Playable Characters

[SirSpritefag]

One important topic we haven't discussed yet is who will be playable? We have a ton of devs to choose from. So far all we have is Nintendo being playable in the Nintendo chapter and Valve in the PC chapter.
I think there should be 3 characters per platform with one secret character that could be found. Leaving a total of 16 possible characters. This is a pretty large amount and I think any more would be overkill to make.
My ideas:
Secret characters are in italics

Nintendo Reps
Nintendo
Retro
Sega
Intelligent Systems

Sony Reps
Naughty Dog
Insomniac
?
Kojima

Microsoft Reps
343
Epic
Lionhead
Rare

PC Reps
Valve
CD Projekt Red
AliceSoft
?

[Silvergun1]

Considering Insomniac announced it would be working with EA soon, should we really have him on that list? Other than that, I think that all of these characters fit extremely well.

I think we could try to fit in the following characters to fill up the spots:
>I SUPPOSE we should put in at least one female playable character, so VanillaWare
>Eidos
>maybe Areanet could be the PC chapter's secret character, he could join you right before you fight Blizzard (secret boss) and stay with you once you win
>maybe Netherrealms? we could make him the LEADER of a fighting guild instead of well, an actual fighting guild
>Camelot?
>SNK, perhaps after you help him defeat Capcom
>Hal Laboratory
I know this is pushing it, but maybe, just MAYBE we can end up with a bit more than 16 characters. Not necessarily 20 characters, but still.

[SirSpritefag]

Eh, I chose 16 because it would be a bit crazy to properly balance a ton of characters while still keeping a good variety. I think 16 is even pushing it, but any less would be too little for the kind of idea we're going for. But we'll see. Things can change during development. If we can handle more, then sure, let's add more.
Also, didn't know about Insomniac working with EA. I just chose them because they develop for sony a lot.

[Silvergun1]

Hey, I think I just thought of something. Maybe instead of Netherrealms as a character, we could have him be an NPC that teaches advanced fighting techniques/action commands later in the game, and have Rockstar Games be a playable character instead of merely just a "witty scholar." I just found out recently how much of a spot Rockstar really deserves on the list; EA at one point tried to buy out Take-Two games, which owns Rockstar, and fans threatened to boycott the Grand Theft Auto series if EA took a hold of it, along with workers of Rockstar threatening to quit, and shareholders agreeing it would be a ridiculous move to turn over Rockstar to EA. Because of their combined efforts, Rockstar actually became what is probably the only company to successfully resist Ea. Now if they don't deserve a spot on the character list after that, then I don't know who does.

[Sir Spritefag]

That's perfect. Now we just have to choose which chapter they'd go in. They could work in all of em except nintendo.

[Silvergun1]

I'm also starting to think that 343 wouldn't make an especially good party leader to begin with, since their series is actually pretty much starting to turn into a cowadooty clone recently, and how /v/ pretty much agrees the games are getting shitty. Really, we could make it so that 343 is a character that started out powerful and badass, but is on the verge of being corrupted by Greed due to Activision slowly overpowering him. I suppose if we were to put someone else as the leader, it would have to be either Rockstar of Epic.

[The Chartographer]

If I recall correctly, 343 hasn't actually made anything on their own just yet. Halo: Reach was developed by Bungie, butt he servers were given to 343. Combat Evolved: Anniversary was developed by Saber Interactive with 343 overlooking their work. So far the only game that they can call entirely their own is Halo 4.

Furthermore, it's debatable whether or not the Halo franchise is in decline, because ODST managed to pull off film-noir and Firefly in a Halo game, Reach was actually pretty good if very gimmicky, and Anniversary doesn't count because it's a remake. Halo 4 isn't even out yet, nor is there any gameplay footage available for anyone to properly speculate on the finished product's quality.

The way I see it; 343 has been training for the day for when it can live up to -- and maybe even surpass -- big brother Bungie's legacy. A lot of responsibility has been placed on 343's shoulders, and the people of the land are obviously skeptical of this placeholder's talents. Whether 343 is capable of meeting everyone's expectations and succeed or fall into corruption is uncertain. Only time will tell.

[Silvergun1]

You wanna know about Halo 4? Take a look at this: http://chanarchive.org/4chan/v/41715/it-s-over-halo-is-finished-http-halocouncil-com-content-php-55-gameinformer-halo-4-information-leaked

..yeah.

[The Chartographer]

>Spartan Points to buy shit
Meh, not too bad. A little sketchy on the armor abilities part, though

>Spartan Ops ripped straight from Spec Ops
Man, those were one of the best parts of cowadooty

>Everyone has sprint, always
Errr... I guess it could work... right?
The only way I could see this working is if they made it so that instead of tiring out and running at normal speed after a certain time, your shield started to deteriorate.

>Forerunner X-RAY VISION
Well camping is quite annoying someti--

>Elites aren't in multiplayer
But they were the coolest!

>Instant respawn by pressing X
Kind of a trade off. Removes any notion of skill and teamwork, but allows easier accessibility. They better not allow this in CTF and King of the Hill, though.

>Random Drop Pods instead of thoughtfully placed weapons
Fuck. This. Gay. Earth.

I'm a little bit more skeptical than before, but I'll maintain my optimism for when the game actually comes out. Who knows it might still be fun... right?

More to the point, that actually further cements my opinion of 343 as an underdog with a lot of potential to succeed or fuck up. Could work as a main character, but could also work very well as a side character.

[Silvergun1]

I'm starting to actually think that Bungie should be the Xbox chapter party leader, however, considering all this. Maybe that would actually be the better idea.

[Sir Spritefag]

I see Bungie as 343's older brother who left the kingdom of microsoft recently (Maybe to revisit their homeland of Mac or something?) and now 343 has to live up to its brother's legacy.

[The Chartographer]

I was thinking we could have a short section early on where it appears that Bungie is the badass main character of the party (or at least a party member). That way we can establish 343's admiration and relationship with Bungie, and the amount of scrutiny placed upon upon his/her shoulders when Bungie leaves.

[Sir Spritefag]

I like that. Say, the first half of the chapter is bungie teaching 343 the ways of the world and such, then bungie has to leave for some reason we come up with eventually, and 343 takes over as the main character.

[Silvergun1]

You know, I'm starting to think that Intelligent Systems should be the unlockable Nintendo party character in place of GameFreak. I mean Intelligent Systems actually has a much wider variety when it comes to Nintendo franchises than Game Freak does; all Game Freak has is Pokemon, while Intelligent Systems has Paper Mario, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, most of the Warioware games, and Pushmo. Game Freak seems more like someone who would be a scientist/vet that focuses on genetic experiments with animals to create new creatures and then distributing said creatures as pets to citizens of the Nintendo Kingdom.
Additionally, instead of Areanet as unlockable for the PC party...let's try Alicesoft. That would probably be the most interesting, and entertaining choice we could possibly make. Additionally, if Alicesoft has a role as the character who is best equipped to use weapons and attacks based on sex games, then she would work out well as a character. For example, her main weapon could be a massive sword called Rance. Its description would be as follows: "Alicesoft's first and most trusted sword; she began using it ever since she was a loli. The hilt is stained with a slimy liquid that smells like an odd mix of honey and rotting tuna. None of your other party members consider so much as touching it."

[Sir Spritefag]

First off, I love that description for Rance, and secondly, as a person who absolutely loves IS, I'm gonna have to agree with you.
EDIT: So yeah, it's been updated.

[Silvergun1]

Thanks Spritefag. Having a female rapist as a party member is possibly one of the most original ideas in RPG history, for that matter.
Also, if we have another party member in the game that is willing to use sex-based attacks, it'd probably be Rockstar, even if only reluctantly, since he's the only other dev with an adults-only title, as far as I know.

[Sir Spritefag]

I think Rockstar should be a playable character as well.

[Silvergun1]

I'd agree that he should be too. And...I think we kinda agreed that he would be already anyway...

[The Chartographer]

Why don't we make it a lance called Rance, that way it's a play on the Japanese pronunciation of 'L's and 'R's being interchangeable.

[Sir Spritefag]

It's also more phallic.

[Silvergun1]

Yep, sounds alright to me.

[The Chartographer]

I've actually been kicking around the idea of writing Alicesoft's character bio for a very long time. In fact Maxis' little journal entry was supposed to be all about his traumatizing experiences in her sex shop (that also sold weapons and potions), but that took on a life of its own.

See, I always imagined her as this outwardly shy and reclusive girl who would be incredibly embarrassed should anyone see her running a shop that sells swords and dildos in large quantities. However, all of this is facade, because should a cute girl haplessly wander into her store then she pounces.

[Sir Spritefag]

Haha, that's great. Y'know we've been kinda neglecting the Wiki a bit. Maybe you should post all the ideas for Alicesoft's backstory and personality there.

[Sir Spritefag]

An idea I had about expanding the roster of party members is that we could have guest party members, a la mother 3 and FF12.
They'd be computer controlled and only be part of your party for a short while, some only for a single battle.
This way we can have more characters support the main cast without having to program everything for them.

[Silvergun1]

That could be a good idea. Or we could sort of have characters summon familiars or pets with only one or two abilities that they use. For example, once you get Rare, you could summon Banjo and/or Kazooie onto the field, as, well, normal-looking animals with extraordinary abilities. And you could possibly use a combination attack if you've summoned both onto the field at once, like "Banjo-Kazooie" or "Banjo-Tooie." And we could decide later as to what those attacks do. That could be interesting.

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