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Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)

Started by LastingDawn, May 24, 2008, 03:17:02 pm

LastingDawn

May 24, 2008, 03:17:02 pm Last Edit: June 28, 2009, 10:17:07 pm by LastingDawn
Or Gaff Patch, whichever you prefer... this patch aims to be like nothing seen before, new classes, new bosses, a fully revamped classes. 16 secret abilities, one for each primary class and a method of exploration to obtain each should keep even veterans excited. So far there are 300 some new skills added, certainly a few have been taken from FFTA, but there are quite a few that are completely brand new.

Overview:
As you are traveling with Gafgarion and Rad (unique sprite supplied by Vanya) the whole game, your main antagonists will be Lavian, Alicia, and Agrias respectively. Lavian and Alicia have two unique sprites (as thanks to Zozma's wonderful work on Jenna and Misty) Lavian, Alicia, Rad, and Gafgarion all have new skillsets, Lavian is a Fencer, her pure prowess with a sword is unmatched, Alicia is Gaia's Lance, just as her commander has sworn fealty to the Heavens she has sworn fealty to the Earth, has many spear skills that dare to rip her opponents asunder. Rad is an Apprentice, he unlike anyone else in Ivalice has harnessed the starting power of Red Magic, though can't use it fully. His Double spells have a chance of acting only once, as if they were a normal spell.

Party:
Your official party is always Rad and Ramza. You can't mold Gafgarion, he's your boss. Rad though is your Apprentice, Containing completely different skillsets from Ramza for the majority of the jobs in which they share. There are many new basic Classes, each with their own assorted threads on this board. The other units that are "on your side" are always already deployed on the battlefield, but unlike normal "guests" you can control Gafgarion and any other guests you happen to have, at the time.


ScreenshotsBasically just screenshots of that which is done, more then likely on video, there are a few exceptions though...









Video Updates:I will be updating the project with video's of my work to show in person what is changed and what not, reading is good, and pictures are better, but they simply can't compare to the medium of videos. I have up four video's currently, the intro of Mercenaries, Two Ability demonstrations, and an Exodus preview. As well as t he second event and battle teaser.

Gaff Patch Demo
Lion War Tourney
Mercenaries Intro
Exodus, Esper of Libra
Gariland Guests
Lavian Luna, Mandalia Plains
Sweegy Showdown, Voldemort Attempt

Features:
The Lion War!
Take active part in this epic battle, Join either the Black or White Lions while chance and skill may lead the day, don't become disheartened, expect a grand prize at the end! 10 battles in all and many guest appearances from many different units, all dependent on the side chosen!

New end boss battle! At the end there will be a boss battle with Exodus the Esper associated with Libra, how this all comes about, you may ask? Well that would be giving everything away!

Exodus, Esper of Libra

Secret skills and Class inheritance! Part way through the game you will recieve an item called "Band of Abilities" which if you had been picking up crystals (from everything else but Squires and Chemist) you would notice odd skill receptions which you don't actually have access to, for instance Blood Sin with Invokers, Doom Archer for Archer, etc. Well the Band of Abilities unlocks these abilities for you to use, but keep in mind you can only recieve these abilities from crystals of those fallen classes, go for all 16!

New storyline! Past Zirekile the game takes an incredible turn! (as can be read from the title...) With Ramza and Rad staying with Gafgarion a whole new adventure awaits!

New Addition: Usable Treasures!
In events one may happen upon a rare item named after one of the "Treasures" in the normal game. Now these are not just normal items, each time you obtain these one of a kind, brand new items, it will be added to the Brave Story under their proper treasure! Obtaining them all is an arduous task though. It is not as simple as winning them in battles, watch for decisions, they may affect outcomes to a considerable degree.

New Addition: Unique Skillsets for Rad/Ramza!

With advances in FFT Hacking, our leader Zodiac created a tool called the Ability Requirement Hack, the scope of this program is too large to discuss here, but it is what makes this possible. Rad and Ramza now share two unique skillsets for the majority of the classes in Mercenaries. This is done for the purpose of enhancing their characters and truly making them different from one another. In addition these skillsets work fantastically together as a team. If Synergy is needed for a specific fight, then take advantage of some of the more specialized skills in the varied skillsets.

New Addition: Bounty Hunting and the Warden's Office!

Once again with the help of Zodiac, The ability "Poach" has been changed into "Bounty Hunter". This is not just a simple name change. In randoms, sidequests, and sometimes even story missions there will be unique units, with special descriptions. These descriptions read right off of a wanted poster, telling the player the crimes of the Bounty and their strengths, also including the two "tickets" one can receive for capturing them. (Not to mention you will likely get a Gil Reward at the end of battle purely for them) If these units are defeated with Bounty Hunter equipped (Gafgarion always has Bounty Hunter innate) their capture will allow you to obtain a "ticket" at the Warden's Office and buy the item reward.

New Addition: New sidequests! At least ten in each chapter!
There may be times in the game, when you see odd places open up, with a red dot, these unsurprisingly will open their way to sidequests, some of them will hold some importance to the storyline while many are there purely to gain additional gil and items.


New Addition: Historical Archives!
History plays a large part in Mercenaries, with a lot of the back story actually being told through these scrambled historical texts. Everything that used to be a proposition, is now a small snippet of history! Of course the rumors are no exception, hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to add more. But I have far too similar of a writing pattern when I write but first let me give you a slight base...

The three main books you read in the game are...

The Durai Report, which had gained massive success and is garnering resentment towards the Hyral Royal Family, it has now been released for 40 years and though many people have tried to refute it, Alazlam was able to respond in kind and point out how everything "fit". Frequently citing another book called "Memoirs of a Cadet" which was widely believed to be a work of fiction, until the Durai Report was released.

This book chronicles the life of young nobleman Badum Gillroy as he journey's with St. Victor to stop the cause of the Lion War, it is a tale of daring and danger, demons, monsters, and ill hearted humans fill it's pages but St. Victor and his team triumph over all. The book ends on a rather sad note as they descend into Orbonne Monastary, Badum leaves the collected diary outside, hoping someone would pick it up if he were not to return. Believed to be a work of fiction, written shortly after King Delita united the land, the Durai Report adds credence to this tale, and would mean that "St. Victor" was none other then Ramza Beoulve.

Alazlam has used these two books as a way to keep out debate for thirty eight years in total. Though shortly after he died of natural causes, historians came out of the woodwork, struggling to tear down Durai's legacy of "Enlightenment". Many court historians arose like locusts with many "unreleased" texts which painted Ramza as a cold blooded murder, but that only seemed far too suspicious to the wary public, and disregarded these new "manuscripts".

Griescher's Documents is the second book, written only years after the Durai Report's release, he was Alazlam's main opponent and his notes aim to prove that the Durai Report is for the most part nearly a fabrication. Griescher was the head historian for the Hyral Royal Family, it was tasked to him to show that the Durai Report was just misleading propoganda against the great founder of the current Royal Family. His Foreword places Ramza Beoulve as a dangerous Heretic who killed these innocent people lusting after the Holy Stones, who had no relation to the Hero King Delita. Before being able to complete his work, he died under mysterious circumstances. His unfinished works were collected and released, shortly after Griescher's death. Any serious historian studying the Lion War would take both the Durai Report as well as Griescher's Documents along with them in their journeys.

The final and most important book is called "Ruglia's Records" which chronicles the life of a young mercenary in the service of renowned mercenary Gaff Gafgarion. The story starts at Fort Zeakden, known to history as the Fort Zeakden incident. This book is Ramza's own personal journal, the only biases are his biases, no one elses. Truly the most influential text of the mystery surrounding the youngest Beoulve. Though many other court historians have arrived with their own "lost texts" the historian Hedin Fordring must prove that these are genuine articles and compile the journey's of Ramza Ruglia, into a single, coherent book. Armed with the Durai Report in one hand and Griescher's Documents in the other, the young historian journey's Ivalice on the thirst for further information on the Lion War.

Here are a few samples for Olan and Grieschers books. (Thanks goes to Kaijitani Eizan as well as LostMinstrel for writing up Griescher's foreword and a snippet of the Durai Report!)

I am looking for submissions for any random piece of the Ending of the Fifty Year War, until King Delita Unites the Land. Don't worry about grammar, I would be glad to fix it up for you, this also gives a good chance to be put in Mercenaries! I cannot wait for what you fellows come up with, there are a lot of propositions that need replaced, so keep the creativity flowing!



QuoteForeword to Griescher's Documents:

Let me get straight to the point...

Ramza is a fictional character concocted by Orlan Durai as part of his anti-Delita agenda. 99% of the story is untrue, because Alazlam is retelling history based on the Durai Report, which Orlan wrote, and we can't trust Orlan because of his anti-Delita bias.

Reasons for Orlan to hate Delita include Delita's manipulation of Goltana to have his foster father (Orlandu) arrested, Delita's murder of Goltana, and Delita's murder of Orlandu. In the Report, a "fake" Orlandu is killed by Delita. In actual history, Delita killed the real Orlandu. Orlan changes things in his report, having his foster father join with the fictional Ramza to "save Ivalice from the Zodiac monsters".

The actual Ramza is as the Church says, a heretic. There were never any Zodiac monsters in history. Ramza just kills everyone, and Orlan attributes the massacres to Zodiac monsters. Crazy I know, but consider Vormav as he is portrayed in The Manipulator and the Subervient  and Vormav as he appears in The Valiant. In The Manipulator and the Subservient, he is an agent of the Church, manipulating things with Delita's help. In The Valiant, after no time lapse, he is possessed by a Zodiac monster. Orlan stretches the truth, and paints Ramza as a "kind man", from a "noble family". He does this to establish a character to rival Delita, a stable boy of humble beginnings that rose to high standing through hard work. The people of Ivalice admire Delita, but Orlan tries to fu-fu him and make Ramza seem like a good guy.

Why did the Church conceal the Durai Report? Because it brings to light the Church's own manipulation of things. It was ultimately unable to triumph, as Delita, the clever opportunist, siezed the chances he was given.

Lastly, consider the ending. Orlan depicts Ramza as having miraculously escaped Murond. That didn't happen. Orlan is just a poor writer. He does this though to give Ramza a "larger than life" sense of being. He's from a good family, he stood true to his friends, he did things selflessly, and ultimately, he saved Ivalice from the "Zodiac monsters". His sister Alma, as least as she is portrayed in the Report, is also largely fictional. However, just as Delita showed determination and resolve after his sister's death, so too does the fictional Ramza show resolve to rescue his sister. However, fictional Ramza is ultimately successful, unlike Delita, but that is only because Orlan is mis-portraying history.

There is also the final entry in which Ovelia turns on Delita. None of that actually happened in history, but Orlan retells this out-landish lie to portray Delita as a manipulator that ultimately had nothing in the end (i.e. he loses his queen, he lost his childhood friend, etc.). He does this in one final attempt to portray Delita as a bad person, having "used" the fictional Ramza for his own purposes.
"Moment's anger can revert to joy,
sadness can be turned to delight.
A nation destroyed cannot be restored,
the dead brought back to life."

Art of War

Beta & Gretchen Forever!!!!

Cheetah

May 24, 2008, 04:19:39 pm #1 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by Cheetah
Sounds ambitious. Looking forward to your progress.
Current Projects:

VincentCraven

May 25, 2008, 12:09:28 am #2 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by VincentCraven
Nice!  Since you are pretty much making a whole new storyline, you'll be able to cut out many classes and many abilities which will help you insert new abilities and classes, right?  Now this is something that I'm interested in.
I changed jobs and that has made all the difference.

Armorvil

May 25, 2008, 08:16:42 am #3 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by Armorvil
Incredible !
I'll play this gem, that's for sure :D

melonhead

May 28, 2008, 08:09:59 pm #4 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by melonhead
Wow. This looks great. It's a great feeling to see so many people using tools I made to create creative works of art like this, Heavenly Chaos, VK, 1.3, Zodiac Crisis, etc.

LastingDawn

May 28, 2008, 08:42:54 pm #5 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by LastingDawn
Ah thank you, Melonhead and yes as I've sajd before your wonderful works is what allows us to do all of this and let our creativity flow!
"Moment's anger can revert to joy,
sadness can be turned to delight.
A nation destroyed cannot be restored,
the dead brought back to life."

Art of War

Beta & Gretchen Forever!!!!

trickstardude7

May 28, 2008, 09:25:49 pm #6 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by trickstardude7
Wow looks great awesome job!

McCracker1

May 29, 2008, 12:12:27 am #7 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by McCracker1
This sounds great I can't wait

LastingDawn

May 30, 2008, 06:15:34 pm #8 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by LastingDawn
UPDATE: NEW MUSIC

Yes indeed, we have discovered completely 19 unused songs, which I am glad to say can easily be put into Mercenaries, expect to hear character themes for Lavian, Alicia, Rad, and many others now! As well as some wonderful new battle music, left to us by the wonderful creators of this game!
"Moment's anger can revert to joy,
sadness can be turned to delight.
A nation destroyed cannot be restored,
the dead brought back to life."

Art of War

Beta & Gretchen Forever!!!!

Archael

May 30, 2008, 07:20:26 pm #9 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by Archael
music ftw

Hippeus

May 30, 2008, 08:24:45 pm #10 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by Hippeus
Lets see I like Gaffy and Ramza so I call this a win win situation. Can't wait to try out this patch.

thewhoandthehare

May 30, 2008, 08:29:24 pm #11 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by thewhoandthehare
do you have to kill agrias and/or delita at the zirekil(sp) falls battle? you probably won't tell me but I thought I might try asking

LastingDawn

May 30, 2008, 09:54:08 pm #12 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by LastingDawn
Hehe, you'll have to wait to find out, Goltana and Larg are complete, but I still need to finish a few other NPC's also in the next video I'd like to show the new intro and aftermath.
"Moment's anger can revert to joy,
sadness can be turned to delight.
A nation destroyed cannot be restored,
the dead brought back to life."

Art of War

Beta & Gretchen Forever!!!!

Hippeus

May 31, 2008, 12:11:57 am #13 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by Hippeus
You're gonna make me cry if you don't get this done soon :D

Caliburn

May 31, 2008, 12:19:47 am #14 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by Caliburn
Cool idea for an alternate storyline.

Very ambitious and I wish you luck on completing it. Look forward to trying it.

LastingDawn

May 31, 2008, 03:15:34 pm #15 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by LastingDawn
The new intro is complete, please tell me what you fellows think, the more feedback the better.



Mercenaries: Intro
"Moment's anger can revert to joy,
sadness can be turned to delight.
A nation destroyed cannot be restored,
the dead brought back to life."

Art of War

Beta & Gretchen Forever!!!!

trickstardude7

May 31, 2008, 08:09:34 pm #16 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by trickstardude7
Wow it looks SO cool I cant wait!! how did you even do all that O_o are you going to include Funeral at all ^_^

LastingDawn

May 31, 2008, 10:33:40 pm #17 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by LastingDawn
Funeral will indeed make a few appearances and not just getting slaughtered by the Shrine Knights,  though the video is a simple tech demo, using a hex editor that inputs key strokes as letters (which is rare due to FFT's unconventional way of placing text) I was able to text edit quickly and efficiently, the demo didn't actually touch the event, it's just Ramza in Map 000, the ENTD is a modified one that only includes Ramza.
"Moment's anger can revert to joy,
sadness can be turned to delight.
A nation destroyed cannot be restored,
the dead brought back to life."

Art of War

Beta & Gretchen Forever!!!!

Xifanie

May 31, 2008, 11:50:49 pm #18 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by Xifanie
I taught him.  :o

Site in on a small pause because I want to work on the events some more, since I've only been doing PHP and JavaScript lately.
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LastingDawn

June 01, 2008, 03:02:26 pm #19 Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 pm by LastingDawn
Certainly so, without Zodiac and his continuous help on IRC things would look pretty bleak for this project, well with some very minor event editing I've adde proper text bubbles to all of Ramza's text, also any reference to Zeakden was removed, since that is the first battle, replaced with other important things such as Alma and the Reed Whistle. I believe I may have rushed this video a bit much though, if that's the case please tell me, I can reupload it, it so desired. Next event video (except for fixes of this if need be) will be reruitment by Gaffgarion, hope to see you there.

Mercenaries Intro Final
"Moment's anger can revert to joy,
sadness can be turned to delight.
A nation destroyed cannot be restored,
the dead brought back to life."

Art of War

Beta & Gretchen Forever!!!!