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Battle Action Harem Highschool Side Character Quest (No SV, you are the Waifu)

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Ginger Maniac said:
Honestly, I think Anna's backstory would best fit into a hypothetical Valkyrie game as A) the action tutorial, and B) the bonus scenario that expands said tutorial into an actual level, ending with a crushingly-hard boss fight.

And by 'action tutorial', I mean in the style of Bayonetta, where the opening cutscene gets interrupted by short periods of player control. In this case, it would be set during Anna's her approach to the Breach, slightly cinematised for effect. There's a few crap Antagonists to try out the basic attacks and combos on as the voiceover introduces the world as the characters know it, until the Breach-storm looms on the horizon and Sekmet comes out of nowhere, the music dies, and we fade to black after a few seconds of it kicking Anna's shit in while the interface distorts and fails (like at the end of Halo Reach). Switch to Koji's perspective, and roll main plot.

For the bonus scenario, it starts off like the tutorial, but in greyscale (except for target markers) with plinky-plonky sad music (bonus points for Anna's VA sobbing quietly in the background) and more, tougher enemies (they still drop like flies, because 10xHPPs). The voiceover is replaced with lines from Anna's mother, the last of which is "live a normal, happy life" in a sort of dying whisper and plays just before Sekhmet rocks up. And then you get checkpointed, the 'oh shit son' music kicks in (insert Beautiful Song from the Nier Automata OST as placeholder), the colours come back, and you're fighting for your life against the optional superboss. Victory not guaranteed.
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While appropriately epic. It sort of ruins the mystery behind what exactly Anna did in her backstory for the players.
 
No, Anna's backstory is the Crisis Core to the regular game's FF7. It takes the original game's Persona 3 (or 4 or 5) with Armored Core stages instead of dungeon crawling RPG, and strips out some of the non-combat side for base-building.
 
Ginger Maniac said:
Honestly, I think Anna's backstory would best fit into a hypothetical Valkyrie game as A) the action tutorial, and B) the bonus scenario that expands said tutorial into an actual level, ending with a crushingly-hard boss fight.

And by 'action tutorial', I mean in the style of Bayonetta, where the opening cutscene gets interrupted by short periods of player control. In this case, it would be set during Anna's her approach to the Breach, slightly cinematised for effect. There's a few crap Antagonists to try out the basic attacks and combos on as the voiceover introduces the world as the characters know it, until the Breach-storm looms on the horizon and Sekmet comes out of nowhere, the music dies, and we fade to black after a few seconds of it kicking Anna's shit in while the interface distorts and fails (like at the end of Halo Reach). Switch to Koji's perspective, and roll main plot.

For the bonus scenario, it starts off like the tutorial, but in greyscale (except for target markers) with plinky-plonky sad music (bonus points for Anna's VA sobbing quietly in the background) and more, tougher enemies (they still drop like flies, because 10xHPPs). The voiceover is replaced with lines from Anna's mother, the last of which is "live a normal, happy life" in a sort of dying whisper and plays just before Sekhmet rocks up. And then you get checkpointed, the 'oh shit son' music kicks in (insert Beautiful Song from the Nier Automata OST as placeholder), the colours come back, and you're fighting for your life against the optional superboss. Victory not guaranteed.
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We've already had this discussion before, and the general consensus was that it should be an action prologue with Anna as an invincible unnamed top tier Valk wrecking her way through the Saskatoon Breach. Then it segued into a mess of "give Anna a video game" stuff with her alternately being the main character or the super special secret character that you have to jump through insane hoops for that would mostly be for bragging rights.

Also, I did a write up of the action prologue:

Alfa290 said:
I like it, but don't give the player any exposition. Just drop them in with only the objective "Seal the Breach" and enemies incoming. The only sounds are alarms from the unnamed frame, the electronic death screams of the enemy, and a howling wind that drives the snow away from the Breach.

The mechanics would be spectacle fighter based (think Devil May Cry and Bayonetta) to allow for the weapon variation, ultimates, and fluid combat. You would start in the air in a running duel with a several airborne Types. You win the fight but get blown out of the sky by defensive emplacements. You can still fly, but now if you go too high enemy AA will make you pay. If you're skilled enough you can actually run the gamut never touching the ground, but you'd need to have already played the game to know the necessary moves.

On the ground, you'll be facing off against airborne attack units from above, generic ground units, and even burrowing units. As you advance the enemies become more advanced and difficult which doesn't change the fact your unknown character carves through them like a hot knife through butter. All the while the sickly yellow pillar of light showing the location of the Breach looms closer and closer with wind blasted snow pushing against you and lowering visibility. At the point visibility is almost zero all you see are the pulsing outlines showing terrain and enemies is when you first encounter a Type 2.

You finish the trench run bellow the enemy guns only for it to be quiet. Too quiet. You're under whiteout conditions with only a sonar like ability letting you see things. You kill a few more enemies when your HUD goes nuts. Phantom contacts all over on your TacMap, glitching on your objective indicator, and an ominous red warning of an unknown signature. When the ground under you literally explodes introducing you to your first Type 2. Cue a "Target the Limbs" boss battle with an ongoing interface screw.

If you're doing the aerial run, then there's a short cutscene of a Type 2 blindsiding you and forcing you to crash land. On the ground, another Type 2 will be waiting with two more teleporting in. The fifth will exploded out of the ground. Good luck, have fun.

After the Type 2 fight, you'll hit a loading screen before continuing into the Breach. The entire fight will be you descending into the center of the Breach and destroying the core. There are almost no basic enemies. Almost all of the enemies here functioned as elite enemies or mini-bosses in the prior level. After destroying the core, you play out run the fireball with every enemy still alive trying to stop you.

Cue cutscene with a Big BOOM and an appropriate shockwave. Garbled noises that might be radio transmissions are heard. When player control resumes the objective field is empty and the clue on how to continue is a waypoint marker in the distance.

After the player gets... let's go with a quarter of the way to the waypoint, the HUD again starts blaring about an unknown Higgs signature incoming. And it's a massive red blob on the TacMap coming right at you.

Welcome to the BOSS LEVEL.gif

I'm having trouble putting the ideas I have for the fight into words, but I think calling it the love child of the Senator Armstrong (MGR:R) fight, the Spider Mastermind (DOOM 2016) fight, and Shadow of the Colossus would be fairly accurate. During the fight on the side of the screen is a prompt showing the button combo to "Finish Him." Too bad the charge time is too long for you to use it until both you and the boss are almost dead anyway. When you complete the combo you going into a cutscene with showing the damaged Valkyrie raising her arm at the charging main gun of the boss and her screaming only for the scene to flash to white. In the white screen you hear the yet unnamed Wave Force fire and Sekhmet's death scream. As the screen fades back in, the broken radio chatter you heard since destroying the breach can be heard more clearly.

The unnamed Valkyrie takes off again and continues to the waypoint without looking back. As she flies into the distance to the game's theme with Sekhmet's corpse in the foreground the radio chatter resolves into voices shouting about how Saskatoon Breach is down and Sekhmet is killed as well. Cut to title card and as the theme finishes we see Koji stepping off the plane into Perth Academy.

P.S. phone typing is suffering.
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And I agree that to make it easier on new players that Icipall's suggestion of invulnerability is a good one.

Icipall said:
Pretty good, but before the boss fight the unknown valkyrie should be unstoppable, slaughtering the Antagonists in thousands, to really show you what a valkyrie is capable of, similar to Dynasty Warriors. To give you a taste of the future and show a comparison of how freaking powerful the unknown valkyrie is.
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buli-buli said:
While appropriately epic. It sort of ruins the mystery behind what exactly Anna did in her backstory for the players.
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That's only if the players recognise Anna when she first appears in Koji's plotline. After all, getting the omni-sensor added horns and a clear eye-visor to Durga's helmet, and heads are like the single most recognisable part of a character's design. Change the head, and a few other details to further throw off the scent, and pretty much nobody will make the connection between the Valk from the opening (last seen getting decisively rekt, might I add) and the withdrawn badass who occasionally forgets she shouldn't be carrying the Flight.

Besides, spoilers in the opening is proper Bayonetta style. I mean, the BGM chants a name (if only halfway intelligibly), and a few levels later she meets a small child who introduces herself with that exact same name and thinks B's her mother. Wow, I wonder if she's going to be important?
Alfa290 said:
We've already had this discussion before, and the general consensus was that it should be an action prologue with Anna as an invincible unnamed top tier Valk wrecking her way through the Saskatoon Breach. Then it segued into a mess of "give Anna a video game" stuff with her alternately being the main character or the super special secret character that you have to jump through insane hoops for that would mostly be for bragging rights.
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I assumed invulnerability was a given. Anna isn't going to go down in the tutorial to popcorn she could kill in her sleep.
 
The iridescence of her Frame might throw people off.
Avalanche said:
With that quick review of your Impeller exercises done, you turn your attention to Durga. A deep well of energy lurks at the edge of your awareness; your repaired Onium batteries idle, brimming with power. Compared to the dim but constant glow of your fusion reactor as it slowly sips hydrogen from your storage, your Onium batteries are flashbulbs, ready to output immense power. However, they can only do so for a short period of time before they need to recharge. Still, now that you have an energy generator integrated into Durga, you can afford to release that entire well in a single burst at a target that presents enough of a threat to warrant it, and still remain combat capable.

Your plates are no longer a pure, cold black, which is a side effect of your Solar Dynamos capturing all the electromagnetic light that landed on you. Now, there is a faint oily iridescence about the edges of the plates, light being distorted around your silhouette by your Energy Dynamos. With this, attacks of a low enough power density will be ignored by your Impeller and absorbed by your Dynamos instead, adding to your energy reserves. The component is not as important to you as it was previously, with how advanced your ability to convert energy and mass is, now, and your fusion reactor, but you will take every single shred of Impeller you can save.
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veekie said:
Simple. Tutorial from first person. Never see tutorial body
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Unless the game was a first person one, I don't think a first person tutorial would work too well.

Granted, the game could work as a first person one, but it'd probably get really disorientating for the players with complex movements. Although things like Anna expressing and then unexpressing portions of her frame to spoof targeting could be done without having to animate it if the character was controlled in the first person instead of third person.


Actually, now that I think about it, playing from First Person would probably be the best way to do the game, with one of the key difficulties being managing your HUD to your preferences. Too little and you miss critical information, but too much and you drown in the noise.
 
veekie said:
Simple. Tutorial from first person. Never see tutorial body
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Blonddude42 said:
Unless the game was a first person one, I don't think a first person tutorial would work too well.

Granted, the game could work as a first person one, but it'd probably get really disorientating for the players with complex movements. Although things like Anna expressing and then unexpressing portions of her frame to spoof targeting could be done without having to animate it if the character was controlled in the first person instead of third person.


Actually, now that I think about it, playing from First Person would probably be the best way to do the game, with one of the key difficulties being managing your HUD to your preferences. Too little and you miss critical information, but too much and you drown in the noise.
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Valkyrie VR.
 
Candesce said:
Oh, agh.

If you want to make a good game, don't give players the opportunity to screw themselves over this way.
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Not that complicated. You give a good default, 50% front view, 30% compressed side and rear view. 10% interface elements. 10% minimap.

The player can configure all this, but the default is intuitive enough to anyone who can drive a car. The minimap lets you know something is coming, the compressed views give you an idea of what is coming.

For gameplay purposes, bullet time is of course, in effect.
 
If you only see Durga ingame. And Durga is teh awesome super prototyoe you only get to play in the tutorial, before it gets upgraded even more.


Then the anime introduces Anna, the cute, slightly strange airhead who is not all there.

Then the reveal that Anna flies Durga.
Upgraded Durga.

Then the reveal that the awesome soundtrack in the games intro/tutorial is even darker than it appears (kill kill kill).
 
I seem to recall that in one of the Need For Speed games you would start the game by being given an upgraded car, to show your skill. Winning the stage accepts you in the community, and you get a basic unmodified car, and some starting credits. From then you have to make your way on your own ,up.

No point in being overly unique in the opening stage right?
 
Jonen C said:
If you only see Durga ingame. And Durga is teh awesome super prototyoe you only get to play in the tutorial, before it gets upgraded even more.


Then the anime introduces Anna, the cute, slightly strange airhead who is not all there.

Then the reveal that Anna flies Durga.
Upgraded Durga.

Then the reveal that the awesome soundtrack in the games intro/tutorial is even darker than it appears (kill kill kill).
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Downgraded Durga.
Despite the merits of some of the utility stuff, the fusion reactor included, the loss of six Relativistic Particle Cannons has made Durga a far weaker frame, with a weaker impeller field (realizing that was how it worked was weird for me, because I'd previously assumed impeller fields were reduced by complexity, not increased by it)
 
ooh. I got it!

Durga is unrecognizable because in the prologue it was at full power or whatever.

Durga, while Anna is in school, is basically running on minimal set up.

In-game, the players have to make use of teammates so that they can gain XP and auto upgrade.

By the time Anna and Durga are even approaching what they looked like during the prologue, enough time has passed that the players won't make the connection.

Cue the after reveal shock when the players realize, that by the end of the game, Anna and Durga are even stronger than they were during the prologue.
 
Dark as Silver said:
You think managing HUD should be a mechanic?
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On the hardcore mode. The game would have several difficulty levels, but nightmare difficulty is locked behind beating the game on hard. Nightmare isn't nightmare because it buffs your enemies to unfair levels, but rather it greatly reduces automatic control of some mechanics and other methods to encourage manual control.

The mode as a whole would be more to test you mastery of the game, and take away the crutches the average player can sqeek through hard mode with. It wouldn't just be buffing the enemies to ridiculous levels.


It'd still have a good default HUD, but knowing how to adjust it give you the extra edge you would need in nightmare mode.
 
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