[project1dev] Re: scenario ideas
- From: Kent Petersen <kentkmp@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: project1dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:53:52 -0700
That's pretty cool. I never considered playing through the game that way but
it sounds like quite the treat. I bet the last level is intense.
I like that esperless idea so much that I'm tempted to replay the game and
test the water.
On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 2:45 PM, <figarus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Ok... Check this out...
>
> Because espers teach magic and alter stats, it basically makes every
> character the same - everyone can have all magic spells and everyone can be
> a great warrior, special skills aren't that important because everyone
> canhave strong regular attack or magic so the skills are extraneous...
>
> I really feel like not using espers brings out the true flavor of the game
> because instead of having teams of super characters, you have characters
> with unique flaws and strengths you have to rely on. For example, in normal
> play strago was basically useless to me because I had other sources of magic
> that were better... In a no esper game, he almost immediately became my go
> to attack mage. Likewise, gau's special ability made him my main attack
> character because of his versatility. Also, terra and celes as the only
> characters that naturally learned magic became important because their magic
> was precious. Meanwhile, my fav characters (shadow, sabin, cyan) will
> relegated to 2nd or 3rd tier because without stat boosts from espers, they
> weren't that great. Also, haha... Genji glove became worthless because cyan
> would always use sword tech and sabin would always use blitz because they
> did far more damage than a standard attack and the defense a shield provided
> was more valuable. I don't think I even equiped the offering for the final
> boss.
>
> Because I had to work with the individual characters strengths and
> weaknesses rather than plowing through the game with super characters, I
> learned a lot of neat tricks and techniques that kept me alive and I also
> learned the value of things I had previously thought was worthless. For
> instance, relm was the only character I had who could solo dinosaur forest
> because sketch was so potent against trex. I really enjoyed having to use
> intelligence and cunning rather than brute force to get through the game...
> I also thought it was interesting that characters I ignored in normal play
> became the most important characters in a no-esper game due to the unique
> skills they brought to the table.
>
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
> ------------------------------
> *From*: Kent Petersen
> *Date*: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:06:07 -0700
>
> *To*: <project1dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> *Subject*: [project1dev] Re: scenario ideas
> Not use them at all? No, sounds kinda tough
>
> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 2:02 PM, <figarus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Hey kent, did you ever play ff6 without espers?
>>
>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From*: Kent Petersen
>> *Date*: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:32:35 -0700
>> *To*: <project1dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> *Subject*: [project1dev] Re: scenario ideas
>> Wouldn't that still focus on stats and power building or am I missing
>> something?
>>
>> Because, 2 warriors one strong with minimal sword skills and the other
>> weak with great sword skills, still just have strength and sword skills
>> stats, right?
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 1:26 PM, eric drewes <figarus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> in sports games, stats like strength, speed, stamina all affect gameplay
>>> but just having 99 in those three doesn't make you a good player,
>>> athleticism =/= skill. likewise a wizard could be super intelligence but
>>> its like having potential, if you dont USE the potential, its worthless...
>>> maybe thats where the balance could come from as far as stats and
>>> balancing... just being strong doesn't make you a great warrior, but
>>> strength could be a crutch for an unskilled player and being weak would be
>>> compensated by skill in a savvy player... just thinking outloud
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 4:04 PM, Alan Wolfe <alan.wolfe@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thats a good point eric.
>>>>
>>>> What about this....if this helps the situation...
>>>>
>>>> Lets say you solve a problem that has multiple solutions by using
>>>> magic. Maybe in doing so, you find a "seed of wisdom" which increases your
>>>> wisdom stat? :P
>>>>
>>>> shrug, maybe im just mudying the waters though hehe (if so, sorry!)
>>>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 12:59 PM, eric drewes <figarus@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> argh i am so torn because i totally think its awesome to have stats
>>>>> hidden and you kinda play to your own strengths and find what works for
>>>>> YOU
>>>>> and YOUR CHARACTER... like that seesms really neat... but on the other
>>>>> hand,
>>>>> i know people love stats and i obsess about them too...
>>>>>
>>>>> maybe not having stats would let people focus on having fun and having
>>>>> a well rounded in depth character instead of just min/maxing and focusing
>>>>> only on the most deadly skills...
>>>>>
>>>>> like, diablo 2 is a good game (i havent played in years!!!) but
>>>>> basically people found the only worthwhile skills and maxed them out and
>>>>> the
>>>>> game was balanced for having the best skills maxed out so hybrids or
>>>>> mutants
>>>>> with quirky unique focuses became obsolete. this happened in gemstone
>>>>> too...
>>>>>
>>>>> i really think a lot of effort should be made on our part to balance
>>>>> the game so that its fun without having the numerically perfect
>>>>> character...
>>>>> we want people to make mistakes and enjoy the flaws their characters have
>>>>> by
>>>>> compensating in intelligent and clever ways...
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 3:54 PM, Kent Petersen <kentkmp@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> One gripe I have with games that let you pick your stats is that you
>>>>>> never really know what your getting yourself into. There have been
>>>>>> plenty of
>>>>>> games I picked a "perfect" character and spent tons of time allocating
>>>>>> points just to realize that the game didn't really play out as I had in
>>>>>> mind
>>>>>> or that stat I pumped was pretty useless.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Do you think showing the stats to the player is even necessary? Does
>>>>>> it really make a difference to know your strength is 1 or 10 as opposed
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> weak and strong?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Throughout the course of the game you can have scenarios that modify
>>>>>> your stats. If stats are adjustable throughout the game it's not as
>>>>>> important to have that perfect set up at the beginning of the game. There
>>>>>> could be mini games you could play to modify your stats. For example,
>>>>>> there
>>>>>> could be a game of chess. If you beat the computer in the game of chess
>>>>>> not
>>>>>> only do you move on to a harder opponent but you gain an intelligence. If
>>>>>> you spend too much time playing chess your strength might go down from a
>>>>>> lack of activity. To increase your strength back up you may need to do
>>>>>> something more strenuous. I think if there are a lot of ways to lose and
>>>>>> gain stats there will be less need to have it perfect and less reason to
>>>>>> prompt restarting.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Any thoughts?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 12:20 PM, Alan Wolfe <alan.wolfe@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It will be perfect timing since josh's storage system is going in
>>>>>>> before the next milestone.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We'll be able to store the decisions the player made so that later on
>>>>>>> we can query the system to see what choices they made (:
>>>>>>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 11:33 AM, eric drewes <figarus@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> probably a hybrid of both... i forget if it was just me and alan
>>>>>>>> discussing this or if it was a public conversation but here was my
>>>>>>>> thought
>>>>>>>> on it...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ok so there will be a few mini scenarios that seem existential and
>>>>>>>> unrelated in nature that basically test the player's personality, are
>>>>>>>> they
>>>>>>>> greedy? helpful? do they follow directions? do they think their way
>>>>>>>> through
>>>>>>>> problems or fight their way through? etc.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> there will be a few scenarios (i think this depends on how cool the
>>>>>>>> first couple of ones turn out or if we decide this is 100% the way to
>>>>>>>> do
>>>>>>>> it... in my mind there is up to 10 or so.... but maybe less, depends
>>>>>>>> on a
>>>>>>>> lot of factors) for the sake of example lets say there are 6.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> the player will play through 3 of the 6 in random order, the way
>>>>>>>> they work is that the player takes possession of a character in the
>>>>>>>> scenario
>>>>>>>> and will have to complete it... some examples might be a prisoner
>>>>>>>> locked up
>>>>>>>> and you have to escape, or a princess who has to decide which prince to
>>>>>>>> marry, or a warlord who has to decide whether to burn a city he has
>>>>>>>> conquered, etc. the player's actions in the scenarios will go into
>>>>>>>> figuring
>>>>>>>> out the perks and basic stats, as well as possibly gaining a sidekick
>>>>>>>> in the
>>>>>>>> scenario, or special perks, or the potential to use magic...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> furthermore, the player THINKS these are unrelated scenarios with no
>>>>>>>> bearing on the game... not so, their decisions in the scenarios
>>>>>>>> actually
>>>>>>>> affect the story of the game... maybe later on you run into the escaped
>>>>>>>> prisoner, or you stumble upon a burnt down town, or you meet a queen
>>>>>>>> who is
>>>>>>>> married to a vile tyrant - all things that the player unknowingly
>>>>>>>> affected.
>>>>>>>> i think this would be really neat :) plus it adds replayability... i
>>>>>>>> think
>>>>>>>> by having these types of things w/ the customized character and various
>>>>>>>> methods of getting through levels, etc... it gives each person their
>>>>>>>> own
>>>>>>>> experience in the game and invites them to play the game over again
>>>>>>>> using
>>>>>>>> different styles and methods...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> plus the scenarios will be fun and let us explore some diverse
>>>>>>>> situations/environments/characters
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 1:13 PM, Kent Petersen
>>>>>>>> <kentkmp@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Are we going with playing the character creation process or
>>>>>>>>> traditionally selecting stats n stuff from a list?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 8:57 AM, <figarus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> im writing up documents related to the mini-scenarios that will
>>>>>>>>>> make up the intro/tutorial/character creation stuff... if anyone has
>>>>>>>>>> any
>>>>>>>>>> ideas for these, let me know... if you're not sure how they work
>>>>>>>>>> yet, i'll
>>>>>>>>>> post the first one soon so you get the gist of how it will work
>>>>>>>>>> (assumign we
>>>>>>>>>> roll w/ this method)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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