SAILERIUS'S PROFILE

How about highest download to view ratio?

thus give them more easily-digestible information. Like download counts, pageview counts, impression scores, critiques, higher-precision scoring.

Without a score, they would then just sift through looking for games with the prettiest images/clever names/intriguing blurb. I don't see how this is better than games with the prettiest images/clever names/intriguing blurb + average score.

Because then the burden is on the creator to make their game look and sound appealing as opposed to putting them at the mercy of reviewers. Consider also that if a game comes out with a demo that receives several poor reviews, then the creator takes into account their criticism and vastly improves the game in its next release, everyone will see the poor score which sticks with it and few people will be willing to give the new version a chance.

I'm going to throw in my lot for the "no quantitative scoring" side. Because casual browsers will only ever see high-scoring games, it allows (or forces) reviewers to determine the visibility that a title will receive. I think the review system is fine, but that it shouldn't have an official numerical scoring system. Reviewers would be more than able to write a score in, but it wouldn't be visible outside of that review.

author=Einander
I'm personally fond of the Charge system; I prefer it over Limit Breaks, if simply because it allows you to choose when to use the skills rather than having it largely decided for you. Why not add a few Charge skills to some of the physical characters, like Ray or Blaise? Ray's Enrage skill would have good synergy with a Charge move, for example.

On the topic of making physical attacking more interesting, you could also implement a physical version of the reaction system. Balanced, higher accuracy and lower damage, lower accuracy and higher critical? You could also potentially move Counter to offensive reactions and make Cover the fourth defensive reaction. (Of course, then you still have the problem of people using both...) Multiple types of normal attack might do a decent bit to help the high accuracy characters in the mid-game and the low accuracy characters at end-game; both groups struggle a bit at those points. It's not too interesting by itself, but it's a potential supplement.

If Ray and Vanquish are meant as the "defensive" physical characters, you could also differentiate them into "active" and "passive" defense. Vanquish heals and has defensive buffs. Ray could have moves where he reduces damage from or counters physical attacks aimed at party members or magical attacks aimed at party members, so that his ability to defend your party is based on prediction. Low-level versions might be defend against or counter the next skill, while better versions might last until his next turn. A skill in a similar vein might be "block all statuses this turn" or the like.

Let Blaise be Charge-based. He uses guns, so it even works thematically. Vel I have no real opinions on in terms of changes. She could use either a little more offensive power - I'd like Truth Perception on her! - or get most of her buffs a little earlier. She gets her good stuff quite late. Laaik is fine, though an offensive skill or two on him would be nice; once everyone else's equipment starts catching up, I'd say Vanquish is strictly better as-is by virtue of group healing. There's more reason to use Laaik over Vanquish if Laaik's a better attacker. (Laaik can also apparently can dual-wield a holy sword and a carbine. I'm not sure why he's the only other character who can use sidearms but it's still a pretty badass image, and that meant I kept him in my party for longer than was probably strategically sound.)

Rien is good. Not to my tastes (I'm too defensive) but good. Zaqris could use more on the magic damage end, especially with Rien being the only real 'mage' for most of the game. (Water magic comes a little late!) He's otherwise good, especially since his build seems like a good one if you keep his equipment current. (And unless the new paths change things Zaqris changes aren't too high in priority.) Seri and SUPER SECRET GUEST STAR are near the top in usability as-is, so I can't see much cause for change.

Just my two cents. I'm looking forward to the new versions!

Thanks for the in-depth response! I really appreciate it. Some thoughts:

- I was thinking that if I gave more people charge moves that I'd give the party a communal pool of charges. One of the advantages of this is that if everyone can use the Charge skill, there's no reason to waste a turn (in case the enemy has counter and regen and you don't want, say, Vel, to attack them).

- The hard part with coming up with Charge skills is that there's not really different types of damage, so there's no way to differentiate them. Auria's charge moves seem interesting since they're all different types of attacks, but what kind of moves could I come up with for Ray? That's the problem I'm looking at.

- I'm not sure how I feel about a physical reaction system. Typically, party members have one of either ATK or ACC high and the other low, so switching between modes wouldn't really benefit them a lot.

- That's not a bad idea. If I added the Cover reaction, I was planning to give it to each of Ray, Vanquish, and Laaik, but only Ray would get the high end forms of it.

- I'm not sure what kind of Charge moves Blaise would have. I suppose ones that hit multiple times would be handy for him, allowing him to fully exploit his high ATK and ACC.

- Vel's not meant to be an offensive character at all, but I see your point about giving her buffs sooner. One new feature I could do is giving her the ability to transform into other party members, including ones who are for one reason or another not available in your party at the current moment.

- Good point about Laaik. His selling point was his trio of ATK/ACC/DEF. Maybe giving him a powerful Charge move would raise his effectiveness. Also, Blaise and the other guest star can equip sidearms as well.

author=Marrend

I'm hesitant to just add physical techniques, because if they're more powerful than regular attacks, then there's no reason to ever *not* use them.

I just wrote a tutorial about this phenomenon, but that's more about the default combat engine of RPRM-VX than a custom combat engine in RPGM-XP.

As for making defense-build characters more viable, if it's at all feasible, is have them take attacks for other teammates, then perform a counter-attack. Call it Counter Vengeance, if you will. Perhaps it might not be an innate/starting ability, but a reaction they'd get with enough levels or continuous battles in the standard "Defend" reaction. I dunno. Just musing here.

I was thinking of making Cover a separate reaction chain from Guard where you only take the hit and reduce damage. It seems kind of overpowered to combine both counter and cover, especially if the person using it has Regen.

I've also been thinking about whether I want to ditch the Charge system for a limit break system and giving everyone an ultimate move or two. One of the problems with differentiating moves is that there's no real elemental strengths/weaknesses since only three people learn elementally-attuned abilities.