09-26-2012, 05:03 AM
To be honest, I think the whole thing of having a "miss" damage call is outdated. Not because I think there shouldn't be the chance of not hitting the enemy, but because of why it is exists in the first place. The whole reason for displaying "miss" instead of dealing damage is not to balance the game, I'll get back to this in a minute, but more about hardware limitations. Let me explain. In the early days of gaming, you didn't find many games with real-time controls and complex combat (the nearest example I can find is Zelda). The space on these cartridges was very limited, and so having real-time RPG combat is infeasible, because of the sheer amount of data necessary, not to mention processing speed. Because of this, the turn based system came in, using mechanics similar to D&D. This solved all of these issues, as well as that of controlling multiple players at once. In order to balance the game a little, and to make it more interesting, the miss mechanic was added, similar to that seen in D&D.
Now, the only reason this is in gaming today is because of this. Games have already found ways to control multiple characters in real time (the Tales games do this very well, in my opinion), and it's not too much of a leap to remove the random factor, either. The reason it existed in the past was because there was very little in terms of scenario that could alter how the battle flowed. By this, I mean that you can do an attack, and the situation of the battle will still be roughly the same as it was before (i.e. you are still just as able to attack the enemy on your turn). This would be dull if there were no random element introduced, since battles would be very tedious and not exciting. Now, this is unnecessary, since battles are fully controlled by the player. This randomness exists to simulate the field of battle, but this doesn't need to be simulated any more. Unlike in a turn based game, you can attack an enemy, and then, due to circumstance, be prevented from doing certain actions (e.g. by being too far away from an enemy that is mauling your team mate). The random factor is unnecessary because what it was created to simulate already exists in a real-time system.
My solution would be to have the randomness removed entirely. Attack power would be related only to your level, your equipment, and the enemy's level and equipment. There would be no variation that isn't to do with the circumstances of the battle. Having said that, the enemy may have the ability to block attacks or sidestep, but again this wouldn't be random, but calculated, considering where the player is (e.g. in front of the enemy), how powerful their attack is, how fast it is, etc. Everything would be calculated from the situation, but that works in modern gaming, because there is enough information about the situation to give a fun and interesting game. It includes everything the random factor was attempting to simulate, but in a more controlled way, which makes the battle more involved, and can be avoided by the use of skill and tactics on the part of the player. This in turn removes the problem of having a battle completely turned around by an unlucky roll of the dice - it's your fault if you mess up, not the computers.
Wow that was longer than I intended. Hopefully it made some sense.
Now, the only reason this is in gaming today is because of this. Games have already found ways to control multiple characters in real time (the Tales games do this very well, in my opinion), and it's not too much of a leap to remove the random factor, either. The reason it existed in the past was because there was very little in terms of scenario that could alter how the battle flowed. By this, I mean that you can do an attack, and the situation of the battle will still be roughly the same as it was before (i.e. you are still just as able to attack the enemy on your turn). This would be dull if there were no random element introduced, since battles would be very tedious and not exciting. Now, this is unnecessary, since battles are fully controlled by the player. This randomness exists to simulate the field of battle, but this doesn't need to be simulated any more. Unlike in a turn based game, you can attack an enemy, and then, due to circumstance, be prevented from doing certain actions (e.g. by being too far away from an enemy that is mauling your team mate). The random factor is unnecessary because what it was created to simulate already exists in a real-time system.
My solution would be to have the randomness removed entirely. Attack power would be related only to your level, your equipment, and the enemy's level and equipment. There would be no variation that isn't to do with the circumstances of the battle. Having said that, the enemy may have the ability to block attacks or sidestep, but again this wouldn't be random, but calculated, considering where the player is (e.g. in front of the enemy), how powerful their attack is, how fast it is, etc. Everything would be calculated from the situation, but that works in modern gaming, because there is enough information about the situation to give a fun and interesting game. It includes everything the random factor was attempting to simulate, but in a more controlled way, which makes the battle more involved, and can be avoided by the use of skill and tactics on the part of the player. This in turn removes the problem of having a battle completely turned around by an unlucky roll of the dice - it's your fault if you mess up, not the computers.
Wow that was longer than I intended. Hopefully it made some sense.