Quote Originally Posted by raskerino
The problem with bringing in Auron is it does not make sense to the storyline and hurts it. The problem with bringing in Tidus is it also weakens the storyline (because yes he did come back in X-2 but it wasn't a strong ending as it didn't follow well). Another problem is what would the enemy be, there isn't an enemy that makes sense and it would feel tacked on to make more money. Throwing out an entirely new enemy doesn't work as shown by some of the problems in the story of X-2 (btw I did enjoy X-2 but the storyline line was quite weak). It makes no sense to make another game unless you have a really worked out storyline idea. And if your plan is to bring back Auron I'm going to assume you don't. This idea comes up a lot, but it doesn't make sense and does not fit previous storylines unless you want to throw those out.

In a word, NO
I agree with your points but I disagree with your conclusion. If I was writing a sequel what story plot could I do ? The fist things I thought I would want in a sequel were

* A new area to explore The current Spira is getting a bit too familiar. Just a new dungeon wouldn't cut it. We could go explore the oceans, but a game all underwater would be a tad boring. A new planet ? That would be fun!
* Be able to get Auron back, perhaps others too, such as Jecht. And even "new old" ones like Lord Mi'hen the first Crusader...

Then I set to work

What could the villains / danger be ?

First let's see the need for new areas:
Right now, Spira has petty much been scoured for new areas and dungeons. There are no new big areas, except the oceans (underwater) or the Farplane. The advantage of the Farplane is that it would allow us to revisit some lost heroes such as Auron and Jecht. But both the Farplane and the oceans are not diverse enough to make a game as fun as the first two!

So we have to add some new stuff, that would allow you to visit other words...
- A portal from the Farplane to another word
- A new area on the Farplane
- A new dimension where Aeons and Fayth live
- A spaceship found by the Al Bhed (in Bikanel, in the bottom of the sea, ..)
- A spaceship in Bevelle's bowels (found by Baralai ? Isaru ?)

But why would our heroes leave Spira to a new place after finally being reunited ? We need a big danger

Here you can go for the obvious:
- Seymour is back in business using the Farplane monsters to plot a revenge .. or
- Yu Yevon (same as Seymour) .. or
- A brand new villain is coming to Spira (could be via Farplane or not)

but this would force the adventure to be in Spira or in at least in an unknown corner of the Farplane. Boring!

So the big danger needs to come from space or from a new dimension. Seymour and other past villains can help but the danger must be external.

But why would an alien attack Spira ? It's not like the current Spira has state of the art technology, gold or other riches… Spira does have pireflies though. Pireflies can power fiends, spheres, souls, memories… One could say they are one very good source of magic. And guess what place has tons of pireflies ? The Farplane! There, we found a good way to get Auron and other "sent" involved!

Bingo! We found what would attract thieves to Spira: Pireflies ! Like manna in some games or Dune's "spice" the thing can be mined and used by mages and techno-mages alike. Which means greedy robber barons would covet Spira. And would covet the Farplane in Spira.

So greedy robber barons from space or another dimension coming to strip mine Spira's pireflies would be a good "danger" to have. It would allow:
- the sequel to have several battles and exploration on a brand new place (the invader's home and his ship)
- some scenes in the Farplane with Auron, Seymour and other favorites.

But it is still a bit "loose". Like someone just plopped an alien ship in the middle of Luca's town square. Can we tie it better to the Spira of the past 2 games ?

We certainly can! Who said those strip miners of pireflies have not been exploring Spira all along ?

This is just one of the scenarios that would do what I wanted: allow us to gameplay with Auron again, and have a change of scenery.

What do you guys think ? How would you do it ?