The case for fixed level ups in Fire Emblem

The case for fixed level ups in Fire Emblem



When you are evaluating the viability of a unit in Fire Emblem, there are many factors you must consider: How long they are available, their weapon ranks, their class, etc… However, if we were to oversimplify things, we could just talk about base stats and stat growths.



Base stats are the stats that a characters starts with. They are important to determine the immediate usefulness of a character. A character with very high base stats will be useful right away. If their base stats are high considering their level, it actually helps their long-term viability as well. If you get a level 10 character with nearly maxed strength and speed, it does not matter if they do not level these stats often; they are already viable. These units tend to be reliable, and some players would argue that choosing reliable units is the way to go, as they are less tedious to make use of. They would argue that a character with low base stats could technically become good but at the cost of a lot of investment put into them, and it is not necessarily always going to work out in your favour.



Base growth determines a character’s chance of getting an increase in one of their stats. A 70% strength growth means that most of the time, they would be likely to gain more strength, but that is a 70% RNG roll every single level up. That means that it would be technically possible to roll very poorly on some runs, and great in others. High growth units that have many levels to go have a lot of potential, but potential does not always lead to results. I have seen playthroughs of Path of Radiance where Ike, a unit that tends to have a very high strength growth, where Ike had gotten only 4 strength level ups during the entire game. It is very unlikely, but it can happen.


                                                               Showing the variance:

   

This amount of variance has many implications, game design-wise. On one hand, it means that every playthrough will be different. Perhaps some characters will be very RNG-blessed and simply carry your run on one playthrough, while in another run, your MVP might be completely different. It leads to a lot of variety, where every playthrough is different than the last. However, this also means that in terms of game-balance, the developers must consider the RNG as a factor when designing maps.



Imagine that you make a boss with very high defense that only your main character can defeat. However, your character just didn’t level strength enough, and just does 0 damage to said boss. You are now locked in a no-win situation where you just cannot continue your run, no-matter what. The game has to be designed around multiple scenarios, where they must consider all sorts of results. This is why they tend to give very powerful units and tools to the player at various points in the games, in order to allow the player to progress in the worst possible circumstances. In FE 7, you get Marcus to help newbies, and Isadora joins much later to help in the case you might have lost Marcus. Then Athos is given to you on the last chapter in case you have nothing to defeat the final boss with.



However, in a game where you have less room for random variance, you can create far more intentional map-design. In Shadows of Valentia, the DLC maps were centered on a selected few units that had fixed levels and equipment. It led me to more effectively trade weapons and items between characters in clutch moments, or using a character’s abilities to their fullest. In the Cindered Shadows DLC for Three Houses, having more limited room to grow let them make maps taking advantage of the abilities of the set characters. While you could level up, the amount of levels you could obtain between the start and end of the DLC and the start of the main story to its end-game was much lower. This led to some creative map ideas that the main game could not have pulled off. In some cases, the damage my characters would do would be flush with the enemy’s HP on hard mode. Because the game knew you have to have a flier, one map made use of that fact by putting forests in front of your objective.



The fact is that with a fixed-level-up system, the developers would have a far better idea as to what the average stats of a player’s characters on a given map would be, and they could balance levels around that, adding a bit of a puzzle element to the maps.



Now, I am not saying that this is what they should do, but I very much enjoy those smaller Fire Emblem experiences that make stat variations less of a factor. I am aware that this has become a staple of Fire Emblem, but if anyone were to make a Fire Emblem-type game with a different spin, it may be an option to consider.

Rune Factory; a different kind of time waster.

Games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon have always been games that a subset of gamers can really get into, and their popularity has increased with the influx of more female gamers. Yet I often see a lot of people, me included, who just can’t get into these game, no matter how open they keep their minds. It may be because some people enjoy a more communal and relaxing playstylw, as opposed to some needing clearer goals and direction.

In a sense, I like feeling like I am progressing, building up to something, but those two games do not have a definite ending. You can’t « beat » Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon. You jus tplay until you are bored of it. I have many games to play and too little time, so the prospect of getting lost for years on one game doesn’t appeal to me. Yet, I enjoy Rune Factory, an offshoot of Harvest Moon, and I’ve always wondered why. I think I came up with an answer.



Rune Factory lets you manage your own farm, foster relationships, and just relax, but it also has a few differences to consider. Rune Factory has an actual story, combat, and dungeon-crawling. It allows the player to break the monotony of farming with exploration, and an unfolding narrative. It is hardly the deepest narrative, but it is something to work towards, and the life sim aspect becomes something you can use to immerse yourself in the world between story beats.  There is an end goal, and a definitive ending. While you can play past the main story, it gives you a good stopping point if you require it.

Rune Factory brought someone like me in, and it is in large parts because of the combat. It didn’t need to be great, just serviceable enough to break the monotony. If combines the farming with dungeon crawling by allowing the player to farm little plots of land in dungeons in order to get more energy to carry on further. Since your character can get tired, it is important to manage their stamina, albeit, they will use less and less stamina the more they engage in certain things. It is possible to brute-force the game through fighting a lot and then using little to no stamina in battle.

The game accomodates people who want goals to strive towards, and it isn’t that I think that Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing are bad games, but Rune Factory has achieved a happy medium between the two types of gamers that I find very interesting. This si why I prefer Dragon Quest Builders to Minecraft for instances.



Rune Factory is a franchise that deserves more attention, and after nearly dying once due to the closure of Neverland, I am happy to see it back (now can I have Lufia again?)

Adressing criticism in the Smash community

I have been part of the Smash community for a very long time, and I have seen it all from the start. There has always been a divide with how people play Super Smash Bros. Some prefer it as a party game, while others gravitated towards its unique mechanics to test the limits of their skills. There have been multiple itterations in the franchise, some more deep or technical than others, and they all played very differently. This also means that people may have very different preferences when it comes to which kind of smash game they prefer. I personally have a preference for Project M, a mod that takes a lot of its core mechanics from Melee, which is arguably the fastest and most responsive game in the series.



Over the years, it has dawned on me that whenever people ask me about the newest smash game, and I respond not really being into the newer games, I am often met with very abrasive responses. I immediately get branded as an « elitist » for merely prefering Project M and Melee over latest iterations. At this point, I haven’t even said anything negative at all. I just stated a mere preference. Often, this ends up in a heated debate about how Melee fans are horrible and stubborn and refuse to try new things… even if I played several hours of the newest game to come to the conclusion that I still prefer Project M over it. These experiences have been accumulating over the years, to the point where I am wary of mentioning my Smash preferences publicly. But honestly, this shouldn’t be happening. There is nothing wrong with having an oppinion.



The argument I often get is that by criticizing a game, I am attacking its fans by extension. That notion is preposterous, as one can dislike a certain thing, idea or concept without disrespecting those that like them. I am not very fond of mayonnaise, and have choice words for restaurants that do not disclose that there is mayo in their dish before serving it. I don’t hate people who enjoy mayonnaise. That very thought would be ridiculous. The same would be true about preferences in video games. The difference here is that scarce few people define their identity as a mayo lover, but many do define their identities through their hobbies.



Someone stating that they beleive that a game that you enjoy is « bad » should in no way affect you, or qualify them as an « elitist », nor should it annoy you. People have every right to have different oppinions from you, and they don’t have to walk on eggshells to preserve your fragile ego. This may sound harsh, but not liking a game does not mean that said individuals are in fact looking down on you. That is a mere projection that is very likely innacurate. I firmly beleive that Ultimate is not a very good game, and for many reasons; the most important one being the severe input lag. I have every right to beleive this, but I don’t « hate » Ultimate fans. I get it; it’s the shiny new game with all of the new characters. I’ve even heard someone say that they prefer the clunkier gameplay because they have to commit. I just personally think it is badly designed. During the Project M days, I would play alongside brawl players and bond with them. There was no animosity, because it didn’t matter where we came from. For healthy discourse, one must separate the game from their identity and understand that just because someone disagrees with you on something, they are not a monster.



I recall Melee players being bullied since the onset of competitive Smash. More party-oriented players would come up to us, yell at us for « cheating » or being horrible people, and then leave while we wonder what just happened. That has been going on for a very long time, and is just getting worse. Melee has become a scapegoat for elitism, while I can’t find any of these people, if any at all in the wild. When I ask for examples of elitism, they point me out to people who have legitimate criticisms of the latest game. Instead of viewing the criticism as merely being the person’s oppinion, they immediately discredit them as a lowly elitist. If anything, immediately discrediting someone is far closer to the definition of elitism. Saying that I dislike Ultimate is me criticizing the game. Someone calling me an elitist over liking Melee is a personal attack. The difference is plain to see.



It is high time we, the entire Smash community, recognize the injustices that the Melee community has suffered through, and that we stop letting insecure bullies put people down over a mere preference in gameplay. It is also time that we stop getting mentally triggered over people not sharing the exact same oppinions when it comes to enjoying a game. It is also time that we start treating each other with basic respect. I will continue saying that Ultimate is in my oppinion, a terrible game. I will never call an Ultimate fan a terrible person unless they truly do something terrible.



So no, I will not stop criticizing smash games I do not enjoy. I beleive the average person should be mature enough to not be offended by differing oppinion. What you play and who you are are two different entities.

How I would improve on Tokyo Mirage Session’s formula :

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE was revealed in January 2013 as Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem in a very promising trailer, which showed official art of many of the protagonists of both franchises. It was a very vague teaser with no gameplay to speak of, but it seemed like it would be big, and it would be a great mismash of both series. On one hand, the official 2015 Wii U release was definitely a mismash of their gameplay, leaning heavily on Shin Megami Tensei’s battle system, but incorporating the weapon triangle, class changes, and some characters from the Fire Emblem universe. However, in every other aspects, it really did not live up to expectations.



The cast was exclusively made up of Awakening and Shadow Dragon characters, with a few mild references like the coffee girl being based off Ilyana from Path of Radiance, or certain weapons like the Durandal, Tyrfing or Ragnel. References exist, but that is all they are. None of the other games made it in any playable capacity. For many, that was deemed false advertsising, and it is very understandable. If it a shame, considering the actual quality of the combat system, but also, the criticism is completely understandable.



With this in mind, I want to think up of a way to make another potential Tokyo Mirage Sessions live up to the promise of that infamous teaser.




Mirage summoning :

In Shin Megami Tensei, there is a demon summoning mechanic that allows your playable characters to gain the assistance of demons who will influence what kinds of moves you can use. Some demons might provide great healing utility, while another might grant you more of a magic or physical arsenal. Summoning and improving these demons is a key feature of Shin Megami Tensei, and allows very varied team compositions. Mirage in Tokyo Mirage Sessions are essentially taking the role of those demons, but the problem is that they cannot be interchanged. Itsuki has Chrom and will always have Chrom.



In this version, mirage masters would start with a default mirage character, and be able to summon others. Furthermore, each character would represent a class. For example, if your main character is a lord, they may start off with a character like Roy, who would grant powerful sword-based physical fire attacks among other things, whereas Hector might turn that main character into an armoured axe wielder with physical lightning attacks as a reference to the thunder Armads. Equiping Sigurd would make you a sword cavalier, Micaiah would make you a light mage with healing utility, etc… This would allow you to recalibrate your team to your liking as well as providing great replay value.



Of course, not all characters need to be unlocked through summons. Perhaps the only way to recruit Soren is to have Ike equiped as a mirage and going through a little sidequest. Or maybe doing a sidequest with both and Sigurd and Deidre equiped will get you their son, Seliph.



It would create sidequest with tangible and interesting rewards, as each one essentially create a new playstyle for you to toy with.



Mirages would not necessarily be designed to be better than others, but simply help provide different team compositions.




Supports :


Earlier, I mentioned character-based sidequests. By using a certain mirage enough, you could build support points with this mirage and this is how sidequests would unlock. It would give you a little window into that character’s backstory, and maybe teach you things about them that the games haven’t expounded upon. It could lead to great boss fights against mirages based off of some of the more iconic vilains of the franchise.



Such a sidequest system is both a reference to Persona’s social links as well as Fire Emblem supports. It would add a lot of fun diversions between main story beats. They would not be necessary to beat the main game, but they would unlock an ultimate skill for that specific mirage



Story :


Because of the nature of the summoning system, the story would mostly center around the story’s protagonists, and the mirages may chime in on occasions. One way to get around having to write line sfor every single mirage in the main story would be to simply have the default mirage show up during some of the cutscenes. While not a perfect solution, it would make the summoning system far more feasible from a narrative perspective.



The story is a low point for TMS, but I do not necessarily think that the subject matter itself is the problem. The entertainement business can lead to interesting events and struggles. I would love to see darker themes like an entertainer’s struggle to remain relevant in a world where people’s attention gets pulled back and forth to multiple sources. I would like if they dialed back from the power of friendship trope and instead dealt with insecurities, and overcoming them, which would feel very Persona-like. Perhaps they could delve in different sides of entertainement, like a game designer, a rock musician, a writter, comedian, etc… Idol culture is a fun idea, but there is a lot more that can be explored.




Conclusion :



There is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but it definitely could be made to be more in line with what was promised in 2013. Such changes would do much to make this closer to the dream collaboration.