Dunal

Update about the release schedule: Part 1 and (mostly) Part 2 in full is still on track to be released in a week or two from now. However, part 2's endgame may or may not be included in this, and will be released in a follow up patch. From then, future releases shouldn't take too much time, since all of the stats and balancing would have been finalized. Meaning that map content and design will be all that's left. It's almost at that stage now. Planning has also started for Challenger Mode. This is an alternative version of ReDux with the following: - Stats/Growths/Numbers being scaled down to old-school level (Expect growths to be pretty low with base stats being more prominent in balancing). - Specific units being changed further to accommodate the above (expect high base stat units from the original ReDux to be toned down even more). - Enemies and map design being changed to be more challenging overall. - Biorhythm having significant effects and consequences. A unit on 'bad' or 'worse' will pretty much need time out. Enemies will not have biorhythm anymore. However, good/best biorhythm now have even better bonuses. - No mastery skills with few exceptions (Such as Ike). Skills having harsher requirements with combo-ing being extremely limited. - Limited resources and gold. You'll be receiving far less 'free' equipment as well. Healing items and staves are especially a part of this. Staves will give even more EXP, but don't expect to be using them every turn if you aren't playing extremely efficiently. - Limited support options but absolutely zero requirements (There are no C or B supports, just A that can be switched at anytime). These options match the original pairings of the game (before it was set that everyone could support eachother). Of course, this will mostly wait until the base ReDux is completed and released.

It's meant to end after 1-6. Map files are not updated past that on the actual release. Enemy levels should give it away (plus, a lot of enemies are promoted past 1-6 on the actual release). And yes, Vika should have Daunt either way -- it's now her skill.

I don't think it really matters that your own units can double eachother.. That's nitpicking my overall point, no?

It's hard to do because of stats like Speed. Speed on a per-point basis is not that noteworthy if the unit is past the point of doubling, or if that 1 point of speed won't let them double. The main way to rate speed from base stats would be to judge their stat based on who they cannot and can double upon their joining time. Any avoid they get from it doesn't matter as much. Or for another example, the higher DEF/RES a unit has, the higher value their HP will be and vice-versa. A unit with 3 defense and 15 HP will literally get zero gain from extra 1 HP or evel 5 extra HP depending on enemy attack. But someone with 15 DEF? HP going from 15 to 20 can be quite the difference. STR/MAG mean very little if you are 2 or 3HKOing important enemies and one additional STR/MAG would do nothing to change that. OR, if this unit cannot double, then STR/MAG will only increase damage by 1. But with doubling, they gain 2. And the fact that weapon rank affects the importance of having STR/MAG as well. So... as an overall example, you have a unit with 35 speed. You have another unit with 25 speed. Both can double everything else, but the unit with 25 speed also have 2 in every other stat (or also 4 in LCK/HP). In someone's standard grading the guy with 35 speed wins out but aside from the 20 avoid bonus, the other unit is very likely the better unit overall.

At first I used Thunder Knight (Which I could go back to) but Thor Knight just looks/sounds cleaner. Other names seem a bit too extravagant. And some names like Electroubadour sounds like they would be Staff/Thunder users or something. 'Thor' just seems to be a reasonable term to me considering Thoron. Do keep in mind that the class name in itself is meant to emphasise the durability/movement of the class. Thunder Knight is the most direct name you could give it. Thor Knight is basically just shortening that. But could be Storm Knight or Bolt Knight etc... I just prefer Thor but it's a reference to the S tome that you unlock from it. 'Warmagus' is completely up in the air though. That could be anything. I suppose. It's being delayed a bit and will come with part 2 later this month. No further release currently. I want to resolve Wii issues before then.

I would obviously be changing that. It's best not to judge things without the full context. With the amount that I'm changing I thought that would be obvious by now. (If you've played the demo, you can see that all class bases/growths have been changed)

It's supposed to end 1-6-2. It shouldn't crash (although I think I know why for some people) you cannot proceed anyway. You shall not move. The reason on Thor Knight: A) It's the only tier 2 class that can use Thoron. I don't think it's out of place at all. B) It needs to indicate use of thunder magic in its name, since that's what the class exclusively does. It's knowledge feedback to the player. C) 'Knight' indicates high defense and/or movement. The term knight will immediately make the player assume this. Alchemists is pretty vague name from a gameplay standpoint IMO. Strategist is because: A) Wind magic is more flexible/tactical as opposed to being outright powerful. B) Staves are utility. Taking the 'mage' terminology away also points to them having high STR and combat with staves as well. C) Dark magic is also tactical as opposed to raw power like thunder. It provides a solid durability boost. It reflects Soren because he isn't a typical mage but more of a support unit. Pelleas much the same. 'Sage' is also perfect from a gameplay standpoint since they are pretty much the same as PoR or earlier games. It's gameplay focused terminology that I was going towards.

Expect part 1 to be delayed a little, but I will be releasing an update for the previous version (all the changes mentioned prior) at the very least. I would like to resolve any Wii issues first. Also, here's an update for Magi (Tier 2 and Tier 3): Strategist > Grandmaster - 1 less movement (5 > 6). - SS one magic type (Wind or Dark), S in another type. - A Staves in tier 2. S Staves in tier 3. - Higher overall stats, whether offensive or defensive. - Soren/Pelleas Thor Knight > Warmagus - 1 more movement (7 > 8) - No staves. - Thunder only. - Huge defense and HP / Lower resistance. Also 50 SKL cap to proc Flare more often. - Ilyana/Bastian . Sage > Archsage - Standard movement (6 > 7). - SS fire, S in all others (except Dark). - C Staves in tier 3. - Balanced stats. - Calill/Tormod. Empress - 6 movement. - SS in every single magic type. - No staves. - Notably a 50 magic cap. - Sanaki. Also, I'm simplifying staff stat bonuses: Thief: +4 SPD Barrier: +4 RES Hammerne: +4 DEF Rescue: +7 LUCK Matrona: +3 DEF, +3 RES Ashera Staff: +10 LUCK

Ike's MAG cap is 30 and the Ragnell has 18 MT. But much like light magic it has +8 MT against dark magic. On average however, Ike reaches 24 MAG at 20/18, so you'll need to utilise BEXP. Yes, still Valkyrie. It's basically just my way of telling the player "Yes, Astrid can SS staves" in the easiest way. As for crashing, it's a matter of finding out what is causing the crashing on loading the map. It could be the amount of data that has changed, certain map models loading, if the game pre-reads things like class data on the wii etc...

I will agree to disagree on this one, I suppose. Worth mentioning there was an interesting discussion on Reddit a few days ago as well. I think there's many methods in dealing with this issue. Some likely better than others.

Cats have much more res though. So... partially true? But you'll be facing off against Hawks too which don't have much res (Unlike Ravens). Also, Fiona can get hold of a Demon Lance (New Venin) which also makes her combat great. Her naturally high movement + canto does indeed make it so she's excellent at weakening enemies with no risk. It's quite heavy though so she does get weighed down by it quite a bit. But you'll be doing a good 20 damage on tigers which is nice. However, it may be worth saving it until her STR rises to the point where she can double with it.

Ike has a 35% growth and now gains +6 on promotion. Not really something I wouldn't think about or overlook. There's also nothing inherit to the plot saying "Those weapons aren't magic and hit defense" either so...? They shoot magic. Sure you do wrack with them close range (Like a Wind Edge too) but from a range... I also don't even need to explain "swords growing over magic" when they were blessed by the goddess. Ike's magic is now very good and the Ragnell's actual MT is increased as well so the only real difference is that it targets RES. It's actually a very likely buff I'll need to monitor it going forward. Ike's STR as we know is very high, but enemy RES is typically lower and it means that Ike can use Imbue and Cards wells. Yes, Fiona can use cards! In other news, class names have changed across the board: Tier 1 knights are all now just called 'Cavalier'. Tier 2 Paladins > Free Knight (Sword) / Duke Knight (Lance) / Axe Knight (Axe) and Arch Knight (Bow) Silver Knight > Paladin (Fiona/Oscar/Geoff) or Valkyrie (Astrid SS Staves but no Lances) Gold Knight > Great Knight Reaver > Berserker. Now has +25% critical. But one of the only promotions that makes you lose stats (In this case, defense and skill) All tier 2 armors are now just all called 'General'. Tier 1 armors are known as 'Sword/Lance/Axe Armor'. I was also thinking about giving a unique name for each Marshall type. Lance > Marshall, Sword > Champion, Axe > Baron. Thoughts on that? Dark Sage > Sorcerer. Archsage (Dark) > Occultist (can SS staves). Draco > Wyvern. Master and Lord have also been swapped for tier 2 and tier 3.

Well, that's true but not really indicative of a main purpose before that anyway, aside from aesthetics. Other RPGs tend to have different weapon types do completely different things so that's not really a good point to make. Games like Disgaea make swords standard but with powerful unique skills, lances have 1-2 range. Axes reduce DEF on every hit. So beyond stats they are used differently. Other RPGS are similar these days. Old school DND can often have this as well. While with FE, WTA is the only interesting thing as a way to separate weapons. Otherwise you're looking at 1 MT and 5 HIT differences in raw stats. Which isn't meaningful at all. Magic has the same problem too and could be better (strictly 1 range or 2-3 range magic to separate types would be something great, or just more types of magic with unique properties like dark magic). But effectiveness like WInd > Flying at least separates the anima trio to some extent. Although with Fates they have now removed magic types altogether so may not even be relevant going forward.

Because weapon triangle and player's control surrounding making the most of it? (which is the whole entire point of having 3 standard melee types to begin with). When only fighters exist in tier 1 that use them and there are an abundant amount of lance users instead it makes sword wielding enemies less of the threat to you as a whole. Having variety in weapon users in general is a good thing. Plus it just makes them more different from Pegasus. That's worth something. And like I said, your particular argument before was that "Axes are too good to give to them" when you can just remove 1 base STR from them and then they are even worse off in hit for the same MT. In fact, the whole "Axes are so good" stance in this community is pretty bizarre. Most axe users/classes just have higher strength also so it creates the illusion that the weapon is better than it is. 1 point of damage vs. +1/20 chance to miss is minor and isn't a strictly good thing anyway.

The whole "don't give them axes, axes are too strong!" is so incredibly silly anyway because axes are only stronger by 1 MT and WTA changes that's entirely dependant on enemy weapon disparity. ...So er... give the class one less STR? Yay, problem solved... (And actually, the difference between Lance/Axe is usually 1 STR and -3 SKL or -5 LUCK in terms of hit, which doesn't make axes seem that 'great', only if a class has the option to use them over other weapons and they have an excess amount of HIT)

And no resetting levels either so reaching them caps is much harder. Of course, there are eternal seals but those still apply the EXP formula and therefore make it much harder for a unit to become ridiculously strong without too much effort.

Both. I wouldn't mind seeing Wyverns/Pegs be split like Armors or Knights. So you could have a Sword Pegasus and a Lance one. Both separate classes that promote differently. And an Axe Wyvern and also a Lance one. Assuming there's two of each class that joins you (like Awakening or FE6 for instance) then this works to separate both units too (Like Miredy having Axes and Zeiss have lances for example, or Florina with lances and Fiora with swords).

People need to remember that both Birthright and IK are designed with training units outside of the main story/maps. If you need to go out of your way to train up someone a bit, then the option is there. Usually I put a hard cap on what level I can train up based on the story map. I make my own formula per game. For me it's chapter number or close to it. So CH7 means I cannot grind units past LV7 tier 1. Or 7+2, 8+2, 9+2 etc... depending on the difficulty and power creep of the game. I set a hard limit. Conquest was IS's answer to this when it comes to more serious players, like myself. But when/if I do play the others, I understand that the game is balanced differently. Conquest at least is balanced pretty well as far as FE is concerned. It's no worse than earlier titles at the very least -- and made with the actual intention of being played the same way. If Birthright/IK has no skirmishes/grinding, I am sure that IS would have balanced they differently. Still, at least there's no Wendy in the game either way. If you were to play BR/IK without letting units play a bit of catchup, I'm sure using 1 or 2 units you need to baby a bit can't be that bad.

Not quite. I'm currently investigating this with someone and could take a couple weeks to get fully resolved. I may delay the next release a bit just so I can get it working for everyone first. As for an update: FIONA PROFILE She's a unique one, to say the least. And yes that does mean she has 11 base movement. Go wild. Highlights for next release: - Magic weapons! The venin weapons are now dark magic infused and scale off magic + target res. They also share dark magic WTA/D and therefore reduce damage by other weapons. ​- Wind Swords are now classified as wind magic and also deal magical damage + scale off magic. - Ragnell, Alondite and Florete are the same. Yes, that does mean Ike's a viable candidate for spirit dusts! Also you gives you a good reason not to use Ragnell all the time (enemy has high res). So time to bust out that Urvan. - Bolganone/Thoron/Tornado being brave weapons and balanced accordingly. The magi are ready to party! They no longer has effective damage though. - Nosferatu is now 'Resire' and is now non-elemental physical damage. So yes, it scales from strength. Sorry Laura. Hellooo Oliver.

Reason I say 'Rinkah' is fine is because her archetype or statistics on paper are perfectly fine -- In the same way that someone like FE7 Canas is 'fine'. Neither unit is stellar at all, but when comparing them to units who are, then yes, they fall a bit short. But that doesn't mean they need buffing. Thing is, Rinkah is a perfect example of a unit who would otherwise be balanced extremely well against the enemies/maps/content you're up against, to the point where if every unit was on her level or similar, it would be an even better game. At face value she's an armor knight (with no movement loss) who debuffs res and joins early. Statwise there really isn't anything genuinely wrong with her too, with HP being some weakness in the longterm. IS clearly balanced her around protecting a mage and then utilising said mage in duo attacks (+3 damage or +9 if the mage can also attack after). Rather, there's just units that could well be tuned down so that the Rinkah's/Nyx's/Arthur's of the game can have more incentive. But I think they are cool units for a draft as it stands. It's not like they are bad.

Strongly disagree because high growths means less balance no matter how you slice it. Unless you decrease EXP gain. Fire Emblem is a game where small differences on stats can make a huge difference in power level. So with really high growths, units generally grow too fast and this can cause certain issues: A) It means that units that are underleveled become worse, because missing out on a few levels can be pretty huge if growths are made to be high. B) Overleveled units become ridiculous. See Robin as a standout for it. If Awakening had FE6/FE7 growths, Robin would be a far more balanced unit because stats won't go so ahead from the rest of your team. C) It means that units that join you mid way though the game need to be balanced around much higher base stats and this can cause issues based on the growth and expectations of earlier units. So these units that join you are more likely to be too strong or too weak based on how your other units have grown. D) Too much stat disparity for blessed or screwed units. RNG actually becomes more extreme. A 30% growth means that over 10 levels, you are only expected to gain the stat 3 times and the game is balanced as such. If they gain only 1 or 2 then it's less problematic for them. 60% though? Unit is expected to gain 6 of that stat over 10 levels. So if they end up gaining 1 or 2 of that stat they will be far worse off than the former scenario since they will be otherwise balanced around reaching that higher value. So if they don't mean expectations they become bad. Speaking of Fates though, the growths are not too high. A bit higher than Radiant Dawn overall. I think the best number is around ~300-330% total growths or so. Going near or beyond 400% is when things get a bit extreme. Fates is certainly guilty of this and overall could be a bit lower IMO. It's strange though because you have units like Nyx who have below 300% growths. But Corrin with above 400%. Granted IS (these days...) know that certain stats mean more than others. Nyx has amazing Magic/Speed. So the distribution of her growths aren't actually as bad as they seem. She's a glasscannon and that concept isn't bad by all means.

Yes, growths should be lower. It makes late game scaling less power creeped. It also makes underleveled units better off and vice versa for overleveled ones. The higher growths are, the greater power difference there is in levels. I wouldn't say her bases are bad. 12 STR (when damaged) and 10 DEF (with a 65% growth... which does matter quite a bit) is pretty nice. And her resist break skill just flat out makes Tsuku/Orochi a lot better too. In fact, I'd argue Rinka is pretty much necessary for Tsuku to scale in general, as mentioned before. She''s a support unit but that's not a bad thing. She's an axe armor knight (trading a bit of defence for speed) who buffs the damage of your magi. That's a cool niche as far as I'm concerned.

Bit of an exaggeration on Rinkah. 45% STR growth isn't that tragic when she essentially has 12 base STR without max HP. And a 65% DEF growth with a 10 base makes up for a HP deficiency. Her RES break skill is also the gateway to making Tsukuyomi usable/good too (bumps up his base magic to essentially 15 before weapon mt). Typically if a unit has the bases to be usable/good then growths doesn't matter all that much anyway (unless they are extremely low or extremely high). That sums up FE. A 10% growth difference is on average, 1 stat every 10 level ups. It's insignificant. Thing is, base stats are essentially the thing that enables growth rates to come into play to begin with. If a unit has decent bases then they are more likely to gain more EXP on the virtue of being useful. While another unit with 20% higher growths n everything but slightly lower bases? They might end up seeing 20% less combat because of their bases. Therefore grow at exactly the same rate. Rinkah is fine. It's like Leonardo from FE10. His growths are not a problem whatsoever (even though people seem to think it's the main reason why he isn't good), it's the fact that his base stats are low enough that him gaining EXP is just plain hard... and can only gain EXP on player phase at that. In reality higher str/spd growths would not save him. To put it into perspective, increasing someone's base stat by 2, but lowering the growth by 10% is actually a huge buff for the first twenty levels. And in most FEs, a tier 1 unit will gain 25-30 levels on average. Bit of a ramble but I do see people put too much emphasis on growths quite a lot.

Eh, not quite. Tier 1 caps pretty high in contrast to the stats you'll be getting. And they're not class based at all (unless it's DEF/RES), meaning that reaching them before promotion is usually very unlikely. Unless you're Laura? =S With units like Meg, she would be a lot better off if she had say -- a 14/15 speed cap. Or 6-8 res cap etc... Units like her who want to make as much use as BEXP as possible to fill out their other stats, can't actually do so until late tier 2. Micaiah isn't liked much because she's a main protagonist/forced unit who basically becomes a healbot. Luckily for her, being a healbot isn't the worst thing in the world and is always nice to have. But considering the game treats her as an offensive mage who happens to have to sacrifice her HP in order to heal? It was almost like band-aid attempt to make sure she can continue to be useful without bothering to make her scale better as a combat unit. Unless Thani bombing is concerned when it doesn't even come into play for 2 out of the 3 maps in part 3 she is in. But offensively she just shares the same issues with other magi and is actually difficult to train unless you baby her. Main chaaracters/units shouldn't need to be babied -- they should be naturally good under standard play considering their involvement. Units like Aran, Leo and Ilyana are good examples of units who would be so much better if there wasn't so many other over-tuned units with emphasis on more important stats. Or if not overtuned, just has more means to gain EXP and actually grow (Nolan/Jill). Aran on paper looks fine, but he'll always struggle to keep up if you're using him no more than others (favouritism just for the sake of using them). Same with Meg but to a further extent. Ilyana would be notably better if she didn't leave the DB. She isn't bad in part 1 at all and at least EXP investment wouldn't go to waste for the DB. And no Leo isn't actually that bad outside of the Jap. version. He's somewhat redeemable with not that many resources at least (beastfoe/personal weapon/brave bow). Two amazing ones that only he gets access to. Fiona's base stats are just flat out awful of course. No redemption. She needs to be 20/17 to start being decent/good. Not even standing out past that aside for some neat innate skills.

Children are basically just a fancy way of implementing more 'Est' units. And yes, Est units are not good design whatsoever. Either they are useless or you train them enough to be overpowered. No in-between. As a one-off gimmick/addition (Nino?) they can be okay. But only standalone in each game. It's cool to have a unit that you can train to feel satisfaction/joy from doing so but beyond that they aren't a practical addition.