NekoKnight

I don't use it often, and when I do it's generally for skill collection. Like you, I generally find that a character's identity is tied to their class. I'm more okay with it when the other classes share a weapon type (if only because dropping to E-rank weapons fucking sucks) such as reclassing Caeldori or Shirointo a Weapon Master. Sometimes it's fun to take advantage of, however, such as in the case of a unit whose growths would work better on other classes. My final verdict is...keep it in. I won't use it a lot but options are nice. I would like it if a character's reclass options were better thought out though (giving pure magic classes to pure physical characters is a waste, for example). You might want to reword your poll options. They sound like BIG YES, BIG NO and small no. The 3rd option should be more like "It's good and bad"

I would have liked it more had the artist made original art for all the characters. It's one thing for the characters to retain their original style but the characters are in the exact same poses as their official artwork. No Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones/10

Indeed, "lawful succession" is just a mechanism for peaceful continuation of the government but what is "legal" or who is "right" really comes down to who has the biggest army backing them. Which is why I think a more ambiguous legal situation is better for a morally grey story. If the narrative clearly paints the older sibling as having the right to the throne, then you've already undermined the moral conflict.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the younger sibling has an official coronation, he's the new king legally (unless he's just a steward until the real king returns, but that paints a completely different situation and the older sibling is obviously in the right). Is there some kind of historical precedent for a passed over king candidate being legally entitled to the throne? I would assume that there are no 'take backs' and any change of power would depend the current king voluntarily abdicating. Or more likely, the passed over candidate would just have to take the throne by force. Maybe the legal situation is best left ambiguous and it really being up to the individual (in an out of universe) which claim they think is most valid. That brings to mind a possible Camus character. One of the little brother's supporters who recognizes that there are a lot of problems in the country but he respects the younger sibling for trying to bring it all together as opposed to the older sibling who fled his responsibilities. That's one way to frame it. The version I was suggesting was pushing a lot of misfortune and unhappiness on the younger sibling to justify his villainous actions (unlike Zephiel whose misfortune is probably disproportionate with the level of destruction he desired) and the older brother comparatively well off which just escalates the younger sibling's anger. The feeling I want to evoke is "This is one bad dude, but boy do I feel sorry for the guy". Your telling makes the siblings more even in the ups and downs of life, which I can respect. Good call. It's actually better character development for him to come back on his own volition than have someone summon him. Give me the time and talent and I'll make it happen. I'll let you know when your royalties are due.

Xane was okay. I used him to get a second Minerva but I don't think I'd really care about never seeing them again. They provide some interesting story options, but I think a character who can take anyone's form would need more limitations (such as Anankos only being able to fully control people who are dead) to make it not broken.

These things are true, and I appreciate the measures that IS took to scale back how easy it is to change classes/acquire skills. That said, skill buying is a thing in Fates too, which is an even faster way of breaking the game in half, if you so desire. I feel that Robin's class selection is less a problem than the rest of the mechanics that surround it (easy experience and resetting your level). Reclassing several times is still a deliberate choice, even if it's easier to abuse in Awakening.

This is a good start, but I think the younger sibling is going to need to be a bit more villainous to make the older sibling's return not seem like a super dick move. The younger sibling is the legal sovereign and kicking him off the throne, even if he's not doing the best job of ruling, would make the protagonist an unsympathetic usurper. Perhaps the younger sibling knowingly allows corruption and injustices to continue because his control is tenuous at best and he needs the support of his corrupt nobles. Furthermore, he could already be taking heavy-handed approaches to quashing other political reformers in the country (the disenfranchised that the protagonists can recruit). Concerning the "abusive parents" idea that some people floated, I don't think it needs to be like they were evil, just had strong favoritism for the older sibling (think Faramir and his father but toned down a bit). It could be a consistent theme of abandonment and loss that drives the younger sibling to villainy. Imagine also if the two siblings had a shared romantic interest that eventually chooses the protagonist, so by the end of the game, the younger sibling feels like his parent's love, the romantic interest and even his country are about to be stolen by his good-for-nothing older sibling. Apologies if you already considered these ideas, I'm a bit late to the conversation. EDIT: And because I'm a nerd that is now making fanfiction about a plot pitch, maybe the love interest is the one who seeks out the protagonist to bring him back after seeing the country decline under the younger sibling's ineffectual leadership. While the love interest did this out of genuine concern (and only wants the protagonist to advise the younger sibling, not replace him) for the well-being of the country, the younger sibling sees it as a betrayal.

Oh, I don't deny that it was easy to break, just that the core problem remains grinding, which is a conscious decision on the player's part. I do like how Fates did reclassing better (the level not resetting) but people aren't discussing how reclassing works, they are discussing how many class sets the Avatar starts with. It's not really that big a difference to have all classes available from the get-go and having to support grind for them. More support grinding in Fates and more EXP grinding in Awakening to get the same result.

Um, you mean besides choosing Oni Savage as your talent? Also, it's true that Robin can change to any class in the game, but if you want to get a huge collection of skills, you need to buy the class changing seal AND grind him. It's just as much the player's fault for breaking the system.

I would have started with Blazing Sword or Sacred Stone, but Awakening isn't a terrible place to start.

Zephiel is conquering the rest of the continent so that's still pretty bad right? Does Gayle need to know that the endgame plan is "eradicate humanity"?

I don't think the person who made that picture really concerned themselves with a balanced roster, they just took a random assortment of Heroes art and arranged it into a generic fighting game template. I'd have to see the gameplay before buying a game. Super Smash Bros is the only real "fighting" game I play anyway. Is buying games in the hope that the next game will be something you actually want a good use of your money?

Well shit, over a thousand feathers just from playing casually? (The max is 1500) I had to fight the majority of the battles on Advanced difficulty (not easy with level 40 Takumi's raining pain over my level 30 guys) to get the most feathers, and that was with a featured character doubling my points.

I'm a little of everything. I like getting new characters but I play every section of the game to get all the resources possible. You really need to participate in the Arena if you want enough feathers to upgrade your characters, and nothing 3 star or under is really practical to use.

Radiant Dawn did have some extra effects for when a staff was equipped, such as self healing or automatic status recovery. I do think they should be primarily support, but I'd like it if that support role were expanded. Effect staves in the past have had little durability, take higher weapon ranks and are only available later in the game. Ideally, in my opinion, staff users would be able to do more than basic healing from the start. I'd like to get away from characters or classes being "healbots"

In Fire Emblem Heroes, they made some adjustments to the way staff users work. Rather than being dedicated healers, they all have some offensive power (although far below the damage output of dedicated tome users). Even more interesting is that many of these staves (and the skill triggers you can activate) add additional effects such as lowering the movement of enemies or reducing their attack power. How would you feel about staffs users in the mainline games being made more like this? Do you think they should have a weaker magic attack + effect or do you like them as being defenseless and only using the traditional effect staves (Berserk, Silence, Sleep, etc)? Personally, I like what they did in Heroes and would have both those assault/effect staves in addition to the long range effect staves we've seen in the past. I could see "healers" being dedicated support units, the magical analogue to what ninja were with hidden weapons/lockpicking if ninja were not broken.

If you want to use him, sure, why not. He has higher bases on Hard and two additional skills. As far as what skills to give him, I suppose that depends on his growths and the enemy stats. His speed and magic growths are pretty low, so I don't know how much Ignis or Darting Blow will help you.

I think Arete and Mikoto being siblings is just something they tossed in so both Azura and Kamui could both be Vallite royalty. No the naming conventions don't make sense, much like the rest of Fates writing. But if we are going on the "Mikoto is from Valla" canon, then I'm going to headcanon that that 'Mikoto' is a name she chose after getting married to Sumeragi and she had a different Vallite name whatever that means before that. Her child was also given a Hoshidan name. If Kamui were kidnapped and raised as a Nohrian, i think it would make more sense for them to rename him to hide his identity. As for why I switch between the Japanese and localized names, it's because I play both versions and retain the right to be inconsistent.

This is the basics for how I'd write Garon (the biggest problem of Conquest). The set-up would be that Hoshido and Nohr had trade agreements in the past (food in exchange for metals and gems) but as the food crisis worsens in Nohr, Hoshido refuses to give them any more. After exhausting all diplomatic options, Garon attempts to kidnap the royal Hoshidan line to ransom them back (they only succeed in taking Kamui). Mikoto wants her child back but is overruled by her advisors and Hoshido cuts trade off with Nohr completely. War is inevitable at this point which is where our story begins. While the war is about securing Nohr's future (to which the Nohrian siblings whole-hardheartedly support), to Garon it is much more personal and he wants to punish Hoshido for denying him. The conquest would take up half the game (Kamui reluctantly agrees to it after being persuaded by Xander), ending with Ryoma falling in battle and the other siblings captured. Garon takes over Hoshido but is far crueler than necessary. Rebel elements harry Nohrian forces and Garon executes Takumi in response. Devastated by the loss of another brother and the increasing brutality of Garon, Kamui gather allies and tries to persuade his Nohrian siblings to revolt. Xander would be a late game recruit because he is the hardest to convince of Garon's tyranny. In this version, Kamui would have memories of his life in Hoshido before being captured so he is more realistically conflicted on the war. Think Theon Greyjoy levels of personal conflict.

I vote JJ48 to be in charge of all future naming decisions. I shall name my firstborn Carchetype in his honor. That sounds like a great story prompt. It would be an interesting conflict between the heroes who value an immediate peace and independent kingdoms vs the antagonists Lady Antagonista, long may she reign who are trying to establish a longer lasting peace through reunification of the empire. And on that trail of thought, maybe they could even do a route split where you can choose to oppose Carchetype and fight for independence or support Carchetype, dispose of Lady Antagonista and become a benevolent emperor.

I think abrasive/cold people work better as supporting protagonists. Ike is a solid base (he's naive at worst, but he always has the best intentions) and Soren (or Shinon) are effective foils. The main character is the person the player follows most closely, so they must be appealing in some way, or you risk destroying the player's desire to move forward (case in point, Nohrrin). It's hard to say how well the likes of Soren and Shinon would fair as a protagonist because they have very divergent personalities from Ike and would thus make different choices and get different development. There are a number of flaws you can attach to a protagonist, such as arrogance, overconfidence, or prejudice, but the player needs to see why other people would like them despite their flaws. A good redeeming feature of abrasive types is personal kindness or strong sense of justice.

I couldn't stand Luke (and most of the cast of Abyss, for that matter). There is a line between having a flawed character who grows into a more likable one and having someone who is just plain unlikable. He starts off as an asshole and then he metaphorically cuts his balls off and can't stop apologizing to people. I think rather than being generally unpleasant, a flawed protagonist should be fundamentally a good person but have some hangups that rub people the wrong way. Eventually they grow past their flaw or prejudices but still keep the base (ie the likable parts) of their personality in tact.

Lyon is my favorite although Support!Xander is the best allied prince. Micaiah technically doesn't count, even though she can become a queen, so I'll say Elincia for her RD character development.

Oboro, both as a retainer and as an individual. A nuanced character who doesn't have a single trait completely dwarf her character. She's basically a better Cordelia (although I like her too), having a romantic interest, a solid work ethic and grieves for her lost ones, but none of these are taken to absurd extremes. It also helps that she's such a beast on the battlefield.

I don't think he counts because he's not siding with the villains because of his own principles, he's doing it to protect his sister. He's a Mustafa (or some earlier character), a good person forced to serve evil to protect something they care about.