Any Fire Emblem-likes that do stuff better?
Tactics RPG? Strategy RPG? I don't know what to call it. I like moving my guys on a board to outwit and defeat the enemy.
I hate level grinding for hours, pointless battles against helpless enemies, unreactable RNG bullshit, feeling invincible, feeling like my input and original thought doesn't matter, softlocks, crashes, UI that gets 10 button presses where 1 or 2 would do, unnecessarily being asked for confirmation, infinite lives/resources/exp glitches unless necessary to bypass boring grinding, games where the tactics never get more advanced than "gang up on foes and hit them with the right thing for maximum damage", and any system where the correct option is not "Figure out something smart" but "see what the optimizers did".
i don't think googling a guide to using the best customizations to become invincible is valid gameplay design. How is any dev playtesting all 999e+999 combinations to ensure nobody gets softlocked or bored? When I play FE Fates Conquest choose not to make Odin's daughter beat the game for me on enemy phase.
Permadeath is optional but I'd prefer not to have infinite respawning generics like in Wargroove.
I would rather have interesting options than raw stats and I would rather be outgunned by strong foes I must outwit. I found Fire Emblem Three Houses the most boring gameplay-wise and Fates Conquest the most interesting gameplay-wise. Swap them around when it came to the story. Edelgard for life.
Story wise I don't mind if I'm restoring the monarchy or overthrowing it, slaying Demon King Balzack and rescuing the princess, slaying a dragon or laying one. Just point me at something evil worth destroying and put a country behind me worth saving.
The game doesn't have to be better than Fire Emblem on all fronts. It just has to have a good reason to play it.
The story can be anything. As long as it's not unbearably self-aware self-parody like Tactical Breach Wizards, where it can't take interesting fantasy elements and war and the potential end of the world seriously but takes its juvenile and simplistic political takes unbearably seriously. Wow, did you know absurd fantasy religions can be le bad? And loyalty too, except when it's good? And the real protagonist's arc is learning she's actually awesome and she's over her self confidence issues now and her petty pathetic personal villain matters less than the decoy protagonist and whatever reason the main villain has for being so obsessed with impressing him? Riveting stuff, I don't feel like having my mind blown like that again this year. Give me fantasy with the cojones to believe in itself, not just the author's slogans. Give me writing that's more than marvel quips and lampshades.
God, I hope this thread doesn't get derailed by calling the story and characters of TBW tonally confused, tedious, and uninteresting.