This game would be perfect if...

[Kaining]

[scy]

First and foremost, as much of a fan of numbers as I am, I'd love to have them available in-game; there's a LOT of screen space that can be used (ie, when on Custom, just utilize the bottom damn screen too) and can easily display what the various ranks do. Sorry, "Speed+ Damage++" doesn't cut when the attack itself is inferior to something else entirely.

I'd love to see the game to be more challenging; I know, some people are just going, "huh what?" at this proposition but, to be honest, I never found EO1 / EO2 to be hard, just "ohi I hit really damn hard." That's not difficult. That's easy. Approach it with a defensive set-up or completely null the attack (ie, Antis for Elements, Dominate to seal it, stuns, kill it before the damage is a problem, etc). That's the entirety of the preparation and, to be honest, this extends to all fights. That said, I'm not really sure what to do to make the fights more complex and harder without simply "ohi even more damage."

I love difficulty so I love doing things to make the game harder; that said, I shouldn't HAVE to do that to make the game challenging. I can't think of any fight in the game I can't find a way to beat given a "balanced" group.

Floor 30 boss
[spoiler]Like, the non-rotation Ur-Child is a great challenge because you can't merely "I have to survive the attack coming," since it's random. The problem is, it's hard since his damage is so outrageously high, if you choose the wrong ability to stop his damage, you die (ie, Begone happens and you hadn't Provoked). That and Wildance has no easy counter at all. That's not really the kind of challenge I want where my hope for victory is kill him before we die or use some lame way to negate his damage and not care what happens any given turn.[/spoiler]

Better class balance would be great; Troubadours serve little-to-no use since anything they can do, a Hexer does ... but Hexer's can also deal absurdly god damage. Landsknechts are the front-line "default" Warrior but they're the weakest offensive class, even with Chasers (barring a heavy Elemental group). Beasts are just worthless with Loyalty the way it is and their damage ability relying on it (and their other skills aren't good damage either coupled with their low Accuracy). That said, nearly any logical group can make it through the game as long as it's not some weird "hi 5 Alchemists" ... but even that'd probably be able to beat the main game >>.

Like, if Beast's had merely had Loyalty be 75% activation, 78% Damage taken using their defenses, it's be a damn good substitute for F. Guard / B. Guard. It's always "on" and takes advantage of the Beast's high HP and VIT growths (highest in the game) and the ability to equip one Armor with the effective DEF of 3 slots and slot Phys / Magic Wall items as needed for encounters. Frankly, it'd almost be overpowered if not for the "okay, we're going to make damage really damn high!" train of thought.

[Pureauthor]

Some of FFIVDS's battles should help in showing how to make a game 'hard' in a new, interesting ways...

Although I'm not sure it'd work in EO, since in FFIVDS the game always knows exactly what party you're going to have at any given point in the game.

[Kinokokao]

I ditto for the ability to sleep multiple days.

Also, I would *LOVE* to have the numbers visible in-game. I've started creating my own tiny player's guide since 90% of the time I'm playing there isn't a computer around to check stuff.

I feel the Beast needs rebalancing. They need to hash out better defined roles for the Protector and Beast; they overlap but never quite perfect the role of defender-tank. I enjoy using both and would like to see them improved.

They improved the back-tracking from EO to EOII, which is muchly appreciated.

Not being able to access the menu while at the shop is frustrating as heck. I like being able to customize, status-check, and play around with equipment without having to exit the shop and re-enter.

I think the developers did a good job improving from EO to EOII. I really hope there's a EOIII.

[scy]

You can change equipment in the store it just has it's own Menu selection. Still, I hit "Y" out of habit to open the menu only to have it fail miserably.

Incidentally, "Y" also jumps through the Weapon / Armor menus; that is, instead of going through ALL the Armors to reach the Shields, you can just hit "Y" to skip through them. Just something I don't recall from EO1 and not sure it's ever stated anywhere.

It's nice when you've finished everything and have gigantic lists >>.

[Kinokokao]

[Kaining]

[scy]

[Dan Smith]

Not really a great name, but maybe they could use Halberdier? It would fit with a landsknecht and it would be fun to get some pole-arms in the game. A melee class that can strike from the back row, and maybe trip up enemies or something would be a great addition.

[Kaining]

[Dan Smith]

[ZetaBladeX13]

[Kinokokao]

Spear using back-row class? Hmm...

Hoplite - except it's an 'H' name, but otherwise it'd be perfect. Phalanx is the only reworking of the title I can think of, and it wouldn't work either.. and it technically refers to the tactical arrangement of the hoplites and isn't even a proper title....

[scy]

The "bigger" problem is they already HAVE a perfect Spear wielding name ... Landsknecht. They're not Swordsman, they used Pikes. Landsknecht is a horrible choice of a name for them.

And yeah, Phalanx isn't even a proper name for it but I couldn't for the life of me remember Hoplite >>.

[Kinokokao]

It's okay, I had to google it. One of those tip-of-tongue things were I *knew* what it was, just couldn't remember.

It would be interesting to see the Landsknecht drop axes/swords and pick up a lance/pike type weapon. If it wasn't for unique-letter requirement I would suggest shifting the Landsknecht to the back-row spear unit we've been discussing and then introducing a Berserker class with similar properties to the old Landsknecht. A Berseker, afterall, is the epitome of offense-over-defense.
Possible alternative to Berserker could be Highlander... complete with blue-paint and kilt ala Braveheart!