Idea Info Name: Anarchia Index: Primary Category: Action Submitted: 1/26/2003 6:45:23 AM Written By: arkainjalex

STORY:

Anarchia is a fast-paced 3^rd person action game. It takes place in a distant universe, in another time, in the world of Elysia. It is a place where the cosmic forces of Order and Chaos constantly battle for the right to dominate reality. For eons, Balance has been preserved between the two forces, but now Chaos has gained the upper hand. The minions of Chaos, known as the Xaosects, have discovered and subverted the Star of Balance, providing Chaos with the edge to overcome Order. The Xaosects ravaged the world of Elysia, corrupting it and burning it to ash, from then on it would be known as Anarchia. No longer a lush world of tranquility and beauty, but now a barren wasteland under the dominion of Chaos. With no further resistance, the Xaosects sought to bring about the Cataclysm and personify their master Chaos. It had never been done before, but if Chaos was manifested as a being in the material world, he could unmake reality as it exists…and reshape it to his desire.

In a last effort to undo this great disaster, Order passed on its power to a mortal being, a young man by the name of Zariel. When his hometown of Elantra was destroyed by the Xaosects, he was the only one spared, kept safe by the essence of Order. He was chosen to bear the mantle of the Praetor, the avatar of Order. His purpose is to track down the Star of Balance and destroy it, negating any advantage the Xaosects may have. Then he is to prevent the coming of the Cataclysm, and resurrect the essence of Order in an effort to restore Balance. Unfortunately, the death of his friends and family awakened a terrible rage within Zariel. Rage is an aspect of Chaos, a destructive and uncontrollable force. Aside from defeating the minions of Chaos, Zariel must struggle to fight his anger…or succumb to it.

Zariel is a human, but he has been empowered by the essence of Order. His hair has changed to glistening silver and his eyes are a piercing green. As the Praetor, Zariel can assume a special form for a limited but reasonable amount of time. His body is covered by a metallic silver exo-skeleton and it offers him great protection. He possesses long blades between the wrist and elbow that can fold different ways for many types of attacks. On his back is a pair of energized wings that he may use to fly and boost his speed with. Think of this form as a mix between (are u ready?) the ninja from Metal Gear Solid, Jehuty from ZOE, Xion the Unborn from Bloody Roar 3, and the Guyver, if u know japanese anime or the live action movies. Zariel also uses a special dual-bladed sword and a glaive/chakram for ranged attacks that returns when thrown.

Along his way, he will meet certain allies who will double as playable characters or simply NPC’s. Example allies are:

Ciresa-  a rogue female Xaosect, an experimental biomechanical being. Unlike other Xaosects, she appears to be completely human-like, except when she assumes her combat mode. In combat mode she becomes somewhat more cyborg-like and has a nasty variety of blades, claws, chainsaws, and other sharp objects that come out of her body.

Nurasha- he is a Sar’Nagrah, a race of dark beings that are extremely rare. They dwell on a world of complete darkness and feed off of all forms of light or heat. Amazingly, Nurasha was raised by the arch-enemies of his race; the Aesthar, beings that worship the sun. He is smaller than most of his race, but quicker, and he does not possess their evil nature or hatred, nor does he rely on absorbing light to survive. His abilities take the form of shadow-based powers and stealth abilities.

Arbiter- a mysterious character that offers limited help. He possesses great power but refuses to involve himself in the war between Order and Chaos. He belongs to the race known as the Phaethia, almost angelic beings that detach themselves from the affairs of all other races.

Ixia-  a young girl of about 13 years. Despite her young age, she has extremely advanced psychic abilities which are almost unheard of in a human. Many of her people were also obliterated by the Xaosects as well, and she has set out to destroy the Xaosects with reckless abandon. She offers to aid Zariel in his quest to defeat Chaos, but she is still young and inexperienced.

Aside from allies, there will be many enemies to deal with as well. Xaosects (pronounced Zay-O-sects) are a bio-mechanical race of corrupters and destroyers. They exist only as a virus, they assimilate all life forms and and thereby increase their number. If you’ve ever seen the Phyrexians in Magic: the Gathering then you can get an idea of what I’m talking about, except these are not undead in anyway. The Xaosects would appear very horrid and twisted, and their appetite for death matches their grotesque appearance. The name vaguely resembles “insects” and some will have insectoid characteristics. You can expect them to get bigger and badder as the game goes on. Some will be monstrous constructs with whirling blades all over, while others may be small and agile, with rotating, serrated blades instead of fingers. While I haven’t pinpointed all the types, there will be plenty of interesting and freakish enemies. Bosses will also be large and dangerous, and it will be commonplace to fight mobs of enemies.

As I mentioned before, Zariel is out to destroy the Star of Balance, but he has no idea what this is. It is only later that he discovers it is not an object, but a human being. At that point the story may alter dramatically depending on whether he refuses to kill him/her and instead offer protection, or if he fulfills his intended duties. Some choices in the game will produce different results in the story, there will not be many of these choices, but they will be significant enough. Zariel must also not give in to his anger, and fall into the grips of Chaos. With his powers, it is easy for him to lose control, if he steps over the edge, he may actually end up aiding Chaos. There will be multiple endings, depending on the paths chosen and other events that took place with certain characters. This is just a rough sketch, there are many more details to be worked in.

GAMEPLAY:

This is a 3^rd person action game, and it will offer very free movement control. Something between Devil May Cry and Zone of the Enders, depending on whether you’re on the ground or in the air etc. Combat would be very fast paced and consist of melee combo attacks for the most part. One button would be to jump, one for a quick attack, one for a stronger attack, one for abilities, and one to throw the glaive/chakram weapon. Of course there would also be buttons to lock onto foes and transform into the Praetor. When holding the lock button down, you would be able to perform different moves by pressing a strong/fast attack button and a different direction on the right analog stick (like on ps2 for example, sorry to all you GC or XBOX people). How would this work? I’m thinking the attack buttons would be mapped to the shoulder buttons and your attack would change direction and motion as you rotate the right analog stick, this way you could hit multiple enemies around you when swinging your dual-bladed sword.

You would not gain new weapons in the game, but would gain special points to purchase and upgrade abilities and weapons. This would work on paths of progression. For instance, you would choose how your character develops. Do you prefer using your ranged weapon? Then you can add special abilities to it: make it split into a hail of projectiles, energize it to slice through multiple enemies in a row, have it home in enemies, or even make it hover around a single enemy continuously dealing damage. If you prefer melee combat, you could purchase new combo moves and enhancements for your sword. You could have a plasma based weapon that slices through enemies, or instead make it a morphing weapon that extends and bends to strike multiple foes. You could also power up the Praetor form in similar ways (improved armor and wings etc.). It would be somewhat RPG-like since you’d customize your abilities.

When locked on to an enemy, pressing jump and using the right stick would allow for different escape moves. It would be simple to combine aerial attacks as well, this game would have very comfortable control. The ability button would be used in a special way. You would hold it down and press any of the normal buttons, each button would have a different effect. One would give you a burst of speed that would take you over gaps or straight up walls, another would launch a wave of energy that would cut enemies, and others could include a reflective force field or a discharge of energy that would spread out to damage enemies, but leave you vulnerable or drain life force. In Praetor form, Zariel would be faster and stronger, have access to his arm blades, and have the ability to fly. Here the controls would be somewhat different to accommodate for this. The right stick would control altitude, and left would control movement. The jump button would act as a boost to quickly evade or lunge forward when locked on etc. Abilities in Praetor form would be similar but far more exaggerated. Just in case you’re wondering, flight would not be mandatory it would be activated by a special button press.

As for the other characters, they would all have similar button layouts, but different moves. While Ciresa focuses mostly on deadly melee attacks, Ixia would depend on all long range psychic blasts or something, so the play style varies. Nurasha would be an agile and stealthy character with assassin style moves. As for Arbiter, he is something of a power character, meaning he is stronger than he should be, but he is only used for a little while.

Last but not least, I suppose the game would be somewhat level or “mission” based. Levels could include the ruins of Zariel’s home city Elantra and various other cities, the wastelands of Elysia/Anarchia, and the Xaosect homeworld. It is also important to note that things in the story may not be what they seem, you’d have to play through multiple times to see it all and figure out the truth. I mean who knows? If the force of Chaos desires the universe to itself, what does Order desire…? And what is the fate of the Star of Balance? Can Zariel resist the dark urges inside him, or will he fall prey to Chaos? What of the allegiances of the other characters in the game? The answers of these questions may vary depending on how the game is played.

INSPIRATIONS: