Concerns about my classes.

[Little Adventurer]

Uh... Niten already suggested those... >.>

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Often the term of shaman is associated to matters related to the spirit world, but there's also cultural implications. Maybe something like soulspeaker, or Spirit Conduit.


Seems to me that the key of your doubts is that you need to clarify/simplify the purpose of your classes, what's their focus? Considering the names you provide, I'm seeing some looking like a title, some like a rank and other like a profession. It's a bit confusing.


maybe not the feedback you are looking for, but I need to say it: I find your setting and the whole musical thematic very interesting but I think you are over thinking some stuff. Keep it simple. Once you have working the basis for the simple stuff, the advanced stuff will come easily.

 

[Little Adventurer]

Soulspeaker! That's a good one!


Still... that's true too. To be fair, that list is kinda old and, as you can tell, outdated and very confused.


That's a bad habit of mine. I overthink stuff. I worry over stuff that doesn't matter, or not right now. I just really, REALLY want this game to not suck horribly, despite it being my first real attempt at one. I'm already somewhat decent at writing (though I am my own worst critic), and have the barebones of chapter one written down already. I'm not the best programmer in the world though (my major in college IS Game Design, but it's Artist not Programmer like so many expect), and thusly have to rely on plugins and tutorials for stuff with Script Call doing almost nothing since I don't know what anything does or where I'd put it, say, in notetags. Nor am I the best mapper (though I AM proud of that dungeon map I made the other day! ), and have considered redoing a few of them including my world map to better fit the music theme better (though the only thing coming to mind is either places shaped like instruments or musical symbols, both of which sound very impractical to live on) or just place certain ones on a different map.


This isn't my only project though. I still have my test project which I used before I decided to make this game, but all the stuff there is outdated plugins wise.


I just want to have something in my creative arsenal that's completed, you know? Nothing I've created has ever been completed. And I want this to be good, I want my characters to be likable, I want my world to be interesting, I want my plot to be good (even cliches and tropes can be done well!). Believe it or not, I'm jealous of Echo607. She managed to make a really good RPG game that has an interesting setting and good characters... at 13.


I wish I had that talent.


I've spent more time making items and states than I have mapping or eventing, which is just sad.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Don't be too hard, as I said, your world concept is interesting, you have an overall theme and you have enthusiasm.


But you need patience, you need to mature your ideas, expand them till they bloat, then strip them to the flesh, leave them barebones, and then flesh them out again bit by bit, on a sturdy skeleton.


I've been using RM for 10 years-ish, started a dozen project, never finished one. don't be jealous of someone, strive to do the same instead.


Sky's the limit (and also 2000 database entries )

 

[Little Adventurer]

Ideas I have are...


* For the Druid, Aria can change the weather/atmosphere (enhance sunlight, call down rain, make it more windy, make it snow enc) as well as the whole forest-y thing. Maybe stuff to do with fairies too, because why not? Fairies are fun! (Is it weird that I want to portray them as both the traditional Fair Folk and the more modernized pixies that help people depending on their type/age/location?)


* For the Soulspeaker (seriously awesome name!), it's... maybe like a Summoner class? Like, I dunno, she makes a pact with certain ghosts (Undead btw, in my world, I think are interesting: they were created by one of the Gods, Taiko, who is the one who runs the afterlife and there are two ways they are created- either they get to the afterlife entrance and they gets judged and if they were considered a bad person, they are punished and turned into an Undead and have to do services until Taiko feels they've had enough punishment and lets them pass on, or they're so stubborn about NOT dying that they come back as Undead and actively refuse to pass on until they finish their deed) and they temporarily use her as a vessel and they fight as one, upping her stats according to the spirit she's calling upon?


I have nothing else at the moment.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Glad you like the Soulspeaker. Waving my copyright here, fill free to use


These are good idea, but once again, be careful of the "rule of cool". what you need to ask yourself is: How can I turn that in a Game Mechanic? Is that an interesting game mechanic? Does My Character needs this mechanic/feature as part of character development?


Lore is one thing, gameplay another one. Not every bit of lore has to make it in a game feature. If everything is quantified and rationalized and turned into a mechanic, you may lose a bit of the sense of wonder.

 

[Little Adventurer]

When did you warn me before?


Which mechanic are you talking about? Because the Druid thing can be done with HIME's Battle Weather plugin (and it'd be good collaborated with Moogle X's Element Booster plugin as it could potentially benefit both Minuet and Aria's spells, I wonder if I can find other weather effect plugins somewhere?), and I actually have a couple states that applies to the Spirit element already, so...


Haunted- Auto Battle, Attack Element Spirit, Element Rate Light * 150%, 4-6 turns (Action End)


Spectral Aura (I have one of these "Auras" for each Element I have which give different effects depending on the one you have on you)- Remove by Damage 85%, Attack Element Spirit, Element Rate Light * 115% (I AM calculating this right, right? So they'd be taking 15% more damage, not less, right?), M.Defense * 125%, Max MP * 115%, MP Regeneration + 5%, MP Cost Rate * 85%, Attack State Haunted + 70, State Rate Haunted * 60, Element Absorb: 12, Element Boost: 150%.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Not a warning, It's more challenging your way of thinking to help you achieve a decision.


As in, when I questioned you about the relevance of Aria's offensive spells in the grand scheme of your party dynamic, compared to the need of her having her use offensive spells for a potential marooning scenario.


So it's good to have an idea on how to use which plugin, so step 1 is ok, but now really ask yourself, will my player enjoy this? and Does my character needs this.


Still coming back to the overthinking thing we talked about, I think it's not as much overthinking that forward thinking a lot. From my understanding, you are still in the process of maturing your base classes and there you are already thinking of a potentially complicated advanced class, using summons and such. Summon is an interesting mechanic but it adds a completely different dynamic to a character.


Once again, I'm not telling you off, neither am I telling you what to do, but I'm pushing you to brainstorm, challenging your ideas not because I don't like them, but because I find your whole project interesting (also because I'm an Enterprise/project coach in real life, so that's what I do).


What I mean by rule of cool and lore opposed to mechanic, is that what sounds good lore wise, or would be great in a book, sometimes is hard to handle or simply fall flat when made as a game mechanic.


I'll take myself as an example, I just love Saint Seiya, and I'm often when in the early stage of game designing I'm trying to figure if a feature where the character's armor would come out of nowhere, or weird aura shaped as animals would be cool. yes they would be cool, but they would not benefit my game.

 

[Little Adventurer]

*nods*


Any ideas for the Wizard class? I got a good one earlier from someone, but I want a little variety.


Heck any ideas for the other classes? Always good to get different ideas. Who knows? Any ideas that don't work for these could potentially be used elsewhere.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Sorry, It's a bit of a TLDR to skim again trough this topic and see all idea that revolved around your Wizard class, but it seems to me what you try to convey with your classes is also a sense of in universe progression for your characters.


I think that could be one of the reason why you ask yourself so much questions. Trying to make character development/personal stories as part of the game mechanic. And also, If I understood correctly, you plan several games, and thus try to plan mechanics in anticipation of the future games, which can only make things more complicated. I for instance plan as well three games, and they will have to have some mechanics in common, but what I'll do is to first focus on my first game, make it works. the other two will only be considered in terms of backstory and foreshadowing. Then if the mechanics of the first one works, I'll expand on them when I will start working on the next installment.


So to come back to your Minuet character, she wants to become Archmage, and so as to study many paths of magic, that makes sense, so are you planning to have all these paths as successive classes? will Archmage also be a class? In my understanding, an Archmage is a title, an achievement, the one who has achieved mastery over magic. It is the end of the journey, not a part of it. so one does not "enter" an Archmage training (that would thus have to be given by another Archmage)


How does the class change happens? is it an inner revelation? is it the manifestation of a formal training?


Also, how is spell craft in your world? Is it mastery of raw magic trough sheer willpower, or carefuland learned application of rote magic and studied rituals?


What I could suggest for Minuet, to make her really stand out, is to do away with Class changes, and instead, have her learn new spells and study different arcane disciplines trough the means of Masters.


This Plugin could help achieve this

 

[Little Adventurer]

Yeah, "all" ideas for Wizard. All one of them.

Spoiler

Watermark:


*Bard- Jack of all trades, master of none, useful for party members but useless 1 on 1 with basic status ailments. Minstrel gains elemental songs. Skald has a high charm chance, and possible skill is to have his songs be so good that he can change into a different class for a limited time or act as a summoner type character.


*Knight- Either do away with the Paladin idea or make it so the Priest and Paladin are vastly different, like perhaps the Paladin has a weak healing spell, but more buffs or versus Undead Holy attacks, and the Priest has more major healing spells. Priest is major healer, Paladin is minor healer with more focus on combat.


LaFlibuste:


*Bard- Class is about crowd control. Sound isn't accurate, so area of effect. Mainly support at first, gets offensive spells later.


*Mage- High DPS, single target damage, boss killer, Glass Cannon character.


*Priestess- Wider variety of spells, more MP, spells are effective.


*Paladin- Focuses on physical damage and tanking. Taunt effects. Spells are mostly self targetable.


Bigilisp:


*Mage- High damage spells, spells of all elements. Low HP, high MP, high Magic attack stat, low DEF and low Attack.


*Bard- Very nimble class with high Agility, allowing it to be go first in battle. Tier 1 is high speed, fair fighter, has only buffs. Tier 2, better fighter, gains debuffs. Tier 3, decent fighter, damage all foes type spells, guaranteed to go first. Higher chance to crit with each tier.


ShadowHawkDragon-


*Paladin- Healing tied to buffs, healing over time, buff that heals allies when they attack, weak full party heal when guarding, smite skill that damages foes while also healing the party.


*Priestess- Focuses on healing and cleansing statuses, positive and negative. Spells that do more damage the more positive status the foes have.


*Wizard- Approved elemental abilities allow them to mix them together to get new spells with the effects of both elements. 

And yes, exactly. Class changing is made to be a character growth thing. Four games, in case you're curious.


I just assumed it was the latter, "manifestation of formal training". *shrugs* though I guess "inner revelation" could work for some of them. Like, for example, way back when Yanfly's Equip Requirements plugin came out, I got the idea of having a special sword that has the requirements of "needs to be at a certain part of the plot" meaning the whole Paladin thing and Quintus wouldn't be able to wield it until he did the whole Paladin thing. It'd be a kind of an Excalibur type thing, "only the worthy may wield it". But yes, each path leads to a different consecutive class for everyone, not just Minuet. Will Archmage be a class? I'm not sure yet, as that's way down the line.


As for how you learn it? Well considering that two of my main characters are students at an Academy where it's learned during the first game... I'd say the latter. Though the former sounds cool, like something you'd see in a TV show.


TBH, I kinda sorta was thinking about having my characters encounter NPCs to access their next class anyway. Like, for example, Minuet meeting an NPC who is a Witch who's willing to teach her stuff, or Quintus meeting an NPC who teaches him The Way of the Paladin and so on. Still, Victor's plugin looks interesting! I just hope it won't conflict with Yanfly's stuff.


I enjoy talking to you! You seem very thoughtful and nice, and I'm glad you always respond to my posts like this.