Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)

[woodenbandman]

I'll be a beta tester, no problem. I happen to have a pre-dorter II save all ready.

[LastingDawn]

Heh... well unfortunately I am grounded for much more then that, after the opening cutscenes I'm forced to follow the game's normal flow of map unlocks (perhaps not neccesarily events or maps... highly untested yet.) That is explained by saying it is the time in which Ramza and Gafgarion first met and worked together as Mercenaries, as the title implies... the large scope is between Ramza, Rad, and Gafgarion, with pleny of antagonists and a few protagonists to add spice to it all.

[LastingDawn]

Alright, the Exodus video is up, and while it does spoil a few things about him, you cant have a good video without it, also there's no comparison to watching Stare Decisis and actually experiencing it. No storyline spoilers though. The "scenario" created is once again, just a demo, no storyline meanings put into it.

Exodus Test Run, Co-starring Rofokare

Now back to where I left off...

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!

Foreword 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 scene 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.

[Zozma]

hehe, nice video, umm i noticed rofokare's magic animation is messed up

i repaired it and re-posted it one page back

[LastingDawn]

Oh is it? You have good eyes, I didn't notice anything. I'll certainly re download it, thank you for the extra helping hand.

[Zozma]

lol crap, another animation was off a bit too (updated again)

some of the water frames were a bit messy as well

[Cyberblade]

Here is the preview for Gaffgarion (nohelm that was decided for me to do in chat)

[8Bit Fighter]

for some reason this makes me think of old solid snake

[Archael]

I know Lasting Dawn doesn't want a forum section at the moment but I don't really care

I vote for this to get own forum section (is mine worth 20 pnts cuz im a moderator? I think it does.. forgot the exact rules)

we need more original projects like this with great ideas and lots of work put into them for FFH

these projects will turn out great and will get more ppl on this site

every storyline patch (even if they take ALOT more time & effort to make than a difficulty / balance patch like 1.3) are basically a new game of their own and well worth the work put in them  

[Cyberblade]

ok here he is Completed (more or less i need to do his portrait)


EDIT: Portrait done

[Zozma]

bolmna is almost done! that came out of nowhere huh?

LD you did want sprites of bolmna and blansh right....?

[LastingDawn]

What a welcome surprise indeed! Yes, Bolmna and Blansch were simply on my wish list, I had no idea you were working on him as well. Thank you Zozma. As always your work looks wonderful.


Also Helmetless Gafgarion is superb! Truly your skill with sprites Cyber improves by the day! I thank you all for your continual support.

[Zozma]

well... i wasn't lol, i just decided to play around with a screenshot of the back of his head lastnight and now im about 90% done with the sprite lol...

[Cyberblade]

Yhalothar Female Darknight who stole gaffy's helm =o

Based off the Miang Sprite (Thanks Zozma!)

[LastingDawn]

Slight update on the first page of the topic, sorry that took so long to be updated, heh...

[LastingDawn]

Alright, a new video should be up early tommorow or late tonight! I have the second scenario and battle's events done! Here are a few pictures of the work thus far.

[Cyberblade]

K the Unit that is Gaffyhelmetthiefbasedonmiang is done =o

[Archael]

K the Unit that is Gaffyhelmetthiefbasedonmiang is done =o

very interesting sprite..

didn't even know u were working on this

[Cyberblade]

XD i started it last night round 2 am and finished it today and why r u not on chat =(

[Vanya]

My Warrior Sprite!! =3