Quote:Originally posted by Omni

Yeah. That is an idea. I was thinking more along the lines of simulation (kinda like Pirates!, which, when my friend showed it to me, I asked if he was playing Master and Commander: The Game) and that's probably why it didn't mesh--the best part of Master and Commander wasn't necessarily the battle but the characters, and the story idea does suit an RPG better.

So an RPG set on a ship at sea? I LIKE it! The confines of the ship would present a limited area in which to develop the story - apart from the odd shore excursion - allowing interesting use of parts of the ship and leading the player to gain a level of familiarity with his surroundings you don't usually get.

Quote:Originally posted by Alex

Ships were pretty small then, so I think confining it to just that might be a tad difficult.... Plus, who would you fight on your own vessel? Killing things in random battles are what rpgs are all about. :)

Talking of historical rpgs, I've wanted for a long time to set one in the trenches of the First World War (another of my geeky interests), which I'll probably do after Midsummer, or maybe as a contest entry if the requirements are ever right and circumstances agree... But then, there are a lot of things I'd like to do but will never get around to... such is life. :l

I disagree there: RPGs are not all about killing stuff and I bloody HATE random battles with a VENGEANCE. Many RPGs feature some sort of battle system throughout the game but a storyline and some sort of problems to solve are much more predominant.

This is where "Final Fantasy: Tactics" faulters a little in my eyes: the emphasis is to heavily on the battle system. With too many battles the player loses sight of the significance a battle actually brings with it. With no story to back it up properly, it's just something to keep the player busy in the hope they won't notice the premise of the whole game is wafer-thin.

Ever played Squaresoft's "Live a Live"? It's available somewhere as a SNES ROM translated from it's native Japanese if you look around the right places. Basically, it's a series of mini-rpgs set throughout time. The most fascinating of these is the chapter set in the far future: you play a robot on a starship in deep space with a crew with more than it's fair share of emotional problems. The whole story has ONE fight in it at the end and still manages to be storydriven brilliance with an ending that even manages to pull a few emotional heartstrings.

Incidentally, this gamer believes that random battles are a gaming mechanic born from utter laziness and is all for the Chronotrigger dynamic of running things.

The battle idea...well, you could theoretically board other ships, or fight off pirates or soldiers invading your own.

In fact, you could even choose viewpoints during a battle with an enemy ship: Defender or Invader.

The whole game could even have a multi-viewpoint approach. Say, you can choose to work in the Spanish Armada or the English Navy or the French or Portugese. And that would determine what towns you could visit, who your rival would be, who your allies would be, etc...

I officially declare this thread off-topic.

I've been thinking of similar concepts recently too, mostly spawned by the idea of doing a game loosely based on the look'n'feel of Firefly. But these are just idle thoughts that don't get much mindshare. ;)

It could have a bit of a micromanagement side to it, too. You know, maintaing your ship, purchasing and repairing parts.

Though that would possibly break the mood of adventuring, which is another problem--it's hard to pin down the focus of how this game would play. The main problem is story. Sure, there's character development, and we can think of an interesting travel or battle engine, but what exactly can you center around the scenarios? These characters have to actually _do_ something.

And there was some other idea I had, but I had it four hours ago at work and can't remember it...

Quote:Originally posted by Gayo

Well, there are only a few archetypal seafaring stories, and most of them would work for a game. There's the "man against nature" theme, where you have to weather storms and ration food and stuff to complete a difficult journey, or you could have a game about naval warfare, and then there's the exploration story, which is tailor-made for RPGs. Just have an Odyssey-alike where you bounce around from one weird island to the next.

Skies of Arcadia: Legends!!

If you like ships and RPGs and frankly all the above, for God sake play this game. Origianl version was on the Dreamcast, the re-dux version is for the Gamecube. Needs more love!

Hmm. I've got a friend who absolutely loves it, and in retrospect I think it probably does pull off a naval-style exploration theme nicely. Just minus Russell Crowe...

I'd have to get the Dreamcast version. The DC needs more love. Like the Saturn.

Master and Commander is a really good movie though, and I recommend it to...anybody who doesn't mind dialogue or character development. As opposed to actual naval battles, of which M&C is battles to dialogue like 30%-70%.

SoA killed a lot of the atmosphere of exploration by preventing you from flying for more than two seconds before getting into a fight. Well, that and by having the villains immediately appear wherever you go, no matter how hard it was for you to get there. But I did like it.

May games are dogged with random encounters. I personally hate them but there are some games (like SOA:L) that still manage to surpass their random battles and make you love them. I really feel it's something special: a greatly overlooked gem. Well, in England at the very least, where so few people have actualyl heard of it (phillistines!).

We're still waiting for ToS in England. Promises to be much better than it's prequel, Tales of Phantasia (on the SNES). That's another on my "Can't Wait To Get" list.. *Sigh*