MCBICK'S PROFILE

I thought there was a topic like this one, but I couldn't find it.

I tried looking for a definition for the term rpg, but the definitions I found would class many games an rpg even though their not. What do you guys/girls think a role playing game is? What must it have to be an rpg? What distinguishes an rpg from any other game?

Actually after the 3rd dungeon enemies become much more harder to deal with. It won't be easy to decide which partner to use when your enemies all have different affinities and skills. Of course in any rpg there is an optimum strategy to use against each enemy or enemy groups. Though I can see what you mean. While there are special enemies that require specific partners to be used to win, there are many enemy groups that give you room for using more then one partner to win the fight. I have to admit though the option to always use your favorite character is not ideal in my game, but I have sacrificed that option to add a new flare to the game which is requiring enemies to be killed by specific partners, instead of using the same partner for the whole game.

author=LockeZ
I personally think that two allies is *usually* too few to allow much depth to combat tactics. You don't have enough people to let different characters really perform different roles. However, the fact that you can switch them out mid-battle helps a lot - especially if doing so doesn't take an entire round. (Is it completely free, or is there some sort of MP cost or other cost? I don't think it should be completely free, but taking a round is too steep a cost.)

There is no draw back to switch characters. Also your main character must always be in the battle, so you can't switch him out.

author=LockeZ
Might I suggest an idea I got from the Roguelike genre of RPGs? Many Roguelikes let you start with one ally in the way you're describing, but as your charisma stat increases, you can use more allies. You don't have to actually base this on the player's charisma stat (or have a charisma stat) - you can unlock the ability to use more party members through some sort of story event, key item, unlockable ability, etc. This makes the game start off simpler, and get more complicated as the player gets accustomed to it.

Not sure what you mean here. You gain a partner from the start of the game. You must then travel around the island to beat the 8 demon lords in their dungeons. As you progress you will encounter obstacles which require new partners to get by them. Each partner has their own story and reason for helping you. Basically you will gain access to a new partner after every demon lord you defeat. Recruiting partners is mandatory to proceed with the completion of the game. There is however a bonus partner. He is not needed to beat the game, but is very powerful. The game is broken down by each dungeon. You will meet up with a partner who will ask for your help which will ultimately lead you to the next dungeon. The cycle continues until you acquired all of your partners, excluding the bonus one.

Not exactly sure what you mean. As you progress through the game there will be groups of enemies with different affinities. For example you might run into an earth, water and fire enemy in one group. There are partners with no affinity though, so you don't have to worry about your partner getting destroyed. You will always be switching partners because there will be enemies that can dish out a lot of damage to specific characters. The affinities are equally divided up, so there are about 2 partners of each affinity, including no affinity. Also each partner has a special ability.

Abilities:
Analyze (Gives you information about the area or an enemy.)
Cut (Lets you cut bushes.)
Strength (Lets you move boulders.)
Ignite (Lets you lite torches.)
Leap (Lets you jump up cliffs.)
Bubble (Lets you walk under water.)
Explode (Lets you blow up cracked walls.)
Fly (Lets you fly any where on the map.)
Shadow Cloak (Lets you become ghost like to get through traps.)
Float (Lets you pass pits.)

All of these abilities can be used in battle and are the only way to kill special enemies and bosses, except analyze which just tells you the enemy's stats. I guess you could consider the skills a different element, but they're not coded as such. They just make it so you can damage enemies that are normally impossible to damage. Yes I know the skills sound similar to pokemon skills, but it's not a pokemon game. I just thought that instead of getting items in each dungeon to complete the dungeon, like the zelda series, I would get partners that each have a special ability. I guess you could say this game is a mix of mario, zelda and pokemon elements.

So, I have been working a new project on the side of my main one. I'm trying to create a fun kind of battle system, but I don't know how many people should be allowed to fight. There are 11 characters, one main character and the rest are partners similar to the paper mario series. Each partner has an overworld ability. These abilities allow you to go places that you can't get to alone. I have it set up, so that you have 1 partner always following you and can be swapped out with another with a press of a button. When you engage in battle by touching enemy sprites you enter a battle with the partner that is following you. The amount of enemies range from 1-3, more can be called if an enemy dies or there is less then 3 enemies.

My question is should there be more enemies in a battle. Also is having a party of 2 people too little for battles? All 10 of your partners are always with you and can be swapped out easily to decide who you fight with. Not only can they be swapped outside of battle, but during a battle as well and it doesn't even cost a turn. Perhaps it's really 11 people fighting then? Oh and my battle system is turn based.

I don't know if this helps or not, but partners level up differently. There are 80 power gems that you can find and take to a gypsy who will level up your partners in exchange for a power gem, the max level of a partner is 9. You must acquire a power orb in order to level up your partners further, each power orb collected increases the max level of your partners. These are found in a special dungeon in which you can explore from the start of the game until the end. Each new partner allows you to explore further into this dungeon with their special abilities. Basically you can acquire one power orb after each dungeon completed, which is when you would gain access to a new partner. The main character's max level is 99, but he levels by gaining experience from battles. When the main character levels he has an option to choose which stat to increase. The three options being Hp, Mp and Rp. His other stats, attack, magic, defense and speed, will not be increase by leveling. They can be increased by equipping rings. Rings cost Rp or ring points to equip. These are much like badges in the paper mario series.