Scenes from older games that deserve FMVs

[Jotari]

9 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

For FE4, I always envision them doing big CG arts screens for the story's offscreen events, similar to what they relied on beginning in GBA era. Because they are events that Sigurd only ever hears about, we're left with the image that's in his head.

Of course, if they want to make more cutscenes than is dramatically necessary, I wouldn't stop them. Starting your game with a beautiful cutscene is just basic game design for drawing the player in to a world.

Sigurd meeting Dierdre should be something out of a Disney movie. Actually just make the whole game into a musical. 

Edit: FE4 Art CGs also play into the unreliable narrative of who Sigurd thinks are the allies and antagonists of those regional conflicts before he finds out in the worst way who's really out to get him. If they were cutscenes depicting events as they really happen then we have to busy ourselves over how to setup big twists - which risks spoiling things before they happen. Modern Fire Emblem has a remarkably bad grasp on foreshadowing because they keep cutting to offscreen events in that sort of objective context. Give the player less facts, more hearsay.

I'm not sure Genealogy actually has big twists in that manner. It feels like it should, but if you look at how the game is actually written, it doesn't. Repter and Langbolt are non entities before Sigurd is betrayed. They're mentioned a few times and show up in the prologue chapter intro, but then when Sigurd's suddenly betrayed it's not "OH WOW, I didn't expect that." It's "Huh, so that's what happening now." In other words, the betrayal is kind of Repter (and by assoicaiton Langbolt's) introduction as a character to the main narrative. It's not a twist in so much as there's no build up to it. Alvis's betrayal of Sigurd is in the opposite camp where there is build up to it. We know from the Chapter 5 cutscenes that Alvis is no friend of Sigurd, in fact, his betrayal of Repter is more likely to come as a surprise. And, while few blind players would expect them to go as hard as they do in the Battle of Barhara, the moment is built up to not with an intent to subvert expectations and surprise, but to, idk, I guess depress? What I mean is there is a gloomy tone in the lead up to it. The characters all have an inkling of what's going to happen and get morose about it. The Battle of Barhara is a huge moment, but it's actually not as twist dependent as it might seem. Partially because Chapter 5 is the one chapter where the Geography of the map allows them to extensively show what the villains are doing at their headquarters.