Do you think the game would be better or worse without HM Bonuses? (And misc details)

[German FE Nino]

Good day everyone and apologies if a topic like this already existed, but I couldn't find anything via the searchbar. I have been interessted on if there was some sort of general consensus surrounding this bug that essencially warps the game around itself, since I have seen people pull into opposite directions over the years. 

As far as myself, I am not really a fan. It patches up a few lackluster units like Fir, who really need it, but it in my eyes fails at being a happy accident in a lot of ways. The worst units that would have needed the boost to an incredible degree are those that do not get it and some units that do get it are already some of the best units in the game. It ends up causing a lot of chaos on the gamedesign and If I were any good at handling code, I would honestly fix it myself. Though I guess there is always the aestetically unpleasing workaround of spawning them as NPCs and changing their affiliation right away. 

Though I guess there is kind of a flipside basically unexplored by both the official devs and the fanbase. The way the list of characters to not receive bonuses works(when it works) by setting a bonuslevel per character, and all characters are just set to 0 by default. One could theoretically only buff characters that need it, or set all to 5 levels to mimic FE7 HM bonuses, or even do whatever arbitrary custom balancing one wants. I never saw it being utilized in a fan rebalance(though granted, the character list does not work 80% of the time anyways, that's kinda the problem in the first place), but using that approach is honestly something I would even like to see in an official remake, if it keeps HM Bonuses intact. 

Anyhow, besides hoping that someone who isn't code illiterate like me patching the bug in the future, that's the end of the rambling. What are your thoughts on the subject? Would you like rebalanced bonuses? For things to stay the way they are? Or do you prefer to play the way it was intended and dislike the idea of the bonuses period, even when they could argubly help some lesser units shine? And what would you expect from a remake in regards to them? I'm legitimately curious. 

[Revier]

I'm fairly ambivalent on them, but do think they tend to undercut the difficulty of the game noticeably, especially when they apply to beasts like Miledy and Zeiss. IMO the ideal would be having them as an option that could be toggled on or off for any difficulty setting, letting the player choose if they want their turncoats to be powerful or not, lol.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I actually like the idea in the context of a bog standard RPG format. If you're playing an RPG on hard mode, that probably means you'll be doing more grinding, or at least more side content to stay ahead of the difficulty curve. So being handed later joining party members at a higher power level makes sense at higher difficulties so that they can better compete with your veteran crew. I'm sure we can think of a few examples of characters that struggle to catch up due to their late join time. Usually because simply having them at the right EXP level is not enough when there's extra progression systems your crew have been working on since the start.

For Fire Emblem I'm not sure how I like it as a universal approach. Because ideally our fire emblem game demands no grinding so that our map designers know the approximate power level of the player and can balance late joining units' stats and skills to that expectation across difficulties. And also it should apply to all recruited units, not just the Red ones. Characters like Wallace or Jaffar, could definitely have used some HM bonuses more than any of the units that are getting them in FE7. Pent on the other hand wouldn't need the help.

 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

It always strikes me as a bit... perverse... when higher difficulty levels give the player additional tools to answer it. FE6 HM is already hard with Hard Mode bonuses, and it would be even tougher without the bonuses. So, get rid of them, right?

...Well, not necessarily. They're only applied to enemies, and making enemies tougher increases challenge to the player. More than anything else, I don't want to see Rutger lose stats upon recruitment. 3H did that with Lorenz and Ashe, and it really pissed me off.

So on balance, they're... uh, okay I guess? Something I neither strongly favor nor disfavor.

4 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Characters like Wallace or Jaffar, could definitely have used some HM bonuses more than any of the units that are getting them in FE7. Pent on the other hand wouldn't need the help.

This is a good point. In FE6, it feels like the units who get them are the exact opposite of the ones who "deserve" them. I.e. Percival getting HM boosts, while Cecilia and Douglas miss out. I know this wasn't done intentionally (probably), but it is unfortunate, in any case.

[German FE Nino]

5 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

More than anything else, I don't want to see Rutger lose stats upon recruitment.

He wouldn't lose stats on recruitment, because he wouldn't have those stats to begin with. I am exclusively talking about playable HM Bonuses, which are a developer oversight, because not giving anyone including actual enemies a bonus obviously would just make it Normal Mode 2: Electric boogaloo. 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

8 hours ago, German FE Nino said:

He wouldn't lose stats on recruitment, because he wouldn't have those stats to begin with. I am exclusively talking about playable HM Bonuses, which are a developer oversight, because not giving anyone including actual enemies a bonus obviously would just make it Normal Mode 2: Electric boogaloo. 

My point was, I wouldn't want a system where "enemy Rutger" has boosted stats on HM, but upon recruitment, he drops back down to NM bases. That would preserve the "make enemies tougher" that raises difficulty, without doing a "make playables tougher" that offsets said difficulty increase. It would also suck for immersion, and general feelings of fairness. If I recruit a 20-Strength Zeiss, he better stay at 20-Strength, dammit!