Was the Radiant Dawn planned to be a sequel?

[Taser9090]

So far, I've beaten the Tellius series and I love it far better than the other FE games I've played.

Nintendo always decides to stop distributing Fire Emblem games after 3 years for some reason, so that's the reason why they're so hard to get a hold of and why I'm a noob to the series.

So my question is, was Path of Radiance originally planned to have a sequel? Like, did they announce there was a sequel to come before the release of PoR, or did people just speculate that there was going to be a sequel?

I mean, if they didn't plan on releasing a sequel to PoR at first, then they did a really good job fitting those story pieces together. But if they didn't, meh.

Edited October 28, 2012 by Taser9090

[SgtSmilies]

Certain things in the game files indicate it. The Black Knight has the exact same growths as the unused Zelgius, for instance.

[ClLoulD]

You would assume so because there were so many unanswered questions left in the first game, I would think they left it open for a sequel and then wanted to see how the sales came in before working on a sequel though, In my opinion PoR without the explanation of radiant dawn was great anyway.

[VincentASM]

Nintendo didn't state Path of Radiance was going to have a sequel at the time, but when Radiant Dawn was announced, they mentioned this in an interview:

Of course, when Path of Radiance was released, we felt that we had finally returned to the home consoles, and thus naturally had no intention of ending the story with only one title. Instead we kept on expanding the game’s grand world. That’s why, to release the next game as close to the Wii’s launch as possible, the development of the next game was commenced straight after Path of Radiance came out.

Narihiro: If I remember correctly, the development began in May 2005, so all in all, the game took about two years to make.

Not to mention the loose ends (the Black Knight's identity and who Sothe is searching for). Yune and Ashunera's names also appear in the game files, so they obvious had some vague ideas about Tellius's true history at the time of Path of Radiance.

Edited October 28, 2012 by VincentASM

[Samias]

I would believe Radiant Dawn was planned as a sequel, but IS was careful enough not to make their plot threads too overt in Path of Radiance, just in case Radiant Dawn couldn't be made into a game for any myriad of reasons. Not only does Sephiran warn at the end of the game that there will be more war to come out of Ike's idealism, Sothe is searching for a girl (Micaiah) and over the course of the story, sees some friends in Daein (the Dawn Brigade). Bertram looked suspiciously like Renning but they did not explore Bertram in detail. There was just a lot of material that was subtly left to form a sequel with, but wouldn't harm the integrity of the game if they weren't filled.

[Hawk King]

It always seemed to me that they wanted to make PoR longer but they just didnt have the time or disc space to fit it all in so they cut it short and left those loose ends to allow for a sequal. The ending of Radient Dawn felt like it could have fit at the end of PoR as well.

My reasoning for this:

-Sephiran and his Mantle skill in Chp 10. Mantle is very prominent at the end of RD.

-Zelgius, Leanne, and other RD charters having stats and growth rates on the PoR disc.

-Ashera and Yune are also in the game data.

-Sothe doesnt promote.

-The title screen of PoR shows the Tower of Guidance? (I forget its name the Tower that Ashera sleeps in) Despite it never being refered to or mentioned in the game.

[Taser9090]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the replies, guys, it's clearer now. I should've known earlier, it was really obvious.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Yeah it was totes planned. I got that impression upon beating the game for the first time. Reasons:

We didnt find out who the BK was and his true motives. His motives were ambiguous even if it did look like he was working for Ashnard.

Sothe doesnt promote. Not just naturally like the other units, but at all. He cannot promote despite coming with a skill like Blossom.

Soren's little storyline about the Branded was left unresolved.

Sanaki's Begnion issues were also not quite resolved.

We didnt find out Naesala's whole deal and why the hell did he align with Daein to begin with. "Advancing Kilvas" is not good enough.

Dheginsea's whole deal was also left hanging. Nasir and Ena's subplot was not entirely wrapped up. While Ena does find Rajaion at the end, we do not know wtf he was doing in Daein in the first place.

The real story of the Medallion. Yeah that was SO not resolved. Ashnard died, yeah but come on. That MacGuffin is still unexplained.

Who the fuck was Lehran?

Wtf Sephiran? Srsly, wtf Sephiran? At the end of PoR, he gets HELLA cryptic and foreboding and its like "dude wtf do you mean by THAT??"

Sothe's unresolved little quest. (to be honest, i didnt even pay attention because Sothe was such a non-issue with me...)

No paired endings and epilogue roll like the other games.

And of course, all that technical hoohah that the community uncovered. Like Zelgius/BK stuff and yeah.

So yeah i was like "dude...sequel time!"

[BrightBow]

-The title screen of PoR shows the Tower of Guidance? (I forget its name the Tower that Ashera sleeps in) Despite it never being refered to or mentioned in the game.

Actually, it was.

From the narration of chapter 14:

The upper class of Begnion society live lives of pampered comfort and luxury. Known as the Sainted, these elite power brokers reside in massive temple-like homes whose spires dominate the skyline. The Guiding Tower overlooks all from the heart of the city. Here, Ashera holds her vigil, watching over the world. Surrounding the tower is a series of temples, both large and small, placed in an orderly, systematic fashion.One temple, however, is conspicuously larger than the others. It is the grand temple Mainal, home to the apostle. Ike and his company, used to the freedoms of Crimea, find the differences in culture and custom to be very confusing.

Guiding Tower - Tower of Guidance, same thing. The localizations were a bit inconsistent. Just ask Kysha and his half-brother Kyza, for example.

They definitely did a remarkable good job, setting up a sequel.

However, something that was never mentioned after PoR was the "dirge of ruin". The forbidden song, which Reyson wanted to sing in chapter 17.

It feels kinda odd that it was never addressed again since we never even found out what it actually does. But seeing how Tibarn reacted, it must be quite something.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Hey good point about the Dirge of Ruin. A gnarly galdr would have been pretty cool to explore....

[Anouleth]

It's pretty typical for Fire Emblems to have a sequel or follow up game. FE1, FE4, and FE6 all had games that followed up on the previous title and expanded the universe: even if not necessarily as a sequel.

[Hawk King]

Ok I guess the Tower was mentioned but why is it shown in the title screen? It was a very small mention of it.

[Taser9090]

I don't mean to interrupt but I have another question.

I didn't want this sub-series to end, so I read more about.

[spoiler=Also FE7 spoiler]I find out that it's possible for Boyd and Mist to get married. I've always thought in PoR that Boyd was about 18ish and Mist was 13ish. daa heeeelll

Though it's not as awkward as when Sothe marries Micaiah or Nino from FE7 marrying Jaffar. Seriously, Nino and Sothe were children when they met Jaffar and Micaiah (respectively), but Jaffar and Micaiah were most likely over 20 at that time.

Is there an approximate age for Boyd and Mist? I mean, I was expecting Mist and Rolf, but Mist and Boyd? o.o

Marriages in Fire Emblem sure are... strange.

[eclipse]

Given what Mist says about Boyd's clothes, I'd put him at more like 16. They could also wait several years before marrying.

[ClLoulD]

I don't mean to interrupt but I have another question.

I didn't want this sub-series to end, so I read more about.

[spoiler=Also FE7 spoiler]I find out that it's possible for Boyd and Mist to get married. I've always thought in PoR that Boyd was about 18ish and Mist was 13ish. daa heeeelll

Though it's not as awkward as when Sothe marries Micaiah or Nino from FE7 marrying Jaffar. Seriously, Nino and Sothe were children when they met Jaffar and Micaiah (respectively), but Jaffar and Micaiah were most likely over 20 at that time.

Is there an approximate age for Boyd and Mist? I mean, I was expecting Mist and Rolf, but Mist and Boyd? o.o

Marriages in Fire Emblem sure are... strange.

It's hard to tell Micaiah's real age because she is one of the branded and I believe they age differently, also I think these games were set in around 460 BC or AD but in the Mist and Boyd case it was quite normal for children of 13 or 14 to get married, using Shakespears Romeo and Juliet for example, Juliet would only have been around 13 or 14 at that time when she wanted to marry Romeo and when her parents wanted her to wed Paris instead. A little off-topic but I thought I would just use an example to show the difference in culture between what we consider normal and what was considered normal generations ago.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Boyd seemed about Ike's age. Give or take a year. Mist was like, 14 in PoR. They dont get married until after RD. Mist was about 17 in that game and Boyd around 20ish. Not that weird.

[bottlegnomes]

I don't mean to interrupt but I have another question.

I didn't want this sub-series to end, so I read more about.

[spoiler=Also FE7 spoiler]I find out that it's possible for Boyd and Mist to get married. I've always thought in PoR that Boyd was about 18ish and Mist was 13ish. daa heeeelll

Though it's not as awkward as when Sothe marries Micaiah or Nino from FE7 marrying Jaffar. Seriously, Nino and Sothe were children when they met Jaffar and Micaiah (respectively), but Jaffar and Micaiah were most likely over 20 at that time.

Is there an approximate age for Boyd and Mist? I mean, I was expecting Mist and Rolf, but Mist and Boyd? o.o

Marriages in Fire Emblem sure are... strange.

IIRC, Mist was 15 in PoR and Boyd 18. So that's 18 and 21 in RD, which isn't bad at all.

For Jaffar and Nino, Nino is 14. Jaffar is probably about 18. I forget where that comes from, but it's a fairly reasonable guess. The game never says they were married immediately after FE7. Plus, Lugh and Ray look to be about Roy's age, so 15ish, which means there was potentially five years before they got married. In that case, Nino would be 19 and Jaffar 23, again, not too unreasonable.

As for Sothe and Miccy, like people have said, Miccy is branded, so there's no way to tell. But it's not like Sothe is exactly a kid in RD, so the age difference doesn't really matter. This is true in real life, too. Age gaps matter less the older you get. Plus, there's no age gap by appearances. Sothe actually benefits, since when he's old, Miccy will still look fairly young

Edited October 29, 2012 by bottlegnomes

[Dr. Silent]

I think a sequel was planned, but more due to lack of disk space and whatnot rather than "let's see how well this one does and if it does well enough, we'll make a sequel!" As far as the story of both games go, it would have been better if PoR was longer and explained the majority of what would become the unsolved mysteries of the game (Black Knight/Zelgius, Bertram/Renning, Micaiah, amongst others...although the Dark God should have remained ambiguous). These PoR 'plot-holes' were clearly more thought out, and better, than the rest of RD's plot (which started out quite well with Parts 1 & 2 but after that regressed into over-the-top averageness that could best be described as a bit too silly and immature towards the end).

Of course, if RD didn't exist, we'd be missing out on some kick-ass gameplay, so no complaints.

Ok I guess the Tower was mentioned but why is it shown in the title screen? It was a very small mention of it.

It looked epic and memorable (and pretty nifty, too).

[Jotari]

I haven't played Path of Radiance (really want to but that game is damn expensive even second hand). One thing I have always wondered is how much story is dedicated to the Rajaion plot in Path of Radiance? Are Almedhia and Ashnard's possible son mentioned at all in Path of Radiance or is it just revealed out of nowhere at the end that Ashnards dragon was actually a laguz?

[Komeiji Koishi]

Ashnard's dragon actually being Rajaion was the reason why Ena was even in Daein in the first place. It's the entire reason why Nasir was a double agent (so to speak). The Ena/Rajaion sub-plot was his entire motivation to do what he did.

As for Almedha and Ashnard's son... iirc we didn't even know Almedha existed, or that Ashnard had a son. So yeah, that part was thought up for RD.

[Ike-Mike]

It always seemed to me that they wanted to make PoR longer but they just didnt have the time or disc space to fit it all in so they cut it short and left those loose ends to allow for a sequal.

Yeah, I remember reading somewhere that PoR was rushed a lot because they wanted to release it in time for the 15th anniversary.

Edited November 5, 2012 by Ike-Mike

[Jotari]

Ashnard's dragon actually being Rajaion was the reason why Ena was even in Daein in the first place. It's the entire reason why Nasir was a double agent (so to speak). The Ena/Rajaion sub-plot was his entire motivation to do what he did.

Oh I know all about the plot and the characters involved, I just don't know how much Ike and the player actually know during the game.

[Komeiji Koishi]

Oh I know all about the plot and the characters involved, I just don't know how much Ike and the player actually know during the game.

Ike and co. learn about Nasir's betrayal in Chp 21, when they see him let Ena escape Daein Keep, meaning Ike and co. faintly knew of their connection to eachother. However, Ike and co. don't learn about their reasons for doing so until after Ashnard falls, when Reyson and Leanne sing their galdr to restore Rajaion to his original state. So i'd estimate as not much until the end.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Did anyone else think Rajaion actually lived at the end of PoR? Talk about a bit of a "wut" moment when in RD, they say that he died. I was all "wait...he did?" Localization was a bit vague there. I heard it was clearer in the Japanese version.

Yeah PoR had no hint of Ashnard and Almedha being a thing. Almedha was no where in that game.

[Doga]

Did anyone else think Rajaion actually lived at the end of PoR? Talk about a bit of a "wut" moment when in RD, they say that he died. I was all "wait...he did?" Localization was a bit vague there. I heard it was clearer in the Japanese version.

Yeah PoR had no hint of Ashnard and Almedha being a thing. Almedha was no where in that game.

Yeah, I felt that Rajaon's death wasn't too clear in PoR. I remember beating the game for the first time thinking he survived, but was just wounded or something.