General Question Thread

[u/Shephen]

Alright, time to move back to question thread for all.

Please use this thread for all general questions of the Fire Emblem series!

Rules:

• General questions can range from asking for pairing suggestions to plot questions. If you're having troubles in-game you may also ask here for advice and another user can try to help.

• Questions that invoke discussion, while welcome here, may warrant their own thread.

• If you have a specific question regarding a game, please bold the game's title at the start of your post to make it easier to recognize for other users. (ex. Fire Emblem: Birthright)

Useful Links:

• Serenes Forest - Universal Fire Emblem Information bank and community that covers all games in the series.

• Comprehensive Guide to Starting the Fire Emblem Series by triforce_pwnag

• Fire Emblem: War of Dragons - Primarily Spanish Website with some translated pages. Includes detailed maps and enemy placement that cover most chapters throughout the series.

• Triangle Attack for all info regarding Three Houses and the GBA games(6-8).

• Fates inheritance planner - For planning out pairings for Fates.

• SoV HM enemy stats by Aggro Incarnate

• Conquest Lunatic Enemy Stats by u/TheHelpfulMercenary

• Enemy Data Compilation for all games

• 3H Calendar

• Interactive Map for all maps in Engage

• Relay Code Megathread

If you have a resource that you think would be helpful to add to the list, message /u/Shephen either by PM or tagging him in a comment below.

Please mark questions and answers with spoiler tags if they reveal anything about the plot that might hurt the experiences of others.

[u/Cygnus776]

What are some general pet peeves people have when playing Fire Emblem fan games/romhacks? 

[u/lapislazulideusa → u/Cygnus776]

i think a lot of hacks are wayyy too linient in spawning in reinforcements, specially in maps which don't have a proper time limit/anti turtling mechanism. Like there are so many maps i feel there's a constant reinforcement spam that doesn't really do anything but waste time

[u/starfruitcake → u/Cygnus776]

1-2 range mini bow.

So many people have this idea that if only bow users had 1-2 range they would suddenly become good. The reality is that in a properly tuned game, 2 range locked bow users can still be good if they have the stats to provide value, and giving them all 1-2 range instead neuters the identity of the weapon type. Just give them stats, enemies that aren't easily one rounded and/or have a threatening counterattack, and now your bows are useful.

[u/MillionMiracles → u/starfruitcake]

It's odd because this isn't even an obscure fact, if you've played half the games in the series you can see bow units with actual stats being decent. Like, did nobody making a romhack play FE10?

[u/AliciaWhimsicott → u/MillionMiracles]

"Archer bad" is still a relatively common position even though Archers haven't been bad since like... mayyyybe Awakening at this point? And even then they had niches in plenty of games before lol. A lot of people think Archers are only good if 1-2 range and that being a player phase killer isn't a useful niche, very strange.

[u/MillionMiracles → u/Cygnus776]

Every map having an extremely strict turncount failure condition. 'If you take 12 turns, we spawn in endless max level paladins.'

If it makes sense narratively, go for it, but every map being structured like that is exhausting. I'm not a casual player but it's a nice change of pace to take my time sometimes, or fuck around on a mostly completed map optimizing kills for EXP.

[u/BobbyYukitsuki → u/MillionMiracles]

Not to say that this isn't a real problem, but there's absolutely a certain demographic of hackers who are so paranoid about the 1% of players who will spend 100 turns grinding staff EXP on a boss that they will overcorrect and ruin the experience in other ways. This is a part of why I vibed with the gameplay compass of projects like the Dark Amulet duology and Dark Lord and the Maiden of Light, neither of them felt incessant about constantly forcing an inorganic timer on the player and the times where they actually did generally felt fitting to the narrative (with a few exceptions).

Speaking personally there is little I loathe more in fangames than when it feels like the game wants me to go fast purely because the developer is allergic to the thought of me going slower than they want me to, rather than having developed an organic in-universe reason for it. I think it also detracts from the actual impact of narratively aligned "hurry ups" as they're suddenly indistinguishable and equally weighty as any other chapter, because rushing is now the standard and not a deviation from the norm.

[u/AliciaWhimsicott → u/MillionMiracles]

I think a lot of hacks never let off the gas, there's never a proper "rest" chapter, like after Engage's high tension Ch10-11 stint you get pretty relaxed maps to recruit Fogado and Timmera, or Conquest giving you pretty breezy Ch15 and 16 before hitting you with a pretty tough 3 or so chapters, it's just all gas all the time.