Dragon Quest XI Review (part 2)

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age is a beautiful game, and when I say that, I mean it is gorgeous to look at. The cel-shaded art style immediately places everything in an almost fairy-tale, fantasy setting. The colors are bright and bold, but the textures and lighting feel oddly realistic. Although the characters and monsters all have a cartoonish, anime-inspired feel to them, this approach only served to enhance the immersive quality of the fantasy game even further. I'll be honest, I spent a lot of time just exploring, walking inside each house, looking behind bushes and trees, and even climbing onto roofs for a better view of the village. The game rewards exploration, too—I found little items scattered about that would later help me on my journey. But visually, this game enthralled and immersed me. There was so much attention to detail, and even though some areas had no purpose at all, every last corner was rendered with care as if the artists felt their portfolios depended on it. Everything was so artistically consistent, too, that I really felt transported into another world and I readily handed over my suspension of disbelief, ready to buy myself a plot of land in this world where I could someday retire. The User Interface had a familiar style from previous games, and the items and equipment all felt like they fit nicely in the game, with fun names such as Buzzberries, Antidotal Herb, or Wakerobin. The ambiance was further defined by the sound and voice acting...

Dragon Quest XI Review (part 1)

There are NO SPOILERS in this review.

It's been a while since I've written a video game review because of two reasons: 1, I don't have that much time to play video games these days and 2, there haven't been many games that have impressed me enough to write a review, though a recent exception is Ana Ribeiro's VR game, Pixel Ripped 1989. I love Pixel Ripped, and if you missed my review, you can find out why I liked it so much, here: http://solarechoesrpg.blogspot.com/2018/08/game-review-pixel-ripped-1989-vr.html

If you've been following my posts over the years, though, you'll know that I've always been on a personal quest to find an RPG that captures me like they used to, decades ago. I'm talking about the kind of RPG that I totally lose myself in, where I fall in love with the characters, play longer than I should because I'm so engaged with the story, and enjoy it all the way to very end. The truth is, I rarely encounter RPG video games like that anymore, and it's been a while since I liked something enough to solve it. I often lose interest along the way for various reasons, such as annoying load times, lack of a clear quest system so I forget where I left off, arrival at an impasse because I either didn't level up enough or just plain couldn't figure out what to do next, etc. Over a decade ago on the PS2 I played and solved Dragon Quest VIII; I loved the game, despite the FREQUENT random encounters that constantly interrupted my travels. With the recent release of Dragon Quest XI, I decided to try the series again, and wow, I think I've found another gem!

Combat in a Visual Novel (part 5)

A non-choice in a VN is where it doesn’t matter if you pick A or B; you still end up at point C. There might have been some interesting flavor inserted along the way before point C, depending on whether you picked A or B, but if there are too many of these types of fake “choices” in the game, the player will just feel like they are reading a kinetic novel. Kinetic novels are different from visual novels in that they are entirely linear, with no branching paths available. If a VN is advertised as having choices, but is really a Kinetic novel in disguise, players are going to feel cheated and the game will certainly get poor reviews. So, how can I make the choices in the combat system still feel like they matter, even if my intent is for the story to continue? The answer I’ve decided on is lasting consequences. For instance, if you make certain choices during combat, you may get injured. Those injuries will affect the outcome of the story later on, and your ability to perform certain tasks could be compromised. You may even need to deviate from your course in order to get the medical attention you need, which could jeopardize other goals. And yes, I am planning to have a few combat decisions result in death—the end of the game. However, game-ending choices will never be the result of random chance—they’ll be the result of the player failing to note circumstances or have common sense. I’m excited to see all this come together!

Combat in a Visual Novel (part 4)

During an actual fight, we make all kinds of decisions. For instance, in a martial arts fight, let’s say your opponent is throwing a right thrust punch at your face. Do you move to the left or to the right to dodge the punch? Do you block with your left or your right arm? Often, these decisions are made based on experience, positioning, and personal preference, because there isn’t really a right answer if you’re skilled enough to have options. Often, it depends on which technique you’d like to follow up with after the block. So, in a VN combat system, I think some choices will just open up other options, rather than there be an actual right or wrong choice. Of course, I do plan on mixing in some bad choices that could make you worry you might lose, but VN players don’t want to lose because of combat choices they might not understand. If a VN player has never been in a real fight before, then they will quickly cry foul when the choices they are presented with require specific, outside knowledge. I’ll have to be careful when programming combat so that I don’t alienate players who have never studied martial arts or trained with firearms. To put it succinctly, the choices in combat might end up being more for flavor than for success or failure. Yet, how do VN players feel about non-choices?…

(P.S. the pic is just a mock-up I did from spare graphics. It's not in the actual game)

 

 

Combat in a Visual Novel (part 3)

Combat in some of the VN’s I’ve played has simply been choice A or choice B, and then later, another choice A or B. If you made choice B then A, for example, you’d be successful and win the combat encounter, but any other combination of choices would doom you to failure and end the game. As I’m designing the combat system for this VN, I’m trying to focus on the same kind of success-through-choice, but as my background artist is finishing the different scenes he’s working on, I need to make some concrete decisions, soon. Some of the backgrounds will be used for combat, and I have yet to completely decide how I’m going to run the combat system in this VN. At first I’d thought a rock-paper-scissors version would work, but it didn’t really fit the circumstances. I worry about putting a totally untested combat system into the game, too, because I remember how many beta tests Solar Echoes went through before the combat system was totally locked down. I’m leaning a lot towards combat decisions that are represented visually. For example, if you chose for your character to be specialized in firearms, then you’ll want to get to cover and start firing at your enemies. If, however, you chose to specialize in melee combat, you may want to run right up to your foes and start using your melee attacks against them. But where are the real choices in this situation?

Combat in a Visual Novel (part 2)

As I looked deeper into understanding the minds of VN gamers, it became clear that some elements that are common in RPG’s need to be shelved in a VN. One element that doesn’t seem to appeal to VN players is random chance. Luck is a portion of almost all RPG’s, and most RPG’s are about developing your character over time through experience and leveling so that you can begin to reduce the amount of luck needed to succeed and swing things in your favor more often. However, in a VN, players don’t want random number generation (RNG) to determine their fate—they want their choices to make the difference. While I could argue that choices in a strategy RPG like Solar Echoes are still determining the ultimate course and level of success, a video game environment is going to change that feeling somewhat. People won’t see the mechanics going on behind the scenes, and RNG could be upsetting to people who feel that they just want to get past the fight and get on with the story. I’ve already mentioned in the past that some tabletop RPG groups I’ve played with are totally uninterested in combat and completely focused on story, so it’s easy to understand this preference in VN gamers.

Combat in a Visual Novel (part 1)

One thing I’ve been struggling with in the development of the visual novel for Solar Echoes is combat. Although some VN’s have RPG combat systems in them, typically most combat is handled very simplistically in a narrative style through a few branching choices. When I was first dreaming up how I would design this game, I had the idea to implement some form of the Solar Echoes combat system, but as I learned more about what it would take on the programming side, I became a lot more skeptical. Then, as I played a few VN’s to familiarize myself with the genre, in addition to reading what people were saying in forums and reviews, I realized that the kind of people that play VN’s are in it for the story, not the combat. Most didn’t mind combat scenarios, as long as they didn’t disable story progression. Basically, VN gamers want their story choices to determine the outcome, not the combat gameplay.