Kotaku/Nintendo Dream info (Class Change/Promotion teased, uneven character distribution, and ...Donnel... ?)

[The DanMan]

Saw this stuff a few days back on Gamefaqs and surprised it hasn't been posted here yet.

Anyways, Kotaku recently conducted an interview with some of the devs and the most recent Nintendo Dream magazine gave a few more details. Black Kite on twitter has been compiling the info.

Here's the kotaku interview: http://kotaku.com/the-makers-of-fire-emblem-warriors-wont-tell-us-if-donn-1796426553

And here's Black Kite's tweets concerning the Nintendo Dream info: 

(Open it in a new tab and scroll down-- not everything is shown in the preview.)

First things first, I'll list the interesting bits from the Kotaku interview.

On leveling up characters and changing classes:
Hayashi: "Yes, we definitely anticipated people wanting [to change classes]. You can level up and it will change the character’s appearance as well."
Seems like promotions are in. This also may be away to address weapon diversity (Chrom would get lances, the practically confirmed Lissa would get axes, and so on), with generic movesets for secondary weapons. Glad to see my old theory may have some life in it.

Next interesting tidbit: On losing characters:
Hayashi: We know Fire Emblem fans are both hardcore and casual players, and much like we have options for both in the Fire Emblem series, we also offer [a hardcore mode] in this game. You can choose a more difficult mode where you have to think strategically or else you’ll lose characters, or a more casual mode where you will not lose characters.
Totilo: There is permadeath?
Hayashi: Maybe not in the same way as the main Fire Emblem games, but in a way that might make more sense for a Warriors game.
Permadeath in The Arena and other side modes, perhaps? Either way, new info is new.

Uhh... :On Donnel, "the best character":
Higuchi: We can’t reveal all of the characters in the game, but we know Donnel is a fan favorite. It was definitely a lot of fun thinking about who we might include, but if we included everyone, it would be so much work for Koei Tecmo.
Damn it, Etika.

Next up, on the possibility of an Avatar:
Hayashi: We talked about it at the start of development, but we decided the story would be more about the heroes from the other games. We made two protagonists who were a bit younger in age because we wanted the heroes to lead them.
So they decided to make the characters from other games mentors to the OCs rather than an OC Avatar upstage everything? Interesting.

Sadly, Pikmin Warriors was also shot down at the end of the interview.

As for the Nintendo Dream stuff:
First of all, it states that "Over 20 characters can be expected". It's presented as an uncertainty, and it's from an analysis (http://ga-m.com/n/fire-emblem-musou-kyara-suu/), so you can't really take it as set in stone. I personally think the roster will be in the 25-ish range and anything more is very unrealistic unless they delve into clones, but I can't say that for certain giving the nature of the quote.

Next, as is most clearly seen in the above tweet: "the roster won't be evenly divided between SD, Awakening, and Fates". I'm going to base things off of the sprites shown on the CE box and call it here: it will be Awakening Warriors with the Fates royals (besides maybe Hinoka) + Marth and Tiki. I want to see Caeda, Abel, and such get in but I'm not really holding out for them. My pessimistic instincts have been right so far, but I hope to be shown wrong here.

Lastly, the topic of characters appearing from other games in the series is broached. The answer says to keep your hopes low and that if they do appear it'll be in an NPC role only, listing Anna as an example. Some are taking this as confirmation of Anna not being playable, but since it's a translation from a second hand source I wouldn't read into it much (about Anna being NPC-only).

[Deva Ashera]

That likely doesn't include DLC into the equation in regards to non-SD/Awakening/Fates characters since they said similar about non-OoT/TP/SS characters for Hyrule Warriors..so not much change in my expectations.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Deva Ashera

[Arthur97]

Calling it Awakening Warriors seems brash considering how they've been giving Fates top billing.

Also, uneven distribution really shouldn't surprise anyone.

Edited July 2, 2017 by Arthur97

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

FUCK Donnel.

[Arthur97]

Why so much hate for Donnel?

[BlizzardWolf95]

I saw this on /feg/ a couple days ago as well. Interesting stuff. I'm still hoping my recent post about "class changing" influencing weapon selection is confirmed wrong soon, as this was the interview that spawned my thoughts.

8 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

FUCK Donnel.

The Donnel-hate is real. Sheesh, what's with people dunking on him lately?

Edited July 2, 2017 by BlizzardWolf95

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Anna had better be playable. She'll cut into everything EXCEPT for those profit margins.

I know the 20+ characters is just speculation, but I think clones or shared, generic movesets would be the only way we reach that many. Gotta save some ideas for 2018's Hyrule Warriors Legends.

Sorry, I'm just really peeved that the question of Pikmin Warriors was shut down. Come on. There's nothing too weird or out there for a warriors game.

[Escalario]

1 minute ago, Gustavos said:

Anna had better be playable. She'll cut into everything EXCEPT for those profit margins.

I know the 20+ characters is just speculation, but I think clones or shared, generic movesets would be the only way we reach that many. Gotta save some ideas for 2018's Hyrule Warriors Legends.

Sorry, I'm just really peeved that the question of Pikmin Warriors was shut down. Come on. There's nothing too weird or out there for a warriors game.

Not really, they have dozens of unique movesets at the ready for all kinds of weapons thanks to the other Warriors series. Like for example Sheik's animations in HW are mostly from Ninja type characters in the Samurai Warriors series.

[Ertrick36]

I'm gonna actually assume that it'll be more "Fates Warriors" since they started making FE Warriors during Fates' heyday.  Plus, it has more characters than Awakening, and also more who are iconic (I can think of a dozen-or-so iconic characters from Fates while Awakening has only, like, half a dozen).

Ultimately, I think the distribution will be like this (">>" means "greater than" here):

Fates >> Awakening >> SD >> OCs >> out-of-band characters (e.g. Ike or others outside of the big 3)

I wouldn't take the "Donnel" comment as if it implies he'll actually be in the game, though.  All they said is they "know" he's a fan favorite.

1 minute ago, Arthur97 said:

Why so much hate for Donnel?

6 minutes ago, BlizzardWolf95 said:

The Donnel-hate is real. Sheesh, what's with people dunking on him lately?

Probably because after Donnel's meme heyday, people realized Donnel isn't actually the most interesting character ever.  I know there are characters I'd much rather see than Donnel, especially in the lancer class of fighters (I hope you can figure out who one of those might be without me telling you), though I hardly hate him at all.  I think it might also be that unlike all the characters revealed so far, Donnel isn't a major character, so people think he has no business being there over their preferred characters.

Whatever the case may be, people are yet again taking everything too seriously.

[Arthur97]

3 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

I'm gonna actually assume that it'll be more "Fates Warriors" since they started making FE Warriors during Fates' heyday.  Plus, it has more characters than Awakening, and also more who are iconic (I can think of a dozen-or-so iconic characters from Fates while Awakening has only, like, half a dozen).

Ultimately, I think the distribution will be like this (">>" means "greater than" here):

Fates >> Awakening >> SD >> OCs >> out-of-band characters (e.g. Ike or others outside of the big 3)

While probably true, I hope there aren't too many more Fates characters than Awakening. Especially, since I think (or hope) Awakening retook it after Fates heyday.

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

I liked Donnel a lot more before people (including my IRL friends) started shoving him down my throat. The CYL poll and Heroes reignited all of that. Now they think Donnel is a fan favourite that should be considered, when all he has to his name is pot memes.

As for Awakening vs Fates, I think I'll go on Fates' side. I didn't want Ryoma or Xander at all, but since they're putting in everyone, might as well hope for Azura to be in.

Edited July 2, 2017 by SatsumaFSoysoy

[Ertrick36]

1 minute ago, Arthur97 said:

While probably true, I hope there aren't too many more Fates characters than Awakening. Especially, since I think (or hope) Awakening retook it after Fates heyday.

I personally just hope that they don't go down the route of doing every single Fates royal, because there are lots I prefer from Fates who aren't major characters (and are still popular in their own right).

Just now, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

I liked Donnel a lot more before people (including my IRL friends) started shoving him down my throat. The CYL poll and Heroes reignited all of that. Now they think Donnel is a fan favourite that should be considered, when all he has to his name is pot memes.

Same here.  I liked the little farmer boy turned warrior thing, and him going around trying to learn from different members of the army what it's like to be a soldier.  But people fixated on the dopey pot on his head and turned him into a dumb meme.

[Slumber]

This game is looking more and more like a hard pass as more info and interviews come out.

[BlizzardWolf95]

4 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

Now they think Donnel is a fan favourite that should be considered, when all he has to his name is pot memes.

Well, that and he's the only non-knight Lance Infantry in Awakening, a unit specification that was absent in SD. Even with Fates, there's only 4 other characters  that share that, Azura/Mozu/Oboro/Shiro.

I still think that's impressive, even if he's a bit overused these days, but the specification he has, along with his (albeit meme-y) popularity, could end up earning him a spot in FEW.

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

2 minutes ago, BlizzardWolf95 said:

Well, that and he's the only non-knight Lance Infantry in Awakening, a unit specification that was absent in SD. Even with Fates, there's only 4 other characters  that share that, Azura/Mozu/Oboro/Shiro.

I still think that's impressive, even if he's a bit overused these days, but the specification he has, along with his (albeit meme-y) popularity, could end up earning him a spot in FEW.

Azura's style is a lot more unorthodox like Corrin's, so it's possible they'd add a second Lance infantry in. I'd rather that be Oboro, but I guess "for variety's sake!" we'll be getting Donnel instead. Mozu doesn't really know how to use a Lance, so I think she's kinda out.

[DaloDask]

I definitely see the roster being skewed towards Fates, especially given how they're marketing Xander, Ryoma and Corrin as main characters, which gives the possibility that they've decided to consider Fates as three separate titles.

I don't think each one individually will match SD/Awakening's representatives, but together they could easily overtake them.

[BlizzardWolf95]

4 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

Azura's style is a lot more unorthodox like Corrin's, so it's possible they'd add a second Lance infantry in. I'd rather that be Oboro, but I guess "for variety's sake!" we'll be getting Donnel instead. Mozu doesn't really know how to use a Lance, so I think she's kinda out.

It could very well be possible that they consider Knights as "Lance Infantry", in which case I'd imagine Azura and Draug would have those places on lockdown, with Effie/Oboro/Donny on the "maybe" list. If not, Donnel has a better chance than Oboro just becauae he wouldn't be the second Fates addition ('cuz Azura is a shoe-in).

Gods, I need consistent info ASAP. It's actually driving me bananas.

Edited July 2, 2017 by BlizzardWolf95

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

3 minutes ago, BlizzardWolf95 said:

It could very well be possible that they consider Knights as "Lance Infantry", in which case I'd imagine Azura and Draug would have those places on lockdown, with Effie/Oboro/Donny on the "maybe" list. 

Gods, I need consistent info ASAP. It's actually driving me bananas.

I wonder what they're gonna do with Azura though. They'd probably want her to wield her signature Blessed Lance, but none of her attack animations in Fates were applicable to lances lol.

[Armagon]

Just now, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

I wonder what they're gonna do with Azura though. They'd probably want her to wield her signature Blessed Lance, but none of her attack animations in Fates were applicable to lances lol.

I mean, she does have water manipulation, so they could do something with that. Of course, that canonically drains her life. Maybe Azura becomes the SSBM Pichu of this game.

[BlizzardWolf95]

1 minute ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

I wonder what they're gonna do with Azura though. They'd probably want her to wield her signature Blessed Lance, but none of her attack animations in Fates were applicable to lances lol.

Maybe they'll give her a sword to compliment her flowing dance attacks :^)

In all seriousness, Impa had a pretty unorthodox moveset with her Naginata in HW (if I remember correctly), so they could just give Azura a bunch of spins and flips with the lance, but the damage actually would come from the water-trails that follow her.

Side-note: I wonder why Lissa got to be on the Premium Box cover and Azura did not? How fishy. 

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

1 minute ago, BlizzardWolf95 said:

Maybe they'll give her a sword to compliment her flowing dance attacks :^)

In all seriousness, Impa had a pretty unorthodox moveset with her Naginata in HW (if I remember correctly), so they could just give Azura a bunch of spins and flips with the lance, but the damage actually would come from the water-trails that follow her.

Side-note: I wonder why Lissa got to be on the Premium Box cover and Azura did not? How fishy. 

Because they think Lissa is popular. Though she just lost to Priscilla in the FE Heroes Voting Gauntlet HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[Arthur97]

6 minutes ago, SatsumaFSoysoy said:

Because they think Lissa is popular. Though she just lost to Priscilla in the FE Heroes Voting Gauntlet HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Let's not forget how Elise absorbed so many 3DS votes. It was not a vacuum.

[a bear]

Would prefer Awakening-centric over Fates for sure. Awakening did have the best results from CYL so I don't think it'd be too unexpected. Chrom being the first character shown gives me a good feeling about that.

Also Donny's great. He just wants to help out!

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

1 minute ago, Arthur97 said:

Let's not forget how Elise absorbed so many 3DS votes. It was not a vacuum.

If you say so. Doesn't really matter to me since we won lol.

[Arthur97]

Just now, a bear said:

Would prefer Awakening-centric over Fates for sure. Awakening did have the best results from CYL so I don't think it'd be too unexpected. Chrom being the first character shown gives me a good feeling about that.

Also Donny's great. He just wants to help out!

Well, as was brought up, this started development before it became apparent that Fates didn't have quite the staying power that Awakening did.