What I'd like to see in an RPG: Part 2

by Mike Lemmer

For those of you just joining us, please read my other editorial to get up to par.

Now, on with the drivel...

#7.Real Atmosphere

How much does air quality affect YOU? Pretty much, especially if you're in an enclosed environment on a planetoid with no atmosphere. Throughout the game, the player will keep track of the air content of their area. Two of the most important will be oxygen and carbon dioxide. Naturally, if oxygen reaches zero, they better have some airpacks on or they're gonna croak. Gives the starting goal of getting the oxygen tanks working a bit more urgency, don't you think?

Carbon dioxide is useful due to the fact that plants use it to grow and create oxygen. This fact will give the player a secondary way to preserve the oxygen, provided they can find the Greenhouse and some seeds...

Other types of gases will also come into play. Carbon monoxide can quickly kill characters, while abundant oxygen and hydrogen will make things interesting when the explosives are brought out. (KABOOOOM!!!) Toxic gas is, well, toxic. Those and other important gases will be monitored (in the status screen) and a series of pumps throughout the station will allow the player to change the composition of the atmosphere to their advantage. For example, if a room's filled with enemies that breathe nitrogen, and you pump all the nitrogen out...

(Sound a little too complex? Then get rid of it. Read below...)

#8.Changable Environments

Not just the dinky little "shoot the grates open" type. Players will be able to blow holes through walls, shoot bridge support ropes to make them collapse, make pillars tumble and crash onto adversaries, and push heavy metal crates onto the heads of enemies below. Of course, the enemies will do the same. (In other words, get off that rickety support bridge ASAP.) Lights will be blown out, windows shattered, computers blown to pieces, and passages could be blocked by the sheer number of enemy carcasses you left there.

Players will also have to be very careful of the limitless possibilities, since you can't undo a thing like collapsing a bridge. Certain actions may make fulfilling certain objectives impossible, or a heckuva lot harder. On the other hand, you may have to do them to proceed.

But how will the player be able to target all these things without filling the screen up with potential targets? Read below.
(Hey, what true-blooded gamer would pass up an opportunity to destroy nearly everything on the screen? Come on, you know you want to...)

#9.FPS Targeting

When you choose to attack, you won't just point a hand at the enemy and select them. You'll zoom into the character's point of view and actually MOVE the aim sight until it's over the target you want to attack. This will allow the player to attack (or try to attack) EVERYTHING the character can see. They could even shoot their own allies, if they want. Better yet, if you aim, then drag the cursor, it'll cause a box to sprout up. The character will then proceed to fill everything in that area full of lead or drag the shot (in the case of a laser) across the area. Perfect for laying cover fire or slicing that enemy's arm right off. In fact, if you're feeling REALLY evil, you could aim the sight at the enemy's groin, concentrate a laser there, and watch as they desperately try to put out the fire that's erupted on their... well, you know...

(Oh, that makes me wince just thinking about it.)

#10.More Delicious Status Ailments!

Just Poison, Sleep, and Confusion? I don't think so. Look forward to Exhaustion, Hallucinations, Hazy Thinking, Diseases, Twitchiness, Radiation Poisoning, and plain old Feeling Rotten. Oh yeah, there'll be half a dozen different types of poison... which one kills you outright and which one causes you to lose strength gradually? Hope you got plenty of antidote on you. Who knows what other horrifying status ailments await?

(Imagine the embarrassment of having a Diarrhea ailment...)

#11.Weapons Up the Wazoo

Pistols, SMGs, Rocket Launchers, Flamethrowers, Welding Torches, Crowbars, Vehicles, Cans of Aerosol Spray (to throw, shoot, blow up), Whips, Laser Rifles, Mines, Fire Extinguishers, Dynamite, Oil Puddles (to light on fire), Supersonic Burst Guns, Liquid Nitrogen, you name it, you can probably use it on the various meanies you encounter.

(Just imagine the chain reactions you could make with a couple perfectly-placed oil barrels and a rocket or two...)

#12.Defense Up the Wazoo

Of course, there'll be plenty of futuristic armor, too. From bulletproof vests to fireproof workclothes to top-notch sealed power suits, you'll find everything you need to survive a burst shot. And don't throw away that dinky vest for that power suit so fast: some activities (like crawling through vents) may require a bit more mobility and a lot less size than those power suits offer.

As for in-combat defense, screw that namby-pamby Parry option! If you really want to get defensive, dive behind some nearby crates, or gain the upper ground (and upper hand). Better yet, send some reprogrammed defense droids in and watch the fireworks from a safe distance.

#13.Customize!

What game would be good without customization? Put a few add-ons to your weapon/armor to really kick some arse! And if this all sounds too complicated, a built-in interactive help system will help you determine the best things to do. Or you can just shut it off. (Keep reading...)

#14.Gradual Skill Building

Say goodbye to levels. Build-up in this game will be constant. The more you use a certain skill or attribute, the more it increases. Dodging shots and shooting back some of your own will increase Agility, pushing stuff (or whacking things with stuff) will increase Strength, learning news ways of doing things will increase Intelligence, and gritting your teeth and taking a few blows will increase Endurance.

There will also be ways to "train" for this (such as working out, exercising, studying, etc.) but actual use will be the fastest (and best) way of increasing those stats. The same applies to skills. Read up on fusion engines all you want, but if you really want to increase your expertise, try fiddling with a few (with everyone else at a safe distance, of course).

Of course, there has to be a way to measure your progress: Enter the charts. Each one measures the stats/skills of the characters, allowing easy comparison between their current/starting levels and the levels of all the other characters.

(Perhaps add in a "use experience levels" option for the traditional gamers...)

#15.You Get Attached to your Equipment

Need a reason to stick with your trusty old Machine Gun rather than changing to the brand-spanking-new Laser Gunner? How about a bonus to equipment you use for a long time?

This system assumes that as the characters use the weapon/armor more and more, they become used to it. A gun can be your best friend in a warzone like this. They'll gain bonuses while using that "certain" piece of equipment, from accuracy to damage to critical hits to increased mobility. If they use another piece of equipment, they won't get the bonus they did from "good ol' reliable". Even modifying their favorite pieces of equipment will reduce the bonus. (After all, it doesn't feel the same...) Players will have to choose between using the new weaponry or staying with the old one they get bonuses for.

(Oh yeah, and they should be able to name their favorite equipment, too! Which sounds better: "X97 Rocket Launcher" or "Hellspewer"?)

#16.Customizable Levels of Difficulty and Complexity

Sure, the difficulty levels have been attempted before, but complexity levels? Naturally, a lot of this new stuff could be disconcerting to novices, or even hardcore gamers that haven't tried anything like it before. Don't want your shots to change the landscape all the time? Shut it off for this game. Don't want to worry about customization? Shut it off for this game. Don't want big battles? Make them small for this game. Don't want so many harrowing choices? Narrow the plot a bit for this game. Don't worry: Lowering the complexity won't make the game easier. It'll just beef it up in the areas you want while eliminating the complicated, advanced stuff you don't want to do.

And, of course, you can change the difficulty. Make the enemies & puzzles easier, but you may not be able to get the best endings... (Until you actually beat them normally, after which you'll be able to access them from easier difficulty levels.)

(NOTE: Perhaps this could be expanded even more, with special arena areas that the player could set their saved party and battle hordes and hordes of monsters without risking their party. Perfect for times when you want to screw the story for the hacking! On the opposite side of the spectrum, there could be an obstacle course where the player sees how fast they can get through it with the least amount of injuries...)

#17.Outcast Radio!

Throughout your journey, you will stay in touch with one of your party members that offers to stay back at the Main HQ Tower. He'll keep you in touch with the various going-ons in parts of the station, alerting you to changes within the station and situations you might want to check out.

Oh yeah, he'll also play custom music for you. (Read: You can substitute the default game music with your own collection of MP3s. Have a heavy metal rock song or the classic "Ride of the Valkyries" playing during battle: it's up to you.)

(NOTE: Thinking more about the implications of letting the players determine the music of the game, I came to realize that some people might actually make entire sets of music made especially to replace the existing music. Just think of being able to download a single patch and change the entire musical style of a game. All I can say is: cool.)

#18.Ability-Enhancing Items are Actually Useful!

No more of this "you drank a Strength potion and it increased by only 1 point" crap. If it's going to enhance your abilities, it's going to enhance them enough that you can NOTICE it!

#19.Skip the Boring Stuff

One of my most-common gripes about RPGs. If you're at a high-enough level that you can destroy a group of enemies just by LOOKING at them, why bother fighting them? Just say the battle was successful and allow them to continue minus a bit of ammo (similar to the system used in Earthbound).

For enemies that the player just wants to blast, an "Auto-Attack" feature will also be used. The characters will then just keep normally attacking the creatures until they're toast (similar to the system used in Breath of Fire I & II). After all, why spend time on the little enemies when you can get to the interesting encounters faster?

#20.IT WILL BE FUN

Above all, the game will be FUN. This seems to be missing in many games nowadays.

In fact, the entire reason this game has so many new and interesting things is to increase the numbers of ways a player can solve a problem and giving them situations that cause them to think rather than just punch the Attack button until their fingers blister, thus increasing their fun as they try to come up with even MORE demented ways of solving things. The "do one thing a heckuva lot" syndrome and the subsequent boredom it causes seems to be a common problem in RPGs nowadays. Of course, if you just want the "do one thing a heckuva lot", you can tone down the complexity and have the mindless fragfest you want.

And there will be comedy. Although the situation may seem bleak, a thread of humor (light AND black) will go through the whole thing. Whether the characters are gawking at the now-collapsed bridge that they fought so hard to get to, eating the culinary wonders of their resident cook ("I found more rats so I can make seconds!"), crawling through sewage pipes, blasting across the landscape in an out-of-control tank, hailing UFOs, or busting a move to "The Time Warp" to enter a motion-sensitive password, a current of insanity, sarcasm, and irony will be running underneath everything they do.

Case in Point: The Gun Bunny Dance. Increase firing rates while lowering defense (and possibly stun the enemy as they wonder what the hell you're doing) by using this advanced combat technique. Shoot, twist, load, shoot, hop, load...

#21.Harmonicas

How come no one else has put these in an RPG? One of the characters pulling out an old harmonica while camping and playing a few tunes would really hit the spot...

And with that, I end my list of ideas. Of course, there's plenty more that could be added, but then I'd just be droning, wouldn't I? If you have any interesting suggestions/ideas that could be added to this list, write a response to this editorial.

And if you want to use these ideas in your RPG, go right ahead. Anything I can do to improve the quality of RPGs is well worth it. Just be sure to add some very special thanks to you-know-who...

-Mike Lemmer
"What do you MEAN all the dragon's wealth was in stock options?!?"

P.S.I received quite a few Emails about my other editorial that I'd like to publicize right now:

Q. Will the whole game be restricted to just the space station?

A. Yes and no. The MAJORITY of the game will take place on the space station. However, there will be areas around it and under it. Some, like the Planetoid Surface and the Underground Alien Base, will be completely different from the station. Others, like the Station Sewage System, will be different enough that you'll swear you're in another zone.

Q. After the characters stop "Ragnarok", will it be one of those "happily ever after" endings, or will there be tragedy in the best endings, too?

A.It all depends on how you play it. Many of your decisions will have effects that'll be revealed in the endings. If characters die in battle, they'll have funerals. If two fall in love (hey, it could happen), there might be a wedding (shotgun, of course). Families could be torn apart, characters could become "brothers", someone may become a mercenary. It'll be interesting just to see how the changes in the characters during the game are reflected in what happens to each of them. (And yes, you'll find out exactly what happens to them.)

Comment: Those examples you stated sure seemed like the angst you said you were avoiding. Also, companies have already been working on "characters who aren't supposed to be heroes".

Response: Ah, but there's a fine difference between the angsts. One type of angst is melodramatic all the time, while the other one jumps from drama to humor to frustration and back again. The party sulking around the campfire after a major defeat is dramatic (and the type of thing you'd see nowadays), but if you have the solitary hot dog that is their supper slip through the grate and fizzle in the fire as they stare at it, you have humor. As Charles Schwarz once said, "There is no comedy in happiness."

As for the "characters who aren't supposed to be heroes", I really don't buy it. Most of these "characters" are reluctant heroes that are either predestined or have some inherit quality that make them natural heroes. These characters will have NOTHING that makes them heroes, other than being able to survive and being in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time).