Later FEs have made me appreciate this game's narrative. (SPOILERS FOR RD, AWAKENING, AND FATES)

[-Cynthia-]

How else could it have been revealed? Ranulf was the only one who knew, and Ike wouldn't have cared if Ranulf hadn't told him.

Have Zelgius reveal himself in the Tower like he already does more or less. To be fair, Ranulf figuring it out and telling Ike is logical. It's just a very boring way to unmask a secret identity.

[secondworld]

Maybe have the scene with Renulf, and cut it off after he tells Ike that there's something he needs to know.

Then at the tower when Ike is noting BK's fighting style, it cuts back to the rest of the Renulf scene via flashback.

[Rezzy]

How else could it have been revealed? Ranulf was the only one who knew, and Ike wouldn't have cared if Ranulf hadn't told him.

They could have set up the narrative so that Ike was the one to fight Zelgius instead of Ranulf. Then he could have noticed it, but not said anything about it to anyone at first. Heck, he didn't tell the whole story about his confrontations until chapters later in PoR. Then later, he could confide in Ranulf, Soren, Titania, etc about the BK.

[Radiant head]

Ike shouldn't be fighting Zelgius before their climatic showdown.

[Gomez_Addams]

Ike shouldn't be fighting Zelgius before their climatic showdown.

But if he doesn't, you can't unlock the memory scene or recruit Sephiran.

[Radiant head]

Well Sephiran's recruitment is more of an NG+ gimmick than something story-important.

Also, I think if Ike fought Zelgius, he would have recognized him right away, when the story obviously wanted to push the reveal down the line.

[Jedi]

Something that also bothers me with the narrative is that Tormod and co just up and vanish when you figured they'd be key players in P3, considering... You know the whole laguz alliance thing.

[Radiant head]

I assumed they prefer to work behind the scenes than overtly for Gallia's army.

[Jedi]

I assumed they prefer to work behind the scenes than overtly for Gallia's army.

That could be the case, I guess that's more of a gameplay annoyance to me, considering Tormod and Muarim are two of my favorite Tellius characters.

[Alazen]

I honestly say that Part 3 could have been better done if the Greil Mercenaries didn't take part in the Laguz Alliance's war against Begnion or at least had a smaller role.

Edited October 10, 2015 by Alazen

[-Cynthia-]

Something that also bothers me with the narrative is that Tormod and co just up and vanish when you figured they'd be key players in P3, considering... You know the whole laguz alliance thing.

Yeah, I don't really know what's up there.

[BrightBow]

Something that also bothers me with the narrative is that Tormod and co just up and vanish when you figured they'd be key players in P3, considering... You know the whole laguz alliance thing.

The extended script mentions that Sothe learned of the rebellion in Begnion from Tormod, so they were probably in the capital trying to contact Sanaki.

I have the suspicion that they intended to have a a chapter or two taking place in the Begnion capital. After all, a lot happened there offscreen. A civil war broke out and threw Begnion into chaos. And not only was Sanaki saved, but she also teamed up with Naesala while she was at it. With Sigrun, Tanith, Naesala, Tormod, Muraim and Vika, they would make a nice little team of underused units. And Sephiran and Zelgius were around too. And I find it suspicious that the game skipped a possible battle in Sienne in Part 4 by having Tibarn clear the whole city offscreen. Maybe they had to cut some corners and had to leave out the assets for Sienne.

Edited October 11, 2015 by BrightBow

[Florete]

My theory has been that the devs forgot about Tormod, Muarim, and Vika until it was too late to put them back anywhere else.

I have the suspicion that they intended to have a a chapter or two taking place in the Begnion capital. After all, a lot happened there offscreen. Not only was Sanaki saved, but she also teamed up with Naesala while she was at it. With Sigrun, Tanith, Naesala, Tormod, Muraim and Vika, they would make a nice little team of underused units. And Sephiran and Zelgius were around too. And I find it suspicious that the game skipped a possible battle in Sienne in Part 4 by having Tibarn clear the whole city offscreen. Maybe they had to cut some corners and had to leave out the assets for Sienne.

But I prefer this theory.

[Rezzy]

I like the story in Radiant Dawn, but hate the gameplay. Jumping between 3+ armies' perspective works from a narrative viewpoint, but doesn't work in a video game like Fire Emblem. I like being able to pick which units I'll use in a given playthrough, not have a cast of hundreds, each of which I'll only be seeing every third chapter or so.

There's also the extreme power gap going on between Greil's Mercs and the Dawn Brigade.

[Radiant head]

That's interesting; I feel exactly the opposite. I feel the story is interesting, but a mess in execution, but the mechanics are what makes it my favorite in the series.

[ruadath]

I like the story in Radiant Dawn, but hate the gameplay. Jumping between 3+ armies' perspective works from a narrative viewpoint, but doesn't work in a video game like Fire Emblem. I like being able to pick which units I'll use in a given playthrough, not have a cast of hundreds, each of which I'll only be seeing every third chapter or so.

There's also the extreme power gap going on between Greil's Mercs and the Dawn Brigade.

It's weird; everyone always seems to complain about the switching between different teams, but that was honestly one of my favorite things about this Fire Emblem. In fact, I'd say the gameplay overall, with customizable skillsets (but fixed classes!), shove/rescue, and overall high Mov units is one of the best in the series. I also enjoyed the story quite a bit too, up until the end of part 3, after which nothing seemed to make sense.

I haven't played it yet, but I would think that Fates would be even cooler if instead of splitting the game into two campaigns, they reintroduced the multi-army system. I guess it would be hard to write the Avatar into the game... unless he/she had their own army (Invisible Kingdom)?

[Rezzy]

It's weird; everyone always seems to complain about the switching between different teams, but that was honestly one of my favorite things about this Fire Emblem. In fact, I'd say the gameplay overall, with customizable skillsets (but fixed classes!), shove/rescue, and overall high Mov units is one of the best in the series. I also enjoyed the story quite a bit too, up until the end of part 3, after which nothing seemed to make sense.

I haven't played it yet, but I would think that Fates would be even cooler if instead of splitting the game into two campaigns, they reintroduced the multi-army system. I guess it would be hard to write the Avatar into the game... unless he/she had their own army (Invisible Kingdom)?

I like the actual mechanics in a given chapter for the most part. I'm replaying RD for the first time in years, and I really liked going through part one, but then started getting annoyed never having the same units in two consecutive chapters starting in part 2. Another thing is the fact that so few of your units can actually make it to the Endgame. What's the point in trying to raise your Dawn Brigade units up, when they just throw a dozen OP units in the eleventh hour that outclass them in every way?

[Loki Laufeyson]

The extended script mentions that Sothe learned of the rebellion in Begnion from Tormod, so they were probably in the capital trying to contact Sanaki.

I have the suspicion that they intended to have a a chapter or two taking place in the Begnion capital. After all, a lot happened there offscreen. A civil war broke out and threw Begnion into chaos. And not only was Sanaki saved, but she also teamed up with Naesala while she was at it. With Sigrun, Tanith, Naesala, Tormod, Muraim and Vika, they would make a nice little team of underused units. And Sephiran and Zelgius were around too. And I find it suspicious that the game skipped a possible battle in Sienne in Part 4 by having Tibarn clear the whole city offscreen. Maybe they had to cut some corners and had to leave out the assets for Sienne.

thats actually likely. Like they had to trim the fat to "streamline" the game. Its unfortunate.

[bottlegnomes]

In that^ regard, I seem to recall PoR having deadline issues, so I wouldn't be surprised if RD did, especially with how much more they tried to put in.

On an individual chapter gameplay basis, this might be my favorite in the series, but the switching and, more importantly, the comparatively limited choice of characters for any given sectionmakes it annoying.

[Rezzy]

In that^ regard, I seem to recall PoR having deadline issues, so I wouldn't be surprised if RD did, especially with how much more they tried to put in.

On an individual chapter gameplay basis, this might be my favorite in the series, but the switching and, more importantly, the comparatively limited choice of characters for any given sectionmakes it annoying.

Even if they let the whole army group up for the entirety of part 4, it might have been more bearable, since that would effectively give us about 10 chapters with the whole army intact, but instead, we only get the whole army for the gauntlet at the end, with an additional 5 OP units to squeaze out the ones you've been trying to raise for the whole game.

[-Cynthia-]

I found the split stories nice from both a story and gameplay perspective. It helped break the "FE formula" the series often falls into and having more limited unit choices tended to give even subpar units some form of utility, whereas in other games they'd just be benchwarmers.

[Rezzy]

I found the split stories nice from both a story and gameplay perspective. It helped break the "FE formula" the series often falls into and having more limited unit choices tended to give even subpar units some form of utility, whereas in other games they'd just be benchwarmers.

I suppose that's one point of view, but I usually try to use different units in subsequent playthroughs, rather than having it forced on me.

[jjjj]

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[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

it might just be me on here but i always had a theory about blood pacts, that like, its not the writing on the blood pact that is important, its the magical piece of paper itself that somehow does all this stuff, like, as long as you sign it in blood or whatever, thats all it takes, like Pelleas could've been sent a letter saying "you've won a year's worth if ice cream if you sign here!" and that would've triggered the blood pact, a most amusing situation.

i'm not defending it, but to me that made alot more sense in terms of how these are signed, it might not sound realistic but this is a video game, some form of fantasy is a given.

Edited October 15, 2015 by HF Makalov Fanboy Kai

[Augestein]

it might just be me on here but i always had a theory about blood pacts, that like, its not the writing on the blood pact that is important, its the magical piece of paper itself that somehow does all this stuff, like, as long as you sign it in blood or whatever, thats all it takes, like Pelleas could've been sent a letter saying "you've won a year's worth if ice cream if you sign here!" and that would've triggered the blood pact, a most amusing situation.

i'm not defending it, but to me that made alot more sense in terms of how these are signed, it might not sound realistic but this is a video game, some form of fantasy is a given.

Which would make more sense in the light of him signing a blood pact, but if that's the case, you'd think more people would have been using them, and they would have been known about to the point that they were pretty much rendered ineffective. That's the problem with the blood pact, it's WAY TOO POWERFUL of a plot point to just exist without it being known that mainstream like.

And even the game isn't entirely certain how the blood pact works based on the dialogue. Pelleas claims that Zihark and Jill would be safe (if you have them defect), which means that Pelleas could have basically said "oh, well this kingdom now belongs to Micaiah and it's no longer Daein, it's Daeout," and they would be fine. Or everyone from the country could simply ragequit like Zihark or Jill and be safe. There's way too much guesswork for an item that serves as the crux of a person's actions.