GATE idea -" Ragtime Quiz!"

[AtraVeritas]

So this idea is inspired by the Ragtime Mouse enemy from Final Fantasy IX.

So for any who don't know, The Ragtime Mouse, also known as Ragtimer, is a special creature whom the party can encounter multiple times in various forests. It acts as a quiz master, asking the party a yes or no question every time it is encountered. It flees if attacked and the only way to defeat it is to answer all sixteen questions.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTsrvXCv_bg

So here is a rough idea for how it could work. This GATE would be a sequential GATE composed of 4 parts, similar to how certain FATEs trigger other fates. The gate would be called “Ragtime Quiz." the 4 parts would be divided into 4 difficulty modes for the sort of questions asked. Some of the naming conventions could be something as simple as "Easy" "Normal" "Hard" "Savage." They would spawn in order of difficulty one after the other.

Each time you engage with him, he will ask 4 questions for each difficulty to emulate how many questions he asked in total in Final Fantasy IX. Each question asked would be worth a different MGP value, and you would be awarded MPG for each correct answer. The lower difficulties would yield low MGP, but the higher difficulties would yield High MGP. One potential idea is that if all 16 questions are answered correctly in a row, you could get a substantial MGP bonus. You could also include an achievement for answering a certain number of questions and for getting all 16 correct in a row, perhaps getting a reward from the achievement like a Ragtimer Triple Triad Card.

To stop “cheating” as in people looking up the answer online, after the question is asked, you have only 10 seconds to select an answer. After which the GATE would end and you would receive MGP for each correct answer.

Then the next round will spawn in the Gold Saucer, but will be hidden on the map in a similar way like the Odin FATE. The goal would be to find him in one of the other squares in the Gold Saucer such as the “Card Square” or “Round Square.” You would have 60 seconds to find and talk to him. If you find The Ragtimer after the 60 seconds are up, the next round will start. If you cannot find The Ragtimer in that time, you will be ineligible to take part. To make locating him easier/more fair, you could have him give a vague clue as to where he might go.

Here is an example of how it would proceed;

You would first go to initiate the GATE which would start at the Event Square every time. The Ragtimer would give an introduction in the style of a game show host, and then The Ragtimer would summon 2 targets, a blue X and a red O. The Ragtimer would then ask a “Yes or No” question. For example; “Is Raubahn Aldynn leader of the Grand Company know as The Maelstrom?” then you would interact with either the red O (True) or the blue X (False). You would have 10 seconds to decide on what you think is the correct answer. There would then be an indicator to the players if they got it right or wrong.

The Ragtimer would ask his 4 questions, give a farewell with a low bow, and then run off to another square in the Gold Saucer. You have 60 seconds to find which square he has run off to. If found, you would talk with him, then wait for the remaining time out of the 60 seconds to be up and the next round would begin. This process would repeat until the 4th and final round when the GATE would conclude.

This GATE could also be potentially be included into the Challenge Log. For example, one could be answering 4 questions in the “Easy Round” regardless if they are correct or incorrect, this way they still get something out of it for participating. Some of the other challenges could be “answer 4 questions correctly” or “participate in the Savage Round.”

If the idea of The Ragtimer moving to different squares is too difficult to do, then here is an alterative. All rounds would be conducted on the “Event Square” and you need to at least answer 2/4 of the questions correctly to move on to the next round. If you only get 1 or 0 questions correctly, then you fail the GATE.

One last idea. If all this is too complicated to do, then perhaps these ideas could be a minigame added to the Toy Chest.

Well there is my GATE idea. Please let me know what you think, and if you would like to see this be real, try and let the developers know about this!

Thank you for reading my post.

[Lambdafish]

You can negate the text limit by editing the original post.

I liked ragtimer in FFIX, and he would be a fitting addition to the gold saucer. The quiz idea is good, but I have a curious question: Obviously he would have a pool of questions (in your idea, categorized). How many questions would you say is sufficient in each categories pool?

I ask because it affects both player enjoyment and server infrastructure

[AtraVeritas]

You can negate the text limit by editing the original post.

first of all, thank you for informing me about this!

How many questions would you say is sufficient in each categories pool?

well, as i was using the number 16 for the number of total questions from IX, we could said 16 questions in each pool for each round. I'm not a game designer, so i don't know if this is easy or hard, but i thought to put the idea out there just in case & to see if people like it. it's been a while since we had a new GATE. i thought this might be a good first addition.

thank you for your feedback!

[Atoli]

I like the quiz idea, but think the scale you think of is too big compared to the other gates.
Just make it similar to the dance-GATE where you have 4 x 4 dancemoves, just in this case, 4 x 4 questions and the difficulty increases between each set of 4.

As for how it works: I think it would be better to have 2 buttons on screen for O and X (like the "throw me off"-button in A11), otherwise you can just follow the crowd and interact with the right symbol based on that.

[AtraVeritas]

I like the quiz idea, but think the scale you think of is too big compared to the other gates.

hey thanks for the feedback! so yes, i know i was rather ambitions with this, but more than anything, i wanted to try to see where i could potentially go with this idea. also i am not a game designer, so i am ignorant of how hard this would be to make, but if people like it and it has potential to be considered by the dev team even in a more simplified form, i would be overjoyed.

I think it would be better to have 2 buttons on screen for O and X (like the "throw me off"-button in A11), otherwise you can just follow the crowd and interact with the right symbol based on that.

good idea! i like that a lot!

[Lambdafish]

well, as i was using the number 16 for the number of total questions from IX

From my perspective, 16 is a very low number. If this were to be added we need to look at how an MMO environment differs from a single player environment. How long will it take players to memorize all of the questions if there were 16 possible? In my opinion, not very long, and the reward would have to be lower to account for variance and the likelihood of the players simply memorizing question answers and recalling them. With a question pool of 50-100 per category, suddenly variance is much greater, and the chances of players memorizing questions is much lower (even more so if questions are updated and changed over time), the problem with this comes from server infrastructure, with these questions needing to be stored, and the more questions stored, the harder it is on the server (not impossible, but harder to implement). A question about a similar problem was asked at fanfest, relating to squadron dialogue.

As for how it works: I think it would be better to have 2 buttons on screen for O and X (like the "throw me off"-button in A11), otherwise you can just follow the crowd and interact with the right symbol based on that.

I'm imagining it now, a red O and a blue X (maybe even a yellow triangle and green square for harder questions), and then when everyone has answered it does an aquapolis-esque tension cutscene before revealing the correct answer by bathing the stage in red, blue, green or yellow. That would be awesome.

[AtraVeritas]

From my perspective, 16 is a very low number. If this were to be added we need to look at how an MMO environment differs from a single player environment. How long will it take players to memorize all of the questions if there were 16 possible?

I agree, but i only said 16 because i didn't want to be too ambitious. If this catches the attention of any of the developers, I'm sure they'd know the potential limits to it. i still agree that 16 is too low, i just wanted to answer your question without being to ambitious. I suppose they could add more questions overtime, if that could be a potential option.

[Lambdafish]

I suppose they could add more questions overtime, if that could be a potential option.

Not a potential option, but a necessity, as the game is constantly evolving. Questions like "In garlean social hierachy, what does the title "Jen" designate?" are fixed, and (extremely likely) won't change, but as new story and lore comes forward, so will new relevant questions, as well as questions like "How does parry work?" being ever changing (until they fix it dammit).

Edit: If anyone wants to know the answers:

Jen:

Jen is the title given to Garlean Field medics or Field Engineers

Parry:

Parry works by being pointless and it's primary purpose is to create materia for the purposes of transmuting

[AtraVeritas]

Not a potential option, but a necessity, as the game is constantly evolving. Questions like "In garlean social hierachy, what does the title "Jen" designate?"

traditionally the Ragtimer only asks yes and no questions, but i suppose you could give players 4 answers to choose from.

[AtraVeritas]

I like the quiz idea, but think the scale you think of is too big compared to the other gates.

i provided alternative below if the idea was too hard to implement. for example, adding it to the Toy Chest.

If it can be made, maybe they could add a much simpler version to the Toy Chest as a MGP reward.