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[FlanPlan]

So as the title says, it can be anything, multiple things and what-not.

Personally, I like the aspect of customization. Like, everything that makes sense that you could customize, should be possible. I also think that RPGs should include a NG+ more often or at least make the game have aspects to it that keep you playing even after the main story is over (adding the NG+ as an optional thing is probably the best way to do this.)

So tell me what you think. I've been working with a large group on an action RPG recently (I'm making the music, but I also have a part in the way this project is going) and I want to push them to make something that people will enjoy for ungodly amounts of hours. 

[Shine Klevit]

An entirely non-static game environment. The ability to change all terrain(grow forests, raise mountains, plant trees) and all buildings(destruction, rebuilding, and expansion) within the game world. I mean, not in a minecraft way but in a way that comes off as natural to a believable RPG-like world.

Of course, this is very clearly a hypothetical, but it'd be cool if somebody could pull it off.

As for actual suggestions. Well, a serious focus on shapeshifting might be a more realistic goal. I mean, it's been done, but not extremely well.

[Bricabrac]

The Tales of series is full of bad design decision, but I always liked its Skit system - little cutscenes activated by a button press where the characters discuss the game plot, make jokes or just banter between each other.
It really helps the characters feel more alive. I'd like to see more party-based rpgs with a similar system.

[oahda]

I'd remove stuff, not add. Always too much stats and fluff to keep track of. But I guess that's what makes the genre, so...

[readyplaygames]

The Tales of series is full of bad design decision, but I always liked its Skit system - little cutscenes activated by a button press where the characters discuss the game plot, make jokes or just banter between each other.
It really helps the characters feel more alive. I'd like to see more party-based rpgs with a similar system.

The skit system is SOOOO much better when it's voice acted. I loved Symphonia but the text-based one pales in comparison to the sequel's voice acting.

[Clipper]

Not so much put, but take; Remove the "mana" system and have magic use up stamina instead.

[Zaeche]

Agree with paring down, rather than building up. Moreover, aside from the 'generic' stats that seem to be ingrained into RPGs, creative alternatives?

Stuff that's either more thematically appropriate (good example being sanity from Darkest Dungeon) or something more tongue-in-cheek: an embarrassment meter, or willingness-to-save-the-world, or tendency-for-arson, or a laziness stat.

[The Translocator]

An entirely non-static game environment. The ability to change all terrain(grow forests, raise mountains, plant trees) and all buildings(destruction, rebuilding, and expansion) within the game world.

This leads to the obvious game idea: you don't even control a person in the RPG, just the environment. You manipulate the results of battles by changing the terrain to favor the heroes and make their journey longer when they need to grind or shorter when they're already prepared. Basically, a god sim/RPG hybrid with the explicit goal of helping the heroes to advance the story.

[and0]

More interaction between the party members, especially in JRPGs. The Skit system in the Tales games are a good start as Bric-à-brac mentioned, but I'd like that to go a bit further. JRPGs are always banging on about the power of friendship and stuff, so it's weird that you never really interact with any of your friends outside of cutscenes. And if there is interaction, you're all just sitting around a campfire (or alternatively in an inn), you speak to each party member once, then the next cutscene starts.

[FlanPlan]

Some good input here. I personally have always liked the idea of a level up/experience system where instead of keeping track of what does what, have your stats be entirely based off of what you use most. That would also be a good way to keep classes out which a lot of people seem to dislike.

[PetterBergmar]

Neural network AI

[and0]

Some good input here. I personally have always liked the idea of a level up/experience system where instead of keeping track of what does what, have your stats be entirely based off of what you use most. That would also be a good way to keep classes out which a lot of people seem to dislike.

Out of curiosity, how would you implement that? Because I feel that's very difficult to do right.

[Bricabrac]

Some good input here. I personally have always liked the idea of a level up/experience system where instead of keeping track of what does what, have your stats be entirely based off of what you use most. That would also be a good way to keep classes out which a lot of people seem to dislike.

Out of curiosity, how would you implement that? Because I feel that's very difficult to do right.

Ultima Online already did that, and the system works well enough.
You have a long list of skill, and everything you do raises one or more skills. For example, hitting a bandit with a sword mkes you a better swordsman, but also raises your anatomy skill - which acts as a passive bonus damage, but can also be used to check PCs/NPCs and have a report of their health status.
For every skill, you can decide to let it raise normally, lock its growth or decrease it in favour of other skills. There are no levels, but you have a global skill cap.
I don't know if the other Ultima games used the same gameplay, but UO's system is fun and works well for an MMORPG. It could be a good starting point, though of course it will need a lot of rebalancing to work for a single-player game.

The usual problem with such a free sistem is that unexperienced players may risk raising the wrong skills, thus rendering their own characters completely useless.

[oahda]

Well, don't put skills that are useless in the game...

[and0]

Well, don't put skills that are useless in the game...

Well, it's still possible to screw yourself over...maybe you didn't gain enough strength to knock down a door, maybe your Fire spell isn't good enough to take down the Snow cone boss, maybe you've never blocked enough so that regular enemies can guard-break you instantly...

This can of course also happen with a regular leveling-system (i.e. level up, then put points wherever you want) but here you'd be stuck going back and spamming the Fire spell, or just block for hours on end to increase your skills. Not all that fun.

And if you design the game so that you can't get stuck because of weak skills, why think about leveling them in the first place? 

[oahda]

Well, isn't the skill customisation for the role-playing part anyway, allowing the player to pick the style they most enjoy playing? So the game could be designed around that, making it possible to solve anything crucial in different ways using different skillsets. Or open up alternative paths depending on what the player chose to specialise in, offering replayability at the same time as well.

[Shine Klevit]

I don't like the idea of simply improving a stat you use often. I think a better thing to do is to set up a minimum of 3 or so stats that all 3 have to hit a certain point to level up. That way there is some leveling up based off of chosen attacks, but also a reward for the player to not use attacks which rely on the same stats over and over again.

[JWK5]

More TCG-style conditional effects. Examples:

*If the target is poisoned, inflict 30 damage. If the target is not poisoned, inflict poison.

*This ability can only be used on targets at half health or below. The target recovers 10-20 HP,
        all other enemies suffer double the amount the target recovered as curse damage.

*Inflict 10 fire damage to one target, set them on fire. All enemies currently on fire take
        10 fire damage (including the target).

Most actions in RPGs (JRPG or WRPG) are way too static. There's no real room for strategy you are just working against obsoletism (replacing an attack that does lower damage with one that does higher damage, ad nauseum). I want to see some more strategy required, actions that vary in usefulness based on the situation, not just based on resistances.




Aside from that, more character exploration. I am really liking God Eater: Resurrection on the PS4 (originally PSP) and it took me a while to figure out why (since some of the female character designs are cringe-worthy and a good chunk of the mechanics are pretty clunky). The one thing the game does great is dole out little bits of info regarding the large cast of allies that populate your main base.

Nobody pulls a Bioware/Bethesda and tells you their life story in the first meeting, you get little scraps of info here and there that give you an idea of who the characters are, what their backstory is, and how they feel about the goings on in the story. This comes in the form of direct communication, e-mails they've sent your character, roundabout rumors from other characters, etc. With the way the game delivers the characters to you, you never feel like you're full on info but you never feel like you're starving, either. It's that happy medium.

I had to stop playing Dragon Age: Inquisition for a long while because the sheer overload of information was very frustrating. The game spends way too much time telling me about shit that has no bearing on anything (such as information on characters that will be in the game for all of 10 seconds or a ton of information about parts of a town I will never get to see anyways). If it weren't for that I'd have liked the game much more, but because of that I've lost interest in much of its story and have yet to go back and finish it.

[FlanPlan]

Some good input here. I personally have always liked the idea of a level up/experience system where instead of keeping track of what does what, have your stats be entirely based off of what you use most. That would also be a good way to keep classes out which a lot of people seem to dislike.

Out of curiosity, how would you implement that? Because I feel that's very difficult to do right.

Ultima Online already did that, and the system works well enough.
You have a long list of skill, and everything you do raises one or more skills. For example, hitting a bandit with a sword mkes you a better swordsman, but also raises your anatomy skill - which acts as a passive bonus damage, but can also be used to check PCs/NPCs and have a report of their health status.
For every skill, you can decide to let it raise normally, lock its growth or decrease it in favour of other skills. There are no levels, but you have a global skill cap.
I don't know if the other Ultima games used the same gameplay, but UO's system is fun and works well for an MMORPG. It could be a good starting point, though of course it will need a lot of rebalancing to work for a single-player game.

The usual problem with such a free sistem is that unexperienced players may risk raising the wrong skills, thus rendering their own characters completely useless.

Pretty much this entirely haha

I don't like the idea of simply improving a stat you use often. I think a better thing to do is to set up a minimum of 3 or so stats that all 3 have to hit a certain point to level up. That way there is some leveling up based off of chosen attacks, but also a reward for the player to not use attacks which rely on the same stats over and over again.

Perhaps AP might keep that from happening? You might say that the character might get too powerful that way, but you could always have the enemies level up accordingly to the character after each chapter, but ONLY on the first playthrough since there would be absolutely no point in leveling up if everyone was just as strong as you and doing it by chapter instead of as you level up allows you some breathing room.

[sonder]

Convincing and humorously dark family dynamics.