Should FE games have route splits?

[Corrobin]

Ever since Thracia 776 made us decide to go either to the Norden Line or Melfiye Forest, lots of FE games have had either intrinsic choices the player has to make to go to maps, or special conditions that can force a route choice.

Do you think that FE games should have this in them?

[NinjaMonkey]

If we are talking Sacred Stones style route splits, no. I don't want to have to play the game multiple times just to get the whole experience. If the party has to split up at one point, I'd prefer how it was done in Radiant Dawn.

Edited April 15, 2018 by NinjaMonkey

[wheelsonfire]

I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it can lead to some interesting choices and differences in playthroughs. On the other hand, that means that the player has to play through the game at least twice to see it all... Not to mention there's bias towards one route in some cases, leading it to almost never being taken (e.g. the route where Cyas appears in FE5 almost ever been chosen because of its difficulty, or people deliberately not training up Nomads in order to avoid going to Sacae).

[Chconroy]

I like that the alternate routes give you different chapters and units to use, making subsequent playthroughs more varied. The thing to be wary about is making each route overly important that the split is more detrimental than beneficial, namely the issue with the Sacred Stones route split. I like both routes in the game, but both routes have story events that feel too important to be missed; either you get the more natural explanation of the main plot on Ephraim's route or you learn more about Magvel and give some characters a more important role in the story (L'Arachel, Joshua, and Cormag) on Eirika's route.

In short, so long as the routes don't contain crucial information that shouldn't be missed and merely serve to give the player greater agency on repeated playthroughs, I'd love to see them come back.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

As long as I don't have to buy the privilege of choosing those routes~

I feel like we have enough freedom in access to paralogues. I'm not holding out for the return of route splits because I like to experience as much of a game as I want within a single playthrough. FE6's route split and the alternative chapters of 7 are the most egregious examples for me. Through factors unknown to the player you get totally different chapters with different recruitable units. If they were more transparent, then I would be more okay with it. 

[indigoasis]

I think route splits are pretty neat. Obviously they could use a little work. Having the option to go back to a choice at (almost) any point would be nice, akin to Radiant Historia for example, but it would reset your levels and skills back to that point. You can go back to the farthest point you went on one route if you want to finish that or keep playing from there, if that makes sense. I guess having multiple save files would work best, but I don't know.

[Book Bro]

I'm not really a fan of route exclusive characters unless you play both routes at once like in SoV. And if there are big differences between routes I would rather not have to pay full price for each one again. 

Imo, the best option is either to have simultaneous routes like SoV or to have both/all sides of the story playable in one run, like RD.

[MyBoyHector]

Not sure if its FE's style to have route splits, that's more of a Super Robot Wars series thing.

[Cute Chao]

I prefer the way SoV does it overall. I don't like having to choose between characters, personally. I know it's to try and increase replayability but in games with any sort of supports, it meant it was harder to support certain characters, because you only had access to them depending upon your route. 

[Icelerate]

I have mixed feelings on this subject. Split routes may over complicate the writing in the game. For a game like Sacred Stones, it was fine due to being a short game but the Switch FE game will most likely be very ambitious so if they can do it properly, it would be great. Otherwise, the story might suffer. 

[Shadow Mir]

No. Leave that to Super Robot Wars.

3 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

I have mixed feelings on this subject. Split routes may over complicate the writing in the game. For a game like Sacred Stones, it was fine due to being a short game but the Switch FE game will most likely be very ambitious so if they can do it properly, it would be great. Otherwise, the story might suffer. 

I would argue otherwise - that Sacred Stones suffered due to the route split.

[Icelerate]

2 minutes ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

No. Leave that to Super Robot Wars.

I would argue otherwise - that Sacred Stones suffered due to the route split.

Then that's even more reason to leaving them and just focus on one coherent, yet ambitious story. 

[Avarice Shadow]

I do like the idea of route split. To me it's a fun concept that brings different possibilities to a game. Only thing is that it has to be executed properly for me to enjoy. Also they shouldn't charge money for it :/

[NekoKnight]

Route splits are a cool idea, and executed well, could be very compelling. Unfortunately, everything takes development time and a lack of focus either gets you bad writing like in Fates or the game being shorter for a single play through, like Sacred Stones.

I would hope that they could have the budget to make alternate routes with well considered gameplay, campaign length and writing, but if that can't be accomplished, they will have to be less ambitious.

I don't mind paying for other routes if the price matches what I'm getting out of it. I'd say Fates was appropriately priced, for all the resused assets.

[Strullemia]

If it's done like Thracia sure. It gives you another reason to replay the game since taking one route actually has some minor consequences on what characters you can recruit later.

I don't want any more Fates situations where I have to buy the other route.

[Captain Karnage]

I always liked the idea, I just wish they could make alternate stories

I have the idea of having two armies meet up, and having the potential for them to split where you could have the choice of who you would support and you can get different endings

[Cornguy]

I prefer the army split+meet up, over the option A or option B method. It sounds a little greedy maybe, but if you made 20(ish) chapters for this part, why am I only playing 10? 

I don't mind having a couple of alt chapters here and there, but I think FE8 would have been more fun if you played Eirika and Ephraim's chapters alternatively. You have more than enough units, and it would actually make sense to use characters like Natasha and Marisa(well, maybe not Marisa) since their roles might not be filled on whichever side you send/meet them.

[CatManThree]

It depends entirely on how it is executed. There is often the problem of one route being far objectively better than the other one.

A good example of this would be FE5. Route B is both annoying and doesn't yield much other than a meme unit (Shannam) and another Pugi. Route A however is much less irritating and yields better much better items and units such as Ilios and a warp staff.

For a route split to work, the game must create a balance between the two in terms of challenge and reward. Either make both routes just as challenging with just as much reward, or make one incredibly challenging with great reward and the other easier with less reward.

[Corrobin]

On 4/15/2018 at 11:46 PM, NekoKnight said:

Route splits are a cool idea, and executed well, could be very compelling. Unfortunately, everything takes development time and a lack of focus either gets you bad writing like in Fates or the game being shorter for a single play through, like Sacred Stones.

I would hope that they could have the budget to make alternate routes with well considered gameplay, campaign length and writing, but if that can't be accomplished, they will have to be less ambitious.

I don't mind paying for other routes if the price matches what I'm getting out of it. I'd say Fates was appropriately priced, for all the resused assets.

I meant more like, how you can get different versions of Four Fanged Offense, or how you either do Nohrden Line and Leonster's Gate or The Dark Forest and The First Rain of May in FE5.

[Yazuki]

I love the route splits especially FE8, it gives the game more replayability which makes the experience longer. ^_^

Edited April 19, 2018 by Yazuki

[Rose482]

It should, not only does it give reputability value, but it's just would be a fun thing to have. 

[eclipse]

Depends on how obnoxious it is.

Fates is the worst offender, because you had to buy the additional routes.  Let's never, ever do that, please.

I didn't mind FE8, since the story changed once you chose a route.  You wound up with more-or-less the same items and characters, too.

FE7 wins, IMO.  The split between ENM and HHM almost makes it feel like two different games.  I doubt we'll see anything like that in the future, though.

Edited April 22, 2018 by eclipse

[MyBoyHector]

20 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Depends on how obnoxious it is.

Fates is the worst offender, because you had to buy the additional routes.  Let's never, ever do that, please.

I didn't mind FE8, since the story changed once you chose a route.  You wound up with more-or-less the same items and characters, too.

FE7 wins, IMO.  The split between ENM and HHM almost makes it feel like two different games.  I doubt we'll see anything like that in the future, though.

IF and that is a big IF they decide to put Route splits into the next Fire Emblem games, I would hope they do FE7 style as well.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Depends.

Elibe style: Stuff like Ilia/Sacae, Bartre/Echidna, Lloyd/Linus Four-Fanged Offence, and Kenneth/Jerme is terrible. Choosing the route you get based off an opaque mechanism is not something I want to see. Eliwood/Hector-type split is... in theory could be cool, though it felt only barely relevant, since aside from the first map and the one where they get Durandal/Armads the routes were basically the same (aside from some arbitrary changes which don't make much sense).

Sacred Stones: This worked well enough, although I can't help but feel it would be strictly stronger if you just made the game six maps longer (it still wouldn't be terribly long) and alternated between the paths. You lose some fake replay value but gain a more coherent story on the first go.

Gaiden, Radiant Dawn: See Sacred Stones. This worked pretty well.

Fates: Is a fine idea, but it's at the core of the structure of the whole game(s), so it wouldn't make sense to use this as a baseline unless the story called for it.

[Faellin]

Depends on how its handled.

Gaiden / SoV I feel handled the route split thing the best. Where you controled 2 paths at the same time, so you never missed any major plot points.

RD I feel did it decently as well. But the implementation was poor due to how you still used Ike's group the majority of the time, leaving the dawn brigade and the royal knights to have so few options to actually get good exp. So there was barely any reason to use them. As for part 4, I had no issues with that since each group got equal use, although at that time you would start to see just how poorly balanced the game was as a whole since you had to use units who were so underpowered that it made some of those chapters a huge pain. Really, being forced to use the DB on micaiah's route when most of them would be on average 2nd tier level 10 by that point. And dealing with tier 3 enemies was not fun.

Fates was fine since the game was built from the ground up with the concept in mind. But if I were to make a change to it, I would remove revelations. Since it made the other 2 routes completely pointless. Instead what I would have done was replace it with a "Final Story Arc" type thing. Where after clearing birthright and conquest. It would open up an aditional 10 or so chapters, building off birthright or conquest and capping the story off with dealing with Anankos. That way you still get a conclusive story, without invalidating the other 2 routes. This way there isn't a consequence free route. And you have to live with the consequences. Which is a strong theme in alot of fire emblem games. And in doing so, it would have been a great way of getting better character development for Corrin.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Faellin