next »

[dxman]

I think progression systems are one of the places I'm willing to give up some "realism" in the name of balance and a smooth play experience. Wasn't it one of the Elder Scrolls games where people were standing in a corner just jumping up and down to level up their jumping skills?

If players are allocating points manually, they're likely putting them into categories they're using anyway, so it works out in a way anyway. To prevent the player from putting everything into one or two areas, you can impose a cap based on the overall level or some similar formula. Of course, many games use an exponential cost structure  as well.

[Yellowjacket]

My music 


Aside from that, I'd like to find a way to make a unique and really fun combat system.  I've always thought about how fun it would be to have 2D style fighting for combat, I think it would be a nice change from the usual menu battles! 

[Peace Soft]

I think progression systems are one of the places I'm willing to give up some "realism" in the name of balance and a smooth play experience. Wasn't it one of the Elder Scrolls games where people were standing in a corner just jumping up and down to level up their jumping skills?

Yeah. It's hard to do a system like that in a way that doesn't end up incentivizing tedium. Unless all of the skills are intrinsically interesting to use, you're gonna end up with a problem.

I've been thinking about how you could make an RPG where you'd be controlling a relatively large number of people with fairly narrow roles, but like a lot of emergent complexity? Some kind of action-strategy-RPG cross between Lord of the Rings and Pikmin?

[Sik]

That instead of a NG+ that sends you back to the beginning you get the ability to select which chapter to play.

I don't care how quickly you can get through the whole game again, that's still a waste of time compared to just going straight to the portion you're interested on. Especially since once you start a NG+, you can't return back to postgame (using that save) without being forced to get to the end of the game again.

[JWK5]

I liked how the NG+ for Lufia 2 deviated from its scripted JRPG setup to put the player in a Roguelike 100-floor procedurally generated dungeon. It gave an already great game a ton of replay value.

[Sik]

You know, I was thinking about this some more and actually Sonic Battle mostly nails it, it lets you replay any chapter you unlocked at any moment. Only thing I'd change is adding the ability to seamlessly move onto the next chapter when you finish one (Sonic Battle instead rolls the credits and returns back to the title screen at the end of every chapter), but that's a minor change really.

[zombieonion]

Better ways to describe human interactions than "dialogue options" or "dialogue wheel".

Also +1 to what Prinsessa said, about alternate paths and more creative ways to solve problems.

[NineTattooedDragons]

For me, good dialogue is what makes a great RPG. I remember playing through Shadow Madness on the PSOne, which was a terrible game in almost every way except (seriously -- very low level cap so you one-hit enemies, terrible cut-scenes) except for the fact that it had some of the best dialogue I've ever seen in a game. Seriously, the game was hilarious. I can forgive shortcomings in almost all other aspects as long as the story is good.