Hi everyone! Since I've decided to change Border Point's engine to VX (due to XP being kind of dead and VX having nearly ALL scripting features the game needs), I've looked over the general story structure (not the actual events, but how they're presented) and decided on having characters with lost memories, which they regain through flashbacks the player can actually play through, thus revealing the characters' backstories step by step instead of having the player do 10 unrelated storylines, which can lead to boredom and monotonity.
Border point's original topic can be seen in my signature.

Also, the common storyline received a nonary game-infusion (9 hours 9 persons 9 doors for DS), adding a puzzle element to party management.

It works the following way:

After starting a new game, the player can choose between the following options:
- Answering a few questions to determine personality and choose the best fitting of 6 minor variations for the plot.
- Having the game choose one randomly.

The 11 characters then wake up on a mountain summit, with no memories of their past, some don't even remember their name. The antagonist, Krono appears and explains that they're in his "game", in which they have to find him. They all possess a bracelet with numbers 1-8, some people (3 pairs of 2 people) have the same. Krono also tells them that those who have the same number are married couples.

What the couples are is where the 6 minor variations come in: some combinations vary and one character might be perma-dead from the start. Also, some dialogue changes provide slight replay value.

At some point during flashbacks, the couples can be changed, or even perma-dead characters can be "revived", since their death can be prevented.

Perma-death
Due to the dungeon design and nonary-game influences, some characters might get stuck in dungeons. Leaving the area with them being left behind permanently kills off those characters, though they can still be revived post-game.

So, what do you think? Are these ideas any good or are they better left out?

I'm not familiar with "nonary" and perhaps that's why I'm having difficulty in understanding.

But the thing about the bracelets and being part of a game sounds almost exactly like "The World Ends with You" on the DS. So there's a bit of unoriginality that I am seeing. I also don't really like the idea of being in a "game". That concept has just never really appealed to me. Additionally, characters with amnesia is overdone.

But, I do like the answering questions to determine personality part. It's been done before (including in my own games) but I've always found it to be a nice touch to games.

I can't really say much else since I may not be fully grasping what you're posting.

It's a game only in the furthest sense, as Krono is trying to mess with the characters by imposing some strange rules for their progression.
And the "nonary game" is the following: each character has a bracelet with a number. At certain checkpoints, only 3-8 characters may pass whose numbers' "digital root" matches the number of the checkpoint

for example, with numbers 3, 5, 6 and 7: add all numbers (3+5+6+7=21), if the result has 2 or more digits, add them until you end up with a single-digit number (2+1=3). These characters in this combination can only pass through a checkpoint with a 3 on it.
Also, certain checkpoints can only be passed with a single person.

This adds a puzzle element to party management in dungeons.



Yeah, I've seen them a few too many times as well, but I still think that through good execution, they can turn into a powerful plot device. The characters' memories are not hazy or incomplete: everything besides their name, motoric memories and abilities are permanently gone and will not return:one can wield a sword but they won't remember who taught them fencing. Their personality is what I call a "blank slate": in some plotlines, a formerly head-over-heels-with-love couple's relationship is completely reset: their identical bracelet number tells them that they're a couple and they're married but they don't remember the affection between them, thus they act as if they weren't even dating each other. Also, some might have had personality traits they entirely lack now, because they don't remember the reason they acted that way.
They don't get their memories back but must relive the events leading to their kidnapping by Krono through (playable) flashbacks, in which they get to look at themselves from a different perspective, and thus have to face who they were and what they did.
Plus, in other RPGs, only one character has amnesia. In this one, all 11 characters do. Also, I don't plan on making too big of a plot device out of it: there's only one thing the player learns from those memories and wasn't obvious from the actual plot.

Sorry if you still don't understand the concept, I've tried my best to explain.

How bout some of this-

http://www.rpgrevolution.com/forums/index....mp;#entry475957

some advertising for my game AND doesn't contain the incredibly overdone things that are usually done in games, i also find it to be pretty nicley structured

I like taking elements from good storyline in order to structure my own, of course, i dont copy it down to the last detail, just the foundation really

Well! I understand everything now, and man, is that complex. If you can pull off that idea, I think the game would be a smash. Maybe a bit annoying at times (depending on how you set up the game. Like if you go through a dungeon-ish area and at the end can't progress because you don't have the right number, or something like that), but that would just add to the effect that it would have on players. Sounds pretty sweet.