Iris Event Idea Submissions/Discussion

Hello Hackers! I am officially opening up submissions for Iris' in-game story progression. There are several categories to work through. If you need a recap of who she is and her backstory, check out her Current Progress and Personality threads. Here is what we need suggestions for:

• When/where/why the party encounters her
  
• Relationships with other FF6 characters (PCs and NPCs)
  
• Altered scenes
  
• New scenes
  
• WoR self-actualization subquest*
  

There is a lot to cover, and we need a LOT of suggestions. Also, due to recent decisions in the ASM thread, Iris will be able to make an appearance in the World of Balance. However, I suggest that we keep her content toward the latter end of the WoB to avoid having to alter too many existing scenes. Let's take a little more in-depth look at each category for things that should be highlighted in submissions.

When/Where/Why?
Quite simply, we have to run into her at SOME point... so when? what has she been doing since she ran away from the Empire? Let's talk about places we can meet her and what the circumstances of the meeting are. Try to take a good long look at her character before submitting. How would Iris likely react to the party? How would she be convinced to join? Do we get her right away, or do we run into her several times before she joins? Also, unless it is obvious by the submission, let us know whether or not this encounter is optional or not. We could make Iris optional in WoB and WoR individually (like Mog), or perhaps permanently missable if not obtained in the WoB, or even WoR only... so let us know.

Relationships
As a permanent party member, she should be interacting with not only the party as a whole, but also individuals within the party as well. How do each these stories intertwine? How do they effect each other? Submissions in this category should make a point to explain why they think the characters would interact the way they do. This doesn't have to be an actual event idea, it could just be opening up discussion on the subject... Let's highlight some of the details that might make an appearance in other scenes/submissions.

Altered Scenes
The game already has a LOT of events. Anything that appears after obtaining Iris might be subject to change due to her presence. I would discourage any overarching game-altering events (for instance, Iris killing Kefka before he kills Leo, leaving Gestahl to become the main villain and making a totally different story). Also we may need ideas for scenes where we might need a one-liner from any given party member. There will likely be a bunch of little things to add Iris to, so let's not forget about them!

New Scenes
Obviously, we will be needing new scenes. This is basically any scene added that didn't exist before. These should serve as character development events for Iris in most cases, and highlight the relationships between her and the rest of the party.

*WoR Subquest
Each PC in FF6 gets a special WoR subquest that completes their character... While we WILL have one of these for Iris, we may want to hold off until we have worked out the REST of her story first. So we don't really want submissions for this yet. However, we should definitely be spending some time talking about literary themes for her character and what we hope to accomplish with her.


All that being said. Give us ideas! Let's work together on this people. All comments on other posters should be constructive. It's not likely every submission will make it to the final game, but we want to take everyone's thoughts and ideas into account. So let's not alienate anyone by our comments.

Happy Hacking!

When / Where / Why?
I could see her being encountered as an NPC when the party reach the South Continent after the Opera House. She could be in one of the three cities (but not Vector) roaming without purpose. She could have a dialogue in which she express how much she hates the Empire. If we make her available in WOB, it would be only before the Floating Continent after Kefka kills Leo (?). This shouldn't have an impact whether she will be available or not in WOR. Her WOR apparition should be after the Airship is obtained but I don't have any idea where she could be obtained. Maybe a little dungeon where we meet her trying to get an esper to fuse with it (gaining more power) in order to confront Kefka. Removing an esper from auction house for that purpose would not be a great hole in original game...

Relationships
She should interact more with Celes and Terra. We could use their pasts with the Empire as a connection point, to the difference that Isis was used by the Empire in a more savage way than being a puppet. However if there was an interaction with Cid, it could make a good link with Celes. Also, if Cid is alive in WOR we could have a scene where he apologize to Iris. Finally, I could see a more lighthearted scene where the three grown up girls of the game would laugh at some other character for something funny/silly.

Altered Scenes
I will need to think more about this

New Scenes
I could easily see two or three flashbacks scenes. One when you recruit her in WOB, one in WOR and maybe one when Cid apologizes if we consider this. One flashback could be a childhood memory of her father or the boat crash and another one could be the experiment done on her in Vector [with Cid or Kefka].

When / Where / Why?
I feel like the most natural place to introduce Iris is during the trip to the Magitek facility.  Her primary motivation for being there would be to destroy the place that brought her so much pain and suffering.  My thoughts are that you could have several events where you see her walking around the place (assuming we can acquire enough event tiles to make it effective), similarly to how Vargas stalks you around Mt. Kolts at the beginning of the game.  Maybe even have a scene right at the beginning of the dungeon where the party speaks to her as an NPC and she runs away in fear, thinking they might be there to recapture her.

I think she could rejoin for good at the end of the Magitek Facility, right when Celes leaves.  Instead of the party flicking a random switch to destroy the capsules, Iris could instead blast the capsules open with undefined magical powers (such as raising her arms and making the screen glow white).  She could also interact during the cutscene before that, but I'm not immediately sure how to make it play out.  Then Iris could be part of the party during the Mine Cart Escape sequence.

The only issue that this causes is messing with Setzer's introduction during the Cranes fight.  I really don't think that Setzer should be removed from this fight because it's the game's way of saying "Setzer is also fighting battles now".   I also think that it seems awkward to just have four people fight when all five are onscreen.  And we can't use the excuse "Somebody needs to pilot the airship" because only Setzer knows how to pilot the airship at that point.  So I'm thinking that just before the fight, the Cranes could shake the deck during the event and knock Locke (or perhaps Iris) out.  Then we have the usual party of four.

Relationships
I heartily agree that Iris should interact with Cid (and forgive him for the problems he has caused her) if he's saved in the WoR.  On that note, I really think Cid should interact with Locke as well, although that has nothing to do with this project of course.    We could contrast this to a complete lack of forgiveness earlier in the game (and therefore show some character development) by having her flip out on Leo (who most of the other characters see as trustworthy) at some point.  However, she should still have sympathy for Celes, and possibly Kefka, since they were both experimented on as well.  In addition, as I brought up in the other thread, Gau and her should probably interact at some point since they both have a feral nature.  This would also help to flesh Gau out.  When this should happen is certainly up for debate, as I'm really not sure.

Altered Scenes
Other than the parts I mentioned in the introduction, I suspect that many changes to existing scenes will be minor and too numerous to list succinctly.  I feel that rather than brainstorming for this we will need to simply take it step by step and iterate through the game's events.

New Scenes
Maybe during the part of the game after the banquet where all the party members are walking around, Iris could return to the house in Vector where she used to live.  If the party talks to her she could explain the parts of her backstory before the experimentation, or at least give hints to it.  I don't think she'll need a ton of scenes in the WoB though.  Between Edgar, Sabin, Cyan and Setzer, the only time the game explicitly devotes time to making a major development to a particular character in the WoB (at least, after their introduction) is during the Coin of Fate cutscenes.  Most of the cutscenes focus on the plot but also flesh out the characters at the same time.  So as far as the WoB is concerned, I think we should mostly modify existing scenes in order to make her feel more like part of the ensemble. Otherwise she'll stick out like a sore thumb.

Well, before crane fight she might just go away: she was with you inside the lab/escape just because you aimed to a similar goal...
so it's not like there was already a certain confidence with the party.
In the same way of Shadow, she might just dash away from the city as soon as the mine cart scene ends.
eventually you'll meet her in future events... meanwhile she should lurk in that continent, even because she might want to bypass the empire block
in front of esper cave

When/Where/Why?
I agree with the idea that you meet Iris at the Magitek Factory. I even like the idea of her trailing the party the way Vargas does earlier. Though I don't think she should join at this point, I think the opposite. Iris is in the factory to free the espers, she witnesses you fighting Shiva and Ifrit (though she may have fled before the end of the fight) she instead fights against you (plus you could use that monster sprite I made for her, lol) and add her as a new boss inside of the factory. Because of some sort of misunderstanding you fight her in the Esper Tank room where you knock her unconscious. The scene would then play out, but the party take Iris with them since she was only trying to save the Espers. This would introduce her to the party, while not affecting the airship fight with the cranes. She can wake up after the battle when the party returns to Zozo, where they explain what really happened and why they were in the Factory. Iris joins them (not as a playable character) as they return to Terra to witness if they were being honest or not (while being fully prepared to fight them again). She would be very cold towards the party, even after witnessing Terra's recovery, because she would have a problem with letting the Espers die and turn into Magicite. That could also be a issue with her, she refuses to accept the Espers deaths. This would make her ability Fuse even more sinister in nature since she is using the very thing she wants to prevent in order to tap into her power.

Relationships
I see Iris forming a close bond with Gau and Celes. While Terra was certainly the star minion in the Empire, she was not someone they actually experimented on (excluding the Slave Crown). Celes would be able to somewhat empathize with Iris as they both had their lives changed by the actions of the Empire. Gau, being the feral child he is, would be able to soothe and communicate with the bestial side of Iris that she tries desperately to quell and hide. Those two characters would be able to understand her in ways that no one else truly could. While Terra and Iris could form a bond from the similar feelings of loneliness and how they are the only beings of their kind, their circumstances are entirely different. Where Terra was the creation from the love of an Esper and a Human, Iris was the creation from the greed and hatred of the Empire.

Altered Scenes
I feel Iris wouldn't have that much against Kefka personally. He wasn't the experimenter, and was mentally shattered by an experiment to him as well. If anything I think Iris would try to understand Kefka whenever they meet. She would see in him a sort of kinship born from torment. Other than the Magitek Factory battle and ensuing scenes, I think that would be the major alterations, additional dialogue between Kefka and her. In the Floating Continent he might even have a chance of convincing her to betray the party like he attempts with Celes.

New Scenes
There are a lot of new scenes I could think of when it comes to her character. Namely, I'm thinking of scenes that revolve around her relationships to Celes, Terra, and Gau. Iris would bring new scenes to the game that truly explore the ugliness of humanity. The experiments that separated Celes from normal humans, the things that the Empire forced Terra to do, the abandonment and mistreatment of Gau. It would not only flesh out Iris as a character, but also the other three. She would make them face a side of them that they may not want to see, and certainly may not like about themselves.

There are some good things here... The problem I'm seeing is that we need to move forward in some kind of organized fashion, and I'm not entirely sure how to do that.

So let's say we introduce her during the Magitek Research Facility, but not as a PC. In fact, I don't think I'd even make her a PC after getting Terra back in order to not diminish the importance of that scene for Terra and the main plot.

Maybe an interesting place to bring Iris on as a PC is during the events at the Esper Gate or even in Vector after the Esper attack... though, right after that we have a forced party, don't we? Well, she should show up there for sure. We could go either with a situation where she hates the empire so much that she's attacking even after the Espers leave.... or alternatively, she could have previously felt a kind of sympathy for the Espers, but after witnessing the complete and total ravaging by mad Espers (keep in mind she lived in Vector for years, its a home to her), she could be very confused and maybe see our party as the only "good" force in play...

So maybe she finally joins once we get freedom back after Leo dies? that's my best guess for proper placement. Either that or during our freedom point right before all that happens and we would get her independently like Mog...

So... all that being said

1. Is there anyone against the idea of Introducing her at the Magitek Research Facility?
2. Should we acquire her as a PC before the Sealed Gate or after Leo dies?
3. Have I missed anything?

1. I'm totally for introducing her at the Magitek Factory. In fact my idea of bringing her along could easily be dismissed and she could just run away after the fight or something (if we choose to actually have a battle against her).
2. I don't think we should get her as a PC after the Sealed Gate, but I think she should definitely make an appearance there. An idea I have is having her show up when the party goes to the Espers where she sees the party actually trying to achieve peace and goes with everyone back to the town. After witnessing the destruction of the espers by Kefka and learning it was done at the behest of the Empire she reluctantly joins in an effort to put a stop to it.
3. I don't think you've missed anything.

1. Is there anyone against the idea of Introducing her at the Magitek Research Facility?
2. Should we acquire her as a PC before the Sealed Gate or after Leo dies?

This is a good introducing point. Secondly, I don't see the relevancy of having her as a PC before the Floating Continent become the next story dungeon.

1. I still like the idea of introducing Iris at the Magitek Facility.
2. I really don't like the idea of going the Mog/Umaro/Gogo route. I'd prefer to integrate her more deeply into the story, and this feels more likely to tack her on, if you know what I mean.

I could get behind Iris joining at the events at the Sealed Gate. I agree that she'd have to be part of the forced party, or things would be really weird. I'm not sure how to reasonably kick her out by the time Relm joins the party, but maybe somebody else has an idea?

I don't like the idea of her joining after Leo's death for the same reason that you don't want her joining in the scene where Terra rejoins; I think it would take away from that scene's importance to the plot. I also think of the FC as the "final dungeon" for the first half of the game, so I feel like we shouldn't be introducing a main character there, in terms of gameplay.

2. I really don't like the idea of going the Mog/Umaro/Gogo route.  I'd prefer to integrate her more deeply into the story, and this feels more likely to tack her on, if you know what I mean.

Me neither. This reason is the same why I don't want the 16th character to be found in a generic way like the auction house or after a random encounter. There is as much fun in integrating technically those two characters than planning their well blending in the story and setting up their backstory. We must give them story-wise an importance minimally similar to Shadow.

I also think of the FC as the "final dungeon" for the first half of the game, so I feel like we shouldn't be introducing a main character there, in terms of gameplay.

To be honest I pointed the FC as a point where you gain more freedom in the WOB but I realize there is no real point earlier where you gain some freedom. I don't mind Iris NPC appearance anywhere in the WOB. As for the PC appearance, it could be prior to Leo's death but we must ensure we don't force Iris down the throat of the player.