Dragoonlordz wrote...
In what I perceive as a "true" narrative mode you would not be required to level up in the first place, the game would offer you an alternative to combat. You would not need XP to wear gear and all gear will be equipable by the characters, you would not need to pick and choose combat skills because they are not story related as most combat in game would be removed in that mode and only the major story related fights remain of which they can be resolved using this alternative systems I mentioned in my above reply to the other guy.
Yay, old av is back!
You know my stance, I agree with you.
But I'd totally replaced player participation in combat in narrative mode (if player has wish to do that). If fight is important from storytelling PoV, it could be replaced with cutscene (on game engine, not biks, puhleeze!). Optionally - monkey island duels style
Otherwise, each of those fight could require certain prerequisites to be completed with desired outcome, but if you play narrative, I guess you don't mind to participate in other activities other than fightings.
Dragoonlordz wrote...
You could keep enviromental skills however if want for example pick lock or stealth for alternative ways to go about story situations and quests, persuasion skills reliant on what you say and how you say it. A true narrative mode for me is not dumbing down combat even more with easier fights, it is the replacement of those fights with alternative solutions.
But level-ups and XP would remain to be used with non-combat (environmental) skills, like lockpicking/hacking or conversational upgrades (or anything else comes to mind), regardless of skill system implemented, unless it's just "can do/ no can do" (either you know it or not).
Actually I'd like better implementation and differentiation between players' skills and characters' skills.
For example, if memory serves Fallout 3 allowed to save-load any "verbal challenge" no matter how low success chances were - sooner or later you'd succeed.
On the other hand, we have New Vegas, where certain level of skill was fixed as prerequisite to succeed.
I think I'd prefer combination of those - the higher the character's skill is, the less work player has to do. Let's take lockpicking: if your character has low lockpicking, you have to participate in minigame and the greater difference between lock difficulty and character's skill is, the more difficult task it will be (narrower arc where lockpick works, if we use Skyrim/Vegas example). The smaller the difference - the easier task is (wider arc) and after character's skill surpasses lock's difficulty, character would open it all by himself, no minigame required.
For "verbal challenges" it would be more difficult, but I think DE:HR examply could work - if dialogue skill is high, character will convince his opponent (a-la pheromones). If not, player has to rely on his perception in attempt to verify what kind of approach to choose. The higher skill is, the more hints character will give to player.
For me that part of DE:HR was, probably, most entertaining (Ok, second, after ninjaing everything and everyone
- there were just not enough verbal challenges). And moneywise, it wouldn't be that much expensive - those are crucial dialogies, it should be possible to allocate funds to record several variations of them.
Dragoonlordz wrote...
What I mean by waste of time is if was to implement such a mode then they should not half arse it's implementation by just making combat easier yet keeping combat the same in general, instead make it of high quality alternative way to play the game, a mode that is truly more story related.
Imagine Giorgio A. Tsoukalos here saying "money".
Dragoonlordz wrote...
Just lowering the HP and shields of all enemies is not an alternative way of playing the game to me, it's playing the same game in same way only enemies easier to kill and as such i do not class it as worth doing that way. If I play a narrative mode as opposed to a different one (action mode for example), I want clear vast difference in how the game is played else don't even bother implementing it.
Simplest alternative to combat in given circumstances, with minimum resources misallocation involvement is, practically as you said, just replacement of each fight with pop-up window "after long, bloody and exhaustive fight..." (blood drops are optional)
I don't like it, but between longer unnecessary boring, unrewardingly dull and overextended combat and shorter unnecessary boring, unrewardingly dull and overextended combat I choose latter, just because it will save more time for anything else.
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