How games can have less scripted encounters

[CaptainLagbeard]

As a long time wow-player, let me tell you all:

As long as this games server ticks are a thing, you dont want to have more flexible encounter mechanics.
It would be hell.

The kind of flexibility I'd want is for that instead of just doing the same series of attacks in the same exact order, they shuffle the order they use those attacks in.
To use current fights, Acradion M3, I do believe he uses something like Raidwide, Tankbuster, Lariat, Mist, the Knockback Towers, Spin, Fuses, Lariat before his drink... Now For that first phase, he should do all those attacks, but it should use RNG to decide what order he uses them in stead of just having a completely set unchanging order.

[Mikey_R]

The kind of flexibility I'd want is for that instead of just doing the same series of attacks in the same exact order, they shuffle the order they use those attacks in.
To use current fights, Acradion M3, I do believe he uses something like Raidwide, Tankbuster, Lariat, Mist, the Knockback Towers, Spin, Fuses, Lariat before his drink... Now For that first phase, he should do all those attacks, but it should use RNG to decide what order he uses them in stead of just having a completely set unchanging order.

There are other considerations to make. If you have scripted encounters, you can make things come off quicker or more easily combo mechanics together, whereas if they are random, you need to allow more time for the player to parse and react to what is going on.

Then there are things like casters movement capabilities. It will be harder for them to plan them all out and if they get unlucky and 2 movement heavy mechanics happen back to back, they might be forced to drop casting altogether to complete the mechanic.

This isn't to say they couldn't do it, but if they put restrictions on how often a mechanic can go off due to said factors, it can lead to fights that get more scripted as you go along as there are less places they can go. Of course, you could just ignore that and say casters just have to deal with it, but then you either potentially don't bring casters (except SMN) or you are just waiting for the run where the RNG lines up.

[PyurBlue]

There are other considerations to make. If you have scripted encounters, you can make things come off quicker or more easily combo mechanics together, whereas if they are random, you need to allow more time for the player to parse and react to what is going on.

Then there are things like casters movement capabilities. It will be harder for them to plan them all out and if they get unlucky and 2 movement heavy mechanics happen back to back, they might be forced to drop casting altogether to complete the mechanic.

This also comes down to class and fight design. Casters have movement tools. Even BLM has enough to handle a few unexpected mechanics. If FF shuffled mechanics to be truly random in existing content that would strain casters, but we could also step away from complex puzzle like mechanics or space them out.

I completely agree with you that the simple route of making everything a dice roll has problems, but we don't limit ourselves to only doing that I think it opens up a lot more possibilities. Class abilities should probably be tweaked in response too and move away from totally rigid rotations. They wouldn't have to be completely free form but they would need some amount of flexibility built in. I'm in favor of that even if content stays the same.

This isn't to say they couldn't do it, but if they put restrictions on how often a mechanic can go off due to said factors, it can lead to fights that get more scripted as you go along as there are less places they can go. Of course, you could just ignore that and say casters just have to deal with it, but then you either potentially don't bring casters (except SMN) or you are just waiting for the run where the RNG lines up.

Major mechanics absolutely would need some kind of restriction. In a purely random setting you could encounter something like an infinite loop of M2 hearts. Pure randomization might be better used on smaller and less complex mechanics like stacks, raidwides, TB's while major mechanics are space out and perhaps just swapped in order.

If SE were to seriously consider revamping fights it would probably be best to limit it to a dedicated zone at first like Eureka or Bozja. That would let the devs and players experiment while also avoiding the need to revamp old content or disrupt current content grinding.

[Tunda]

This also comes down to class and fight design. Casters have movement tools. Even BLM has enough to handle a few unexpected mechanics. If FF shuffled mechanics to be truly random in existing content that would strain casters, but we could also step away from complex puzzle like mechanics or space them out.

I completely agree with you that the simple route of making everything a dice roll has problems, but we don't limit ourselves to only doing that I think it opens up a lot more possibilities. Class abilities should probably be tweaked in response too and move away from totally rigid rotations. They wouldn't have to be completely free form but they would need some amount of flexibility built in. I'm in favor of that even if content stays the same.


Major mechanics absolutely would need some kind of restriction. In a purely random setting you could encounter something like an infinite loop of M2 hearts. Pure randomization might be better used on smaller and less complex mechanics like stacks, raidwides, TB's while major mechanics are space out and perhaps just swapped in order.

If SE were to seriously consider revamping fights it would probably be best to limit it to a dedicated zone at first like Eureka or Bozja. That would let the devs and players experiment while also avoiding the need to revamp old content or disrupt current content grinding.

burst phases should be scripted.. we want 50% of the fights have some kind of shuffle or randomness

I am curios to see what they will do in bozja content.. I still remember that raid and how hard and fun it was, but they require to add more variant..

what do I mean by variant: Not all runs will be the same there is always a differences.. mechanic, stats, job comb, just anything that is easily noticeable could make a difference