Plot Twists in Remasters

I don't really care about twisting the plot or subverting expectations; my interests lie in fleshing out unknowns in the world in such a way that plot/world-building holes are filled, exploring things not fully developed, or trying out hypothetical what-if scenarios.

If I wanted to reveal a persons character, I would put them in a new set of circumstances. The bonus dungeon in FF1 is a good example of that, and could be used for characters who die in FF6. You could also explore what happens to Espers, Kefka, and other magical critters after the end.

If you are so inclined, a low power/magic game could be designed around caravan and merchant vessel guards who end up protecting towns from the Empire or Kefka, and then monsters in the world of ruin. Basically vanilla FF6 without significant Espers, and from a perspective that may not be so charitable to the Returners.

If I was going to make an FF6 mod, I would first decide what gameplay elements I want, then design my characters and plot around that.

The FF6 overworld is underwhelming and very linear. I prefer open worlds and leveled monsters (or level being largely irrelevant vs stats). I would either create multiple ways to get anywhere via mountain passes and caves and the like (not all of which are equally easy), or I would do away with the world map entirely and have both massive paths to get everywhere (linear and non-linear) and shortcuts like trains/ferries/canal-barges and teleportation via magic or chocobo caravans.

I'd add bonus dungeons at more points, for challenges and early rewards. Grandia is a good example. Add some Moogle-like throwaway temporary characters to accompany you in the dungeons.

I'd make the towns larger and add various events and quests, and consolidate the shops into general stores except in the biggest cities. Makes no sense that vector is a industrial powerhouse when it has like 6 buildings... unless I can come up with a plot that explains the apparent depopulation.

With all that in mind, I would design a bunch of characters based around some major event NOT happening that meets my criteria for gameplay and closing plot and design holes.

In this case, that means Gestahl dies of pneumonia or something as a child and the empire never forms. No Magitek, no magic at all except ancient magicite and bloodline casters. The Espers remain sealed in their cave - speaking of which, what exactly is in that cave; a pocket dimension, a gate to another world? Where do all the magic, Espers, and magicite go after the end of vanilla FF6?

Terra never left the Esper world, her martial skills would probably be limited without Imperial training, but her full magical abilities would be available from the start. Given her tutelage under natural casters, her magic skills would probably exceed all other mages in the game.

Where is Leo and what does he do? What do Biggs, Wedge, Cid, Kefka, and Celes do without an Empire and it's effects on them? What does Locke do when Rachel finally recovers her memory and reunites with him? What's Cyan up to and how does he join your party when he has a king to serve and a family to raise? Does the lack of these things affect Setzer, Daryl, and airship technology? What's Bannon up to? Who knows what Shadow would be doing, given that it's debatable if trains would exist and we don't know if he'd be a bandit with no Empire.

Edgar and Sabin would be somewhat changed with no Empire and lower tech, but I think Sabin had a thing for bodybuilding and martial arts so maybe not. Without advanced technology Edgar may be a dragoon rather than an Engineer.

Gau, Umaro, Mog, Gogo, Strago, and Relm wouldn't change at all.

How does the lack of magic, magitek, and an Empire affect Figaro Castle, South Figaro, and Narshe in terms both economic and technological? What powers existed prior to the Empire, and how do these rivalries play out? What happens without an Empire on the Southern continent to enforce Pax Arcana?

What you'd have is a freer*, wilder world, with no clear superpower and competing mercantile city-states. If you can feasibly triple or quadruple the size of towns, triple the number of pass-through dungeons, and add a bunch of bonus dungeons, then you create a world where all these economic, technological, and military rivalries play out.

You can use extra room created by removing the world of ruin, or you can add an event by one faction which triggers the disaster. After all, the Espers are still there and they are potentially powerful allies and sources of power in themselves. Should one faction seek to ally with them, it will throw everything else out of balance and lead to either another empire (military, mercantile, technological, or magical) or to a world war. A rival faction could attempt to assassinate Espers and inadvertently rediscover magicite, leading to a campaign to annihilate them and steal their power. Which leads to the floating continent and any of a number of things from there ... a floating fortress, a biological/chemical weapon deployment platform, a way to blackmail the entire world, or a path to godhood. If Kefka had remained within the center of the Goddess statues he could have absorbed all their magic, moving them wasn't necessary.

My main character could be a currently unknown character, a traveling warrior who pays the bills guarding caravans against bandits and protecting ships from pirates. That's what he seems to be to everyone he meets. Unbeknownst to them, he seeks out knowledge of hidden treasure and tries to manipulate people via his guard persona to get info and get him as close as he can safely get to treasure. The knowledge and skills needed to decipher ancient languages and understand historical contexts of dead civilizations suggests an academic background, which combined with the martial abilities needed to solo dungeons suggest he comes from money. Perhaps he is cast out from polite society. Maybe he just wants power and knowledge.

Whatever the case, he roams the world and meets all the major and minor characters, does quests great and small, and learns all there is to know about ancient secrets. Maybe he joins a faction to get access to their libraries or resources. He finally finds a few pieces of magicite and becomes a warlord in his own right. He manipulates another faction (one allied with Strago, probably) into breaching the Espers gate. His faction loses, and he (or someone else) calls for a negotiation banquet. Terra attends as an interpreter and diplomat. Peace is signed. The remaining diehard holdouts must be located deep within a distant dungeon though.

The parties go there, fight their way through anti-magic automatons from the War of the Magi, and confront the holdouts. Surprise, it's a trap: the Espers are killed, and an offensive captures the leaders of all the factions. Our mercenary then resumes command of his loyal troops and rewards them with magicite. He uses the few captured Espers still alive as sacrifices to teleport him and all his troops to the Espers cave, which upon his interference with the Goddess statues promptly takes off.

Cue the floating continent. Our guy positions himself as Emperor of the world and extracts money from everyone to keep his troops happy as he basks in magic.

End Part One.

Part two begins with the party meeting in prison several years later. They escape and find the world drearier.

The Emperor has elevated his troops into something more than human. You must go from town to town and defeat them, while collecting relics they use against you in battle which the Emperor had previously raided from dungeons. Oddly enough, it doesn't seem that the Emperor cares or even notices what you do, apparently there was a falling out between him and his troops.

You eventually free the entire world, but you still need to kill the Emperor. You figure out a way to get up there, either airship or teleportation. Whatever you do it's literally a boss rush from start to finish, interspersed with puzzles and lots of nasty random encounters.  The Emperor did some strange things to his troops.

You finally meet him and he is deep in meditation. The Goddesses attack you, and after they crumble to dust an extra set of eyes start to open on his face.

Thus begins the last, multi-stage battle.

Apparently the Emperor wants to create a new world, using all the magic he absorbed to cast a spell which will on completion kill all living things and unmake all matter, collapsing it in on itself; including the Emperor. The living things killed will act as a catalyst, freeing up souls he can use to complete the subsequent stages of the spell. Collapsing reality puts it all conveniently close enough together for him to bind all matter to himself, using the resevoir of souls he just reallocated. However his spell will bind his will, knowledge, and soul to every particle of matter. He will be everywhere, know everything, and shape the new universe which eventually arises as he sees fit as the one and only true God.

The kicker is he's been casting this spell for years, which is why he lost interest in the world. His earlier experiments on his troops were assays in the craft, attempts to merge his soul with various types of matter. This divided his focus and slowed down the casting by limiting his mental and magical resources.

By killing all his formerly human troops, you sped things up considerably. He should be done casting about 20 minutes from now.

Timer starts.

Cue last stages of multi-stage bossfight.

The characters at the conclusion of the battle do the reasonable thing and beg the remaining casters and Espers to remove all magic from the universe forever, anywhere just not here. They comply and that's the last we see of magic.

* The world overall would be freer, but that doesn't mean every city would have the same values. What's commendable in Narshe may be foolish in Kohlington. The cities of this world would not be monocultures without a superpower.

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In FF7, I want to explore Gaea in the distant past, perhaps when the Chocobo Sage was a teenager and follow the late industrial revolution while seeing the planet before it was ravaged by Mako Reactors and the wildlife before it was mutated by Shinra and Hojo. Or maybe further back before Jenova hit the planet, then during and after that crisis.

FF5 could follow the original 4 heroes, or go further back to the splitting of the worlds (my memory is fuzzy on it) or the creation of the crystals.

I also like stories which let me indulge my favorite RPG design, the free roaming open world found in SaGa Frontier. A version of FF12 set early in Vayne's life could let you explore it all as a mercenary, who is maybe recruited by researchers (Dr. Cid et al) and has a treasure hunter tag along. Vayne himself could join incognito for a time, when he's not plotting or killing his brothers and rivals.