FE4 & 5 Mechanics you want to see in Three Houses

[BriForABri]

With Three Houses looming on the distant horizon, I am very interested in what kind of game mechanics will be present from previous FE games. I think we can all agree that Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776 had some..."interesting" (to say the least) mechanics. Some of which I liked (introduction of the weapon/magic triangle) and some of which I hated (*cough cough* Thracia's staves missing their targets *cough cough*). However, it cannot be denied that some of the mechanics in the Jugdral saga added to the realism of Fire Emblem.

What mechanics you found interesting in 4th and 5th games would you like to see return in Three Houses? Which mechanics do you think SHOULD return in Three Houses? Personally, I wouldn't mind if some smaller mechanics found in later FE games (Canto, S/* or "star" weapon rankings) returned. But mechanics such as mounted units travelling further on roads (FE4) or mounted units dismounting inside buildings (FE5) are some other mechanics I would not seeing a return. Capturing in FE5 is one of the biggest outlier mechanics in that it has never really seen a revival (unless you count Fates). Because of how frustrated it made people (including myself), I do not believe it will make a return in Three Houses. But what do you all think?

[Jedi]

I think 3 Houses should try to stand on it's own mechanically and not try to borrow from any previous FE's too hard. It'd lose it's potential uniqueness if it does try to borrow too heavily.

However I would like dismount from 3 and 5 back, but I doubt at this point it'll happen, but hey I can play those for that so no biggie.

[RexBolt]

I could see Leadership Stars happening. 

[redlight]

I'd personally would like to dismounting and capturing.

A part of me wishes for stamina, but perhaps a more nerfed version like Echoes's one

[BriForABri]

58 minutes ago, Jedi said:

I think 3 Houses should try to stand on it's own mechanically and not try to borrow from any previous FE's too hard. It'd lose it's potential uniqueness if it does try to borrow too heavily.

Part of me agrees with what you hope from Three Houses. Every Fire Emblem game tends to include at least one thing that is new to the series. I would not be surprised if Three Houses introduced some mechanic that we have never seen before (aside from the stuff we have seen in the trailer). However, my biggest fear with Three Houses NOT taking examples from previous entries in the series is that it would end up like Thracia 776. Don't get me wrong, I love FE5 and its realism as a Fire Emblem game, but it definitely stood out on its own mechanically, and not necessarily in a good way. Some mechanics I did enjoy such as dismounting, but a lot of the other mechanics frustrated me. Clearly they frustrated other players because many of the game's mechanics were never really seen again. I do agree with you though. I would love it if Three Houses created new mechanics, but I just don't want Three Houses to be a game that frustrates players to the point where reviews and sales could be affected, kind of like what happened to Thracia 776.

[Shadow Mir]

I would say none - both games have too many bad mechanics. Well, that, and I would rather Three Houses stand on its own.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Shadow Mir

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

1 hour ago, Jedi said:

I think 3 Houses should try to stand on it's own mechanically and not try to borrow from any previous FE's too hard. It'd lose it's potential uniqueness if it does try to borrow too heavily.

basicly this.

besides, from what i've seen, it will eventually play in a similar way to Advance Wars with battallions, while keeping the basic core mechanics of FE.

 

rather than see something old making a return, i would really like to see something new for a change.

for example, we always had tons of basic units, mounted units and flying units. i'd like to see new classes created for naval combat as well, wich could lead to more tactics involving the map terrain itself.

or having actual castle sieges with dedicated castle maps.

attacking castles with siege weapons in order to destroy walls and open new paths to invade the inner rooms would be cool as well, rather than just killing the chapter boss on the front door and conquer the castle.

 

as for older features, Fog of War is probably the only thing i'd like to see coming back.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Fenreir

[Hanes]

Capturing. Capturing is such a cool mechanic that I love.

[Flere210]

This may be impopular, but stamina and dismounting:

Stamina prevent an unit like Seth,Ryoma ecc. from becoming centralizing and stimulate using more than the usual 10 people every map, while dismounting is a tradeoff for classes that are consistently among the best in any FE game.

[Eltosian Kadath]

While I would not like all of these to appear at once, and they would have to fit the direction the game is going, these are the mechanics that might be interesting to see return:

Leadership stars (the FE5 versions)- they give an extra distinguishing feature to characters who are supposed to be leaders, and enemy leadership stars can lead to interesting choices.

Marriage/Children - I still like this mechanic even in Awakening and Fates

FE4 style Arena - Really the best version, the limits on it keeps it from being overly abused, and gives serious consequences to a loss without literal death

Build Growth Rate - I have always liked this mechanic, having this weight reduction, and vital rescue/capture stat capable of changing without some rare item makes it more dynamic and interesting.

Capture - One of FE5s most interesting mechanic, although the game would need the sort of limit resources you have in FE5 to keep it from getting out of hand

FE4 Size Maps - The game would need a very generous saving system like FE4 to compensate, but there are some cool things that can happen with large maps.

Stamina - When it isn't trivialized by S drinks it forces the player to change out its party from time to time, although to smooth out some of the FE5 issues they should try to make sure there are enough unis to act as spares (to keep from having the single mage/healer/flier being exhausted issue from coming up) and have a way of dealing with what happens when a unit needed to recruit another is exhausted

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Marriage/Children - I still like this mechanic even in Awakening and Fates

This is just me, but I feel it needs a break - we've had it in two consecutive games, and that's pushing it imo.

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

FE4 Size Maps - The game would need a very generous saving system like FE4 to compensate, but there are some cool things that can happen with large maps.

No. Just no. Nothing good can come of it.

[Bagfisch]

Thracia had great and interesting features such as capturing, Leader stars, growths for Con and Mov, Stamina, dismounting etc. 

please for the love of Kaga / Naga they should stay in Thracia.

Especially Minimum/maximum Hit, missing staves, infinite statuses, Poison Ballista (how?), universal 20 caps, Mag as Res, pitch black fog of war and the Thief Staff can all rot in FE hell

[Tuvy2]

 

The retreating feature from Thracia where you lose units   Honestly I really like the skill manuals, crusader scrolls, capturing, dismounting, and even stamina a little bit.

[Ertrick36]

• If child mechanics return, no question, I want it done either like Genealogy or Awakening.  Obviously not in the exact same ways, but in terms of the method to make them playable.  Basically, I don't want some stupid Deeprealms BS, I want them to grow up naturally before joining my army and I want them to have actual reasons for joining beyond mommy or daddy making them do it.
• Dismount should return so that the cavaliers and fliers don't hog all the glory.
• Capture/spare mechanics would be nice, and they'd be even better if they were expanded upon.  I'd like to be able to decide who among my enemies I will spare, and to see how that impacts the various factions I may have to deal with.
• Genealogy-sized maps could make a return, but with the caveat that they're only used for very big battles or skirmishes, and that the rest of the chapters only take place within small sections of these maps.  If we did get big maps with multiple castles, I'd like to have each of my own castles be places I could spawn troops.  Not like Genealogy, but rather like Valkyria Chronicles so that I don't have to lug hulking armor knights across these giant maps.  But really though, I kind of just want the chapters to be the size of normal FE maps.
• Multiple faction phases would be a nice touch, even the multiple enemy phases.  I liked that in Chapter 5 of Genealogy, you'd have the Thracian knights move first, and then the enemy Grannvale knights would move after, and that they all had their own themes.  Or how there were two neutral army types - the green and yellow armies - which were hostile with one another but neutral towards you (and green was hostile towards red, while yellow was more neutral with red).

Aside from these things, I don't want to see any gameplay feature from the Jugdral games in TH.  And actually, I could do without a few of them.  Though I'd really like to see the dismount and capture mechanics.

[BriForABri]

One of the bigger mechanics that differ between FE4 and FE5 is the massive difference in map sizes (and thus number of chapters). I love the sheer scale of Genealogy's maps, but I also love the change in scale Thracia brings to the table with the smaller maps, but larger amount of chapters. Honestly, I am torn as to which I would like to possibly see in Three Houses. I know that no other Fire Emblem game has really replicated what FE4 did with the incredibly long chapters and I can see why. I personally liked the idea of travelling over an entire country in one chapter, but I can definitely see how it could annoy other players (heck, it annoyed me on some chapters). In the end, I think I would honestly prefer more chapters but with smaller maps. I just think there would be variety to be had (i.e. different landscapes, castles, etc.).

I would LOVE it if Intelligent Systems brought back Gaiden chapters. Thracia was the first game to introduce them and I loved them in every other game that had them since. The idea of getting another chapter to play if the player completes specific goals is one that I have always loved. I know future FE games would try to create something a bit different, like choosing between Ephraim and Eirika's route in Sacred Stones or getting to go to Ilia or Sacae in Binding Blade, but those examples are just based around which characters the player feels like using. I want see incentive for the player to perform well strategically! I may be doting on Thracia's introduction of Gaiden chapters a bit too much, but I just personally found them to be very enjoyable.

Speaking of performing well strategically, I would like Tactic Rankings to make a return. Gives some form of replay-ability to those who want get top rankings. 

[Integrity]

dismounting is my homie and deserves to be in every fire emblem