Fire Emblem

My apologies for the derail. I can see now that I've took some time to cool down that I had some pent up frustration and anger over a particularly long week and what happened in new zealand, and I let that get the best of me.

Gotta say I feel like Three Houses feels even more like a time bomb than before. Curse the insatiable desire for more waifus.

I'm just excited for the new unit possibilities, but even after the extended infodump last direct there are still SO MANY unknowns. I guess with the spotting of intermediate seals we are officially on a three tiered promotion tree, which if you ask me should have been the standard for awhile. I wonder which classes will derive from one another, and if mercenaries will get some more unique endgame classes instead of just being smooshed between fighters and mymidons again.

For the most part the only real variance between classes on tiered promotion is mobility and maybe an extra weapon type. You have a mage, then a mage on a Pegasus, or a mage on a horse.

For Myrmidon-types I can only see either Swordmasters or Heroes for their tiers. We have fist units now though, so I wonder what that’ll lead to.

Meanwhile, I'm picturing Ninjas switching out swords for Fist-type weapons (aka shanks).

They could bring back branching Myrmidons up into Assassins. Merc could also still branch up into Bow Knight in Fates and I don't see any real reason to get rid of it. Then they could just do it like Valentia where they go up to "Assassin again, but better" and "Bow Knight again, but better".

I feel like the Class Exam system removes the need for any kind of branching. Advanced classes don't need to be tied to any particular intermediate classes at all. Just jump straight from pegasus rider to general by training your armor skills, why not?

Though it is a little worrying with such a free system when it comes to the way units grow. If you grind out a certain class with a certain unit, then their growth turns out to be subpar for that class, you'll have to grind out another one to change it. Or look up their growths and stuff online to decide.

I guess it all depends on how easy/difficult it is for a unit to pass the class exams, and how freely you can switch units' classes. Or generally how strong the units are and how good their growths are in general.

So here's an idea. In every other Fire Emblem game, promotion normally allows the character to use extra weapons. What if Three Houses inverts that?

It looks like the students start off in the Noble or Aristocrat classes, using an Intermediate Seal to promote to a basic class and a Master Seal to promote to an advanced class.

Garreg Mach might do something like real schools, where you initially take a wide variety of subjects and then specialise after state exams. So, for example, Nobles and Aristocrats can use several weapons but with hard caps on weapon level, reflecting how at that stage they are being trained in a variety of subjects. Upon promotion to a basic class, this is restricted to weapons in that class tree with higher caps, reflecting how the students are selecting subjects to focus on. The advanced classes further narrow the number of weapons that can be used to just one or two, but with the very highest weapon levels available; this reflects how the advanced students are specialising.

This would make the game more tactical as you progress. In the early stages, weapon choice makes characters somewhat interchangeable. In the endgame, each character is very good in a few particular situations, and you have to think carefully about who to place where to exploit that skill to maximum effect.

I just hope we can do armored mages. I want those to come back.

One extra serving of Winter Tharja coming right up.

I'm not sure I'd want to see all of that, but I agree that we'll need one hell of an incentive to promote out of a class that can seemingly use any weapon.

x2 I'll take Gen 2 Arvis over that any day. Also, Armored Mage Arvis alt in Heroes when?

Increased movement can be a huge one for the horses and fliers, at least, even if you lose one or two weapon types on the way people will still see it as worth.

Edited by ILikeRobots on Mar 15th 2019 at 7:05:39 AM

There were a few other Barons on the poll like Bloom and Reptor, but really Arvis is our best bet.

On the subject of mercenaries, would anyone else mind if the Mercenary class was removed and instead Myrmidons got the choice of promoting to Swordmaster or Hero like in the Jugdral games?

I never really understood why there were two different sword-locked infantry classes in addition to the normally infantry sword-lord and thieves. Much less point to them now that we have branching promotions. Heck, they can have more than two promotion options.

Random thought: if they remake Sacred Stones I think you should be able to save Lyon. I've touched on this before, but after it's learned he's possessed the characters constantly bring up trying to save him, the payoff for which is... he's already too far gone and can't be saved at all. Holy Chekhov's Gun Misfire, Batman! I almost suspect something got left on the cutting room floor here, considering SS is VERY short by FE standards.

Besides, there isn't a proper Gotoh character, either.

x2 Mostly starting stats. Mercs are generally the all-around types while Myrmidons are the Glass Cannon. Heroes have better defenses but (in theory) less raw offensive potential because they don't tend to get the massive crit bonuses, but in practice Heroes are kind of just all-around good most of the time (also getting access to axes to offset the weakness of being swordlocked) while Myrmidons tend to live or die based on the RNG and how often they can crit and dodge. Unless they're Ryoma, who just wins the game.

edit: Being able to save Lyon would kind of ruin part of Ephraim's character arc imo though; it's learning that he fucked up when ignoring him and making him feel inferior, and it's too late to take that back, that really clinches his development. Also would make things less tragic.

I'm not too big a fan when remakes retcon stuff from the original, like with Michalis' inexplicable Karma Houdini ending in New Mystery.

Edited by ILikeRobots on Mar 15th 2019 at 9:39:28 AM

I always wondered just why Sacred Stones is the one who has the biggest amount of data out of the GBA trilogy, despite being shorter.

And to be honest, I would be all out for a Sacred Stones remake that would let you save Lyon.

Edited by dood9780 on Mar 15th 2019 at 9:45:12 AM

RE: Sterok

I liked Jugdral and Tellius simply cutting one of them. I find soldier more essential/unique then Mercenary if Myrmidon exists.

RE: I Like Robots

I think we can have myrmidon units with well rounded stats.

I have the same thoughts on Karma Houdini Disney Deaths. The spot pass resurrections in Awakening made virtually every character worse with stuff like Gangrel claiming he wanted to fight Valm all alone or Aversa revealing she had no agency the entire+making the story even more black and white.

Sometimes good people die and thats war.

The most I would accept is maybe Glen and Selena surviving, but not on the same route.

I'd also toyed with the idea of Selena being recruitable on Eiphraim's route in a remake. To balance, Eirika would get Dala, who per Dummied Out stats is a Druid and was apparently playable at some point in the game's development.

Mymidons are cool anime-samurai people while mercs are just guys with swords.

RE: Hamburger Time

I was thinking Glenn would be Eirika's route, but that could work. We need more playable old ladies, just as we need more female bosses that don't succumb to the Females Are More Innocent trope.

RE: Clarste

Thats true in a lot of games.

In Jugdral and Tellius though, many Myrmidons were normal guys with a sword. Here's a link to the POR Myrmidon concept artwork for example◊.

True, it would be pretty easy to blend Myrmidons and Mercenaries. As long as they get to have the badass coats from the Tellius Swordmaster/Trueblade line. That is my one stipulation.

Remember that japanese crossover hack of Sacred Stones that I talked about a long time ago? Glenn actually survives there! And in the scene where he originally dies, he actually manages to score a (sadly non-lethal) critical on Valter before escaping!

Edited by dood9780 on Mar 15th 2019 at 10:01:00 AM

I feel like Mercenaries and Myrmidons are different enough in function and aesthetic to remain separate classes. One's a well-rounded, sorta-tanky unit while the other's a Fragile Speedster.

Clearly we should bring Myrmidons back to their classical roots and make them a shifter class that turns into ant monsters.