ENKER'S PROFILE

Got them - and a HUGE thank you for helping ;) does anyone fancy doing some sprite editing to create some more advanced and out-there designs? I have a short list of ones that certainlt won't be in ff, lol.

out of interest, would people rather see more traditional Soldiers or small, floating gun-platforms called Drones as the basic 'free' starting units?

I am also on the hunt for FF4-5 like chipsets! In particular a good castle interior and exterior (Baron if it's going).

Doesn't that mean that what you enjoyed about the game was not playing the game?

Soldiers are the generic free starting character that comes pre-made for your first mission - they have average all-round stats and a simple low-effect 'medical' ability, but never grow to be amazing (as they never need to be purchased). They can however be taught most moves in the game.

Knights are a high-defence stat type that can take quite a battering whilst holding their own in the attacking stakes. Low evasion and next to no MP development but great for battering an enemy senseless. Their starter ability increases their defence even more to turn them into walls against heavier assaults.

These two belong to what I am currently terming the 'physical' group as they are geared towards being used in a more attackers capacity rather than as mules for mass magical or skill pools.

On the other hand we have the Mages ('caster' type), which have low attack and defence but high MP and Mind stats. Each of the basic 4 comes with a free spell for one of the four key elements and a natural resistance to that type/weakness to its opposite. The second two mages available are ICE and THUNDER type, these are dual-elemental. Ice covering water and earth, and Thunder covering fire and wind. These have the generic stats of the usual casters but the added bonus of slightly a slightly more powerful starting move for higher casting cost, balanced against double the elemental weaknesses/strengths.

We DO need more steam-punk starting classes, so I will go over and re-name/edit some to better fit the worldsetting. I'm also planning on adding a status caster into the first brought set and some roboty goodness. By set 3 we'll be seeing more types such as Rocket Knight in addition to the Dark Knight and Paladin classes, and as the groups continue (10 in total) I hope to see even more inventive ideas appearing.

If people have requests or suggestions for original classes please post them here, we have a target of 100 to get to - let your minds sail free!

hmmmmm - should we go early FF4-5 style or more traditional RGMaker sprite-like? Has anybody got a preference?

Dude how long have you been playing videogames?

My first console was a NES (followed quickly by a Master System) and I've been playing rpgs since 1990 aged 7, cutting my teeth on Phantasy Star, Final Fantasy 1 and Dragon Quest 2. I was also fortunate enough to live next door to a teenager from Japan, who imported some of the unreleased FF games and other classic rpgs that didn't see the light of day over here in the west and was kind enough to play them through with me to read out the text. So I'd say I have a pretty healthy pedigree, and a firm foundation when I say that no game in the FF series has ever caused so much positive/negative devide. FF7 vs FF6 is a longstanding debate that still manages to wage war even now, but it's hardly a slagging match. Even the people who bicker over FFXI having a number as a part of the core series arn't really that bothered in the long run from what I've read. But then I've seen people almost come to blows over their conflicting views on FFXII at a games convention - now that is something to worry about ;)

Anyway.

It's interesting that in the same year SquareEnix released two games at such wildly different ends of the spectrum, on the one hand you have DQ8 which set out to be a loyal traditional console rpg in every way, putting together elements that have been in use for decades, and on the other they released FFXII which made a very brave effort to not conform to any of the staples of the genre. It almost feels like the publishers felt they should do something in order to maintain a balance and placate fans in case of backlash.