kzer_za

Intelligent Systems has shown plenty of willingness to take risks and experiment with FE; "it's not the way FE does things" doesn't mean much when they break various series conventions regularly (third-person explorable areas, for example, weren't a thing in modern FE until recently). It's to Fire Emblem's credit that the series is not set in stone and shakes things up. Radiant Dawn, Fates, and Three Houses all made their own big departures from the conventional FE chapter structure that the series hadn't done before. I think they could figure out a way to polish some of the game's oddities and jank, maybe even add small-map interludes, without just abandoning large maps. Incest is generally depicted as villainous in FE4. It's also in Game of Thrones, one of the biggest media franchises around. But certainly IS should avoid connecting this part of the plot with some of their fanservice tendencies. They also remade Gaiden, which was even more a departure from series norms than Genealogy and far less regarded.

I would guess a Genealogy remake, but I think the second-most likely is a remaster of Tellius packaged together. Like keep the core of the game but touch up the graphics, add voice acting, add full supports to RD and whatever other writing they may want to flesh out, tweak the balance and QOL features, add the content that was missing from various regional releases (mostly PoR Maniac and RD's extended script, though I understand RD's western release also added some new stuff that could be put back into JP). They could charge full price for that and it would take less work than a new game or full remake.

I recently (finally!) got a copy of Radiant Dawn and will be playing it for the first time. I am aware that it has some additional story content for a second playthrough. What I'm wondering is, how important is the content? Did they lock out things that are actually important to fleshing out the plot, or is it more extra bonus Hector mode-type stuff that makes sense for people who have already gone through it? I am already spoiled on the two extra recruitable characters BTW, and I know there's some extras involving Soren...how much is there beyond that? I want to be able to enjoy story fully on my first playthrough, since any replays probably won't be right away. So I am wondering whether it is worth downloading a save and basing my new game off that one to see the extras. I am planning to play on Normal/JP hard by the way.

I began that sentence with "awhile back I wondered", so yeah I know I'm only speculating. Admittedly, with the passage of time after the Wii U my theory looks less likely, though still not impossible. That too. It also wasn't treated fairly by reviewers for a variety of reasons, and it didn't help the difficulty rename made our "normal" mode too hard for casuals (odd that Treehouse would do this after dropping maniac last game!). There were a lot of things going against it, some that Nintendo could have done better with and some probably out of their control.

I would expect a more conservative remaster of Tellius than a full-blown Echoes-style remake. Flesh out parts of RD's story more, hopefully add full supports. Classic supports could be combined with the everyone-supports-everyone system, just give some combinations full conversations. Perhaps even a handful of new chapters, like Part 1 could slow down the pace of the war a bit. Touch up the graphics. RD is pretty good-looking already; if you bring PoR up to its level you only need minor upgrades on top of that I think. Add voice acting, re-record cutscene VA. Add some of the features and QOL in newer games, such as casual mode. RD hard needs enemy ranges back too. Tweak the balance a little (earth supports should be nerfed, for one). Perhaps even a new difficulty level for hardcore fans. Fix localization issues - PoR maniac mode, RD's difficulty naming and extended script. That wouldn't be that difficult to do, could be sold full price if both games were bundled together, and would probably sell well to a newly expanded audience. Tellius had pretty bad timing for sales and deserves a second chance, with PoR coming on a basically dead system and RD on a successful system but sequel to a game few played and a niche game that didn't really fit the Wii's audience early on. Clearly there is some demand there for the prices they're going at. Awhile back I wondered if the fact that RD was one of the few first-party Wii games not to be released on Wii U eShop (Twilight Princess was another) meant they were planning to do something with it.

FE9 hard mode is about right for you. It was actually the middle difficulty in the original release, with the much harder "maniac mode" unfortunately removed from the US version and easy mode added.

It's been a long time, but I was active on FESS back in the day. Around 2008 when FESS was nearing the end of its life cycle, I basically took a long break from gaming, which I needed at the time to develop as a person. Plus the drama in the last few years could be difficult to deal with and there was one rather prominent member at the time (who I don't think is around anymore and won't publicly name) who I really didn't get along with. So for a variety of reasons I kind of walked away from both the series and the community. I'm starting to get back into FE now (though I've still revisited older games occasionally over the years), so I thought it would be fun to sign up here. Not sure how many people remember me or were even part of FESS, but @Superbus probably does.