The Dark Mirror

Chronologically, this hack will be a sequel to FFVI.



Siegfried is a man obsessed with hunting down his double, his doppelganger. There's a twist to the "imposter", as well. Unlike the canon story, here the imposter isn't a man. Nor a monster. It's something else altogether.

On the rare occasions Siegfried manages to corner it (yes, "it"), it proves invulnerable to any weapons. It looks exactly like him, yet its nature is unknown, a complete mystery.

So the story involves not only following the tracks of the doppelganger, but also finding out more (anything, really) about what it is. And finally, learning the means to destroy it.

I took the liberty to change Siegfried's personality, too. He will be a more grim character in this hack. It fits better with the type of story I want to tell.

A brief glimpse of the intro:





To reflect the time period -- roughly two decades after the events of FFVI -- the towns you visit will be revamped. Generally speaking it's a time of prosperity, so expect the architeture to be more sophisticated (or more decayed).

It's also fitting that the new world currency is Gil and no longer GP -- courtesy of Angelo's Restored Ability Names patch.

In terms of gameplay you can expect Siegfried to be quite powerful. A lot of the times he'll be fighting alone so his survivability will be high by necessity. The difficulty will be casual, it won't be a Hardtype/challenge hack.

Siegfried is a swordsmaster, so I gave him the 'Spirit' ability which draws out the spirit of the sword and makes it perform feats of power. Not every sword has a resident spirit inside it, so sometimes that command might be grayed out, much like Runic or SwdTech, depending on the weapon you have equipped. It's essentially a retooled Lore, with some pretty diverse options. Siegfried won't have the 'Magic' command -- AFAIK he did not commune with Espers in the canon story, and I see no reason or need for him to have other powers besides those of his Spirit skill.

Since a video is worth a thousand pictures, here is a brief, improvised demo of the Spirit ability:





There will be elements from horror literature such as author H.P. Lovecraft and his "Cthulhu Mythos". So you can expect some monsters/enemies to be lifted or adapted from his fiction. As in all good Lovecraft stories, the tone will be ominous and oppressive. Some dialogue (mild spoilers):






If you have any suggestions, feel free to add a comment/PM me.