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Happy 10th anniversary to the only game I ever bought the special edition for

I preordered this game the first chance I got, I kept all the stuff that came with it, and even have the little artbook and bag in a special place for safekeeping. I even kept the box in good condition

Once I went to an old game store and found another special edition being sold and my box was in better condition

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Let me tell you guys right now

Niles and Charlotte are my problematic faves. You can not make me hate them. I love them so much for their own reasons

I'll elaborate someday, but not today because I'm busy

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How I would rewrite Fates

This feels like some kind of Fates fan rite of passage

Fates's whole conflict is a war for resources. The first change here would be to expand it to a war over the Dragon Veins. They're not just fighting for fertile land, but also fighting to decide who gets to terraform the land to their benefit

In order to level out the morality between both nations, here's the backstory I came up with. During Nohr and Hoshido's founding years, they would constantly fight for land. While they did settle a peace treaty at the time, the nations still had conflicts. Throughout history, Nohr would consistently use the Dragon Veins to improve the land to survive famine and plagues, but their constant use caused their Dragon Veins to slowly lose their powers. In contrast, Hoshido's more fertile land allowed them to prosper while hoarding their Veins

In recent years, Garon reached out to Hoshido to get help for Nohr's plight. To honor the peace treaty, Sumeragi joins Garon to hopefully find a new Dragon Vein. They successfully find the new Vein near the border, but they tragically discover that the Vein officially stands in Hoshidan territory

While Garon rightfully points out that Hoshido doesn't need another Dragon Vein, Sumeragi correctly points out that Nohr was the kingdom to decide the border in the original treaty and can't just change their mind when it benefits them. Garon's impulsiveness vs. Sumeragi's rigidness reignites the war with Garon using his power as a royal to siphon the Dragon Veins from Hoshido into Nohr

Changing Corrin and Mikoto's relation to the Hoshidans. They are all blood-related in this rewrite which means I need a new explanation for Corrin's dragon form. During Mikoto's third pregnancy, her and Sumeragi find Anankos's wounded human side. Despite their efforts, they are unable to prevent his death. To thank them for their kindness, and since Mikoto's pregnancy had serious complications this time, he decided to use the last of his lifeforce to heal their unborn child, unintentionally imbuing them with their dragon powers

I'm also changing how Azura and Corrin switch places. Because of their Vallite blood and magic, respectively, each of them hear the Silent Verse coming from the Bottomless Canyon. Transcending the distance, both of them are magically drawn to the voice on the other side of Valla's door. Arete and Sumeragi, who chased after their lost children, were ambushed by Anankos's soldiers and in the chaos, Corrin was found by Garon, and Azura was found by Mikoto

In this version, Anankos is the source of the Dragon Veins and is slowly awoken from his slumber because of humanity exploiting them in the war. In Birthright, he awakens in Nohr and his madness magnifies their desperation for survival. In Conquest, he awakens in Hoshido and his fury magnifies their anger about their peaceful lives being ruined

In Revelations, Corrin uses the Dragon Vein at the Crossroads of Destiny to prevent bloodshed between both sides but causes Anankos to awaken earlier than the other routes. His resentment causes both sides' hatred to magnify, and at the moment, only Corrin and Azura can recognize the Silent Dragon's influence. Because he's only amplifying existing emotions, not creating them, Corrin must pacify everyone's aggression to undo the effect on their minds. Simultaneously trying to establish peace between them while learning the truth of Valla and the voice they once heard as a child

By the time the nations stop fighting, Anankos has already awoken completely and threatens to destroy both of them as a consequence of their war and the toll that took on the land and his Dragon Veins. This is why they must go to Valla to put him to rest

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One of the cutest details in Fates is that Elise canonically dyed her hair to look more like Camilla

Elise directly tells Camilla that she dyes her hair because of how much she admires her and wants to be more like her as she gets older. Camilla didn't even know that was the reason for it and was really touched when she found out

It's really sad that writers don't focus on the sisters' relationship as much as they should

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Heirs of Fate would've been a good sequel game

Shigure bringing two factions from different timelines together to slay a dragon that's fallen to madness and risks destroying the multiverse would be really fun as a concept

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Changing up Corrin's class promotions to suit my agenda

I have weird issues with their promoted classes. Mainly that Revelations didn't give them a third class. That offended me

Nohr Noble

Nohr Noble I have the least issues with. I'm sticking with them getting tomes on promotion, because I love the headcanon of the Nohrian royals having a higher affinity for magic

To accommodate the new Valla class, I'll be changing the effect of Nohrian Trust so that it now increases Corrin's crit rate in battle. I will also be replacing Draconic Hex with Dragon Guidance. When triggered, adjacent allies' attacks deal +50% damage. Trigger rate is skill/2

Conquest (and maybe Revelations) also gives the Duskstone. It's a new dragonstone that has the same effect as Draconic Hex

Hoshido Noble

I like Hoshido Noble, but for this post, I'll be replacing staves with yumis. Similarly to the Nohrians, I like to headcanon the Hoshidan royals as having a higher affinity for bows

I won't be changing the effects of its skills, but I will be renaming Hoshidan Unity to Hoshidan Bond

Birthright gives the Dawnstone. This dragonstone increases the stats of nearby allies after Corrin attacks with it

Vallite Monarch

For the new Vallite Monarch, this will be the class that gives Corrin staves. My reason for switching staves to the Valla class is to represent their refusal to choice between their families. While Birthright and Conquest forces them to take on new weapons in the war, it is Revelations that allows them to truly bring peace which is why it has the class that makes them a healer

Vallite Monarch's skills are Draconic Blessing and United Kingdoms. Draconic Blessing grants Miracle to adjacent allies. United Kingdoms is Nohrian Trust's original effect. Corrin can activate the skills of anyone they're paired up with during combat. Felt like a good fit in the route about both sides coming together

Revelations grant Corrin the Silentstone. The Silentstone can attack at range and heals the allies around them after combat. It's basically Breath of Life

For the record, the dragonstones are Corrin-exclusive

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I think more people should focus on what a sweet doting brother Takumi is towards Sakura

He can be abrasive, but he's always so sweet and caring towards Sakura. For all his talk about feeling undervalued and less important, Takumi goes out of his way to make sure his own little sister never feels that way in every game they're in

It's literally the most underrated out of all of his character traits for no reason

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I like to imagine what it would've been like if these bosses were full-fledged characters

These three because they're all formal officers of their armies and theoretically should be active during the story

These two because the game's code heavily implies that they were supposed to be playable characters

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I prefer Hinoka as a Kinshi Knight solely because of this Cipher card

When she is queen, she rides a kinshi

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Lately, I've been wishing the Awakening trio were neutral recruits instead of retainers

Since their DLC chapter did establish that they came to Fates because Anankos asked them to find and help their child, they should've been in Corrin's army on all routes

And maybe I'm a little sad that Xander, Camilla, and Leo always lose a retainer after the game ends

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I love that kinshi has become the designated Hoshidan mount and almost wish both pegasus classes were replaced with kinshi

Almost. I also enjoy that they gave us male pegasus knights

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I really wished they were more creative with the shapeshifter weapons

The dragonstones are both magical. The beaststones are all physical and their options were attack stone and defense stone. I think there was a lot of room to really diversify all the shifters' playstyles

Feh gave Corrin different dragonstones based on different routes. Hoshido could've gotten a dragonstone that's anti-cavalry, and Nohr's could've been anti-infantry. At least one could have been physical or ranged

Kaden has diviner as his secondary class. What if there was a fox stone that dealt magic damage? Or inflicted a debuff?

Keaton could get a ranged attack using a wolf howl as an attack. Maybe another defensive stone that knocks back enemies

I really liked using Kaden and Keaton and I loved Corrin's unique classes. I just wished they had more options

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Azura and Camilla never getting a support offends me

Throughout all the games, Azura and Camilla have supports with everyone else in their family, in both Hoshido and Nohr, except each other

They got one conversation in the Festival of Bonds DLC that never got released outside of Japan

Even Warriors didn't give them a support when they gave supports to everyone else

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This better be the basis for Legendary Leo

Look at him. Our King of Nohr

So amazing

It's only fair. Hinoka got her legendary alt based on Cipher too

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It would've been really interesting if the Songtress class also promoted

It could be a fun gameplay mechanic if she had different promotions that affected how she supported her allies with her dances. Plus, it would've been a good excuse to use her Nohr outfit more

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I appreciate Cipher for showing us what some of the characters looked like before they promoted

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I was so insistent on using Silas in my playthroughs, but didn't want him to overlap with Xander to the point that I started making him a bow knight in all of my playthroughs

He's surprisingly useful as one