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Dub Movie
author=RoseSkye link=topic=1425.msg22310#msg22310 date=1214725643
Commercial RM Games
Damn, I basically did the same thing. Mine's more depressing though.
http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/bt.swf?code=b1bd7e1c640aee23d1d68e38f0bba01a
Battle System Help 2K3
You can't change the damage formulas, speed formulas, etc. The closest thing you can do is just make tabs in the battle window to make stuff happen in battle, and that's not really what you're looking for. Two different MP bars isn't possible either in the default battle system.
So yes, if you want to do anything special you have to set up a custom battle system. I think the newer programs are better for custom systems, so if you're really dedicated to it then you might want to look into those. Either way, custom system = a lot of work.
So yes, if you want to do anything special you have to set up a custom battle system. I think the newer programs are better for custom systems, so if you're really dedicated to it then you might want to look into those. Either way, custom system = a lot of work.
What's important?
Blah long post. Whatever, I have a lot to say.
I think I can see the point he's trying to make. RPGs are about stats and leveling up, and when you don't have the patience to gain experience and develop your characters, you're not an RPG person.
But in my case I love stats and leveling up. It's just that in a traditional "FIGHT/MAGIC/ITEM" system, it's just "Find out the enemy's weakness. Weigh whether or not it's worth it to use magic. Use magic if it's worth it. Heal when needed."
Now I'm capable of doing repetitive tasks in games and being happy with it. What I need, though, is some motivation other than just "Oh, I'm fighting for experience." Now I admit I'm crazy, but for me that's one of the following:
a) Nonrandom encounters. Motivation: Fighting to clean up the room.
b) Enemies I care about. I hate when enemies you've never been introduced to just pop up to fight. When someone makes a passing remark about "wolves on the prowl" before I fight wolves in regular battles, it means so much more to me. Also enemies that clearly fit into the environs work pretty well (e.g. crocodile in a swamp). Motivation: Fight because the atmosphere makes me happy.
c) Low numbers. Final Fantasy does not do this. But I absolutely love it when I receive small quantities of experience, do small quantities of damage, etc. Especially AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME. If I start with 30-70 in every stat, then I won't be able to remember what my stats are and I won't care. If the numbers are 8, 12, etc, I can do the math in my head and I really want to fight for experience. It's perfectly fine to scale it up as high as necessary for later in the game, because once I make the initial connection with the numbers I'm a lot happier.
Motivation: Fighting to level up so I can check my stats and see how they changed.
d) Cute enemies. I can kill cute enemies all day. Motivation: My own insanity.
e) Non-traditional battles. Motivation: The novelty alone is enough, at least for enough of the game to get me into it.
It's not always a tremendously complicated issue. I love stats and all but experience alone is just not enough to make me care. To me, the "level" statistic is as meaningless as it really is, with no effect on battle mechanics. And I've seen too many statistics pages to actually look at and be able to remember a bunch of assorted numbers (unless they're small). All I need is something else to keep me interested, and if it's just the fact that all the enemies in the game are cute, well, I'm okay with that.
I think I can see the point he's trying to make. RPGs are about stats and leveling up, and when you don't have the patience to gain experience and develop your characters, you're not an RPG person.
But in my case I love stats and leveling up. It's just that in a traditional "FIGHT/MAGIC/ITEM" system, it's just "Find out the enemy's weakness. Weigh whether or not it's worth it to use magic. Use magic if it's worth it. Heal when needed."
Now I'm capable of doing repetitive tasks in games and being happy with it. What I need, though, is some motivation other than just "Oh, I'm fighting for experience." Now I admit I'm crazy, but for me that's one of the following:
a) Nonrandom encounters. Motivation: Fighting to clean up the room.
b) Enemies I care about. I hate when enemies you've never been introduced to just pop up to fight. When someone makes a passing remark about "wolves on the prowl" before I fight wolves in regular battles, it means so much more to me. Also enemies that clearly fit into the environs work pretty well (e.g. crocodile in a swamp). Motivation: Fight because the atmosphere makes me happy.
c) Low numbers. Final Fantasy does not do this. But I absolutely love it when I receive small quantities of experience, do small quantities of damage, etc. Especially AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME. If I start with 30-70 in every stat, then I won't be able to remember what my stats are and I won't care. If the numbers are 8, 12, etc, I can do the math in my head and I really want to fight for experience. It's perfectly fine to scale it up as high as necessary for later in the game, because once I make the initial connection with the numbers I'm a lot happier.
Motivation: Fighting to level up so I can check my stats and see how they changed.
d) Cute enemies. I can kill cute enemies all day. Motivation: My own insanity.
e) Non-traditional battles. Motivation: The novelty alone is enough, at least for enough of the game to get me into it.
It's not always a tremendously complicated issue. I love stats and all but experience alone is just not enough to make me care. To me, the "level" statistic is as meaningless as it really is, with no effect on battle mechanics. And I've seen too many statistics pages to actually look at and be able to remember a bunch of assorted numbers (unless they're small). All I need is something else to keep me interested, and if it's just the fact that all the enemies in the game are cute, well, I'm okay with that.
The Forum Game ^ < v
Dub Movie
Are you a fan?
author=Andrew Glassner ( http://www.glassner.com/andrew/writing/gamedesign.htm )
The first appeal is largely illusion. Why would you want to play the game a second time? Much of the fun of interactive games is learning about the world and the characters and how things work. Once you've played all the way through, you know these things. In the best case, you've seen a satisfying story and had a good time. Why play through it again with just a slightly different twist on things? Most of what you'll encounter you'll have seen before, though there will be some differences. But you've already seen the game and reached a satisfying resolution. In my experience, most players investigate some of the alternative endings simply to see what they're like, not because they want to play the game again.
I hate all irrevocable decisions. Regardless of the choices I make, I want to be able to go back and try them again. So I don't want to have to be on my toes trying to make the right choices at all times in order to get the good ending. Plus, more endings = less time devoted to each = less fulfilling game ending.
I think it's okay to have a "Bad," "Okay," and "Good" ending if the game is relatively short and the ending you get is based on your accomplishments (and not arbitrary, vague preconditions). For example, I've got multiple endings planned for a game, but if you get the "good" ending, which is based entirely on percentage of things found, you unlock the "bad and "okay" endings to watch from the main menu. I think this is a reasonable way of doing it.
Another option is when you actually get to choose your ending directly. This is also fine, since you can save beforehand.
And then there are reward endings, which are okay in any game. Like the "Meet the developers" thing in Chrono Trigger for beating Lavos with just Crono and Marle. As long as you don't put vital information into them, they're all right to have just to acknowledge peoples' achievements.
What's important?
I don't think pacing is really the word you're looking for... "pacing" describes how fast the game plays out. Fast-paced games will take you into battle faster, with shorter dungeons, fewer long battles, shorter everything.
Character depth doesn't have anything to do with pacing. Golden Sun, for example, plays out pretty slowly (slow or mid/slow-paced) and has almost no character depth. Earthbound goes probably mid/fast and also has even less character depth. Super Mario RPG is fast-paced and actually has good character depth (relative to what you'd expect from Mario, at least).
So the amount of time it takes to "get into it" isn't actually related to character depth.
In fact, it's not related to anything. I mean there's obviously a threshold on how fast, how slow, how short, or how long a game can be and still be good. But aside from that, I think you'll find that pacing/length and quality are completely unrelated.
Character depth doesn't have anything to do with pacing. Golden Sun, for example, plays out pretty slowly (slow or mid/slow-paced) and has almost no character depth. Earthbound goes probably mid/fast and also has even less character depth. Super Mario RPG is fast-paced and actually has good character depth (relative to what you'd expect from Mario, at least).
So the amount of time it takes to "get into it" isn't actually related to character depth.
In fact, it's not related to anything. I mean there's obviously a threshold on how fast, how slow, how short, or how long a game can be and still be good. But aside from that, I think you'll find that pacing/length and quality are completely unrelated.
What's important?
Sorry, my fault, I somehow missed the paragraph after your three questions (was it really there the whole time?), so the whole FF7/FF8 thing seemed completely irrelevant. Plus, you still need to clarify what you mean by "a fan of pacing." But yeah I'll leave your thread alone now that I've achieved personal RPG enlightenment.
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