Silly game balance question

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Feenicks
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Silly game balance question

Post by Feenicks »

Imagine a typical RPG, where you're going through four elementally themed areas (earth, fire, water, air) and then the final dungeon. Also imagine that at the start of the game you pick from one of four mages (anti-earth, anti-fire, etc.), each able to easily deal with one of the elements but of marginal use against all the others, and that are otherwise identical to one another.

Assuming a typical rpg difficulty curve, where the start and end are the most difficult bits, which of the four mages is the ideal one to bring along? And what would need to be done in order to make the others equally valid choices?
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SwordPlay
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Re: Silly game balance question

Post by SwordPlay »

apologies for long rambling text

- which of the four mages is the ideal one to bring along?

depends on what each challenge implies. if ice freezes you solid, and fire burns you over time, then the type of mage/party playstyle needs to be built around those facts.
similarly for stats. maybe electricity attacks rapidly and hits many targets at once. maybe fire increases damage the longer it is applied, and spreads to nearby targets. maybe water heals you. they would each have their own patterns.

the mage, and their place in a party has to consider the patterns of challenges. maybe some dungeons are like a gauntlet or short bursts, others are like a labyrinth, or a puzzle.

how is each element represented?
- statistically
- thematically
- stylistically
but you said the mages are basically identical?
players will still interpret things like clothing colour or names, and might choose based on aesthetic or superficial reason.
even if the only thing different is the name of each element, some players will still rather pick anti-fire, or whatever, because it's traditionally dangerous.
i notice now that you said they "deal with one of the elements". so not everything is combat?
then each element might have different kinds of puzzles, like air is jumping puzzles and water is reflex-based, and earth is a exploration or block puzzle, and fire is instant death, etc.,
so players could choose the anti-element to mitigate their weakness, if they have poor reflexes, or if they don't want to die instantly.
maybe it depends on party members weak to fire or whatever, or other choices, like allying with the fire nation or whatnot.


- And what would need to be done in order to make the others equally valid choices?

perhaps diversity for each element, variety of patterns and choices, so each element (...mage) feels fully featured

perhaps contingencies, like having some of a mage's work done, fully or partially, by another party member, usable item, or dungeon feature etc.,

in general, one would hope that all party members are suited for gameplay. that would be the biggest mitigating factor, perhaps?
maybe interplay between party members, interactions, synergies, etc., or in general
each mage could have their own reactions, as well as actions, to the world or entities.
so each component complements the whole? contributes to cohesion?

permanency is a big deal,
especially if you don't know what anything entails
and you have to pick a potentially important thing.
the option to change class, exchange or trade, multiclass, etc., might be helpful? no idea
"Imagination. Life is your creation."
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