http://arcthunder.site40.net/en-sapphire-action-system-iv/
I’ve taken up Khas’ Sapphire ABS script and have gone back and am now retroactively converting DotI into an ABS game instead of encounters.
I’ve thrown up some quick shots on the Screeny page as well, and will be remaking the video once I’m finished converting chapter one into ABS.
“Why?” you ask, with such interest and enthusiasm like I’d hope you do.
Well, I’d be toiling with the idea from the beginning, but pushed it away because I had virtually no understanding of scripts or even VXA as a whole, and why I tried to do this on 2k3 years ago, it made me want to die. I’ve come back to the idea because I’m increasingly understanding the software, but also heavily because the quality of the finished product is paramount over my schedule. I don’t know when I’ll get it finished anyways, so if it takes a bit longer for me to redo some stuff, I’m okay with that if it improves the game.
So, why ABS for the game? Well, because being based off of a story that had all the characters separate and meeting up here and there, it was hard to create a party system for the game, I was having to create other characters that would be relevant and interesting enough to play, but be able to write them off as soon as the main character moves on. That’s fine for one or two situations, but for every single section of the game I feel it would become blatantly obvious that the story was not designed with the intention of big groups travelling around the world together. This way it allows the character to run around and do exactly as intended within the constraints of the story, without having to imagine up various other people to follow you around and act important for an hour.
The ABS also opens up some doors in terms of puzzles and dynamic/interesting dungeons that aren’t as readily available with encounters combat, and being a story-driven game I want sections of non-combat involved as well to allow the player to explore and treasure hunt. This is also a bonus by removing the tiresome transition between encounters and field and lets the player move more seamlessly between events and cutscenes, getting a better feel of the progression. Or at least I find it so.
As for the bosses, it allows me to make bosses that are hard without making them “the biggest badass in town” because teh story already has a set hierarchy of who is hardcore and who is flimsy, which falls to pieces when you have to make a boss hard just to keep up with the combat. ABS allows difficulty in the boss battle without ever specifically stating that the boss character themselves are actually stronger than you are.
There’s a number of reasons I feel this is the right path to go down, and after playtesting the first two areas (the Wildness and the Tunnels) I feel it’s drastically improved the game. The Chasm escape scene is now much more fun and challenging without becoming an issue of being transition-locked between constant battles. I was going to avoid it at first and maybe worry about it on a remake or split the game up into parts and ABS one of them, and any number of other avoidance plans, but I just couldn’t let it go once I started thinkin’ about what a benefit it could be. Luckily, the more I work on it, the more convinced I am that it’s an improvement on the game and that it definitely was the right choice; not to mention it’s oodles of fun to playtest!
I am so, completely, utterly looking forward to making up the Grimaldus battlefield scene again, as with ABS it’s going play/feel amazing, I do believe!
Dance of the Immortals 