I hecking love Fog of War (FoW)!

Yes, that gameplay mechanic that more often than not causes frustration rather than excitement, I love it alot. The way FoW gives me that spooky feeling of not knowing what’s up ahead is great and I absolutely love it when I’m just fiddling around in the Fog and suddenly Bam something I didn’t expect pops out and gives me a good spook. I’m just gonna gush about things I like about FoW, it might not entirely make sense but whatever FoW maps make me happy.

  1. The Atmosphere
    Heck yeah that spooky feeling I was talking about earlier, it’s wonderful and I love it in every FoW map i’ve played in all of FE, heck, even games besides FE i’ve really grown to like FoW, perhaps it’s because alot of my first gaming experiences were with RTS games like Starcraft and Warcraft. The OSTs that go with fog maps add to that spooky uncertain vibe that makes me wanna play more carefully and all that cool jazz, couple that with the enemies moving throughout the fog without you even knowing where they could be or even what they can be is just perfect for me, the unknown threat inching ever closer to you :ok_hand:.

  2. The Gameplay
    I know FoW is often considered artificial difficulty (and it most probably is lmao) but I love playin around it, the game takes away my vision and tells me to face the enemy down while they can still see me, it’s a challenge I more than welcome and more often than not I very much enjoy it. Using Torch staves, cleverly placed Thieves, or even just going in gambling that there isn’t something that’ll rip me a new one, I always found a way to play FoW maps safely and pretty effectively, and I think that’s one of my favorite parts of FoW in general is that it doesn’t do anything to force me from playing quickly, it dares me to play quickly but with an added weight upon my shoulders, an enjoyable one for me at that. I’d try to list off all my favorite FoW maps but I think i’d just end up listing ever FoW map i’ve played, so i’ll just talk about my absolute favorite one…

  3. Arcadia
    Oh Arcadia, I looooooooooooooove this map with a passion, it’s one of my absolute favorite maps ever. So many things about it I know people justifiably dislike but for me I always have an awesome time with it, the map wants you to move kinda quickly for the good ending, the game also gives you a weak lil baby to protect from the unseen foes, and the OST to tie it all together just Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :ok_hand:.

  4. Surprise moments/Generally memorable moments
    That moment when you accidentally move your unit out of place and boom! you realize there’s an enemy right in front of your face and now you have to scramble to get them to safety, I live for that small little rush of excitement in an otherwise slow paced game, it’s not like Starcraft where it’s all real time, here surprises like that on player phase don’t happen that often so I really enjoy them when they do. Other moments I really like is honestly just beating a FoW map without any deaths (I tend to ironman on the majority of my playthroughs so death actually means death) it just feels so absolutely satisfying to make it through this spooky map with everyone intact.

That’s all I really have to say, I really hecking love Fog of War, I wonder if there’s anything you guys like about FoW like I do, I know there’s lots of things to justifiably hate about it but I’m curious if anyone else shares my general thoughts

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I love Fog of War… In Advance Wars Dual Strike only. The AI being able to see clearly breaks any immersion with fog and restricts your level design because a lot can easily become trial and error in cases like, say, FE8 Ch6 having a Halberd Fighter for no reason that you can’t see that can destroy Seth AND screw you out of the Halberd due to how item dropping works

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Thracia fog

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I can get complaining about fog of war, but really? FE8 chapter 6? The map where you can buy torch staves on the world map shop right before it?

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I agree that FoW is epic, and I’m glad someone else appreciates Arcadia. Thank you Obsidian.

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I think FoW is neat. I wish Gaiden had FoW. No I am not kidding.

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How is a new player supposed to know some random fighter off in the distance has a halberd? It’s trial and error design and you’d only know it if you actually knew the world map shop adds Torch over ch5’s shop or if you had a unit with the Torch item dangerously close to all the enemies. That’s why I hate it.

ON TOP OF THAT, If the FIghter ever gets a chance to move, you’ve just lost the droppable Halberd unless the AI randomly decides to equip the Iron Axe they frankly shouldn’t be wielding. It’s dumb design.

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we do be living in danger
thank you FoW you made my life way more colorful

oh look Shanna is being engaged by that berserker
oh god he has 30 crit
OH NO SHANNA GOT KILLED

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I usually feel mid about FoW maps, don’t especially love or hate them (unless it’s VQ, where I’ve liked all the ones I played so far) but I def agree with this so much. Arcadia can be frustrating on a first playthrough, and it deserves flak for that, but it’s so much fun to play around with fog, when you have a better idea of the flow and where you wanna go

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Positive community thread? Damn impressive, but hell yeah ill agree with you especially on atmosphere, FOW is so good for creating tense maps, just gotta play to its strengths. One of my early chapters is escape fow and im ngl without the fow it wouldnt feel nearly as intense. I love how FOW makes you creep forward with paranoia, good shit

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@Runa don’t miss this one too

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Understandable, but for me, deaths like that really help solidify the whole it’s a war thing, not everyone will make it out alive and shit happens, justified hatred absolutely, but personally I love it

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It’s a game. If a unit died because they got hit from an unfortunate low hit or from a mistake I made, that’s fair. If they died from some asshole with an effective weapon I literally couldn’t see coming without prior knowledge of the map, it’s bullshit.

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I really want to make a map that capitalizes on that paranoia, maybe a map where there are enemies that you will never fight, but also you’ll never see, you just hear them creeping around, will they attack you? will they not? who knows, I’d love a map like that (although it’d be lame on second playthroughs lmao)

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I mean fog isn’t something you can slap onto a map without considering its implications. For example, I wouldn’t recommend doing fog maps without offering torches or a thief, and wouldn’t include many (if any, honestly) enemies with effective or killer weapons - if it can one shot an otherwise “sturdy” unit and the player can’t see it, it’s BS.

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Definitely a tricky thing to get right, but when it’s done right it’s pure epicness incarnate

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I cannot stress enough how important this post is for anyone wanting to make a fog chapter.

Anyways, enough negativity on my end from Fog. One thing I can say with pride is that most ROM hacks have really well designed Fog of War maps. It’s good to be able to play a hack’s fog map and know right away you probably won’t get obliterated by a dude with a Killing Edge.

And, I’ll be honest, if anyone makes a hack that implements Dual Strike’s Fog AI i will literally make every chapter of my hack include fog of war it is that good

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That’d be an awesome twist, instead of the enemy ambushing you all the time now you can get the drop on them too, the Ai gonna be shaking in their uhhh boots or whatever shoes they wear

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Play Advance Wars Dual Strike’s campaign maps, specifically the ones with Fog of War. It’s an incredible dynamic to hide indirects from the enemy or sneak up on the opponent with a tank or fighter they couldn’t see. It can happen to you as well while still being fair and you also now have to factor in enemy vision ranges if they have units like recons.

As a player:
“Hey look, a chapter where I don’t spend the first minute going through enemy inventories looking for droppables/stealables and then plan my entire strategy around those. Time to just roll with it.”

As a proyect creator:
“…And here’s where we put the siege tome.”

I’ve only made like 2 FOW chapters and the FOW was only pointless in one of them (I think).

Obligatory Fog of War meme

image

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