How come so few (any?) RPGs to date have these features?

[CameraLuv]

Wouldn't it be great if..

 

1. a fireball or other explosive item/spell flung at a group had an impact on their positioning?

2. getting hurt meant characters started looking hurt and not simply kept standing up like marionettes while exchanging blows or magic missiles? 

 

The first item is a practical change that could add some extra tactical elements to encounters.

The second is mostly cosmetic in nature, but it wouldn't be terribly hard to implement if taken into consideration from the beginning.

[FireExit]

It depends on the models being used.  Each "cosmetic" change to indicate hurt would result in more art time required for the "damage" to be rendered, more coding time, etc.... And that's just considering the top level.  How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?  Do you have just generic damage, or more specific?  Do characters limp?  Limbs dangle uselessly?  Return on investment could be quite low at the end of the day

[rjshae]

It also depends on the ruleset they are implementing. If the game uses the D&D PnP fireball, then there is no knockback from the outburst. It just applies heat and flame to a volume. Adding knockback would be an additional benefit that should (for game balance reasons) change the spell difficulty or level.

 

Some games do implement a general 'hurt' animation for various effects.

[Noer]

1st one easy to do but it was restricted to dragon's breath in bg2 wasnt it? 2nd is about graphics but its not the graphics we are looking for right? and the resources (mostly human) are limited

[PrimeJunta]

1. a fireball or other explosive item/spell flung at a group had an impact on their positioning?

2. getting hurt meant characters started looking hurt and not simply kept standing up like marionettes while exchanging blows or magic missiles?

1. is in P:E. Lots of abilities and spells that push enemies back. Fireballs don't though.

 

2. is cosmetic; P:E certainly has higher priorities than that. It wouldn't add much of value to the game IMO for the effort needed to do it.

[crackwise]

The 2nd concept you mentioned is very apparent in Jagged Alliance 2, which is a turn based squad tactics game, with RPG elements.  

 

If your characters are hurt in that game, they actually look hurt + they have reduced action points: It means your wounded teammates cannot fight properly as their wounds accumulate and you need to retreat your character as quick as possible either by suppressing the enemy (so they stop shooting at your wounded character) or throwing smoke greneades and blocking the enemy's line of sight. That game is pretty realistic though, wounded characters bleed each round unless you don't patch them up using med-kits, and heavily wounded characters can pass out becoming unconscious.

 

It makes perfect sense for a heavily wounded character not to be able to move/cast/attack properly. This was something missing in many of the RPGs so far.  

[rjshae]

It makes perfect sense for a heavily wounded character not to be able to move/cast/attack properly. This was something missing in many of the RPGs so far.  

 

True, but it's also missing from a number of PnP RPGs as well. Drakensang: TDE implemented a pretty decent wounds system.

[Tamerlane]

Tons of games, including many RPGs, have knockback as part of various attacks (sometimes but not always including fireballs). Tons of games, including many RPGs, have separate animations for wounded characters.