Mechanics/ Systems or character/ story elements you'd like to see in future Fire Emblems?

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, SnowFire said:

On fake-out lords: Multiple storylines are always cool.  I had an old somewhat similar idea for one of my ways to ever take a fantasy story, although kinda in reverse.  Basically the Marth-type lord in the first section of the game would have all the usual paladin-esque qualities": loyal, honest, believes in friends, fights for justice, etc.  Could even be slightly OP for a "Lyn mode tutorial" type experience if desired.  The game wouldn't cue the multiple paths, however, there'd be fake stuff like future upgrade trees that suggests this guy is gonna be your lead character the whole game.  Anyway after you defeat the Big Bad of the first arc (your Gangrel-equivalent), the government of HappyGoodGuyLandia would send your team on some sort of easy fetch quest out in the wilderness, complete with another team of soldiers to support in case anything happens.  I think you can see where this is going: actually, the king/prince/chancellor/whatever is justly worried that Our Hero's great popularity would make them a political threat & rival in the long term, so after you're already at the bottom of the mines or top of the tower or whatever with no escape, Our Hero is betrayed and killed in a sudden attack a la Sigurd (but in a less populated area).  The remaining team fights their way out against the government assassins and then skedaddles.

That basically is exactly what happens to Sigurd.

[AnonymousSpeed]

This thread seemed really interesting but now it's really long, so I'm just going to my make suggestion without commenting on other people's (undoubtedly neat) ideas.

Divorce mechanics.

Probably not a fit for the deterministic approach that Fire Emblem lets players take over character relationships, but if you can get 1% crit on the battlefield I think it would be fun to have maximum disaster in the out-of-battle stuff as well.

[X-Naut]

Stamina and fatigue as a per-map resource. Unlike Thracia 776 it replenishes after each map, but if you run out you suffer the penalties immediately, which is disabling all your skills and EXP/WEXP gain. Mid-map replenishment would be heavily limited, and it also doubles as the cost for Arts and innate spells, giving them a more concrete currency.

On 9/9/2023 at 7:39 PM, lenticular said:

• Magic that is a hybrid between the Three Houses system and the more normal Fire Emblem system. Basically, magic comes from tomes and staves, each tome/stave has a given number of uses, but those uses are per battle and will regenerate to full after every battle. So if I get a Rescue staff or a Bolting tome, I can give it to whoever I want, and then they get (eg) 2 uses per battle as opposed to 5 uses ever. (A similar system could also be used for physical weapons as a way to balance powerful regalia, and to apply some limits on weapon usage without having to have the tedium of weapon repair.)

I had a similar idea, except instead of low use, full regen you get more uses with gradual regeneration. Base regen rate is halved rounded down if you use it at all in a map, creating a dynamic where you can splurge in exchange for having to ration later. Basic tomes get 20-25 uses with a base regen around 40, with advanced tomes dropping off harder in regen rate than in uses. Think 10-15 uses with a 3-5 regen rate for high level spells, and you can probably guess what Warp, Rescue etc's regen rates are.

[Florete]

2 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

This thread seemed really interesting but now it's really long, so I'm just going to my make suggestion without commenting on other people's (undoubtedly neat) ideas.

Lmao same.

My ideas:

3H's per-map uses for magic could be extended to all weapons. It's a nice cross between the old durability system and the new Fates/Engage system. I find it nice to not have to constantly micro-manage weapons due to low remaining uses, but durability of some sort is still a good balancing mechanic.

PoR's split inventory system was an interesting idea that I'd like to see get expanded on. It was nice to not have to decide between weapons and other stuff. Naturally, this would require more interesting, valuable things to actually put in the lower half than PoR had.

For story elements, just give us a main lord who isn't a damn sword user, holy crap. (That's not even technically story, is it?)

On the topic of queerness and Leon/Dorothea: What makes Dorothea work to me is that her bisexuality isn't just circumstance. She has lines (might be mostly in Hopes, though?) that make it clear she likes both men and women, as opposed to other "bi" characters who just so happen to also be an S rank option for same-gender Avatar. I don't like to consider most of Engage's cast to be canonically bi for this reason, rather they're all just kind of non-disclosed or whatever you want them to be.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Florete

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Florete said:

Lmao same.

My ideas:

3H's per-map uses for magic could be extended to all weapons. It's a nice cross between the old durability system and the new Fates/Engage system. I find it nice to not have to constantly micro-manage weapons due to low remaining uses, but durability of some sort is still a good balancing mechanic.

PoR's split inventory system was an interesting idea that I'd like to see get expanded on. It was nice to not have to decide between weapons and other stuff. Naturally, this would require more interesting, valuable things to actually put in the lower half than PoR had.

For story elements, just give us a main lord who isn't a damn sword user, holy crap. (That's not even technically story, is it?)

On the topic of queerness and Leon/Dorothea: What makes Dorothea work to me is that her bisexuality isn't just circumstance. She has lines (might be mostly in Hopes, though?) that make it clear she likes both men and women, as opposed to other "bi" characters who just so happen to also be an S rank option for same-gender Avatar. I don't like to consider most of Engage's cast to be canonically bi for this reason, rather they're all just kind of non-disclosed or whatever you want them to be.

Wait until the Binding Blade remake comes out and everyone ends up being Bi for Roy.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

3 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Divorce mechanics.

How about a "reverse support" chain? Two characters that find themselves constantly bickering on the battlefield. They drop from S-rank, to A, to B, all the way down to C, and eventually agree to break up.

1 hour ago, Florete said:

3H's per-map uses for magic could be extended to all weapons. It's a nice cross between the old durability system and the new Fates/Engage system. I find it nice to not have to constantly micro-manage weapons due to low remaining uses, but durability of some sort is still a good balancing mechanic.

I would be game for them handling legendary weapons this way. It's never sat right with me, hearing "this immensely powerful sword has survived a thousand years!", swinging it twenty times, and seeing it turn to dust. But "infinite uses" comes with its own perils. Ragnell is just absurdly good, especially in RD, whereas the Fates S-rank weapons come with such big cons, that they feel more curse than blessing. Something like limited uses per map could combine "this weapon is powerful" and "this weapon is unbreakable", while also leaving the player constrained in how much use they can get out of it.

[DefyingFates]

On 9/11/2023 at 12:05 AM, lenticular said:

I don't really want to go too deep into this, since we're starting to drift further and further off topic, but I'll just say that I completely reject the idea that a gay male character is a better example of a queer character than a bisexual female character.

Oh, I don't think that either, I'm so sorry if I came off that way! I just brought Leon up in the context of a game that would let you romance anyone, since you would be unable to pair him with a female Avatar. Outside of that though, obviously diversity of all kinds is great to have, especially with how openly xenophobic a lot of countries are, especially in recent years.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

Oh, I don't think that either, I'm so sorry if I came off that way! I just brought Leon up in the context of a game that would let you romance anyone, since you would be unable to pair him with a female Avatar. Outside of that though, obviously diversity of all kinds is great to have, especially with how openly xenophobic a lot of countries are, especially in recent years.

Eh? Have you looked at history. The world is faaaaaar more open and tolerant now than it has ever been. The media slings around controversy like a shuttlecock for attention, but don't make the mistake in thinking that meant earlier decades were remotely as good as it is now when it comes to acceptance.

[DefyingFates]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Eh? Have you looked at history. The world is faaaaaar more open and tolerant now than it has ever been. The media slings around controversy like a shuttlecock for attention, but don't make the mistake in thinking that meant earlier decades were remotely as good as it is now when it comes to acceptance.

I know we're a lot better as a whole than we were before, but I feel like the past few years have gotten worse the few before it. The uptick in targeted transphobia for example - even if it's just a bunch of existing transphobes being more publicized, as you say. But now we're going far off-topic.

Are there any character archetypes you'd like to see return, either as is or deconstructed?

Edited September 12, 2023 by DefyingFates

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

This in light of the Seadall rating thread:

Make a valuable unit, an obvious example being Dancers, traitors, spies what have you. You can expose and be rid of them immediately and not have to deal with the repercussions of having a traitor, but you also won´t have [valuable unit], or you keep them around and in response the following maps have more better positioned enemies, loot is gone. Or something along those lines.

 

Unrelated, Pegasi should be able to stop flying and be treated as regular cavalry so no bow weakness (though I have yet to rationalize why bows are effective against fliers, other than a balance attempt) and Wyvern Riders should be able to split into footsoldier-unit and hangry lizard.

7 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I would be game for them handling legendary weapons this way. It's never sat right with me, hearing "this immensely powerful sword has survived a thousand years!", swinging it twenty times, and seeing it turn to dust. But "infinite uses" comes with its own perils. Ragnell is just absurdly good, especially in RD, whereas the Fates S-rank weapons come with such big cons, that they feel more curse than blessing. Something like limited uses per map could combine "this weapon is powerful" and "this weapon is unbreakable", while also leaving the player constrained in how much use they can get out of it.

Unrecoverable HPcost/use, with HP recovered only between maps.

u r not worthy

 

On another note, I wanna see a Heim x Naga x Book of Naga situation with a playable character. The more they use their weapon, the more they become whoeever is inside. [Whomsoever takes up this blade, shall wield power eternal. Just as the blade rends flesh, so must power scar the spirit] as they say.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

4 hours ago, Imuabicus der Fertige said:

(though I have yet to rationalize why bows are effective against fliers, other than a balance attempt)

If you shoot a pegasus in its wing, it won't be able to fly, and it'll fall to the ground. This would hurt more than, say, shooting a horse in the side. Because even if it falls over, it's not plummeting hundreds of feet.

4 hours ago, Imuabicus der Fertige said:

 

On another note, I wanna see a Heim x Naga x Book of Naga situation with a playable character. The more they use their weapon, the more they become whoeever is inside. [Whomsoever takes up this blade, shall wield power eternal. Just as the blade rends flesh, so must power scar the spirit] as they say.

They could've done this in Three Houses. We witness Miklan turning into the Black Beast, because he uses the Lance of Ruin without a Crest. But when our Crestless units use it, they just take a little damage after combat. It's not even lethal damage.

Here's what I'd do - keep the damage, but let it drop your HP to zero. Once that happens, instead of dying, the afflicted unit transforms into a Crest beast. They'll fight friend and foe alike in this state, and there's no way to save them. The only way to revert it would be via Divine Pulse. Suddenly, Rhea's messaging, about not letting people without Crests wield the Hero's Relics, would bear more gameplay weight.

[Heir of Dragons and Beasts]

Lords with different weapon types that will actually play a part in the story. 

- Give me a staff lord whose shies away from combat and killing. 

- A mage lord (preferably Anima or Dark) whose an avid studier of magic and seeks to learn them all.

- A beast lord (honestly would love to see Beast Units get more attention)

- Dancer/Songstress Lord who wants to aid his or her allies through song and dance.

There are so many things I.S. could do here but they keep going for swords and dragons whose dragon don't really play a part in the story outside of

Spoiler

Them being the children of the, Are they really bad or just mentally unstable? dragon, whose species is doomed.

Also a list of small things:

- Canon couples for the lords and the other characters, I've honestly grown tired of the whole ship wars thing and while I get that multiple endings increases replay value and availability (look at Awakening and Fates), I'd honestly love if the army had one person for each of them. But only if it doesn't have child units.

- Attack Staves from Heroes should be incorporated into the mainline series and I honestly thought Engage or Three Houses would do it but I guess not. I know that Hliðskjálf is technically in Engage but it's a tome not a staff.

- Promotions for Beast Units and Dancers/Songstresses.

[DefyingFates]

18 minutes ago, DivineDragon_Goddess said:

Lords with different weapon types that will actually play a part in the story. 

I'd love this myself. I kinda get why Lords always have the same role - they need to be on every map (and thus survive them all) and IS probably thinks it'd be more satisfying if they were on the front lines - but at the very least it would be nice to have multiple Lords at once with only one of them being an infantry melee unit... and not a sword unit for once!

But again, while I get the reasoning I would love at least one game where the main Lord is designed to be a support unit and it's the supporting cast (or at least the main royals) who do the actual fighting. I'd like them to be a peace-lover too, but I'm sure players would accuse them of being weak or naive or something if they were 😕

P.S. While he's not a pacifist, Shiroe from Log Horizon strikes me as a good example of this idea: he's the main character but his powers are based on buffing allies, so he uses the fact that he's always on the backlines to pull double duty as the party's tactician. And hey, that would make sense in an FE game too!

23 minutes ago, DivineDragon_Goddess said:

- Canon couples for the lords and the other characters, I've honestly grown tired of the whole ship wars thing and while I get that multiple endings increases replay value and availability (look at Awakening and Fates), I'd honestly love if the army had one person for each of them. But only if it doesn't have child units.

I'd like this too. Or at the very least, let the base game be a free for all and establish canon couples in spin-offs or alternate media like a manga adaptation. Just so we have a concrete idea of who ends up with who. At the same time, this runs the risk of enraging people based on whether their ships became canon or not 😛

25 minutes ago, DivineDragon_Goddess said:

- Promotions for Beast Units and Dancers/Songstresses.

Yes, please! Especially after FEH showed us how cool flying refreshers can be after the brief taste we got with the herons!

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

If you shoot a pegasus in its wing, it won't be able to fly, and it'll fall to the ground. This would hurt more than, say, shooting a horse in the side. Because even if it falls over, it's not plummeting hundreds of feet.

They could've done this in Three Houses. We witness Miklan turning into the Black Beast, because he uses the Lance of Ruin without a Crest. But when our Crestless units use it, they just take a little damage after combat. It's not even lethal damage.

Here's what I'd do - keep the damage, but let it drop your HP to zero. Once that happens, instead of dying, the afflicted unit transforms into a Crest beast. They'll fight friend and foe alike in this state, and there's no way to save them. The only way to revert it would be via Divine Pulse. Suddenly, Rhea's messaging, about not letting people without Crests wield the Hero's Relics, would bear more gameplay weight.

Superior LTC strats, turn Ignatz into Crest Beast and make him lethal kill Edelgard in the mock battle!

[DefyingFates]

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

Superior LTC strats, turn Ignatz into Crest Beast and make him lethal kill Edelgard in the mock battle!

Secret ending unlocked!

But in all seriousness, if this were a feature, I'm sure in a mock battle/ casual mode the unit would just say they felt sick and retreat when their HP hit 0.

Edited September 13, 2023 by DefyingFates

[X-Naut]

This mention of beasts reminds me of another concept I'd like to see: taking the 3DS concept of shifter status to its logical conclusion. Ditch the dedicated shifter classes and let them transform in any class, if you need a limitation then bring back dismounting and have it require being unmounted. Make the transformation akin to FE3/Tellius where it is a mid-map reclass.

[Jotari]

28 minutes ago, X-Naut said:

This mention of beasts reminds me of another concept I'd like to see: taking the 3DS concept of shifter status to its logical conclusion. Ditch the dedicated shifter classes and let them transform in any class, if you need a limitation then bring back dismounting and have it require being unmounted. Make the transformation akin to FE3/Tellius where it is a mid-map reclass.

That would be pretty cool. Especially for a Lord like Corrin/Alear who can actually make use of their powers with that versatility.

[Mizerous]

If Emblems return please make them relevant to the characters of that game. The FEH approach to Engage limited the develoomemt of that game's new cast.

[DefyingFates]

8 hours ago, Mizerous said:

If Emblems return please make them relevant to the characters of that game. The FEH approach to Engage limited the develoomemt of that game's new cast.

So you mean each Emblem would get a small arc with their corresponding character instead of just their one chapter together as Engage does right now?

[Heir of Dragons and Beasts]

Another one of mine would be:

Please do something different for the Big Bad Immortal Person.

The Manakete suffering from Degeneration has grown tired and stale + they don't explain why it happens, it's just to keep the Manaketes from eclipsing the humans. Also it kind of absolves them from any crimes they do commit because they were just in a silly goofy mood and decided to destroy entire nations of people and sacrifice Clerics I guess. Also them becoming Manaketes didn't really help in the long run because humans still despised them and now could kill them. A growing theory I have is that Naga forced the whole Dragonstone thing on them so their species could better acclimate with humans and join their nations but it backfired.

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Heir of Dragons and Beasts

[Mizerous]

3 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

So you mean each Emblem would get a small arc with their corresponding character instead of just their one chapter together as Engage does right now?

Why not make them the spirits of dead heroes from the last war of the next game? Or the parents or ancestors of the main cast?

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Mizerous said:

Why not make them the spirits of dead heroes from the last war of the next game? Or the parents or ancestors of the main cast?

Honestly they don't need to be characters at all and are probably better off not being them. We can have ring transformations without a ghost living inside it. Everyone can just unlock a different flavor of Super Saiyan or something by snorting different coloured bath salts.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Jotari

[Acacia Sgt]

Reminds me of Tales of Destiny's Swordians a bit. That would be cool...

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

7 hours ago, Heir of Dragons and Beasts said:

Please do something different for the Big Bad Immortal Person.

The Manakete suffering from Degeneration has grown tired and stale + they don't explain why it happens, it's just to keep the Manaketes from eclipsing the humans. Also it kind of absolves them from any crimes they do commit because they were just in a silly goofy mood and decided to destroy entire nations of people and sacrifice Clerics I guess.

I broadly agree with this, with the caveat that, I think having a final boss or primary antagonist "not in their right mind" CAN work... if they still have a clear and comprehensible motivation. Like, take (Tellius spoilers)

Spoiler

Ashera in Radiant Dawn. She's been alone for so long that she's lost all compassion, all love for the world she had a hand in creating. But her "judgement" makes a certain degree of sense, in light of the disappointment and exasperation she feels with humanity. Similarly for the "Mad King" Ashnard, in Path of Radiance. In his case, it's a nihilistic Social Darwinist mentality that prompts his erratic and brutal actions.

Likewise, in Three Houses (more spoilers)

Spoiler

I feel like Rhea works much betger as a final boss in Crimson Flower than in Silver Snow (yeah, yeah, hardly a hot take). In CF, her degeneration makes sense - she's seen her personal project turn against her, removing all hope of bringing back her mother. It makes sense that she'd become more bitter and cruel, losing all grips on sanity. Whereas in Silver Snow, her degeneration... just kinda happens. She has no motive to attack Teach, or the other Church members, she just... does. Because cranky dragon biology or something, IDK.

So, yeah. Hopefully some more interesting motivations than "Manaketes be meshugganeh" going foward.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

17 hours ago, Heir of Dragons and Beasts said:

The Manakete suffering from Degeneration has grown tired and stale + they don't explain why it happens, it's just to keep the Manaketes from eclipsing the humans. Also it kind of absolves them from any crimes they do commit because they were just in a silly goofy mood and decided to destroy entire nations of people and sacrifice Clerics I guess. Also them becoming Manaketes didn't really help in the long run because humans still despised them and now could kill them. A growing theory I have is that Naga forced the whole Dragonstone thing on them so their species could better acclimate with humans and join their nations but it backfired.

Clearly Manaketes need to shed skin when in dragonform, otherwise the itch just drives them to insane bouts of destruction.

Class Skill [Wait: When waiting (dex% + lck%) chance to gain a smithing material.]