NekoKnight

I'm on the fence. Flavor-wise, a lance seems a more practical weapon for a mounted soldier and I don't mind the weapon redundancy with Pegasus Riders that much. Pegasus and Wyverns have very different stats, so I think their weapon type is the least defining trait. But for weapon diversity I think axes is a better choice. There aren't many options for unpromoted axe users and we already have plenty of lances. If I were to make a trinity of fliers it would be: Pegasus: Sword/Lance Wyvern: Lance/Axe Griffon Rider: Axe/Sword With the second weapon after promotion. Warcraft 3 has made me unable to associate Griffons with anything but Dwarves.

Okay, that makes more sense. When you have characters with widely divergent interests, it would be sensible to alienate certain people by befriending others such as marrying your best friend's daughter from the future but most games have the majority of the cast being fairly harmonious so it's hard to imagine. Like, Maybe Vaike and Miriel have clashing personalities but that's not a good enough reason to say I can't befriend both. It's certainly doable but you'd have to put the work in for writing the characters in a way that justifies the divergences. That's why I think personality types or personal backgrounds are better way to divide things up (and easier to plan because you decide how support pools are determined ahead of time instead of how the level of support of every character will affect your future support options). Personality types would definitely affect more than just the supports. It might be interesting to unlock different units or chapters based on, say, a more aggressive personality vs a more calm and diplomatic protagonist.

In regards to the con and weight system, I'd say Fates' weapon effects are a much better choice. Reductions to AS are much more transparent to the player about how they will determine doubling potential than weight/con. It's also less biased against certain characters, particularly females. While the idea has some promise, I think the limitations on support partners might seem arbitrary if players aren't aware of the relationship between characters. People would become frustrated because their support pool was narrowing down in ways they couldn't predict. I have my own ideas about how you can preserve the "support everyone" feature of the MC/Avatar, but making it more sensible. The first is to choose, say, one of five personality types at character creation and have that determine whom you are able to support with. Alternatively you could choose your country of origin which will narrow down who you're able to make friends with. The second one is to tie marriage to the plot. Say the MC and/or Avatar needs to secure some alliances and the method for that is through political marriage. Characters you recruit would belong to a certain faction and choosing to marry any person of that faction would get you their allegiance and limit who you can support after that. However they do it, I would hope future games wouldn't make the player 'Mr. Charisma' that is loved by all. I play games to distance myself from reality, guys!

I think references to pop culture or other works of fiction is fine, provided it makes sense in context. I can think of a legitimate context for "my body is ready" but "I can haz cheeseburger" is going to stick out no matter where it is. It's the difference between clever writing and childish inserts. I think that was intentional irony.

1. You keep the command, no matter your class. Aqua's copycat can't sing to prevent infinite loops. 2. The level 2 and level 3 shops/armories are unlocked at chapter 13 and chapter 20, respectively.

You'd call your lover by name in Japanese, so it still doesn't work in the conventions of the language. Takumi has a line with Aqua like "I can only think of you as a woman now, neesan." It's a contradiction.

And even if the taboo nature of the romance were acknowledged by the two individuals, it still leaves out how everyone else would react to the pseudo-incest.

You can get support points from attack stance too, which is easy for Suzukaze when he has ranged weapons. Let Suzukaze hit an enemy at range and finish them off at melee range with Kamui. Or let Kamui tank enemies using his Dragonstone and have Suzukaze next to him. If Kamui is overleveled, you can make him the support unit in a guard stance for Suzukaze.

I liked the still graphic in Awakening over the live2D stuff in Fates. Their constant movement and changing focus makes them look extremely fidgety. It might work for some personality types like Felicia but not for others.

His end goal is to summon dragons and drain them of their quintessence but most of the plot doesn't actually concern dragons. Nergal isn't a dragon or serve dragons. His plot is just to become all powerful. The antagonists are Nergal, his morphs and the Black Fang. You only encounter dragons 3 times in the story and you only fight one of them. Lyn's story is to reunite with her grandfather. Eliwood's starts as a mission to find his father and transitions into stopping Nergal and the Black Fang, all while dealing with political intrigue and human ambition. It would be a serious misunderstanding of the plot to say FE7 was focused on dragons. FE8 would be identical if you switched out the Demon King for Grima. What would be different? I wasn't saying all antagonists were poorly written just that recent ones are uninteresting. Awakening and Fates had underwhelming antagonists. Tellius and Elibe had antagonists that I liked.

When you hit a weapon rank skill cap, does the game record your weapon usage even if you can't go any higher? For example, if I hit B rank as an unpromoted unit and keep using my weapon X number of times, will it automatically jump to A when I promote or will it stay at B?

I've found that someone dedicated to 1 weapon type will be around B rank by the time they hit 20/20. But Kamui gets bonus experience from his skill so C Tomes by 20/20 might be closer to the truth. You could switch over immediately, but you'd lose access to the Yato until you promote.

I've played it but the changes are just tweaks to the old system. Weapons that can't double in Fates are like that to make them more situational (javelins, hand axes, Nosferatu etc) and have nothing to do with specific class niches/that class' ability to reliably double. In my opinion, adjusting attack speed based on weapon choice for some weapons is a positive balancing mechanic, but I'd disagree that the speed stat itself needs reworking.

Nohr and Hoshido weapons are unique but can be equipped regardless of the class faction. A lance and naginata can both be equipped by a Paladin or Lance Fighter. Silas, for example, starts out with a sword but is more likely to be using katanas in Hoshido because those are the weapons you typically get.

I'd say the game is balanced as is and doesn't need a major overhaul. I understand objecting to the principle of the speed stat determining your ability to double, but in practice I don't find it problematic. Your argument is too simplistic and writes off all the ways a unit can still be useful even if they can't double. Some units will fall behind and be less useful if they can't succeed at their niche, but isn't that more an issue of a unit's growths rather than the doubling system itself? You make it sound like one's ability to play efficiently is entirely up to a dice roll, but it's really about choosing the right units and strategies.

I say keep Fate's gameplay but take out marriage/children and Avatars. Go back to writing interesting interpersonal relationships without feeling obligated to accommodate for player worship and eugenics. I don't mind a customizable MC, but take the focus away from "Who do I, the player, want to bang?"

Not to mention that a unit not doubling isn't always a deal breaker. You don't have to one-round every enemy you face. Knights aren't going to be doubling many enemies, but if a lance stab weakens the opponent to a level that another unit can kill them, then mission accomplished. Sounds like Dluna is arguing passionately against a principle, even if in practice it works. Who else brings up doubling mechanics as a significant weakness of the system?

Not marrying off Sakura or Elise will result in one less parent and thus one less child paralogue. And if you marry Mamui to a first gen, non Kamui-sexual, you were already losing one character/chapter. This is cutting out real content. This. The idea that children shouldn't fight is rooted in conflicts where fighting is optional.

I guess? It's about the same as any other character in the series. They have some poignant reason to initially join your group and then they just stick around because the protagonist's cause is worth fighting for. It doesn't sound like I'm going to convince you. I said children characters generally have a reason to be fighting, either for protecting something they care about or because they need to protect themselves. This is relevant to the narrative. Sexualizing children is not. For the record, many parents DO object to their children joining the conflict so it's not like the game just forgets about their relative vulnerability.

1. No, Kamui is a solid combat unit so it would be a waste to always keep them as pair up fodder. The ability is still helpful for when you do pair up (attack or guard stance) however. 2. You can buy any skill that is available for a character through any means. Because Kamui can marry anyone, that means anyone can get any skill that doesn't belong to a special class. You do need to find characters online who have the skills you want, so it's not guaranteed to be an easy process to find all the skills you want. It also gets more expensive, the more skills you buy. 3. The Avatar has solid growths. I don't know who said otherwise. As for choosing a secondary class, choose one with skills that would be hard to acquire for either yourself or the Avatar's spouse/children. 4. I benched Kanna so I don't really know but I found them underwhelming.

There are 2 arms scrolls in the level 3 shop and you find some in the main story too.

I thought Silver weapons would completely invalidate Iron weapons before playing. Haha, oh wow. I didn't think highly of the removal of durability and nerfs to ranged weapons but I think they did a fairly good job balancing the new weapon benefits and weaknesses. I don't think durability is a bad system, however. Just different.

No, you're spot on. I (usually) don't bring up fan-service as a negative feature of IPs that have it ingrained into the character of the series. You're comparing apples to oranges here. Children characters in Fire Emblem join your army for a number of reasons. You don't have to support children fighting in wars to acknowledge that it might be necessary, or something they want to do out of personal convictions. Maybe they could be more self-aware about children fighting alongside their adult peers but at least they have reasons to fight. Things like being able to marry children is completely unnecessary (but you're encouraged to to get all the characters) for the narrative. What purpose does it serve to have Zero, a grown man, hitting on a 12 year old girl? Now, you could have children being married to adults as a point of drama, but Fire Emblem completely normalizes what are not normal relationships. It's the same way for outfits. The game shouldn't make sexualizing children a feature.