Matsumori Days

I've been thinking lately of the various magical elements of the game, and how each character fits into the element I've given him or her. Currently, my character vs. element combinations looks like:

Goho -> fire
Joruri -> divine
Katai -> wind
Masako -> damned
Toshie -> water
Kojiro -> earth

Fire is an element of destruction, but it is also a very emotive, passionate element as well. This isn't Goho. If there is any character in this game that is guided by passions or emotions the most, it would be Katai.

Wind is an element of speed, and freedom. "Speed", however, does not necessitate speed of the body. It may mean speed of the mind. Katai doesn't really fit either of these molds. Joruri might not be a very witty person (thought I can probably write her as such), but she is, at the very least, supposed to come off as a "free spirit".

Water is an element of change, but also the element of beginnings, and perhaps life itself. As far as the "change" factor goes, the spontaneous Toshie is the perfect fit for this element. This choice seems to be the only one I got right.

Earth is an element of toughness, fortitude, and strength. These don't strike me as any of Kojiro's attributes. Goho might be exceptionally naive, or outright stupid, but he does have physical strength and toughness.

Divine is, obviously, the element of "good". The heart of goodness is selfless community. A better way of defining it is the saying, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". While a good person would prefer not to sacrifice anything, he or she would be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices for the betterment of others. Joruri might have a bit of this, but if ever there was a person who has this mentality, it would be Masako.

Damned is, obviously, the element of "evil". The heart of evil is self-centered narcissism. Nations can rise and fall, entire populations can perish, but all an evil person wants is to have as much power as (in)humanly possible. Masako was never anything like this. However, there is a certain narcissism to Kojiro...

So, my intended character vs. element combinations will end up as:
Goho -> earth
Joruri -> wind
Katai -> fire
Masako -> divine
Toshie -> water
Kojiro -> damned

I'm not going to make any excuses: the initial dungeons of this game were centered around the characters acquiring their magic skills. Since I'm essentially changing what characters are getting what skills, the dungeons, not to mention possible encounters, have to be redone entirely. I was meaning to do that anyway (crazy-stupid game balance issues in respect to critters, not to mention the actual mapping), but not exactly in the extreme that I'm finding myself needing to do.

The bad news is that it might still be a while before I get back to this project in earnest. The good news is that I can use this re-write to give my characters, well, more character! I'm actually half-considering making a "Character" tab that, instead of a standard character description blat, would have a mock interview between the Matsumori Daily (the in-game school newsletter) and the various characters of import in the game. I'm not sure how viable that idea is for a game with six party members, plus whatever NPCs are of import, though.