Idea Info Name: Gaidara.Magic v 3.22f Index: Primary Category: RPG Submitted: 8/24/2003 11:25:22 PM Written By: Truth and Untruth Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition Book Highly Recommended !

update: 11/23/2003

I added a whole lot to the story, characters and battle.  Now, the game idea is mostly complete instead of being the shell it was before.  Note: the next paragraph has many spoilers!

The name of the game's world is called Gaidara.  This is a futurisitic world that is comprised of six kingdoms and one large territory that lies outside of the jurisdiction of the kingdoms.  The six kingdoms are controled by something called "Magic," which is a huge computer program that creates and transports energy, controls machines, and takes care of a whole lot of everyday things for the people of the kingdoms.  Well, some of them anyway.  A lot of people, including those that live outside of the kingdoms, don't have access to the wonder of the Magic program.  The flow of Magic is controlled by statues called Goroteck that exist in each of the six kingdoms.  The number of Goroteck per kingdom depends on its size.  The Goroteck are sentiate beings whose emotions control the output of Magic.  If the Goroteck become too angry, Magic may go crazy and start to create uncontrollable amounts of energy, which will result in poor weather that goes as far as meteor showers.
Aside of being just the program, Magic also refers to the special energy forces that can be created by its use.  Most people in Gaidara can't use magic, but there are a select few known as Acolytes.  The Acolytes essentially have the magic code flowing through them and they can manipulate its energy as they please, but not without cost.  The use of magic sucks away at the soul of the Acolyte and causes them to descend to chaos.  If their soul is completely drained, they will die.  However, their soul does recover when they abstain from using magic.  Although the Acolytes may be able to control magic, they cannot access the program directly and thus they cannot do things like change or redirect Magic's output.  Thus, Acolytes are unable to bring the wonder of Magic to the downtrodden, even if they might want to.  However, Acolytes can use magic to attack enemies and recover wounds.

Battle: The battle system is definitely different from the traditional RPG, but I hope it will be enjoyable.  Here is the breakdown:

Your party has its own independent set of stats.  One stat is the turn number, which determines the number of times your party, as a whole, can attack per round.  If your turn number is twelve, you can have everyone attack once or one person attack twelve times, it's up to you.  However, you have to make good use of all your characters because they do not have the usual set of abilities (attack, defend, etc.)  Instead, these abilities are spread throughout the twelve characters so that you will have to incorporate them all to be successful.  Instead of just picking another ability for the same character, you must use a different character.  Each character has three abilities to their name.  These three are related and they have three levels of strength.  Each character is limited to the number of times they can use each ability (they can use the strongest one very few times).  This limit rises as the character grows, recovers if the character does not fight, and recovers fully after battle.
After you have chosen the order in which your character turns will proceed that round, the battle will ensue.  Any characters you did not include will be safely off of the battlefield, and can't be targeted by enemies.  The flow of battle at this time is like FFX.  Your characters will perform their actions based on speed (but they will not change the order you determined at the start of the round.)  Depending upon speed, the character's action gauge will fill up at a certain rate.  When it is full, they can act.  The first character to attack will be closest to the enemies and take the brunt of damage.  When a character's turn arrives, you can do two things: move the character or perform an action.  If you move the character, their action gauge will decrease depending upon the distance you have moved them.  Once you finish moving them, their action gauge will refill, and when it is full they can act again.  If an enemy's gauge fills first, they will act before the character.  If an ally's gauge fills, they will wait for the character to act, but act immediately after the character.  If you choose to have the character act, you may use their 1(red)-2(blue)-3(green) ability against any enemy or ally in range.  If they lack red/blue/green energy, they will not be able to use the ability of the corresponding level.  If you want them to recover energy, make sure they do not participate during the next round.  There are two types of abilities: action and reaction.  With action, the character acts immediately.  With reaction, the character acts immediately after the target enemy acts, or if the targeted ally is acted upon.  By the way, enemies also have 3 abilities of three strength levels.
When your non-magical characters attack or take damage, they earn red, blue, or green stars depending upon the strength and type of the attack.  If a character accumulates enough stars of a certain color, their red/blue/green skill will be replaced by a strong attack skill called Special Art.  You can use this Art to do major damage to your enemies or save it so that you can earn even more stars of that color and use an even stronger Special Art.  Your characters lose all of their stars after battle.  Remember: the four magic characters can't use Special Arts.
You may also use magic on your turn.  Magic is overpowered compared to other games, but the penalty is adgusted accordingly.  Magic costs something called purity.  Each character has a purity meter.  If this meter falls to zero, the game is over.  You have greater flexibility in determining the effects of your spells, but if you let it get carried away, you may cause more purity damage than you intended to.  You can select any spell line your character has learned (you learn spells from the Goroteck of the six kingdoms) and then select to cast it.  Different spells have different ranges.  You can enhance the range of the spell or move the target area (if the area is, say, a circle.)  Some spells have interesting target areas that allow you to draw their path on the battlefield.  Each spell costs some initial purity.  If you enhance the range or move the target area of a spell, it will cost even more purity.  Since you can move change range in small increments, your purity will decrease small decimal amounts.  You may not allow your characters' purity to fall to zero through targeting.  If you enhance the range of a spell enough, it will transform into a new spell.  For instance, if you use the fire spell and keep enhancing its range, it will eventually become the Firaga spell, which hits more times and has a larger base power.  Enhancing range also boosts the spell's power.  You must keep in mind that anyone, ally or enemy, or even the caster, that falls into the spell's range will be afflicted by it.  Also, many spells have lingering effects.  A Fire spell may cause embers to remain on the battlefield.  If anyone walks into them, they will take damage.  Lingering effects can be helpful, but as long as they remain, the character will continue to take more purity damage and it can fall below zero.  There are also some enemies that can cause purity damage.  Purity recovers after battle depending upon how much the character abstained from using magic.  This is the only way it can recover.  Everyone can use magic except ???? and if AMAU's Purity Fuel falls to zero, the game is not over, but he counts as being dead.
Once the round is over, you enter something called the Interval.  During the Interval, you may use items to heal your characters or enhance them in some way.  You can use as many items as you like, but the items you can take into battle are limited.  Outside of battle, you must equip battle-items from your inventory.  Since you cannot equip new battle items during battle, you must make sure not to waste the ones you have already equipped.  Also during the interval, you can have Xien-Li ascend to Chazin and use Meditate (explained later).  You can also change ammo for AMAU or Yuraia.  Once you've finished this, you can move on to assigning the action order for the round.  You cannot use characters that have no energy or HP.
Battle ends if everyone in your party is dead at once, if one party member's Purity Meter reaches zero, or if you win and kill all the enemies.  After battle, you receive points and guard points.  Points are for character growth.  Guard points translate into money later.

You control a group of twelve acolytes (though you only begin with one).  Here are their descriptions:

Xien-Li: The main character.  He is a swordsman with a mysterious past (that I won't spoil here).  A mystic (strong vs. magic, weak vs. physical) who is very strong overall; he is the strongest character.  He uses the katana, Muramasa in battle.  He's rather quiet and pensive. Xien-Li uses reaction abilities.  Red ability: Counter: single target.  Attacks after action at 1x power + half of enemy's bonus power for move used.  Blue ability: Dual Counter: Two targets.  Attacks after action of either at 1.25x Power + half of enemy's bonus power of move used.  Green ability: Hamedo: single target.  Attacks before action at 1.5x Power + half of enemy's bonus power of cancelled move.

Xiel-Li has a special form called Chazin.  You can ascend to Chazin during any interval of battle.  Chazin is super powered and can easily take on almost any enemy or boss in the game and kill them in a single round.  However, ascending to Chazin or using any of its powers causes permanent damage to Xien-Li's purity meter.  During the interval, you can use Meditate.  This boosts Chazin's power anywhere from 1.1x to 5x power.  Abilities: Red: Truth: Attack single target at 1x power.  Blue: Justice: Attack small cone target at 1.25x power.  Green: Peace: Attack single target at 1.5x power.

Gideon: The prince of the Selesttia Kingdom.  He is a physical fighter (weak against magic, strong vs. mystic) who uses the sword Excalibur.  High defense and attack, but slow.  He is the overprotective older brother of Susanna.  Red: Attack: Single target at 1x power.  Blue: Wide attack: small cone target at .8x power.  On one enemy it is 1.5x power.  Green: Critical: Single target at 2x power.

Sampson: Susanna's lover and the son of the late head general of Selesttia.  He tries to fill his father's shoes, but is more of a fighter than a tactician.  This leaves him with feelings of inadequacy.  He uses the spear Gae Bulg in battle.  Strong physical fighter.  He uses reaction abilities.  Red: Cover: protects single ally, taking .5 damage.  Blue: Dual Cover: protects one of two allies, taking .25 damage.  Green: Riposte: Protects single ally.  No damage, attacks twice at 1x power.

Susanna: Selesttia's princess and the lover of Sampson.  She has a strong connection to the Goroteck.  She feels suffocated by the presence of her overprotective brother, Gideon.  She is a powerful spell caster, but all she can do is cast magic.  She is also very weak physically, and is easily slaughtered by mystics.  She carries around her cane, Limstokes.  Red: Return: recovers .5 HP to target and removes one abnormal status point for each status.  Assist: recovers .25 HP to every ally and one abnormal status point for each status.  If Susanna is alone, she recovers .5 HP and all abnormal status points.  Memory: recovers all HP and abnormals status of a single target.

Noel: A woman that wields the hammer Mjollnir.  Her village was destroyed by a group of evil men seeking some artifacts.  Gideon eventually employs her as his body guard.  A very strong physical fighter and pretty fast too.  Red: Steal: attack at .4x power.  Chance to steal common item.  Blue: Mug: attack at .8x power.  .5 chance for chance to steal common or rare item.  Green: Theivery: attack at 1x power.  Chance to steal rare item.  5% kill target.

Ephron: A mysterious wise man who has met Xien-Li in the past.  He wants to hone Susanna's magic power.  He uses the Holy Staff Million Teller as his weapon.  A Mighty spell caster and is better on defense than the other casters. Red:  Bell Toll: adds one random status (points based on power).  Blue: High Noon: attacks all enemies at .25x power and adds one random status (points based on power).  Million: Attack at 1x power and adds many statuses.  5% kill target.

Kayko: A ninja/assassin who attempts to kill Gideon, but is stopped by Xien-Li and Noel.  She is betrayed by her employers and agrees to assist the party, which in turn forgives her.  A fast mystic that can steal.  Her weapon is the Kiyoumori.  Red: Toss: throw one item at single target (healing items are thrown to allies, damaging items are thrown at enemies.)  Blue: Throw: throw one item in a line, hits all targets in line.  Can also use second level throwing items.  Green: Magic Throw: throw magic items (take no purity damage).

Yuraia: Head Priestess of a High Magic Temple.  She uses the bow, Beast Dancer as well as her powerful magic to fight.  She is rather posh.  Red: Pin Fire: line target.  Attack at .8x power and has magic arrow effect.  Blue: Arrow Rain: attack all enemies at .75x power.  If there is only one enemy, attack at 1.5x power.  Magic arrow effect.  Green: Crystal Prism: cancels the next action of the target.  Magic arrow effect.

Jezuit: A Gorodua (servant of the Goroteck) who was banished by his comrades for disobedience.  This ruined his life and when you meet him, he is addicted to Pokoke (a drug).  Still, he is an incredibly strong mystic and he seeks to reform his life.  Great for battling magic enemies.  He wields the mighty Masamune.  He also uses reaction abilities.  Red: Copy: performs same action as single ally.  If action is Blue or Green, effects are reduced apporpiately.  Effects also based on Jezuit's power.  Blue: Monster Skill: single target.  Attacks at 1x power.  Special effects of copied enemy skill are added to attack OR single ally.  Same as Copy, but Blue skill effects are not reduced.  Mimic: performs same action as single ally.  Note: Jezuit cannot copy Special Arts.

Josef: The last of the physical characters.  He is a defensive powerhouse and hits hard as well with his powerful Carlthel.  He doesn't say much and always carries around a water bottle.  He uses reaction abilites.  Red: Guard: small circle area around Josef.  Takes .5 dmg.  All targeted allies take .25 dmg.  Not used on wide cone, wide circle or all target enemy attacks.  Screen Guard: Targets all allies.  Takes .25 dmg and allies take .25 dmg.  Statue: same as Guard but Josef takes no damage and attacks in a small cone at 1x power.

????: Nicknamed "Four-Q."  He is a mana beast that silenced himself so that he would not be able to use his deadly magic.  Consequently, he can't talk.  A powerful mystic fighter and the only character that can't cast spells.  Uses the Kikuichimonji to get the job done.  Red: Pure Speed: attack single target twice at .4x power.  High accuracy.  Fills next ally's action gauge.  Blue: Pure Power: attacks single target at 1.25x power.  Raises power of ally's next action.  Green: Purity: Raises power, speed and defense of single ally for the rest of the round.  Effects stack and carry over by half on the next round.

AMAU: "Automated Magic Attack Unit."  The final (magic) character is a robot.  He runs on magic fuel and can cast magic without damage to his nonexistent soul.  Blows foes away with his Silver Barrel gun.  Red: Silver Bullet: Attacks single target at 1x power.  Reduces armed ammo by 1.  Blue: Pulse Bullet.  Attacks wide cone area at 1x power.  Reduces ammo by 1.  Can only be used with "Pulse" type ammo.  Magic Bullet: Use magic bullet to cast magic without damaging Purity fuel.  Reduces appropriate ammo by 1.

As you probably guessed from reading, there are three types of fighters in the game: mystics, physicals and magicals.  This applies to enemies as well.  You should use magic against physical enemies, mystics against magical enemies and physical attacks against mystics.

Your main enemies are a group of men that are also acolytes.  They are trying to gather sixteen sacred artifacts (one of which is the Muramasa...) in order to resurrect a world-destroying force that they wish to control and use to take over the world.  The story is your characters' attempts to stop this evil, with some twists...

The final element of the game is the growth system.  It's different than the usual get EXP and level up system (though your weapons do level up that way.)  Each of the twelve characters gets a different "level up" item.  For instance, Xien-Li gets EXC (experience coins) by killing enemies, Gideon gets points that earn Power Stars by taking damage and attacking, and Jezuit gets Mystic Stars by rotating methods.  So if you want your characters to grow, you have to use them all in a balanced way.  Your characters will receive their level up item once they have earned enough points.

You earn Guard Points after battle and that is good for earning money.  Xien-Li is employed as Gideon's body guard.  He receives a salary per week, per day, per hour, and per step.  Depending upon  how many guard points you have accumulated, you can raise your salary.

Story: (Note, there are spoilers in here)

The adventure begins with Xien-Li going to the capital of the Selesttia kingdom.  The Goroteck have become angry and during the introduction, they become so angry that they cause meteors to rain and magically-created monsters to pop up inside Selesttia Palace.  Xien-Li, who is a powerful mystic, saves Gideon and Sampson as well as the rest of the Palace, from the monsters.  However, Susanna dies.  The Goroteck exhaust themselves and go into statis.  Thus, Susanna, who is an Acolyte, cannot die becuase there is still magic in her that supports her life.  Xien-Li, Gideon and Sampson save Susanna before the Goroteck become working again.  Xien-Li is the hero of the kingdom and Gideon wants him to be his bodyguard, but Xien-Li refuses.  He trains Gideon's new bodyguard, Noel, and then leaves.  He goes back to his old village that was destroyed long ago.  Here, he has a change of heart and decides to become Gideon's bodyguard.  He meets Ephron, a wise man that he knew since he was a child, and Ephron joins him.  The very night Xien-Li becomes Gideon's bodyguard, Kayko comes to kill Gideon.  Xien-Li and Noel stop her, and Xien-Li and Ephron pursue her a long way.  Kayko is betrayed by her employers, who refuse to save her.  Xien-Li wants to execute Kayko, but Ephron says it would be wiser to use her as an ally and thinks they can trust her because she has no reason to kill Gideon anymore.  Xien-Li listens to Ephron.  Back at the palace, Ephron discusses with Gideon about how they should go after Kayko's employers.  Gideon agrees and everyone decides to tag along.  On the way, they meet Yuraia, preistess of one of the High Magic Temples.  She wants to punish the same men that wanted to kill Gideon and thinks you could use some help, so she joins you.  At your next stop, you find the Gorodua (guardian of the Goroteck) temple.  Everyone at the temple acts very suspicious and they refuse to offer any help.  You meet Jezuit, a recently excommunicated Gorodua, who is in no mood to help you out.  While trying to secretly explor the Gorodua temple, its evil attendants attack you, but Jezuit comes to help you out (he doesn't rescue you per se, but he is helpful.)  He then joins you after being reinstated and the evil Gorodua are excommunicated.  On your next stop you meet Josef, who village was ransacked by the men you're chasing after long ago.  He has always sworn vengence and decides to help you out.  On your way to the Tech Sector, Xien-Li is attacked by his brother, Xien-Hom.  He leaves the party temporarily to chase after his brother.  He follows him to a place of great magic energy.  Here, he is attacked by an unbeatable magic foe.  However, the power of Chazin comes forth and Xien-Li is able to overcome it.  On the way back, the foe gets back up and chases him down, but ???? saves him.  Instead of pursuing his brother furthur (or sticking around to be attacked by that magical beast) Xien-Li leaves for the Tech Sector.  ???? follows him of course.  At the Tech Sector, Xien-Li rejoins the party and they find AMAU.  Ephron  powers him up.
A whole lot more happens after that, but I don't want to write it all here.  Just the beginning of the game, when you get everybody is what matters.  By the way, the actual stories are a lot more in depth than what I've written here.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Hopefully, I'll update the game even more later.