[VX ACE] IS A RUDRA'S TREASURE- STYLE MANTRA SYSTEM POSSIBLE?

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In this "lost" Square game which never had an overseas release and is often overlooked, magic was learned by combining words or letters together which resulted in different spells and effects.

For example:

"IG" was the basic root word for a fire spell. You could write as a spell "IGNA" and you'd have a fire spell that targets multiple enemies, or "IGNASU" for a stronger fire spell. Same with other elements: "AQU" was the root word for water spells, and "-NA" makes it hit all enemies. "IGAQUNATOS", for a combination of all these spell effects, with some added power... And so on.

In addition there were numerous unique spell-words that broke the normal word syntax rules, like "STELLA" which drains mobs life or "DEATH" which, well, does exactly that. And you were rewarded for staying sharp during fights and writing down the spells mobs/bosses used, and even improvise on their syntax to get more power out of them.

The limit of letters you could write was something like 15, and it was fun to experiment with different words to see what crazy things you could come up with. It'd be fun to tinker with a system like this in Rpg Maker, as it could result in something fantastic with some improvements.

The thing is, is it even possible in VX Ace? I wish I knew more about scripting than I do. What I was thinking, basically: Input a dummy hero's name, then check if any part of that input contains desirable combinations of letters, then add a skill with those effects. Seems impossible to do with eventing, because you can only check if the full input = something, not just any parts of the input and base the results on the combination of those, which is needed.
Yes, it's possible. It'd be an insanely complex script and require overhauling pretty much the entire battle system, but there'd be ways of doing it. The better question would be whether it would be worth the work or not, especially in RGSS - there's probably a reason the system never really got used again.
That sounds about right. It'd certainly be more complicated in practice than in theory. And it had its flaws of course.

A more modern Rpg Maker take on the system might go something like this: "Here, you can upgrade your spells/skills by adding these 1-3 predetermined modifiers for them! But, to ensure you cannot have overpowered spells right away, the more powerful effects are tiered and require you to work to unlock them! Oh, and the reason you are limited to 1-3 effects/modifiers for each spell is just to ease the amount of work I have to do -- in case you didn't know I have to make each modified version of those spells as an individual skill in the database!"

Less work, less variables, less headaches. A more controlled tiered-skilltree upgrading system might be a better way to go, even with all the fun you could have with a full-blown Mantra system!
I've seen such a system in the terrible NES game Magician (bad purchase, back in the days the Internet wasn't available to all).

Here's an idea: you could allow a limited maximum number of positions to be put together, like 3, and each position has its unique choice of words.
It would be more like a "pick your combination" system.

For instance, the first position is for the element: fire, water, darkness, etc.
The second position is a boost: affect all, damage boost, etc.
The third position could be used for any other special effect: drain, speed down, etc.

Longer words would mean more powerful spells and should therefore cost more MP.

EDIT: welp, that's basically what you were talking about in that second comment.
Yep that's right :) At this point after playing so many Rpg Maker games I feel it's my responsibility to provide the player with a magic/skill system that's anything else but the common: "Here's Fire 1. After a couple of levels... here's Fire 2. Grats, Fire 1 is now useless!".

Now I just have to make sure it's worthwhile to make those most effective combinations a bit less obvious and varied, rather than have the player combine 3 strongest damage-dealing abilities together and never look back, hm.
author=synbi
Yep that's right :) At this point after playing so many Rpg Maker games I feel it's my responsibility to provide the player with a magic/skill system that's anything else but the common: "Here's Fire 1. After a couple of levels... here's Fire 2. Grats, Fire 1 is now useless!".


The best solution is to not make Fire 2 replace Fire 1. Make Fire 1 a single target spell; make Fire 2 a multi-target spell that does slightly less damage than Fire 1 but to everyone for a larger cost (so the player needs to figure out at which point it's more efficient to use Fire 2 than Fire 1 multiple times). For added effect, make a Fire 3 that's more expensive and does more damage single target than Fire 1, but give Fire 1 the chance to apply a state that increases fire damage or apply a Burn.
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