Plot Twists in Remasters

I think one of the keys is that you have to love the original. People will be able to tell immediately if you don't. That's pretty easy though, as you wouldn't be doing a hack if you didn't love it.

Second key is that your changes need to fit the original as much as possible. Change only what is necessary. Don't add in jokes or 4th wall breaks. Try to make the story feel like it was meant to be that way all along.

Third, don't worry about surprises. People aren't looking to be shocked; they're looking for the little nods. They're looking to see characters interact with each other in new ways.

I have written a lot of new scenes for my Divergent Paths hack, many of which I'm excited to finally be able to share with you guys (once I finally get time to finish it). But one of my favorite changes is very understated. It's a change to the scene where Gau meets his father. In the original game, this was triggered with Sabin, since Sabin is the one who originally found Gau on the Veldt. However, since Divergent Paths sends Banon and Terra to the Veldt, it didn't make sense to have Sabin in that role anymore. However, it DID make sense to have Cyan fill that. Cyan lost his son to poisoning, and would be excited at the prospect of re-uniting Gau with his father. So you have Cyan trying to teach Gau table manners, the proper way to speak (Thees and Thous), and the proper way to dress. It's in-character for Cyan, and heightens the effect of the scene. What follows naturally from that is Cyan being angry at Gau's father's rejection. He says that anyone should be proud to have Gau as a son. Then, Cyan realizes that rather than continuing to mourn his own son, he could simply be a father to Gau.

This has a gameplay hook too. Since Cyan's WoR recruitment scenario is now Doma Castle, I needed a place he could learn his SwdTechs. I also needed a place for Gau to gain the fight command. This tiny scene change allowed for both.