RPGs with movement skills that are actually useful

[Eyestabber]

While playing Fall of Avalon I noticed the game features both a skill and a potion affecting jump height. However, jumping higher has absolutely no application whatsoever as the entire game is designed around the default movement values and there's nothing to be gained by jumping higher. The fall potion can be used to drop from different angles, but that's about it. So ITT we discuss implementations of movement skills that actually matter in RPGs, as in they provide access to content that wouldn't be accessible otherwise.

Off the top of my head I can think of Elex's jetpack and EYE: Divine Cybermancy. But it really looks like implementing movement skills as an option to the player is incredibly rare.

[asf]

mw has levitation

[gerey]

The obvious answer is TES games with climbing, acrobatics and various spells - walking on water, jumping long distances, falling from great heights etc.

Might and Magic had climbing, that could be useful sometimes.

FROM games usually have some sort of spell that allows you to fall from greater heights.

***** game extraordinaire Lunacid allows you to move faster and jump higher if you upgrade the relevant skill, which does affect your ability to reach certain areas.

Dragon's Dogma had levitate.

[J1M]

Fey Step (D&D 4e).

[Eyestabber]

The obvious answer is TES games with climbing, acrobatics and various spells - walking on water, jumping long distances, falling from great heights etc.

Might and Magic had climbing, that could be useful sometimes.

FROM games usually have some sort of spell that allows you to fall from greater heights, while stats influence the speed you move at.

***** game extraordinaire Lunacid allows you to move faster and jump higher if you upgrade the relevant skill, which does affect your ability to reach certain areas.

Dragon's Dogma had levitate.

Having movement skills =/= having movement skills actually allowing you to reach places you normally wouldn't.

[gerey]

Having movement skills =/= having movement skills actually allowing you to reach places you normally wouldn't.

Might & Magic, Morrowind and Lunacid do have movement skills that allow you to reach places you otherwise wouldn't be able to.

[rusty_shackleford]

DOS2 & BG3, the environments are even designed around you using them to explore.

[rusty_shackleford]

It's a major issue that very few RPGs want to address, and why e.g., ELEX has such good exploration. Isometric games have gotten so lazy that "exploration" is just clicking a button that pops up like it's a visual novel.
Prey has more than a few movement(and related) skills, but I didn't play the game for long so someone else would have to expand.

Ultima Underworld, fly.
Divinity 2(not DOS2), you can turn into a dragon and there's a lot of stuff to find.

[Xenich]

I think there is a lot to consider to properly implement these types of systems which is why many developers avoid it.

If you think about it, the complexity of such implementations compound due to the fact that now physical environment needs to be factored into the progression of play.

Some games provided these types of mechanics through what I would call cheesing. For instance, EQ 2 had climbing, but... its interaction was nothing more than ladders disguised as environment. I think that is an easy way to implement it, but it also stands out as gimmicky.

Pantheon on the other hand approached it a bit differently using an endurance bar and proper placement of cliff holds to manage access. By default, the player is able to climb pretty much anything (some exceptions) and those restrictions are key to progression in play. With that though, the entire world environment now has to be considered in the evaluation of how you want the characters to have access and when which increases the complexity of the design.

Elex as some mentioned is a good example for exploration, but you can tell they really had to keep in mind the content concerning it to create a progression of development in play where the character through improvement is then able to get to places out of reach without levels/gear/aids.

I think that attention to the detail of physical/RPG play is a rather big obstacle in design and requires a lot of attention to avoid constant exploitation of content and so many of these types of games avoid that complexity.

It is one of the reasons I am not a big fan of action/RPG hybrids, but not because I dislike the game play, rather that they you rarely see the real attention to work them together seamlessly. It really is a more difficult venture compared to strict RPG non-action play which is able to restrict content by simple stat/roll mechanics which usually can't be exploited as easily as the Action RPGs can.

It would be nice though to see some real detailed attention put to those games as I admit I find when they do get it right at times, the games are quite memorable.

[rusty_shackleford]

I think there is a lot to consider to properly implement these types of systems which is why many developers avoid it.

If you think about it, the complexity of such implementations compound due to the fact that now physical environment needs to be factored into the progression of play.

Some games provided these types of mechanics through what I would call cheesing. For instance, EQ 2 had climbing, but... its interaction was nothing more than ladders disguised as environment. I think that is an easy way to implement it, but it also stands out as gimmicky.

Pantheon on the other hand approached it a bit differently using an endurance bar and proper placement of cliff holds to manage access. By default, the player is able to climb pretty much anything (some exceptions) and those restrictions are key to progression in play. With that though, the entire world environment now has to be considered in the evaluation of how you want the characters to have access and when which increases the complexity of the design.

Elex as some mentioned is a good example for exploration, but you can tell they really had to keep in mind the content concerning it to create a progression of development in play where the character through improvement is then able to get to places out of reach without levels/gear/aids.

I think that attention to the detail of physical/RPG play is a rather big obstacle in design and requires a lot of attention to avoid constant exploitation of content and so many of these types of games avoid that complexity.

It is one of the reasons I am not a big fan of action/RPG hybrids, but not because I dislike the game play, rather that they you rarely see the real attention to work them together seamlessly. It really is a more difficult venture compared to strict RPG non-action play which is able to restrict content by simple stat/roll mechanics which usually can't be exploited as easily as the Action RPGs can.

It would be nice though to see some real detailed attention put to those games as I admit I find when they do get it right at times, the games are quite memorable.

Worth remembering that elex was made from scratch in around 3 years while maintaining their own tech
devs used to be able to just do things

[Xenich]

I think there is a lot to consider to properly implement these types of systems which is why many developers avoid it.

If you think about it, the complexity of such implementations compound due to the fact that now physical environment needs to be factored into the progression of play.

Some games provided these types of mechanics through what I would call cheesing. For instance, EQ 2 had climbing, but... its interaction was nothing more than ladders disguised as environment. I think that is an easy way to implement it, but it also stands out as gimmicky.

Pantheon on the other hand approached it a bit differently using an endurance bar and proper placement of cliff holds to manage access. By default, the player is able to climb pretty much anything (some exceptions) and those restrictions are key to progression in play. With that though, the entire world environment now has to be considered in the evaluation of how you want the characters to have access and when which increases the complexity of the design.

Elex as some mentioned is a good example for exploration, but you can tell they really had to keep in mind the content concerning it to create a progression of development in play where the character through improvement is then able to get to places out of reach without levels/gear/aids.

I think that attention to the detail of physical/RPG play is a rather big obstacle in design and requires a lot of attention to avoid constant exploitation of content and so many of these types of games avoid that complexity.

It is one of the reasons I am not a big fan of action/RPG hybrids, but not because I dislike the game play, rather that they you rarely see the real attention to work them together seamlessly. It really is a more difficult venture compared to strict RPG non-action play which is able to restrict content by simple stat/roll mechanics which usually can't be exploited as easily as the Action RPGs can.

It would be nice though to see some real detailed attention put to those games as I admit I find when they do get it right at times, the games are quite memorable.

Worth remembering that elex was made from scratch in around 3 years while maintaining their own tech
devs used to be able to just do things

Yep, which really shows you the skill divide these days. Though I guess this is maybe a continued generational decline thing? I remember seeing my grandfather framing an entire 2 story home in a single day with just one other guy, but then watching later generations take weeks to accomplish the same thing, and having the advantage of power tools as well.

Not sure exactly the cause though, just an observation of the results.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

GW2:

Base game has some tomb raider dark caverns and platforming sections where abilities that throw lights to illuminate sheer drops and narrow ledges are needed. Abilities that can leap or create telepotts are useful.

HoT expansion: you can unlock traversal abilities needed fot the content. Bouncing mushroom mastery to ascend the multilayered maps and a glider to descend them and reach other platforms. You want to learn the ability to glide on ley lines to fight the open world final boss who moves betwren floating platforms.

Season 3 episode 5: need to learn the mastery that lets you use vines to spiderman around insidr a volcano and ascend the huge shelves.

PoF: each mount has a traversal ability and you need to swap between them. Rabbit to leap up cliffs. Raptor to leap across gaps. The manta ray skimmer can float over lethal lava and quicksand. The sand jackal can teleport multiple times in a row, used to reach physically impossible locations, like triple teleporting high up around pillars to reach a chest. Roller beetle drifts around corners and can smash rock walls. Skyscale can cling to walls. Turtle sinks to seafloor bottom faster than swimming down.


Pokemon: waterfall HM allows the Pokemon you are riding to ascend waterfalls. Rock climb for mountains.

[gerey]

Would Xanadu Next count as an RPG?

Throughout the game you unlock a bunch of different items that allow you to jump (which you couldn't do) or breathe underwater for longer - both of which are necessary to progress through the story, but also to reach optional areas.

Granted, this is more in line with, say, something you'd find in a Metroidvania or a Souls game, so I'm really not sure if diluting the restrictions is in the spirit of this discussion.

[Norfleet]

Any kind of PvP-styled gameplay makes movement skills not only useful, but straight up mandatory. Nothing else matters if you cannot get to the battle. If you're faced with opponents that have a predator-prey dynamic where even a 1% movement boost means the difference between life and death, it's now useful.

[Kalarion]

Any kind of PvP-styled gameplay makes movement skills not only useful, but straight up mandatory. Nothing else matters if you cannot get to the battle. If you're faced with opponents that have a predator-prey dynamic where even a 1% movement boost means the difference between life and death, it's now useful.

This actually reminded me of City of Heroes, which lets you choose a movement power as part of your progression.

You can pick between super speed, mega jumping, and teleportation. They're all a ton of fun. Super speed turns you into Flash. Mega jumping lets you literally jump to the top of skyscrapers. Teleportation obviously has the most potential but is gated behind heavy power cost and an animation of about 2 seconds. Once you get enough regen and power cost reduction on it you can go anywhere you want though.

[Bertram_Tung]

deus ex 1, 3, and 4 have jumping augs (skills) that help you reach places and come in very handy. I haven't played 2 yet

[Norfleet]

This actually reminded me of City of Heroes, which lets you choose a movement power as part of your progression.

Yes, clearly they understood that moving is so critical that they're going to give you the ability to do so as given, without making you pay extra for it.