Scenario
I've long looked at FFXV in the Versus days as a ripe opportunity for a game to be seen through multiple perspectives, through the eyes of opposing characters with their own beliefs, creeds and values, and for the player to make some form of personal judgement of which character or perspective they consider to be heroic or villainous. And that would mean intermittently swapping between different protagonists, as such. It probably won't be, but I can dream for FFXVI!
The Last Of Us has shown that premise and story setup need not be avant-garde and original so long as the way you tell the story and convey the characters and their behaviour, with a theme that invokes abstract conflict down the line are excellently done. So I started to think to myself what familiar path can be tread on again, and how can we take that familiar path and re-tile it so it becomes something special of our own?
Okay, let's take the ol' Empire VS the Resistance setup. It's basically nearly everywhere, and a cliché that invites many people to yawn. We're supposed to BE and root for, the resistance faction, because they want freedom or something like that, and the Empire wants only subjugation and continued coercion of its people. But let's start giving this Empire some noble ideological qualities. Something to make the player sit up straight and say to themselves: "hold on, they have a point there. Maybe they're not simply a bunch of moustache-twirlers who can be justifiably bombed from above!". Let's try and even things out and present solid ideological credentials for both sides so that there's not quite this huge asymmetry of one side clearly being good and the other being bad.
Let's say this is a sprawling empire losing its way, and has succumbed to a civil conflict of a magic vs technology kind. For a long time it has seen itself to be the centre of everything, and a great civilisation that brought proud technological and intellectual advancements to the world. But the world modernises, approaches an era of steampunk, and the empire is losing its traditional grip on power. A resistance movement seeks the dissolution of the empire, idealising the chance for the people to properly respond to this changing world, but is not averse to conjuring up terrifying otherworldly spirits called Espers to advance their goal. Yes, the resistance has to resort to summoning murderous creatures, necromancy and the various dark arts to even survive. The empire side has the military might, with modern steampunk-era weaponry. The leaders have come to accept that the resistance must be culled even if it means turning society into an Orwellian paradise.
As internal war worsens, both sides resort to greater atrocities. The player will see this through both, or more perspectives, can sympathise with the ends-justify-the-means resistance side and root for them, because the people deserve a say, empires are an anachronism in this modern world, and liberty is an intrinsic right. Or they can cheer for the empire. Maybe you can see some altruism in ensuring the survival of an empire that can bring order, instead of handing the people to a chaotic mass of a resistance that is happy to bear bloody costs. The key will be how both sides are portrayed and told. Perhaps in the ending, one side does prevail, and the player does not get a choice. It will be up to the player to interpret it.
I've also considered - what if the empire wins? The resistance side tends to be the victor, so why not the reverse? If the empire wins, can that be a good thing? The suppression of superstition and of spiritual faith perhaps as an extreme reaction towards what the resistance side had done and what it represented? What if a protagonist(s) from the empire side is made to kill another from the resistance side despite genuine, vain belief that the conflict can cease with a union of both sides? It will subvert a lot of JRPG clichés. A player will expect protagonists of both sides to join together eventually to stop a greater threat like say, some kind of puppetmaster Esper lord in charge of it all that is threatening the world. But nope. Actually, there might be a "the ultimate irony is, though the resistance proclaim to be the harbingers of freedom, if their partnership with the Espers continues any longer, it may no longer be man suppressing man, but Esper suppressing man" in there somewhere.
If the above seems a bit contradictory at times (both sides can look good AND evil, but one is using Espers that can allegedly enslave mankind, wut?) and rubbish, it's because this was largely spontaneous, and not actually planned. I've always wanted to see the summons as genuinely malevolent creatures that are capable of killing their summoner. Perhaps one can be a final boss, summoned as a last-ditched attempt by one of the game's main characters on the resistance side who is willing to sacrifice himself for his people's liberation. If this kind of story is properly told, then even though one side can be the ultimate victor, a player can still see the protagonists of the winning side as the true villains, instead of the side they have just put down, even if against their will or not.
Obviously, the Cid of the game would be working for the imperial side. Kind of like Dr. Cid. Only not as mad. Or as obsessed over stones. Or as friendly with an invisible friend. He'll be someone for the imperial protagonists to have a pint with in a tavern as he builds some swish new Magitek weapons, or someone who has to be beaten up within an inch of his life by a resistance protagonist.
Gameplay
I'm not too sure, to be honest. It would be nice if FFXII's Gambit System is looked at again, and evolved, so that rather than tediously buying Gambits, a player can be as flexibly strategic on the battle screen as they want, able to bring up a menu during battles to tweak certain AI behaviours at will. A form of action battle system, or ATB-action hybrid would make sense. I think after FFXV's pure action combat, something that is at least an ATB-action hybrid would be a sound choice...however that would work.
Positioning would be key during tougher fights, like boss encounters. A character can maybe even rapport themselves to a balcony above and perform an aerial attack onto a boss's weak point that the player has identified thanks to the vantage point. Other characters can be chipping away at armour, seeking to break it and inflict massive damage that way. A mage can set up a trap so when a monster steps on it, it is engulfed in flames with multiplication damage as a gun user shoots at it from afar.
Protagonists on the resistance side can summon Espers that have a chance of KOing them. To make up for it, Espers can be directly controlled. Imperial protagonists can call upon Magitek units to use, as their substitute for the lack of Esper acquirement. Maybe in circumstances when both sides have to team up, a Magitek user and an Esper can both be on the battlefield, dually dishing out pain on some befuddled Behemoth cub or something.
The empire won't be always perpetually at war, nor will every corner of it be at war, so there will be moments of peace for life to go on as normal in towns and cities. Dungeons can be places to discover Esper lore and resistance means of attaining them.
Team
Is Itou available? Is Tabata available? Can Yoshi-P spare some time? I'll get whoever is willing with a good track record, BUT I would also like to cultivate younger, fresher talent at the same time.
