Solo or Small Party ?

[lord midnight]

Should the game be fully one solo guy, or should there be a small party of travellers?

I think you should get a small group, up to say 2 active and 2 passive members to your party.
Active members are things that move on the board, pets, familiars, underlings, followers, elementals etc, they get a sprite and follow you around doing things on the map you are on.
If you have 2 active members, plus your guy, you have a small group of 3. Active members get various equipment, might learn a skill or ability and fight.

Passive members are sprites, fairies, craftsmen, armorers and healers that are not on the map, they grant bonuses just by being 'equipped' on the party screen. With 2 passive members, thats 5 people counting your dude you can work with. Passive members dont equip items or do much other than whatever it is they do, help flee, heal a bit of HP now and then, spot traps or items, find hidden doors etc, its almost like they are items with personalities. You can get people or pets based on your job or class.

Tough warrior types get warhounds, pack beasts, squires, and passive units that offset their physical nature. Tough usually dont get 2 human followers until high level, a warhound is common

Smart scholarly types get familiars, elementals and guards, their passive types assist them in many ways. Smart characters dont usually get morethan a familiar and passive spirits until high level. might have an apprentice or strong familiar like a gargoyle.

Friendly rogues get henchmen, trained ferrets and cats and their passive types often include scholars to craft or repair items. Friendly characters get 2 active human hirelings rather early, their passive units are usually human as well.


Looks like a lot of options without really needing to be very complex if done right.

[Jfaulk]

i like the solo guy at the moment. i think how simple this game is. i think the story line also helps much into how enjoyable this game is since its simple.

plus to add a party this game would probably have to turn into more of a "final fantasy" type of game play.

[CaptainDoug]

I'm a fan of solo as well. i could see having someone help you for a short time but not on a permanent basis. maybe teaming up with your brother towards the end?

[lord midnight]

ok, I had a small thought for a quest, where a girl accompanies you along a path to her mother's grave or whatever, she should be on screen, maybe one tile behind you ?

Perhaps there is only one "extra party member" and they are quest based, you get that extra person based on what part of the gae you are in ?

If there are pets and henchmen or familiars, I think one slot should be dedicated to quest based people. If there are extra members of the party at all, I do think any social type characters should get an exrta one or access to better people.

Either way, I think some form of small party would work well, even if its just a person you need to guide you or you need to protect.

The thought with the passive party members, is that they are basically a different flavor of equipment, they arent active on screen or do much. Maybe a healer type who gives you back HP every so often, or a merchant that gets you better deals, that sort of thing.

I do think at least one active member would do well for a lot of things, two would be better in my opinion and still keep with the simple play of the game, but maybe just one for quests is good.

[sdevaney]

Right now the game is an RPG/Roguelike/Hack&Slash genre mix. I don't see where adding party members really fits into the theme of the game.

[lord midnight]

so you dont want a pet, a familiar, a henchman or an npc to accompany you or help you on quests ?

Pure one-man army all the way ?

[sdevaney]

Yea I could see having a pet or hired npc or something along those lines but I don't think there should be a group of 5 or so adventurers that go out together like in the Dragon Quest series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest

Even with the pet or npc I think it should play a very small helper role. Only on specific quests and such.

[lord midnight]

ok right I gotcha, Im not talking about a full party system either, Im talking about a compromise between the two, have I been unclear or does it just seem overwhelming ?

Im talking mostly about a pet, and room for a quest npc, maybe two hirelings for a Friendly character.

Does this still seem like too much ?

[Aceofspades25]

Solo:

As I've said before, I'm against cluttering up the UI.

If there is a pet / familiar, I think that would be cool, but it should just be equiped in one of your equipment slots and not shown on screen.

[Jfaulk]

i dont like the pet idea... if anything some sort of mini game could be added, but i could really careless.. like ive said in other threads this game is great, because how simple it is. many games get ruined by adding so much junk to it when 99% of the population love it how it is.