Naming spells that are just stronger versions of previous spells

[SamBargeron]

Convenience wise, I'd say it's poor game design. Most especially if you have a multitude of spells to choose from, not to mention each one has its own levels of effectiveness. Imagine this, how would a person quickly spot a desired spell in a list of unpatterned names?

Look at this:

Spoiler

Dim Vision

Spoiler

Blind

Sightless Despair

Fireball

Flame Blast

Raging Inferno

Ice Spear

Frostfall

Absolute Zero

Thunderbolt

Electric Field

Lightning Storm

ect(imagine that the list goes on to cover all basic spells)

It looks too messy even if the spells are arranged according strength or relevance since a quick, simple scroll through the list won't help much unless the player knows exactly when to stop pressing the down button. I'd say stick to patterned naming or at least make each type of spell contain a root word that's easy to spot coz it's much easier to spot "Fire-" going past you three times in a row than Blaze, Fireball and then Inferno.

The problem with this list is that the spells sound like they do different things. For example, Ice Spear sounds like it's a vicious physical attack that happens to have the ice element. Frost Fall sounds like a weak cold element spell that would affect the entire field. Absolute Zero sounds like a freezing ailment or a spell with a possibility of instantly inflicting death. If the spell's name doesn't accurately describe it's effect, it doesn't matter how cool it sounds (sorry for the pun. Or maybe I'm not).

 

[JetSetJayden]

I don't know why but for some of the status effects it just sounds weird to me to say "Lesser Sleep, Greater Sleep" or "Lesser Confuse, Greater Confuse."  

What about medical-ish terms for status ailments? Like, "Minor Confusion" "Intermediate Confusion" and "Advanced Confusion"? Sleep would sound weird still, but perhaps we could change the name of sleep, then? Such as instead of sleep, we could say, "Narcolepsy" which would sound pretty cool to me: "Actor A has inflicted Enemy B with Advanced Narcolepsy!" What do you think?

If mana conservation is a big part of your gameplay it could be handled by having a single spell that you decide how much mana to power it with...

I really like this idea! It seems like it would be a cool idea albeit tough if not explained to the player well. Too much and the player wastes mana, too little and the monsters survive an attack.

 

[jonthefox]

Wouldn't work for my game(s) - I'm very much an enthusiast of a medieval/fantasy world, so using terms that are too modern/scientific is off-putting to me.

For me, it's really a choice between "Spell 1, Spell 2, Spell 3" (as I think that's the easiest, simplest, and most clear way to designate spells by their type and power level) or giving each spell a unique and aesthetically satisfying name.   I just wasn't sure if not giving each one a unique name would be considered lazy / generic / boring.  Given that I'm leaning towards replacing weaker spells with their stronger versions anyway, and that most people think it's a bad idea to have a vast and esoteric list of spells (though that'd only really be an issue for a pure mage), I'm probably just going to go with Spell 1, Spell 2, Spell 3.

Thanks for the discussion, all!

 

[JetSetJayden]

Don't forget though, that medicine was alive and well in medieval times! You could look for historically accurate terminology to describe severity! It would give your games an authentic feel if you truly wanted to stress your enthusiasm! However, numbers are fine too.

 

[Dinamic Creates]

What about:
Fire

Fireball +
Fireball ++?

Or as in MOTHER saga, that uses greek letters.

 

[jonthefox]

I liked the roman numeral suggestion, may go for that. 

 

[fm2107]

when naming spells i draw my inspiration from the final fantasies. and a traditional jrpg there are two reasons to have different names and different versions of the same type of spell like fire, ice, lightning. 

greater potency for more resources for example. another would be visual eye candy, the subsequent versions look better with more explosions to let the player feel like their progression is worth it. you dont want to be looking at same fire animation with just larger numbers, thats just boring. 

so i guess the point is if your going to have different ranked spells, 1, 2, 3 works, roman numerals work too. also from ff8 and on they use fire, fira, firaga, the stronger names aren't that far apart from the base spell. 

back in vxace, yanfly had active chain skills where you can chain subsequent skills off one another. for my main character i was going to have just the 3 basic element skills that you can use normally,and have the 'cooler' names chain off those basic skills. for example thunder blade was the base, that would lead into lightning strike which were half physical and half magical skills and the name reflects that, the player doesnt have to guess what it is. 

 

[Razoir]

My way of separating skills with different names without getting rid of them is to use different arrows.

Is is to say, using  for skill type and  for skill power. Similarly to Earthbound. As such, you would instantly understand which skill is better, even if they have funnier names. And if they have number, you could just use  to increase the number instead of having to scroll down trough multiple skills.

In a nutshell, instead of having a list like this :

Fire

Mega Fire

Giga Fire

Heal

Mega Heal

Giga Heal
Bind

Bind a lot

Bind even more



Have a menu like this :

( "" mean push on left or right to make the pre/postfix appear / disappear, "/" means no prefix )

/ Mega  Giga Fire

/ Mega  Giga Heal

Bind /  a lot   even more


( And for more ease, it should ideally remember the last used name and stay with it in the next battle. ) 

It could also work with more "unique" names. Anybody should understand and be able to navigate trough such a menu :

Ice Blizzard Ice Age

Thunder Thunderstorm Noa Storm

Blind  Sunglasses piercer  God's Flash



While this menu would hurt the eyes :

Ice

Blizzard

Ice Age

Thunder

Thunderstorm

Noa Storm

Blind

Sunglasses Piercer

God's Flash

 

[Thalzon]

Use the Greek alphabet. Alpha Fire, Beta Fire, Omega Fire. Pretty straightforward.

Or perhaps some suffix or prefix to denote added power. Fire, Elfire, Arcfire. Like Fire Emblem.

 

[Vox Novus]

Your method is good for two reasons, it is kept simple so the player understands it and doesn't sound goofy and also tells how long the enhanced ability lasts without additional descriptions.

There is something to be said for the way final fantasy does it (in later games) because it makes it its own thing while keeping it easy to understand. The player can piece together rather quickly that fira and firaga are fire spells due to them containing an easily recognizable core word. There is nothing wrong with simple names though, you can do a lot worse than the player being able to instantly get what a spell/skill is about.

Just no Searagaexlosiwhuzzaboom names.

 

[M.I.A.]

Just a suggestion for staggering levels of states..

Personally, I am not a fan of Blind 1, Blind 2, Blind 3.. nor am I a fan of Blind, Blindaga, Blindaja, etc..

When I make multiple tiers of the same Skill or State, I keep the names the same, but change the dialogue associated with it.

Example: [Fire 1]

Anise casts a Fire spell!!

Example: [Fire 2]

Anise casts a strong Fire spell!!

Example: [Fire 3]

Anise casts a ferocious Fire spell!!

But that's just how I prefer to do it.

 

[arcthemonkey]

This is a great discussion. There seems to be a lot of different ways of looking it this.

Personally, I am not a fan of numbering spells, i.e. Fire I/Fire II/Fire III. I think it's boring. I didn't like the Fire/Fira/Firaga/Firaja thing in Final Fantasy at first, either, but as it became an established part of that universe, I'm fine with it now. Shin Megami Tensei/Persona spells drive me nuts.

I prefer having more descriptive names, but I agree that they should be clear and concise. Icons can also help, but having something like "Flame/Blaze/Inferno" works for me, and I don't have a problem with making players figure out the universe and what different spells do, but it's really just a fancy way of numbering them.

But I think this is all a holdover from the fact that I don't like having more than one spell that do exactly the same thing, but with a progression of power. There's not point in having Firaga and Fire be separate spells if one just a more powerful version of the other in most games. You are never going to case Ice again once you get Ice II. This can be subverted somewhat by having Mana/MP be a limited, precious resource, so that you may not have enough to cast the more powerful version, but these situations rarely present themselves in most RPGs.

I think it's better to have each spell do its own thing, and having them scale with the player appropriately. I have a spell that sets the enemy on fire. As I level, it sets them on fire even more. Why do I need "Fire-er"? Isn't fire getting fire-er on its own?

If you do get a spell that is an upgrade to an earlier (has a better damage modifier or some-such), I think it should silently replace the original, as has been previously mentioned. The name can change, or not.