Elements that have made FE14 feel less like a fire emblem game

I've been playing FE7 and FE8 recently, and looking back at fates I've realized that it feels a bit off, in both gameplay and general feel. A number of factors contribute to this, and I'll list them out here:

1. My Castle

This is the big one for me- it feels like I've taken a break in between maps to play farmville. I personally hate it and have made rant threads about it in the past, but whether you like or dislike it, it certainly feels less like "fire emblem" than before, it breaks up the narrative pacing and feels very out of place- especially considering how it raepd changed forging, and centralized shops and such.

2. Gameplay things

There's a lot here, some of which are good changes and many of which are bad (imo), so I'll make this a sub-list

• Forging- utterly ridiculous change, rngems are stupid, forced my castle shenanigans are stupid, and turning FE into a clicker facebook game is stupid. Also making it impossible to forge eff. weaponry is stupid- that's the main usage for forging IMO

• Hidden weapons- in a game of weak javelins, awful spears, and crappy mages, 1-2 range weapons are much less dominant than before... except for these puppies. 1-2 range, speedboost on the shurikens, and OP statdrops, on a class with lethality and poison strike is utterly absurd. Who thought this was ok? Statdrops aren't something that usually exists in FE anyways, especially because of the next point I'm about to make, and while I don't object to the concept hidden weapons just feel way too strong

• Stat inflation. 40-45 stat caps on the highest stats is pretty ridiculous. Nowhere near as bad as awakening, but still pretty out-there. In addition to feeling more like a JRPG than an SRPG due to the much heavier focus on levelling, making LTC more difficult and 0% growths nigh impossible, it also makes it harder to swap out a party. In fe8 I can swap around my party, using a midgame pre-promote only on levels where I need the extra firepower, and trusting that he won't fall behind if I drop him for a few easier missions. In fe14 even the crazy strong Camilla or moderately strong Leo won't do well at all roughly 4-5 chapters after recruitment if they're not trained up.

• Dragon veins- not a complaint, I actually really like these, but they're very unusual for a FE game. Still, I think they do more good than harm in CQ, and are benign, albeit a little silly, in BR and RV

• Removal of weapon durability- Now we're really getting into JRPG territory. Weapons decaying is a huge part of fire emblem, and inventory management is really important. It also encourages completing missions faster, and makes routing / grinding an issue because you may run out of money for weapons, especially if you're forging.

• B/A/S Rank weapons being awful- Cutting str/mag in half? Are you serious? Christ... But seriously getting to high WR is supposed to be an accomplishment, and should be rewarded with better weapons. The low availability (and durability in past FE) of these weapons is the balancing factor to their strength, but even so unlocking these weapons lets you feel powerful walking into the last few chapters of the game- you've graduated past steels/irons and are using polished/legendary weapons to beat down gods and dragons. Except... in fates these weapons suck so you're still sitting on Irons and Steels. It's silly IMO.

• AS/GS- Some people like it but I honestly miss the time when units were just units. Past FE games had simple but effective combat, and the difficulty/strategy came from positioning and resource management. The map designs were very interesting, and each unit felt important, none were just pairup fodder or the like.

• DLC- speaks for itself

3. Sucking Corrin's d*ck

Seriously. In every route every character is just like "ohhh Corrin you're so good at everything don't ever feel sad or live with the consequences of your decisions just let us take care of everything for your baka senpai senpai baka". It's really grating and pandery. When characters make stupid decisions they should have to suffer the consequences.

4. Tone

Most FE games have a european setting/medieval tone, but fates went full ham on the "glorious nippon" idea. Ninjas being the best unit doesn't help this either, but in general the game focuses a lot on how great the japan country is and I honestly miss the past setting of ancient legends, magicks, kings, betrayals, usurpers, etc.

5. Character centralization

In FE8, for characters who had more than their recruitment chapter as shining moments, we had FE8 And the characters all had good reason for joining the army as well. In fe14 all the important characters are royals, everyone else is tossed to the sidelines, even ones who should be important like fe14.

6. Kid Units, and other "-realms"

Deeprealms, outrealms, astral plain, etc. etc. etc. The topic's been beaten to death but the tl;dr is that they're silly, break story immersion, and read more like a bad fanfic than actual game shit.

7. Lame Legendary weapons

This goes back to an earlier point I made, but to expand upon it a little more, in past FE's the legendary weapons all had story reasons for appearing, sometimes tied to gaiden chapters, and were really cool to find and use. In fates they suck (besides Bifrost), and are found in chests or as boss drops with no explanation or backstory.

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Alright well that about wraps it up for my thoughts on this. Discuss!