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Don’t Throw Away That 2k3 Just Yet

This is kind of a minor point, and I'm sorry if this has been pointed out elsewhere on the site, but with any RPG Maker engine game from 2003 on down, MIDI comes out of your computer's default device, rather than DirectX software. This means that you can listen to the MIDI music either through an external keyboard, or with Soundfonts applied by using BASSMDID Driver (Windows only), though it can a bit skippy that way, depending on your card and buffer settings. Again, really minor point as almost no XP and onwards games use MIDI since OGG is available.

edit: my avatar and Addit's GIF are totally dancing to the same tune.

How to write 300 words!

I was thinking about BSing a 300-word review of a nonexistent game just to show people how short that really is, but this is probably a better idea.

Methodical Chaos I -or- An Introduction to Randomness in Game Design

A minor point to bring up about "RNG or not" is that a sufficiently complex, but non-random system can be as unpredictable as RNG to a new player, while still being a manipulable system that's rewarding to learn. An example would be a golf game - you can get better at predicting how wind, terrain, and spin/power levels will affect the ball's trajectory, but most people will never learn to fully predict it.
(PS: 100% accurate Sniper CR + Deathblow is hilarious)

Simplified/Tactical Combat

author=Milennin
In Pokémon conditions aren't stackable, so they balance out in that way.
...
it may be difficult to balance them when working with such small HP bars
This is true for the most part (Pokemon's status system is weird). I'm pretty sure the "10 HP" was more for rhetorical effect anyways.

author=Milennin
Lol at "waste your time" and "annoying". Attacks having a small chance to miss are an RPG staple
I know its a staple, but sill, missing a Pidgey five times in a row with a 95% accurate move because it used one sand-attack does annoy me. Its more of an early game problem (not just with Pokemon) where you don't have a lot of options, and enemies aren't exactly blowing your mind, so missing an attack is basically just prolonging the inevitable.

Anyways, maybe not the most balanced article ever, but I think the message of keeping your battle system from getting overly complicated for both the player and the developer's sake is worthwhile.

Simplified/Tactical Combat

author=Milennin
losing 1HP per turn to Poison/Burn is huge (10%)
Well, poison/burn in Pokemon is 12.5% per turn, and its also 1 HP per turn in Paper Mario where you start the game with 10 HP, so it wouldn't be totally unheard of. Considering most people's reaction to poison is to just ignore it, maybe making it more severe would't be a terrible idea.

author=Milennin
You contradict yourself when you said that some randomness is fine, but a 5% chance to miss an attack isn't
He wasn't arguing against random missing for being random, but more so for it being such a tiny chance that you don't really care about it, and also for the severity of the effect.

author=Milennin
missing one attack isn't going to do much
Depends on the game. Even if it doesn't mean much for your survival, having the game occasionally waste your time in the name of "variety" just comes off as annoying more than anything.

Simplified/Tactical Combat

So, I take it Paper Mario is your favorite RPG?

I do agree with a lot of this post, but I think it should be noted that RNG makes a poor balancing factor. A lot of people will say that 10% chance is "Happens once every 10 times", but really it could happen as little or as much as it wants to. "25% evade = 25% longer battle" is very rarely how it plays out, and a lot of times can feel more like "75% of battles totally unaffected, 25% of battles lengthened by 300%". This is especially true of certain RNG equations that may favor certain ranges of output.

- - -

author=bentelk
probably just mashing "Attack" until all enemies are dead


Well, this really isn't specific to the scale of the numbers, or even RNG, as it is more because your average RPG doesn't give characters more than one useful choice. "Attack with your fighters, cast elemental weaknesses with your mages, heal with your clerics" is the basis for a lot these games, and unfortunately also the limit. If there's any complexity beyond this, its always in the min-maxing and/or skill-tree systems, like equipment or GF junction or whatever. Once you get into battle, however, its pretty much just selecting the same commands repeatedly.

As you suggest later, replacing the basic "Attack" command with a range of varied options is probably a good idea.

- - -

author=bentelk
These are combats that matter.


This sounds like the tagline of some random Japan-only SRPG. It could probably be as meme-worthy as Shattered Soldier's "For deep, action gamers" or Radiant Silvergun's "Be Attitude for Gains!". You should totally keep it.
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