Okay, I know folks are trying to look at things besides combat in RPGs. But I''m wondering, what are some good features when you do have to fight? What''s mandatory, and what features do you wish for? I think pausing during combat should be mandatory, if it''s real time. I also think AI scripts or settings help a lot. If it''s an iso perspective game, I''d like to see more zooming in (to see stuff like where inventory items have dropped) and zooming out (to get an overview of the battlefield). -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership...

There is nothing that I hate more than random encounters (final fantasy) i just wish that more games were like the secret of mana or even zelda. where it doesnt go to a different screen for battle, and you can always see the enemy. so if you dont want to fight him, then don''t!

-Luxury

I think that there should be strategized attacks. You can''t just charge a monster and stand there and HOPE TO SURVIVE... You need to do things like flanking or charging the rear... Just a personal rant there. AND RANDOM ENCOUNTERS ROCK! But there shouldn''t be so many of them, I would prefer a more strategic approach from the enemy

-Chris Bennett ("Insanity" of Dwarfsoft)

Check our site:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~dwarfsoft/
Check out our NPC AI Mailing List :
http://www.egroups.com/group/NPCAI/
made due to popular demand here at GDNet :)

On random encounters and strategizing: What if you had a stat or skill that would let you detect random encounters before they happened. Like a recon skill? So, if you wanted to avoid them, you could.

I thought that in Fallout the Perception stat should have handled that. Basically, the higher your Perception, the further away you could choose to start a random encounter. If your Perception was high enough, you could avoid the encounter anyway.

--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...

Now THAT is a great idea... I am adding it to the document... I can just imagine the character saying "I smell bad news" to warn of a random encounter, and if you were REALY profficient then the character would say "I sense trouble to the north of here".. How much fun!

-Chris Bennett ("Insanity" of Dwarfsoft)

Check our site:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~dwarfsoft/
Check out our NPC AI Mailing List :
http://www.egroups.com/group/NPCAI/
made due to popular demand here at GDNet :)

quote: Original post by Wavinator
I think pausing during combat should be mandatory, if it''s real time. I also think AI scripts or settings help a lot.

I disagree. If it''s not real-time, you DEFINATELY shouldn''t need a pause-button . ( Not real-time would be turn-based most of the time anyway, otherwise it would be slow real-time ).

However, ''smart'' AI is always useful. Dumb AI just lets your carefully assembled party act as cannon fodder while you frantically try to click everyone into place.

No parties - control ONE character, the rest is under CPU control. And it better be good CPU control, and it better not affect your chances of success too much if the CPU messes up.
( John Romero, are you listening? )




Give me one more medicated peaceful moment.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~
ERROR: Your beta-version of Life1.0 has expired. Please upgrade to the full version. All important social functions will be disabled from now on.

In Fallout 2 the Outdoorsman skill determined the random encounters, and gave you the option of evading them.I think it also worked like that in Fallout 1, but I only had 50% in Outdoorsman so I'm not sure.

Runemaster
Join the Game Developers SiteRing !


Edited by - runemaster on August 15, 2000 9:28:03 AM

Personally, I used to go out in search of random encounters (so they therefore were no longer random ). Now I prefer not to have them

And there should be NO pause button for Turn-Based... or even Real-Time for that matter. Begone with Pause!

-Chris Bennett ("Insanity" of Dwarfsoft)

Check our site:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~dwarfsoft/
Check out our NPC AI Mailing List :
http://www.egroups.com/group/NPCAI/
made due to popular demand here at GDNet :)

Features I would like to see in all RPG combat engines:

1) The ability to disarm
2) The ability to parry, riposte, etc
3) The ability to do a tactical retreat, disengage
4) Called shots
5) Spell interruption (hard to cast a spell when someone is trying to smash your head in!)

I''m sure there''s more, but this is a good start.


Breakaway Games

I suggest spell interruption in my doc. It is based on a bandwidth of your concentration being taken up for
1) casting
2) being hit

SO you can still cast small spells in a battle situation, but you can''t cast big things (unless you are invulnerable)

-Chris Bennett ("Insanity" of Dwarfsoft)

Check our site:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~dwarfsoft/
Check out our NPC AI Mailing List :
http://www.egroups.com/group/NPCAI/
made due to popular demand here at GDNet :)