Battle Options
A Feature by Adam Perry (Moogle1)

When your player gets into a battle, what are his options? Does he have fifty commands at his disposal or only five? How did he get them? This article discusses aspects of game design that you should consider through the various stages of your game.

Beginning

Think of the beginning of your favorite RPG. How many characters do you start with? How many battle options does each character have? Unless you chose Lufia (which begins with the final battle from Lufia 2 in a cool twist I won't go into here), you probably start with one character and between one and five commands you can select in battle (including whatever's in your inventory). There's a good reason for this: you don't want to overwhelm the player. Limiting the options allows the player to ease into your battle system. This isn't necessary, but it's definitely a good idea. Don't throw everything on the player from the start. There are exceptions to this guideline, but you should follow it unless you have a good reason not to. (I know what you're thinking, but I maintain that Darkmoor Dungeon isn't an RPG.)

Fortunately, it's still possible to make interesting battles even if you only have one character and one command. Really? Yeah. Even if all you can do is Fight, you still have the option of who you're going to target and when you're going to do it. Chrono Trigger's Son of Sun is a great battle revolving around who to target, while the Mist Dragon and Whelk (the first bosses from Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI, respectively) are examples of battles depending on when to attack. If you designed it well, you could make an RPG with just one character with just the Fight command that would still be more fun than most RPGs. Starting your game with limited options is somewhat limiting to you, the designer, as well, but it's no excuse to make the battles boring.

Ramping up

As the game progresses, you'll generally introduce more characters and give them more commands. A huge, defining characteristic of your game is how the characters learn new abilities. I wrote down a huge list of ways to learn abilities that filled an entire page once, but I'm not at home to find it. Off the top of my head, though:

• Learned on level up. The "vanilla" method of ability-learning, used in Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy IV, and most OHR games. • Purchased from a store. Another standard method, dating back to the original Final Fantasy.
• Learned in a cutscene or special event. Rydia learns Fire, Poo learns Starstorm, Terra learns Morph, and so on.
• Learned from being hit. The "Blue Mage" style. This is a lot easier to do in the OHRRPGCE now that you can set tags when an attack is used.
• Learned from the environment. Mog learns new Dance abilities by fighting in new areas. Geomancers' special attacks vary based on where they're used.
• Learned from practice. Tales of Phantasia lets you use combo abilities when you've practiced individual abilities often enough.
• Learned by association. Combined Techs in Chrono Trigger are learned when the characters are together. Gogo's Magic repertoire consists of the collective Magic known by the rest of the party.
• Learned by equipment. Final Fantasy VI, VII, and IX all do this in one form or another.
• Learned by stupid gimmick. Call it a License Board, a Sphere Grid, or whatever else -- your game is largely defined by how your characters grow.

As the heroes gain more abilities, it's your job as designer to force the player to use those abilities. If he uses them well, he should be rewarded -- usually in the form of winning battles and being allowed to proceed. If he uses them poorly, he should be penalized -- often in the form of getting a game over and needing to replay a certain amount of the game. This can be the most difficult part of the game to balance unless you keep tight reins on hero growth simply because it's hard to predict how strong your players' parties will be at any given point in the game. This is another reason to consider alternate methods of gaining abilities: you'll have a better feel for what the player can do.

End

As the game winds up, the heroes will fill out their skillsets and get "leet equips" and generally become nigh-invulnerable. A satisfying endgame will recognize this and require everything at the player's disposal. An unsatisfying endgame will have a difficulty level based on the player not having done any sidequests or powered up his party. Don't fall into this trap. If you put an awesome item or attack in the game, expect the player to use it.

This is the ideal time to open up the game to the player, by the way. Almost any good RPG will introduce a ton of sidequests for the player to attempt. Final Fantasy X takes this to the logical extreme, being a totally linear game until you get to the very end. Final Fantasy XII is on the other end of the spectrum, providing a simply enormous amount of sidequests throughout the entire game. Chrono Trigger is a great example of a game that does the endgame well. You can actually attempt the last boss only a few hours into the game, but you'll get stomped. Even when you get to the end of the game, Lavos is prohibitively difficult. The solution? You're offered a wonderful variety of sidequests that give valuable rewards. Sidequests aren't a requirement, but they will make your game more fun. For an OHR game that does this well, I highly recommend JSH's Who Am I?

Of course, there is a spectrum of play styles and not all players will want to spend the 100 hours necessary to unlock Yiazmat. You might want to consider an optional superenemy or secret dungeon. This is a long and glorious tradition in RPGdom. Consider carefully where you're going to put it, though: does the last boss really keep around a pet that's ten times stronger than himself? More to the point, do you really want the player to be able to cut through the boss like a hot knife through butter?

As an alternative, consider putting some of the optional content post-game. This allows you to cater to the hardcore players without cheapening their gaming experience. The last boss can still be a threat this way and you can still offer more challenge. Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth does this well: by the time you're ready to take on Iseria Queen at the end of Celestial Gate, you're dealing out a digit more of damage with your attacks. (There's something deeply satisfying about seeing numbers that big. Screw you, 9999 damage cap.) Cave Story does this, too: you can only access the Sacred Grounds after you've beaten the game. If you do make an ultimate optional dungeon, pull out all the stops. Make it a little too difficult. Make the player satisfied that the game has been stretched to its limits.

Conclusion

I can't come up with a more appropriate summary, so here are some bullet points:

• Start out simple. Simple doesn't mean uninteresting, it means the player knows and understands all his options.
• Consider different methods of giving abilities to the player. Not only will this make the game more interesting, but it will allow you tighter control of the game's difficulty.
• Require the player to use what he has access to.
• By corollary, assume the player has a complete set of abilities when creating the final dungeon/boss.
• Sidequests are great.
• The last boss should be the hardest thing the player has fought so far.

Now go make games!