Part 2: Recommended: Exposition
Somewhere outside school two guys are grilling out a third man next to a cafe.
This is Mewt's dad, Cid.haha see what they did there I think Cid was an alcoholic in the original Japanese script and did something stupid while drunk. Here? He made a very ambiguous mistake or something.
But Cid is forgiven for [mistake]! He won't have to quit [job] at [company]!
Now he tells us, right after we beat Mewt to unconsciousness with snowballs.
Cid doesn't earn much money because his wife died and he's sad.
His only word to Mewt were along the lines of "Hi! These your friends?"
Having a dead parent is no joke, and I have no intention of making light of it. And I know often much harder on the son than on the parent. But it doesn't necessarily turn you into a sad, depressed sack of tears for the rest of your life.
Doned has some disease which does... something. It gives him an excuse to complain though.
Marche has a fucking skateboard, though. He's as rad as they come.
Ms. Radiuju is but a voice and a concept. Oh yeah, Marche's last name is Radiuju. Mr. Radiuju probably kicked helicopters or something else manly, until he kicked too many.
Marche doesn't care about making his brother friends, he only wants eldritch secrets.
Alright, let's see what the big deal is...
What we're dealing with here is a book so thick with Mist it's magicks could take out a continent. You don't recite random spells from it unless you want to end all life.
Doned Radiuju, feared warlock. His mortal enemy? The mason who builds staircases.
Mewt asks a hypothetical question. I'd pick Twilight so I could be with Jacob and-
Ritz shoots it down immediately. Way to kill the discussion.
Marche makes a recovery! I'd pick Dynasty Warriors so history is as cool as it should be.
Mewt wants to wake up outside a town with no clothes and 400 gold.
So Ritz and Mewt get out. Nothing interesting happens until nighttime, when...
The book starts acting up on its own!
You just had to fuck with the Gran Grimoire, didn't you, Mewt? Now you're breaking the whole world!
The world reforms into a high-fantasy setting.
The people, too, are turned into various high-fantasy races.
Marche himself is given some bottom-tier equipment...
...And is dropped off in fantasy-land with no idea what just happened.
Marche blindly steps forward in this unusual world when...
He collides with a reptilian man!
And he makes the ultimate faux pas! Note the background characters fleeing the scene.
Marche is going to be beaten to death for what is essentially calling someone the N-word. Welp.
This moogle with a unique sprite steps in. He has seen too many battles in the race wars, and he can't bear to see another casualty.
If only this worked in real life, huh?
Marche has been in a suit of armor and is only dimly aware of it.
If he's in armor, he must like fighting! Bangaa logic, folks.
The ceremony is right now and Marche and this Bangaa will become husband and reptile. This guy who appeared out of nowhere will oversee the union.
Or maybe he'll just punch Montblanc, the Moogle, in the face.
Marche, master of
"He's a lizard! I have a sword! There's a palm tree!"
This fight serves, in a sense, to introduce laws. Laws are an interesting idea implemented completely terribly.
Marche, done talking about proper nouns, sticks his sword in the Bangaa's back.
The other Bangaa attempts similar on Montblanc (who is still facing where Marche was standing) but Montblanc was fully healed during that conversation.
Montblanc takes the time to call down the wrath of the heavens, which the Bangaa Warrior dodges by doing... nothing. The White Monk Bangaa isn't so lucky, and collapses from untreated wounds and strong electric charges.
He gets a judge point for making a person pass out. These points are presently useless.
Montblanc was healed during the chat about judge points. This poor Bangaa has a lot of work.
Rather than casting any more spells, Montblanc hits the Bangaa with his rod. The AI of FFTA is kinda dumb.
Marche pokes the Bangaa in the face, downing him and winning the battle!
After the fight, the White Monk uses a potion because, maybe, bleeding electrified blood isn't a good thing.
The law is uncaring and unflinching. This poor Bangaa is sent to the jail in Sprohm.
Montblanc knows what it's like inside the prison system. Inmates stab each other and the guards only cheer them on. Brutal rapes happen almost hourly and the victims are told to shut up and deal with it. Bangaas and Nu Mou form oppressive clans, attacking each other and anyone not with them. The only way out is to either die, or, somehow, serve your sentence and hope someone notices that you did.
After witnessing incarceration first hand, Montblanc gives Marche some exposition.
After a while, Montblanc gets tired of it and drags Marche towards some gameplay.
Clans are roving groups of sellswords, taking any odd job to get money. Bodyguards, tutors, miners, gardeners, if there's a job, they'll take it.
Marche, wanting to do some fighting, tutoring, mining, and gardening, wants to join the clan.
So that's where you guys come in!
The clan's default name is Nutsy, but I gave it an accurate name.
But anyway, you have the unique chance to name both Marche and his clan! Nine characters max. Nothing obscene. Shitballs joining Clan Fuckstick is really dumb.
GAME MECHANICS Vol. 2: Laws
In an effort to add variety to battles, various laws are in effect during battles. During that tutorial fight, the law "Forbidden: Items/Recommended: Status" was in effect. What that means is that Items are not allowed and anyone who uses one will receive a penalty. On the other hand, extra judge points are rewarded when using a status inflicting spell, like poison, on the enemy.
For the first infraction of the law, the character gets a yellow card. This removes all their judge points and imposes a penalty. This penalty can be a gil fine, not receiving any gil from the battle, or permanently reducing a stat!
For the second infraction, or if the character KO's an enemy with a forbidden action, a red card is issued. The character is sent to the prison in Sprohm and Marche must either pay a very heavy gil fine or let them wait out their sentence. If Marche himself is imprisoned, the game ends instantly. I guess Montblanc doesn't cut it as leader anymore?
Right now, only one law is in effect. As the story progresses, two and later three laws will be in place during every battle and the laws themselves get broader.
The problem is that this rarely works towards your favor because the really dangerous enemies have unique ability sets which the law can't even pretend to touch and have special protection from imprisonment.
Some laws are just absurd, like Dmg2:Animal, preventing you from doing anything that harms any monster. You can't have monsters on your team, so the enemy only benefits from this.
Furthermore, the active laws are tucked away in a corner of a menu and nothing stops you from doing an illegal act. Later on, the laws can land in such a way that it forbids a character from doing anything simply because all of his abilities are outlawed. Bangaa are very vulnerable to this because 5 of their 7 abilities count as "techs" and the other two are pretty weak.