Followers ... your opinion?

[HappyChaos]

Hey there.

I'm currently working on my new project (my second one now) and I was wondering what you are thinking about your group members following your main character in the open world.

I will probably have about 5 characters in total,so at least one will be exchangable,depending on who the player wants to have in the fighting part of the group.

My question is: do you think it belongs to a RPG to have your followers,well...following you around on the open world surface?Or are you rather annoyed by it?What are your possible experiences,if you've already faced that kind of question?

 

[Dalph]

Are we talking about the world map only or the whole game?

In any case, It looks dumb and it's also annoying as hell to me, as much as random battles.

I mean WTF... It seems like a little train with people. XD

I still prefer the old and classic way, so only 1 character showing (the first of your formation) but you can switch him\her in any moment with the others from the main menu. You can also create extra dialogues this way and see different NPC reactions towards your characters (that's a nice thing that I use in my game).

Plus, with a whole group showing It would be a total mess inside a dungeon, especially with puzzles or jump places, and it would look even more dumb on a world map. I personally never saw an Rpg game with a whole group of main characters walking on a world map.

During the dialogues I like to make the followers to get out from the body of the first character (this is basically the old and classic way used in most JRPGs), and then obviously re-enter when the dialogue is finished.

At the end it's a big NO to me. I don't like the followers, I don't like trains.

 

[Xortberg]

It's not a gamebreaker in either case, but in general I prefer to not have the whole party trailing after me. Just looks a bit nicer, IMO

But again, I really don't much care either way. It's a very minor detail. I suppose it's a nice way to constantly be reminded who's in the battle party without having to open the start menu to check.

 

[Shaz]

yeah, I don't like visible followers either - on any map.

 

[HappyChaos]

Are we talking about the world map only or the whole game?

In any case, It looks dumb and it's also annoying as hell to me, as much as random battles.

I mean WTF... It seems like a little train with people. XD

I still prefer the old and classic way, so only 1 character showing (the first of your formation) but you can switch him\her in any moment with the others from the main menu. You can also create extra dialogues this way and see different NPC reactions towards your characters (that's a nice thing that I use in my game).

Plus, with a whole group showing It would be a total mess inside a dungeon, especially with puzzles or jump places, and it would look even more dumb on a world map. I personally never saw an Rpg game with a whole group of main characters walking on a world map.

During the dialogues I like to make the followers to get out from the body of the first character (this is basically the old and classic way used in most JRPGs), and then obviously re-enter when the dialogue is finished.

At the end it's a big NO to me. I don't like the followers, I don't like trains.

Yeah,I can definitely see why this would bother you.Indeed,in dungeons it could become even more annoying.I know how to disable it,but I think I'd have to teach myself how to enable it only in specific areas...or in conversations,like what was your thought (seen it a lot in older final fantasy games).

 

[Sharm]

The only game I've seen where having a follower made sense was Pokemon. If you can give a reason to be followed around like that, sure, but mostly it looks pretty silly.

 

[McTricky]

I think the only point so far in my game where I've used followers, is where the main character has to escort a young child out of a cave, so the child trails behind him.

 

[wallacethepig]

I don't like trains.

DON'T LIKE TRAINS?!

You don't need followers. Followers are creepy in real life. Give Naia a restraining order. But followers are unnecessary in the open world, especially if that's the only place they'll show up. Unless you want an amusing konga line whist adventuring, don't have followers. It's okay for events and stuff (In my game, you walk around with a little girl for a bit), but it shouldn't be present beyond that.

-Wallace

 

[Arin]

I like the Followers. But I don't like the line formation. If there was a way to change it so that the Followers appeared behind you to the left and right, kind of like a triangle Formation, instead of a line, it would be way way better. But as is, it looks dorky.

Also, there's lots of glitches involving Followers.

 

[Alexander Amnell]

I don't typically like it, the only time I've found a use for it is in my side project that is a horror game with no actual combat featuring two characters with different abilities that you switch between. Even in that one I use pathfinding and an event to create the follower rather than the default way it works, so your companion gives you a little space and also each one takes damage from hazards independently which makes visible followers a necessity.

 

[amerk]

Surprising the amount of negativity around the followers, considering it seemed so popular in VX to use a follower script that they added the feature by default in Ace. Personally, I don't care either way. I do agree with Arin about the current look though.

 

[Aryam]

I'm neutral when it comes to followers, It's nice to actually see them but can be annoying at times to see a konga line (also help seeing if you lined up their sprite correctly when you tinker with sprites). 

Seeing people disappear into or appear from the main characters body is also quite weird looking.

You could make a custom sprite that has your followers in it so that it isn't a konga line, but that would look weird in tight places.

Meh, both are fine methods are fine if you ask me.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

I think it can look a bit unwieldy with parties of 4, but I think it's really cute in a game with a smaller party, especially if the party members are really close knit. I think it can say a lot about their relationship as friends or whatever if they are all on the screen for the duration of the game.


It's certainly an undesirable feature in games with touch encounters, during puzzles, a game with 'jumping' or other obstacles and stuff like that, because then they are just distracting or strange.


ps. more games that do implement a caterpillar should have NPCs making comments about how strange you all look or how unnerving it is all this people follow wordlessly behind you.

 

[Dalph]

Most Rpg games usually follow these rules:

[show the entire group of characters] in Cities, Villages

[show only the 1st character] in World Map, Dungeons

At the end it's up to you.

I'm personally too lazy and I don't want to turn switches all the time for every location, so I just go with 1 character for the whole game.

I also use Yanfly's Gab Window Script (it's faster and less boring than the standard text messages), to show the followers reaction towards something they're seeing.

 

[kj3400]

Followers would probably only be practical with 2 imo. I don't have anything against them. I suppose if there were a way for them to follow more realistically, it'd be more of a viable option.

 

[kerbonklin]

No followers for me.

 

[Stridah]

This is a question that i have been struggling with myself.  

The super straight line of followers looks un-natural and silly to me.  

My struggle is when you want to have your party members regularly chime in on conversations with other npcs and in events, do you keep the followers out, switch them in when they are talking, or just let their chat icons come up while only the main character is on screen.

 

[amerk]

The funny thing in all this is how realistic everybody expects an rpg to be. Back in the days of NES and SNES we got to play wonderful rpg's and then used our imagination for the world they existed in.

Random encounters gave me the impression that our heroes weren't just going from point A to B, but fighting enemies and engaging new adventures along the way. Then people thought that wasn't realistic and wanted wandering monsters, which is fine. However, next, it isn't realistic to have to fight and beef up your party. They're heroes, and they should already be beefed up before the game starts, so now people want games where fighting is minimal or practically non-existent.

People used elemental skills to overpower other elements. Water overcomes Fire, Fire overcomes Earth, Earth overcomes Wind... Then people thought that wasn't realistic. No element should overcome another in such a way, because it couldn't happen in real life.

And now here is followers. I never once played an rpg where the party congregated within one party member and thought... Duh, where did the others go? I mean, it's plainly obvious that the stand alone sprite is representing the party itself. It's a lot better than any number of other symbols or icons you could be controlling to represent the party. And again, it's a game. It's not meant to be a reflection of reality; it's meant to be a gateway to escape reality.

So, rant over, my point is, don't worry so much about the realism of the formation so much, at least not for a 2D game. Work more on game play and story. Or to quote a good saying: "Don't sweat the small stuff."

 

[Eschaton]

For all the smack I talk on JRPGs, Final Fantasy XIII did followers right.  They go toward the destination on their own regardless if you're moving.  If you keep moving, they keep moving, but you're not a bunch of ducks in a row.

You could do this on RM, too, with clever eventing.

 

[Sharm]

Personally, I liked how Star Ocean 2 did it, where you'd get to town and everyone scatters and does their own thing. You'd all be represented by one character everywhere else.