RPG Classics Mailbag

Previous Mailbags

And that's when I beat him over the head with a club.

Wow.

Yeah. Great story. I know.

Actually, I was commenting on the story's lack of any semblence of coherence.

You just don't understand the subtleties of the story, the underlying themes, if you will.

There were no underlying themes...

Sure there were. Good vs. Evil. Loss of innocence. Finding one's self. Nature against Industrialism. Guy with a club vs guy without club.

... I think only that last one actually applies...

Maybe, but you see... *Glances sideways* Uh, looks like the Mailbag already started.

Joy.

Obviously.

Now what was the topic again? Oh yeah. Design an RPG Battle System.

How original.

Shaddup. First up is Deedly. Go ahead, Deeds.

Its not as much a battle system as a really awesome part of one that I discussed with Mudcap a while ago

My idea is meant as an alternative to typical summoning powers. The person with the ability opens a portal to any plane they have visited, and there is a chance every turn that a random creature from that plane will appear, the creature stays until it dies or the portal is closed. There is a random chance (based on the skill of the caster) that the creature will be under their control, uncontrolled, or hostile to them.

If they are controlled then it acts as an extra party member, if they are uncontrolled then it acts randomly (but cant attack the caster, although party members can be hit), if it is hostile then it attacks the caster and the caster's party.

This would also give people huge motivation to go on optional quests because they might lead them to new planes (with new monster sets). It also acts as a mode of transportation outside of battle.

Interesting. The summoning bit sounds a bit like the FFX Aeon system coupled with Monster Trainers from FF5. That would definitely provide some sidequest motivation, especially if the caster could somehow go up in ability to assure more and more monsters are always controlled.

*Tries to summon a monster so that it's uncontrolled and will attack Megaman984*

Hah. Nice try. The system doesn't exist, so you can't do that.

Damnit...

And for that bit of insurrection... Well, you know what.

... Yeah... *Grabs a letter in the shape of a pink heart with lace and big bubbly letters* Huh?

Dear Energon, I think you are really cute. From the first time I saw you I wanted to be the paper you hold in your little hand. Will you be my valentine?

Love, ClothHat

Aww... Cloth has a crush on Energon... CH and Energon sitting in the tree...

... I hate you all. *Pulls out another Reply* Some guy named Sharm.

Sharm, eh? Better not let Mr. Whipple see us squeeze him.

Hey mail peoples!

Hmm, make my own battle system. Okay! My battle system would be set up more like fighter games. The view would mostly be from the side, and all of the moves would be set to different buttons. Unlike fighter games, the special moves wouldn't be based on skill, but more on memory. Because of the style, equipment will be much more of a factor. Heavy stuff will slow you down, but protect you more. If you're hit in the head, and you don't have a helmet, you wouldn't be protected there. Even if you have some major armor elsewhere. If you use a weapon, it will effect your hit, but if you kick with only a normal shoe, it won't do much. I think you get the picture.

As for experience, I would have two kinds. Normal experience you could get even from just being in a fight and running away. Then you'd get skill experience from doing fancy moves, fighting bosses, and sparring with your team mates. Both kinds of experience would be spendable instead of level ups. You can buy up your hp, your defence, speed and such with normal exp. and learn new moves with skill exp.

In able to do this kind of fighting system, you'd have to have a good AI and be able to customize it. But I think it'd be worth it. I've always liked action RPGs. ^_^

Sounds like Shenmue. Excellent blend of RPG with basically the fighting engine from Virtua Fighter. Bit more indepth with the armor and weapon stuff though.

Wait. Mr. Whipple?

Old Charmin spokesman. Apparently he didn't want people squeezing the Charmin.

And why do you know this?

Too much TV as a kid.

A poke ball is thrown into the mailbag room. The poke ball opens and a flash is seen. When the flash clears pink_lugia is seen in the mailbag room.

For once I will answer the topic first. And just so it's easier for me to understand and right I've divided it into parts.

The spell casting system would be like sabin's blitz thing. A cheap fire1 spell would be three easy to remember button pushes. An example useing a snes pad would be X-Y-X followed by a to intiate the spell. The spells would still take up mp, and would take up a penalty of let's say 10 mp if the combination was incorrect.

Is that just a blind 10 MP deduction with no spell cast or the closest spell to that combination cast plus the 10 MP deduction?

The physical attack system would be more specific than it has been. Instead of just picking the enemy to attack a person would have a choice to pick where to hit the enemy, like in the body, arms, legs, and head. Attacking the body would be like a normal attack. Attacking the arms would decrease the enemies attack and do damage, but it would have a lower chance of hitting than attacking the body and would do less damage than attacking the body. Attacking the legs would lower opponents speed and do damage, but would have a lower chance of hitting than attacking the body and do less damage than attacking the body. Attacking the head would be like doing a critical hit to the body, and if a critical hit is scored on the body it might kill the enemy, but it would be very hard to hit the head, let alone critical hit it. And just a note, magic attacks wouldn't have the choice of hitting speacial parts, and creatures with lack of body parts, such as a slime, can't be hit there.

The item system I can't think of many a way to change it, and I'm to lazy right now to right a section for speacial attacks and abilities so that's it for my reply.

A final note though, slimes are cool, slalin rocks, and garland should be a rival to capitan obvious. Good day.

pink_lugia produces a poke ball and throws it on the ground and a great flash is seen. When the flash clears pink_lugia and the poke ball are gone and in their place is a not that reads

"Sincerely yours,

The Pink One"

Interesting feature with the attacking body parts thing. I don't recall that ever being used in an RPG. It would definitely make battles less monotonous. As for Garland, well, he and Captain Obvious go back a long ways.

Obviously.

I, Garland, shall knock Captain Obvious down!

Nuh uh, Garland. Try that, and you have to take on Energon and me too.

Huh? NO!

Very well. I shall take on all of you!

NO! *Slashes Garland with a piece of paper*

Obvious Punch! *Punches Garland, trumpet blares, a yellow star thing appears, and BLAMO! in green letters appears on it*

Ugh...

Well, that was, uh, interesting... I guess Archone is up.

Well, since I'm working on an RPG project myself, I not only look forward to hearing the responses, but will also describe our own system, in the hopes of whetting your appetites...

Our present system is point and click command driven. You point and click to shoot, reload, select weapons, use items, etc. I believe you can pause the game while doing so to reduce frantic button clicking(or will be able to, after our next game engine update). We are planning to input targeted attacks as well as normal and burst fire attacks. Targeted attacks will allow a wide variety of results, including the Lone Ranger's famous "shoot the gun out of his hand" trick(hey, this IS fantasy, after all).

Healing is based off of real world emergency medicine, particularly that employed in battlefield triages. Rather than spell points, medical supplies are required, as well as medical training. Healing "spells" include everything from "Ligature" and "Needle Chest Decompression," which keeps patients with -0 or -5 HP from reaching -10 HP and brain death, to "IV therapy" and "Transfusion," which accelerate the healing rate of "Dressage" and "Small Wound Repair."

Each weapon is rated for Ammo caliber, rate of fire, ammo capacity, accuracy, damage, reliability, and concealability. Thus, there is no truly best weapon. Some may prefer the awesome M2 Browning and up front battle, while others elect to use the devastatingly accurate and concealable 9mm Luger pistol(with 8 round clip or 32 round "snail drum" magazine). Melee weapons are also available, and are still of limited use in a world of firearms, including swords(the sabre and two handed longsword, specifically-there are reasons for this in the plot), as well as knives and tomahawks. And multiple types of ammo may be used with the same gun. A 12 ga. shotgun may fire buckshot, solid slugs, dragon's breath, etc.

Lastly, we've been discussing the use of a traps system, to set mantraps for use in ambushing patrols(this will be for the large, Fallout-esque game, not the current project, an interactive novel, however). The characters can interact with the enviroment to construct versions of traps used in historical conflicts to eliminate men and even vehicles, including water traps, deadfalls, snares, spring loaded striking surfaces(like logs) coated with spikes, etc.

So, is anyone hungry yet?

No. Not really. I just had dinner.

And I only eat Elamornhale.

As for the battle system, sounds very, uh, modernish. Maybe cowboyish. Maybe warish. The ammo and gun thing definitely reminds me of the Wild Arms series but more in depth. As for traps, I'm all for that. I've always thought including traps in an RPG (or something like an Engineer's sentry from TFC in a FPS but that's neither here nor there). The healing system seems to be the weakest point though, and that's because I don't think most gamers would like that kind of real-world medical system. Still nice ideas though.

Well, I guess innovation beats having the same stuff over and over again.

Very true, Energon. Very true.

So why do you still do the Mailbag?

Because beating dead horses is fun.

Ah.

And for your insolence...

Fine... *Grabs a Reply from XCountryGuy*

Actually, I was gonna require you to apologize, but that's good too.

...

Ok here's an idea I've been tossing around.

Basically it's a cross between a traditional ATB battle system and the turn based system in FFX. What would happen is that battles would start but your ATB Gauge would always start half full. You can only take action when it is completely filled. Now when you perform a standard physical or magic attack the gauge would drop back to halfway. But using special attacks/magic (summons, kick ass combo attacks or something) the gauge would be mostly empty or completely empty after your turn. Other things like item using would take less time and you would take your turns quicker. This helps if you're stuck by only having to heal people with items.

I guess it would all play out to something like that.

I hate ATB systems. I really do. I prefer either all turn-based or all real-time, not some pansy in between system.

Surely there's some merit to ATB...

No. No merit whatsoever.

Glad to see you're not opinionated.

Insolence.

Grah. Doc Shinryuu.

*A small, white square with a thin, black border appears at the bottom of the Mailbag door. It moves back and forth on the door, slowly moving up and eliminating any remnant of door in it's path. Eventually, it reveals Doc Shinryuu, who walks through the hole it made. Doc snaps his fingers, and the square disappears.* Undo. *The eliminated door segment reappears* Hey all. Doc Shinryuu here. *Huge, unrestricted, no-holds-barred fanfare* Two notes:
1) [[G]] and [[U]] are back online, despite minor fights between their AI's.
2) I've mastered Photoshop. Thus the use of the Eraser tool to get in.
A new Battle System? This should be fun...
-DocShinryuu.SYS - Designed for PS2

-Attack System: Similar to Xenogears system. Different button combos produce different attacks, but this system employs the Shoulder Buttons as well.

-Magic System: Typical MP & Elemental system... with a twist. Some magic is Physical-Based, some Mental-Based. Thus, enemy weaknesses become a bit more complicated. Two creatures can have the same elemental weakness, but one might have Physical, and the other Mental.

-Critical Hit System: Two different Critical Hits. Pressure Point and Lucky Strike. Pressure Point is based on Accuracy, while Lucky Strike is based on Luck(cue Obviousman!).

Captain Obvious. Not Obviousman.

Obviously.

Both deal double damage and pierce defense, and the two can be combined for even more damage.

-Duel System: An occasional Duel battle will take place, like in Suikoden. Something like a Rock-Paper-Scissors battle. Heavy Strike beats Guard, Guard beats Quick Strike, and Quick Strike beats Heavy Attack.

Hmm... I'd better save this, just in case. *copies and saves* Anyway, some last stuff before I go. *Knocks Garland down and throws a few Slalin Duplicates at Energon. Makes sure Slalin still has the Time-Release Bola in him.* See ya next time! *Pulls out a Lunaris clone to blast the door away. Walks out of the hole in the wall.*

Aww jeez... We have more holes than wall now...

*Clutches at his face* Get-em off! Get-em off! Get-em off!

*Peels the Slalin clones off of Energon's face* Better now?

Much.

*Gets up from the Mailbag Reply Bag. A Reply is attached to one of the horns* I, Garland, shall knock him down...

You do that. *Snatches the Reply from Garland's horn* Hmm... PC Glenton, I think.

*a messanger appears from the shadows, and hands you this message, and then quickly bows out of the room... on this paper, the reply of one PC Glenton.*

Ah, gentleman, we met again, to discuss another RPG topic, yes?

Yeah. That's what we tend to do in the Mailbag.

So you want my idea for a battle system... in my opinion, such a system should try to make the battles as intense and realistic as possible... and by realistic, I mean in terms of taking turns, not in blood spilling.

Maybe a real-time system, similiar to what is in the Baldur's Gate games, but instead of controlling the whole party, it is just your party acting as a commander, and issuing orders to the group. If not under your orders, they will act according to their AI... but, their AI is affected by some stat indicating their intelligance. So, while Boris, your fighter is big and strong and can take a beating, he is so dumb, he can't figure out that he is being chopped to bits by imps.

Of course, that may give the upper hand to mages, so throw in something of a real time limit break, something like a base instinct or desperation, where the attacks are stronger, but the characters start to ignore you, desiring to save their own skins.

No, still not balanced enough... of course, what every commander needs. Discipline. After every battle, you get more then XP points. You get loyalty or respect points. These points can be used to praise your characters (enforcing the same actions for the next battle), or chew them out (recommending that they do something else). But, OD in one category, they either get too proud and challenge you for leadership, or they lose morale completely and bail out of your group...

So, my system is basically trying to manage a small army... and face it, with all the characters you can play in these games, it usually feels like an army.

Thank you for reading my ideas, gentlemen, and while you were reading this, I took the opportunity to sneak in and relieve you of all the wealth you had on your persons... and to plant an activated grenade on Energon, along with my idea for a new mailbag... what would be your idea for a new, orignal job/class/character type.

Sounds more like an RTS than an RPG. But then, it also sounds like Dragon Force in the terms of a commander commanding an army... The problem with it would be finding the exact balance between real time strategy without actually making it a real time strategy. If that could be done, well, that could make for a very unique and enjoyable battle system.

So are we done?

Almost.

Almost?

We just need a topic. Hmm... Yeah. We'll go with PC Glenton's. That means he can abuse Energon next Mailbag. Next topic is "Design a new job/class/character type." So, send them to the Mailbag Team.

So we're done?

Yeah.

Fina-AHHHHHH!

*Jumps and latches onto Energon's face*

I thought we got all of the clones... Guess not...