Hopes in future Fire Emblem games..?

[Alazen]

I'll also point that Fomortiis is a hardcore cartoon villain (only Grima can be said to outdo him on that front), and so it's also an issue that what happens in Sacred Stones is so driven by such a character.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Alazen

[Baldrick]

Why is it an issue? Lyon has solid enough characterisation.

[Medeus]

The thing with Sacred Stones is that Lyon and Formortiis work within the realms of the story that the game made, they don't really need to be changed for the story to be better. Formortiis is a generic villain, but the way the story treats him ends up working to its advantage since it benefits Lyon by connection. He acts as a force that corrupts and exaggerates his bottled up desires, adding to the tragedy of his fall and developing him at the same time, that couldn't really be pulled off if they went for a gray angle as both characters being on the opposite spectrums that they are allowed for that dynamic.

Granted, I'm not going to say that having generic villains just for the sake of them is OK, and I wouldn't be happy if Formortiis' role was completely like Grima's. Having said that however, the thing about villains is that they have to work in a way that benefits the story and characters around them, and personally, that's what I think Sacred Stones managed to do with its villains. It doesn't need to be changed otherwise as it used the characters it had well.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Medeus

[Raybrand]

If FE Fates had a better story it may have been my favorite in the series due to it fixing all the gameplay issues I had with FE Awakening (Have yet to play IK route though). But to build on that.

- Keep grinding but make enemies in chapters scale according to your level.

(Grinding was a good addition to the series for me because it allows me to focus on making the best strategy on completing the chapter without having to worry trivial things like 'didnt build up support as much' or 'my high lv char killed a unit he was supposed to wound so my other unit didnt get exp'). Also reduce amount of exp earned when defeating enemies lower level (so you dont reach max level during the first half of the game, this mechanic is in FE Fates but wanted to mention how important it was).

- More classes, more skills (not too many so their traits dont overlap with each other).

- An Avatar that doesn't use the power of friendship as the answer to all their problems. (keep the character trait, just dont make it the avatar's only or strongest quality, make room for other traits that would make them different from other avatars). (If any main character from another Fire Emblem game replaced Chrom, we would probably get the same story).

- Get non main characters more involved.

I get that the game has permadeath meaning you cant have a decent story thats flexible on what characters are alive or not. An example is Dragon Age, at in game cutscenes members of your party will say something adding to the conversation or situation but if you had a different member in your party the same if not similar thing would have been said. Think of Awakening during the final mission where everyone in your party had lines to say but if there was no one in your party aside from the main characters it wouldn't have taken that much away from the scene. So I'd with Fire Emblem would incorporate something like that into its series.

- No child units or marriage

(it was good in awakening, bit overpowered but more than once or twice your overdoing it)

Other notes, the new weapon triangle and item stats durability in Fates was good and I really liked it, dont think it was essential.