RANDOM NUMBER GENERATION: THE DEATH OF THE CRITICAL HIT

I like the way Final Fantasy X handled miss chance, at least when it comes to characters attacking monsters. You could miss, but only if you did something wrong like having Auron attack an evasive enemy. I also like how the Fire Emblem series handles accuracy and evasion. Again, you can miss, but the player has the ability to choose targets that the characters can hit and manipulate enemies into attacking targets they have a slim to no chance of hitting.

This is how I want the RNG to work, the player can manipulate the randomness to work to his favor. Randomness that's just there and cannot be manipulated is IMO useless and just an annoyance. The exception I can think of is if randomness doesn't doesn't determine how hard a battle will be, but in what way the battle will be hard.

Unfortunately, mischance and critical hit chance is handled quite horrible by the RPG Makers by default. What I want to change the to-hit algorithm to tends to be one of the first concerns I have.

author=Feldschlacht IV
Critical are awesome because it's the equivalent to finding a hundred dollar bill in between your couch.

Everything doesn't have to be measured exactly. Variety, luck, and unexpected outcomes is the spice of life. What are you, a robot? Why does luck and skill have to be mutually exclusive?

This.

While skill should definitely have more of a precedence in games, adding an element of luck is what keeps the game fresh and exciting.

Let's think beyond video games, here. What about board games like Sorry, Monopoly, or Uno Attack? The reason why these games are popular is because they have an element of luck in them, as well as a way to accommodate skillful players.

Sounds like you have some shitty luck, brah.

author=Feldschlacht IV
Sounds like you have some shitty luck, brah.

I don't think so and I did explain why I think chance is more likely to screw me over than to help me.

An easier explanation is perhaps if you compete against an inferior opponent. You are expected to win, so if you're lucky it won't change the outcome to your favor. However, if your opponent is lucky he may win a contest he'd otherwise lose. As a rule, the more randomness that's involved, the bigger the chance that the inferior player will win.

RPGs have you fight against inferior opponents, so randomness is more likely to work against you.

That said, my playstyle may be at fault here. I tend to, barring grinding, choose the safest strategy which while decreasing the chance of me being unlucky, also decreases the chance of me being lucky. Still, safest means safest.

I don't know, I've seen and created game design concepts that rely on individually probabilistic and deterministic methods and I think their is a valid course either way. Turn-based RPGs, by their very nature, are games about statistics. Whether or not a critical is achieved by a x % chance or by the enemy being put to sleep by a status spell has no inherent meaning, and both require a variable to be set to achieve the effect: the character either must have a sufficient critical chance to activate it consistently, or the sleep spell must have been learned and the character that can use it must be present - this is all assuming that the enemy you are fighting against can be afflicted with sleep and whether or not the enemy has countermeasures against it, which they probably will, because deterministic systems need to add in new variables all the time to challenge the player with.

I have other thoughts on such things, but those can wait.

If asked which game genres require the most strategy, practice, and skill, I'd reply:

1. Fighters (Smash Bros Brawl, Street Fighter, etc)
2. Real Time Strategy (StarCraft, Civ, etc)
3. Platformers (IWBTG, Super Meat Boy, Castlevania)
4. First Person Shooters (Counter Strike, etc)

Odd that you list games that only require reflexes.

Also, Civilization is a turn-based strategy with numerous randomized elements.
And also, IWBTG is a game that is far more about persistence than any kind of skill.

My real point, though: Chess is a board game that requires human input and no reflexes, and has zero random elements. But if you look at famous matches (all made up of statistics most people do not understand), the players with higher rankings, if even only by a few points, win a vast majority of the time. Few would argue against Chess being one of the most brilliantly well-balanced and competitive games of all time.

I'm not sure what's stopping random RPG x from doing that. (if someone mentions pokemon they need to die in a fire)

Odd that you list games that only require reflexes.

I would not say these require only reflexes at all (or even as a vast majority) - actually that's a common misconception and excuse. I'll use 2 examples:

1. Counter Strike - While reflex can definitely matter, if you watch a lot of matches, often who wins is the one that predicts where best to ambush the other person. I've often beaten or been beaten because someone knew I was coming or hid well around a blind corner and I foolishly rushed in. Reflex can matter in a fair fight or when you're surprised, but placement, planning, and psychology (where will people rush, knowing how to make them nervous or feel secure so they start making mistakes) are extremely important and can trump reflexes.

2. StarCraft - While speed helps the early stage and managing armies later, you still need to understand how to counter your opponent and you need to constantly be gathering intel on them and strike at their weak points. New, poorly defended expansions can be attacked to open holes in defenses for more important areas AND to cause them damage. If they have little to no air defense, attack from the air. If they're using masses of enemies, use area damage hitters like tanks and reavers. The entire genre is usually based on good gathering of information and using and applying a smart counter to it.


I like your notes about Chess though.

And yes I have heard your boner-induced rants about fighting games before mog. Chill. =)

Oh, I meant no harm, man! Fighting games is just one of those passions I love to share with those around me; I didn't mean to give you an earbeating.

But yeah, I totally dig what you mean.

If you want a truly great example of RNG taken too far, try the latest Lunar remake for the PSP.

Every round your turn order is pretty much random - everything else about the combat was great, very much like the PS version with really nice updated graphics.