praguepride
12-06-2011, 08:38 AM
If a villain has been identified as your "nemesis" it should mean something.
The nemesis is almost as important as the hero. What is Batman without The Joker? What is Superman without Lex Luthor. Sure there are other villains to fight but nothing defines a hero like his nemesis, to constantly push him and try him, and either make or break the hero.
1) Nemesis Plots: This ties into a suggestion of being able to plug in storylines into the system
(Storylines would be pre-programmed (and hopefully editable) series of events that would sometimes crop up with a big battle and payoff at the end. i.e. Step 1: Foil a robbery, uncover plans for another robbery. Step 2: Foil second robbery, discover that villain X is building a super weapon. Step 3: Fight the mastermind).
Anyway, once storylines are in place, mark some as "nemesis specific" storylines that would allow the user to create a more personal experience. The Joker, for example, tries to test Batman's will in ways that other villains just don't care about. Other villains, Batman is just the obstacle in the way of their plans, while the Joker, Batman IS the plan.
2) Make Nemeses level up - It would be nice for a nemesis that I gained at Level 2 to continue to be a threat to me as I progress. In the simplest form, having an algorithm to upgrade their level, powers, and stats by a certain rate each time your hero levels up would be nice.
3) Make Nemeses exploit your weaknesses - I would like to draw up the Pokemon video games where your "rival" would always select the pokemon yours was weakest too. Not only was it infuriating, but it ramped up the difficulty for the first few battles because he inherently had the advantage.
So, if you create a big beefy brawler with powerful melee, when the Nemesis levels up it would focus on melee defense and ranged attacks. Or if you invest heavily in a fire power then when Nemesis levels up it picks up fire resistence. And heaven forbid you take a weakness because then you just KNOW that they'll soon be walking around with a power to exploit it.
In summary, I'd like to point towards the Nemesis system of Champions Online where upon reaching a certain point in the game (i.e. the halfway point) you are given the option of creating your own nemesis and their minions. Their system is set up in such a way that you cannot really "gimp" your nemesis to make him easier, and for CBH you could just be given the option of selecting from pre-set templates, so instead of picking every single stat/attribute/power) you would just select "Fire-type" or "Ice-type" or "Martial Artist" etc.
The nemesis is almost as important as the hero. What is Batman without The Joker? What is Superman without Lex Luthor. Sure there are other villains to fight but nothing defines a hero like his nemesis, to constantly push him and try him, and either make or break the hero.
1) Nemesis Plots: This ties into a suggestion of being able to plug in storylines into the system
(Storylines would be pre-programmed (and hopefully editable) series of events that would sometimes crop up with a big battle and payoff at the end. i.e. Step 1: Foil a robbery, uncover plans for another robbery. Step 2: Foil second robbery, discover that villain X is building a super weapon. Step 3: Fight the mastermind).
Anyway, once storylines are in place, mark some as "nemesis specific" storylines that would allow the user to create a more personal experience. The Joker, for example, tries to test Batman's will in ways that other villains just don't care about. Other villains, Batman is just the obstacle in the way of their plans, while the Joker, Batman IS the plan.
2) Make Nemeses level up - It would be nice for a nemesis that I gained at Level 2 to continue to be a threat to me as I progress. In the simplest form, having an algorithm to upgrade their level, powers, and stats by a certain rate each time your hero levels up would be nice.
3) Make Nemeses exploit your weaknesses - I would like to draw up the Pokemon video games where your "rival" would always select the pokemon yours was weakest too. Not only was it infuriating, but it ramped up the difficulty for the first few battles because he inherently had the advantage.
So, if you create a big beefy brawler with powerful melee, when the Nemesis levels up it would focus on melee defense and ranged attacks. Or if you invest heavily in a fire power then when Nemesis levels up it picks up fire resistence. And heaven forbid you take a weakness because then you just KNOW that they'll soon be walking around with a power to exploit it.
In summary, I'd like to point towards the Nemesis system of Champions Online where upon reaching a certain point in the game (i.e. the halfway point) you are given the option of creating your own nemesis and their minions. Their system is set up in such a way that you cannot really "gimp" your nemesis to make him easier, and for CBH you could just be given the option of selecting from pre-set templates, so instead of picking every single stat/attribute/power) you would just select "Fire-type" or "Ice-type" or "Martial Artist" etc.