Methods of upgrading, As well as some other things.. Options

[Trickster]

Well I'm currently in the process(Or rather the THINKING stage..) of a new RPG(you don't need to know anything about it yet...)
but I want it to be unique, and in-depth..especially in the character building aspect. So what kind of methods could be used to "Upgrade" a character? Now I don't just mean "uh...make their stats increase when they level..." No. In fact I'm trying to get rid of stats entirely!
I have some ideas of my own, but I want to see what others can come up with so i can find the best mix....

Also, I need some help on an "Element Fusion" system(EFS)...basically I want magic classed characters to have the ability to "Combine" elemental spells(eg "Fireball of poo" and "Watery kick"[lol]) to create new elements...so combining a fire spell with a water spell would do nothing, but combing a wind spell with a lightning spell, would form a "stormy wind" spell. And then depending on exactly WHICH spells you combine, you'll end up with different spells in these Fusion elements...

so i just need some help on how to DO this system, as well as what elements could be involved?(Other than the basic fire, water, electricity)
any help would be GREATLY appreciated..

[rcGingerNinja]

You can't really eradicate stats from an rpg game.....unless you make the all the enemies generally the same in overall strength.

You can always eradicate them visually, but you will need some way to measure your characters against your enemies behind the scenes.

Unless of course like I said, they have static strength and the enemies are all generally as powerfull (like in a fighting game), but perhaps with different or unique abilities that make the battles more challenging (no different than a regular rpg, but I guess it could play a stronger role).

[Trickster]

You can always eradicate them visually, but you will need some way to measure your characters against your enemies behind the scenes.

Yeah that's what I mean..I don't want players going "Oh ladyda! I have 5000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 strength!" I'd rather if they didn't know how much an item was going to help them, and they only knew "Gee! This armour is a piece of crap!"
or "Gee! This armour is pretty ok.." up as far as "HOLI KRAP DIZ AMAR IZ DA BESSSSTEZT!!!"
But obviously items will give them more specific increases than "Pretty ok"...

[rcGingerNinja]

Well that will probably make your job easier, it will be no different than normal, you will just not display the actual data.

I suppose removing that just leaves levelling and weapons/armor? Simplifies the progression I suppose.

You can do away with all of it, I have played very few games in the past that do this, although normally there is some familiarity and enjoyment to be had having all this stats and effects on it for the gamer. But then again some games go way too far with it I think.

[Trickster]

Well one of the ideas I had, was that at certain...wells(Or fountains..or buildings..haven't decided) you can equip "Runes". Some runes can only be used by a certain class, some by all, and some by several classes.
You collect runes at the end of Caves and dungeons(Which promotes exploration). These runes increase a specific skill permanently, but each character can only equip 6.

So you need to use them wisely, so that if you get a better rune, you'll still have a slot to equip it, and it allows a player to specialise each of the characters with a particular path...

[rcGingerNinja]

I have another idea for you to further that.

I have seen it in some games, to a small degree. But aside from your obvious features, the story is also one of the important parts of the game, what if these runes (or whatever you use) should reveal something about the story or one of it's characters when you first touch it (in a game you would introduce the first one or few so that they know what to expect when gaining this item).

If the runes were somehow tied to characters or their class (obviously what is revealed from touching the rune would preferably be in line with this), it would work quite smoothly .

[Trickster]

Yes that would be a nice way of expanding the original idea. It wold actually make the Runes much more important to the storyline.
Thanks for the reply. It may help a lot

[Seraph]

You could incorporate those 'runes' into a sphere-grid like system from FF10.

[kathaar]

ungh, the sphere grid....only one good thing came out of that, if you DID happen to no life the game long enough, you could make every character THE EXACT SAME skill/ability wise. But i do like that idea Username is having about changing up the system on character progression, the Runes is a great aspect especially if you incorporate storyline into them. As for elements to mix i'll just list whatever i think of and you pick whatever you like

Water
ice
Fire
Lighting
Light
Darkness
Ethereal
Steel
Earth
Wind
Nature
Poison
Curse
if i think of more il let you know

This post has been edited by kathaar: Jan 4 2010, 07:06 AM

[Trickster]

You could incorporate those 'runes' into a sphere-grid like system from FF10.

Thanks for the suggestion but I think that's just more hassle...they'll be in your inventory, and you'll know which class(es) the rune can be used on so...I needn't really bother.

Thanks for the element ideas. I'll use most but not steel..
also what's ethereal?

[kathaar]

kindof like spiritual...idk its hard to explain

[GalzaRPG]

I don't know how well this would work in RPG 2003 .. but I had a brainstorm awhile back for melee type doods.. or even castery types. Basically there would be a stance "buff" that would determine what kind of attacks they do.. like say you have a guy with a sword and sheild.. there could be a stance where he raises the sheild, and he'd have all these defensive stat skills, while also having a higher armor rating. I also thought of a dude with a "gunblade" and one of the stances would be "gun mode" where he basically becomes a range fighter instead of a sword guy.

I guess Mages and Healers are the only ones I haven't really come up with anything yet. I suppose Mages stances could change their elemental resistances/spells.. *shrug

I kind of want to finish the project I'm working on right now before I try anything else though.

[Trickster]

It's an interesting idea...how would you use the "Stance Buffs"? Would they be set as skills? Or switches?

*note* even though this isn't about the project, I may be releasing a demo soon(I'm making it for my own benefit mainly )
which displays a random dungeon(Which probably won't be in the final game) to show off some puzzle work, battles, various features AND the "runes".

[Brent Murray]

You could always do what the noob's do in their first attempt:

Talk to NPC's, and they will give you da POWER!!!

[Trickster]

You callin' me a noob!? xD
I think I've figured out most of the system and have the final upgrade mechanic pretty much finished.
LOCKADY LOCK LOCK!!