Why exactly is the Rivals of Aether story so bad? Does this rewrite make it better? Has anyone even played the story mode since Steam Workshop support came out?! #rivalsofaether
Seeing Stefan actively competent, paying attention, and even more so, understanding the story and context scares me. Has he been hiding his powerlevel? Stefan is your Loxodont.
tbf we usually only see him when he's being forced into using complex game systems for the first time while being ceaselessly ridiculed as a beautifully evil sort of hazing ritual
I don't badly mind the existing story mode, since fighting games traditionally suck at telling stories (though it doesn't have to be that way). I saw it as a way to just drop hints that there's some neat stuff going on in this world, to be expanded on in future, non-platform-fighting Rivals of Aether games. You're still right though, it should be better. Your proposition to narrow the scope of the story to focus almost entirely on Fors and Zetter is a good one, since the story mode is too short to be as ambitious as it is. It could still convey the idea that the other characters have stuff going on. For THIS game, though, focusing on getting one good story arc out of it is better; Dan had a lot of ideas, but this wasn't the place to drop them all. Hiring you as the story director would be a great idea for Dan. It wouldn't even be expensive, since you're a UA-camr and not a real person
I already disagree, not all fighting games suck at telling stories, there aren’t a lot unfortunately but there are gems out there that can tell a good story
Would be nice if there was something for Ranno, Absa, Etalus, Sylvanos, and Eliana. Feel like Sylvanos should've been snapping after the rock wall was broken.
Wow, pretty bold of you to advice dan to put in yiff art of all the characters in the story mode, however I'm not so sure if the inflation fetish sideplot would work
Hey Adam, another great video! You did a great job not only getting the story to make sense, but also visualizing it in the editing. Listening to this kind of content like a podcast would already be good, but the images you made were worth watching the video and distracting me from chores. You can say that what you’re doing is easy and basic storytelling all you want, but you’ve demonstrated quite a bit of experience and knowledge on the subject and I think you’d make a great writer for Daniel Fornaniel LLC. Dan, please hire Adam for his ability to find problems with things and provide great input on how to fix them. His dedication to the Rivals scene is proof enough.
"Two grown men write a furry avengers/avatar fanfic." There, fixed your title. In all honesty, this was really good! I just hope we get more of the Loxodont plot in a spinoff or comic or something. Endless Emperor Loxodont would be a really cool boss fight in a sequel!
Obviously the best approach is to add *every single* workshop character to the story, including all the Sandbert clones and especially George Costanza.
@@yonatanbeer3475 ....until it was revealed that it was actually part of Ronald's scheme in expanding his fast-food chain throughout Aether and murders Obama with a hambaga to the skull cavity after he is no longer of use to him.
I have no other place to share my thoughts. Because I have thought about it. I feel like Sylvanos could be a good foil to Orcane. They are both feral (I think), but Orcane is domesticated(ish) and more in tune with civilization, whereas Sylvanos is more wild, and resents civilization. Sylvanos would need to overcome and heal from the scars inflicted on him in the past, and perhaps come to learn that peaceful coexistence while still keeping civilization in check, and Orcane would need to be able to confront the destructive past and acknowledge what was done, while endeavoring to become a role model for how civilization should be led, moving into the future. I know it's probably not 1 to 1 with both of their lore. But it was a neat idea that came to mind for me.
Imagine if they did something like this but for each nation. This one would be the Fire Nation story. Each one with as much of an arc as this one. That would be awesome! That's what the story mode should've been IMO (and it would keep the interconnected start from wherever thing). Also, I think for any of this to feel good the A.I. should be polished. I would feel super pulled off from the story by Orcane randomly killing himself. Either way, super good video dude! I wish they get help from a good artist to improve the story mode. Your version is way better than the original one btw.
The idea of a story being split between different perspectives I think can work. Touhou fighting games tend to do that, but also, it's been a way longer stories have been done (ie Sonic Adventure). By now, the Definitive Edition has been revealed and I know they won't do this: give every character (except maybe the guest characters) a story. Clarien's for example is interesting, but doesn't look like will ever be complete unless a Rivals 2 will be made.
Love the rewrite a lot and I'm just going to quietly replace the real one with it. My only issue is that Zetter is the deuteragonist and Forsburn the protagonist rather than the other way around, but I guess that's not an inherently bad thing.
I kinda feel like the story mode also suffered in the gameplay department. Mostly because bots are the antithesis of fighting games. These games are all about detecting habits in the other player and adapting to what they do. You can kind of detect patterns in bots, but a lot of it is RNG deciding if they parry or not. My suggestion: mix it up with minigames like 'break the targets' and 'race to the finish.' Things that have a clear goal and not an abstract bot that is trying to act like a human.
This is an incredible improvement from the original story mode and I really love what you've done here! That being said, I feel like one aspect you didn't address too much was how gameplay would fit into this new story. There are a few good fights in there, but I think what Rivals story mode really needs is platforming levels like Subspace has. Not only is the movement in Rivals is extremely fun and satisfying, but it's a major part of the gameplay, and is something you need to learn if you want to be any good at the game. In both the original story mode and in your rewrite, the characters spend a lot of time travelling around the map. What if we actually got to do this travelling? The platforming sections could have abyss monsters that you need to fight, which get tougher and more common as the story mode progresses. You could have certain sections where you need to use specific abilities from each character. For example, you could have a part where you need to armor through a specific damaging obstacle using Kragg's side special, you could have a part where you need to use Zetter's downspecial to recover your midair jump or else you won't be able to traverse a gap. You could also have parts that force players to use general in-game mechanics. There could be a section where you need to jump to full height to get over an obstacle, but then fastfall to avoid an attack. You could have a part where the screen scrolls quickly, and will quickly get ahead of you unless you traverse the platforms using proper wavelanding. Finally, this would give Dan a chance to show off the world of Aether, since there are tons of cool aesthetics in the game, but we don't get to see too much of them. TLDR: I want a Rivals of Aether platformer
This is a great story! I think maybe the only thing I could ask for is more characterization for Zetter? Maybe a big argument or moment of conflict between Zetter and Forsburn, so when he shows up at the end again, it feels like Zetterburn made a major choice; swallow his pride and help his brother, or let his brother, who maybe he now sees as a traitor, die at the hands of the abyss. Maybe this could be somehow integrated into the end of act two? Maybe some previously unknown information could be revealed by the smoke clan? Like Zetter runs into them at some point and explains more to him before the final moment? Something like that. BUT of course, the struggle here with these game stories is that it becomes pretty hard to make a compelling narrative when it comes to gameplay. So who knows if this could all work? But for real, I got some real chills listening to this alternate story.
only thing that kinda ruins this for me is that Forsburn have his mask already, he has smoke stuffs. If he arrived at the smoke clan/tribe later, it would bring character inconsistency..... I would also like it if Absa and Etalus were included because I believe they are part of the original roster
I think there's one major problem but it's not really your fault. If Clairen comes from a future where Loxodont is still in charge, but the rewrite ends with Forsburn taking charge... See where I'm going with this? It's basically set up where Zetterburn and Forsburn can't have a happy ending. It has to end with neither of them really getting what they want, which is to rule the empire effectively, whichever brother it is.
I think I have an idea for how this ending can be kept while having Clairen’s world make sense. Essentially, Loxodont could have plotted a coup later on in the rule under Forsburn, overthrowing and maybe executing him. Then Zetterburn could be involved and try to stop the coup and avenge his brother, but he gets stopped by Loxodont. Loxodont rules the fire kingdom with an iron fist and enacts policies that end up benefitting him and the people in power at the cost of the citizen’s livelihood. Cue rebellion, Clairen backstory, yada yada, you get the idea.
@@Clownbelt-u2s That's kinda what I'm saying, it's hard to pretend Forsburn and Zetterburn can have a happy ending when we know something like what you said has to happen.
genuinely the one thing I would complain much about with the story mode is it being locked while Workshop is enabled so I can't unlock two of the stages in the game without turning Workshop back off EDIT: I don't dislike the story mode as a whole, but it's not the best I've seen without also being the worst I've seen, so I don't complain about it much. I actually thought the multiple angles of the story are okay
Tielesiti i dont think that structure of story is inherently bad, it just doesn’t work super well in this format for a videogame story. Or maybe it’s just more difficult to write a cohesive story like that.
The existing story should be played counter clockwise starting from the treetop lodge, and the story generally has a good form but its too confusing in the sense that if you do go counter clockwise every character has a story where he/she is the main character and then the next one the same character becomes secondary and a new one comes, for example in the treetop lodge kragg is the primary and maypul secondary, in stone wall wrastor is primary and kragg secondary, in air armada orcane primary and wrastor secondary etc so if you do play the story in any order other than that it becomes a mess thats hard to track because the "pick your story" thing works if everything is happening simultaneously but its kinda not happening at the same time. For example, if you picked zetterburns story first and then continued clockwise it would become very confusing. The only thing i hated about the story is that most of the fights are fillers and unrelated to the story except the rival of the character you play as. The filler fights work even worse because story mode focuses on characters lore, so if it wants to focus lore effectively it has to make fights related to each other. Personally i actually dont like adams take on changing the story because it has a basic movie plot and the whole point of the original story mode is that there is no main character and everyone has a good/bad relationship with someone else unlike here where everyone gets along with everyone and there is no *rivalry* (its RIVALS of aether after all) except with zetterburn and forsburn. Original story mode was actually better as good because it tried to tell the story of each character individually instead of making it a jumbled mess of characters with a movie plot. What i would like to do is simply expand the existing story instead of rewriting it because then it would be clearer and all the lore would become a bit more relevant, including existing rivalries. How would i do that? Make more "slides" in between each battle, the battle maing at least some sense to why it happened. And the last problem i have with adams take on changing the story is that there would be too much story and too little action. There would be story, story, story and then a big fight. It should be story, fight, story, fight like it is in the original game. And story mode in my opinion should not have a plot that builds up, it should have a plot thats stays relatively tense until the climax-final boss fight. To conclude, the best way story mode can be changed is by simply upgrading the existing story, not rewrite it for the most part, and to make it so whichever story you pick first in all makes sense after you play them all.
I agree with the fanfic writer, except for the Sylvanos trailer thing. It does a good job setting him up as a "force of nature" villain... literally. Being the manifestation of the anger of the forest, and becoming a mythical angry doggo after the conflict ended. It also adds a point of interest in the forest being sentient, since it would otherwise just be primitive compared to the other tribes. It kinda makes you wonder if the forest is still angry, since Sylvanos never went away. That's what I think, at least.
Add ons: I just wanted you to Frozen 2 it, Foursburn goes with the smoke people and he tells Zetterburn he can be a good ruler just to be more compassionate and that he wants to withe the smoke people because they released the hero in him (or something like that) and then that things that. Major Changes: Captain Falcon(u know who I'm talking about) tells wrasyer after he looks suprised at being talked to at this time with his hand open like he's dropping something off (Ellianna) he then tells wraster to get orcane, in the bits of being in the tree forest while Krag is getting Foursburn to Mappelyou can see a barely identifiable picture(or pixels?) Of Slyvannos, this will be explained in the next part... But when is th- 2nd Story we start off with Captain Falcon panning down from talking to a screaming snake in the first story's after credits ending to ensure more story after falling to loxodont abd starting the 2nd one we Elli see basically the her revel trailer then her planning how to get to the air armoda. Now we see Elli and Loxodont talking about revenge and stuff and how the Burn Nation didn't believe them so they made an exchange the Smoke and Fire are trading now so he tells Elli to go two the tradeing path and he will tell the fire nation not truely believeing him but sent the air Armada to check that way Elli can get her revenge. Ambush happens people get beaten Burn Nation goes and Loxodont goes in while they left and Kills Better claiming the rights of Burn Nation Time Skip to Clarens Revel trailer fighting Robo Zetterburn in a world Where Loxodont takes over all clans goes back to the past thanks to mollo ;) and all the way back to Slyvannos's time he says challenge me and I'll help you in the future she winshence the pixels in the background showing that this did happen in the future he waits for her return as she goes back to loxodont time mollo is captured
It amazes me how a game with such at times _stunningly_ creative gameplay has such piss-poor worldbuilding. The world of RoA is basically what happens when you give a 12 year old crayons.
Great video as always, Adam! I really liked the rewrite, visuals, really everything you guys had to offer. The only "gripe" (not even a real issue) is the lack of Etalus and Absa, at the least. I know, I know, they weren't a part of the original story and you were just trying to rewrite the original, so there's not a lot to be said there. However, if I'm not mistaken, Daniel Fornaniel has said they will make/incorporate Absa/Eta into the Story Mode in the Definitive(?) edition, or at least further down the line. As far as I'm concerned, he said Ori and SK both are just going to stay out of it, since they're not his IP, they kind of just have a little teleporting portal that plops them down into the Treetop and Swamp respectively, which is fine. But that being said, the elemental DLC characters also introduced their own areas and (kind of) plots regardless. Clairen already ties in to the story, with the whole Loxodont Fire Capital business.. And we're to assume Julesvale exists SOMEWHERE despite not being on the current map, since Elli goes there and then plans to attack the Airship Armada. Ranno kinda just minds his own business as a monk in the swamp, and Sylvanos, like you said, is just... under the forest? Ultimately, I'm really curious to see how you would approach all of these DLC characters' stories, both individually and as a group. Would you expand on the current story you charted out here, or make a completely different plot, a sequel after the Abyss is defeated, maybe with Loxodont as the main villain, since we never got closure after Zetterburn left him in charge, and now Clairen is here to tell everyone he's an evil emperor? I have a lot of ideas already because storywriting is more or less up my alley, but I love what you've done regardless in rewriting what the game has now! Let me know what you think :)
@drewskidewsk Sylvanos is feral and probably wouldn't get involved. Elliana is anti Air Armada but if it came to working with Wrastor or the end of the world as they know it? Well... That's exactly the intrigue isn't it? Bet: Loxodont sends for Elliana with "I know how to take down the Air Armada" and Elliana is a villain for the first part idk
I think a way to make the story mode better is by adding Absa and Etalus into the story. Maybe even Clairen and Ranno, maybe even Elliana and Sylvanos if you get creative. That way the story is bigger and has more opportunities to make more arcs and stories. Absa could be dealing with political problems with the Air Armada that’s trying to use the Tempest Peak as one of their bases, she tries to protect it but as they fight the mountain could be taken by the Abyss and both have to retreat, with Absa finding a way to destroy the Abyss and liberate the mountain. and her story arc could be based upon learning to be more open to people since she tries to do everything by herself until she realizes that she needs help from others if she wants to succeed, she could also make a friendship with Wrastor later on, and that friendship makes the advances from the Air Armada against the Air Clan stop (that way Wrastor also gets an arc to be less aggressive to other nations) Etalus story is a little hard to make for me without copying a lot of Absa’s since they’re both protectors of an ancient clan. Clairen’s story could happen alongside Ranno’s story, in which you have some time in the future, having some fights against the Neo Fire Nation’s army and ultimately going to the past after losing to Loxo. Clairen ends up on the temple where Ranno lives, Ranno would be fighting some Abyss copies and before getting overwhelmed he gets help from Clairen who sees him in danger. After that, as thanks, Ranno decides to help him defeat Loxo. During their adventure we learn about some deep backstory for Ranno, while we see some funny interactions from Clairen seeing things from the past and being impressed. They end up defeating Loxo and saving the future, not before Clairen decides to help Ranno by destroying the Abyss with the rest of the cast (which they see during their adventure and help them). It would end with Ranno saying his goodbyes to Clairen, to which she responds with “Goodbye, my friend. Maybe I’ll come back to see you if I find a way to get back to the past” (Yeah that part is a little long but it’s 2 characters in one and Clairen is very interesting) Elliana and Sylvanos’ story is hard for me to think since I don’t exactly know how to make them fit with the story and what would their connection be with their abyss (maybe make them have a “I don’t want this evil win instead of me, so I’ll help you” moment?? It’s...hard, maybe even add Ayala in there to add some spice but idk) Edit: now that I think about it, they could remake the entire story in the definitive edition. Which would be awesome since hey, 4 more characters into the story (guests don’t count), which adds a possibility to improve the story to make it consistent and better while adding even more story with 4 more characters to use.
I really hope they brought Adam on for 2's story mode, a little basic storytelling like this can make these already amazingly-designed characters so much more endearing, and will really help new players get invested
Simply amazing, on another level, on another level, compared to whoat we have now For the next time, you could look into the storymode in Slap City Or a playthrough of any fun game would be great
Hey this was pretty good I’m excited for subspace also Adam and stafan I think your story was 7/10 It almost had a deeper game of thrones depth but I think maybe relations between the other characters and even there friends like wrastors partner Or even bigger try to fit in the dlc events with the over arching one
I think we could of probably had a cutaway to have Zetterburn come to terms with his behavior and actions. We get a hint of it when he runs off, but it doesn't quite cover it and his "big damn hero" moment feels a bit trope-y as a result
Aaah dude, that is so much better XD I find it so funny that you actually made me understand the original story mode even better, hahaha. But yes i totally agree, a linear story mode with character development would have been miles better because what is currently there is very confusing. @DanFornace, please more like this in the future ! Or at least get Adam to proofread your story to make sure it is cohesive : ) I still love your game though !!! Tibazz
Yeah rivals could use a lot more solo content. I love the game but I can imagine it doesn't help bringing in new players if 90% of your content in multiplayer with a high learning curve
Did not know people could leave comments on a premiere and for a second I freaked out and thought that I accidentally uploaded this video at the wrong time lol
@@AdamCarra I’m not sure why I said custom games but I played the character that was in the fight against the ai that matched the fighters in your story. So I basically played your story mode
Theory time, so some workshop characters are just there with no lore and are from other games or meme characters, so how did they get in Aether? Answer is the Aetherial gates. They appeared from the aetherial gates, so that's how they got there. They don't just randomly appear.
Hey, Adam. There's a custom RoA character that's coming out right about now called "Valkyrie: The Large Medium", and it would be pretty cool if you reviewed it in your next RoA custom character video. Edit: There's also a bob-omb called "Wick" and a stickman called "The Chosen One."
I like the revised story, it's probably not going to win an Oscar but it's certainly a noticeable improvement. It's honestly pretty impressive to get a plot so solid when you're working with 6 characters that you've got to get across the the world's setting and end with them all working together. I know the gameplay wasn't considered much in the scope of this rewrite but I think that a revised story mode may benefit from having some weak, disposable enemies with a smaller movelist than the main cast (even as few as a small handful of normals and a weakened special ripped from the main cast), that way you can have opportunities for the antagonistic forces like the Fire nation and Air Armada be more present without forcing Zetterburn or Wrastor to be there as well as allowing for more fights with characters outside of the original 6 fighters. Maybe that idea is outside the scope of a script doctor of the original story and is better off for a hypothetical second Rivals campaign but that was the first thing that came to my mind when thinking about the repetition problem that the original story mode has.
I really like the story rewrite but would like to see a little more focus on the side characters and Zetterburn right before they fight the abyss in act 3 so we can see the side character’s motivation for working together since the nations have been separated for so long and how Zetterburn finds the resolve to swallow his pride and help his brother for the greater good
If you want a story that does the inter connected storylines really well, I'd highly suggest you watch "Baccano!", it's really great, and I'm gonna go rewatch it again now.
What if you did a video about the DLC & guest characters having a story? We know Elliana & Sylvanos, but maybe you could finish Clairen's on how she saves the future. We don't know much about Ranno or how Ori & Shovel Knight portals functioned to cross over into Aether.
@@AdamCarra yea. I think it all would be pretty sick. One second I wanna say something to get more feedback here. HEY UA-cam THERE'S COMMENTS HERE PUT THIS VIDEO IN PEOPLE'S RECOMMENDED!
The only is issue is that they didn't show wrastor getting the reality stone and wishing himself into SSS+ tier
He also wished that no one knew about it
He already wished that Maypul dropped from SSS+ Tier back in pre-patch
I spent 30 minutes watching Adam Carra write fan fiction
gottem
Hey, it's worth it
More like fan FACT!
virgin rivals of aether story
chad lovers of aether story
🍷🗿
Seeing Stefan actively competent, paying attention, and even more so, understanding the story and context scares me. Has he been hiding his powerlevel?
Stefan is your Loxodont.
Stefan has been training in the mountains so he could understand the furry story
tbf we usually only see him when he's being forced into using complex game systems for the first time while being ceaselessly ridiculed as a beautifully evil sort of hazing ritual
This video basically proves that Adam should start a podcast. I love listening to him and Stefan talk about everything
I don't badly mind the existing story mode, since fighting games traditionally suck at telling stories (though it doesn't have to be that way). I saw it as a way to just drop hints that there's some neat stuff going on in this world, to be expanded on in future, non-platform-fighting Rivals of Aether games. You're still right though, it should be better.
Your proposition to narrow the scope of the story to focus almost entirely on Fors and Zetter is a good one, since the story mode is too short to be as ambitious as it is. It could still convey the idea that the other characters have stuff going on. For THIS game, though, focusing on getting one good story arc out of it is better; Dan had a lot of ideas, but this wasn't the place to drop them all.
Hiring you as the story director would be a great idea for Dan. It wouldn't even be expensive, since you're a UA-camr and not a real person
Ok that last bit made me chuckle
All UA-camrs one day leave they’re humanity behind...
I already disagree, not all fighting games suck at telling stories, there aren’t a lot unfortunately but there are gems out there that can tell a good story
he's hired
@@savien6401 I'd honestly like to know which game you're talking about
Would be nice if there was something for Ranno, Absa, Etalus, Sylvanos, and Eliana.
Feel like Sylvanos should've been snapping after the rock wall was broken.
Sequel material
After you beat the story mode and watch the credits, you get a marvel style post credit scene with Clairen coming out of a portal
Feral - walk on all 4 legs (like an animal)
Anthro - walk on 2 legs (like a human)
this is a furry word that you were loking for
Wow, pretty bold of you to advice dan to put in yiff art of all the characters in the story mode, however I'm not so sure if the inflation fetish sideplot would work
imagine orcane nair was just furry inflation
🤨🤨🤨
Stefan summarising the story had me laughing in tears please hire him as Will Smith
The word you are looking for for Orcane is "feral" >:3
"An actual literal animal"
Thank you Mr Furry
Most of Zetterburn's arc seems to happen offscreen, that's my only compaint.
Hey Adam, another great video! You did a great job not only getting the story to make sense, but also visualizing it in the editing. Listening to this kind of content like a podcast would already be good, but the images you made were worth watching the video and distracting me from chores. You can say that what you’re doing is easy and basic storytelling all you want, but you’ve demonstrated quite a bit of experience and knowledge on the subject and I think you’d make a great writer for Daniel Fornaniel LLC.
Dan, please hire Adam for his ability to find problems with things and provide great input on how to fix them. His dedication to the Rivals scene is proof enough.
3:37 "Feral". The word is "feral".
This knowledge is a curse.
Indeed.
"Two grown men write a furry avengers/avatar fanfic."
There, fixed your title.
In all honesty, this was really good! I just hope we get more of the Loxodont plot in a spinoff or comic or something. Endless Emperor Loxodont would be a really cool boss fight in a sequel!
I can't tell if Stefan saying the water people tried to "dilute our fire race" was an intentional pun.
"Once upon a time, there was some backstory...."
Best summary ever.
Obviously the best approach is to add *every single* workshop character to the story, including all the Sandbert clones and especially George Costanza.
Your goddamn right , gorge belongs in this game ? Maybe we can get barney Stinson next in the furry orgy)
It ends with Obama defeating everyone in a 1v1 back to back and declaring the Aether an American territory.
fr tho i dont understand why i cant use any character in abyss mode, just disable the runes or w/e for non-story ones
Golden Ronald is the secret final boss.
@@yonatanbeer3475 ....until it was revealed that it was actually part of Ronald's scheme in expanding his fast-food chain throughout Aether and murders Obama with a hambaga to the skull cavity after he is no longer of use to him.
I have no other place to share my thoughts. Because I have thought about it.
I feel like Sylvanos could be a good foil to Orcane. They are both feral (I think), but Orcane is domesticated(ish) and more in tune with civilization, whereas Sylvanos is more wild, and resents civilization. Sylvanos would need to overcome and heal from the scars inflicted on him in the past, and perhaps come to learn that peaceful coexistence while still keeping civilization in check, and Orcane would need to be able to confront the destructive past and acknowledge what was done, while endeavoring to become a role model for how civilization should be led, moving into the future.
I know it's probably not 1 to 1 with both of their lore. But it was a neat idea that came to mind for me.
Adam: "Kinda like Subspace Emissary"
RoA: *Not Smash Clone Noises*
This new story actually really works. Good job!
Only complaint is that at the end, it kinda seems like Zetter's stronger than everyone else combined
Yeah I love Sonic in Subspace Emissary too
Its the power of a hype last minute save
That’s how it is in game right?
@@dasaniwaterbottle71 yes Zetter is bottom 6
Well, Zetterburn shows up with the Air Armada, it's not just Zetterburn being better than everyone else
Imagine if they did something like this but for each nation. This one would be the Fire Nation story. Each one with as much of an arc as this one. That would be awesome! That's what the story mode should've been IMO (and it would keep the interconnected start from wherever thing).
Also, I think for any of this to feel good the A.I. should be polished. I would feel super pulled off from the story by Orcane randomly killing himself.
Either way, super good video dude! I wish they get help from a good artist to improve the story mode. Your version is way better than the original one btw.
I came for the furries, I stayed for the lore.
This is way better then what we got, expecially the orgy part
Wow, this is your best video yet!
Nice try
Interesting way to redo the og story mode to make it meaningful, good shit
Along with all his other talents, Stefan is great at hyping up stories that people are pitching. Great job, Stefan!
... oh, and good story too, adam
The idea of a story being split between different perspectives I think can work. Touhou fighting games tend to do that, but also, it's been a way longer stories have been done (ie Sonic Adventure).
By now, the Definitive Edition has been revealed and I know they won't do this: give every character (except maybe the guest characters) a story. Clarien's for example is interesting, but doesn't look like will ever be complete unless a Rivals 2 will be made.
Love the rewrite a lot and I'm just going to quietly replace the real one with it. My only issue is that Zetter is the deuteragonist and Forsburn the protagonist rather than the other way around, but I guess that's not an inherently bad thing.
Honestly i prefer it with Forsburn as the protagonist but to each their own.
I kinda feel like the story mode also suffered in the gameplay department. Mostly because bots are the antithesis of fighting games. These games are all about detecting habits in the other player and adapting to what they do. You can kind of detect patterns in bots, but a lot of it is RNG deciding if they parry or not.
My suggestion: mix it up with minigames like 'break the targets' and 'race to the finish.' Things that have a clear goal and not an abstract bot that is trying to act like a human.
3:37 "There has to be a furry word for it"
Yes, there is. Zetter and Fors are anthros. Orcane is a *feral*.
God, I wanna stab myself.
you should do a sequel to this video, expanding more on the story of other carachters like Etalus and Absa
This is an incredible improvement from the original story mode and I really love what you've done here! That being said, I feel like one aspect you didn't address too much was how gameplay would fit into this new story. There are a few good fights in there, but I think what Rivals story mode really needs is platforming levels like Subspace has. Not only is the movement in Rivals is extremely fun and satisfying, but it's a major part of the gameplay, and is something you need to learn if you want to be any good at the game. In both the original story mode and in your rewrite, the characters spend a lot of time travelling around the map. What if we actually got to do this travelling? The platforming sections could have abyss monsters that you need to fight, which get tougher and more common as the story mode progresses. You could have certain sections where you need to use specific abilities from each character. For example, you could have a part where you need to armor through a specific damaging obstacle using Kragg's side special, you could have a part where you need to use Zetter's downspecial to recover your midair jump or else you won't be able to traverse a gap. You could also have parts that force players to use general in-game mechanics. There could be a section where you need to jump to full height to get over an obstacle, but then fastfall to avoid an attack. You could have a part where the screen scrolls quickly, and will quickly get ahead of you unless you traverse the platforms using proper wavelanding. Finally, this would give Dan a chance to show off the world of Aether, since there are tons of cool aesthetics in the game, but we don't get to see too much of them.
TLDR: I want a Rivals of Aether platformer
This is a great story! I think maybe the only thing I could ask for is more characterization for Zetter? Maybe a big argument or moment of conflict between Zetter and Forsburn, so when he shows up at the end again, it feels like Zetterburn made a major choice; swallow his pride and help his brother, or let his brother, who maybe he now sees as a traitor, die at the hands of the abyss. Maybe this could be somehow integrated into the end of act two? Maybe some previously unknown information could be revealed by the smoke clan? Like Zetter runs into them at some point and explains more to him before the final moment? Something like that. BUT of course, the struggle here with these game stories is that it becomes pretty hard to make a compelling narrative when it comes to gameplay. So who knows if this could all work? But for real, I got some real chills listening to this alternate story.
21:37 this talking animation needs to be canon
only thing that kinda ruins this for me is that Forsburn have his mask already, he has smoke stuffs. If he arrived at the smoke clan/tribe later, it would bring character inconsistency.....
I would also like it if Absa and Etalus were included because I believe they are part of the original roster
Or the likelyhood that Emperor Lux killed Forsburn and Zetterburn's father likely waking the Abyss as a distraction for the "Rivals"
I think there's one major problem but it's not really your fault. If Clairen comes from a future where Loxodont is still in charge, but the rewrite ends with Forsburn taking charge...
See where I'm going with this? It's basically set up where Zetterburn and Forsburn can't have a happy ending. It has to end with neither of them really getting what they want, which is to rule the empire effectively, whichever brother it is.
I think I have an idea for how this ending can be kept while having Clairen’s world make sense. Essentially, Loxodont could have plotted a coup later on in the rule under Forsburn, overthrowing and maybe executing him. Then Zetterburn could be involved and try to stop the coup and avenge his brother, but he gets stopped by Loxodont. Loxodont rules the fire kingdom with an iron fist and enacts policies that end up benefitting him and the people in power at the cost of the citizen’s livelihood. Cue rebellion, Clairen backstory, yada yada, you get the idea.
@@Clownbelt-u2s That's kinda what I'm saying, it's hard to pretend Forsburn and Zetterburn can have a happy ending when we know something like what you said has to happen.
And then there's Ranno.
The only character with no lore.
he be vibing, but not really. That's his lore.
When the FBI finds your google searches. Hopefully he’ll be explored as a character in the comics or in Rivals 2 whenever that comes out.
Ranno is just Elranno's fursona, furry artist in Rivals of Aether
Rezeer Martinez Well aware of that. But still, since he IS a character in Rivals, they might as well give him some backstory and a personality?
A Rivals of Aether Subspace Emissary is something I didn't know I needed until I watched this.
genuinely the one thing I would complain much about with the story mode is it being locked while Workshop is enabled so I can't unlock two of the stages in the game without turning Workshop back off
EDIT: I don't dislike the story mode as a whole, but it's not the best I've seen without also being the worst I've seen, so I don't complain about it much. I actually thought the multiple angles of the story are okay
Tielesiti i dont think that structure of story is inherently bad, it just doesn’t work super well in this format for a videogame story. Or maybe it’s just more difficult to write a cohesive story like that.
you can edit a text file in the game's folder to unlock everything
@@IAMSTRINDOM which one?
@@landkon2254 google 'rivals of aether unlock everything'
@@IAMSTRINDOM just checked, this doesnt work for the workshop build, thanks anyway though! Finally have the stage list fully unlocked
The existing story should be played counter clockwise starting from the treetop lodge, and the story generally has a good form but its too confusing in the sense that if you do go counter clockwise every character has a story where he/she is the main character and then the next one the same character becomes secondary and a new one comes, for example in the treetop lodge kragg is the primary and maypul secondary, in stone wall wrastor is primary and kragg secondary, in air armada orcane primary and wrastor secondary etc so if you do play the story in any order other than that it becomes a mess thats hard to track because the "pick your story" thing works if everything is happening simultaneously but its kinda not happening at the same time. For example, if you picked zetterburns story first and then continued clockwise it would become very confusing.
The only thing i hated about the story is that most of the fights are fillers and unrelated to the story except the rival of the character you play as. The filler fights work even worse because story mode focuses on characters lore, so if it wants to focus lore effectively it has to make fights related to each other.
Personally i actually dont like adams take on changing the story because it has a basic movie plot and the whole point of the original story mode is that there is no main character and everyone has a good/bad relationship with someone else unlike here where everyone gets along with everyone and there is no *rivalry* (its RIVALS of aether after all) except with zetterburn and forsburn.
Original story mode was actually better as good because it tried to tell the story of each character individually instead of making it a jumbled mess of characters with a movie plot. What i would like to do is simply expand the existing story instead of rewriting it because then it would be clearer and all the lore would become a bit more relevant, including existing rivalries. How would i do that? Make more "slides" in between each battle, the battle maing at least some sense to why it happened.
And the last problem i have with adams take on changing the story is that there would be too much story and too little action. There would be story, story, story and then a big fight. It should be story, fight, story, fight like it is in the original game. And story mode in my opinion should not have a plot that builds up, it should have a plot thats stays relatively tense until the climax-final boss fight. To conclude, the best way story mode can be changed is by simply upgrading the existing story, not rewrite it for the most part, and to make it so whichever story you pick first in all makes sense after you play them all.
I agree with the fanfic writer, except for the Sylvanos trailer thing.
It does a good job setting him up as a "force of nature" villain... literally. Being the manifestation of the anger of the forest, and becoming a mythical angry doggo after the conflict ended.
It also adds a point of interest in the forest being sentient, since it would otherwise just be primitive compared to the other tribes.
It kinda makes you wonder if the forest is still angry, since Sylvanos never went away.
That's what I think, at least.
Add ons:
I just wanted you to Frozen 2 it, Foursburn goes with the smoke people and he tells Zetterburn he can be a good ruler just to be more compassionate and that he wants to withe the smoke people because they released the hero in him (or something like that) and then that things that.
Major Changes:
Captain Falcon(u know who I'm talking about) tells wrasyer after he looks suprised at being talked to at this time with his hand open like he's dropping something off (Ellianna) he then tells wraster to get orcane, in the bits of being in the tree forest while Krag is getting Foursburn to Mappelyou can see a barely identifiable picture(or pixels?) Of Slyvannos, this will be explained in the next part... But when is th-
2nd Story we start off with Captain Falcon panning down from talking to a screaming snake in the first story's after credits ending to ensure more story after falling to loxodont abd starting the 2nd one we Elli see basically the her revel trailer then her planning how to get to the air armoda. Now we see Elli and Loxodont talking about revenge and stuff and how the Burn Nation didn't believe them so they made an exchange the Smoke and Fire are trading now so he tells Elli to go two the tradeing path and he will tell the fire nation not truely believeing him but sent the air Armada to check that way Elli can get her revenge. Ambush happens people get beaten Burn Nation goes and Loxodont goes in while they left and Kills Better claiming the rights of Burn Nation Time Skip to Clarens Revel trailer fighting Robo Zetterburn in a world Where Loxodont takes over all clans goes back to the past thanks to mollo ;) and all the way back to Slyvannos's time he says challenge me and I'll help you in the future she winshence the pixels in the background showing that this did happen in the future he waits for her return as she goes back to loxodont time mollo is captured
It amazes me how a game with such at times _stunningly_ creative gameplay has such piss-poor worldbuilding.
The world of RoA is basically what happens when you give a 12 year old crayons.
Great video as always, Adam! I really liked the rewrite, visuals, really everything you guys had to offer.
The only "gripe" (not even a real issue) is the lack of Etalus and Absa, at the least. I know, I know, they weren't a part of the original story and you were just trying to rewrite the original, so there's not a lot to be said there. However, if I'm not mistaken, Daniel Fornaniel has said they will make/incorporate Absa/Eta into the Story Mode in the Definitive(?) edition, or at least further down the line.
As far as I'm concerned, he said Ori and SK both are just going to stay out of it, since they're not his IP, they kind of just have a little teleporting portal that plops them down into the Treetop and Swamp respectively, which is fine.
But that being said, the elemental DLC characters also introduced their own areas and (kind of) plots regardless. Clairen already ties in to the story, with the whole Loxodont Fire Capital business.. And we're to assume Julesvale exists SOMEWHERE despite not being on the current map, since Elli goes there and then plans to attack the Airship Armada. Ranno kinda just minds his own business as a monk in the swamp, and Sylvanos, like you said, is just... under the forest?
Ultimately, I'm really curious to see how you would approach all of these DLC characters' stories, both individually and as a group. Would you expand on the current story you charted out here, or make a completely different plot, a sequel after the Abyss is defeated, maybe with Loxodont as the main villain, since we never got closure after Zetterburn left him in charge, and now Clairen is here to tell everyone he's an evil emperor? I have a lot of ideas already because storywriting is more or less up my alley, but I love what you've done regardless in rewriting what the game has now!
Let me know what you think :)
I’m so glad he said “the fire nation attacked”
oh man i'd watch the hell out of a smash bros story rewrite, subspace emissary OR ultimate
Adam’s story actually seems like a legit well-written thing
Rivals of aether 2: The playable characters and the smoke clan vs loxodant
@drewskidewsk Sylvanos is feral and probably wouldn't get involved. Elliana is anti Air Armada but if it came to working with Wrastor or the end of the world as they know it? Well... That's exactly the intrigue isn't it?
Bet: Loxodont sends for Elliana with "I know how to take down the Air Armada" and Elliana is a villain for the first part idk
It'd be cool to see a sequel to the story involving the new characters
The scene where Orcane gets shot made me laugh really hard
Now that Mollo's a character they can be a banished loose cannon rebel that helped Clairen in the trailer.
That moment when zetterburn came with the air armada was pretty hype
I remember only re-playing the final boss of the story mode when i was bored
I hope that the definitive edition revamps the story mode to make it,y'know,G O O D
Oh well :P
8:03 Yep..., Because one is the exiled flame and the other the roar of fire and also, they are a hyena and a lion
I think a way to make the story mode better is by adding Absa and Etalus into the story. Maybe even Clairen and Ranno, maybe even Elliana and Sylvanos if you get creative. That way the story is bigger and has more opportunities to make more arcs and stories.
Absa could be dealing with political problems with the Air Armada that’s trying to use the Tempest Peak as one of their bases, she tries to protect it but as they fight the mountain could be taken by the Abyss and both have to retreat, with Absa finding a way to destroy the Abyss and liberate the mountain. and her story arc could be based upon learning to be more open to people since she tries to do everything by herself until she realizes that she needs help from others if she wants to succeed, she could also make a friendship with Wrastor later on, and that friendship makes the advances from the Air Armada against the Air Clan stop (that way Wrastor also gets an arc to be less aggressive to other nations)
Etalus story is a little hard to make for me without copying a lot of Absa’s since they’re both protectors of an ancient clan.
Clairen’s story could happen alongside Ranno’s story, in which you have some time in the future, having some fights against the Neo Fire Nation’s army and ultimately going to the past after losing to Loxo. Clairen ends up on the temple where Ranno lives, Ranno would be fighting some Abyss copies and before getting overwhelmed he gets help from Clairen who sees him in danger. After that, as thanks, Ranno decides to help him defeat Loxo. During their adventure we learn about some deep backstory for Ranno, while we see some funny interactions from Clairen seeing things from the past and being impressed. They end up defeating Loxo and saving the future, not before Clairen decides to help Ranno by destroying the Abyss with the rest of the cast (which they see during their adventure and help them). It would end with Ranno saying his goodbyes to Clairen, to which she responds with “Goodbye, my friend. Maybe I’ll come back to see you if I find a way to get back to the past”
(Yeah that part is a little long but it’s 2 characters in one and Clairen is very interesting)
Elliana and Sylvanos’ story is hard for me to think since I don’t exactly know how to make them fit with the story and what would their connection be with their abyss (maybe make them have a “I don’t want this evil win instead of me, so I’ll help you” moment?? It’s...hard, maybe even add Ayala in there to add some spice but idk)
Edit: now that I think about it, they could remake the entire story in the definitive edition. Which would be awesome since hey, 4 more characters into the story (guests don’t count), which adds a possibility to improve the story to make it consistent and better while adding even more story with 4 more characters to use.
Not gonna lie I was a little confused with the story mode until playing it three times
I really hope they brought Adam on for 2's story mode, a little basic storytelling like this can make these already amazingly-designed characters so much more endearing, and will really help new players get invested
Honestly what a fantastic video. I'm so glad you're part of this community Adam,
My thoughts exactly
One thing I like in the original is the foreshadowing of loxidont taking down the fire nation... which we don’t know about until clarion’s trailer.
Any video with Stefan is special.
Simply amazing, on another level, on another level, compared to whoat we have now
For the next time, you could look into the storymode in Slap City
Or a playthrough of any fun game would be great
Now do this for the Lovers of Aether story
Brawlhalla lore...
There is no story mode, so you got plenty of freedom to create anything
will there is lore in the bios
My only problem with that is that you'd get to play Forsburn without his full kit during the first fights.
I saw the sylvanos story as an urban legend about the tree people
Hey this was pretty good I’m excited for subspace also Adam and stafan I think your story was 7/10
It almost had a deeper game of thrones depth but I think maybe relations between the other characters and even there friends like wrastors partner
Or even bigger try to fit in the dlc events with the over arching one
I think we could of probably had a cutaway to have Zetterburn come to terms with his behavior and actions. We get a hint of it when he runs off, but it doesn't quite cover it and his "big damn hero" moment feels a bit trope-y as a result
Aaah dude, that is so much better XD
I find it so funny that you actually made me understand the original story mode even better, hahaha. But yes i totally agree, a linear story mode with character development would have been miles better because what is currently there is very confusing.
@DanFornace, please more like this in the future ! Or at least get Adam to proofread your story to make sure it is cohesive : ) I still love your game though !!!
Tibazz
1:10 kills me EVERY DAMN TIME!!!! Christ
12:12 Dan Fornace is so hurt. My god, Sakurai, you gotta help your boy.
Yeah rivals could use a lot more solo content. I love the game but I can imagine it doesn't help bringing in new players if 90% of your content in multiplayer with a high learning curve
Please fix it, the only questions I had upon finishing it was: What? And why does this exist?
Did not know people could leave comments on a premiere and for a second I freaked out and thought that I accidentally uploaded this video at the wrong time lol
I played custom games according to your story and I got to say. It was pretty fun!
Custom games?
@@AdamCarra I’m not sure why I said custom games but I played the character that was in the fight against the ai that matched the fighters in your story. So I basically played your story mode
Theory time, so some workshop characters are just there with no lore and are from other games or meme characters, so how did they get in Aether? Answer is the Aetherial gates. They appeared from the aetherial gates, so that's how they got there. They don't just randomly appear.
If there is a second story I would like to see locksitop be the main villian and be a dictator
Same
Hey, Adam. There's a custom RoA character that's coming out right about now called "Valkyrie: The Large Medium", and it would be pretty cool if you reviewed it in your next RoA custom character video.
Edit: There's also a bob-omb called "Wick" and a stickman called "The Chosen One."
*”orcane is… developmentally disabled.”*
Eat well guys.
This is now canon to me.
This is my new headcanon.
It does not matter what you do, anything would be an improvement.
hits me in the feels when he says "sfan this is special video"
I cried, top story reform, such epic Hire him nao dan give to him the mantle of storyman. In all seriousness I dig it
I feel like they should add a few more campaigns that utilize the dlc characters and more under developed characters
Ranno has literally no lore so this is a necessity
I like the revised story, it's probably not going to win an Oscar but it's certainly a noticeable improvement. It's honestly pretty impressive to get a plot so solid when you're working with 6 characters that you've got to get across the the world's setting and end with them all working together.
I know the gameplay wasn't considered much in the scope of this rewrite but I think that a revised story mode may benefit from having some weak, disposable enemies with a smaller movelist than the main cast (even as few as a small handful of normals and a weakened special ripped from the main cast), that way you can have opportunities for the antagonistic forces like the Fire nation and Air Armada be more present without forcing Zetterburn or Wrastor to be there as well as allowing for more fights with characters outside of the original 6 fighters. Maybe that idea is outside the scope of a script doctor of the original story and is better off for a hypothetical second Rivals campaign but that was the first thing that came to my mind when thinking about the repetition problem that the original story mode has.
Ooooh subspace analysis sounds fun
I really like the story rewrite but would like to see a little more focus on the side characters and Zetterburn right before they fight the abyss in act 3 so we can see the side character’s motivation for working together since the nations have been separated for so long and how Zetterburn finds the resolve to swallow his pride and help his brother for the greater good
With Adam making a workshop character now after this, I’m convinced that he should be on the design team of Rivals 2
I never knew story writing was so interesting.
it's my jiminy jim jam
@@AdamCarra Damn.
If you want a story that does the inter connected storylines really well, I'd highly suggest you watch "Baccano!", it's really great, and I'm gonna go rewatch it again now.
Honestly I think that was really good, idrk what you should change or anything but I give your story a 8.5/10
OMG, Stephan is precious and must be protected
Why was the part where Forsburn got the skull mask kind of hype...
Kraken scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. Fantastic.
What if you did a video about the DLC & guest characters having a story? We know Elliana & Sylvanos, but maybe you could finish Clairen's on how she saves the future. We don't know much about Ranno or how Ori & Shovel Knight portals functioned to cross over into Aether.
Probably will want to do something like this in the future for sure. Although I would consider Ori and Shovel Knight not cannon in my approach to it
@@AdamCarra yea. I think it all would be pretty sick. One second I wanna say something to get more feedback here. HEY UA-cam THERE'S COMMENTS HERE PUT THIS VIDEO IN PEOPLE'S RECOMMENDED!
F for Ranno
Favorite part of the "botched" summary:
4:39 *"Maypul... makes syrup."* 🤣🤣🤣🤣