Fates Rewrite Ideas (Spoilers)

[semolinaro]

I thought of a scenario that might make Fates story more believable and even relatable. A lot of people have complained about the story, and I can see why they have. Also, if a thread like this has been posted before, I apologize. I'm a new member here and may have not seen it. So...

What if instead of starting as a grown up in your fortress in Nohr, the game starts out with your Nohrian siblings raising you when you were a baby? It'll still look like you were born to Nohr since the kidnapping wouldn't be shown. At this point in time, Garon's possession wouldn't have begun. He was ruthless to his enemies, but a loving father to his children. His subjects were starving, and Hoshido was plentiful with resources but refused to share with the Nohrians, perhaps due to cultural differences. This left Garon with no choice but to provoke Hoshido into war so they could conquer their lands and sustain the kingdom, which is why he ended up killing Sumeragi and stealing the avatar, since Sumeragi was the leading figure around closing negotiations with Nohr. This would give some background to the history of Hoshido and Nohr's conflict, and might paint Hoshido in a less than perfect light.

When you begin to come of age, you are locked up in the Nohrian fortess. Garon insists it's for your safety when in reality, it's to prevent you from ever finding out the truth about your Hoshidan roots (which you still don't know about yet). As you grow up, your siblings visit you and train with you. (Your training sessions with Xander could be some tutorial maps) and you share many laughs and bonding moments, you get to choose your retainers (another map idea), and your visits with Garon are stern but heartfelt. However, with each annual visit, Garon becomes less fatherly and more fearsome, but you fail to notice since you don't see him often enough. You also act as a role model for Elise as she grows up.

Now, all my points above would end up taking up a good chunk of the game, more than six chapters for sure. When you're old enough to finally leave the fortress and you have the visit with Garon where you have to kill the Hoshidan prisoners, you instead question why Garon is being so unusually cruel even before you engage the prisoners. But you shrug it off, and acknowledge that this must be the realities of war. However, at this point, Garon wouldn't be 'fully evil' yet. When you ask that the prisoners are given mercy, Garon would grant them their freedom rather than demand you to kill them. He would scold you that you can't be so soft when at war, and you understand. However, he expresses that he has high hopes for you, and says that perhaps they are too naive yet to fully understand since they were locked away in the fortress. Garon sends you on the mission to the Bottomless Canyon for redemption, you are ambushed, and taken to Hoshido with the Ganglari in hand.

Now you have more deep rooted connections and bonds to Nohr. Everything would play out exactly the same, except that the Ganglari was only intended to kill Mikoto and not you. Then, it's time for you to choose who to side with. I think by fleshing out Nohr's side more with some backstory, it'll make the decision much harder. What happened with the Ganglari killing Mikoto (and almost killing you) because of Garon in the castle square completely overrides your current bond with your siblings as being reason enough to go back to Nohr. Nohr (Garon) tried to kill you and killed your birth mother! Why would you go back? Garon needs to have redeeming qualities that the avatar admire(d). It would make the story a lot more interesting if you ended up choosing Nohr, as instead of trying to just overthrow Garon, you would be determined to discover what's happened to him. Convince your siblings that he's not the same man, that something has gone wrong. Go to war with Hoshido, but explain to your blood siblings that Garon needs access to the 'throne of truth' as it's the only way to bring him down. Start a revolution with the help of Hoshido, whose soldiers are reluctant after all that Nohr has done, but the avatar can convince in the end. Make Xander and the others less trusting of their father as they begin to see his evil ways that weren't present before. When Garon wants you killed after you discover your true roots in Hoshido, Xander and the others should take a stand and believe what the avatar has to say.

That's one of my takes on a possible rewrite for the story. It'd be interesting to see what ideas others had in mind as well!

Edited March 3, 2016 by semolinaro

[NekoKnight]

I'm going to shamelessly plug reply to you in the thread I made earlier.

A lot of people have their rewrite ideas written there. Let me know if you'd like to make an entry to the OP.

Edited March 3, 2016 by NekoKnight

[semolinaro]

I'm going to shamelessly plug reply to you in the thread I made earlier.

A lot of people have their rewrite ideas written there. Let me know if you'd like to make an entry to the OP.

Thanks! I'll check it out, I'll deffs make an entry there.