Spell Names

[BigToastie]

Hi Guys,


With regards to spell naming conventions, what do you guys feel about the whole "Cure / Cura / Cureaga" - same for other spells...fire/fira etc.? - not specifically those names just that sort of naming convetion 


Alternatively Resurrection I / Resurrection II ..?


as I am naming my spells it got me curious on how people feel about this naming convention.?

 

[TheRiotInside]

For me it depends on how you want to signify to the player that the spells are progressions of each other. You could do it with names (like your two examples), or with similar icons, or with similar placement in the skill order, or any combination of those, or none of those! Like if you used similar icons, you could probably get away with different names for spell progressions.


As far as taste, I don't mind the functionality of Fire I, Fire II, etc. but some people might find that bland. If you didn't have two dozen different fire damage spells, you could do similar names like Fire Ball, Fire Burst, Fire Blast, which appear similar enough to imply what I, II, and III would, especially if they had similar icons.


We could get into the whole other discussion about the usefulness of progressive spells in the first place, but assuming you're set on making it work well, I'd say go for whatever you like. I don't see too many polarizing opinions on spell naming conventions out there, so you probably won't upset people that much with whatever naming convention you go with.


Sorry for the totally-not-straight answer, but hey, it's RPG Maker. There aren't many straight answers out there!

 

[BigToastie]

Haha no its a great answer, I never expect straight forward answers on questions like these.


I feel that I am cheating using a basic I II III IV etc. for spells.


Monsters spells will always be unique (they wont use things like Healing Spores 2 (it would just be a stronger version of healing spores))


I feel like I will either do as you said with the fire ball / burst blast concept or keep on with similar naming for progression skills.


Thanks for your response

 

[Skunk]

For this I would almost do something like a skill upgrade system

 

[Victor Sant]

I really dislike those I, II, III and "ra", "ga", "ja" things. I really prefer the spells to have their own names.

 

[kovak]

I usually use a + or ++ or simply replace the weaker version with th stronger one and change how the cost works to be based on percentage + a flat value.

I'm not good at naming stuff at all, sometimes i just make it to scale to avoid looking at it ever again k3k

 

[Euphony]

I'm not a big fan of the -ra -ga -ja naming technique. It's too Final Fantasy. Obviously Final Fantasy has been a huge trendsetter for the genre--the first one is kind of like every RPG's grandfather--but it's for that very reason that I think we should try to move away from it. Try to name your spells, items, weapons, etc in a way that's unique to your game so that when someone hears those names, they think of your game, not Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger or whatever.


Personally, I just grab a thesaurus and go to town playing with word combinations. As long as the spell description makes it clear what it does and how powerful it is in relation to similar spells, you can come up with creative names instead of relying on numbers.


Also, as a kind of unspoken rule with myself, I give higher level spells longer names than the lower level ones. For example, Crimson Flare is the level one fire spell and Exploding Corona is level two. The second one has a slightly longer name and just kind of sounds more powerful.

 

[LuLingqi1]

Honestly, I had the same problem, and I decided, if it's an upgrade of the basic skill and all that is different is costs and output, then you can change the name to something like that, but you should make it cancel out the other skill's existence.


For instance, for me I have one character with a skill called Heal and them one called Heal Them!. Heal Them! is not an upgrade to Heal, since heal is a more potent single man heal, while Heal Them! has less potency but heals the entire party. He does however get access to Heal Them!! Which makes heal them a little stronger and adds a buff. When that happens, it locks access to Heal Them!.


Does that make sense?

 

[Aoi Ninami]

That does make sense, but I'd be wary about taking away choice from the player like that. When I'm playing, I like to use weaker spells on enemies that don't call for me to bring out the big guns, and that goes double for heals -- I want to be able to heal a small amount of damage without using up the cost of a higher-level heal. That said, I'd still be able to adapt to a game using a system like that. It also depends on the number of levels each skill has, and the total number of skills available in the late game. If there are so many that flipping through the menu to find particular skills is taking up valuable time, then by all means remove (or let the player choose to remove) some they aren't going to use much.

As for the original question, my preference is for distinct names in a game with not too many skills, numbers if everything gets multiple levels and there are so many skills that it's hard to remember what's an upgrade of what. I can't stand the FF-like suffixes. They're twee, and they're a barrier to the player's understanding unless the player happens to be familiar with specific previous games.

 

[Punamaagi]

I usually prefer spell names which are neither too simple nor too obscure. While Final Fantasy styled names like Cura or Firaga can evoke a certain sense of nostalgia to some people, they can also feel too obviously FF-inspired. Aoi Ninami's point about the suffixes being difficult to understand to new player is good, too. I prefer them to the number variants (Ice 1/2/3), but both options are a bit plain.


On the other hand, I'm not really fond of spell names which don't tell the player what the spell does. For instance, Phantasy Star IV has a spell which deals Light element damage to a single target and is called... Tsu. Apparently, a lot of the game's spell names were twisted from German words (Tsu being a sort of mistranslation for "gurantsu", which was apparently based on German word for 'shine'), but I don't think that a player should have to stop just to figure out which spell does what. Clarity is even more important if using something like non-wait active time battle system.


In my own game, I've given basic spells fairly basic names and their upgraded versions more powerful-sounding (or fancier) names. For instance, a sorcerer may start with Thunderbolt but end up with Crackling Lightning, and Earth Spike paves way for Fury of the Land.

 

[Rinobi]

I find such naming conventions rather boring. Final Fantasy's approach is actually a pretty good way to go about it, but it's not the type of thing that should be ripped off by another game.


I feel like if a game is going to have progressively powerful skills/spells which are direct upgrades, they should at least have increasingly ridiculous names.

Spoiler

Fireball
Five-Fold Comet
Manifold Meteor Storm
Armageddon
Star Tempest -Purgatory-

Spoiler

Rectify
Zone Rectify
Heaven Fall
Final Sanctuary

Spoiler

Subsonic Dash
Supersonic Sprint
Dyad Dance
Phantom Waltz


Lightspeed Blitz


Physics Slip -FTL-

 

[BigToastie]

Thanks for the feedback guys, it's really been useful!


Actually interesting to see peoples opinions on this subject, at present I have the tiers as spellname I spell name II but these are placeholders, I think that I will give them all unique names, i feel in the long run this will feel better for my game, all my monsters spells have unique names so lets not rip off the players with a bland naming convention

 

[cekobico]

You can tie the spellnames to the lore of each character. 


In my game, there is only one Magic Academy where all mages all over the world graduate from, logically, anyone knowing magic spells use the same spells. But, furthermore to create a sense of 'intelligence'-ish, I went with Latin + gibberish (lol), as if these are the standard naming convention of spells taught within the academy. (Also because I'm a fan of Magister Negi Magi haha)


> Ignis (ST-Fire)


> Omni Ignistra (AOE-Fire)


> Glacio (ST-Ice)


> Omni Glacioga (AOE Ice)


> Fulmen (ST-Thunder)


> Omni Fulmenitra (AOE-Thunder)


Light & Dark element gets special treatment as they are almost the most strongest spells; they get longer names to somewhat define how long it is to read the names lol


> Omni Nox Tenebris


> Omni Lux Consacratus


White Magic is a bit hard coz I can't find good latin words that sounds "healing-ish" so I threw in gibberish and latin-sounding suffixes.


> Curatio (ST-Heal)


> Curatina (ST-Heal II)


> Sanctuaria (AOE-Heal)


> Sanctifica (AOE-Heal II)


> Purimundo (Cleanse)


Another example, one my character is the tactician/strategist of the group. Therefore, all of her skills' names are basically literal 'commands' :


> Identify Yourself! (Scan one enemy)


> Try Again! (Reset all enemies' ATB gauge)


> Don't Hold Back! (Increase party's Agility)


> Don't Panic! (Cleanse all debuffs)


> Hold Still! (Increase party's Defense)


I had more fun with Samurai skills as I can be as weaboo as I can: 


> Ougi : World-Cleaver Flurry


> Ougi : Chaotic Dance of Fluttering Sakura

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

I really dislike the whole ga,Ra,ja suffix, it feels like baby speech (agagaraja...)


People often forgets that rote spells aren't created ex nihilo, they are researched and refined by magic academies or great wizard. And that can help spread the lore in your game if it is reflected with naming.


maybe base spells have base names, but advanced version can have a more refined name.


lets take a basic Fireball. After studies, the Hylaria magic academy developed a possible stronger version or one with added effect. It has then spread to other magic teaching structures under the name of Hylarian Fire.


and after the Great wizard Amergon refined it even more, a version of the spell called Amergon 's seeker-killer fireball became also used by his disciples.


Using this sort of naming ideas, you help your lore by setting the existence of the Hylarian Academy and of Amergon, that may be of use in your plot, or simply conveys flavor.

 

[BigToastie]

@Niten Ichi Ryu that is a really good idea, as since my rpg world will be growing quite large, I dont want it to be a very quiet world, I want lore like this to 'flesh out' the world.


Very interesting, very interesting indeed! has gave me other ideas on how to add additional lore too!

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

yep.


We could see that in D&D Forgotten Realms setting, with the Mordenkainen, Bigby or Elminster's spell


Pillars of eternity did it quite well too with many


spells attributed to Archmage Concelhaut available in the Vanilla, and then you having to fight Concelhaut as a lich in a sidequest of the expansion.

 

[Valryia]

You should consider naming your spells on a practical level. Tell me, who of you remember what element "Agi" is? What is wrong with "Firebomb"?


Of course, this depends on the game's setting.


But what i'm more concerned with is the cluttering of the skill menu.


Example. In Final Fantasy, how many spells do you actually use? All those basic spells are eventually useless.


Why not make it easy for the player and just use the basic levels, and either upgrade them directly or replace them with the new skills?


At the very least, consider to allow the player removing skills from the skill menu.

 

[cekobico]

Agi is fire (lel) also because Agni where it derived from..? :3


TBH, low-tier spells is a'ok for me so I can choose to not waste 64 MP on random mobs preluding the boss. Most of the time, mage don't deal enough damage to oneshot mobs with normal attack; though this could be solved by making a low-cost moderately-small-damage non-elemental magic attack (think Ruin in FFXIII) which allows you to not need the rest of the 8 barely-useful low-tier element spells. 

 

[Valryia]

First of all, we are not restricted by letting spells cost MP thanks to yanfly's plugins.


Second, i prefer the "complete overkill" option. It gives the game another tactical level to work with. It also happens to be perfect for certain settings with "all or nothing" magic.


But, it becomes more about game balance.


Why is the player fighting weak mobs in the first place?


And wouldn't be the regular attack be enough?

 

[cekobico]

Again that depends on what kind of skill progression any game want to take.


Sure, nobody is stopping you from making MP totally irrelevant if you have another method of balancing/playing the game.


I'm just saying in a situation where you want to have multiple spells that can be upgraded (Fire-Fira-Firaga), in which the upgraded version only means increase in damage and cost; then some people might want to keep using low-tier spells because it is unnecessary to fight underleveled mobs with Firaga when Fire can deal enough damage to one-shot it and there might be a case where a Mage normal attack doesn't suffice to one-shot it. 


I'm sorry my dear but you're swaying the topic lol 


There are multiple reasons why player is fighting weak mobs in the first place which I will not address here so we can move on with what's the original topic about.