Game Creation > RPG Maker
Zoltar: Some Kind of Supernatural Story
Zoltar:
Hello Charas! Zolty here to tell you about a project on RPG Maker. The title it's called Zoltar: Some Kind Of Supernatural Story. It is set on Earth in 2001 but takes place in a fictional city called Arcanum City and centers around the adventures of a 19 year old boy named Zoltar Thanos.
You play as Zoltar the, understandably confused, young protagonist with self esteem issues who with Terra's help learns how to summon his own Phant named Proud Mary who is a sword wielding sociopath with a free spirit, no pun intended. From there you'll need to pressue this "Specter Nine" and train with Mary to become a better Shaman. How you'll do this is by exploring Arcana City and making allies and enemies as you attempt to locate and destroy the bosd with Terra's soul so you can recover it and Zolty can live happily ever after.
Update!!
-The Story-
We open our little tale of life with a death in the Thanos Family. The death of Zoltar's father Maxim whom meant the world to Zoltar but now he can think nothing but resentment for this man and has to get away. He pushes past his relatives and hops in his car flying away from the graveyard cursing his father for leaving him with nothing but a whining sister and a stern uncle. As he's driving suddenly he see's a figure manifest before him: his father! :o If that wasn't weird enough Maxim suddenly roars at him causing Zolty to crash into the side of the road!
Our hero awakes sometime latter bruised but oddly not seriously hurt. The same can't be said for his car however. He has to dodge speeding cars as he navigates a maze of roads and parking lots but it appears this town is deserted of anybody who can help him....or maybe not? There's a hot red head nearby who's just standing by herself in an empty paring lot? Tubular! He rushes over but finds the lot is now empty....except for several strange creatures that want to eat his soul! Waah! But never fear as the red head from before shows up again and turns out to be some sort of super human called a Shaman and believes since Zoltar could see the "Geists" as she calls them he must be too! Zoltar has his doubts but cornered and unable to get out of a fight he decides to go out as a hero, instead of gyro sandwich with a side of tubular glasses! To his surprise during the battle his father's old Egyptian souvenir activates and gives him incredible powers which help defeat the Geists!! Terra is impressed but Zoltar has had enough of this weirdness and wants to just get his car fixed so he can go back to the funeral. Terra says she knows a guy into cars, her friend Mark, and offers his services if Zoltar will accompany her to her aunt Laurena's. Seeing no harm he follows the girl....big dumb lug that he is.
At the Fortune Tellers Zoltar discovers Mark only likes to look at cars and doesn't know much about anything under the hood and that Terra actually wishes to see if Zoltar can bond to a Phant and thus allow her enough members to finally form an official Shaman Guild. Zoltar feels violated and wants to leave on the spot till Laurena tells him that in order to Bond one has to cross into the Ether Realm and it's dangerous as one can meet people whom have recently crossed over, especially loved ones. Zoltar decides he'll do it, not for that manipulative woman or to fight Geists but to get answers from his father or even to just see him again for a moment. Little does he realize he is only following someone else's design and it's not entirely Terra's.
-Demo Info-
The demo, once complete will contain all of the prologue chapter and part of the first. When it's over you'll be taken back to the Z-System launch and prompted to get another disc. See Z-System.
-Z-System-
[spoiler]Before the game begins you'll find yourself appearing in a small bedroom with a guy named Elion. Now I know that sounds totally squicky but worry not he's harmless. Anywho he'll tell you about the Z-System how you can go to the bookshelf and select a disc and then insert it into the computer to begin Zoltar SKOSS (Some Kind Of Super Natural Story) and that's all there is to it! All my future games will use the Z-Launch most likely. In addition to being for crap and laughs it's a tubular way to keep track of the various episodes of Zoltar SKOSS and see what else I'm working on by using your PC's "Game Shop". You can also use the PC to play fun mini games if the game ever get's too boring or challenging! How do you unlock them? By exploring SKOSS and checking carefully....or you can shell out real "G" for vouchers and buy them from the Game Shop. While playing the game you can return to the Z-System by use of a save point. The Z-System acts as the title screen so anytime you lose you get sent back there. Use the door or just hit 'x' to exit the game.[/spoiler]
-- The Game --
Okay I've talked enough about the story so let's get into how the game works:
- Systems -
[spoiler]Astral Points:
Astral Force is your magic in the game, but unlike MP in fantasy games it can't just regen on it's own or with Ethers on the main map. Instead each character type will tell you how they regain their AP.
AP Regen types
Duelist: Attacking is the only way to regenerate AP.
Balanced: Regenerates AP with any action but in very small amounts.
Guardian: Regenerates AP by deffending only.
Empath: Regains AP by using Triage to heal a random amount of HP.
Phantasm Summons:
Each character can summon a Phant, a powerful spirit gaurdian to assist them in battle. They act like their own skill set and use AP to be called forth to battle. However they are able to be interacted with outside of of battle too as they are their own characters. Many have mysterious pasts that can only be divulged through on map interaction. Whoever is in your party when you visit The Appartment will determine which Phants appear inside it.
Quest EXP:
So you may get anoyed by this but no mater what you only receive 5-50 EXP for a normal battle. Doesn't matter how hard the foe is. The exception is boss battles. You need 300+ EXP just to level up from Level 1. So how do you get it? There's quite a few ways! Side quests always give about 100 EXP for non-story related stuff and are mostly non-cannon and mediocre and sometimes repetive such as Defeat X number of Rogue Phants, retrieve item A and exchange for item B. Just little stuff. Defeating the final boss awards you with no EXP.[/spoiler]
Weapon Accessorize:
Weapons in this game never actually change. That is to say Zoltar's Ankh (Anubis) starts out as an akward blunt weapon but visiting a store will allow him to buy a rod to attach it to. This will increase it's power and make it look cooler in battle but the next set of upgrades will just be adding a power stone that increases magic or a protective rune to increase defense. Terra's Tonfa (Red Oni + Blue Oni) will have an option to increase or decrease their weight in order to gain more attacks or more speed. Mark's wand (Potter) can change cores and replace the tip with power stones. But you see right? There's no different themes in your weapons. They always look the same with a slight exception to Anubis.
■■Playable Characters■■
Zoltar "Zolty" Thanos:
Type: Balanced
Weapon: Anubis (Ankh Staff)
The main character. This is his story and as such you are always controlling him except for very special events. He's new to Shamanism and finds the job challenging but rewarding. His weapon is an old Ankh that was his only inheritance after his father passed away. Given how he came to posses it he calls it Anubis. Zoltar's Phant is Proud Mary: A sword wielding sociopath who enjoys the heat of battle the best and wields a titanic blade called Anbureiji. She is very freindly and bubbly towards most everyone she meets, with the exception of Geists. Her Element is Darkness.
Terra Gardener
Type: Duelist
Weapon: Red Oni + Blue Oni ( Tonfa)
Zoltar's one true love. She's a tonfa wielding heroine who saved his life. She doesn't know if she feels quite the say way as he does but see's him as a useful member for registering her Guild at long last, but her dreams are cut short when one of the Specter Nine cuts her down and takes her soul. Her Phant is Tsukoyomi or Mooney as she calls her. Mooney can manipulate gravity to mess with an opponent's speed or do a Moonlight Sonata to heal all allies.
Mark Sampson
Type: Guardian
Weappon: Potter (Wand)
An easy going guy who is Terra's second in a command. He tends to come off as not very serious and exudes an aura of comical goofiness till he whips out his wand and uses his Astral Force to make simple magic tricks into a more than just a distraction for his enemies. He's skeptical of Zoltar but since Auntie Laurena vouched for him Mark is prepared to follow him into hell if need be! Mark's weapon is called Potter which has lead to many taunting him not understanding that he named it for a famous African American Magician and not Harry Potter. His Phant is a primal, wild snake woman named Romana who uses her Earth based powers to seal foes in stone or call brambles to rip appart large groups. She enjoys teasing Mark because she knows he is at his best when he has something to prove to the world.
Harrick Kingsinton
Type: Duelist
Weapon: Glacial Thunder (Ice Claymore)
Harrick is a mercenary who uses his Phant and sword skills to get him money. He cares about very little other than testing himself against a worthy foe he's been payed to slay and even works for the Specter Nine willingly. His sword is actually frozen, rock hard, ice! His Phant is called Hiralith who is a towering giant made of ice with a hot lust for intense combat.
Tite Kusaki
Type: Balanced
Weapon: Ősensei (Bokken)
Tite is a zen swordsman who uses a simple Bokken but can cleave even Astral weapons and steel! He is very calm outwardly but doesn't seem to want to let people get close to him and claims no affiliation with any Shaman organization instead saying he's a Kensei, sword saint. He appears to be in Arcana City looking for his long lost sister who was kidnapped by a man in white 7 years ago in Japan after defeating Tite in single combat. His Phant is named Crackers who, unlike his master, is less combat capable and mostly can distract or annoy his targets. Crackers is the only Phant who can use a variety of elements in battle ranging from Wind to even Darkness but has the least highest amount of damaging skills.
Mercer Faris
Type: Empath
Cupid (Bow and Arrow)
Mercer is a cross dresser and quite proud of it and very much wishes he had been born female. He's good friends with a working girl named Sara whom finds Mercer's behavior adorable and treats him just like one of the girls despite his obvious differences. When Sara disappears one day and Mercer can't get any answers about it from the police he turns to Zoltar and his band, desperate to find his BFF, he agree's to help them get into the Booty Botique Nightclub if they help find and rescue Sara. Mercer's Phant is awoken during a fight with a Geist and gives you a example of young Phant besides Proud Mary. His Cupid Bow fires arrows manifested from his Astral Force.
Norie Alucard
Type: Guardian
Ahool (Fuma Shurikem)
A mysterious member of the Shadow Shaman Guild: Blood Moon, all of whom are loyal to Dalviam of the Specter Nine and have been sighted grave robbing. She is a goth who uses her Phant's vampire abilities to drain her foes and wield curses. Her cape is capable of deflecting Astral weapons and she seems to have unnatural speed. If she could be convinced that Dalviam is using her and her gothy pals in black she may join up. Her phant Archnae enjoys sucking weaker Phants dry then using that energy to utterly crush them in battle.
Rachel Badlots
Type: Empath
Weapon: Miss Kissy (A Doll)
A lonely orphan who's only friend is the Phant she's befriended. Together the two of them protect the church from the unseen horrors that prowl their world. She wields a stuffed toy as a weapon but it's not overly effective. Her Phant is Mister Ginormous, a huge specter capable of taking more than he can dish out. His soft fluffy body can cushion blows of anything aimed at Rachel and the party and his childish Off Key Songs can drive foes mad with rage. The two may follow you if you listen closely and find them a home.
Chasity Collins
Type: Empath
Pearl Hart (1800's Pistol)
Chasity is a rough talking, wiskey drinking rootin' tootin cow girl. She and her 1873 Colt Single Action revolver are a force to be reckoned with by themselves but when she Summons "Doc" all three of them are unstoppable. However her fierce attitude in battle isn't reflected in her lax social state. Her Phant is Doc Holladay, an Outlaw who wields a massive riffle that fires toxic bullets.
Sumeria:
Type Balanced:
Chain of Tartarus (Astral Chain)
Sumeria is a strange guy. He appears to Zoltar during a battle with Kaylee of the Specter Nine assisting him with his vast stores of Astral Energy which he changes into a long chain he calls the Chain of Tartarus . He claims to be interested in helping Zoltar learn to use his Astral Energy and says their destinty is connected like the links of a chain. His Phant is called Cerebus and uses Fire,Darkness and Gaurdian Seals to slay Phants effortlessly.
-Secret Characters-
Rip
Type: Balanced
The one member of the Specter Nine who can join you if you figure out how to re-tether him when his rival Liz destroys his Talisman. If you do he is the one Phant you can't summon but will always remain in battle. Using his Spectral Light command will cause him to take his true form however and will give him access to even more powerful abilities.
The Batter
Type: Duelist
Purifier (Heavy Base Ball Bat)
A wayward soul from a place he refers to as The Homeland. He is capable of turning a simple bat made of wood into a dangerous weapon that can disperse them back the Ether. He is followed around by a pale cat with glowing eyes who says she is his Phant for his duration in the city. Her name is Kat and her skill set seems to focus mostly on biting and scratching.
Star Signs:
Instead of accessories you have Star Signs. Equipping these is PERMANENT and causes some stat changes but also affect elemental balance too so use them wisely to temper some weaker characters or you may end up ruining a good character and have to start over. :'( They're based of the main constellations of our galaxy for now.
[/spoiler]
■■Supporting Cast■■
♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢
Madam Laurena Gardner
Terra's Aunt and the Patron of Zoltar's Shaman Guild. She acts mostly as a mentor to him helping to fill in the gaps in his training. She tends to be supportive but condescending. She is non-playable and mostly sells you potions and spells and clues you in to main quests. She is also the Gatekeeper for District 1 and thus the only one who can get you into The Ether.
Azrael Osccar Rozenhardt:
A weapons enthusiast who can Accessorize your weapons to increase their optimum output. He desperately wants a Phant of his own and is fascinated with Zoltar's Shaman Guild.
Doctor Angela Hernandez:
A freind of Madam Laurena's who will treat the party for practically nothing in exchange for medical data on Shaman or Geists you encounter. She also sells conviential non-Latin named medical supplies unlike Madam Laurena but they are less effective and labeled in spannish...
Balthazar Sampson:
Mark's uncle who runs the District 1 Garrage. He can repair Zoltar's car but only with parts from Taiwan which takes a while to send out for. He can sell you a car to get around in for a while though! With a discount for being Mark's freind.
Specter Nine:
The mysterious group of Phants who seem to be able to enter the world without being bonded to a human and act like some kind of mafia taking out the strongest Shaymen and taking their souls as trophies as well as trying to further some hidden goal that involves Arcana City and implied domination of the human race. Though one wonders...why don't they just do it? Extra! All the Specter Nine's names give a detail as to who they're modeled off of. Hint: It's not all famous phantoms from the real world.
Named Specter Nine: (Working on this give me some time)
#1 Webster
--- Quote --- The cunning tactician of the Specter Nine. He enjoys games and puzzles and uses the Wprld Wide Web to suck souls from humans. His minions are a mix of spider-like and digital based.
--- End quote ---
#2 Kallee
--- Quote --- The enforcer of Spector Nine. She is very masculine and often gets mistaken for a guy, which irritates her to no end. She uses dangerous ring blades dance and spin killing her foes with a villainous laugh. Her minions are back up dancers and melody based.
--- End quote ---
#3 Lizabeth
--- Quote ---Axe wielding maniac who enjoys nothing more than chopping up people and objects. In Spector Nine she's a foot soldier with no real henchmen or authority which makes her more dangerous than all the others put together.
--- End quote ---
#4 Kiyumi
--- Quote --- A master ninja who tries to avoid combat using duplicates to attack multiple souls and then allowing Shaman to attack them one at a time from a distance taking the kill shot with kunai.
--- End quote ---
#5 Dalv
--- Quote ---The gallant "Crimson Knight" one of the few Specters who has a sibling. Dalvaim is his full name and he has obsession with blood and history and claims to be the oldest Specter in the group even older than his barbarian brother. He uses a brutal Bastad Sword named 'Impailer'
--- End quote ---
#6 Xandro
--- Quote --- Brother to Dalv, but he knows his brother hates him for achieving immortality and fame in the history of man long before him. He tends to actually use his hench men in war-like formations and only moves onto the battle field engaging his foes with his shield and sword when they are all but over run.
--- End quote ---
#7 Matty
--- Quote --- She is the most unstable but most passive of all the Specters. She seems to only desire to feed on souls of young women and tends to avoid combat using corridors of spiritual energy to create pathways in the Ether. She engineered most of the Specter Nine's gear.
--- End quote ---
#8 Rip
--- Quote --- The rebel of the group he tends to go off on his own and has a pequliar interest in Proud Mary stating that they were rivals in life and swore to be forever even in death. He hates being compared to that amateur Grimjoww from that lame **** anime Bleach though. He wields a massive Astral Cleaver named 'Raiden' and seems able to control the wind trapping your allies in whirlwinds and siphoning away their HP a little at a time. Editor's Note: Secretly playable if you can find the Shaman he's supposed to be bounded to.
--- End quote ---
#9 The Master
--- Quote --- (Not pictured, big secret only revealed at the end of the game unless you're good at detective shows! ;) ) The mysterious figure who seems to give orders to his subordinates but never appears on the battle field itself. All have sworn allegiance to him and his strange ideals and he's promised allot: the world of the living the Ether and the Realms of the Dead will belong to all who pledge themselves to the Specter Nine.
--- End quote ---
Fisherson:
Interesting idea! Reminds me of Bleach and Persona. Though I'm going to tell you if you do this in RPG maker 2003 and try to make a dual turn system? Good luck. XD It's not friendly to such extreme changes in it's basic DBS. You'd need a CBS which is allot of a time and energy. I do like Vivi though. o.O She's like a silky Sonja from Mortal Combat and is that Black Gotomon?? o.O
Prpl_Mage:
Not gonna lie also thought of Persona, but I think you wrote something about Persona in one of your previous posts so that's cool. Seems like your idea is more about spirit beings instead of the a bit more servative persona personas.
The intro explanation of your story is short and pretty concise. But will the player play through this part or is it explained in a cutscene or such? Might want to save some of the suspense.
Although Fish suggests doing a Custom Battle System you mentioned that you played Wrath of Gaia so you know that a lot can be accomplished with it, don't go down the "program your own battle system" lane unless you really need to. I assume that your idea is that the phantasms are their own characters that can be summoned, not that the player acts twice anyway.
Still if you need some help or advice, feel free to ask.
Zoltar:
--- Quote from: Fisherson on October 02, 2014, 01:45:27 AM ---Interesting idea! Reminds me of Bleach and Persona. Though I'm going to tell you if you do this in RPG maker 2003 and try to make a dual turn system? Good luck. XD It's not friendly to such extreme changes in it's basic DBS. You'd need a CBS which is allot of a time and energy. I do like Vivi though. o.O She's like a silky Sonja from Mortal Combat and is that Black Gotomon?? o.O
--- End quote ---
It is sort of inspired by them both. Bleach is one of my all time top favorite animes and Persona was a game that sort of changed the way I looked at RPGs. Plus you had to love all the bonus stuff. Sadly I won't be adding a dating sim to this or any of that unique inter-character relations system it had. _sweat_ Too much work and it would probably detract from the story. Sonja? Oooh that chick who fell in love with Lu-Kang? Or was that just in the movie? Ah either way may have some inspiration there, but not much other than the blonde hair I guess.
--- Quote from: Prpl_Mage on October 02, 2014, 01:07:33 PM ---Not gonna lie also thought of Persona, but I think you wrote something about Persona in one of your previous posts so that's cool. Seems like your idea is more about spirit beings instead of the a bit more servative persona personas.
The intro explanation of your story is short and pretty concise. But will the player play through this part or is it explained in a cutscene or such? Might want to save some of the suspense.
Although Fish suggests doing a Custom Battle System you mentioned that you played Wrath of Gaia so you know that a lot can be accomplished with it, don't go down the "program your own battle system" lane unless you really need to. I assume that your idea is that the phantasms are their own characters that can be summoned, not that the player acts twice anyway.
Still if you need some help or advice, feel free to ask.
--- End quote ---
It is! I was more inspired by the spirits of Zanpakutos and some of the spirit reapers and hollows than the creatures in Persona. I have to admit I like the way the "Shadows" were a unified enemy more than the way most Hollows are vanilla until the Arracnar show up. I'm probably going to make most things you encounter in the "wild" small and featureless nearly like the Shadows since I don't want this to be about "masks" ;) As for the intro thanks! I was going for short but enough to make your understand what the story is all about. The introduction chapter pretty much plays out as you've seen. From Zolty's entering of Arcana City till his nearly being killed by one of the Specter Nine. After that you have to get Terra's body to the Shaymen's HQ in the time to save it from decomposition where you'll meet the higher ranking members of the order and get the official quest to investigate the Specter Nine.
Huh so you both have said that. Alright then I'll not go into making a big custom battle system but try to tweak the DBS like you guys did in Wrath of Gaia. :-[ Also yeah beasicaly I had thought about having a sperate "skill window" for Phants then you call them out originally, but then I thought about it and decided to try that plus after your player turn is over and then a custom code will call them out to attack or whatever....Now that I say that aloud it does sound sorta complex. Advise? Well I'll certaintly take any you want to give but so far I haven't seen any problems yet...Other than a lack of resources. :'( But I'm going to try the Request Board after I update some info on this page. ;D
Prpl_Mage:
Well, you could probably do that in some way. Either by changing the character's class to a new class that includes the phantasm attacking instead and a battlecharset with the phantasm. However, in that case the spent mana would affect the hero as well and you can't really level the phantasm up since it's just a difference instance of the hero.
I suppose the easiest way to do it is to never have more than 3 characters in battle at a time and leave the 4th slot for a phantasm. Each time hero1 uses a skill command a battle event adds phantasm1 to the party, the phantasm have like 999 speed so that his time can occur pretty much after being added. You might even inflict the phantasm with a stat that doubles speed to increase this further.
When phantasm1 uses the fight or skill command it is also removed from the party preventing it from overstaying it's welcome. Also, you might need to add a battle event that removes the phantasm before the battle ends to prevent it from getting battle exp.
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