Indies are indeed better than AAA games because of the fact that indie game developers bear no burden or influence of a AAA company so they would they take risks, their games are reasonably priced and they can develop their games however they want. There are indies that feel like AAA, so I have thought to myself that if I could suggest an indie title, I say an indie game like both Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. But will an indie game like Square Enix's games work? Let's jump right in.
I am back with another creative post. So probably, it has come to my attention that indie games are better than AAA games. One of those things is wanting an indie game like both Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. I talked about this in private, so I'm going to monologue in how would it work in this post as a concrete answer.
How Weapons Can Be Used:
First off, we need to talk about weapons and how they are used. The Mana franchise is known for characters that use weapons. Trials of Mana handles characters that wield one weapon and while Visions of Mana has three weapons for each character, depending on the Elemental Vessel they equipped. And this can be innovated so that each character would have three weapons, but would switch between three weapons in their arsenal on the fly and during a combo, like in Tower of Fantasy where characters switch weapons on the fly.
The Party:
Now let's go on to another important thing when it comes to an indie title inspired by the Trials of Mana remake and Visions of Mana, the party. You would know that in Visions of Mana, the party has up to five characters in a party while Trials of Mana has six characters, but can only choose three to be in the party. But if this indie game comes to fruition, we can change that with this innovative approach, all six characters in a party instead of choosing three characters.
The Characters:
Now that I talked about the party and weapons, let's talk about the characters. When it comes to an idea of a Trials and Visions of Mana-esque indie game, the characters in a party would be three male characters and three female characters like in Trials of Mana. There are a lot of possibilities for characters this game would have. Imagine if the indie devs make a character that would have dual fans, a spear and gauntlets in their arsenal like Careena, a character that would have cards, a sword and dual knives in their arsenal like Morley and a character that would have a flail, a scythe and boots for kick attacks like Palamena. And maybe they can also make a character that would have their original performance of having an original arsenal of weapons and maybe a character that would have dual knives, a broadsword and a scythe like Haseo from the .hack franchise, which I think it's perfect for a Darkness-type character.
Plus, there's a deep breath of fresh new ideas when it comes to developing characters and coming up with different combinations of weapons in their arsenal and that's something that indie devs that can take a crack of developing this game can really do without any constraints from a AAA company.
The Combat System:
The Trials of Mana remake has an innovative combat system that Visions of Mana has that finishing battles earns you EXP, money and items. It involves a border that appears during combat and can escape battles. But not in certain battles where the border is red, meaning that you can't escape. A combat system in an indie game like Trials and Visions of Mana can work like that, but can be innovated so that all six characters can be in battle and would earn the same amount of EXP. Think of Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness where it has all characters in a party in battle. It's something that this game can really have as this is an innovative approach.
Weapon Strikes:
You would know that Trials of Mana offers four Class Strikes and each character has their own Class Strike gauge and Visions of Mana has one cinematic Class Strike and one Class Strike gauge the player character must use. But I think an indie game can consolidate that so that each character would have their own Weapon Strike gauge like in Trials of Mana and would only have one cinematic Weapon Strike that would depend on the equipped weapon like in Visions of Mana. This is another thing that involves innovation.
Elemental Vessels:
They have been useful in Visions of Mana when it comes to what elementals enemies are weak, resistant and immune to and they change their class and appearance. But this can be innovated so that if characters are equipped with an Elemental Vessel, they offer elemental powers to their arsenal and appearance to change the way how Weapon Strikes work, but they would still switch weapons on the fly. And without an Elemental Vessel equipped, there are no elemental powers on their arsenal and appearance.
The Synergy System:
And why would I forget about this one feature that I thought would be nice? Escape from Ever After, a Paper Mario-inspired game I came across, is known for having the Synergy system to have abilities that function and measure how strong they are based on the current party and a gauge that fills up when complimenting each other and nailing actions. Honestly, I think this could definetely work in an indie Mana game. Here's what I think of the Synergy system in this game.
What is really cool is that the like the Synergy system in Escape from Ever After uses a gauge that holds up to five bars of SP, generic and character-specific abilities that based on the current party, there would be a gauge that holds up to five bars of the Synergy gauge that is filled up when a player character impresses their allies with their performance only the player character uses and general and character-specific abilities. Think of .hack//G.U. where it uses a Morale gauge that fills up when Haseo impresses his allies with his performance. Speaking of .hack//G.U., there is one thing that could apply to having a Synergy system.
If you're unaware, subsequent volumes of the series introduced powerful Awakening. Vol. 2: Reminisce introduced Divine Awakening, and Vol. 3: Redemption introduced Avatar Awakening. I think we can use both of them for the Synergy system in an indie game inspired by Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. As I have said, there would be character-specific and general Synergy abilties, so Synergy abilities that consume four bars would work similar to Divine Awakening with a timing of a button press and Synergy abilities that consume all four bars would work similar to Avatar Awakening, but with a different twist that would fit the game's ecosystem to convert enemies into special materials. And they would be specific to each character, measure strength based on the current party. I seem to have a future post that talks about how would an indie game inspired by .hack//G.U. work, so stay tuned for that.
Skill Tree:
Most RPGs have skill trees and they are intended to upgrade a character's stats and learn new skills. Trials of Mana uses class switching and Visions of Mana uses points you receive from activating Elementites using Elemental Vessels and levelling up. But I think an indie game like these two games should use a skill tree to have increases to max stats and learn new skills, new magic and new Synergy abilities. Each character would have a skill tree, and just one, and they earn points from levelling up needed to unlock max stats and new abilities. Think of Tales of Xillia where you earn points for levelling up to increase max stats and new Artes through the Lillium Orb.
The Pilgrimage to the Mana Tree?:
I would love to see an indie game like Trials and Visions of Mana that would involve going on a pilgrimage to the Mana Tree, but it might have copyright issues. But I think we can change that so that the destination would be the Magic Fountain instead of the Mana Tree to avoid copyright issues. That said, the story would involve the party going on a pilgrimage to the Magic Fountain in the Sanctuary to see the world's goddess that maintains life and mana in the world needed for elementals to thrive. Along their way, they'll come across Elemental Vessels. But let's not forget about the threat that could tarnish the world if the fountain falls into evil hands.
I think this could lower the chance of an indie dev of this game getting sued by Square Enix over copyright infringement in terms of the story.
The Story:
I had to talk about this after highlighting the journey to get some details on how would the story unfold and now that the details I need, I can highlight how would story unfold.
The game's storyline would involve a protagonist, who would go on a pilgrimage to the Magic Fountain. Along the way, they meet companies who would join the protagonist on their journey. The forces of evil would come to awaken the threat that can plunge the world into a void of life when the fountain falls into evil hands. Once the fountain falls into evil hands, the threat would emerge and the world would tremble before the threat, which has been a trope villains embrace. It's up to the party to stop the forces of evil from awakening the threat and save the world.
These are the things that I think could work in an indie title inspired by Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. If this game goes into production, they can be able to develop this game however they want without the shareholding constraints from a AAA game company and release it on both PC and console. And without the shareholding constraints, they will never be laid off, which has been the bone of contention and an ongoing issue among the game industry for years, or rely heavily on microtransactions and greed so that this game would be reasonably priced below $30, appease fans and they'll take some risks to provide innovation to this game. I think people might want this to happen to reflect the fact that people prefer indies over AAA games.
See, when you watch the official trailer and look at the screenshots of this game, you might say, "Dang, this indie game feels like Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana, but why all six characters are in battle?" and "Hold on a sec, am I seeing this character... play like Careena and... Haseo?! And how are they able to switch weapons?!" And that's because it will feel like Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana and have respective innovations that would be callbacks to Tower of Fantasy and Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness like switching weapons in game, even during a combo, and having the whole party in battle. Devs that can take a crack of making this game can literally make a character that feels like Careena and another that feels like Haseo to add a little bit of .hack//G.U, which would be nice for such an indie Haseo character. This applies to that Mightykeef video about Ananta being an upcoming free-to-play anime GTA clone with combat taken from Spider-Man, Sleeping Dogs and the Batman Arkham trilogy. Except that it's not a free-to-play indie title.
Indie games that feel like Square Enix's games are not as common of the game industry today, and it's largely dominated by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with its entry of being an indie Final Fantasy game nominated for Game of the Year at the Game Awards. To have indie games inspired by Square Enix's games is a great choice as there is a lot of attention, feedback and not a lot of money, especially to avoid greed. Now, if I recall, there is one indie game that is inspired by Kingdom Hearts and Devil May Cry and it's not an action RPG, and that is Geno Kids, which is now in Early Access. The only game that is purely inspired by Kingdom Hearts coming next year is Duskfade. There is literally one indie title that an indie Mana title can compete with if it goes into production. This means it'll likely do well if this game comes out to bank on the fact of attention.
Some of the things I mentioned in this idea of an indie Mana title can be used for the next Mana title, which may or may not be announced at the Game Awards. If you're interested in knowing more about my pitch to the next Mana title that is called Seasons of Mana or whatever it will be called, here's the link.
https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2024/10/seasons-of-mana-pitch.html
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