I've been watching this thread, and I had a question that went in a bit of a different direction: what about interactions with NPCs?
Not relatives, but specific plotlines that involve main characters from the game. For instance, I recently (and when I say recently, I mean yesterday) was hit with an idea for a villain who'd previously been a hero, and worked with the Phalanx. So naturally, she has a vendetta against them. It gets deeper than that, but that's the part where I'm like "Eh," because it sounds Sue-ish, and I really don't like Mary Sues as much as the next person.
What do you guys think?