive. And for what it's worth, these skills probably were meant to be balanced more around normal/hard than maddening.

A lot of them are fine, but some of them could do with help. For as much as I've used Etie (she's been MVP on two separate runs), I've never made real use of her personal skill. Some changes I would make: Vander - Make it 1-2 less damage each instead. He's supposed to be Alear's main bodyguard so +5 crit is kind of weird. Vander also generally seems designed to help feed kills to other units, and him getting +5 crit goes against that. Etie - This one feels difficult to make work without changing it pretty drastically. It requires using her action first, so it's hard to get her to initiate with it, which is what she wants as an archer. But then she also needs to not be at max HP, which isn't as common for a unit in her position, and then she also has a lower than average HP growth so she might not even get it there. Perhaps...whenever she's healed by an external source (staff, Seadall, etc.), she gets +2 Str for 1 turn. Maybe even change it to +Dex since she has the Str already, though the Str is more thematic for her. Jade - The skill itself would be good on a unit who actually has Res to use, which is not Jade. For Jade, changing the effect to be "magic foes cannot make follow-up attacks" would be a lot more effective. That would be a big improvement, but Jade kinda needs it. Fogado - This one is so weird. Not only does it require a combat both he and his enemy come out of, but in order for it actually mean anything he has to take another attack from them and they need to have had visible crit on him. Fogado doesn't have great Luck, but his class isn't designed to be taking many hits anyway. The easiest way to activate it would be to take a hit on enemy phase (which goes with Cupido's skill) and then initiate on player phase, but at that point you should be killing before the opponent gets an attack in. The "most recent opponent" condition is awkward to begin with, so at least make it, like...dodge -10. Or maybe crit -5 but applies on the enemy as a 1-turn debuff so anyone can use it. Bunet - Make it any healing item. Vulnerary, Elixir, Antitoxin. No need for it to be just packed lunches. Maybe even make it work with tonics. I wouldn't agree with either of these. You have to sacrifice crit on Lapis but she can be a pretty good dodge tank with that skill (and the Hit can be nice, too), and Diamant getting +15 Hit is nothing to scoff at in a game with Break considering it only activates when he initiates. In fact, I find it strange you'd list Kagetsu's as "fairly useful" but then list these as "outright detrimental." Kagetsu's is basically just a player-phase +10 hit, while these two do more but with minor drawbacks to work around.

Not exactly. I really can't see myself ever going back to Three Houses, especially after Engage. If anything it's my experience with Three Houses and all its flaws that made me like Engage more.

I was going to mention the potential Flame Lance Mage Knight option, then I noticed that Flame Lance's parameters are 100% inferior to Levin Sword. I guess it is still an option if you really want/need another sword breaker. The fact that they feel pretty even is nice. Mage Knight has move, Spd, and Levin Sword, Sage has staff, mystical, and Thyrsus. I'd say if you really need another staff user or if your magic unit is speedy enough and you want to use Byleth/Thyrsus on them, go Sage (Equipping Byleth also gives up to +3 Mag/Spd, so that's a good idea regardless). Otherwise, go Mage Knight.

Okay I see the vote totals now. Something I forgot to mention before was botting, which there was at least some amount of in the first four years, and was gone or at least substantially reduced in later years, which happens to be where we see the first major drop-off in vote counts. Year 6 votes are not that much lower than year 5. Year 7 is substantially lower, but it's also when CYL happened at an unusual time and when people were getting ready for a new console FE. Keep in mind that just because people had 13 votes doesn't mean they were all used. Year 1 is arguably the most likely year for not all of the votes to be used, because voters in later years are more likely to be FEH players and thus would have more investment in the poll. I naturally remembered CYL1 voting being two weeks long, but I can also still access my battle ballot for that year and see my 13 votes. I don't remember the following years, and I also can't view my battle ballots for them. Weird that I can only view year 1 and year 8.

What are the vote totals for each year? I don't see that on your spreadsheet. In particular, I'd be curious to see if year 4 had more than year 2, since that's when Three Houses was added. Something that can likely be attributed to the declining interest is that every set of winners is another set of popular characters no longer voteable. It's a popularity contest and a bunch of the most popular characters in the series aren't on it anymore. Engage has a good chance of sweeping next year for that reason alone; there just isn't as much competition. Year 1 also lasted longer and thus gave everyone more votes, 13 in total. I don't remember when it became 7.

I'm aware that emblem rings get forcefully unequipped in arena, but does this also apply to DLC emblems? I'm specifically wondering if Tiki's Starsphere can be active on levels gained from arena without inheriting it.

I was actually thinking of this exact idea just before refreshing and seeing this topic. Alfred is clearly used in the Sigurd tutorial, so this makes sense. Byleth and Hortensia are obtained at exactly the same time, in fact. Adding to this, Veyle is also used in the Emblem Alear tutorial. Yeah, Leif is the oddest one. Boucheron has Leif in the tutorial, but even that seems like a totally random pick. I think an argument could be made for Vander, as he still shows up in later cutscenes and Leif was (iirc) one of the rings entrusted to Lythos to begin with. I also think Eirika could realistically be on Goldmary (she gets a boss convo, even), but if you had to pick one or the other it'd be Rosado.

Swordmaster and Berserker I agree on. These classes are pretty much strictly worse than alternatives. Sniper is largely worse than alternatives, but still has potential value in its class skill and being covert. Not something I would necessarily recommend, but it's a cut above swordmaster and berserker. Halberdier can be a nice class, though. I think it's not commonly used or recommended because no one naturally comes in it, so not many people actually have experience with it. But Pincer Attack opens up some nice build options for certain units, it's statistically competitive with other options, and Brionac is actually a decent S rank weapon on account of being 1-2 range. I've got Goldmary as a Halberdier in my current draft run and it's allowing her to do stuff she probably couldn't otherwise.

When it gets this low I don't think CYL votes matter. They probably just chose Syrene for the 5* slot because she's hotter.

Ismaire and Rearmed/Ascended L'Arachel confirmed for next Sacred Stones banner.

Does Draconic Hex require the unit to hit and/or do damage in order to activate?

He only has 4 move. As your units should all have at least 5 move at this point (barring any Generals), you will be catching up with him. He also doesn't initiate combat, so if you can ever manage to get someone in front of him, you can safely delay him a bit. This is why I mentioned "less-skilled players." I know how to take him out on turn 1; I mentioned having done it myself. But for players whom this might be their first FE, or maybe they've played a couple others but only once each, the way to do this may not be as apparent. And not only do you have to know how to do it, you need to have the units who actually can pull it off. Getting at least six units who can average half the boss's HP bar to the boss on turn 1 may not sound hard to you or me, but it will to others. This potentially making it the easiest paralogue I think would be fine considering your reward is something past games have always just handed the player for free. I was surprised I had to do a paralogue for it at all. It would be nice, especially on future playthroughs, to be able to just go in and grab it quickly if I want to. And while it may in a sense be the "final" paralogue, Marth's is unlocked at the same time.

The Pact Ring boss is much closer than other paralogue bosses, but I wouldn't say he's "in your range." No one can reach him with their natural move (or if they can, just barely), and you certainly can't deplete all his life bars with natural move. Less skilled players might not think of using proper dance/warp combinations to kill the boss on turn 1, and unlike the Emblem paralogues, this boss runs away from you, making it a chase objective for players who don't finish it on that first turn. All of this is why I, at least, was surprised - and rather annoyed, tbh - by the objective change when I did gun him down on turn 1. Another thing to note is that the game doesn't seem to actually expect you to beat the boss so quickly. You say the other enemies around at the start wouldn't be relevant if the listed objective is true, I think they're there because they expect players to have to chase the boss and thus interact with those enemies before meeting the initial objective. If you do kill the boss on turn 1, you end up in a really rough situation surrounded on all fronts, especially if you didn't move some of your units on that first turn, who might now be facing down multiple enemies and looking at certain doom, despite getting a new player phase. If you kill the boss closer to where he tries to escape, you've taken out most or all of the initial enemies and are at the top of the map where it's much easier to defend your position. It's also up here where all the engage meter recharges are, further suggesting that this is where players are expected to be. It kind of pisses me off that the player is arguably punished for managing to clear the stated objective so fast rather than rewarded. If you do it right when it opens it's still a pretty challenging map.

Bond fragments are going to be a YMMV situation. People who do activities a lot, see supports, etc. will get a lot, because most things in the game generate a small amount of them, which adds up over time. When you get the best rod you can get 1,000 a pop for certain fish. But people who skip a lot of the Somniel stuff will find themselves very short, especially early on. In my current run I've been doing activities a lot, but still was pretty short pre-Ch 10 after using them for proficiencies and Mercurius spamming.

What about these?

Break is a cool feature that I wouldn't mind seeing an improved version of. I really just want weapon triangle advantage to be relevant on both phases. I think Engage's class system is better than Three Houses', but I'm still not a fan of "everyone can be anything." It induces a lot of choice paralysis and takes uniqueness away from characters. It also often results in a couple classes being better than all the rest (usually Wyvern Riders, also Warrior in Engage), which is just dull. Awakening and Fates still have the best version imo. I also really am not a fan of how weapon level is completely static and based purely on class. Oh yeah and internal level blows. Emblems are great and I'd say I honestly would like to see them come back, but in a different form. Engage is a celebration title so it made sense to do this with past characters, and a new game could revive the feature itself without the callbacks to past games. After all, we've had turn rewinds for three games in a row and it's been called something different each time. I don't, however, like the bond rings system or SP and skill inheritance. I guess if you took the gacha elements out of bond rings it would probably be fine, and the SI system runs into the same issue as the free class system. Engravings are cool, though. Class types are a great idea. Implementation may need work (armored units being immune to break wasn't enough), but it's a start. Smash weapons are a cool idea in theory but they need a lot of work. If you're going to be attacked first when initiating the benefits need to be a lot bigger. I find they're best used on enemies who can't counter and get killed in one hit; the former is fine as a strategical workaround of their weakness, but the latter defeats the purpose of the pushback. Honestly, though, I think it'd be really hard to make the pushback feel valuable outside of very specific and probably setup circumstances. The Somniel isn't bad, but it's a real pain that it wants you to repeat tasks over and over again. I don't want to run around picking up fruits, do strength training, go fishing, do a wyvern ride, and whatever else every time I return. Poison is good. I dabble in slightly poisoning myself.