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Things you've learned to always do or never do in RPGs

Desiderius

Found your egg, Robinett, you sneaky bastard
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Insert Title Here Pathfinder: Wrath
You don’t have to make every game an MMO.
 

thesecret1

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1. Never read online walkthroughs or tips or whatever when playing an RPG for the first time, or you'll ruin your playthrough
2. Always read online walkthroughs or tips or whatever when playing a JRPG for the first time, or you'll ruin your playthrough
 
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So much has already been said. I'll try and keep it to the things which haven't.
  • Thieving and burglarizing the village are obligatory parts of heroically delivering it from evil.
  • If it's neither a household object nor equipment, you keep it in your inventory the the final boss--just in case.
  • Never divide the party.
 

gurugeorge

Arcane
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Strap Yourselves In
Great thread. But isn't it amusing how contradictory many of the requirements are? Some of us are OCD completionists, some of us avoid opening every barrel in order to avoid being over-leveled and lose the challenge. Some of us hoard, some of us spend as we go. Etc., etc.

The one constant is F5 lol.

No wonder developers have such a devil of a time making games that keep everyone happy :)
 

octavius

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  • Never divide the party.

I guess you're not a fan of The Magic Candle?

Magic Candle was before my time, so I cannot comment. I have played games where the party gets forcibly divided, but I struggle to think of any instance in an RPG where doing so willingly was a superior choice.

Well, MC is one.
In fact you have to divide the party to win.

Personally I loved how you could allocate party members different tasks when in towns, for example.

But I struggle to think of other RPGs with a similar mechanics.
 

Lady Error

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Vatnik
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Strap Yourselves In
- Gather your party before venturing forth.
- Getting into fights that you are not supposed to yet and winning them is more rewarding than grinding beforehand.
- Unlimited ammo means make everyone an archer - not unlimited ammo means archery is useless (Wizardry, Grimoire).
 

Syme

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Jun 11, 2018
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- Use more than one save slot instead of quicksaving from start to finish. Gamebreaking bugs and savegame corruption is still a thing in many games.

- Always check if store prices can vary before selling all your loot.

- If a store has an odd non-trash item, it's usually for a quest.

- Hang on to anything that gives immunity to status effects.

- Crowd control spells are almost always superior to direct damage.

- Don't underestimate cheap summons, especially in turn-based games. A summoned rat that gets attacked by a troll is basically equal to a 1 round crowd control spell with no save for that troll.

- When in doubt, exploit line of sight. Most games can't handle this very well.
 
Glory to Ukraine
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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
  • Never divide the party.

I guess you're not a fan of The Magic Candle?

Magic Candle was before my time, so I cannot comment. I have played games where the party gets forcibly divided, but I struggle to think of any instance in an RPG where doing so willingly was a superior choice.

Well, MC is one.
In fact you have to divide the party to win.

Personally I loved how you could allocate party members different tasks when in towns, for example.

But I struggle to think of other RPGs with a similar mechanics.


You could divide party in Realms of Arkania games and switch between the groups. However there was only one quest in the trilogy were I remember this being useful - in Shadows over Riva, there is a storyline quest where you have to wait in front of some dude´s house at night and then follow him across the city to another house where a meeting of hostile conspirators takes place. The way to go about this is separate a team of stealthy characters (or even just one) to follow the guy and then have the rest of the party to come over. Theoretically you could also separate your party to engage in money making activities in several taverns at once, though I never did it that way.
 

Lady Error

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You could divide party in Realms of Arkania games and switch between the groups. However there was only one quest in the trilogy were I remember this being useful - in Shadows over Riva

There were one or two places in Star Trail where you had to split the party as well. I think at the temple of the thief god there was a puzzle for opening a door that required it.
 

King Crispy

Too bad I have no queen.
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Preparation and forethought = cheating? OK...

Let's take a look at your original post, shall we?

Knowing game mechanics without knowing storyfagshit is easy and highly beneficial.

This I actually agree with but I still think it's much more fun and rewarding to "know" the game mechanics based on how the game's developer(s) intended you to learn them. In other words, if it's a non-standard game system (non D&D, etc.) then going through the various tutorials and introductory encounters can be just as fun if not more fun than the game itself. Certainly, if you want to master these game mechanics, then resorting to checking the game's various strategy books and online guides is the easiest way to do so. Is that really what you want?

Get to know which stats, weapons and skills work and which don't.

This one is a little more specific and thus I have a slightly larger problem with it. If you go into the game already knowing which weapons and skills are the game's most powerful or most effective, haven't you in a sense already beaten the game? Haven't you removed most of the excitement in terms of discovering or earning these things on your own?

I get it. You want optimal characters. You want the perfect party. Min/maxers and powergamers all basically want this. That is another discussion (one that will rage on for all eternity) that we don't necessarily have to get into here. But I think most reasonable people would agree that the methods one typically has to go through to pre-determine which weapons in the game are going to be the most effective, you're going to have to look at some sort of strategy guide. You're spoiling yourself of finding those things in the game purely through the gameplay itself. And you're also likely going to allow your eyes to stray and to learn other things about the game, such as boss strategies, where other valuable treasures are, etc., before even creating a party. To me, that's defeating the purpose of the game. It's RPG degeneracy.

Which mechanics are broken (good or bad doesn't matter - both are equally detrimental to gameplay experience), which are kinda useless and which are really useful.

Already covered above.

Knowing all that, you can plan ahead and get a pleasant (game mechanics wise) experience straight off the bat, without resorting to starting the game all over because you invested into broken shit.

I will concede that there is some value to avoiding a weak or even "useless" character build if you can. My one example of not having done this is when I created an Illusionist for my very first character when Baldur's Gate was first released. He was an extremely weak character, one that would have taken much effort to get through to the endgame, probably not worth it. I do believe eventually I abandoned playing with him and started a new game. But I will tell you one thing: I remember that experience to this day. It may have been frustrating, but it certainly was interesting.

If you're willing to sacrifice what could otherwise turn into a unique playthrough, or a unique challenge -- one that the developers of the game may have actually anticipated and prepared for, possibly with special considerations for "weaker" classes later on in the game? -- in favor of an unbreakable party combination, populated with scientifically-tested characters all capable of utter peak combat proficiency, then more "power" to you. I'll just remind you of the tale of one Ivan Drago from Rocky IV...

Or you're a dumbfuck who thinks that mechaincs in RPG aren't important, then you can go fuck yourself.

This was completely unnecessary. We are all gentlemen here, no?
 

Apostle Hand

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charge into battle with overpowered enemies but I can't help it, I got used to roll over anything.
use healing potions and spells rationally, not spend too much gold.
test my abilities by going into hazardous missions.
 

Nikanuur

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You don’t have to make every game an MMO.
Blast! Don't utter that accursed name before me! Never have I been made so utterly upset as by the first appearance of the horrid outrageousness, pompously arrogant deed stemming from the root of all evil of vainness called... called... well... the thing that consists of too many "em"s
 

laclongquan

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It's not necessary to play games the way devs want you to play.

Play games the way it feel fun for you.

Examples: Kingdom of Dragon Pass designed to play small tribe, and the game constantly remind you to play that way. But you dont have to pay attention to that just play big tribe (if you feel like playing that way) and pay the prices.

Some combat games (like Xcom) designed and encourage you to play meat grinders by throwing away your new soldiers. But you dont have to play that way (if you dont feel like that) and pay the prices.

Some games like you to use their original arts, but again, if you dont feel like that, you can always mod portraits and custom art works in. As long as you feel it's fun to do so.
 

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