As posted on our blog http://www.rubicondev.com/blog/fantastic/ , we're prototyping our newest game, a sort of pokemon/final fantasy mash up without the boring bits. This is kind of a long way off yet as the screenie might indicate, but we're interested in very early feedback for a game like this.
That's about it for now. Mainly just curious as to what the demand might be. Will post some updates later down the road, but then I'm at the mercy of the mods - TA isn't meant to be a dev diary site, which is why I started with the blog. The core idea here is to find some characters by visting taverns etc., recruit monsters you don't have yet, level em up, stick some gear on and then go smash your gamecentre friends with that killer combo move you just worked out. All the items and spells go on all the monsters, with better or worse modifiers etc., so it's about learning what works by fun experiment and then pumelling other people in a team vs team way. What the game will definitely not be, is some king of traditional rpg where you go around looking in endless gloomy dungeons and murky woods just grinding for the sake of it. "WoW lite" if you will. Okay, very lite! Or possibly D&D that you can play on a single short bus journey. We're going for casual appeal too. This game features lots of combos and effects (literally billions of permutations), but nothing is too deep. We are aiming at casual battlers rather than someone who obsesses over 20 spreadsheets full of modifiers to modifiers to modifiers. (Been there) And that there's about the total of our game design doc right now.
Because it's from Rubicon it should be something awaited for hope it turns out great & looking forward to seeing more updates sooner then later hehe.
Should have put this for your first post. Now I am more interests Can't wait to see more, keep up the great work.
Yeah, I just realised I was asking for opinion on something with no screens and no gameplay described. Lol, it was late.
Looks interesting. Basically, I will buy any game made by Rubicon. I have that much confidence in these devs.
I do have a small concern, if you'll hear me out. If you recall, there was a game that did something similar to what this game is doing, but with Pokemon and only Pokemon as its inspiration. It was called Little Masters. While the battle mechanics were solidly based on Pokemon, the entire game was nothing but a series of battles, which killed immersion due to a lack of true storytelling due to an over-emphasis on leveling your monsters. I would recommend a solid campaign held together by cutscenes/over-world map, to give players a good reason to be invested in the game beyond the battle mechanics. I would also recommend perma-death, which encourages careful strategy in a world most likely out to maim and/or murder your minions. Incorporating injured limbs into the battle mechanics can also be a part of the strategy: should you risk your Cloudbuster-sword fighter losing his hand in a duel, forcing him to switch to one-handed sword/shield if he has that equipment in reserve, or should your archer risk a lightning bolt to the head in order to snipe an attacking enemy, which could permanently addle your archer? I guess the point of my ramblings is this: is there anything planned beyond the battle mechanics that would allow player investment? Also, I have XCOM on the brain, and how that game takes that concept of attachment to your squad, and makes the player risk that attachment to complete mission objectives, which was a big part of why that game was so memorable, which I guess is why I made the recommendations I did. These are just some thoughts to consider. Take my ramblings with a grain of salt ^_^ Sincerely, Mr. Album
All input welcome, thanks. We are having a campaign but there won't be any massive exploration stuff. I guess in that regard we'll be closer to battleheart than ff. I'll look that other game up though for sure.