PU Dungeons/Instances

[genbor]

 
 Although Dungeons have been mentioned before, I would like to elaborate on what kind of Dungeons/Instances I was thinking of, that could enhance the game-play of Pokémon Universe. While Pokémon in itself is heavily a Battle oriented game, there are also many puzzles and a storyline you follow. Knowing that Pokémon Universe as an MMORPG ( Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game) will be even more so focused on Player vs Player combat, I believe that giving them an alternative, a Player vs Environment that is both challenging, interesting, and fun.

 I'll talk about Instances first. What I imagined Instances to be like, is that it would usually be a Solo Area, meaning a 1 Player instance. These instances would be heavily Quest reliant, and you would be able to find and do things you could not when you are in the Open World (non-instance). So an Instance would contain a long chain of Quests which all entwine with each other. Basically it would have it's own little storyline which the Player has to compete, with special items that are only available in that instance to help the Player overcome hindrances. After completing the Quest-line and the Instance along with it, you would get good rewards and could move on to another Instance with a Letter of Recommendation from the previous NPCs that you helped.

 Each new Instance would have it's own challenge, and the Instance storylines would be closely knit, so you would have to complete the Instances in order. The previous Pokémon games have all had obstacles that the player had to overcome to enter the next area and progress along the storyline, but in a Free Roam Open World that exists in an MMORPG, that cannot really be done. With these instances, there would be an actual storyline that Players can complete if they go on.
 
 While the same thing can be achieved by in-game Events, to progress along the storyline, it is harder to organize and there's a high chance there will always be one who will miss out on events. I am still looking forward to in-game events, but I think these Instances would give a nice push overall.

 Next up, the Dungeons. There have been a few Dungeons in the Pokémon games already, and while they were interesting to complete, I didn't really find it all that challenging. There weren't enough puzzles for me, and there definitely was no challenge based on skills. Since PU will be an MMORPG, the possibilities are practically limitless. The question is, how can we achieve 'skill' based challenges in Dungeons in a game where if you press the Spacebar, your character will most likely not jump? To overcome that, we could introduce new Skills for Trainers. Trainer levels will probably exist in-game, so why not give Skills for those levels.

 What I had in mind is this: In the 'Trainer Profile' there would be a 'Attributes' Tab. In this Attributes Tab there would be some Attributes which govern skills that will help the Player out. For now the Attributes I had in mind:                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                        Endurance
                                                                          Agility
                                                                          Strength
                                                                          Wisdom
                                                                          Intelligence

 There wasn't a need to over complicate the Attributes for now, and I think having just these is more than enough. I'll explain each of them on how I thought they should look.

Endurance - A standard attribute, governs how long you can keep up running; ( I'll keep this for now, if you come up with something good to add to it, feel free to do so). Endurance would act as a basic limiter for the Player, we don't want people running around forever without some kind of setback. So if you decide to start running, your Endurance will be drained, and if your Endurance Skill level is low, the distance you can travel while running will be short. Once you drained your Endurance, you will have to wait for it to charge back up. It will still do it if you walk, but staying in place will hasten this process.

 Agility - Another standard attribute, governs your Balance and Jumping abilities. Basically there could be more types of fences than in the previous Pokémon games, where there could be a standard fence and fences which require a certain amount of Agility to jump over. These fences wouldn't really block your way, but you would have to walk around the fence to get back on the road, so people would keep this up-to-level just for the convenience. Same with the Balance, if there's an Ice terrain or anywhere that in the real life you would have a chance to slip, if your Balance is higher, that chance of slipping would be less. (For example: You are sliding on ice but having failed a Balance check, you slip up and slide in the direction you were moving in and you lose control of your character for a bit). This could be done by, being able to control your sliding on the ice, for example you still walk normally but it takes a longer time to stop, so you would have to control your Trainer more than when you are on a dirt road.

 Strength - Simply speaking, it governs how much you can hold at once. This way, people would be more encouraged to use the PC or any storage device to keep their items in, instead of walking around with a bottomless backpack. People will most likely want to keep this maxed, since it's convenient to carry more. I don't really have anything else to add to this one.

 Wisdom - What this would do, is basically provide you with Intuition. It doesn't give any physical bonuses like the previous ones, but instead let's the player know if there are any hidden items, or the like in the area you entered. Ex: Upon entering the cave the text appears "Hmm, places like these usually have treasures." If your Intuition is high enough, you will be able to more accurately pinpoint the location of that hidden item, etc. So the people who like to uncover mysteries like me, would most likely choose this.

 Intelligence - This attribute would allow you to use different items for your convenience. A high enough Intelligence might even let you access new things, for example, a new storage tab in your PC or the like. There would be several new items for you or in itself the already existing items would be only useable at a certain Intelligence level. Using Escape Rope and the like would require you to have a certain amount of Intelligence; having higher intelligence might allow you to set the 'Checkpoint' where you want to warp back to during the Instance/Cave/Dungeon instead of back to the entrance. The higher intelligence, the deeper you can set that Checkpoint etc. Using HMs/TMs would also require a certain amount of Intelligence.

 Now, after I clarified the Attributes and what they do, let's talk about how to level them up. Your Trainer gains a level, now he can spend 5 points in his attributes. At most, you can only spend 3 points in any 1 Attribute per level. So your Trainer gained a level, and you choose to place 3 points into Strength and 2 points into Endurance. This split would be so that people don't just focus on one Attributes for its benefits, but spend them a bit more evenly. It would be perfectly possible to have a balanced "Jack of all trades, master of none" type of Attribute Tab. People could also just focus on the attributes they want and level the others according to the benefits they wish to gain. For example: Gaining a new Storage space on your PC requires 25 points in Intelligence. You only want it high enough to access that extra storage space, but afterwards there is no point in putting points in it, since you focus on Strength to be able to have more items on you in the field, and also to reap other better benefits you would need a higher Intelligence score than what you can afford. So you level up Intelligence to 25 and leave it at that.

 So after clearing all these things up on Attributes, let's go back and see how these affect your Dungeon experience. Dungeons would preferably be completed in teams of 4, where each player would represent each attribute. So the 4 trainers: Johhny06 g0ttac4tch, Pokesmurf, and Lilyqt.

 Johhny06 would have a main attribute in Strength, he would be responsible for carrying all the items found in the Dungeon which are necessary to complete the Dungeon. One of these items would be the "Broken Lever Handle".

 g0ttac4tch would have a main attribute in Agility, he would be responsible in jumping through the 'Skill' based challenges and pressing the button etc., to ensure a clear path for the rest of the Party.

 Pokesmurf would have a main attribute in Wisdom, so he would notify the Party to search for something in an area or solving the hidden puzzles etc.

 Lilyqt would have a main attribute in Intelligence, so she would be responsible for solving the puzzles (some will have an Intelligence requirement), or when they find the "Broken Lever" Johhny06 hands her the "Broken Lever Handle" and she, having the necessary Intelligence score, is able to fix the lever and pulling it, allows them to proceed to the next challenge.

 Of course while in the Dungeon, it would be same as a Cave where everything you walk on is a Wild Pokémon Trigger, so watch out for those Wild Zubats, but this would give a bit more fun and cooperation to the Battle themed game.

 The attributes could be used outside the Dungeons too. I wouldn't recommend anyone having their main Attribute in Endurance, it's enough to be a Secondary. Most people would do that, and that would be the efficient way in my opinion. Anyways, you could sell your services or just help others out. A Trainer Proficient in Intelligence would sell their service in helping people teach TMs to their Pokémon, a Wisdom Trainer would be able to find rare hidden items and sell it at an Auction etc.

 I believe these changes would make the game more unique and give a better experience overall to everyone playing Pokémon Universe. Although, even if this does get implemented, it will probably be at a much later stage.

 That's all for now, thanks for reading.

                                                                                                                                                                                               Cheers, genbor
 

[Zatir]

Nice ideas!

I like the part of creating multiple attributes, with the great examples for using them. I'm sure the intelligence and wisdom attributes ideas can also create a lot of quest-related skill. Some quests can't be finished after reaching a certain attribute level. The player has to figure that out.

You're also saying that you can spend skill-points to level up the attributes. That's okay, even when all other games do it that way. But maybe if you completed certain quests or dungeons, you will level up just one attribute, selected by the quest-npc. Like when finishing a very complicated quest, you get some skill points for intelligence and wisdom, because you found the solution. It is weird when spending them on things like strenght or something.

  I believe these changes would make the game more unique and give a better experience overall to everyone playing Pokémon Universe. Although, even if this does get implemented, it will probably be at a much later stage.

True that, but for the main gameplay it isn't needed yet. And ideas have to be worked out first, and this one is already great, so good to keep this one in mind!

[genbor]

 Yes well it's easiest to give people something that they are familiar with, thus the "add points" system, but I would actually love to see you get rewarded by it from a particularly challenging quest you completed. I wouldn't be against having quests to level up these Attributes.

[Jerry]

Yes well it's easiest to give people something that they are familiar with, thus the "add points" system, but I would actually love to see you get rewarded by it from a particularly challenging quest you completed. I wouldn't be against having quests to level up these Attributes.

Well, I'm with Zatir on that 'particular quest' -> 'particular skill point'. Say Quest 087 gives you 2 skill points in intelligence. The quest requirements maybe would itself require a minimum amount of intelligence, which might be what someone training for that particular skill is looking for! So, there won't be much problem on that optic.

But then, I love the ideas so far

[Copperfield]

Love it. It would definitely set PU apart from just a console game brought to the PC.
I look forward to the advancement of this idea.

[lubbies]

Well the one thing i know about Genbor is that when he posts he posts hard and with great reason, I'm loving the idea.

[Zatir]

Well, I'm with Zatir on that 'particular quest' -> 'particular skill point'. Say Quest 087 gives you 2 skill points in intelligence. The quest requirements maybe would itself require a minimum amount of intelligence, which might be what someone training for that particular skill is looking for! So, there won't be much problem on that optic.

Then there could be more follow-up quests for that particular attribute. Like an intelligence quest-course can be a serious training where you have to figure out a lot of puzzles, to finally fulfill the final intelligence-quest where all those puzzles are combined in one gigantic, difficult puzzle.

[genbor]

Then there could be more follow-up quests for that particular attribute. Like an intelligence quest-course can be a serious training where you have to figure out a lot of puzzles, to finally fulfill the final intelligence-quest where all those puzzles are combined in one gigantic, difficult puzzle.

 Sounds good to me, I would definitely want something like this. So here's what I was thinking of:
 
 At Character creation, you can adjust your Attributes from a certain Pool, of course explaining each Attribute in detail so that new people will understand what they are choosing between. Let's say all attributes start from 10, and you have a Pool of 15 to add before even leveling up. After you are satisfied with the outcome you Save the changes and move on in the Character creation (or finish). I was also thinking whether we should introduce a benefit/disadvantage for gender, for example, a Female would have -2 on Strength but + 2 on Agility, and a Male would have -2 on Agility but +2 on Strength.

 Male Attributes:                                                                          Female Attributes:

  Endurance [-](+) 10                                                                  Endurance [-](+) 10
  Agility [-](+) 8                                                                            Agility [-](+) 12
  Strength [-](+) 12                                                                          Strength [-](+) 8
  Wisdom [-](+) 10                                                                       Wisdom [-](+) 10
  Intelligence [-](+) 10                                                                     Intelligence [-](+) 10
                       
 The [-] and (+) signs represent the buttons for adding and subtracting points from the Pool, but of course you can't go under the Base listed above. The reason why I chose Agility and Strength to set apart the two genders, is because men are usually stronger the women, but women are more agile. I just think it makes sense. Of course later on, at higher levels, the gap that exists now won't matter, you will be easily able to train yourself up regardless of gender.

 So finally the Character is created, and every level you get 5 more points into the Pool which you can spend on the Attributes. This would be called the 'self-learning' phase. After a while you can't learn on your own and would need help from Tutors and the like. That's where the Quests come in, where you need to go to certain places, talk to certain NPCs and complete the Quests if you wish to progress more in that certain Attribute.

 Another thing I was thinking of, is that you could get buffs/debuffs from managing a particularly hard puzzle or challenge associated with your Attribute. Let's say you as a person who went for Wisdom solve a chain of puzzles, and you get a +1 buff to your Wisdom for an hour or so. "You feel like after solving that, nothing can stand in your way." But if you keep on failing a Puzzle, you would get a -1: "Maybe I'm just not good enough to do this."

[PkMn Trainer Black]

Beastliness. This is probably one of the best "trainer mods'' of all time. OF ALL TIME!