|
Post by vastariner on Mar 28, 2016 17:52:28 GMT
One of the problems in FF is combat - it's too long, and you as character have too much stamina. You have a minimum stamina of 14 and can go up to 24; hardly anything else ever has that level of stamina. And if it does it takes ages to finish them off. It would be better to have a lower stamina, so you have a bit less leeway to fight. After all, if you are skulking around through a dangerous area, even a couple of stabs from a goblin could cause serious harm; not something a quick sandwich would cure.
|
|
|
Post by Pete Byrdie on Mar 29, 2016 12:45:12 GMT
One of the problems in FF is combat - it's too long, and you as character have too much stamina. You have a minimum stamina of 14 and can go up to 24; hardly anything else ever has that level of stamina. And if it does it takes ages to finish them off. It would be better to have a lower stamina, so you have a bit less leeway to fight. After all, if you are skulking around through a dangerous area, even a couple of stabs from a goblin could cause serious harm; not something a quick sandwich would cure. As a representation of the real world, the player character's STAMINA and the low amount of damage done by sword wounds and the healing ability of provisions are failures. But they are pretty much gaming necessities. I've never liked the 'death from a thousand cuts' reckoning of combat damage in Fighting Fantasy, but it's easily dealt with by seeing the damage as exhaustion caused by being manoeuvred into a difficult situation that requires a greater expenditure of effort to avoid being run through. The aim of combat then becomes wearing down an opponent until they can no longer avoid a death blow. I agree that combat takes too long for something over which the player can exercise very little or no control. If it were not just a dice rolling and adding and subtracting exercise, I'd be able to see the point. But then, when playing The Way of the Tiger, which has a more tactical combat system, I enjoyed battles the first time I encountered a creature, but they became tedious in subsequent attempts. It's quite right the player character's STAMINA should be high, as should their SKILL, because this is heroic fantasy after all. The stats of opponents exist purely for the duration of the battle. If the player character is killed by Brian the Orc, we don't then follow the exploits of Brian in his future battles. Brian effectively committed suicide by killing the player, because he then ceased to exist. The player character has to progress through further adventures before reaching his goal, and so requires greater stats. In practice, anyone travelling around Titan looking for trouble the way our characters do would probably not last long. But what sort of a hero is that? And what sort of a game would it be to play?
|
|
kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,437
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
|
Post by kieran on Mar 30, 2016 12:41:58 GMT
I remember reading Forest of Doom as a child and finding it weird that a giant that towers over the trees and looks like it could step on you and not even notice had 9 Stamina.
|
|
|
Post by Pete Byrdie on Mar 31, 2016 16:01:36 GMT
I remember reading Forest of Doom as a child and finding it weird that a giant that towers over the trees and looks like it could step on you and not even notice had 9 Stamina. Not much to be done about that, really. In mythology, beings as powerful as dragons and giants were often slain with guile rather than brawn. A lone hero probably should not be capable of simply drawing his sword and diving into battle with such creatures with any reasonable chance of survival. 9 seems a measly STAMINA for a giant, though. You'd expect a giant to be blessed with greater STAMINA even if the clumsy oaf were lacking SKILL.
|
|