Hi everyone! Following on my previous “question” thread, I am somewhat officializing the production of my fangame codenamed “Project Moulinsart”. It is somewhat ambitious, far more than a washed-up game designer with no coding or artistic talent could accomplish, but I really wanted to show some random ideas that I had for a long time finally taking a somewhat coherent and applicable form. And if it could inspire even one real modder to make use of them, may they run with it.
I also want to gauge interest from the core community (the only one who would even play it) especially as I am myself not really part of it. I always described Fire Emblem as “my favorite game I suck as” and I have actually played very few FE games and never completed a single one. So I am very much open to feedback and suggestion as I don’t really have a necessarily clear enough picture of the franchise’s overall design (I am the kind of pleb who thinks Pegasi suck because I can’t use them right).
- Main Feature #1: Ranged Weapon Triangle
The main attraction here is the inclusion of two new weapon types that interact with the Bows to effectively create a third weapon triangle. The main goal is to transform the archers from a “wild card” unit into a more involved part of the main battle strategy. This idea is also born from the frustration I had as a kid and even today of having big clusters of units hindering each other as well as giving more variety to ranged combat especially in early game (I was quickly bored of hand axes and javelins being so omnipresent).
I already have one working solution and several more functioning solutions under consideration, so this part is really not an issue for me anymore.
The two new types are:
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War Fire / Bombs / Grenades: (not decided on the name yet) Rudimentary explosives made with alchemy that are strong against bows (“fire indeed hot”) but weak against arquebuses (they are quite fragile and flammable). Mines are already canon so it doesn’t feel like a stretch at all to me for have an evolution of the concept in a more active manner. Similarly to bows’ natural advantage against air units, all grenades have an advantage against heavy armored units who cook inside their own plates. They are strictly 2 ranged weapons (it isn’t recommended to throw one at your feet) by I am already envisionning weapons like for exemple mortier with a strict 3 range or a 1-2 range with “Devil Axe” proprieties for the 1.
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Arquebuses: This one might make some eyes roll, I know that “X with guns” is somewhat of a meme, but my main goal really is to make something “lore friendly” and believable. That’s why I went with arquebuses specifically, one of the oldest firearms in existence. I’ll also try my best to not feature weapons that feel too out of place in this fantasy universe (not assault rifle and handgun I promise, basically Napoleon era at most). The weapon itself is strong against grenades but weak against bows who still are quicker than the slow to reload firearms. They also have a natural advantage against cavalry. This last point was mainly inspired by the manga Gunka no Baltzar in which the fall of the cavalry is a main plot point (Tetsuo Hara’s Keiji was also a huge inspiration in general btw). Several weapon ideas are being worked on but I’ll talk about them in the “Classes” section.
Overall, I view them as a logical equivalent of the weapons in the other triangles with the bow being weaker but reliable (lance/light), grenades being strong but hard to hit with (axe/dark) and arquebuses being average and dependant on their user’s stats (sword/anima). That might not be an accurate description, but that’s always how I “felt” these worked.
(What is that weird thing in the corner? Don’t worry about it. I certainly wouldn’t. 
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- Main feature 1.5: New Classes and Promotion Trees
For these new weapons, I don’t intend to transplant them to existing units but make new units that specialize in them. 13 to be exact (18 with the existing bow units including the returning Nomad), with the whole range units corps being divided into 3 promotion trees that rejoin each other:
First Tier
Not much to say here, these are the basic classes who are similar to the archer with very few option.
Second Tier
Not much to say for these two either since they are already existing units. Sniper will be a bit nerfed as a result of becoming a “middle class”. I hesitate to give them the assassin trait just for fun though.
I never realised that base nomads were removed from FE8 until I did this project, and I though it would serve as a good middle point with the Ranger, plus I have a specific Nomad character in mind that I wanted to include. Having 2 cavalry archers is also working really well with what I had in mind, since it creates a weakness to firearms and a dilemma for the player: will you take the route that reduce your type effectivness with a clearer advantage to most other classes?
Grenadeer is the Sniper of grenades, just an overall stronger version.
Physician will be a plague doctor able of using staves, I’m not still not quite sure how to balance them.
Officer is once again just a stronger Fusilier, good but not very exciting.
On the other hand, Dragoon features one of my favorite new weapon concept: bayonets. Similarly to magic sword, the weapon will behave differently depending on if it’s used at a distance (firearm) or melee (lance). Hopefully I will be able to make this work.
Third Tier Bow
Still not much to say about the existing classes Warrior and Ranger, but Raider is either the most broken or useless class I conceived and I find that quite fun. Basically it’s even more of a glass canon than the existing Pegasus units with large attack power, long range, but terrible defense AND resistance. I basically envisionned a helium blimp tanker dropping bombs on enemies.
Third Tier Grenade
Huge fan of FMA myself, I always loved Clarke’s laws and wanted to use it as the baseline for the entire artificer group: will the humble scientist just become a mad bomber, will they fall into mysticism and lose themselve in the process, or will they find some balance and reconnect the known, the unknown, and what is left to do? That’s the kind of hidden storytelling I love.
The Alchemist is a Sage alternative, cool and powerful. I adore the Evangelist who is basically a Space Marine in sheep’s clothing, quite chilling.
As for the researcher, I teased it earlier but I actually have no clue of what I want to do with it. I just want them to be a gimmick character using “Artifacts” and having weird and unique abilities. They are as much a science experiment for me that they are for themselves and the only limit will be the game’s code. Ideas I had range from “explosive drones”, “morphing/adaptive weapons”, “crafting and reparing items”, or even “time travel(!)”. Hopefully I will be able to make something truly awesome and unseen with them.
Third Tier Arquebus
Cannoneers are for shorts Generals that carry huge canons, which will hopefully be striking and memorable image, as much as the impression that Generals left on me as a kid.
Musketeers and Hunters are two sides of the same Dragoon coin, with the former embrassing close combat to become somewhat of a versatile myrmidon, while the latter decides to go the long ranged weapon route. Again a lot of storytelling in the arquebus line where you can see a soldier either climbing the ranks for fame and glory, becoming a dutiful and obediant soldiers, or rejecting all of it and going back to a simpler and more fullfilling life.
- Main feature 2: Universe and Characters (COMING HOPEFULLY SOON)
I’m still working on it. I have a clear vision for what I want to do with the characters and what they will be, but I have yet to fully develop the supporting cast, enemies, or the full picture of the plotline.
Welp, that’s all for now and that’s already both a lot and absolutely nothing. Will I deliver on anything that I showed here or will I bail like litterally all of my previous projects? At least now it exists somewhere and people can bother me about how it’s going which is actually a good thing.
If you took time to read any of that I can’t thank you enough. Once again, feedback is very much appreciated whether it’s because there are glaring oversights or if it’s just bad, I’m not a good Fire Emblem player at all and welcome criticism with open arms. Everything I described here is not even yet a work in progress and I can change anything.
