Content in this game, particularly grindable, end-game content, has been sorely lacking lately. Recent complaints have included the lack of uses for the large numbers of characters many long-term players have wracked up as well, the “samey-ness” of different game modes, and the constant reuse of the same story maps that we see all the time. I’ve been thinking about this issue for a while, and wanted to throw my idea out there to everyone and see what people think of it.

The Concept: The mode I propose is a scrolling survival mode. You start with a team of five heroes. The goal is to advance forward, moving up the map. At the end of each Enemy Phase, the map moves up one row of squares, and any of your units/any enemies that are in the bottom row of the screen die. This forces the player to continue advancing. Every certain number of turns (possibly five, and then ten later in the mode), the player reaches a two-line block of white tiles. At this point, the player is able to reinforce their ranks with 1-3 reinforcements, depending on how far you are in the mode. It is possible to clear the maps, however; in my opinion, there does have to be a way to complete the dungeon rather than keep a run going until you run out of units, or there’s no sense of completion. Harder difficulties would correspond to longer dungeons with a higher starting level. This mode would take the place of the Blessed Gardens icon, with that mode moving into the Story Mode menu.

The Map: In between each reinforcement area, the map follows a theme. In many main-series FE games, different maps have different hazards. This mode would implement some of these hazards. One section might be fire-themed and include the fire hazards seen in this Sacred Stones map where ending your turn on certain spaces causes your unit to take a few points of non-lethal damage. Other suggestions include a Fog of War section, a section with toxic air that causes 1-3 points of damage to every unit after each turn, a desert map that slows the movement of cavalry and infantry units by one (except magic users), random tiles becoming pitfalls such as in PoR Chapter 23 which prevent movement for a turn, or other hazards included in this list. Other sections of map could be free of hazards but themed in certain ways, perhaps including monster units such as Sacred Stones’ Tower of Valni or the Faceless seen in Fates. Sections would appear in random order and random enemies would spawn as well. To prevent the mode from growing stale, IS could add new themes and hazards on a monthly basis, similar to the Weapon Refinery.

The Reinforcements: At the beginning of each run, the player would be taken to a preparation screen, where they would select 5 starting units and an additional selection of units (number changing depending on difficulty setting—perhaps along the lines of 25/35/45 for Beginner/Intermediate/Expert). This means that players with a huge number of characters won’t be at a massive advantage in how long they can play, but also allows for the use of a larger number of characters at a time. At each reinforcement point, the player would then be able to add between 1 and 3 additional units to the field. The number would increase the farther you get in the mode, such that the first reinforcement tile is closer but adds only one unit, while later in the mode you might go ten turns without reaching reinforcement section, but get to add three units. The units do not come out in the order you put them at the starting screen. Instead, you can select the units more like in Tempest Trials when you lose a team.

Section Benefits: Each section has randomly generated effects that benefit the character in addition to the hazards. The Section Benefits are not tied to the section—they are randomly generated separately from the order of the sections. They could include things like extra damage for certain unit types, stat buffs, gradual healing, or SP bonuses, and would last through the entire section but end once the player reaches the next reinforcement section. This give each run some variability and replayability.

Rewards: What good would any mode be without great rewards? This mode would have three different types of rewards possible to earn. The first is a monthly clear bonus. This reward, which would reset monthly, would be something like a 2-5 orb reward for the first clear of the month (more orbs given for higher difficulties). The second type of reward would be the basic clear reward. Any clear after the monthly clear would still earn a reward. The random nature of the section orders, hazards, and Section Benefits mean that there isn’t necessarily a straightforward route to clearing, so I think repeat rewards would be allowable. These rewards would be random, and pulled from a pool of 1000 feathers/10 Sacred Coins/10 Refining Stones and very rarely (~1% or less) make it possible to earn a blessing or an orb. The final reward type would be random item drops from killing enemies. The drop rate for items would not be 100%, but it would be high enough to allow players to grind certain currencies by playing the mode (perhaps 50% or so). Items that could drop would include Shards and Crystals (common), Badges and Great Badges (common), feathers (500, uncommon drop), Sacred Coins (2, rare drop), and refining stones (2, rare drop). In my opinion, Sacred Coins in particular are way too uncommon, and players who are more dedicated to playing (not just who succeed in Arena) should have a grindable source of the currencies.

I'd love to hear people's opinions on this mode suggestion!

TLDR Pseudo-endless mode that uses a larger amount of your barracks space. "Side scrolling" (really moving up the screen) where you try to stay alive but have the ability to reinforce yourself. Allow players to grind for feathers, Sacred Coins, and Refining Stones.