Parties in Cities

[Xienzi]

There are many ways this concept could be done.

 

 

Each character should have specific goals and various points of interests on maps.

 

So you get to town and as you walk around, characters might express their desire to split and do stuff. You can go do your own stuff, or tag along with one of them (if possible).

The other party members go off on their own and there's a chance that they might trigger some event. They might get back to you later with a story. They might wait for you at a specific place. You might bump into them unplanned as they do errand in the town.

If they run into (simulated) trouble, you might get a prompt to switch to them and fight.

They might get captured.

They might bump into an interesting lead they decide to follow (so when they don't show up you get curios and have to find them)

 

 

tons of possibilities.

 

Shouldn't the other party members be present for all major NPC interactions? So would "splitting up"  just end when you're going to proceed with a quest or talk to major NPCs? Perhaps a button to send out a bird as a messenger to round everyone up or have it just happen? The unease that I'm getting with this whole idea, I think, comes from how it's actually going to operate smoothly and not be totally out of the way.

Edited January 25, 2013 by Xienzi

[Osvir]

Why would the other party members be in that? It could be your own little personal quest as an evil-doer, you do some nasty business on the side when the rest of the party isn't looking (or more correctly, when you've nonchalantly sent them off to do your bidding).

Likewise, it'd be your own choice to bring the rest of the party with major interactions.

In Star Ocean 2, and Star Ocean, you could enter an important cutscene where the game takes over and you enter some dialogue stuff. Some times the "out of party members" faded in from the sides of the screen, some times it was just -you- and not the rest of the party.

Basically, if you send off your party members, then they'd miss out banters. A price to pay in my opinion, but similarly it opens up so many doors for a unique story.

I like doors that opens doors that leads to even more doors. Oh! Have you checked my "Dimensions" in my signature yet?

[JFSOCC]

I'm reminded a bit of Star Ocean 2 (ooo, Japanese RPG - burn the heretic!) where, upon entering a city your party broke up and did things that they wanted to do (this furthered the character relationship aspects as the Player could then find the NPCs and have dialogue scenes with them, finding out things they were interested in or wanted to do).

I feel that the anti-social behaviours from players are partially an indication (indictment) of how boring the towns and villages has become in cRPG that the only game/fun thing to have is a scarvenger hunt or random killing. A little off topic here, but here are some suggestion:

 

Make shops more interesting like let player try out the items in the shop. Let shop give customization like color or even item model. Yes, it's cosmetic but it does replicate some real shopping experience. Have the inventory be reactive to the changes in the game world either by the action or inaction of the player or plot related.

I think part of the reason why shops are uninteresting is that there isn't really an incentive to shop, most of the time. So they exist as a system element as opposed to a world element. Ditto taverns. While I liked the idea of buying a beer and getting hints in a tavern, most of the time the implementation has left something to be desired, thus creating no incentive for the player to participate.

 

These things could be changed if the party "split up". Some of it could be fixed by making areas more reactive (and thus the player more inclined to experience). Maybe buying a round from the bartender gets something, maybe it doesn't. Maybe buying a round for the house gets you something maybe it doesn't. Maybe sitting in on a game in the corner gets you some information, or coming in with a specific NPC or class.

 

But I imagine each of these ideas increase the difficulty a good bit for testing/reactivity.

 

EDIT: Typo - "buying a bear" at a bar would be pretty exciting, though

 

 

I think this is pretty much what we'd like to see. And yes, it's probably very ambitious Edited January 25, 2013 by JFSOCC

[Lephys]

There are many ways this concept could be done.

 

 

Each character should have specific goals and varios points of interests on maps.

 

So you get to town and as you walk around, characters might express their desire to split and do stuff. You can go do your own stuff, or tag along with one of them (if possible).

The other party memebrs go off on their own and there's a chance that they might trigger some event. They might get back to you later with a story. They might wait for you at a specific place. You mgith bump into them unplanned as they do errand in the town.

Ifthey run into (simulated) trouble, you might get a prompt to switch to them and fight.

They might get captured.

They might bump into an interesting lead they decide to follow (so when they don't show up you get curios and have to find them)

 

 

tons of possibilities.

 

This. I would much rather your errand/assignment choices have some bearing on the events/possibilities in the main game than simply produce stuff. (I'm not saying that anyone said "THEY SHOULD JUST GIVE YOU STUFF AFTER A CERTAIN DURATION, LIKE IN ASSASSIN'S CREED!" or anything.)

 

It's just how it translates in the gameplay (player-software interaction). Sure, in the lore, you chose "Go talk to people in the tavern," and for several hours your companion went and spoke to lots of people, in a raucous room with a lot of interesting folks, and they talked, and there was a brawl, and there was some outcome to the brawl, and it turns out your person gained 30 XP and was rewarded by the barkeep with 50 gold pieces. But, as far as the player's game is concerned, you picked someone from the list of people you weren't currently using in your party anyway to go be unavailable for a while (during a time when you don't need them anyway) and come back with stuff, and there just happens to be a nice little write-up of HOW they acquired said stuff. But, the only way in which the player was effected is that, A) You couldn't put them into your party for a duration because they were "busy," and B) you gained stuff.

 

Don't get me wrong... I love lore. But I'd rather stick to "this person brought word of some matter that needs addressing that you didn't know about before" and "this person discovered POTENTIAL stuff that you can now choose to actively go and find" for the effects of these little assignments and happenings with your peoples throughout cities and towns in downtime.

[Xienzi]

 

There are many ways this concept could be done.

 

 

Each character should have specific goals and varios points of interests on maps.

 

So you get to town and as you walk around, characters might express their desire to split and do stuff. You can go do your own stuff, or tag along with one of them (if possible).

The other party memebrs go off on their own and there's a chance that they might trigger some event. They might get back to you later with a story. They might wait for you at a specific place. You mgith bump into them unplanned as they do errand in the town.

Ifthey run into (simulated) trouble, you might get a prompt to switch to them and fight.

They might get captured.

They might bump into an interesting lead they decide to follow (so when they don't show up you get curios and have to find them)

 

 

tons of possibilities.

 

This. I would much rather your errand/assignment choices have some bearing on the events/possibilities in the main game than simply produce stuff. (I'm not saying that anyone said "THEY SHOULD JUST GIVE YOU STUFF AFTER A CERTAIN DURATION, LIKE IN ASSASSIN'S CREED!" or anything.)

 

It's just how it translates in the gameplay (player-software interaction). Sure, in the lore, you chose "Go talk to people in the tavern," and for several hours your companion went and spoke to lots of people, in a raucous room with a lot of interesting folks, and they talked, and there was a brawl, and there was some outcome to the brawl, and it turns out your person gained 30 XP and was rewarded by the barkeep with 50 gold pieces. But, as far as the player's game is concerned, you picked someone from the list of people you weren't currently using in your party anyway to go be unavailable for a while (during a time when you don't need them anyway) and come back with stuff, and there just happens to be a nice little write-up of HOW they acquired said stuff. But, the only way in which the player was effected is that, A) You couldn't put them into your party for a duration because they were "busy," and B) you gained stuff.

 

Don't get me wrong... I love lore. But I'd rather stick to "this person brought word of some matter that needs addressing that you didn't know about before" and "this person discovered POTENTIAL stuff that you can now choose to actively go and find" for the effects of these little assignments and happenings with your peoples throughout cities and towns in downtime.

 

Ah, if you do it that way then it could work. The whole picking from a list of pre-written mini-adventures thing, I mean. Then included among them are unique ones for hidden villages/towns and dungeons found during scouting?

Edited January 26, 2013 by Xienzi