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A Different Sort of Kefka Hack

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Hello, I have an idea for a rom hack based around Kefka. I have seen ideas for hacks based on Kefka's story before, but never one quite like my idea.
My idea takes place in the present, not in the past, and it happens after the end, when Kefka is supposedly dead. It turns out that Kefka's defeat was actually an illusion he created in the minds of the protagonists. He said he would destroy all of existence, but there's a part of him that's saying, "Wait, wait! If I do that, then what? Then who will I destroy? And don't I live in existence? What about me? I love me, and I don't want anything bad to happen to me!"
He has a fight with himself, almost literally, with his little sprite facing left or right depending on which "side" of him is talking. Eventually, he decides to fake his death, so that people will start rebuilding delicious buildings and making tasty babies that he can destroy much later. The hard part, he thinks, is being patient with the puny humans. Stupid, slow, so very slow humans.
As you can imagine, waiting in the rubble of his destroyed tower isn't much fun. It's really boring. So he decides to make himself "weaker" on purpose (choosing to limit his magical power), so that fighting monsters is a challenge. Eventually, fighting monsters loses its charm, so he starts visiting human settlements. He mostly visits to see what kind of reactions he'll get, like how a sibling will bother another sibling just to see the reaction. He uses his powers to freak people out, and make completely untrue stuff up about himself.
Like,
"Oooh! I am the ghost of your father!"
"I am an angel of the Lord! So, you better do what I say!"
"Every time you call me a clown, I steal a little bit of your SOUL!" (He certainly doesn't think his clothes look clownish!)
But in his visits, sometimes he comes across a person or creature that seems markedly different to the rest (at least to him.) In no particular order, here are the "party members" he acquires (and his thoughts on them) on his journeys,

(All names are just the names Kefka uses for them.)

Stupid Kid - This dumb kid doesn't think I'm that great, no matter how many trees I burn down. Even though the adults all cower in fear before me, this STUPID kid just laughs at me! I threatened to burn his parents, but he says he's an orphan. Hmm, no wonder he's so stupid, he doesn't have any parents to tell him how to act. Hey, wasn't I an orphan...?

Stupid Dog - This foul, stinking mutt is as moronic and ugly as they come. He barks when there isn't anyone around, he growls at me, he nips at my leg. GRRRR! I HATE HATE HATE THIS DOG! Hmm, I really should kill this dog, but every time I try to kill it, it whimpers at me, and licks me. What IS up with this dog? It puzzles me to no end.

Stupid Bird - This obnoxious, yet colorful, parrot copies MY beautiful voice, and copies MY words! GRRRR! SHUT UP! That's MY voice! Mine! The only reason I'm even keeping you alive is because you match my outfit. You look so becoming on my shoulder like that. If only I could get you to be quiet.

Stupid Lady - This hysterical woman won't leave me alone. For some reason, she thinks I'm her child that she lost recently. Her mothering of me can be very irritating (she doesn't seem to realize I'm an adult,) but on the other hand, I'm glad someone is finally paying attention to me.

Stupid Hobo - This stupid, half-blind, homeless idiot talks about nothing but conspiracy theories. Normally, I'd just set him on fire, but his idiotic commentary is priceless. Besides, he said my feathers look pretty! I can't kill someone who compliments my headdress.

Stupid Geezer - This senile old fool has dementia. Apparently, her relatives don't visit her anymore (I can see why.) However, she showers me with praises and attention. She says she's impressed with "what the young people like you are wearing these days." Once again, I can't kill a someone who compliments my headdress.

Stupid Jerk - This JERK is just plain mean to me! Even after demonstrating my powers, she is still fearless of me, as if she has a death wish. Part of me wants to throw her into a bucket of sulfuric acid, but there's another part of me that wants to find out where, exactly, she's getting her death wish from...

Stupid Ghost - This annoying ghost said I poisoned him in life. GRRR! Every time I try to sleep he whispers nonsense into my ear! He says he won't go away until I feel remorse about the things I've done... Psst! Fat chance! Stupid ghost, I'll show you!

Stupid Minion - This is one of those peons I used to boss around back when I was merely a general. Apparently, this idiot is still loyal to the death for me. Wow! And he does ANYTHING I tell him! Hit yourself in the face! Give yourself a wedgie! Flip off your own grandmother! Teehehehehe! Huh, why is he so loyal to me, even if he knows I'm bad...?

Stupid Dude - This moron in mismatched clothes thinks I'm really cool, so I guess he's not such a moron. I mean, he's still a stupid, puny, mortal human (yes, I am immortal!). He's always asking me to show off my magic tricks because they are "rad," and he says my outfit "really sticks it to the man." I asked him who the "man" was, and he said it was "the establishment." So I asked him what "the establishment" was, and he said it was "society." Hmm, so he dislikes society, huh? Maybe we're not so different...

Stupid Octopus - This octopus says his name is "Ultros." Haha! A monster with a name! How absurd! He makes me laugh so much, that I simply MUST keep him around.

Stupid Moogle - All I did was give him one kupo nut, and now he WON'T STOP FOLLOWING ME!

Stupid... Me? - This dark shadow looks just like an outline of me. Wha? Whaaat? What is this thing?

All party members are much, much weaker than Kefka. Almost like dead-weights at first. However, unlike Kefka, they do possess great "healing magic" and "defensive spells." But Kefka is the only character who can really do any major damage to the monsters. Kefka has minor healing spells that he uses at first, but later on their healing becomes necessary. The best late-game formation is to have Kefka in the front, and all other characters in the back, because he has the most hit points and defenses. At first, you can get by without protecting the other characters, and just have them be dead all the time, but later on it becomes important to keep them alive.

Kefka is very prone to reminiscing about the past, and how things could be, and what it might be like to be in another character's shoes (like Terra, or Edgar, or Cyan, ect ect.)
Is possible to have the appearance of the World of Ruin switched with the World of Balance? That way the World of Balance appears after Kefka reminisces about the calamity he caused, and wishes he could have done something different. It wouldn't be because he actually changed anything, but rather because of him now noticing the greenery that has been reappearing recently.
Most of the game would be about Kefka slowly recovering his own humanity, and rediscovering things like beauty, love, friendship, loyalty, and all that good stuff. Of course, even at the end he still looks like a clown, because he just wouldn't be Kefka anymore if he didn't, now would he?

I know nothing about code or hacking beyond the superficial. I use a Mac, so I can't make use of any FF6 hacking software. But I am a professional writer and illustrator by trade, so I can write dialogue and scenarios, and create sprites and color schemes as needed.
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#2
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Nattak\'d
Hello, welcome!

That's a cool idea. I have nothing really more feedback wise yet but I can tell you've put a lot of thought into this and that's always nice to see. It's good to have a clear vision of what you want to do first before actually doing it lol.

(11-04-2015, 12:01 PM)Magma666 Wrote: I know nothing about code or hacking beyond the superficial. I use a Mac, so I can't make use of any FF6 hacking software. But I am a professional writer and illustrator by trade, so I can write dialogue and scenarios, and create sprites and color schemes as needed.

That's how most of us were of course when we started with an idea only. There is lots of tools & resources here thankfully, and friendly knowledgeable folks that are happy to help answer questions. So try not to let it intimidate you away from your project!


We are born, live, die and then do the same thing over again.
 

#3
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Well, mostly the thing that's keeping me from just doing everything myself, is the fact that most rom hacking software doesn't work for Macs. Now, is there simple, easy to use FF6 hacking software that works for Macs? Do any of the Windows hacking programs work through Wine? Getting another computer is not an option for me, money-wise. I'm stuck with a Mac.
If someone tells me, "Hey, just give me the script and graphics, and I'll jam into the game for ya!" I'd be willing to commit myself to this work. Otherwise, I feel I'm better off returning to my professional work.
Honestly, I did NOT put much thought into this idea AT ALL. It came to me this morning on a whim.
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#4
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Nattak\'d
Ah okay, I assumed it was a personal project that you were already committed to doing. Yeah I'm not sure about Mac anything regarding the tools usage, that's a shame though. Well, maybe someone will be interested in the idea enough to be willing to adopt it and do all the work, but I honestly doubt it. Anyways it's a cool idea man, there should be more Kefka-based hacks.


We are born, live, die and then do the same thing over again.
 

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ALL the work? Heck no, I'd still be doing all the spiriting and writing, and figuring out how to make the script work without actually changing any of the game's events. Besides, if someone picked this project up, everyone would be getting something they can use for THEIR projects, namely, new monsters. The monsters for this hack would be free to use, no strings attached, for anything else. Heck, you can even SELL them if you want.

To show that I really mean it when I say I am a professional illustrator, here is a diabolical, utterly evil, disgusting, horrible, bloodthirsty BEAST your mother ever saw! It even uses FF6's monster color palette, and is the same size as a rabbit.
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#6
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Nattak\'d
Nice bird man! Really dig the sprite. Well, I really hope this project picks up. I'd love to see more of your spritework, for one.


We are born, live, die and then do the same thing over again.
 

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Tissue-aware
@Magma666: Your attachment has been removed since they are not allowed on the forum as it is stated in the forum rules.

On a side not, nobody will be able to upload anything via attachments in the next upgrade. This should solve once and for all the endless attachment problem.
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That's okay. I put it in the sprite gallery. It's the Dodo monster.
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#9
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Double
@Madsiur This has been a long time coming. Smile The attachment thing is so unintuitive.

@Magma

If all else (by "all else" I mostly mean Wine Tongue ) fails you could use a Virtual Machine running Windows as a guest OS to hack, I guess. I'll dump this link here in case it helps; I haven't read the whole thing, but there seem to be several options here. Somebody else may have a better idea (or more experience with Macs), but VMs aren't too hard to set up in my experience. It's totally free too, since some VM software is free and you can install Windows 10 on the virtual system for free too.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/b...ndows-pcs/

At first I was a bit skeptical (I usually am), but after reading a bit more this sounds like a cool idea. I'd be interested in contributing to something like this, but it's hard for me right now since I already am swamped with lots of stuff. Maybe in a couple of months, if you're still around (most people seem to lose interest after a while). I can do events and while I haven't delved into game balance (except from a player's perspective) or enemy scripts, I know some of the scripting tricks and I'm confident that I can pick it up fairly quickly.


Confused Moogles FTW
 

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That's very kind of you. I'll look into that Virtual Box thing later, and see if I can get it to work. Well, I need a couple of months to actually write the story. I've already decided what characters have been swapped with who now, and have started rewriting the intro (all without changing the events, should be doable with just a few sprite swaps, and name changes, and rewritten script.) Here's just a taste of what I've written so far (??? is Kefka, since he's swapped with Terra and can't be named until later):

"A few months ago... They confronted me, and I faked my death.
Now, thinking that I have perished, the humans have begun to rebuild and reproduce more toys for me to break.
For a moment, in my rage, I wanted to destroy all of existence.
But then I remembered my original goal to keep myself preserved.
Waiting in this fallen tower is no fun, so I've began to reminisce and play make-believe about the good times.
I remembered the time I took control of that half-breed wench, whats-her-face. That was fun...

??? as Wedge: Duh, I'm a stupid moron!
??? as Biggs: Blah, blah, blah!
???: I wonder why I even picked these two useless numskulls to accompany her in the first place. I can't remember.
??? as Wedge: I'm duhh-um.
??? as Biggs: I'm stoopid.
???: Ahh! This is getting really boring! I wanna go to that town and burn some things.
???: Mmm, just like the good old days...
???: Oh, boy! They've repopulated! This is gonna be GREAT!
Worker: Huh? Someone stole mining equipment? Sir, please give that back.
Worker: He's alone, and seems to be delirious. We need to stop him.
Worker: What is wrong with you?!
Worker: Calm down! You're hurting people!
???: Hmm, I wonder if that esper is still around? But it probably didn't survive after I shattered all the magicite.
???: Stupid wall, I'll show you!
Worker: Terragon! Protect us from this madman!
[Battle with Terragon. A dragon with a pepper head and leafy wings.]
???: Oh, this is going to be easy! Teehee!
???: Hmm, wonder what its weakness is?
???: Looks like it absorbs fire, like a jerk, and stores it in its wings.
???: So...
???: I better attack the head with ice spells...
???: And leave the body alone. Aww, wish I could use fire on it...
???: Huh? What's this?
???: It looks like a prism. But it can't be magicite, so what is it?
???: Hmm...
[The prism emits an eerie light...]
???: Wh-what the? This is so surreal...
???: Hey! It's making my imaginary minions disappear! Does it control the imagination?
???:... ... ...?
???: What...? What happened?
Old Man: You caused a heap of trouble, that's what happened!
???: Hey, you didn't touch me with your filthy peon hands, did you?
Old Man: Well, I had to drag you here somehow. You were wearing this crown of sticks and leaves, and you told me it was a 'slave crown.'
???: Oh yeah, I was playing make-believe.
Old Man: It certainly wasn't make-believe to all the people and pets you hurt.
Old Man: Did you escape from an asylum? What's your name?

"This is the glorious ME in all my splendor. As you can see, I'm a magnificent deity. AND YOU'D BETTER NOT CHANGE MY NAME! YOU PEON!"

What'll I call this loser?

Kefka

Kefka: My name is Kefka- Ah! I mean Joey Joe! I'm not related in anyway to Kefka. Nope, he's dead.
Old Man: Uhh... Okay, 'Joey.' Just so you know, a bunch of asylum workers have started gathering outside.


Edit: I also added the ending, so that I have a direction to go in. I don't usually write a story from start to finish in that order,

[The party jumps from the Nautilus to Figment Tower.]
Kefka's Psyche awaits...
[The group finally meets Figment Kefka.]
Figment Kefka: Ah, so you've come, you husk that used to be us. Know that we are your true nature!
Kefka: No, you're not! I admit that I've made bad choices, but I can make up for them now.
Figment Kefka: Haha! Don't you realize these 'friendships' only make you weaker? Look!
Figment Kefka: Ahh, observe the power of hatred. So much more potent than love, and without the vulnerabilities that come with it.
Figment Kefka: Love... So weak... So fragile...
Kefka: It's true that love is fragile, but that's what makes it so special.
Figment Kefka: Special? Hah! Don't make us laugh! Why bother with love? You're immortal, so every friend you make will die before you do. You're just setting yourself up for heartbreak after heartbreak. Funeral after funeral. None of your friendships will matter once they inevitably end.
Kefka: No, you're not getting it! Friendships don't really end, they continue between two people even if one dies, but in a different way than before. Friendship is the real magic in this world! That's what I've learned!
Figment Kefka: Oh? And what else have you 'learned?'
Kefka: I've learned a lot.
Kefka: But it was my friends who taught me...
Kefka: Dog taught me to appreciate animal life...
Kefka: Ghost taught me to feel remorse...
Kefka: Jerk taught me to stop denying my faults...
Kefka: Hobo taught me that one's status isn't what makes one valuable...
Kefka: Dude taught me that society can be a good thing...
Kefka: Bird taught me to appreciate beauty and music...
Kefka: Kid taught me about innocence...
Kefka: Geezer taught me that even short lifespans are precious...
Kefka: Minion taught me about loyalty...
Kefka: Lady taught me about parental love...
Kefka: Mog taught me about... About... Moogles!
Kefka: Ultros taught me more than I wanted to know about octopus anatomy...
Kefka: Shade taught me to accept my shadow...
Figment Kefka: You... You sound exactly like those self-help books you loathed so much! Bleh!
Figment Kefka: We'll make every last one of your 'friends' unreal! What is imaginary will become real, and what is real will become imaginary! We'll tear reality apart!
Kefka: No, stop it! I want to live in a sane world!
[Figment Kefka uses Dimension Cutter across the world.]
Figment Kefka: We'll turn this world into a living nightmare. Chaos eternal. Mass hallucinations. Every mind will be driven mad. Lost in insomnia forever and ever!
Kefka: No, I don't want my subconscious to take over the world!
Figment Kefka: You stupid man! You can't control us! We are your destructive powers! We control you!
Kefka: No! I can get it under control!
Figment Kefka: No, you can't! And we'll hurt all your friends!
Kefka: NO! I love, love, love, love, LOVE my friends! And now there's only one thing in this world that I hate: your cruelty!
[The party enters into a final battle with Dark Morpheus!]
Dark Morpheus: Friends betray... Society constrains... Parents punish... Children demand...
Dark Morpheus: We'll show you true freedom...
[Dark Morpheus has been defeated, and the tower begins collapsing.]
Kefka: Ahh! The tower! Everybody!
Kefka: Run, run before you're well done!
Kefka: Run, run back to the airship!
Bird: Squawk! Run, run before you're well done!
Bird: The tower! Squawk!
Kefka: The imagicite... Reality is stabilizing...
Hobo: The figments are disappearing, just as I expected. Haha! I knew it all along!
Kefka: No, you didn't! Grrr! You little- Err... I mean, friend?
Kefka: Follow me, friends. I can use my angelic form to guide you out.
[The ending sequence begins, showing the party escaping from the collapsing tower.]
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