Winter Wolves - Seasons Of The Wolf

Anima_ Feb 27, 2014

I thought stagger was changing, or was that only for Loren 2? 'cause I see three turns of it there, and while I don't want to jump to conclusions, is it another game of stagger or be staggered?

(I did like stagger once I figured out how to play it to my advantage so not really complaining)

Stagger is only changing for Loren 2. The changes require the timeline functionality from the new framework.

jack1974 Feb 27, 2014

I know, still a work in progress, and it isn't going to be a walking on sort of map, but this is definitely looking promising to me

And in some ways, I can imagine it would be easier to add events/encounters/hotspots without reworking a big overworld map.

Well the art is final, might reduce the width of the roads, but I'm not planning many changes. The gameplay/UI is still in progress though

The advantage of using tilesets instead of fixed map is that you can have more details, and I can create new maps independently from artist's speed/availability.

yayswords Feb 27, 2014

I thought stagger was changing, or was that only for Loren 2? 'cause I see three turns of it there, and while I don't want to jump to conclusions, is it another game of stagger or be staggered?

(I did like stagger once I figured out how to play it to my advantage so not really complaining)

Stagger is only changing for Loren 2. The changes require the timeline functionality from the new framework.

Oh, so that didn't get changed either. That's a shame. Now it becomes the number one change I'll want to suggest for combat, while knowing we won't get it

Actually, it is a damn big shame. What does change other than the resistance system?

My main gripe with stagger is the whole stagger or be staggered thing, where either you hit first and hard and stagger your opponents so they can't return the favor, or you - normal case, not speedstacker hardhitter party - eat the first wave and get staggered and just bunker up until it's over. It feels quite polarized. Once you have stagger, you can't hit hard enough to cause it much. I like that it makes the target vulnerable to certain attacks, but it needn't cripple them too. In fact, come to think of it, stagger might be a more powerful debuff than any debuff caused by skills that require stagger.

jack1974 Feb 28, 2014

Yeah but is enough to adjust some variables to make stagger not happen as often as Loren, so plays completely different. Or I could even adjust it so that reduces attack ,defense or speed only (so not all 3 like now). Or that prevent user from moving. I can customize it quite well, so if you have any suggestion, let me know

yayswords Feb 28, 2014

Like I said, stagger itself might be more powerful than any single debuff it "unlocks" via thief/warrior attacks, plus there's already two debuffs each for reducing attack/defense/speed/magic. I am guessing you have made some changes to the combat system already so I don't wanna knock it before I've tried it, but I'd rather see stagger toned down and the chance for the benefiting attacks to trigger debuffs increased (guaranteed is not a step too far). ATM it's a bit too much of hit the target with a lot of damage, to enable yourself to hit it with even more damage, and maybe cause a debuff in the process.

Also, one month left of Q1 2014. I count the minutes!

jack1974 Feb 28, 2014

Yes, I have changed many skills, so better wait to talk about it once the beta test version is out

still doing tweaks now, but I understand what you mean - stagger being more powerful than the unlocked attacks. The problem with Loren is that was happening when the characters were already almost dead. And if I made it happen too soon, it would be a big handicap because of the negative effects. For Loren 2 needs better design for sure

jack1974 Mar 12, 2014

https://24.media.tumblr.com/3803482783670fde9650726883351f1e/tumblr_n2bz49r7yI1qhts2bo1_1280.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

I think I made the strongest skill ever. Probably will need to tweak it or raise the SP / delay. Is fun to watch a strong opponent slowly getting weaker and weaker every turn that passes :mrgreen:

Lonestar51 Mar 12, 2014

Me, me, me! Let me report the issue!!!!!1111eleven :mrgreen:

... Target will progressivly reduce the attack, defense, speed and magic attributes until the effect is active.

The first part of the sentence should be in passive, as it is done to the target (by the equally mad Rowinda, but that's beside the point).

The second part of the sentence should be either "while the effect is active" or "until the time is up" or similar.

...does this count as playtesting without actually playing? ...

----

Beside this, I like the progress you show in the picture. And it will b e fun to cast this spell, of course. :lol:

jack1974 Mar 12, 2014

That does count as preventive proofreading :lol:

Uhm, so how the whole sentence would be? /me English ignorant

Miakoda Mar 12, 2014

That does count as preventive proofreading

Uhm, so how the whole sentence would be? /me English ignorant

I admit, this does leave me a little confused as well.

Does the target suffer reductions to attack, defense, speed, and magic for 10 rounds?

The way it reads is that it suffers the reductions for 10 rounds, and then the spell takes effect.

I would be tempted to write something like:

The target's attack, defense, magic, and magic attributes suffers progressive damage for 10 rounds or until the effect is canceled.

Note: I'm making the assumption the effect of Madness only last 10 rounds. I added the 'or' in case there was a way for the victim to remove the status effect.

Lonestar51 Mar 12, 2014

I would go with something like:

"The target's attack, defense, magic, and magic attributes get worse each round the spell is in effect."

Me liking simple words. Is good words, not? :mrgreen:

SerTabris Mar 12, 2014

Do they stay reduced after it's done, though? I don't think that's currently clear.

Lonestar51 Mar 13, 2014

I would think it goes back to normal after 10 rounds.

However, I do think my previous idea may be only the second best. Here is how I would describe it:

Rowina's Sanity

One target becomes as sane, serene and balanced as Rowina herself. With maybe just a little Schizophrenia added to the mix. A normal person cannot cope with this, and temporarily looses some strength, dexterity, speed and magical attributes each round while the spell is in effect.

yayswords Mar 13, 2014

Have we been introduced to Rowena? Else I'm afraid the pun is lost on us for now

+nitpickers will have fun with that description too ;p

jack1974 Mar 13, 2014

Yes after the effects fades out they go back to normal, otherwise would be really a "cheat skill" :lol:

I've tweaked already the reduction, because was too powerful! I might also reduce the duration, or reduce the amount of attributes (maybe lower only attack/defense). In practice even with enemies 2-3 levels higher (which in this game are very powerful) with this skill you could defeat them rather easily :mrgreen:

Rowinda is in the character intro somewhere in the forum (maybe in the art thread?)

jack1974 Mar 13, 2014

To give you an idea of Rowinda's personality, here's a brilliant solution to explore an abandoned and possibly cursed cave later in the story:

[code]krimm "But there's no way to get to them. Unless you can turn into a bird."

rowinda "I can turn us all into bats. That way, we can fly out and see if the crew took the same way."

shea "You can turn us all into bats?"

rowinda "Sure I can. Permanently."

shea "Permanently?"

rowinda "Yeah. There's no way to turn you back into people afterwards."

shea "In that case, I don't think we'll be doing that."[/code]

she knows what she is doing!

yayswords Mar 13, 2014

ok my first skill point goes into permanently turning enemies into bats, fuck your madness spell! :D

Lonestar51 Mar 14, 2014

I have two questions regarding the "time limit":

http://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2400&start=20

In SOTW I'm thinking how to do that, currently I have the idea that there's a fixed amount of grinding you can do, using a sort of turn system like in PS. Since there are main key events in the plot, for example from the day that Morran is sick to the next major plot point, there can be 5 days in which the player can grind / do quests. There are random encounter or places you can visit that repeats, but I can stop them from popping up again until a day/turn has passed for example, thus limiting the amount of grinding you are allowed

OK, so I have say 10 days or turns or whatever until the next plot point becomes active, like some baddies arrive, the gladiator games start, or like in above example someone falls ill.

1) Will the plot quests have variable length, like: search in the wrong position, a day is wasted, search in the right position, next step in the plot? If so, what will keep an unlucky gamer from wasting all days, the old plotline not yet finished and the event for the next plotline gets triggered?

2) Assuming there are 10 days left until the next plot event, will it be possible to skip until then (not go grinding/exploring)?

BTW: Generally speaking, which value will grinding have if the enemies level to match the party? None, as far as I can see. So why include it?

jack1974 Mar 14, 2014

Those are good questions :mrgreen:

1) the main plot quests will have fixed points, after the time has passed you won't be able to go around grinding. Example:

day0 - game start, you get quest to save your father

day0 to 10 - you can roam freely, start sidequests (most sidequests will just happen continuously, so like one will consume 1 day, another 2 days, and so on, but will be rather simple)

on day10 you need to advance to the next plot event. However, most sidequests would still be available until the next season.

day 11 to 15 - save your siblings from dingirrans, but you can still do any unfinished sidequests available, etc

So it would be REALLY strange (if not impossible) to run out of time to do sidequests. If someone waited for all the first part days and started them the last day, then yes. But then you can't call yourself a RPG gamer

Instead, there can be small random event like encounter a wild animal, etc, that aren't really quests, but similar to Loren's city tasks. Doing each of those will advance time, so you can't do 100 of those tasks to reach level 30 in the first chapter.

And yes, you can go back to your home and rest to advance +1 days

2) well, is not entirely true, surely auto-leveling enemies solve a lot of problems, but as your party levels up and get new skills, they WILL become gradually more powerful since they have access to more special attacks/spells that will help solve more situations. Also, is a bit lame if you reach level 15 in first season and then you have 15 more level for the remaining 3 season. In general I want to control more the player progression, at least for levels. PS1 combat worked much better than Loren in term of balancing for various reasons but one of them is because more or less I would know which level you could be at point X of the story

yayswords Mar 15, 2014

How exactly should we think of a season? As an expansion or another chapter of the game? 'cause I think that unless a player waits until all four seasons are out, every new season will feel like an expansion anyway. That's how avid fans and beta testers will experience it.

This means you need something else in place than just level pacing. Let's say there are three good skills: A, B and C. In season one I can only get enough skill points to combine two of them, however in the next season I can get all three and that's awesome and all but it doesn't feel very new when I've been playing games with AB, AC and BC for months, a year? If you look at WoW for example the level cap for the original game was 60, first expansion 70, then 80, 85, 90, next stop 100. Even though we can only get a few more levels with each expansion those levels give our characters things we couldn't get before; new skills available only at those higher levels (and old ones redesigned). Also the glyph system which lets you customize existing skills. If we take Draco's Blizzard as an example, a glyph could increase its damage but remove the freeze chance, or the opposite. Or if you like the idea of glyphs being unanimous buffs to skills they could reduce mana cost or delay. But you can only have so many glyphs.

My point is, I hope you understand that levels are just numbers, and it's entirely within your power to decide how meaningful each level is to the character. Instead of analing about giving us 7½ level per season so we hit 30 nice and smooth in the last one

Or if you're planning to actually not release the game until all four seasons are tested and done then I guess we have to suck it up as beta testers