digibutter.nerr

[Fancy Wario]

On April 1st, 2006, inspired by an interactive story writer on GameFAQs by the name of KholdstareV, I began writing my own interactive story.

I had been obsessed with Final Fantasy Tactics Advance as of late, so I decided I would base the story off of that.

I'm not going to lie to you - the story was an absolute mess, quality-wise. The writing was decent, but after rereading it, even I'm not sure what I was doing with it. The basic idea was there, but it was terribly presented.

Nevertheless, the story was immensely popular. It ended with a 28 page (in Microsoft Word) finale on October 27th, 2006. Even though it was so long, the ending was still rushed - by that time, I had gotten tired of the story and simply wanted it to end. Many ideas for the finale were unused, and, looking back, I am unsatisfied by the way the story ended.

I intend to remedy this.

In the past, I have planned a rewrite for the story, and I have rewritten a few chapters, but I never got around to doing the whole thing. I now intend, however, to finish what I started. I'll post it here.

The story may not be interactive anymore, but I still hope that you enjoy it. I plan to post a chapter every few days. I'll probably post the revised version of the chapter followed by the original version for comparison. I would be grateful if you would suggest things to improve, as well.

And now, without further ado, I now present to you...

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS ADVANCE: THE FORMERLY INTERACTIVE STORY

REVISED CHAPTER 1

It was a perfectly normal day in the town of St. Ivalice. Adults were at work, kids were at school, stray dogs were rooting through trashcans, and Lyle, Collin, and Guinness were harassing innocent babies. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Marche Radiuju observed all of this from his seat by the window, subconsciously doodling on his paper. The teacher was droning on about some important test that was coming up, but Marche wasn’t really paying attention. He was too busy thinking about Ivalice.

It had been three months since Marche and Mewt had returned Ivalice to normal. There were no more missions. No more clan wars. No more bangaa, moogles, viera, or nu mou. Wasn’t this what he had wanted?

But after life in the country of Ivalice, his old life seemed boring. It didn’t help that he hadn’t yet fulfilled his promise to Doned yet, either. He had donated all of the money that he had saved up over the years to doctors, and had also started a campaign to convince more people to do so, in order for them to find a cure for his brother’s illness, but there had been no progress as of yet.

Marche was jerked out of his thoughts when the teacher barked out his name. “Marche! Pay attention,” Mr. Leslaie scolded. “This test could determine your entire future, so you’d better get a good grade on it.”

Marche nodded. “Sorry, Mr. Leslaie,” he apologized.

The class was again interrupted when Ritz Malheur, one of Marche’s friends and one of his companions during his time in Ivalice, entered the classroom. “Sorry I’m late, Mr. Leslaie,” she apologized. “I was…” She was cut off when the rest of the class finally came to their senses and realized that Ritz had dyed her hair green. “What?” she questioned, although a smirk was visible on her face. “I DID mention that I was considering dying my hair green a few months back. You guys ought to learn to pay attention.”

--

After school had let out, Marche met up with Mewt. Mewt had changed considerably since the Grand Grimoire incident. Although before he had been shy and timid, now he was rather outgoing and a much more enjoyable person to be around.

“So, what’s on your mind, Marche?” Mewt asked conversationally.

“Hm? Oh, nothing really…just thinking about – well, you know.” Mewt nodded solemnly. Marche continued talking. “It’s just, I can’t help but wonder if we did the right thing, returning Ivalice to normal…I mean, we both were happy there, weren’t we? You were the prince, and I was the leader of the most powerful clan in all of Ivalice…it kind of makes me wonder if we should have just left it the way it was.”

Mewt shrugged. “What’s done is done. Besides, you said it yourself when we were there; we need to face reality. Ivalice was just a dream world, and we couldn’t just live in a dream, could we?” Marche nodded.

“Yeah, I know. But still…I miss it…” He shook his head. “Well, I’ll see you later, Mewt.” Mewt waved as Marche turned in the direction of his house. He stared after him for a minute. Perhaps, he thought, I miss it too.

--

Within twenty minutes, Marche was at his house. He was about to call for Doned, but he then remembered that his brother was staying in the hospital for the next week. With a sigh, he sat on the couch and turned on the television.

Marche flipped through the channels for the next few minutes, looking for something to watch. Finally, he found something that caught his attention on the local news.

“I’m here live in St. Ivalice, where we’re covering an unprecedented phenomenon! Witnesses have recorded seeing a strange, purplish hole in the air appearing and disappearing seemingly at – aha! Here it is now!” On the television set, the hole in question opened up in the center of the town square. A crowd was swarming around it. “I’m Matthew Jones, and you’re watching the Ivalice news!

Marche stared at the television set, his heart racing. He had seen something like that before, three months before, to be exact. But how could one possibly exist here?

The phone rang suddenly. Marche was jerked out of his reverie, and waited for it to ring a few more times before answering. “Hello?” he said into the receiver nervously.

“Are you watching the news right now?” Ritz’s voice asked him. “Yeah. And from what it looks like, it’s a seam.” Marche replied.

He heard Ritz sigh. “I don’t think we should jump to conclusions, but it’s too much of a coincidence to ignore.”

“Do you think we should check it out for ourselves?” Marche asked. “I don’t know…how about we just wait for a bit, and if something happens, we’ll head over there. That sound okay?”

********
ORIGINAL CHAPTER 1

It was a perfectly normal day in the town of St. Ivalice. Adults were at work, kids were at school and/or at home playing video games, stray dogs were rooting through trashcans, and Lyle, Collin, and Guinness were harassing innocent babies. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

Marche Radiuju observed all of this from his seat by the window, subconsciously doodling on his paper. The teacher was droning on about some important test that was coming up, but Marche wasn’t really paying attention. He was too busy thinking about Ivalice.

It had been three months since Marche and Mewt had returned Ivalice to normal. There were no more missions. No more clan wars. No more bangaa, moogles, viera, or nu mou. Wasn’t this what he had wanted?

But after life in the country of Ivalice, St. Ivalice seemed boring. It didn’t help that he hadn’t yet fulfilled his promise to Doned yet, either. He had donated hundreds of dollars to doctors so that they could find a cure for his illness, but there had been no progress as of yet.

Marche was jerked out of his thoughts when the teacher barked out his name. “Marche! Pay attention,” Mr. Leslaie scolded. “This test could determine your entire future, so you’d better get a good grade on it.” Marche nodded. “Sorry, Mr. Leslaie,” he apologized.

The class was again interrupted when Ritz Malheur, one of Marche’s friends and one of the smarter kids in the class, entered the classroom. “Sorry I’m late, Mr. Leslaie,” she apologized. “I was…” She was cut off when the rest of the class finally came to their senses and realized that Ritz had died her hair green. “What?” she questioned, although a smirk was visible on her face.

--

After school had let out, Marche met up with Mewt. Mewt had changed considerably since the Grand Grimoire incident. Although before he had been shy and timid, no he was rather outgoing.

“So, what’s on your mind, Marche?” Mewt asked conversationally. “Hm? Oh, nothing really…just thinking about – well, you know.” Mewt nodded solemnly. Marche continued talking. “It’s just, I can’t help but wonder if we did the right thing, returning Ivalice to normal…I mean, we both were happy there, weren’t we? You were the prince, and I was the leader of the most powerful clan in all of Ivalice…it kind of makes me wonder if we should have just left it the way it was.”

Mewt shrugged. “What’s done is done. Besides, you said it yourself when we were there; we need to face reality. Ivalice was just a dream world, and we couldn’t just live in a dream, could we?” Marche nodded. “Yes, I know. But still…” He shook his head.

--

Within twenty minutes, Marche was at his house. He was about to call for Doned, but he then remembered that his brother was staying in the hospital for the next week. With a sigh, he sat on the couch and turned on the television.

Marche flipped through the channels for the next half hour or so, looking for something to watch. Finally, he found something that caught his attention on the news.

“I’m here live in St. Ivalice, where people have reported seeing a strange black hole appearing out of nowhere. Interestingly enough, this hole appears to appear and disappear at regular intervals. This is the Ivalice News, and I’m Matthew Jones.”

The phone rang suddenly. Marche picked it up, and said, “Hello?” “Are you watching the news right now?” Ritz’s voice asked. “Yeah, why?” Marche questioned. “Doesn’t this story seem familiar to you?” Marche blinked. A black hole…but no, it couldn’t be… “You don’t think…?” he whispered into the receiver. He heard Ritz sigh. “I don’t know, but it’s too much of a coincidence to ignore.” “Do you think we should check it out for ourselves?” Marche asked. “I don’t know…how about we just wait for a bit, and if something happens, we’ll head over there.”