Idea Info Name: Dark Angel Index: Primary Category: Action Submitted: 6/20/2003 5:39:41 AM Written By: Tortured-Aria Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition Book Highly Recommended !

         Hey, this is Phoenix_Blade again, dont know why i dont use the old account, like this one better i guess. oh well, feels good to be back.

STORY

             The year is 1767, fictional japan.

             The Kibagami assassins guild is easily the most feared and well known band of killers in all of japan, Not because of their superior skill, or their outrageous numbers, nigh. because of one young boy, the age of 17, no one knows who trained him, or how he got to be an assassin, the only thing people know, is that he is the most well trained killer in all of japan. Besides perhaps his master, but no one knows whom he is, the only other thing people know is that when they hear that Kuragami is coming to their town, everypone better lock up tight. However, Kuragamis life is not without problems, the foremost of which is the fact that though he has killed well over 400 men, it does not whow upon his consciousness, which means, to his co-workers, that at somepoint, the memories of death and killiung will resurface and depower him.
            Kuragami's life as a child was incredibly rife with struggle, deep in the bowels of the megacity of Biokan, he was raised, poor, with only a drunken father and two sisters around. at the tender age of 11 Kuragamis life was changed forever when a vicious band of killers known as the Kibagami assassins attacked and slaughetred every last soul in his village. one man found the poor boy huddled next to his sisters corpses, took him in and trained him to be the ultimate fighter. after years, the man left to get supplies and never returned, presuming the man dead, Kuragami left the mountain retreat and headed into the town of Ankoil, there he found the Kibigami guild, with nowhere else to go, and an offer from them, he joined the Kibigami in their secretive and deadly ways.
           Kuragami had jst finsihed a job, it was a late day and the sun had just set, rain was beginning to drizzle down as Kuragami liad roses on each of his victims, a strange voice flitted through the air.
           "Hello boy, if i said you could see your sisters again, would you accept, see your adorable twin sisters again", that phrase was the one that changed  what Sanity Kuragami had left into a simple word that would ruin his life forever, 'yes'. without thinking he asnwered and doomed himself to an eternity of suffering. suddenly a piercing pain seared throughout Kuragami's body, he fell to his knees and spat up a strange black liquid, then he passed out.
           He woke up in a completely dark place, he felt cold and alone, but it did not bother him, and that same voice spoke to him again, only now it sounded malevolent and horrid.
           "Well, get used to your new self, your past made you the best choice for this honorable title, i am the god of chaos and discord, Malikai, now bow down to me you worthless scum. you are my assassin now, my perfect creation, the ultimate engine of destrcution, the Dark Angel, get used to your sins, they are your closest allies now. understand that you now require the souls of others to survive" said the voice, now titled Malikai.
         "What have you done to me?" questioned Kuragami surveying himself. his once ponytailed dark red hair was now mid-back length locks of black, his eyes surveyed the world in a strange white haze, he was a very pale color and his once vibrant robe now was a mixed bag of tattered cloth, belt buckles, straps and rags jumbled together to form a suit. a pure black scarf was wrapped around his neck and flew out behind him as if their were a wind about. his sword now was nearly 5 feet long and glowed a dark purple, he looked around in the pitch black, he surveyed the world of darkness around him.
           "You are the Dark Angel, into you, i have poured a fraction of my absolute power, so in reality, you are my new child, my grim reaper, and you will do my bidding" said Malikai laughing heartily.
          "I will not" is all Kuragami said and he began to stride off into the black. suddenly he felt a droplet upon his head, then it began to pour, he looked up to see a red rain pouring upon him, he quickly realized it was blood. in front of him appeared an endless field of dead bodies, weeping spouses, crying children, the sick, suffering and wounded.
          "These are the people you have killed and the people lives you have affected by doing so, and the blood you have spilt rains down on you like a spring shower" said Malikai.
          "Stop this madness, leave me alone you freak, i will not serve as your killer, i realize this may be too late, but now i must atoen for what i have done, i do not care of my new form, with the powers you have given me, i will help restore balance to my life, and protect the innocent" with that, Kuragami was warped out of the black and appeared deep in a woods somewhere. with no recollection before what had just transpired, he ssets out to find out about a life he doesnt remember living, and atone for sins he doesnt remember commiting.
           The story would become deep and involved once the character began to learn of Kurugami's association with the Kibigami, he would vow to destroy them, leading him on a quest to destroy the Kibigami assassins guild. and an eventual confrontation with Malikai.

GAMEPLAY

                   Gameplay would be in third person and heavily action oriented. since Kuragami is a dark angel, and in fact, is now part of the chaos god Malikai, he has powers beyond those any man has eevr known, but he does not yet know how to use them. But, with this newfound power comes a weakness, Soul Power, or "SP". Soul Power goes right alongside his HP (Hit points) which appears as a red vertical bar on the right side of the screen. SP would be a blue vertical bar next to HP, to execute special moves, transfer to dark angel mode and as an extra life bar, he would need to keep this bar filled by sucking the energy of his defeated foes. Like Soul Reaver or Primal. Souls would appear as floating black orbs above corpses that Kuragami would have to touch to suck in, once taken in some of the SP bare would be replenished, the tougher the enemy, the bigger its soul would be, hence more SP.
                 Combat would be handled similiar to Mark of Kri or Legacy of kain 2: blood omen. tapping a targeting button would lock on to the nearest enemy, while another button would function to change targets, tappiung the lock on button again would un-lock the target. when locked onto something Kuragami would enter a battle stance, which would be chosen via an in-game menu. then he could unleash moves and magic by assigning them to certain button combos, he could also change between armed and unarmed combat on the fly allowing for large streaming combos. a plethora of weapons would be available for killing the baddies, which would range from bandits to demons (no civilians here). when an enemy is defeated n a battle LP is awarded (Life points), LP is added to a clear skull in the top right of the screen which fills up when an enemy is killed, when the skull becomes full Kuragamis HP bar would increase by about 1/4-1/2 an inch till it reached the top of the screen. combos would be easy to pull off and enemy AI would be smart, trying to block when possible and whatnot so characters would ahve to sue their brains and brawn. Characters could hit a defend button to block as well, and pressing right as the enemy attacked would result in a counter which would instantly kill any enemy except bosses. Skills and magic would cost SP to use so using too many could be potentially life threatening.
              
Stances; figure id tell you the advantages and disadvantages of each stance            

Middle stance- a well rounded stance allowing for allmoves and skills to be executed, along with pretty powerful blows and a good defense. a good overall stance. has the sword straight down to his side

High stance- allows for very powerful blows to the head and shoulders allowing for quick kills, allows for very powerful skills to be executed with good accuracy, good defense against high attacks. weak D against mid and low blows though and these powerful blows take a while to execute. holds sword vertically overhead

Low stance- allows for quikc decisive strikes to the legs and waist disabling enemies movements and effectively destroying their offense in some cases. this is great for quick moves and decisive skills with pinpoint accuracy, high strikes take a very long time to execute though and this leaves the head and midsection pretty open. holds the sword while slightly crouched

Skills; Just a few ideas real quick, there would be tons more but these are just some ideas.

Multi cut- slashes the enemy many, many times in a horizontal manner making them explode at the end, costs lots of SP and is very bloody but very deadly.

Head jab- a quikc thrust at the head, without protection this would pierce the head allowing for instant penetration and probably instant death. again, this would cost lots of SP but is really deadly.

Power cut- Takes a second too charge, Kuragami leaps into the airt and brings the sword down in a quick motion and very powerful strike, costs a medium amount of SP and does good damage.

Sweep stab- Quickly sweeps the enmy off their feet and leaves them open for the next series of button presses, resulting in Kuragami stabbing the enemy while they are on the ground. would cost a medium amount of SP and would do fair damage

Multi jab- stabs the enemy several times in the blink of an eye, making them pause for a second then fall into a lifeless lump. would cost major SP but would be very deadly.

Powers; a few ideas on some powers Kurugami would posess in his newfound form.

Dark angel- would transform the fairly human looking Kurugami into a demonic figure, the scarf would become bonded to his face and neck whil the clothes would move as if their were a wind about, his eyes would go red and his sword would turn into a huge glwojng scythe, he would sprout about 8 gigantic wings from his back that would be totally black and look kinda feathery, his voice would get very deep and he could now fly, openeing up a whole new dimension to combat. this would cost a good amount of SP but could be left on as long as one wished.

Purgatory- Kurugami summons for a minute then a searing pillar of flame the size of a house covers a certain area enveloping enemies in flame. would cost a good amount of SP and wouyld do a good amount of damage.

Dark wave- sends a wave of black energy from Kurugami's wings into a single enemy almost instantly killing him. would cost lots of SP and could only be actiavted in dark angel mode.

Summon- turns Kurugami into a monstrous beast of muscle and leaking pus, huge spikes would protrude from its back and thsi from would be maintained for about 2 minutes. would cost almost the whole SP bar but would enhance his fighting capabilities tenfold.

Sunlight- Creates a small globe that hovers in front of Kurugami and acts as a light, not only does this serve as a lgiht for darkened caves or alleyways, but it would be the only means of disposing a vampire in the dark besides goign through the whole process of destruction type A.

Weapons: uhh, yeah, these are the weapons he could use besides his sword. some could be doubled up, like the longsword and shortblade.
Long sword (katana), short blade (wakizashi), spear, kris ssword, bow and arrow, javelin, dagger, kris dagger, poisoned blade, Katars, discus blade, sickle blade, chain blade, battle axe, claw gauntlets, wrist darts, throwing daggers/axes, wooden club, bone club, halberd, steel club, spiked club, voulge. ahh, i could go on and on, you get the idea, each weapon would ahve its uses obviously.

                  Surprise attacks would also be available, kind of like Tenchu wrath of heaven, and finsihing moves would be a must, like cinder (where he would grab the enemy and hold them in the air while they burned into a crisp). and different finsihing moves for each weapon too, the combat would be very deep as you can see.
                  Voice acting would be a definate, and Kurugami would HAVE TO sound real cool, i mean hes the perfect engine of destruction for gods sake.and i would want all characters to ahve voice actors. music would be mostly cool techno music and creepy or orchestral music, no rock or rap here. battles would be techno and everything else would be orchestral or creepy. environments woul dbe completely destructable, but if you destroyed a town for no reason the guard would come after you and Kurugami would be ashamed of himself. a good direction of where to go would be given after each event but you could pretty much free roam. the story would devolve into Kurugami finding out about his past and eventually confronting Malikai for the final battle.
                Villages would not really welcome Kurugami, the dark angel (would you?), so villagers fear him. also, there would be a sin bar in battle, when that becamne full, Kurugami would unleash some random psychotic crazy cooo move that would destroy everything within a certain area, sin would be filled when he killed someone (anyone) or when he was hit by a weapon. This game would need a Mature rating since the main focus is combat and plasma spillage, blood would cover the ground by the end of a battle and corpses would litter the soil. also some language and adult content would be in this game along with the fact that to survive Kurugami needs the souls of others.
               Combos would be very cool ranging from simple button presses to combos between transforming into dark angel form and flying around kicking and slashing at the enemy. similiar to Spawn, when Kurugami went into dark angel mode chains would spring forth from parts of his body and could act as weapons. Finishing moves would involve the player pressing the attack button when locked onto an enemy whos health ahd been depleted, they would waver for a moment on their feet signaling this. if a finsihing move is not executed, the enemy would just simply fall over and die. these finishing moves would range from sticking them to the cieling for a moment on a spear, to leapoing into the aiir and chopping them in half in a bloody mess. With hand to hand combat (no weapons) combos would look like martial arts moves, with mixtures of stylish kicks and whatnot, finishing moves would be really cool, you couyld crush an enemy with the chains, crack their necks, cinder them or do stuff like punch their heads off.
             Skills and powers would be unlocked via a skill grid, much like the sphere grid off of FFX, AP (ability points) would be awarded and the player could then buy new skills and powers as they see fit with AP. this grid would branch off multiple ways like the sphere grid so the characters could kind of design their own dark angel each time.
             More on combat, when Kurugami was in dark angel mode, combat would totally change because of one thing, the ability to fly. there would definetely be a limit on vertical flight capabilities but that would be a high height, normal enemies could be dragged into the sky and chopped up or beat around as one sees fit, but they could knock off some slashes on you too before they hurdled to the ground. however, some enemies, like flying demons, sorcerers and a few others would have the ability to fly and attack you.
             Enemies would range from bandits, to corrupt cops or soldiers, demons, evil sorcerers, the Kibigami assassins and Malikai's horde.

BANDITS- come in a bunch of varieties, and form raiding parties of 3-10, they usually can be identfied by their ragtag look and tattered cloths, most wear some kind of hat. their styles go from swordsman, to spearman and bowman and even hand-to-hand fighters. later in the game these would become more skilled and some would be demonically empowered by Malikai specifically to hunt you down.
COPS/SOLDIERS- These also come in a variety of styles, they are cops and fighters who have been corrupted by either crime, demons or greed. They are more skilled than bandits and are just a little less common. they come in bow, mace, spear, sword and a few other types, they would get a little more tough as the game went on.
DEMONS- Demons are the true rulers of this world, they were the first race born and wish to reclaim the title of the dominant species from the humans. they come in most shapes and sizes imaginable and almost every signle on has a different method of attack than another. soem even have incredible powers on par with Kurugami. these would be soem of the hardest enemies you would face.
SORCERERS- Sorcerers are men and women who have been granted demonic powers through the practice and worship of demon lords. they have lost their souls through this process and now seek only one thing, power. to get powere they will do anything necessary, even kill innocent people, they can eb the most dangerous people on earth if not treated with care. These are some of the top line enemies for Kurugami to hunt down.
KIBIGAMI ASSASSINS- Assassins come in a huge variety of forms, virtually a fighting style for each weapon in the game can be found here, they usually are found in red, green or blue ninja suits, they are very skilled and adept at making sneak attacks, usually getting the drop on Kurugami early in the game. They would stay very challenging throughout.
MALIKAI'S HORDE- Malikai's special horde is a mass of superiorly empowered and specially selected demons. they are the most destructive force in existence besides perhaps the Dark angel or Malikai. they come in forms from giant scorpions oozing magma and breathing fire to skilled demon assassins, and en and women throughout time who have sacrificed their souls to Malikai in exchange for life or power. they are the hardest enemies to defeat in the game and nearly impossible for a normal human to defeat,  each one is almost like fighting a boss.
VAMPIRES- Vampires need a category all in their own, they are vicious creatures who lay in the dark during the day and stalk the streets at night. they would have fangs and be very pale (like Kurugami almost), their strength, speed and agility are 20 times that of humans and most have some form of wicked power to decieve and kill innocents. they are the scum of this world, and are quite rare, they are the number one enemies of Kurugami besides Malikai's horde. Kurugami would need to have fun with vampires as well, since the only way to kill them is A. stab them in the heart with a silver weapon then fills their mouths with garlic, burn them, and then scatter their ashes or B. put them in direct sunlight which would instantly incinerate them. also, the sunlight power could kill them as well.

                      Wheww, gettin near the end now. Kurugami would not get allies but would meet them, for instance, despite his frightening appearance and cold demeanor he joins a resistance guild against the reign of the Kibigami assassins guild. for them he does missions and wahtnot, but he would never fight alongside allies. there would be like one really cool mission where Kurugami would fight alone against Malikai's horde, this would of course be after he boosted his abilities to beyond imagination so he could continue on to fight Malikai. This battle scene would be epic, and be alot like the one in Zone of the Enders 2. actually the whole combat system is kinda like that too, only not.
                      In this game, Kurugami could use enemies themselves as weapons, for instance, say he weakened an enemy to the finsihing move state, then decided to tear his head off of his body. the spine comes out with the head so he can rip out the spinal cord and use that like a whip (Very gruesome game as you can see). Time would pass in this game too, as would weather. weather would be rain, sun, cloudy, snowy, blizzard, thunderstorm, dewey, and so on. every 30-45 minutes would be like half of a day in game.
                      Finally, i really like this game idea, but i want everyone out there to be completely honest and let me know if i could change anything. and one last thing, i would want this game to be about at least 25 hours long, thats if you just followed the main story.

                     Thats my idea, i may clean it up a little in the future but for now i think its interesting enough. tell me what u think, and remember, im still a little rusty and its 2:30 in the mroning and i have to get up early tomorrow. whew, and i think everyone should know. i got inspirations from Samurai X, Legacy of kain 2: blood omen and zone of the enders. Again, let me know if im missing something.