vanguard333

Like to? I made several attempts on LEGO Ideas, including both the scene in Awakening where Chrom and Robin fight Validar, and the moment in Birthright/Conquest when Azura sings in front of King Garon. So yes, I think LEGO Fire Emblem might be cool. Will it happen? If the results of my efforts are anything to go by, no sadly.

Forced grinding: When I play an RPG, I just want to explore, fight monsters, complete the story, etc. I don't want to needlessly fight the same monster 1,000,000 times just to progress in the game. Areas you cannot return to after a certain point in the story: Sometimes this one is actually okay, but most of the time there's no real reason you cannot return to that location. Also, if you missed something when you were there, you can't go back and get it. Characters clumsily swinging realistic two-handed weapons very slowly: what's the point of having a realistic greatsword/zweihander in a game if the hero slowly and clumsily swings the sword like it's a telephone pole with an anvil at the end; it just ruins the badass feel of using a two-handed sword. Examples of this include Dark Souls and Dragon Age. Characters throwing their shields behind them whenever they attack: The whole point of a shield is that it is in front of you the whole time; what's the point of a shield if the character is almost never using it. Link understood this and kept his shield in front of him in Ocarina of Time and he's an amateur in that game. Half the game being DLC: I paid for the game; I shouldn't have to pay for the game again just to have what should have come with the game in the first place. At least Nintendo promised never to do this when it started including DLC in their games. Button-mashing (at least that's what I think it's called); I really dislike games where there's almost no strategy behind what attacks to use/spells to cast and are just "Use as many of them as you can as much as possible". Ability cooldowns only give the illusion of strategy in most cases, as you're not really having to time your attacks even with the cooldown. Examples include World of Warcraft and, to a much lesser extent, Xenoblade Chronicles X.

1. Light magic and dark magic should both return. 2. More mission objectives than just seize and route. 3. Main characters that are not swordsmen. 4. Bring back the customizable unit, but give the character almost no bearing on the plot. One can still give the character significance by making him/her the narrator or the character from whose perspective the story is being told if that makes sense. But, other than that, the character should have no importance. Perhaps the player has to select a character background (peasant, noble, etc.) and distinct personalities, and these affect whom he/she can have support conversations. 5. Shields. I have not played Gaiden, and I am waiting for SoV to come out in North America, but I think shields are a really good idea: being able to trade offense for a bit more defence. But, if a character is not using a shield, then they should use their weapon with both hands, as it shows why they're not using a shield. 6. Base Conversations. 7. Limited supports; by that I mean each person only has so many people with whom they can have support conversations. Furthermore, bring S supports back, but have it that the characters get married after the game ends, like in older FE games. 8. Hybrid classes. I do agree that often the unit either ends up only good at weapon or magic rather than both, or ends up good at neither. I would like to see hybrid classes that are good to use and actually use weapon and magic. To overcome the stat problem, one of them could learn a skill that makes any equipped magic use the unit's magic stat while also using the opponents defence (for example: a unit of this class with 8 strength, 17 magic and a sword with five might, up against a unit with 10 defence would deal 3 damage without the skill, and 12 damage with the skill). 9. An anti-magic class, similar to Awakening dread fighter. 10. Have generals wear more realistic armour, sort of like what the barons are wearing in Echoes based on the combat overview trailer. It is still oversized, but it looks good and not completely impractical, unlike Awakening and Fates. Speaking of which, I think the baron class in Echoes, from what I can see in the trailer, is wearing chain mail under the plate armour; if it is chain mail, then that's a real first for Fire Emblem. I don't recall a single time previously that any unit in Fire Emblem wore chain mail.

There is one that I can think of: Bran. I'm not sure how common it is, but it doesn't sound like an uncommon name.

There are quite a number of villains for them to choose. But, there are only so many archetypes that the villains fall under (note there is some overlap and the number of characters is not complete): 1. Heavily-Armoured guy with a powerful weapon: Hardin, Rudolf, Arvis, Zephiel, Black Knight, Garon 2. Cavalry; usually of the Camus archetype, but with some exceptions: Camus, Berkut, Petrine, Bertram, Walhart, Xander 3. Flier: Michalis, Ashnard, Aversa 4. (Usually Dark) Magic User: Gharnef, Julius, Nergal, Lyon, Lekain, Lehran, Ashera, Validar 5. Evil Dragon: Medeus, Duma, Dheginsea, Grima (who probably would be a stage or fought while possessing future Robin), Anankos 6. A joke in comparison/just a joke: Gangrel, Oliver Medeus would be great as he can start as an Earth Dragon and transform into a Dark Dragon as an ability, and he's the original Evil Dragon bad guy and the second best in my opinion (the best being Dheginsea because he's not the big bad guy and because of his backstory and the several-hundred years of guilt and sorrow he has had to endure that made him a haunted man; which is similar to Medeus but, unlike Medeus, his backstory is explained better). Gangrel could make a decent minor antagonist if the game needs one. Oliver would be funny. If Duma gets in, it will be due to FE Echoes: SoV (same with Rudolf and Berkut). Hardin and Black Knight are surprisingly similar; where Black Knight has blessed armour (which gameplay-wise could grant him temporary invincibility or a chapter where he's on the stage but you cannot hope to beat him), Hardin has the Darksphere. The Black Knight, however, is more iconic, so I would expect the Black Knight, but not both. Arvis would basically be an armoured fire mage, Garon has dragon transformation and goo transformation, and Zephiel, sadly, doesn't really have anything that sets him apart, except maybe his sword/lance weapon. EDIT: Apparently, from what people below are saying, Hardin is rather iconic. But the Black Knight has appeared outside Fire Emblem (albeit as a Smash Bros. Trophy and as a Mii Swordfighter costume). Cavalry-wise, Walhart, Camus and Xander are the most likely. Walhart would give some Awakening representation (though Gangrel could be used for that), and Camus is the best written of the three, but that's not saying much. Hard to say, but, in all likelihood, I think only one would get in at first and the other two would be reserved for DLC. The rest, aside from Berkut (and only due to Echoes), have almost no hope of getting in. Fliers: I would be surprised if even one of them gets in. Here is the problem: there are so many evil magic wielders in Fire Emblem. Some, such as Validar and Lekain, can be eliminated for being unlikely. But, that still leaves so many; each with something that sets them apart from the rest. Gharnef is the original, Julius is possessed by a dark dragon's soul inside an evil tome, Nergal has quintessense and morphs, Lyon is possessed by an evil monster, Lehran has both light and dark magic, and Ashera uses her "judgement" light magic and can turn all the minor characters on a stage to stone.

Yes, that video. I was unsure whether or not to put a link to the video. I have now included the video in the original post. Honestly, my two favourite game series' of all time are Legend of Zelda; which does not use level-up aside from Adventure of Link and yet still does a great job of showing character progress, and Fire Emblem; which I think is the best case of the level-up system, as, in most games, there is either no grinding or the level grinding is not necessary to progress in the game. So I'm not sure, but I do agree with the video that level-up can remove the need to think strategically if it's possible for a player to simply gain enough levels and easily beat all the opponents in one part of a story. I also agree with the fact that, in some games, you can walk around without any weapons or armour and low-level enemies won't be a threat simply because you're at a high enough level. So I do agree that level-up has its flaws, and that in quite a few cases, it is unnecessary. But I also think that, in some cases such as FE, it might be necessary, so I am not sure.

Honestly, I like realism but also think there should be some amount of fantasy in the design. Rule of cool: if you are going to do something unrealistic/inaccurate, at least make it cool. The Black Knight's armour: greatly oversized pauldrons and an oversized helmet, but it is very cool so I give it a pass (although the armour might look better if the pauldrons weren't as wide). The mercenary/hero armour in FE Fates: practical for the most part and, apart from the metal headband and the hero's helmet, is cool. Armour knight/General outfits in Awakening and Fates: seriously uncool; especially the shield that looks like something someone might find in an old abandoned car factory. The chestplate makes it look like they cannot lean forward, run, or even turn around, and the pauldrons, while better in Fates, still have dangling bits of metal that just make it look more silly than it already does. I think fantasy armour looks its best when it is inspired by (inspired by does not necessarily mean based on) historical armour. For example: mercenaries in Fates are wearing a gambeson and possibly a brigandine, and when they promote they get a chestplate, pauldrons, a bigger shield, and an actual helmet. The cavalry armour in Fates looks like its inspired by both medieval and Roman armour, and I think that's cool. One Fantasy cliché that I am glad FE for the most part has avoided is floppy leather armour. I see it all the time in thing like WoW, Vikings (stopped watching after episode 2), The Last Kingdom (these latter two being TV shows their creators insist on calling 'historical' even though they are terribly inaccurate), and the way it is designed is usually neither authentic nor cool. It usually just looks floppy and silly; especially studded leather. This is a perfect example of what I do not want to see in FE. In short, I want designs that make sense.

A lot of RPGs use the level-up system. I was recently watching a video about the level-up system in RPGs and whether or not it actually makes sense in a large number of games that use it. It pointed out the flaws inherent with the level-up system, such as level grinding and the risk of breaking immersion because sometimes all you have to do to defeat a tough opponent is gain enough levels. Not only that, but he pointed out one game where the player character has saved the city and is being praised as a champion, even though the player character at that point is level 1 and had only beaten the weakest monsters in the game. At the same time the level-up system is a way of showing progress and experience, and it has been used often enough that people are familiar with it; kind of like having elves and dwarves in RPGs. So what do you think? Do you like or dislike the level-up system in RPGs? Do you find it necessary or unnecessary? Here's the video if you are curious:

I never played gaiden, so I'll probably choose Sonia on my first playthrough, and Dean on the second in order to figure out which unit I prefer. I know next to nothing of the plot, but Sonia seems more plot-relevant, and I like her new design (though I would prefer if she still had her red hair). I must say having to choose between one of two units was something I disliked in Shadow Dragon when the two units were near-useless promoted units. The fact that these two might be useful just makes it worse.

One idea I just came up with that likely won't happen, but, since a few people have suggested a customizable OC unit, perhaps a customizable unit similar to the Mii Fighter in Smash Bros. 4. It does not necessarily have to use Mii (though it easily could). One can choose their weapon type between sword, lance, axe, bow, tome (anima), tome (light), and tome (dark) (or just put all the types of tomes together); and one can choose either to keep a default outfit, or pick an outfit based on the standard Fire Emblem classes. The outfits one can pick can depend on the weapon chosen or vice-versa, though it does not have to. One can then choose additional design features, such as a shield, hood/helmet, and maybe cape. One can then choose their attacks similarly to Mii Fighter.

Okay, I did not know that. Thanks for pointing it out. I was relying solely on memory and did not actually count. Perhaps, instead of saying b-------, just point out that I was wrong?

Playable-character wise, those three arguably are more 50/50. Ogma and his mercenaries are balanced by Minerva and her Whitewings, in terms of # of mages in the game Merric is balanced by Linde, Marth is balanced by Caeda in terms of characters with an anti-cavalry & armour weapon.

Um... who says it has to be mostly men or mostly women? A balanced amount of female/male characters is considered business as usual. Also, for almost every video game with multiple playable characters that I can think of off the top of my head, the roster is usually quite balanced, and Fire Emblem is no exception. So, in the case of a game like Fire Emblem Warriors, a greater number of female characters than males could be interpreted as pandering, especially if it is. I know I am about to sound like Schologladitoria for a moment, but, as with anything else, context has to be considered when it comes to any gender disparity within a character roster. In the case of # of men > # of women, often (I'm not saying always; I'm just saying often) there is a good reason for it that has nothing to do with gender bias (unless it has to do with gender bias within the fictional setting). Also, while it is not always the case, there are examples of games with a #of females > #of males character option that is due almost entirely to pandering. It's not that a game having >50% female characters is a bad thing. It's that the reason for it being there better not be pandering, but, in this case, if that happens, it likely will be due to pandering and not because they thought, "These characters would be perfect for this game." Furthermore, FE is not a game that, since day 1, has been the kind of game that "attracts those kinds of people." I would argue that that "is a very problematic attitude IMO." Also, first your complaint was, "Interesting how when the roster is mostly women it's pandering" and then your second response says "The notion that the game having 50% or more female characters is a bad thing, is a very problematic attitude IMO." First of all, no one on this board has made the generalization that a mostly female or 50+% female roster is always pandering or that the same applied to males is "business as usual". Second, first you say mostly women, then you say 50% or more. 50% female/male is balanced, and everyone on this thread has said that would be a good thing. In short, no one is saying anything other than majority male = bad. Some are saying majority female would likely be due to pandering which would be bad. This is the part where I agree with you. Reducing # of females would not be the solution. However, no one has suggested that, in the event of pandering causing majority females, the number of females should be reduced. People are just saying that the cast should not be selected because of waifus. Honestly, I think a large amount of the argument here has been due to misunderstanding and taking things out of context. On a more cheery note, I think there will definitely be three or four OCs, but, with the Fire Emblem series roster being so much larger than that of most series', they should focus on including enough FE characters from across the series that everyone can pick a character they like. As for the cast, honestly, as I and others have already said, FE is usually very balanced regarding # of males and females, so I would be surprised if it wasn't the same in this case. So no, I do not think the cast will be predominantly female; I think it will be very close to 50/50. PoR and RD were pretty close to 50/50, as was Shadow Dragon despite all the villains in SD being guys.

Yeah, ask any expert on medieval weapons, and they will say that spears are the easiest weapons to learn. Plus, they are far less expensive than swords (as they require very little metal), spears give a reach advantage that helps compensate for lack of armour, and a large number of pole weapons throughout history were adapted from farming tools; glaives being a good example. So it makes sense that villagers would use lances. Though axes also would make sense, just a little bit less sense in my opinion. A squire class does sound like a good idea. Squires would probably use swords. Perhaps squires can choose to promote either to cavalier, knight, or Pegasus/wyvern rider.

It was meant to be a joke.

Interesting, though it might be a bit hard to have that much variety for dragons. I can see dragons with varying amounts of armour; let's say three classes there, dragon mages/priests, so another 2 classes, but dragons are living weapons; so I cannot really see manakete swordsmen or archers, and manakete cavalry seems ridiculous (though it is hilarious when one tries to picture it; full-grown dragons trying to ride on top of horses, pegasi, etc.), so that makes five classes, not including promotions. Not even the original had that few classes.

Perhaps, in one fire emblem game, there could be multiple human kingdoms and a kingdom of manaketes, but that manakete kingdom is divided into essentially clans, based on what kind of manakete they are (fire, ice, earth/dusk, divine/dawn, etc.), and the kingdom is ruled by a council consisting of the leader of each clan. Perhaps the clans are beginning to fracture due to the war between humans causing an isolationist movement among manaketes. Another idea I had is that humans and manaketes all live in the same kingdoms; there are no only-manakete or only-human kingdoms. There is equality among some of the kingdoms, but, among others, manaktetes are either the upper class or second-class citizens. In one of the latter kingdoms, manaketes can leave the slums by joining the army, where they can quickly achieve high rank due to their power. Half-human half-manaketes can choose at their coming of age whether to become socially a manakete (by having a dragonstone made for them) or be human. Manaketes have a long lifespan, but not nearly as long as that in other continents, so their is less of a lifespan gap between them and humans.

He was never given a title of King. He was just named a noble (specifically a lord) briefly so that he could officially lead the Begnion troops Sanaki gave him (as Begnion is extremely classist). The title was always supposed to be temporary, and when Sephiran pointed out to Ike that, as he saved the continent from continent-wide war, no title would be out of his reach, Ike tells Sephiran that, once things settle down, he (Ike) would go back to being a common mercenary. And, sometime between PoR and RD, Ike did just that; he went back to being a peasant mercenary. His father was Sir Gawain, one of Daein's Four Riders (basically the four champions of Daein's army). "Greil was once a famed general... He was Sir Gawain, one of Daein's Four Riders, and I recognized him at once." -Volke in Chapter 19 of PoR. Now it is not confirmed that Gawain was of nobility, but since he was referred to as SIr Gawain, and it wasn't until Ashnard's reign that peasants could become knights, Gawain likely was originally of nobility. However, since he went into exile to keep the medallion out of Ashnard's hands, if he did have any noble titles, he gave them up by leaving Daein and changing his name.

One idea I thought of was a chapter that's either divided into four parts or is absolutely huge (probably divided into four parts, or maybe just two). Anyway, storywise, the hero's forces are laying siege to a castle at a significant point in the story. The hero does not have enough soldiers, supplies, or time to simply sit outside and starve the forces defending the castle. So thy must lay siege to it. The first part takes place outside the main walls, and the units must find a way past the gatehouse. The gate is reinforced by a portcullis, so if one tried to simply attack the gate, it would only deal 1 damage, when the gate has a significant amount of HP. One way would be to have four units at the battering ram, and each turn the battering ram would then deal significant damage to the gate, but those four units can be attacked by the archers, mages, etc., that are on the castle wall or inside the gatehouse. Another method would be to scale the castle walls to the sides of the gatehouse, enter it that way, and open the gate. A flying unit can easily fly to the top of the wall, but there are plenty of archers and they cannot enter the doors to the gatehouse. An infantry unit can carry a ladder to the wall and climb the ladder. But the enemies defending the wall can knock the ladder down if they deal enough damage to it. Thankfully, units can operate ballistae and catapults on the ground to damage enemies on the wall (but the enemies can hide behind parts of the wall to defend themselves). Once inside the second floor of the gatehouse, a unit can open the gate. But there is a small group of elite units in the first floor of the gatehouse as well as a small group of archers and mages. One must get past them to proceed. The second part is a battle inside the main courtyard. There are buildings, defendable positions, etc. The third part takes place just outside the main keep, and you must get inside, though your army had to leave the battering ram behind for obvious reasons and there are only one or two spots where someone can attempt to use a siege ladder. There is a back door behind the keep, but getting to it will be almost impossible due to all the units inside. Again, behind the gate, there is an elite unit (just one this time). The fourth and final part takes place inside the keep. This part is inside, but has multiple floors, and one must keep track of their units on each floor and on the stairs. The boss is at the top floor of the castle interior and is surrounded by healers and archers.

One idea I just thought of: a different take on shields. Like in Gaiden, shields would provide a boost to defence and, depending on the shield, other stats as well. But, unlike Gaiden, a unit can equip a weapon and a shield at the same time. For gameplay balance and for a little bit of realism, a variation of the weight system would also return. Both weapons and shields would have a certain amount of weight, and a unit cannot equip a weapon/shield combo that exceeds a certain weight (this maximum varying based either on the character, strength, or being a fixed number for all). This would prevent a unit from, for example, equipping a giant zweihander-length sword and a big shield at the same time. Also, certain weapons would be so heavy that no unit can use both it and a shield at the same time. I also hope light magic makes a return as well as varied map objectives.

Except Echoes takes place more than 2000 years before Awakening/Fates, so it can't be Gerome. He is a redhead, so he could be Jerome and the mask could be because his face got punched off. It could be a surviving member of the Zofian Royal Family. A lot of people are speculating brother or cousin, but another possibility is that he's her uncle on her mother's side. He does seem older than Celica and could be her mom's younger brother without much of a stretch in terms of physical appearance. Also, I do not know how it works in Fire Emblem, but in real life red hair is a recessive gene and needs to be on both sides of the family, so this guy could very well be related on the mom's side, not the dad's.

In fact, if I recall correctly, Yune, when talking to Stefan, reacts with horror at the idea that such union between beorc and laguz is considered a crime against the goddess, and it almost sounds like she would have encouraged such union. And yes, it is said in the game that the fact that they were unknown to both Yune and Ashera meant that the judgement never affected them. Everything about the Branded being "unnatural" or "cursed" was a lie created by (spoilers if you haven't played RD!). The fact that laguz parents lose their powers is likely magical, but Back to the topic of do Manaketes eat humans; I would say that friendly Manaketes don't for obvious reasons. Wild Maddened Dragons might eat humans. As for members of the Dolhr Empire, I imagine some of them claim could claim to eat humans as an intimidation tactic. Think about it; if you are fighting a large intelligent dragon that claims he will enjoy roasting and eating you, that has to be scary. Funny, I say, "Back to the topic of do Manaketes eat humans," but this and the mention of Radiant Dawn is making me think of Septimus: "The Beasts! They wish to... CONSUME ME!!"

This. Something either Ancient Celtic or Scottish would be great.

A lot of characters who needed more plot focus have already been brought up, so I'm not going to mention anyone who hasn't been mentioned already. The RainbowSage/The First Dragons in General. The only real mythology/ancient legends in the entire game is about how the royalty of Hoshido and Nohr are descended from the Dawn/Dusk Dragon respectively, and they are repeatedly mentioned but never expanded upon, in a game where the protagonist transforms into a dragon. For example, one of the chapters in Birthright and Conquest takes places in the bones of a giant dragon. Is that dragon one of the first dragons? Did it die in the war between the first dragons? Is it the dusk dragon? If not one of the first dragons, does that mean there are/were other dragons besides the First Dragons? Also, are the Hoshidan/Nohrian royals descended in that their ancestors received blood from the respective First Dragon, or are they actual descendants? The Rainbow Sage is the only interaction we get with one of the First Dragons (since it is implied but never confirmed that Anankos was one of the First Dragons), and, in Birthright and Conquest, all that happens is that he blesses the Yato. In Revelation, you find out that he was one of the first dragons, and that the "great sin" he keeps referring to that he committed is that he forged the sacred weapons and brought humanity into the war between the First Dragons, and that he must live until humanity has the chance for peace in order to atone for what he did. ...That is interesting, but it is never expanded on, never mentioned again, doesn't explain how the Yato ended up in a statue of the Dawn Dragon, and the only other thing we know about the First Dragons comes from an ancient text that has no bearing on the plot. At the very least, it would have been nice if the Rainbow Sage had said something along the lines of, "The Yato chose you because you carry the chance, and the desire, for peace." One thing I think they could have done that would have improved the plot would have been if the Rainbow Sage or someone said that, while the intelligence of dragons is like that of humans, a dragon's instincts are far stronger, and strong emotion can cause them to revert to their instinctive nature. Further, the war itself made them realize just how in danger of going mad they really were. It would better explain Anankos' fear of going mad.

I am sure many of us (if not all of us) are familiar with Marth and how Shadow Dragon and its sequel, to an extent, (note, by Shadow Dragon, I mean both the original and the remake) had a rather minimalist plot. That being said, we know that Marth's indirect ancestor, Anri, defeated Medeus and the Dohlr Empire 100 years before the events of Shadow Dragon, and we know of some other characters who were around at that time, including the following: Anri's brother Marcelus, Cartas who became king of Archanea, Cartas' brother Marlon who became king of Aurelis, Ordwin: a soldier who founded the kingdom of Grust, and Iote: slave-turned-rebel against the Dohlr Empire who would become the first king of Macedon. With this and what little was revealed about each of these characters in mind, I had an idea for a Fire Emblem game that took place 100 years before the story of Marth. The story would follow three protagonists down their initially separate routes: Anri, Iote, and Cartas, and all three would have unique classes: Anri would be the typical swordsman lord (though a peasant; quite ironically), Iote would ride a wyvern (one idea I had was that he could dismount the wyvern and the wyvern could fight as a separate unit), and I hadn't decided in the case of Cartas; likely some form of cavalry unit. It would also feature the other listed characters as well as a young Wendell (and/or a young Wrys) as playable characters. The story would help answer a lot of questions left unanswered by the thin plot of Marth's games. What do you think?