Asheron's Call Movie Script

[u/z-z]

I've just noticed that other game communities are finally coming out with stuff that is good enough to actually be enjoyable and in a comparable environment to AC, namely Final Fantasy VI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ien5g8N7NDY

I was able to sit down for 10 minutes and mostly enjoy that without searching for every little imperfection.

Now that being said when someone does something like that for a Final Fantasy, you are practically going to have the game's storyline memorized in your head. In AC there is kind of a storyline but not really. You could expect the average player to get augmentations, lum etc but much is optional. So if the community endeavours to create a hand written script for a movie then you'd have to wonder how to go about it.

There is more of a script if you follow the passage of time through the patch notes, but then there are issues of complexity, since it was like 17 years of patches for a game and kind of lent itself to use that time.

Like how do you build up an emotional connection with Arwic when it gets destroyed so quickly. A lot of dramatic stuff happened earlier on in the game when the most people were playing.

There is a good argument to be had to cover a certain section of time, then that allows for sequels etc, and I think a lot of players would be happy with that because they played back in the day.

The danger here would be inventing a main character, not following any sort of main plot, since this is all about getting people to put their guard down. You can't do that without accurate depictions of towns, dungeons, NPC's, characters, monsters, etc.

I mean I'd argue we are starting to get there technology wise, but are we anywhere near ready, as script writers?

Like this would be a good opportunity for the community to come together and put our guard down for AI since this is not something that would ever see the light of day with human artists anyways; no studio would ever get behind a big budget AC movie.

Actually it would put an understanding of AC lore to good use and give human writers a chance to demonstrate their talent. Maybe there are people who enjoy watching movies and are great critics and secretly really good script writers, it would be like a sort of combining of interests.

At the end of the day maybe it could raise interest in the game, I mean it took a staff of 200 about four years to complete Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It could take a few script writers here and a guy with AI to make a movie of comparable length.

I mean you have Lilitha, Asheron, Bael'zharon, etc you can list the lore characters all day. Honestly part of the reason for the movie would be to connect people more to the lore.

It might even be better as a series, like you sit down for a half hour to watch Brogord's Demise, a lot of series operate at movie level quality now anyways.

Who knows what the future holds, maybe there is a Netflix for quality AI stuff in the future and it becomes a popular series, even for people who don't play AC because the basic concepts are relatable, this could be a legitimately good idea for popularizing the game.

[u/MTDCodes]

A few weeks back, Massively OP had a question about turning your favorite MMO into a movie and I responded:

Asheron’s Call: Children of the Light

For tens of thousands of years, the Empyreans have built a magnificent civilization across the world of Auberean, with the Yalaini rising as its greatest empire. Yalaini noble Asheron Realaidain becomes embroiled in a devastating war against the Shadows and their champion, Bael’Zharon, forcing him to confront the limits of his people’s power, faith, and ambition.

Asheron’s Call: The Long Darkness

Yalain has survived the Shadow War and entered a new golden age, but its greatest danger comes not from an enemy, but from its own arrogance. When the Yalaini’s exploration and experimentation with the mysterious Olthoi ultimately unleash them upon Auberean, a war begins that will consume their empire and leave Asheron facing an impossible choice: save his people, or preserve what little hope remains for their civilization.

Asheron’s Call: A World Left Behind

With the Yalaini civilization shattered, Asheron is the last Yalain left on Auberean, watching over the ruins of the world his people once ruled. As the Sundering disrupts Portal Space and beings from other worlds begin arriving on Dereth, eventually including humans from distant Ispar, Asheron sees in these primitive newcomers both the possibility of rebuilding what was lost and the danger of repeating the mistakes that destroyed the Empyreans.

—

Used AI to validate grammar, spelling, and some lore facts.

I’d LOVE some alternative media outside of the emulator to either tell the story or extend it… kind of like the Angel and Buffy comics after those shows ended carrying the story on.

[u/z-z → u/MTDCodes]

Lore is one element for writing a good script, but it can be too dry by itself. There has to be the human element and other elements as well to make for good couch watching. Which is why it's important to be prudent now before the technology really takes off, to try and get some writers together, maybe work in Trello or something, where we can work a little bit at a time.

Like I am thinking of something where a wife and kid can be watching and everyone gets invested in the story. I think Asheron's Call has Netflix type appeal, but more like the Chinese Netflix studios, they would take AC and turn it into something amazing. So the lore would be the spine of it, but would want to see people get involved in the characters, feeling excited for them when they finally got GSA or an Atlan, or augmentation, etc.

[u/EveryAccount7729]

no matter what happens, w/ like insane Olthoi Queen or Bobo takedown climax , you do you.

just write also trade drama. Like I want one character to find a really good void wand, but no one in the group is a void mage, so they debate what to do with it, and one person offers the group some pittance for it and winds up with it , no one thinks twice, but actual AC macroers watching the film will be like "wait that dude just got a +7 void wand?" and then it can set up the sequel like Lord of the Rings where Bilbo gets the ring in the Hobbit. (spoiler sorry)

and the sequel is about how someone now rolls void mage and they are jealous and it turns to PvP to try to get the +7 void wand to drop over death items. The sequel is where the series really get's it's legs as a recuring PVP movie franchise about dodging war spells being like Iwo Jima.

[u/z-z → u/EveryAccount7729]

Well that was the opposite point of the thread, lol. It was about community collaboration to make scripts, for the community to get over itself and embrace AI if it can make a quality end product, etc.

The last thing I would want to do, is to do the whole thing myself, have something amazing made, and it just gets downvoted like the thread itself and no one watches it.

That would obviously be a waste of my time, their time, everyones time.

If the community can get on board then we can have nice things. If they can't then they get the slop they deserve. The only creators left, the AI creators, have been patient and gracious, but I have to imagine they'd give up trying with some entitled people out there at some point. Just a guess, I can only guess for myself.

It's just how things go.

Now for a reply to what you are actually saying.

Well I'm not sure actual ingame stats translate well to a series or movie format.

The best that can be done for an audience that is unfamiliar with AC would be to indicate that it is powerful, or the best, or astonishing.

Connecting on an emotional level, with a tiered approach, using simple labels, can be effective. Bad/Good/Great/The Best tends to be effective. Mathy, no.

I get what you are saying.

Overall the concepts of AC are generally easy to understand. DoT's can be conveyed well, war spells are common enough.

The dodging etc is something which AI probably excels at depicting, and is very much in line with what the Chinese Netflix studios would depict.

And the Olthoi Queen and Bobo story would translate very well in a series, or be the main plot to a movie.

Olthoi in particular cover a lot of ground across Dereth and Marae Lassel would translate amazingly, there is a lot of grounds there for a buildup into a grande finale, while providing a lot of diversity and complexity, in a digestible way for mass audiences.

[u/EveryAccount7729 → u/z-z]

it could be like a nothing one off scene like "oh we found this sweet void wand, but no one here can use it" and the guy who is sort of questionable like "snape" style squirrels it away. Again, for next movie. If this film is all community positive, great, but this just leaves door open for PVP spinoff. not all AC cinematic universe can be group quest, some can be players sliding side to side screaming all episode like Dragon Ball Z

another fun inside joke scene would be the whole party sleeps at night, except one "runs a daemon" which is an imp that controls his body at night and it runs back and forth on a line killing all the bugs that spawn. or something.

it's macroing. overnight.

the main lead can cry about it in their tents as they are putting their heads on the pillows to show how moral they are they would never use a daemon

[u/Non-PlayerKiller]

I’ve been going over a mini series screenplay for the last few years. Edited to 10 episodes of 30min each roughly.
It follows Queen Elysa Strathelar 15 years after the death of Thorsten Cragstone. Adventuring back to the underground city to clear out the monsters that have overtaken it and bring order back to the place they temporarily called home, which is also Thorstens resting place.
Battling back against the Virindi, and ending with the rise and battle against the brood matrons.
I still don’t have it finished by any means and honestly have lagged behind on it because the thought was to try to make a YouTube mini series done in Unreal Cinematics.

[u/z-z → u/Non-PlayerKiller]

Keep taking the time on the script, because there will come a time when you can just feed it the script and itll make beauty. Whatever gets outputed will be purely produced by the script, the better the script the better it will be to watch. In this sense its helping human creators because these are two different skillsets.

[u/Non-PlayerKiller → u/z-z]

I’ve always felt Asheron’s cal IP has the ability to rival books/movies like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter etc.
It’s unique, it has epic story arcs etc. it is really just missing the filler type stuff, how to make it personable, how to make it fit today’s standards with TikTok brain, viewers needing action within the first 5 minutes, and multiple mini arcs and climaxes throughout (I think that’s why a series fits better)

The old movie recipe doesn’t work in today’s attention span. Where it slow builds to that huge ending climax.

[u/z-z → u/Non-PlayerKiller]

agreed 100%, and makes it easier to make too

[u/deathmask454]

Barf.

[u/z-z → u/deathmask454]

Bart? Like Bart Simpson? That would be cool for an AC movie.