Official Mark Ideas Thread

[KingUrameshi]

I always liked Olan for his galaxy stop. If your not already using him consider a mark where he is a guest.

Space Witch

Story : "Olan is faced with overwhelming odds due to his unique abilities. Ramza and party decide to step in to save Olan"

Difficulty : Medium-Hard

Location : Dorter Trade City, Goland Coal City (where you fought the chemist with the blaze gun in the snow) or Zarghidas Trade City (where you got Cloud)

Enemies : Monks, Dancers/Bards, Squires, Thieves, Chemists, Mediators (any others that would fit)

Rewards : Gil, Durai rough draft

The papers you win could help in item creation to make some kick ass book and help the story show how the durai writings were circulated after the war.

[Tempest]

Duelist

Story : "A rather strange warrior has placed a bounty on his own head to any who are worthy to take it, and he asks any challengers to meet him at Zirekile Falls"

A head to head Duel between 1 character of choice and a wandering swordsman, to the death!

Difficulty : Hard

Location : Zirekile Falls

Enemies : 1 x Duelist (Samurai in Genji armor, with Blade Grasp)

Rewards : Gil, Genji Armor.

Abduction

Story : "We have recieved word that a woman of noble birth has been abducted and brought to the Thieves fort, The captors are demanding prompt payment lest blood be spilled"

Difficulty : Normal

Upon arrival of the thieves fort you make your way inside the building and realize this is a trap. Your team is then surrounded by thieves and mercenaries. This was all a scheme to kill and rob the "nobles" who would respond to the request. The thieves tell you of their hatred for those of noble birth, and that there was no abduction to begin with.

Location : Thieves Fort

Enemies : 3 x Rogue, 3x Archer (2x longbow, 1x poison crossbow), 1x Ninja (Leader).

Reward : Assorted equipment relative to the level you will be when you unlock the Mark, Gil

Goblin King

Story : "The Goblin king has surfaced in the Sweegy Woods. Defeat him and local merchants will make it worth your while!

Difficulty : Normal

Location : Sweegy Woods

Enemies : 1x Goblin King (Green goblin (Larger than normal if possible?) with ??? hp and high stats), assorted goblin minions x 6

Reward : Gil

[Guru]

I like your style, duels to the death, traps and creepy graveyard battles!

[Nyzer]

Hmm. While that Duelist idea wouldn't play out exactly the way you want it to... I can actually think of a decent way to weave it in to a sort-of sidequest in Chapter 4 and still make it give a reward close to what you're thinking of. I'm gonna be honest, it works very well for that major sidequest that we haven't yet fully fleshed out, and it's an incredibly fitting setup for the reward I have in mind, so major props to you for that one.

The Abduction idea seems a little too on the nose with what happened to Delita's sister. Plus, there's no way that basically anyone in the party wouldn't expect a trap in a ransom scenario, especially Snake. I mean, it'd literally be the first thing he'd say after hearing about it. Not to mention, who would they get the ransom from? If there isn't actually a noble hostage, who's gonna put together the gil for the rescue? Even Ramza wouldn't. Trying to force a ransom out of Ramza is a good way to end up getting stabbed to death in a stairway, if he's convinced there's a hostage at all.

The Goblin King - well, the Goblin isn't a standard monster in Jot5, but there's nothing stopping us from reusing the sprite as a custom monster, so we could easily end up doing that.

[Tempest]

I didn't even think about the fact that this is EXACTLY what happened to Delitas sister, its completely on the nose. You could make it into a joke though, Snake could constantly warn his team that it is a trap, Dante could want to go simply to beat some skulls in, Link wont say much, but will want to save the lady, and Ramza will as usual blindly walk into the trap regardless of the advice, snake can then say i told you so :p

Speaking of a joke mark..

Silk Tongue

Story : "There is a Murderer making his way about Dorter Trade City. Rumor is his victims often show no signs of a cause of death, or even a struggle. He must be stopped!"

You walk into Dorter Trade City Slums to find a group of men conversing about their "leader"

Man1 : I hear he can even kill somebody with words alone
Man2 : That is impossible, how can one do that?
Man1 : It is said that he convinces you that death is approaching, and it does... In three turns.
Man2 : Three turns? ... Wait come to think of it why are we helping him again?
Man1 : He convinced us to join his party.
Man2 : I have a wife and children, so i cant be out here... But he DOES need our help; oh well.
Man1 : There is only one way to stop him.
Man2 : Whats that...
Man1 : The Finger Guard technique, or earplugs.
Man2 : Earplugs i understand, but what is this technique?
Man1 : You quickly press your finger to his lips, or your own ears, and say nay; i will not hear your words.
Man2 : That sounds amazing, but i cant seem to do it yet - too complicated.

Their leader (A mediator/orator with a gun he's never had to use) walks out with the rest of his "party". They spot your Team...

Orator : "What are you all doing here? Do you not know Death is coming?"

Difficulty : Hard

Location : Dorter Slums

Enemies : The Orator/Mediator, (Combination of classes that compliment eachother for a well formed team) 1x chemist (with weaker gun than Orator), 1x knight, 1x samurai, 1x ninja, 1x black mage (with white and black magic), 1x archer with longbow?

Rewards : The gun the orator used (one of the stronger ones), Gil.

[Tempest]

He Stole My Wife!!!

Story : "The last i saw her she was in Mandalia plains, fallen from a group of monsters. When i came back with help she had turned into a FLOATING CRYSTAL, as i stared in awe at this occurrence a rogue snatched the Crystal and made off into the hills. I need that Crystal as a reminder of my lost love. I will never forget the way she smelled... so mesmerizing!"

The rogue carried the large Crystal to Bariaus Hills, thinking he hit the jackpot. Your Team quickly catches up and confronts him, and the friends he has met up with. You call out to the group accusing them of theft.

The Male rogue became enraged at the words, yelling that he is a treasure hunter not some common thief. He and his band of "Treasure hunters" prepare for battle.

Difficulty : Normal

Location : Bariaus Hill

Enemies : Locke (Standard rogue sprite is fine, but if possible give him the silver hair?), group of rogues male and female with varying skills.
If not possible : Enemies can just be a random group of Rogues.

After the battle, Locke returns Crystal. You explain the crystals origin and that it has no value. He then apologizes for the trouble; after having learned what these crystals really are. Him and his treasure hunters depart to continue their journey. You return the Crystal as requested, and the widower rewards you with payment, and his late wives favorite perfume!

Reward : (Whichever, if any, Perfume that has not yet been acquired), Gil.

[3lric]

This might be doable, I don't see any immediate flaws or anything. I think we already distributed all the materials needed to synth perfume, but it could easily be swapped for something else. As long as the choice itself is at the end of the battle rather than actually having to walk somewhere to turn it in.

The only thing is that there are no treasure chests in Jot5  

In Jot5 everything drops a crystal. This makes it easier to get new abilities, and every enemy on the field give an item in the war trophies if they were defeated.

[Tempest]

Awww. We could of course edit a crystal into the happenings, and them stealing the crystal. and him giving her favorite perfume as a mark reward. Wouldn't change too much at all really, if i were a treasure hunter and i saw a giant crystal floating in the air i'd grab it too haha.

EDIT : Done

[Tempest]

Hot Real Estate

Story : "I just moved into another mansion this time in Garland, and at such a bargain deal; its as though the former owner was giving it away!! My new neighbors are never anywhere to be found, but not at night... I've seen them both running out of town during nightfall regularly. I am paying well for answers to quell my insatiable curiosity!"

This unfortunate citizen has moved next door to some very suspicious neighbors. Lucky for your team he has plenty of Gil to spare and is curious what it is they are up to running about in the darkness. Your team Follows the neighbors to Mandalia Plains...

In the Moonlight you see the men you were following are pale skinned, and have met up with a Werewolf. It seems the group have been actively turning travelers into Werewolves and Vampires. They speak each-others names aggressively, as they warn each-other not to enter each-others turf. The Werewolf smells your scent, and howls summoning assistance from the nearby Sweegy Woods. Resentful of humans and looking to keep their identities a mystery to Ivalice, the unlikely team prepares to engage you in combat!

Difficulty : Medium

Location : Mandalia Plains

Enemies : 3x Vampires (Suitable characters whom are easiest to edit into a pale skinned vampire, make them magical in nature as the werewolves will handle the physical warefare), 4x Werewolf

Reward : Blood sword, Gil.

[Tempest]

Tormentor
(pt1?) (if this is too difficult to do in one mark, it can easily be split into 3) (if turned into 3 marks, the Tormentor can flee after summoning each memory)

Story : "There is a new beast making an appearance in northern Ivalice named Tormentor, it has already slain many... You will know when you get close, many say the beast can peer into your deepest and darkest memories, using them against you in physical form. Do not take this foe lightly!"

A new mutation of the Mindflayer has been terrorizing Ivalice, the beast can make your deepest fears reality. As you make your way closer to the objective point you will encounter battles of your past, each time tormenting you due to past failures, or trauma.

(Can a mark have multiple objective points consecutively? This would work best with one objective in a battlefield sequencing into another neighboring it. If this is doable it would be great for the first encounter to be at Grog hill, Then another at Doguola Pass, then the final encounter at Finath River, Ramza must be in the party for each battle)

When you reach Grog Hill you hear a familiar voice inside your head "There must have been another way, why did you kill me my brother?" You encounter a group of Houkten Knights (in ghost form) as well as Zalbaag (a ghost but not a zombie, give him his old ark knight skills?) During the battle he can continue to torment you with the guilt of being unable to save him.

Enemies : Zalbaag (ark knight, ghost), 3x Knight (ghost), 1x archer (ghost), 1x healer (since they are all ghosts a chemist or white mage wouldnt work? how about a supportive Monk)

When you reach Doguola Pass you hear an aggressive voice inside your head "Your filthy commoner friends cloud your judgement fool, you are no brother of mine" You encounter a group of Houkten Knights (in ghost form) as well as Dycedarg (a ghost, he can use his old Rune knight skill set) During the battle he can continue to torment you with words of your failure as a noble, and your inability to protect your father and Zalbaag.

Enemies : Dycedarg (Rune Knight, ghost), 2x Knight (ghost), 2x samurai (ghost), 2x Lancer (ghost).

When you finally reach Finath River you spot the Tormentor, as he is still looking into your memories he conjures Izlude, Gaffgarion, and Wiegraf (if desired the three can taunt you with your failures relating to their deaths and fates). The Tormentor as well as his trio of violent memories engage you for a final battle. The Trio of bad memories haunt you with things you regret during battle, and mock your ideals. 

Enemies : Tormentor (Mind Flayer with high hp, frequent use of Mind Blast - give it a high % to confuse), Izlude (Nightblade - dont let him destroy equipment if possible, ghost), Gaffgarion (Dark Knight/Fell Knight, ghost), Wiegraf (White knight, low proc chances if possible this battle is hard enough, ghost)

Difficulty : Very Hard

Reward : Chaos Blade/Armor? Lots and lots of Gil?

Rewards are not my thing, they are so relative to the point in which the mark is introduced and what level your at >.<

I think this might be the last one for me

[3lric]

I think i can adapt these in somewhere. I know nyzer has been working to adapt quite a few marks from this thread into some different mark strings we needed, so keep it up

[Nyzer]

Haha, yep. I actually spent a few days trying to hammer several out. Marks from this topic were unbelievably helpful in that regard. I was actually trying to think of something appropriate for a certain character-based Mark, but just couldn't get any inspiration for it. Total brick wall. Then I read through more pages in here and almost choked on my iced tea with how amazingly well someone's idea took care of what I needed. And that was the last piece of the puzzle I needed to complete a particularly ambitious Mark set. Now I can focus on individual Marks for a little while, which means I'll probably be going over this topic with a fine-toothed comb to see if any ideas already exist that fit!

[Tempest]

If you have any specific strings your looking for input on, i'd love to brainstorm with you .

[Nyzer]

At this point we're mostly just looking for one-off marks. We could probably just go the route of filling in most of the blanks with unused monster recolors and calling them boss battles, but that's a bit boring. I mean, we could possibly do that just for rare random battles - there's not really a plot involved in those.

Personally, I'd like to see stuff that touches on what's going on with the story. I know it's hard to make stuff loosely tied to the story when you don't know what the story is for Chapters 2-4, but there's plenty to go on so far.
What's going on with the Nu Mou Beastmasters who seem to be hostile to humans - does one out there have any intent to try to attack a city?
Delita's rule will eventually lead Ivalice to a golden age (as stated in FFT), and the first new noble he appointed (Duke Drake Seymour, i.e. Ramza) would not have tolerated corruption or class divides in his district, just because that's who Ramza is, regardless of how much tension there was between the Duke and King behind the scenes. Are some of the nobles worried about their status and scheming some sort of way out? Is there a group of anti-noble activists out there that's been emboldened by some of these changes?
Ivalice is seemingly drawing in creatures and people from "other space" - I doubt we'd be making all new sprites just for a Mark, but is there something that can be done there just with pre-existing sprites?

[Tempest]

My knowledge of the original story is strong, but i need to make a new game in jot5 and read into the lore you guys have established as Elric suggested. Once i do that ill work on figuring out a lore friendly Mark... and who the hooded stranger is

[3lric]

and who the hooded stranger is

Good Luck I have my doubts though

[Tempest]

To be honest i don't want to figure it out , i love a good twist and good writing too much to spoil it for myself in any way.

[Nyzer]

And actually, I'll show you an example of what I mean to the Marks having some plot in 'em. Elric's got this one listed in the first post here:

spoiler: The Vaccine, by Xifanie

The Vaccine
Difficulty:
Medium - Very Hard

Location:
Zigolis Swamp

Guests:
1x Male Chemist

Enemies:
1x Great Malboro
3x Malboro
1x Bone Snatch
2x Skeleton

Story:
I'm currently researching a vaccine against the bubonic plague, but I would need some Malboro extract only I know to extract in order to continue my research. It would be wonderful to have someone assist me in this dire task.

Reward: A bunch of remedies

There's a plot there, the event isn't complicated, it doesn't require any new sprites, and it can fit just about anywhere in the storyline.

[Tempest]

I can respect that, especially with the amount of content you have already produced.

I prefer to look at marks personally as an opportunity to do things the story wouldn't involve. Expanding upon the already established lore, in areas the story didn't touch on so well. Hard to do that off of youtube gameplay footage ;o

[DeJ]

The Legend of the Supersoft

Story: A mysterious tailed-thief has requested an urgent and rare ingredient. A dear friend has been turned to stone by an evil force, local chemists and white mages have been rendered useless as none of their remedies will cure the stone-bound soul. The tailed-thief speaks of the famed Supersoft, a legendary remedy capable of curing even the most permanent of petrifications, he mentions it can be found deep in the Evil Forest - but great resistance should be anticipated.

Difficulty:
Hard

Location:
Araguay or Yuguo Woods (probably Yuguo as it has more of an 'evil' feel).

Enemies:
Boss: Soul Cage - Re-colored, dark/evil (Halloween?) colored Woodman/Treant/Taiju Sprite
-Undead & Dark Element
-Drain (make it very powerful & Ranged - so a significant amount of health can be restored per hit)
-Petrify (high success rate, Single hit?)
-Maybe other annoying status afflicting skills/spells like: Silence/Poison/Frog/Sleep (maybe just give him Bio1 - 3?)
-High HP, MP & Physical Defense w/ a critical weakness to Fire & Holy (as all undead units are).

Ochu x2 (Lick:For Reflect on Soul Cage)(NOT undead) Have 1 start by Soul Cage.
Ghost x3 (with Sleep or Berserk Touch)

Reward:
War Trophy: Supersoft? (If not, just regular soft?)
Mark Completion Reward: Lots of Gil, A Rare(er) Synth Material, and/or Anti-Petrify Gear/Holy Element Weapon?

I thought it would be cool to have a subtle (but obvious for some) FF9 reference and the Supersoft Quest for Blank came to mind. The closest thing I could think for a killer plant would to be the Treant Sprite (which I always liked, just wish they were a more useful unit besides being a Defender farm). Beyond that, it seems this one turned into a little spar with the undead. Feel free to tweak however you like as long as the Soul Cage is maintained 

I am hoping to contribute some more mark ideas, great idea opening this up for outside input!!