CRYSTALGATE'S PROFILE

author=LockeZ
I can see where you're coming from, but... adding complexity still causes the complexity itself to be harder. If we're saying that complexity is a type of challenge, that it's a type of difficulty that the player is expected to have to overcome in order to be successful, then adding more of it adds more difficulty.

You're right. I focused on difficulty in beating monsters and my experience with complicated systems, such as FF VIII's junktion system, is that enemies become really easy to beat since I have overpowered characters. That was why I didn't think of complexity as a difficulty.

I do agree, definitely, that if the player is skilled at handling the complexity, then the problem solving becomes simpler. That's absolutely true. The problem solving in battle allows a wider margin of error because your skill in complexity made you stronger. But the same is true of preparation: if you are skilled at handling the preparation, then the problem solving becomes simpler. On the same token, if you are skilled at handling the problem solving, then the preparation becomes easier: you can fail at certain aspects of it and still win.

And in fact, I think this works in all directions. If you're skilled at handling the preparation, then you don't have to work as hard at the time consumption or the complexity. If your game involves reflexes and you're skilled at handling the reflexes, then you can win with less preparation and with less problem solving and with less time consumption and with less complexity. It seems like this is universal - being good at any one part of the game will make it so you don't have to be as good at other parts.

This is definitely true. However, I noticed one peculiar thing, for me it's a good thing in all genres except for RPGs.

When playing Contra, I didn't have great reflexes, but I managed to compensate by being able to "see in the future" so to say. I learned how the randomly spawning enemies moved and could judge which spots would be safe respective dangerous soon.

This is also a way to lower the chance of a player getting stuck. If you need one particular skill, you can encounter a situation you cannot handle. However, if there are multiple skills tested and you can compensate the lack of one by doing great in another, there's a much lower chance you run into a complete stop.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work so well in RPGs. If I'm good at preparation or complexity, problem solving don't just become easier, it becomes duller as well. The more optimized my characters are, the fewer the number of useful skills. I get into situations where my characters simple are to strong for certain skills to be useful.

The exception, I guess, is if the different types of difficulty are completely separated into distinct gameplay segments: a reflex-based level, then a problem solving based level, then a pure time consumption level, then a level with nothing but complexity, and you earn no powers or rewards or anything else that carry over from one segment to the next.

Alternatively, you can create a scenario where the player has to be good at all of them and there's very little in ways of compensating if you're lacking in one skill. One example is raid bosses in World of Warcraft. To beat them, your party has to both have good enough gear and the players have to know what to do. If your gear isn't good enough, either you will flat out die (the tank isn't durable enough) or you can't defeat the boss fast enough and some form of time limit kicks in. If you don't know what to do or you do know, but cannot execute the maneuvers properly, you (and sometimes teammates as well) will often get hit by something strong enough to kill you many times over. In neither case can you compensate for lacking in one by being better than needed in the other.

I'm testing my forest area. I've done some minute balancing such as lower the HP of some enemies and such, but I've realized I need a feature that prevents the player from getting chain ganked by on-screen encounters. It's usually not a problem, but getting into a new encounter before you had the chance to open the menu and heal isn't very fun.

I do approve of the fact that it's easier to survive at the very beginning. I do not like that the Rat Boss became a complete joke this time around. Random encounters have become easier, but it matters little since they already were easy (again, except for when you are alone). All in all, I'm going to say no, this version is not more enjoyable.

-No more free healing at save points. You have to pay gold to heal your characters with the cost being relative to how much HP/MP they've lost.

Typically, monsters will drop money exponentially. That means, by the point your maximum MP has doubled, your income has more than doubled. I think this holds true for this game as well. This in turns means that either MP healing will be incredible expensive at the beginning, or it will be almost negligible later on.

-All status magic will cost a percent of max MP rather than having a fixed cost. This will stop players from spamming Paralyze and whatnot on everything that moves.

Be very careful with weakening status effects. Status effects are often something most players simple won't use. That said, I can't tell whether or not this nerf is needed since I'm one of those who didn't use status magic in this game.

-Monsters will give less XP the more you fight them. The first monster you fight on a map gives 100% XP, the second group gives 50% XP, and the rest give 25% XP.

Well, that makes it easy to figure out how many times you're supposed to fight, you should fight twice each area. If that's what you're shooting for, go for it.

-Monsters will use their normal attack less often, and bosses / elites will be faster.

I believe players will be at a lower level if you implement the exp nerf. That will already make monsters harder. Making them stronger may be overkill. However, if you decide against the exp nerf, then go ahead. As for making bosses faster, I don't see how that will change much. Speed is nearly useless in boss battles anyway due to how this game handles turns.