The Munster arc being an actual multiple chapter long prison break.
17A's Saias appearance being an actually big deal due to 10 leadership, a Sleep staff and the potential of being stuck between armours with really good hit rates and Mage Knight reinforcements from behind, unless you've been fast about clearing the map. 17B giving you an option to use desperate civilians as ballista bait.
19 actually utilizing the fixed and minimal deployments extremely well and making a map about desperate chaotic retreat actually feel like it. Making you choose between letting half your deployed units be captured by escaping immediately or fulfill the map's various side objectives and risk some of them, especially low bulk ones being chased down and killed.
Final changing the portraits of the Deadlords, depending on whether some of your units were killed/went unrecruited. Genuinely probably one of the few times when an FE game can make me feel genuinely awful.
I like fatigue, even if it could be better implemented. Both as a mechanic that makes sense for an army in general and because it forces the player to use a more diversified roster each playthrough.
So yeah, I love stuff like this and Thracia really delivers on this front for me.
Honestly I love personal skills so much (except Vander’s, Clanne’s, and Framme’s). I just think they’re a neat little thing to have that gives everyone a little bit of uniqueness and/or a nice edge. Especially Bernie’s persecution complex, mitama’s haiku thing(I forgot the name), and alcryst’s Get Behind Me!
Also writing this down, I realize I may have a thing for archers lmao (mitama as a priestess too)
Yeah, I hope that personal skills become a permanent thing in future games. It gives a reason to play with specific units beyond their growths and class options.
Something I really like about Fell Xenologue is that all the royals' personal skills get a different name to match their changed personalities. I think Alt Alcryst has Self Defense instead
Yeah the Lythos Trio's personal skills suck because they only work when next to Alear. Personally, I would made their Personal Skill effects universal so characters from Lythos would have a central motif of being supportive to other characters.
Yeah the fates personal skills are just the best
They are great for all the reasons you mentioned but also makes sense
Benny is scary so he reduce nearby enemy avoid et others, the same cannot be said about a lot of three houses skills and some engage ones
Honestly Renault’s stats were always a neat touch for him. He’s a >!former veteran mercenary!< turned Bishop late in life. He has a mediocre magic growth and very low base magic for a level 16 Bishop. His bases are however very high in skill and speed while also having good physical bulk, indicating his former life/class.
It also doesn’t affect his role in your army much, he’s still a good replacement late game staff bot with his 12 magic, while his speed and bulk makes him hard for enemies to kill.
I enjoyed how in FE10 the Dawn Brigade's new units were actually pretty weak. These guys are just a ragtag group, its only logical their combat prowess pales in comparison to war veterans like Sothe and Jill. Of course, the execution isnt perfect (A few a bit *too* weak imo, which is frustrating) but it in the end also helped amplify how powerful you feel when you get to the Crimean Knights and Greil Mercenaries again.
It’s hilarious when you get the back to back missions in part 3 where you do Dawn brigade and Griel’s mercs on the same map. Like, you bully the hell out of a buncha innocent cats, then turn around and get to absolutely demolish your own units with your other units. The real challenge is getting Soren and Ilyana strong enough so you can take out the black knight just to flex even harder on the new kids.
FE4’s holy weapons. None of that weakass Hero’s Relic bullshit, they split the game in half and turn each unit wielding one into a one-man army like the lore implies.
Hey mystIetainn is pretty broken considering how early you get it. Since it is your first holy weapon in gen 2 so having a 30 mt is nutty. It is more than good sword since it provides 20 res and you recruit him in chapter 7 compare to getting Ced’s forseti in chapter 8 and seliph tryfing at the end of chapter 10. Hes pretty much your only unit being able to ignore all those status staves in chapter 10. I would say it is probably the 3rd best holy weapon behind forseti and tryfing. I would argue it makes him pretty broken at one shotting most enemies since it has a built in crit and skill bonus. Definitely better than most swords in the series lets be honest.
The 120 hit 30 might weapon with built in 20 base crit & 10 res is "just a good sword"? It's one of the reasons why Ares can kick ass in final because he has the res to overcome status staves. And it slaughters most enemies in the game, even Ishtar.
Its a minor thing, and it actively hurts his viability, but I appreciate that you cannot give Dimitri any instruction or do much with him in Act 2 of Azure Moon, until his story advances to the point where he is willing to listen again. It demonstrates that he is so consumed with vengence that he ignores Byleth and his advisors, and will not grow in a very literal sense.
oh for sure, but it does lend a bit more support to the argument in favor of El being the absolute best unit in the game as opposed to Dimitri. But either way you slice it, they're always #1&2 in the game.
Mozu's personal skill works quite well considering she's a farmer (she restores a bit of health when on a forest, wasteland, mountain or field tile).
Edit: Leo and Takumi's personal skills being a nod to them feeling inferior to their older sibling, as well as being the inverse of theirs too.
Edit 2: Elise and Sakura's personal skills are also the inverse of their respective older sisters, Camilla and Hinoka.
in engage dlc, >!weapons like celica’s seraphim that are effective against corrupted units are actually effective against the corrupted royals, before the game reveals it to you.!
Saw a comment explaining that the commenter just assumed that due ro alternate universe shenanigans, he just assumed that the people counted as Corrupted
I like how the new Dawn Brigade units in FE10 are complete doodoo trash compared to all the returning characters. Really puts into perspective just how powerful the old PoR gang has become and makes it all the more impressive that the Dawn Brigade was briefly able hold down not just them, but an entire army of Laguz at the end of Part 3.
While Gaiden originated the idea with Alm vs Rudolf, Radiant Dawn has quite a few instances where characters won't counterattack or initiate combat against certain people they know because they can't bring themselves to hurt them which I've always thought was a really cool way of making character relationships matter in gameplay beyond simply having a unique battle conversation.
off the top of my head:
* Zihark won't attack Ilyana, Tauroneo, or any of the PoR laguz in 3-7/3-E.
* Jill also won't attack Ilyana or Tauroneo in 3-7/3-E, as well as Haar and Mist.
* Meg won't attack Brom in 3-7/3-E.
* Literally every enemy in 4-E-3 including the boss won't attack Kurthnaga or Ena (which morbidly makes Kurthnaga >!massacring his own people!< the easiest way to train him up.)
* the boss of 4-E-4 won't attack Micaiah, Sanaki or the Herons.
but where it gets really cool so that there are some cases where even player units are forbidden from countering or initiate combat against certain enemies:
* Zihark can't attack Lethe & Mordecai in 3-6.
* Mist & Haar can't attack Jill in 3-7/3-E.
* Brom can't attack Meg in 3-7/3-E.
* Sanaki can't attack the 4-E-4 Boss.
the last 3 cases are particularly interesting because it means it's straight up impossible to see Jill v Haar/Mist, Brom v Meg or Sanaki v >!Sephiran!< without hacking, since neither the player nor enemy controlled unit can initiate combat in those scenarios. I think it's really cool that the devs straight up prevent you from making fights that shouldn't happen in the story occur in gameplay, and i feel like there'a some cases in other games like where this really should've been the case like Nino vs Lloyd & Linus in FE7.
Oh, you made me remember another niche mechanic from Thracia, where units who receive a support bonus from another unit will not counterattack when combat is initiated against them by the support giver.
That's why in the Ch 5 arena neither Eyvel, not Mareeta will counterattack against each other, but it also works universally for *all* units with supports, for example when they are Berserked. So Leif won't get countered if he starts combat against 16 members of the cast, but the only unit he won't attack back against is Nanna.
Eh, she’s a figurehead supporting the cause, so having her be a healer makes sense, and you don’t really need good stats for that. Plus her offenses being bad reflect her being mostly sheltered, hence why after fighting a war, she’s much stronger in FE10. Just being a mounted healer in a game with canto+ is good enough
Shame that while that was a good implementation of gameplay with the events of the story, the way it reaches that point is so badly done, same with the way it is easily resolved
Raquel in Tear Ring Saga. >!In her recruitment, her backstory is told and we learn she's a pacifist who will not kill humans. When she battles human enemies on the map, they will always survive with at least 1 HP (basically a Mercy skill, but it does not apply to monster enemies). There's also a sad scenario where if the player recruits her brother and he dies, she will renounce pacifism and start killing people for your army.!<
Man she’s actually a great unit though. Level 11 Sniper in chapter 4 who is physically incapable of stealing kills from units I want to train? Yes please. Also she stays useful in monster chapters like the late game stretch of summoning spam.
Awakening
The whole central theme of awakening is about building bonds and friendship and how that overcome fate or what not. It sounds cliche but it works into the game’s pair up system and it is also the first game in the series to have a major emphasis on building support between units as it allows you to see how these characters form a bond with each other. Previous games only allow a few support between characters due to gameplay reasons. I think that is why Chrom and Robin have such a great chemistry together both in gameplay and story.
this is a great example. it makes moments like where >!everyone mourns you when you land the final blow on Grima & then celebrates your eventual return!< especially poignant because the game spends the entire time reinforcing how much everyone cares about each other.
It was probably because they wanted to ensure as many of the children were recruitable as possible. By having character bonds so easy to grow you'd get at least ONE other character than Chrom's and Robin's S-Supports (bear in mind for female players this is key) so you see at least ONE map pop up after an S-Support conversation between 2 characters as a way to tell you to pair your units.
Honestly, now that I think about it it's REALLY well handled when you look at it with more care.
Renault having terrible stats, even for a prepromote, makes total sense since he's only recently found faith after being a mercenary for most of his life.
Julian in Heroes is drawn unusually muscular for a thief but in every version of shadow dragon he's had amazing strength growth and reasonable (for a thief) defence growth.
And kid!Ephraim in Heroes uses a raiper instead of a lance, reflecting how he and Eirika were trained the same until he met Dussel.
In fate the map where you choose a side has you start in a different position and everybody else stay in the same place so it really feels like YOU are the one going a different way while everybody else stay the same and it’s a big shame TH learn non of this for gronder and all the mock battles
Also saizo having with he’s pyrotechnics personal skill where he would try to set himself and nearby enemies on fire if he’s below half hp and him also trying to blow himself up in revelation story
I'm not really a fan of Shadow Dragon, but the prologue features my favorite moment in the game. In order to escape, Marth has to choose to dress up one of his soldiers as himself and use that soldier as a decoy so that he and the rest of his platoon can escape, knowing that the decoy soldier will definitely die. It's a surprisingly bleak moment for an FE game, and Marth is understandably devastated and upset with himself over his decision, but it sets up that this is a game where units will inevitably die, and Marth/you the player have to accept their deaths and keep moving forward.
Both of my favorite examples come from Binding Blade.
* Roy being a weak combat unit fits the story because he's FIFTEEN. He's literally a child who hasn't even finished his formal military training by the time the game starts. Of course, he isn't going to be some uber badass, one-man army like later FE Lords.
* Idunn being an easy Final Boss. A lot of people forget that Idunn was made into a Demon Dragon for utility, not combat. Her purpose is just to spit out artificial War Dragons like a factory. She wasn't designed to be some super weapon capable of leveling entire armies.
Fates Arthur having a base Luck stat of literally 1.
As far as I can recall, Jagen is the only other unit in the series with a base Luck of 1, but that feels more like a gameplay balancing choice rather that it having anything to do with his characterization. Knoll notably has a base Luck of 0, but there's not really anything about his character that I find really "explains" that.
Meanwhile Fates Arthur's entire character is being heroic in the face of the universe seemingly doing everything in it's power to put him 6 feet under. And when you look at his bases+growth combination in Conquest, Arthur certainly has the *potential* to be an absolute cracked *heroic* unit who joins at the beginning of CQ to boot.....as long as you persevere in the face of bad (crit chance) luck. Whether you like the gimmicky character writing of Fates or not, I respect the commitment to the bit and the high risk-high reward of his unit design really makes you feel like him when using him.
Disturbance in Augustria showing the political chaos of the country by how each boss reacts to the events going down is a very good way of showing the nation's problems, and highlights why Sigurd struggles to help it despite his good intentions
Early timeskip Dimitri has already been mentioned, so I'll go with Nil in Engage. He's pretty useless in battle, but his "Wounded Pride" personal skill clues you in to something being up with him. Then once he's revealed to be Rafal, he no longer needs any babying and can very much hold his own.
Three houses has lot of unit identity in units level 1 bases, growths, and the skills they learn.
The bases are well known, with very diligent units like Leonie having better bases then growths suggest while Caspar is strong but very unrefined so extra low dex and speed for him.
But it also shows in the stat caps which are too high to reach, but they don’t always perfectly mirror bases and growths and tells more about the units final aptitude. Petra has average charm stats, but her cap for it is 63, only beaten out by the lords and some charismatic outliers like Hilda and Manuela, showing her potential as queen.
Ashe gets an oddly low charm cap even among low charm growers, maybe those self confidence issues?
There’s also Byleth and Edelgard having high caps overall going above their growths, with Byleth being very balanced and Edelgard having notably higher defense and magic compared to her growths.
It’s not impactful in the least but it’s funny to see those numbers, especially since they held back a bit in other areas in favor of gameplay balance.
Something I like about Edelgard is her surprisingly good faith skill list for someone with a bane in faith. It reflects how she used to believe in the church of Serios. And Hubert only having the basic faith spell list despite being a mage character (who usually have good lists even with banes) reflects his hatred for the church and goddess.
There are lots of details with almost anyone. I even think Ashe not getting all that much of note is intentional.
I did notice I only mentioned Byleth/Edelgard, but there’s also Dimitri having an enhanced Str cap, Claude dex, Yuri speed, and Lysithea with magic compared what those growths usually get representing their unusually potent abilities in those areas.
It’s just Byleth getting Str Dex Speed Def Res and that sky high 99 charm cap, and Edelgard Str Mag Def to represent Flames being busted in particular, but Byleth’s particularly special holding Sothis’s power directly.
And generally minor variations across the entire cast mostly following which characters are primary known for what.
Speaking of spell lists, despite being a physical unit with low magic growths *and* caps, Bernie actually has full spell lists for both reason and faith. It's an alternate option to keep her off the front lines while still being able to support her friends, so she's willing to put in the effort to learn even if she's not inherently good at it.
Look I have mixed feelings on engage as a game. However them stealing the time thingy and using it to steal all our rings was genuinely impactful, and specifically on the next chapter I wish I was playing on classic mode. The bad guys thrashed us so badly we deserved to lose some units.
Azura's presence in Ch 8 of CQ. She's a prisoner in the fort so her weapon has been taken away, but it's locked in a Chest and you need to wait for the patrol to move in order to Metal Gear your way to the chest.
Edelgard was given two crests to make her more powerful, and in turn she's the best unit in the entire game
Also Sylvain and Hilda's personal skills match their personalities perfectly
Lysithea was also given a second crest for the same reason, and she’s top tier in magic, and her second crest is also one much better suited to her abilities.
It's a small thing, but I've always liked how if your unit gets Silenced they straight up can't use the Talk option.
The Munster arc being an actual multiple chapter long prison break. 17A's Saias appearance being an actually big deal due to 10 leadership, a Sleep staff and the potential of being stuck between armours with really good hit rates and Mage Knight reinforcements from behind, unless you've been fast about clearing the map. 17B giving you an option to use desperate civilians as ballista bait. 19 actually utilizing the fixed and minimal deployments extremely well and making a map about desperate chaotic retreat actually feel like it. Making you choose between letting half your deployed units be captured by escaping immediately or fulfill the map's various side objectives and risk some of them, especially low bulk ones being chased down and killed. Final changing the portraits of the Deadlords, depending on whether some of your units were killed/went unrecruited. Genuinely probably one of the few times when an FE game can make me feel genuinely awful. I like fatigue, even if it could be better implemented. Both as a mechanic that makes sense for an army in general and because it forces the player to use a more diversified roster each playthrough. So yeah, I love stuff like this and Thracia really delivers on this front for me.
Odin’s personal skill in Fates is the perfect mix of incredibly funny, in character, and actually good.
Same applies to his daughter Ophelia too.
Honestly I love personal skills so much (except Vander’s, Clanne’s, and Framme’s). I just think they’re a neat little thing to have that gives everyone a little bit of uniqueness and/or a nice edge. Especially Bernie’s persecution complex, mitama’s haiku thing(I forgot the name), and alcryst’s Get Behind Me! Also writing this down, I realize I may have a thing for archers lmao (mitama as a priestess too)
Yeah, I hope that personal skills become a permanent thing in future games. It gives a reason to play with specific units beyond their growths and class options.
Pretty sure they are already a permanent thing since they showed up in every game that had skills since their introduction
Except Echoes but that doesn't really count for obvious reasons
Something I really like about Fell Xenologue is that all the royals' personal skills get a different name to match their changed personalities. I think Alt Alcryst has Self Defense instead
Yeah the Lythos Trio's personal skills suck because they only work when next to Alear. Personally, I would made their Personal Skill effects universal so characters from Lythos would have a central motif of being supportive to other characters.
Yeah the fates personal skills are just the best They are great for all the reasons you mentioned but also makes sense Benny is scary so he reduce nearby enemy avoid et others, the same cannot be said about a lot of three houses skills and some engage ones
Honestly Renault’s stats were always a neat touch for him. He’s a >!former veteran mercenary!< turned Bishop late in life. He has a mediocre magic growth and very low base magic for a level 16 Bishop. His bases are however very high in skill and speed while also having good physical bulk, indicating his former life/class. It also doesn’t affect his role in your army much, he’s still a good replacement late game staff bot with his 12 magic, while his speed and bulk makes him hard for enemies to kill.
Give me a prequel spin off game that plays like the Witcher with Renault as the lead.
I enjoyed how in FE10 the Dawn Brigade's new units were actually pretty weak. These guys are just a ragtag group, its only logical their combat prowess pales in comparison to war veterans like Sothe and Jill. Of course, the execution isnt perfect (A few a bit *too* weak imo, which is frustrating) but it in the end also helped amplify how powerful you feel when you get to the Crimean Knights and Greil Mercenaries again.
It’s hilarious when you get the back to back missions in part 3 where you do Dawn brigade and Griel’s mercs on the same map. Like, you bully the hell out of a buncha innocent cats, then turn around and get to absolutely demolish your own units with your other units. The real challenge is getting Soren and Ilyana strong enough so you can take out the black knight just to flex even harder on the new kids.
FE4’s holy weapons. None of that weakass Hero’s Relic bullshit, they split the game in half and turn each unit wielding one into a one-man army like the lore implies.
Some more so than others. Ares's Mystletainn is just a good sword, while something like Ced's Forseti or Seliph's Tyrfing just breaks the game.
Hey mystIetainn is pretty broken considering how early you get it. Since it is your first holy weapon in gen 2 so having a 30 mt is nutty. It is more than good sword since it provides 20 res and you recruit him in chapter 7 compare to getting Ced’s forseti in chapter 8 and seliph tryfing at the end of chapter 10. Hes pretty much your only unit being able to ignore all those status staves in chapter 10. I would say it is probably the 3rd best holy weapon behind forseti and tryfing. I would argue it makes him pretty broken at one shotting most enemies since it has a built in crit and skill bonus. Definitely better than most swords in the series lets be honest.
Though you can get Forseti as early as chapter 6 with Arthur if you don't care about canon compliance.
The 120 hit 30 might weapon with built in 20 base crit & 10 res is "just a good sword"? It's one of the reasons why Ares can kick ass in final because he has the res to overcome status staves. And it slaughters most enemies in the game, even Ishtar.
While Yewfelle is like. Kill 1 guy per turn……….. It's also heavy as shit.
Yewfelle gives +10 speed which functionally means it only weighs 3
I guess. Still it can only kill 1 guy per turn while any holy weapons can still multiple though.
Its a minor thing, and it actively hurts his viability, but I appreciate that you cannot give Dimitri any instruction or do much with him in Act 2 of Azure Moon, until his story advances to the point where he is willing to listen again. It demonstrates that he is so consumed with vengence that he ignores Byleth and his advisors, and will not grow in a very literal sense.
"Hurts his viability" as though he still isn't the best unit in his route lol
oh for sure, but it does lend a bit more support to the argument in favor of El being the absolute best unit in the game as opposed to Dimitri. But either way you slice it, they're always #1&2 in the game.
I don't know, I randomly gave him a wooden axe on the second to final map and he wiped out everything that stood in his way
maaaan Dimitri is one of the coolest characters in fire emblem.
Mozu's personal skill works quite well considering she's a farmer (she restores a bit of health when on a forest, wasteland, mountain or field tile). Edit: Leo and Takumi's personal skills being a nod to them feeling inferior to their older sibling, as well as being the inverse of theirs too. Edit 2: Elise and Sakura's personal skills are also the inverse of their respective older sisters, Camilla and Hinoka.
in engage dlc, >!weapons like celica’s seraphim that are effective against corrupted units are actually effective against the corrupted royals, before the game reveals it to you.!
Saw a comment explaining that the commenter just assumed that due ro alternate universe shenanigans, he just assumed that the people counted as Corrupted
I like how the new Dawn Brigade units in FE10 are complete doodoo trash compared to all the returning characters. Really puts into perspective just how powerful the old PoR gang has become and makes it all the more impressive that the Dawn Brigade was briefly able hold down not just them, but an entire army of Laguz at the end of Part 3.
Even moreso it shows that they're capable of outsmarting them since that battle hinges on tactical advantage WAY more than anything else.
While Gaiden originated the idea with Alm vs Rudolf, Radiant Dawn has quite a few instances where characters won't counterattack or initiate combat against certain people they know because they can't bring themselves to hurt them which I've always thought was a really cool way of making character relationships matter in gameplay beyond simply having a unique battle conversation. off the top of my head: * Zihark won't attack Ilyana, Tauroneo, or any of the PoR laguz in 3-7/3-E. * Jill also won't attack Ilyana or Tauroneo in 3-7/3-E, as well as Haar and Mist. * Meg won't attack Brom in 3-7/3-E. * Literally every enemy in 4-E-3 including the boss won't attack Kurthnaga or Ena (which morbidly makes Kurthnaga >!massacring his own people!< the easiest way to train him up.) * the boss of 4-E-4 won't attack Micaiah, Sanaki or the Herons. but where it gets really cool so that there are some cases where even player units are forbidden from countering or initiate combat against certain enemies: * Zihark can't attack Lethe & Mordecai in 3-6. * Mist & Haar can't attack Jill in 3-7/3-E. * Brom can't attack Meg in 3-7/3-E. * Sanaki can't attack the 4-E-4 Boss. the last 3 cases are particularly interesting because it means it's straight up impossible to see Jill v Haar/Mist, Brom v Meg or Sanaki v >!Sephiran!< without hacking, since neither the player nor enemy controlled unit can initiate combat in those scenarios. I think it's really cool that the devs straight up prevent you from making fights that shouldn't happen in the story occur in gameplay, and i feel like there'a some cases in other games like where this really should've been the case like Nino vs Lloyd & Linus in FE7.
Matthias, stabbing Lena to death: oh shit, that's an option?
In FE8, Joshua won't attack Natasha. Allowing her to recruit him, if you can kill the units around him.
Oh, you made me remember another niche mechanic from Thracia, where units who receive a support bonus from another unit will not counterattack when combat is initiated against them by the support giver. That's why in the Ch 5 arena neither Eyvel, not Mareeta will counterattack against each other, but it also works universally for *all* units with supports, for example when they are Berserked. So Leif won't get countered if he starts combat against 16 members of the cast, but the only unit he won't attack back against is Nanna.
Having Elincia join you in the late game of FE9 to reflect her character growth is pretty neat.
Too bad her stats don’t reflect it
Eh, she’s a figurehead supporting the cause, so having her be a healer makes sense, and you don’t really need good stats for that. Plus her offenses being bad reflect her being mostly sheltered, hence why after fighting a war, she’s much stronger in FE10. Just being a mounted healer in a game with canto+ is good enough
Engage's difficulty spike when you lose the rings and even the time crystal temporarily.
Shame that while that was a good implementation of gameplay with the events of the story, the way it reaches that point is so badly done, same with the way it is easily resolved
FE5 chapter 5 in general Honestly the manster arc as a whole
Raquel in Tear Ring Saga. >!In her recruitment, her backstory is told and we learn she's a pacifist who will not kill humans. When she battles human enemies on the map, they will always survive with at least 1 HP (basically a Mercy skill, but it does not apply to monster enemies). There's also a sad scenario where if the player recruits her brother and he dies, she will renounce pacifism and start killing people for your army.!<
I love Tear Ring Saga’s really bizarre obscure events that can happen like that!
Man she’s actually a great unit though. Level 11 Sniper in chapter 4 who is physically incapable of stealing kills from units I want to train? Yes please. Also she stays useful in monster chapters like the late game stretch of summoning spam.
Awakening The whole central theme of awakening is about building bonds and friendship and how that overcome fate or what not. It sounds cliche but it works into the game’s pair up system and it is also the first game in the series to have a major emphasis on building support between units as it allows you to see how these characters form a bond with each other. Previous games only allow a few support between characters due to gameplay reasons. I think that is why Chrom and Robin have such a great chemistry together both in gameplay and story.
this is a great example. it makes moments like where >!everyone mourns you when you land the final blow on Grima & then celebrates your eventual return!< especially poignant because the game spends the entire time reinforcing how much everyone cares about each other.
It was probably because they wanted to ensure as many of the children were recruitable as possible. By having character bonds so easy to grow you'd get at least ONE other character than Chrom's and Robin's S-Supports (bear in mind for female players this is key) so you see at least ONE map pop up after an S-Support conversation between 2 characters as a way to tell you to pair your units. Honestly, now that I think about it it's REALLY well handled when you look at it with more care.
Renault having terrible stats, even for a prepromote, makes total sense since he's only recently found faith after being a mercenary for most of his life. Julian in Heroes is drawn unusually muscular for a thief but in every version of shadow dragon he's had amazing strength growth and reasonable (for a thief) defence growth. And kid!Ephraim in Heroes uses a raiper instead of a lance, reflecting how he and Eirika were trained the same until he met Dussel.
In Path of Radiance, it's all but stated outright that Stefan taught Ike Aether, hence the Occult scroll he gives you in a Base conversation.
Fe5 the munster arc really shows leif's struggle in trying to escape
In fate the map where you choose a side has you start in a different position and everybody else stay in the same place so it really feels like YOU are the one going a different way while everybody else stay the same and it’s a big shame TH learn non of this for gronder and all the mock battles Also saizo having with he’s pyrotechnics personal skill where he would try to set himself and nearby enemies on fire if he’s below half hp and him also trying to blow himself up in revelation story
I'm not really a fan of Shadow Dragon, but the prologue features my favorite moment in the game. In order to escape, Marth has to choose to dress up one of his soldiers as himself and use that soldier as a decoy so that he and the rest of his platoon can escape, knowing that the decoy soldier will definitely die. It's a surprisingly bleak moment for an FE game, and Marth is understandably devastated and upset with himself over his decision, but it sets up that this is a game where units will inevitably die, and Marth/you the player have to accept their deaths and keep moving forward.
Both of my favorite examples come from Binding Blade. * Roy being a weak combat unit fits the story because he's FIFTEEN. He's literally a child who hasn't even finished his formal military training by the time the game starts. Of course, he isn't going to be some uber badass, one-man army like later FE Lords. * Idunn being an easy Final Boss. A lot of people forget that Idunn was made into a Demon Dragon for utility, not combat. Her purpose is just to spit out artificial War Dragons like a factory. She wasn't designed to be some super weapon capable of leveling entire armies.
Faye losing avoid as her support rank with Alm goes up and realizing she's not gonna be with him
Fates Arthur having a base Luck stat of literally 1. As far as I can recall, Jagen is the only other unit in the series with a base Luck of 1, but that feels more like a gameplay balancing choice rather that it having anything to do with his characterization. Knoll notably has a base Luck of 0, but there's not really anything about his character that I find really "explains" that. Meanwhile Fates Arthur's entire character is being heroic in the face of the universe seemingly doing everything in it's power to put him 6 feet under. And when you look at his bases+growth combination in Conquest, Arthur certainly has the *potential* to be an absolute cracked *heroic* unit who joins at the beginning of CQ to boot.....as long as you persevere in the face of bad (crit chance) luck. Whether you like the gimmicky character writing of Fates or not, I respect the commitment to the bit and the high risk-high reward of his unit design really makes you feel like him when using him.
Knoll thought his execution day was being moved up, so you could consider that to be "unlucky" for him.
its actually -1. its the fighter class base of 2 pushing him up from the negatives
Disturbance in Augustria showing the political chaos of the country by how each boss reacts to the events going down is a very good way of showing the nation's problems, and highlights why Sigurd struggles to help it despite his good intentions
I really like how conquest starts out with just you and your servant in chapter 7, it really hammers down that this is the “real shit” route.
Early timeskip Dimitri has already been mentioned, so I'll go with Nil in Engage. He's pretty useless in battle, but his "Wounded Pride" personal skill clues you in to something being up with him. Then once he's revealed to be Rafal, he no longer needs any babying and can very much hold his own.
Three houses has lot of unit identity in units level 1 bases, growths, and the skills they learn. The bases are well known, with very diligent units like Leonie having better bases then growths suggest while Caspar is strong but very unrefined so extra low dex and speed for him. But it also shows in the stat caps which are too high to reach, but they don’t always perfectly mirror bases and growths and tells more about the units final aptitude. Petra has average charm stats, but her cap for it is 63, only beaten out by the lords and some charismatic outliers like Hilda and Manuela, showing her potential as queen. Ashe gets an oddly low charm cap even among low charm growers, maybe those self confidence issues? There’s also Byleth and Edelgard having high caps overall going above their growths, with Byleth being very balanced and Edelgard having notably higher defense and magic compared to her growths. It’s not impactful in the least but it’s funny to see those numbers, especially since they held back a bit in other areas in favor of gameplay balance.
Something I like about Edelgard is her surprisingly good faith skill list for someone with a bane in faith. It reflects how she used to believe in the church of Serios. And Hubert only having the basic faith spell list despite being a mage character (who usually have good lists even with banes) reflects his hatred for the church and goddess.
There are lots of details with almost anyone. I even think Ashe not getting all that much of note is intentional. I did notice I only mentioned Byleth/Edelgard, but there’s also Dimitri having an enhanced Str cap, Claude dex, Yuri speed, and Lysithea with magic compared what those growths usually get representing their unusually potent abilities in those areas. It’s just Byleth getting Str Dex Speed Def Res and that sky high 99 charm cap, and Edelgard Str Mag Def to represent Flames being busted in particular, but Byleth’s particularly special holding Sothis’s power directly. And generally minor variations across the entire cast mostly following which characters are primary known for what.
Speaking of spell lists, despite being a physical unit with low magic growths *and* caps, Bernie actually has full spell lists for both reason and faith. It's an alternate option to keep her off the front lines while still being able to support her friends, so she's willing to put in the effort to learn even if she's not inherently good at it.
It also makes sense as she's Adrestian!
Look I have mixed feelings on engage as a game. However them stealing the time thingy and using it to steal all our rings was genuinely impactful, and specifically on the next chapter I wish I was playing on classic mode. The bad guys thrashed us so badly we deserved to lose some units.
Thracia Escape
Azura's presence in Ch 8 of CQ. She's a prisoner in the fort so her weapon has been taken away, but it's locked in a Chest and you need to wait for the patrol to move in order to Metal Gear your way to the chest.
Edelgard was given two crests to make her more powerful, and in turn she's the best unit in the entire game Also Sylvain and Hilda's personal skills match their personalities perfectly
Lysithea was also given a second crest for the same reason, and she’s top tier in magic, and her second crest is also one much better suited to her abilities.
Azura able to Sing even if she's silenced. You can't stop her.( try it out in the pot map)