Should food and food quality have any impact in the game?

[metacontent]

After just reading the thread on potions I started to think about food and food quality, and I'm just wondering if other people have thought about this, or if they think this might be an interesting idea.

 

 

Personally I'm not in favor of potions to restore health, I am in favor of potions that might help fight off poison and disease because those are things that we do have in real life.

 

But something else that we have in real life is food, and the quality of food makes a difference.

 

 

If all you eat is gruel (watery poridge) then you're not going to be very healthy/energetic/disease-resistant.

 

However, if you eat the good stuff, then you do have more energy, and more reistant to disease.

 

Is "food quality" a mechanic that people would find interesting in the game?

 

Or is this something that is just too much micro-managy for people.

 

PS. I hope that there is food in the game, and I do hope that running out of food and starving in the wilderness is an option, but I have no idea if that is actually something that will exist in the game or not. If that does exist, then I think "food quality" might be an interesting factor to add into the equasion.

[rjshae]

My guess is that food won't be included because it can be handled as a game mechanic. I.e. some percentage of the loot you find goes to food; you just never see it so you never have to deal with it. It's like a hidden tax.

[Rahkir]

Implementing too much realism takes away from the fun experience of a fantasy adventure. There's always the example of why you never have to tell your heroes to stop a couple times a day to relieve themselves; it's expected that they can manage their own bodily functions without input from the player (and off camera).

 

I'm the type of person who prefers mundane tasks be relegated to comedy or only brought up when relevant to characterization. E.g. friendly jabbing if a certain character ate some bad food and is slowing down the part with his "frequent stops." Or if a character who is all posh, not accustomed to adventuring, delights at the idea of bathing upon returning to civilization, etc.

But I don't want to regulate my characters hunger, bowels or hygeine (I know you didn't suggest all of those, but I find them of similar monotony), so I vote no management of food quality or starving to death.

[jivex5k]

I might be mistaken but I remember something about recipes in the game you can use in real life.

I think cooking is going to be part of crafting.

 

???All in my head maybe??

[jivex5k]

Whoops wrong thread.

Edited October 19, 2012 by jivex5k

[Daulmakan]

No.

 

It's annoying and I personally don't get anything out of the realism this mechanic brings.

[Gfted1]

Please no food mechanic, at least on Normal difficulty.

[Christliar]

It's unnecessary and just adds trivial things most people wouldn't want to be doing.

[Dianjabla]

Yeah, no thanks. Hunger & thirst mechanic can be left as an option for expert mode, and not even compulsory then. Actually, leave it off altogether and concentrate on making fun stuff instead.

[Leferd]

No.

[simon_templar]

Food would be good if you're playing only one hero - like in ADOM, but with whole party - too much of effort

Edited October 20, 2012 by simon_templar

[underageaoler]

I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with the naysayers. In this context, it just doesn't fit. However, it's certainly a neat idea for other games, like Fallout.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

No thanks. The time I spend worrying about food is the time I don't spend exploring the world, conversing with characters or exploding heretics.

[Sensuki]

Tim Cain said there was going to be food.

 

That doesn't mean there'll be a mechanic involving it though.

[MoobooMagoo]

Food is fine as an item. It could heal or give buffs or whatever.

 

Hunger as a mechanic isn't that much fun, to me anyway. I would be all for having a survival mode though, for people that would want that. It can be a fun thing to do for a while, just not fun to be FORCED to do.

[Nerei]

Not sure how food could be implemented without being simply an inventory filler unless you also add some sort of hunger/thirst mechanics, which really should be an optional feature. The way New Vegas had it was okay, if they go with that route fine.

[izzy]

I think there will no hunger/thirsty mechanics. But food for buff or healing that is Ok.

[Tusck]

I'd prefer not to worry about basic needs. I understand why some would, but I'm not a roleplayer. I guess it would make sense to be a part of higher difficulties as well.

[PsychoBlonde]

But I don't want to regulate my characters hunger, bowels or hygeine (I know you didn't suggest all of those, but I find them of similar monotony), so I vote no management of food quality or starving to death.

 

I think this might get pretty laughable in a six-person party, too. 2 people well-fed and the rest starve to death? Wtf.

 

I'm not opposed to having some RP moments when people talk about running low on supplies and, say, you have to go do a quest where you hunt up some grub. Moments like these can be fun. I'm not interested in a "hunger" game mechanic in this kind of game though.

[Crusty]

Realms of Arkania.

 

But I doubt it would be worth implementing in Project Eternity.

[Nidrolok]

Realms of Arkania.

 

But I doubt it would be worth implementing in Project Eternity.

Yeah, it'd definitively be too much effort for too little gain in this case. I do however also think that having food in a game without the mechanics to accompany it are rather useless and the time and resources used to out it in the game could be better spent elsewhere. Edited October 20, 2012 by Nidrolok

[Humanoid]

Food as a maintenance item is unnecessary, but I have a larger beef (er, pun not intended) with food as a healing item. It's not only unnecessary duplication - I don't like healing potions either but it's the lesser evil - but also makes no sense whatsoever.

[GhostofAnakin]

No.

 

It's annoying and I personally don't get anything out of the realism this mechanic brings.

 

This.

 

Please no food mechanic, at least on Normal difficulty.

 

And this.

 

IMO, the inclusion of food becomes more annoying than fun. I don't think it adds more "realism" to the game any more than making the player required to take regular bathroom breaks does. I've always found these kinds of items just add one more mundane chore you have to slog through, rather than see it as an addition to the realism of the game.

 

If it *is* implemented, hopefully it's either reserved for the highest difficulties, or there's a toggle switch in the options that you can turn this feature on or off.

[Nidrolok]

If it *is* implemented

Of course it is not going to be implemented. As an game that emulates the mechanics of IE games the travel system will probably be quite similar in character, and resting is supposed to be done and away with. This pretty much rules out any use of food mechanically beyond "eat one loaf of bread and gain 2HP".

[Freshock]

I might be mistaken but I remember something about recipes in the game you can use in real life.

I think cooking is going to be part of crafting.

 

???All in my head maybe??

 

Everyone that pledged is getting a digital PDF cookbook with recipes from Tim Cain. It's probably what you're thinking about but it's not been said to have anything with in-game recipes/food as far as I know.

 

Don't really like the idea of food. So many RPG's have tried - and I've never (yet) have had use for it. All it does is add more developing time.