RD thots

[kradeelav]

There was a cool topic raised on the SerenesForest forums recently that got me thinking about RD's plot and what could be done better.

"This thread idea was sparked by a little discussion with another user, but what are your opinions on how Ike, Elincia, and Micaiah were handled as protagonists within RD's narrative?"

The conversation meandered into a (surprisingly civil by later 00's standards) discussion about whether Ike/Elincia/Micaiah got the fair share of the limelight, whether it worked or not given the immense amount of plot RD covered, and how it could be done better.  And - eh fuck I'll just copy my response in here and elaborate on the point I wanted to elaborate more here: 

"I'm not a fan of Ike, Elincia or Micaiah (at least versus some of the other minor characters and Sanaki, I don't like lords in general), but I do think Micaiah got undeservedly screwed over by P1&3's rushed chapters - it was almost like the game was trying to shove four games into one and stitched together the parts that absolutely could not be cut.  Would've really loved to see more of the actual ethical tension of the blood pact playing out and her having to face some of the minor characters rebelling against having to fight the laguz - likewise a little more of the fun light moments in the Daein crew before shit went down. Would've made the contrast between 'yay we won the war!' to 'whaT the shit??-' more meaningful.

Sanaki was another quasi-lord character I felt like needed way more limelight given she is the Empress of Begnion, and the whole Altina/Lehran/Sephiran plot had actual emotional resonance for her.

Likewise as somebody else mentioned above, having at least Micaiah/Elincia/Sanaki be able to land the final blow on Ashera would have been metal.  Almost like a mini three-houses situation where you could choose who you wanted to be important, and who got some of the more crucial lines in P4  .. shit, that would've solved a lot. Streamlined the game, too." 

The bolded idea sort of hit me in the middle of the whole write-up, and despite being extremely skeptical about how Three Houses was going to handle branching paths (and still quite critical of it), I .... am actually warming up to the idea of the player being able to tilt the focus on the four lords?  Not quite diverging timelines, RD's not that kind of game; but almost like a four-way extended script in P4 where you got a closer glimpse of the movers-and-shakers you actually wanted more info on. 

You'd still switch between the 3 separate armies, but there'd be a hidden version of each where ... okay, for example, if you wanted All The Focus on Sanaki, there'd be extended scenes with her and Naesala circling each other about the whole messy blood pact situation and who calls dibs on decapitating Lekain, her and Micaiah actually having something akin to a support or few along with some crazy chaos god possession shenanigans, way more foreshadowing of her being worried about Sephiran (and Naesala sort of chiding her all 'eh i'm sure the old man's all right')(the irony lol), maybe even with a dedicated cutscene of her in the endgame with her confrontation with Sephiran.. 'Cause talk about the guy that orchastrated all the senseless murder ... and he's her father/mentor figure.

And then - something similar with Micaiah.  Adding to what I mentioned above, extended scripts before Pelleas calls her in to eradicate the Laguz Alliance of the fluffy fun times with the DB and Jill/Zihark/Tauroneo and all of that crew - what was the relationships like before?  Who was ready to go kill the laguz versus what was the reaction of the folks in Ike's army at that moment? I swear to God I will draw that Zihark and Micaiah confrontation comic at some point god damn it. Extended scripts about Pelleas having the existential crisis with the blood pact ....aaaaall the way to Micaiah maybe having her super special CG movie against Lekain (and Sothe right there), since there's the crux of a lot of emotional angst when she knows who her enemy really is.

And then you'd have your extended bits with Ike, and Elincia. Ike's would pretty much be RD as-is (the cutscenes especially, given the focus is on him, the Black Knight and Ashera one would be the cutscenes the other directions don't have.)  With a little tweaking, I can see Elincia having the cutscene with Dheginsea, considering she never thought she'd be the princes facing down the fucking dragon king himself and she trembles at the thought of what she'd do for Crimea...

oh man this would solve all of my pacing issues with RD and allow a whole hell lot of replay ability fun to boot.  (Hell, imagine a special 'unlocked all the routes' secret route where you basically get *all* of the shit in one game.) 

IS pay me to remake RD for u pls

Comments

[seasaltmemories_14]

While uneven I do have to say part of the fun I've had with RD is the fact that controlling all factions means I do have kinda a baseline association that they're mine, so when we switch POVs and I hear about what X is getting up to when we're not paying attention it hits harder than it would in games like Fates or 3 Houses because it is not just confusion over what the hell happened over there but also like betrayal if that makes any sense?

Very different game but Nier Automata has a similar vibe in Route C where you control two characters where one is out to get the other and you're meant to have empathy for them both but when they finally face off you have to choose one to side with, in the end it doesn't really change the story but just highlights different themes

(Now I'm wondering about a multi-faction story using the route/replay Yoko Taro model)

All in all I rarely replay games so multi-route games can be a headache for me but I do like the idea of getting to see different sides of the story with a mechanic like this

[queenlua]

i don't have much to add but ftr: that jill icon is totally fab

[kradeelav]

:D !! ganked from mivvu's old PoR art - https://tellius-collections.tumblr.com/post/159842011328/mivvu-some-path-of-radiance-stuff god i love their stuff.

[kradeelav]

oooh those are SUPER great comments and i love to hear your thoughts about RD! agreed - some parts to 3H didn't hit quite as hard emotionally as it could've once when some of the students were outside your control. now i'm wondering what 3H would've been like in terms of RD's way of handling it ... there seems to be pros and cons to either style of doing it.

and aaa you're also reminding me i need to finish watching a let's play of Nier:A ... i don't have the right system for it but it really does seem one of those emotional masterpieces of a mindbender. thanks for mentioning it!

[seasaltmemories_14]

I would definitely recommend Nier: A (Been meaning to do a write up of it since summer but I've kept finding ways to procrastinate oops ^^') If I had to sit here and describe it, to me it seems very interested in pushing what video games can be, not just through its content but more the specific ways in which it tries to use its medium to its full advantage

[kradeelav]

ahahaa i feel you right back with procrastination no worries. <3 and ohhh i love that, feels vaguely like the vibe that MGS2 had as far as genuinely pushing not only the storytelling *or* the gameplay but both at the same time in this radically prophetic sort of way. bumping Nier:A up on my list to look into, then!