Improvement wishlist

[Luze]

Ooookay, this might be a little much considering I put less than an hour into the game before refunding, but I do want the best for, and from the game. I refunded the game(because regional price lol), but did said in my review that I'd re-purchase the game once they set the proper price. Now, since a lot of people said a lot of different things about the game (52% review score), I'd like to compile a list of improvements that I, and I believe a bunch of other players would like to see, in one place, to make it just a bit easier for the devs.

This is not a zero bias list, I read a lot of reviews to make sure I'm not alone in these, but these are still coming from me, I'm human, and I have my own preferences, so even as I try to be as non-biased as I can, I will still be. Take that as you will.

Camera

A lot of people said non rotating camera is a bummer, I don't think you need to be able to rotate to camera to get a visually accessible battlefield. Just make sure there's nothing blocking the view, the tall trees and such, just remove them, they're not really making it anymore scenic. Or make them transparent. That's how games that don't allow you to rotate the camera design their battlefield. Even the very first tutorial fight have this issue with the foreground trees.

Height issue

Should be a no brainer, people on cliffs shouldn't be able to swing a sword at people down there. Looks like elevation isn't at all programmed into the game outside jumping.

Through shot

Arrows can go through walls and such. This...can also be fixed with clever level design. Just make sure there are holes in the wall, so it makes sense that arrows can go through. Or just avoid having solid walls at all in the map. Might be a weird way to "fix" the problem, but I've seen an entire game designed in such a way that they don't need to program line of sight. Platforms would just be on a hollow wooden/steel frame structure, walls would have windows, solid chunks would be put in such a way that they won't block line of sight, so that they don't have to program it, and nobody bats an eye.

Class Tree

Is way too shallow. While it is entirely possible to have two distinct rangers, it's not possible to have three. Because there are only 2 branches, and those branches are just two different types of weapon. There aren't really real choices to be made. This does not allow for mix-match customization we're used to in better TRPG games(one reason people love FFT so much is the customization, in case it isn't clear). I believe you can still have the customizable feeling if you put enough options into the trees.

This game has generic skills, and 2 branches. Within those branches you basically max everything, there's no real reason to not pick a node. There's only 2 choices total, and both are almost always exclusive, save for maybe mages, which you can make dips(spells will be weak af though).

On top of making more skill branches that are not exclusive to each other, I'd also like to see skills that are not mandatory, like one that massively improves a certain aspect, but have a clear detrimental effect attached, so people can choose whether or not to take the skill.

Let the people pick their builds, don't force it on them. Chances are there would still be an "optimal build" in the end, but at least you gave the illusion of choice, you make the players feel smart for figuring out the build. And the sub-optimal builds may also have its niche uses, so it's not a total throwaway either.

Levels...?

Might as well not exist. Seriously, there's no leveling system in this game. Story characters levels up after each battle regardless of being in it or not, generics level up by participating. This is inherently flawed, as if generics miss one battle, you'd be better off just recruiting a new one. You lose nothing by doing so as you get a fully leveled character with appropriate points. In most other TRPGs there are value in sticking with your characters(skills learned, stats increase due to class, etc.), but in this game no, it is flat out better to just recruit new ones. As far as I know, there's no factor that would make each generic distinct enough to not do so.

This also breaks immersion. Sam, who's been with us for a ten battles, fought hot and cold with us, missed one battle. Now he's useless, and I'd completely ditch him for some randos in the tavern.

My suggestion would be to either remove the concept of leveling altogether, make it a "party level", everyone on the team would always be that level, or just make an exp system just like any other games and allow free battles so characters not participating in story fights can catch up. If you're afraid free battles would make your player over-leveled and rob the fun from the game, just learn from Tactics Ogre and cap the level to the story.

Speaking of recruit...

Recruit

Can't we just select what we want? Why randomize a dozen times just to get the class/gender you want?

They also aren't distinct enough, most other games would have some sort of system to make each generic, or even character, distinct, either that be random stats bonus, passive, or some other factors like element, alignment, faith, zodiac sign, or whatever flavor the game invents that affects the characters in some way.

Equipment

Are just stats stick. A lot of time, in TRPGs there will be reasons to stick with lower tier gear(maybe not the first dagger you get, but gear 2-3 tiers below the best equipment would usually have reasons to be used even in endgame builds), whether be that they give stats unique to the piece, or have other unique aspects like casting a spell on hit or passive on equip. I'm not far enough into the game personally, but from what I gather newer equipment are strictly better than older ones. Less customization.

On a personal level, I would also like to see a broader equipment choice for each class, especially when you're permanently locked into one class tree. For example, in a lot of games, mages can actually use daggers. There's no real reason to do so, you would barely ever stab anyone, and there's no skill tree to support it, but the choice is there. More customization in the player's hand.

That's all

A lot of people also complain about the music, I personally don't like it, but didn't think it's disgusting or anything, it's more of a dev choices that you like or hate, nothing wrong.

That would be all from me. If there's anything wrong, do tell me and I'll correct the post, if you wanna add anything, please just do so in the comment. I'm just a player, and one that's less than an hour into the game, so there are bound to be things I miss.

[Tupelo Honey]

Hey hey you two! I wanna say thank you so much for the thorough feedback, there is a lot to consider here although, unfortunately with a team this size and with a game the scale of FFT (with about 150+ more team members working on that game full time) there are some areas we chose to pivot to something more streamlined.
I will leave most feedback for my brother Taylor to parse because I was less on the internal development side of things & can't always accurately speak to what all goes into each mechanic!
But specifically with the race/gender randomization in the recruiter, that was my personal request. Sometimes people have racist/sexist bias and in my opinion, if (even in a fantasy world with fake characters) a person is offering themselves up to fight & potentially die for your team, no matter their race/gender it only makes sense to respect that enough to give them a fair shot. I know the different male/fem classes have different appearances, so we made sure you have plenty of money to hire multiple different units from each job category. Basically we didn't want eugenics to be a thing in the game because that feels all sorts of icky.

[FIGBird]

I want to add some of the camera stuff I put in my own post as it is not present here.

Specifically the camera movement controls could use some improvements as well.

1 - Allow WASD/Arrows to pan the camera rather than increment the target cell
AKA allow the keyboard to move the camera like the mouse can

2 - Allow a dedicated mouse binding to pan the camera rather than requiring a left + right click to pan.


Those two changes should be possible without the kind of lift that rotation would.

As for the camera rotation, another option which might be easier to implement in the game is a tilt function which could change the camera angle relative to the game plane. Obviously this is still a big investment but it should reduce the targeting issues I saw in my brief playtime and possibly later too.

[Luze]

Originally posted by Tupelo Honey:

unfortunately with a team this size and with a game the scale of FFT (with about 150+ more team members working on that game full time) there are some areas we chose to pivot to something more streamlined.

I know you might be referring to the other guy, but that's why I don't bring up FFT that often in my wishlist. In fact I only bring it up once, and that's to explain that we love customization, which does not necessarily need to be done in the same way as FFT.

EDIT: And maybe again indirectly with the Zodiac sign thing(which was brought up alongside examples from all across the genre), but the point still stands, I brought it up to explain certain aspects that different games across the genre used to differentiate one character from the other, you definitely don't need to copy them, but you should probably have something of your own.

Originally posted by Tupelo Honey:

But specifically with the race/gender randomization in the recruiter, that was my personal request. Sometimes people have racist/sexist bias and in my opinion, if (even in a fantasy world with fake characters) a person is offering themselves up to fight & potentially die for your team, no matter their race/gender it only makes sense to respect that enough to give them a fair shot.

If you look at recruiting like hiring somebody from the guild then sure, but when I make a character insert(I wanna be a part of the story!), I make sure that the character match my fantasy, think when making a character in DnD. If anything, "randomizing until I get the correct gender and skin color for my character" actually sound more sexist and racist than "create your own character",

[Leviathanos]

I haven't played yet and I think I'll definitely wait now, buuut... The height, line of sight, and leveling sounds like stuff that should definitely be addressed.

I'm always a big fan of the "party level" idea in any kind of RPG. Chained Echoes did this recently and it was pretty great.

I definitely agree with the equipment thing, too. Stuff that is just flatly better isn't interesting. I would rather some things be pure numbers but a large portion should be there to give the players interesting options. I think this can be achieved and I believe in the developers.

[Melchyor]

Bonjour Luze.

En effet, au vue de ce que tu viens de m'indiquer, je m'étais fourvoyé dans mon post précédent.

je pense donc qu'il est plus judicieux pour moi de retirer mon post précédent qui n'a plus lieu d'être.

Bonne journée à toi.

Cordialement.
Melchyor

[Luze]

Not a problem Melchyor, I was just clarifying my intentions, there was no hard feelings behind my post. Have a nice day!

[Tupelo Honey]

Creating your own character avatar is one thing, but when it's an entire army fleet you want to be able to choose the gender & races of that's when it becomes kind of a gray area imo! But I do hear what you're saying.
And we are definitely taking into account all the feedback we're receiving, many of the things brought up on this forum have actually already been implemented, and we have a long roadmap planned out of future improvements! So keep the suggestions coming. :]

[sp483]

Originally posted by Tupelo Honey:

Hey hey you two! I wanna say thank you so much for the thorough feedback, there is a lot to consider here although, unfortunately with a team this size and with a game the scale of FFT (with about 150+ more team members working on that game full time) there are some areas we chose to pivot to something more streamlined.
I will leave most feedback for my brother Taylor to parse because I was less on the internal development side of things & can't always accurately speak to what all goes into each mechanic!
But specifically with the race/gender randomization in the recruiter, that was my personal request. Sometimes people have racist/sexist bias and in my opinion, if (even in a fantasy world with fake characters) a person is offering themselves up to fight & potentially die for your team, no matter their race/gender it only makes sense to respect that enough to give them a fair shot. I know the different male/fem classes have different appearances, so we made sure you have plenty of money to hire multiple different units from each job category. Basically we didn't want eugenics to be a thing in the game because that feels all sorts of icky.

lol unwishlisted.

[AZCards]

I'd have to agree. It's a fantasy video game with Raccoons who can be part of an army. Why cant I recruit who I want? Randomising has the same exact outcome.

Very unusual take from the dev like there's some moral highground to be on.

[Emperor[1G]]

Originally posted by AZCards:

I'd have to agree. It's a fantasy video game with Raccoons who can be part of an army. Why cant I recruit who I want? Randomising has the same exact outcome.

Very unusual take from the dev like there's some moral highground to be on.

that she accuses her players of meddling with "eugenics' for wanting a dude or gal for their team is bat crap Left wing insane (and I say that as a Liberal.) You know what I do with my characters? I name them for my buddies and family, male and female. If I want all brown hair, brown eyed characters, why is that any of your business? You want to force us to use specific characters, thats fine, you get to do that with the main characters which we cant change (and that no one has a problem with.)

Because I want a character to represent my wife doesnt make me a fascist. Because I want a character to represent my best friend doesn't make me an Aryan. Talk about projecting your own twisted politics onto others.

Not to mention, these are mercenaries fighting for us. You can call them whatever you want, but they are, in fact, mercenaries. They are paid to fight, they aren't joining us simply out of the altruism in their heart. That the developer imprints her weird political insecurities on to the players is.....sad and disturbed.

[toughnails]

Wow, this studio definitely needs a proper PR person/community manager, the dev just has no filter.

[⛧BavMotWork⛧]

Originally posted by hyperion:

Originally posted by toughnails:

Wow, this studio definitely needs a proper PR person/community manager, the dev just has no filter.

This has been the case for the entire history of this game.

Indeed it has. I unwishlisted the game ages ago after this exchange: https://steamcommunity.com/app/691790/discussions/0/3104637814592042355/
However, the forums themselves have been a great source of entertainment for years.

[SexyMike]

Sadly though you are going to be compared to a game that came out in 1997 and set the standard for this. So to have a game come out 18 years later and not have any of it, you are gonna get some flak for it, team size regardless. You would have been fine as a release that didn't mimic the base of FF tactics, but you did.

[Leviathanos]

Yikes. Why are people so hostile about everything, especially a piece of entertainment like this? It is unsightly.

[AZCards]

Originally posted by Leviathanos:

Yikes. Why are people so hostile about everything, especially a piece of entertainment like this? It is unsightly.

Not everyone is being hostile. It's a product and it's being critiqued. It doesn't get special treatment because it's "a piece of entertainment like this".