Features you want the most?

[jack1974]

(How drastic? Someone on the team suggested doing away with items completely.)

Yes but that team member (who is rumored to use a manga avatar in forums) was mostly saying that as provocation/joke

If there's enough time I definitely want to do crafting. I've even considering adding some sort of basic crafting in SOTW but not sure I'll make in time.
Anyway, I like the idea of crafting tied to classes, like thieves specialized in poisons, mages in alchemy, warriors in armor/weapon smith and so on. Would differentiate the classes even more this way.

[megaman12321]

Disclaimer: We're only in the brainstorming phase for the sequels gameplay. So there simply isn't any definite information at the moment.

That said we have considered crafting material drops and the idea is still in the race. But we're also thinking about a drastic redesign of the equipment system (How drastic? Someone on the team suggested doing away with items completely.) Still the chances are very high that the sequel will end up with a crafting system and that implies some way to get ingredients.

Damage over time effects will be in the sequel as well, though I'm not sure if poison will be among them. It could end up as a weakening effect instead for example.

Traditionally, poison is DOT, unless you want to do different types of poisoning. You could have it doing stat DOT instead of health DOT. Beauty about game designing is that anything is allowed in concept, so long as you are willing to make it.

Crafting is fine, so long as it's not excessive. I've played lots of games which has me doing, "I need to get _____ stone with some ____ cloth to make _____ leather so I can mix that with my level ten _____ enchantment. Now I can make my armor." So yeah, as long as it's not really excessive.

I can't remember the name of this indie RPG, but that one didn't have the option to use equipment, you had to use stat boosting magic and switch out characters who had certain strength and weaknesses to survive the hard battles. Still, it was a hard concept, and getting rid of all equipment seems to be pretty difficult.

[Anima_]

It's true that poison is traditionally DoT, but I'd rather not have to many DoT effects that only differ by element. I'm trying to be a bit more creative when it comes to status effects this time.

The current idea for equipment is to make all weapons in a category identical, but with more difference between the categories. The items would only differ in their amount of enchantment slots and their enchantments of course.

RPGs without equipment are truly quite rare, but they do exist. Xenosaga II and Devil Survivor are two examples. It was quite refreshing really. Too bad that Jack is convinced that everyone would suffer a collective heart attack if we take away their toys. Though I'm not sure if I'd really disagree with that assessment.

[jack1974]

We can make a poll about it I am not opposed to the idea, but from many people's point of view, a RPG without items (or without weapons/armors) would look "cheap". Sad but true I think?

[Anima_]

You're probably right about that. It would certainly be called dumbed down and mainstream and casual and not really an RPG. Of course there probably isn't a single RPG that didn't get disavowed by someone's definition for RPGs.

[jack1974]

Yes and I think would be worse by the fact that is a sequel to another game WITH the inventory. If was a completely different game in another setting/world, I think would be better.

[Grodul]

Yes and I think would be worse by the fact that is a sequel to another game WITH the inventory. If was a completely different game in another setting/world, I think would be better.

I second that.

Let me just add that by now I have gotten so used to the spirit of Loren The Amazon Princess the game, that it would be puzzling if the spirit of the sequel would differ greatly from the spirit of the first game.

[megaman12321]

You could just have it so that the weapons and armors are upgradeable instead of replaceable. Last Remnant had it where you can upgrade your equipment into different stuff with certain monster parts if you didn't want new equipment. It was cost effective and had some pretty good benefits, while your allies could also do the same if they got the right stuff and money.

I thought "mainstream" RPGs involved collecting a ton of useless items? Then again, asides from Final Fantasy and possibly Dragon Quest, I'm not sure what constitutes a mainsteam RPG anymore. I still have a few Disgaea and Tales of games to play, but man are they hard to start playing, cause RPGs tend to have really expansive stories and if you stop anywhere and stop playing for a few days, you are instant lost

Loren is established with inventories, and sequels don't tend to change dramatically in terms of gameplay but that's not necessarily a iron clad rule (Resident Evil says hi) but Loren's fantasy world seems to have easy basis for equipment, so I do think keeping it would be good, but I think a poll to see general consensus would be a good idea, since I have a tendency to hoard items and never use/sell them, so having no items is good for me.

[Anima_]

No, I don't plan to get rid of items in the sequel. While I wouldn't really miss them all that much, truth be told, others would. And the game isn't just for me.
Though I might lobby for it in our next new RPG project, so be careful in around three years or so, when we've finished all the currently open projects.
We are seriously thinking about the vendors though. Which might be replaced with the crafting system altogether.

My general objective is to keep the identity of the system intact while improving how it's done. There will still be a stagger mechanic for example, but it will stagger a target for a short time after every strong hit.
We still have the six elements, but with an affinity system. Items will still be selectable from the inventory but the number of items you can use in a single fight will be limited and so on.
(These are only current ideas, again there's nothing set in stone or really worked out at the moment.)
Or in short, the goal is to make the ideas behind the mechanics from the first game work (better) in the second.

[megaman12321]

If that's the case, then I'll comment on what you might do. I don't think having a limit on items works well in RPGs. If say you fight a boss that hits hard or regenerates, then you might need items as a backup healing/support. Setting a limit can really suck if your healer is down on mana.

In terms of better mechanics, some balancing could work better for characters. Even if Saren was suppose to be a healer/defender, his weak attacks always annoyed me when he's a warrior of all things. And the rouges attacks might hurt alot at times in terms of damage, almost all of their specials needed situational statuses that bosses sometimes aren't even affected by, making their abilities useless. Mages were OP for the reason that they had access to all the elements. This made them practically too useful for any situation. Chances are these issues were already talked about/addressed, but I might as well say them if they haven't