Proposed Changes to FFL's "Timeline"

Jace's proposition on a timeline of events/areas/plot, as
rewritten from that God-awful 'Plaguebringer' garbage.
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Starting point: Baron
>No change here, except for townspeople and what they say.
>Give hints about where to go next, change little inklings
>from that stupid 'Plaguebringer' story to something more
>Final Fantasy-esque, maybe something to do with crystals
>or lost light. Possibly indicate a growing unease amidst
>the population these days, as if dreading the return of
>some great evil. (Remember Zemus's last words in FF4? "So
>Long As Darkness Resides In The Heart of Man, I will Never truly
>Be Gone." Or something to that effect.) At length, maybe
>indicate some sort of prophecy about the return of the
>Warriors of Light. (Its clichè, but what part of Final Fantasy
>isn't, at one time or another?)

Next Area: Mist cave -> Mist
>Nothing different here. Depending on how many classes are
>unlocked at the start of the game, we could always have
>the Mist Dragon drop an item (100% chance, of course) that
>unlocks the Young Caller class. Just an idea.
>Mist is unchanged, maybe have villagers throw around a few
>more subtle rumors, give hints to newbies on where to go
>next, possibly via said rumors.

Next Area: Kaipo
>Unchanged. Just townspeople saying different stuff instead
>of the dumb 'Plaguebringer' crap. Indicate to newbies where
>the next area lies, maybe.

Next Area: Waterway -> Damcyan
>This is fine as is, too. Leave Waterway pretty much unchanged,
>though if we want chests to work, we're in for a long re-edit in
>this place. Damcyan is the same, make some reference about the
>Prince/King Edward/Gilbert of time ago, and maybe link it to
>a way of receiving the Hovercraft from here.

>(-=NEW CHANGE=-) Have someone in the castle state something about
>ice having regrown on Mt. Hobbs, and it being too thick to traverse
>by normal means. Maybe have some or differrent NPC mention a rumor
>about Antlions making rubies in their nests, maybe a fire-oriented
>one that could melt the ice? This will finally make MANDATORY the
>often-bypassed...

Next Area: Antlion's Den
>Nothing I can see needs to be changed, except for the 'Sandruby'
>the Antlion itself would normally drop. Change easily to
>'Fireruby' and implement whatever code may be needed to use it to
>remove a familiar wall of ice stationed at the entrance to mt.
>Hobbs. Also, everyone in the party will need one to bypass said
>ice, so as not to allow anyone who doesn't have one to skip by
>it without doing Antlion's Den. It could just prevent the party
>from moving onward, like it does if someone who has already beaten
>a boss tries to move on/past the square that a boss is located with
>someone in the party who HASN'T yet beaten them.

Next Area: Mt. Hobbs -> Fabul
>Nothing wrong with Mt. Hobbs as it stands, from what I can see.
>Possibly change the boss fight into two of them like how Dark Elf
>and Dark Dragon work, with one of them being the standard MomBomb
>and a group of bombs/balloons (?), and then have the second fight
>be the transformed/upgraded MomBomb.
>Fabul would be unchanged as far as the castle layout goes, maybe.

>(-=NEW CHANGE=-) Via plot devices of some variety, have the king
>give the key to Baron Sewers instead of the Serpent Road Essence,
>therebying making mandatory the traversal of an area not implemented
>in an FFL to date. (would probably require creation and implementation
>thereof by our own hands) One would then travel back to Baron in
>order to continue to...

Next Area: Baron Sewers
>As far as what it was in FF4, this area could pretty much remain
>unchanged, and would also include some enemies not before seen in
>the current FFL (since, obviously, this area was never implemented
>to date). At the end, I was thinking we could use the transformed
>Baigan sprite as an end boss that would drop the Serpent Road Essence
>required to travel to Mysidia (the transformed Baigan IS a snake-like
>thing, after all; it makes sense, sorta, right?) and just give it a
>different name.

Next Area: Mysidia
>Nothing new here. I never actually went to the Tower of Prayer to
>see if there was, in fact, any NPCs there, but if not, we could do so
>and elaborate on the prophecy further, if we have it fleshed out well
>enough in our minds on what it should be by this time. Also, somewhere
>in town, have some of the mages make hints or rumors about a familiar
>evil emanating from Mount Ordeals.

Next Area: Mount Ordeals (SKIPPABLE, BUT READ ON!)
>Mount Ordeals can remain the same as it has been, up to the point
>where one would fight Milon/Scarmiglione.

>(-=NEW CHANGE=-)The second form of Milon/Scarmiglione will drop a
>"Tainted Crystal of Earth", one of four plot items needed to access
>the final area of the game. Though Mount Ordeals may be skippable
>by default, if this item is not obtained at some point, access to the
>final area will not be allowed. Furthermore, depending if we do or
>don't leave Dark Knight unlocked to begin with, we could implement a
>fight in the Chamber of Ordeals with which to fight said Dark Knight,
>and possibly unlock the class that way. Since implementing it to just
>need to guard for 5 turns might be difficult (depending), we could
>just make it a beefed-up mob instead. We'll see.

Next Area: Royal Pass
>Personally, I like the area, as pointless as it may need to be in
>terms of length. But then, what is the game if every dungeon/area is
>just a short hike in distance? Besides, I can't really think of any-
>where else to really put Kainazzo/Cagnazzo, and it seems as good a place
>as any.

>(-=NEW CHANGE=-) I like the idea of the fiends having two forms each,
>which makes them stand out a little bit above the regular 'bosses', so
>maybe we would do the same for this one; the first form could be just
>him in his turtle form, and the second could be the one surrounded by
>water. In any case, when his final form goes down, he drops the
>"Tainted Crystal of Water", the second of four plot items needed to
>access the final area of the game.

Next Area: Toroia/Black Chocobo Forest
>I think this is where my ideas falter a little, since in the main FFL
>game, it turns into a free-for-all, "Go wherever you want" game once
>you obtain the Black Chocobo. However, one or more of the townspeople
>or NPCs within the castle could drop hints of a new menace having taken
>hold within the old Magnes Mine, despite it no longer bearing its
>gravitationally-magnetic properties against metallic equipment. There
>could also be word heard about the fallen Tower of Zot to the east and
>an eerie but familiar presence inhabiting it as well. However, we'd
>need to find some way to make the Tower of Zot off limits from the
>outside, at least at first. That said, we can do this a couple of
>different ways...

Next Area: Magnes Mine -> Tower of Zot
>Magnes Mine shouldn't have to be changed at all. However, once upon
>the Dark Elf...

1](-=NEW CHANGE=-)
>A door could be stationed in the back of the crystal room that won't
>open without a key or some such obtained from defeating the Dark Elf,
>and possibly leads to a room with a teleporter that leads, in itself,
>to the Tower of Zot.

-OR-

2](-=NEW CHANGE=-)
>The same scenario as above, except that said key obtained from the
>Dark Elf would allow access to the then-locked Tower of Zot from the
>outside overworld instead. This probably sounds more feasible anyway,
>since the previous idea would require re-travelling through Magnes
>Mine in order to get to the Tower of Zot at anytime afterward.

>The Tower of Zot doesn't necessarily need to be changed, though if
>we're looking for ways to upgrade/enhance/alter classes, we could
>always have the Magus Sisters' fight drop a Magus Sisters summon for
>any Mature/Ancient (to be decided) Caller in the party.
>Valvalis/Barbariccia at the top would have two forms as well, and drop
>the "Tainted Crystal of Wind", the third of four plot items needed to
>access the final area of the game. A teleport in the room behind
>could lead out of the tower perhaps, for those unlucky players who
>pick a class that doesn't have Exit.

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From here, I'm going to open the floor a little to whatever players
want to do next, since the Black Chocobo currently pretty much allows
for endgame-time at any point. However, this will not be the case here,
and I'll cover the next mandatory place to go afterwards.
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Optional Area: Silvera
>Nothing really outstanding or in need of change here. The mine cave
>with the midget who wants the tail for adamant could be used for
>something, but we can worry about that later. Otherwise, just weapons,
>armor, and items.

Optional Area: Agart
>Depending on what we decide, this may not be necessary in terms of
>need to advance the plot. Maybe just have it as a historical town
>that talks about events of times past, and maybe even have some NPC
>hint at another area that has been rumored to lead to the next
>mandatory area, the Underground.

Optional Area: Eblan Castle
>I never really explored this place's depths, and assumed it was only
>for the scholar who lets you use the serum that the Archblood makes
>with which to change your character icon. Maybe more history from the
>NPCs, perhaps a strong indication that Eblan Cave is a link to the
>Underground through the bottom portion of the Tower of Bab-il.

-----------------------
At this point, I think the floor is pretty open on the variability
on how to go about the rest of the game, since it was always twisted
around differently depending on the version of FFL at the time. We
can figure out ways to utilize the remaining areas to fit everything
in somewhere or another, but we'll see what happens from there.
-----------------------

~Fin

1) Mt. Hobbs -> Fabul: I like the idea of having King Fabul lead you back to Baron as your next objective, but having him give you the key to the sewers of another kingdom? I'd change it so that he's received word from King Baron that KB needs you back in Baron to deal with a "problem" that has arisen beneath Baron in said sewers, and once player(s) go down there, fight through to the end (the exit to the castle, making it one-way at first), and fight Baigan, who's been resurrected as a flunky of whatever evil super-power is controlling all the evil shit. (Try and have him undermine the Castle in secret or something).

2) Royal Pass: I never liked the name "Royal Pass" at all. What the hell is Royal about it? Something more ominous and/or oldish would sound better. Why the hell would a cave entrance at the end of one continent leading east be above ground when the only area that is between the two is ocean? I never thought the concept of having the cave entrance be there, because it didn't make sense (just like the pass from North of Damcyan to Troia.). In my opinion, having a cave that went from somewhere in the west Baron area/Mist area to Troia made more sense, since they would have had the technology and the ability to make a land route connecting the two countries. Plus it'd give a reason to all that friggin' land beneath Troia instead of being there for show: You'd have to hoof it up to the damn castle.

As for the boss of Kainazzo/Cagnazzio being in there, I like that yes. But having him invisible one step away from the exit to the cave? Nah. I would have redesigned it so that at about 85% - 95% through the cave there was an underground lake where the Fiend of Water was drawn back to and attacks the party before they can get to Troia (one of those advanced plot "stop-the-hero-from-getting-to-next-point" things).

3) I'd make Ordeals a requirement, but going to the Summit NOT a requirement, or vice versa. In the GBA version, they had a dungeon open up in the center of Mount Ordeals for the extra characters to gain updated equipment. What could possibly happen is that after you gain the Serpent Road Essence key item, you talk to King Baron, who informs you that it would allow the user to go to Mysidia without fear of the major stamina-draining effect (which was mentioned in the actual game of FF4). Go there, find out that sure enough, the Mysidian Elder is bitchin' about how Mount Ordeals has taken on an evil aura and wishes you to investigate (valid reason for going). Go there, find out from an investigating wizard where the evil is coming from (inside or up top wherever you put Milon, although inside would make more sense since the DK was fought on the summit), defeat Milon, get the Tainted Crystal of Earth, go back to the Elder who talks to you about it's significance, and that you should go to Troia (the place where the Crystal of Earth REALLY was) to inquiry further about it's meaning and shit.

That's all the ideas I have for now, but for the first big leap of the game, that's what I would change if I had creative control. Note that I sound like I'm saying you have to do this stuff, but I only try to help in the form of creative and constructive criticism. =D

Should we come up with a definite amount of years that have passed since the time of Cecil and his crew, it would probably be a bit easier to figure out what things would need changed. The entire world map is somewhere around 95% the same as it was in FFIV, I'd estimate. Judging from that, I'd say that most brands of FFL to date aren't very far into the future from the events of FFIV. Personally, I think it'd be a bit more fun to say it's two hundred or so years later. Then we can go through and change the layout of the towns a little, mix up the building locations (minus things like Snake Road, which is probably a landmark that would stay where it is). Hell, that far into the future, certain towns might not even exist anymore, and we'd have an excuse to put in new ones. Damcyan could be patched up all nicely, Fabul could be expanded upon to have a large teaching and sparring area for it's trainers and trainees of the martial arts, Mist could have grown somewhat to allow reason for more callers to exist... And there could be a tunnel or something of the sort leading from the Mist Cave (or nearby) over toward Toroia, should we wish to go that route. I have to agree that there's very little sense behind the Royal Pass. Toroia's landmass is connected to Baron's, though, so a tunnel through the mountains would be perfect.

There's also some changes that could be done with dungeons. Magnes could be larger due to more mining, though Torioans never really seemed like miners to me anyway. I'm not entirely sure what to do with Zot, as it's already crashed into the ground from it's previous position in the skies.. It would probably still be there, but it's questionable whether or not it's systems would still have power. Though, with the help of a ressurected wind fiend, it may just take to the skies again. Eblan cave would either be abandoned, or.. The Ninja clan would still reside there. Perhaps the return of a flame fiend had once again driven them from their castle? That's a bit boring, but it's all I can come up with immediately. That's why I don't want to be in charge of the plot. >.>

If we wanted to, we could find an excuse for a lunarian town. Of course, the Moon that the FuSoYa and Golbez stayed on, where Zemus was fought and everything else, actually flew off in the epilogue of FFIV. The planet FFIV took place on had two moons, but unless we're using the remaining moon for all of the lunar areas we've thought about.. We'll need a plot reason for it to be back where it is. There's nothing that says it isn't some kind of magical projection from whatever villian is reviving the fiends and everything, be it Zemus or whoever. Said lunarian town would be a great place to give the players some of that story. Not every NPC is a historian, of course, but I don't like having a world full of filler dialogue

As for the Underworld, it had such a small population to begin with that it might not have changed much. Logic dictates that Tomra would have expanded a bit.. But I've always considered Tomra a pointless town. Perhaps we should find some way to work it into the required path a player would take through the game. The Sealed Cave would probably have been resealed, and therefore left relatively untouched unless the seal was broken. The brief town in the Land of Summons likely won't be changed too much, either. Summon creatures are bound to live for a very long time. If nothing else, they could provide useful history about the world since they're logical NPCs to use for delivering pieces of the story to fill in the gaps. Stuff that's not necessary to get through the game, but is cool to know about. I think it might be interesting to completely rework the two 'optional' dungeons in the area, the Cave of Summons and Sylvan Cavern. They're supposed to sort of lead to other 'worlds', from what I understand, so I don't see any reason at all for them to remain the same. I'd think the opposite, in fact; that they would never be the same any time someone entered them. That would be really fucking annoying to map and code, though, so at the very least we can mix them up a bit.

By now, I think I've gotten a little carried away, given that we haven't even decided on a reference time. But most of it is at least worth some consideration.