Difficulty Level?

[Para]

Has there been any mention that SEGA plans to offer the game in various difficulty levels?

[Sinue_v2]

It's doubtful, since everything seems to be a lot more integrated now. That, and if you look at enemy stats in some of the combat videos - you can see they have their own levels now. This indicates to me that difficulty will be level based, rather than chosen at some menu when entering the game feild.

[Dre_o]

I was thinking along the same lines as Sinue. Something like arctic areas and such will be more difficult.

[Para]

Sounds like MMORPG difficulty style based...

[ColonD]

There are three planets right?
So, I assume the three will be like, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard mode.
Except monsters, and their attack patterns changing from planet to planet.<.<

[Sinue_v2]

Not necessarily. Each planet may have slightly varrying difficulty levels per area - but will still be accessable to players of all levels up to certain points. However, the further you get out away from civilation and the deeper into ruins/dungeons you get - the monsters could become much tougher. Similar to FFXI - whereas instead of three cities - you have three planets and much larger areas to play in.

[ColonD]

I see. Well, that does make sense, I was figuring it was a given but...
I really hate long travel times, I'm glad they've got more transport.
(Kinda like going trough the caves, only to be kicked off again, then have to try again later, to be kicked again. Etc.)
As well, I hope for some of the transport you won't need so many things to do first.
Like, you start out able to use one somewhat slow thing. (Though it is faster then running.) That week monsters can knock you off of. And when you get to the point of being better then those monsters by a bit, they'll be much nicer and let you pass. Oi?
And of couse, if you had to do something to get other transport, then they'll make it entertaining, and not obscurely found?

As I think getting to your prey is as important as being able to kill it.

(They won't have one city encircled with strong monsters I hope. I got stuck in two different ones in FFXI. As well, I never got a Chocobo, so I hope they have a better transport system, or the like.)



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ColonD on 2005-11-26 23:56 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ColonD on 2005-11-26 23:56 ]</font>

[Parn]

I'm not sure I agree with Sinue's take, if only because of the lastability of the game if such a system existed. One of two things has to happen in such a scenario. Either the experience gained during fighting is slow compared to offline mode, or the experience gained is about the same rate.

If the experience gained is at the same rate, then you're looking at an online mode that will last about as long as the offline mode. Yeah, I don't see that happening.

So we're left with experience gained very slowly. This translates to being stuck to a beginner area for a long time. Could you imagine having to go through the forest level about 30 times before you're strong enough to even try the caves? This is something MMORPGs do, and we all know that this kind of thing usually isn't fun. Being that restricting has never been fun, especially since in a typical RPG, the pacing is set so you only spend a bit of time in "weaker areas" before you move on, while MMORPGs force you to spend many, many hours grinding.

I just don't see either of the above being very feasible. I think they'd retain their multiple difficulty modes and scale the monster strength just like they did in PSO. The monsters' stats scaled back then, they just didn't have a fancy "level" attached to their attributes back then.

I think it's more likely that they'd have four difficulty modes again... normal mode would be reflective of offline mode (since they're using the same areas and monsters for multiplayer), while harder modes would cover future levels once you hit levels 40-50 (which seems to be average for the "upper tier" during the latter parts of your standard RPG). I'm betting level 200 would be a goal to attain once more.

Of course, I'm just as likely to be wrong as Sinue, but this is my take on it.

[Kupi]

Or, for yet another take on it, what if the level of the monsters was scaled directly to the level of your character? Say, monsters appear at a level equal to yours plus or minus whatever's an appropriate range of values (early on, a single level could make a huge difference, while when you're in your 100s, you could range 10 levels up or down and not see much of a change in difficulty). That way, you don't have any explicitly stated difficulty levels like Normal, Hard, etc., but every area remains a challenge.

As for how multiplayer games would be handled, well, the monsters would just be at the level of the person who started the game, simple as that.

[uhawww]

Woo. 1st post.

Anyways, Since some details are still unknown about how equipment usage and output values operate, ST has the capacity to totally overhaul the importance of equipment over facility of skill, since with the advent of partner machinery, Photon Arts, and a few other tidbits we've been exposed to, PSU seems to have a much higher aversion toward strategy. I know I spent most of my time on all versions of PSO in "Boy howdy, can't wait 'til I get to use <Insert Crunk Gear Here>" mode.

I for one would like to see the game focus more on skill and organization than ATP.
For me, it seemed the endgame always devolved into that...



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: uhawww on 2005-11-27 09:26 ]</font>

[ColonD]

Hey, that does seem like a good idea. But we're not game makers, so we don't have much choice. I also assume this will make larger creatures always seem hard to fight? Or at least will a little stratgy put into it?
So, does this mean that there will be a little restriction on level differences? Or will there be a bunch of beginers flooding a highlevel games for exp. and rares?
My opinion is to have, level restriction an option.
(So, say, you could make a game lvl 20+ Only. Or make it level 30-40ers.)
And then you can just goof off with your friends shooting things, maybe looking for rares.
As in every game, goofing off and having a good time is a must. And if it's like you have to go through caves 80 times to level up, We're ALL going to want to kill someone. ><

(Thoughts of countless TTFing comes to mind.)