I removed Lezard from Captain Ersatz. Nerdy looking wizards are hardly unique to Harry Potter. If he wore gryffindor colors or had a lightning bolt shaped scar? Maybe. Or maybe if Harry Potter had the same pentagram in his glasses that Lezard does. As is? I think that's pretty much seizing on the most tenuous similarity and claiming it makes an ersatz.
A known swindler
Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards just got an update claiming it's subverted. I hadn't really considered the trope's application to the game until I read it. The explanation is extremely wordy and the use of "subverted, actually" makes me leery of it.
I'm not sure VP is really an example of Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards at all. Great magic is great, but its biggest factor is that it hits all enemies which is irrelevant most of the time. The buff/debuff spells are fairly critical late-game, though, despite what the new entry says.
I dunno, that's why I'm posting this little thread for thoughts (esp. from Mr Death who has done a lot of work on Plume and the character page as well).
Which way do we go on this trope? I would like one clean entry on whether it applies or not rather than discussion on the main page.
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It seems we're in agreement, as the example was just edited out. Problem solved.
Pacta sunt servanda, bitch!
Oops, hadn't seen this discussion before I made that edit. I cut it because the poster seemed to misunderstand the Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards trope, thinking it referred to the versatility of wizards, when it's more about raw power. And even if it was about versatility, as you pointed out, the buff/debuff spells are critical in the late game.
And even great magic aside, the mages in VP can do a lot more damage a lot faster than the warriors. For the vast majority of the game, a mage with one of the higher level staves and an area of effect spell like Lightning Bolt or Shadow Servant can wipe out the vast majority of regular battles in one round, while the physical fighters have to team up to take down one enemy most of the time.
Yeah, my question was in part whether it was a scaling issue, like Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards is. Mages don't start worse and get better, they're just better. Late game, everyone's damage is so ridiculous it's hard to tell who's doing more, which is why I was confused. I think it was a good choice to cut the edit.
Also, I see you put Reverie back on Game-Breaker. I was on the fence about keeping it and if old discussions liked it, that's cool. Considering the gadzillion ways of doing lots of damage in the game, doing more never really seemed like it broke anything, but it's honestly been a long time since I've played.
Pacta sunt servanda, bitch!
This Thread Mode cluster was under Lost Forever. I don't honestly know whether it's an example or not with all the conflicting information and unnecessary detail: