The latest issue of Nintendo Dream had an interview about Fire Emblem Warriors. Director Hiroya Usuda and Koei Tecmo’s Director Yosuke Hayashi revealed more about how Darios was supposed to be playable, as well as Bond Conversations for the new characters. [Thanks, Serenes Forest!]
Here are the highlights from the interview, which was translated by VincentASM.
Nintendo Dream: Why did you not make Darios a playable character?
Hiroya Usuda, director: “When we were writing the game’s main story, we were planning for Darios to be rescued via DLC… Originally, we considered removing a character from the main game to add Darios.”
Yosuke Hayashi, Koei Tecmo director: “While we were trying to add all the characters we needed, we couldn’t find an opportunity to add Darios.”
Usuda: “It’s not so simple to make a playable character even if they already exist as a NPC in the main game. There’s a lot more dialogue and animations that we need to create.”
Hayashi: “We also need to create Bond Conversations as well.”
Usuda: “At some point in time, we were thinking of having, say, a free History Map where Darios could be saved. When the Chaos Dragon was revived, Darios fell into a void in space-time, but we intentionally made it unclear if he actually died. We left Darios’s fate open-ended, so that his storyline could potentially continue. While we had a story for him being saved, we had to omit him to make other characters.”
ND: Perhaps a rescued Darios could be a main character in the next game?
All: (Laughs)
ND: How do you decide the number and combination of Bond Conversations to make?
Usuda: “The reason why Owain has so many conversations… there’s a special meaning to that (laughs). He’s a character that’s way up in the personality charts, so his conversations are really enjoyable. When we go about deciding combinations, I think Owain is the easiest to write for, and I can think of lots of things (laughs). For the rest, we thought about combinations where there might be interesting trivia. Although there are some characters with less conversations… There were times where we couldn’t really piece something together. In the end, I felt a bit lost. There was also a suggestion for “every character to have N conversations”, but it’s no fun if a conversation is forcibly added. Ultimately, there is an imbalance in the number of conversations, but we have to draw the line so we can proceed.”
ND: Do you have any memorable Bond Conversations?
Usuda: “In the 3rd DLC Pack, the overpowering Owain of course (laughs). Aside from that, there’s Olivia and Xander’s Bond Conversation. We’ve already had references to Laslow in the main story. Finally, it was time for his mother and boss to meet up. Also, in one of the time-space distortions in History Mode, Xander assumes the role of Maribelle. Originally, it was Olivia that made Laslow become a flirt. When he was a child, Laslow was shy and his mother taught him to “go to town and become acquainted with strangers to build your confidence”, and in doing so he became the flirtatious scoundrel we all know and love. Of course, it was Maribelle in Awakening who first taught Olivia about talking to strangers in town. “Go to town, approach the first stranger you see, and make their acquaintance.” In Fire Emblem Warriors, Xander says this exact line to Olivia. Not only that, but he claims “it’s a proven method [as recommended by one of my retainers]” (laughs).”
All: (Bursts into laughter)
Usuda: “This was something we really wanted to put in Fire Emblem Warriors (laughs). Because of what Xander taught Olivia, he inadvertently ended up making his own retainer a flirt, creating a paradox! It’s a really small detail, but I personally loved it.”
Fire Emblem Warriors is available on Nintendo Switch and New Nintendo 3DS.
