Final Fantasy VI prequel ideas

[LocoColt04]

Originally Posted by Jesus Christ

More so I'd like a prequel, though,. We hear all about this "War of the Magi", how about we get a chance to play it?

I agree wholeheartedly. Ship us off 1000 years in the past, and give us a chance to go to war!

Square-Enix is having all kinds of fun in the "past" right now... look at their latest expansion for FFXI; you get to return to the time of the Crystal War 20 years prior to the game's storyline, and help make sure things happen to get to the present day you currently know.

How awesome would it be to do the same for FFVI?

It would be far more epic of an adventure, that's for certain.

[T.G. Oskar]

There are a few things that should be considered while at it.

First and foremost, I believe the War of the Magi would be better represented in a style reminiscing Final Fantasy Tactics. Or Revenant Wings, if you like. Let's not worry about story at the moment: what we have of the War of the Magi can give a very good idea of what happened. The way the story should be told must be crucial.

If we are to keep a format similar to the original game, the story would focus within a group of normally unknown people somehow altering the course of the war. The story should be carefully thought, as how a small group of people can convince three goddesses that fight each other to stop depends mostly on what happens along the way. It should be a completely hermetic story, with any loose end meant to be solved with the original game (FFVI). The only advantage you can see would be meeting any of the ancestors of the original characters (say, the ruler of what would be Figaro in that time, or the first of the Blue Mage order, perhaps the great-great-great grandmother of Madeline, or even Maduin as a main character!!)

But, if we go the way of tactical RPG, the story can be a bit more relaxed. You would explain the story in terms of one of the sides. It could lead to an easier and less complex storyline, not bending what you know of the story to fit both the future AND what's already there, without having to retcon anything. You could focus on the region that would be known as Figaro, due to its technological affiliation. Or perhaps the tables could turn, and the story is spoken through the eyes of the leaders in the Southern Continent; a twist of irony at its finest.

A few things should be certain, of course. Somehow, one being in the entire world has to stop the Warring Triad/Goddesses from unleashing the cataclysm, and a group of people (be a small group or an army) follows him. The story CANNOT have loose ends: that is the problem of Final Fantasy VII's prequels. Such prequels add to the lore instead of explaining what happened to the past, forcing eventual retcons or leaving potential paradoxes that would be only explained by altering the original story. I couldn't care much less if any remake they make of FFVII adds Angeal, Genesis, or even Kadaj & co. But to leave loose ends on any FFVI prequel to cause additions to the wonderful story that's FFVI can cause it to stain with terrible consequences.

Not to say it CAN'T be done. Just that it shouldn't, for the good of the original story. Altering/retconning the story, I mean (just in case this was confusing; I agree 100% with the idea of a prequel of FFVI. Just don't ruin it, S-E)

Given that few if any Espers would turn into Magicite, the system should adopt a definite class format, much like the original. Expand the choices, like adding famous FF classes (Dark Knight comes to mind, I'd say also Paladin but that's a fanboy wish of mine), and have at least one or two Espers work as party members (Maduin comes to mind). At any moment of the story, counting for potential continental drift, the world should possess it's original shape. The world should be akin to the first Final Fantasy games, as technology is a result of the thousand-year world lacking magic; if they are to add technology, it should be full Magitek. And the idea of full Magitek isn't alien, just in case.

That'd be my set of ideas for the game.

[Kaiser Dragoon]

I've been thinking about this for a long time, the first thing we should look at: the lore already there.

"Repeat the War of the Magi"

That term was used before the idea of Magicite came into the game, which begs the question, was the world at a technological high? Were Espers being used as power sources back then as they were in the events of FFVI? Perhaps they were being instead as slave labor or potentially killed and using the magicite to power things, like reactors or vehicles.

"A war that tore the world apart"

When I saw this, I thought "man, epic scale magic wars". Augmented soldiers flinging spells and slashing on one side with the other having perhaps espers and the Blue Magi and deserters from the oppressors.

The Blue Magi.

This is one of the hardest parts of the lore to go into, what were they, were they as common as normal people, or did they have a society that was practically a ruling class? It's a fairly touchy subject, because I fear everyone would have a different view on it.

The unsaid.

There is so much wide open nothingness in the story, that it's free for all kinds of improv. This could potentially be a good and a bad thing. People can expand, but then there is a potential for too much expansion. How did the modern kingdoms come to be? how bad of a state was the world really at the end of the War? How common were the Espers?

That all being said, I've been slowly off and on working on building fan-fic lore for this for a long time, and I do have to say, it's hard touching on subjects that might be touchy with the FF community (especially VI buffs like myself). It would be cool to do a community lore project then perhaps make it into a RP, massive wars, I think it would be cool.

~Kaiser Dragoon

[T.G. Oskar]

Originally Posted by Kaiser Dragoon

I've been thinking about this for a long time, the first thing we should look at: the lore already there.

"Repeat the War of the Magi"

That term was used before the idea of Magicite came into the game, which begs the question, was the world at a technological high? Were Espers being used as power sources back then as they were in the events of FFVI? Perhaps they were being instead as slave labor or potentially killed and using the magicite to power things, like reactors or vehicles.

My thoughts are more inclined to Medieval Fantasy or a high influence of Magitek. To a certain extent, the world should not have the level of technology it has on FFVI, but something that would explain the use of Espers as "beasts of war". Perhaps the Espers were armored, manipulated, and even artificially made by means of the Goddesses intervening.

"A war that tore the world apart"

When I saw this, I thought "man, epic scale magic wars". Augmented soldiers flinging spells and slashing on one side with the other having perhaps espers and the Blue Magi and deserters from the oppressors.

True that. But to which extent they became separated? What was the event that caused the terrible separation? That is unexplained by lore, as of late. What we can figure is that the destruction caused would be akin to a nuclear holocaust.

The Blue Magi.

This is one of the hardest parts of the lore to go into, what were they, were they as common as normal people, or did they have a society that was practically a ruling class? It's a fairly touchy subject, because I fear everyone would have a different view on it.

Perhaps it'd be hard to coin out, but I don't see them as nobility. More of a secret society, trained between themselves. Blue Magic by nature is an art unknown and mysterious; learning spells or adapting magic powers from monsters that know how to use magic, by having to experience them. Otherwise, you'll never learn those spells. But, by what Strago and Gungho speak within, it seems like a group of monster hunters that learned magic. And it gives the feel of a secret society.

The unsaid.

There is so much wide open nothingness in the story, that it's free for all kinds of improv. This could potentially be a good and a bad thing. People can expand, but then there is a potential for too much expansion. How did the modern kingdoms come to be? how bad of a state was the world really at the end of the War? How common were the Espers?

That shouldn't be so hard to explain. From what we can investigate, the Southern Continent wasn't an Empire until Gestahl united it by force. Figaro and Doma seem to be old monarchies, with Doma being the oldest of them all. Narshe seems to be a place forever ravaged by the act of the War, and an eerie reminder of a nuclear winter. Espers WERE common, if there are descendants of people that could use magic and be normal people. It should be considered as a world where magic was more common than you might think. And, as I explained up there, the world could have ended in a state close to a nuclear holocaust, with the absence of magic suddenly crippling entire nations, and stirring civil unrest.

It's not bad to expand, but any loose ends should be solved by the time the game ends, or else the loose ends will have to be solved by retconning. And that's potentially dangerous. Otherwise, it'd be fun.

[fleetingsight]

I agree with most, if not all of what has been said so far. I don't think Magitek is necessary, but I wouldn't be totally against seeing it in the prequel. And yes, it MUST be self-contained like the first post mentioned. Now, as for the espers being "beasts of war", that's easy: the game mentioned that the gods took away the espers' free will, making them simply magical weapons, and gave their free will back at the end of the war.

Now, I've also come across someone with the hypothesis that the war between the gods could actually have happened prior to the WOTM. You can read his arguments here (and his fanfic about the WOTM, which is quite good): Ravages of Glory by Joe Sephus
I would be open to either interpretation, personally, however I'd have to say that the version I'm working on does not use this hypothesis.

So yeah, I myself have recently begun creating what I think the WOTM should have been (not sure what medium I'll be using yet, but it would be cool to include artwork and stuff if I have time or can find a partner/team).

[V_Translanka]

The War of the Magi - Everyone's already said this. We're given hints as to what happened, but don't know all the details...The only thing is, I feel like this is just obscure enough that it'd just end up like any Summon-centric FF...

The Rise of the Empire - A detail of the Gestahl's rise to power (perhaps both before & after the raid on the Esper world), Leo's training (& generally being such a bad ass he didn't need Magitek power), Kefka & Celes' initial infusion...The one thing that would prosper from this would be seeing Kefka's delve into insanity (whether it be a slow process or something instantaneous). Perhaps we'd also get to see how Terra grew up under the thumb of the Empire, as well...

The Adventures of Billy & Clyde - We know so little about Shadow's past as a thief, much less his friend Billy/Baram...It would have to end kind of sadly, but could also end by showing more detailed events that occurred in Thamasa with Relm's mother...

[fleetingsight]

Originally Posted by V_Translanka

The War of the Magi

The Rise of the Empire

The Adventures of Billy & Clide

Yes, these have ALL been done in fanfictions. However, this thread is primarily focused on the first one, and to me it is the most interesting one, as it seems like it would have a lot of potential to be very epic.

Now, one thing that has always bothered me about info about the WOTM is that there were only hints about it scattered throughout the game, and from whichever hints people happened to pick up, different speculations spread across the internet as to what the WOTM could have been. So, I have finally done something about this. I have collected all the references in the game that I could find about the WOTM, and put them all on one page.

You can find this collection here:
References to the War of the Magi in Final Fantasy VI by Fleetingsight

I hope that this collection will spur more accurate (and therefore more satisfying to a wide number of people) WOTM fanfics. I also hope that it will help fuel discussion on this thread, giving birth to fresh ideas, as is the title of this thread. If you find a reference that you think should be included here, please let me know, and I'll add it.

In some areas I have provided alternate translations of the references where I felt the differences between translations was significant.

I have also provided personal comments to point out some of the details I came across when looking at these references.

I'm really looking forward to any additional comments in this thread about any of these references.

[V_Translanka]

Why not include the RPGOne/Sky Render retranslation?

IcyBrian...*bleh*

[fleetingsight]

Great! I'm sure we'd all welcome other translations that might add more insight into what has already been posted. Feel free to suggest any passages from that translation that are significantly different.

Not sure what you mean by "IcyBrian", though... ?

[V_Translanka]

Note: I use references from three different translations of Final Fantasy VI: the original SNES version, the FFVI Advance version, and a retranslation based on the "Otanoshimini" translations by Lina Darkstar, originally posted at: Japanese Final Fantasy 6 - COMPLETE - IcyBrian's Web Forum

Oh, and I haven't played the retranslation in a long time (and I never even got through it all the way)...idk if they've got a script of their retrans either...You'd probably have to actually, like...play it...>_>

[Intangir]

First off, there are many storylines in FFVI that need to be explained by prequels...

1) Setzer and Daryl

2) Rachel and Locke

3) Relm, Shadow, and Strago

4) Terra, Celes, Kefka, Cid, and the rest of the Empire

5) The Returners

6) Gau

7) Cyan

8) Gogo

...for a few ideas. These storylines all need to be explained in more detail, and a prequel would be the best option to explain the backstory behind these topics.