Weather In Fire Emblem Sucked. But What If It Didn't?

A thought piece on how weather could be made more interesting in later installments of the series.
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[@sonamy3]

We need to find a happy medium between weather and dragon veins I think

[@chrosairs7057]

Remake fe7 with a snowstorm map, it has an 80% to end Canas

[@lsrrr3857]

80% to end canas if he S support with a mage

[@jouheikisaragi6075]

​@@lsrrr3857Canas is married pre story IIRC

[@mc.type_guy]

I think Weather could work really well with another mechanic that was only in one game and then abandoned: Dragon Veins. Having weather that changes how you play the map in interesting ways and then allowing the player to manipulate the map in their own way would be interesting. Imagine a defend map with a fuckload of strong enemies, but you can use dragon veins to put certain parts of the map on fire to slow them down, creating the possibility for you to choke certain points or be more offensive once said enemies take damage from the fire. but then once the turn limit starts to get close, Rain strikes and puts the fire out, making it so the enemies have more free range, but so do you, so it's this scramble to survive against a now weakened but closer onslaught of enemies for just a couple more turns. I think that would be cool

[@ndimensional15]

“It was Conquest Chapter 10 all along!”

[@Boarbatrice]

So basically Hinoka’s map?

[@exxucus949]

In FE 6&7, sandstorms on desert maps cause FoW. In FE6, the sandstorm lets up if you miss the turn requirement for the garden, and HHM has the sandstorm cause the fog in the desert.

[@ultimatehedgehog4015]

This video reminds me of the posts I made in the FE subreddit, where I asked everyone what made a map in FE good/bad, and the follow up post asking what's the general consensus on rain maps in FE (since no one brought it up in the previous post). It was really fascinating and cool to see all of the different opinions and ideas everyone had in regards to making the weather mechanic a lot more fun and interesting, some of which you mentioned in this video. I really do want the weather mechanic to come back in future FE games, it's a mechanic with a lot of possibilities that they didn't really do anything with.

[@stylishgaby]

You mention how other games don't have have "weather", but that isn't entirely accurate - or at least, there's weather adjacent features that - I think - try to rectify what FE7 did wrong. Fates has the map with strong winds, where your units get affected by the wind and pushed back, and you can use dragon veins to use the wind against the enemy. Dragon Veins is kind of a "weather" mechanic, where it can often heavily affect the terrain, such as removing water, lowering hills. In terms of weather, there's also the snow map, where enemies are hidden in piles of snow, acting as a sort of "selective fog" where the player has the power to remove them where they wish. Not saying these are perfect implementations, but they certainly feel like an evolution of what weather could have been in fe7

[@marcoasturias8520]

Banner of the Maid plays more with weather Rain makes firearms expend twice as much ammo. Cloudy reduces the range of ranged attacks Snow reduces AS to 0 and these maps have campfires that ward off of this debuff for a turn Dusk reduces accuracy Sunny gives... Something, I don't remember, but there's a boss who becomes god in sunny weather Sadly, the game also lets you buy an ability that completely bypasses effects of most weather

[@CRod840]

First thing I thought of a better uses of weather in a turn based game is Advance Wars. Rain and Snow affected increased terrain movement costs based on what type of unit it was, and created fog of war. And sandstorms greatly reduced indirect units. That, I think, was a good use of weather

[@lsrrr3857]

We need units with personal skills that induce weather upon entrance, as well as an attack that changes type depending on the weather of the field...

[@KabooomandStuff]

hmmm ideas for weather maps just shoot off the top of my head my a map that has rain a few turns in that turn open dirt area into muddy around that slows units, could have a very open map changed into a more map with pathways with the added bonus fliers could still use the openness and maybe for dessert maps you could introduce a sand storm the works like rain does in blazing blade but every time it happens it covers some and reveals other treasure on the map so you no longer need to use an image to know where all the treasure is, could even have the added bonus that exposed treasure is a 100% find for everyone but buried is only the 100% for thieves like normal

[@brunaolinto560]

I left a comment in one of your videos (idk which one, maybe on a romhack one??) about that topic, because I do think that weather has a big mechanical problem: it never gives an option, it only takes options away. I shouldn’t feel penalised for engaging in a mechanic present in the game. Which is why I love your idea of a slime-esque figure that gains movement on rain and why I love Dragon Veins like the ones in BR chapter 11 (boat map) or CQ chapter 24 (fliers abound map). It implements a wind mechanic that changes the strategy and makes you work with it, not around it IMO. And, hot take of the year, I LOVE FUGA’S WILD RIDE IN CQ. I DO NOT CARE. IT’S FUN AS HELL ❤ (not ironic btw)

[@DoctorSpacebar]

Ideas: -Heavy rain, rather than lowering movement by a flat amount, exhausts units over time and lowers movement a bit on every turn a unit isn't in shelter. Some monster units are immune, while fliers have it especially rough. Holding forts and buildings and protecting villages from bandits or monsters suddenly becomes a very big deal. -Extreme cold or a blizzard can damage units caught in it over time, with Fire spells cast negating this effect on anyone near the user and target for one turn. This suddenly becomes much more dangerous when green units are caught in the blizzard. Snow drifts might also form on the map that need to be destroyed to pass. -A thunderstorm! This'll drop lightning strikes on the -*-tallest-*- unit outside, dealing nasty magical damage- possibly with effective damage on fliers. Bring a high RES Paladin, Valkyrie or Manakete as a lightning rod to protect your armors, or make sure you fight indoors. -Alternatively, have that storm on a boat map and it'll start sinking ships. Be quick about boarding enemy ships if you want their treasures, and keep an eye on any fires that catch on your own ship.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

Advance Wars also played with weathers... with varying results. The most interesting example is Dark Days of Ruined Conflict who has a CO who's immune to weather and can randomly calls it. In this one, Snow reduces movement, Rain creates FOG (and reduces accuracy) and Sandstorm reduces attack.

[@Jadanbr]

Well I like your pun with the 2 names of the game Adding to this Weather in AW1 was just snow and rain, both work hindering movement, except snow hinders more than rain in general and Olaf is immune to snow, but pretty much gets snow effects on rain. In AW2 rain now causes fog and i believe Drake can summon rain with his power AWDS removed any movement effects it had, and I believe drake gets a attack bonus in rain and Olaf gets a atk bonus in snow, both 20% Snow causes the use of fuel to double, and sandstorms were introduced having a -1 rng debuff on all indirect attack units Also what do you mean rain reducing accuracy in days of ruin? Negative luck debuff?

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

@@Jadanbr I... have no idea what happened there. What's reduced in Rain is vision. Sorry for the misinformation. It seems Drake has a chance to cause Rain as well? At least in AW2, if Random Weather is allowed, he's more likely to cause Rain.

[@illialidur8244]

I think the dragon Vein system could do this really well if they reworked it a little. Like how the altars work in Unicorn Overlord, let the weather affect just a portion of the map and give you some agency over when and where

[@Greideren]

Weather could also become a more common mechanic if mages (or some variant class) can change it, maybe on the whole map or maybe just on a small area. It would make some units more unique/versatile and can add a bit more strategy to certain areas of some maps. Maybe if heavy rain greatly reduces the movement and precision/avoid of fliers, you could stall some of them to make the map easier to tackle. Maybe you can change the weather to drought to reduce the size of bodies of water to get more area in which you can move your units around, or do the opposite and use heavy rain to block the enemy's path or cause a slide on a mountain. The maps that have a changing weather could be used as tutorials on the effects of weather before you get a prepromote that can change it on small pockets of the map for the rest of the turn.

[@joeyjose727]

Weather in Triangle Strategy was pretty fun and thought provoking, it has totally different gameplay but I think we could see similar effects like Thunder Magic being stronger in rain and spreading to adjacent foes/foes in puddles all get damaged Maybe fliers get reduced movement on some maps where the wind is really strong, or reduced from one direction and boosted from another? Maybe Fire Magic gets stronger in clear skies (daytime) while wind gets stronger with a storm… Ooh snow could lower the movement of most units except for wolf riders and units from the snowy area that are used to that terrain, or you’ll have to equip boots to get normal movement over a shield or a staff (three houses staves, not Engage heal staves)

[@appasbiggestfan7076]

Incredible idea! Loved all the thoughts

[@zerikane]

Regarding the thunder damage, Server 72, a fangame on Lex Talionis has a skill or item which gives levin swords/thunderbrands temporary increased advantage. It also has skill changes in certain thresholds which Three Houses gave to monster/bosses. Also, regarding the weather change, Advance Wars implemented at that time which gave way for their player/enemy skills in that series. So IS became reliant on unit capability. Understandable considering Paper Mario.

[@koiiblitz]

Fire Emblem's sister series, Advance Wars has weather mechanics where Rain reduces movement for only a select few units going over certain spaces and then Snow where all movement gets reduced, exept for the road tiles where movement costs are always 1 space reguardless of weather, and this is why I believe the folks at IS lifted the mechanic up without creating road-like spaces making this mechanic very boring. And while we're on the subject you said there should be a Wind Mechanic, in WarGroove your Archer units gains +1 attacking range during windy weather, the extra range will make them pretty dangerous for the fliers or even to get a shot in on enemies far away

[@marcoasturias8520]

If FE6 illia there's a map where the water freezes. Also, kind of reminds me of the ice tribe in fates And in general, DVs feel like controlled weather

[@arikaaa69]

Surprised you didn't mention Dragon Veins at all despite also being an interesting mechanic only used in one game that affects the map itself. But unlike Weather only being used in like 3 maps and doing nothing, DVs were used in a bunch of maps and often had interesting effects, especially in Conquest. Most of the time, the DVs were a tool to be used by the player to help capture the objective, but there were some maps where the enemies used it like Takumi in Port Dia, Sakura in Fort Jinya, Hinoka in front of the Shirasagi gate, and Camilla's maps. I would have liked to have more maps that do this, but DVs being limited to royals limits how often enemies can use it since it would be weird for a random enemy general to have DVs

[@Jadanbr]

my guess about weather is that they made it a thing in Advance Wars (and it worked) and then thought "what if we do that in FE"

[@Winter_Symphony]

Pull a Smash Bros Brawl and add the danger of slipping or falling (therefore lowering accuracy or doing the Break effect) when it rains or snows. Probably suck but at least it's accurate

[@scripterhastogotosleepb7139]

Ngl I actually forgot weather was a mechanic in FE7

[@bongosmcdongos4190]

Call of the armor has the best rain map ive ever seen, i wamt to say its chapter 14. All the rain does is slowly flood the map with water tiles, so if you play too slow Anybody without flight/waterwalk is stuck for the rest of the map (or until you rescue/drop which slows you dont even more) It also eventually makes the villages inaccessible if you move too slowly. Great map.

[@BoneyGaf]

I think it’s a pretty big deal that you can close the distance to strong cavalry units thanks to the rain. It doesn’t need to add incredible strategy. Just adds a timer for when to be able to charge with your units and you don’t want to miss that opportunity. Plus adds a storytelling element of how your scrub army could defeat the stronger cavalry army.

[@Le-Floof]

I was about to make a joke about roy dying before i realised it was eliwood who cheated death at 7:27

[@Eevban32]

Just play tactics ogre, any of them have the mechanics that you are mentioning (in regards to weather, it affects both units and the map, you have partial control over it and some units can use it in different ways) and much more. If you are worried about lenght, you could start with knight of lodis in the gba. Additionally, I don't think badly designed maps or mechanics should be excused because other games also got it bad or even worse. Having said that, I hope you have a nice day. Thank you for the video (Edit: corrected double negation).

[@OrlandoAguirre222]

Fatigue came back in another game? Which one? Edit: Sonic Mega Collection music is painfully nostalgic for me now, my GameCube's laser for disc reading has died, and now all of the games are dead. Hearing this music is almost like hearing a ghost. ... Still good music choice tho

[@rayquazathenoodledragon9630]

Honestly i never though about FE having a distinctive map designs and the most thing i remember like that was a map in Shining force nearly covered in forest making you move slower just like FE 4 chapter 1

[@dmas7749]

today i just remembered my old idea i had forever ago for a map where you would get charged by armor knights and it would start to rain and give you some breathing room. are you psychic?

[@Khrene]

> Am I talking out my ass? Ive had and execute on these some of these ideas in a personal project. Namely weather impacting the map in the same way. Youre not talking out your bum.

[@augustus_paddle]

is fog weather?

[@marcoasturias8520]

Sure! It sucks!

[@absoul112]

Now that you mention it, it is weird that FE is one of the few turn-based strategy games that cares about map design. Off the top of my head, XCOM has some decent maps, Triangle Strategy occasionally has unique ideas for their maps, Advanced Wars maps are hit or miss (and also made by IS). I'd also like to mention Unicorn Overlord even though it's not turn based (for the most part).

[@jouheikisaragi6075]

As a Disgaea and Devil Survivor fan, yeah, FE does Map design better than those two. Though Disgaea and DevSur have way more complex combat than FE does so they trade off like that. So FE NEEDS strong map design.

[@shanegiorgio4713]

I haven't played a ton of non-FE strategy games, but I have played Shining Force 1 and yeah there are some BAD maps in that game.

[@mauricioalvarezpino1818]

I sure do love how the second map of the game forces you to slog through mountains and hills for like 15 to 20 minutes, I sure do also love that one map where it's either go slow through the desert or go slow through the forest. I love Shining Force 1 but MAN.

[@shanegiorgio4713]

@@mauricioalvarezpino1818 it's like half the combat (and often much more than that) on some maps is from the hawks, Domingo, I assume Kokichi (I think that's how you spell it, I failed to recruit him my first and only run so far), Bleu, Zylo and I think also Guntz for cutting through the forest and/or mountain terrain.

[@DarkAuraLord]

"But what if it didn't?" Then it would be Symphony of War. I will never shut up about this game. Everyone go play Symphony of War.