Your feelings about second gen characters?

[Rapier]

I liked it so far. The first time it happened, on FE4, it added an interesting strategical factor as well, because the player could choose the best combinations to best suit their children and make 2nd gen less hard (for newcomers, at least). On Awakening, I think they came out too OPed, and the skills were not all that important because of class change and DLCs, but it was still a fine addition.

Edited June 19, 2015 by Rapier

[Dwarfishh]

I like the depth and it adds, and how it rewards planning ahead.

That said, I prefer it when the children aren't from the future, because time travel is rarely well implemented as a plot device, and can border on 'deus ex machina' at points... (Not so much in awakening, but it has the potential to be used as such)

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

i really want to see an actual second gen again, that'd be alot of fun.

[Rapier]

I also prefer when second gen comes naturally. I wouldn't mind playing different sagas, like Agarest War Senki, where the first gen characters return older and their children take the spotlight. It just need to be well done, without feeling too rushed.

[Mango Giamatti]

It honestly depends how they are implemented. I enjoyed it in FE4 because you are forced to use them. Pairing up different characters can create vast differences within the children, which adds to the replayability. Inheritance was much more meaningful there because of the way the skill system and item management worked in that game. I did not really enjoy it in FE13. You can play through it's main story and completely ignore it, and you'll be fine. Yes, a character's lineage determined the character's class set and max stat mods, but those aren't super important in the main story (and the issues of reclassing is a whole different discussion). Also, having to grind to pass down the right skills that you want is a giant pain and is not fun. To round it all out, the time travel was incredibly silly and cheapened the experience.

[X-Naut]

The way IS has been handling inheritance they don't really have a place outside of a separate generation. Alongside the parents they're either redundant because you need to have an army to get them or they obsolete the parents.

[Thor Odinson]

I like FE4's implementation since there is actually a generation gap and it made sense, especially in the context of the Gen 1 near-total party wipe. FE13's was the first to use the outrealms/timetravel shit as a device so I'll deal with it there, but I really don't want that plot device reused further.

[Seo]

In Awakening it sucked basically for the simple reason that there was grew up children AND parents at the same time.

[Dual Dragons]

I liked it in FE4 because of what most people said. On a thematic level, it's the second gen having to clean up the mess that got started in the first gen and only one first gen returns to help (others being dead, unable, or unwilling). It's a relatable concept and it helps that they aren't as badly overpowered.

Awakening answers the question of "What if the children were also able to work with the parents to make a better future?", which is also a nice concept--but making them too overpowered compared to the parents and using time-travel didn't help. I could think of ideas to make it better but it would probably remove features and weaken the kids.

[Elwind]

If there's a good reason for them to be in the game story-wise, I want them. If they're just shoehorned in for no good reason, I can do without.

[NinjaMonkey]

I'm totally for it.

[Ein]

More waifus is good. And I guess more levels to do. I guess that's cool.

[Puddings]

Having children around really enhances the experience during battles if you imagine the stuff happing in anime version and give more dialogue as you progress through the battles and get along within the story.

[Jotari]

I think it is a great idea both in terms of plot and mechanics. However I really don't want to see it over used and become a necessity for a Fire Emblem game. If every game has to have it then its bound to get stale and predictable. Give it to us every three or four games and give us a good reason for having it I say.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Jotari

[bottlegnomes]

I like FE4's implementation since there is actually a generation gap and it made sense, especially in the context of the Gen 1 near-total party wipe. FE13's was the first to use the outrealms/timetravel shit as a device so I'll deal with it there, but I really don't want that plot device reused further.

This pretty much. I liked it in FE 4, minus a certain aspect—which I'll get to—and it was fine in Awakening, but I'd really rather not have time travel be involved again any time soon, if at all.

The one thing I hated about FE 4's pairings was that you could accidentally pair people and there wasn't a lot of workaround should the circumstance come up; I shouldn't have to kill a character, wait for the pairing I want to happen, and then resurrect the killed character just to keep everyone alive and get all the pairings I want. It's not going to crop up often, but it should never happen IMO. So, if that came back by some chance, I wouldn't be happy, but, fortunately, I don't see that happening.

[Knight]

I just hope it doesn't become a consistent thing, it's novelty will wear off.

[Leif]

It worked in FE4 thematically. In Awakening and (what I assume will be the case) in Fates, it was a terrible addition to the story and somewhat for the gameplay.

I have already harped and groaned about how magical, time-travelling children sullied Awakening's plot, so I won't repeat myself there.

From a gameplay perspective, sure it adds replay value, but it also makes all the first generation units outclassed.

The children have more class skill access, better growths, better stat modifiers, and (depending on the strength of the parents) have better base stats. This gameplay element discouraged use of first generation units in favor of the second. Severa will always have more class options than Cordelia, giving her many ways to customize her skill sets and making her a more versatile and entertaining unit to use in battle.

Sure we can use the first generation units and skip the kids, but there's always the thought at the back of your mind that the kids outclass their parents in every way. Why bother having the parents at all? They were just breeders. It was very annoying to me. Of course the Avatar was the exception (the female avatar outclasses the male avatar due to lol Galeforce), but his/her child can be the most powerful unit in the game. With the right pairing, I can get a male Morgan to have a +11 speed modifier which is a heck of a ton bigger than a measly +4 speed for Speed asset avatar.

I watched a Lunatic+ Deathless and Resetless run done by one of the members here, and the Morgan and Lucina combo pretty much steamrolled the entire mid to late game segments, with Chrom providing support to the avatar and other first generation units offering only pair-up bonuses and staff support.

My point is, I don't like it being in Awakening and Fates because it doesn't work thematically and makes the majority of the first generation cast obsolete.

Edited June 22, 2015 by Leif