Should we be able to recruit all playable units in the same playthrough?

[Ryo]

So I've seen some discussions on other threads regarding taking sides, which units would be on our team and which would not, and such...

Most of us have been thinking that since this game will probably put some emphases on the whole "big choices" thing, it'll probably force us to choose one of the different sides to battle along. But it occurs to me that doing so would also affect the number of units you can recruit, and more importantly, the identity and allegiance of said units. And thus, you will eventually have to abandon some of the units (and recruit other ones) as you make those "big choices".

Now, being a "perfectionist", I really hate the idea that you cannot recruit every playable characters, even if I don't use them. I also despise the fact that sometimes you even have to sacrifice some units in order to gain others, or can only choose one between them. However, seeing the nature of this new game, I think that's pretty much inevitable. With that said, I'm not saying that choosing sides and units doesn't have its fun. Obviously, it adds to replay value; and not to mention it feels much more realistic in a war where our choices actually matter. And while I hate to say this, I like realistic things.

So what is your thought about this?

Edited January 21, 2015 by Ryo

[euklyd]

NO and I will fight anyone on this.

If you could recruit everyone no matter which side you choose it makes different routes have much less meaning. Both symbolically / plotwise but also gameplaywise.
Being able to recruit most but not all units (Bartre vs. Echidna, Karel vs. Harken, Johan vs. Johalva, basically all the kids in FE4 actually, etc etc) makes things boring and stale negate that plz

being able to recruit everyone and them always being the same is boring and stale

thanks refa

...ofc I typed all this and then looked up and read the rest of your post and we basically agree. So.

I feel like being forced to abandon units shouldn't really play a part, though, as that would be excessively aggravating; if I spend half the game feeding bosskills to my favorite units and then find out I need to choose between them that kind of blows.
I mean, I could see an Orson-like situation (two fixed units where after you choose sides, one of them leaves), but losing anything more than that would be
highly suboptimal.

I mean I agree it would have more of an impact, but as a player I would hate it after the first time.

basically my ideal would be having a fair amount of characters be mutually exclusive with another character / route, but the majority be recruitable on either

(ofc I'm halfway expecting IS to continue the FE13 tradition of being able to recruit everyone and all by talking to them with the main lord, so this all is reasonably likely to be irrelevant)

EDIT: lol at "Yes, but we'll have to meet a number of ridiculously complicated conditions in order to do that."
because the successor to Fire Emblem "Chrom Recruits Literally Every Unit" Awakening would totally have complex conditions
(man I hope it would, that would be sickawesome)

Edited January 21, 2015 by Euklyd

[nocturnal YL]

Yes all the way. I don't like the idea of missable recruits.

[Florete]

It depends. If route splits and such are really integral to the purpose of the game, then no, for the reasons Euklyd stated. But if it's not (and in all honesty, I don't expect it to), then yes, because there's usually little purpose in the idea aside from just...a random unit you can't recruit. It makes any given run feel less complete when you can't recruit everyone.

[euklyd]

That is an important distinction, yeah.

I mean if the choices are largely meaningless / surface level then sure, let us recruit everyone, it doesn't really matter.
Taking what Iwata said about choices at face value, then no I don't think they should all be recruitable.
Fron a cynical "well look at what they did with FE13; it worked so well for them" perspective then yeah, making things pointlessly exclusive doesn't serve a whole lot of purpose.

I'm gonna go with naïve optimism here ヽ( ᐛ )ノ

[DeadGame]

Eventhough it takes some replayability, it's always nice to have a complete army at the end of each game.

Just thinking about this topic is giving me horrible flashbacks of key choices that had to be made in FE 7.

Edited January 21, 2015 by FierceRagnar

[Etria]

No, no and no. I hate missing characters in FE. And if I have to restart a hundred times, I will get this unit. A few cases are alright (like Karel/Harken) because it doesn't feel like you're "losing" a character (for whatever reason) but you just get one or the other. It also helps that for a very long time I didn't know that you could get someone else. I somehow always wound up with the same character.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Actually an interesting question for the General section.

It mainly depends on the story.

I think it was fairly done in FE6 with the two routes and in FE7 with the conditions.

However Lehran's recruitment in FE10 was a pain in the ass for me. I needed 20 playthroughs and help by SF to know all conditions to get him. Without help I never would have get him.

That means the recruitments have to be logical and not too complicated.

Edited January 21, 2015 by The Taninator

[Kirie]

I think that, for story-related purposes, it would be interesting to have different characters we could recruit or not depending on the situation, especially if it were done in a more ambiguous way than just being able to choose between one character or another.

The OCD gamer in me hates the idea, though.

[Refa]

Basically agreeing with Euklyd here (except the kids worked well from a varying unit standpoint in FE4; even when they were the same character, they could play radically different because of genealogies and what have you fucking stacking every ring you possibly can on Celice so he can promote by Chapter 7 I'm onto you).

[euklyd]

when did I say the kids didn't work well? pedit: shit I do see I need to fix that

also wow kids these days
back in my day we just recruited harken and never looked back
(wallace and geitz never even charted)

[Flamy]

... No, not every recruitable character should be able to be recruited, if Iwata is telling the truth.

But I highly doubt that IS wants to pander to anyone but people who shouldn't even be playing FE.

[ClassyWolf]

I don't think so, if we get to chose between east & west, I think they'll a tad different characters for the different sides, might even have the Arran/Samson situation.

[Garnef]

I've always found Arran and Samson units to be silly. After all, what if you wanted to use both of them? I can honestly see them going the FE8 and FE2 route where the units you can't recruit eventually auto join later, thanks to a seperate party recruiting them.

You can argue that it adds replayability, etc., but I've never been a fan of permanently missable characters for recruiting another character. It's like Bartre and Echidna. Bartre is cool because he's a unit in FE7, and Echidna is cool because she's a female hero, I want to use both. ;~;

EDIT: Perhaps recruit alternate units in DLC?

Edited January 21, 2015 by Nexas

[Leif]

Look what Thracia 776 did with characters like Olwen, Misha, Eyrios, Miranda, etc. I think that's a really cool concept for FE14 because it would feed into the concept of choice and the branching routes idea.

[eclipse]

(wallace and geitz never even charted)

This is why you're banned

EDIT: Perhaps recruit alternate units in DLC?

Almost, but no.

I think that there should be units that act like Bartre vs. Echinda in the main game. If this thing is like Awakening, then there should be some kind of postgame. During that postgame, make the others recruitable via extra (non-downloadable) chapters. How this'll work out is beyond me.

[Irony]

I said no, as if we are making choices, then we will have to sacrifice some units to get others. It makes the game replay value as well, which would be cool! :)

[Fateborn]

If the game is of choice in decisions, then no, we shouldn't be able to recruit all.

Despite my OCD of game, (wanting perfection) I want the game to be well written and reasonable, not nonsense.

[Radiant Dragon]

Choosing between characters how FE6 & 7 handled it (through arbitrary hidden requirements) is kinda lame in my opinion, but having those choices transparent and actually affecting the plot would feel much more meaningful.

I also like eclipse's idea of being able to recruit the characters you didn't choose during post-game, non-canon paralogues.

[BlueLore]

I really hate missing characters so I hope that we'll be able to get everyone in one playthrough.

i mean you can do meaningful choices even if they don't affect the amount of characters you can get,if they still have a lasting effect on the story/non-recruitable characters.

Also while I'd like to be able to get everyone,I'd say that the circumstances don't need to be the same.You might need to do special requirements before getting a certain character in one route,but get him/her in an easier way on the other route.

Or if the world map returns,then they could make it so that some units are only recruitable in side missions depending on your choice(these side missions could appear rather late in the game so that there is a big effect on your army for a long time)

[Nobody]

It's not something that I really care about to be honest.

I prefer games having split routes, because it adds replay value, but it doesn't matter to me if those routes have the same characters or not, and it doesn't matter to me if a chapter have different characters to recruit depending on the circumstances (like pale flower of darkness or chapter 6 of FE4)

Edited January 21, 2015 by Nobody

[Vitezen]

I think if they want to hammer this theme of choices mattering, this is one of the best ways to do it. Not to mention that if a route split exists, which many people are speculating is the case, having the same characters join at the same times on each route wouldn't really make sense.

However, I do see a way that a situation like that could occur, and that would be if the main character is the head of an independent mercenary group that then chooses to ally with one side. Most or all of the characters would be joining whenever the plot dictates, and there would likely be few battlefield recruitments. In fact, this could be an interesting situation. (When you join Army A you don't get any soldiers because you're their employees. But you can recruit soldiers from Army B through defection.)

[Mighty Kamina]

It depends on the direction the story takes. If there is a major route split, then hell no. If there isn't, then we should be able to recruit everyone.

[Firestone]

I kinda feel the units you recruit should be based on your choices. If you have to choose between east and west, then i would say you should recruit different characters for different parts. If you play as both sides in the story, then you should have them all by the end.

[Luxian]

My answer has been, Yes, i'd like to recruit them all... as long as they are alive, indeed, but with a little challenge... But I wouldn't want some route split as in FE8 : I mean why is Gerik appears to be cornered in Eirika's route and he kept following her, and he claimed to be sent by Eirika in order to help Ephraim, in Ephrai's road. If there is any reunion of all units, then, it should be like in FE10.

However, if there is only one lord to follow, then I'd hope you'd have to choose your road, but that you cannot recruit everyone, even though, you can recruit them all depending on your decisions : you'd have to talk to them so many times to convince them, or save/help that person in some way (even just doing "errands", or... I don't know... something that is logically, but that you wouldn't do normally (and without the hints as "Oh ! It's a thief ! He might be useful for our team and he doesn't want to fight the ruling King/Queen ! How lucky!" please...)

Same goes for losing units : Depending on your choices, units might not follow you anymore, or losing a unit, makes another die, or maybe some enemy unit could make one of ours change side, and maybe sacrifising one (if you choose the wrong decision).

In fact, I'd hope there will be a little challenge in order to keep them all, but not very very complicated... You may have to deal with some challenges strategically, to make other people follow or keep following you, and in the end, if you did well, you 're rewarded with all units. My apologies for my messy explanations...