This idea started when I was reading Gamecheetz's parody of Earthbound, where a whole bunch of characters ended up joining Ness that didn't in the actual game. So, they skipped time ahead a little bit, and in one full-comic frame they showed all these random characters that Ness supposedly joined Ness in his quest.
Then, when I was playing the original Earthbound 0 for NES, I noticed this NPC who looked a lot like one of the main characters. But when I talked to him he just said something about Zoo animals escaping. So, I figured he wasn't a playable character because he didn't A) Introduce himself and B) None of the other characters talk about him and C) He isn't in an important area or at the center of anything; just standing on the roadside.
So, I thought to myself, "Why do these RPG's always have characters who are the center of attention? Why can't someone nonchalantly standing on the side of the road actually be an important character?
Now, what would be a neat RPG would be one where people don't join your party in a majorly extended plot, but because they have a reason to. For example, considering the time period, those lousy police in Earthbound probably have guns and THEY should be the ones who take care of Giygas. I mean, Ness has a baseball bat? Whoopity doo. Let's see the Eagleland military take down Giygas's defenses.
So, what if you were playing an RPG and you went on a major mission to fight this evil warlord who's trying to take over? Do you gather a couple of mystic artifacts and try to fight of his army singlehandedly, or do you ask the king for a couple hundred troops and beat up the generic evil warlord before he can start whining about how he's going to kill everyone? What kind of a question is that?
Well, let's say destiny is on your side and only you can take out the stupid warlord. It's not like an army would hurt your chances of winning. That is, unless, you're playing a very, VERY stupid RPG.
So, that's basically the idea. Let's have an RPG where your classic hero rallies your villagers or whoever, who are always fighting with SOME evil in these types of RPG's, rather than taking his lousy wooden sword and personally fighting the final boss.
[ July 21, 2004, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: Glyph Phoenix ]