Iniquity and Vindication

Been contemplating removing elements from enemy attacks, and removing equipment that protects against elements. And then also giving every piece of equipment the same PDef as MDef. So it would basically be impossible to protect yourself from anything before a battle, except to the extent that you build yourself for defense vs. offense vs. hp vs. healing. In-battle protective buffs would still exist.

The logic: You cannot tell what elements enemies will be using before a battle starts. You can't change equipment after a battle starts. This type of "preparation" doesn't reward any kind of skill, it requires clairvoyance on the part of the player. Otherwise known as "bullshit difficulty." I already decided against having any kind of status immunity equipment for the same reason.

The counterlogic: Death is relatively painless in I&V. You respawn right before the battle. Long cut scenes are even shortened to one or two lines if you've seen them before. So if this equipment requires dying first to realize you should use it, is that strictly a bad thing? As long as you don't actually need the equipment to survive, it makes the game easier for people who died once, without making it easier for people who don't need the help.

The game design process would go faster if I didn't keep second-guessing myself, but it would go WAY faster if I worked on the game more than a couple hours every other week.