Post by: WarxePB on March 03, 2008, 07:48:20 AM
ReIncarnation is the sort of game that can only be done on RPG Maker. The very first version, called The Final Battle, was nothing more than a bunch of video game characters (about 30) teaming up for no apparent reason and fighting an evil force that only mattered in the last bit of the game. TFB was very far along, and in fact was completed at one point (whether you'd want to play it is another matter), but as I began developing my own ideas, it eventually morphed into ReIncarnation: a game where the video game heroes are reincarnated on a spatially-f**ked up world called eDriTh, and they team up with the more important original heroes to take out a combined force of original and non-original villains.
I had high ambitions for ReIncarnation; I originally wanted it to have an SSB-style combat system (in RPG Maker), but both the difficulty of such a system in a tile-based engine as well as my own sheer laziness contributed in never finishing the battle system, and without that, pretty much the entire plot fell apart.
Fast forward to now. We all know about the imminent release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. One of its features is Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary, an original storyline with characters old and new fighting in an original world. I won't go into details about the storyline, but after looking through nearly all the spoilers I could lay my hands on, I've come up with a conclusion about it. For your guys' sake, I'll put it in spoiler tags.
[SPOILER]The plot is exactly what one would expect - the characters team up somewhat randomly, and the plot is functional enough to send the characters where they need to go, but not much else.[/SPOILER]
Another big complaint I had with it (I'm not putting this in spoiler tags, as it's important to this thread) is that, other than the characters, the rich history of Nintendo isn't utilized very often. The Subspace Army is completely original, which isn't a bad thing, and there are Nintendo-related bad guys, but all of the generic Subspace baddies could've been replaced with enemies from Nintendo games.
Now, on to the point of this thread. I've been concepting some ideas for a Smash Bros. RPG for a long time. I was hoping SSE would negate the need for that, but obviously that didn't happen. So, if and when I get the motivation, I want to make a storyline-driven Smash Bros. game. However, seeing how SSE turned out, I'm not too sure if I should use my own ideas (ala ReIncarnation): a good storyline and characterization would help to define the new characters against the recognizable veterans, but by putting too much original content in there, the point of having recognizable characters is defeated - why have Link when an original swordsman with better abilities would be much better for the plot?
At the same time, though. I could make a "true" Smash Bros. RPG by only including things from Nintendo games - only the plot would be original, and even it would most likely be cobbled together from various other plot ideas (princesses getting kidnapped, mute characters, eight new robot masters terrorizing the world). This is, of course, a fangame of the highest degree, and would probably be shunned by the community (though it could also be a nerdgasm-inducing experience if done right - need I say anything more than "Mecha-Bowser powered by Chaos Emeralds and Robot Master AI").
Such is my dilemna - do I use an original plot and characters and make the non-original characters little more than fanservice, or do I take (read: steal) characters, items and ideas and combine them into one giant rehash? I can't really decide. What do you guys think?
Post by: Prpl_Mage on March 03, 2008, 08:30:48 AM
Mixing videogame characters such as A LOT of video game characters from different companies could prove quite difficult as reality doesn't really attend to most Nintendo games while Leon S Kennedy(RE4) strolls around with a gun and shoot peoples' heads will there is a pool of blood underneath him.
But if you really want a videogame-character-based game then people would probably want Cloud, Dane and all those characters who are cool: and this could perhaps force you to make battlecharacters and all that for just those characters wich might result in you losing the interest once more.
But you could give it a try, although something super smash-Kingdom hearts-stylish battlesystem could work really, really well even with original(and supposeby) cool characters. Hell it might be way better.
But my oppinion is divided as an orange, I can' give you any real advice. (and I'm late for school. just by writing this....)
Post by: aboutasoandthis on March 03, 2008, 02:46:33 PM
Post by: Prpl_Mage on March 03, 2008, 05:42:36 PM
But, try to not mix the generic plotlines of each games; especially not the chaos emeralds since they've been in every sonic game so far... And it's horrible.
Post by: Moosetroop11 on March 03, 2008, 09:58:58 PM
Post by: Grandy on March 04, 2008, 12:29:09 AM
Quote
Originally posted by aboutasoandthis
KINGDOM HEARTS. DONE.
A-HA!
Post by: aboutasoandthis on March 04, 2008, 01:22:21 AM
Post by: Grandy on March 04, 2008, 01:29:55 AM
Quote
Originally posted by aboutasoandthis
You killed it...
It was never alive to begin with.
Post by: aboutasoandthis on March 04, 2008, 02:25:15 AM
Quote
Originally posted by GrandyQuoteOriginally posted by aboutasoandthis
You killed it...
It was never alive to begin with.[/B]
I was going to say it was funny. That hurts. :(
Post by: HackersTotalMassLaser on March 04, 2008, 02:28:29 AM
Quote
Originally posted by GrandyQuoteOriginally posted by aboutasoandthis
KINGDOM HEARTS. DONE.
<img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y41/GrandyGuy/nxc.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket">
A-HA![/B]
Awesome game is awesome.
Post by: WarxePB on March 04, 2008, 05:39:23 AM
I'd like to think of myself as a somewhat decent writer - or at the very least, I'm capable of writing an RPG storyline. Sure, original ideas are cool (and I have plenty of them), but ReIncarnation is and always was about the video game heroes, and how I could take pre-existing plot devices and elements and twist them into something new; for example, the Chaos-powered Bowser Man example in my first post is something that you don't see very often (except in bad fanfics). And that's just one example of how I could use pre-existing licenses.
I'll give you an example from ReIncarnation. The first world you start out in, called Alraise, is a pretty generic medieval fantasy setting - including things like the North Island (with elements from the Lost Woods and Viridian Forest), the island-continent of Libra (with notable landmarks as the Green Hills and the Goombantlion's Cave), and the ruling city of New Hyrule (which is inhabited by the water-spirit Undine and ruled by King Harkinian).
That's the kind of stuff I could do with a Smash Bros. RPG. Yet, at the same time, all of those places and people could be replaced by more original characters and places. I just can't decide which extreme I want.
Post by: Grandy on March 04, 2008, 03:18:18 PM
Quote
Originally posted by aboutasoandthisQuoteOriginally posted by GrandyQuoteOriginally posted by aboutasoandthis
You killed it...
It was never alive to begin with.[/B]
I was going to say it was funny. That hurts. :( [/B]
Eh, sorry, I was hurt so I decided to hurt someone in turn.
Post by: Rayonius on April 27, 2008, 07:31:16 PM
Post by: Red Fox on April 27, 2008, 11:58:18 PM