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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0007277Valley 1Suggestion - Enchant IdeasApr 27, 2012 1:10 pm
ReporterBluddy Assigned To 
Status closedResolutionnot fixable 
Product Version1.001 
Summary0007277: Enchants can only be changed at the settlement
DescriptionI think there's room to suggest that enchants should only be changed at the settlement ie. your cache is stored there. The reason for this is that it encourages builds that are tailored to specific situations and not for others. So an acid gills enchant will really mean that you have one less enchant to use for other things, for example. It means that even though most players have built up similar enchant collections, when they encounter each other in the wild they'll have different configurations.

Collecting an enchant would send it to your settlement for you to configure at one of the old workbenches. Perhaps you could save specific 'builds' for different purposes and load them up quickly in some way.

Just an idea, but I think it could help customize each character out in the field.
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightNew

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tigersfan

Apr 27, 2012 12:36 pm

reporter   ~0022845

The problem with this is that there are many situations where you just don't know what the best way to prepare is. Sure, if you know you are going to the Ocean Shallows you can put in your gills before you set out. But what if you are heading towards a Boss Tower? What if the first boss is resistant to fire and you brought your fire enchant with you? You can't go back and get it because when you leave the tower, it doesn't save to disk, so you won't get that boss again.

And even if you could go back and keep that same boss, what if the next boss is resistant to whatever new element you brought with you? It would be really annoying to have to go all the way back to the settlement again between fights.

Bluddy

Apr 27, 2012 12:40 pm

reporter   ~0022846

But I think that's exactly what you want -- you want that unpredictability. By fire enchant you mean the one that boosts fire damage, right? It's not like you can't do fire damage -- that's a spell in your inventory. So for that fight you'll have a sub-optimal attack, which will make things more interesting and different. Limitation is the key here. You don't want to give the player all the options all the time. You want the player to have to choose and be stuck with those choices, if only for a little while. So maybe you're going somewhere and you left your double jump enchant at home, and it turns out that you really needed double jump. So now you get to use your platforms and experience things differently! This is exactly part of what makes random stuff fun. If you can just pull out an ability for every situation then you're not put in any new situation at all.

tigersfan

Apr 27, 2012 12:50 pm

reporter   ~0022850

But, this type of limitation can be really annoying to some, and it actually limits strategic decisions. Maybe I have my double jump enchant because I dislike platforms, now I have to do an entire fight using platforms? How is that fun?

Bluddy

Apr 27, 2012 1:10 pm

reporter   ~0022851

First, you don't have to. You can always choose to keep that enchant if it's so essential to you. And it also has a replacement spell (RtL). Also, if it's so important to you can seek a double jump enchant that has whatever you may want to replaced it with tacked on.

But you could say the same thing about acid water. Maybe I'll always keep acid gills because I hate dealing with acid water, except sometimes I want something to replace it. This could apply to every gameplay element. You can't let people customize and have all options available all the time. That way leads to generic experiences, which is a surefire way to kill a game based on randomness. Taking people out of their element for a little bit, making them adjust to something new and different and challenging -- that's what makes for enjoyable gameplay. This game already provides more options than most other games. I'd even say too many options in some aspects. But players want to be limited, even if they'll complain about it at first.

Just as an example of where options hurt the game, the fact that there are 4-8 chunks per tile means that you have many many caverns available to you from the start. So when you encounter some difficulty getting some gems because there's a tough boss in the way, what does it matter? You can always head to another chunk with a cave and get gems from there. There's no tension there because you're not limited to 1-2 caverns total. If you had 1-2 chunks per tile, and only 1-3 caverns in total, you'd have to think about how to use your resources. Every fight for gems would be critical. And you'd have to consider right away expanding your sphere of influence by driving back the storm, so you could get some more resources. The same applies to stashes -- there are so many of them that it doesn't matter if you can't get to a particular one. Anyway, this is way off topic.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Apr 27, 2012 11:04 am Bluddy New Issue
Apr 27, 2012 12:36 pm tigersfan Internal Weight => New
Apr 27, 2012 12:36 pm tigersfan Note Added: 0022845
Apr 27, 2012 12:36 pm tigersfan Status new => closed
Apr 27, 2012 12:36 pm tigersfan Resolution open => not fixable
Apr 27, 2012 12:40 pm Bluddy Note Added: 0022846
Apr 27, 2012 12:50 pm tigersfan Note Added: 0022850
Apr 27, 2012 1:10 pm Bluddy Note Added: 0022851