There is no Moon

Professor Snugglesworth

I thought this would be a good companion to the "Writing in Videogames" thread.

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=16495

So it seems we all have different opinions on what did or didn't work in some of our favorite games. So, in the spirit of people editing their favorite movies (http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=6363), I've made this thread to give everyone the oppurtunity to edit and rewrite the games of their choice, creating what they believe would be a better experience based on their edits. Would X game have a better story if Y character wasn't featured, or if the group never went to Z area? Or what if the story originally featured something that was previously ommited in the conceptual process?

I'm sure everyone has made claims about how certain games would be better if this or that happened. Now's your chance to speak up on it, to direct your favorite titles away from the luring shark and have them sail over clear waters. Just please keep one rule in mind; any changes or edits you make MUST be within the realm of possibility in each game's established "universe". You cannot give Link an Uzi, or give Cloud the ability to stop time.

And on that note, please try to keep the "I would prevent Aerith's death" entries to a minimum.

For me, I would change Final Fantasy IV. The game featured, to this day, the darkest opening out of any entry in the series; the main character relucantly but dutily performs heinous crimes by order of his king. He reaches a breaking point when he inadvertly causes the death of a little girl's mother, along with burning the rest of her tribe into genocide. From then on, the Dark Knight breaks his oath to the king, and vows to protect the little girl, not once asking for her forgiveness.

I always felt that FFIV would've worked much better if they focused soley on Cecil's devotion to protecting Rydia, slowly redeeming himself for taking the life of her mother, while Rydia herself grows to love Cecil like a father. It was pretty disappointing when Rydia vanishes from the story, and by the time she comes back, she's both older and forgives Cecil entirely. Waste of a very powerful relationship, one not seen in the series since (well, FFXII had something similar with Basch, but that's another game I'll getting into revising later on).

I also would've completely skipped the entire later half with the Moon; sure, it was probably cool back in 1991, but these days a finale involving your characters traveling to the moon to assit a bunch of bearded moon people to stop an evil hillbilly-named alien....eh. The story would've been better if they kept things grounded in earth. Golbez would've been just fine as a final boss, evil of his own free will or not.

Kriz

Nintendo should have made the player do a dungeon to get the Light Medallion in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I don't know if they had one in concept, or if it was always just a freebie, but I wouldn't have minded an additional temple.

Spectral Swallow

The backtracking in Banjo Tooie ruined the game for me. I enjoy being able to beat a level without having to traverse 6 worlds, and go back to world 2 after I get move C, so I can pick up generic item Alpha.

Also, any part of viper manor sucked all kinds of ass in Chrono Cross.

Raslin

I was going to talk about aerith living

Anyways, the only thing I can think of atm is the ending of crackdown, where

you find out you've been working for fascists, basically... also, first spoiler!

It just doesn't work for a sandbox game. You go back to fighting crime, and think to yourself "Why am I doing this? I know what I'm fighting for now", and... yeah. It was a cool ending, but since you get to go back and keep fighting, I'd have much prefered a generic "Good job soldier! Blah blah blah... you must remain ever vigilant, for crime could sprout up once again(Cue continued sandbox gameplay).

Kazhiim

Dead Rising: battling your way through Willamette city at the end would have been neat. Hell, there should be a sequel that just has you outside the mall during the events of the first game.

Gilder

Star Ocean 3. The plot twist. Nothing else needs to be said because if you know the twist, you know it needed to be..... not that. It was pretty stupid and introduced very casually. I actually had to tell myself it was the plot twist because it was so poorly introduced that I didn't realize how crucial it was until about 2 minutes later.

Dragon Quest 8.

Seriously guys, a dog? Chasing down Dhoulmagus was cool because everyone hates evil clowns. Chasing down Jessica was cool because he stole your teammate and that's just not nice. But then the main villain uses a dog? How lame is it to devote the next 40 hours of game-time to chasing down some mutt? Pretty lame is the correct answer.

Maverick Hunter X.

I don't care if it messes up the plot but Vile should not have been taken down like he got taken down when you play his mode. That was downright bullshit. He won that fight. I don't know what I would've wanted in exchange but something other than what we got.

Suriko

Halo as an RPG.

I am dead serious.

This is just my taste speaking, but I honestly would have preferred it as an RPG.

Professor Snugglesworth

Nintendo should have made the player do a dungeon to get the Light Medallion in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I don't know if they had one in concept, or if it was always just a freebie, but I wouldn't have minded an additional temple.

I'll blame the current hour for my cloudy memory, but could you remind me how you got the medallion originally?

BTP

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

Nintendo should have made the player do a dungeon to get the Light Medallion in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I don't know if they had one in concept, or if it was always just a freebie, but I wouldn't have minded an additional temple.

I'll blame the current hour for my cloudy memory, but could you remind me how you got the medallion originally?

After you pull the Master Sword for the first time, you'll eventually get through a lot of talking with Rauru and at the end of it he'll just give you the medallion.

shutz

Starcraft: I would rework all the "installation" missions (the ones where you have no base, and have to plow through an area using only the units you start out with and the ones you find/free along the way. There needs to be some easier way to fill up on special unit energy (whatever units use up when using special abilities), the Zerg need some way to heal up their units along the way, and the Protoss need some way to replenish their shields. The reason I say this is that it was really annoying for me to have to wait before each battle to make sure my energy/life/shield meters were topped off. Otherwise, there isn't much I'd ask to change in the Starcraft (and Brood War) story.

Metroid Prime: I'd find a way to integrate the artifact search into the story better, so that there wouldn't be all that running around, backtracking everywhere. Would have been ok for 3-4 artifacts, but not for 12. I don't mean all the other artifacts should have been lying along the "main path" of the game, but at least, if they'd been lined up so that there'd be more clues leading to them, and placed so that the last 3-4 wouldn't require traversing all of Tallon (or traversing it only once, in a more or less straight line, that would have been nice.)

In general, I find that a lot of big Japanese games tend to take a long time to really start. The 3D Zeldas, for example, have you running around and talking to everybody for too long before things get really interesting (I haven't played Twilight Princess yet...) Final Fantasy 4 and onwards, and Dragon Quest/Warrior 2 and onwards are also guilty of this. Give me the shortest cutscene you can to present the first characters and the setting, and then give me some exciting stuff to do. At least, Final Fantasy 6 drops you in the middle of combat pretty quickly, but it all still feels like a non-interactive cutscene, since it's practically impossible to lose.

It's like the movies: some movies take a long time to get started (usually, long epics are like that) while others just start with an action sequence that doesn't necessarily have a lot of importance in the plot of the rest of the movie, but they get things started more quickly (the James Bond films have turned this into an artform in itself, the Indiana Jones movies also do it very well.) The difference with games is, we don't want to be told what's happening, we want to PLAY it!

I would actually love to play a game that doesn't tell you anything, and then drops you in the middle of somewhere, and you have to figure out by yourself how to play, where you are, who you are, and what's going on. Cutscenes are only crutches for when you need to:
a) force the plot to go a certain way -- sometimes, this is needed if your game is plot-heavy and linear -- this is usually done really well by Square Enix, but with the caveats I mentioned earlier.
b) to provide information to the player that could not be communicated any other way (this should be avoided wherever possible.)
One good game with a linear story that doesn't stop for cutscenes but instead makes you play through is Half-Life (I haven't played the sequel yet...) This game proved that in-game scripted events are more powerful than unchangeable cutscenes.

Well, I don't think I'm done with this subject yet, but I'll have to think some more before I write anything more.

Professor Snugglesworth

I would actually love to play a game that doesn't tell you anything, and then drops you in the middle of somewhere, and you have to figure out by yourself how to play, where you are, who you are, and what's going on.

Pretty sure Ico does this (or do they briefly tell you how the controls work? It's been a while), but I think the closest game I've played that match your description is Out of This World (I played the SNES version). There's no tutorial, dialogue, or hints of any kind.

The 3D Zeldas, for example, have you running around and talking to everybody for too long before things get really interesting (I haven't played Twilight Princess yet...)

I'll tell you in advance; it's at least 4 hours before the game officially "starts".

Final Fantasy 4 and onwards, and Dragon Quest/Warrior 2 and onwards are also guilty of this. Give me the shortest cutscene you can to present the first characters and the setting, and then give me some exciting stuff to do. At least, Final Fantasy 6 drops you in the middle of combat pretty quickly, but it all still feels like a non-interactive cutscene, since it's practically impossible to lose.

I very much aggree with this. After playing God of War II's "not the last level" opening level, I've also come to acknowledge that most RPGs have very slow openings, when in fact they should focus on giving you an action-packed beginning to capture your interest, THEN take things slow afterwards. Most of the FF games use a lengthy CG opening to accomodate you, but it's not nearly as effective as playing an explosive opening to get your hands dirty. I think FFVII probably does it best; you take part in an action-packed level and are slowly given information about the world and characters as you play along.

BTP

The only thing I can think of that I would've liked to see is in Mario Golf: Advance Tour. Just after winning the Links Singles Tournament....

This is where your partner gets depressed as she knows you are hands down the best golf player around and thinks she'll never get to be as good a player as you. The game just has you go through some dialogue to cheer her up. I would've loved to see her demand a 1-on-1 match against you before you go off to the Mushroom Kingdom tournament. You've spent all that time together buidling up the experience (exactly the way you wanted it to build up, I might add). Why not have a match against the one person that knows how you play just as well as you know how she plays?

If you lose to her, the invitation to the Mushroom Kingdom tournament is recinded until you do beat her since you will have lost your championship status on one of the courses. When you do beat her, she'll cheer up knowing she gave her very best effort and that while she knows she won't be the best, she can certainly compete with the best. A happy doubles team once again, onward to Mushroom Kingdom with the extra experience points gained from that extra part of the story.

4rch3nemy

Wow, so many ideas boiling throughout my skull.


I think I'd go out and buy Marvel vs Capcom 2 right now if the music wasn't so horrid and painful. It just doesn't work, in my opinion.

WarioWare: Smooth Moves - Making us beat single player before allowing us to multiplay? Seriously what the fuck were you thinking Nintendo? I don't care what you were thinking, actually, you were wrong.

Advance Wars DS should have had WiFi support. I thought it did back in the day and was pumped. Now I'm considerably less pumped.

simple gripes.

Edcrab

Thinking of MvC 2- Abyss? What an absolutely shite final boss. That's what people get for complaining about Onslaught in the first one...


For me, it'd probably be Deus Ex: you should've been able to stay at UNATCO even after making your discoveries. It would've taken a whole lot of effort to add a completely different story arc, but god that would've been awesome.

You could've fought your own brother, for a start...

Mr Bubbles

System Shock 2,

losing the final SHODAN stages altogether

Nightslyr

The thing that always irritated me about Final Fantasy IV was Kain's ever shifting loyalties. I mean, how many "Err...I was under an evil spell" or "Um..just following orders" excuses can one give before someone else just says "Fuck it. Yeah, you look cool in your armor, and you can jump really high, but dammit, you're not coming with us to the moon you double-crossing rat bastard?"

I think that Final Fantasy VIII would have been much, much, much better without the whole amnesia plot contrivance. That, and if the characters weren't all anime archetypes (Squall is the aloof hero (think Heero Yui of Gundam Wing), Zell is the annoying dumb hyper guy, Selphie the hyperactive girl, Irvine the cool womanizer, Quistis the quiet, thoughtful girl, and Rinoa the typical irritating girlfriend who just can't leave the aloof hero alone). And the whole "I'm a knight" crap by Seifer. Bah...can you tell I really disliked this game?

For me, though, Xenogears has to be the game that I feel would most benefit from a rewrite. As much as I love the game, there's just a lot of added bloat to the script. I mean, is the Soylent System really necessary to the story? What about the scene with the crucified gears and Chu Chu? For a 'main character,' Rico gets the least amount of meaningful screen time (although, that's not necessarily a bad thing as Kislev bored the shit out of me), so why not flesh him out a bit more? And then there are the pacing problems and the entire second disc (mainly because of budget problems, but still).

Professor Snugglesworth

The thing that always irritated me about Final Fantasy IV was Kain's ever shifting loyalties. I mean, how many "Err...I was under an evil spell" or "Um..just following orders" excuses can one give before someone else just says "Fuck it. Yeah, you look cool in your armor, and you can jump really high, but dammit, you're not coming with us to the moon you double-crossing rat bastard?"

No kidding. With all his popularity and permanent placement in the logo, Kain's role in the game basically comes down to "best friend who's under mind control. oh wait, no he's not. oh wait, yes he is again. wait, he's better this time, honest." They could have at least given him an additional ability other than Jump (even though Jump is real useful).

I think that Final Fantasy VIII would have been much, much, much better without the whole amnesia plot contrivance.

On the contrary, it would have been much, much better if the amnesia angle played a bigger role in the story. I was hoping somewhere down the road, one of the characters would have to overexert their GFs, causing them to lose their memory. I remember thinking up a great story for FFVIII-2 a bit back; imagine if the group lost their memories of each other due to the GF use. Friends could be enemies, new romances would be made, etc. Squall could inadvertedly end up on the wrong side and forced to fight one of his former allies. It would turn that Orphanage plot twist into a GOOD thing.

For me, though, Xenogears has to be the game that I feel would most benefit from a rewrite. As much as I love the game, there's just a lot of added bloat to the script. I mean, is the Soylent System really necessary to the story? What about the scene with the crucified gears and Chu Chu? For a 'main character,' Rico gets the least amount of meaningful screen time (although, that's not necessarily a bad thing as Kislev bored the shit out of me), so why not flesh him out a bit more?

The Soylent System was very necessary to the story (in disc 2). Chu Chu basically needs to be erased from the game completely. Rico actually got a decent amount of development, but he became forgotten in Disc 2 just like Maria and Billy. Maria got far less development, and we never even find out what was inside the core of her Gear.

LockeCole

Gilder wrote: »

Star Ocean 3. The plot twist. Nothing else needs to be said because if you know the twist, you know it needed to be..... not that. It was pretty stupid and introduced very casually. I actually had to tell myself it was the plot twist because it was so poorly introduced that I didn't realize how crucial it was until about 2 minutes later.

Dragon Quest 8.

Seriously guys, a dog? Chasing down Dhoulmagus was cool because everyone hates evil clowns. Chasing down Jessica was cool because he stole your teammate and that's just not nice. But then the main villain uses a dog? How lame is it to devote the next 40 hours of game-time to chasing down some mutt? Pretty lame is the correct answer.

Maverick Hunter X.

I don't care if it messes up the plot but Vile should not have been taken down like he got taken down when you play his mode. That was downright bullshit. He won that fight. I don't know what I would've wanted in exchange but something other than what we got.

Heh, I've been replaying SO3 recently, I actually kind of like that plot twist. At least I give it points for 'shit I never saw coming'.

No argument on DQ8 though. Also I'll chime in on FFVIII, I thought the whole orphanage thing was pretty retarded.

templewulf

LockeCole wrote: »

No argument on DQ8 though. Also I'll chime in on FFVIII, I thought the whole orphanage thing was pretty retarded.

That was retarded in a way that shouldn't have gotten past storyboarding. However, I just gave it the typical pass I give to action movies and ridiculous anime, and I liked it well enough. What really bothered me was the ending. What the hell did that even mean!?

I would rewrite FF7 so that Cait Sith was an actual cat and enormous moogle. That would have been so much more awesome. After having Mog in FF6, I miss having moogles in my party.

jothki

templewulf wrote: »

I would rewrite FF7 so that Cait Sith was an actual cat and enormous moogle. That would have been so much more awesome. After having Mog in FF6, I miss having moogles in my party.

But then he wouldn't be a renegade coporate executive who somehow hasn't been arrested despite the fact that his robot is routinely beating up tons of Shinra troops. And that wouldn't be anywhere near as fun.

jothki

4rch3nemy wrote: »

WarioWare: Smooth Moves - Making us beat single player before allowing us to multiplay? Seriously what the fuck were you thinking Nintendo? I don't care what you were thinking, actually, you were wrong.

You didn't multiplay the single-player mode? The game is awesome when no one has seen any of the games before, the modes are being directly introduced, and if you mess up an action that you have to figure out on the fly, you get mocked by everyone else and possibly screw them over as well. I played a fresh save with like 10 other people a while ago, and it was great fun.

revolve

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

I would actually love to play a game that doesn't tell you anything, and then drops you in the middle of somewhere, and you have to figure out by yourself how to play, where you are, who you are, and what's going on.

Pretty sure Ico does this (or do they briefly tell you how the controls work? It's been a while), but I think the closest game I've played that match your description is Out of This World (I played the SNES version). There's no tutorial, dialogue, or hints of any kind.

The 3D Zeldas, for example, have you running around and talking to everybody for too long before things get really interesting (I haven't played Twilight Princess yet...)

I'll tell you in advance; it's at least 4 hours before the game officially "starts".

Final Fantasy 4 and onwards, and Dragon Quest/Warrior 2 and onwards are also guilty of this. Give me the shortest cutscene you can to present the first characters and the setting, and then give me some exciting stuff to do. At least, Final Fantasy 6 drops you in the middle of combat pretty quickly, but it all still feels like a non-interactive cutscene, since it's practically impossible to lose.

I very much aggree with this. After playing God of War II's "not the last level" opening level, I've also come to acknowledge that most RPGs have very slow openings, when in fact they should focus on giving you an action-packed beginning to capture your interest, THEN take things slow afterwards. Most of the FF games use a lengthy CG opening to accomodate you, but it's not nearly as effective as playing an explosive opening to get your hands dirty. I think FFVII probably does it best; you take part in an action-packed level and are slowly given information about the world and characters as you play along.

I like how the first Lufia handled it.

Surprise, you play as the great hero Maxim facing the Sinestrals!

Gilder

LockeCole wrote: »

Gilder wrote: »

Star Ocean 3. The plot twist. Nothing else needs to be said because if you know the twist, you know it needed to be..... not that. It was pretty stupid and introduced very casually. I actually had to tell myself it was the plot twist because it was so poorly introduced that I didn't realize how crucial it was until about 2 minutes later.

Dragon Quest 8.

Seriously guys, a dog? Chasing down Dhoulmagus was cool because everyone hates evil clowns. Chasing down Jessica was cool because he stole your teammate and that's just not nice. But then the main villain uses a dog? How lame is it to devote the next 40 hours of game-time to chasing down some mutt? Pretty lame is the correct answer.

Maverick Hunter X.

I don't care if it messes up the plot but Vile should not have been taken down like he got taken down when you play his mode. That was downright bullshit. He won that fight. I don't know what I would've wanted in exchange but something other than what we got.

Heh, I've been replaying SO3 recently, I actually kind of like that plot twist. At least I give it points for 'shit I never saw coming'.

No argument on DQ8 though. Also I'll chime in on FFVIII, I thought the whole orphanage thing was pretty retarded.

The twist in SO3 wouldn't have been so bad if it was introduced more dramatically and it it didn't make the ending kind of retarded.

Oh shitz we're going to die because he's deleting our program! Wait! Let's believe we can live! Somehow, our programming will survive deletion if we believe in our hearts! Okay, no. That doesn't happen. The whole word is being deleted and yet somehow having a couple people believe they exist saves everyone? I don't think so.

It was like they decided at the last second to have a happy ending, even if it really didn't make much sense. I agree that it deserves credit for 'shit I never saw coming' though because honestly, who could've seen it coming?

SpeedySwaf

Kingdom Hearts: I'd move the Atlantica portion of Kingdom Hearts II (although, without the musical minigame since so many hated it) to the original Kingdom Hearts, let Ariel replace Alice as a Princess of Heart, and then let her be kidnapped while she's human.

I'd also let Sora learn and train with the heroes he meets. If he's going around to save the universe, it'd only be appropriate to learn from the best first.

Vincent Grayson

Gilder wrote: »

LockeCole wrote: »

Gilder wrote: »

Star Ocean 3. The plot twist. Nothing else needs to be said because if you know the twist, you know it needed to be..... not that. It was pretty stupid and introduced very casually. I actually had to tell myself it was the plot twist because it was so poorly introduced that I didn't realize how crucial it was until about 2 minutes later.

Dragon Quest 8.

Seriously guys, a dog? Chasing down Dhoulmagus was cool because everyone hates evil clowns. Chasing down Jessica was cool because he stole your teammate and that's just not nice. But then the main villain uses a dog? How lame is it to devote the next 40 hours of game-time to chasing down some mutt? Pretty lame is the correct answer.

Maverick Hunter X.

I don't care if it messes up the plot but Vile should not have been taken down like he got taken down when you play his mode. That was downright bullshit. He won that fight. I don't know what I would've wanted in exchange but something other than what we got.

Heh, I've been replaying SO3 recently, I actually kind of like that plot twist. At least I give it points for 'shit I never saw coming'.

No argument on DQ8 though. Also I'll chime in on FFVIII, I thought the whole orphanage thing was pretty retarded.

The twist in SO3 wouldn't have been so bad if it was introduced more dramatically and it it didn't make the ending kind of retarded.

Oh shitz we're going to die because he's deleting our program! Wait! Let's believe we can live! Somehow, our programming will survive deletion if we believe in our hearts! Okay, no. That doesn't happen. The whole word is being deleted and yet somehow having a couple people believe they exist saves everyone? I don't think so.

It was like they decided at the last second to have a happy ending, even if it really didn't make much sense. I agree that it deserves credit for 'shit I never saw coming' though because honestly, who could've seen it coming?

Even if the SO3 twist was dumb, at least it was sci-fi, unlike the rest of the goddamn game. How is it that a game which is theoretically a Star Trek-esque sci-fi rpg always involves mostly being on a planet stuck at a dark ages level of technology?

Couscous

SpeedySwaf wrote: »

Kingdom Hearts: I'd move the Atlantica portion of Kingdom Hearts II (although, without the musical minigame since so many hated it) to the original Kingdom Hearts, let Ariel replace Alice as a Princess of Heart, and then let her be kidnapped while she's human.

I'd also let Sora learn and train with the heroes he meets. If he's going around to save the universe, it'd only be appropriate to learn from the best first.

I'd have the dialog involve less "heart heart friendship heart friendship".

HappylilElf

NWN2.

Pretty much the entire ending would be changed to something that wasn't retardedly cliche. Also the voice over would have been done by a professional voice actor and not Bob from accounting.

Also choosing the retarded path during the final confrontation would result in an appropriately punishing ending

so if you choose to join the King of Shadows and give up with Sword of Gith, the only thing capable of defeating him, he would immediately destroy your soul and turn you into a mindless zombie ending the threat you pose once and for all. This would be followed by a short video wherein some character from the game, perhaps Nasher or the like, looks at you (you being you the player) and calls you a 'tard.

jothki

titmouse wrote: »

SpeedySwaf wrote: »

Kingdom Hearts: I'd move the Atlantica portion of Kingdom Hearts II (although, without the musical minigame since so many hated it) to the original Kingdom Hearts, let Ariel replace Alice as a Princess of Heart, and then let her be kidnapped while she's human.

I'd also let Sora learn and train with the heroes he meets. If he's going around to save the universe, it'd only be appropriate to learn from the best first.

I'd have the dialog involve less "heart heart friendship heart friendship".

Man, what is it with you people? Complaining about Kingdom Hearts' dialog is almost as bad as complaining about the dialog in the Metal Gear series.

It would be completely hillarious though if they were to hide a couple of scenes, maybe as an unlockable bonus or something, that are the same as normal cutscenes except with the voice actors just repeating the words "light", "darkness", "hearts", and maybe some other stuff over and over again.

hamburger helper

I'd let Ness call his dad to save after defeating Giyagas. That way I could take my time and talk to everyone at the end.


Oh well. Pretty much the perfect game other then that.

Cokomon

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

I think that Final Fantasy VIII would have been much, much, much better without the whole amnesia plot contrivance.

On the contrary, it would have been much, much better if the amnesia angle played a bigger role in the story. I was hoping somewhere down the road, one of the characters would have to overexert their GFs, causing them to lose their memory. I remember thinking up a great story for FFVIII-2 a bit back; imagine if the group lost their memories of each other due to the GF use. Friends could be enemies, new romances would be made, etc. Squall could inadvertedly end up on the wrong side and forced to fight one of his former allies. It would turn that Orphanage plot twist into a GOOD thing.

Yeah, this actually sounds like a good plot for the sequel. It sounds a lot better than either FFX-2 or Advent Children.

Professor Snugglesworth

Things I'd change with FFXII.

-Make Balthier or Basch the main lead.

-Have Vaan and Penelo leave the party early. They basically get no real screentime and have a DS sequel anyway.

-Show Vayne more. A lot more.

-Not reveal Basch's true involment with the King's death until later on. Keep you guessing on what side he's on.

-Visit Rozarria.

-Able to fully control guest characters ("Beware tripping the lasers, or the guards will come. Look, a guard!" (trips lasers)

-Flashbacks for every party member.

-Cutscenes for every new area you enter.

-Battle all the Judges at least once.

-Airship battles.

-A Moogle joins your party (my biggest disappointment.)

I could go on like this. So many things they could've done with FFXII.

EvilBadman

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

Things I'd change with FFXII.

-Make Balthier or Basch the main lead.

I dare say that main appeal of Balthier's awesomeness is due to the fact that you see it through someone else's eyes.

core tactic

Make it so after you beat FFTA, everyone in Ivalice actually dies. I would have burst out laughing if that happened.

soapofdurden

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

So many things they could've done with FFXII.

Too true, my man. Too true...

core tactic

soapofdurden wrote: »

Professor Snugglesworth wrote: »

So many things they could've done with FFXII.

Too true, my man. Too true...

I would have changed pokemon as to get rid of pokemon ass.

Transporter

core tactic wrote: »

Make it so after you beat FFTA, everyone in Ivalice actually dies. I would have burst out laughing if that happened.

Same note. Make Marche a giant douche. And make it so that there are pretty valid questions upon the nature of the world, since the book god sort of changed things PERMENTLY, and the ramifications upon what would happen if you killed GOD. Could you go back? Is it possible? Or could you end up destroying the entire world if you suceed?

It would have been worthy of the FFT name.

core tactic

Hopefully the second Tactics Advance will have a better storyline.

Also, I thought it was pretty simple, yet people are always fighting about it. I thought that when they wished using the book, it just put a "layer" over everything (explaining that scene where everyone in the town got turned into stuff), and the Totema and the Queen were tethering the layer down. Once you beat them, it got lifted and everything went back to normal. Not too hard.

Xagarath

The ending of FFVIII makes perfect sense.

But yes- I'd go back and rewrite pretty much every line of dialogue in FFVII to make it non-crappy and cliched.

I'd give VIII a bit of a rewrite, too. Some of the earlier dialogue... ugh.

NWN had some really, really stupid alignment-based dialogue choices for evil. Really stupid.


In fact... the hell with it. Those are lesser offenders. I could do a better job than 99% of the people who write videogame plots.

core tactic

I would have gotten rid of The Boss's horse. That was completely random. Why would you ride a horse around in a jungle?

Xagarath

core tactic wrote: »

I would have gotten rid of The Boss's horse. That was completely random. Why would you ride a horse around in a jungle?

Because you hate walking?

core tactic

Xagarath wrote: »

core tactic wrote: »

I would have gotten rid of The Boss's horse. That was completely random. Why would you ride a horse around in a jungle?

Because you hate walking?

But there were no paths or anything. And where did it even come from? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't just have a stable or something laying around on a military base.