Scripted death?

[Lucen]

Ok, one more question before I go. I've been thinking about this, and I'm honestly not sure how to go about it. Early in my game, the hero is escorted somewhere by a higher level character. The reasons for this are twofold. It fits with the story well, and it allows the player to fight a few battles in a relatively safe way to get used to the combat.

Now, when they arrive at the first dungeon, I want the higher level character to be killed. What is the best way to go about this? I have him join the party in the starting town, and I set an invisible event to remove him from the party when they step inside the dungeon. So, I'd like to place him in the dungeon from that point forward, and avoid him going back to the starter town. Once I have him in place, I want some dialogue to ensue and then I want to design a cut scene where he's killed by a monster.

I've seen a few threads on cut scenes, so I'll read up on those before asking questions on how to make one. But the actual act of death... is it possible in RPGMaker? And if not, what's a close and reasonable facsimile? Thanks in advance.

[The Toecutter]

Re: Scripted death?

Have him off screen when he is killed. That way, perhaps he can be eaten by the monster, and the act could be told through sound effects.

[Rodak]

Re: Scripted death?

The only way of which I can think to kill a character on screen outside of the battle system is to have a monster looking character stand next to the NPC in question, perform an animation, and turn off the NPC Display (with sounds?).

But I don't think it would work well.

You would need a duplicate character model for this if the person appeared elsewhere first. NPCs cannot be moved or recycled.

The Toecutter's idea is better.

Peace.

[Libby]

Re: Scripted death?

I think it might be a bit longer, but you could always try to script it out (I don't know exactly how to do this, but, here is a quick list)

Make the monster(if applicable) as an NPC that you will have to fight, and set him as the trigger. Or you can have an invisible event, or a pumpkin. Pumpkins are nice as "secondary killer triggers." You can call it the NPC Smiting Pumpkin of Death.
Have an event lead to a storyteller having the attack.
Next set the event to change your party to where you replace the main character with the character in question.
Set the next event to be made with a monster you have already generated, making sure the monster is waay more powerful then the character in question. (like it's attacks taking at least 3/4th's of the character's HP in the first blow, and give it 9999 HP)
Once the character has died, trigger another storyteller in which there are the famous last words, ect, and then set the party to change in another event back to your main character, then make the object/NPC you chose dissapear.

It's a bit involved, but I think it might be a good way. (hell, I might do this myself. *plots*)

[Lucen]

Re: Scripted death?

Libra, that sounds like it just might work. I'm gonna have to mess around with it. I don't have to worry much about getting the NPC to disappear in his original possition though, since I'm planning to have the starter town completely change after the encounter in the first dungeon. I'll mess around a bit and post more questions if I come across any problems. Thanks to everyone who replied.

Edit: I do have a question. If I want to make him disappear after he dies... can I use a variable conditioned branch? In value 0 he'll be in mode one and value 1 he'll be in mode 2. In mode one he's visible (displayed) and in mode 2 he's invisible (not displayed)? I tried this but it didn't work. I might be forgetting something.

[Libby]

Re: Scripted death?

I'm not sure, I'm not to good with variables myself, but I'm glad the idea works out for you. Now, is the character in your party when you get into the epic battle where he dies, or is he kinda like a bystander in the dungeon that says "Oh, BTW, I'm going to die now." and then trigger the scene?

[Lucen]

Re: Scripted death?

They're arriving at the dungeon, which happens to be a temple where the hero is supposed to go train, only, when they arrive something has gone horribly wrong and the other character is killed suddenly.

[Libby]

Re: Scripted death?

What I would do is set up the temple to where you will have only one door to go to for the rest of the dungeon, then set up an invisible event in front of the door. Make sure you set the even to "Touch" for activiation. After the storyteller/battle, make sure you set up the event to switch your party back to where only the characters you want are in the party. (someone is borrowing my copy, so I don't have the exacts, I'll see what I can do later.) After the battle, set it up to where the mode changes, or the event ends. If I remember correctly, you should be able to set it up where you only have it run through once. I forget how to do this though.. sorry.

I hope this helps.

Edit - Ah, okay, I got your question. If he is in your party, then it's not going to matter if you turn him off or on.(That sounds so dirty!) This setting is only when he's an NPC, and you'll have to make a double Character. One for the battle, and one for the NPC. What you will have to do, is use the event that changes your party characters and have him removed from your party after the "Death Scene" storyteller, and then replace him with the main character.

[Libby]

Re: Scripted death?

Okay, try to do it this way - Read this first before you follow it. I'll tell you what you'll need beforehand along the way. I am going to assume you have two characters in your party, and for this short turtorial, we shall call them Bob and Cannonfodder.

1) Create the dungeon. Make the main room a single room with a single door out to the world, and a single door to the rest of the dungeon. At the entrance to the door of the dungeon, make an invisible event.

2) R2 over to the "Event Code Settings" and create two modes, then make sure you are on "Mode 1." Set your trigger code to "Touch." Go to the "Even Code Editor."

3) Create new events in this order. This is for a fairly dramatic touch.
1) Effect Type - Shake Screen, Duration - "1 Second."
2) Display type, Play BGM - "Insert Evil and Scary sounding BGM here."
3) Display Type, Message Display - Set to whatever your default frame type is, display Bob's Name/Portrait(if you have them), and the message is "What is that?!"
4) Display Type, Message Display - Set to default frame, display Coannonfodder's name/Portrait, and the message is "Bob! Get back!"
5) Control Type, Storyteller. - Set to play "Cannonfodder gets gutzy"
[ In this epic stortelller, a shadowed monster creeps up on Bob and Cannonfodder, who goes into a long monologe about smiting evil. The shadowed monster laughs at Cannonfodder and snarls, attacking him with a bite (or a status effect). Bob whimpers like a little school girl and the storyteller ends.]
6) Party Controlling Type, Leave Party - Make Cannonfodder leave.
7) Party Controlling Type, Modify Active Members - Replace Bob with Cannonfodder.
8) Party Controlling Type, Damage HP/MP - Make Cannonfodder hurt. This is optional. It just depends on how long you want the battle to last.
9) Control Type, Battles - Select the badass monster you want to kill Cannonfodder. (Make sure he has alot of HP/MP, and HUGE Def, and attacks that will make Cannonfodder hurt.), Select the background, and set the "Game Over." to "No." So it won't end the game when he dies.
10) Control Type, Storyteller - Set to Play "Cannonfodder's last words."
[In which Cannonfodder sums up the last of his power to smite the evil monster, and then he collapses and tells Bob how much he loved the boy, even if they only knew each other for two hours. Bob cries.]
11) Party Controlling Type, Modify Active Members - Switch Cannonfodder with Bob.
12) Display Type, Message display - Make Bob Talk. Message. "I have to go on and finish this quest for my Cannonfodder!" Make him cry like the little girl he is.
13) Property Control, Modify Mode - Change the event mode to "Mode 2"

This is where we are done. Save your progress and go back out to the Event Code settings, change over to "Mode 2" and make sure it's set to "Touch" or "Button" for the Trigger type. You can leave this blank, or you can set it up to where there is a message about dear Cannonfodder if you wish to have the player press the button to pay his respects. Somewhere in town, have an extra message event show up with a tombstone with Cannonfodder's name. It'll just be cool. (you can do this with the Display On/Off Event Code.)

Does this help?