How to make a Final Fantasy styled cutscene

[Kain Nobel]

Here, this might help! I call it...

Variables : Party Indexing

For lack of a better name, this script will store the IDs of your party members into a ranged index of variables, you'll have to customize this script and set your database accordingly.

Being as I just wrote this, I'll post it proper tomorrow. I no longer have access to VX or Ace, so I'm not 100% certain if it'll work correctly as it was written on XP.

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Code:

#===============================================================================
# ** Variables : Party Indexing
#===============================================================================

class Game_Variables
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Party Indexing Starts At
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  #
  #  Party_Indexing_Starts_At = 1
  #
  #  Starting with this variable^, every variable after that will store the IDs
  #  of actors as they join and leave your party. In other words, after you set
  #  the variable ID, you should go in your database and basically set it
  #  something like...
  #
  #  0001 : Actor 1
  #  0002 : Actor 2
  #  0003 : Actor 3
  #  0004 : Actor 4
  #  ...etc
  #
  #  Depending on how large of a party you can possibly have, you'll want to
  #  reserve that many variables. If you're using a large party script and want
  #  to use 12 actors, in this example, variables 1~12 would all be reserved.
  #
  #  Any position that doesn't have an actor will have a zero instead of an
  #  actor's ID
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Party_Indexing_Starts_At      = 1
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Party Indexing Active Update
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  #
  #  Integer : variables auto-update only if a switch by that ID is on.
  #  True    : variables update each time a party member is added or removed.
  #  False   : you'll have to call $game_variables.actors_update manually.
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Party_Indexing_Active_Update  = true
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Maker = ( :XP or :VX )
  #
  #  Pretty self-explainatory. Use :XP for RPG Maker XP, :VX for VX or VX Ace
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Maker = :XP
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Update Actor IDs
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def actors_update(active_update = false)
    # If active update flag (system automatically updating self)
    if active_update
      # If setting is an integer
      if Party_Indexing_Active_Update.is_a?(Integer)
        # End method unless Switch is On
        return unless $game_Switches[Party_Indexing_Active_Update]
      end
      # End method unless active updating is true
      return unless Party_Indexing_Active_Update
    end
    # Iterate through party members
    for i in 0..$game_party.actors.size
      # Get actor
      actor = case Maker
      when :XP then $game_party.actors[i]
      when :VX then $game_actors[$game_party.actors[i]]
      end
      # Get variable index
      index = Party_Indexing_Starts_At + i
      # Set this variable to actor ID (or 0 if no actor)
      @data[index] = (actor.is_a?(Game_Actor) ? actor.id : 0)
    end
  end
end
  
#===============================================================================
# ** Game_Party
#===============================================================================

class Game_Party
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Public Instance Variables
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  attr_reader :actors
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Alias Listings
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  alias_method :id2variables_gmparty_addactor,    :add_actor
  alias_method :id2variables_gmparty_removeactor, :remove_actor
  alias_method :id2variables_gmparty_ssm,         :setup_starting_members
  alias_method :id2variables_gmparty_sbtm,        :setup_battle_test_members
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Initial Party Setup
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def setup_starting_members
    # The usual...
    id2variables_gmparty_ssm
    # Update variables
    $game_variables.actors_update(true)
  end
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Battle Test Party Setup
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def setup_battle_test_members
    # The usual...
    id2variables_gmparty_sbtm
    # Update variables
    $game_variables.actors_update(true)
  end
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Add Actor
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def add_actor(actor_id)
    # The usual...
    id2variables_gmparty_addactor(actor_id)
    # Update variables
    $game_variables.actors_update(true)
  end
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  # * Remove Actor
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  def remove_actor(actor_id)
    # The usual
    id2variables_gmparty_removeactor(actor_id)
    # Update variables
    $game_variables.actors_update(true)
  end
end

Anyways... this could probably help you to making actor-specific cut-scenes based on who is in your party, as well as what position they are in. To do that, I would make one event, give that event a Variable condition, make multiple pages based on possible actors the variable could be representing. You could also mix the event condition pages with the switch like DerVVulfman suggested, a switch basically telling the world "hey, cutscene going down, everybody act accordingly" lol.

If you need further help, I can possibly throw together a demo for you. I never realized how much thought can go into streamlining something that seems as simple as this, I'll have to find time to sit down and write a proper tutorial for future generations!