MAGIC AND MANA -- TO USE MP POT, OR NOT TO USE MP POT; WHICH ONE?

I prefer the FF ether-style: expensive and rare but very useful MP potions. The addition of the tent system also makes for easy MP restoration.

i prefer to use mp potions. i would make them kinda rare since the mp consumed by spells (in my game) is small, and mp potions in my game restore only around 30.

post=91209
Where the tent thing really was useful in FF, I think it pulled away from the reality of the world. When you slept in the tent, no monsters would attack you... Something I have tried to stay away from, but I see your very good point on the matter. Thanks! :)

well, it IS a final fantasy, but yeah XD

I think tents are overkill myself. Usually it results in you being in perfect condition on any boss fight, which sort of defeats the point of wading through monsters and traps in the first place.

I prefer the Dragon Warrior/Quest method where mp recovery items are nearly nonexistent, and the few you find you guard preciously for when they are absolutely needed. To me this makes it feel like every single encounter in the game is important, rather than just going full blast on every enemy and clearing most areas with ease. Not only do you have to worry about winning the battle, you have to worry about winning it quickly and efficiently in a way that will cost you the least mp.

I'm a fan of games with the difficulty ramped up however, so take that into account.

I prefer to think of it as strategically using your mp, especially since if you're playing a high difficulty game then mashing attack isn't going to cut it. You have to factor after the battle mp costs into the equation as well, and if you're not using any abilities at all you're going to take far more damage which is going to drain your healer rapidly.

You rely more on mid range and low range mp skills, such as single target attacks and crippling status effects, and save your big nukes for bosses or when a threat appears that can instantly end your party (Bomb Crags in DW come to mind). This kind of system makes you carefully think about which enemy in any particular encounter has to die first, and how much effort you need to expend to end them.

I can see why the added strategy element of MP conservation would add something to the game, but I agree with Tonfa. I'd prefer a game with plentiful opportunities to restore MP so that battles hinge on wisdom of skill and attack choice instead of the foresight to horde MP for a crucial moment.

Tents I could see being abused, but if they are rare and/or expensive enough it takes the same amount of difficulty to save however many potions it would take to accomplish the same goal. Definitely required to limit this item though.

One thing I want to make clear is that in a game where mp restoration is extremely hard to come by, mp totals themselves need to be high. There should be no hoarding of mp involved (in fact this will kill you), but it should be used selectively and with caution. This requires the player to acquire a solid grasp on the abilities and roles of their characters while at the same learning everything they can about the enemy. You have to decide which character has to attack which target, and how many people need to team up in order to kill that particular enemy. If you spread yourself too thin or avoid using a spell where it is needed you'll end up leaving every enemy alive which is going to result in a serious round of pain (which will then require your healer to expend a lot of MP to fix this mistake).

This is opposed to the alternative, I'm looking at most FFs here, where each battle begins and ends with your largest multi target spell or summon that will generally instantly annihilate any normal encounter.

The most extreme example I can think of is Master of the Wind, where recovering your party to full is trivial. Tents are sold in bulk at any item shop, are dirt cheap, and can be used at any time outside of battle (not to mention healing mp inside battle is just as easy). What happens as a result here is that there are only two points in any given dungeon where combat matters. The first few encounters and the boss. In those first few encounters you're up against new opponents, you don't know their weaknesses or what to expect of them. After you've got a solid feel for the enemies in the area battles become far easier, and since as you fight you're going to be leveling up so the difficulty curve soon slides off into pointlessly easy.

You could argue that all those extra, very easy encounters, are just there to prepare you for the boss. But I'd respond by saying why not just make the boss easier and avoid all that tepid grinding in the first place?

To summarize, I think having mp restoration is a completely valid way to go about your game, but if you go overboard there are serious problems. You really have to consider a lot of the other design aspects of your game as well.

I'd also like to bring up there are more ways to go about MP recovery than just simply having potions and inns. For example in my current project every character regenerates 1% of their MP total every turn, 2% when they are guarding.

There are also systems such as draining mp from enemies and having a specific command which sends the character into a state of enhanced regeneration. These all require a bit of input from the player during battle instead of just expecting them to replenish themselves between every fight.

Edit: I can't think of any more types offhand, but I'm sure there are some out there.

bahleted