Do I need to play Path of Radiance to understand Radiant Dawn?

[Carter]

I'm thinking of getting Radiant Dawn, but I don't really want to play Path of Radiance first..

Will it be confusing to me, if I play RD first?

[Phantom037]

as long as you know the basic plot, you'll be fine

[Gregosa]

I played Radiant Dawn first several years ago. I think the game does a good job of providing a recap on the events of the previous game, but how the supporting playable characters are related to one another might be a bit blurry.

[Karasz]

Radiant Dawn will fill you in on most of the major plot details from Path of Radiance, so you really don't have anything to worry about if you haven't played the first game.

[Knight]

I played Radiant Dawn first, it's not the end of the world. I'd have liked to have played PoR first, and if you can, you should. You won't be confused, but when you do get around to PoR, you'll regret not playing it before.

[bookofholsety]

i played FE10 first and didn't have any problem keeping up; it does a pretty good job of filling you in on the relevant plot stuff in FE9. my only problem with it was not being familiar with returning characters and thus being slightly detached from them because lolfe10 supports

of course that was six years ago and i was quite the idiot at the time so that was probably just me being... well, me

[Ema Skye]

Radiant Dawn does a good job at explaining the key points of Path of Radiance's plot, so you should be fine.

[PKL]

I think you are all underestimating how playing PoR first can affect your RD experience. I think getting to know the Greil Mercenaries and all the characters from PoR first is crucial. You will probably care a lot more about the returning characters.

[spoiler=Don't click OP]

I know I screamed like a fangirl (not literally but u know what i mean) when I saw the Greil Mercs return and rescue Lucia and I loved it when I recognized Jill, Zihark and Tauroneo in 1-5. I know I wouldnt even have cared about these characters had I not played PoR first.

[Irysa]

+1 to PKL. Also, PoR is a lovely game, why wouldn't you want to play it first?

[spoiler=(Don't click this either OP)

]BK showing up in part 1 and helping Miccy and then HAVING HIM AS A PLAYABLE CHARACTER also blew my fucking mind

Edited September 3, 2013 by Irysa

[Nobody]

You should play PoR first, it's a much better game than RD.

[IceBrand]

No, but you won't get the full experience of the story.

[Carter]

So.. verdict is..

Play PoR first?

[S_Cero]

You don't need to play PoR first. I didn't play PoR first when I first played RD. RD does a good enough job of summarizing events that happened in PoR as they become relevant in the story. The thing that you will be missing is the character relationships. Such as when Tormod and Sothe, or Ilyana and Zihark. I would say to play PoR first, you get a better experience plus you actually get support convos in PoR.

[Nobody]

Well, if you really want to, you can play RD before, but i dont understand why you would do that when PoR is a better game and playing it will make your time with RD better.

[BrightBow]

Radiant Dawn is effectively better then PoR in every imaginable way. It plays better, it looks way better, it sounds better.

The only downside is that NoA only localized the abridged version of the game's script. But PoR lost it's highest difficulty during the localization. So it evens out.

Nevertheless, Radiant Dawn does rely heavily on continuity. So i would still recommend to play PoR first, if possible.

Edited September 3, 2013 by BrightBow

[Nobody]

Radiant Dawn is effectively better then PoR in every imaginable way. It plays better, it looks way better, it sounds better.

The only downside is that NoA only localized the abridged version of the game's script. But PoR lost it's highest difficulty during the localization. So it evens out.

Nevertheless, Radiant Dawn does rely heavily on continuity. So i would still recommend to play PoR first, if possible.

Well, I disagree, but do you really find RD's story better than PoR's? I've never seen that opinion before.

I also disagree that it plays better, sounds better and looks better than PoR, but whatever, opinions are opinions.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Nobody

[VGE]

Playing PoR first makes certain events, and certain relationships a lot more understandable. Plus, it's hell of an epic game - if anything,

*being biased here, don't kill me*

it's the best Gamecube game ever. >v>

Edited September 4, 2013 by etern

[Loki Laufeyson]

I think you are all underestimating how playing PoR first can affect your RD experience. I think getting to know the Greil Mercenaries and all the characters from PoR first is crucial. You will probably care a lot more about the returning characters.

[spoiler=Don't click OP]

I know I screamed like a fangirl (not literally but u know what i mean) when I saw the Greil Mercs return and rescue Lucia and I loved it when I recognized Jill, Zihark and Tauroneo in 1-5. I know I wouldnt even have cared about these characters had I not played PoR first.

This.

I grew very attached to the characters in PoR. All of them, in some form or another, left a mark on me. (Mostly because i found PoR the most solid in writing out of the FEs i played.) Because of that, the returning characters made a bigger impact on me and it was very exciting to see and play as them again, as well as seeing new faces. Some characters we met in PoR werent playable until RD and in PoR, youre often thinking "Oh i wish i could have [insert character's name here] on my team!" Only for that character to wind up on your team in RD. Its like "awww yiss!!"

[spoiler=Hey OP, best not to click.]

lols at me not realizing i could tag spoilers on this forum like that.

Sigrun was one of my favorite NPCs in PoR. I kept wondering why she didnt join my team. When she joins in RD, i squeed and hard. Having her and Tanith on my team was so cool for me. (Yeah Tanith was one of my faves in PoR) Pity Sigrun isnt that great of a unit but oh well. I still love her. Playing as the Black Knight in those two chapters was amazeballs. He was legit one of the most threatening FE villains in PoR, so having him on your team even briefly was awesome. PKL mentioned the Greil Mercenaries Big Damn Heroes Moment and that made nearly everyone who played the previous game have a fangasm. Also finally seeing some loose ends tied up was satisfying. Plus PoR gives Ike his moments of character development. RD has Elincia going through some serious character development and knowing what she was like previously, made Part 2 pretty damn cool.

You dont HAVE to play PoR first, but the two games feel more like two parts of one whole.

I also disagree that it plays better, sounds better and looks better than PoR, but whatever, opinions are opinions.

The only thing that RD failed on, gameplay-wise, was the support system. It does make sense given the size of the cast and the switching POVs, but still. PoR's support system was superior. Nearly everything else was improved on.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Ser Dunban

[Nobody]

Well, IMO PoR has much better maps than RD, also has much better balance, has better story, and a better skills system. Look at how broken the 3rd tier skills are in RD and the fact that you can give people any other skill ad shift them whenever you want is pretty bad. The balance is beyond catastrophic (it makes fe13 looks balanced), because mages, most of the dawn brigade and most lagus suck. The DB maps are annoying while ike maps are too easy. Part 2 could have been done much better, and its chapter are literally the most pointless i've ever seen in the series. Wtf with the map all you have to do is rush overpowered lucia to the boss, or the one geoffrey fights a bunch of crimean cavaliers that you don't even have to kill to get exp and that wouldnt be able to harm even wendy if she was on that game. Again, just rush the overpowered unit to the boss (and bring kieram to kill the enemy with the speedwing). Just a waste of time. And this one is personal, but i really hate changing teams all the time. PoR had much better designes maps, none of them were that pointless, IMO

Edited September 4, 2013 by Nobody

[Loki Laufeyson]

[spoiler=Reply to above]

and the fact that you can give people any other skill ad shift them whenever you want is pretty bad.

Brah, nah..just nah. You know what i did when first playing PoR?
"Oh thats a cool skill but kind of wasted on Mia, because shes really fragile. Putting her in Enemy Phase range can spell very bad news for her during her training period. I think Vantage would be cool on Ike or someone..." *removes Vantage from Mia's skills* "Woo lets go!" *tries to allocate it to Ike* "Oh....bummer..." *resets game*

So yeah...i was one of those who did snoopy dances when they allowed for reallocating skills in RD. Like, big time. Ill give you that some skills got nerfed, like Vantage, and some got super OP like Sol, but i liked having masteries because you only got a handful of Occult/Mastery scrolls in PoR and choosing who gets those is hard. One thing that did kind of suck balls was inherent skills to a unit's class (like Canto), actually took up skill points in RD. Butt. So Jill aint gonna get Paragon until after she promotes. The mage nerf in RD was assballs, but the game did give you enough wiggle room to create ass-stomping mage recipes. I have a God Soren recipe. Not to mention that the file transfer system is badass if you want to max out your guys.

As for the maps, RD added the terrain levels which was neato. Also FoW maps on modes that isnt Hard. Part 2's chapters were kind of bland, yes, but the story within Part 2 was great. Even if it did feel like a Big Lipped Alligator Moment compared to the rest of the game, Elincia, Lucia, and Geoffrey received some great character development. The chapter where you get Brom and Nephenee was tricky and challenging. Chapter 2-E was badass.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Ser Dunban

[Carter]

Soo..

PoR first?

[Nobody]

Soo..

PoR first?

Well, even the people who prefer RD are telling you to play PoR first, so yes.

If you don't enjoy it, you can always stop playing it and start RD

Edited September 5, 2013 by Nobody

[Diddy Kong]

If you have easy acces to Path of Radiance, yes, play it first. It's an amazing game, and has a teriffic cast of characters. You can also transfer data from PoR to RD, whcih means 20/20 characters from PoR with capped stats get bonusses in Radiant Dawn. So there's that.

[Paper Jam]

The last time I saw PoR available in a store, the price tag was more than twice what I had paid for it back in 2006. And a quick look on Ebay shows that it's none too cheap there either.

It is a great game, but is it an $80 game?

[Loki Laufeyson]

80 big ones? Youre kidding! Sure, its a Cube game, but there was many many many copies produced! That shit be cray, mang!