Storyline Brainstorming

[Arganthonius7]

      Quite simply, a topic for ideas for storylines. Put your ideas here!

Isilud's Tale

The story of a young knight sent on a journey to stop the return of Altima by the ghost of Germonique.
Characters: Isilud-Sephan the Undead Warrior-Tietra the Dark Mage-The Unnamed Assassin-Algus the Ark Knight-Celia-Orran
Bad Guys: Folmarv-Wiegraf-Balk-Cletienne, Final Boss: Ramza-Altima II form.
Isilud is told by Germonique's ghost to go to Zeakden as soon as possible, where a mysterious assassin shoots Tietra. When Isilud manages to keep her alive, he finds himself falling into a deep and sinister plot concocted by the corrupt Ramza, and must track down and use the Zodiac stones to prevent the rise of an evil overlord who is not sympathetically inclined.

Path of Thunder
The story of three friends set to stop an insane archmage.
Characters:Orlandeau, Balbanes Beoulve, _________ Ruglia (ramza's mom)
Bad Guys: Insane Archmage

Post any ideas, they're all welcome!

[Arganthonius7]

No ideas? None at all? Come on, everyone, it's been two months!

[LastingDawn]

Oh, I suppose I have a few ideas...

Rise of the Arc-Duke

A short scenario where you play as Barinten during the Fifty Years' War on his rise to power as he uses his shadows and greater military armaments to deal with the vastly more numerous invaders from Romanda, also in this scenario would be a short cameo from Elidibs (It is mentioned that he vanished when Riovanes Castle was retaken) who helps Barinten retake the castle near the tail end of the story, then turns on him as he sees the man that he will become in time, the final boss of this mini scenario would be Barinten and his shadows versus Elidibs for control of Riovanes.

Barinten would be a gun slinger, with a number of unique guns to choose from to bring into battle.
His units would be various ninja like units that each have a couple of unique abilities (probably something akin to Edge's team in FFIV:The After Years)

The main foe for the majority of it is a man by the name of Vesh Carinten, the general leading the invasion of Riovanes. He fights with two daggers, wears heavy armor, and is very fast. As they are a properly supplied invasion force the Romandan Army has a variety of classes to fight the ninja heavy Barinten with.

The Cardinal Abroad

This mini scenario follows the exploits of Alphonse Draclau as he fights in the Fifty Years' War in Zelamonia. He arrives as support to spread the teachings of St. Ajora and rescue Zelamonia from Ordalia's forces. In his unit is a Knight, 2 White Mages, and a young Vormav Tingel yearning to prove himself to his immediate superior. His story is one of self-discovery as he fights to keep Zelamonia safe from Ordalia, near the end, the people are so grateful that they gift him the Scorpio Stone.

Cardinal Draclau fights with a single dagger, which is necessary in casting his archaic magic. His skills and spells change depending on the dagger and robe he is wearing.

A young Vormav isn't quite a Templar yet, but just an Acolyte he has weaker versions of his Mighty Sword skills and has a decent Jump command (like his son), he equips swords and spears.

One of the White Mages is a traditional White Mage, while the other is an offensive based white mage with few healing spells. The Knight has normal Knight skills (including a few from other FF games) and is also a dabbler in Black Magic, which gives this team a way to exploit elemental weakness, other than Draclau's odd elements.

His main foe is a sadistic woman who is an adherent to the ancient Light of Kiltia religion, named Kalan Helorine. She rules over Zelamonia with an iron fist, with various beasts and blindly loyal servants to keep the locals in check. Had the King of Ordalia actually seen what his appointed Protector was doing to the land he may have been able to avoid Ivalice's rationale for joining into the war. The Viceroy fights with a flail and has control over manner of demons, beasts, the undead, and soldiers. Her abilities focus around slow torturous death and boons to her allies.


I'll probably think of more somewhere down the line.

[Cheetah]

You are always an excellent source of story ideas LD.

[The Damned]

(Hmm...I've been awake for a day and a half and I don't feel terribly sleepy for some reason. Something is obviously horribly wrong--well more so than usual--with me, but, hey, what the hell, might as well do this.)

Cheetah is indeed correct, Lasting Dawn. This is why I steal from you most of all, at least when it comes to story ideas. <3

I <3 the name Acolyte for a class.

Oh, I suppose I have a few ideas...

Rise of the Arc-Duke

...also in this scenario would be a short cameo from Elidibs (It is mentioned that he vanished when Riovanes Castle was retaken)....

Really? Hunh. I don't remember this. Then again, I'm horribly hazy on anything related to vanilla at this point that isn't battle-related, at least when it comes to minutia like most people's last names and such.

I'll have to keep that in mind and do research about it.

****

I thought this type of thread would be "illegal" or at least closed again given the closed idea threads that are stickied at the top of this forum. However, considering that this is still open, I figure I might as well try to contribute something if I'm typing in it, even if I feel that what I'm about to such is fairly obvious:


Written in the Stars

The story of this hack would focus on part of the history that Alazam pretty much completely glosses over at the end of game, namely the period of time that spans between Olan's witnessing (or whatever) of Ramza & Alma at the graveyard and the time where he's burned at the stake for heresy. Of this period, there are only a few things that we know for certain: that Olan is doomed and that King Delita lives beyond Princess Ovelia's attack to have a prosperous reign. The only other likely thing that we have to go on regarding that period of time is the good chance that Balmafula and Olan ended up having a relationship and thus Balmafula ended up being Alazam's ancestor; given Olan had no other hints a lover interest, this seems very likely.

Going beyond what's certain, it would be rather open to interpretation considering how ambiguous the end of the game is. Did Ramza & Alma actually survive or did Olan only see their spirits or something else? Did anyone else survive, including his father Orlandu? Did Delita ever find a new queen or did he spend pretty much entirety of his reign prosperous but alone, unable to ever trust anyone again?

Going further beyond that, assuming that you have at least Olan as the protagonist--you'd have to balance Galaxy Stop somehow-going around causing trouble or whatever antagonizes the antagonists, this period is very ripe in uncertainty. Even without the assassination attempt on King Delita's life by the mad Queen Ovelia, the country is just recovering from the War of the Lions when it was still recovering from the Fifty Years War just before that. Additionally, the Church is also likely in shambles since even without the Germonik Scriptures ever getting out, pretty much every top official has been killed, like Zalmo or Funeral, or has mysteriously vanished, like Rofel, Kletian and Vormav. As such, I could see the Church easily being the primary active antagonist again while Delita again puppeteers from the shadows, though he'd likely be more jaded this time given all he's lost and having to measure his machinations more now that he's Ivalice most public figure. When it comes to the Church, I'm sure someone would be eager to take Zalmo's place, especially after given his inability to bring a certain heretic to justice, a certain heretic whom is still thought to be at large after all since not even Delita knows what happens to Ramza....

So, the main character of this endeavor would be Olan, of course, with some others as help, possibly including the (possibly mute) Balmafula. Starry Heaven would need expanding and balancing, especially the aforementioned Galaxy Stop. You could probably just get away with using a lot of Time Magic for him considering its spatial aspects. The most likely antagonists would include but not be limited to King Delita Hyral who probably wouldn't be a unit that appears on the field of battle given the scope of his influence at this point, people from the Church trying to recapture influence perhaps through any means necessary, and down on their luck "strays" of the wartorn country who are just desperate for various things, like those poor fools you slaughter at Grog Hill.

Knowing how the story ends shouldn't do much to prevent the adventure of getting there from still being fun.



Meh. I'll see if anything pops to mind when I'm more awake/have actually had some sleep.

[Pride]

If someone wrote a story, I would love to do a patch on Olan. I've considered it many times but never have due to my inability to write.

[Durbs]

If I had any experience event editing, I might actually make a few of these. Sadly, though, while I have the time, I don't have the skills...

From Greatness to Sorrows
Another interesting story might have the main character as Wiegraf. This patch would involve his participation in the 50 Year War, leading a small brigade of soldiers, to when Ramza finally kills him as Velius. You could also expand upon his meeting with Delita (mentioned in Dorter when you see him). The evil ones here would be Zalbag+Dycedarg, along with other such nobles (eventually including Ramza). Izlude, Vormav, Kletian and even Meliadoul could make potential appearences. His skills wouldn't necessarily have to be nerfed, either, since he would be your only access to Holy Sword.

[The Damned]

(Might as well do this while I'm being a stubborn jack-ass about staying away. Maybe I just won't go to bed at this point....)

It sounds like you and Pride should hook up, Durbs. ...Project-wise, I mean.

*secretly begins writing Pride/Durbs slash*

....

Anyway, I can't recall if this idea has been suggested, though I think it has; I know the idea of a game from Alma's POV has been brought up at least once, but this exact idea, I can't recall. I figure I might as well post it (potentially again) since even if it has maybe been done, I thought of it while walking recently (which means I'll probably forget with all my other intended projects) and I haven't seen it a while. Besides, I can't resist making horrible puns:


Almati

(Yes, feel free to brick me.*)

I'm sure at least once there was a patch suggested to be from Alma's point of view. However,when it comes Alma and her being the main character, there have always been considerable problems pointed out about trying to do this given how...captive an audience she is for much of the game. Between only being in one battle before being kidnapped in the first half of Chapter 3 and being unconscious for all of Chapter 4 outside of the final battle, she doesn't take much of an active role in the game. So it seems rather difficult to think of an exciting game where the main character is almost a MacGuffin with a Female Grab Area that renders her mighty Aegis powerless as soon as someone grabs her wrist.

...But what if the entire game takes place within Alma's mind?

After all, despite being unconscious the entirety of Chapter 4 and likely being completely unaware of the Lucavi's actual existence before (and maybe even during) her kidnapping, when she regains consciousness after her brief fusion to Ajora, she seems to know all about him/her. As evidence of this, Ramza never informs her that the Cardinal took the form of Cuchuulain IIRC (and I doubt she'd believe at that point, even if she doubts he's a heretic), she doesn't see Wiegraf transform into Belias at Orbonne or Vormav transform into Hashmal at Riovanes and she's "gone" for the rest of the game.

So how she comes to knowledge alone could be the entire basis for the game, especially since we know that the Germonik Scriptures are more or less accurate.

But does one choose to focus on the past and learning about the Ajora?

...Or does one chose to focus on the corruption that is likely to have happened to her, however temporarily? Given that she DID fuse with Ajora however temporarily and at least had some contact with Vormav and possibly others like Kletian & Elmdor while being kept forcibly unconscious, it's quite likely that something was mentally done her, if only by Altima/Ultima herself over time.

Either one seems like it would make a decent enough game (if a lot more work than I originally thought it would when I began typing this). Both, if balanced well, could easily make a great one.

And, hey, it doesn't even need to be a horrible pun that happens to also be an anagram, though I certainly feel that adds to the charm. And there's still a problem of how active a role Alma would be able to take in her own salvation....


*This is to occur to only at an unspecified later time....