[IoriYagami]

R.C.A.S - Rune Circle Ability System

The base of RCAS lies in the Rune Tablet/Circle system. Rune Tablets are Data that's written onto Disks that are installed onto a character's Rune Case, Machines that give characters the power to defend themselves against the harshness of the world ( Usually meant for futuristic settings ). Within Rune Tablets are specail etched drawings known as Rune Circles.

These Rune Circles have Indentations on them known as Nodes. These Nodes house abilities/Stat Boosts/ or traits on them the character can make use of, provided he/she installs the corresponding Rune pearl, keys needed to activate the nodes. Each Rune circle has a bonus ability that is unlocked if all nodes are Fully unlocked. There are two methods for obtaining Pearls. Pearls are dropped off enemies. Certain types of enemies drop certain pearls.


Equipping Rune Tablets. The player cannot simply aquire Rune Tablets and use them just like that. Characters require a certain level achieved, and enough RP. RP are Rune Points, determined by level, each amount varying from character to character. This is to promote strategy within the game for the player.

I want to see everyone's thoughts on this before I introduce the next portion of my Battle system.

[Zombuh]

Cool, do you have any pictures or ideas of how it will look to the user? Immediately I thought of FFX and FFXIII, with each node extending to the next in a circle after being unlocked. This sounds more like the character growth system, so I guess the actual battle part is coming in the next post?

[IoriYagami]

Unfortunately, I have no pictures set up for this. I'm Sorry.

RCAS will be a combination of Real time and Turn based strategy. Think Grandia here, but with a portion of FFXI's Attack delay value system. I'll explain that soon.

Now to explain Burst Rave Attacks

BURST RAVE SYSTEM and SKILLCHAINS

Burst raves are unique Cutscene-esqe attacks that can be preformed in battle when a character aquires enough Burst Points. Burst raves can be obtained by several methods; Normal Attacking ( 1P ), Defending ( 1 every two hits guarded, or just .5 each hit ), Certain abilities ( Varyng amounts ), or by using certain items ( I thought up the 'Adrenalixir' for this, which restores a character's BP to its current MAX, determined by Character level ). Burst raves would be introduced in via a Potrait Cut in of the involved character, similar to Tales of Graces/Destiny Remake. This goes for both enemies and party members

Skillchains occur when two burst raves are preformed back to back without any action taking place in between. The skillchain occuring will vary from burst rave to Burst Rave, forcing the player to use strategy if he/she will want the rewards such attacks reap. The effects could be anything from elemental attacks ( just like the original Skillchains from FFXI: Online ) or Positive/negative stat inducing attacks. Skillchain activations will be introduced in via a double portrait cut in involving the two characters. Kind of like Groitche/Droite's Hi-Ougi from ToV.

There will be Skill chains involving 2 burst raves and some with Three Burst raves. If the player is able to boost a character's Speed and BP up enough, they could possibly SOLO skillchain up to three burst raves together. All this assuming there is no other action in between the skillchain Combo.

[IoriYagami]

Okay. I'm pretty sure this'll interest some people. Time to explain How DELAY works in a battle.

Delay is like a timer. It starts at a single, double, or triple digit and when it reaches zero, the character action is preformed.

THE STATS INVOLVED!!

DELAY - character stat that determines the length of time that passes before a character's action takes place. The formula I have in mind that would determine this goes like this....

Speed * 5 -> Equipment bonuses -> Rune Abilities -> Cmd. Delay Bonuses/or penalties -> Final value

COOLDOWN - Stat that determines how soon the player can issue another command for the character. Enemies are obviously excluded. Cooldown is 50% of the base
delay of the previous command done by the character by default. Rune abilities/Skill bonuses are calculated in before the final value

EXAMPLE OF A DELAY SEQUENCE

Hero has a speed stat of 75. This results in a Base delay of 375 ( 75 x 5 = 375, right? ). Character preforms an action 'Potion'. On the description the player would see 'Delay: -150.' This results in the DELAY for the action being dropped to 235. At that point a small potrait of the character on the upper right of the screen should show a timer beginning to scale downwards to zero. When that timer hits zero, the character preforms the action. After the action is preformed, as in the character stops moving, Cooldown begins. Cooldown timer freezes if another character's Cooldown happens to hit zero first and resumes when the
player command is enacted. As for Delay, The timer only freezes when a burst Rave is being preformed.

[IoriYagami]

All these Views and no comments? C'mon! I need input! ._.

[Knida]

Sounds great, thanks for the explanation.

[IoriYagami]

Somehow that sounds made up and leaves me unsatisfied. Ah well. Thank you anyways.

[Rhayve]

I think you shouldn't expect too much of these forums, as they aren't as active anymore as they were in the past.

Anyhow, regarding your battle system: the basic idea is pretty interesting, though it kind of feels too much like Grandia's battle system (aside from the Burst Raves) turned into numerical values rather than using the action bar. Maybe adding some sort of new highly strategic twist would make it more unique? Maybe splitting the Delay modes into 2 different kinds, and depending on what mode the enemy uses, you'd have to change yours and adjust your battle plan.
The modes could possibly be your Delay/Cooldown mode on the one hand, and maybe a quick, constant stream of very weak attacks with little to no delay or cooldown, sacrificing power for speed - say to interrupt spellcasters and such, a disruptive rather than destructive playstyle. Your Delay/Cooldown would allow for "standard" attacks, i.e. the full range of actions such as large spells, Burst Raves, summonings etc.

Edit: In this sense, if the enemy team has say, 2 disruptive fighters and 3 regular attackers, the player would have to alter his mode to first accomodate for the disrupters to kill them asap so that your spellcasters or heavy attackers can fight to their full potential instead of being harassed. Would add a more "realistic" and strategic aspect to battles, in my opinion.

The ability system seems like the usual system - pay a price to unlock new abilities. I personally like that type of skill system, so I don't mind, though making these "pearls" enemy drops - possibly even rare drops - could annoy some players who wouldn't want to grind for hours just to be able to unlock a necessary or simply all abilities. I'd instead recommend tying those pearls to complex and difficult, but rewarding sidequests or maybe some minigames. It'd be a lot more fun than just endlessly grinding.

This post has been edited by Rhayve: 01 May 2011 - 05:40 AM

[Knida]

IoriYagami, on 30 April 2011 - 09:08 PM, said:

Somehow that sounds made up and leaves me unsatisfied. Ah well. Thank you anyways.

Well it sounds cool and I'd definitely play it. I never considered myself a "gamer", so I'm not too picky when it comes to games as long as their fun and the levels are well lit.

[IoriYagami]

Rhayve, on 01 May 2011 - 05:19 AM, said:

I think you shouldn't expect too much of these forums, as they aren't as active anymore as they were in the past.

Anyhow, regarding your battle system: the basic idea is pretty interesting, though it kind of feels too much like Grandia's battle system (aside from the Burst Raves) turned into numerical values rather than using the action bar. Maybe adding some sort of new highly strategic twist would make it more unique? Maybe splitting the Delay modes into 2 different kinds, and depending on what mode the enemy uses, you'd have to change yours and adjust your battle plan.
The modes could possibly be your Delay/Cooldown mode on the one hand, and maybe a quick, constant stream of very weak attacks with little to no delay or cooldown, sacrificing power for speed - say to interrupt spellcasters and such, a disruptive rather than destructive playstyle. Your Delay/Cooldown would allow for "standard" attacks, i.e. the full range of actions such as large spells, Burst Raves, summonings etc.

Edit: In this sense, if the enemy team has say, 2 disruptive fighters and 3 regular attackers, the player would have to alter his mode to first accomodate for the disrupters to kill them asap so that your spellcasters or heavy attackers can fight to their full potential instead of being harassed. Would add a more "realistic" and strategic aspect to battles, in my opinion.

The ability system seems like the usual system - pay a price to unlock new abilities. I personally like that type of skill system, so I don't mind, though making these "pearls" enemy drops - possibly even rare drops - could annoy some players who wouldn't want to grind for hours just to be able to unlock a necessary or simply all abilities. I'd instead recommend tying those pearls to complex and difficult, but rewarding sidequests or maybe some minigames. It'd be a lot more fun than just endlessly grinding.

Thank you very much for the input, Rhayve. I think I may have something in mind concerning the Delay/Cooldown system.

[IoriYagami]

I'm not trying to make the battle system unique. I'm trying to make it Nostalgic. Something relaxing for players.

[pathwriter]

Are you attempting to propose this for an MMO or an offline game? It seems part of the latter, but your posts suggest otherwise.

I'm just going to assume it is offline for the time being. That said, it is basically just another turn-based battle system. Does the world really need more of those? I'm presently playing through Final Fantasy IX again just for the fun of it and I realized that in the past few years, I've really lost most of my patience for sluggish turn-based combat punctuated by long and unimaginative animations. The level of interactivity and gameplay is often limited and slow, to the point that developers have to make monsters that are especially obnoxious (e.g., constant counter-attacks, instant turns during special situations, excessively punishing debuffs, etc.) just to bring any sense of challenge to the game after you get past the first 30 minutes of battle time and have a solid idea of what you're doing. I'll contrast with three "real-time" systems that I've played over the past few years and what I really liked about them.

First, Final Fantasy XII. It's basically an offline MMO, complete with party members being told what to do and promptly screwing it up. One of the big things about turn-based systems is that the "fun" for most players is in the meta-gaming by preparing ahead of time for what you're going to fight (having the right gear and augments equipped, knowing the boss's attack pattern, finding that rare item that will let your weak character survive a brutal attack, etc.). FFXII definitely caters to this style of gaming in its Gambit system, but if you've played through some of the roughest fights, you know that the game is anything but an autopilot ride after you've set your Gambits. Particularly engaging Ultima and Zodiark, but certainly with earlier bosses, I spent as much time paused and frantically issuing commands (that have a delay system somewhat like what I perceive from yours) and changing gear and Gambits as I did just watching my trio attack.

Second, Dragon Age: Origins. I should note that I'm referring specifically to the PC version here. Your characters have a certain amount of AI, but this game is hard[ on the PC, especially with friendly fire active. Even with a tank, a healer, and a pair of ranged DPS (to better facilitate the tank doing his job), even random encounters could wipe your group if you slacked off. I had to be very careful in my use of crowd control and keep a constant monitor on the entire battlefield. In a lot of ways, it felt like playing an RTS or an old grid-based combat game, especially when you're trying to get Cone of Cold to hit that group of enemies while squeezing just in between your tank and archer. It was brutal (again, PC here, the console versions were hugely toned down) and I spent even more time paused and issuing commands than actually fighting.

With both of these, you might wonder what the difference is between spending half your time paused instead of just waiting on your ATB gauge to fill up. Ultimately, it comes down to the level of brutality involved that demands such fine control, which is never the case in a standard ATB kind of situation as virtually everything is reactive. If one could edit out all the pausing and gear-swaps and "Drink a goddamn potion, Alistair!" moments, most of these fights would have lasted maybe a minute at most, but they'd be an incredibly exciting minute. Play an old turn-based Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game, though, and... well, hell, go look up videos of special attacks on YouTube. It's boring as sin waiting in between each animation that you will ultimately see dozens or hundreds of times during your playthrough and the "pauses" are ultimately controlled by the game, not the player.

Third game I wanted to mention briefly is Vindictus, also known as Mabinogi Heroes. It's a hack-and-slash MMO, sort of like Diablo. What I wanted to mention is the difference in how cutscene-esque animations can be made to work. You'd think an MMO would be incompatible with a cutaway special, but they actually found a way to fit it in. Essentially, and this is just from my limited time playing it, a certain sequence of attacks would result in a quick (<5 seconds) special executed on your target, often an instant kill with plenty of blood. From your own perspective, you lose control for a few seconds. Other people in your group, though, see you perform the attack without it impacting on their own gameplay except in how it affects the mobs (some of them will throw a mob, which thereby becomes an improvised weapon against its comrades). It makes things seem cinematic and engaging while still being real-time and unpaused, which impressed me for a free MMO that relies on a largely cosmetic cash shop to support itself.

To be quite honest, a meta-gaming turn-based combat system like you describe, especially something meant to appeal to the nostalgic old-school crowd, would probably fit best as a smartphone app. Players would configure their rune circle with abilities and either engage computer-controlled opponents or maybe even other users. After battle, you get random rewards based on performance or maybe tokens of some sort to "purchase" new abilities and further refine your attacks. There'd be no need for story or, if one must exist, it can be one of those forgettable ones that serve to very loosely string together what is otherwise just a bunch of battles. Basically, it's just a variation on the oldest form of turn-based gameplay: card games. Who needs to worry about the Dark Lord Xrrdf'tte taking over the world when you're ultimately here to show off your rare Green Mox or try to summon Red-eyes Black Dragon or, if nothing else, try to get a straight flush.

Just my opinions, anyhow.

[IoriYagami]

It's not like I have a storyline setup. This is just a game engine. Opinions are opinions though. Thanks for your input. Smartphone app... that hurts ; ;

[pathwriter]

That hurts? I guess I wasn't being clear.

Sluggish meta-gamed combat systems are DEAD on major gaming platforms.

FFXII flopped among JRPG fans because it wasn't using the sort of boring, stupid combat system they crave. FFXIII ironically flopped because years of top-notch CRPGs had soured the mainstream market on the JRPG formula of linear story and boring turn-based combat (even though it isn't technically turn-based, it is slow and keeps control out of the players hands).

If you want to develop a battle system, you need to be realistic about where it will appeal. You could spend $10,000 and develop a nice interface for your system, then sell it on the iPhone and Android app stores where it could catch on and make you $1,000,000. Or you could live in your dreams where the SNES is still alive and kicking, develop a JRPG battle system, try to sell it to a market that is tepid at best on JRPGs, and watch it languish and fade into nothing. If your muse demands that your art and work-product can only be demonstrated in the niche market that inspired it, I guess that's what you've gotta do. If you genuinely want to make something and see people use it, though, it's time to adapt. If a 14 y/o in a Utah public library can make a physics game that briefly held the top spot on the free app market, that should be an indicator of where to take an idea like yours and what soil will let it grow and flourish.

[IoriYagami]

Dude you need to chill. I got your point the first time. That last line was just a joke. Relax. I'm not trying to make anything new. I'm just trying to make a relaxing and nostalgic game engine. Good grief. Its nothing more than a design I wanted to share

[firefeng]

So, you want a game that has FFX's skill progression with Valkyrie Profile's exact battle system, down to the "points required to execute special moves" function?

Cool. Not new, but hey, I'd always be up for more Valkyrie Profile action with even more customization of my characters.

[IoriYagami]

I was taking Rahyve's suggestion into mind. Im thinking.. something similar to the Overlimit mode that began in Tales of the Abyss. A 'Burst mode' That would last five turns. In this mode, characters can preform up to Three actions in one turn depending on certain Rune abilities equipped. Heres the thing; Burst Mode allows Burst raves to be preformed. The turn that burst rave is preformed, Burst Mode turns off. Its more of a combination of Tales of the Abyss and The Blast caliber system in Tales of Destiny. Meh.. this is just bits and pieces from my head. I wanna go with Fun factor here. in RPGs nowadays that involves comboing. Ehhh.. what do you think?

[m17x]

Cool!