Part of Me Feels a Pirate Setting Would Kind of Work for a Souls/Bloodborne Game, Or Even Just Age of Sail
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Part of me feels a pirate setting would kind of work for a Souls/Bloodborne game, or even just Age of Sail. Lots of unexplored islands with lost ancient civilizations, forgotten treasure, a vast and deep ocean and all the superstitions of sailors to work with. A man can dream, though. I like to think that's where my pirate came from, contracted some illness on a ship and came to Yharnam seeking a cure. Your ship could be your level-up hub, where you travel from place to place, make upgrades and stuff. When you set sail to load into a new area, you have a chance of being interrupted to come across an abandoned ship in the ocean crawling with creatures and loot. I didn't know I wanted this until now. Some of the setting could be in a port city, some of it Uncharted 4-style setting, the return of skeleton enemies, proper ghost enemies, fighting giant sea monsters... Abandoned and lost port cities, overrun with evils of the sea, once-human denizens of failed colonial outposts, and the further out into the sea you go, the worse stuff gets. Maybe the goal is to sail to the horizon for something. You're probably seeking some treasure beyond some impossible boundary. And it's gold that acts as the souls/blood, the curse of gold that drives men to horde it and slay for it. This is killing me to be honest, I'm gonna write this all down. Imagine boss arenas that are huge treasure rooms in temples on desert islands, some huge creature thrashing around, killing the framerate by crashing through piles of coins, or fighting some unseen creature swimming a mass of treasures under your feet, enemies wielding huge wooden chests wrapped in chains that smash you, mimics that don't hurt you, but take your gold. I'm having trouble thinking of what this game's humanity/insight would be. I was thinking Salt, as it was a valuable item for trade, but captains are also referred to sometimes as an 'old salt'. I got a weird image in my head of people who spend too much time, like ship captains, out on the sea and it changing them, eventually becoming statues piloting adrift vessels forever. The risk and reward being you need that Salt to traverse the waves and be in-tune with the ocean, provides some actual physical protection, it also sort of artificially preserves your body making you live longer, but too much will destroy you. Sources of Salt would be old trading posts and dead captains on ships, or random accumulation at sea. I can't help but think Salt just sounds funny now, though. At the risk of bringing a supernatural element in, perhaps certain gems from a bottomless pit of treasure, those which reignite something inside of you. It could work either way, but preferably as Insight does. However, using the Salt to investigate new parts would be great, perhaps the salt left behind from ancient ships who held knowledge of the treasure. Maybe they could do Wolnir right this time, the High Lord Spookington of Pirates, a skeleton made entirely of gold, the husk of a feared captain who sacrificed everything to ensure his loot would remain untouched. Sea monsters such as a Kracken go without saying, maybe even mermaids as temptresses (cross between the Desert Sorceress and the things in the Fishing Hamlet who live in those shells). The smaller, cozier hub of a ship would be great, could be affected by ornamental weather (storms, clear days, nighttime, everything remaining still), more crew members show up with recruiting them. Gems could work, too, more treasure, more greed in theme with the gold, yeah. I like the giant bonelord made of gold, just fuckin encrusted with it, red gems inside the chest cavity. Krakens, mermiads, too, especially Fiji Mermaids, the really grotesque monkey ones. I'd like to see From's take on a Scottish Nuckelavee, too, the skinless manhorse demon of the sea. Bishopfish, too, the weird fish creatures that look like clergy. Deep sea stuff, too, gotta use that! Crew members in lieu of characters you meet, too, I like that. For Bonelord of Gold, both phases are like Ludwig's first: fast, aggressive, relentless. His second phase, he pulls a sword out of a well in the arena, again using it. He has nothing below the waist, so he pushes himself around using his giant bone arms. In the second phase, he can grab the player, drag them to the well, and drown them (also let us swim in the game), unless the player can break the grip beforehand. No obvious weak points, no real weaknesses, just a big, angry, golden, fuck- you sized skeleton, maybe gems glittering from the eye sockets. Upon death, he explodes into a mountain of gold coins (have all bosses do that, symbolize their greed). The mermaids look beautiful until you aggro them, they turn into hideous fish-beings, like the things in the Hamlet. Maybe have mysterious floating towns, ones just floating along on the water, full of fog and things trying to kill you. The more crew added, the more you can do and more places you can go. The big issue would be weapons, considering they might be lacking in variety. Also, pirates are far more Western, this might be difficult for an Eastern studio. Maybe higher level bosses represent pirate captains, and the success line is "Captain Usurped," or something to that effect. For Bonfires/Lanterns, maybe a water well or a pile of coins in which we mount a flag. Definitely captains as bosses, probably ones under severe greed/salt influence/corruption, old and strange, ones also on the search for the treasure. As for checkpoints, I was thinking some kind of nautical device, an astrolabe or sextant or a globe, activating it aligns it with the stars or spins it. For the level-up waifu, what about the figurehead of the ship, except it points inwards and you can talk to it, a la Golden Voyage of Sinbad. >As for checkpoints, I was thinking some kind of nautical device, an astrolabe or sextant or a globe That could be fun, maybe even a sundial >For the level-up waifu, what about the figurehead of the ship, except it points inwards and you can talk to it, a la Golden Voyage of Sinbad. I didn't even think of that, that's a great idea! At some point, I'd want a parrot as part of the cap or chest garb on the shoulders I like the sundial, that stands out, actually. Imagine equippable temporary parrot items, reveals additional items/messages (messages would be notes in bottles on the ground), and garb with parrots have innate item discovery. For covenants, it's what flag you fly on the ship. If you happen across a friendly port being invaded by a rival faction, get fighting, maybe lift the loot from the invader's ship. In finding a rival port, get pillaging. At the same time, summoning for help could be sparking flares in specific areas, or leaving coins on the ground, make it a bit more like Souls summoning. >Imagine equippable temporary parrot items, reveals additional items/messages (messages would be notes in bottles on the ground), and garb with parrots have innate item discovery. Absolutely, parrots could act almost as consumables. Could we implement ships in a bottle in some way? I also feel like the pirate era would open up to the usage of witchcraft, like witch doctors, voodoo priests, and the like. The witch doctors specialize in healing ability, the voodoo priests can cast curses, hexes, use dolls Oh, that is perfect! There was that defensive Rat King covenant in DS2, defending and pillaging areas could work like that. And I like flares as summoning signs, too. Witchcraft would definitely be sorcery/arc. It could stem from a bunch of sources, like the gold, the same way souls are utilized for sorcery, Midas Touch kind spells to harm or impede movement, sea storm spells/miracles based around lightning and water, more nebulous hexes and curses from island civilizations. For healing, we're getting boozed up on rum, boyo. A few flasks cut the pain. At some point, we need to fight a sea god, or face the wrath of one. .