Concepts/Ideas you wish FF games implemented but haven't yet.

[Omega]

See also: valkyrie profile

do that again

[Blade]

ChipNoir wrote:

Blade wrote:

If there was one thing I always wanted, it was an Equipment System like FFXIV has that reflects your appearance.

I'm not talking job-class specific though that might come in to play, but a game that reflects on traditional FF equipment older games had.

A good example is Warrior of Light from Dissidia. His equipment evokes Amano a lot, which I loved design-wise. If you could change your equipment for your whole party (not just jackets or shirts like FFXV which is a modern take), it would invoke a very classic FF style that I appreciated.

Problem with that is form and function almost always clash in RPGs. Nothing sucks more than finding the armor you like the look of most has shit stats, or vice versa.

That can easily be remedied with Equipment customization/Item Making.

Remember how in FFXIII-2 they had Monsters you could tweak the abilities of?

Same idea, equipment could be modified and have it's own unique stats to suit a player's needs.

[The Twilight Mexican]

Kind of like what you could do in FFX, only this time without it changing the appearance of the equipment?

[Blade]

Yeahp.

You'd use the Equipment you "want" as a base, and adjust the stats/abilities by item enhancements.

[Mr. Ite]

I really want there to be a free cam, especially since they're focusing more on an open world type of game style, with programmed AIs living lives and stuff. Some of my favorite things to do in FFs is gawk at the details, and a free cam would allow me to focus in on that bird's nest in Costa del Sol, or look at Rabanastre from a unique vantage point.

[Obsidian Fire]

^My one complaint with the /gpose camera in FFXIV (which is awesome by the way) is that the camera is still locked to your character when you move it. It would be great if we had the option to unlock it and then move it.

[Literally Who?]

I wish Final Fantasy 14 (well any MMO to be completely honest) would just completely rip off everything about BDO that isn't the combat/cash shop gated side grades.


Seriously. Black Desert Online is an incredible game that is just ruined by an insane experience grind post level 56 (were talking weeks per level up here) and other slight money gouging tactics that prevent you from fully optimizing your game time.


The good stuff though? Jeez I've never played a game like it.

The profession system is so.freaking.robust, it's not like most games where you pick from like 2 main professions and a few sub professions. Nope it just splits the whole thing off into "life skills" and you can use and level up any profession at your leisure. The catch is that executing an action in most professions (especially gathering) uses up a point of "energy"

How do you get more "energy" You explore the world! Talk to every NPC and have conversations with them. There is sort of like a index you can fill out with locations, topography (being at the base of a mountain wont cut it! ) , NPC's etc. The more of the world you experience the more Energy your toons get. Furthermore through having favorable conversations with NPC's you can gain favor with them for better prices, and even unlock quests and new dialogue which may increase your chances of gaining better standing with other NPC's.

With that in mind back to professions, they also did a great job of making every profession worth while. In fact some of the richest players in the game are near maxed out in several professions. Every item you can gather or generate has value, and if it doesn't sell well on the market there is another profession called "Trading" which is great for offloading items you don't want to put in the market place, which if you level it up enough is actually an incredible way to get rich if you pair with another profession and trade off items you craft in mass.


Due to the way the professions and the NPC's interact with each other it also feels like a real world. If you really want to make the most of it you need to experience as much as you can in the world and go exploring. I can't tell you how awesome it felt when I made my first little raft and was able to go out into the ocean. I literally spent 2 hours out there just goofing off, my mind was even more blown when I almost got killed by a big ass shark thing, or when I realized I could get off my boat and dive and there were items to gather even at the bottom lol.




The real thing that just blows my mind is the "Worker" system. You can if you want basically become a slave driver and have an auto gathering and crafting system empire rolling while you are online (This is both amazing and a problem which I'll get to in a second).

So to explain the mechanics there is a third energy system called "Contribution Points" , in BDO quests don't give experience at all they give Contribution Experience. Every time you level up your contribution you get 1 point etc. IIRC you can get up to around 250 but there are some people with much more.

So in every city there is a housing system. You can rent out houses with various functions and you pay for it with Contribution. These functions range from being Tailor huts, to Blacksmiths and importantly Worker Housing.

In every city there is also a Work Manager NPC who you can purchase randomly Generated Workers or also Workers that other players have leveled up. There are 3 types with varying pros and cons, basically goblins are fast, humans are balanced, giants are slow but can get better luck gathering.

Every time the Workers complete a task they get experience and can level up and learn new attributes and perks which may make them better suited for different tasks. The things you can make these guys do is almost limitless they can do basically all crafting (they can even make boats), they can gather , cook etc.

On top of the housing system is a "Node" System it's basically areas in the world map that branch out from the City's that you can send a worker to to gather. Different nodes have different items to get some are amazing, some are terrible.

The cool thing is that in order to be able to send a worker there you need to unlock the node. You have to physically go out there and open it up, and several are surrounded by really really tough monsters. Additionally in order for a node to be active it must have all nodes between it and the city active as well.

So if I have a Node that I want thats far left of City B, Ideally I would want to send a worker I purchased and housed in City B to go there. Since sending a worker from City A would require me to connect every node between City A and B together on top of the nodes between the Node and City B.

Here is an image of my nodes in the south west portion of the map to give you an idea

(SPOILER)
So this system ends up being a cool game with in the game, because if you really really want to optimize your worker routes you have to account for travel speed, managing your contribution points for housing and nodes and also setting up optimal paths. And of course having to go out in the world to explore and find said nodes. It's very neat and really feels nice once you have an optimal empire up and running.

So for the most part Workers generally gather slower than you do in any one task. Of course the difference being is that Workers don't have "Energy Points" to worry about and well you can have like 30 of them out at once so it adds up over time.

Here in lies the problem with the worker empire though (and to an extent the game). They only work when you are online. This has lead to basically every serious player of the game basically never logging out. Since Gold is how you gain strength in BDO and not necessarily leveling up, in order to get the gold and keep up with the economy you have to keep the empire running constantly.

Which is well pretty shit lol.

Over all though the game is wonderful in it's own weird way. I honestly just can't downplay the sense of wonder I had in this game when I first went out on the ocean or when I caught my first horse. The life Skills side of the game is just so good and it really makes you feel like you can do anything you want. It's just brought down by tiny things that add up so fast.

I really wish more games would rip off its systems lol.

[Blade]

Nil wrote:

See also: valkyrie profile

do that again

Something I've really liked about the VP series: Map flying.

Mode 7 (SNES term, look it up) was always awesome.

I know Airships or in FFXV's case "flying cars" can do it... but modern RPGs rarely do this idea of global flying anymore, either because of 3D loading issues or some other factor.

The closest I've seen is the transition used in the Batman Arkham games... where Batman can float/dive/grapel to his destinations.

Superman'ing around from several kilometers in the sky is an epic feeling... and I think more RPGs need to implement it.

[Sprites]

I'd like to see summons interact more with the person they're given too, it'd be really cool if they had a conversation every now and again with their summoner in their mind or something, gave them advice on battles I feel like they only touch briefly on this idea, it'd be kinda cool to explore it more.

[jazzflower92]

I would like to see more varied protagonists, not just the teen-young adult male characters.

[Obsidian Fire]

Sprites wrote:

I'd like to see summons interact more with the person they're given too, it'd be really cool if they had a conversation every now and again with their summoner in their mind or something, gave them advice on battles I feel like they only touch briefly on this idea, it'd be kinda cool to explore it more.

The primals (summons) in FFXIV do this a lot. Granted, they are the PC's enemies, but literally every single fight with them has them emoting all over the place about the ideals they embody and most of them have BGM with lyrics that are written from the point of view of the primal in question.

Actually, part of the lore for Summoner in FFXIV is that summoners ended up getting hunted down in eras past because people thought they were being influenced by what they were summoning, which is a really bad thing in that game.

[Sprites]

oh that's pretty cool, I've never played XIV so I didn't know they did that.

I remember years ago someone did an FFVIII fanfic and they did the concept of the GFS speaking to the person they were connected with really well, they even gave a reason for why GFs were responsible for memory loss something about needing to eat their memories to sustain themselves and their connection, it was really well done, wish I could remember the fic.

[Blade]

This too:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlockable_games

[Blade]

Was just thinking about how "thick" RPGs tend to get, to a point where it's hard to just pick up and play them (cerebral gameplay and guide-dang-it scenarios)...

So, has anyone made an RPG you can just pick up and play without thinking much about it?

I mean, something that maybe had micromanagement at the outset, but once you settle in to the character you're going to play as you can keep going without touching stuff... or at least a game where quest explanations or items can be "noted" or marked as priorities so you can remember them later?

I just think there should be some degree of that for people who don't want to do a whole lot of thinking but still want that Fantasy experience, you know?

[Blade]

Mode 7, and why I wish more games used it.

YouTube Video