I really love the idea about 'par'. I've actually thought about this before and think it is a great idea to reward players that want to explore the combat system without being too punishing for players who don't.
"-No separate combat screen combat will occur directly on the same maps that you explore on"
That's interesting. It's turn-based, but the combat and exploring will be on the same screen? I don't know many RPGs, so what games have done this?
"-No separate combat screen – combat will occur directly on the same maps that you explore on"
That's interesting. It's turn-based, but the combat and exploring will be on the same screen? I don't know many RPGs, so what games have done this?
Chrono Trigger.
Chrono Trigger. Final Fantasy XII. Surprising few overall.
Also that Alyssa sprite looks awesome.
Thanks. Never played Chrono Trigger, will remember to play that during a game drought.
You should! Hell, don't wait for a game drought. It's probably the best RPG of all time, and I'm pretty critical of old RPGs.
Please include a bathing scene.
That's something I'd need to try before I could say I really like the idea, especially with the MP system you mentioned previously. Sounds neat in theory at least, because I agree that status ailments tend to be less-than-awesome in a lot of games in situations where you actually want to use them.
First look at Alyssa's in-game sprite:
http://zeboyd.com/2013/07/10/zeboyd-weekly-art-71013-character-sprites-and-csh/
If we did include a bathing scene, we'd make sure to only include the most hideous non-human characters in the game.
A new design article is up!
An Idea for Making Ailment Abilities Useful in Cosmic Star Heroine - http://zeboyd.com/2013/07/15/an-idea-for-making-ailment-abilities-useful-in-cosmic-star-heroine/
I really like Spuuky's idea in your comments too. Use extra MP (or add MP to a standard attack) to use status ailments instead of requiring them to be their own action. That's part of the reason I don't really like using them under normal circumstances, it takes an extra turn that I could use to whack the enemy. And since normal encounters are (or should be) pretty short, that extra turn isn't worthwhile.
Improving the effects of ailments would also help make them worthwhile. If an enemy is asleep or paralyzed you should be able to deal more damage since the enemy can't move well (or at all), for example. I'm sure some games do this, but what I've played recently doesn't.
A new design article is up!
An Idea for Making Ailment Abilities Useful in Cosmic Star Heroine - http://zeboyd.com/2013/07/15/an-idea-for-making-ailment-abilities-useful-in-cosmic-star-heroine/
Yeah, there are all sorts of ways that we could make them more effective. Attacks that deal damage & inflict an ailment in one move (like Umi's Strike abilities in Cthulhu Saves the World), ailments that lead to combos (like taking more damage while under that effect or activating another ability), making ailments more powerful in general, making some battles last longer (thus encouraging the use of ailments rather than just quickly finishing the battle), etc.
We'll be looking into all sorts of methods.
I like the increased magic cost idea (especially if the game tells you "HI-RES: MP Cost -> 30" when you're about to use it), but as much as I like status effects (some of my favorite things in RPGs!), I think the idea that any can be used on ALL sounds a bit TOO good?
I'd personally prefer resistances still (Skeletons can't be poisoned, rock monsters can't be wounded, ghost can't be made to bleed, etc), but make it so that spells combo into, and out of, status effects.
Example:
- Fire scorches the skin, makes it raw.
- Paralysis seeps into raw skin easier, thus allowing 100% paralyze on applicable targets.
- Since paralyze is similar to Freezing, all Ice attacks on paralyze targets now get amped, from single target to AOE explosions.
It would make status useful, it would make them useful on small scale and large scale battles, and it would give them strategic uses on bosses, as well (minions normally stick by bosses, so burst-buffing a boss would help obliterate his minions).
The system could even be turned on the party, for hilarious, unexpected results:
You don't normally want to light you friends on fire... but casting fire + cure on a friend with turn into a healing blaze field, that cures AOE, like a sauna, while leaving a bit of toasty regen on afterwards.
These sound a lot like what Larian is doing with Divinity: Original Sin. I.e., freeze an enemy. Then use a fire spell which melts the ice, but the enemy is wet and water is all over the ground around other enemies. Then you use a lightning spell which does extra damage to the wet enemy, plus hits the other enemies standing in the water.
Not only improves the freezing (or "wet") status ailments, but also adds a layer of strategy.
These sound a lot like what Larian is doing with Divinity: Original Sin. I.e., freeze an enemy. Then use a fire spell which melts the ice, but the enemy is wet and water is all over the ground around other enemies. Then you use a lightning spell which does extra damage to the wet enemy, plus hits the other enemies standing in the water.
Not only improves the freezing (or "wet") status ailments, but also adds a layer of strategy.
I also agree that some immunities should remain in place. Especially for bosses if there are powerful ailments like petrify, which in many games counts as a 1HKO when used on applicable enemies.
Day one if vita version is made
One thing that bothered me in FF games was that the game seemed to train me not to use them because most enemies were too easy (didn't need them) and, as you said, status effects didn't work against nearly every boss. When I came to a boss where they did work (or even worse, were nearly required to win), it felt like a trick rather than something that would be reasonable to come up with on my own.
It's called streamlining for an audience in order to attract. Surely you've wondered why countless Espers/Summons/Whatever were possible in fights, and yet a simple debuff was continually dismissed by the battle system.
It's also a large reason why many Western gamers who played the staple diet of Japanese RPGs in the SNES-PS1 eras, despite being afforded the opportunity to play games such as Wizardry and Ultima for many years, may have been a little confused and aggravated when it concerned the Dragon Quest series whilst trying to defeat a "tactical & gear check" boss fight.
Fortunately silly things like invulnerable status effects are slowly being eroded in order to champion tactical gameplay, but it's still a slippery slope at times.
Cosmic Star Heroine logo revealed:
A new design article is up!
An Idea for Making Ailment Abilities Useful in Cosmic Star Heroine - http://zeboyd.com/2013/07/15/an-idea-for-making-ailment-abilities-useful-in-cosmic-star-heroine/
Force shield sounds interesting. I suppose the "death protection" would have a variable amount of HP damage it would save you from. Maybe 20HP or something at the beginning but 200HP later on. Or maybe it would vary by force shield so later ones have better protection. Or maybe sacrifice protection for better buffs. I like the idea, game systems with lots of options are the best.
And the mention of turn-order being determined by cunning makes it sound like it will be fully turn-based rather than active.
Too much to ask for a Wii U stretch goal?
But seriously, I can't think of anything. Maybe more sidequests or something? Really, I'd just want extra funds to go to making the game bigger. Maybe a world map with flying vehicles at some point if that wasn't already part of the plan (or not if it changes things).
This sounds like way too much work. I'd rather they put that into improving what they already have.
A port on ios that isn't kinda bad like your other outsourced ports would be neat too ^^;
Not really following this game. I was just wondering. This has leveling right? Is this going to be one of those games where you are apparently the biggest badass in the universe but still start at like level one?
Leaning more towards PSN (and PC/Mac) than Wii U since we'd be able to get multiple platforms at the same time that way (PS4/Vita). Not saying that we won't do Wii U also but it'd probably come out at a later time since we don't want to stretch our debug efforts too thin by having too many platforms at launch.
This sounds like the perfect game to play on Vita. Can't wait man.
It's nice to see the art steadily improving but it might be time to start hiring real pixel artists.