One of the things I noticed while playing Radiant Dawn (I’ll get back to playing it eventually, I promise) was a funny new mechanic that still hasn’t returned; ledges. At first, I didn’t think much of them, but now I kinda wish FE tried to make maps a little more 3-dimensional sometimes. A lot of other things sort of just piled up over time from other FE games, hacks, and SRPGs I saw, and I started to wonder how FE maps would be like if they made more use of 3D space/added elevation to the picture. Hills could literally be higher than flat terrain, you could pass under archers firing from above a castle gate, or hide under a bridge to avoid attacks from archers and fliers. Ledges could make a return, working the same as they did in RD.
It’s kinda like… what if you blended together FFT and FE maps? What elements would stay, and what would be scrapped? (Note: I have never played FFT)
The idea I came up with was sorta like adding layers to FE maps, similar to layers on the canvas of an art program. Elevation would become an important factor to keep track of (ideally, one that only takes a quick glance at the map’s terrain). Units could traverse layers using slopes, ledges, even scaleable walls depending on the unit’s mov type. A unit with 1 range might struggle or be unable to attack an enemy with the high ground, or vice versa, compared to a unit with 2+ range or a flier. In a game with shove or some other form of knockback, shoving someone down a slope might make them tumble and lose more HP and shoving them off a ledge/cliff would deal even more damage. Fliers could dive-bomb enemies, dealing more damage than usual depending on what layer they started from at the cost of movement. Battles between fliers might get a bit weird, though. Some parts of the map might not be visible when viewing certain layers; for example, the underside of a bridge or the different floors of a castle.
I’d love to play around with this in LT or something, but I’m lazy and bad at Python.
To be honest, I wasn’t really sure if I should post this because it’s kind of a nebulous concept and I don’t really know what else to say about it. But hey, what’s the worst that could happen?
Anyway, what do y’all think? How might a more 3D FE map work? Would more simple 2D maps work better for the series?