"What if we leveled backwards?" Article

Like I've said before, it's best not to slow down the player. It should be the player reacting faster and generating better tactics, not abusing certain tactics to make up for that loss of speed.

Power is alright, but dropping speed is a bad, bad idea.

Hey, going back to Fable again, I tried a Self-Imposed Challenge which involved me not leveling up. At all. I had more fun with the game than I'd had in ages, having already completed the excellent story. (Fable 1 we're talking about.)

Sometimes the greatest fun you can have is seeing what you can get done with the minimum of options.

Pfft, the Elder Scrolls games have been doing this for a while. Just go on a rampage, rack up 25,000 gold in fines, and yield to a guard. Go to jail and watch your skills plummet like Stocks on Black Tuesday. Repeat.

I wonder if Yahtzee has ever played Mechwarrior.

Any kind of Subsystems Damage idea works on the same level.

As for over the course of the entire game - that kind of already exists in shmups and certain action games (well, you get more "powerful", but your enemies get more powerful in a faster way).

edited 4th Mar '11 3:25:19 PM by Barcode711

This came up in the Video game ideas you're sure that only you think are a good idea thread. I think the ideas you've all come up with about shifting the game away from escalation gameplay are interesting, but I simply thought of how hard it would be to mirror a typical RPG with such a game instead:

Eric DVH: @TropersZudak: An RPG… Where the Player Character gets less powerful throughout the game…

What an absolutely brilliant idea! SOMEBODY must've made something like this at some point. It would be different from A Taste of Power, because it would happen throughout the game rather than all at once, and would act as a time-limit of sorts. I suppose the main challenge from a design standpoint might be keeping variety up, since the ability to fight new enemies with new gear and abilities is the primary source of that in normal RPGs.

Instead of new enemies, maybe enemies that you were reflexively blasting to smithereens with area-effect attacks would become legitimate foes for one-on-one, and enemies that fled when they saw you or hid from sight entirely would start picking on you. Abilities would be tougher to do, but perhaps you could somehow choose how you'd degrade, sort of like an inverse skill-tree (maybe this could make initial character creation very elaborate, great for Alt Itis.) Items might be fairly straightforward, since getting the best items your stats meet the requirements for sounds nearly the same as outfitting oneself on a typical MMO (especially of the twink-y sort.)

Anyone ever played a Roguelike? Here's the idea put to the test here:

http://www.randomstuff.org.uk/~geoffrey/roguelikes/aquesttoofar.html

Now excuse me as I go play it.

EDIT: Hrm, not quite that well handled, I would have gone about it in a different manner, but that's just me.

edited 6th Mar '11 9:09:41 AM by Usht

You guys realize that "timed missions" are considered part of the trifecta of evil ( along with luck-based missions and escort missions ) for a *reason*.

Ico made escort missions work and Metroid Prime series (minus the one on the DS) made timed missions work. Luck based missions, not that I know of yet, but, once again, good game design can trump all.

edited 6th Mar '11 10:12:09 AM by Usht

'Timed missions' usually implies a fixed period after which a mission fails by default. This isn't what we're discussing here. What this thread is about would be the difficulty and means of completion changing over time.

Hm... I have mixed thoughts on the idea. In the hands of a talented company, it could present an interesting view from a protagonist who becomes weaker as the plot progresses but still overcomes the difficulties ahead of him/her (or presents an emotional downer ending).

On the other hand, poorly handled it could feel like an extended taste of power and make players feel even more cheated about having their abilities since they expected to keep their powers throughout.