On some random news, I've been looking over the new Dissidia game more lately. I seriously want them to include Rosa into the game as a Healer/Archer hybrid character, since this would be the ideal style of gameplay for
@Ailyn Evensen based off her preferences. Terra is very fitting as a character (design, personality, emphasis on fighting at range), but since Dissidia has always neglected to include her healing magic abilities (which is kind of annoying) she isn't perfect for Ailyn's preferences as a support player.
@GohanI noticed you added in Kain's profile, and given how both of you guys are just posted them up into the character tab right off the bat - instead of putting them into the OOC first - I'll assume that I can do the same so long as I let you guys know in order to check for any issues.
Anyway, with the discussion and collaboration out of the way, I recommend you get your opening IC going. I'm not entirely sure if you guys want me to post before or after Raddum, so let me know. If you actually don't care, I'll probably post as soon as Gohan has unless I'm in the middle of something. I'm also contemplating my extra characters, and will continue to do so. I've considered more obscure characters such as Ace (Type-0), but I'm not sure yet.
@RaddumWe mostly agree on everything, so the times I'll quote you is if I've got a particular comment to make. Beyond that, just assume we're on at least a similar page.
I can see this partnership being a thing; Though I'd imagine many Magitek weapons and armors would be useless to most of the Chaos-side as far as main villains go, but maybe The Emperor is plotting some 'Absolute' weapon that'll destroy just about everything? A doomsday weapon would be something Kefka would get behind; As well as improving the Slave Crown for re-capturing Terra. Though the latter is less weapon and more mind-control, so maybe that won't turn out in Kefka's favor, at least as quickly.
Standard Magitek weapons and armour would be useless, but this might not be the case when the magical powers of demonic and angelic beings - which The Emperor can both summon and create (though in the case of the angelic ones he won't be revealing that too early) - are factored into the equation. Kefka also only ever pushed Magitek weaponry into the small scale to the best of my knowledge, such as the one Terra was forced to wield, but imagine something like Cyclone -- I don't think Kefka would be opposed to a kingdom levelling Magitek weapon.
Granted, these villains are powerful enough to level kingdoms without weaponry like this, but as for what you said about a doomsday weapon -- perhaps The Emperor
does have this in mind? Put it this way, it's a possibility I'm considering him working on as a
distraction for what he's really got planning (of course his allies won't know it's a distraction). As I've also mentioned previously in the OOC, The Emperor will actually be interested in capturing Terra
himself this time - for reasons I won't go into - so him contributing to the Slave Crown is certainly possible.
Kefka would, obviously, get extremely pissed with The Emperor decided to back stab him; But I don't think that's a one-way street. Kefka ought to be ready to backstab him as well; Though The Emperor will obviously become badder than Kefka is, and possibly end him personally if Kefka tries anything. They are probably two of the stronger villains on the roster, so it'll be a struggle unless the fight happens really late where The Emperor has most of his power back. We'll see how that goes.
While The Emperor isn't weakened right now to the extent of being inherently lacking in power - as you can no doubt guess from his CS - I understand where you're coming from about it being a struggle if he betrays people too early; however, it's pretty unlikely he's going to pull his betrayal gambit until he's confident he's ready for it, so this'll mostly be a factor if he's found out too early. There's also a minor possibility that Kefka might be
on board with part of The Emperor's true goal, to an extent at least, but we'll see. Nevertheless, The Emperor in Dissidia showed that he's cunning enough not to usually pull a betrayal until he's well and truly powerful enough to defeat his opposition -- sort of makes you wonder how powerful he must have really been in FFII if he was that confident about defeating God and Satan (the game hints that he let the protagonists kill him as a gambit to take over Heaven/Hell), which is pretty much the idea I'm rolling some of my ideas around.
I'm fairly set on Galuf; Cosmos needs some elder badasses like him around; Plus some more bulky fighters, too. Galuf will probably, as of the current roster, be the most durable of the warriors of Cosmos. Exdeath and Galuf need to have a rematch; Maybe with the same ending as the last time they fought. Galuf'll probably fight to the end just to make Exdeath retreat to save someone else; Dying in the process. Or possibly, they'll end up killing each-other. Though I don't think, by himself, Galuf is strong enough to flat-out defeat Exdeath. But he'll sure as hell try.
Similar reasoning for me wanting to bring over Auron (he's an experienced badass who could mentor some of the other characters). With this in mind, I'll work on Exdeath's CS -- I'm not as savvy about FFV as some of the other games but I think I'll be able to adapt easily enough, and I'm considering the possibility of doing something a bit unique with him too. Whether or not Galuf is a match for him probably depends on how much the characters on the Cosmos side end up being able to 'help each other grow' -- something that Dissidia never touched on - that I think we should - is how characters crossing over from different worlds would allow them to make each other develop beyond the limits of their own world. This is actually significant to The Emperor's plotline too.
With this in mind, how do we want to write their history? Since most of these character's aren't the same incarnations as they were from the Dissidia cycles (due to The Emperor sabotaging this cycle from right from the beginning), we can more or less set this at any point in the games and even take alternate ideas into account. Perhaps Exdeath has already killed Galuf, and his appearance in this cycle is a chance for the rematch you mentioned?
I might use Tidus. I'm not certain as of yet; As there are some other good choices in the FFX roster; Not to mention that I have other characters I wish to play, as well. FF9 is lacking in any contenders, so Quina is still on the board for me; But I'm also considering Freya, because Dragoons are awesome. Amarant would fit in on the Chaos side; If nobody wanted to play Kuja. (Because I don't.) And, all-in-all, I don't have any desire to play FF7/8/13 characters, so I'm pretty much bailing on that possible responsibility. The only characters I'd really consider are Yuffie and Zell... Maybe Snow or Hope. Also if anyone has any FFXII plans; I'd be willing to take Vaan. Because why the hell not, right? Unimportant could be comical.
There's no obligation to use Tidus, since I haven't settled on using Jecht at this point and I'm more interested in bringing over Auron potentially. Kuja is actually one of my favourite Final Fantasy villains alongside The Emperor and a couple of others, possibly even being my favourite to an extent (Kuja and the OST sort of won FFIX over to me -- everything else was decent but sort of lacking compared to some of the other games for me, considering I had just came from FFVIII and I've always been into that). Without something to counterbalance him well I might not use Kuja though, since I believe a lot of the plot ideas I'd go for with him would just be a repeat of what I'm planning for The Emperor.
I've got interest in using characters from FFVII/FFVIII/FFXIII (less FFXIII than FFVII/FFVIII though), so don't worry on that front, especially since neither Yuffie or Zell are characters I'd want to use. I could see myself playing Snow, but don't drop him due to that since I've got plenty of options. Hope is interesting too, but I don't think I'd use him myself. I'll only (as mentioned to Gohan in the OOC) bring over a character if I get an interesting idea for them though, since I don't want to let this be just another Dissidia cycle with nothing new brought to the table. I've mentioned an interest in playing Vayne if I can come up with something interesting to do with him, but it's sort of a maybe at this point. Whether or not I use anyone else (Basch, Gabranth, et cetera) is something I can't answer until I go back and look over the characters more -- been ages and FFXII was around the point I stopped having time to game extensively.
Terra Ritz and Layle seems like a pretty fun group to have; They can bounce off each-other well, conversation-wise, and their abilities are fleshed out enough to handle situations decently. Ritz and Terra could be especially fun considering she's confident while Terra is a bit nervous; She'll probably end up annoyed with both her and Layle, but consider them good to have around nonetheless. Especially once villains start showing up. Considering Freya and Galuf are pretty much confirmed for me, they also need to be taken into account. Galuf would, honestly, fit into a more serious crowd really well; He's a lighthearted old badass with a sense of humor about mostly everything, good for breaking the tension. Meanwhile Freya is about as serious as they come, more than Ritz, most certainly. So she'd be fun to stick into a more comically-active group. Might actually be interesting to pair her with Cecil, if you do use him.
After I've created Exdeath's sheet, Cecil will be my next line of business.
Given what you've brought to the table, alongside my belief that we should avoid having to role-play 'with ourselves' too often when possible (I'm a writer outside of role-play, so doing this is fine for me, but it sort of defeats the purpose of play-by-post), I think the best option for parties is Firion/Kain/Galuf and Terra/Ritz/Layle. Who Cecil and Freya end up with is more up in the air, especially if you'd like them to be in the same group since this
might mean they need a group of their own.
It wouldn't be right if I refused, I don't think. Three of us; Three sides of the conflict eventually, it only makes sense I take the role. Shouldn't be too much of an issue, I imagine. So we've got that settled now.
Takes the weight off my shoulders of thinking I'll be letting bias interfere due to preference, so that sounds good.
I have finished Kefka's CS and put it in the Characters tab. I have given him a few new things, mostly relevant to his abilities in FFVI after becoming a god of magic that shouldn't seem too busted; I do want opinions on the new powers he has in his EX-MODE, however. I feel like it'll be a good way to upgrade Kefka a little bit; And give him an actual summon at some point, as well. If anything seems too distasteful, let me know.
I'm actually glad I decided against my original idea of making Terra's new 'EX Burst' be centred around the Warring Triad, considering what you've done with your CS. Given how The Emperor can both summon and create demonic beings (and angelic beings) due to his status as 'Satan' (and 'God'), I don't have a problem with another villain who can create his own monsters instead of just summon them. Since the versions of these characters are - for reasons mentioned previously - not the same incarnations as the ones from previous cycles, I think it makes sense for us to draw more from the original games and I've been doing this a lot on my end. Do you want this version of Kefka to actually have already defeated the Warring Triad then? I'll probably build Terra's history (which she doesn't fully remember right now) around whatever point in the timeline you want to set Kefka.
As for the 'EX Mode', you're actually going into similar territory to what The Emperor (who has pretty much well and truly surpassed his own universe and is reaching strongly out into others now, but I won't spoil to what extent) is, given the whole 'surpassing his own world's limitations' thing, so I'm all on board with it since The Emperor is similar. As for the summon idea, it makes complete sense because that's more or less how summons work in Final Fantasy VI -- you're basically turning them into 'Magicite' and forcing them under your power, though this makes me wonder why he doesn't have a summon yet unless coming to this dimension made him lose it. I also think it makes sense that he's twist and corrupt a summon's form, given how he's pretty much aligned with the idea of chaos.
On a side note, Galuf's looking good too -- he's reminding me more of Cyan to an extent (less serious), so this'll probably come into the equation if he meets Terra.
