The first map of the game is, as you can see, Talys Island. If you thought originality was my strong suit, then let this dispel any myths. You can probably guess at some elements already, but to clarify:
- Villages are pretty much menus. Right now, it consists of the weapon shop, item/skill shop (more on that later), and an interaction (in the village currently on the map's case, recruiting Futsuo). Later maps may have more interactions at the cost of shops; it depends on if I can make a map where the shops already on the map can be centered in on the tile.
- Houses are, as they are in the main games, one-liners giving game tips.
- Forts house fixed encounters. Dispelling those encounters will give items or a chance to heal. (There's going to be random encounters, in case you're getting your hopes up. Probably will be pretty frequently occurring, too, given that the average map won't be as big as a standard RPG map, but...we'll see.)
- The non-Marth icons on the map are an indication of the enemies in the encounter. The axe-wielders indicate Brigands, while the demon icon is, well, a battle containing demons. I'll readily admit that the demons are just there so you have to get Futsuo from the village.
Arenas will most likely return, as well. Now, onto the battle!
Battles are a lot like in Paper Mario. The player characters each get a turn, and perform the selected action immediately after its target is selected. When all player characters take their turn, the enemies will move. Control switches until one side is completely dead. There aren't any Timed Hits, though.
You could also compare it to SMTIV's Turn Press system, I guess, though you can only get extra turns by dancing.
By pressing Shift while choosing a target, you can look at an enemy's stats, and compare them to the current unit's. The stats are most likely what you expect they are - Str is physical strength, Def is physical defense, Mag is magic attack, Res is magic defense, and Speed affects dodge rate. (No doubling, though.) The only one that might be a mystery is Skl. It's basically Skill and Luk from Fire Emblem rolled together, determining Hit and Critical Evade in its entirety, and helping determine Avoid. Skl is determined by adding a Fire Emblem unit's Skill and Luk together, while for demons it's just based on their Luck in Shin Megami Tensei I.
You can also see in the screenshot above HP and SP. HP should be obvious. SP, however, might not be. Rather than be "magic points but actually not", like in Persona, in here they're actually an alternative to MP, used for special skills (think Sol, Luna, Astra, etc.), built up by attacking, guarding, and being hit. MP is here and used like normal (though the only ones who end up using it for the most part is Futsuo and Wrys - Merric attacks using tomes, and most magic is demons-only.).
The only reason why you aren't seeing a 0 for all of the stats with 1 in them is because RPG Maker VX Ace won't let me. So everyone who didn't have any Res got a small buff, I guess.
Pressing W takes you to the selected enemy's elemental resistances screen. Pretty much every attack in the game is governed by one of the elements here. (Not shown: dark, because it wouldn't fit, and almighty, because it technically isn't an element.)
The basic weapon triangle has been reworked as slash (sword) > strike (axe) > stab (lance) > slash. As seen above, a unit with the advantage takes 10% less damage, while a unit with the disadvantage takes 10% more damage. It's still completely tied to the weapon - should Cain switch to a sword, he'll resist axes but be weak to lances.
The magic triangle works much the same way, but its changes are more than names. Ice has completely taken the place of wind, being weak to fire but being strong against elec (thunder magic). Light and dark tome-wielders gain just a 5% resistance to fire, ice, and elec, but take 10% more damage from the opposing element.
I'm thinking of merging the two triangles, Fates-style (so that it goes Fire/Slash > Ice/Strike > Elec/Stab > Fire/Slash). Hmmm. Either way, the whole weapon triangle doesn't affect demons - they use their resistances from Shin Megami Tensei.
You might notice the whopping 300% weakness that that Peg. Knight has against wind. This is, of course, because it deals effective damage. Wind covers both wind magic and bow attacks. There are other sources of effective damage on regular weapons - in that case, it will deal 300% of the regular damage dealt (if you deal 0 damage, you'll still deal 0 damage, while if you deal 1 damage, you'll now deal 3), though it ignores any triangle bonuses (due to how RPG Maker VX Ace handles multi-elemental attacks).
The majority of the calculations are performed the same way as the basic Fire Emblem games, with a few differences. Damage is simply Str - Def, due to the fact that weapon Mt is added onto Str when you equip a weapon. Functions that involved Luk have been modified to use Skl. Perhaps the largest difference, however, is character growth.
Instead of it being a percentage-based chance to get a stat on level up, each stat rises by a set amount. Whenever that amount reached a whole number, you actually get a point in that stat. It's much worse than the growth rate system (for starters, the first level-up will be empty for everyone besides Ogma, Barst, and Wrys, and even then they're just getting HP, HP, and MP, respectively), but I have to make do with the hand I'm dealt with.
To help out, though, growth rates can be increased based off of the skills you have equipped. Having HP +5, for example, will give +0.5 HP on a level up. They exist for more than the stat-raising skills, but to reveal them all right now would ruin the air of mystery.
Oh, yeah! Skills!
Each character has 5 skill slots available, like Awakening. They function exactly like armor in any other RPG, except only, like, two raise your Def. (3 if you could Res +2). For the majority of the skills, anyone can equip them, though there are a few exceptions here and there. Iote's Shield, for example, can only be equipped by Peg. Knights or Wyvern Knights.
Each character also gets four skills by leveling up, also like Awakening. These cannot be switched around, and do not give stat bonuses.
Anyways, this is getting to be a pretty long post! So I'll drop off here. Suggestions, as always, are welcome. Until next time!
- Lief Katano
