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I admit this is late, but (re)familiarize yourself with Mike Lemmer's part 1 and part 2.
#22: Everyone's On My Side
That's to say there would be a potential for every intelligent being that's not zealously homicidal toward you to convert to your side. Perhaps your party members could make friends or pets from the assorted vermin and non sentient life. Note, however, that keeping everyone cooperative would be quite a job if their views constantly put them 1% away from killing each other. Perhaps the only way you could get some 'hidden' members to join would be through the next point.
#23: New Game+
As part of the 'ultimate RPG,' the ability to restart with all your 'phat l00t' would definitely expand the replay value. Besides, if you're devoted to a game, you should get some sort of reward. Like in Chrono Trigger, some things would be reserved for replays.
#24: Multiplayer!
You should've seen this one coming. Imagine if Final Fantasy Tactics had been remade with the ability to pit two, four, eight, or more human armies against each other. Were this done with the ability to play multiplayer on PS2, perhaps people would still be playing it fervently today. Now apply this to PCs and squads. Cooperative mode would be included too - see 25 for how it could be implemented - but deathmatches are what have kept the first person shooter genre going since Doom.
#25: Don't Just Sit There!
Final Fantasy III/VI bothered me because, except for two areas, only four people at most were actively doing stuff in the world. Maniac Mansion for NES and other systems required toggling among party members at various times, and events could happen to people while you weren't looking. Of course, leaving General Killer and his army alone to cope with the Humungous Big Bad End Guy From Another Dimension And His Clone so you can plant trees may seem like a waste, but you could do it. Were multiplayer available, each member or party could do its thing, like ye ole 'push button to open timed door so another person can go through.'
#26: Logical Treasure
Diablo bothered me. Why can't I strip the plate mail and swords from all these Doom Knights I'm killing? How do animals, beings without opposable thumbs, carry coins except in their mouths, in their digestive system, or stuck to their bodies? How can a greatsword fit on a bat?
The most logical solution, as was done in Morrowind was that when you killed something, you could loot all its stuff. Loot obtained around the station would also be logically placed. Seemingly out-of-place loot, like panties in the belly of a facehugger, would be from an easter egg or part of a mission. Also, if you killed or disabled a 'plot unit,' you could still continue with the story. (See 27.)
#27: Adapting Plot
Picture a fierce firefight with a trooper in a blue powersuit shooting wildly into a swarm of vermin. Picture this swarm heading ever-so-close to one this man is sworn to protect. Picture this man using his final bullet to finish off the last of the swarm, but richocheting. Picture an electric generator behind this victim as a container of hydrogen is penetrated. Picture this man seeing this victim, the love of his life, being evicerated by the ensuing explosion. Picture her being vital to the plot.
Oops.
You reload, right? Not so fast, mister! Maybe her datapad is still intact. Maybe she can be saved through some sort of medical procedure. You wouldn't necessarily need her information if you knew what to do. Speaking of which, if your main character, a lowly dry goods merchant, continually accesses high-clearance security areas with no in-game hints, people will become suspicious. You could use a walkthrough for this game, but do you really want to risk your party turning on you?
#28: Macros and Triggers
One thing that annoyed me greatly about Baldur's Gate II was that casting all my buff spells to survive tough encounters usually took upwards of three minutes and there was a certain order because of short durations. This would have been more tolerable had I been able to just press F12. (I used my spell triggers and contingencys for other things.) Macros in this game, Lemmer let's say to honor Mike for his many ideas, would almost be necessary. Who wants to sift through an inventory screen when there's a horde of robots approaching? Push the EMP grenade button and chuck it!
If characters are to be reasonably intelligent and responsive, they should be able to handle things without someone pausing the game and stimming them back to full health. This will be necessary since the game will operate in real time, though it will be able to be paused a la the Baldur's Gate series. Sample 'conditions' would be 'see unfamiliar unit,' 'obviously winning combat,' and 'at 5% or lower HP,' and sample responses to these conditions, 'triggers,' would be 'approach cautiously,' 'conserve ammo,' and 'shoot self- it's hopeless!'
#29: Movies will be Movies!
Dialog boxes are fine for brief messages, like "Welcome to McLemmer's; how can I help you?" but major plot points will be detailed in movies with subtitles and, hopefully, voice acting. Considering the multitude of options, voice acting every possible event would be either Herculean or impossible. (See True Nonlinear Gaming by Gabriel Ang for elaboration on this point.)
#30: Variety
Deus Ex popularized the notion of multiple goals for a single task in modern PC games and Lemmer would expand this. You could blow a puzzle keypad with a rocket launcher, but if you did so, you'd alert the nasties in the next room. Are you sure you can take them? Brute force will certainly be a path, but not necessarily the easiest one.
Also on this topic are mini-games, or different activities that would use a similar control scheme to the main game. Hacking, hard-wiring, farming, playing the stock market, piloting, mining, operating greenhouses, and possibly more would be handled via mini-games. If you disliked them, you could assign them to NPCs or shut them off entirely via the customization menu.
Of course there would be an editor to handle levels, characters, items, and enemies which would work in multiplayer. Trusting custom levels, however, would be a challenge.
Building the Thing - I
We can dream, and we can do. These ideas will inspire people, but if this game is to come about, we need to get working, pronto. Any takers? AIM me at Endarire or/and mail me at R340@wi.rr.com. Finally, check out Anachronox (off-site review), System Shock 2 (off-site review) and GalaxyWeb: Stellar Epoch, a MOO/MUD, for more inspiration. (Get your GWSE account here.)
Who's with me?
-EE
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