Let's discuss gameplay mechanics

Let's discuss gameplay mechanics.

Do you think growth rates should be hidden from players? Do you consider growth rates when you play an FE game?

>Do you think growth rates should be hidden from players?
No, accessible information is better. Though one could make the argument that a bit of secrecy makes things interesting. I would still think that it should be accessible, but I can see the logic.

>Do you consider growth rates when you play an FE game?
Depends on the title, but if you're playing "optimally" then base stats tend to be what you ought to focus on more. Growth units take investment and bad rolls can make your effort pointless.

no and no

Something to keep secret if you wished to make Fire Emblem a more challenging game would be to remove the character/enemy stat screens in game. It would require you to remember how strong/weak your characters are, along with how strong/weak the enemies are.

I think the best way to increase difficulty in Fire Emblem is to increase the tactical aspect of the game.

>smarter AI (they wait/ambush don't just charge at you)
>enemies group up more (was the case in Awakening/Conquest good stuff)
>give enemies more healing items
>limit maneuverability so that the player is forced to make formations to protect his weaker units

I think Conquest also had the good AI. I'm pretty sure I tried to bait units off formations several times, but they'd only move in group.

Conquest was a great step in the right direction, and I hope Nintendo continues along that line of difficulty. If they expand the difficulty towards restricting given information/range of movement/terrain that'd be great.

yes, no. growth rates should be low and so should stats

Whether stats should be hidden is dependent on if the stats are meant to be tactile and managed, or if they're just meant to represent attributes. In something like Final Fantasy 1, when you level up and you see +1 STR +1 SPD, that's so meaningless. You're not going to feel that difference, so it might as well be hidden. But then you lose the positive feedback loop that seeing your numbers go up presents. I mean, it's not like turn based JRPGs ever really try to be immersive. Leveling up has become such a fetishism. It's not meant to represent getting stronger, it's become its own goal. People play Disgaea for hundreds of hours to grind to the highest levels.

If you've played an earlier FE title, you'd know that you really do feel the +1. There isn't damage variance aside from crits and effective weapons (which still follow strict formulas) so every +1 is felt. That is until stat inflation became a thing in the newer titles. (And arguably Radiant Dawn)

>Something to keep secret if you wished to make Fire Emblem a more challenging game would be to remove the character/enemy stat screens in game.
What? No. That would totally destroy the point of the game. Like I mentioned before, knowing all the details down to each stat point is the entire point of Fire Emblem's strategy.

I don't mind RNG when it comes to things like crits and accuracy, but random stat growths trigger me.

Sometimes I'll restart an entire level if one of my units gets shit growths.

>Do you consider growth rates when you play an FE game?
Recently did a playthrough of Thracia and that game has characters that are completely worthless and you wouldn't be able to tell unless you knew their growth rates.

Like Marty. At the start he seems like he could be a good unit but he's just a bait. I wonder if anyone ever got fucked playing the game blind because they ended up training/making use of him.

Thracia's actually the first time I checked growth rates for most of the characters so I'm not sure how necessary the information is for the other games. They're definitely beatable and playable not knowing, but it does suck not having it readily available ingame.

I agree that the information should be made available, but I disagree with your assessment that it's specifically the case for Thracia. The stat caps are 20 so growths are a bit less relevant. And Marty isn't bait; you can see by his bases what his growths will likely be like (shit speed and skill) but he's not useless. His massive build is extremely important for capturing enemies, allowing you to get a lot of great equipment. I guess if you wanted him as a combat unit, you can just give him scrolls to help too.

I haven't played it. Is the level design still drab in it?

Awakening was awful about it, every map was just a square with some random pieces of terrain and units scattered about for almost every mission. Very little scripting/story related stuff other than reinforcement generation and talking to guy X to recruit them.

It really made the game significantly less enjoyable than the older titles.

Conquest likes to throw in things to fuck with you, like the infamous Fuga's Wild Ride where there are gusts of winds that throw your units around but you can also use them to throw the enemy around too or every level involving Takumi.

I feel every stat should be manipulable or else it shouldn't exist.
Why include shit if it's purely passive/you can't change anything other than atk or so

Randomly generated level up stats are the worst thing ever.

Go away, Todd, we don't want to buy Fallout 4

Growth rates barely matter in fe5, thanks to the low stat caps. I used marty quite a bit in my first 776 run. That's what I like about it, you can use just about anyone, you just need a good strategy.

>Do you consider growth rates when you play an FE game?
Not in the slightest. I just use whatever units I like the most and whoever else makes sense to use for the current map

He really only gets health and build, and you get better units for capturing than Marty. Esp when his skill is zero and won't get better without scrolls. Thracia's pretty merciless too, keep in mind, so investing in characters with suboptimal stats can set you behind in a playthrough.

Not to mention you get Dagda at the same time as Marty and he makes a much more reliable fighter.

Another point to keep in mind is that "investing" in a unit is less of a thing in Thracia. Low stat caps so growths are less relevant as well as the fatigue system which requires you to rotate your forces.

It shoulnt be a secret in fire emblem because you have more units than deployment slots. It would be a cheap beginner's trap to accidently keep deploying someone who sucks.


The problem would be even worse in older FE games because you couldn't grind.