Hi all,
My 2 cents (well it turned out to be 5 cents
)
Key remapping: consider this a confirmation that you can remap your keys.
Action RPG vs RPG with a lot of action in it - obviously I prefer the latter statement as I made it my focus during all of my Leipzig presentations. Without delving into a detailed discussion here, I think I understand what you all mean as it reflects my attitude towards RPG's in general.
The only reason I like games like Diablo 2 is because I could play them with my friends and in that context, the entire item fever thing and being able to explore a vast world seemed to be sufficient. Playing it solo, I found little to attract me and I never finished it in single player.
I missed questing, puzzles and above all, choice. Choice obviously has a very big production impact so there are always limits, but that doesn't mean you can't try to put it in. Most games we label action-RPGs don't even bother and if they do, it's done in such a bad way that you wished they hadn't done it all.
Once you start introducing choice, you automatically find yourself in the position where you have to create an interesting setting, call it universe if you want, where the inhabitants and story react on the choices you make, and where the choices become more interesting if you add depth to both the universe and the characters. That's quite a complex undertaking and probably the dominant reason a lot of developers shy away from it. But it does make the game a lot more interesting and I'm quite sure that if Diablo 2 had offered choice, I'd have been more interested in it's single player mode. But then again, it's multiplayer would've suffered heavily from it.
I consider the choices you make in a RPG to be as much part of your character development as your stats and equipment, and I prefer it when players stumble into situations where they have to make choices as a result of their own actions, as it makes them feel more involved. The simplest way to do that is to litter the world with opportunities to experience interesting things and leave it upon the players to discover them. You don't enforce situations upon the player, and it's their exploration choices that bring on these interesting situations. The second thing you can do is have those interesting situations involve interesting choices. That leads to a fairly dynamic experience in which the player starts geting the feeling that his actions matter and it gives him a sense of freedom in a reactive universe.
When I hear action-RPG, I immediately have the reaction, no choice, just item fever and it's exactly that kind of thing which we tried to avoid with
and
. I like item/skills/stats fever and a combat system that supports that fever, but I want it to be in an environment where I have choices. And if there's no choice present for whatever reason, then at least I expect something interesting to happen after I defeated a number of foes. No combat as a reward for combat if you want. In most action-RPGs this is done by cutscenes, but my personal preference is something that involves the game world as otherwise I lose my immersion. And what better thing than an interesting choice that affects the game world ?
I've got this acronym by which I judge a RPG, it's called FUME. Rate the Freedom to develop your character, rate the Universe in which you can develop your characrter, rate the Motivation to develop your character and rate the Enemies against which you can develop your character, and if the game scores high on all four fronts, you most likely have a pretty cool RPG.
Or put otherwise
F=all the actions and choices I can make in the game world
U=the quality of the simulation and the visualisation of the world
M=the story that drives me forward
E=the combat
Most action RPGs only take care of the M & E part, with total disregard for the F & U. Good RPGs try to offer all four, though that makes it exponentially more complicated to develop.
We're trying to get you a good FUME experience, and to cut a lot story short, that's why I prefer the term RPG with action in it rather than action RPG
As for the E, the combat part which actually was the focus of a lot of the discussion here, we want to make it accessible and tactically interesting while still getting some adrenalin in your body when you're playing. The pause button is one where you pause the game, select an action to execute after which the game executes the action and you can continue playing (or pause again to do another action). I think it'll take care of the accessibility which seems to be the dominant concern here and if we pace things right, it shouldn't prevent the adrenalin (and you're not forced to use it). The needing to pick the right skills and right position finally takes care of the tactical part.
Lar
