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| Taking something known, and making it unknown | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: February 8, 2013, 9:20 pm (916 Views) | |
| NTNP | February 8, 2013, 9:20 pm Post #1 |
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Admin
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Taking something known, and making it unknown: So often, when we first imagine a story we think about a foreign, distinctive concept and try to make it feel more known. We create stories based on the smallest things, tiny sparks of inspiration and then try to fill in those gaps with known, predictable things in order to help make it more accessible to other authors and readers alike. We create highly rich and detailed worlds of our own creation, filling them with hundreds upon hundreds of unique characters that populate our thoughts. While this provides us nearly unlimited freedom, it is staggering sometimes. The newness of everything, the idea of endless possibility being drawn in by artificial means limits us in a way. In a gameplay example, it is like creating a mod friendly sandbox. There is a near limitless amount of room for customization, but you find yourself at a loss of what to do and how to do it. Therefore, like so many others, when faced with so many options, you end up finding yourself doing nothing at all and eventually giving up on it. I feel like this happens with our RPs from time to time. I would like to imagine something different by taking something known and making it unknown. This idea came to me after sitting down and looking at my collection of old PS2 and PS3 RPGs and wondering, “If our characters were in this story, would they survive? Would they thrive and see it to an ending or leave it half way?” In asking myself this, it opened up a strange thought. Many times I have played a game, watched a movie or (more often anymore) read a book and thought, “If my character was here, this, this and this would have gone differently and the entire storyline would have changed in response.” So I asked myself, what would happen if our characters populated the stories that I am so fond of in place of our previous main cast, how different would the stories turn out? In a very “white versus black” storyline such as Final Fantasy 10, would our characters have thwarted the obviously evil chancellor at stage 1, managed to complete all the trials at ease and stopped a genocide from occurring by making different choices? Would they have managed to save hundreds of innocent lives by making choices the cannon characters could not, like taking an innocent life to save thousands more or taking a road less traveled, to ensure a success (if only momentarily) instead of gambling it all on an iffy hope? Or in a grey and grey storyline like Dragon Age: Origins where two or more factions are present and at war, would we choose the same as those characters in story? Usually our only reason for staying with one is because they are less antagonistic towards us or better for us in a gameplay sense, would our characters have followed in line with the main cast or broke ties, leading to new and different events taking place that might change the ending entirely? Is it worth imagining how different a story might go if instead of making just a single change that they made dozens (or maybe even hundreds) like these? Would knowing overall what the “initial, intended” storyline of a series help keep us motivated because we could plan for what happened next, much like a regular author or screen writer? Would being able to change the plot, based on the interest of the authors, create something unique and memorable? Would knowing that there is a planned, moderately well executed finale down the line make us more interested in seeing where the story will go? Or maybe would it be knowing that our characters can (and should) break off the rails from time to time, and explore where the other rabbit holes go, that might provide a new and distinctive experience. I personally do not know the answer. I have wrote many stories that are unknown and tried to make them feel more known. Even right now, I am trying to get one off the floor in the form of the Depths of the Mind. But is that the only way? Could something like this not be fun as well? And, with us knowing what might happen next, couldn’t we plan for things better and make it a more open experience at the same time letting players drop in and out as they needed to? This is obviously just an idea, mostly born from a strange interest in imagining what would happen if our standard characters were dropped into the following games: Final Fantasy 10, Ogre Battle: Let Us Cling Together and Dragon Age: Origins and imagining what might have happened differently and what new sorts of events, scenes and plots we might have explored along the way, but I thought it was worth putting a topic together for. So what is your opinion? Does this idea have merit, or is it just another floating day dream better left for the lands of “I wonder ifs?” |
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| Green | February 9, 2013, 12:50 am Post #2 |
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THE Man
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I'd love to do it for FFX or DA:O, but like I said, I'll have to see where I'm at when they start. Joining Depths of the Mind is enough for me right now, but that could change I guess. Iunno. Count me in as a maybe leaning towards yes. |
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| NTNP | February 9, 2013, 9:30 am Post #3 |
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Admin
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Those are really just a few examples... hmm, out of all the games I have what could I reasonably turn into a working RP for us to explore... Ogre Tactics: Let Us Cling Together (PSP) Dragon Age: Origins (PS3) Final Fantasy X -> X-2 (PS2) Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1) Dragon Quest 8: The Journey of the Cursed King (PS2) Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (PS2) While it is possible I could do others, I feel like these are the closest to our standard genre. Obviously the mechanics could be identical to those in game and since we would already have experience understanding the system, what it is thematically there would be little reason to change something like that. From there, our characters would start independently (solo or in groups) and drawn into the basic 'starting' point of the game from there. In say Dragon Age: Origins, that would mean we would all find a reason to get to Ostagar before the big battle. In Final Fantasy Tactics, it would mean all being members of the academy being sent out on our first mission(s) together, etc. The beginning of the story would be nearly identical to the beginning in the standard narrative, since we had only a short while to make changes. But as soon as we get "off the rails" a little, the story would start changing to reflect that. We would still be going on the original path, but how we get there and in what format could easily change. How we interact with NPCs, the world and even the antagonists might change as our characters break the mold of the cannon characters. Within time (short or long) the story would likely go a completely new direction, making it just like our usual stories but with the added bonus of being able to predict events that will be happening in the future, foreshadow them and prepare scenes ahead of time to make the events feel a little higher quality. So, Green might be interested. Any others? Anyone like this idea, dislike this idea? |
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| Primera Espada Yggdra | February 9, 2013, 1:20 pm Post #4 |
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The Kitty Cat, Mew!~
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Other ideas: Pokemon Black and White 2 Warriors Orochi 3 Dissidia Final Fantasy or the sequel Duodecim Knights in the Nightmare Pokemon Coliseum or the sequel Gale of Darkness Final Fantasy from 1-10, 12-13 since 11 and 14 wouldn't be easy |
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| yuna | February 9, 2013, 1:26 pm Post #5 |
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Goddess Of Executions
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13-2. That game is all about paradoxes so it should be easy lolol |
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| NTNP | February 9, 2013, 2:23 pm Post #6 |
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Admin
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I'd lean toward Final Fantasy as a good option, since we all have a moderate (or more) experience with that series. I guess the question is which ones... Since I'm offering to run it, I'll give the ones I am most experienced with and if someone else chooses to be admin I'll let them choose: Final Fantasy 8 Final Fantasy 9 Final Fantasy 10 Final Fantasy 12 Final Fantasy Tactics In response to the other ideas suggested: 1. Pokemon Black and White 2: Never played it, although the idea of a group playing pokemon together doesn't sound too bad. Realistically seeing simple rules like: Everyone starts with a different starter pokemon, we can only catch 1 pokemon per area (no replications if possible), people travel in groups of 3-4 and the goal is to handle the obvious goal (gyms) and game plot. The admin controls the NPC world and we take turns with others controlling the antagonistic trainers, pokemon etc. 2. Warriors Orochi 3: No experience with it, sorry. 3. Dissidia Final Fantasy or the sequel Duodecim: I feel like with so many "big name" heroes and villains around, it would be too hard. Small changes in personality in minor NPCs is understandable. Trying to do the same for the most well known characters around, already in a strange situation, might be too much for me to handle successfully. 4. Knights in the Nightmare: No clue what this is 5. Pokemon Coliseum or the sequel Gale of Darkness: Again, I could imagine this going like pokemon above... except a little more plot centric which might be worthwhile. So any other suggestions on what could be good and worthwhile? |
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| oniskieth | February 9, 2013, 2:31 pm Post #7 |
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The Silver Light
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Fire Emblem anyone? |
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Katherine's Approval
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| NTNP | February 9, 2013, 2:34 pm Post #8 |
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Admin
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Any further opinions? Shade, Winters? |
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| Green | February 9, 2013, 4:17 pm Post #9 |
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THE Man
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Definitely FF8. I'd join that no matter what. |
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| Matttheman89 | February 10, 2013, 11:03 am Post #10 |
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Assassin
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This |
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| Winters | February 10, 2013, 12:32 pm Post #11 |
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Hee-ho
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I'm partial to FF9 myself. That's at least more in line with our traditional settings. |
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| NTNP | February 10, 2013, 1:08 pm Post #12 |
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Admin
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So here is what I am hearing thus far that seem to have a chance of success: Dragon Age: Origins (NTNP, Green) Final Fantasy 10 (NTNP, Green, Ygg) Final Fantasy 9 (NTNP, Winters, Ygg) Final Fantasy 8 (NTNP, Green, Matt and Ygg) Fire Emblem, unspecified (Oni) Pokemon, unspecified (Ygg) So if we have any more 'ideas' I'm happy to hear them. But otherwise, I'd like to hear our opinions on these options instead. |
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| Garm0099 | February 10, 2013, 1:35 pm Post #13 |
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Marksman
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DA:O - Hmm, It'd be interesting to see I guess. I'd be up for it. Final Fantasy: Eh, the only one I really liked // was familiar with was 6 so that would be my vote on that Fire Emblem: YES, FUCKING YES!!! I think it was 7 that was Eliwood/Hector/Lynn so that one :] Pokemon: YES, DO IT. Don't limit to one gen either, just open that sucker up and throw us into a region. Another thing perhaps for starters don't limit us to just starters. I think it would be more popular if you let some people start with a low-leveled Dratini or Porygon maybe. Evolving would be tricky too for some pokemon but I think we'd find some way to get it figured out. Other series?: Uh..... White Knight Chronicles maybe? Pretty much all the good ones where said... Maybe Golden Sun |
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| Keith | February 10, 2013, 2:24 pm Post #14 |
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Mage
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic |
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MAP OF HYRULE BESTIARY WORLD NOTES
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| NTNP | February 10, 2013, 7:50 pm Post #15 |
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Admin
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The more I think about it... the more I am getting irritated by the fact that there is so little to reasonably do right now. I've been thinking rather in depth about the subject matter, what people have suggested and I have come to a potential decision: I would like to give this a shot, and if anyone else wants to come along then all the better. I am currently split between 2 options from the Final Fantasy series since it would be easiest to pull off: 1. Final Fantasy 10: Due to it's linear narrative, highly character focused roles (the summoner and guardians) and a simple story line seems like it would be an easy enough story to try. This high fantasy setting seems like it would provide a nice range of story line options for both characters and plenty of options for us to change somethings. 2. Final Fantasy 8: This somewhat more high tech setting will provide a different sort of story than what we have been used to. The early game is rather linear, but about the halfway point things go utterly sideways with the possibility of time travel and changes in the entire world happening due to the time compression. It might give an interesting change to the stories we usually do and could be a lot of fun. If we choose something more "normal" genre wise I'll be going with: 3. Dragon Age: Origins: This setting, while a deconstruction, would be pretty easy to play in. Especially given how detailed and explained most of the storylines are along with providing a number of pre-destined "plot splits" going on throughout the narrative. It would be an alright option and easy enough to play in. While this is another "war" RP, since we have done it a couple of times now though... So that is what I would be willing to admin at the moment. I can imagine the 'few' little changes we would have to make within each setting in order to make everything work. So any opinions from here? |
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| yuna | February 10, 2013, 7:55 pm Post #16 |
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Goddess Of Executions
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Fable. |
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| Matttheman89 | February 13, 2013, 2:08 pm Post #17 |
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Assassin
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I'd play either of the Final Fantasy options. |
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| NTNP | February 13, 2013, 3:06 pm Post #18 |
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Admin
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Since I have Winter Break off (this weekend till Thursday) I'll make my decision and put it out there for people to either join or not. If anyone has any opinions, I'm happy to hear them but otherwise I'll probably just choose for myself, based on what I think will be the most enjoyable of the two stories to try out. |
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