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WHAT ELEMENTS FROM EXISTING GAMES WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE REUSED?
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unity
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Closeauthor=CrazeRyaReisenderI've been trying to figure out a game in which you are constantly going back to L1 for some reason (and to make it fun, which is the hard part). That low-level play is usually the most memorable and engaging part of RPGs for me, so... yeah.
On the other hand I also like it when all new characters start at level 1, even further into the game. Often character who join later will get stronger at the same level, but it then requires some time investment. But it's fun to see how the characters grow and what their strong points are in the end.
I kept going back to Level One in Dragon Quest 3 (like, way more than I needed to) but I'm not sure if that counts, as you keep half of your stats.
In my case I just droped level out entirely in favour to keep both a sense of challenge and to avoid that weird feeling that character starts noob and becomes god (most of my characters start at least fairly capable and/or experienced anyway) so I only give a few stat bonuses and few new skills as prixes from battles just so player feels a slight grows and a sense of progression, but who truly must grow is the player :)
Don´t know if that counts hehehe
Don´t know if that counts hehehe
Arandomgamemaker
1629
Hm, I never know if levels is worth it honestly. On one hand it lets you feel like you're progressing, but on the other the game can get unbalanced if you grind.
However, without levels you would probably get something like The Grumpy Knight and Wine & Roses, in that every battle is a miniboss fight to collect a specific ability or stat booster, or even just to progress. This means your game can be more balanced because you can control how strong a player is, so they are never strong enough to 'overpower' everything.
However, it also makes it so you have to fight through enemy hordes to collect everything, and with each battle being difficult you wouldn't feel the sense of 'progression' that leveling has.
Just my two cents.
However, without levels you would probably get something like The Grumpy Knight and Wine & Roses, in that every battle is a miniboss fight to collect a specific ability or stat booster, or even just to progress. This means your game can be more balanced because you can control how strong a player is, so they are never strong enough to 'overpower' everything.
However, it also makes it so you have to fight through enemy hordes to collect everything, and with each battle being difficult you wouldn't feel the sense of 'progression' that leveling has.
Just my two cents.
author=Arandomgamemaker
Hm, I never know if levels is worth it honestly. On one hand it lets you feel like you're progressing, but on the other the game can get unbalanced if you grind.
However, without levels you would probably get something like The Grumpy Knight and Wine & Roses, in that every battle is a miniboss fight to collect a specific ability or stat booster, or even just to progress. This means your game can be more balanced because you can control how strong a player is, so they are never strong enough to 'overpower' everything.
However, it also makes it so you have to fight through enemy hordes to collect everything, and with each battle being difficult you wouldn't feel the sense of 'progression' that leveling has.
Just my two cents.
You picked my points entirely... I hate when boss battles become easy cause I accidentally went overlevel just because I was collecting money to buy a new sword XD You know, I like to win thiough my own skill and strategy so grinding is messy on that aspect and in the end, you level up, but challenge does too, so technically you are always facing the same dificulty :P
And I love when all battles are many boss battles, just a matter of not having a lot of them (thking Star wars KOTOR, Septerra Core, Chrono Trigger).
Also the skills and bonus status are small helps rather than huge boosts, so you could still skip a few things, or earn prizes by solving puzzles or cleaverly avoiding battles as well :)
But I will keep the concerns in mind to try and not overdo on the challenges XD
Desertopa
775
Personally, I like being able to crush bosses by powering my characters up beyond what's expected at that point, but I also like being challenged. The ideal situation for me is when I can crush regular enemies and bosses, but get challenge out of facing bonus bosses who're much stronger than the enemies you face in normal gameplay.
Possibly my favorite example is Star Ocean 2, which offers mechanics which the player can use, or flat out exploit, to get way stronger than it's ever necessary to be to win the game. And then it has the bonus dungeon, the Cave of Trials, which practically requires you to have been exploiting those mechanics all along in order to get by, and an event you can trigger which will make the final boss overwhelmingly stronger, to the point that you have to be about as strong as the game will let you get to even stand a chance (or use the Bloody Armor exploit, but that was pure cheese.)
The biggest flaw in its implementation, as far as I was concerned, is that you can plausibly exploit Star Ocean 2's mechanics to a great extent simply by experimentation, whereas finding the bonus content that will actually challenge you if you do so basically requires a game guide.
Possibly my favorite example is Star Ocean 2, which offers mechanics which the player can use, or flat out exploit, to get way stronger than it's ever necessary to be to win the game. And then it has the bonus dungeon, the Cave of Trials, which practically requires you to have been exploiting those mechanics all along in order to get by, and an event you can trigger which will make the final boss overwhelmingly stronger, to the point that you have to be about as strong as the game will let you get to even stand a chance (or use the Bloody Armor exploit, but that was pure cheese.)
The biggest flaw in its implementation, as far as I was concerned, is that you can plausibly exploit Star Ocean 2's mechanics to a great extent simply by experimentation, whereas finding the bonus content that will actually challenge you if you do so basically requires a game guide.
One of my issues with bonus/optional content in general is exact that big about Star Ocean 2: anything Optional there is hidden in ways which you either use a guide or you just enter each town a hunderd times and talk to everyone, regular and private action mode.... and I hate secrets because really, I am a very linear person so I like my secrets at least riddled in the plot (riddles are cool, just walking aimlessly talking to npcs... not).
Now for rpgs: I play those by the plot and setting. meaning that if bonus content won´t affect plot or give me more into the setting heavily, it is not worthy. (in a gameplay heavy game it might be, if gamepplay is really peculiar)
But even at that, any easy battle to me is just a wastye of time... ok... it might be fun a few times, like in Xenogears when I get my Gears on the world map and go stomping on tiny people without mechs of their own :P But after I discuver that this is possible and do it a few times... not as funby anymore. I hate when even normal battles are easy and can be won in less than 2/3 turns with little to no loss of resources...
But I am ok with dificulty levels though, this way who wants to go the easy way and feel goodly, by all means can... and who wants to feel challenged every single battle like me, doesnm´t have to cope with that :P
Now for rpgs: I play those by the plot and setting. meaning that if bonus content won´t affect plot or give me more into the setting heavily, it is not worthy. (in a gameplay heavy game it might be, if gamepplay is really peculiar)
But even at that, any easy battle to me is just a wastye of time... ok... it might be fun a few times, like in Xenogears when I get my Gears on the world map and go stomping on tiny people without mechs of their own :P But after I discuver that this is possible and do it a few times... not as funby anymore. I hate when even normal battles are easy and can be won in less than 2/3 turns with little to no loss of resources...
But I am ok with dificulty levels though, this way who wants to go the easy way and feel goodly, by all means can... and who wants to feel challenged every single battle like me, doesnm´t have to cope with that :P
Desertopa
775
I like it when the game encourages a measure of exploration. I mean, if you're not going to go around talking to people and checking out the various locations, they might as well not even be there. (Of course, a lot of games make the locations and NPCs boring to investigate, in which case... they might as well not be there.)
The way I see it, there's more to setting than just the history and worldbuilding mechanics and so on. One of the most important components is atmosphere, or character. If wandering around aimlessly exploring or talking to people isn't fun, the atmosphere is poor.
I'm also not usually a fan of difficulty levels. The idea that I'm choosing whether to make things easy or difficult for myself doesn't sit well with me. When I'm challenged, I like it to be because the game presented that challenge organically as part of the narrative, not because I pressed some kind of "make it harder!" button at some point, and when things are easy, I prefer it to be because I'm applying more effort or skill than the designers anticipated, not because I selected an option for the game to cut me slack.
The way I see it, there's more to setting than just the history and worldbuilding mechanics and so on. One of the most important components is atmosphere, or character. If wandering around aimlessly exploring or talking to people isn't fun, the atmosphere is poor.
I'm also not usually a fan of difficulty levels. The idea that I'm choosing whether to make things easy or difficult for myself doesn't sit well with me. When I'm challenged, I like it to be because the game presented that challenge organically as part of the narrative, not because I pressed some kind of "make it harder!" button at some point, and when things are easy, I prefer it to be because I'm applying more effort or skill than the designers anticipated, not because I selected an option for the game to cut me slack.
You pointed youself half of what I was to reply :P Yeah, I love exploration, but I love it when the setting is interesting, the places are interesting, there are fun things to do and NPCs feel like people (in which Jrpgs took forever to start doing) like having options on NPC dialogue or npcs feeling like they actually are talking to you rather than just mumbling to themselves.
With that, encouraging exploration by placing random secrets (secrets whjich I only had any idea that existed cause I checked a guide looking for a list of Star Ocean 2 characters and found out I was har past the point where I could get Opera - and I love her!) is not my thing, I´d rather the game naturally pulls me into the action :)
As for dificulty levels, well to each one their own, I am not a flexible player, not as much as when I was a teen with just 3 games on my snes to play the whole year and anything new, fun or not, excited me to no end... nowadays I work a lot so I can´t just flow with a game that presents unsatisfying challenge and requires a lot of time with boring gringing on easy battles regardless of the reason... I need my scarce free time to make me feel like it was a huge victory :3
With that, encouraging exploration by placing random secrets (secrets whjich I only had any idea that existed cause I checked a guide looking for a list of Star Ocean 2 characters and found out I was har past the point where I could get Opera - and I love her!) is not my thing, I´d rather the game naturally pulls me into the action :)
As for dificulty levels, well to each one their own, I am not a flexible player, not as much as when I was a teen with just 3 games on my snes to play the whole year and anything new, fun or not, excited me to no end... nowadays I work a lot so I can´t just flow with a game that presents unsatisfying challenge and requires a lot of time with boring gringing on easy battles regardless of the reason... I need my scarce free time to make me feel like it was a huge victory :3
Desertopa
775
Star Ocean 2 definitely went kind of overboard in making some substantial elements hard to find, but I like a game to keep exploration fun on its own terms, and offer occasional extra rewards for engaging in it.
Some events in Star Ocean 2, like getting Opera, or far worse, getting Ernest, are way too easy to miss, because you have to go out of your way to stumble upon the hints about where you have to go further out of your way. I would try to find a medium where the major optional content takes very little looking to find the hints that it's available to look for, and if you do look for it, the game offers points of feedback so you don't just wander around randomly hoping you're getting closer to it, but you still ultimately end up having to go well out of your way to find things.
Some events in Star Ocean 2, like getting Opera, or far worse, getting Ernest, are way too easy to miss, because you have to go out of your way to stumble upon the hints about where you have to go further out of your way. I would try to find a medium where the major optional content takes very little looking to find the hints that it's available to look for, and if you do look for it, the game offers points of feedback so you don't just wander around randomly hoping you're getting closer to it, but you still ultimately end up having to go well out of your way to find things.
That is pretty much how I like secrets to be, tied to engaging exploration or to the core plot through hints whjich you may or may not pursue, but don´t seem random :P
RyaReisender
200
Yeah I like secrets like that. You just walk around and randomly stumble upon a character in distress and you help him and then he suddenly ends up joining your party. That's awesome.
Also since you mentioned Star Ocean 2 - Generally the idea that the final boss can be harder. I like that! Because often in RPGs it's so they have a few secret super bosses and when you defeated them you get some awesome equip or spell or something. But at the point you defeated them you don't really need anything anymore, so getting a reward from it in the first place seems to be pointless. But if the final boss can be made harder, it's actually worth doing all the optional content and getting all those ultimate weapons. Maybe you will be rewarded with special ending scenes.
Also since you mentioned Star Ocean 2 - Generally the idea that the final boss can be harder. I like that! Because often in RPGs it's so they have a few secret super bosses and when you defeated them you get some awesome equip or spell or something. But at the point you defeated them you don't really need anything anymore, so getting a reward from it in the first place seems to be pointless. But if the final boss can be made harder, it's actually worth doing all the optional content and getting all those ultimate weapons. Maybe you will be rewarded with special ending scenes.
