Plot: Reapers

[punchybot]

I have been brainstorming, writing a script, world building etc for a year now for a game I would like to call Reapers, however, I have a small urge to change the name to something more appropriate. For now though, we'll focus on the plot. :)

I am a BIG fan of the Tales of series, so a lot of my inspirations come from that series. However, it will not be a clone in anyway. I am a single person developer, and plan on keeping things like the battle system simple, and rather focus on story. This isn't to say the battle system will be boring, as I will work in ways to make battles fun, interesting, and challenging.

The game heavily focuses on the souls - the souls power everything in the world. Life is powered by souls - but souls are not limitless amount of energies, hence they "burn out," and that is where death kicks in. Souls are like matter however, they cannot be created nor destroyed. So when a soul is burnt out, it needs to be recycled and regenerated. However, it needs to be retrieved by those who are tasked with doing so, which is where the Reapers come in.

The World

Spoiler

Reapers live in the Endplane (think underworld), which is a mirror of the Brioplane (the living world). Between the two planes, is the Transplane (the world inbetween). It's purpose serves as the connection between the worlds, and it's only purpose is for the TRANSITION to occur. It's like glue holding the planes together.

Reapers function as Harvesters, Hunters, and Recoverers. Harvesters, obviously, go out within the Endplane and find the lost burnt out souls of the Brioplane and bring them back to be recovered by the... you guessed it, Recoverers! The Hunters on the other hand, are pretty much the soldiers of the Endplane.

Not everyone believes in the Recycling (that's the process in which souls are regenerated), and so it creates those who rebel, for varying reasons. These Reapers are deemed Rippers, and to the Reapers, they only wish to bring chaos to the world. The Hunters are to go out to the Endplane and find these Rippers, and Reap their souls, and any other souls they may have taken.

Reapers are obviously, made from souls. But the way they are created is unique. When a living person is met with heavy grief, and choose to take their own life, their soul becomes a Reaper. This is the world giving this soul another chance at another life, and to fulfill the purpose. For when a soul that is not burnt out naturally, and not killed by another, it retains its energy. In the Endplane, that energy is not used as quickly. This gives Reapers 1000 years of life, before it can be returned to the Brioplane.

There are 6 elements.

Fire
Water

Wind
Nature

Light
Darkness

Each pairing foil one another.

Fire, Water, Wind, and Nature have their own elemental goddesses that give their gifts to the land.

Light and Darkness are just naturally occurring in everything.

Reapers are embodiments of Darkness, usually.

Setting

Spoiler

The Brioplane (which basically means the Life Plane) is a world that is not filled with much life at all. Most is a wasteland like desert with few forests and other terrain. The reason for this is because the Elemental Goddess, Nature, is missing. In reality, she is captured and is unable to provide her element to the land.

Characters

Spoiler

Enzo -
A young Reaper, learning the world with his mentor, Aston. He is a cold person, and is all business. He wishes only to accomplish his task and carry out his mission. He is a hunter, and wishes to eradicate all Rippers.

Aston -
Another Reaper Hunter, who is the mentor of Enzo. He is laid back, often jokes, and doesn't take much too seriously, unless it comes to his mission. Despite the differences he and Enzo have, they are good partners and find a bond between one another, which makes them a good team.

Nei -
A human female who has had their soul damaged leaving her in a coma. She is the typical shy mellow female you find in most Tales game. She is innocent, and caring. Her goal in life is to restore the world to its natural state, filled with life. She finds sanctum with another's soul in a weird circumstance. Her soul conjoins with the soul of a Ripper which Enzo and Aston were hunting, which she is named Natalie.

Natalie-
A ripper who seeks to live her own life and not follow her purpose. Her soul is damaged due to a fight with Enzo and Aston, and finds salvation from Nei, where their souls agree to piggyback off each other until they are healed. This causes outbreaks within Nei, where she will turn into a "Ripper mode" (basically where Natalie is in control of Nei). Natalie is a powerful Ripper, and it is never a good thing for foe or friend when she breaks loose. She is the foil to Nei, as she is destructive and wicked.

Zadock-
A human male hunter in the Brioplane, in which he hunts the oddities of the world, like mega-monsters, vampires, the undead, Reapers (Rippers, but not to a Hunter's knowledge), and otherworldly things. Truth be told, he is a werewolf himself, and has chosen to "hide in plain sight". He is a friendly person who seeks only to do good in the world and protect others.

Renward-
A human male ex-general of the Empire (name T8D) who is seeking revenge because he was wrongfully exhiled. He is the typical soldier like person, but has a family and only wishes to see them again. Unknowingly to him, he is actually an undead, due to certain circumstances.

Lieve-
A female fairy, she is playful, silly, and is on a quest to find the Gjallarhorn. She joins the party just because. She has no idea where the horn is, and figures that the party will be her best chance in finding the relic.

The game's theme is death. The main villain is a mysterious man named Brade, who seeks to rid of death from the world. He himself is nearly immortal, as he is a Lich. Liches in the world are beings who have tethered their soul to a point so when they die, they are reborn to that location, making Brade nearly impossible to stop. The story will be told amongst the three planes, fighting against a man who can't die, who hates death, and wants to "kill everyone". Brade leads a cult, and his plans seem odd for someone who hates death, but he has purpose.


Brade is probably the most interesting. He used to be a hunter, like Zadock, but then his family was murdered. He tried to stop their souls from being reaped, but failed. He then became a Lich, in his grand scheme to defeat death itself. His overall plan is to have a giant planet-wide suicide, which will force a big portion of the souls to the Endplane. When this happens, the planet's guardian Cerberus emerges. Because all the souls are quickly migrating to the Endplane, the planet thinks it is under attack. Cerberus is to wipe clean the planet. Brade wishes to use the guardian to sever the ties of the Brioplane and Endplane, and live in a world of Reapers.

Features

Spoiler

The game will have "skits" as you know from the Tales series (basically optional discussion between the party members about random things, or things relevant to the story. It is meant to build character progression.)

The game will utilize a sideview battle system.

I certainly have more... but right now this is enough. Please, if you have any questions, or have found some inconsistencies, please let me know. I will be updating this post to include more about the actual plot the game takes place in.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Bizarre Monkey]

It's some cool concepts you've got here. I have a very different version of it for Heldath, which is the closest thing to Heldath in my Universe, the Soulcatchers are the agents responsible for collecting Souls, these souls are needed to power Heldath's various systems. But it's not so much a job one has to do, it's a desire some may have. Others become Lichen, such as Naxon, Hel'dath's purpose is to depopulate places that are overpopulated, where Galvana, closest thing to heaven, is the inverse. The Galvana version of a Soulcatcher is a Guardian Angel.

I like the sound of this villain you got going. Brade is also a really good name for a villain.

 

[punchybot]

Thanks!

Yeah, I'm into my villain a bit more than the heroes. But that's okay! His reasons are justified to him, and feels like he is doing right. When you have someone who is dedicated to something they feel is right, they are even more dangerous. His conviction is the danger in this scenario and he has prepared for a long time to carry it out.

 

[pyn]

I'm really digging this setup. Kind of confused on the overall setting of the game though. It sounds as though the main world it takes place in is devoid of life? Or am I just terribly misreading that?

 

[punchybot]

I did explain it poorly. But you're mostly correct. The Brioplane (lifeplane) is pretty much the opposite to its own name. It's in pretty much a post apocalyptic setting, and this an issue the heroes of the game will tackle. It is mostly devoid of life, but not completely so as there are still forests and things, and people are abundant and food is an issue to an extent, but towns tend to be near the ocean to farm fish and such.

In this universe, there are 6 elements:

Fire
Water
Wind
Nature
Darkness
Light

Each of these elements have a Elemental which is the being who powers their specific elemental into the world. Nature is of course, MIA. She was captured by a certain people a long time ago. Her sisters are trying to find her. But that only reads in catastrophic events around the world.

I hope this cleared that up for you!

Edit: Made an error with the elements. It is fixed now. Earth = Nature, and isn't a separate element. I forgot about wind. See what happens when I don't double check my notes?

 

[pyn]

Thanks, it definitely did clear it up. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this project's development, and hopefully one day a completed game.

 

[Storytailor]

This game sounds absolutely fascinating. How far along in the story are you, or have you finished? I'm curious to learn of how the group figures out how to defeat a lich-type villain.

You mentioned that the Brioplane is the land of the living, but is also a post-apocalyptic world. Is it going to have a medieval feel to it (most default RPG Maker MV art will probably support this) or are you aiming for more of a modern (or even futuristic) setting?

I like the idea of having the events and focus on story-building. For those who maybe prefer to have a gameplay-oriented item to keep them interested and occupied, do you have anything special planned for abilities, world exploring, questing, etc.? I'm aware you said you weren't going to dive too deep into the battle system details and things of that nature.

So far, amazing work. This is a very fascinating plot you've developed.^u^

 

[punchybot]

Thank you!

Well, his defeat is definitely going to take some more effort than just bashing his head in, that's for sure. :) And I have most of the story written out via plot points, and I have nearly the first arc written out. I am still changing around some things, so I have been hesitant to flesh everything out just yet. Just trying to avoid certain pitfalls. For example, I don't want to over develop any of the supporting characters.

It's more medieval than anything. Any advances in technology wasn't that great before that apocalypse happened, but there may be a thing or two here or there that the party may run into that is definitely of higher tech / architecture than what is currently available. (For example perhaps they will run into an Aqueduct). I've tossed the idea of a medieval world with remnants of a modern era hinted, but I do not own the skills to create resources, and searching for them or requesting them will take up too much time. It's better to make a vision with the tools I have at my disposal (although still not entirely limiting, just needed certain resources for every map is just too much over something here and there.) However, the Endplane is unaffected by that certain Apocalypse and as such, definitely have more of a magic based structures and technology, which is above what the Brioplane would posses, and rightfully so.

I did say that the story is my focus, but I don't plan on letting the battle system run at the default. I definitely want to make battles fun to play, but simple. Tales of series are known for their action based battles, and that's just too above me to implement in my game. So clever uses of the sideview battle system in combination with Yanfly's Core Battle Engine and associated plug-ins will be enough for me to toy with to make a game that is fun to play.

I do like a good boss battle. I definitely think creating fun and unique fights are a key to a great game. A hard boss battle tied to an emotional scene can really bring depth to the game, and that is something I am definitely going to attempt to accomplish.

One feature I like are the enemy sprites on the overworld that chase you for encounters. I feel that is way above par over random battles. However, if I can't find the talent to accomplish that seamlessly, allowing the player to "turn off" random battles is a good substitute. Random battles aren't challenging and I do not plan on punishing the player with any RNG if I can. Losing because you keep running into tough enemies or getting frustrated because you're exploring keeps getting interrupted is a terrible feeling I've had with games, and I seek to eliminate that in one way or another.

World exploring? Hell yes. You can count on optional boss battles, and maybe even a cameo battle of some sort meant for someone who grinded perhaps a little too much.

Speaking of optional battles, I think some sort or ReBattle Theater would be great in a game. Imagine facing that hard boss fight you had at level 15, but this time it's at max level? Do this with every boss... it can definitely create some fun for the player. Perhaps even throw in a twist. It's like [That boss] HARD MODE! :)

Quests? Definitely. They help the player take a break from what is going on the game. The quests can be taken from citizens of towns to your own party members. It can perhaps even further their development at another level.

Abilities? Well, the game does need something to put it above the rest. This, I haven't given much thought yet because it's more of a mechanic than story related. But I do realize the main character is a REAPER and his abilities need to be in some form of gameplay. So we'll see!