[Adonthell-devel] Combat/Items (was Re: Whee. Again.)

[Kai Sterker]

On Tuesday 29 January 2002 23:05, you wrote:

You asked for it! ;)

Well, concerning Ricardo's suggestion, I really like the strategical aspects 
of the Grandia combat system. It's not just wildly bashing the nearest enemy, 
as it often turns out with realtime combat. I haven't played it, and propably 
never will, but it sounds as if you have a good deal of control over what is 
going on without too much micromanagement.

The downside is, I rather prefer fights directly on the mapview for much the 
same reasons Cirrus gave.

However, the view of the fight does really impose many restrictions on the 
action.

I'm also in favour of the player being able to learn special abilities, 
simply for the reason that it ties character development/combat closer to the 
game world. It's a big difference if you have to find a teacher and convince 
him to train you before finally recieving a new powerful attack or spell.

It also leaves the player more choice how to specialize his character. And it 
offers plenty opportunities for secrets and easter eggs.


Well, I can't think of The Perfect Combat System right now. In fact, I'll be 
pretty happy with most suggestion, as I personally find combat not more 
important than, say exploring, or interacting with NPC's. All I want is a 
game where these 3 parts are well balanced, perhaps with some side quests 
that are extreme in a single respect or another.

But I want to lose a few words on items:

First, a little back, I was in the mood and started writing on an 
Item/Combat/Inventory suggestion. You'll find it on the website amongst the 
documentation downloads:
    http://adonthell.linuxgames.com/download/documentation.shtml 

Don't take it too serious. It's meant as a base for discussion, and as the 
discussion appears to be opened, please have a look at the thing :).


Some general thoughts on items, as they are indeed necessary for a combat 
system:

I think, items such as armour and weapons should require a certain skill to 
use them. To me it always is a great motivation to bash the next horde of 
monsters, if I can finally use that magnificent sword afterwards. A big deal 
of the game(play) is to keep people motivated.

I don't think there should be any restrictions on class/race of the character.
Of course, only a wizard could unleash the magic powers of a staff, but any 
other character could still hit someone over the head with it. 

However, the use of certain weapons should have an effect on how other NPC's 
percieve the player. The background is that some races might consider a 
certain weapon (or a certain fighting technique) unethical, so there should 
be some sort of punishment. E.g. Humans would have no problems using poisened 
blades, whereas Half-Elves certainly wouldn't.

There should be a general meter how good/bad a character behaves. That would 
not only be affacted by the use of 'wrong' weapons, but also by certain 
subquests that might be considered good or bad, and how a character in 
general behaves. In turn, this 'alignment' might have an influence on the 
skills a character can learn. E.g. a Paladin wouldn't want to teach a player 
who is on the dark side, whereas a Mercenary/Assassin/Dark Elf might show his 
tricks only to those.

Actually, some powerful items or spells, should require a certain alignment 
to use them. (Just like they might require a certain dexterity or strength:)
Especially the more powerful stuff should be either good or bad, so that the 
player is 'forced' to keep to his path, instead of simply solving all quests 
that are available on his way.

All in all, the player should be allowed to do _everything_ (that's what 
roleplaying is all about, really), but everything should also have a 
consequence on further events. So running around without much thinking about 
the own actions shouldn't be rewarded.


Actually, before we can even go about doing items, we should lay down the 
'role playing system'. E.g. what attributes does a character have? How do 
they affect any items he can use, or NPC's he can talk to, etc.

All those things like the above, that cannot simple be expressed in a few 
lines of code or something, but rather form the underlying structure of the 
game. 

Again, it is much likely that a thing or two changes as we go along, but I 
think it would be a good start for the whole item/combat topic.

Kai