Mechanics that you want

[Othin]

There are things that can be done outside of canon, such as the Smash Bros. games, but there are limits on such a scenario... Whether or not those limits would be an issue depends on what the developers would be trying to accomplish with it.

[Anouleth]

Toon Link and Link aren't even from the same timeline.

[Othin]

Toon Link and Link aren't even from the same timeline.

Precisely. In a game like Smash Bros., anything is possible. In a conventional FE game, not so much.

[Dark Sage]

But it's like an extra mode kind off. It could be like Resident Evil: The Mercenaries. Obviously Chris wouldn't fight alongside Wesker against zombies in Africa, but it's a noncanoical thing, so who cares? The all-star mode would be like that I believe.

[Othin]

Not familiar with the reference. That sounds like it could work, but it depends completely on how it's done.

[Momo]

I think a bigger problem is that the characters are essentially the same thing over and over and over. Even if they have somewhat different circumstances, how is Sigurd that much different from Marth? Or Eliwood? They're all guys using swords and since the series doesn't lend well to special moves, they'd all be identical.

[Celice]

Hasn't stopped Fire Emblem yet.

or in other words, why would there need to be a special move

[luigi bros]

You mean 3 tiers (2 promotions), right? Or are you saying that you'd like to see fourth tier classes?

Yeah. I always call it that for some reason.

For example: Myrmidon-Swordmaster-Trueblade

As another one I'd like more classes that use both weapons and magic. Especially one that is equally skilled and it isn't there as a bonus. (Like Mist, or Azel with Swords). Also instead of something like Swords and Staffs, Anima and Axes. Both types of offense.

Edited October 25, 2011 by luigi bros

[Lord Raven]

Precisely. In a game like Smash Bros., anything is possible. In a conventional FE game, not so much.

What were their names? Anna and Jake?

[luigi bros]

Anna and Jake are differnt I think. They aren't important vital characters that keep adding to the story. They're there for something like "Oh, look it's Anna". Not "I remember that guy. He was a huge plot point".

If Roy was to constantly reapear, that would be different. He played a massive role in one plot with a clearly defined personality.

[Momo]

Hasn't stopped Fire Emblem yet.

or in other words, why would there need to be a special move

Well yeah, but that's cause they generally just pretend the other games don't exist. If there was an "All Stars" kinda game, they wouldn't be able to do this. It'd just make the lords reskins of each other.

[Dark Sage]

I find there are some important statistical differences between them. Marth is balanced, with an edge towards higher speed and defense. Sigurd is WTF pwn on a horse, Celice is unpromoted WTF pwn who can get a horse, Leaf sucks all around, Roy sucks a little less, with a leaning towards skill and luck, Eliwood is fully balanced, Lyn is very fast, Hector is the tank, Ike is even more WTF pwn than Sigurd but doesn't have a horse, and Micaiah is the healer chick.

So yeah. There's differences.

[Vicious Sal]

They should be able to make Importing from other games possible, but not like loan units in fe11 though. Just... Something, Being able to import all you favorite Fe characters from all games after Gba would be wicked. Or just an all star game where you have a limited cast you can select, or a mode for each lord, focusing on them more, like fe7. Anmd have the cast change depending on that. (Select Ike and get Wolt as the gordin archetype, select Roy & get gordin, select leaf & get rolf)

[Celice]

Anna and Jake are differnt I think. They aren't important vital characters that keep adding to the story.

Anna fucking supplied your army in the first couple Fire Emblems. Jake helped you destroy the enemy. They both returned to magically give gifts, like Aslan or Santa, or Jesus H. Christ, in FE4 as well. Then to offer some advice in FE7.

And then to prepare trainees in FE9.

[Epic Fail]

Anna also turns up to help you create yourself in FE12. So that I'm not totally off-topic, I would like a HM that doesn't disable the WT but brings back stat increases. HM bonuses, how I miss thee.

[UserShadow7989]

Shove, Canto, and Rescue. I love using those. They let you create a wider variety of plans and serve as an 'out' if you place someone in the wrong position on accident.

Capture. A simple but fun feature, making it harder to defeat an enemy but providing weapons and items for your troubles. It could even be used to effect the plot- capturing an enemy instead of killing them may let you recruit them, or change the story so that instead of their loved ones coming after you in revenge they join you or surrender to you. Perhaps capturing and releasing a certain villain will come back to bite the protagonists? It could even be used to narrowly avoid an event like with Camus from FE1 or the knight woman from FE8, allowing you to evade their plotline death in exchange for the extra difficulty (or simply ending with them dying anyways, if you don't want to lose the tragedy of the event).

FE9 Supports. The best implementation of the support system to date, in my opinion. It makes more sense than the characters stopping mid-battle to chat amiably or pick fights with one another.

Info conversations, such as from 9, 10, and 12. Like Supports, these events add so much character development to a game that is set apart by the individuality of each unit. Not only that, info conversations can add depth to the story, the setting, and characters that don't join your party until later, if at all.

Varied objectives, secondary objectives. I'm of the mind that Shadow Dragon had fantastic maps despite all of them having the Seize objective other than the last, but there's no denying that the variety of objectives really breathed life into Radiant Dawn's campaign mode. The latter is the logical expansion of this; accomplishing optional objectives to get extra goodies and possibly open up side chapters. Just so long as they aren't utter pains and don't require something arbitrary to accomplish, I can see a few chapters getting spiced up by their inclusion.

Transforming units. I'm a fan of both Laguz and Manaketes, though I admit both systems have their flaws. Perhaps a sort of cooldown system? For example, their transformations have a total of X attacks, and each turn they gain one back. If they hit zero, they can't attack or counter until their next turn. Higher weapon levels would add more attacks. I wouldn't mind a more balanced version of an existing system being reused, however.

These are all just off the top of my head. Other things I'd like to see are Reclassing, Multiple Generations (FE4), Summoners, Monsters, Maps with Skirmishes, Split Promotions and Three Class Tiers, but those feel more like they should only appear in a setting/story structure that supports them or in games that need some extra 'pizazz'. All of those in the same game would be... actually, while it'd be a bit weird, that would make for an interesting entry into the series. Kind of like a pizza with everything but the kitchen sink thrown on it.

...

Now I want to try some pizza with everything on it.

[General Banzai]

Anna also turns up to help you create yourself in FE12. So that I'm not totally off-topic, I would like a HM that doesn't disable the WT but brings back stat increases. HM bonuses, how I miss thee.

I would like a HM where the focus is more on new enemy formations than buffing enemy stats.

Like HHM. Playing HHM was fun simply to see what crazy new shit they'd throw at you next.

[dondon151]

HHM also would have been harder with higher enemy stats.

But I know what you mean. It didn't seem like, however, that the different enemy formations were significantly more difficult. I like what they did with FE3 DS H3 by adding a smattering of well-placed enemies just to fuck with you. Probably a happy medium between that and FE7 HHM would be even nicer.

Edited October 25, 2011 by dondon151

[Anouleth]

Anna also turns up to help you create yourself in FE12. So that I'm not totally off-topic, I would like a HM that doesn't disable the WT but brings back stat increases. HM bonuses, how I miss thee.

I think that HM bonuses kind of defeat the point. If both you and the enemies get the same stat boosts, then what's the point in HM to begin with, aside to increase the number of enemies?

Edited October 25, 2011 by Anouleth

[Othin]

What were their names? Anna and Jake?

There's a difference between a cameo and an actual character that plays a role in the game.

I find there are some important statistical differences between them. Marth is balanced, with an edge towards higher speed and defense. Sigurd is WTF pwn on a horse, Celice is unpromoted WTF pwn who can get a horse, Leaf sucks all around, Roy sucks a little less, with a leaning towards skill and luck, Eliwood is fully balanced, Lyn is very fast, Hector is the tank, Ike is even more WTF pwn than Sigurd but doesn't have a horse, and Micaiah is the healer chick.

So yeah. There's differences.

Statistical differences does not equate to "important" statistical differences. In a conventional game where Marth, Sigurd, Celice, Leaf, Roy, Lyn, Eliwood, Eirika, and Ike are all playable, they're not going to be able to each stand out in their own way either in terms of gameplay or in terms of personality.

Looking at the relevant characters on your list, you noted two characters as balanced, three as overpowered, two as just bad, one as fast, and ignored the last one. When considering that Sigurd is simply better than Celice, the only characters who could possible stand out, according to your own words, are Sigurd, Ike, Lyn, and Eirika, and I don't think there's any dispute that when placed next to Sigurd and Ike, Lyn and Eirika are not going to stand out.

Now, a conventional game is already basically unfeasible for this purpose, and we can't assume the characters will keep their exact distinctions. But let's be serious here. Sigurd and Celice. Marth, Roy, Eliwood, and Eirika. What would could possibly give each character in those groups something important that the others don't have? And by important I mean something out of: skills, classes, useful personal weapons, events, availability, massive differences in relevant stats. In a way that provides a unique advantage for each of them - Eliwood's Knight Lord class provides a unique advantage for him compared to Eirika's Great Lord class (eventually), but not for Eirika.

There's another consideration to take into account, now that I think about it: the timing of when the game is set relative to each of the characters' stories. Are they getting magically transported out of their story before their quest even begins? Or are they returning as confident heroes at the end of their stories (which of course is bad news for Sigurd). It wouldn't matter much for a more fighting-based game with less story and character development, which would be easier to fit outside of canon anyway and perhaps have more opportunities for the characters to have distinct skills, but again, it limits options, and to the sorts of games not all FE fans might like.

I think that HM bonuses kind of defeat the point. If both you and the enemies get the same stat boosts, then what's the point in HM to begin with, aside to increase the number of enemies?

While they seem to counteract what HM is supposed to be, it's certainly not as if they're so ridiculous as to cancel it out entirely.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Othin

[Epic Fail]

I think that HM bonuses kind of defeat the point. If both you and the enemies get the same stat boosts, then what's the point in HM to begin with, aside to increase the number of enemies?

HM bonuses are only applied to units that start out as enemies. Last I checked, they didn't exactly break FE6 HM or FE7 HHM. Then again, that's only my opinion.

[dondon151]

I don't know, HM bonuses on Percival and Miledy in particular made FE6 HM a lot easier. Rutger too, to a good extent.

[General Banzai]

And need we forget Raven?

While I'm not saying that enemy stats shouldn't be buffed, I just want to avoid FESD where it had 5 modes of increasing enemy stats and yet they stayed in the same predictable patterns.

[Celice]

FE12 shook that up pretty easily by making the equipment of the enemies stupid unpredictable.

I personally like when small elements are changed, like a chunk of enemies change classes, rearrange themselves, come with different equipment and skills, and stuff like that. It's not just a boring scaling then--it feels like you're actually going through the game slightly differently, which for me, make the replay more enjoyable. I already shuffle my units randomly, but to have the enemy too get a bit of a mix makes the experience just that little bit more "new."

[CrashGordon94]

I had a thought, bring back forging but make it so that worsening a weapon's stats would make it cheaper by the same factor that improving them would make it more expensive.

Oviously it couldn't go below the base forge price though.