Your very own Final Fantasy

[Akeipas]

If you were given free reign by square to make you're very own final fantasy game with no pressure on sales, advancing the series or anything besides making it exactly how you personally would like it to be, then what would you're final fantasy be?
Would the game be set in a fantasy world, steam punk, futuristic, something inbetween or something else? something new?
Would the characters be more sprite like, like 7, 9 and the older games or more human like 8 and all from 10 onwards?
What would be the inspirations? would it be mostly humans in the world or all myriad of fantasy creatures?
What staples would you keep, what new ones would you bring in?
What about transport, magic, weapons, limit breaks or whatever you'd call them.
If you have Ideas for stories floating around in you're head let them out, the more details the better.
If there's interest in this post I'll put down my idea for my Final Fantasy.

 

[noname1520]

FIRST REPLY x10.

First of all I'd want the setting in a mix of medieval,modern and futuristic. Something along the lines of XII. Probably a mix of IX, VII and Versus XIII.
I'd want the game to be more closer to modern graphics. (sry sprites)
I'd want the traditional world map back. Keep that ATB system but take out any of that Gambit or AI controlled nonsense. Keep it old school, IV-IX.
Since it's a Medieval/Modern/Future mix maybe the party can travel in Chocobos or cars. I wouldn't mind the recurring spells and equips. from the other FFs.
Each character would get a different type of special. Some will have Limit Break, some will have an EX Mode and Burst, some will have a Digital Mind Wave i guess.
Maybe something between the Sphere Grid and the License Board.
That switching character thing from Final Fantasy X would be nice, maybe even the Assist System from Dissidia 012.

Well that's all I got so far.

 

[Martel]

Would the game be set in a fantasy world, steam punk, futuristic, something inbetween or something else? something new?
I'd probably have one world with multiple time periods. Say, start with the classic swords and magic, then move to a steampunk middle area where old-style guns are starting to come into play, rendering magic obsolete and ignored, then to a high-tech futuristic society where technology is at the point where magic is barely used. Although travelling to and from these time periods would NOT be done on a linear basis - you'd be able to travel back and forth at will between them. Although there would have to be a limit on what you could take to and from time periods...at least until you finished the main storyline.

Would the characters be more sprite like, like 7, 9 and the older games or more human like 8 and all from 10 onwards?
This would be on the PS3, but I'd have it cel-shaded, like the Tales series and Eternal Sonata. Technology these days just can't capture facial expressions properly, it looks even worse since they make an attempt to do it and fail abysmally. So I'd have cel-shaded graphics - Eternal Sonata is absolutely stunning, so it's not like this would be a bad thing.

What would be the inspirations? would it be mostly humans in the world or all myriad of fantasy creatures?
Just humans. Honestly, I'm fed up with crappy unoriginal designs for different races - bunny girls, lizard men, little furry things, mutated hippos, etc. I'd just have humans.

What staples would you keep, what new ones would you bring in?

Keep
- Post-game superbosses. Although I'd add more of them.
- A card game minigame
- Summons
- Towns
- A proper world map

Bring in
- Either a fully real-time battle system, or something similar to Valkyrie Profile 2 - turn-based, but with the ability to move about on the battlefield.
- Post-game story content.
- New Game+. Come on, it's not that difficult.
- Proper customization. I want my characters to wear different clothes or weapons when I equip them.
- Optional party members. Similarly, I'd like something like the Seraphic Gate in VP2 that allowed me to recruit villains and cameo characters to my party post-game.
- An affection system. I'd like to choose who my main character screws with or is hated by.
- A fully customizable main character, like Shepard in Mass Effect. I pick their background, their abilities, what they look like, etc.
- FULL voice acting. Every goddamn word.
- Difficulty settings, for a proper challenge.
- A "save anywhere" function.
- A proper day/night and season system that keeps track of the time and seasons where you are.


What about transport, magic, weapons, limit breaks or whatever you'd call them.
Transport: Would vary across time periods. Horses and carriages etc to start with, then maybe early versions of cars, then finally airships capable of space travel.
Magic: Would be a standard PP system, with the usual FF spells. I see no need to change any of this, asides from the Time Magic, which wouldn't be battle magic outside of Limit Breaks.
Weapons: Depends on the time period as well. Steel weaponry to start with, then pistols, then laser-based technology, etc. Magic would be present throughout.
Limit Breaks: Would be dependant on your equipped weapon. Every character would have Time Magic as a Limit Break, as well.

If you have ideas for stories floating around in you're head let them out, the more details the better.

Politics. A conflict between various factions in the world, and their struggle to advance across generations. Like FFXII, only spanning multiple generations, and not so clear-cut. No definable antagonist to begin with, just various points of view and conflicting objectives. You pick whichever one you like, and the story goes from there - however, since this spans multiple time periods, you can also go back and undo your choices if you don't like the outcome.

Since this would span multiple time periods, I like the idea of doing something in the past, and then travelling into the future to see it's effect. Say, killing someone in the past, and wiping out their future offspring.

I also think the antagonist should be determined by what you do in the story. Obviously with politics you're going to have different factions, so which faction you join determines your enemy. So, if you join Party A, your final boss will be the leader of Party B, or vice versa.

I think, initially, there would be a small group of people who had discovered magic that allowed them to travel through time (gods, that sounds so cheesy) and who the villains and heroes are depend upon your actions. Those who travel across time would be immune to it's effects, meaning they wouldn't forget your choices - or be able to undo their death if they were killed. So the story would be based on your decisions and what these other people thought of them. Based on your choices, people would join and leave your party, and the game's final boss would be the people who you pissed off. Say you become the leader of an empire. Your final boss would be the leader of the resistance to that empire. Or vice versa.

Yes, I know there is the potential for a lot of confusing time paradoxes with this, but that is what makes it so interesting.

However, the story should go beyond these protagonists and focus on the changes that the world goes under over the time period. So, whilst the protagonist will have an effect on these, their actions won't determine the entire story. The repurcussions of politics and choices will drive story events, not the individuals - it's about the world, not the characters.

Might add more later...

 

[Akeipas]

Would the game be set in a fantasy world, steam punk, futuristic, something inbetween or something else? something new?
I'd probably have one world with multiple time periods. Say, start with the classic swords and magic, then move to a steampunk middle area where old-style guns are starting to come into play, rendering magic obsolete and ignored, then to a high-tech futuristic society where technology is at the point where magic is barely used. Although travelling to and from these time periods would NOT be done on a linear basis - you'd be able to travel back and forth at will between them. Although there would have to be a limit on what you could take to and from time periods...at least until you finished the main storyline.

Cool, sounds similar to the Chrono series. Also set in different time periods and based largely around time travel. It would be cool seeing the world change.

Final fantasy worlds almost always have an ancient forgotten civilization that was technologically more advanced than the world the current stories set in. what if the twist in the story was that the future world was actually the one furthest in the past? Though you don't find this out till further into the game. I know it's not what you said but I just thought that would be cool.

 

[Valvalis]

I think this is a wonderful thread idea, particularly if SE staff members do actually look at forums like this to get fan feedback, which I suspect it's entirely possible that they do

Setting: I would like something with a similar era setting to FFIV or FFVI, where it's old-fashioned yet embellishes upon the best aspects of medieval or steampunk settings (i.e., swords and cool machines ) And I think I'd like for it to stay within that one time period; I loved Chrono Trigger with a passion, but that will always be the end-all be-all time travel game for me, so for me it would be hard to play another time travel game without subconsciously making parallels to it, I think Another thing that might be interesting would be to have it set in a completely prehistoric world, with primitive technology and weapons; I haven't played all the FFs yet, but so far I haven't heard of anything like that being done.

Character design: I love the nostalgic old sprites, but I've always said the only improvement they could make to the old FFs would be to upgrade the graphics so we can experience the stories even more fully, so I would have to choose whatever the most updated graphics were for the time it was released, so long as it's not geometric-looking like FFIV DS. For any still pictures of items or character profiles, however, they would absolutely have to keep the 2D Amano artwork like they had in IV and VI, it's completely gorgeous I would still like to see sprites traveling on an overworld map though, but when you got to the area, have the view switch to the XII style, where you can see the characters running around (and hey, maybe even check out the view if they're good-looking )

Character races: I would stick mostly with humans, but a few hominoid creatures here and there would be cool too, kind of like how they did...again, IV and VI (gee, you can see which ones I like XD). In IV you had basically humans, dwarves, and Lunarians, and they didn't seem like just token fuzzy creatures to encounter or have in your party; their context made sense. And in VI the only non-human characters I can think of are the optional Umaro and Gogo, and Gogo might even be human Don't get me wrong, I love Nanaki and he's one of my favorites, but trying to force it into every game wouldn't be right; it would kind of dishonor the few good ones like him, because then people would just see all of them as being token and that's not fair :/

Staples I'd keep: A nice overworld map that you could walk around in, like IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, etc. Turn-based battle system. Keep the basic level-up system the same, i.e. the way your attributes gradually increase, as well as your HP and MP, but maybe make them a bit more polarized based on the type of character--give mages a significantly lower HP and significantly higher MP than warriors, for example; in my experience, it's often so similar that it doesn't seem to affect the way I use the characters. Also, to keep the names of everything as unusual as possible, and keep fighting a vast menagerie of enemy monsters; the last thing I would want would be a large amount of human-only enemies, because that can get boring.

Bring in:

- Post-game story content.
- New Game+. Come on, it's not that difficult.
- Proper customization. I want my characters to wear different clothes or weapons when I equip them.
- Optional party members. Similarly, I'd like something like the Seraphic Gate in VP2 that allowed me to recruit villains and cameo characters to my party post-game.
- FULL voice acting. Every goddamn word.
- Difficulty settings, for a proper challenge.
- A "save anywhere" function.
- A proper day/night and season system that keeps track of the time and seasons where you are.

I like these And I honestly haven't played VP2, but it was awesome when I found out you could play as Albel Nox in Star Ocean 3, I loved how you could choose a lot of optional characters in that game, even someone who was a villain at one point I would also add in the switchable character battle method from X--I didn't mention it as a staple because I can't remember seeing it in all of them, but I did find it quite useful.


Transport etc: I like the ability to ride chocobos, so if there was a believable way for them to fit into the world, I would keep that as a method of transportation. And airships are absolutely imperative And they have to be able to fly all over the overworld map, I wasn't pleased at all with the systems used in X and XII. Also, the ability to walk around inside the airship and explore it is a must, and the more of them that are used throughout the game, like in VI, the better. If I could add one new method though, it would be riding on dragons, because I've always thought that would be cool to see in an FF as it's in some other games. And also, if you had a mage that was traveling alone, or a party of mages, for example, the ability to teleport or use some form of spell-induced transportation would be nice, and add for an interesting twist to the story.
Magic, limit breaks, etc--I would definitely want to keep the system of having both magic and non-magic techs available to different characters (i.e. Zidane's special attacks like Grand Lethal and Solution 9). I do think sometimes having too many of them can make the game too easy though, so they need to either make some of the enemies more difficult to defeat, or limit the power of the limit breaks and magic spells somewhat. Also, I know some people have spoken ill of the Draw system in FFVIII, but I absolutely loved it, and would love to have it in my own FF game, because from my own viewpoints about magic it makes sense, and it keeps you from having to restrict your spell use because it's sort of like having the ability to have an endless supply without using items, which is nifty. And as far as the actual spells and techniques, my main thing would just be to have them look as flashy, detailed, and interesting as possible, and move fluidly and realistically towards the enemy, so that you could really get a feel for the action and whatnot.

Story--This is actually the one thing I wouldn't really know how to pick out. I would like something with lots of unexpected plot twists, and an original story, but not something that goes so far off the beaten path that it's unbelievable. One thing that does seem to happen a lot is the party leaving the home planet and traveling into space, and I'm not sure whether I would like to see that again or not because it seems a touch cliche at this point However, a linear story with a believable main villain is fine with me; I like to be entertained by pre-written RPG stories rather than having too much say in what goes on in the storyline itself as a whole

 

[Smiley]

Would the game be set in a fantasy world, steam punk, futuristic, something inbetween or something else? something new?

I think I would like a cross between medieval and futuristic. So like, swords and stuff, but with a futuristic touch to them. Other parts of this game might have different fantasy settings and whatnot, but it would start out as I said before, in a cool, medieval thing.

Would the characters be more sprite like, like 7, 9 and the older games or more human like 8 and all from 10 onwards?

Modern Graphics. As much as I love sprites and that, this new game would be on PS3, therefore take advantage of the graphic capabilities, right?

What would be the inspirations? would it be mostly humans in the world or all myriad of fantasy creatures?

hmmm, kind of both. Mostly human, but not completely irregular to see a fantasy creature there too. Like how XII was kinda 50/50, I would say 70/30 =)

What about transport, magic, weapons, limit breaks or whatever you'd call them.

I would definitely say ride on chocobos. For some reason I didn't get to do it in XIII and it really annoyed me. I also think that if you can randomly use an airship to get the hell out of where you are and go to an entirely different part of the game, just for the hell of it, that would be cool. Also, The characters should all learn how to use a teleport magic at one stage through the game. It takes MP, though.

I don't like how every character has a different weapon. i wish they could be shared like in the older games. still have some special weapons with special abilities to specific people, but I want to be able to share some of them.

EVERYONE WILL HAVE A LIMIT BREAK AND ALL OF THEM WILL BE AWESOME!!!!!!! But there is a strategy. If Strength is higher than MP, then the limit break will do more physical damage, and Deprotect them, probably. IF MP is higher than HP or Strength, then the Limit break will deal more magic damage and Deshell. The element is dependent on the target's elemental weaknesses.

If you have Ideas for stories floating around in you're head let them out, the more details the better.

This, i actually have kinda figured out. It starts with a guy called Alex. He is a bit unloved. He has parents and whatnot but he is kinda socially awkward. He meets a girl named Faith, who teaches him about the world outside of Periechondes (in Greek that means 'trapped' it just has an 's' on the end) So Alex follows her. Meanwhile his best friend becomes corrupted by another person, whos name I havent made up yet, and he becomes the final boss. Over the jorney, Alex loves Faith, but nothing becomes of it...oh well =)

 

[Martel]

Cool, sounds similar to the Chrono series. Also set in different time periods and based largely around time travel. It would be cool seeing the world change.

Final fantasy worlds almost always have an ancient forgotten civilization that was technologically more advanced than the world the current stories set in. what if the twist in the story was that the future world was actually the one furthest in the past? Though you don't find this out till further into the game. I know it's not what you said but I just thought that would be cool.

That would be pretty cool, although I'd have that as post-game content...so, after you've travelled through time and shaped events to your fashion, you can then create further events to tear down that which you created (or which the antagonist created) after you've finished the main story. So, it'd be an expansion pack of sorts. You could keep the world in an advanced state, or destroy civilization so that it regresses back to what it was when you started.

Alternately, you could have a scenario similar to NieR, where the world has regressed, and the story could focus on the protagonists travelling back in time at various instances to attempt to preserve the futuristic society of the past so that it changes the future for the better.

 

[Akeipas]

Well here goes. My favourite Final Fantasys were 6,7 and 9 so I'd be trying to go for something with their feel. Though it would be mostly 9 like in both look and tone. A lot more care free and a lot less angst and depression.

The setting would be a world based on the 19th century during it's enlightenment era where the modern world is taking shape though fantasy and wonder still exists. The main city is based on an idealised almost stereotype of Paris an amalgamation of the 18th, 19th and early twentieth century. Ladies and gentlemen wonder the streets of their modern city of beauty. Old fashioned bobbies (police) walk their beat. Trams take people to and fro. Small cafes line the river and the pretty streets. Small bakeries and bookstores cram the sidewalks. Other towns include an old English seaside type town with a pier and funfair at the end. An old west type town, a town built on a swamp with the sound of crickets with a New Orleans feel to it, a canal town inspired by Venice with frog people type creatures in striped outfits as Gondola drivers, a travelling circus with fun mini games and many more.

I like the ideas of many weird races like FF9, it just adds something to that type of world to make it more interesting and Final Fantasyish.

I'd definitely have a world map, towns and all the obvious staples of final fantasy that are ridiculous to not have. There'd be a Biggs and a Wedge, a Cid, the old magics and summons and characters based on the jobs of old and an opera scene.

I'd have a system like materia where you find or buy it then equip it onto slots on weapons, armour, hats and boots. Each equipment type can only take one from it's type so weapons would be ones that deal damage etc. Having it equiped would raise it's level like FF7. I liked the idea of making your own weapons from FFX by adding affects to it. The accessories would have the most interesting slots and work a bit like add ons from FF9. They work automatically when equiped and can be learned permanently if equiped for long enough. There'd be a trance, limit break type system much like they usually are.

Transport would include different coloured Chocobos that can be bred like FF7 and raced at a race course much like royal Ascot in the big city. There'd be a river boat with paddle wheel going down a river like the Mississippi. An old seaship either sail or like an ironclad with Nautilus type stylings. And of course airships who's crews are like those of Nelson and the Napoleonic wars.

There would be an epic storyline to match ff6's with many sidequests. There would be a monster hunter bit almost like the chocobo breeder in 7. You would catch monsters and breed them on a monster farm to make better ones or entirely new ones from different types then fight them in the arena.
There would also be something similar to Tetra master or Triple Triad as well as mini games like they did with Golden Saucer but in a different manner.
There would be something as big and tragic as the world of ruin from ff6 or Aerith's death in FF7.

For the story the initial bad guys would be some sort of secret society though the true bady is a forgotten god angry at the world of the enlightenment with religion dying and her name barely mentioned anymore. Perhaps she turns out not to be a god but something else? I'm not sure.

Much like 6 their are a group of candidates for the title of main character. The beginning four characters are introduced each with their own playable section before they meet up.
The thief type character is a mix between thief and monk class. His story opens with him about to be hung for various crimes and even his gallows humour doesn't seem to be able to save him. As the hangman lets him drop he's surprised to find himself not in the everafter but awakening in the office of an aristocrat who now holds his life in his hands. He's like a handsome older artful dodger type with a bit of spike from cowboy bebop thrown into the inspirational mix.
The innocent heroin is a dancer/summoner named Papillion who's story opens up in a Moulin Rouge type scene to reveal she is a burlesque dancer.
Though of course unbeknownst to her or anyone else, she is so much more. A sadness permeates her soul unseen by any of her many admirers.
The second heroin is at first impressions a lady of high birth in the clothes of a fashionably dressed woman of stature. Mature, confident, sophisticated, beautiful and above all deadly with a sword. She is in fact a knight of the realm and a highly respected swordwoman.
The fourth Hero is a famed duelist. An older man with an awesome moustache in sharp suit and bowler hat. He is based more on an English gentleman but with the skills of an old west gunslinger. I'm not decided on his personality either posh but yet effortlessy cool or posh and a bit blumbering. two sides of a coin I know.

At a point early in the story the group is split up like 6 and the story follows the characters as they meet new allies and are eventually reunited.

There would be a large cast of characters, maybe not as many as FF6 but maybe about 12. They include a character based on Nemo from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, A non human with a samurai hat and attitude. He is silent and serious and when he does speak it's in a weird language with subtitles that only the player understands. And a mage based on a mix of Bariss Offee from star wars and Tali from Mass Effect.

Anyway those are my ideas for what I would have in my perfect Final Fantasy.

 

[Sir Fratley]

Game Setting: Fantasy Steam-punk

Transportation would consist of steam and/or coal fueled trains, chocobos and tamable dragons. Towns would look more like FF 9 Lindbum, Treno, Alexandria and Cleyra. generally a mix of styles, each unique to each kingdom. Weapons would be no more advanced than the weaponry of FF 12.

Graphics: PS3 Hi-def quality.

If anything, I'd like to make the scenes look more realistic, like they do in the Myst series. With the technologies of the PS3 and XBox 360, I believe this high standard of quality to be reachable.

Races: You know, in like 90% of rpg's, humans are the majority. I'd prefer mine to be a generally equal mix. Beastmen, Birdmen, Dragonkin, Elves, Burmecians, Dwarves, Moogles and several others. And also, the main character could be of any race or gender! For once, you would get to customize your hero in a FF game, and each race would have it's own story introduction, much like Dragon Age: Origins. Your first companion would be of the same race, different gender.

Special Moves: I'd like to use the Trance system, but I'd tweak it a bit so that, with the exception of story-line driven Trances, you can choose when to use your Trance gauge so you aren't forced to blow it on something pathetic like a Flan.

Leveling: I like being able to customize characters, so leveling would be on a points system. You can allocate points to your stats with each level up, and you can even choose not to distribute them and doing so would add a bonus to the number of points you gain on your next level up (10% of remaining unused points).

Magic and Classes: I like the class system, and I really enjoy the class advancement and changing from games like FF Tactics. While my game would not allow for cross-classing, each class would have branch-classes. For example, a Fighter could become a Knight (stat damaging attacks), a Paladin (Stronger def & White magic, weaker offense), or a Warlock (Same as Pally but with Black Magic). Also, just for the corniness of it, a hidden class called the Sword-chuck Master =P

Battle System: The battle system would be like this (I can't remember the game's name, but it might sound familiar). At the top of the screen would be a time bar with mini avatars of all involved in battle. The higher your Agility, the faster that character moves from the beginning of the bar to the 3/4 point (The Act bar) When one character reaches this act point, you can choose an action or wait for another to reach the point. By doing this, you can chain actions and even create combo spells (ie. Using Dark Impulse + Holy Strike = Fallen Angel) Also, you can link Trance Attacks to create devastating Limit Breakers.

Special Interests: As a long-time fan of games like Thousand Arms, Rune Factory, Harvest Moon, Record of Agarest War and other games that allow control over romance situations, this game will allow you to woo other party members of the opposite gender. All characters will have a Friend gauge, and romantic interests will have a second Love gauge. This will lead to different series of endings, and also the overall story of the game will stretch over two generations, so who you choose determines your son/daughter's race (or combination thereof) and starting stats. They will have their own allies and groups of love interests.

Also, I'm a big fan of FF9's ability system. Being able to learn skills that make your game more enjoyable and boss battles more survivable. Having Auto Haste, Auto-regen and Auto-potion is still my favorite immortality combo =P Also, instead of buying/finding new weapons, each weapon can be Enhanced at any blacksmith, providing you have the right ingredients to make it.

Story: Fifteen years ago, a young prince was abducted under the cover of night. The younger sibling was saved by Minis, the captain of the guard. While an alert was sent throughout the continent of Furgasta, no word of the missing prince ever reached the king's ears. Upon the sibling's 18th birthday, a dark cloud emerged over the kingdom. The kidnapped prince returned, possessed by a powerful demon, and overthrew the royal family. While the sibling fought bravely against his/her brother, s/he was cast off a cliff ledge and into the rapids below. The sibling is found by a runaway slave (same race, opposite gender) and brings the hero back from death's brink.

By the end of the first story, depending on your choices, the brother is purged of the demon, or you slay the brother and the demon takes root inside your character. If you saved your brother, the demon flees to the continent of Delucia and is absorbed by the waiting and scheming princess Olivia/ prince Victor, becoming a demi-god/des. if you killed the brother, the demon warps the main character to Delucia where s/he becomes said prince/princess's slave.

The second half is played as the son/daughter of the first hero. There is a war going on between Furgasta and Delucia, and the new hero must find a way to seal off the demon world before Apep the Destroyer is freed and brings oblivion to all of creation. This also has different possible endings (including a True Ending), where either: the hero sacrifices him/herself to seal the portal, the hero slays the archdemon and uses the Archdemon's soul to seal the portal, or in True Ending, the hero enters the demon world and fights Apep, destroying the dark god, but they end up dying as well and are reborn centuries later.

Minigames: Most minigames would be like the Fable series: jobs that require timing and/or button sequence. Each success increases the score multiplier, but a miss resets the multiplier to 0. After three fails, or upon reaching Multiplier 20, the minigame ends and you get a reward based on your score. Also, chocobo races! I loved the FF7 chocobo races, and yes, this includes Chocobo breeding. Also, there will be plenty of hidden side-quest goodies to find and a few spots where you can level-grind.