Using multiple members of a party at once to solve a quest

[Jojobobo]

Having to split your party up and have them perform different tasks at once to solve a quest - is this a good idea? Something someone said in the unwinnable monster thread made me think on this and I thought it would be pretty cool; say you're trying to open a door to mysterious dungeon, and all at once you need your thief to enact some complex dexterity focussed manoveur with switches in one area, your mage to cast a spell on an occult engraving on a wall in another, and your fighter/barbarian/combat monkey to make a sacrifice on an altar somewhere (or less class focussed activities, but you get the gist). If this is not done simultaneously, there would be no other way to gain entrance.

 

I think this would be interesting, too often in party based games does one member have all the focus and the rest are just there - existing but not performing any function. In a broader sense, as others have suggested, sending party members off to do something specific (gather intel, etc.) or having party members on separate maps you can navigate to would in my opinion be cool. Thoughts?

[Frenetic Pony]

The idea of splitting your party seems neat, but would have to be handled very specifically and carefully if any combat is involved. I doubt many people out there are going to handle two simultaneous battles well since the game is in real time and not turn based (even with pause and play!). That being said, I can't recall it ever being done in this type of game, so by that reason alone I'd like to see it tried at least.

Edited November 8, 2012 by Frenetic Pony

[Sacred_Path]

Didn't you have to split your party somewhere in the Ice Temple in IWD2?

 

Anyway, I'm all for this. Realms of Arkania 2 made sort of good use of this, not only for a single lever puzzle in a dungeon, but for different areas of the game. Made it worthwhile to have i.e. two characters who were good at picking locks or with social skills.

[Bill Gates' Son]

This is something they are going to do in Wasteland 2 I think.

[Pipyui]

This would be neat, though as someone pointed out, this would be hard to manage concurrently. Though maybe you had in mind each companion having a "chapter" in the dungeon (or whatever). Set each out to handle a task, and when that task is completed, move on to the next member. This doesn't even need to be chronologically contigous, so long as each "chapter" ends at the same "time" so you can switch seemlessly back to party play.

[Osvir]

I think this would be awesome My Rogue climbs the side of the Castle up to the Balcony, my Wizard casts an illusion spell on the front guard so that my disguised Fighter and Priest can get in, meanwhile my Cipher remains in telepathic contact with everyone. With a Dwarf Ranger on a rooftop nearby, using an old-school pirate binocular to get an overview of the area

[Jorian Drake]

The idea of splitting your party seems neat, but would have to be handled very specifically and carefully if any combat is involved. I doubt many people out there are going to handle two simultaneous battles well since the game is in real time and not turn based (even with pause and play!). That being said, I can't recall it ever being done in this type of game, so by that reason alone I'd like to see it tried at least.

 

It can easily be done if handled as in KOTOR2 or Mass Effect2. Let party members handle a certain mission/objective, like guarding a bridge, or sneaking behind enemy lines, or remain at the camp as reinforcements. Of course this would have to be shown to the player (both the effect and actual action) to don't get the player feel detached from the situation, plus there could always be surprises like the enemy flanking the group and suddenly those who remained as reinforcements at the camp have to fight enemy in the camp itself.

 

While the events would happen at the same time, the player would see the scenes after one another (to be easy on the eye but also to allow a certain "spotlight moment" for the party characters in their own scene)

[Pipyui]

It can easily be done if handled as in KOTOR2 or Mass Effect2. Let party members handle a certain mission/objective, like guarding a bridge, or sneaking behind enemy lines, or remain at the camp as reinforcements. Of course this would have to be shown to the player (both the effect and actual action) to don't get the player feel detached from the situation, plus there could always be surprises like the enemy flanking the group and suddenly those who remained as reinforcements at the camp have to fight enemy in the camp itself.

 

While the events would happen at the same time, the player would see the scenes after one another (to be easy on the eye but also to allow a certain "spotlight moment" for the party characters in their own scene)

 

I think you and I have the same idea, but neither of us is very good at articulating it. Control a "chapter" for each companion in sequence, though the "chapters" would in reality (game reality?) happen simultaneously, like in many fiction books. I'm I getting close to making sense yet?

[motorizer]

This is all very well, but they've already the said the game can be completed solo

 

I suppose it could be a sidequest, they also said you can't do everything in one playthrough

[Monte Carlo]

Jagged Alliance 2 did this. But different genre, more of a strat overlay. Would love to see a fantasy JA2, it would be great, but PE is meant to be more traditional.

[Jorian Drake]

This is all very well, but they've already the said the game can be completed solo

 

I suppose it could be a sidequest, they also said you can't do everything in one playthrough

 

or, the quest could be done solo too, but with companions it would be a bit shorter, easier, more fun

 

something like how you could solo rush in and kill dozens of hard enemies and all hostages would die, you could sneak in to rescue the hostages but the leadership would flee with the money

 

the "group event" would basically enable to meet all objectives, or have funny scenes (like what may happen if you leave the "Distraction" objective to a barbarian character or a crazed fire mage instead of to the sneaky ranger or the enchantress, or perhaps to your trusty sidekick "Dogmeat")

Edited November 9, 2012 by Jorian Drake

[Pshaw]

They've said they want the game to complete-able solo or with a party size of your choice. typically these sorts of dungeons force a certain number of party members on you where each member or smaller group needs to complete objectives in their respective parts to open the way forward for others. In the spirit if keeping it solo viable I'm sure this is something they'd want to include. Sure you could have 'spirit guardians' or something sub in for missing party members for such a section but I think they really want you to be able to play the game solo from start to finish without any sort of forced NPC company.

 

I've got nothing against this sort of dungeon. They did one in Warcraft 3 when finding Medivh that I enjoyed a good deal. So while I wouldn't mind seeing such a thing I think it might go against their stated design goals.

[Jorian Drake]

They've said they want the game to complete-able solo or with a party size of your choice.

 

True, but "complete solo playthrough" is not assured to mean "perfect and 100% playthrough", as the above example situation, some things would be missed or left out in quests if not doing them with a larger group, or maybe you just can't open a wall section leading to a secret treasure if there is no second person with you to stand upon the other stone plate to triger the opening mechanism

 

I guess something like animal companions (or undead if Necromancer, or some summon maybe) would be able to replicate some benefits of having more chars, but if someone plays such a character I don't see why they wouldn't also use the "non-summonable" ones

[mcmanusaur]

Only if this is accompanied by the line, "Let's split up, gang!"

[Jorian Drake]

Only if this is accompanied by the line, "Let's split up, gang!"

hmm... I would prefer "Transform and roll out!"