Firstly and most importantly-

From all your friends here at WAAPT and Tvtropes! :)

Media Arc Idea!

You may or may not have noticed that I am a big fan of the game Xenoblade Chronicles, and several other players have expressed a desire to either play it, and I know at least one other person who has played it. I had the idea of adapting it for a WAAPT arc.

Summary!

From bits and pieces from wikipedia

The game follows a young man named Shulk, who wields the eponymous Xenoblade – an energy blade called the Monado – against the Mechon in order to ultimately save the world.

In the beginning, the world had originally been nothing but an endless ocean. That was until two great titans—the Bionis and the Mechonis —came into existence. These two giants fought a timeless battle, until with one final strike, only their lifeless bodies remained, forever locked in combat. Eons later, civilizations founded by races of Bionis—including the humanoid Homs and the Nopon—came under attack from the Mechon, a horde of machines from Mechonis.

Setting: Well look at this◊. The one on the left, Bionis, is where the game starts. The one on the right is the Mechonis.

How it would work

It would have to take place in an AU for reasons that are spoily, but there are two ideas I have to explain it's existence, such as:

1. It is a result of a timeline where in the RedEyes v. Jacob battle, Zeal won. This is advantageous for a few reasons, such as that it helps meld the game to our continuity, making it less of "Here's a completely seperate universe" and more of "Here's a part of our universe", considering it means this universe is a result of a Pokémon one, justifiying the adaptations made. As well it could very easily be a result if the fight turned out that way, and it wouldn't affect other timelines.

2. It could just be some random alternate timeline. This also has it's advantages such as that it allows for more control over how some of the things work, and more freedom with some of the characters. It also allows for a lot more room to be vauge with how some of the things work.

Races

In the game, there are three main races that you need to worry about

Homs- Humans, effectively. No differences between them and the humans from the main universe in any way that needs to be looked at.

High Entia- More advanced humans with winged heads. No they can't fly with them. Well they can glide sort of but it's hard, takes a lot of training, and if you are incapable of wiggling your ears you can forget about it. Also they can use magic.

Nopon- Balloon... bird... bunny things. They're admittedly hard to describe. Best I can do is they're like Ewoks that talk a lot and function as merchants. If you need a better description go here.

Now for the arc counterparts really all I thought to change were the Nopon, into fat Delibirds. As well instead of the High Entia having elemental magic, they could be able to use basic Pokémon attacks. If someone has a better idea feel free to say you have an idea that's better than mine. As well most of the wild life, the monsters the members need to face, easily can be changed into Pokémon.

Role of Pokémon

Since I doubt people would want an arc where they don't have their teams along for the ride, I feel like Pokémon should be able to be brought, and it shouldn't really affect the story. However in this universe, I don't see Pokémon and humans being able to work and live together like they do in the main series. Without relegating them all to be wild animals, with some domesticated for use, I don't see a super heavy Pokémon involvement beyond a few of the bosses, though there may be ways to change that.

How the characters would get involved

How it would get started, I would like suggestions with, because for the life of me I don't know how to get people here, if it does become a thing. Once they get there though...

We're They'd Go/What They'd Do Once They Are

Since I know having us all in one place doing one thing isn't going to work out, participants would/could be scattered to a few locations and handle their own individual stories until the plot pushes them together. Everyone would still be doing important things, but this way not everything is crowded, and several of the stories that happen off-screen in game we can bring to life. The locations are:

Colony 9: It's the starting hometown, here◊ on Bionis, at about its mid-calf. It's where the main cast lives, and a fairly peaceful suburban town-city of sorts, inhabited by plenty of humans and Nopon. People who would start here would be part of the main story.

Colony 6: Another Colony on Bionis, around its upper thigh◊. This is like Colony 9, but with a much better militia and a bit smaller. Again, Nopon and humans would be here. Those who would end up here would follow events immediately precluding the kicking off of the main story. People here would be more useful for explaining the world to those who start out in Colony 9 because they'd have more time to get settled. Not too much time but quite a bit.

Frontier Village: This is a very... it's a giant tree on the Bionis' back◊, filled with Nopon. Characters who end up here would not get a lot of exposition that those in Colony 6 would, and are not part of the main story for quite a while. In fact, characters who end up here will be involved in silly shenanigans for a while, but also will be involved in a sidequest chain that before the main group reaches here. This group will be the last to join the main story, about a third of the way through. Though it is reached by the main group before the location where the last group will start.

Alcamoth: The capital city of the High Entia atop the massive ocean called the Eryth sea, which is at the base of the Bionis' head◊. Yes that whole thing is part of the head. It confused me too at first. If you don't get it hopefully these◊ help◊. Alcamoth, as previously stated is the home of the High Entia, and characters who would start out here would be involved in the various expirements of it's scientific community, and assisting the royal family with matters that preclude it's involvement with the main story. They would gain an incredible amount of knowledge about the High Entia, and also would be introduced to the story before the group reaches the Frontier Village.

That's one idea of how it could happen. Alternatively everyone could end up in Colony 9 and just follow the main story.

As well I've entertained the idea of, if people choose, allowing their characters to temporarily become either High Entia or Nopon, depending on where they start out. This could be explained in short by ether, which fills the role of the universal plot hole filler of magic for Xenoblades, and could warp people entering the universe so that they conform to it. Of course this also may not happen, if that's not a good idea.

Character Roles

As for the characters... there's no limit to how many could be involved, but seeing as this game is huge, there is a minimum. This is not so each of the potential starting points could have one person, but because I don't feel like it's worth the effort if only one or two people want to join in. It would happen a long time from now, at least, but still.

As well, we have a few options to go with regarding the characters and their relation to the story.

1. Some members of the group replace the characters of the story. I can see this but don't want to do it because I seriously doubt all the people who participate in this arc know the story very very very well, and could react in the ways needed to drive the story. It could be pulled off, but it'd be difficult, and as well there is a finite number of roles, which means once they're filled, the other participants, if there are more than what's needed. More rewarding, and it allows the group to not play-tag along with the main cast, but it'd be a hassle setting out. However if this is done I already have several ideas for who could fill who. Despite it's difficulty, if pulled off, this would make the arc feel more free and not so confined, it would become less of the game played out in the RP but the RP living the game.

2. Those who participate simply are involved with the main group, being pulled along in their adventure for their own reasons, but ultimately, to go home. This allows more people to participate, but it makes the story more... scripted. The actions and reactions would have minimal effect on the overall story, but it allows for smoother transitioning and a quicker progession.

Conclusion

And that's what I have to say about a potential Xenoblade Chronicles Arc. Thoughts, complaints, and suggestions are all apreciated.

edited 20th Dec '13 12:39:49 PM by Verax

Verax

Ether is not a universal excuse!

But yeah, Xenoblade's probably my favorite game of all time.

So as ambitious and huge and such as this is, I'd enjoy it, most likely.

Verax

Holy crap all the lore!

But yes. I'd get behind that.

Hey, all. I think I'm going to hop in pretty soon. Umbra elected to have his character interact with mine, so do I just have him run into them?

Mobi: Yeah, just look for a post about Arika and run into her.

Verax: Looks awesome, but I worry about the mutliversal aspect, a bit? Moreso mons being sidelined.

Essentially.

Really, "X is wandering around." is usually an open invitation for interaction.

Ok, cool. Thanks so much!

Umbra: The Pokémon owned by the characters are free to appear, they won't be sidelined, but there won't be many, if any, really major mon NP Cs.

And like I said, it has to take place in an alternate universe, otherwise it doesn't work, but I understand.

Verax: The problem then is keeping it Pokemon-y. Because that's vital for any video game arc.

And I know others worry about creating yet more alternate universes soley for video game arcs, though I realize with this it's the only way.

(And I'd much prefer "random universe" over "bad end where Zeal won.")

Probably shouldn't be posting yet, but regarding Xenoblade stuff...

Concerns-wise, I'm kind of wondering how Red-Eyes' wish being granted would have lead to things like everything taking place on two giant titans, but I guess you've got an explanation for that in mind if this goes through.

The multiverse stuff doesn't really bother me, though I'm unsure about your note about mons. I'm fine with mons not being shown as much compared to humans for story stuff, but I am a bit worried about what it seems to be implying for things like combat, as I'm of the opinion combat should be either Pokemon only or humans and Pokemon in tandem in most cases. Though if there's something that makes that pretty much impossible, I suppose there are some explanations I could deal with, though I'd like to hear explanations of why humans and Pokemon apparently might not be as close in this universe as in pretty much every other one (and I think they should be wild animals regardless).

That said... if we can get this to a state everyone's fine with it, especially if it's related to Red-Eyes Zeal somehow, I may get Crow involved even though I know pretty much nothing about Xenoblade.

edited 20th Dec '13 1:25:23 PM by crowlover

The lore and stuff is interesting, and playing around in the world would be interesting... but I'm kind of concerned about the role in the story. The inability of the P Cs to spontaneously affect the plot really wears on me after a while in a scripted plot, and playing hanger-on to the main characters of a story with a set plot doesn't really interest me.

That said, it looks like you've put a lot of thought into this, and if you're confident it can be pulled off, I might give it a try.

Crow: In combat it'd be something akin to Conquest, the Pokémon would definitely be the fighters, but the humans can help too. I'll probably adapt the various characters so that they have a Pokémon or two that fits their in game battle style.

Reasons for why they're not as close I can give you right now, but it'd be spoily. That's not saying they're all just wild animals/monsters. No humans definitely have Pokémon partners, it's just not as common or as many, because it'd be a lot harder. Like for example instead of having teams of six and up, most people have have maybe one or two per family or per person for helping out with daily life and self defense.

As well if it is related to Red Eyes' then there is a very good explanation for why the universe ends up being two titans.

Speaking of the giant robot's shapes will also probably be altered. I remember once in the chat someone linking to a picture of giant a Reshiram and Zekrom in something that looked similar to some of the game's art work, I'll probably change it to fit something like that.

EDIT: Yeah I know it was you, I just don't have the link. Which really shouldn't affect the fact I didn't specifically mention you but meh.

edited 20th Dec '13 1:39:13 PM by Verax

That was me.

Here's that picture, for reference.◊

Also, I'm not really sure how the RedEyes!Zeal thing would work, myself, come to think of it.

I'm with Crewe on the matter. A story that would theoretically involve a large portion of the RP, but needs to be scripted to run smoothly, doesn't sit well with me.

Crewe, Every: That's one way to go about this though. Like I mentioned, another way this could happen is by keeping the same basic premise of the plot and by replacing all the main characters with people from the RP, so it's not nearly as scripted. It'd still be a little bit, but no more than "Hey you can't go this way because you should do this first" or something. I hate the idea of everyone just tagging along with the stories original protagonists and just being observers and helpers to facilitate the story. I really want to take the game's plot and make it our own. Which would be considerably more difficult than having it scripted, but by no means impossible.

edited 20th Dec '13 1:47:40 PM by Verax

I'm not in on this because:

1. I think DS's Fantasy arc is enough of a sideline for now.

2. I've never played Xenoblade D:

Uli:

1. That's why it's not happening for a long LONG time probably and

2. It's no problem, if it ends up being a thing, I'm going to work super hard to make it so everyone understands what's going on and no one involved is left behind.

How many people here have played Xenoblade?

Dogs

I have! But I'm fairly certain that was already understood.

As a follow up on Dogs question, since most of you haven't, I'm sure, how many of you have played, have watched anything about, or plan to play Xenoblades?

Nope!

Never even heard of it until, like, now, outside of your various offhand mentions in the chat.

I watched a little bit of a Xenoblade LP, but that's about it.

I plan on playing it at some point.

As for the arc, though, I'm... still not sure. It's really well thought out, but I worry it'll end up similarly to the AU: more or less forgotten because it's not important to the main plot. I don't mind the existence of the new universe, but I worry it'll suffer that same fate.

I have had no exposure to Xenoblade.

I don't even know what it's about beyond what you just posted.