Favorite/Least Favorite Mechanic?

[Alastor15243]

Least favourite: Cheating in fog of war: Why did they make the enemy able to see my movements in Fire Emblem when both the enemy and I could have done the guessing game, like in Advanced Wars?

Because they didn't figure out how to make the enemy properly ignorant of fog of war in advance wars until Days of Ruin. Until then the AI was a cheating bastard to a gradually lesser extent with each advance wars game.

[BrightBow]

Although in Advance Wars ever since the first GBA entry, even if the AI might be omnipresent at least it was never able to attack unless the rules would actually allow them to.

Meanwhile in Fire Emblem, the fog of war just plain doesn't exist for the AI. They can just run right into the fog and attack units that they shouldn't be able to target at all.

Edited February 9, 2016 by BrightBow

[The DanMan]

Although in Advance Wars ever since the first GBA entry, even if the AI might be omnipresent at least it was never able to attack unless the rules would actually allow them to.

Meanwhile in Fire Emblem, the fog of war just plain doesn't exist for the AI. They can just run right into the fog and attack units that they shouldn't be able to target at all.

At the same time, it creates an interesting situation that forces a very defensive playstyle.

Can it be entertaining? Sometimes, personally; but as fog of war, I'd still agree that it's executed pretty badly.

[Nobody]

Least favourite: Cheating in fog of war: Why did they make the enemy able to see my movements in Fire Emblem when both the enemy and I could have done the guessing game, like in Advanced Wars?

I have an answer. Because other wise the fog of war chapters would be really boring and take a billion turns.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Nobody

[eclipse]

Favorite: Random stat growths. It forces me to adapt my playstyle, so no two runs are the same. Honorable mention to non-random damage calculation, which gives me, the player, the ability to plan my moves ahead of time.

Least favorite: Weapon ranks in FE4 (dunno if it carried over to FE5). IMO, they existed to nerf characters with very little rhyme or reason. Dishonorable mention to GBA's gender disparities (stat caps, mounted AID formula, etc.).

[Shadow Mir]

Favorite: Random stat growths. It forces me to adapt my playstyle, so no two runs are the same. Honorable mention to non-random damage calculation, which gives me, the player, the ability to plan my moves ahead of time.

Least favorite: Weapon ranks in FE4 (dunno if it carried over to FE5). IMO, they existed to nerf characters with very little rhyme or reason. Dishonorable mention to GBA's gender disparities (stat caps, mounted AID formula, etc.).

Guess we have someone else who knows the frustration that comes with attacking a target they can potentially kill, but whoops, looks like you hit on the lower end of your damage range, and you did enough to just barely NOT kill it instead - guess that's a bust.

As to the second, FE5 actually allowed increasing weapon ranks, but it went up rather slowly.

[Moliblazer]

Favorite: It's hard to decide, but if I have to narrow it down to one mechanic it's probably the FE5 capture mechanic, because of how much it changes how you play the game.

Least favorite: This was hard to narrow down as there are many mechanics I dislike, such as: Stamina, Reclassing, Dismounting and Pair-up, but I think my least favorite of all is Ambush Spawns, as they are something that is very punishing and completely out of the player's control. They add nothing to the game aside from a lot of frustration.

[henrymidfields]

Although in Advance Wars ever since the first GBA entry, even if the AI might be omnipresent at least it was never able to attack unless the rules would actually allow them to.

Meanwhile in Fire Emblem, the fog of war just plain doesn't exist for the AI. They can just run right into the fog and attack units that they shouldn't be able to target at all.

I have an answer. Because other wise the fog of war chapters would be really boring and take a billion turns.

Hmm, then maybe IS should actually use Advance Wars rules for all fog of war terrains. Some suggestions:

• Adopt variable line of sight for every unit and for every terrain. Allow for a wider view when you're up on a hill/peak/fortress, or when you are a flying unit or a Thief.
• Units can be concealed to all non-adjacent enemy units when in a forest etc.
• You can use lanterns and or torches to widen your view. However, this is a double-edged sword as enemy will also have a easier time locating you. (They can just aim for whoever is carrying the torch.) Visibility-related staves do not have this disadvantage.
• If you saw the enemy before he becomes invisible in the same player's turn (maybe due to your unit being killed by the enemy, or moving away), you can still attack that x/y-coordinate within that player's turn.

And all these rules should apply to both the player and the enemy.

Also on-topic honorary mention, post-script:

A clear-cut damage and chance calculation. This is what defines Fire Emblem's strategy.

[Skornvorax]

Favorite: Berserkers.... no wait.... I mean... Alot of the things that Awakening did,like how the pairing works and you can get different kinds of children each playthough,how you can class change and not being forced to use specific ones like tactician and how you can lvl up your char as much as you wish, and hey if you dont like the idea of lvling your char more then you did, dont use the second seal, I kinda liked the Spotpass idea aswell, being able to fight old chars and get bosses on some rather hard levels... oh and the fact that,the arenas were preety cool too... when they didnt killed you... oh and Casual/Phoenix mode, because I dont want to redo a whole level just for one damn error

Least Favorite: Axes are rarely used, weight in the GBA games, how Fates makes you buy your choice and thinks its pokemon and alomst forgot of the freaking reinforcements, the bane of my sanity

Edited February 10, 2016 by Skornvorax

[Axie]

actually I used to love FoW the way FE does it because it forces you to have a different strategy

but now that I think about it, if enemies were affected by FoW they would basically randomly move around and you could not assume they are where they usually are so it could be interesting

[Avalanche]

Favorite: Honestly, there's too many to count. BEXP, The Child System (I found it to be the most addictive element of Awakening and FE4 showed that it can work narratively if they use it as the stories main structure), Random Growth Rates, Branching Promotions, the list goes on.

Least Favorite: Shadow Dragon's Gaiden Chapters. I have a lot of problems with Shadow Dragon (mostly in what it didn't do to at least attempt to put the original game up to par with the series' current standards), but this is easily the biggest. In a series that has always rewarded players for going out of their way keeping characters alive or completing alternate objectives (Rescue NPCs, complete the Chapter in a certain amount of turns, talk to an enemy to recruit them ect.) to access Gaiden Chapters, I found Shadow Dragon's system kind of insulting. The fact that their is no other way to access Gaiden Chapters without killing off your units is ridiculous. This is a remake of a nearly 20 year old game and your telling me I need to intentionally play badly, in some cases kill off my own characters in order to access new content? Are you for real? At least when Thracia did Olwen and Eryios it was only on a Route Split and it honestly added a little flavor. However, easily the dumbest thing IS did was the generic recruit's who would show up if you were under 15 units. Seriously? It almost becomes another game in and of itself; manage the demise of all of your expendable, garbage units so you can recruit more characters (who you'll probably end up killing anyway) in side chapters. That's not a game I want to play. At all.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Avalanche