RINE'S PROFILE

Game designer hopeful. Have designed several tabletop RPGs, and have long wanted to start into the video game space.

My focus when designing is to create challenging experiences that force the player to make difficult choices, and change the paradigm when someone thinks of an RPG.
Binding Wyrds
A modern fantasy game, delving into the shadows of the supernatural.

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Legends Of Illarion 2: Sins Of The Gods Review

You only go through 1 dungeon (approx. 3 levels) before you can simply buy a staff back at the village. You could've even kept the old staff, when buying a new staff at the first visit.


The problem here was not that I didn't have a staff, it was that an entire tier of the characters development required that I either lose all the old stuff in order to use it, or just not use it at all. I liked the old spells more than the new ones, so I didn't switch weapons, meaning I would have had to sit through an entire tier learning nothing I could use. In my opinion, it was rather frustrating to know I wouldn't be learning any new useful skills for another 12 levels.

Chests have 1 or 2 accessories and healing items? I mean, that's all pretty standard for the start of an old school rpg.


Except it is really not. The first final fantasy had plenty of reasons to loot the treasure chests, as you would find gear you could not buy in shops, including weapons/armor. So there was a reason to go out of your way to get those chests. Other than the mountain dungeon which all but required you to find the no-berserk charm, every time I opened a chest I was dissapointed, and started to consider not bothering. Chests should feel like rewards, not let downs.

Overall, I did appreciate the effort put into the game, it is really nicely presented, and I didn't hate it so much as I was bored and uninterested with the mechanics. There is 'old school' design because we simply hadn't developed new techniques and hadn't figured out how to make things fun, and there is 'old school like' where it has that veneer, but we've obviously improved. It's the difference between old-school Wizardry and Etrian Odyssey. One is nigh near unplayable nowadays, and the other is much more fun. Remember: Just because it flew on the NES back in the day, doesn't mean it should fly for modern players.

Swap in the Middle with You~

Yeah, I figured, pie in the sky and all that. Always wanted to get a generational game going with Dwarf Fortress too, but adults and schedules :P

Making Grinding Fun

As a note, I will go on record and say that I don't think any game should require grinding. My ideal situation is always referred to Final Fantasy IV, where if you fight every enemy encounter, do most of the side quests, when you get to the final boss you are almost perfectly at the right level to kill them.

That being said, there is a lot to be had in the design of leveling up and gaining power, and I've seen a few games do this well enough that I didn't mind the fact that I was grinding, while acknowledging that yes, I was actually grinding. I'll mention two examples, maybe you guys have some of your own:

Shin Megami Tensei games, main-series at least: If you don't know, the SMT games have a system where most of your party is made up of enemies you recruit, and you can create higher level ones by fusing together ones in your stock to make new ones. What does this have to do with grinding? Well, you can't fuse a monster that has a higher level than you. You can still see what you would make though, and that alone is enticing. There were numerous times in Nocturne (SMT3) where I was at the fusion station and saw a demon one level higher than me that I could fuse...so did a little grinding to get that extra level...and then saw another one just one more level higher...having the incentives and power actually viewable and enticing to players certainly helped me not mind the grinding.

Pokemon: Pokemon is ostensibly a game about grinding until you win, since you can grind past literally every boss fight if you want to and not care about tactics. Obviously if you play smart you can get by with less, but you can always grind more to win. How does the game make this better? By making each level feel important because if you are not spoiled (read: looked up when it happens), you don't know when you're going to get that next move, or when they will evolve. I tend to play pokemon unspoiled just to keep that anticipation fresh, and that helps a lot in leveling up my team. It also helps that fights are rather fast, with most leveling up you do ending a fight in one or two moves.

Any other ideas for keeping grinding fresh?

Swap in the Middle with You~

I would love to see a long term generational event, where everyone signs up, one person gets picked to start, and then you trade the game to the next, the next, etc. Doubtful it would be possible since its hard enough to get people to make something in a week, but it would be really cool to see what you ended up with after 5-6 people did their sections (besides for the most part a hot mess).

Using Chance well in games

I highly recommend getting a copy (You'll have to find a translated version online and burn it/emulate it) and playing the IZJS version. The job differences and all the fixes make it a much better game, especially since you have to worry about party balance and not just 'everyone's the same'. That and it makes the bonus content much better.

But all that is off topic >.> *pushes down urge to rant about games he likes*

Swap in the Middle with You~

Ah good. I had a hard time restraining myself from going crazy with unique and weird skills. Been doing that so much on my main project that just doing 'does damage' skills feels weird.

Swap in the Middle with You~

Hmm, cranked out my section in a day, but the entire section is about 20 minutes long, with some replay-ability (different character skill sets chosen at the beginning). Are we aiming for a hard 30?

Using Chance well in games

Random drops can be really iffy. As a note though, the Zodiac spear in the original could be gotten by an easy method (albeit a 'guide dangit' moment since you had to avoid certain treasure chests through the game, and no one in game tells you it). They fixed that along with a ton of other things in IZJS, as you can get it through the hunt club, or a 1% drop in the Henna Mines (not the frigging ultima crystal)

Swap in the Middle with You~

As a note: Never understand why some people can't watch and work at the same time...maybe I'm just wierd, I always game and watch TV at the same time, I dev and watch youtube playlists at the same time. Extra credits/history is just the right level of 'not needing to pay attention' and 'keeps mind off grunt work'

Edit: Hell, I have issues playing full screen games because I can't focus on just one thing very well...think I may have an issue.

Swap in the Middle with You~

@Liberty: I've done some really cool/fun things with Yanfly's Lunatic scripts and careful coding, things like having buffs that turn a normal attack into a multi-part combo, buffs as requirements for attacks that get used up, and the like. You can get some really nifty things if you force yourself to not do standard JRPG spell effects (and force yourself to have every character have unique skills with a massive roster, but thats my main game).

@pianotm: Chatting on here at work, working on it at home. Yay weekend shift.