JRPG

What is it?

A retro 16-bit game that marries the tropes of a classic JRPG (the kind with pseudo-medieval setting) with actual historical research.

You play as Laurens, a scribe working for the bishop in a medieval French city, who has to restore the missing relics of St. (I don't remember will add later) to the cathedral before the land is overrun with demons. Other party members are small-time lock-picker/alley-prowler/good-time gal Juliote, lesbian nun Heloïse, and teddybear himbo dockhand Jehan.

Reason that it's "unfinishable"

The coding portion isn't unsurmountable, what with RPG Maker existing, and I'm decent enough at pixel art to do the assets... but I'm a very slow worker, and have no practical experience with game balancing or dungeon design, and am a poor animator, and can't do 16-bit music. And I don't currently know anyone else who can do these things.

How far I got

Whole bunch of historical research, general idea of how various systems would work, outline of bosses/dungeons (and thus plot), character designs for party members, took a stab at making a tileset, made a 16-bit-compatable palette that I like, have a list of medieval songs which would make good background music for various settings.

What would it take to finish it?

Several collaborators, each with experience in either designing RPG campaigns, pixel art, composing chiptune/16-bit music, and/or whatever coding language you need to add new mechanics in RPG Maker. Also secretly I want an expert in medieval theology to rework the plot with me.

...Also all these people would have to be willing to work for free (an insane ask), or I would need a big stack of cash to materialize somehow.