Final Fantasy VII Project

[The Damned]

(I really have to stop promising dates for things, even if I have "legitimate" external excuses this time beyond just sloth and general health issues.)

Oh good. This wasn't as overdue as I thought it was. Still behind, though.

Anyway, I'd only count what I'm about to post as a whorish, lazy 1.5 first draft rather than a "proper" second draft, if only because a) I finally just did it right now since I figured I finally had the time and this was "overdue" as it is and b) I still haven't gotten around to reviewing either plot yet. Hurray:

spoiler: Everything Bold is New Again

*scene opens with Besrudio, Barrett and Cid obviously already being in the process of discussing something*
Besrudio: "...And I had thought it an orrery after Mustadio pointed out the similarities despite its atypical design. However, it never made a single movement until he, Ramza and the others returned with the auracite of Cancer. And then, well, this whole affair started."
Barret: "Awright. This 'warping device' as ya called it seems to have brought more than just Cloud here. One minute I remember us being near Mideel to look for Cloud and Tifa after the Lifestream acted up. The next minute...I was at the edge of this here town gettin' funny looks until you bumped inta me an' figured I knew Cloud. Ain't nothing I remember in between that."
Cid: "Yeah? I don't remember anything either before I appeared in that Lionel castle town a distance away. You're damn lucky I made my way in this direction after hearing about what type of town Goug is, especially since I had to fight my way across that @%$&!%# swamp by myself. Luckily, I had materia and this spear on me still."
Besrudio: "Ah, speaking of this 'materia' from your world, Mr. Highwind, would you mind explaining it to me?"
Cid: "Hmm...? Just call me Cid. Also, Barrett didn't explain it you yet?"
Besurdio: "Unfortunately, no. Mr. Wallace was understandably distraught about Mr. Strife's circumstance and I didn't want to trouble him."
Barret: "H-hey now! Ya could have asked me! It's not like I was weeping or nothing."
Cid: "Heh."
*just then, the machine begins to activate*
Cid: "Step back."
*Barret and Cid step back as Besrudio does as well; a green materia appears at the duo's feet; Cid kneels down to pick it up*
Cid: "Hunh. A green materia? Maybe it's from Mideel, but it's difficult to tell."
*returns to a standing position*
Besrudio: "So I take it the machine's modifications were successful?"
Cid: "Yeah. It seems like everything should turn up in this here room now or, at least, Goug. That's still a vast improvement from being spread all over the damn continent like you believe may have happened. We'll have to hope nothing ended up in the water already, except for maybe Cait Sith."
Barret: "Temple of Ancients aside, ain't that the truth."
Besrudio: "...Indeed. I'm still unsure as to why that happened or why there is such delay, but I will try my best to assess why it is. I expect now that you know it works, you will both depart to look for the rest of your friends? My last correspondence with my son, Mustadio, said that he and Ramza were still in search of Ramza's younger sister, Alma, and that Cloud was still with them and still hadn't recovered his memories. However, it didn't mention a very specific location given that they were going from Zaland to Dorter at the time it was sent. Both those cities are much farther north of here."
Cid: "Well, up north's as good a place to start as any."
*Besrudio steps closer to the machine, facing it*
Besrudio: "Very well. Having gone over the adjustments with you to make the portal you stabilized to about the size of a materia, I believe I understand the basics for trying to make said portal large and stable enough so that you and your compatriots can return home. Some more auracite might be needed due to the nature of this orrery, but I will start researching nonetheless."
Cid: "Good, thanks. We'll be seeing you with Cloud and the others sooner than later I hope."
Barret: "Right. Better be going then."
*The two turn to leave and make it as far as the door before Besrudio quickly turns his attention away from the machine, having remembered something*
Besrudio: "Ah! My apologies! I almost forgot!"
Barret: "Huh? What're ya talking about?"
Besrudio: "Last night I heard a rather interesting rumor while at the tavern that seems to have traveled all the way down from Gariland in the north. It involved a notorious group of monks from even further north called the Grog 11. Apparently there was some altercation at a bar in Gariland where they were all summarily defeated by a lone maiden whom no one seems to know the identity of. Given their notorious strength and that whole groups have been unable to defeat them, the fact a lone person of mysterious origin could defeat them so soundly seems like it might be related to your case if it turns out to be true."
Cid: "Is that right? Did they give a description or a name?"
Besrudio: "Sadly no, I'm afraid. The only consistent descriptions beyond her sex seem to be that she had fairly dark hair and moved with great celerity."
Cid: "I see. Maybe we can go check out Grog itself too then."
*Barret turns to Cid briefly*
Barret: "Awright."
*Barret turns to back to Besrudio*
Barret: Anything else?"
Besrudio: "Not that I remember, no."
Barret: "Be seeing ya then."
*they exit and the scene fades to black as Besrudio turns back to the machine*

(Bold EDIT: Whoops. The entire last part of that shouldn't have been bolded because the description of the bar fight rumor didn't change at all. My apologies. Also, I missed "can"...again. I probably also missed other things.)

So, potential problems with the above involve Besrudio still being pretty damn wordy mostly and materia now not being explained to him at all, but I'm not entirely sure the latter is overly important. Beyond that, though, I killed all "dudes" with extreme prejudice and excised like 20% of the previous script, including all of Barret's and Cid's minor bickering, while still getting across Barret's worry over "Mr. Strife"; I pretty much acquiesced to every other demand since they were reasonable.

I'll try to be around more--he promised again, futily--even though one of things that I was "holding me up" is still something I'm waiting to hear back from unfortunately. That and my computer still has issues.

@The Damned: So it's more about technical and temporal limitations.  I can get behind that.

Yeah, unfortunately.

If we could edit sprites so easily, then I'd definitely be trying to use more action-based stuff (and would be doing a hell of a lot more things sprite-wise for Embargo) like with your suggestion.

Speaking of, I did "promise" I'd comment on that, but I suppose there's not much to say in-depth. I mean, I like the general premise, especially of starting up with a battle and showing that Barret is still a bad-ass (since he arguably gets overshadowed in Final Fantasy VII--I don't think even got to do anything in Advent Children, but then again, pretty much no one besides Cloud did except for Vincent and Tifa). I'm not really sure why an orb or church played into it or why Besrudio is suddenly a heretic (since it wouldn't be difficult for the church to outright have killed him beforehand), but it had potential.

[Cheetah]

I am very satisfied with the adjustments you have made Damned. In fact I find the new lines you have written to be of higher caliber than the original ones, so you are improving. I believe that I can do some editing of this and after a few reviews be ready to base an event around this.

I too am poor about delivering on due dates, but hopefully this weekend.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

Besrodio would be a heretic because the he refused to give the church the Holy Stones - Materia, in this case - he found.  And what are you talking about with this Advent Children crap?  As far as I'm concerned, FF7 doesn't have any sequels or prequals.

[DarkShade]

have you not seen the animated movie of ff7 advent children its good and its a sequel to the game sort of.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

have you not seen the animated movie of ff7 advent children its good and its a sequel to the game sort of.

No, I'm just being a smart ass.  I really hate that movie, and all the sequels and prequels except maybe Crisis Core and Before Crisis.

[Cheetah]

I hate to get off topic in my own thread...but is there a way to play Before Crisis?

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

Go over to RHDN and make a topic there, because I want to know the same thing.  I imagine an emulator for that brand of phones would work, or perhaps some kind of compatibility layer... though if that brand of phones uses a linux-derived OS, then it should be fairly easy (for a programmer) to get them working on another piece linux distro.  Ditto if it's BSD-derived or otherwise in the Unix family.

tl;dr
Find out what phones that game was for, look them up on wikipedia and google, and find out what kind of OS they used.

[Cheetah]

So I basically completely rewrote this with using a lot of the material Damned generated. Less is more and I essentially cut this scene in half and we will use a lot of the different pieces elsewhere. I also changed up events and now have Barret having recently arrived and Cid having been in Goug for a while working with Besrudio. I would appreciate proofreading and critics of this script. I also want to repeat that I like what you did Damned. It was too lengthy due to your own style and my overestimation of what could be fit in one scene. It took a lot of rewriting because I had to make a lot of changes to make it shorter, not because the content was poor. A lot of these cut pieces will just be used elsewhere.

If you are interested Damned I would like to officially make you part of the team and get you caught up on the work we have done so far. Send me a PM with your email if you are interested.

All feedback is appreciated on this draft of the opening script:

spoiler

*scene opens with Besrudio, Barrett and Cid obviously already being in the process of discussing something*
Besrudio: "If these adjustments are correct Master Highwind, you believe the geographic variance of the Transporter Orrery will be constrained?"
*Cid stands up from working on the Orrery*
Cid: "That's what I'm counting on, and just call me Cid."
Barret: "Awright, so this 'time-warpy device' -"
Besrudio: "Transporter Orrery."
*Barret looks at Besrudio for a moment, perhaps intimidatingly*
Barret: "...somehow yanked us from Mideel and is dumping us and all our stuff in different places, at different times, and in an alternate dimension."
Besrudio: "The Orrery has, apparently, been functioning in that manner since first being exposed to the auracite of Cancer. Where upon your friend Cloud first appeared. Given the amount of activity from the device since then, I would presume that many of your items and friends have already arrived in Ivalice."
Cid: "Besrudio and I have been working our asses off for the past week to try and get this damn thing to 'dump' stuff a bit closer to home. Your arrival yesterday was quite the success for us."
*Barret steps closer to Cid*
Barret: "I landed in a @%$&!%# pig sty, and you call it a success!"
*Besrudio looks a bit shocked, but Cid just shrugs*
*just then, the machine begins to activate*
*Barret and Cid step back as Besrudio does as well; a green materia appears ; Barret kneels down to pick it up*
Barret: "A green material, looks like it might be Fire."
Besrudio: "So I take it the machine's modifications were successful?"
Cid: "Yeah. It seems like everything should turn up in the workshop. That's still a vast improvement from being spread all over the damn continent like you believe may have happened.
Barret: So all our $&!% now shows up here, what about the rest of our friends?
Cid: "I suppose we should go rescue them from whatever mess they have gotten themselves into."
Barret: "Now that sounds like a plan."
Besrudio: "My last correspondence with my son, Mustadio, said that he and Ramza were still in search of Ramza's younger sister, Alma, and that Cloud continued to accompany them. However, it didn't mention a very specific location given that they were going from Riovanes to Dorter at the time it was sent. Both those cities are much farther north of here."
Cid: "Well, up north's as good a place to start as any."
Besrudio: " I will continue to investigate the Teleporter Orrery and store any items that come though it. I continue to be fascinated by the similarities between your Materia and my own dimension's auricite."
Cid: "You're a great help Besrudio, we'll visit often for updates."
Barret: "Ya, thanks."
*The two turn and exit the workshop as Besrudio turns to look at the Orrery*

[3lric]

I love this, it seems perfect so far, the only thing that seems a bit off to me is when Cid says "You're a great help Besrudio, we'll visit often for updates." to me this just doesn't seem like Cid, but otherwise it sounds great

[Cheetah]

I agree with you on the beginning of that line, it shall be adjusted.

[3lric]

Just wondering what the progress on this is? Do you guys have an event done for this first section yet? This is defiantly one work in progress that i am very heavily wanting to play 

[Cheetah]

I'm still waiting on more input on the event script before moving forward with recruiting an event editor. Don't plan on seeing anything concrete for a long while, though slow progress is being made. I would like to release a gameplay demo at some point for testing, but I doubt that would even happen before the end of the year.

[3lric]

I'm still waiting on more input on the event script before moving forward with recruiting an event editor. Don't plan on seeing anything concrete for a long while, though slow progress is being made. I would like to release a gameplay demo at some point for testing, but I doubt that would even happen before the end of the year.

That's understandable, If i wasn't working so hard to get my own events done i would definitely lend my hand at it

[The Damned]

(PM sent.)

As said in the Embargo thread, I kinda disappeared between NaNoWriMo and my health acting more than usual. I have returned and should be around for the rest of December at least, though.

So I basically completely rewrote this with using a lot of the material Damned generated. Less is more and I essentially cut this scene in half and we will use a lot of the different pieces elsewhere. I also changed up events and now have Barret having recently arrived and Cid having been in Goug for a while working with Besrudio. I would appreciate proofreading and critics of this script. I also want to repeat that I like what you did Damned. It was too lengthy due to your own style and my overestimation of what could be fit in one scene. It took a lot of rewriting because I had to make a lot of changes to make it shorter, not because the content was poor. A lot of these cut pieces will just be used elsewhere.

Your changes look excellent and I like your version of the script better than my own. I have more and more trouble lately when it comes to be concise, so there's definitely no reason to apologize for that. You also captured Besrodio's voice a lot better than I have--not having played WotL myself doesn't help in that matter.

All and all it looks like a more promising start.

[the_question]

-The script is cool , I had some background ideas that you guys might like...
-I have only played FFVII, so everything else is hearsay from other people.
-There might be more content than you want to read in one sitting, but I would rather give you guys something to work with.  
-Maybe in a year or two I'll have more time, but like most on this site I am not willing to commit.  I'll check every so often and help when I can.
-Oh and Mako is liquid and Materia is solid FYI (helps to know that when reading below)

Zack and Cloud

Given that Cloud is off with the whole FFT crew, the only other person that I think could ever replace Cloud is Zack.

spoiler

Due to Cloud thinking he was Zack, or reworded Cloud replacing Zack - "My honor.. My dreams.. They're yours now. You'll be.. My living legacy. " (got that off the Final Fantasy wikia)

So maybe Zack could be the one leading this FF7 bunch in FFT spin-off.  

The point is to try and have both universes intermingle

In response to RavenOfRagriz posts

spoiler

There is another point in time when Cloud is exposed Mako and at the same time Zack is right next to him as well.  In fact these two are in Mako cells' of Hojo for four years.  Then somehow Zack comes to and breaks out of confinement while helping "...a comatose Cloud escape,".  Now why did Zack become conscience and bust out?  We know Cloud reacts poorly to Mako, then why would that not also apply to Zack/Tifa?  If you can hint at it being related to motion sickness:

from finalfantasy.wikia.com
"Like Yuffie Kisaragi, Cloud also suffers from motion sickness, and has even given her advice on how to handle it while aboard the Highwind. It is seemingly cured during the period when Cloud upholds his fake SOLDIER persona, but returns when his true self is restored, although his ability to ride the Fenrir on delivery business suggests his motion sickness has somewhat improved."

Then Zack waking up in the Mako cell would not be that absurd.  (plus in the life stream, Tifa didn't show any problems.)  Especially if he had been somewhere in his mind *like sephiroth controlling his clone, Cloud and others...

Now Zack was not mentally effected by the SOLDIER procedure (using Jenova cells and Mako energy from the planet) and nor was Tifa when in the Lifestream.  This was probably due to Both Zack and Tifa being somewhat in physical and mental fitness; given that, people exposed to SOLDIER procedure and were not in "fitness" tended to not keep their egos' and become shades of Jenova (FF7wiki).  So Cloud was a 3rd rank SOLDIER and he did not react well to the SOLDIER process/Mako energy.  Especially being in Hojo's Mako cell and then still being messed up a year later (Tifa asking Cloud to join AVALANCE).  Did this have to do with Cloud not having physical/mental fitness, was it b/c motion sickness or both?

Why is this moment so important in time?  Well it is close to when Zack was in his prime or He is in his prime.  Depending on whether you think he improved since his fight with Sephiroth in the Mako reactor on mount Nibel, versus then hauling a Mako withdrawal/poisioned Cloud around for a year with Shinra chasing them.  He did have more Mako exposure and Jenova's cells put into him, so this could have lead to the idea of him being better.  

So if Zack had a similar experience like that of Tifa and Cloud being in the Lifestream: specifically when Cloud finds the real him and Tifa makes the decision to go out of the Lifestream (up) and back to their friends.  Zack could have had a similar realization and wake up and get out.  

Therefore, allowing you guys to have Zack join your FFT universe and go back to the FFVII timeline with both universes intermingled but now still uninterrupted.  

spoiler

Zack would have a similar experience to Cloud and Tifa running around in Cloud's head while in the Lifestream, only Zack would be in FFT.  I assume these Mako exposures and Lifestream events are similar to dreams and thus might be somewhat vague in recalling the FFT trip, hence Zack being reluctant to talk about it but still valuing Cloud's friendship enough not to give up trying to protect him.  

Cloud on almost every exposure to Mako or Lifestream has always left him messed up.  So why is his experience in FFT a little better than comatose?  In the above quote it talks about him riding the Fenrir and "...suggests his motion sickness has somewhat improved."  Maybe this is why he's not acting like he is extremely jet lagged on fourth experience but just doesn't really remember much (again with the vagueness).  His experiences being first when recruited (getting the Mako eyes), second in the Hojo's Mako cell and third/fourth Lifestream event RavenOfRariz mentioned.
   

spoiler

This gives us a plot device we can use to heal the "damaged" Cloud, allows us to have Aeris in the game without messing with FFVII-canon

As always this kind of info should be hinted at versus just flat out saying it.  

yeah sure we like the idea of Zack, but now what do we do with him?

spoiler

Like Cloud Zack could have his limits be his abilities, so in Crisis Core Zack has the following limits:

Yet I find he still used the Buster sword in another video game.  Zack in Ehrgeiz has the Meteor Shower, High Braver, True Cross-slash, and Unseen Omnislash ablilities...(limit?)  but as you can see in this video they both seem to be using the Buster sword.

Realistically this should not happen; however, there are only two reasons to have two Buster swords: to see who is the better Buster sword wielder or two Buster swords versus Masamune Blade.  
Cloud and Zack used other weapons during their life so that is something I'll explore in detail below.  

In Advent Children I heard Cloud uses a Fusion sword that has six different swords and when combined they make a sword similar to the Buster sword.  Some people might not like A.C. and be against it, but there is always his Materia blade that FFT had for him.  
Some people might push for any other broadsword from FF7, even though I don't like that idea b/c there are just too many of them= too much work.  Furthermore, the idea of having Ultimate weapons could be valid idea and maybe their abilities (idk about Barret tho).  


[/size]

Ok so does that help Zack get in the game....what about others...

spoiler

Sephrioth

Sephrioth could have prompted Hojo to make the Jenova clones and expose them to Mako.  If Sephrioth could have prompted that, then he could have also prompted Hojo to put Cloud and Zack in the Mako baths for four years.  Then this leads to the idea that Sephiroth could have intended to meet them in another world (or maybe he didn't want them there but Zack found a way into FFT universe anyway).  Thus being the Villain for FFT universe if that is something you wanted.  But what would he want in FFT universe?  At first he could have confused it with the Promise Land...  


All of the above could be used and then explained that Cloud was the only one that could Kill/stop Sephiroth, so he tried to do something to him (e.g. kill him, manipulated him, confuse him to achieve Sephiroth goal) like he tried to do with Aeris.  Now the flower girl is in FFT universe and maybe she has another white material, maybe not.  Idk depends on how you want the story to unfold.  Did Sephiroth try to send Cloud away to FFT universe for him to be a pawn or to put him in the Lifestream to mess up again (why did Cloud wound up in Mideel?).  Cause Sephiroth like controlling people to do his dirty work and not having to be there (his look-alike clone, surrogate).  I don't know if I am right about this but the surrogate Clone and Cloud were the only ones that managed to be stable surrogates that Sephiroth could control without them being deformed (other had to wear a cloak to be in public).  Not to mention the look-alike clone would cause too much commotion.  Although this is someone's opinion, see this for reference: http://www.ff7citadel.com/efiction/viewstory.php?sid=87

Zack may eventually meet the future Cloud and learn that he is planning to stop/kill Sephiroth and the Meteor.  This could lead to the explanation why Zack was so willing to protect Cloud and even be willing to risk his life trying.  Furthermore, Cloud may not be able to remember everything, so that secret scene with him and Zack may not be able to be recalled.  However, I am sure the rest of the FF7 cast would confirm that they are planning to stop Sephiroth in the depths Northern cave.  Only Cloud knows what happened after the Mount Nibel incident, and Tifa doesn't know unless you trigger that scene with her.  Besides she has kept quiet about stuff before that was about the past, that could mess people up if she told her version of the story--hence not wanting to tell Zack what happens outside of Midgar. 

Another argument could be made at this point if anybody still trusts Cloud since he just fell into the Lifestream just moments after giving the Black Materia to Sephiroth.  Why did Cloud arrive in FFT before everyone else?  Which Cloud is in FFT: the young Cloud who is next to Zack, the Cloud that fell into the Lifestream at North Crater, or the Cloud that fell in to the Lifestream with Tifa in Mideel?

Cloud gets into a Mako/Lifestream (liquid) and Sephiroth has been in Mako since (I assume) Cloud put him in the Mako in the Mako reactor.  That also happened to be the time that Zack and Cloud were put into the Mako baths by Hojo/Shinra.  How did the EX-SOLDIERs heal from all their battle wounds?  If Cloud can go from North Crater/Northern Cave to Mideel, then Sephiroth should be able to go from Mount Nibel to North Crater/Northern Cave, right?  If not, then how did they get to where they were?(another unexplained event that could be used)  This quote from ff7citadel.com helps support ideas above:
Sephiroth - "I became a traveller of the Lifestream and gained the knowledge and wisdom of the Ancients. I also gained the knowledge and wisdom of those after the extinction of the Ancients. And soon, I will create the future."

     So Sephiroth's powers are explained... but what is his plan?

     Sephiroth - "By merging with all the energy of the Planet, I will become a new life form, a new existence. Melding with the Planet... I will cease to exist as I am now. Only to be reborn as a 'God' to rule over every soul."

How could FFT universe be used in Sephiroth plans...that is all up to you guys

FYI Difference Sephiroth vs SOLDIER      

spoiler

The difference Sephiroth and the SOLDIER process is Septhiroth had Jenova cells injected into him when he was a fetus.  Then like mentioned above is he in the Lifestream for at least 5 years.  Versus a SOLDIER who has had a Mako bath and Jenova cells injected into them during their teen years or in their twenties. (finalfantasy.wikia.com helped confirm this for me)

You need plot points from the FF7 universe and FFT game to be used as gateways or somehow intermingle the two together in someway.  Or in other words, you are going to tell a story that explains some of the previously unexplained parts of these games--fill the gaps.         Just remember who's game this is and not to make money part of it.  I find it funny how many people request a FF7 remake, or FF7 content, etc.  U could do this as a way to try and Help Squaresoft to make a game on this...an appeal...maybe?

[Choto]

I was thinking about removing the Zodiac compatibility system for FFT, which would free up that byte for a different mechanic. I think what i'm going to do for my patch is make it a "rage" system, in which for any amount of damage taken, rage will grow at dmg/X amount. This could be used as a system for limit breaks if this project gets off the ground later on. You could then use ALMA to switch the "attack" skillset for "Limit" when rage (or whatever it used to be called in FF7) = 100. In a simpler fashion, you could just put the limit break abilities in the characters normal skillset and have ARH require 100 "rage" for the limits to be useable. The latter option would leave other abilities available as well as the Limit abilities. This would require an amount of coding to implement, but it seems pretty feasible.

[SoySauceMaster]

I was thinking about removing the Zodiac compatibility system for FFT, which would free up that byte for a different mechanic. I think what i'm going to do for my patch is make it a "rage" system, in which for any amount of damage taken, rage will grow at dmg/X amount. This could be used as a system for limit breaks if this project gets off the ground later on. You could then use ALMA to switch the "attack" skillset for "Limit" when rage (or whatever it used to be called in FF7) = 100. In a simpler fashion, you could just put the limit break abilities in the characters normal skillset and have ARH require 100 "rage" for the limits to be useable. The latter option would leave other abilities available as well as the Limit abilities. This would require an amount of coding to implement, but it seems pretty feasible.

How about a reaction, like lowering Brave upon damage, and implement a new skillset/sprite when in "Chicken" status. Then you could have the Limit Breaks reset Brave back to 100 when used, reverting character back to original skillset/sprite. Don't know if that would work, or not; I'm not a programmer.
Sorry for being abrupt, I didn't mean to butt-in.

[Derin]

i think you guys can now start making a preview kinda thing with the new programs that came out like ravens event editor (havent got to really use it yet)

[Cheetah]

Very nice idea Choto.

[Dome]

Is this dead?