The Degredation of RPG Magic
Jul 24, 2006 23:12:35 GMT -5
Post by jameseightbitstar on Jul 24, 2006 23:12:35 GMT -5
I always love it when the "Sleep" spell works.
Yea, funny how that is. So many RPGs, especially today, have backed into this pattern that, if they even have a "sleep" spell at all (or a "poison the enemy" spell, or a "turn enemy to stone" spell, or a "paralyze the enemy" spell, and so on and so forth) that it basically, never works, except on monsters who are so weak that you barely need it anyway.
Starting with the Super Nintendo and getting worse ever since, "Magic" in RPGs has become little more than another type of attack, unless it's being used to restore your characters' hit points or relieve them of some malady that ails them. And yet, it's magic, a supernatural force that should, theoretically, be able to do anything, provided that the caster is strong enough! How uncreative can Console RPG-makers be, that the only use they can think of for this supernatural force is "a quick way to do 1000 damage to the upcoming boss?"
What happened to games like the original Final Fantasy where magic could be used to eliminate enemy special defenses or turn monsters against each other, or games like Might and Magic or The Bard's Tale where magic could be used for things that had nothing to do with combat such as allowing you to pass through solid walls or walk over water?
All right, I'll be fair: You could argue that to allow such uses of magic would disrupt a game's storyline. After all, if you could walk on water, it could allow you to skip an event in a certain town that would've come into play later, or you might end up not meeting a certain character.
But, would it really? For example, you could make "Walk on Water" a spell you don't get until halfway through the game. Alternatively, you could make it so that dialogue indicates towns are inter-connected economically.
Suppose Fishia is the next town you're supposed to visit, but you decide to skip continents and head to Marketia, where you hear people discuss how their supply of fish hasn't come from Fishia yet and they're getting worried. Obviously, the player would be tempted to head back to Fishia and see what's wrong. Okay, suppose they're not, suppose the player simply decides to water-walk to an even later town. But again, you could pull an eleven degrees of Fishia and have them run into a character who claims her husband disappeared on a trip to Marketia... whatever, the point is there would always be a string that connects the player back to Fishia, and that string would not disappear (and consequently, important plot events would not take place) until the player decides to water-walk back to Fishia and see what the holdup is. Sure, you could say that's a form of railroading, but since when have console RPGs ever not railroaded the player in some way, shape, or form? Even Dragon Warrior used a sc eme of "monsters in this area are too much for you, so come back later" to keep the player's progress on a presupposed path.
Another thing I could see critics of more varied magic claiming is that it would "disrupt game balance." A spell that allows you to walk through walls would, obviously, nix the need to find that secret switch, and a spell to take you to the bottom of a dungeon would make dungeon-crawling all too easy. Or, back to water-walking, you could walk to a much later dungeon, raid it for powerful weapons and armor, and come back to where you're supposed to be and plow through it.
My response is to call no way. The original Bard's Tale allows you to do precisely the things I named above and it's still considered one of the most challenging RPGs ever made. Many other RPGs, such as the early Ultimas, also have such spells and yet do not suffer in challenge. A part of this is because those games have counter-balances. Creatures who can drain levels being a persistent example, and you have things to worry about besides monsters. Personally, I would also argue that in most cases, being able to walk through a wall to get treasure, instead of having to solve a puzzle, would actually be an improvement, as would being able to skip to the bottom of a dungeon--why would you want to spend hours hunting for a key to unlock a door when all you really want is to hear more of the storyline?
And as for the complaint that you could go to a later dungeon and get powerful weapons and armor, that really would not work: most likely said dungeon would have monsters and traps your characters couldn't begin to handle. And even supposing your characters could handle it and they did raid that hole for all it was worth, how would this be any different from power-levelling, which practically all RPGs allow you to do?
Look, I want to see magic in my RPGs. I want to see enemies caught in spider webs, walls that dematerialize, transport to higher planes. I don't want to see endless retreads of your basic fireball. Thunder, Thundera, Thunderaga is not magic, it's cheap and uncreative, and barely scratches the surface of the gameplay potential of this unique fantasy force.
If there's a spell called "Waka Laka," it better as hell make me fly.
Yea, funny how that is. So many RPGs, especially today, have backed into this pattern that, if they even have a "sleep" spell at all (or a "poison the enemy" spell, or a "turn enemy to stone" spell, or a "paralyze the enemy" spell, and so on and so forth) that it basically, never works, except on monsters who are so weak that you barely need it anyway.
Starting with the Super Nintendo and getting worse ever since, "Magic" in RPGs has become little more than another type of attack, unless it's being used to restore your characters' hit points or relieve them of some malady that ails them. And yet, it's magic, a supernatural force that should, theoretically, be able to do anything, provided that the caster is strong enough! How uncreative can Console RPG-makers be, that the only use they can think of for this supernatural force is "a quick way to do 1000 damage to the upcoming boss?"
What happened to games like the original Final Fantasy where magic could be used to eliminate enemy special defenses or turn monsters against each other, or games like Might and Magic or The Bard's Tale where magic could be used for things that had nothing to do with combat such as allowing you to pass through solid walls or walk over water?
All right, I'll be fair: You could argue that to allow such uses of magic would disrupt a game's storyline. After all, if you could walk on water, it could allow you to skip an event in a certain town that would've come into play later, or you might end up not meeting a certain character.
But, would it really? For example, you could make "Walk on Water" a spell you don't get until halfway through the game. Alternatively, you could make it so that dialogue indicates towns are inter-connected economically.
Suppose Fishia is the next town you're supposed to visit, but you decide to skip continents and head to Marketia, where you hear people discuss how their supply of fish hasn't come from Fishia yet and they're getting worried. Obviously, the player would be tempted to head back to Fishia and see what's wrong. Okay, suppose they're not, suppose the player simply decides to water-walk to an even later town. But again, you could pull an eleven degrees of Fishia and have them run into a character who claims her husband disappeared on a trip to Marketia... whatever, the point is there would always be a string that connects the player back to Fishia, and that string would not disappear (and consequently, important plot events would not take place) until the player decides to water-walk back to Fishia and see what the holdup is. Sure, you could say that's a form of railroading, but since when have console RPGs ever not railroaded the player in some way, shape, or form? Even Dragon Warrior used a sc eme of "monsters in this area are too much for you, so come back later" to keep the player's progress on a presupposed path.
Another thing I could see critics of more varied magic claiming is that it would "disrupt game balance." A spell that allows you to walk through walls would, obviously, nix the need to find that secret switch, and a spell to take you to the bottom of a dungeon would make dungeon-crawling all too easy. Or, back to water-walking, you could walk to a much later dungeon, raid it for powerful weapons and armor, and come back to where you're supposed to be and plow through it.
My response is to call no way. The original Bard's Tale allows you to do precisely the things I named above and it's still considered one of the most challenging RPGs ever made. Many other RPGs, such as the early Ultimas, also have such spells and yet do not suffer in challenge. A part of this is because those games have counter-balances. Creatures who can drain levels being a persistent example, and you have things to worry about besides monsters. Personally, I would also argue that in most cases, being able to walk through a wall to get treasure, instead of having to solve a puzzle, would actually be an improvement, as would being able to skip to the bottom of a dungeon--why would you want to spend hours hunting for a key to unlock a door when all you really want is to hear more of the storyline?
And as for the complaint that you could go to a later dungeon and get powerful weapons and armor, that really would not work: most likely said dungeon would have monsters and traps your characters couldn't begin to handle. And even supposing your characters could handle it and they did raid that hole for all it was worth, how would this be any different from power-levelling, which practically all RPGs allow you to do?
Look, I want to see magic in my RPGs. I want to see enemies caught in spider webs, walls that dematerialize, transport to higher planes. I don't want to see endless retreads of your basic fireball. Thunder, Thundera, Thunderaga is not magic, it's cheap and uncreative, and barely scratches the surface of the gameplay potential of this unique fantasy force.
If there's a spell called "Waka Laka," it better as hell make me fly.
