Training Systems in Design Philosophy

ID:151317
 
Aug 11 2011, 10:34 pm
I feel like training has become part of a grind nowadays.

FF - Kill Monsters until you max out your class
Or not, depending on which version. Either way people still grind levels

Every Singles Naruto/DBZ/Bleach Rip - Hitting logs.

I will note that BLN had this thing where you can't macro train. I liked that. But pressing arrows and whatnot got repetitive.

So I am wondering if there was a way to create a training system that you couldn't just macro or something. I'm not saying that training should be engaging, training isn't the game! I view training as a "polish." You use it when you're just a little weaker than the storyline says that you should be. But I do believe that training should not be press a button or anything like that. (In fact due to this feature, my games to date have not had any levels in them whatsoever!)

Thoughts?
#1 Aug 11 2011, 10:53 pm
> I will note that BLN had this thing where you can't macro train. I liked that. But pressing arrows and whatnot got repetitive.

It still was possible to macro because I've done it.


> So I am wondering if there was a way to create a training system that you couldn't just macro or something. I'm not saying that training should be engaging, training isn't the game! I view training as a "polish." You use it when you're just a little weaker than the storyline says that you should be. But I do believe that training should not be press a button or anything like that. (In fact due to this feature, my games to date have not had any levels in them whatsoever!)

As long as strength is based on player skills, not numbers in stat panel, people won't see need to level up.
#2 Aug 11 2011, 10:59 pm
In response to Zaoshi (#1)
Well that's what I loved about Castlevania and Zelda. They were about watching your opponents rather than having a Lvl 60 Raichu.

#3 Aug 11 2011, 11:17 pm
In response to Lugia319 (#2)
Alternatively you could award experience for all actions:
Quest done
Successful gamble
Used skill
Etc
Together with exponential experience requirement and low leveling benefits it won't be essential to level up. However, even with so useless leveling, macro training won't go away. You'll need some interesting features to keep people playing. Possibly quests award skills or unlock some features, so players who did not actually play would be way behind/weaker.
#4 Aug 11 2011, 11:36 pm (Edited on Aug 12 2011, 2:36 am)
In response to Zaoshi (#3)
I'm taking your input mate. Thanks for helping out with some ideas.
#5 Aug 12 2011, 10:58 am
In response to Lugia319 (#4)
You could always use the exp for every action, but to keep people from grinding, if you do one thing constantly, your exp gain from that one task will drop significantly until you do other tasks for a while.
#6 Aug 13 2011, 3:06 pm
FF games have a balanced system, if you had the proper interface. Anime games run on the fact that you want to be like a character in the series, therefore they don't require much to make 14 year old anime fans excited. If your looking to stray away from grinding, then make a battle system based skill rather than enormous numbers. (For instance, a rock, paper, scissors battle system, or a card-based battle system.)