Missed Oppertunities *spoilers for both games*

[Snowy_One]

Not to dump on Aran, but he doesn't do much to distinguish himself in RD. Sure, maybe he could have been more interesting in PoR since he could have netted supports there, but I don't really see how they could have been anything of huge importance, least when applied to Aran. He's too much of a blank-slate.

Petrine was not, however. She was a developed character with a defined personality, reasons for what she was doing, and the whole works. Yes, she may have 'died', but there are at least two characters who 'died' in PoR and later joined the party in RD (Bertam/Renning and Oliver). The shame in Petrine is that, instead of developing her and expounding on her traits and reasons more, they instead just... offed her. If she had survived she could have been so much. The perfect villain (she could have been the one to strongarm Daien into the war due to her Laguz-hatred or served as a powerful general), the perfect anti-villain (starting off evil but being forced to serve good in the end as outlined earlier), the perfect anti-hero , the perfect reformed villain. Just... So much missed opportunities there.

[Quick]

Not to dump on Aran, but he doesn't do much to distinguish himself in RD. Sure, maybe he could have been more interesting in PoR since he could have netted supports there, but I don't really see how they could have been anything of huge importance, least when applied to Aran. He's too much of a blank-slate.

Petrine was not, however. She was a developed character with a defined personality, reasons for what she was doing, and the whole works. Yes, she may have 'died', but there are at least two characters who 'died' in PoR and later joined the party in RD (Bertam/Renning and Oliver). The shame in Petrine is that, instead of developing her and expounding on her traits and reasons more, they instead just... offed her. If she had survived she could have been so much. The perfect villain (she could have been the one to strongarm Daien into the war due to her Laguz-hatred or served as a powerful general), the perfect anti-villain (starting off evil but being forced to serve good in the end as outlined earlier), the perfect anti-hero , the perfect reformed villain. Just... So much missed opportunities there.

I kind of agree but at the same time disagree, as, while she was the one of the better villains in the series, she really wouldn't have been able to perform much in the plot. She could've been a substitute to the Black Knight in the whole Dawn Brigade thing, but with the Laguz on Micaiah's team it really would've interfered. It just wouldn't have worked as in part 3 and in part 4 her appearance would've felt forced.

[Anacybele]

I can't believe some people here are saying to cut out Ike or cut out Ranulf or cut out my favorite chapter in RD (the Kauku Caves one, with all the lava and falling rocks). D:

Anyway, people are talking about Petrine, but no one has even MENTIONED Bryce? He had even less screentime than her and was also killed off! Also, he was originally going to appear in RD because he has an unused RD portrait! So much potential wasted there. I would've loved to learn more about Bryce, like why he was so loyal to Ashnard despite Ashnard telling him straight up that it was him that killed the whole Daein royal family and not some disease. And why he seemed like he didn't have anyone or anything in his life except Ashnard.

I came up with an idea for a story, but still.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Anacybele

[Mighty Kamina]

The main thing that disappointed me was the lack of developement for the DB characters. (Nolan, Edward, and Leonardo in particular)

I mean, from what dialouge they have I like their characters, (especially for the 3-13 base conversation if I'm correct where Edward considers leaving the Daein army and hope others follow in his example) and thus I would liked to have seen more of them.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Zelos

[Fenrir]

Bryce was great. He could've been cool. He had ties to Greil, Tauroneo, and Fiona. It would've been cool to have him as another great armor like Gatrie. Oh wait, armors were shit. Maybe they should've just put in Bryce for armor awareness.

Could Bryce's role be the one Tauroneo is in? Loyal to Pelleas no matter the cost?

Am I spelling Tauroneo right? Fuck. I think it's wrong.

I'd of been fine with less DB.

[Acacia Sgt]

I can't believe some people here are saying to cut out Ike or cut out Ranulf or cut out my favorite chapter in RD (the Kauku Caves one, with all the lava and falling rocks). D:

Anyway, people are talking about Petrine, but no one has even MENTIONED Bryce? He had even less screentime than her and was also killed off! Also, he was originally going to appear in RD because he has an unused RD portrait! So much potential wasted there. I would've loved to learn more about Bryce, like why he was so loyal to Ashnard despite Ashnard telling him straight up that it was him that killed the whole Daein royal family and not some disease. And why he seemed like he didn't have anyone or anything in his life except Ashnard.

I came up with an idea for a story, but still.

Bryce actually explains why, to Ashnard's face even, in PoR during the Endgame. He's not fighting for him, but for Daein. Even if he doesn't like Ashnard, he is still of royal blood, therefore Bryce sees it as his duty to preserve the bloodline even if the last (known) remaining heir isn't exactly a nice individual. In the end Ashnard just laughs finding the chivalry behind it as ridiculous.

On the other hand, I agree he had potential. After all, considering there is the whole "We found the heir!" plot, Bryce would've had many chances there. Perhaps to serve as a foil to Tauroneo, or complement each other and stuff. Perhaps even see how he would've reacted to the revelation that Pelleas wasn't the heir. Heck, you don't even have to kill Bryce in PoR, so it's not like it would've been unreasonable for him to survive. But yeah, all that didn't end up happening.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Acacia Sgt

[Anacybele]

Bryce was great. He could've been cool. He had ties to Greil, Tauroneo, and Fiona. It would've been cool to have him as another great armor like Gatrie. Oh wait, armors were shit. Maybe they should've just put in Bryce for armor awareness.

Could Bryce's role be the one Tauroneo is in? Loyal to Pelleas no matter the cost?

Am I spelling Tauroneo right? Fuck. I think it's wrong.

I'd of been fine with less DB.

Where is it said that Bryce has any ties to Fiona? And actually, you're spelling Tauroneo right. :)

[Acacia Sgt]

Where is it said that Bryce has any ties to Fiona? And actually, you're spelling Tauroneo right. :)

It's more of an indirect tie. Both Bryce and Fiona's father were two of the old set of Daein's Four Riders. If anything, Fiona's father can serve as the initial trigger for any possible interaction between them.

[Refa]

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE PATH OF RADIANCE

More Supports- Because more character development is better than less character development.

Gaiden Chapters- Not really that important, but it could help develop some of the less important characters...or Jill, I guess. Jill is cool too. Also I like having more maps. Maps are fun.

War Room- The first idea stolen from Advance Wars. Basically like trial maps, but more. And boy, could PoR use more trial maps. Bonus points if past maps/references to past maps are used. Also there needs to be an option to allow/disallow leveling. Anyways, other difference is you got rewarded with points depending on how well you did, which could be spent on a) more maps or b

More trial map characters- What we got was OK, I guess...it was just a PITA to get them and noone ever did it. So yeah, that should be changed. Also characters from the older games would be cool, I know FE13 did eventually do this, but FE9 should have done it first. Because FE13 is just another handheld game, FE9 was the first console game since the Super Nintendo.

Map Creation- For all of the replayability, this would be the best feature ever. Also in addition to being able to create maps of varying objectives, etc., you'd also be able too...

Multiplayer- Create multiplayer maps! Because multiplayer in FE9 would be really cool, especially since you can have like 5 save files. And if they made it more interesting than in FE11. I mean, I guess it could have the standard modes of fighting using your OP team against another OP team, and those would be fun too...for like an hour. But if they let you create your own teams for multiplayer using generics and a few PCs here and there (dunno how they'd calculate stats for PCs, probably averages), it'd be really neat! I'm thinking a point based thing where each unit costs points, and the PC's cost more, and you can increase the bases/class growths of all of the NPCs while the PCs again, remain fixed. With varying objectives besides KILL EVERYTHING. And maybe some modes where one person gets to act out the enormous, seemingly infinite budget enemy army, and the other person has the small, player army. Also cooperative modes would be cool too.

Harder Difficulties- Maniac was omitted and that sucks, but either way, having a Lunatic FE9 would be even radder.

Option To Speed Up Animations- Because a lot of people don't like FE9 because slow animations.

Multiple Title Screens- Because all of the cool video games have this.

Better Title Music-

More Cutscenes/Voice Acting- Seriously, guys? First 3D FE, and you guys really slacked off here. Also, the VA blew. This is Nintendo, you guys can do better. If it hypothetically didn't blow, there should've been more of it. Like....in all of the dialogue, at least by the PC's. If Atlus can do it with Devil Survivor Overclocked, Nintendon't got any excuse for not doing it either.

Varying Music Options- Replacing the music with the music of another FE game would be pretty neat....especially if it was FE5!

Better Battle Animations- But you guys got it right with FE10, so forgiven.

More S Rank Weapons- Really missed the ball here. Also, Double Bow...Blowedshutup.

BS FE...9- You know how FE12 had the DLC from BSFE, which added new scenarios from before da first war? Well, FE9 should do that too, except better...because it wasn't done too well in FE12.

Rainbow Potion- I don't know why, I just think Rainbow Potion is really cool.

Increased Terrain- The maps felt a bit featureless, could've used more of that Nintendo Level Design. It'd help maps be trivialized less too...but I really like Bonus EXP, so I probably shouldn't care about that too much.

Dismounting- Would've really made the foot units more bro. That...would've been nice. Especially for the mages!

Costumes- Because all of the good 3D games have those!

Option To Disable Bonus EXP- For the balance...also, probably should be there for VA too.

Better graphics- Like, not super incredibly better, I'd just like them to be crisper. Maybe using some of dat cel-shading prowess, eh?

Playstation 2 Version- Now with more costumes, harder difficulties, optional bosses, worse graphics, and more! Because the PS2 kicked the GameCube's ass, would've helped them sell more copies SICK BURN OK, I feel accomplished with this long and incredibly arbitrary list.

I know this is a lot, but I expect more out of my first console FE since when games were all 2D! I could've gotten just another FE on the GBA and saved myself $20.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Refa

[Snowy_One]

I don't think there should have been a PS2 version. FE has been a Nintendo-only franchise for a long time and turning away from that would have killed their sales bigtime. The PS2 wouldn't have been all that much better anyways. It's main advantage was it's hardware and software was easy to work with, not that it held some amazing graphical power or something.

And BEXP is pretty easy to 'disable'. Just don't use it. It's not like its required at any point in the game.

[Rehab]

Do you mean fewer sales of the gamecube version, or fewer sales of the game period?

[Snowy_One]

Fewer sales in general. Like I said, FE has been a Nintendo mainstay for years now. Suddenly changing that would elect ire from the fans and the market outside of the Gamecube would not be large enough to make up the shortcoming.

[Quick]

Fewer sales in general. Like I said, FE has been a Nintendo mainstay for years now. Suddenly changing that would elect ire from the fans and the market outside of the Gamecube would not be large enough to make up the shortcoming.

Not to mention Fire Emblem isn't a franchise that does really well in every place outside of Japan, even Awakening is no exception. So having a PS2 counterpart wouldn't have helped at all.

[NinjaMonkey]

I don't think there should have been a PS2 version. FE has been a Nintendo-only franchise for a long time and turning away from that would have killed their sales bigtime. The PS2 wouldn't have been all that much better anyways. It's main advantage was it's hardware and software was easy to work with, not that it held some amazing graphical power or something.

There's also the fact that IS is owned by Nintendo...

Edited April 27, 2013 by NinjaMonkey

[Catt]

2 things PoR should've had:

Support Conversation Viewer: a full one (not that cheap RD one), using the location backgrounds of the earliest time you can get each support (so GeoffreyxElincia would show the Crimean Army camp in the background).

Tweaking Trial Map characters: 15 games to play as Ashnard is silly. 10 should've been the maximum, but I would've preferred 7 since that's how long it takes to get all the supports.

Also agree with multiple title screens. I love those.

[Refa]

If they buffed the RD support convo viewer, then everyone's favorite feature from the FE7 one (Skytalk) could return!

[Party Moth]

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO IMPROVE PATH OF RADIANCE

More Supports- Because more character development is better than less character development.

(Massive list)...

Holy...

Look, I'd like aspects from Path of Radiance changed as much as the next person, but don't you think you're asking for a bit much? I mean, map creation? Multiplayer? A PS2 version? A lot of these aspects aren't even well incorporated into FE13 yet, nor are they necessary.

[Mr. Haar]

I really don't miss General Patron at all. I'm glad they kept her dead. That's not me just pretending to think through Haar's character either, I seriously dislike her very much. Yeah, she took part in a bit of comic relief, but in the end, she's still a nasty witch.

Edited April 30, 2013 by Mr. Haar

[fangpoint]

Well I gotta agree with you on points 1,2, and 6.

I think Ike and Mist are probably the only pair of siblings that never have any support convos. I guess he does talk to her during the story and all that but sometimes it's like you gotta wonder if the guy even cares about her or realizes shes there. The two go through so much stuff during the whole thing and they never speak about their emotions or anything. I really think they screwed with that one. Also it would have been a good chance to point out the fact that Mist saw her dead mom in her dad's hands while Ike doesnt remember a thing. Also they missed out on a lot of that incest subtext that this series is famous for.

The whole Petrine being a branded thing feels kinda thrown in at the last minute. I don't really think anything would have changed if she wasn't. Maybe they planned on fleshing it out. The first time I went through the game I never knew that. I only found out by reading game scripts and I was like oh that's.... something.

The whole MIa thing annoys me a bit too. I mean she is an optional character, but she still does canonically join them. The whole thing kinda feels like shes just not included in the group dynamic. When Mist first talks to Jill about finally having a girl her age in the group I was all like didn't Mia join you like at least 4 chapters earlier? And shes actually one of the mercenaries. They also kinda could have had point where they bring up the fact that Greil rescuing her on the chapter she appears indirectly causes him to stick around causing him to meet the BK and all that. Just my opinion. It just feels like they could have added a few supports with her and the other mercenaries.

I think Fiona wasnt in FE9 just cause they hadn't thought of her yet. Either way we already have enough chars who question what Daein's doing and all that. I don't think Ranulf was supposed to join earlier as when he appears he gets built up to be this awesome fighter by already really strong guys for that point. I thought he was supposed to be one of those cool guys who do a bunch of cool stuff in the background by himself. As for point 6 I never really got any implication on Ike being related to Sanaki and Micaiah. The only connection is really that whole Ragnell being a prf weapon and his mom + sister being Fire emblem proof.

[Snowy_One]

Marcia and Makalov don't have supports either, and I'm sure you could dig REAL deep into the FE history and find another pair if you wanted to. But it is certainly a break from the norm and highly unusual to be sure.

And yea, I didn't notice the Mist/Jill thing. Seriously, what is up with that? I can understand Mia being older, but I'm fairly sure Mia is still in her teen years and still around the same general age as Mist. Certainly not THAT much older than Jill who is a TRAINED WYVERN RIDER (How long does that even TAKE? Mia could have picked up the sword just that year or something and become a merc, but it takes time to learn to fight from mount-back for sure). Especially since Mia, you know, joins the company while Jill does not. Not to mention Ilyana as well who is likely in a similar age range.

[fangpoint]

I'm sure Marcia doesn't want to support her brother for obvious reasons. I know that there are probably more siblings who don't support I just didn't feel like personally checking each one from all the other games.

I think they should all be around the same general age or close enough. Maybe like 1-2 years at best apart. I'm sure the whole Mist/Jill thing was really fleshed upon because they wanted to use it to drive the whole racism is bad and humanize the enemy thing. However, I kinda always felt that Mia/Mist would have been more likely due to their situations and all they have in common. She has the whole trying to prove herself thing, girl mercenary lifestyle and energetic personality in common with Mist. Mia/Ike supports should have been fairly easy to do too. They both have the blue(ish) haired sword wielding mercenary with a headband thing going on. They also strive to improve their fighting technique and she has the whole admiration of him. She also was one of the last people to interact with their dad and actually joins them at the end of FE9.

Well anyways I have to say they missed a chance to develop one of their most popular characters in the Tellius series. I think she placed like second overall or something according to one ancient Gamefaqs topic about a poll on a broken link. If they ever remake the FE9-10 hopefully she would be popular enough to get a bit more of a spotlight.

[Mr. Haar]

Yes, Mia needed much more character development. The fact that she is still one of the most popular characters in the games despite that is a true testament to her pure awesomeness. Just imagine if they gave her more of the spotlight... oh man that would be so amazing. She did have the second longest speaking line in the "saving Lucia" cutscene, but that was the most attention she got. She just plain needed more.

[Snowy_One]

Honestly, if they ever make another Tellius game (Mist/Titania leading the mercs or something) Mia should be the lord or right-hand woman. Even if she ended up as the Jeigan she'd be still better off than what they did in FE9.

I think that Mia probably got screwed the hardest by the lack of supports in FE10 out of all the non-new characters. She undergoes the biggest change of anyone in the group that isn't handled in the plot (going from a mercenary hired to protect Crimea to a member of the GM's and arguably the second best fighter in the game as well as the best Ike support) and the 'most likely' person to end up wielding Alondite (if only for purely statistical reasons). Did she settle down with Rhys or at least get him to toughen up? Did her and Largo get along well into the twilight years despite his lack of an arm? I find it funny that a character with so little said about her could have such potentially huge plot impact.

As for Jill, I think that's what they were shooting for. Humanizing the enemy. Just wish that they had actually gone with that instead of 'nice to have a girl my age around'. I can almost see the following happening.

Mist: Jill! So nice to see you!

Jill: I am a shame to my nation, lost, confused, and forced to fight against everything I ever loved. You are the sister of my worst enemy and I saw you talking to that beast Mordi earlier. Why are you even talking to me?

Mist: It's so nice to have another girl my own age around here!

Mia: HEY! I suddenly don't count as a girl? I taught you how to wield a sword for crying out loud!

Mist: Yes! And you punched me in the jaw!

Mia: It was TRAINING! I helped you up and made sure you were fine and asked Rhys to heal you!

Mist: You punched me in the jaw you flat-chested man!

Mia: UGGGG! Fine! Whatever. I'm going to go talk to Ike and grow two cupsizes for the sequel!

Jill: What?

Elincia: Mist, I'm only a year or two older than you as well and I help with the laundry and daily chores.

Mist: Yes, but Ike says I'm not supposed to talk to you. Something about you being 'his woman'.

Elincia: I... see.

Ilyana: So... Hungry!

Mist: Get away from me before you eat my leg or something!

Lethe: Adjusted for age I am the human equivalent of a twenty year old. Only five years older.

Mist: But you cough up hairballs everywhere and I have to mend the constant claw-marks in Zihark's clothes!

Lethe: It's not my fault he carries catnip around all the time! Why does he even do that?'

Nephenee: ...

Marcia: Oh butterscotch! I suppose I don't count as a girl as well?

Mist: I read your diary and know who wears the pants in your relationship with your brother.

Marcia: Crackers! But what about Tanith?

Mist: Is that the 'Manith' you referred to in your diary?

Jill: What have I gotten myself into?

Mist: So, as I was saying... So nice to have a girl my own age around here...

Edited May 1, 2013 by Snowy_One

[fangpoint]

LOL I can totally see that.Two cupsizes? More like 4 :) depending on the artist

Mist/Elincia should have been there too. They support each other early in the game following their losses and have that whole not wanting to be the load going on. In my first playthough i was really surprised that Mia/Mist/Ike were'nt in the game at all not to mention Mist/Elincia.

[Mr. Haar]

Did she settle down with Rhys or at least get him to toughen up? Did her and Largo get along well into the twilight years despite his lack of an arm? I find it funny that a character with so little said about her could have such potentially huge plot impact.

Her only epilogue is that she searched the lands for worthy opponents. Maybe she eventually found Ike on her journeys? Now that would be a great threequel, with Ike/Soren/Mia as the lords exploring new lands or something.