15th Man Concept Preliminary Voting.

This is our topic for the first round of voting. I will be keeping it open until Friday. In this thread you will vote for your favorite character concept submissions by bolding two concept titles. Feel free to discuss what you like about the ideas if you wish, but there will be no discouraging of others ideas. Everyone has their say.

Every member, new or old, is encouraged to read the suggestions and vote. You don't have to have made a submission in order to vote. I want to see as many people voting as possible so that we can truly make a character that represents the ff6hacking.com community.

So without further adieu, here are the submissions you can choose from:

The Outspoken Philosopher, current votes: 3 (Click to View)

The Outspoken Philosopher

This guy/girl has a unique look at everything and is not afraid to share it. What they say may sound unconventional/harsh, but on some level, it is highly accurate. They are fairly intelligent but sometimes lacking in common sense and social skills, leading to some humorous situations. They often say too much, but they are well meaning and will back off if they actually manage to realize that they have crossed the line. The player may not like this character entirely at first, but should gain an appreciation for them as time goes on.

This character should work well in FF6 because they can throw a wrench into the normal character interactions and maybe cause a little tension (although not enough to become annoying). They can also make some interesting comments on the strange events that occur over the course of the game.

The Knight and the Beast, current votes: 1 (Click to View)

The Knight and the Beast

The Knight
Before the curse, he is shown as kind and honorable. After, the player can see his internal struggle, his will to fight the empire and his fear that it might wake up the demon within him. As a comedic relief to the rather deep story of the other personnality, he would often see himself embarrassed when the personnality change occur and puts him in weird situation.

The Beast
An esper trapped in a mortal body,his will for revenge being as big as his power.
He first seen as a curse, a mere unexplicable power. He first try to hide but as his will for revenge become bigger and bigger, it is made obvious that he is a double personnality, seen as a cruel monster with unknown intention. As the beast live and learn from the party, he begin to open itself and slowly reveal his dark story in the war magi and how he was trapped for 1000 years. The party then become sympatic to the beast cause.

I know this is more "history" than "what kind of person is this" but it wouldnt have any sense to explain his personnality without history.

The Blundering Hero, current votes: 3 (Click to View)

The Blundering Hero

This character hasn't been pushed into conflict against his own will, nor does he battle unwillingly for the greater good. No, this character is excited at the chance of fighting evil and actively seeks it out. Aspiring to be remembered for his heroic deeds, this character charges into battle without a moment's notice. While not entirely incompetent, this character's over-eagerness results in frequent mishaps, and while not entirely motivated by pride, overconfidence is his constant companion. Despite these faults, he remains steadfast, enthusiastic, and loyal to the cause to which he has committed himself.

This character would work well in FF6 because he is unlike any of the characters currently playable. While most of the main characters in FF6 have been drawn into conflict with the Empire due to some personal vendetta, this character sees it as an opportunity to make himself known as a hero. He finds enjoyment at every turn, offering a unique worldview that no other character holds.

The Implacable Experiment, current votes: 7 (Click to View)

The Implacable Experiment

This character is an individual who has had close contact with the Empire after being used for human (or esper) experimentation in the Magitek Facility and has taken on a grotesque appearance. This character is aware of their disturbing appearance and their primary drive is to seek vengeance against those who have wronged him/her and to see that they are brought to justice.

This character would work well in FF6 as they would serve to show the more cruel and inhumane side of the Gestahlian Empire, especially when you consider how much Terra's past is lacking in filling in the darker parts of the Empire's history. This character would also ideally have a somewhat strange fighting style which would vary from the other characters, they also by merit of being a Magitek experiment could have a natural magic learning list.

The traveler, current votes: 2 (Click to View)

The traveler

An lonely knight who once has high hopes in life but after a troubled incident (to be determined), lost hope. He now travel the world and do small jobs and contracts and secretly seek for his flame to be reignited by something or someone. He has a troubled soul that give him some dark thoughts but often he see the bright side of a situation by himself. He is also tired of always traveling and leaving people he meets behind.

This character works well in FFVI because we could bring him in the story at various points in the game. By the description, we can see he is an hybrid of shadow and cyan but with the heart of Cecil from FFIV. His skill would be to be determined. He could have a rich backstory but we could also leave an aura of mystery around him.

The top 3 concepts will go to the final poll which will be the final deciding factor as to what our 15th man's concept will be.

In no particular order:

1) The Outspoken Philosopher
2) The Implacable Experiment

Also in no order at all:

The Knight and the Beast
The Traveller

I'm interested in how this is going to turn out.

As much as this isn't a contest, it's still pretty cool to know that somebody voted for my idea .

This is a tough choice for me... I think I'm going to have to talk it out.

In chronological order:

The Outspoken Philosopher
I like that this character has something new, by way of worldview, to offer the group, something this submission has in common with The Blundering Hero. I think this is another instance where we can spice up the dialog with a unique way of speaking (like Cyan's old english, and gau's caveman babble), which I think adds a level of character to the whole experience of the game.

The Knight and the Beast
As much as I really like the concept here, I'm worried the character's themes are too close to Terra's. The inner beast; being scared of what's inside you steps on the toes of Terra's main conflict in the WoB. Also, I see there being some challenges in getting two additional sprite sheets in without dramatically changing the game (in the event my attempts at expanding the sprite count fails). I think one of the really strong suits of this concept is in the idea of HOW the knight got the way he is, but a similar idea is done, with less restriction, in The Implacable Experiment. One really nice thing about this one is I think it could produce some really interesting abilities, which appeals to my ASM addiction.

The Blundering Hero
Is almost identical to The Outspoken Philosopher in terms of what this character brings to the game, I think these two are vying for my second vote. I like the more comical twist to this character, there aren't enough bright characters in the cast (IMO). Growing up in the SNES age where JRPG's took the lime-light, I developed quite a hero-complex myself and could really identify with this character more than a lot of others.

The Implacable Experiment
I really really like this idea, I love the idea of expanding on the history of magitek and the trial runs of infusement in the early days. This character lets us really explore more of the empire, which is a plotline that is sadly lacking in the original game. If we are truly supposed to believe the empire itself is wrong (not just crazy old kefka), we need to see some more of Gesthal's woman-bashing and esper greed. I think there is a good clear direction for this idea without being too restrictive as to the when/how/why of the character's specifics.

The traveler
Mix this idea with the Blundering Hero and you get Rurouni Kenshin (even though Kenshin was purposefully clumbsy). This idea also allows us to open up the plot a bit on the empire, but not necessarily. If this character wasn't just a little too close to Cyan 10 years later, I would be really tempted here.

I think, in the end, I'm going to go for

The Implacable Experiment
The Blundering Hero


Edit: One more note... Lockirby... I just got your username. Lol.

1) The Blundering Hero
2) The Implacable Experiment

Blundering Hero... he reminds me of Will Smith in that movie where he was a Super Hero but was like anti-hero and always drunk, but in the end came around to be on the side of good.
The Implacable Experiment For the second.

You get another vote, Nattak, if you want one. I'm just that nice a guy.

I vote for the Outspoken Philosopher. While the Implacable experiment sounds like an interesting option, it may be a similar story to the one for terra or kefka.

I'll throw my vote in here too. I'm a fan of The Traveller and The Implacable Experiment.

Preliminary voting ends first thing Monday morning, so get your votes in now!

In the event of a 3rd place tie, I will open a one day poll for the submissions vying for 3rd place. The winner moves on to the final voting poll.