MaxCoderz

This is something I feel I need to bring out and say, some things that erk me in RPGs.

[A work in progress, suggest some things you think could make rpgs better and I might add it to the list. Content and order of the below text may change at any time without notice. Some of the below things cannot be done in console rpgs due to the lack of space, especially on console rpgs. But if you're making an RPG for the PC, theres no excuse!]

I. Monsters
-It wouldn't hurt to make new or altered sprites for monsters instead of having 6 different colors of the same sprite, and giving them different names and attributes. If it's an undead imp, I want to see decaying flesh!

II. Bosses
-Why does every boss in the game have the same standard boss music except the last boss? Are all the bosses before it that pointless? Make them unique!!
-Okay.. I know you want to make the last boss so powerful that it has 10 different forms, but really, does that make ANY sense? Why would it be 'defeated' and transform into something bigger and even stronger? How in any logical form does that make any sense at ALL?
-Make the bosses hard. They're supposed to be hard! Make them so you have to strategize too, not just gain 20 agonizing levels. Defeating enemies is supposed to be based on how you defeat them, not because you need to be godly powerful.
-If the last boss can be beat with a single attack or spell, you'll be frowned upon for the rest of gaming existance.

III. Quests
-It's rather annoying and unrealistic if you have to free a girl from vines with a special plant axe that's hidden 4 levels underground where a massive plant boss so happens to be taking care of it forever when you're standing their with a sword that's equally as capable! Filler quests just to make the game longer make the game look bad, or at least flawed..

IV. NPCs
-Is it really that hard to give all the NPCs more than one line of text through the entire game? Even if the one bit of text fits for that character, a character shouldn't be saying the same exact words everytime you ever talk to them. It gets boring and you'll often find yourself completely avoiding them entirely.

Bosses are a problem I've had with RPG's. Most of the time, it's how many items you are carrying more than strategy. Maybe bosses should all be real time instead of turn based.

That'd be an interesting twist: turn-based normal battles but real-time boss battles..

For some real strategic gameplay, I'd say advanced turn-based battles. Kinda like Fallout where you sometimes have to position your guys and use their features in favor for the entire group (my buddy has played them all so he's tormented me with info ). Real-time vs turn-based is mostly a matter about wit vs brains and you should focus on one of those in a game.

final fantasy tactics!


[edit 16 hours later]

come on thats strategy/turnbased/rpg style fighting. no one else likes it?

You talk alot about of unrealisticness but with which realistic scenarios do you compare? FF is all bogus. I don't know any RPGs that are classic and realistic. Unrealisticness is mutually inclusive with most RPGs. And you have to wonder if something like a axe being stored 4 levels down doesn't appeal to the player. I think most players find it quite amusing to fight trough those 4 levels.
Ofcourse, I think this unrealisticness is why you don't enjoy games when you get older since it sounds to cheap and simple. But you can't say it's unrealistic since we've never encountered real scenarios IRL.

Just some storyline to explain why you need the axe and why it's 4 levels down. For example, the vines can't be killed with a weapon forged by a human, and the axe was made by dwarves living underground who, unfortunately, have all been attacked and killed by some massive plant thing.

I'm certainly filling as many plot holes as I can for my rpg... and shamelessly plugging it all the while. Anyways, if you're looking for an original rpg, just wait for Aura.

is this topic dead?

cuz i feel that Dark Auron makes a lot of good points. But i think most people play RPGs just for the suspension of belief. I used to write Scifi novels/shortstories in my spare time and suspension of belief was a major problem.

Then i realized that maybe my ideas weren't that bad, but the ppl i was showing them to (friends, teachers) were not big scifi fans. Unless your a scifi fan, you really won't believe much they throw at you.

Unless your an hardcore RPG fan, you won't enjoy some of the "pointlessness" and "unrealisticness" of the game. Besides, the Hero's Handbook for DND says something about not making your character a clone of you, but rather someone new to pretend to be.

I forget what Vin Diesel said, but it was a great quote concerning the purpose of playing RPGs.

@threefingeredguy: i like tactical/stragtegy RPGs too, but I've only played a couple not well known ones. What's the official name of FFTactics type games?

I don't know actually. Just a sort of isometric-3d-chess-action-turn-based battles.

I actually kinda want to revive this topic to get some advice about DEM.

What kinda gameplay do people like?

I don't want to do customizable characters, even though DarkAuron and everybody are pushing RPGs with it.

I'm mainly doing passive character advancement with some twists. Essentially, the more you use it, the stronger something becomes.

I'm hoping to do 4 level greyscale, but I'm not sure if I'll get that running. Perhaps I'll make a 4 level GS version of Turkey Hunt with tilemapped back ground. Now that's already a challenge for me.

I don't know what else. I hope to add more characters, but since I had low expectations, I actually originally intended only one playable character and no equipments for the z80 version, and 4 playable characters and lots of items in the 68k version.

Because of that, I'm now rethinking this and a lot of the story line. Oh well, I'll see, but feedback would be nice.

A skill should increase only when it is used, that is obvious. Luck should play a part in actions, and mental agility should also increase a person's skills. Think about it. A smart AND strong person will attack, say, a weak point when a dumb and strong person may just hack away at whatever. Think about how real life works and if you don't like it, say "Screw this" and make something up.

I think that if you copy FF 1 or 2, you'll get a great RPG. It's fun if you have more then one person in your party.

Oh yeah, more than one person is awesome. I like FF1 because you could have 4 people. Not this wimpy 3 characters per party. Psh. I also like having 15 characters and I had to choose some of them for my party, not all. You can also make it so that you can have 20 units per party, normal people take 1 or 2 units, horses take 4 or 5, and elephants take 8 or 9. It gives it a sense of tacticalness. Unless you aren't going for a tactical feel.

Well this RPG is more like the story of this character, and the events explain the origin of one of the Reborn Heroes in the 68k version I plan to make.

I mean, since I'm still new at this, I initially just wanted the character to have a variety of psionic powers, and depending on how much you use it, it gets better. The twist is elemental splicing. The base offensive Psychokinesis power is Telekinesis. Defeating a fire based creature gives you the option of splicing the fire element into a power, and Telekinesis would become FlameThrower. When Telekinesis reaches it's final level, it will be called Implosion while the final form of the fire splice will ThermoNuke. That's just the surface really. I'll have to rethink story before I really decide, but right now, I just want to know what people generally look for.

I mean, this RPG takes place actually in present day era. All the tech and stuff. Perhaps I'll let the main character use modern weapons, and limit psionic powers with power points that need to recharge. So much for Godliness.