ESSENCEBLADE'S PROFILE

author=LockeZ
I haven't played any of these games you guys are talking about, but I've played World of Warcraft battlegrounds, so I think I know what you mean. As a single player experience, I'm imagining something sort of like... DOTA, but with a couple more intermediate goals, and maybe the NPCs don't respawn (or respawn much slower)?

Well in FFXI, once the knights or members of the army falls, they despawn and don't re-spawn, literally removing them from the entire battle, generrally until the next campaign battle to recover. This in turn affects how smoothly future battles go, medics / mages on the field, supplies, and of course, how many NPCs show on the battle field in question.

So I would probably think for the sake of the idea, NPCs would probably fall and you wouldn't see them on the battle field again for some time, though you could speak to them in their barracks and do a few side quests to assist their healing forces.

I was also thinking of implementing a Rank system which basically means, the more you do to support your allied nation, the more you get recognized, which means you take up a higher respect in the midst of battle, and you also gain higher Victory Spoils, and are allowed to access the high grounds of said nation.

Higher medals means you get better priority on the battle field. Things like;

Statuses

• Sanction

- Bestows you with a 10% damage reduction, and 2% HP Regeneration for the first 5 minutes of battle.

• Assertion

- Heightens your victory spoils at the end of battle, and also improves your gold gain.

• Divinity

- Increases your experience gained from campaign battle.

Equipment

• Templar Knight Sword

Slightly increases defence, light and dark resistance when fighting against campaign enemies.

• Paralysis Trap

Lays a trap on the ground. Has a chance to Paralyzes enemies within range.

Using items, receiving buffs and mission availability all depend on your current "rank", like so.

These key items are earned through doing campaign battles, missions, bosses and side quests;

Medal of consistence

Attained title of a Rank I campaigner. Allows you to gain sanction from any outpost arbiter before proceeding to battle.

Medal of consistence II

Attained title for Rank II campaigner. Allows you to be notified by other allies on the field of battle about the current stasis of the outpost.

Medal of consistence III

Attained title for Rank III campaigner. Allows you to be teleported by the nation's campaign reciter to various areas that aren't currently under attack.

Emblem of consistence

Attained title for being recognized by the allied forces of the "______" nation. Allows you to take part in ambush campaigns, hindering the enemies movements before they can make them, and perform sneak attacks on enemy outposts.

Medal of observability I

Attained title for being a Rank I veteran campaigner. You can now receive more beneficial status effects before going into battle. (MAx HP+ Max MP+)

ect

ect.

So in a summary, the more you do in battle, the more you're treated like a captain from since you were just another battler.

Campaign Battle

Note: Screenshots are from Final Fantasy 11 online, they were used to give a clear image of what I'm trying to explain.

This is a rather interesting, and large topic / idea. So my plan is to turn it into a miniature version for an RPG Maker game.

So I was playing Final Fantasy 11 yesterday, after having a break from it a few months, and I went into one of the expansion areas in which you go to the past, 20 years ago where there was a "crystal war".

Basically, it was a 3 set of beast-men allied campaign versus three allied nations in an attempt to try and "defend" their territory of the game's areas. Basically, battles called "Campaign" battles were held at various areas, and as a player, you can go and help the allied nations by taking part in them.

The basics of Campaign battle was based around a "fort" or "outpost", which was kind of like the core of the area, who ever had it under their flag had the area under their control, making it easier to get supplies and support the allied nations against the war of the beastmen. Now the player had to attend these battles, showing to either defend an outpost, or try and siege one from the beastmen.

Through the course of battle, there was an army of around 15-30 NPC's, depending on how the nation is doing defending their country, and of course, player characters.

Now the thing I liked was that you could target any monster, and the NPCs would also behave in this way. Once the enemies ran to the outpost of the area you're trying to defend. All the NPCs would take out their weapons. Mages would cast buffs before the enemies got there, and knights would position themselves up front, to guard the outpost.

• The monsters were tough, so it took a good number companions--and damage--to kill them, you couldn't try and be a omnigod badass and try and solo tank them all on your paladin

• The battles lasted a good 15-20 minutes, so it wasn't like you could just overpower the enemies and win the battle within seconds, which added a more realistic feel to the game. "Oh, I'm actually fighting in a final fantasy-styled war here!

• You could also choose which allied nation to go with out of the three, so you would be with that nation. While you were in said nation's capital city, you'd get "notices" as to what the campaign state battles are, where enemies were "suspected" to be headed, and which enemy leader was gravely wounded in battle

• Battles wouldn't be spammed every 5 seconds, the enemies would plan which area to attack based on their current position, their leader's condition, and the area with the least protection, but sometimes they do gamble once enemy leaders had recovered for battle.

So it was like a massive war field battle. I also liked how NPC and PC mages would heal you if you suffered damage, and even the paladins would try and "provoke" enemies off the mages. I loved the mechanic of the whole battle system. It's very rare you see constant battles like this in MMOrpgs.



But enough banter about my unquestionable love for FFXI.


While doing one of these said battles yesterday, a thought of an idea struck me instantaneously. I thought "why not add this kind of idea in an RPG?"

YES I KNOW. "That's an insane number of npcs, it won't be compatible with a normal rpg" "Howz battling gonna work?" "Yu no make tactical?" "Lagggggg" "Meh, too long". "Don't, just, don't".

I know, things are going to have to be toned down in masses. Of course for an indie game format. The amount of NPCs in the midst of battle and other aspects, of course, but I'm considering turning this Campaign Battle idea to RPG Maker format. It won't be a copy of the entire concept but it would have the same elements. At least a minimized version.

I already know this is a kind of thing that people wouldn't consider by a long shot.

If I do try to make this kind of aspect, I would make this a kind of "side expansion" once you are given access to it. So it is not directly related to the main story, but rather as an optional battle system / expansion download or something. So if you want a break, or knowing me being a total pain in the ass developer, make classes and special equipment only unlock-able there, you can do this type of battle system in a side expansion among other aspects (areas, side quests, optional storyline(?)) for special items and exp, instead of the traditional way of grinding and storytelling.

Now I know I'm probably going to get more questionable thoughts than agreeable ones. Again, this is just an idea I had, so feel free to discuss it. I may, or may not do this idea. It really depends on the compatibility and views on how people would use it, or even use this aspect.

Are you changing it to numbers that you have within the speech balloons? If you haven't added any speech balloons and have the default RTP speech balloons, you should be renaming them between 1 - 10.

(1 is the exclamation, which you probably want.)

Also, make sure it is "@alert_balloon = x" you seem to have two equal signs, which is probably why you're getting the name results.

Pebbles.

Holy damn, thanks for that, Craze. :O! See, I'm trying to learn a bit of RGSS3 in bits. Mostly the basic class modules and what all of the syntax mean. Tinkering with the basic scripts is how I'm slowly learning at the moment.