Why do we praise some games for difficulty, while others scold others? In what cases the factor of chance is appropriate and where it only harms? How a good level design differs from bad?..
We have conceived a new cycle of articles, called “how it works”, where we will in detail consider different gamed decisions in order to better delve into how games function. If you have accumulated your own bunch of questions “why is it so, and not otherwise?", Set them in the comments, and together we will decide which way we will dig a next time next time.
Many were embarrassed by what from Dragon Age: Inquisition removed the attending magic – a standard seems to be an element of any fantasy role -playing game. But do we have other reason to scold BioWare for this-besides the fact that we are just used to doing everything differently?
Why do you need healers
Before we move on to the role of treatment in a modern party role, we will try to figure out what caused the device of a typical batch. The rules of most role -playing games, including online, dictate the specific composition of the group: the one who inflicts damage (Damage Dealer, DPS); one who interferes with hitting the inflicting ("tank"); the one who treats everyone (Healer, healer). Why exactly?
► briefly about the difficult share of the doctor. Fragment of the online comic book Order of the Stick In one of the amateur translations.
Manchec-optimizer in almost any combat RPG first of all sees two health scales: your enemy group and group. And the goal is to take away all their health points from them, without losing their own. Only clearly distinguished responsibilities, you will achieve the goal the fastest, and since it is simple, then the scheme is elementary: one hero causes damage to kill the enemy as soon as possible; The second covers and protects the first, taking on the attacks of the opponents, but the third heals and protects the covering. Nothing superfluous.
It turns out a simple triune picture: dps + “tank” + doctor (this composition is called – Holy Trinity). The fact that these types were so elegant on traditional fantasy images, may be a coincidence, but given how much exists Dungeons & Dragons, The first well -known role -playing system, another question, what happened before. In any case, the “Holy Trinity” of role-playing games was born from a typical Mantic search for optimums, and not at all by someone’s mind.
► Classic D&D click is not a feeble bore, but a mighty warrior in chain mail or armor, which can be treated in addition. In the second edition, he was considered perhaps the strongest fighter in the system.
In Dungeons & Dragons about the "Trinity", as well as about dividing into roles in general, for thirty -four years and there was no question. In the fourth edition of 2008, the classes decided to divide into four conditional categories and recommended that they include at least one class from each in the team. But it was precisely the advice.
In table roles, players and presenters are often looking for loopholes and come up with how to beat the rules, and not unaccountably follow the course of pre -prescribed situations. This adds flexibility. This is sometimes impossible in video games – all the rules are laid down https://sister-site.org/leo-vegas/ by software code. Less spaciousness for creativity, but more fixation on the target. You need to take away from the enemy his reels! In any way. And preferably as soon as possible.
Therefore, players choose the optimal route, but in this case there is nothing better than a simple and energy -efficient "trinity". Since Everquest I offered to go to the dungeons with a clear set of roles, few tried to change it. Just, conveniently, it works – so let it stay.
► c Everquest The fourth key role was also allocated – a specialist in control, luring the monsters, so that it would be more convenient to deal with the team. Today his duties are usually distributed by the performers of the remaining three roles.
Why is the doctor sad
The doctor’s problem in the “Trinity” is that he will often pass the very fun. He does not participate in a fight or participates indirectly, as he is tightly busy with treatment. From his position, the battle is a game about the wolf that catches eggs. The only difference is that instead of eggs there are people here, and they, unlike eggs, are grateful to you. What is great in your own way-after all, it is so nice to help someone!
But there is nothing medical in this. A typical doctor with the same success could be a battery or a hysterical manager, in a panic distributing a rake between agricultural brigades. This is a game of operational management of resources, not a doctor. Many games manage to arrange it interesting. But – only for some.
► Dragon Age: Origins. There are four people in the team, but at least one of them is obliged to be able to treat. Otherwise nothing will come out for you.
Games built around the "Trinity" oblige us to have each of the three links in the team. If we do not find a “tank” or a doctor, the train will not go anywhere. The fate of most group campaigns is usually decided at the stage of collecting a group.
The same thing was in Dragon Age – V Origins You have to either constantly carry a boring old woman with you, or to develop a medical branch from the party magicians, otherwise the party Paul after the first difficult fight. “And what if I don't want to take a doctor?..»No, you must. Without options. Immediately narrows the scope for creativity.
That's why the basic “trinity” is clearly not the concept that you should cling to the last. You can find a more interesting alternative … Isn't it so?
Why no one is looking for an alternative
They are looking for her. With varying success. Someone experiments with hybrid classes-for example, at Rift and y Guild Wars It even turned out well. But narrow specialists still ended up more efficiently.
► World of Warcraft She accepted the “Trinity” with open arms, but for some time, the monk, say, can already at the very least support the state of the party without interruption from close combat. True, in particularly complex places you still have to focus on treatment.
IN Guild Wars 2 The role of the healer was abolished and gave each class their own ways to be treated. The old Trinity was replaced by a new one: "Damage-control-support". Nevertheless, Arena attempts.NET to structure group passages differently went to dust when the players were drawn that the “Directory-Durne” in the new system works much more efficiently. On the most powerful monsters, control is almost not valid due to Defiance mechanics, and it is much easier to stern with the whole power of the team.
For example Guild Wars 2 It is especially noticeable how many combat roles rely on outdated abstractions. The behavior of almost any enemy in battle can be reduced to "someone beats". He is not cunning, does not plan, he just rushes to the goal from all legs. And the main concern of the players is to correctly distribute the damage he he had. The optimal structure of the command is either reduced to the “trinity”, or breaks up, as in PVE Guild Wars 2.
► in PVP mode Guild Wars 2 The optimal layout of the party is by no means unequivocal, and the roles are not as important as the skills of specific classes. Not to go on pure damage.
All problems are from the mind
I clarified that we are talking about PVE, because PVP is a completely different story. When you play with living people, the rules change. The opponent does not climb by default to beat your “tank” because it is guided by common sense, and not the abstract parameter of “aggression”. And common sense tells him to get around the “tank” and kill the doctor.
Therefore, it is in the PVP games that the structure of the teams is much more flexible. Even in World of Warcraft, Where the battle mechanics are built primarily on numbers and abstractions, everything changes sharply: the “tanks” have other concerns, in addition to “keep all the monsters on themselves”, and DDs are already forced to think about how not to get into a blow and maneuver. The concept of control acquires a new meaning.
► a typical support fighter in Dota 2 – First of all, the one who is good in control and/or can fry well in the early stages of the game. The treatment is already secondary. But it can wrap the battle move in your favor if you use it wisely.
Well, designers suddenly understand how a role -playing party can do without "pure" doctors. League of Legends And Dota 2 -The best examples of games whose creators realized how sad it was to be a battery, and taught former healers to directly influence the course of the battle, still helping their allies from the troubles. Yes, this is already an entry into the territory of action. But should role -playing games rely on the competition of numbers with numbers?
"Trinity" with the eyes of Inquisition
Dragon Age: Inquisition , In turn, nevertheless takes into account your indicators, “role” parameters. However, she almost eliminated the influence of chance on the course of the battle. If you are killed, here it is your fault. Unlike Origins, where the failure could be provided with an unsuccessful throw of cubes in the bowels of combat mechanics.
In other words, the elimination of the doctors was not limited. BioWare offered several other systems to compensate for this, and so, a change in the approach to battle in general was reached out behind the one.
► Focus on the protection of the Allies in Inquisition does not turn off the magician from the battle – nothing prevents the combination of support with the attack.
What inquisition does correctly
1. Old reflexes are still relevant. The magicians were taken from the magicians, but the barriers that absorb damage were given. There has not changed much in appearance, but attentiveness is now required to be a different sense-instead of treating those who have already received the head, magicians are tracking, who is about to receive.
2. More survival. The classes in Inquisition have many skills that protect against damage. The warriors themselves save their "buffer" health supply, like a shield from Halo And Mass Effect. The robbers break through the combination and go into the shadow so that no one even has time to hit them. You can enchant weapons to restore health during murder – the indicators are purely symbolic, but also contribute.
► Craftsmen are a good way to greatly strengthen the party. If you live very hard, think that you can make useful.
3. Large emphasis on control and positioning. That which could not achieve Guild Wars 2. The magicians in Inquisition are full of skills that allow you to keep the enemy at a distance; The “tanks” warriors can restrain the monsters not only due to the abstract “aggression”, but also thanks to wide shoulders-in narrow passages past a good tank simply not to pass. The control of the battlefield has become especially important.
4. The consequence of the previous two points and most importantly: We are not obliged to take a specially trained expert on barriers. Now everyone can protect themselves and protect others, instead of hoping for a doctor. With a well-developed magician magician, your team will become more reliable and durable, but you can also bet on eliminating enemies before they have time to exhaust you. Either reliably or fast – you choose. As it should be.
5. Health has to be protected to the last. Inquisition does not have the usual regeneration, and health is just not to restore. Any missed blow is trouble. Except at the lower levels of complexity, of course.
That Inquisition was supposed to do otherwise
1. It is more intelligible to explain how to play. Some rules here are contrary to the habits of most. Many first of all pay attention to the icon of the attending potions and conclude: yeah, so they are treated here. And then they complain: they say, they were removing in vain, it is now impossible to play.
But the potions in Inquisition play the wrong role that usually. Their stock is limited, and it itself is not a reliable source of life, but your last hope in case everything goes wrong and all other ways to survive (we talked about them) will not help. The same applies to ultimative skills available once every five -year plan. Alas, not everyone guessed about it.
► Specialization "Knight-Mountain" turns an ordinary magician into an unbearable monster. In conjunction with a good, say, a temple, he can cope with almost anything even at a "nightmare" level of complexity.
2. Balance of complexity. It is almost impossible to perfectly balance the role -playing game. Origins significantly suffered from uneven complexity, and just the rejection of endless potions and free treatment helped to better balance the skirmishes in Inquisition – the developers themselves admit about this. Having taken away endless sources of health from you, they now clearly imagine how many chitpoons you can have at one time or another of the game, and, based on this, they decide how strong your opponents should be.
But, although the foundations of the battle are designed perfectly here, the battles do not always make you think about the intricacies. At first, too little money is available to you, nowhere to turn around. Closer to the end of them, on the contrary, there are a lot, and you easily crush any resistance. In addition, among the classes, the powerful were clogged among the classes: if you have chosen your magician Knight Enchanter, you can not think about anything and eat dragons alone – you are causing damage at once, restore the barrier and are not afraid of anyone.
The ideal state is somewhere in the middle of the game: when you finally figured out everything available arsenal, but have not yet acquired the best equipment, and your opponents are close to their peak form. You have to play at the limit, follow everything and everyone – especially at high levels of complexity. But, alas, inquisition is far from always possible to maintain this harmony. There is something to work on the fourth part.
► if you do not devote too much time pumping, the battles are especially intense. But it is better not to abuse this.
* * *
And although the treatment as such did not get rid of the Inquisition (barriers, in fact, play the same role), the developers have shifted the emphasis from it. It became obvious with this that all attempts to replace the damage compensation for its prevention leads to the fact that the role -playing game is approaching the action … But whether it does the Inquisition fighter less tactful? Did you feel that, say, “random” blocks and dumps disappeared from the game? And whether you were really injected that now you have to avoid attacks on your own, and not relying on a chance?
Traditional mechanics are very going on Divinity and Pillars of Eternity, but Bioware decided to do everything differently – and this is perhaps for the better. Someone in the role genre should be able to work without throws of cubes.