I'd like to know if making the battles a bit more complex and strategic is an open suggestion for this game. I understand that the game is for kinds and young teens but I feel there's still room for more stragety in the battles.
Technically, you can use strategy to win your fight with charms, wards and traps but beyond that...I dunno, it just seems that there could be more.
Has anyone put thought into maybe field/circle element changes? I'm thinking if you cast spells, they change the element of the field/circle and alter the effects of your spell cards. My inspiration on that particular idea was from an RPG called Chrono Cross. Similar to Wizard101, you could equip each character with a set of elements(spell cards in this game) and in battle, when you cast a spell(fire red <> water blue, white light <> black dark, earth yellow <> green air) it would give bonuses to certain elements and penalties to elements of the opposing color. Also, you could only summon (the more powerful of the elements) when the field was completely one color.
Alot of people didn't like the game but, compared to any other RPG I've ever played, it provided me the most challenge I've faced in a game for a long time. For more information on Chrono Cross' element system, it's the 2nd paragraph in the gameplay section here.
So what does everyone else think about the suggestion? Do you have any suggestions to make battles a bit more involved?
Okay, perhaps an example is in order. Now this is just adding onto the current battle system, not starting from scratch. It may sound complicated, but for the most part, you can skip over these features and end your battles faster:
Two new concepts –field elements/colors and circle element/color.
Field elements/colors- Visible during the timed period you choose your cards, there could be 3 stars (a little star, a medium star and a large star also known as element x/y/z respectfully). These stars will start out with a set color pattern depending on the area you’re in (Firecat ally may be fire/storm/fire, Cyclops lane balance/myth/myth, etc). These colors can change depending on what spell cards are used. To change element x, you have to cast a tier 1 spell (fire cat, storm snake, dark fairy, etc); To change element y, it’s the tier 2 spells (Troll, Fire Elf, Scorpion, etc); and for element z, it’s tier 3 spells (Evil Snowman, Locus Swarm, etc).
If you get stars x, y and z the same color, several things would happen. 1. There would be a restriction on pip use; any spell not the color of the field element could only access 2 pips per turn. 2. Elements that match the field color element are unrestricted, even having access to power pips, even if that element isn’t your primary school. 3. The element that opposes the field element (fire <> ice, life <> death, etc) would have higher fizzle rate and lose pips to fizzled spells. Upon matching all 3 stars, the field element will be “locked” for 3 turns, meaning you can’t change the field element color no matter what you cast.
So if the field element is ice and you have 5 pips, you couldn't cast your Scorpion(3 pips balance spell), Meteor Strike (4 pips fire spell) or any other spells that cost more than 2 pips. The necromancer player next to you however has 2 pips and 2 power pips, so he could cast Vampire (4 pips death spell) or Colossus (6 pip ice spell).
Circle element/color- This is the circle that duel participants stand on. There are 8 in a dueling field (4 for enemies and 4 for players). These start out blank at the start of a fight and every time someone casts an offensive spell, it will change a quadrant (a fourth) of the circle that was attacked. Discarding cards could give you the option to change the color of your circle, 1 quadrant at a time while passing gives you the option to clear your circle that round until your turn comes around again. Change all 4 quadrants to a color and you get a circle effect on whoever stands within.
Life- +% damage to life spells received, life spells heal more (IF part of the school (note: it’s not just those in the school but monsters native to life element), +% resistance to life attack spells, +% damage dealt from life attack spells)
Death- +damage to death spells received (IF part of the school, +% resistance to death attacks, +% to life steal)
Storm- +damage to storm spells received, -accuracy to storm spells received (If part of the school, +% resistance to storm attacks, +% accuracy to storm attacks dealt)
As for Myth, Balance, Fire and Ice…I haven’t thought fully what their circle effects could be…
On top of the circle effect, having a circle color that opposes the field color will improve the rate you receive power pips while having a circle color matching the field color protects you from losing pips when you fizzle.
….and that’s just a concept I’ve been kicking around in my head for the past few days. I’m sure there are flaws in there somewhere. Thoughts? Feedback? Different suggestions?
