New Mechanic Ideas Thread

[KliffIsTheOG]

What new mechanics would you like to see introduced or return to fe switch.

I would personally like it if a unit could trade / interact with other units adjacent to them without affecting movement. For example, say I have a unit move 5 squares down. 3 squares down, I can swap items with a person adjacent to my current tile, and still continue to go the rest of the squares and perform an action. This could lead to some insane trade/shove/swap strategies.

[KliffIsTheOG]

What new mechanics would you like to see introduced or return to fe switch.

I would personally like it if a unit could trade / interact with other units adjacent to them without affecting movement. For example, say I have a unit move 5 squares down. 3 squares down, I can swap items with a person adjacent to my current tile, and still continue to go the rest of the squares and perform an action. This could lead to some insane trade/shove/swap strategies.

[Sentacotus]

Unique pair up and guard abilities depending on unit and support level.  For example, say two characters critical to the story are paired up maybe they have a unique pair up attack that inflicts status aliments and the such?

[Magical Glace]

Maybe something like the bonus stat up from Mario and Luigi?  Every level, you can choose one stat to boost by one manually, with some sort of restriction on pouring it all into one stat (ie preventing the same stat from being raised this way twice in a row).  

[Dandy Druid]

This may be extra, but I'll try this.

Speeches! In certain parts of the stories, sometimes the lord captures a significant location or have to rally the troops. Speeches are given, so I would like to introduce it as a mechanic. The player won't have to write a speech, but they should be allowed to choose a tone, content (what will be addressed) and maybe gestures. Certain elements may entice new characters to join your army (giving a grandeur speech may inspire characters with humble origins, self-delusions, etc. to join meanwhile bloodthirsty or serious speeches may inspire shadier characters). 

Or simply, a more open-world FE. While not a true open world, but the choices/paths will be heavier. The player's reputation will be accounted for on who you can recruit and what paths you take, which will affect the ending. I just want more choices if they're gonna have them. Picking someone or boots just felt like a tease.

[Lord_Grima]

On 6/21/2017 at 7:08 PM, Dandy Druid said:

Or simply, a more open-world FE. While not a true open world, but the choices/paths will be heavier. The player's reputation will be accounted for on who you can recruit and what paths you take, which will affect the ending. I just want more choices if they're gonna have them. Picking someone or boots just felt like a tease.

I want an idea similar to this. Basically the story is like a "Choose your Adventure" book. You make several large decisions throughout the story, and then different things happen. For Example: Your army is approaching the border of the opposing nation, you have two choices; Attack the border guards straight on, or navigate through the mountainous passage and sneak around. Each choice gives different battles and challenges. This could give a lot of run-variety and replay-ability.

 

[FoxyGrandpa]

Personally, I would like to see the next game bring back dismounting, but alter it so that the player's initial Sword Rank starts at D-Rank when dismounted, combine Attack and magic to one stat, bring back Skills, but alter it so that certain skills are exclusive to a class while others can be passed on to other classes (i.e Swordmaster's get exclusive access to Astra, but can pass on Swordfaire to other classes), let the player be able to choose whether they want the game to use the weapon triangle or not when starting a save file, bring back weapon weight, but use the system present in FE1-3 rather than the one used in FE5-11, and bring back weapon durability, but alter it so that the weapons break rather than be completely destroyed and allow the player to repair them for a price.

Pairup could be brought back, but stat bonuses should be nerfed and Guard Stance charge time should be increased. Magic should function the same way it does in Echoes and Gaiden. Inventory Space should be more limited, allowing the unit to hold 2-3 weapons, 1 Food Item, and one "Other" Item, like an accessory or star shard.

 

[OakTree]

On 18/06/2017 at 6:51 PM, KliffIsTheOG said:

What new mechanics would you like to see introduced or return to fe switch.

I would personally like it if a unit could trade / interact with other units adjacent to them without affecting movement. For example, say I have a unit move 5 squares down. 3 squares down, I can swap items with a person adjacent to my current tile, and still continue to go the rest of the squares and perform an action. This could lead to some insane trade/shove/swap strategies.

Mounted units can already do this with Canto, just press B after trading.

[Azure Sen]

I'd like to see an actual Tactics menu added, which lets you alter the stage in some way before you fight in it. It'd be like the Dragon Veins, but instead of being done in-battle it'd be done from the battle prep screen so the battlefield is already changed when you get there. For example, in an area with a river the player could build pontoon bridges to cross, or temporarily clog the river to use a flood attack that would damage enemy and ally units alike if they're in its range. I'd also like there to be options with a chance of failing or backfiring, depending on some factors; for example, your strategist could learn of impending reinforcements and send a false report to stop them from coming, which could fail and they come as normal or could backfire in that the reinforcements call in even more reinforcements.

[Tolvir]

2 things. For one, I would like to see a mix of Fates and Valentia's weapons system. No durability, maybe 2-3 slots in total, and a wide range in different weapons from typical iron swords to special weapons like Gangrel or Luna, and even rings and maybe special armor.

I would also like to see Forging get a complete overhaul along with new mechanics like maybe enchanting and armor smithing. I would like to see us able to create items with forging rather than just improve pre existing, and be able to make everything from weapons to rings, armor, cloaks, etc. Like a full crafting system. I would also like to see enchanting become a feature. Maybe taking a page fro, DnD and allowing the player to craft weapons with certain amounts of effects and special abilities, each costing a certain amount to craft.

For example having a list of attributes like adding plus to speed, adding various elemental damages like fire or lightning, or adding effects like effective against monsters or dragons.

So essentially added crafting systems to make that part of the game a little more in depth.

[Interdimensional Observer]

I was thinking on the possibility of an open world FE, and I've been also contemplating the squad idea of Emblem Saga- the game that mutated into the more mechanically traditional TearRing Saga. Rereading the details of Emblem Saga and its team system, I've realized it'd be perfect for an open world FE!

Emblem Saga's teams were supposed to be you dividing your characters into units of up to 8 units that could be moved independently of each other on a world map. There was a fair amount of detail offered on this, such as your characters' attributes being affected by various forms of training you could put them through. Each squad was to have its own separate funds- like with all PCs in Genealogy, (though I think they could balance this a little more via banking for transferring gold between squads). Fatigue too was to feature. And, you could even affect the plot by deciding what squad does what. Emblem Saga seems to have been an open world FE, save for the fact it never got made.

I do see more room for more elaboration. So here are my additions:

One, would be to make Squad Leaders give bonuses to their squad- passive bonuses and or command boosts like AW's CO Powers. Either Squad Leaders can only be certain designated characters, or the more flexible thing to do would be to give certain characters superior/unique Squad Leader abilities- partly to compensate for other, undesirable aspects of them (poor stats/growths, bad class, etc.).

A second would be to add a small element of support-building to Squads. Basically, by having your squad fight together, the members gain "group cohesion" points, which either strengthen the bonuses offered by Squad Leaders, and or provide a small passive boost in themselves. If you remove, add, or swap out a character from/to/in a squad "group cohesion" will decline due to you interrupting the composition of the squad. Even if you immediately swap a character back in or out, the cohesion will still have taken a hit. This would be done to encourage keeping your squads' members consistent, but it shouldn't be so powerful as to discourage changing them up completely. I wouldn't enable supports between all squad members- too much writing and it'd be too generic- limit supports to those whom individuals have real connections with.

Related to "group cohesion" would be Acclaim- Renown at the scale of the Squad. By doing various things, a Squad will build Acclaim, which could lower item prices slightly, give a chance of getting free items from villagers, or provide other beneficial effects. Like with "group cohesion", constantly swapping members of a Squad will hurt its Acclaim- as how could the people revere a group whose individual members are always in flux?

For story battles, accessing them may have some requirement. The most obvious would be to make it so at least one squad (assuming you could bring more than 1 so you could field more than 8 units), must have the MC in it. However, to expand replayability and add choices, make it so, for instance, that we have one "battle" but there are three directions to approach it from, and depending on the direction chosen, and whether you choose to send separate squads to cover more than one direction, affects the outcome. A similar thing would be to have two enemies attacking at once from places spread far apart on the map, and the outcome changes whether you go to both, or who you send to each. If you send the MC to one battle, while an important non-Lord PC leads a squad at the second, the outcome will be different than had you sent the MC and the other character to the opposite places.

From Berwick Saga, I'd like EX Chapters to return- optional battles you unlock via strengthening, support building, or event-engaging with certain characters. I'd love the concept even without an open world, but in an open world scenario it would let you have such battles without needing the lord present or justifying their coming.

[Jotari]

For old features unlikely to return, I'd like to see Skill Capacity, Weapon Durability, Constitution (with a growth), Biorhythm, Crossbows (but made useful), Radiant Dawn Height Mechanics, Dismounting.

As for new mechanics.

-I'd like keep Shurikens around with their debuff mechanics (though nerf how powerful they can get) and separate them from knives. The gimmick of knives would be that they can't be countered. This would allow your thieves to actual take part in combat without serious risk of them getting killed.

-Turn rally bots into their own specific support class.

-Make the armour status something other than a massive weakness. Maybe a complete immunity to knives and shurikens and reduced damage from Hand Axe/Javelins.

-Reduce critical damage to x2 but add skills and special weapons that increase the power. This would stop enemy criticals from being so devastating while maintaining their use for the actual characters that rely on them.

-Third tier and branching classes combined.

[Wist]

I'd like to see fog of war handled differently. Historically, fog of war has covered the entire battlefield which slows down chapters. It was overcome with torches, advancing your troops, or advance knowledge of the chapter. But I think it would be more interesting as a terrain feature rather than a characteristic of the entire battlefield.

For example, imagine if you couldn't see over interior walls. Or deeply into a copse of trees. Or over a mountain. It would create some bottlenecks and require extra caution in parts of the map without slowing the pace of the entire chapter. The developers could create a little uncertainty about enemy army size and composition without making the player completely unaware of where anything is.

[Great Dane]

There's one idea that I've had in the back of my head for a while, and that's having a "horse" mechanic. The idea I had is akin to dismounting in FE3/FE5, only it allows everyone to ride them and add another layer of strategy. I think it would also do wonders for the whole "Paladins being superior to all other classes" thing that has been plaguing the series since it's inception.

[XRay]

On 6/20/2017 at 8:11 AM, LordOTaco said:

Unique pair up and guard abilities depending on unit and support level.  For example, say two characters critical to the story are paired up maybe they have a unique pair up attack that inflicts status aliments and the such?

Sounds cool. I would like to see that. Adds a more depth to relationships.

On 6/28/2017 at 3:42 PM, FoxyGrandpa said:

Personally, I would like to see the next game bring back dismounting, but alter it so that the player's initial Sword Rank starts at D-Rank when dismounted, combine Attack and magic to one stat, bring back Skills, but alter it so that certain skills are exclusive to a class while others can be passed on to other classes (i.e Swordmaster's get exclusive access to Astra, but can pass on Swordfaire to other classes), let the player be able to choose whether they want the game to use the weapon triangle or not when starting a save file, bring back weapon weight, but use the system present in FE1-3 rather than the one used in FE5-11, and bring back weapon durability, but alter it so that the weapons break rather than be completely destroyed and allow the player to repair them for a price.

Pairup could be brought back, but stat bonuses should be nerfed and Guard Stance charge time should be increased. Magic should function the same way it does in Echoes and Gaiden. Inventory Space should be more limited, allowing the unit to hold 2-3 weapons, 1 Food Item, and one "Other" Item, like an accessory or star shard.

Dismounting is a cool idea. Giving players a choice on how they like to play is also great.

I prefer skills to be accessible by everyone and I am not a big fan of nerfing pair ups or inventory space. I do not mind magic in Gaiden/Echoes as long as they put normal tomes in the game as well.

On 7/2/2017 at 1:44 PM, AzureSen said:

I'd like to see an actual Tactics menu added, which lets you alter the stage in some way before you fight in it. It'd be like the Dragon Veins, but instead of being done in-battle it'd be done from the battle prep screen so the battlefield is already changed when you get there. For example, in an area with a river the player could build pontoon bridges to cross, or temporarily clog the river to use a flood attack that would damage enemy and ally units alike if they're in its range. I'd also like there to be options with a chance of failing or backfiring, depending on some factors; for example, your strategist could learn of impending reinforcements and send a false report to stop them from coming, which could fail and they come as normal or could backfire in that the reinforcements call in even more reinforcements.

It will be cool if they design the game where you have to alter the games mechanics during battle, like say pray to Naga to alter reality like switching between Awakening pair up mode and Fates pair up mode, bringing back weapon durability to break powerful enemy weapons, eliminating weapon triangle to tank certain enemies, eliminating effects of skills, etc.

On 7/7/2017 at 2:30 PM, Tolvir said:

2 things. For one, I would like to see a mix of Fates and Valentia's weapons system. No durability, maybe 2-3 slots in total, and a wide range in different weapons from typical iron swords to special weapons like Gangrel or Luna, and even rings and maybe special armor.

I would also like to see Forging get a complete overhaul along with new mechanics like maybe enchanting and armor smithing. I would like to see us able to create items with forging rather than just improve pre existing, and be able to make everything from weapons to rings, armor, cloaks, etc. Like a full crafting system. I would also like to see enchanting become a feature. Maybe taking a page fro, DnD and allowing the player to craft weapons with certain amounts of effects and special abilities, each costing a certain amount to craft.

For example having a list of attributes like adding plus to speed, adding various elemental damages like fire or lightning, or adding effects like effective against monsters or dragons.

So essentially added crafting systems to make that part of the game a little more in depth.

I like more customization options, so crafting is cool to implement.

On 7/14/2017 at 1:55 AM, Jotari said:

For old features unlikely to return, I'd like to see Skill Capacity, Weapon Durability, Constitution (with a growth), Biorhythm, Crossbows (but made useful), Radiant Dawn Height Mechanics, Dismounting.

As for new mechanics.

-I'd like keep Shurikens around with their debuff mechanics (though nerf how powerful they can get) and separate them from knives. The gimmick of knives would be that they can't be countered. This would allow your thieves to actual take part in combat without serious risk of them getting killed.

-Turn rally bots into their own specific support class.

-Make the armour status something other than a massive weakness. Maybe a complete immunity to knives and shurikens and reduced damage from Hand Axe/Javelins.

-Reduce critical damage to x2 but add skills and special weapons that increase the power. This would stop enemy criticals from being so devastating while maintaining their use for the actual characters that rely on them.

-Third tier and branching classes combined.

I like the height mechanics and dismounting. I agree knives need something to differentiate themselves from shuriken. Specific rally class sounds pretty cool. Yeah, armor as a status sucks since they offer no benefits, I prefer something more straight forward like plain damage reduction, but immunity to certain weapons is cool too. I have not found enemy critical attacks to be that devastating or often enough that deserves a nerf, but I do not mind increasing the power and frequency of critical attacks though. I like more tiers and branching options too.

On 7/17/2017 at 8:49 AM, Wist said:

I'd like to see fog of war handled differently. Historically, fog of war has covered the entire battlefield which slows down chapters. It was overcome with torches, advancing your troops, or advance knowledge of the chapter. But I think it would be more interesting as a terrain feature rather than a characteristic of the entire battlefield.

For example, imagine if you couldn't see over interior walls. Or deeply into a copse of trees. Or over a mountain. It would create some bottlenecks and require extra caution in parts of the map without slowing the pace of the entire chapter. The developers could create a little uncertainty about enemy army size and composition without making the player completely unaware of where anything is.

Selective Fog of War is a nice idea. It is more realistic too since you are not going to see what is inside a building until you actually go in there.

6 hours ago, Great Dane said:

There's one idea that I've had in the back of my head for a while, and that's having a "horse" mechanic. The idea I had is akin to dismounting in FE3/FE5, only it allows everyone to ride them and add another layer of strategy. I think it would also do wonders for the whole "Paladins being superior to all other classes" thing that has been plaguing the series since it's inception.

That is nice, but I want to expand it into other mounts too. I definitely want to see my Berserkers flying into battle!

[DefyingFates]

I'd like to see the ability to lock and break down doors (for all sides). Locking would be a neat way to buy some time to make an escape or trap enemies while breaking doors would alleviate the load on your thieves/ mages when storming castles and the like. The trade-off would be that doors have much more health than cracked walls so thieves and Unlock Staves are still the ideal way to go (and as mentioned your opponent could lock you in/ out too, but I could also see this getting annoying).

 

Another thought I've had for a while: would a honeycomb grid work for FE (i.e. 6 directions to move instead of 4)?

[Jotari]

9 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

I'd like to see the ability to lock and break down doors (for all sides). Locking would be a neat way to buy some time to make an escape or trap enemies while breaking doors would alleviate the load on your thieves/ mages when storming castles and the like. The trade-off would be that doors have much more health than cracked walls so thieves and Unlock Staves are still the ideal way to go (and as mentioned your opponent could lock you in/ out too, but I could also see this getting annoying).

 

Another thought I've had for a while: would a honeycomb grid work for FE (i.e. 6 directions to move instead of 4)?

I believe that's the way Tear Ring Saga works.

[bethany81707]

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

I believe that's the way Tear Ring Saga works.

Berwick, maybe, but not Tearring.

I'm looking for control over generics (similar to RD, but actual control) that grant some experience to their commander, a named, playable character.

[Jotari]

2 hours ago, phineas81707 said:

Berwick, maybe, but not Tearring.

I'm looking for control over generics (similar to RD, but actual control) that grant some experience to their commander, a named, playable character.

Hmm, my gut reaction was that I was wrong and it was one of the other ones but then I recalled a statement saying that Berwick was vastly different so I went against my gut and just said Tear Ring. Regardless, I have definitely seen hexagonical maps somewhere.

[Harvey]

So I was thinking....why not just display the growth rates next to the unit during gameplay instead of flat out reading on the internet on how reliable the unit is?

 

[X-Naut]

Because growths are the only factors making a unit good...? Maybe implement some kind of growth indicator to see where characters grow strong/weak though.

I'd like to see Weight and Con make a return, but with an additional buffer for having a higher weapon rank than the weapon. As in using a Steel weapon (D rank) with a C in the respective weapon type reduces the Speed loss by 1.

[Slumber]

1 hour ago, X-Naut said:

Because growths are the only factors making a unit good...? Maybe implement some kind of growth indicator to see where characters grow strong/weak though.

I'd like to see Weight and Con make a return, but with an additional buffer for having a higher weapon rank than the weapon. As in using a Steel weapon (D rank) with a C in the respective weapon type reduces the Speed loss by 1.

I'd also like to see con and weight return. It was a nice little thing that made some units better at certain things. 

Like take Oujay and Dieck as a template for Mercs. Adjust them a bit so Oujay has a bit higher speed and strength, but the same shit con. Make Dieck have higher skill while having high con. Now you have two potential Hero units where Oujay is an ideal sword Merc, but has problems using axes, while Dieck has the skill and con to make axes work(Also don't make Axes flat out garbage). 

Now you have two units in the same class that serve vastly different roles. 

It'd also be nice if we got the ability to pick secondary weapons upon promotion like in RD/PoR. Armor units with high con can pick up axes, while smaller, speedier armor units can pick up swords. 

Making weapon rank play into it could be a good plan, too. As you get better at using certain types of weapons, your technique starts to compensate for any weight disadvantages. 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Slumber

[bethany81707]

2 hours ago, Slumber said:

Making weapon rank play into it could be a good plan, too. As you get better at using certain types of weapons, your technique starts to compensate for any weight disadvantages. 

This. Goddamn pegasi and their low con...

[CriticalMiss]

I'd like to see branching paths where which battles you choose to complete impacts the story and which battles come next. Also, if there's a world map, I'd like more optional routes. SoV had this a little bit with Nuibaba, but I would like it to be greatly expanded upon. Finally, if there's an Avatar, I'd also like more control over its growth rates and bases. For example, you could have 300 points to allocate between all stats for growths and 30 points to allocate between all stats for bases. This would probably lead to some broken builds, but it could add some more customization.

[Jotari]

12 hours ago, X-Naut said:

Because growths are the only factors making a unit good...? Maybe implement some kind of growth indicator to see where characters grow strong/weak though.

I'd like to see Weight and Con make a return, but with an additional buffer for having a higher weapon rank than the weapon. As in using a Steel weapon (D rank) with a C in the respective weapon type reduces the Speed loss by 1.

Growth rates are far from the only factor that determines a good unit. If anything they're one of the least important factors (well depending on the game). Bases are far more important as are things like skills, prf weapons, promotion bonuses, class utility and availability. I don't think having displayed growth rates would at all change the balance of the game. Since the majority of serious players know character's growth rates anyway since we look them up. The only difference is that it would put more casual players on even footing.