RPG combat

[Norfleet]

Hence why encounters should test a party instead of an individual. A game with great design will create a variety of situations where different characters are the MVP across various encounters.

There's a lot of games where you only have a single character, and many more where, even if you have multiple characters, it is not practical to cover a broad range of damage types, given that nonmagical characters might only have access to one or two damage types, so unless you're running a rainbow wizard party, you probably can't access more than a few damage types. And, of course, creating a game that is simply unplayable unless you have the right spread of party composition, something which you can't know in advance, is probably off the table. So that means the game can be completed with any spread of characters. Which means damage type necessarily ceases to matter (especially given the fact that you are most likely locked in by late game).

The game would therefore have had to be designed with the idea of characters being able to deal multiple types of damage from the beginning: For instance, a guy with a longsword might be able to deal slashing damage by swinging his sword, piercing damage by stabbing with it, and bashing damage by striking someone with the pommel, all without ever having to give up his sword and sword-related skills.

[J1M]

Hence why encounters should test a party instead of an individual. A game with great design will create a variety of situations where different characters are the MVP across various encounters.

There's a lot of games where you only have a single character, and many more where, even if you have multiple characters, it is not practical to cover a broad range of damage types, given that nonmagical characters might only have access to one or two damage types, so unless you're running a rainbow wizard party, you probably can't access more than a few damage types. And, of course, creating a game that is simply unplayable unless you have the right spread of party composition, something which you can't know in advance, is probably off the table. So that means the game can be completed with any spread of characters. Which means damage type necessarily ceases to matter (especially given the fact that you are most likely locked in by late game).

The game would therefore have had to be designed with the idea of characters being able to deal multiple types of damage from the beginning: For instance, a guy with a longsword might be able to deal slashing damage by swinging his sword, piercing damage by stabbing with it, and bashing damage by striking someone with the pommel, all without ever having to give up his sword and sword-related skills.

Disagree 100%. This sounds like a list of excuses that would be made a water cooler at GDC.

Allowing any character to have a wide spread of easily called upon damage types would undermine the entire point.

A crossbow is a distinct enough differentiator from a spear for interesting encounters, even if they both deal piercing damage.

Allowing you to change your character after the title screen would be a sufficient backstop to such issues. Another solution is to give areas thematic elements (enemies of specific types or favored weapons) and the player party members that can be swapped to change what the party is good at and what it is not.

That way, you can have enemies that are actually different from each other, and we can still adhere to the misguided idea that everyone must be able to finish the game (even though 80% of them won't regardless of how easy it is) by allowing them to retreat to camp and bring the cleric and paladin to the "Lich's Barrow". Are they required? No.

Why bother putting effort into this? So that it is a game instead of an activity.

[rusty_shackleford]

That way, you can have enemies that are actually different from each other, and we can still adhere to the misguided idea that everyone must be able to finish the game (even though 80% of them won't regardless of how easy it is) by allowing them to retreat to camp and bring the cleric and paladin to the "Lich's Barrow". Are they required? No.

QUESTION

what's the reason you can't just bring everyone with you

[J1M]

That way, you can have enemies that are actually different from each other, and we can still adhere to the misguided idea that everyone must be able to finish the game (even though 80% of them won't regardless of how easy it is) by allowing them to retreat to camp and bring the cleric and paladin to the "Lich's Barrow". Are they required? No.

QUESTION

what's the reason you can't just bring everyone with you

That would lower the novelty and challenge, making the game less fun.

If you need a reason, consider the head canon of the world only having 6 horses or some mumbo-jumbo about a hexagon-shaped teleportation stone.

[Norfleet]

Allowing any character to have a wide spread of easily called upon damage types would undermine the entire point.

A crossbow is a distinct enough differentiator from a spear for interesting encounters, even if they both deal piercing damage.

Yes, and now when you have one member with a spear and one with a crossbow, you've got two people locked into piercing damage.

Allowing you to change your character after the title screen would be a sufficient backstop to such issues.

Not sure what you mean by that.

Another solution is to give areas thematic elements (enemies of specific types or favored weapons) and the player party members that can be swapped to change what the party is good at and what it is not.

That way, you can have enemies that are actually different from each other, and we can still adhere to the misguided idea that everyone must be able to finish the game (even though 80% of them won't regardless of how easy it is) by allowing them to retreat to camp and bring the cleric and paladin to the "Lich's Barrow". Are they required? No.

Seems like at that point we're moving away from a typical party RPG and more towards Tacticool Fantasy X-Com, but I have no complaints with that idea. It's a design concept I've been kicking around myself, really.

what's the reason you can't just bring everyone with you

They can't all fit in the Skyranger.

[rusty_shackleford]

person trained in a spear can easily switched to something like a staff(crushing) or a halberd(slashing) with little reduction in effectiveness

[Norfleet]

person trained in a spear can easily switched to something like a staff(crushing) or a halberd(slashing) with little reduction in effectiveness

Maybe, but that is not how RPGs and buildfaggotry work. In an RPG, not only are they likely separate skills, but if you switch away from that SPECIFIC spear to another spear, your build breaks because that SPECIFIC spear adds some critical +bonus that makes the build work at all. Also, even if you are far long enough in progression that you could make horizontal alternate gearsets, the game has no loadout system so prying out all of your slotted gems, putting them into the alternate armor, swapping each armor piece by piece, and then checking to make sure everything was assembled correctly only to undo it afterwards, would take longer than just slogging through it.

Especially when you consider that matching damage type MIGHT give you only like +50% damage, which might have been a lot at level 1, but doesn't mean anything when you're at level 100 and have +9001% damage that only stacks additively, which you'd lose if you broke the combo.

[TKVNC]

person trained in a spear can easily switched to something like a staff(crushing) or a halberd(slashing) with little reduction in effectiveness

Maybe, but that is not how RPGs and buildfaggotry work. In an RPG, not only are they likely separate skills, but if you switch away from that SPECIFIC spear to another spear, your build breaks because that SPECIFIC spear adds some critical +bonus that makes the build work at all. Also, even if you are far long enough in progression that you could make horizontal alternate gearsets, the game has no loadout system so prying out all of your slotted gems, putting them into the alternate armor, swapping each armor piece by piece, and then checking to make sure everything was assembled correctly only to undo it afterwards, would take longer than just slogging through it.

Especially when you consider that matching damage type MIGHT give you only like +50% damage, which might have been a lot at level 1, but doesn't mean anything when you're at level 100 and have +9001% damage that only stacks additively, which you'd lose if you broke the combo.

ME1 ammo was RPG kino

[Norfleet]

ME1 ammo was RPG kino

Ammo is certainly one way to bring damage types into play. Although in the real world, your ammo choice is more of a nonchoice, since in one scenario, one type of ammo can penetrate body armor, and the other kind can't and is also a warcrime, while in the other scenario, one type of ammo will come to a stop in your target, while the other will punch straight through your target, the wall behind your target, your neighbor's wall, and then your neighbor, before finally coming to a stop inside his dog, so depending on what kind of game you're playing, there's only one real option that makes any sense.

[maidenhaver]

Good combat is going to hang on environment and party tactics. I want to do more than blob my party, so give me spells and traps.

[Dorateen]

I don't know what this thread is about, but the answer is

Knights of the Chalice 2

[Lhynn]

Knights of the Chalice 2

Most ******** encounter design. And your answer is correct, though DA2 is a close second.