I might of two minds about simplification via UI and gameplay.
Pro - I am happy it makes it more accessible to general gamers.
Con - The games become less interesting for me. My favourite games in the FE franchise are older ones. And I have been finding that the additional content and simplification has made them generally less interesting for me. One example of UI simplification, is that in the older fire emblems, you effectively had to do all the math in your head rom the statistics given, but later on it would calculate it all for you. While easier, for me personally, it makes the game less satisfying because I don’t feel as calculating.
In addition, I find they utterly failed with balance when doing “hardcore” mode later - I hated that, just call it normal mode - because they spent less time balancing around that; the game became more puzzle like and felt less like a strategy. Character acquiring was messed up too in the later games - it was shaped only around story (for the most part), rather than story and gameplay, so it felt like you were not getting the characters you needed at the times you needed them - if you lost specific characters earlier, then good luck! Whereas in the older games this was not an issue.
Also, STOP with the bizarre childish American accents. It sounds ridiculous in the context of a medieval themed game. No one associates Americans with fantasy medieval settings, it’s too weird/wrong.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
