You get no Sympathy in a "Fire Emblem Discussion"

[Diddy Kong]

Speaking of, Ephraim and Amelia, they could've probably some sort of inspiration for making the Soldier class playable now I think of it... And damn, Recruit Amelia is now even more awesome than before. Luckily am on the last chapter of Ephraim's route! ^^ (Going to do a Ross x Amelia A support to, Hero and General respectively).

 

[Hong]

Why isn't Soldier a thing, anyways? I feel they could be playable in every game. I prefer them over Generals.

My Lucina ends up playing like one, anyway. ^~^

 

[Fire Emblemier]

I never really used generals for their lack of speed, but Soldiers, that's another story. Since they're more speed based unmounted lance users, they are just great. I also use Lucina as a soldier-esque in awakening character cause the only sword she needs is the parralel falchion. It really allowed her to get to A-rank with lances, quickly.
Also, to go on to aerial units, in PoR, I used Marcia, as my pegasus knight, and giving her the full guard made her unbreakable in my latest playthrough, by somehow capping defense earlier than expected in the game. I also used both Jill and Haar, because statwise they perform very differently. This Jill and Haar usage carried on to RD, also.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Would've thought Soldiers and Halberdiers would've became staple for the series after Radiant Dawn. It was literally filled with Halberdiers.

My favorite flying units gotta be Haar and Catria probably. Ellincia is also great.

 

[Fire Emblemier]

Would've thought Soldiers and Halberdiers would've became staple for the series after Radiant Dawn. It was literally filled with Halberdiers.


My favorite flying units gotta be Haar and Catria probably. Ellincia is also great.

Yeah, I was really surprised to not to see it in Awakening. Donnel could've filled that role, so he could keep the lance, but I guess they only wanted soldiers as enemies. Also a villager promoting to a soldier does make sense.

 

[Robert of Normandy]

My favorite flying units gotta be Haar and Catria probably. Ellincia is also great.

Psh. Everybody knows Est is the best flier.

 

[jaytalks]

I would have preferred Donnel as a soldier, because his promotions make his lance skills useless, which bugs me. The soldier was my favorite class in RD. I hope to see it in the future.

 

[Robert of Normandy]

Soldiers need to come back, agreed 100%. I also feel like they need to re-work the different magic classes, to differentiate them from each other.

 

[TheKingOfTown]

Yeah, it was lame how there were only two types of magic in Awakening. I missed light magic. :/

 

[Hank Hill]

I miss Bishops in general... War Monks just don't do it for me. Also, why can't Dark Knights and Dark Fliers use Dark magic? I digress.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Psh. Everybody knows Est is the best flier.

Est was pretty good in Shadow Dragon though. Could be cause she joins in a chapter where there's an Area Anyways, yeah, the there original Pegasus sisters I always use. Catria is my definite favorite though. Palla and Est can end up sucky, or in Est's case, I sometimes decide I don't really need her.

Best unit in Shadow Dragon will always be Barst to me. Ohh, dat Barst...

Whats ever better this that in Dutch, Barst means : to burst. And damn, does Barst burst ****!

 

[Robert of Normandy]

Yeah, it was lame how there were only two types of magic in Awakening. I missed light magic. :/

It's not just that. It's more that(to me anyway), magic users are pretty much defined by what type of magic they use(i.e. Dark Mages are "mages but with dark magic instead"). I'd like to see a greater variety of magic classes and tomes, perhaps including some magical tanks, or some which focus more on buffing allied units or weakening the enemy.

 

[Hong]

Yeah, it was lame how there were only two types of magic in Awakening. I missed light magic. :/

My gripe with Awakening is magic was too bloated. Every single tier of anima has three tomes. This makes tomes the most numerous, yet least varied, weapons in the game, barring dark magic. I like the games that sort of staggered it. So instead of having Fire, Wind and Thunder all being E, Thunder is a D and is just outright stronger overall. I wanted more quality and types of magic, and less quantity... not just the same thing with one or two digit difference. Of course, lack of weapon weight probably made tomes difficult to balance. I like how in RD Light Magic was more about utility.

perhaps including some magical tanks

The aforementioned are tanks, no? They are more distinct in Awakening then ever, and considering anyone speccing as Dark Mage can face-tank Lunatic they may have overdone it.

Unless you meant characters who tank magic. By design that is supposed to be the Bishop (now War Cleric).

 

[Robert of Normandy]

My gripe with Awakening is magic was too bloated. Every single tier of anima has three tomes. This makes tomes the most numerous, yet least varied, weapons in the game, barring dark magic. I like the games that sort of staggered it. So instead of having Fire, Wind and Thunder all being E, Thunder is a D and is just outright stronger overall. I wanted more quality and types of magic, and less quantity... not just the same thing with one or two digit difference. Of course, lack of weapon weight probably made tomes difficult to balance. I like how in RD Light Magic was more about utility.

Completely agree. This is why I said I'd like to see more variety in the types of magic tomes and classes.

Unless you meant characters who tank magic. By design that is supposed to be the Bishop (now War Cleric).

My bad, really didn't know that. Looking back, yeah, I can see that. Still, there's nowhere near as much variety among mages as there are in physical classes.

One more thing: I really wish they'd decide whether or not to split the types of Anima magic. I personally hope they don't.

 

[Hong]

We have seen something every now and then, but I think clerics with bows could make for an interesting starter class. Both staves and bows are strong only on the player phase, so it's not like they would be horribly broken.

 

[loganhogan]

Would've thought Soldiers and Halberdiers would've became staple for the series after Radiant Dawn. It was literally filled with Halberdiers.

My favorite flying units gotta be Haar and Catria probably. Ellincia is also great.

I know I thought they would return too because Donnel was shown using logs so I assumed they would return. Anna also has a merchant class that uses lances but you can't play as her in that class . I hope they return the soldier class to the playable army I love that class. The best flier ever is Caeda, dat WIN spear.

Yeah, it was lame how there were only two types of magic in Awakening. I missed light magic. :/

Light magic needs to return!

I miss Bishops in general... War Monks just don't do it for me. Also, why can't Dark Knights and Dark Fliers use Dark magic? I digress.

I liked War monks they look awesome.

Psh. Everybody knows Est is the best flier.

Est puts Haar to shame

 

[ToothiestAura]

I miss Bishops in general... War Monks just don't do it for me.

While I miss bishops, War Monks/Clerics are the single greatest class idea ever conceived. I would have liked to see both as an option, though.

 

[Hong]

I am also in the War Cleric camp.

Bishops were always a design problem, because they give healers access to tomes while simultaneously giving mages access to staffs. Mages typically have higher Mag, while Clerics are all about Res and Luk. Basically what happens in... just about if not every game, is you don't need Bishops late game unless they have exclusive equipment or abilities. You can just field some healbots until your Mages promote and they have served their purpose.

Instead of having Bishops compete with Sages, War Clerics offer something unique. I will say it still needs some work, though. Case-in-point: equipping a Bolt Axe will almost always be better than any other axe. Bolt Axe goes as far as to being one of the most cost-efficient magic weapons in the game, having the same power as top-tier non-divine tomes, only with increased hit and durability and only a fraction the cost.

Other than that, they tried other ways of making Bishops competitive. The Slayer skill was alright in Sacred Stones, though by its very nature they can't rely on that design for games without monstrous creatures in them. Light magic has been hit-and-miss. If they make it just a weaker but more accurate version of anima, then they once again run the risk of being outclassed by Sages. I think the best approach for light magic is giving it the advantage of utility, like Thani and accessible ranged attacks.

A part of me wants Resire to become a light spell again, but I think a lot of players enjoyed the tanky Dark Mage play style.

 

[Diddy Kong]

I kinas forgot about Shiida / Caeda. Her Wing Spear definitely makes her awesome. She's pretty bad as a Wyvern Lord though. The caps don't suit her at all. Too high Strenght caps, too low Speed caps. Only Palla really is good as one. Catria, Shiida and Est all likely end up as Paladins or Snipers for me.

Totally agree on the Light Mgic thing. Honestly, they could've done it as in Radiant Dawn. But it's not likely Light Magic is a common thing there either. Onky Micaiah, Laura and Rhys can have acces to Light Magic. Not to speaking Dark Magic, which is only used by Pelleas. Yes, Sages heavily outclass Bishops. They always have. Still, Light Magic could be used as 'utility' Magic.

 

[xXIke-SamaXx]

I think awakening is a second Reboot to Fire Emblem, like Sword of Seals was in the GBA....now they covered there basis all they have to do is make the game more complicated.

 

[xXIke-SamaXx]

I kinas forgot about Shiida / Caeda. Her Wing Spear definitely makes her awesome. She's pretty bad as a Wyvern Lord though. The caps don't suit her at all. Too high Strenght caps, too low Speed caps. Only Palla really is good as one. Catria, Shiida and Est all likely end up as Paladins or Snipers for me.

Totally agree on the Light Mgic thing. Honestly, they could've done it as in Radiant Dawn. But it's not likely Light Magic is a common thing there either. Onky Micaiah, Laura and Rhys can have acces to Light Magic. Not to speaking Dark Magic, which is only used by Pelleas. Yes, Sages heavily outclass Bishops. They always have. Still, Light Magic could be used as 'utility' Magic.

Sephiran is playable too...

 

[Fire Emblemier]

Sephiran is playable too...

Also Oliver uses light magic.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Kinda forgot about them. Sephrian has the worst availabilty in the game however. And Oliver, while beautiful, isn't a great unit at all.

 

[Forde]

Cormag and Zeiss are the best flying units imo. Also I miss the bishops from the GBA titles, specifically TSS.

Also, I feel that some classes feel too much like other classes in FE:A, but I do think that it is pretty cool that I can make certain character's another class, some really sick skill combinations can come out of it.

 

[Hong]

I think the lack of skill capacity created some imbalances, however.

Which is better: Galeforce or +2 Res?

It easier to balance skills when we had 25-40 skill capacity, and then gave each skill a value relevant to how powerful it was.

 

[Fire Emblemier]

I think the lack of skill capacity created some imbalances, however.


Which is better: Galeforce or +2 Res?


It easier to balance skills when we had 25-40 skill capacity, and then gave each skill a value relevant to how powerful it was.

Yea, the skills in Awakening were broken, my Lucina had Galeforce, Aether, Rightful King, Aegis, and Pavise.

 

[SwordsRbroken]

Yea, the skills in Awakening were broken, my Lucina had Galeforce, Aether, Rightful King, Aegis, and Pavise.

Mixing and matching skills to try and make your characters as good as possible is one if Awakening's many appeals, though. They've got extremely hard maps in the DLCs for those who grind their units, which adds even more replay value to Awakening.

My biggest gripes with Awakening were:

1. Meh map design for the most part
2. No light magic
3. The story, while not bad, wasn't great either. If the Valm arc had been totally rewritten, then maybe it would have been better.

Besides that, Awakening was amazing and my favorite FE game to date.

 

[Opossum]

Mixing and matching skills to try and make your characters as good as possible is one if Awakening's many appeals, though. They've got extremely hard maps in the DLCs for those who grind their units, which adds even more replay value to Awakening.

My biggest gripes with Awakening were:

1. Meh map design for the most part
2. No light magic
3. The story, while not bad, wasn't great either. If the Valm arc had been totally rewritten, then maybe it would have been better.

Besides that, Awakening was amazing and my favorite FE game to date.

It was my first Fire Emblem game, but upon researching the others, the three things I wish Awakening added were Light Magic (well, there's one Light tome, but eh, doesn't really count), the Halberdier class, and the Crossbows from Radiant Dawn.

 

[Diddy Kong]

So weird Awakening has Taquels, which are 100% based of Laguz, but no Halberdiers or Crossbows. I liked Crossbows, but they where quite dangerous for Pegasi.

 

[Hong]

I wasn't crazy about them. Aside from the fact they don't scale, not having the capability for direct attacks were a perfectly valid design for bows.

 

[Diddy Kong]

They could just redesign the whole Crossbow thing though. How about, not using them in the way Radaint Dawn did it? With their fixed damage. Really, they where only useful against flyers, or well, Pegasus Riders. And there where far more playable Pegasus Riders than enemy ones. An idea I had is make the Bow 2-3 ranged, and the Crossbow 1-2 ranged. Also, Archers should do damage based on their Skill, not their Strenght I'd think.. Or, a combination of both.

Archers need buffs anyway. The only real good archer I know of as of now is Radaint Dawn's Shinon. And maybe Jamka and Bridgidd. But I liked the Sacaean nomads Rath, Shin and Sue a lot to. But at least they got Swords after promotion.

 

[SwordsRbroken]

With the new skill system, Archers don't need buffs IF Crossbows are getting put in. They've already got the highest skill cap in the game.

Armsthrift + Luna + Galeforce + Bowfaire + Limit Breaker/Skill of Choice

Now add Double Bow, and you get a +10 strength modifier, and 2-3 range, plus an almost 60% activation rate (depending on the archer).

Another possibility if Crossbows aren't getting re-added is to include Knives again and let that be an option for Archers. That'd give them an enemy attack phase option.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Oh yeah Knives! Please bring those back to!

 

[Fire Emblemier]

Also they should add the venin weapons again, and the status inducing staffs

 

[LaniusShrike]

They should add the ever-realistic Bladed Bows!

Spoiler

 

[Hong]

The problem is not so much bows, but how the attack formula scales.

Bows are the most accurate and powerful of all ranged physical weapons (some thrown axes are comparable in mt, however). The problem is the damage formulas straight up adds the Str of the wielder to the Mt of the weapon. A 80 Mt bow might seem nice at first when your Archer has like 5 Str. But when she gets 30+ Str, that 10 Mt from the bow means a lot less. Similarly, that 1 mt Javelin has less a smaller disadvantage. Especially when said javelin user probably has a higher Str core.

Either thrown physical weapons need to benefit less from Str (Mt + Str/2?), or Snipers and Swordmasters should be given passive +Critical again. Honestly I can't think of a single entry in the series that isn't trivialized with thrown weaponry, so I would be fine with both or either.

 

[LaniusShrike]

The problem is not so much bows, but how the attack formula scales.

Bows are the most accurate and powerful of all ranged physical weapons (some thrown axes are comparable in mt, however). The problem is the damage formulas straight up adds the Str of the wielder to the Mt of the weapon. A 80 Mt bow might seem nice at first when your Archer has like 5 Str. But when she gets 30+ Str, that 10 Mt from the bow means a lot less. Similarly, that 1 mt Javelin has less a smaller disadvantage. Especially when said javelin user probably has a higher Str core.

Either thrown physical weapons need to benefit less from Str (Mt + Str/2?), or Snipers and Swordmasters should be given passive +Critical again. Honestly I can't think of a single entry in the series that isn't trivialized with thrown weaponry, so I would be fine with both or either.

Keepin' in mind that I'm by no means a Fire Emblem expert, would it work if they based bow damage off of the Skill stat? Then their damage, their accuracy, and their crit chance would scale up together at the same time. That'd make sense, as arrow placement seems more important for damage than the muscle behind the pull.

As Shinon says...
“A single arrow, right between the eyes? Who else could make a shot like that? No one, that's who!”

 

[Robert of Normandy]

I've seen a lot of suggestions that Chrom could represent the series weapon diversity by being a stance character of sorts, switching between Swords and Lances. Honestly though, I feel that weapon diversity would be better reflected by including various weapon types as items, or including Leif(being able to use pretty much every weapon type except Dark Magic) or Anna(being a merchant with access to most of the weapons and items in the series). Though if Chrom did show up with a weapon change mechanic I can't honestly say I'd complain that much.

 

[Hong]

Keepin' in mind that I'm by no means a Fire Emblem expert, would it work if they based bow damage off of the Skill stat? Then their damage, their accuracy, and their crit chance would scale up together at the same time. That'd make sense, as arrow placement seems more important for damage than the muscle behind the pull.

As Shinon says...
“A single arrow, right between the eyes? Who else could make a shot like that? No one, that's who!”

That won't help Archers much, but would prevent Warriors from outclassing Snipers. What often happens end-game is a Warrior can outdamage a Sniper using the same bow, while still having higher health and access to axes. When this happens, the only tangible advantage the Sniper really has is access to the Long Bow. Which is still has its merit and it is an awesome weapon, though I think the change to using Skl for damage would help to alleviate part of the problem, at least.

 

[LaniusShrike]

That won't help Archers much, but would prevent Warriors from outclassing Snipers. What often happens end-game is a Warrior can outdamage a Sniper using the same bow, while still having higher health and access to axes. When this happens, the only tangible advantage the Sniper really has is access to the Long Bow. Which is still has its merit and it is an awesome weapon, though I think the change to using Skl for damage would help to alleviate part of the problem, at least.

I think they'd have to balance things around a bit differently-- and they'd actually be able to get rid of Hit Rate +20, Sure Strike, and Bowfaire, they could just increase the Skill stat growths and then give these archer classes more interesting skills.

It does seem silly that melee fighters would have the same stats to support ranged combat. Yep, I like my suggestion.