Predictable Character Arcs

[Kuja Las Vegas]

We all know the drill. Predictable character arcs and cliches are staples of RPGs. In particular I loved how in FFXII, Vaan thinks Basch murdered this brother, and then five minutes into the game, "It wasn't me, it was my twin brother working for Vayne." Vaan: "I forgive you."

So here the character arcs re-summarized, and how I think they will go down in the end:

===========LIGHTNING
Lightning: "I hate kids! Especially that whiny bitch Hope! I ain't got time for no stupid kid!"

[As evident by many screenshots, Lightning and Hope are forced to pair up and work together at certain times throughout the game. Over the course of the game, they gain a bond.]

Lightning: "I like you now, Hope. You're alright. You're a good kid (pats on the head) :wub: (but non-sexually, SERIOUSLY ppl, imagine if Ashe rode Larsa :blink:).

===========SNOW
Lightning to Snow: "You goddamn poseur! You got Serah captured by teh enemy!" [Punches Snow twice. Punches Snow forty more times]. In the end, something happens, either Serah dies or is rescued.

150 hours later, after beating the final boss Jihl (who possibly went Sephiroth on Serah, with a sniper rifle gunblade, as the Serah was summoning Meteor to kill Cocoon), Lightning to Snow: "I forgive you, Snow. Let's be friends again. You would've been a good man for my sister."

===========VANILLE
Vanille: "I'm secretly working for Jihl! Yay! She made me her bitch. She seduced me into working for teh enemy."

10 hours later,

Vanille: ":'( Nooooo, I can't betray my friends. And Hope and Dajh are sooooo cute and kawaiiiiiii:wub:. Fuck you Jihl, you big-boobed bitch, I fights!"

===========HOPE
Hope to Snow: "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my mother, or rather, got her killed. Prepare to die. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my mother, you six-fingered, gloved, monk, poseur freak! Prepare to die. (repeat 30 times)

5 hours later,

Snow is hanging off a cliff. "Hope! Give me your hand!"

[Hope just stares at him. An evil look comes into his eyes, and he just walks away.]

Snow falls off but survives. Hope has a guilt trip. Later on, Hope and Snow have to work together, and Snow saves Hope even though Hope left Snow to die.

Hope: "I forgive you now."

===========SAZH
Lightning: "Teh Enemy are shooting at us!"
Sazh: "Because I'm Black. Those bastards!"

5 minutes later,

Vanille: "The Pulse Fal'Cie cursed us, we're all L'Cies now!"
Sazh: "Driving while Black. Those bastards!"

10 minutes later,

Jihl: "Your slave name is Kunta Kinte!" [whiplash]
Sazh: ":nag:OH MY GOD. HOW CAN THIS NOT BE BECAUSE I AM BLACK!!!?"

15 minutes later,

Dajh: "Heeyyyyyy! You're my daddy!!!!!!!!!!!! :wub:"
Lightning: ">_< Oh god, ANOTHER stupid kid."
Vanille: "Meh. Hope's cuter cause he's Whyt :rolleyes:"

In the end, provided Dajh doesn't get shot through the head by Jihl's sniper rifle, Sazh marries Vanille and raises his son Dajh in peace. Presumably Serah dies, Lightning marries Snow, and adopts Hope as a child. Jihl dies, Yaag dies, the Fal'Cies disappear, Cocoon is blasted from the sky, and everyone settles down on Pulse with the cave-men.

On a more serious note, why does the party split up in pairs at certain ponits in the game? Lightning w/ Hope, Vanille w/ Sazh, etc.? And what the hell happens to Snow? We haven't seen him captured by Jihl (she captured Vanille and Sazh).

[Falsate]

Clearly speculation, good! Now, I want to just say that I feel the party probably splits up because they each have focuses to execute. I mean if they stay together like idiots and don't complete their focus, then won't they turn int a Cie corpse?

The way I see it is the have to do with they need to. If that means splitting up because they are given a new focus, then by all means nessecary do so. Another thing, we could just be seeing the beginning of the game where the party is barely meeting.

[Reesie Cup]

(but non-sexually, SERIOUSLY ppl, imagine if Ashe rode Larsa :blink:).

We don't need to imagine, we've got pictures and cartoons to do that for us :P

I think the party might split up in some places because they've got different objectives or focuses.. For example, in FF8, one party went to the space station while the other party stayed to protect Esthar.

One person might run off to do something on their own, the party could be seperated, or the characters could've been split in two groups at the beginning of the game, but meet later on.

[tag69]

One of the few things I loved about FF8 was when the party split up for a while!
I don't know why but it added a great mix and kept the party format intresting and not stale.
So I hope that the party splits up once in a while and maybe somtimes you could choose the party (like in sidequests or somthing).

[Thula]

Vanille: "I'm secretly working for Jihl! Yay! She made me her bitch. She seduced me into working for teh enemy."Oh this is so Shuyu <3



Lightning: I'm totally a badass indipendent womun that doesn't need nobody and I'm also an hardcore terrorist but secretly I'm totally a fragile person who act kewl becoz I have to protect my younger sister that is bronken or something and can't do it by herself. Btw nicknames are the latest fashion in Cocoon so I ditched my real name to look moar kewl.
Snow: I the hero I protect ppl and totally let nobody die because I the hero rite? Brb going to look at lolis.
Serah: I'm cute and my role is to do things while looking cute, even when a strange liquid tentacle think is about to turn me into a something I can't defend myself becoz I'm too busy looking cute. Not to mention you'll spend 3/4 of the game tring to rescue me because the main villian or something got me captured while I was being cute.

[ShikamaruNara]

I do hope that the group will split up, into a groups of your choosing. And that it would effect the character development.

[thedarkknight]

I do hope that the group will split up, into a groups of your choosing. And that it would effect the character development.

that would be pretty cool

[Falsate]

I use to hate having trained one party and then you have to use a completely different faction. Like XII, it allowed you to use whoever.. whenever, no character development though..

[tag69]

Id love if they all went into this huge dungeon and they had to split up and go different areas in the place and you could change your current characture party to another one to solve puzzles and etc

[Kuja Las Vegas]

Id love if they all went into this huge dungeon and they had to split up and go different areas in the place and you could change your current characture party to another one to solve puzzles and etc

That was IMHO, one of the best parts of the games. Like in FF8, Ultimecia Castle. That was the shit right there. Have one party stand on a switch so another party can step across the chandalier without it falling.

Also in FF9, in Garland's world (Pandaemonium?) there's an Active Time Event (ATE) known as The Elevator. It allows you to switch between your two parties to get to hidden treasures. While most ATES were retarded and just gave more character exposition, this ATE actually had a purpose: to switch parties.

In FF5, you split up to take two towers down simultaneously on ExDeath's world.

In FF6, with its gazillion characters, you frequently split up into up to 3 parties and switched between them in dungeons.

What would be REALLY COOL is if there's a mission in FFXIII where you're trying to take down Cocoon. You have one party in Cocoon, and you switch actively with another party on Pulse. And they do shit together, like down a power generator or a Fal'Cie on Pulse, which allows the party up on Cocoon to advance into Jihl's palace or some shit.

[Falsate]

Yeah I remember in FF6 you had to have a character step over a switch especially when you were about to meet Sabin (?) I can't remember the part, but it was definately interesting.

[rise007]

We all know the drill. Predictable character arcs and cliches are staples of RPGs. In particular I loved how in FFXII, Vaan thinks Basch murdered this brother, and then five minutes into the game, "It wasn't me, it was my twin brother working for Vayne." Vaan: "I forgive you."


What a spoiler for me, man. You could've used a warning, you know.

[Tiger Lily]

LMAO! U know, I had the exact same theory with Vanille. I, too, thought she was working with Cocoon's army covertly. Certain cutscenes made it seem like she has a sneaky little secret she was hiding from the rest of the team.

I luv your Sazh predictions. LOL! Ahhh Hell! I luv all of them. Very well thought out.

[Kuja Las Vegas]

Oh this is so Shuyu <3



Lightning: I'm totally a badass indipendent womun that doesn't need nobody and I'm also an hardcore terrorist but secretly I'm totally a fragile person who act kewl becoz I have to protect my younger sister that is bronken or something and can't do it by herself. Btw nicknames are the latest fashion in Cocoon so I ditched my real name to look moar kewl.
Snow: I the hero I protect ppl and totally let nobody die because I the hero rite? Brb going to look at lolis.
Serah: I'm cute and my role is to do things while looking cute, even when a strange liquid tentacle think is about to turn me into a something I can't defend myself becoz I'm too busy looking cute. Not to mention you'll spend 3/4 of the game tring to rescue me because the main villian or something got me captured while I was being cute.

^^THAT.

And wtf happens to Serah? She gets turned into a crystal or something? A CUTE crystal :wub: