Birthstone Weapons

[Flying Mullet]

This thread is inspired by the Emerald Weapon discussion in the FFVII forum right now.

Since Tactics determines some stats and battle mechanics based on your birthday and what time of year it is, plus the 12 (13) Zodiacs, it would be cool if they had 12 Birthstone Weapons. Each of these weapons' attacks and abilities would always be the same for each player, but their stats would be scaled based upon your birth date so the Birthstone Weapon that shares your birth date would be the hardest and the Birthstone Weapon that is six months opposite your birth date would be the easiest.

For example, if your birthstone is emerald (May-ish), then Emerald Weapon would have the highest stats in your game (HP, strength, etc...), but if your birth date is October-ish, then Emerald Weapon would have the weakest stats. Either way, Emerald Weapon would still have the same attacks, like Aire Tam, but it would do more or less damage depending upon how close your birth date is.

It's somewhat complicated and hard to explain, but I was thinking that it would make consecutive playthroughs more interesting if you change your birth date each time, as each Weapon could require a different strategy when it is a more powerful version in your game.

[VeloZer0]

An interesting concept, except for the fact that you would have to play through the game and gear your party up to max 12 times to face them all. Thats like 1200 hours of work.

I never felt that bosses were a very strong part of FFT. They kind of went against the whole design concept of the battles, to have one single very strong opponent. That being said, weapon encounters wouldn't necessarily have to be single enemy encounters.

I'm always game for the concept of more stuff to include in the game though.

[Raistlin]

I agree with VeloZer0 in that the most interesting and notable encounters were ones that had multiple opponents, sometimes on multiple fronts. Though of course, any special Weapon battles could incorporate that.

Anyway, it is an interesting idea. I'm not sure how much it would add to the replay value, at least if all of the Weapons always had the same reward, but it would certainly be more challenging stuff to take on during the game.