Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)

[Alazen]

Even in Edo Japan the emperor did not practice executive power. As such, one could emphasize Mikoto's role in Hoshidan government as being a source of legitimacy and important ritual business.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Alazen

[Escape the Fate]

Hi everyone! Long time player/reader, first time poster. As someone who's dabbled a lot in creative writing and modding I've also been attempting my own rewrite/patch of sorts, and I'd love to hear some feedback on some of the ideas I've had thus far:

Please forgive me, I have no idea how to use the spoiler thing ATM.

"Both Hoshido and Nohr were originally territories of the Touma kingdom, ruled by the long-respected dragon god Anankos, who ruled Touma. Anankos communicated most of his rule through his two subordinates, sisters Mikoto and Shenmei. Hoshido and Nohr soon became prominent agriculture and industry-style nations, respectively. However, due to the lack of contact with the dragon god, the two territories began to ignore Anankos's will, infuriating him. Eventually the dragon god's frustration grew to the point where he began to revoke the gifts he originally bestowed (i.e. luscious harvests for Hoshido, vast minerals for military construction for Nohr), leading both nations to fall into hardship, with Anankos becoming so hostile that Mikoto and Shenmei were forced to flee Touma.

Each side (and the subordinates) sought a different way to deal with the dragon god. Mikoto and the Hoshido side wanted to attempt to make amends with Anankos, while Shenmei and the Nohr side wanted to destroy him. The disagreements eventually sparked into an all-out war between the nations, with generals Sumeragi and Garon leading the combat. Nohr's superior military might carried the way, but Garon's merciless and untrusting nature resulted in him often annihilating Hoshido units and territory, ending with the execution of Sumeragi, and the eventual apparent defeat of Anankos. His conquest of the territory continued until he was on the verge of killing Mikoto, before Shenmei took the fatal attack in her sister's place. A distraught Garon ended the conquest as Shenmei's last request, and the two nations forged an uneasy truce, one still lingering strong with resentment toward each other.

Garon did his best to refrain from residual outright hostility for many years, even refusing to take revenge after a Hoshidan attempt to rescue Corrin resulted in the abduction of Azura. But 20 years later, after a particularly bad harvest results in threat of widespread Nohrian starvation and Hoshido (now heavily isolationist) refusing to aid, Garon resolves the reignite his conquest of Hoshido.

Chapter 1: Rather than being locked in a citadel, Corrin has been placing himself in rigorous training to become a great warrior like his "father" and "brother".

Chapter 2: Corrin and co. meet up with Garon, who is proud of his "son" approaching the fighting level of Xander and is eager to see him in real action. His first objective will be to acquire his own specialized weapon. The legendary weapons, such as Bolverk, were forged from the dragon scales of Anankos (thereby allowing Garon to battle and defeat it in the previous war), and the weapons reside in the remains of the ruins of the Touma kingdom, which is currently Hoshido territory. The royal family traverses there and are ambushed by Rinkah and Kaze. After the battle, a lighter version of the "execution vs. no execution" scene plays out. Corrin then finds his believed-to-be-chosen weapon, the Ganglari, which Garon confirms after personally examining it.

Chapter 3: Corrin is forgiven but is warned that showing mercy can be a very dangerous thing for his own health. He is then sent on the reconnaissance mission with Ganz. Ganz is characterized as a very skilled fighter, but shady and much of his origins and past are unknown (rather than as a barbaric thief/murderer), after the victory, Ganz reveals himself as an assassin (from Touma, though he doesn't reveal this) and mortally injures Gunther, causing the Dragon Fang scene. Ganz retreats to the Touma ruins with Corrin giving chase alone, eventually disappearing across the chasm. Corrin fails to make the jump and falls, but is saved by Lilith.

Chapter 4: Much of this is unedited, except Hoshidans and especially Mikoto are much more harsh to the Nohrians and more committed to isolationism. The Faceless are still present, and are believed to be Nohrian work (though it has never been proven).

Chapter 5: Mikoto examines the Ganglari and reveals that it is not his chosen weapon, but a false one planted by the Hoshidans so they could identify and then recover Corrin. Corrin is taken back to the ruins by the Hoshidan royal family to locate his real chosen weapon, the Yato, though not before a brief skirmish with Nohrian forces. Afterwards, a similar execution scene plays out (with the Hoshidan siblings urging the execution), but Corrin persuades Mikoto to spare them, and even convinces her to offer a summit to Garon and co. in one last attempt at peace (despite the royal family's objections).

Chapter 6: At the peace summit, Corrin temporarily reunites with his stepfamily, revealing the truth of his lineage to the siblings. Garon confirms this, and says he had become attached to Corrin after capturing him and never wanted to give him up, keeping it a secret in fear of damaging their relationship. Later, at the peace summit, the Ganglari explodes, heavily wounding both Mikoto and Garon.

The Decision: While Yukimura and Iago tend to the ruler's wounds, Corrin professes his innocence to the explosion, and the siblings immediately face off.

Both sides accuse the other of orchestrating the attack and forcing Corrin into their ultimate decision.

Afterwards: If Corrin chooses one of the kingdoms, the chosen ruler will eventually be assassinated while in recovery, sparking Corrin's first dragon transformation. Each of the standard routes I want to have consist of dealing with the other kingdom's forces/allies, rather than an eventual rebellion/slime Garon in the Nohr route. As such, a now "consumed by hatred" Mikoto replaces slime Garon (wielding Skadi) as the route's final boss. The opposing ruler now wishes the total destruction of the other side, apparently consumed by anger/madness over the assassination attempt.

In Invisible Kingdom, both sides interpret Corrin's refusal to side as an implication that he is complicit in the attack, and he is forced to flee to the Touma ruins. It is then that the Yato begins pointing to the chasm, convincing him and his party to jump downward, where Anankos reveals himself as him and Azura's father, the one behind the assassination attempt, and that Mikoto and Garon have both been resurrected as his "consumed by hatred" subjects that will carry on the war at all costs. Anankos prepares to kill them, but they are saved by Lilith at the cost of her own life. The story leading up to the fight against the Invisible Kingdom is primarily fighting both sides in an attempt to convince them to join their cause (though no "can't-talk-about-it" curse is employed). Garon replaces Gunter as the boss before Anankos.

Skinship: Since Corrin is revealed as a divine dragon, any non-S rank kinship events are interpreted as him performing some kind of "blessing" on the unit in question

Invisible History: Exalt Lucina, aware of the Outrealms, decides to send the other future children out to venture through in search of other worlds in need. The "good" Anankos is killed by Lilith before he can reveal the identity of the Nohrian child in question.

A fewer other things I may want to edit if I ever get enough to make a patch of this:

• Making "Invisible Kingdom" the hardest route. Since you're siding with neither kingdom and both are your enemies, it should be the most difficult to acquire gold and experience
• Hoshido siblings are un-marriageable in their specific route. Supports focus on building familial bonds.
• Nohr siblings are marriageable in their specific route, but their entire supports focus on their new relationship as non-siblings, to avoid the awkwardness of three seemingly familial conversations suddenly turning romantic
• Hoshido siblings are marriageable in the Invisible Kingdom route (Corrin reveals his non-blood relation as soon as they are recruited) with the supports now following a similar subject path to the Nohr sibling support I just described above. Azura is non-marriageable (again with supports focus on building familial bonds)
• All characters are recruitable and stay long term (no canon deaths) on Invisible Kingdom, Iago recruitable in Nohr route.
• Children characters are only recruitable after completing the route. They're treated as a future out realm/bonus characters that come after the epilogue/endgame."

So overall, I wanted to make both kingdoms a little more "gray": make the "almost irredeemably evil" characters like Garon and Iago more noble and vice versa (i.e. maybe the refuted translation of Ryoma withholding Elise's medicine a reality).

Either way, I'd love to hear feedback on what I've got so far! It's been tough to think of scenarios that make sense, and I've been brainstorming so much I'm pretty sure I've forgotten other things I've thought up. Don't hold back!

[Alazen]

Well, you do seem to have tried to make Hydra better integrated into the narrative. And it looks you've toned down Nohr's ''evilness'' and muddied Hoshido.

What do you plan to do with Aqua? In case you haven't noticed she's not really much of a character. Felicia pales next to Flora so I would like to know how you'll address that.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Alazen

[TheWerdna]

Well, you do seem to have tried to make Hydra better integrated into the narrative. And it looks you've toned down Nohr's ''evilness'' and muddied Hoshido.

What do you plan to do with Aqua? In case you haven't noticed she's not really much of a character. Felicia pales next to Flora so I would like to know how you'll address that.

I'd think the best way to fix Aqua would be to one: reduce the amount of exposition dumping she does and instead have her ability to enter the (and do stuff related to) the Indivisible Kingdom used to help you discover what's really going on (Rather than her just telling you it. Two: Have her be more conflicted between her loyalties. Have it so few people outside the Hoshdio royals treated her well, so she's seen the bad side to the Hoshdio, but also she remembers the bad parts of the Nohr too.

Invisible History: Exalt Lucina, aware of the Outrealms, decides to send the other future children out to venture through in search of other worlds in need. The "good" Anankos is killed by Lilith before he can reveal the identity of the Nohrian child in question.

I take it you would be having these three be the Future Past versions rather than the Awakening versions?

Edited September 3, 2015 by TheWerdna

[Escape the Fate]

Well, you do seem to have tried to make Hydra better integrated into the narrative. And it looks you've toned down Nohr's ''evilness'' and muddied Hoshido.

What do you plan to do with Aqua? In case you haven't noticed she's not really much of a character. Felicia pales next to Flora so I would like to know how you'll address that.

Yes, Azura's been one of the toughest for me to figure. For some time I almost wanted her to only appear as an ally on the third path, in otherwards choosing her side based on the same reasons Corrin chooses theirs. As of now, though she is an ally that feels a strange connection between them during his time in Hoshido (I want to extend the timeline he's there a good amount longer since the conquest has not actually occurred yet), and because she is slightly older than him and has more memories of both kingdoms, she is not one to hold a seemingly unbreakable hatred toward the other side, and thus whatever side Corrin chooses she can sympathize with (with Invisible Kingdom she doesn't have the bias and, like Corrin, can realize that what is happening doesn't add up). Later on, she can recognize more easily the character changes in the rulers after the "unsuccessful" assassination attempt. I like what TheWerdna's brought up for this.

Felicia, with other "quirky" characters, I want to tone down so said quirk doesn't dominate any of their scenes/supports. I want to present her atm as a foil to Kaze. The Ice Tribe are long-time allies of Nohr. Flora's loyalty resides with the kingdom, while Felicia, originally similar, has become attached to Corrin rather than the kingdom itself.

I'd think the best way to fix Aqua would be to one: reduce the amount of exposition dumping she does and instead have her ability to enter the (and do stuff related to) the Indivisible Kingdom used to help you discover what's really going on (Rather than her just telling you it. Two: Have her be more conflicted between her loyalties. Have it so few people outside the Hoshdio royals treated her well, so she's seen the bad side to the Hoshdio, but also she remembers the bad parts of the Nohr too.

I take it you would be having these three be the Future Past versions rather than the Awakening versions?

Yup. After Chrom's party saves them and the Risen have been reduced to a few stragglers/eliminated entirely, Lucina wants to basically return the favor by helping other worlds in need. Thus, there wouldn't be worry of disrupting pairings formed in Awakening. I'd have the Amiibo Lucina battle reference the Einherjar saga, with the three noting the Amiibo as a reflection of her, rather than her herself.

[Alazen]

Alright, here's a pitch for a rewritten Fates:

Some Key Differences

Kamui's Parentage: Kamui is not Hydra's birth child. He is the 2nd child of Mikoto and Sumeragi.

-Warrant: The reveal that Kamui isn't Sumeragi's birth child is blatantly an excuse to let Kamui marry from both sets of siblings.

2nd Gen: There is no 2nd Gen. Nor is there a Secluded Realm.

-Warrant: Fates' 2nd Gen manages to be even less significant than Awakening's. It's embarrassingly obvious that Fates' 2nd Gen was shoehorned due to the presence of a 2nd Gen in Awakening. The Secluded Realm serves as an excuse for the children to all be of fighting age without including a timeskip or time travel.

Awakening Returnees: ​None beyond cameos that are treated as such.

-Warrant: The Invisible Kingdom has failed to address the presence of the Awakening characters in a way that doesn't drag down the setting.

Character Consolidation: Ryoma and Hinoka have been merged into one elder Hoshidan sibling, Elise and Sakura into one younger Nohr sibling. Felicia and Flora are one servant from the Ice Tribe.

-Warrant: Of all their problems, the royal sisters suffer from a lack of significance for how close they supposedly are to Kamui. In particular, Hinoka's crowning moments include seeing through a disguise and Kamui pretending to slay her. Flora is noticeably more significant with a certainly more rounded characterization than Felicia.

Backstory

Long ago, the continent was ruled by dragons. These beings were the lords of creation, capable of both wonder and terror. Both the indigenous humans (see Rinka) and settlers or imports from outside dragon lands were treated as trusted servants at best. The continent was split among the dragons, who in their warring used deadly magic (so deadly that what is now Nohr was turned into the the rugged land it is today). Between warfare and a die-off, the dragons were fading from the continent. Before the time of the dragons came to an end, a few humans deemed worthy were granted blood pacts and knowledge of dragon institutions.

In the time of man, the continent was split. In the East, the royal line was based in Hoshido and served a role more akin to the Pope than the Roman Emperors. The East was for most of its recorded human history never united. In the West, the royal line of Hoshido managed to get a position of executive power over the descendants of settlers and imports. The East's bounty made it a target for invasion from Western forces, whose success varied.

Derailment came when a man named Sumeragi went on a conquest of the East. Those he didn't conquer were convinced or coerced into a position of deference (see Rinka's people). Being unsure of whether he could succeed, he searched for anything that would let him do so. And then along came Hydra.

Hydra had been hiding out in the Invisible Kingdom, keeping watch over the former lands of the dragons. Resolving to lead humanity away from its darkness since it needed a father's hand, he goes to the East where he travels around until he comes across Sumeragi. Learning of his accomplishments and having already figured the East needs to be unified, he convinced Sumeragi he was trustworthy and offered him a blood pact for power. Driven to succeed, Sumeragi accepted it. This gave Sumeragi the edge to finish his conquest.

Sumeragi caught the eye of Mikoto, then the current heavenly sovereign of Hoshido. The two were wed, which granted Sumeragi the legitimacy to hold his winnings. They had 3 children, Hinoka, Kamui, and Takumi. While both Hinoka and Takumi carried the dragonic blood of one parent, Kamui was born with both at once (which you can see from his looks). Kamui's looks were claimed to be a sign of divinity, which led to Sumeragi doting on him when he was available.

Sumeragi's homeland was at the forefront when it came to combating Western invaders and this carried over into Sumeragi's rule from Hoshido. Seeing a way to strengthen Hoshido and keep on a Western leash, he ordered tariffs on trade towards the West unless noted otherwise.

Sumeragi takes his apparent favorite Kamui with him to Chevalier, possibly as a way to show his link to divinity. Sumeragi is assassinated at Chevalier (I came up with a scenario close if not the same as yours, NekoKnight. My apologies if this is a problem) thanks to Chevalier's leadership cutting a deal with Garon for them to maintain their current government if they aid in slaying Sumeragi. Soon after Sumeragi's death, a small child identified as Sumeragi's is found. Noticing Kamui's looks, Garon decides to take the child back with him to Nohr.

Mikoto is devastated at the news of Sumeragi's death and Kamui's disappearance. The meeting dealing with the subject goes with maintaining the Western tariffs and working to counter Nohrian influence.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Alazen

[Thane]

Just got back from a short Japanese google trip, and I quickly learned what "糞ゲー" means after searching for Fire Emblem If: "shit game". Now I don't know how big these sites are, but they were filled to the brim with comments complaining about the story, as far as I understood during my limited time there.

I also noted that it's the only Fire Emblem game to have below four stars on Japanese Amazon, but I've heard you're not supposed to take those reviews too seriously. Regardless, I think it was interesting to share, since I and several others have been asking about the Japanese fanbase's opinion.

[The DanMan]

Just got back from a short Japanese google trip, and I quickly learned what "糞ゲー" means after searching for Fire Emblem If: "shit game". Now I don't know how big these sites are, but they were filled to the brim with comments complaining about the story, as far as I understood during my limited time there.

I also noted that it's the only Fire Emblem game to have below four stars on Japanese Amazon, but I've heard you're not supposed to take those reviews too seriously. Regardless, I think it was interesting to share, since I and several others have been asking about the Japanese fanbase's opinion.

That's pretty unsurprising. The debates over the amount of fanservice (and other things) pre-release, if some of the people who know Japanese here are to be believed, were mirrored on both veteran sides of the fandom.

And as for Japanese Amazon; a game having over three stars is an achievement. For example, Monster Hunter 4 G/Ultimate has a whopping 1.5 stars on there; I'm amazed FE14 isn't much lower (last time I checked, Bloodborne was the only other recent major release holding out at 3.5).

[Thane]

That's pretty unsurprising. The debates over the amount of fanservice (and other things) pre-release, if some of the people who know Japanese here are to be believed, were mirrored on both veteran sides of the fandom.

And as for Japanese Amazon; a game having over three stars is an achievement. For example, Monster Hunter 4 G/Ultimate has a whopping 1.5 stars on there; I'm amazed FE14 isn't much lower (last time I checked, Bloodborne was the only other recent major release holding out at 3.5).

I hardly think veterans of the series are the only ones complaining; I'm not one, and I'm pretty appalled - I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Camilla's sibling pre-fight cutscene. It does make me happy to hear a lot of people are complaining about it though, especially over there, since it'll probably prompt Intelligent Systems to tone the fan service down for the next game.

Ah, I see. I never use Amazon, and this was my first visit to the Japanese site, so I didn't know about that. It's completely irrelevant, then.

This leaves me wondering though...they tried so damn hard to write a good story this time and failed on every level; what will they say when hyping up Fire Emblem 15? They might be able to ignore Western fans but I don't think they can ignore their domestic market, which appears to be about as disappointed as we are.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Thane

[Sunwoo]

I like waffles.

I also liked it better when IS wasn't trying to please everyone. I blame Kamui.

[Thane]

I like waffles.

I also liked it better when IS wasn't trying to please everyone. I blame Kamui.

IS: "See all those pretty people? You can bone EVERYONE!"

Costumer: "Hot diggity! Even my siblings?"

IS: "ESPECIALLY your siblings!"

[Sunwoo]

Being able to marry your siblings is a big part of the "tried to please everyone" thing, but I also think that if Kamui wasn't a self-insert and just a standard lord the game would be less afraid to call them out on their shit. In a way, I feel that Kamui limited the game's potential because IS didn't want to accidentally offend the players by making people not like Kamui or by making him not seem "good" or whatever.

[Taka-kun]

Just got back from a short Japanese google trip, and I quickly learned what "糞ゲー" means after searching for Fire Emblem If: "shit game". Now I don't know how big these sites are, but they were filled to the brim with comments complaining about the story, as far as I understood during my limited time there.

I also noted that it's the only Fire Emblem game to have below four stars on Japanese Amazon, but I've heard you're not supposed to take those reviews too seriously. Regardless, I think it was interesting to share, since I and several others have been asking about the Japanese fanbase's opinion.

Well, that's more confirmation that the Japanese also think the story is utter crap, but did you manage to find anything specific?

[Alazen]

Being able to marry your siblings is a big part of the "tried to please everyone" thing, but I also think that if Kamui wasn't a self-insert and just a standard lord the game would be less afraid to call them out on their shit. In a way, I feel that Kamui limited the game's potential because IS didn't want to accidentally offend the players by making people not like Kamui or by making him not seem "good" or whatever.

Chrom wasn't really scrutinized in Awakening and he's a ''standard Lord''. You had foes like Gangrel or Walhart point out their similarities to Chrom, but Chrom brushes off what they say. Chrom even ditches Plegia after Gangrel's defeat leading to Grima's top lackey sitting on the throne, and at no point in Awakening does anybody point out that just might have been a poor choice in policy.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Alazen

[NekoKnight]

Alright, here's a pitch for a rewritten Fates:

Some Key Differences

Kamui's Parentage: Kamui is not Hydra's birth child. He is the 2nd child of Mikoto and Sumeragi.

-Warrant: The reveal that Kamui isn't Sumeragi's birth child is blatantly an excuse to let Kamui marry from both sets of siblings.

2nd Gen: There is no 2nd Gen. Nor is there a Secluded Realm.

-Warrant: Fates' 2nd Gen manages to be even less significant than Awakening's. It's embarrassingly obvious that Fates' 2nd Gen was shoehorned due to the presence of a 2nd Gen in Awakening. The Secluded Realm serves as an excuse for the children to all be of fighting age without including a timeskip or time travel.

Awakening Returnees: ​None beyond cameos that are treated as such.

-Warrant: The Invisible Kingdom has failed to address the presence of the Awakening characters in a way that doesn't drag down the setting.

Character Consolidation: Ryoma and Hinoka have been merged into one elder Hoshidan sibling, Elise and Sakura into one younger Nohr sibling. Felicia and Flora are one servant from the Ice Tribe.

-Warrant: Of all their problems, the royal sisters suffer from a lack of significance for how close they supposedly are to Kamui. In particular, Hinoka's crowning moments include seeing through a disguise and Kamui pretending to slay her. Flora is noticeably more significant with a certainly more rounded characterization than Felicia.

Backstory

Long ago, the continent was ruled by dragons. These beings were the lords of creation, capable of both wonder and terror. Both the indigenous humans (see Rinka) and settlers or imports from outside dragon lands were treated as trusted servants at best. The continent was split among the dragons, who in their warring used deadly magic (so deadly that what is now Nohr was turned into the the rugged land it is today). Between warfare and a die-off, the dragons were fading from the continent. Before the time of the dragons came to an end, a few humans deemed worthy were granted blood pacts and knowledge of dragon institutions.

I'm making most of those changes minus the consolidation of the sibling characters. For my story, I'm giving Hinoka more stuff to do, although Sakura will remain a more minor character. Also, I might include some of the second gen characters without any time-warping shenanigans like Lutz being the present day son of Harold.

I don't want to have Hydra or Touma involved so I think I'll borrow just the first part of your backstory.

Hi everyone! Long time player/reader, first time poster. As someone who's dabbled a lot in creative writing and modding I've also been attempting my own rewrite/patch of sorts, and I'd love to hear some feedback on some of the ideas I've had thus far:

Please forgive me, I have no idea how to use the spoiler thing ATM.

"Both Hoshido and Nohr were originally territories of the Touma kingdom, ruled by the long-respected dragon god Anankos, who ruled Touma. Anankos communicated most of his rule through his two subordinates, sisters Mikoto and Shenmei. Hoshido and Nohr soon became prominent agriculture and industry-style nations, respectively. However, due to the lack of contact with the dragon god, the two territories began to ignore Anankos's will, infuriating him. Eventually the dragon god's frustration grew to the point where he began to revoke the gifts he originally bestowed (i.e. luscious harvests for Hoshido, vast minerals for military construction for Nohr), leading both nations to fall into hardship, with Anankos becoming so hostile that Mikoto and Shenmei were forced to flee Touma.

Each side (and the subordinates) sought a different way to deal with the dragon god. Mikoto and the Hoshido side wanted to attempt to make amends with Anankos, while Shenmei and the Nohr side wanted to destroy him. The disagreements eventually sparked into an all-out war between the nations, with generals Sumeragi and Garon leading the combat. Nohr's superior military might carried the way, but Garon's merciless and untrusting nature resulted in him often annihilating Hoshido units and territory, ending with the execution of Sumeragi, and the eventual apparent defeat of Anankos. His conquest of the territory continued until he was on the verge of killing Mikoto, before Shenmei took the fatal attack in her sister's place. A distraught Garon ended the conquest as Shenmei's last request, and the two nations forged an uneasy truce, one still lingering strong with resentment toward each other.

Garon did his best to refrain from residual outright hostility for many years, even refusing to take revenge after a Hoshidan attempt to rescue Corrin resulted in the abduction of Azura. But 20 years later, after a particularly bad harvest results in threat of widespread Nohrian starvation and Hoshido (now heavily isolationist) refusing to aid, Garon resolves the reignite his conquest of Hoshido.

Hmm, this background seems awfully convoluted. I have to ask a few questions:

Why does Anankos rule indirectly (out of sight) when it would be easy to do it in person?

How would Mikoto and Shenmei forget about Anankos if they take orders from him?

Did the rise and fall of Hoshido/Nohr happen within the lifespans of Mikoto and Shenmei? That's a really short time frame.

Why would Shenmei take the killing blow in Mikoto's place? Isn't she in charge of Nohr? Can't she just end the war herself?

Why was Kamui captured in the first place?

Chapter 1: Rather than being locked in a citadel, Corrin has been placing himself in rigorous training to become a great warrior like his "father" and "brother".

Chapter 2: Corrin and co. meet up with Garon, who is proud of his "son" approaching the fighting level of Xander and is eager to see him in real action. His first objective will be to acquire his own specialized weapon. The legendary weapons, such as Bolverk, were forged from the dragon scales of Anankos (thereby allowing Garon to battle and defeat it in the previous war), and the weapons reside in the remains of the ruins of the Touma kingdom, which is currently Hoshido territory. The royal family traverses there and are ambushed by Rinkah and Kaze. After the battle, a lighter version of the "execution vs. no execution" scene plays out. Corrin then finds his believed-to-be-chosen weapon, the Ganglari, which Garon confirms after personally examining it.

Chapter 3: Corrin is forgiven but is warned that showing mercy can be a very dangerous thing for his own health. He is then sent on the reconnaissance mission with Ganz. Ganz is characterized as a very skilled fighter, but shady and much of his origins and past are unknown (rather than as a barbaric thief/murderer), after the victory, Ganz reveals himself as an assassin (from Touma, though he doesn't reveal this) and mortally injures Gunther, causing the Dragon Fang scene. Ganz retreats to the Touma ruins with Corrin giving chase alone, eventually disappearing across the chasm. Corrin fails to make the jump and falls, but is saved by Lilith.

Chapter 4: Much of this is unedited, except Hoshidans and especially Mikoto are much more harsh to the Nohrians and more committed to isolationism. The Faceless are still present, and are believed to be Nohrian work (though it has never been proven).

Chapter 5: Mikoto examines the Ganglari and reveals that it is not his chosen weapon, but a false one planted by the Hoshidans so they could identify and then recover Corrin. Corrin is taken back to the ruins by the Hoshidan royal family to locate his real chosen weapon, the Yato, though not before a brief skirmish with Nohrian forces. Afterwards, a similar execution scene plays out (with the Hoshidan siblings urging the execution), but Corrin persuades Mikoto to spare them, and even convinces her to offer a summit to Garon and co. in one last attempt at peace (despite the royal family's objections).

Chapter 6: At the peace summit, Corrin temporarily reunites with his stepfamily, revealing the truth of his lineage to the siblings. Garon confirms this, and says he had become attached to Corrin after capturing him and never wanted to give him up, keeping it a secret in fear of damaging their relationship. Later, at the peace summit, the Ganglari explodes, heavily wounding both Mikoto and Garon.

The Decision: While Yukimura and Iago tend to the ruler's wounds, Corrin professes his innocence to the explosion, and the siblings immediately face off.

Both sides accuse the other of orchestrating the attack and forcing Corrin into their ultimate decision.

Afterwards: If Corrin chooses one of the kingdoms, the chosen ruler will eventually be assassinated while in recovery, sparking Corrin's first dragon transformation. Each of the standard routes I want to have consist of dealing with the other kingdom's forces/allies, rather than an eventual rebellion/slime Garon in the Nohr route. As such, a now "consumed by hatred" Mikoto replaces slime Garon (wielding Skadi) as the route's final boss. The opposing ruler now wishes the total destruction of the other side, apparently consumed by anger/madness over the assassination attempt.

More questions/comments:

Shouldn't Touma be Nohrian territory considering Nohr's past victory over Hoshido?

Who does Kamui spare in Chapter 5?

Why does Anankos try to kill off his own children?

Skinship: Since Corrin is revealed as a divine dragon, any non-S rank kinship events are interpreted as him performing some kind of "blessing" on the unit in question

Invisible History: Exalt Lucina, aware of the Outrealms, decides to send the other future children out to venture through in search of other worlds in need. The "good" Anankos is killed by Lilith before he can reveal the identity of the Nohrian child in question.

A fewer other things I may want to edit if I ever get enough to make a patch of this:

• Hoshido siblings are un-marriageable in their specific route. Supports focus on building familial bonds.
• Nohr siblings are marriageable in their specific route, but their entire supports focus on their new relationship as non-siblings, to avoid the awkwardness of three seemingly familial conversations suddenly turning romantic
• Hoshido siblings are marriageable in the Invisible Kingdom route (Corrin reveals his non-blood relation as soon as they are recruited) with the supports now following a similar subject path to the Nohr sibling support I just described above. Azura is non-marriageable (again with supports focus on building familial bonds)

So overall, I wanted to make both kingdoms a little more "gray": make the "almost irredeemably evil" characters like Garon and Iago more noble and vice versa (i.e. maybe the refuted translation of Ryoma withholding Elise's medicine a reality).

The Invisible History plot ought to be reworked to make it more significant. It only serves as a shoddy way of explaining the Awakening cameos, all the while making it seem like they forgot about their mission in the actual game.

The marriage to siblings is pretty shaky. I presume Kamui spent most of his life with his Nohrian family so I don't see how you could have a smooth transition from sibling to romantic relationships. Hoshido is more believable, however. It's funny to think that Kamui could unknowingly marry his half sister in the Hoshido and Nohr routes.

The last comment I have is about how you would frame Kamui's choice. Why would he choose Hoshido over Nohr and vice versa?

Edited September 4, 2015 by NekoKnight

[Alazen]

In case you're wondering what I'm going for with keeping Hydra and Touma in the narrative, then I'll say that I'm using Hydra as an analogue to Naga. My rewrite's dragon focused backstory is supposed to be a spin of the backstory of Archanea's dragons. Except the backstory starts off with the dragons already having mankind under their thumb.

[Thane]

Well, that's more confirmation that the Japanese also think the story is utter crap, but did you manage to find anything specific?

I'm afraid I wouldn't understand enough of the details to translate it to English in case I misunderstood anything; I don't want to hate or spread negativity for no reason. That said, I did see charming, more unambiguous messages such as "Oi, Kibayashi, it's your fucking (damn?) story's fault Fire Emblem became a shit game" or something along those lines, I've got no experience translating from Japanese.

I might take a longer look tomorrow and see if I can find any common complaints, but don't count on it, since I'm not confident at all in my Japanese skills.

[Alazen]

You could just post a link or two for other posters to look through if willing.

[FrostyFireMage]

I'm afraid I wouldn't understand enough of the details to translate it to English in case I misunderstood anything; I don't want to hate or spread negativity for no reason. That said, I did see charming, more unambiguous messages such as "Oi, Kibayashi, it's your fucking (damn?) story's fault Fire Emblem became a shit game" or something along those lines, I've got no experience translating from Japanese.

I might take a longer look tomorrow and see if I can find any common complaints, but don't count on it, since I'm not confident at all in my Japanese skills.

Sounds more like an "Unpleasable Fanbase' thing than anything seeing as how they aren't giving reasons why it's bad

Edited September 4, 2015 by FrostyFireMage

[Mighty Kamina]

Apologies if this has been posted on this thread before, but since I can't find the route summaries in this thread I may as well post them here, as I feel they would help with discussion, especially if some of the people in this thread don't even know what happens in FE14's story and are just going off what they have heard:

Hoshido: https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/fire-emblem-fates-hoshido-story-summary/

Nohr: https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/fire-emblem-fates-nohr-story-summary-ongoing/

Invisible Kingdom: https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/fire-emblem-fates-invisible-kingdom-story-summary/

My thoughts on FE14's plot? I enjoyed all three of them more than most FE plots, but I hold most FE plots in low regards.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Monado Boy

[Water Mage]

I'm afraid I wouldn't understand enough of the details to translate it to English in case I misunderstood anything; I don't want to hate or spread negativity for no reason. That said, I did see charming, more unambiguous messages such as "Oi, Kibayashi, it's your fucking (damn?) story's fault Fire Emblem became a shit game" or something along those lines, I've got no experience translating from Japanese.

I might take a longer look tomorrow and see if I can find any common complaints, but don't count on it, since I'm not confident at all in my Japanese skills.

I wouldn't use the japanese fanbase as an example. Japanese fans are very hard to please, and they loooove to complain, just like any fanbase, really.

The fact that they didn't like the story, and are complaining about it online doesn't surprise one bit.

Why do you think most games on japanese amazon hardly ever get more that a 3 stars rating?

[Taka-kun]

Am I having the misconception that Japanese fans in general don't like intricate stories? From what I can tell, they absolutely love this "hero vs evil dragon" thing, which was prevalent in FE1 and FE3, while we in the west like FE4 and FE5 for its intricate plot, human failings and grey morality? Of course, there are always fans of both camps but I thought one of the reasons IS still forcefully shove this dragon thing in is because Japanese fans love it and they are more important than us.

[Sunwoo]

Chrom wasn't really scrutinized in Awakening and he's a ''standard Lord''. You had foes like Gangrel or Walhart point out their similarities to Chrom, but Chrom brushes off what they say. Chrom even ditches Plegia after Gangrel's defeat leading to Grima's top lackey sitting on the throne, and at no point in Awakening does anybody point out that just might have been a poor choice in policy.

And a number of players whined about that as well. The thing about Kamui is that his actions in Nohr are far less justified than Chrom's actions in Awakening, AND (here's the big one) people didn't worship Chrom. At the most, they just didn't really pay attention to his stupidity and bad decisions and went along with it. Kamui is either outright praised or "comforted" for making bad decisions.

[Water Mage]

Am I having the misconception that Japanese fans in general don't like intricate stories? From what I can tell, they absolutely love this "hero vs evil dragon" thing, which was prevalent in FE1 and FE3, while we in the west like FE4 and FE5 for its intricate plot, human failings and grey morality? Of course, there are always fans of both camps but I thought one of the reasons IS still forcefully shove this dragon thing in is because Japanese fans love it and they are more important than us.

From what I've heard, they really prefer a classic "good vs evil" story.

Which is not really a bad thing, I've said this before but sometimes a "good vs evil" story is better than a story that tries too hard to be dark and edgy, i.e. Shadow the Hedgehog.

Really, sometimes adding realism to a story only makes it worse.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Water Mage

[artishe]

Since we're linking things for people... A friend of mine is translating the Nohr plotline + Gaidens (as in word for word dialogue) for non-Japanese readers and posting them on wordpress. Someone else is doing the Hoshido route, too. They've even kept the Japanese right there so you can translate yourself and/or double check them (though she's a fab translator. You're in good hands!) if you want. Reading the main plot (if you haven't already) I'm sure will help too.

Like the person who posted the route summaries just said, I, too, enjoyed FE14 more than anything else in the series, though I also have a lower standard for FE plots as well.

Edit: Thinking on it, there were only a handful of moments that struck me as overtly poor writing, and overall I thought the game had a serviceable storyline, at the very least. More emotionally compelling than previous FE installments. It seemed like there was more wasted potential than anything else.

Edited September 5, 2015 by artishe