Magvellian Chronicles
Anouncement of the day: I’ve decided on making Innes the main antagonist in the same fashion Lyon was in the original Sacred Stones. In other words, Innes gets possessed by the Demon King. I’m using his and Eirika’s paired ending and FE3s basic plot here honestly, so for the sake of Innes needing to despair enough to be possessed, Eirika will still hold feelings for Lyon
I wonder if I’ve said too much
Also, the silver reaver varient of the three base weapons will be very OP, but only have one use, and one copy each.
Not that it really matters since it’s such a small, small component but… why? All this will do is take up unnecessary inventory space until the player encounters a moment in which they desperately need a reaver weapon. Then they will use the weapon once and then forget it ever existed.
As for your plot details…
Looking over everything again, it kind of sounds like you’re grasping at straws for ideas for an FE8 sequel, which is beginning to feel more and more forced, which is never really good. I have a rather radical idea, and do with it what you will, but what if you just made a retelling of FE8? You could even shuffle existing characters around into new roles.
For example, what about an alternate universe where Duessel touches the cursed lance and becomes mad, instead of Valter? And Valter is more of an anti-hero. Or perhaps Knoll is not a meek researcher of Grado, but an experienced military leader. What if Garcia hadn’t decided to leave the Renais army? What if Eirika’s dad survives the invasion of Renais? The possibilities are endless.
This way you could use existing resources but still have your gameplay concept AND you could do something a little bit different, to motivate players so that they know they’re not playing the exact same game.
In fact, you could even work your own fanfic-esque concepts into the hack. What if Eirika and Ephraim have control over a stone which allows them to travel back in time, thus being able to re-do battles and learn things from them each time. You could even scatter clues across multiple chapters and/or specific items/characters needed to do certain tasks, so that playing the same chapter twice with different characters might reveal new information or even change the outcome of the battle entirely.
As for your chapter goals, honestly, they are lazy and half-assed. Players will almost always get all chests (unless you make those extremely hard to get) and they, of course, will always complete the chapter. That means every time you finish a chapter you already have two of the crystals. That’s kind of boring. You may as well not have them.
I’d propose working obtaining the shards into “quests” more specific to FE. Like, have character X visit village Y to obtain the red shard, but character X is only available if you’ve completed chapter Z before.
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-Eirika is Manrika and Lyon is a kawaii-desu supervillain?
get out
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but but you admit it has potential right
True, that’s why I put in the concepts section instead of the projects section. I wasn’t completely sure this was a good idea at all, and my imagination is unfortuanately lacking when it comes to plot lines.
Thats actually why my first project, which is finished and availible for download on SF btw, Binding Blade + was only a reskin/rebalenceing hack. I couldn’t come up with a concept other than Roy’s mom replaces Merlinus’ role in the plot. I made a few other character changes here and there, as well as minor plot changes, but even I saw it as a lazy project.
I want to do more with my next project, but I can’t come up with a concept that will stick. The shard idea I know I’m going to keep, but I will take your advice there Agro and come up with more FE centric goals. As far plot direction goes, it may as well be back to the drwing board anyway, I didn’t care that much for 8, but the Sacred Stones made a convienient plot excuse for the shards. The project isn’t dead, but I am seeking new ideas in terms of plot direction, cause you’re right that I’m grasping for straws here.
Anyways, thanks for the advice Agro, tho I may move away from FE 8 altogether and explain the shard collection somehow else. You know you’re having problems writing the script when your looking to fanfics for inspiration
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I’m gonna briefly chip in and say that not all fanfics are bad… As much as I hate admitting it, there have been a few touhou fanfictions that kept me emotionally invested despite my dislike of some of the fandom…
I get what you mean though.
Yeah, it quickly became difficult to sift thru the crud, so I’ve decided to do a full custom world with FE connections instead.
In other words, the events of FE7 for example may be referenced in the plot, and Falchion may be a easter egg item, but these things will not actually affect the world of the game. In any case, due to the custom world bit, I’m going under with the project, and will come back up once I actually have progress.
I’m still having custom music composed as we speak that I am somehow going to insert into the hack. I’m still brainstorming for other ideas, however, and am open to suggestions.
The FE connections are more for attempts at humor on my part, so other games may be referenced as well
Custom worlds are far more fun.
Here are some tips, from someone who’s never made a custom game yet with a custom world or anything (But I am planning on doing so).
- Name your world.
- Draw up a little map. It doesn’t have to be great. Or good. Like, at all. Here was my first, second, and final/most recent designs for my own world maps. As you can see, the first map was pretty awful. The names have also significantly changed.
- Give some names to different areas on the map. What does each place do? Is that coastal region good at fishing? Is there a barbarian horde running around rampant? Where do(es) the protagonist(s) start? If there’s a big bad guy in the game, where is he located? Does he have allies? Does the player? Write up a bit of history for each area, just write whatever comes to mind, since this is a first draft. You’ll further refine it later.
- Once you’ve thought about how everything interacts, write a basic outline for the story. What has been the history of the world, overall? Has the world been ravaged by war? Local civil disputes? Marauders destroying the land? Peace and prosperity? Don’t worry about cliches, EVERYTHING is a cliche. There is a 0.0001% chance you’ll come up with a story premise that’s new.
- Now, think about your characters. What are their backstories? Is the main lord a noble? A prince(ss)? A soldier fighting against corruption? A peasant dreaming of glory? What about the people he will meet, where do they come from? What do they wish to do? Given that FE specializes in giving each character a quirk or two to liven them up (Bartre is dumb as a rock, Canas is such a nerd that he doesn’t understand humor, the lords are all boring except Hector who’s a badass, etc) you may choose to do the same. Try not to let their quirk… define them. Everyone’s seen the clumsy inept mage, but a clumsy inept mage who has a love of flowers and is terrified of kittens could be more amusing and memorable.
The reason I suggest all of this is so you don’t just write your game as it comes to you. By giving yourself an outline, you’re less likely to fill in plot holes with bullshit and confuse the player. The point of the world map is so you have an idea of geography and positioning for story event and game maps. If a particular chapter takes part on a coastline, include the sea in the map, and make reference by the characters of the fishing exploits of the local village. It adds depth and believability to your game and world, and takes it from being “Random game about hero killing bad guys with a bunch of uninteresting companions” to a game that can wow people, get you viewers and players, and maybe even get you friends who want to make stuff for you, if you don’t know how to do that yourself.
You also avoid the pitfall of turning people off, Dr. Sholes style, by having to beg for mugs and maps.
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Thanks for the advice, Now I must learn to art
I’ll begin setting up the outline tomorrow when I have free time.
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It’s worth pointing out that if you look at my third map up there, a lot of the names of various places are based on actual names we use in the real world. Antica = Antarctica. Sylvana is a slightly different form of Silvana, a real world place. Do yourself a favor, and don’t use long stupid ‘elvish’ names. Lothlorien from LOTR is okay, but when you get into 5+ syllable names, the player doesn’t even remember them. Keep it 1-3 syllables at most, unless you’re literally adding Elves into your game, in which case ignore this advice.
Yeah, I like to keep things simple, so anything I come up with will likely be short and very corny
Right now, the only country name I’ve come up with is Chero, which is literally a shortened version of the Native American tribe my family hails from. Cherokee
Seriously, thanks for the advice tho, it helps out a ton
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How about a sequel where Eirika tries to bring Lyon back from wherever the Demon King sent him? And Innes gets all butthurt because Eirika doesn’t have feelings for him, then becomes the main antagonist cause he’s all possessive. Lyon comes back and Naglfar’s his pompous a** and finally gets Eirika, as Lyon x Eirika is the only canon pairing.
Can’t tell if srs or not. It sounds like Eirika learned exactly nothing from Lyon’s tragedy, and I’ll bet she accidentally revives the Demon King by mistake and he possesses Innes or sth.
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So basically, FE RD, Sacred Stones edition.
In case you haven’t been reading the previous responses, the project has changed from a fan made sequel to a full custom hack with an original world and all that stuff. I’m planning on making a new thread when I actually have progress, but I’ve been rather lazy lately so who knows when that will be.
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Lol. Well, he does disappear into some abysslike place. That could be a thing. Lol.
I see. A new world custom hack sounds good. I was kinda messing with my post. Lol.
…He dies, he doesn’t “disappear”.