BADLUCK'S PROFILE

>MP is a resource that limits the ability of the player to repeatedly use their most powerful abilities

Punishing them for over-using MP accomplishes exactly the same thing. A basic attack wouldn't have to be the weakest move in this system. Spells could do things like AoE, confer debuffs, buffs, heals, etc, while basic attacks provide damage.

I'm imagining a high damage enemy that is forcing the player to keep healing, bringing it to the point where the healer is out of MP and has to start digging in to some other resource (like health, or like risking taking on a condition).

You can't say what attacks are "intended" to do. The game dev is who decides what they're intended to do.

Well, there's just going to have to be some level of contrivance in stuff like this. Why could Master Chief only hold 2 weapons on that giant robot suit of his? Why is combat turn-based in RPGs? Why can you only push certain blocks in Zelda: A Link to the Past?

Ultimately, you just have to accept that you're making a game, there's going to be some BS in it. Generally, it's fine to just ignore this, because the player probably won't notice either. You can also try to lampshade some of these issues by making a joke of them. I could see someone poking fun at the character with the tattoos... like... what, you have these tattoos and you don't know what they are? "Well, they all look backwards to me..."

But if trying to be cute about it won't work, like I said, it's a game. People will accept it. I generally wouldn't be willing the harm the gameplay for the sake of the story.

As for the old wise man, a solution to this might be that he's something of a Yoda character, who is reluctant (or even indifferent) to give away information when you should be thinking about it.

Does this puzzle occur in a place where you urgently have to solve it? If not, he could just be something like a applying the socratic method. Maybe he gives hints by asking questions.

Kan Gao should be a huge inspiration to all of you. To The Moon is likely the most well-known and popular RPG Maker game ever made. And it's brilliant and you should all play it immediately.

I contacted him out of the blue to get his advice on how to proceed with Ara Fell, and he really took the time to talk with me and help guide me. I can't say enough good things about the guy.

author=Rhuan
dethmetal:

BadLuck: I don't like the font but meh; other than that I definitely see your point on too dark, if it's meant to be a night scene it's probably ok - I probably wouldn't have the whole game like this would take a lot of effort for someone to keep paying attention.

Yeah, it'll only be this dark in a few scenes where a really bright object (like the moon) is behind you. It's tough to mess with because in RM2k3, you can't make the screen tone only affect tiles/sprites/etc and ignore the panorama, so I have to color everything by hand to get this effect.

Well, if you like the idea of Dark Souls but want "faster" combat, I'd definitely give Bloodborne a try. However, the "slow" pace of combat in Dark Souls really is a trifling thing, and it'd surprise me if you could find yourself unable to play Dark Souls for that reason but find yourself enjoying Bloodborne. Bloodborne isn't that much quicker.

But if that really is the difference maker, yes, Bloodborne feels quicker to me, so give it a try. Obviously, you ought to rent before you buy.