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[Kazz]

It surprises me that you thought your idea had all that much in common with a CRPG in the first place.

I've never enjoyed the "go kill non-dangerous things until you're so powerful that nothing is dangerous" aspect of an RPG, because... er, you don't feel like you're in danger.  The last RPG that made me feel like that was Tactics Advance, which was extremely easy for some stupid reason.  A little past midgame, I realized that I could beat anything they threw at me with little trouble, and the only reason I had to keep playing was earning the neat upper-tier classes.  Soooo I stopped.  The game wasn't a test of my tactics, just my patience.

[Bongo Bill]

The thing about stat growth is that it can be conducive to the process of developing a character which has precisely the tactical options available that you want; but not only can this be made possible without a flat mathematical increase in the effectiveness of any single action (i.e. the only thing that makes you stronger is that you have more options), many games that feature stat growth don't give you any input as to how you develop. So what you want (Brentai) is for stat growth to take the form of specialization rather than increase in power, am I right.

I think CRPGs are somewhat confused. They've got some fairly well-exercised storytelling idioms, and they pad themselves out with tactical combat that is practically designed to be exploited. And then either the story goes on so long that the combat loses its luster, or the combat happens so often that it diminishes the impact of the story. It's got two halves that are hard to fit together effectively, but either of which needs some substantial modification to stand on its own.

[Classic]

There are a lot of people for whom the strategy and tactics of the combat are exactly what they enjoy, which is what makes exploitable rules fun. I really liked ToEE (when it didn't fucking crash) because I felt really in control of an interesting tactical situation. I also felt imperiled at basically every minute of every encounter.

Tactical Studies Rules.

[Bongo Bill]

Yes, the precise implementation of the combat counts for a lot; but we're getting away from the topic at hand, which is the story bits.

[Misha]

I was going to post in this thread but I took a different branch

[Classic]

Yes, the precise implementation of the combat counts for a lot; but we're getting away from the topic at hand, which is the story bits.

Quit Rerailing my attempts at derailing! Jerk!

Brent I think is also talking about (possibly on a tangent) about how to make that combat an interesting and worthwhile addition to the world, rather than something you do for grinding. The problem is though, as compelling as the story might be, I don't know how compelling a choose your own adventure game will be. And presumably we're trying to build a game. Where tactical choices and outcomes can influence the story.

... Still really excited to see Newbie's little project, even if the actual writing and plotting turns out to be incredibly "meh". Good luck.

I'd toyed in my younger years with an idea much like Dwarf Fort, where outside of a fairly linear plot, the world around you could be dynamic, and as your character grew to epic levels, could found towns, or become the enemy of states, prompting armies to pursue you. The actual implementation I had hoped for would no doubt be ghastly expensive, but I thought could make for an experience very much belonging to the player.