Romanda Dev Thread

[Smash]

Indeed.

I am basically bringing out the 'Golden Age' back to Ivalice. Most of the synopsis is written down already, and it picks up on all the loose ends of FFXII.

To make this short, the main character is aided/bound to an esper. A light esper, that is. First chapters deal with the tyrannical rule of Delita's 16 year old descendant, and the rebellion of the Lords and dukes to it. The "Peasant King" and all that.

After this, well. Let's say it all escalates -once again- to the issue of the reigns of history back in the hands of man scenario, and a second rebellion of the espers spearheaded by Ultima's light version, this time, against the gods back in power, the Occuria.
(..Which derive their power from the struggles of man, and the energies released by war and death, which they harvest. This and their involvement in FFXII sheds light on the meaning behind their actions, of the -why- they control and manipulate their human cattle, on the -why- the cataclysm was brought about after the actions of Ashe. They are world parasites/false gods pretty much.)

Ivalice after these events is destroyed, and with it at least all institutions of rule, once again. This is where the Golden Age would start, as people would rebuild now without any influence/authority of gods or demons; but I'd rather leave that to the imagination -Which could be an RP altogether- .

I already went pretty in-depth with all of these topics, just so you guys know. 


Hopefully I'll make this a stand-alone game and not just a patch of the original FFT, and it's already underway. It would be nice if we could bridge the lore to have a sense of connection between these two stories.

It's being kept under the radar for now, as I'd rather not be made another Chrono Compendium or M.E.R.P, especially with the high quality it's going to have. 

[Schwerpunkt]

FF12 predates FFT; the Cataclysm referenced in FFT was responsible for the downfall of the non-humes. But, to be fair, Ivalice's timeline is so ridiculously convoluted that the retcon of FF12 into the timeline isn't even very logical.

I should just go ahead and say that, since you've acknowledged you're not a mechanical guy, that creating a sim is almost entirely mechanics. The setting is basically the window. Yeah, it colors and influences everything we see, but the game really is all about the mechanics. It's fine to try and build your own sim, but it's easy to overlook just how wtfhuge the mechanical element is.

[Ilium]

Smash, I am under the impression that this will be a full patch of the original game?

[Smash]

I take it there were two cataclysms. The first was the one that wiped out the FFXII world. The second came in when St.Ajora was executed, right? Then comes FFT a few nine hundered years later or so.

My story would take off around 60 years after the events of the War of the Lions. Takes some of the elements of FFXII and integrates them to the FFT story/world. 

It also seems fine to me that the lore of FFXII can fit FFT. How is it so convoluted when the official versions are so vague in the in-between happenings? : P

[Schwerpunkt]

"Cataclysm" is really, really vague. Odds are good that it was a mess of different, potentially unrelated events. Honestly, it seems to me like Squeenix just wanted to change the map (and/or make it easy to retcon) so they contrived "the cataclysm."

I'm not above using FF12 as inspiration, mind you. Ordallia is ultimately inspired by Al-Cid, who shows up in... one (two?) scenes in FF12.

[Smash]

Don't you just love the vagueness, hehe.
It's like a puzzle, where you fill the empty spots without breaking canon.


Ordallia was inspired by Al-Cid then? I would've done the same, ha.

My story's esper parts and therefore the main drive of the whole plot is inspired by the little esper lore we have, but above all, the attitudes of the Occuria in FFXII. I saw the voice tones and their intentions and I was like.. That's it. Perfect.

Judging by the fact that they created the Sun Cryst, and that the thing itself would be cut in shards that could blow up like nukes and took Nabudis once.. It really hints at what this cataclysm could have been, I believe. 


Big huge explosion that shatters continents and wipes out everyone. Especially after Ashe destroys the original Sun Cryst, the thing the gods themselves used to lure leaders and control and steer nations to their will. Don't think they'd be happy about losing their grip. 

Illium: Preferably running stand-alone on Tethical or a clone. Hacking has it's limits.

[Smash]

Let me add.. Steampunk vikings sounds boss. But the idea of finding the remains of old civilizations under Romanda is more sound, yes.

Perhaps aside from the viking-like leading lord knights who value power and rule the mayor settlements, there could be others.. Minor groups who travel and camp.



Don't know if to say bandits, but clans sound nice. A culture.

They would scour these ruins and arm themselves with this technology, such as guns.

[Mordred]

Vikings with guns is almost as good as hot chicks in bikinis with guns. Better, in some circumstances.

[Schwerpunkt]

I'm really not that far into Romanda. If you guys want to make them steampunk vikings, I we can do it. It doesn't really change what we have so far, though it probably will mean giving them another awarded class (probably something completely insane because that's how steampunk rolls).

[Diethe]

I believe the cataclysms (The two ones) were retconned into one single disastrous event that combined the fall of the Golden Age and made the other races extinct except for the humans and the Hero-King Mesa. Still though. Largely largely mysterious and there's a lot of stuff we can put from point A to B. And its beautiful cause the Ivalice we have right now is considered a post-apocalyptic dark age where seeds can sprout.

Apart from that, there's a lot of reference to wonders and places in the Tavern referring to kingdoms and empires destroyed by the Cataclysm. If ever there was a 2nd cataclysm, the first one didn't quite destroy technology yet since the Holy Ydoran empire was still considered as advanced.

Retcons are a mixed blessing sometimes. But I'll go ahead and start an 'Ivalice Dev Thread' just like the other threads to clear things out like cities, history, factions etc.

My ideas for Romanda are these:

Western RPG dwarf-like viking clans so they have the culture AND the technology. Easy to mesh, or...

We can also compromise in that the Karsids were fighting against Fluorgis pre-cataclysm. The Karsids were mere barbarians at the gates to the Fluorgis pre-cataclysm until its tribal system was united afterwards. That way we dont have to retcon the backstory of the Karsids. Of course, most of Fluorgis sunk and now we're left with Berrington and some of the Romandans digging for Fluorgis tech.