Followers and the player's influence on them

[Dream]

@Dream: So what you're saying is that basically you just want to "win" this conversation by any means. Look, I didn't give you reasons why the developers should listen to what I say, I gave you reasons why I'm interested in this project completely regardless of the combat system it is using.

 

Just to cut down on all that though, while something like the HP system or the dodge system may be a major change to the design, what you propose here verges on turning it into an entirely different genre. At their most basic, the IE games are squad based tactical RPGs, by relinquishing control of the squad it becomes something else entirely. As I said in my previous post I don't have any problems with implementing both, but not having party management as an option would basically strip 90% of the tactics off the gameplay.

And as I have said before, I have no problem with having both options, and I am in fact not proposing anything. I would, personally, prefer a game where the AI does even more than it does nowadays in RPGs (and that does NOT concern combat so much that it would turn into a different genre - combat is mostly fine the way it's usually done nowadays in "IE inspired games" like NWN2, the AI is just not good enough yet), but even then it should always be optional.

Just keep in mind that while a game might be catered to certain hardcore fans, developers rarely want to alienate other potential players. And the hardcore fans, they do not need to be represented anymore on this forum. Finding out what "casual RPG players" want can be very important for developers. Especially if what they're interested in isn't something that can't be done with the game they're doing for the hardcore crowd. This isn't an either/or, if it was, I wouldn't even talk about it.

 

Having as much AI control as you're asking for isn't something you can have as an option because it would fundamentally change the game. Should the developers add a casual difficulty where the enemies are so easy that NPC AI can handle them and the companions have autoleveling? Sure, but for the harder difficulties you should be required to micromanage the party.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The party members should do exactly what I tell them. The only time their AI should do anything at all is when I've given them no instruction. So, if I tell my Fighter to hit something, he should keep hitting it until it is dead, and then, if I don't give him another instruction, he should select a new target on his own.

 

NWN2's detailed AI settings were good, but they had the unfortunate habit of taking over even when I'd given that character a specific instruction. And while I could have disabled the AI by enabling puppet mode, that would prevent the character from then doing the next thing when that first task was complete.

 

I'd like to see the AI make decisions, but only when making a decision doesn't undo a decision I have already made. This would also mean that I would need to have some means to tell a character to stand still and do nothing (DAO allowed this simply by keeping the character selected and not teling him to do anything).

 

Would you like an AI that can be turned completely off, has adjustable variables(like who the character attacks, if they will use spells or abilities on their won, when they will use potions, for example), and is always superseded by player commands?

[TMZuk]

I'd like them to be independant characters with free will.

 

I ~would~ like some control over their development. It's annoying if you can't use a character you really like, because his or her characteristics happens to overlap the main protagonist's. But otherwise than that, they should do as they please.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Would you like an AI that can be turned completely off, has adjustable variables(like who the character attacks, if they will use spells or abilities on their won, when they will use potions, for example), and is always superseded by player commands?

Yes. In fact, if the AI was always superceded by player commands, I don't think I would ever need to disable the AI. I would very much like the AI to make decisions whenever I'm not doing it. Perhaps let me re-enable the AI as a queued item, so I'll give a character a series of instructions, the last of which is "make your own decisions". If I don't add that instruction, puppet mode would continue and the character would just stand still and wait.

[Lephys]

The party AI/behavior serves the awesome purpose of making sure your party is performing somewhere above 0% combat efficiency, but it definitely shouldn't have them performing at 100% efficiency on its own. So, nothing but manual control (while I'm not against that being a togglable option, if you so choose) would be a little overkill in the "I have to spend all my time just making sure we don't die to rats because my party's just staring at them while they gnaw all our feet off" respect.

 

Honestly, the Dragon Age (1 and 2) "tactics" system was a good system, it was just SO crude. The 2nd game was far better than the first, but in the "Yay, now we're in beta instead of alpha!" way. Something like that system would be pretty nice. Especially if, say, spells and abilities have a lot more tactical utility than in many other games. Let's say a Monk ability has a powerful knockback as well as deals crushing damage. Well, you may want that character to use that on heavily armored foes, for the damage effectiveness. But, you might also want them to use it on some melee berzerker enemy, simply to knock it across the room (and you don't care how much damage the ability dealt to it) so that other characters (or just other attacks/abilities) can take it down while it doesn't shred one of your party members. The latter scenario might be a priority (damage prevention) over the former scenario (more effective damage dealing to a foe who may or may not be an immediate threat).

 

It would be very nice to be able to set some pretty specific behaviors. I'd much rather have that than the typical 3-stage overly-simplistic "Be aggressive!/Be defensive!/Be passive!" thing, which sometimes gets coupled with the "Throw spells like there's no tomorrow!/Use some spells sometimes!/Maybe once a year, on your birthday, use a spell, if you feel like it!" options. When you get into the tactical rough, you end up either manually controlling everyone every second (rendering the behavior settings moot) or changing them 4 times for different stages of the battle (which takes about as much time as the manual control, therefore also rendering the behavior settings pretty moot).

 

Example: "Wait! That troll is changing targets! YOU, blow all your mana! YOU, start attacking this little Goblin, and stop using so much mana! There, that should... WAIT! He's switched targets again? Okay, okay, go back to what you were doing!"

 

(I realize the details of the example systems aren't necessarily going to be present in P:E, but the effects of the party's AI/behavior controls carry over to pretty much any similar RPG party combat system.)