#thracia. sacred stones. tellius. fates. engage. berwick saga.

[dykedragonrider]

I'm gonna bend the rules a bit and merge two of the FE questions together because I think they're more interesting hand in hand.

32 and 26: What direction do you wish the series would take, and what would your pitch be for the first title to go in that direction?

I want to see them lean harder into strategy, or at least give us reasons to not juggernaut. I ain't good at designing games yet so this'll be a fun thought exercise.

Smaller cast of units with greater distinction between units. Units are locked in their class (unless they have like, story promotion stuff idk), they have personal skills and stats that give them specific niches in their class. Maybe someone has Adept and high speed as a Mercenary but another has Pavise, so you have one that is really really good at killing shit, and another who's a tank and spank unit for an example. They feel distinct from each other, and one has the overkill combat that makes them good with priority targets while the other has the ability to handle multiple enemies well to buy time/create space. This is probably the biggest departure as we haven't really had a game that did this imo.

More challenges that aren't just about your stats. Status staves, enemy packs with reaver weapons, packs vulnerable to strong effectives, somewhat open maps, things that allow you to engage with the maps differently. Maps that aren't straight lines but have multiple options for egress and reasons to use those options based on your available tools are great!

Inventory items that give stat bonuses. These were a really good thing that allowed for flexibility to hit benchmarks that we saw in Gaiden, FE4, SOV, Houses, and sort of Engage that added legitimately meaningful depth in the kind of solutions to problems you could find. They can be "win more" things which sucks I won't deny that, but I also value their flexibility too much to really dislike them.

So, with that, I'll try my hand at a pitch.

Your lord is a staff unit. This means that designing things can be done around you *always* having a utility unit and you can be expected to use/react to enemy magic accordingly. You've got a prepromote wyvern who'll be good at combat for a while, and as their combat worsens their utility as a mobility tool is a much more relevant reason to use them. Motley cast goes forth from there, I just think those two things are legitimately interesting ideas to me I want to explore more.

As for story, I've got the least expertise here but... Let's say our main lord haaaates fighting and is optimistic about people. That's why they prefer to disable their foes, heal or protect their allies, that's why they're a staffer. Give them a personal weapon to reflect that, too. There's a background war going on that the lord doesn't get involved in for a while but you *feel* it as you're recruiting your early playable cast (maybe your lord is on some personal mission and your prepromote is their escort. Could have some knight/liege yuri there idk I like that). Townspeople talk about what they've lost along the way because of the war, some people are displaced by it and you can help them out on maps for rewards, etc. Eventually, the cast ends up fighting one of the factions in the war, the other comes to reinforce on that map, and *that's* when the story picks up, as the cast is thrown into the deep end of it. Your lord is convinced to help one faction end the war, and they reluctantly agree because they think it's the best way to stop the fighting because they can't just stay out of it. Things proceed as normal for FE, but there's a greater emphasis on the civilian cost of war along the way, because your lord *wants* to help the people that are hurting because it's their nature. And they're getting *so* tired of what they're hearing, but they keep going on, because at this point that's all they can do. Help those who are hurting, and end the war. Unsurprisingly, the war came about because of the Problem Dragon, who you learn more about the chapters before you fight them. Maybe this dragon is why your lord is on their quest, they wanted to find them? Uncertain about that plot thread especially, but either way they need to in some way be sympathetic or redeemable for one reason or another. Not just because I think that these games are at their best when there is some tragedy with the dragon, but because the lord needs *some* reason to have their faith in the goodness of people be what carries them through this conflict. Maybe they get exploited for it throughout it, maybe they didn't, idk how I'd wanna frame that but the point needs to be them *giving a damn* about people is what lets them end this (yeah I like Idunn, how did you know).

In short, small ragtag cast with a focus on the lord primarily (most other people are there just supporting them) tempering their perception of reality but not letting it get them down. It's a coming of age for them, but they keep their sense of hope for the world because the kindness they showed to others and got back in turn is what enabled them to survive. You need some genuine darkness for that light to show probably, but it needs to be a story about making a difference in other people's lives and how important that is, no matter how small.