PONY ARPG
Order of Business that I would very much appreciate being dealt with at the next meeting:
The World-Without to Level connection.
So far, we have:
Griffon Could-City Level is the World Without Loyalty (Causing one-member-to-the-party rather than two, and no limit breaks or, in the case of buffs and heals, passive assistance)
...And that's it.
We need to figure our which missing element goes with which places.
Elements remaining to be dealt with:
Kindness (Causing aggro enemies, reduced healing from spells and items)
Laughter (Causing loss of Heal Over Time (Health regeneration, whatever you call that mechanic, and reduced move speed)
Magic (Causing total loss of DD's telekinesis, and thus fighting ability, as well as loss of all Unicorn skills, including Rarity's heals and Twilights battle potential, but having no effect of other pony-type skills)
Generosity (Causing enemies to never drop anything, up to and including experience points, and shop prices to be wildly inflated)
Honesty (Causing logic puzzles rather than random enemy battles, and two boss battles- one with a fake boss and one with the real boss)
Levels remaining to be assigned:
Dragon Mountain Level
Diamond Dog Cave Level
Zebra Plains Level
Hippocampus (Seapony??) Underwater Level
In-The-Past, MLP 1980's Edition Level
Personally, given the light anf fluffy nature of the 1980's MLP series, and the lighter and fluffier nature of the loss of Honesty, I think we might want to mix those two together. But other than that, I'm not sure.
Also, we need to decide whether Dark Equestria level is going to be set in a dark Ponyville, a dark Canterlot or the Everfree Ruins (possibly restored to their former glory, or possibly still ruins). Or, hell, we could go to space. I don't really care, as long as we get that figured out.
Also, I would like to know how DD's sword changes forms (I remember something about sheaths being mentioned??).
ALSO: random idea that struck me.
Running on the Four Stars concept:
NAME AND MARK IDEAS
The first four letters in the anglo saxon runic alphabet are F, U T and A/O (same letter in ancient times). Now, runes make an interesting idea as cutie marks in and of themselves, and would provide us a name convention that easily allows for Trixie (T) to be one of the Three Stars.
But, here's the part that really fascinates me. Here's Trixie's Cutie: http://www.ponychan.net/chan/merch/src/130723757846.png
Now, compare that mark, in its most basic geometry, to the Runic T: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurisaz_(rune)
Factor in a pinch of stylization, and the inclusion of symbolic stars, and Trixie's Cutie bears an astonishing resemblance, doesn't it?
Now, that leaves us two additonal ponies to name and cutiemarkify, plus DD's real name and cutie. It might be a touch demanding, but I feel fully confident that we can reverse engineer suitable names and marks from F http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fehu , U http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur_(rune) and A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansuz_(rune)
And, in particular, with the letter A/O: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Runic_letter_os.svg
Now, check this: http://i.imgur.com/olZjV.png
Looks awfully sword like doesn't it.
Now, this is all just wild extrapolation, but I think it's an idea that has legitimate potential. particularly given the association of runes to magic, and to ancient magic at that.
List of words beginning with A (and O):
Aurora, Afternoon, Alight, Overlight, Airglow, Aphelion, Orbit, Azimuth, Active, Arrow (weapon of Sun God Apollo), Ocotea (A species of laurel, thus a symbol of Apollo), Apex, Aulos (a musical instrument also used by Apollo), Aeon, Aether, Oath, Oracle, orange, Origin, Ostentatious (*lol* Ostentasia, the Over Exuberent PC. Now there's a name for you), Opal, Ostensible (Ostensia, short fo Ostentatious or Ostensible. Double meaning...)
Alternately, the Futhark F is easily altered to resemble a sword as well.
Flame, Flash, Flux, Frequency, Phase, Photon. This list is shorter because I'm tired again. Naptime once more.