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Character-specific promotions


Corrobin
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In FE5, some characters have atypical promotions for their base class. 

Usually, Mages promote to Mage Knight-You have two characters who were confirmed Mages before promotion but come pre-promoted (Illios and Olwen), and one normal Mage who becomes a Mage Knight (Miranda). Sage, meanwhile, is reserved for Bards (Homer) and Sisters (Sara and Linoan) to promote to. But Asbel, a Mage, joins and promotes to Sage atypically. This is to reinforce his idolization of his teacher, Ced, who is a prepromoted Sage.

Sword Fighters in this game mostly promote to Swordmaster (see: Mareeta, Shiva, Troude and prepromote Shanam). However, Machua, the first Swordfighter you obtain in the game, promotes to Mercenary (Hero as modern fans would know it), which is mostly reserved for Axe Fighters like Orsin and Halvan. This is to show her tomboyish nature and her self-confidence. It's also implied that Galzus, a prepromote Mercenary was a Sword Fighter, given that he has Od blood and his daughter, Mareeta, is a Sword Fighter herself.

Do you think that characters should have promotions that fit their character, rather than it being either "every character of the same class promotes to the exact same promoted class", or the SS/Awakening/Fates approach of "Every character of the same class has the same two promotions choices"?

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I like it, and in the event that branching promotions are absent it's a great way to keep promoted class diversity without bloating the unpromoted class pool.

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I like the idea of character-specific promotions and would like to see them come back.  I think it would be cool to see an Archer who promotes into a Warrior, a Cleric that promotes into a Druid, etc.

But you should be able to see what the character promotes into before you actually do it, so that you don't waste a Master Seal putting a class you don't want into your army.

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1 minute ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

I like the idea of character-specific promotions and would like to see them come back.  I think it would be cool to see an Archer who promotes into a Warrior, a Cleric that promotes into a Druid, etc.

But you should be able to see what the character promotes into before you actually do it, so that you don't waste a Master Seal putting a class you don't want into your army.

Agreed on that front.

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I heard Shouzou Kaga's Tirnagog games do something like this (And that in order to promote units you need to fulfill a requirement for each character rather than use an item), is that true?

Edited by OakTree
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I guess I would be down for it if each character gets more than one specific promotion. 

 

Two different archers, one could promote to a bowknight/ Kinshi Knight and the other to Sniper/whatever else class uses a bow

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I like it. I was always very excited to see what a character in Thracia would promote into, it was a lot more unpredictable and therefore more interesting while in most of the FE games that came after Thracia promotions feel less special and more like your just giving your unit a makeover unless they were story related.

I know it would never happen but It would be cool to have both options. A game mode were you can only promote characters in their cannon class with some unpredictable stuff here and there and one where you can reclass them however you want.

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I haven't finished Thracia 776 but as far as I can tell there is no major downside to character specific promotions so I would be fine with it and it could add to the character of each unit.

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3 hours ago, Corrobin said:

In FE5, some characters have atypical promotions for their base class. 

Usually, Mages promote to Mage Knight-You have two characters who were confirmed Mages before promotion but come pre-promoted (Illios and Olwen), and one normal Mage who becomes a Mage Knight (Miranda). Sage, meanwhile, is reserved for Bards (Homer) and Sisters (Sara and Linoan) to promote to. But Asbel, a Mage, joins and promotes to Sage atypically. This is to reinforce his idolization of his teacher, Ced, who is a prepromoted Sage.

Sword Fighters in this game mostly promote to Swordmaster (see: Mareeta, Shiva, Troude and prepromote Shanam). However, Machua, the first Swordfighter you obtain in the game, promotes to Mercenary (Hero as modern fans would know it), which is mostly reserved for Axe Fighters like Orsin and Halvan. This is to show her tomboyish nature and her self-confidence. It's also implied that Galzus, a prepromote Mercenary was a Sword Fighter, given that he has Od blood and his daughter, Mareeta, is a Sword Fighter herself.

Do you think that characters should have promotions that fit their character, rather than it being either "every character of the same class promotes to the exact same promoted class", or the SS/Awakening/Fates approach of "Every character of the same class has the same two promotions choices"?

Kaga's games, Tearring Saga and Berwick Saga, continued this.

In the game engine, promotions are linked to character rather then class. So for example, Shiva will always promote to Swordmaster at level 20, even if he is made a Baron with hacking. Conversely Shanam, if made a myrmidon with a cheat device, cannot promote to Swordmaster. Interestingly, Ralph, a prepromote unit, is coded to promote to Hero, indicating he was originally going to be a Myrmidon or Fighter.

Anyhow back on topic, I like the idea of some promotions being specific to character, so yes.

Edited by Emperor Hardin
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36 minutes ago, Modamy said:

I haven't finished Thracia 776 but as far as I can tell there is no major downside to character specific promotions so I would be fine with it and it could add to the character of each unit.

Funny thing is, I see no major upsides to character specific promotions. Class and unit balance is already a hot mess, and this would do nothing but make things worse.

Edited by Levant Mir Celestia
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1 minute ago, Levant Mir Celestia said:

Funny thing is, I see no major upsides to character specific promotions. Class and unit balance is already a hot mess, and this would do nothing but make things worse.

It's more of a character/thematic thing. Exceptions to normal promotion rules that make sense according to the character's background and personality add depth to the cast.

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Sure, I'd rather have branched promotions if given the choice, though. A mixture of both would be great, but that might be too much to ask for.

1 hour ago, Michelaar said:

Seeing as how this mechanic really screwed some people over, I would like for this to stay gone.

I don't know, that sounds like taking axes or bows out because they suck in most FE games to date, it's just balancing at the end of the day. And I don't think the FE formula is bloated to the point where touches that improve variety like this would be a problem.

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4 minutes ago, Cysx said:

I don't know, that sounds like taking axes or bows out because they suck in most FE games to date, it's just balancing at the end of the day. And I don't think the FE formula is bloated to the point where touches that improve variety like this would be a problem.

Remember Miranda? Yeah neither do I, because she wasn't worth using because she had to promote to Mage Knight.

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Only if it was limited to certain characters, and if branching promotions returned.

Unique classes are always cool, and doubly so if they manage to serve a distinct and useful purpose. It helps that a characters growths, bases, and starting class can be designed ahead of time with the mechanic in mind so they can be prepared to serve their unique role.

That being said, I would want it to work in conjunction with branching promotions, just in case a character gets RNG-screwed, or at least, has different stats than intended for the unique class, so that the player would be able to put them in a more generic role it that's the better strategic option.

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2 minutes ago, Michelaar said:

Remember Miranda? Yeah neither do I, because she wasn't worth using because she had to promote to Mage Knight.

I do. And there are worse classes to be than mage knight, it's just that sage was broken in Thracia. Also that most of the endgame maps were indoor and she joined super late.

... but honestly, her promotion is the least of Miranda's problems.

Edited by Cysx
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2 minutes ago, Michelaar said:

Remember Miranda? Yeah neither do I, because she wasn't worth using because she had to promote to Mage Knight.

"Is worse than Olwen and Illios" is more of indictment of how good those two are rather than a point against Miranda.

Plus, she's the only magic user who specializes in Fire Magic, so she's at least got that going for her.

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14 minutes ago, Corrobin said:

"Is worse than Olwen and Illios" is more of indictment of how good those two are rather than a point against Miranda.

Plus, she's the only magic user who specializes in Fire Magic, so she's at least got that going for her.

Someone specializing has little to do with anything. She would be a lot better if she would promote into sage, but no, Mage Knight. Why?

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