I want to preface this by saying this is going to be very self-indulgent and I'm also basically designing an ideal game for myself. Alas, I can't yet think of a title for it. I suck at titles. Anyway, let's begin.
I wanna start by choosing the characters. I'm gonna go with 10 main characters, from some of my top favorite franchises or games. These franchises are: The Legend of Zelda, Ys, Rune Factory, Fire Emblem, Granblue Fantasy, and Monster Hunter.
The Main Playable Cast -
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Link and Zelda (taken from post-AoC but with their initial TotK designs)
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Adol and
Dana (taken from post-Ys VIII, with Dana being in her
Goddess of Evolution design)
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Lest and
Forte (taken from post-arc three of Rune Factory 4's story)
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Hilda and
Ashe (taken from post-Golden Wildfire in Three Hopes)
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Anila and
Feather (5-Star Anila and Feather with his Horoscope)
- plus
Palicos from Monster Hunter as supports (with a secret, optional playable Palico by endgame)
Would also throw in a main player-created character just so I have an excuse to design/insert OCs. Not as a silent protag, though. Can pick preset personality types to decide what kind of dialogue they'd have and how they'd react to things and stuff.
So that's 11 (plus a secret 12th) playables. This would be an action/adventure/rpg/warriors mix. BotW-style open world and puzzles, Ys-style combat and action, with Warriors levels mixed in for side quests and some boss battles. A lot of dungeons to explore, and a lot of fun hanging out with the characters.
Game Features -
- Player Created Protagonist -
In the case of the player, I would obviously need tons of customization options, but I'd also throw in clothes picks from the start so you can also have a good outfit ready right away. More games need to do that. I would also have personality choices, because the player wouldn't be silent and I think having different dialogue and personality based on your own picks would be fun. There could be different dialogue strings from the other characters too, depend on how your character acts.
For personality, just some basic stuff like "kind" or "mean" or "gloomy", as a base and a couple other options to narrow it down, like being "optimistic" or "pessimistic" or "loud" or "quiet". There's some potential for fun customization there, I think. You could make your character a saint or make them be a prick. Up to the player.
The player would also get to pick a class to start out with, which I'll go over a bit further down in more detail. The class would determine your weapon type, which determines your moveset and skill pool, and you get a couple options.
- Story and Class/Party Systems -
The story of this game would be your world, as in the player character's home, is getting invaded by monsters from other worlds. A reverse isekai. Monsters from all across the franchises I picked characters from are popping up all over the place, and for whatever reason (depending on what kind of personality you chose), your created character gets stuck in the thick of it. They try to fight off invading monsters, and then discover one of the other playable characters appearing to help out. They agree to work together to fight off the invaders and conquer the dungeons that are pulling them in from across worlds.
Pretty basic setup. Hilda would be the first to appear, and she'd appear in the middle of a Warriors boss battle very early in the game, defending a central town. The two of you team up and help the town out, meet some helpful Palicos who choose to support your efforts, and then decide to head to the first dungeon. You would do this dungeon with just the two of them. After that, there'd be a story-related Warriors battle again later on where Link shows up. You would then later meet Anila in a town, and the four of you then go to dungeon 2. After that, you meet Ashe and Lest in a different town, the two of them working together after bumping into each other and realizing they're in the same situation. Then in the next story Warriors battle you meet Adol and Feather and they join you. After the next dungeon, same setup. You meet Zelda and Forte who basically did what Ashe and Lest did. Then finally, Dana shows up as the final party member before the next dungeon.
As far as the class and party systems go, you would get a max of 4 characters for your party. The party members you set follow you around in towns and in the overworld and dungeons. The player-created character is not required to be in the party at all times, so you can mix and match however you want. You can also adjust the party size, making it anywhere from 1-4, whenever you want in the field or in towns, but not in dungeons. When you're doing a Warriors battle, you get everyone out on the field at once.
Classes would be broken down by weapon types. The classes are: Knight (swords, maces, daggers), Valkyrie (longswords, spears, glaives), Dual-Wielder (twin swords, twin daggers), Heavy Fighter (axe, hammer), Brawler (fist), Mage (staves), and Sniper (bows, rifles). The player can choose any of these, and the class can be changed any time. As for the rest of the cast, their classes and weapons cannot be changed. They are as follows:
Hilda - Heavy Fighter (using her Freikugel axe)
Link - Knight (using Master Sword and Hylian Shield combo)
Anila - Valkyrie (using her Ramulus spear)
Ashe - Sniper (using the Parthia bow)
Lest - Mage (he uses a farming hoe, the Seasoned Hoe, as his staff and casts a variety of spells)
Adol - Knight (using the Hyperion Blade)
Feather - Brawler (using the Lion Khan Claws Horoscope)
Zelda - Sniper (Bow of Light with magic arrows)
Forte - Valkyrie (using the Caliburn longsword and a Heavy Shield)
Dana - Dual-Wielder (using her Spirit Ring Celesdia)
Palico (secret character) - Knight (uses the Felyne Acorn Spade as a sword)
Their weapons can be upgraded just as yours can, and the characters themselves also work on a level-based system with stats. New members join with a level that's balanced to be an average value between your highest level and lowest level characters. Also, everyone gets exp no matter party position, but there can be an option to turn off the exp share. (since gamefreak wont do that, HA)
- Overworld and Combat -
The overworld should follow BotW's example and be completely open and traversable, including towns and the insides of buildings. This also includes the stages for the Warriors battles, and the dungeons themselves, as fully explorable sections of the overworld. When entering a Warriors battle, there'd be a loading screen that isolates the battle itself into that setting. If you try to leave the stage, you get redirected back into the action. First visits to dungeons will also do this, but will be completely open and revisitable after clearing them. You can go anywhere you want in the overworld right away, but dungeons and maybe some certain few towns won't be accessible until the proper story segments have been reached. Story will be pretty linear, with some events not triggering until you do the right order of events first even if you go to the right places.
Combat will carry over the same between the overworld and Warriors battles and dungeons. Your class decides what your moveset is, which is your standard attack chain. This can expand as you upgrade your characters. The battle skills will operate very much like they do in Ys. You get a stamina meter and you can select four battle skills and two unique skills, unique to each character. You get a jump button and a dodge button, too. There is also a special attack, that's basically a Warriors special, but then you can chain this with nearby party members if their specials are also ready to perform a chain special. You can link up multiple special attacks, and once all the links are done, you get a final hit with all the characters that contributed attacking together. Damage increases with the number of chains. Perfect dodge and perfect guard can also exist, as they do in Ys and Warriors games. Would also carry over the weak point gauge and weak point smashes.
- Sidequests, Dungeons, and Warriors Battles -
Sidequests can come in a variety of types. Monster hunting, material gathering, person-finding or escorting, etc. Some will be story-required. There'd be a logbook to keep track of them all. There can also be some sidequests that are specific to certain characters and must be done using them in some way. There would also be plenty of postgame content, such as randomly-generated sidequests and Warriors battle scenarios and also a labyrinth dungeons of sorts with quests related to that.
Dungeons will be pretty similar to how Zelda dungeons work, just without the item gating. When you enter a dungeon for the first time, you must first conduct a Warriors style battle to get inside. For the purpose of this game and its universe, we'd be calling the Warriors battles "Raid Battles". You complete the Raid Battle, and you leave some of your party members outside the dungeon to keep the area under control. You can select any combination of up to four characters (player-character not required), or you could even try to solo the dungeon, if you wished. Inside, the puzzles can be completed by any character, but the number of enemies won't change. Their levels will be scaled to match the highest level of your party members that you brought into it. The less party members you use, the harder it would be. There could also be an option to revisit the dungeons in such a fashion through an auxiliary system, since the dungeons become open after you clear them. When you begin the Raid Battle + Dungeon segment, you can't leave until it's done. Hence, there should be plenty of resources inside the dungeons should you need to restock. I would want at least 10 dungeons.
Warriors style missions AKA Raid Battles will always be story-required in order to enter a dungeon for the first time, but there can also be plenty of extra, optional Raid Battles as sidequests. As previously stated, the stages for these Raid Battles are real parts of the overworld that you can freely explore when not in a Raid. To start an optional Raid, you would need to visit one of these settings after accepting such a sidequest and then choose to start it. You wouldn't be automatically forced into it. You can also choose to retire from the optional ones. You get a prep screen where you can select where your characters start on the map, but all of the playable characters you possess will take to the field. The character order would be in the order your party was in before starting the battle. This means that after you get all the playable characters, you'd be in control of 11 characters at once (12 if you get the secret Palico). Naturally there'd be systems in place to make swapping between them streamlined and convenient, and you'd also be able to give them orders as you would in standard Warriors games. The combat described above would not change between the overworld and the Raid battle, but Raids would become the only place you can do a chain special with more than four characters. You could potentially do a 12-chain special. Big damage there.
- Home Base Development and Character Relationships -
After first meeting Hilda and saving the central town, you would be tasked with a story quest to collect materials to refurbish an old abandoned inn. You get the inn as your home base, and you get to decorate it and name it as you please, with your options expanding as you progress through the game. The inn is the only place in the overworld besides Raid Battles and the first dungeon visits that goes through a loading zone. In the inn, all the playable characters are freely walking around and hanging out, and you can interact with them and hear their stories. The inn's facilities are managed by Palicos. The facilities would include character and weapon/gear upgrades as well as cooking, crafting, and storage. There would also be amenities for hanging out with your fellow party members. The whole thing would be very customizable. Each character also gets their own room at the inn. You can decorate the player character's however you want, but the rest of the cast would decorate their rooms based on their personalities and what they have from their source games.
This game would use a Friendship system similar to Rune Factory (no romance though for obvious reasons) and each time you gain a level, you get something like a Support Conversation a la Fire Emblem to learn more about the characters and how they feel about being isekai'd. I was thinking that out of everyone, Hilda, Adol, Dana, and Feather would be pretty chill about the whole thing. They'd even be enjoying the situation a lot. Link, Zelda, Lest, Forte, Anila, and Ashe, on the other hand, would be pretty eager to return home. They'd also talk about their personal histories and anecdotes from their source games and so on. The characters will also have such relationships and conversations with each other, not just the player character (yes even Link). These relationships will strengthen their performance in battle, and for characters that share a source game, like Hilda and Ashe, they get an Acquaintance Bonus in the form of stat boosts when they fight together.
I think that covers mostly everything that was buzzing around in my head. This was fun to write out. Like I said, very self-indulgent, but I would buy this game in a heartbeat and I would love it to death and go absolutely nuts.
