How would you twist a classic FE convention?

[Corrobin]

A few ideas I had:

1. Make the dragon/manakete look like a 10 year old BOY

2. Switch up the gender of some archetypes. Female Christmas Cavaliers. Male Peg Trio. You get the point.

3. Reverse the classic villainous situation-Evil Sorceror is the first main villain, with the Ambitious King upstaging him.

[Von Ithipathachai]

• Make the Cain and Abel characters Fighters, merging the Cain and Abel archetype with the Bord and Cord archetype.
• Make the Gharnef character a Light Magic user.

...Those are the only ones I can think of right now.

[Jingle Jangle]

• The early game healer is in charge of the bandits. But acts innocent when the lord approaches.
• The feminine priestis actually undercover in enemy country.

Most of my ideas I'm still thinking about.

[Azz]

37 minutes ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

• Make the Cain and Abel characters Fighters, merging the Cain and Abel archetype with the Bord and Cord archetype.
• Make the Gharnef character a Light Magic user.

...Those are the only ones I can think of right now.

But Riev tho...

For me tho:

-Instead of a loli dragon (TM), how about a shot dragon or an actual adult/1000 year old looking dragon (Like Nagi, Bantu or Morva)

-The main lord having an elder brother/younger brother. The only lords that have brothers are Hector and Celica, the rest are either only children or have sisters Corrin doesn't count

-More non-paladin Jeigans

-The main lords parents surviving

-Speaking of parents, more mothers instead of fathers or just both. We rarely see lord's mothers or mother figures and it always confuses me

-Beards. I think you can count the number of playable characetrs with beards on two hands. I know this isn't a convention but I want facial hair goddammit.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Azz

[Ertrick36]

• You play as the evil dragon that threatens to destroy humanity, and your goal is to destroy the "good" kingdom.
• Have most generic enemy units be female, along with their leaders, and have there be a sexy male warlock with similar garments to Odin Dark (except with a skirt that has leg slits too) as a villain.  Or hell, just have him dress like a barbarian; I mean, warlocks are essentially just a magical version of barbarians, aren't they?
• Healing works like tomes where you blast healing energy at your allies from 1-2 range, while hostile magic is one-range only and is hurts you through reverse healing (sapping life energies, I guess).  Bows replace tomes as the de facto 1-2 counter weapon.
• Your lord starts off as the Jeigan unit.  Let's have another Sigurd.
• Your lord is also in his/her 30's-50's; the story might be him/her trying to rebuild a kingdom that was destroyed, as opposed to merely saving it.
• Lot more girls with blemishes such as freckles, but only because I want more Mozu's.

[SavageVolug]

The "Navarre" is a Berserker, the "Jaigen" is a Wyvern lord, the Dragon shifter is an ornery bearded man. The Healer is a youth attending Med School or some equivelant of that, the dancer is a Drummer or Bugle boy. The "Conqueror" is not the "bad guy" but recruits the hero and his/her forces to work with him. Instead of a Myrmidon you get a Soldier, the lord promotes to something similar to Wyvern lord. The pegasus trio is replaced with a trio of gorgeous berserkers, all of whom are the daughters of a fierce Pirate Captain who in turn is recruiteble by earning the trust and loyalty of his daughters. 

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm with Corrobin about his third idea. I think the best way to portray evil cults and the courts they so often manipulate in the next game is to have the evil conqueror come out on top for once and have him manipulate them. He could end up draining their beloved god of his power and then purging the whole cult once their use is up.

 

3 hours ago, Corrobin said:

Make the dragon/manakete look like a 10 year old BOY

Well there's Nils even if he can't turn into a dragon. I wouldn't mind more Maneketes like him. 

[Shoblongoo]

 

3 hours ago, Corrobin said:

 

1. Make the dragon/manakete look like a 10 year old BOY

 

...take the gender-bender one step further...

Instead of a Lucius or a Libra or a Forrest: the "trap" character is a young girl, passing as a boy. 

[Von Ithipathachai]

3 minutes ago, Shoblongoo said:

Instead of a Lucius or a Libra or a Forrest: the "trap" character is a young girl, passing as a boy. 

So basically if Linde was disguised as a boy for the entirety of Shadow Dragon?

[Shoblongoo]

7 minutes ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

So basically if Linde was disguised as a boy for the entirety of Shadow Dragon?

...maybe.

Or like a Nino or something.

Mage would probably be the best class to pull it off. Shorten the hair, hide a small body under some more masculine looking robes, and you could pull it off. 

Edited March 2, 2018 by Shoblongoo

[MacLovin]

Make the loli dragon you get halfway through the game into the final boss.

[vanguard333]

I can think of a few:

1. (This one is kind of 3 twists in one) The hero is the second son of a nobleman, and is mocked by others for his frailty and lack of skill with a sword. Their homeland is invaded, and, when it seems like the father's about to be killed off, the eldest son dies instead, leaving the frail second son as the new heir. The father survives the entire story.

2. The priest is a large buff guy who everyone thinks would make a better fighter than a priest, much to his confusion (as he doesn't realize that they think that because of his muscles). 

3. The protagonist hears about the manakete and thinks it'll be a little girl based on a person's description. Then it turns out that the manakete is actually a fully-grown young adult with a childish hobby, but otherwise quite mature.

4. An evil cult/court who think they're the typical servants of an evil dragon or wielders of terrible power, but they're actually just a bunch of fanatics, and there is no evil dragon or anything like that behind them (there might be one in the game, but they're not related to him in any capacity).

5. A monstrous-looking dark dragon of some sort that seems like the generic main villain, but actually turns out to be trying to help the main heroes against the real bad guy. Even the order of mages that serve the dragon (and look like an evil cult in almost every way) are actually a bunch of innocent mages who also want to help. The dragon even becomes a playable character.

6. A chapter 1 bandit leader who turns out to be an empire spy/saboteur. 

7. A jagen who turns out to have great growth rates when given a particular item.

8. An Ogma who is best friends with, or maybe even a brother to, the Navarre, and, when put next to each other, it's obvious that they're both equally quiet and stoic, but in such different ways that it's hard to tell.

9. A beautiful Pegasus Knight who seems like she has a not-so-secret unrequited crush on the protagonist, but it turns out that she doesn't; she's only acting awkwardly around him either because she acts like that around everybody, or because she's been trying to find a way to ask him for his autograph to add to her collection. If the latter, then her epilogue reads: historians do possess her autograph collection, and it does contain [the protagonist's]. But, when she obtained it, or if it is even his, remains a mystery to this day...

10. Speaking of which, a handsome FE lord who has an unrequited crush on the Pegasus knight. either he moves on, or she eventually reciprocates (so 2 twists in one).

11. Green & Red cavaliers: the green one is female; the red one is male, and they are actually a happily married couple who never compete; instead recognizing the places where the brother is better or worse and balancing each other on the battlefield. ...Is this a twist? Or is more just a variation? If the latter, could someone suggest a way to make it a twist?

12. A prince lord who seems like another Marth, but starts off with zero charisma and is disliked by almost everyone for his "bland" behaviour. He undergoes character development by learning how to interact with people in such a way that he actually "seems like a real person for a change", in the words of one of the more blunt characters. 

13. A Gordon archer who is headstrong as opposed to timid, and is red-haired instead of green-haired.

14. A member of the thief class who is easily able to sneak around, and whom everyone assumes to be an expert thief, but has never actually stolen anything in his life before joining the protagonist's group.

15. A wise mage master who everyone assumes is an old man with a huge white/gray beard, but actually turns out to be a clean-shaven middle-aged man whose hair still has colour, and doesn't understand why everyone thinks he would be and old bearded man in a big hat and robes.

(I should probably stop here and post more when I think of them).

 

2 hours ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

• Make the Gharnef character a Light Magic user.

So Sephirian/Lehran, then?

[Moblin Major General]

Hardin/Lyon character is driven insane by holy power and bases their conquest as a crusade rather than general conquest. Their death reveals that even though they did a lot of bad things, they also took out the trash, and that the main lord has to finish what they started, much as they don't really want to.

[Hawkwing]

Of the top of my head:

1. Nobody has plot armor, even the lord. And the story would plan around this.
2. The "lord" would be just that, a lord. Among other lords of the realm. And they would have no connection to any royal family.
3. The final boss wouldn't be a dragon, but the second to last boss would be. And said Dragon would serve the role of, well, the dragon.
4. A bandit leader fought early on would develop over the story into a legitimate threat.
5. There would be a magic user who doesn't use tomes, but is instead a melee fighter who uses electricity, fire, etc. for their attacks (maybe something akin to elemental bending From The Last Avatar/Legend of Korra series).
6. A healer/archer that's skilled in hand-to-hand and/or staff combat.
7. You would get to choose whether you want to continue with a Jeigan, an overall average unit, or a trainee. Whoever you don't choose would appear later in the story.
8. An otherworldly shapeshifter who functions similarly to Xane, but instead of copying a units class, they would transform into a creature that serves a similar purpose, but with a unique trait. For example, copying a knight might turn them into either a floating suit of armor, increasing their avoidance, or a rock golem with higher defense that can break through walls. Copying a myrmidon would either turn them into a being with several hands and swords, or a sea creature that is dangerously efficient on water tiles. I want them to get really creative with this idea.
9. A Manakete that looks old and/or middle-aged, and add a few males. Also, one would be a mercenary playing both sides of the conflict.
10. A mercenary who really is only in it for the money, and might betray you if you don't pay them enough.
11. A thief who can't kill anyone, but can only capture them. He/She would have a unique skill to provide you with stolen money after the battle, with the amount being dependent upon where you fought, how many enemies you killed, what the quality of their equipment was, etc.
12. Have some archetypes appear for the enemy side. For instance, there might be a dual boss based on the Cain and Able archetypes, or a fight against a Jeigan who served as the enemies mentor. There might be an Est unit that only appears on "defeat the boss" or other missions where you don't have to kill every opponent, and if said Est unit survives the fight, they'll reappear in later levels, becoming stronger for every level they survive.
13. Have some enemy units be female, and give enemy units some unique faces, hair, and armor so we aren't looking at the same portrait all the time.
14. Multiple endings, based both on decisions made in gameplay and in the story.
15. A few times where both you and the enemy have to summon cannon fodder units a la Battle for Wesnoth. 

[Von Ithipathachai]

I just thought of a couple more:

• Have the Jagen be a morally lacking commanding officer who begins committing war crimes (or something to that effect) in enemy territory, causing the Lord and his friends to mutiny
• Have the big bad bulky Emperor character (Rudolf, Hardin, Zephiel, etc.) be a woman for a change
• An Arran and Samson situation in which you have to choose between a Dancer who can give you more turns or a Mimic/Freelancer who can imitate allies

[Acacia Sgt]

Hmm, there's probably more, but that I can remember right now...

• The protagonist, instead of being the son/daughter or younger sibling of a monarch/lord/marquess/mercenaryleader/etc., is instead the monarch/lord/marquess/mercenaryleader/etc. Any offspring can still be PC's and important and all that stuff, but they never become the main character.
• Bonus Points to the above if the protagonist is a grandparent already.
• Protagonist group are the actual villains. Something like Conquest, but actually going through with it instead of... well, what Conquest did.
• Don't have a main/central protagonist, don't have the main story revolve on any character more than another (by much, at least), or give anyone a specific tie to the final boss(es) (or there might still be one, but don't make it amount THAT much), that sort of stuff. Admitedly, this would be almost impossible to pull unless you removed permadeath, so who knows.

Might think on more, but for now, this is it.

[NekoKnight]

-Protagonist nation is the one known for Wyvern Riders instead of paladins or pegasus riders.
-Main character is a king/queen, and a parent of young children.
-A civil war instead of a continent spanning conflict.
-A female protagonist who is not naive or usurped by a male protagonist.
-Dragons are either more present (Scouring prequel pls) or are successful in their revival instead of there just being a few in existence
-The final antagonist would not be in charge from the beginning of the game but would be scheming and working towards a position of power, just as the hero is working towards defeating that power.
-Have more allies with prejudices (not enough to make them villains).
-The Jeigan is a well intentioned extremist who did things behind the protagonist's back that he felt were necessary for the stability of the country but the protagonist would hate him for it if he found out.

[vanguard333]

Oh: I just thought of one more:

There is no single big bad responsible for much of the continent's woes. The continent was a sealed boiling pot, ready to explode into open war and misery at any given moment. The hero is trying to help resolve the issues brewing as well as defeat the obvious villains, but the continent's problems are so layered, inherent and systemic that, even when all is said and done, there is still so much to be done.

[henrymidfields]

It turned out that another civil war erupts in Etruria, due to the clampdown that Perceval actually carried out (from his support conversation with Klein, iirc). And it turned out Perceval's clampdown and witchhunt against the former pro-coup forces, their families, a couple their associates (even involving some members of Modred's family) turned out to be so violent/oppressive, Joseph McCarthy looked like a saint in comparison. Cecilia and Douglas initially sided with Perceval, but became so appalled that the former two decided to turn against the latter.

[Thane]

Brash female lord, cute little brother healer.

Sane dragons.

Edited March 3, 2018 by Thane

[NPR]

A good archer unit. *Bam dum ching*

On a more serious note, I would really love to see villagers play an active role in a map. For instance, maybe a minute man force that holds off one of the flanks for your army on a defense chapter. They wouldn't be knights so it could give some interesting story beats, especially if some of the deaths are guaranteed, say maybe that of their leader or something. You could even recruit the leader's son at the end if he lives. I always thought that using villagers as helpless rescue units was a waste of potential.

[Soledai]

Married couple protagonists, or married couple antagonists.

Multiple endings.(This does not include variants of the same one)

9 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Don't have a main/central protagonist, don't have the main story revolve on any character more than another (by much, at least), or give anyone a specific tie to the final boss(es) (or there might still be one, but don't make it amount THAT much), that sort of stuff. Admitedly, this would be almost impossible to pull unless you removed permadeath, so who knows.

I thought about story presentation like this too. I dunno if you've played games like Live a Live, Brigandine, or Dragon Force, but I was thinking along those lines. I think you could feasibly have permadeath present, could be a bit tricky though..

[Tuvy]

16 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

2. The priest is a large buff guy who everyone thinks would make a better fighter than a priest, much to his confusion (as he doesn't realize that they think that because of his muscles)

Lol. Thats literally one of the main characters in a hack I'm working on. Also my Avatar.

I would love it if you played as a young lord who has an older brother/sister that they are very close to.

And then they died.

Then you would play as their older brother/sister in a quest to avenge them. So... pretty much Genealogy but with siblings instead of 2 generations.

Edited March 3, 2018 by Tuvy

[Sylphid]

You start as the early game bandit instead of beating them, and get recruited/conscripted by the lord character later. This could be done few ways but in the age of Avatars it could just be the starting situation from FE7 but replace Lyn with bandits.

Have a brash female main lord that goes around saving guys in distress and recruits them to her merry band.

17 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

Mage would probably be the best class to pull it off. Shorten the hair, hide a small body under some more masculine looking robes, and you could pull it off. 

I would like to think it would be easier to hide the female body in some thick armor. Getting female characters to armor that isn't form-fitting or doesn't have boob windows or whatever shouldn't be that hard. Yet it apparently is.

12 hours ago, Thane said:

Sane dragons.

This without the strikethrough.

[The Roger The Paladin]

3 minutes ago, Sylphid said:

You start as the early game bandit instead of beating them, and get recruited/conscripted by the lord character later. This could be done few ways but in the age of Avatars it could just be the starting situation from FE7 but replace Lyn with bandits.

Have a brash female main lord that goes around saving guys in distress and recruits them to her merry band.

I would like to think it would be easier to hide the female body in some thick armor. Getting female characters to armor that isn't form-fitting or doesn't have boob windows or whatever shouldn't be that hard. Yet it apparently is.

This without the strikethrough.

As an insane dragon I resent the idea of sane dragons. And also approve it.