Top 10 things I would like to see in Fire Emblem if

[Snowy_One]

Top 10 list of the various ideas and the like I would like to see in FEI. I will not list things like 'class/stat rebalances' because, honestly, something like that will come down to a unit-by-unit basis. This is just a quick go-over of the various things I'd like to see happen story/gameplay-wise.

10) A multi-team/faction aspect. Radiant Dawn had a lot of things in it that it did right and a lot of things that it did wrong. One of the things that it did right, IMO, was allowing for multiple teams to be fighting which I felt was something that had a lot of potential. Making it so that a single unit can't dominate because multiple teams are fighting, dividing up resources, potentially warring against the units you yourself leveled-up... It has a lot of potential. Feel RD ruined it by having so many OP'ed units, but the idea is still solid and interesting.

9) Bounty board. I've always been a huge fan of the overworld maps and fights but felt that they were kind of... stock. No offense intended of course, but they often were little more than 'go to area, kill monsters to level up weaklings, repeat'. An interesting spin on this might be introducing the notion of 'bounties' though. I.E. there are no 'overworld' battles but, instead, there will be a place where battles can be initiated with a potential reward for completion (such as a random stat increasing by 1 for each character on the map, nice weapons, or the like). Probably won't happen, especially if this is focused on a major war, but could be interesting none-the-less.

8) NO MORAL SYSTEM! Seriously, I hate these things as, 90% of the time, they're poorly implemented as the player is basically forced to swing between 'saint' and 'asshole' with the former often being harder, giving less direct reward, and the like with the only major payoffs coming by going fully one way or the other. I wouldn't normally bring this up but with the possibility of siding between east or west I can see a system being set up where each faction is vying for the attention of a mercenary faction. So please, let this not happen.

7) Second generations/kids. I've always loved pairing up units. I've always loved seeing the happy-ever-afters where two lovers start a family. I know Awakening did have some special systems in place to let it happen and I'm not going to insist the same system be used to let kids fight alongside their parents, but that doesn't change that I like seeing things like this.

6) Online patches/rebalances. One of the things I REALLY hate is that the gap between the best units and the worst is often so huge that even the worst unit stumbling on a 7-leafed clover, a leprechauns pot of gold, the lost gold of Cortez, and the Holy Grail could reasonably close the gap. Releasing online patches to alter, tweak, and improve this to at least close the gap somewhat would be very nice.

5) A female main lord. I don't have a problem with the standard male lord and FE has done a lot for putting in female lords or lordly figures (Lyn, Eirika, Elincia, Micaiah, Lucina) into a game, but they almost always seem to be second-string to a male lord. I am not gonna say that this should happen for some sense of equality or entitlement, just that it would be cool/interesting to see a female main lord, if only for a change of flavor.

4) More personal story/drama. A while back I suggested that they make it so that the main lord and their mother are both dragon-descended/the like and are sought after because of this, though neither knows of their heritage. When the mother finds out she sides with, what she later finds out are, the bad guys in the hopes that they'll leave her daughter alone to live life as a normal human being. Things devolve, daughter finds out about heritage, two end up fighting despite loving each other immensely, and so-forth. The reason I want to see more of this is because I like to see personal aspects and interplay in the games on a non-support level, something which FE has noticeably been... lacking... in on the whole, least in the American releases. I don't mean one-off chapters either, but multi-chapter stories.

3) Smaller team, more specialization. One of the big problems I have with the FE games is that, often, characters fill the exact same role more or less interchangably. I.E. Soren has the highest magic stat but is frail, Ilyana is more defensive but slow, Tormod has solid stats round the board but comes under-leveled, Calill is easy to train but has knives, and Bastion is for people who outright fail. None of them really stand out as having some unique role they can fill with three of them also being able to double-up as solid healers. One perfectly valid way of addressing this is to reduce the number of characters and increase the specialized aspects of what each class and character can do. This could work very well with the multi-team idea since that would allow multiple chances for a unit to stand out as specialized.

2) More varied objectives. Just a few possible ideas. 'Heal/build' where you need to get something up to maximum HP before a time-limit. Maybe the enemy breached a wall and the team needs to protect workers trying to patch it up? 'Sabatoge' where a few units get dropped behind enemy lines and the goal is to keep attention away from them while they bring down the enemy from the inside (could work very well against statistically dominating enemies). 'Scramble' where there is a finite amount of resources/points and the player needs to gather more than the enemy in a set amount of turns to win.

1) More varied weapons! There are a ton of unique ideas that can be implemented for weapons (AoE tomes, melee weapons that bypass DEF but aren't THAT strong, and specialized bows for example) and even just increasing the amount of specialized weapons on a map would serve to deter overloading one kind of unit or weapon-type as well as keeping a varied team up to date.

Course, there are plenty of other things that I'd like (some more humor like Chrom's posters!), but these were the ones most forefront on my mind.

[Anacybele]

I agree on the female main lord thing. That's why I made one for fanfiction. :P

I also want a better story than what Awakening had. Tellius-quality writing needs to come back, it's one of the main things that got me addicted to FE since PoR was my first game.

But Awakening did have a lot of funny moments, I want that aspect too. XD

Edited January 15, 2015 by Anacybele

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

things 1-10 that i want: a good game.

[Garnef]

Well, I can't really list 10, but I will want one thing: Replaying the game to not be boring.

Basically, I loved Awakening in the first 2 playthroughs I did of it. After that, however, the game just got boring. This didn't apply to any other FE game I played, except for Shadow Dragon of course, but whatever. Either way, I'm hoping the game is more compelling than Awakening in that aspect. Sacred Stones was practically 2 games in one, due to Eirika and Ephraim's routes having completely different maps, etc.

[GrySun]

Top 10 list of the various ideas and the like I would like to see in FEI. I will not list things like 'class/stat rebalances' because, honestly, something like that will come down to a unit-by-unit basis. This is just a quick go-over of the various things I'd like to see happen story/gameplay-wise.

10) A multi-team/faction aspect. Radiant Dawn had a lot of things in it that it did right and a lot of things that it did wrong. One of the things that it did right, IMO, was allowing for multiple teams to be fighting which I felt was something that had a lot of potential. Making it so that a single unit can't dominate because multiple teams are fighting, dividing up resources, potentially warring against the units you yourself leveled-up... It has a lot of potential. Feel RD ruined it by having so many OP'ed units, but the idea is still solid and interesting.

9) Bounty board. I've always been a huge fan of the overworld maps and fights but felt that they were kind of... stock. No offense intended of course, but they often were little more than 'go to area, kill monsters to level up weaklings, repeat'. An interesting spin on this might be introducing the notion of 'bounties' though. I.E. there are no 'overworld' battles but, instead, there will be a place where battles can be initiated with a potential reward for completion (such as a random stat increasing by 1 for each character on the map, nice weapons, or the like). Probably won't happen, especially if this is focused on a major war, but could be interesting none-the-less.

8) NO MORAL SYSTEM! Seriously, I hate these things as, 90% of the time, they're poorly implemented as the player is basically forced to swing between 'saint' and 'asshole' with the former often being harder, giving less direct reward, and the like with the only major payoffs coming by going fully one way or the other. I wouldn't normally bring this up but with the possibility of siding between east or west I can see a system being set up where each faction is vying for the attention of a mercenary faction. So please, let this not happen.

7) Second generations/kids. I've always loved pairing up units. I've always loved seeing the happy-ever-afters where two lovers start a family. I know Awakening did have some special systems in place to let it happen and I'm not going to insist the same system be used to let kids fight alongside their parents, but that doesn't change that I like seeing things like this.

6) Online patches/rebalances. One of the things I REALLY hate is that the gap between the best units and the worst is often so huge that even the worst unit stumbling on a 7-leafed clover, a leprechauns pot of gold, the lost gold of Cortez, and the Holy Grail could reasonably close the gap. Releasing online patches to alter, tweak, and improve this to at least close the gap somewhat would be very nice.

5) A female main lord. I don't have a problem with the standard male lord and FE has done a lot for putting in female lords or lordly figures (Lyn, Eirika, Elincia, Micaiah, Lucina) into a game, but they almost always seem to be second-string to a male lord. I am not gonna say that this should happen for some sense of equality or entitlement, just that it would be cool/interesting to see a female main lord, if only for a change of flavor.

4) More personal story/drama. A while back I suggested that they make it so that the main lord and their mother are both dragon-descended/the like and are sought after because of this, though neither knows of their heritage. When the mother finds out she sides with, what she later finds out are, the bad guys in the hopes that they'll leave her daughter alone to live life as a normal human being. Things devolve, daughter finds out about heritage, two end up fighting despite loving each other immensely, and so-forth. The reason I want to see more of this is because I like to see personal aspects and interplay in the games on a non-support level, something which FE has noticeably been... lacking... in on the whole, least in the American releases. I don't mean one-off chapters either, but multi-chapter stories.

3) Smaller team, more specialization. One of the big problems I have with the FE games is that, often, characters fill the exact same role more or less interchangably. I.E. Soren has the highest magic stat but is frail, Ilyana is more defensive but slow, Tormod has solid stats round the board but comes under-leveled, Calill is easy to train but has knives, and Bastion is for people who outright fail. None of them really stand out as having some unique role they can fill with three of them also being able to double-up as solid healers. One perfectly valid way of addressing this is to reduce the number of characters and increase the specialized aspects of what each class and character can do. This could work very well with the multi-team idea since that would allow multiple chances for a unit to stand out as specialized.

2) More varied objectives. Just a few possible ideas. 'Heal/build' where you need to get something up to maximum HP before a time-limit. Maybe the enemy breached a wall and the team needs to protect workers trying to patch it up? 'Sabatoge' where a few units get dropped behind enemy lines and the goal is to keep attention away from them while they bring down the enemy from the inside (could work very well against statistically dominating enemies). 'Scramble' where there is a finite amount of resources/points and the player needs to gather more than the enemy in a set amount of turns to win.

1) More varied weapons! There are a ton of unique ideas that can be implemented for weapons (AoE tomes, melee weapons that bypass DEF but aren't THAT strong, and specialized bows for example) and even just increasing the amount of specialized weapons on a map would serve to deter overloading one kind of unit or weapon-type as well as keeping a varied team up to date.

Course, there are plenty of other things that I'd like (some more humor like Chrom's posters!), but these were the ones most forefront on my mind.

About 10, the multi teams could be interesting but would end up extremely poor(like in Radiant Dawn) if it was made badly. Something like in FE Gaiden would be great.

9- I would actually want LESS grinding spots or none at all. It simply isnt fun and kills the game to grind mindlessly. I don't want the difficulty to come from the shit Lunatic+ had, but rather by gold/units/exp being limited, requiering a good usage. Although side quests are fine I guess.

The 2nd generation/kids were basically my most loved part of FE13, as it made your ships even more valuable and loving. Sadly I don't see how it could be possible again without yet another time travell story, which would be quite repetitive don't u think so?

FE also isn't an mmo that needs stuff like online patching. If some unit is stronger/weaker, its because the developers wanted them to be that way. Oscar is pretty sad as a knight in Radiant Dawn and Soren is even worse, but I used them both anyway because I loved them. And you can win with sad units too. I once even played with Meg as the focus of the game and it worked.

Female lords are a yes. And you said well, all female lords were basically supportive characters, not the main deal. Arguably in FE8, but Ephraim really is more important than Eirika, as he actually fights the war and finds the manakete, while Eirika just travels and gets attacked by mercenaries. Lyn mode was a torture, Elincia was barely playable last 2 chapters of FE9, with her paling in comparison with so many units in 10. Micaiah is as unlikeable as it gets for a character and I don't consider Lucina a lord.

The story will be okay either way. The only thing they actually need is making it FEEL like a war. FE7 they are goofing around and travelling the world chasing Nergal. FE9 the war is on the last parts of the game and it wasn't done so greatly. Radiant dawn had potential but threw it away along the way. FE13 had the few Valm chapters, but that was it. You never felt the grave situation there, as you picked of their boats and went over to their land to kill their king before they even made a few steps on the shore. It needs to give a war feeling like gaiden, sacred stones and fe6 did, with fe6 doing it best.

Team size is always a thing in fire emblem. What would really be awesome tho is something they did in fe9. As knights promoted, they could freely chose which of the other 3 weapons they didnt use would be their 2nd weapon. That was amazing, More units should have had something like that. That made me ending up having all knights in the team due to their versatility(and being extremely op and fun in fe9).

Eh objectives can stay the way they are. What I would like more is something with the objectives. Like some interesting things that go along the map as you have to rout them all or seize. More ballistas, walls, special terrain, terrain placed in a way that there are many ways to beat a chapter.

About the weapons, they are alright so far, and they will probably add some new ones, looking at the current setting.

Edited January 15, 2015 by GrySun

[powerserg]

I think an interesting way to do number one isn't necessarily to divide your own team up outside the story into other factions but be given tactical reasons to split up your team. So to invade a castle you got to do several things so you split your whole army into multiple teams. If they are going to keep in grinding I would love if it was because no person in your army really gets left behind in terms of use. I could have a unit do a mission to distract the guards, then have a set of units that is at the same time breaking down the front gate and another set sneaking in from the back. It would make splitting up units and picking teams super important.

The downside I could see if really if you did that to someone doing an honest run where they don't soft reset when someone dies then they might not have enough active units to do it. Maybe they get command of generics at a high enough level to fill the roles, I mean were commanding armies not everyone in our army is shown but somehow are smaller units always have to fight the bigger ones.

I really just want an excuse to use more of my people, I hate having so many characters that I just never use in a playthough because I'm limited to 20 characters.

Edited January 15, 2015 by powerserg

[dondon151]

here are the top 10 things that i want in FE14

10. something to fuck with LTC players

9. a mechanic to destroy LTC strategies

8. something that punishes low turncounts

7. something that makes LTC players rage

6. no items that can substantially reduce turncounts

5. something where if your turncount is below a certain number, the game medium implodes

4. some important content that all LTC players will miss

3. no skills that interact with movement

2. no mounted units

1. yeah i'm all out of ideas

[Knight]

10. Bishops

9. Magic Triangle

8. Siege Weapons from past games plus new ones maybe

7. Less automatic recruits, some difficult ones

6. Dialogue trees

5. Large maps with dynamic events like FE4, not necessarily on the same scale though

4. Exclusive/special classes like Princes and Princesses in FE4 that take effort to train but are rewarding

3. Sidequests

2. Different objectives than seize and defeat boss, which are very close to the same thing

1. Alternate paths and chapters

[Snowy_One]

About 10, the multi teams could be interesting but would end up extremely poor(like in Radiant Dawn) if it was made badly. Something like in FE Gaiden would be great.

Agreed; least in so far in that it could be really poorly done. But the general idea here is more to divvy up things a bit and offer chances for strategy variations.

9- I would actually want LESS grinding spots or none at all. It simply isnt fun and kills the game to grind mindlessly. I don't want the difficulty to come from the shit Lunatic+ had, but rather by gold/units/exp being limited, requiering a good usage. Although side quests are fine I guess.

Then this should be fine; especially since the goal is more to make grinding... well... not as grindy.

The 2nd generation/kids were basically my most loved part of FE13, as it made your ships even more valuable and loving. Sadly I don't see how it could be possible again without yet another time travell story, which would be quite repetitive don't u think so?

Having a generation gap would be perfectly fine. Heck, if you put the former characters young enough it could even be justified as the first gen would be in their 30-40's.

FE also isn't an mmo that needs stuff like online patching. If some unit is stronger/weaker, its because the developers wanted them to be that way. Oscar is pretty sad as a knight in Radiant Dawn and Soren is even worse, but I used them both anyway because I loved them. And you can win with sad units too. I once even played with Meg as the focus of the game and it worked.

It's not that it 'needs' online patching. It's that denying it as a means to balance things out is stupid. Getting it right the first time is the best, of course, but wouldn't you rather not have to wait till a re-release to see something OP'ed/UP'ed get fixed?

Eh objectives can stay the way they are. What I would like more is something with the objectives. Like some interesting things that go along the map as you have to rout them all or seize. More ballistas, walls, special terrain, terrain placed in a way that there are many ways to beat a chapter.

Agreed. Route and sieze are very boring and the game stagnates when it becomes just the same thing over and over again.

Course there are some runner-up ideas, like a NG+ mode. A off-the-top-of-my-head idea for such a thing is, maybe, every character starting with +2 in every stat and an unbreakable non-specialized weapon maybe? Or maybe endgame gold carried over? Eh. I'm just a huge fan of NG+ so that's probably just me.

[Topaz Light]

The most prominent things that I want, I think, are...

Better storyline, although maybe I'm too optimistic but I'm kinda feeling like this one is definitely gonna happen.

Please please please, don't make the "player choices" a simple binary between two sides/endings. That's half-assed and boring as hell.

[Dandragon]

No second genertion bs. Just more bait for pairings that don't need to happen.

[Magical Glace]

Just make it a better, more interesting game than FE13 with limited resources.

That's what made the GBA games fun... besides FE8, which is made fun by having some of the best characters in the series.

And don't pull a FE9 where you get 70000(?) gold just because one chapter

[GrySun]

Also include waifus. Game must have waifus. Although avatar isn't needed.

Agreed; least in so far in that it could be really poorly done. But the general idea here is more to divvy up things a bit and offer chances for strategy variations.

Then this should be fine; especially since the goal is more to make grinding... well... not as grindy.

Having a generation gap would be perfectly fine. Heck, if you put the former characters young enough it could even be justified as the first gen would be in their 30-40's.

It's not that it 'needs' online patching. It's that denying it as a means to balance things out is stupid. Getting it right the first time is the best, of course, but wouldn't you rather not have to wait till a re-release to see something OP'ed/UP'ed get fixed?

Agreed. Route and sieze are very boring and the game stagnates when it becomes just the same thing over and over again.

Course there are some runner-up ideas, like a NG+ mode. A off-the-top-of-my-head idea for such a thing is, maybe, every character starting with +2 in every stat and an unbreakable non-specialized weapon maybe? Or maybe endgame gold carried over? Eh. I'm just a huge fan of NG+ so that's probably just me.

I am not really fond of NG+. Maybe because I can't instantly replay the game I beat to get some awesome things. In radiant dawn I found it sad that you can't recruit some characters without beating the game once. Hector mode, as well as the HARD mode for that should have been unlocked from the start, or at least hard mode. So I have to play Eliwood to get hard and hector mode, and then hector mode to get hector hard mode? That is too many replays. But if done well NG+ can definitely work, seeing as I have far too many hours in FE13 and 2 playthroughs too, even without NG+.

[Dandragon]

Also include waifus. Game must have waifus. Although avatar isn't needed.

Gonna need you to go meet with a mister Shadow of "Rey" Chaos. Meet with him. So you can talk about your problems. Then literally

NO

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

there will always be waifus in games, anything can be a waifu to a horrifying degree (look at all those creeps who want to fuck pokemon, which i'm clearly certain nintendo wasn't going for)

ofcourse, being able to actually marry in game is disgusting pandering to a crowd of bigger losers then i am that i'd rather not socially interact with in this fandom.

the exception are hentai games because thats the entire purpose of them.

Edited January 15, 2015 by HF Makalov Fanboy Kai

[peener weener]

more husbandos

[Dandragon]

more husbandos

gay relationships

do it

[Lanko]

1 - Magic triangle (without removing Light/Dark magic)

2 - Elevations increasing range for bows

3 - Terrain bonuses/penalties (specially on open maps)

4 - I really don't like monsters/zombies in FE. It should be a war game, with people fighting in it and having consequences. Monsters and zombies destroy this because they are just mindless threats to be killed without a second thought.

5 - No more villains who wish to be gods or destroy the world just cuz.

6 - Better looking Knights/Generals (FE7 or FE10 style)

7 - Limited classes to reclass should continue (Unlike Shadow Dragon/Mystery of the Emblem where everyone could be anything)

8 - Don't reduce the ammount of support convos. Late game and SpotPass characters later should be able to support with much more people other than Avatar + 1 or 2 characters.

9 - Cool generals for the enemy villain (Like the Four Fangs in FE7, the six generals of FE8, the Four Riders of FE9)

10 - Unique animations for each character ( all classes have the same attack animations...your characters/main enemies should have their own unique style, even if it is just for their "original classes" and the 2 possible promotions.

11 - While i liked the funny aspect of FE13, they over did it a bit. Could use a bit more seriousness for more characters and situations.

12 - Lance footsoldiers (like Aran, Nephenee). Swordmasters, Halberdiers and Berserkers should have unique weapons or a skill that can only be used on that class to compensate them for being locked in one weapon class (just a bit more doesn't seem enough).

Edited January 16, 2015 by Lanko

[Bankai]

I don't have a top ten but I have some thing I would like in the game

1. Being able to move around at the camp or town's and you can find certain characters talking and (this can also be like the base conversations in Path of Radiance / Radiant Dawn)

2. The fatigue system (so we don't have the same 3 characters steamroll the enemy every map)

3. Dismount to return or mounted units to have less movement inside (Inside usually we be more close quarters and most places would be big enough to have a horse or pegasus to run / fly freely)

This is an idea I had it's not great

4. Certain character's can leave the group or betray you based on certain conditions (Merc you hired not being used, Character disagrees with tactics.)

[magnafulgur]

1 - More weapon variety. Have different types of axes, swords, etc., maybe more exclusive weapons to some classes, like the Double Bow to make them unique.

2 - More classes, maybe having a special "class" skill that is exclusive to the class, always equipped when the character is in said class.

3 - Some characters being able to leave your army, turn against you, and more enemies turning to your side.

4 - As a lot of people said, alternate routes, or endings.

5 - Better maps, more varied objectives. I want them to create completely new objectives too, to keep the game fresh.

6 - Siege tomes and Ballistas.

7 - Have the eastern warriors animations be different from the western ones. Anything that can make them seem different from each other.

8 - Completely new skills, and nothing like "+2 defense" or "+4 speed"

9 - Big maps, but maybe with an option to move more than one unit at the same time while keeping formation.

10 - Finally, better and challenging map design overall.

Edited January 16, 2015 by magnafulgur

[Person with good opinions]

Things I'd like to see in the new FE:

Pairing up is reworked to be more balanced and be more of a strategical option instead of "do this at all times or you're playing wrong". It really shafted "novelty units" like Flavio and other latecomers who had almost no supports. Ideally pair up would just have been removed, but it's already confirmed to be back in.

Better map design, and more win conditions. Stuff like that map in Path of Radiance where you're holed up in a small, run-down fort and have to weather an attack for 9 turns, or the chapter in Radiant Dawn where you have to hold the castle against a huge siege. Stuff like that needs to come back.

Return to PoR's support system.

No children, or if there are any, make it like FE4. The eugenics thing was one of the biggest reasons supports sucked in Awakening. They were 100% quantity over quality because everyone had to be able to support each other.

Bring back weapon weight, Constitution, status staves, and fog of war.

Remove second seals and severely nerf reclassing in general.

Better skill balance.

More relevant characters and boss convos. A lot of units in Awakening join just because "muh Chrom" or "muh MU" like, say, Tharja. Many more than in previous FEs, and there are almost no characters like Legault, Jaffar, Duessel, etc. with some connection to the enemy side.

Less generic MU, if there must be one. Sure, some people may find it harder to self insert if MU isn't sort of a non-character (yet skilled and loved by all), but they should just have to deal with it.

[Fei Mao]

No top ten:

I'd like to see some unique abilities for classes, like giving archers the ability to support attack adjacent units which is a mechanic from the super robot war series. For example archer is in range to attack an enemy, ally attacks said enemy archer joins in to deal additional damage and maybe award each supporting attack 20 exp and if the unit deals the killing blow grant half exp to the archer and full amount to the other.

I also would like to see units that are commanders in the story have some unique abilities like being able to summon reinforcements or granting buffs. And maybe give units that suck at combat something unique (besides dancer), again super robot wars did this by giving said unit support abilities and be able to heal and resupply others.

Maybe polishing up the sprites and a better soundtrack.

[Eveangaline]

1: A male dancer style class (especially if they do that silly little jig nils did. That thing was adorable)

2: An avatar. I like 'em.

3: Laguz units, I always enjoy using them (PROVIDED THEIR STONES AREN'T FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE TO GET AHOLD OF HOLY HELL)

4: Unlimited supports (except S supports or conflicting A supports if they decide a characters ending)

5: I'll think of more later.

[hammerene]

It's more like a top 6:

6 - Pants for the pegasus knights and female wyvern riders

5 - Status staves

4 - Fog of War

3 - More classes, particularly flying ones

2 - Male pegasus knights (Superbly unlikely but one can dream.)

1 - More fleshed out MU with a more limited pool of classes

[Snowy_One]

I'm not familiar with what other games did with their generations...

Anyways, a lot of the older Fire Emblems had some really good ideas and what-not but at the end of the day it's a simple matter of implementation and how the ideas are handled. For example I just finished Fairy Fencer F. It has a unique mechanic called 'worldshaping' which allows you to stick down various bonuses and penalties on a map to alter how things play out and possibly even the enemies inside it. In theory it sounds really good and doing something like getting 50% physical attack with the trade-off of lower defenses and maybe boosted SP (mana) costs sounds nice... Then you sit down and quickly realize how easy it is to stack on tons of +EXP bonuses and the like and get it so you never have to do anything other than use normal attacks and the rare healing item and suddenly the entire game becomes a breeze because you're 20 levels higher than what was intended.

Sounds good on paper, but wasn't implemented right, resulting in a broken (if admittedly fun) system.