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New Magic System Concept


SullyMcGully
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So, Magic has been a weapon in Fire Emblem games ever since the series began. Since its first appearance, it has undergone several different changes. I've only played the US games, but I've noticed a few distinct systems and found problems with each.

First off, the GBA "Trinity of Magic" is simple and easy to understand, however, there just aren't as many tomes as I would like. Each category will usually only have about six different weapons, which doesn't compare to the variety other weapon types allow.

Then you have Path of Radiance, which uses an anima triangle with light being neutral. The problem: low tome variety, even worse than in the GBA games. For the most part, you just have wind, then elwind, then maybe a few other spells but nothing particularly unique. There's also a lack of variety classes as well (the only starting class that can use magic is the mage). Also, though mages can use all three types of anima magic, each magic type has a different WEXP counter, encouraging you to only use one magic type per unit instead of dealing with the pain of raising multiple weapon levels at once.

Then there's Awakening. Awakening's magic system is very simple, providing wind, fire, and thunder, as well as dark magic for some classes, under the same weapon category. However, it lacks much real differentiation between spells. For instance, fire spells are almost completely overlooked because they lack the superior strength and crit bonus of thunder or the flyer effectiveness of wind.

So, here's my ideal magic system. I'm for doing away with the magic trinity, since magic-using units are a bit of a minority in most games and they don't often have the chance to engage each other. My system would resemble Awakening's, except with a few added effects to balance things a little bit more. Here's what it would look like:

Wind: weak but accurate, effective against flyers (i.e. pegasi and wyverns)

Fire: mid-range damage and accuracy, effective against beasts (i.e. horses and pegasi)

Thunder: most damaging but least accurate, effective against dragons (i.e. wyverns and manakete)

Light: only usable by certain classes. Has weapon triangle advantages against every other magic type, so basically magic that is effective against magic. Weaker and more precise than even wind, with higher crit rate.

Dark: only usable by certain classes. Incredibly powerful, however every use drains the user of his/her HP. More advanced versions have special effects like extremely high crit rates, Nosferatu, stat-reducing, etc.

So what do you guys think? Any foreseeable problems with this system? Was there an older system you liked better? I welcome your input.

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My opinion: GBA system is best--it just needs more spells by quantity.

On the proposed system:

Light Magic sounds less useful than the others; unless facing an enemy equipped with Light Magic. The difference between would be relatively small unless you significantly increased the value of the weapon triangle in those cases; which seems arbitrary and bad (however not unwarranted I suppose).

The Anima Trio seems like it is easily possible for Wind magic to become redundant; due to Effectiveness drawing its strength from the Weapon Might-- so a weak weapon is in turn neutered against what should be its strength compared to other options. Admittedly; if you choose 2.5x or 3x as an Eff. multiplier this is much less an issue.

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