Make FFXIV more like FFXI and less like WoW!

[Sandpark]

@Shurrikhan
Here is a talk from another forum and some of the ideas they were tossing around about AI were pretty cool to me.
http://ffxiv.zam.com/forum.html?foru...98&h=50&p=1#30

When I was more active in MU* coding, how I'd handle mob behavior was one of this things I mulled on from time if I made my own game. As is, current MMOs tend to be either heavily scripted or little more than "spam this to keep a hidden number high so a mob focuses on you" sort of manipulation.

On the statistical end, I had affix behaviors like:
Confrontational = Focus on the character with the highest Attack/Strength.
Standoffish = Focus on the character with the highest HP/Vitality.
Deft = Focus on the character with the highest Dexterity.
Nimble = Focus on the character with the highest Agility.
Discerning = Focus on the character with the highest Magic Attack/Intelligence.
Zealous = Focus on the character with the highest Mind.
Flamboyant = Focus on the character with the highest Charisma.

These traits would be hidden to the player and would vary as things respawn, effectively making each fight potentially different. However, I upped the random factor further in that mobs could have further enhancements to the above mentioned categories. Depending on their move sets, you might not even notice, but a traditionally STR-heavy mob getting an even further STR bonus might facilitate a slightly different strategy. Especially since fights typically weren't going to be Many Allies vs. 1 Monster, but something more variable where I further distinguished mobs into size categories with party formations that followed.

Since this is an MMO and not text-based, however, we could technically go further in their (re)actions. Wear red when you fight a bull-type mob? You might be the target. Cast Ice magic against a mob that really hates the cold? It might wanna pick on you. Could even have ones that prefer hit and run tactics or might not even want to fight at all, instead turtling up and constantly curing themselves. Yoinking a page from FF4, anyone wearing metallic gear could receive slight debuffs simply being around certain mob types due to a magnetic aura. Some traits can be consistent, sure, as that's part of what makes a race/species/whatever, but I really do believe that if we want to make players distinguishable, our foes need to be, too. And not just because some want PvP that way.

Plus it kinda fits more snugly into my ideal crafting systems where items are more customized to our play style than every Iron Sword being exactly the same.

And more...

Well, that's when I'd confess that fights would not only be turn-based, but also "instanced" like you'd see in earlier FFs. I mentioned mob formations, but you'd also have your party. Perhaps imagine a mix of Suikoden II and FF12, where you could have a 6-man group, either full of players or the gambit-like AIs filling in as needed. Obviously, if I wanted to be an ***, I could go more TRPG and make the fights 2D grids, but I figure each version has strengths and weaknesses.

I mention Suikoden in particular, though, because it also did things with weapons like having have short, medium, and long range types. Where you were positioned would affect what you could attack on the enemy end relative to your weapon choice. However, since I planned on skills to customizable, a sword move that starts off hitting one foe could be trained to eventually hit a row, column, or even the whole enemy unit at varying costs of damage and something like AP. I'd also idealized spells being broken down into elements, where an affinity you chose at the start would reflect how easily you could raise others on the grid. In time, that aforementioned sword ability could've gotten fire magic magic imbued into it. Or something like Ice was actually a combination of Water and Wind, but independently a mob may not be weak to either of those.

There was a lot of ruminating on combos, weapon types, their strengths and weakness that went on back then, to the point I successfully intimidated myself because I didn't know anyone else who could either run with such or even be interested. MU*s could certainly be their own drama pools.