Player - the only competent force in the Universe

[Cantousent]

I don't just think that's cool as a one time idea, dusk, I actually think that's a great way to do the game. If your reason for going forward is by and large personal, then you have plenty of choice to help other folks for any number of reasons, and I like the idea that you'll be the minor player in someone else's troupe from time to time even if you're the main character in your own story.

[NerdBoner]

Something else I'd like to see is the player being forced to make choices about how much to help someone else accomplish something. Either he could 'lend' one of his NPC companions to another strike force or some such or he could allocate resources such as funding, items, or influence. Maybe he lets other allied groups use his house as a headquarters for operations. Stuff like that.

 

Or how about the player gets recruited as an effective NPC for a mission? A more powerful character takes you along as part of their quest, and they're the ones making the decisions and telling you what to do; you could voice your opinion, but wouldn't necessarily be listened to, and disobeying orders could turn the whole party against you. Wouldn't be any fun to make the whole game like that, but it might be an entertaining twist for a sidequest.

I don't just think that's cool as a one time idea, dusk, I actually think that's a great way to do the game. If your reason for going forward is by and large personal, then you have plenty of choice to help other folks for any number of reasons, and I like the idea that you'll be the minor player in someone else's troupe from time to time even if you're the main character in your own story.

 

this would in fact be a great way to spend an entire first chapter of PE, a good way to learn lore of the world, skills and to set the tone of your character...

 

eventually you have to break away and be your own man but its a great idea for a rookie adventurer to be taken in by a more experienced party so he can learn the ropes. I honestly don't think its ever been done to any great depth in a crpg.

[Wombat]

As for the power balance issue, anything can be done as long as the rule-set/setting allows the characters to become legendary/god-like creatures. This is almost an innate problem with rule-set like D&D. IWD2 tries to pretend the PCs are just mercenaries but it made the story somewhat ridiculous and some people felt it's pathetic of the enemy regions were defeated by just some mercenaries. There are suitable rule-sets for a certain types of stories. I like more moderate rule-set with more moderate rule for the protagonist but I think PE seems to be "epic" route.

[duskwind]

I don't just think that's cool as a one time idea, dusk, I actually think that's a great way to do the game.

 

Thanks The same general idea could work as a way to start off with the usual weird mix of individuals in a party, instead of recruiting them one by one. If there's a pre-existing party that recruits you as a member, and you take over as leader after proving yourself superior to the old leader in some way (could be various ways to achieve this; you could exhibit consistently better decision-making as the leader ignores your advice and gets the group in to trouble, or the old leader could sacrifice themselves heroically leaving you with big boots to fill). And finding out how the NPCs joined the party before you could make for entertaining conversations.

 

Actually, I guess Dragon Age sort of does this with the whole recruitment by the Grey Wardens thing, but the Wardens aren't really an adventuring party, and you don't really get to take over because the whole lot get wiped out, not just the leader.

Edited September 24, 2012 by duskwind

[gglorious]

Well, I think a really good way to do this is going to be placing things like backstory defeats. You may route the goblins here, but your opponents end up taking the advantage elsewhere. Or even using a lot of clever Xanatos gambits or even roulettes in the plot. If a lot of cleverness is being used by everyone, then a lot more people seem competent. Let the bad guys lose because they were outwitted occasionally. Let the PC show up and find themselves occasionally a bit useless. So, you receive a call for help, but when you arrive somebody else already took care of it. It may not be a total loss though as there may still be mop-up work, or an interesting digression. Or, when you make the major mission, you end up screwing up. It's not your fault. It's not done in an overly hokey way either. You just couldn't succeed, but somebody else did. I mean, other dynamic characters make a game world interesting. Just so long as you always feel competent and generally don't feel like a failure, then that's fine.

[Oerwinde]

I know the devs have talked about having a rival adventuring party in other games. Hopefully they can bust that out in this one.