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[A Crusty Knight Of Colour]

I tend to think that the ability to add satisfying non-combat gameplay or quests boilds down to solid mechanics and quests that take advantage of said mechanics, rather than putting together situations where it could work. Well, that's gameplay period, but it still counts.

If we jump right into narrative situations (contextual), but don't have solid mechanical foundations for it, it won't come off as very satisfying.

When those mechanics are in place, then I imagine it becomes easier to create more open ended situations that allow for a variety of approaches.

MotA - Stealth Section vs Oblivion - Whodunit or Fallout: New Vegas - Arizona Killer.

Now of course, we aren't programmers or designers working on the next Dragon Age project, so any input we give is ultimately futile, but I tend to find that suggesting ideas from a gameplay perspective (universal mechanics that help give character development depth, breadth and variety in approaching quests) is a better route, as it doesn't impose on the narrative aspects of the game.

i.e What if BioWare doesn't want a masquerade ball in the next game.

The Elder Scrolls is a pretty good example. Not the best, but everyone knows Skyrim by now. The level design or the quests aren't geared towards non combat approaches (unlike say, Deus Ex games), but because of the open skill system and the way NPCs interact with the player, you could waltz into a cave, steal the Helm of Winterhold and bring it back to the Jarl wihout anyone knowing you were even there in non-descript cave #356.

Even if it's "supposed" to have combat. You can go above and beyond the scope of the quest according to how you play your character.

Another example, for my Fallout 2 LP I had to survive an encounter in The Den where Lara and her group of Mercs took on equally appalling scumbags. I attacked from cover, planted dynamite and did various other strategies.

I kept getting wiped (pitfalls of a character with Unarmed as the only combat skill, weak END, low SNK and poor equipment).

How did I win? I bought Vic off Metzger and the two of us went to another part of town where we beat up some drug dealers. After sneaking up on them in the evening and getting an instant 1HKO with my trusty Brass Knucks (but not killing them), I stole a stack of Stimpaks, Buffout and some other drugs/items off their unconscious bodies. I bartered some of the items (Jet, etc) for AP ammo and better Armor for myself and Vic. Armed to the teeth, I was able to finally defeat the Mercs (though Lara did not survive).

I collected my fee off Lara's dead body, looted half a dozen guns off the dead mercs, and gained enough experience to level up.

Now the fun thing is that someone else who had built a different type of character would've approached the situation in a completly diferent manner and might've come up with different results. Because the game is open ended and interactive enough to allow it.

tl;dr: We need more omni-present ways for the character to interact with the gameworld in gameplay, rather than limiting varied approaches to specific quests and situations (ala MotA).

re: Skills being autowin, that's really a problem of implementation, not concept. The Neverwinter Night 2 Ember Trial. Fantastic implementation of Skill systems and "roleplaying" integrated together in a dialog battle. Well, at least it was for 2006. I'd like to see developers run with the idea.

In keeping with the topic, I think a questline where you help someone ascend in political stature by taking out his/her enemies is one which has a lot of potential. Similar in premise to the Harrowmont/Bhelen questline in Origins, but more open ended in the way you can approach the quests. Like instead of doing a bunch of quests building a power base for the inevitable confrontation, what if you could kill one of them in their sleep and see how that moves the plot along.

Modifié par CrustyBot, 08 avril 2012 - 08:20 .