Holy War Remake Ideas

Thanks to Shadows of Valentia it's possible that Int Sys will eventually do a Holy War remake. The idea makes me nervous that they'll screw it up, but it is a possibility. I've had a few ideas that would be fun to see in a remake, but will most likely never happen. Still, a man can dream right? I'd like to spitball some ideas that I think would be fun to see in a Holy War remake:

1. Having Children's Promotion Options Be Determined By Their "Variable" Parent: This would provide an extra set of pros and cons when deciding which male and female characters should be lovers. Here are some examples of how this would work:

• Tiltyu's Kids:  Azel x Tiltyu would give the kids the option to promote to Mage Knight. Lewyn x Tiltyu would give the kids access to the Sage class after promotion but Arthur still gets Forseti. 

                          In order for this to work you'd have to shrink the map sizes down because otherwise the pairing that gives the kids access to a horse wins, but if they were shrunk then at least this would be a more interesting set of pros and cons where Azel could be a more viable option. It also would potentially make Lewyn!Arthur and Lewyn!Ced more interesting.

• Ayra's Kids: Ayra x Lex would give the kids access to the Hero class, Ayra x Holyn would make the kids actual swordmasters, Ayra x Dew would make them thieves after promotion. 

In some cases this may have to be limited to only the child who gets their weapons from their parent (in most instances the male child) but this would help to make pairing that much more interesting. 

# 2: Skills Being Linked to Holy Blood: The idea here is that Holy Bloods give characters certain skills. Minor Holy Bloods get that skill after promotion, Major Holy Bloods give that skill before. I made a list of which Holy Blood gets which skill:

• Baldo: Luna. 
• Odo: Astra.
• Hezul: Crt + 30? (Since the the Holy Weapon is a sword that lets its user land critical hits I think it's only fair to give the Hezul bloodline some kind of crit boosting skill)

• Neir: Pavise (Aka the Skill that randomly negates damage from attacks. This is the class of tanky axe users after all)

• Noba: Charisma / Charm. (Fits the Leonster characters so why not?)

• Dain: Fortification? (It would be a skill that negates effective damage) 

• Fala: Nihil
• Tordo: Wrath
• Forsety: Adept 

• Blaggi: Miracle
• Ulir: Celerity? Blank Shot?: (This one is admittedly the toughest one but either giving them more movement or the ability to defend themselves at 1 range seems appropriate for a bow wielding class) 

• Naga: Renewal 
• Loptyr: Shroud? (Halves damage before applying defense calculations)

Implications: Yes I know that this also has a major impact on pairing kids up and on the viability of certain units. For example...

Ayra x Holyn is the only pair where the kids get Astra before promotion. If you keep the promotion levels the same as the original then that means that the kids get a whopping 20 extra levels of Astra at their disposal. Ayra x Lex means that they would get both Astra and Pavise after promotion. 

Leif gets Charisma and Luna after promotion. Altenna gets Charisma before promotion, and Luna afterwards. 

Claude x Fury means that Ced and Fee will get Miracle. 

Oifey now gets Luna, Ethlin gets Luna after promotion. Ayra gets Astra after promotion, Lex gets Pavise after promotion (so now he's even tankier than before. In case this balances things too much in favor of the characters with Holy Blood you could give non-Holy Blood characters different skills to offset this. 

# 3: Prf Rank Weapons

If a weapon is given to a character during a conversation then that character should have to keep said weapon or item. The major reason for this is that it can help distinguish units from each other more and it provides a way to mesh gameplay and story. The following weapons should be Prf Rank:

• The Light Brand Deirdre gives to Ethlin: In Thracia 776 Leif's Light Brand was supposed to be passed down to him from Ethlin so why not have the remake stay true to this? It seems wrong to give it to Sigurd / Seliph.

• The Brave Lance Quan gives to Finn: Same reason as the Light Brand. Finn's Brave Lance is Prf rank in Thracia 776 and the conversation behind that is supposed to be a moment of character growth and development for Finn.

• The Earth Sword Eldigan gives to Lachesis: Same reason as the previous two.

• The Silver Sword Alvis gives to Sigurd: It's already known as Sigurd's Silver Sword anyway. Plus it adds an extra bit of irony when Seliph is using that sword to topple Alvis's Empire.

• The Brave Sword Ayra gets from either Lex or Holyn: Seems messed up story-wise for Ayra to sell off a sword that her supposed lover gives to her. 

• The Brave Bow Aideen gives to either Jamke or Midir

• Jamke's Killer Bow: (While it doesn't solve his movement issue it would ideally give him a huge combat boost over Midir)

• Lex's Brave Axe: (Practically speaking it's already his anyway so why not make it official?)

In addition I think there should be two prf rank items for the following characters:

• The Beo Sword: In Thracia 776 Delmud joins your army with the Beo Sword. It's a sword that only he and Fergus can use. I find it strange that Thracia claims that Beowulf had a prf rank sword that somehow never existed in Holy War. This would provide some neat little continuity plus Beowulf having a powerful Prf rank sword would also provide an incentive for why the player should pair Beowulf up with a woman.

• Arden's Super Duper Amazing Ring: If a Holy War remake gets rid of the Pursuit and Critical skills, and gives everyone those two things, then it would be neat for Arden to still have a special event where he gets a ring. But this time he gets to keep it for himself. It can be a super amazing, extra special ring like the Angel Ring in the OG Gaiden that gave + 2 level ups. If it's a Prf rank ring that cannot be traded, bought or sold then the player might have an actual reason to pair Arden with a female character. Plus Arden needs the most love out of any of the characters in Holy War.

In addition to everything mentioned above there is something else I'd like to see: If Ayra and Holyn are lovers then it would be cool if Holyn!Larcei or Holyn!Ulster get a shot at wielding the Balmung. There could even be a special scene / conversation where they challenge their cousin to a duel (where Shannan cannot use the Balmung). If either of the sword twins win then they are deemed worthy of wielding the Balmung. 

# 4 - Some Extra Tweaks

• Delmud should be able to wield lances as well as swords. This would have some amazing pairing implications. For one thing, Finn x Lachesis would be far more viable since Finn can actually pass his Brave Lance down to Delmud. It would also mean that Alec and Noish would actually be more viable partners for Lachesis. 

The idea here would be that:

•  Beowulf could pass down his Prf ranked Sword, but not lances.

• Finn could pass down his Brave Lance, but not swords.

• Alec and Noish can't provide any powerful weapons, but at least they can provide both swords AND lances to Delmud. 

Tiltyu should already be promoted: Claude and Briggid join at the same time that she does and they're both promoted so why not her?

Arthur should join later, Ced should join earlier: If they have similar availability then it becomes a more interesting choice for who you should pass Forseti down to.

Thieves should be able to have more control over how much money they give: As of right now a thief can only give all of their money or none of their money to someone else. Here, being able to pick and choose how much money they give would most likely amplify their unique utility. 

Last, But Not Least: Thracia 776 Cameos 

    There are multiple characters in Thracia 776 whose existence in the narrative of Holy War would enrich the story. Here's a list of characters that could do that:

• Saias: He's Alvis's bastard child. It would interesting to see a conversation between Alvis and Saias. Manfroy deemed Saias a threat due to his Fala blood so why not make that a subplot in Holy War? Plus having a Valflame user on the player's side would be cool to have for once.

• Sara: She's Manfroy's granddaughter. Her existence alone could add some insight into Manfroy's character and the Loptyr Cult. 

• Eyvale: She's Briggid but having her go by the name Eyvale could have interesting ramifications for the narrative. It makes Briggid a more memorable and interesting character, because she actually survived the events of Chapter 5. Having her regain her memories by the time of Chapter 10 would be interesting too. Having Briggid survive like this and regain her memory would also provide character development for her. 

• Reinhardt: Thanks to Heroes he's already popular and well known so this could be a nice inclusion for those people who know him from there. Reinhardt could either be a Gotoh type character or he could be a powerful endgame boss for the player to defeat. His existence alone gives more of a dynamic between Julius and Ishtar. 

• Fergus & Asvel: Fergus is supposed to be Beowulf's kid and Asvel already has a personal connection with Ced. 

• Misha: She's the daughter of a minor antagonist in Holy War. This could make a forgettable minor villain into a more memorable one. Maybe her existence could shed some light on what happened to Silesse between Generations 1 & 2. 

• Galzus and Mareeta: Galzus is the prince of Rivough, the castle that kick started the war between Grannvale and Issach in Holy War. If these two ever meet Shannan and the sword twins that would make for a really interesting dynamic. Heck, you could even have Galzus die and reappear as a Dreadlord. That would give a face to the Dreadlords that you have to fight later on in the game.