You are a dev for a new FE game, what kind of story would you write and what mechanics would you introduce?

[IGdood]

Aha! That's why the garrison mechanic seemed to familiar.

[AnonymousSpeed]

"Alright, first and foremost, anyone who suggests a swimsuit feature in any form will be fired on the spot."

Story direction wise? This is pretty atypical of how Fire Emblem typically works, but...I want to see a game where everything isn't the result of some sort of demon, deity or magical force. I mean, I know it's a fantasy setting and all, but history indicates wars have happened for other reasons. I'd also like to see something other than a clear good guy and bad guy, which normally is the case. Even in FE10, where you played on multiple sides of a war, there was still a pretty clear bad guy in Begnion and Ashera. Now, imagine a story where a prosperous nation is invaded by an impoverished nation which needs the former's resources to, you know, sustain itself. Can you really say either side is wrong? Provided you don't go make one obviously evil, it's a little hard to say that the invaders are wrong for wanting to feed themselves, or the defenders are wrong for defending themselves. It could make for an interesting story and conflict of interests more...interesting that Fates supposedly has.

Now, because I waste hours thinking of ideas which will never come to fruition, I have more ideas than that, but I think if I was put in charge of an FE game's development, I would bring both ideas to the table and probably vouch strongly for them. After all, the best villains think they're the hero.

[90sTudeDude]

Ok guys, this will seem insane and will probably never happen, but hear me out on this one. Ever since I was notified about a crossover between Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei, I wondered in what way is a game about summoning demons from a laptop related to a military strategy game in a medieval fantasy setting. Not that I am opposed to the idea (after all, I can't judge a game that hasn't been released yet), but what caused Atlus and Nintendo to cross those two franchises over? I don't find anything from one game that would make me want it to mix with the other. Nevertheless, enough nitpicking, If I were a dev and were in charge of creating a Fire Emblem game, I would do a crossover with a franchise that has a little bit more in common, a series that encompasses armed combat and careful, strategic thinking, a continuity of games where acting rashly is severly punished and those who think carefully before fighting end up winning. You guessed it: SNK's Samurai Shodown!

I told you it would be insane, but seriously, Fire Emblem x SamSho can be neater than it sounds (if done by the right devs). The game would have FE's map format and gameplay, with units consisting of the key characters from most FE installments and most of the SamSho characters. In order to mix aspects from both series, the characters will contain SamSho's trademark "Rage" gauge, which enables them to perform their own unique "Super Moves" when full. Each character has a unique set of abilities that serve as "special moves" during combat, some being new, while others making a comeback from previous Fire Emblem titles. The "Shura" (Chivalry) and "Rasetsu" (Treachery) modes (Infamously mistransalated as "Slash" and "Bust" in the original SamSho installments) would also be integrated as a feature that can be switched back and forth to change the characters' base stats, the effects of their abilities and their Super Moves. Shura characters fill their rage gauge by taking damage, while the ones in Rasetsu increase it by performing fatal strikes on their opponents. The fatal strikes are both an aesthetic detail as well as a gameplay mechanic straight from Samurai Shodown, which means that this time, the player can see a character (be it a generic soldier or a boss) die in a more detailed way, (cleaved into two, blown up, and spraying blood, just like in SamSho), such kills can be performed with critical hits (which percentage is doubled when the Rage gauge is full), dealing a final, non-critical strike with a full rage gauge, or performing desperation moves; the player would be automatically asked to choose whether to censor this feature or not to before starting a new game. Dealing a fatal strike to certain bosses can change the plot's pace.

As for the roster, I believe it would be better to have a balance number of characters from both franchises appear depending on their popularity. The FE the characters appearing from each installment would be: 1. Main Lord 2. Lord's Token girl 3. Most popular non-lord character. If this applied for every installment, it would be difficult to decide which character to select for every mission, so some FE instalments might be left out. It would be easier to include the SamSho characters into the roster, as there are some that aren't very popular and wouldn't be missed if they weren't in the game at all (Gen-An Shiranui, Earthquake, etc.). A feature that would make this more interesting is the opportunity to establish supports between FE and SamSho characters (yes, some supports may be romantic, but since SamSho is involved, the "paired" endings wouldn't be happy fairy tale conclusions, but ranging between bittersweet or tragic, instead). Paired units with maximum support levels can perform dual desperation moves granted that one of them has a full Rage gauge. Supports can also have "reverse" benefits, but it would require one of the pair to get killed (yes, this would encourage players to permanently off some characters, at the expense of the plot's proper pacing and with the likelihood of achieving the true ending would decreasing). Let's say I pair Lyndis from FE7 with, say, Tachibana Ukyo; both characters are known to be badass "one hit, one kill" swordfighters, and one can imagine how much more badass it would be if they had a paired Super Move, but let's say I get Ukyo killed, this would make Lyn turn batshit insane by permanently filling her rage gauge and enabling her to do unlimited supers. In order to not break the game, the character with a dead partner would become unstable, thus making him/her unselectable for a certain number of missions. So in order to get a crazy, kill 'em all Lyn back to normal she will need to find a new resolve by being paired with another unit like, say, Haohmaru. The same applies for supports with chracters from the same franchise (Lyn paired with Eliwood, instead).

Other frivolous, yet atmospheric features that can help with the game's aesthetic are details such as characters' weapons, armors, or fabric blowing up after getting maimed by a super move (a nod to SNK's "Art of Fighting"); switching into a bonus "manual mode" in order to play each battle like an actual fighting game, activating the abilities as if they were fighting game commands; and the ability to change the text languages between English, Japanese, and the bonus SNKglish (as a tribute to the good 'ol SNK arcade days; under this "language", every dialogue in the whole game will consist of horribly mistranslated words, badly used grammar, and awfully dated 90's slang). After defeating a boss in each level, the character that did the killing will recieve a lavish "victory portrait" akin to those seen in the Samsho series, with their portraits and quotes changing depending on whether the character is "Shura" or "Rasetsu".

Thanks for withstanding this insane wall of text. Something like this can be amazing if done by the right people and might help revive the awesome fighting game series that is Samurai Shodown. This idea is crazy and might never be realized, but maybe some kind soul who happens to work for Intelligent Systems might stumble upon this thread. One can only hope...

Edited August 4, 2015 by 90sTudeDude

[blah the Prussian]

The setting would be Napoleonic Wars themed. The social status would be similar as well. Nation 1 has just had a revolution against the rule of their king. Said Kings daughter (lord 1)flees the murderous revolutionaries who have taken over her kingdom, escaping to nation 2, ruled by her cousin (lord 2), making the first act. Said cousin then assists her in returning to the throne, but they fail, making the second act. Nation 1 invades nation 2 and wins many victories, but is stopped by nation 2s Capitol, making the third act. For the fourth act, nations 3, 4, and 5 are brought into the fray. In the fifth and final act, the coalition pushes nation one back out of nation 2 and defeats it once and for all. So that's the story. Evil dragons need not apply. The story would be morally grey, and there would be a choice in how to conduct the war. As for gameplay changes, I'd want a return of FE 4s maps, because they work better for military campaigns.