Just something that has been on my mind. In a lot of games (perhaps most RPGs aside), weapons and ammo and stuff just "happen" to be lying around. Walking around and seeing the most powerful item in the game doesn''t quite make sense. Personally, I think that enemies should grab those weapons if they see them Just think. Player: Oh look, it is just a stupid Mongrol, I''ll just use my shotgun so I don''t waste any ammo. Player: OH NO! IT''S A MONGROL WITH A BFG-5000!! RUN!!! *Player is promptly blasted into little pieces* One other thing for RPGs, monsters should use whatever super magical weapons they have on them. A Orc shouldn''t use a pickaxe when it is carrying a +1K Vorpal Axe. It may seem that there is only one point to my post, but there are actually two. 1) Monsters should pick up and use those nasty weapons and items. 2) Really, you shouldn''t just run into just what you need for the occasion. Zelda is a nice example, you run around and the item you need happens to be in a treasure chest in an odd room. -Blackstream Will you won''t you will you won''t will you program a virus? -The Mad Hacker

i couldn''t agree with you more!

check out my message: "is anyone out there?" in the help wanted section..

you''ll get a kick out of it.



No More Clones!
Stop The Madness!

I guess this depends on how arcade-like you want things to be. FPS have their roots in arcade games, and the healthpacks and ammo are really just the power ups we''re all so familiar with.

I do think if you make things more realistic, it can sometimes be cool. But you''re going to have to even the odds. After all, if every Mongrol can be carrying a BFG, then why the heck do I have to face 15 hundred of them on your level? After all, isn''t the point normally to be Rambo, and mow down enemies left and right? That''s going to be a tough if they''re all packing BFGs!

I do like tbe idea, I''m just saying it''s not without it''s many problems.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

Blackstream has a good idea there and it would be real nice to see it implemented, although I can see where Wavinator is coming from with the Rambo thing. The simple answer is that if 500 mongrols have BFG-5000''s, then the player has body armour and a BFG-20000. However, some might say that kind of defeats the point. So - what can you do to keep it playable and fun while having the bad guys able to use cool weapons. I quite like the idea of not much lying around and you only get what you pick up of dead guys, I think it would work quite well.

Anyway, I agree with your point.

-Mezz

If I am ever an evil overlord....

I''ll be sure to conduct regular sweeps of all the crates and in my fortress. Any member of my evil legions found storing something valuable in a crate just lying in the hallway will be executed.

Any crates near doorways or critical hotspots will be filled with poisonous goodies and defective weapons.

Actually, there was a point in DOOM. Weapons were used as traps, in some cases. Other times, the reason they were lying around was because they were experimental things left befind by the UAC when they all got killed. As for the other stuff, it came mostly from the hordes of ppl the monsters slaughtered... they were sloppy...

--Tr][aD--

Hmmm, sorry I haven''t been able to post for a while.

Anyways, not ever Mongrol would have a BFG-5000. There''d only be one BFG-5000, it is just that a monster would actually use it instead of letting it sit there. I''m not saying there''d be more.

It would almost be like having a minor boss, having to kill the Mongrol with the BFG-5000.

Oh, and by the way, that If I was an Evil Overlord thing reminds me of a top ten list...

-Blackstream

Will you, won''t you, will you, won''t you, won''t you take my virus?

-Mad Hacker

I think this is an important issue when working out the age bracket that a game is meant to appeal to. These sorts of changes are way over due in my opinion (for games that should appeal to me anyhow ).

One more time for the dumbies
ar+gu+ment n. A discussion in which reasons are put forward in support of and against a proposition, proposal, or case; debate.

In Deus Ex no weapons are just laying around. You either pick ammunition from dead or unconsious people, buy or receive it from people or just pick it up from the weapon depot.
I think that it possibly resembles what you are looking for.

I think its more a question of scale. Given that most games measure the progress of a character in terms of monster kills etc.. that means to get a good 30 hours worth of gameplay out of a game you''re gonna kill a whole lot of monsters. So if one player can kill say 2000 monsters over the games lifetime, they could be approximately said to be 2000x the monsters hitpoint/attack damage etc.. So to kill a player the monsters usually have to catch the player in a serverly weaknend state and in mass, or with the assitance of a level boss (unique monsters with greatly increased health/attack). Look at diablo 2 for instance, the higher level players eat the monsters up for lunch. However in the case of high level player vs player circumstances, its redicously short since they are so overpowered even when compared to each other. So if we make monsters at the same level as players, and they are randomly distributed in strength. Its very possible the player would be killed instantly without any chance of response or recourse many times, such as the monsters are usually. I know i wouldnt play such a game. Perhaps you''re looking for more depth in gameplay than the usual monster slaughter, but i wouldnt suggest elevating the monsters to player level status. There was an intresting discussion a few months ago about this very topic, you might want to search for it.

Good Luck

-ddn