Blackmoon Prophecy

Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy
Developer(s)	Daniel Babineau
Engine(s)	RPG Maker 2003
Development time	2003 - 2012, 2018
Type	Tribute
Original game	Final Fantasy series (non-canonic/original)
Release date(s)	:April 7th, 2012
Download link(s)	:DL

Blackmoon Prophecy, formerly known as Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy, is a completed game created by Daniel Babineau. It had several cancellations and renewals before 2008, after which it was almost steadily worked on until completion.

Synopsis

Characters

Playable characters

• Vahn Vainstrong. The main character. Vahn is a dragoon from the Branch Kingdom and serves as the castle's senior jailor. Vahn utilizes unique dragoon/spear attacks in battle.
• Laka Ardell. A thief encountered in Cave of Surt. This character is available in the game's RPG Maker MV remake.
• Oalston Saradin. A novice Black Mage, and the only one in the Branch Kingdom. Oalston uses black magic spells such as Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder.
• Elina Alunira. A novice White Mage from the neutral town of Mystic Mysidia. Elina uses white magic spells such as Cure, Holy, and Regen.
• Vera Farabrandt. Vera belongs to the Four Swords of Ivalice, the four strongest generals of Ivalice. She is a caller, thus being able to summon espers such as Ifrit, Shiva, and Ramuh.
• Nobumasa. Nobumasa is a Ninja from the Village of Zen on a remote Ivalician island who seeks to train and grow stronger. He utilizes ninjitsu techniques such as katon and suiton.
• Ami Peperro. An experienced traveler who knows the wilds of Northern Lenadia well. Ami is able to use blue magic, which is essentially the abilities of monsters.
• Darius Nobleton. Darius is a hot-headed dragoon stationed as a guard in the dungeon of Branch Kingdom. His personality begins to change unexpectedly and for the worse, prompting him to butt heads with his dragoon peers.
• Siegfried Sigmundson. Siegfried is a world renowned swordsman, or so he says, who has abandoned everything in his life in order to search for the only thing that matters to him in life—Excalibur. Siegfried attacks with many unique sword skills that affect the status condition of enemies.
• Godot. An inhabitant of the Esper World. Unforeseen consequences bring him and Vahn close together as they pursue the evil entity responsible for their problems. Godot is a powerful magic user, capable of casting both black and white magic.

Secret characters

• Bosche Gore. A thrill seeking treasure hunter known as a Seeker, Bosche's sole ambition is to find artifacts and relics. He is slightly eccentric man, but his usefulness cannot be ignored. Bosche can attack twice with every bow weapon in the game, and he is able to obtain artifacts to use as battle skills.
• Jasmine Amiro. Jasmine is an upbeat elementalist who has a bad habit of getting lost, but she is an honest girl who will always pay back her debts. Jasmine utilizes elemental magic that is effective against many monster types.
• Omicron.

Temporarily playable characters

• Hans Verrater. Vahn's best friend within the walls of Branch Castle. Hans is a fellow dragoon and jailor who grew up in the laid back countryside of Branch.

Guest

• Vicks.

Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Main article: Story of Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy

Development

Patches

Main article: /Patches

As the players started to signal various bugs and gitches, Daniel Babineau started to create large amount of patches and their current number is forty-eight, including the "Blackmoon Prophecy Plus!" patch updates. Version 1.07b also added New Game Plus feature. After several updates most of bugs were ironed out. Following updates instead focus on rebalancing parts of the game and adding in content that was originally cut or not added.

Minor updates began being applied to the game on as needed basis as of December 6, 2018.

"Blackmoon Prophecy Plus!" Patch

On November 14, 2013, Babineau announced "Blackmoon Prophecy Plus!" patch. The patch is composed of two 'parts': one made of editting existing content, and second one using DynRPG.

The existing content edits include extended Arena by adding a Gauntlet Mode which will reward the player on the number of battles the player has survived, improved sprite palettes, miscellaneous graphical updates, replacement of Mt. Ordeals in the Merged World, rewritten dialogue, and addition of a Final Fantasy XIII-themed dungeon, Sunleth Waterscape.

The DynRPG additions include faster ATB bars, Play Time counter, transparent windows, and visible MP gains in battle.

Remakes

Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy Redux

On June 22, 2015, Babineau announced that the remake of the original Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy, titled Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy Redux, is currently in development for RPG Maker VX Ace. The main highlights of the remake are a more organized inventory, improvement of the color palette for the reused Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V tiles, ability and equipment rebalancing, dialogue rewrites and other changes. The game's remake will have its separate profile on RPGMaker.net to differiate it from RPG Maker 2003 version. The platform of choice was changed to RPG Maker MV on August 11, 2015 due to the new engine's features which include a new default side view battle system. The game remake was briefly considered to be moved to RPG Maker MV but was moved back to RPG Maker VX Ace mainly due to negative feedback surrounding the performance of RPG Maker MV's editor and game engine. As of the completion of Blackmoon Prophecy II, the idea of creating a VX Ace remake of the original game was laid to rest.

Release and reception

Logo of Blackmoon Prophecy made by kentona for RPGMaker.net's "Featured Game" for May 2012.

"Blackmoon Prophecy is meant to emulate the older Final Fantasy games in many ways. Plot types, locations, battle system, items, character roles, and so forth are all emulated to an extent. Basically if you don't like how Final Fantasy IV plays, since it is the game emulated the most, then this may not be a game for you. However, if you enjoyed that particular game in the series, then you may like Blackmoon Prophecy.

Constant references are made to the fourth, fifth, and sixth Final Fantasy games throughout Blackmoon Prophecy. For example, there is one location called Branford Hollow, which is home to a mysterious girl who wants magicite shards. The girl was sprited to look like Terra in the form of a miniature Final Fantasy IV sprite. Popular bosses such as Ultros even appear. Many item names reference particular games in the series. As well, Mystic Mysidia is ripped straight out of Final Fantasy IV and much more. There are also several subtle references to post-Nintendo Final Fantasy titles."

—Former information on the game's main RMN page.

Blackmoon Prophecy was released worldwide as a free tribute game to Final Fantasy series on April 7, 2012 on RPGMaker.net. The game was very well received among the community and within less than a week it received a review from RPGMaker.net user, BareGamer, called "A fantastic adventure down memory lane (except for me)" giving the game five stars: highest score that a game can achieve on RPGMaker.net.

Series

Some time during 2013, Daniel Babineau put an information on game's RMN blog saying that a sequel originally titled Final Fantasy Blackmoon Prophecy II is is the work. It is set one hundred years after the events of Blackmoon Prophecy and is centered around a man named "Zephyr".

On September 12, 2014, Babineau announced that simultaneously with the development of the sequel, a short prequel called Final Fantasy Blackmoon Origins was currently in the works centering on the Crystal War that precedes the events of Blackmoon Prophecy, although only game script was currently under works.

As of the completion of Blackmoon Prophecy II, the idea of creating a prequel to the original game was laid to rest.

External links

• RPGMaker.net Profile for RPG Maker 2003 Version
• RPGMaker.net Profile for RPG Maker MV Version
• Official Tumblr Profile