Some say there's a flaw in everything, that no work (or very few works) are truly perfect. Your mileage may vary. However, you probably have some favorite works that you think are basically perfect, as good as could be expected, or at least approach perfection. Of course, perfection is also completely subjective and debatable, so it's all a relative matter of opinion.
The point of this thread is not to talk about works you think are bad or majorly flawed, which you think should be rebuilt from the ground up or anything like that. If you hate Zelda II or Sailor Moon Crystal or Alien 3 or whatever, this isn't about that. If you're middling on a given thing, this isn't really about that either.
Instead, I challenge you to think only of your favorites; the things you might already rate 5/5, and perhaps have rewatched/replayed/reread simply for love of the thing. Then, creatively/constructively point out ways you can imagine them being even better. Try to be specific. Realistic can also be good, but is not strictly necessary.
BEWARE SPOILERS- I recommend including them so your explanations make more sense. Spoiler tags are also recommended.
Here's my spin on a few of my biggest favorites:
Movies:
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
This was all actually filmed, but not used due to rewrites, but honestly I think it's the coolest thing C3PO ever did (and I like C3PO as-is, but still).
During the Jabba's Palace antics, there should be a moment when Luke tries to send a telepathic signal- perhaps to Lando, since he's infiltrated the guards. However, it doesn't work! Luke has to shift gears and try again, sending a telepathic signal to Leia, who hears perfectly, but is already chained to Jabba at this point, so she has to do some tricky thing to signal Lando to make the plan work.
In so doing, we've called back to ESB's moment of Leia hearing Luke's call, and built it up as more of a deliberate hint that Leia and Luke have a connection, and that Leia has some degree of force powers. Thus the ret-con is reinforced and hinted at more in advance.
I wouldn't have Boba Fett die during the Jabba's Palace scene- in fact, he wouldn't stick around for the whole fight. He'd be like "Meh, I'm not getting paid enough for this" and Jabba would shake his fist at him as he runs away and ditches them.
Then Darth Vader would hire Boba Fett for a handsome fee to help guard the Shield Generator bunker. When Han and Leia and friends get inside, instead of just some chumps, Boba Fett is waiting for them! Boba Fett and Han have some kind of skirmish and Han does a clever trick to break his jetpack on purpose and defeats him then. (Leia would also help out in spite of her arm wound. Might be a good opportunity to unwittingly use force powers, like how Luke grabbed his lightsaber in the wampa cave. Or maybe Leia could knock something into Boba Fett the way that Vader was doing to Luke- leading nice and sinisterly into Vader's "If you cannot be turned, then perhaps she will" speech.)
Lastly, there'd be a scene where Moff JerJerrod and some other imperial officers are talking about problems with the Death Star, saying that the Emperor's expectations are not only unrealistic, but don't make sense. Somebody brings up the possibility that Palpatine is old and senile. The conversation is abruptly cut off when Vader comes to check on them, and they snap back into line.
Then there's a scene where those Star Destroyers that wait and lurk instead of attacking the incoming fleet, a little ways into the battle, there's a captain who asks someone else for orders, and they say they're still waiting for the Emperor's order to proceed. Cut back to Palpatine trying to corrupt Luke and not paying attention to the battle.
Otherwise the movie would be pretty much identical, though. Most of the Special Edition changes are fine, but I would never add that "Jedi Rocks" musical number or the extra Vader "No... no!!!" dialogue from the latest editions when he turns on Palpatine, as those are both horrible changes. Haydn Christiansen's ghost can stay I guess, but maybe show Sebastian Shaw's ghost first, then cut to Haydyn with a ripple effect closeup or something? I dunno.
Likewise, George McFly would've had a slightly bigger role in Part II and been played by (a well-paid) Crispin Glover. We see the scene where he is murdered by Biff- perhaps Lorraine finds a recording of it and confronts Biff with it (maybe he's trying to watch a Clint Eastwood movie, but it gets interrupted by a copy of the tape, and then she comes in threatening him or something? I don't know). We also see Lorraine stand up to that Biff and attempt to fight him more, but this timeline is pretty doomed so Doc and Marty and Jennifer still need to go back and prevent any of this from happening.
In Part III Jennifer would probably have some trouble with the anachronisms since she'd be annoyed with 1800s womens' clothing, and basically be drawing unwanted attention by trying to shirk the social norms. At the same time, she'd be helping out. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on political overtones to this though, treating it more as a source of complications and adventure hooks than social aesops, so as to preserve the fun spirit of the films.
Part III would also have Seamus McFly played by Crispin Glover instead of Michael J Fox.
The Jennifer stuff is a major enough rewrite that I'm not sure how it would all go point-by-point, but I think the movies were so good the way they were that they don't really need to be totally overturned, so just tweaking the existing plot to incorporate her better would be nice.
Oh, and at the end of Part III, Jennifer talks to Marty and points out that Clara standing behind in the past would mess up the timeline MORE than bringing her to the future (since she was originally dead, and suddenly disappearing would be closer to that than living out her life in the 1800s). Then they bring this up to Doc when he shows up in the Time Train in 1985, and he sort of blinks and has a 'derpity doo' kinda moment, but they laugh it off and it's all good.
Anime:
Sailor Moon '90s anime season 1
If I had to keep the season the original length, I would very slightly shorten Jadeite's arc to remove a couple of the earliest non-plot-progressing episodes, like 4 or 7 or 9, or possibly remove one of Kunzite's less important episodes, or possibly the cute-but-non-sequiter episode 20. I would, flinchingly, be willing to consider removing one of Nephrite's minor early episodes like 15 or 16. If I removed any of these I'd probably want to tweak their most interesting minor character moments into other remaining episodes somehow.
The reason for making this extra space is that, firstly, I would make episode 44 into a three-parter:
- Part 1 would start like 44, with Kunzite unwittingly sending the Sailor Senshi to the moon to learn history from Queen Serenity, but she would start a bit earlier, revealing that the Shitennou (Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite) were once Prince Endymion's team (as in the manga and other things). It would show their original, kinder personalities and a small slice of their heroics, while building towards part 2.
- Part 2 would involve the fall of Endymion's kingdom to Beryl and Metallia. While Endymion is cut off from the others, the Shitennou fight heroically to the death, but are killed and put into brainwashing chambers, much like what happened to Endymion in the present. (This is extremely plausible as a background detail and slightly similar to the manga's story, but in more detail and, because it's the '90s anime, with a slightly more sympathetic spin.)
- Part 3 would basically be the regular backstory and conclusion from episode 44 untouched, although there'd be slightly more emphasis on Usagi's failed attempt to heal Kunzite (the last of the Shitennou) rather than destroy him.
After that, there would be another episode in between 45 and 46. This episode would include the very start of Usagi's confrontation with Beryl and brainwashed Endymion, and have the dead 'Inner' Senshi's ghosts meeting with the Shitennou's ghosts. Not in any romantic way like Crystal, but as fallen warriors passing the torch to a new generation.
The Shitennou would apologize for their failure in their duty to protect Earth, going into a bit of detail about their exact regrets (Zoisite would break down crying, Nephrite would mention Naru, and so on), and lend the last of their power to the Sailor Senshi's ghosts. This would give them just enough power to return as ghosts to help Usagi use the Silver Crystal in the way she does, adding another layer to how she was able to do that without dying like Queen Serenity did. It could also explain why she was able to bring back Mamoru.
Finally, the ending would be the same but with a couple added scenes- Mamoru would find four gemstones (or possibly the Kurozuishou, the black Crystal Nephrite conjured earlier)) which seem strangely familiar to him, and keep them. Like in the manga, the Shitennou's ghosts would be inside these stones, watching over him. (There might also be a hint of Mamoru and Naru making friends, and Naru being curious about the Nephrite stone- maybe it's the Kurozuishou and it glows when she touches it, calling back to episode 23. She'd still date Umino probably, but having some thing where Mamoru lets her keep that one might be neat.)
And then at least one subsequent season could build off these new revelations a little bit
Of course, there's a ton of other ways Sailor Moon could go and I'm pretty happy with what we got, plus it leaves lots of hooks for fanfic writing, so, tradeoffs..
Video games:
Super Mario Bros 3
Lastly, I think Iggy Koopa's face on the SMB3 sprite was weird and ugly, they could've drawn his head more like SMW would do it (which is odd since most of the Koopalings look worse in SMW, but Iggy looks better.)
Ooh, and having the 'New Game+' rearrange the maps even more to mess with level order would've been groovy. Or even just the SMB1 trick of swapping goombas for buzzy beetles, maybe taken a couple steps farther by switching more kinds of enemies in problematic ways. More of those darn hopping Nipper plant thingies, more Fire Bros, etc.
Maybe a few more areas where there are sky hazards for when you try to fly over the level, to prove that it's not giving the player flight that 'breaks' levels, but having empty skies that does so. (Hopefully something a bit better than floating stacks of munchers though XD maybe bring back those exploding fire chain guys from SMB3's "The Sky" world?)
Lastly, I think some sort of powerup should've been in the Red and Blue switch blocks. Red would probably be Fire Flower. Not sure what to put in Blue.
- Remove that rock at the base of Death Mountain in the light world, which would straightforwardly allow the player to go the Tower of Hera before Eastern Palace or Desert of Mystery.
- Make Sahasrahla give you the Pegasus Boots for something besides defeating the Eastern Palace so that you could also do Desert of Mystery first.
- Remove the hammer posts that enforce linearity in the Dark World so that you can do the Swamp Palace, Skull Woods, or Thieves' Town before Palace of Darkness if you wish.
- Slightly tweak Ice Palace so that you don't have to loop through it twice, but you still need to push the block down a floor (unless you did Misery Mire first).
- Make Ganon's Tower's right half of the basement necessary somehow. Or maybe put the Red Mail over there somewhere so that it's less convenient to get.
- Shorten some of the story dialogue or allow it to be skipped for replays, particularly Sahasrahla and the seven maidens.
- Do the shovel the way the GBA version did (you keep it and can dig up random hearts/magic/rupees).
- Maybe make the Cane of Byrna do something more important or interesting to distinguish it from the Magic Cape- solve some optional puzzles for heart pieces or something?
- Make the Super Bomb hurt enemies if you should bother to try that, and make it so you can enter dungeons with it. You still only get the one at a time and you still can't run without setting it, but it would be fun to toy with and maybe do a bunch of damage to Trinexx or Ganon or something if you manage to bring it that far.
- More generally, it'd be nice to remove the "You can't enter with me" follower mechanic, I always felt that was janky. There's got to be a better programming workaround for Thieves' Town than that.
- I would probably also have saved the big-size rocks exclusively for the Titan's Mitt, and made all power glove obstacles be small rocks. It would've seemed more impressive that way.
- Likewise, I would've made the big liftable blocks in dungeons be Titan's Mitt-only obstacles (I really think they meant to do this and just goofed up).
Also, Richter should have proper sprites of his redesigned outfit and hair (with an option for which set to use in play); the Saturn Version at least attempted that, but they were kinda crudely drawn.
Also, having Maria be playable- which is also in the Saturn Version and PSP version- is a good addition. But I'd give her a plot too. She'd have her own alternate opening scene, where you play as her defeating Dracula in Rondo (since that was an option). Then the main story is set the same time as Alucard's, except Alucard doesn't save the day and Maria has to fight Richter and do the Holy Glasses thing to avoid killing him, then go on to do the reverse castle and fight Dracula herself. Alucard would still factor in somehow as a helpful side character like Maria does in his story, though.
I would also have Maria mode be an option at the beginning, not an unlockable bonus (Richter would still be an unlockable bonus, however).
I don't think Richter and Maria need any big gameplay tweaks though. Saturn Maria is good and PSP Maria sounds good (I don't have that version yet, sadly, and I haven't gotten it running less-than-legitimately either). Maybe add wall meat for Richter though, at least wherever Alucard could find wall meat, or as a low random chance to replace items instead of just hearts.
Lastly, that hatch at the beginning of the castle really should've had something to begin with. I think the Underground Garden in the Saturn version was a cool addition. Failing that, you could just have the actual little dinky cave and save point that are available but semi-inaccessible in the PSX version, and put a cool item down there that Alucard can get by backtracking after opening the hatch from somewhere. Maybe the Rainbow Cloak from the Saturn Version or something.
Basically, I'd have more branching plot points (like in the regular game where you could fail to save Shadow in the floating continent). These would be:
- The overall course of player decisions throughout the game could tweak rather Kefka or Gestahl becomes the final boss.
- There might be a different way to handle the Narshe intro, so that the resistance doesn't find.
- Gaining Edgar and Sabin early on would be missable if you handled things wrong. Potentially, Edgar's tentative alliance with the Empire could go on longer and cause problems for you (sounds like a lead on the Gestahl plot to me).
- Teaming up with Gau would be optional (Sabin could find the diving helmet on his own).
- Save Cyan's kingdom as Sabin by intercepting Kefka before he poisons the river, but doing so keeps Cyan from joining his party for the rest of that scenario, so Sabin might have to do the Phantom Train alone if he doesn't bring Shadow.
- Fail to rescue Celes as Locke (change the 'TunlArmr' fight accordingly), meaning you now have to fight a brainwashed slave crown-wearing Celes later in the game.
- Maybe have a way to save Banon (perhaps around when the Espers attack the Empire) and have him join the party, but he would kind of suck.
- Survive as General Leo and join the party (obviously), but perhaps at some other cost (maybe take a half-cue from the 'General Leo Edition' romhack and make it so you choose between Leo or Shadow dying- Shadow dying to defend his hometown and daughter has a certain dramatic edge I think). Leo might not properly join the party until the Floating Continent though.
- The Floating Continent would be the ultimate branch point on the Kefka/Gestahl plot. Probably a good place to fight Celes if you have to, too, given her importance to the scene otherwise.
- More generally, there would be lots of little decision points earlier in the game that change the overall outcome, making the World of Balance less linear.
- Maybe you could prevent the World of Ruin from exactly happening by going the Gestahl route. There'd still be new places to go, maybe the same dungeons like the Pheonix Cave and whatever, but the reasons for them would be different.
- In the World of Ruin, Cid joins the party of Celes saves him, and uses special wrench weapons or something like that.
- The plot would branch so you could save some of the Espers at the cost of not getting their magicite, but getting a happier ending somehow.
- If you wanted to go completely crazy down that route, you could add a Terra magicite if the player screws up badly enough, in a dark dramatic twist. But hey, it's an easy way to learn Ultima quick! And her other spells if you don't already have them for some reason.
- Strago could die somehow (not sure on details, but probably something to do with the cult tower?).
- What Shadow does during the ending could be changed depending on if you obtained Relm and maybe other factors (Strago being dead?). She would drag him out of the tower herself (perhaps instead of Strago).
- You could wind up with a different, less useful Moogle than Mog. You could also save the other Moogles and have them show up to help Mog do some kinda team attack (if you're big on either-or arrangements, maybe this could be instead of getting Umaro, I dunno).
The overall ending would be very different depending on how you handled Gestahl and Kefka and who you saved. Maybe magic would die, maybe not (largely dependant on the espers you saved and the way events with the Goddess Statues play out- probably impossible in the Kefka route). There would be a lot of incentive to replay the game to see how differently you could play and how the story would change.
Edited by Mitsukara, 07 December 2017 - 05:20 AM.