[POLL] “LEAVE NO SOLDIER BEHIND” *SALUTES* (NEED OPINIONS ON A NEW “RUNNING AWAY” MECHANIC)

author=Sated
I think you've put too much thought into this and ended up making it too complicated as a result.

If you really want to do this then you should work with much simpler statements based solely on things the player can quickly assess, such as status effects. Simpler conditions like, "you can't run from battle if you have ko'd characters" or, "you can't run from battle if characters are asleep/paralysed/petrified".

On the other hand (assuming the player isn't skipping through battles because they're bored/in a rush), players will only really want to run from battles if they are in trouble. If you make it hard for them to run from battle when they're in trouble, what reasons do they have for using the escape mechanic..?

Perhaps it would make more sense from a design point of view (if not from a logical point of view) to have different status effects modify the chance of escaping. For example, if 2/3 if the party is ko'd then escaping is only likely to happen 1/3 as much as it would with no ko'd characters (it needn't be that drastic, but you get the idea).

I'll probably fiddle around with it some more in-game, but I'll definitely try out some of your suggestions and make the whole running away concept a bit more simpler on the player and focus on a lot you've already suggested where certain conditions will lower the probability of an escape along with your overall dexterity.

author=LockeZ
Here's an idea: take your conditions and complications, but instead of making the player deal with them during his normal turns, make the Run Away command initiate a series of timed button inputs to do those things. Like, show buttons on the screen, make the player press them before they disappear, commonly known as a Quicktime Event. The button inputs would be increasingly long and complicated for "harder" escapes, but it would never have that feeling of "damn, it takes almost as much prep to run away as it does to win". Because the effort the player spends would be in a totally seperate spectrum from the rest of the battle.

That's actually another good idea as well, LockeZ. Heh. I guess if the original idea backfires I could always try your idea out as a backup plan.

author=Gourd_Clae
I'd think that running away would ideally have a drawback that's not always so bad. Then you still have to think beyond "It may be dangerous to fight this battle".

Like, put them back where they entered the map before fighting the battle. That way they could even strategically use it for a quick backtrack and it's not completely useless to better players in this respect. It would also not even have a drawback in scenarios where you are close to where you entered the map. "Am I so far away from the entrance that I may as well tough it for this battle?"

O--OMG, are you physic, or something? I was thinking about the same thing the other night and maybe implementing this as a possible side-effect to running away where the party just runs back to the entrance of a dungeon or the last map they just came from. They could all be huffing and puffing and one of the characters would say something, like, "T...That didn't go too well, didn't it?" Or, "T...Those guys sure pack a mighty punch." It would be great for speed-runs or if the player is running low on supplies.

author=BrokenH
My gripe with the "run" command as is? It's silly how it's easier to run away from creatures with lower or equal stats. Why? Because by the time you can run from a creature encounter you can usually kick its' ass too.

author=LockeZ
hell no, 99% of my run attempts in rpgs are due to the enemy being so easy that there's no point in fighting it. I mean I could get 600 XP if I killed it, but if I've fought the enemy before and I don't need anything specific from it, then I'd rather get 30 seconds of my life back.

~ Skip to around 1:42 to see what I mean.

This is why I like how "Earthbound" handled this whenever you faced an enemy that you could already manhandle without a problem; just give me the freakin' EXP and let me be on the my god damn way. (i.e: save time)