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Now to get serious about my "coursework"...

  • Marrend
  • 09/14/2014 05:19 PM
  • 530 views
I've been thinking a bit about abilities since taking the RPGology course. If I'm even remotely serious about taking down the party-able cast down to 4 from 6, then this might be a good as an excuse as any to basically reset the skill database, and really delve into what kinds of things I want to experiment with.

To wit, I've done some amount of "skill unlocking" in regards to Okiku, Star Apprentice and the upcoming Oracle of Askigaga, though the general rule of thumb for both of those games of "same but stronger" absolutely exists. To be fair, such a system is part and parcel to a "improve-by-use" system. What that event wanted to see was situations by which new skills would be unlocked, and situations by which old skills were locked.

While my entry in that event was focused on giving consistent options that were equally viable (Okay, "Guard" had the best outcomes. So sue me.), I might try this whole locking/unlocking of skills for this game. The thought that has occurred to me is to have skills lock themselves after use, but unlock a different skill. If I want to be true to not having a "same but stronger" system, then, the "follow-up" skill would not have any effects in common with the skill that unlocked it. Or, as few effects as possible, at any rate.

Of course, I want the skill-sets to be as appropriate to the character as possible. For example, maybe Konae's skills revolve around disabling various body parts (Think "Arm Aim" and "Leg Aim" from Final Fantasy Tactics)? I guess Nanami would do evasion and counterattacks? I'm not sure how the other two characters would fit this plan yet. Particularly in the case of Mitsuya Masako.

Hrm. Is it just me, or do these ideas seem rather ephemeral fantasia at the moment? Let's just get a playable demo for Oracle of Askigaga out. Once that's done, I would take a small break (Unless I find that I can't run from gam mak.), then jump back into this series!

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Pages: 1
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
09/21/2014 06:32 PM
Actually, now that I think of it, I might want to put whatever system this would turn into for Oracle of Askigaga rather than this.

Bit of background information on this. Characters in Oracle are set up so that they would only have two skills at any given time. Each skill evolution would make a skill stronger, but add an additional effect that would also get stronger on each evolution after it's introduced. So, rather than do it that way, maybe, separate out the effects into different skills. I still want skills to unlock in the midst of battle (locking skills isn't a priority right now), but, I'm not sure what the exact process would be. However, I think I want skills to be reset to their default state after each battle.

I'm also a bit worried about game-balance. Would the AI also have skills that lock, or unlock, in a battle? If so, what would that even look like, in regards to programming the AI? Like, I don't even know where to even begin with that idea.


Possibly relevant aside: Frankly, I really, really like what Remnants of Isolation (If you haven't already, play this game.) did with it's spell fusion. Specifically, how the fusion activates by doing a combination of two separate effects done by two separate characters. To be fair, the term "fusion" sorta speaks for itself. However, there may be cases, particularly in the "other perspective" (at lack of a less-spoilerific term), where there is only one character to work with. Thus, a two-person skill-fusion in a similar vein of Remnants would not be possible. Going through the motions to "combo with yourself" is... kinda awkward. Or not. I guess it depends how the combo system would actually, you know, work.

I... might be getting in over my head with this.
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