ATB+EquipedCommands+Hotkeys

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

So here's another idea (just writing them all down and looking for feedback instead of trashing them off):


- You will equip commands/skills that you can use in battle (you will have a maximum number of equipped commands, probably 5)


- The battle system is either a semi-wait ATB (waits only when selecting target) or full-auto (no waits at all)


- To save time from pressing arrow buttons + ok button when selecting commands, each equipped command/skill will be usable via hotkeys so you only need 1 press to choose commands...


So what do you guys think?

 

[Eschaton]

I love it. Seriously.

 

[Zoltor]

I hate the whole idea of keying abilies with a passion(It's one of the things that make ARPGs such a joke compared to the RPG genre, fewer options).

If you want to go with a ATB battle system, that's fine though.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Actually, even without hotkeys, the abilities for this idea will still be limited to 5 or something... it was because of that that I thought about, what if I bind them to hotkeys to speed things up a bit?


and I couldn't really blame ARPG's for having "fewer options", the gameplay relies most of the time with quick attack timings which you cannot really do if you have a huge set of options...


of course it's also possible to use "key combos", to give more options... but for now, the idea rests with just single key usages...

 

[Zoltor]

Actually, even without hotkeys, the abilities for this idea will still be limited to 5 or something... it was because of that that I thought about, what if I bind them to hotkeys to speed things up a bit?

and I couldn't really blame ARPG's for having "fewer options", the gameplay relies most of the time with quick attack timings which you cannot really do if you have a huge set of options...

of course it's also possible to use "key combos", to give more options... but for now, the idea rests with just single key usages...

Atleast you have a reason for such then(It's more then I can say about any games commercial game companies make), but I don't like the  idea of limiting abilities to such an extent.

You can only equip like 5 sigh, imagine how meh FF 7 would've been if you could only equip 5 materias max,

Well seeing how this is a computer game, yea It's possible, but it could be confusing with more keys. If you do, you should have a shortcut hud setup, similar to MMOs, so people can remember what button is what.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

well, FF7 is not an ARPG so well...


For this idea, of course the commands with their hotkeys will still be shown on screen, you just don't need to use arrows + ok button anymore to choose...

 

[Zoltor]

well, FF7 is not an ARPG so well...

For this idea, of course the commands with their hotkeys will still be shown on screen, you just don't need to use arrows + ok button anymore to choose...

Ah ok, so you are making a ARPG(you said you were gonna use an ATB system, so natually I thought you were making a RPG), well if your aim is to make a ARPG, that's a pretty good idea then.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

NOPE... it's an RPG... I just replied that FF7 is not an ARPG so it's quite useless to think about how it would be if there's limited materia... + equipped skills is not much used during those times for normal RPGs...


anyway, I played quite a number of RPGs where you can only bring a few skills into battle... it's not really bad... it makes you think more of about how you would go with a build, plus normally you can predict the types of enemies you will be facing based on the place, so you can have an educated guess...

 

[Kyutaru]

Considering you use the same three buttons 95% of the time when playing any MMORPG, limited skill slots doesn't frighten me.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

^ hahaha...


I use more than that though... for DN I use all hotkeys + the extra pages on most characters


for RO, I use a lot since my characters have lots of skills too...

 

[Kyutaru]

My time playing World of Warcraft was basically deciding how often I wanted to cast Shadow Bolt.  It was fairly often.

 

[zacheatscrackers]

Ballin'.

I'm actually thinking of using something like that for my next game. Thanks for the idea!

 

[DoubleX]

So here's another idea (just writing them all down and looking for feedback instead of trashing them off):

- You will equip commands/skills that you can use in battle (you will have a maximum number of equipped commands, probably 5)

- The battle system is either a semi-wait ATB (waits only when selecting target) or full-auto (no waits at all)

- To save time from pressing arrow buttons + ok button when selecting commands, each equipped command/skill will be usable via hotkeys so you only need 1 press to choose commands...

So what do you guys think?

Just my subjective opinion:

The maximum number of equipped commands depends on the games themselves, but in general I'd say around 10. Let's say players needs to use 5 types of responses in most battles of a game, having 10 commands means 2 commands are available per response type on average at any moment. I don't think the numbers are too large to be manageable and the variability of responses will suffer if the numbers are too small. Of course, 5 maybe enough in some games.

Maybe allow party members to change the equipped commands/skills to others during battle and each confirmed change counts as their actions? Maybe there's a cooldown to prevent them from changing this all the time?

This reduces the importance of preparations before battles but allows players to response to situations by changing their equipped command/skills. It also allows enemies to act according to the party's current equipped commands/skills.

For the ATB thing, maybe let players choose the ATB mode, like full-wait, semi-wait or full-auto at the beginning of the game, in game menu or even during battles(I highly suspect its feasibility)? Some may like to have more time to think

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

Maybe you could set the five commands to work as ingredients for skills??

For instance, you take A, B, C, D, and E into battle. You get to mix four ingredients so: A + B and you heal, then A + C makes you cast shield. Or: C + C + C does crazy lightning attack and D does regular attack.

So then you could be both limited and strategic when going into battle with only a few hot-key slots because you have combinations with similar ingredients at your disposal. I think this kind of set up would work well with that script that lets you 'invent skills', so to speak, like that old PS game (can't remember the name but, you use a skill over and over and sometimes learn a new skill).

 

[Kyutaru]

That's also how Magicka worked.  Mix elements to create spells.