Okay I completely failed at the brief part of this. This is not an elevator pitch. But, can the actual Final Fantasy games be summed up briefly?
Circle Quest - A Downward Spiral
(Title by Thumb Crusher, Concept by Mare Kuntz)
This is a Final Fantasy homage, though I'd change the combat out for something more actiony. (In fact, this concept is more FFish than FF itself is anymore, given that the new one is apparently about a modern-day prince and his bros taking a road trip...)
Auside is a sword and sorcery world where people ride fantasy creatures as mounts, and there are two distinct races among humans. The Shelta are pale, slim, short to medium height, and consider themselves the superior race. They revere their history to the extent of turning it into a mystery religion, and think they are more intelligent and civilized than the Vivor. The Shelta like scholarly pursuits and subtle and elegant fighting styles, and are prejudiced against mutants. The Vivor are tanned, tall and broad, and accepting of mutants, even considering some of them to be celebrities and great choices for mates. They don't like sedentary, mental work and are more inclined to physical pursuits like hunting, farming, and the more forthright kinds of fighting. There are also legends of an extinct ancient race from which these two emerged.
The main character, Basalt, is a teenager of the Shelta. Born of low-ranking parents, he feels somewhat inadequate in the other Shelta's eyes, though he has the consolation of believing that he is superior to the Vivor. His low rank also means he hasn't been taught much about his race's history, because such secrets are reserved for people who earn initiation into the mystery religion. He joins a pseudo-military organization with the ambitious plan to hone himself and raise his reputation with the others of his race. There he has to learn how to wield magic, which is challenging, and be matched up with a Vivor partner, which is even more challenging. But just as he starts to settle in and earn promotions, he starts to mutate.
Mutations are currently a subject of investigation – an investigation Basalt is suddenly desperate to advance, in hopes of a cure. Or if there is no cure, proof that mutants are actually the superior ones would be almost as good. So far they only know mutation has something to do with magic, and there's a common belief that it was impossible for members of the ancient race to become mutants. There is a legend that magic entered the world in the same mysterious event where the first wave of mutations happened. Circles were an important symbol to the earliest magic-users and in a different form are also used in the Shelta mystery religion. Circles symbolize cooperation among team members, and also the defensive shield this kind of cooperation can provide for a group against the outside world... as long as no members of the circle betray that cooperation. The pseudo-military organization uses a circle to symbolize cooperation between Shelta and Vivor partners.
Following clues leading to ruins of this ancient civilization, the player is lead around the world and into the underworld, in a downward spiral. As Basalt gets closer to the truth, discovering the secrets of history is a spiritual experience for him... but he's not sure he likes what he's learning. All the characters get progressively more stressed out, ambitious, and/or mutated, so it's a downward spiral in both senses. Meanwhile, the leaders of the Shelta's mystery religion have sent an assassin to make sure no one learns the secrets of history that they alone have a divine right to. And there's also a mutant Vivor who is a charismatic leader and has been trying to rally people to subjugate the Shelta. Basalt and his Vivor partner are regarded with rising hostility by both their races as traitors. Ultimately Basalt realizes that the secret of the past is that humanity almost destroyed the world by warring against itself, and he and his partner must kill both the charismatic mutant leader and the secretive mystery religion leaders (final bosses) as the key first step to unifying their two races and preventing a new world war from breaking out.
