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分析基于技能的RPG系统可能出现的问题

作者:Rampant Coyote

当我首次开始玩基于技能的RPG系统时,我就觉得自己不会再去玩基于职业的系统。基于技能的系统克服了许多早期基于职业的系统所面临的瓶颈,但早期基于技能的系统仍存在局限性。幸运的是,通常情况下游戏规则会随时间推移逐步改善,两种规则系统的优点逐步融合。虽然还是存在不足之处,但它们不至于像早期系统那样令人生厌。

基于技能的系统有如下事项需要引起注意:

灵活性增加这是基于技能的系统最明显的优势。你可以灵活构建角色元素,使之与你心中的想法更为接近。但是,基于技能的系统仍然需要在某种程度上抽象化能力和平衡游戏,所以你在创建心目中的完美角色时仍然会遇到很困难的问题。

the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim(from gamrreview.vgchartz.com)

the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim(from gamrreview.vgchartz.com)

逐步进展:这是某些基于技能的系统特征。虽然基于职业的系统往往使用的是基于关卡的进展形式,但并非毫无例外情况。多数情况下,基于技能的游戏让玩家逐步缓慢构建和提升自己的技能或属性,而不是在短时间内取得巨大的提升。在诸如《上古卷轴》或RPG桌游《Call of Cthulhu》之类的系统中,技能的提升取决于使用率。在《Hero System》或《World of Darkness》之类的游戏中,你可以直接用经验点数(游戏邦注:或某些类似的点数)来获得技能提升。逐步进展更具现实性,但缺乏基于关卡的进展所具有的里程碑性内涵,后者是个极具奖励性和令人喜悦的机制。

技能组合不平衡:平衡基于技能的游戏要困难许多,其中的挑战之一便是测试所有可能出现的技能组合。如果游戏系统很“有趣”,就意味着在动作过程中有多个技能可以相互融合,也就可能出现某些技能组合相对较为有效的情况。如果出现极端的情况,这就可能导致游戏平衡问题的出现。《龙与地下城3.0》便是个实例,修改过的“Haste”法术(游戏邦注:法术原功效为适度提升高等级群伤角色的战斗伤害)可以用来使施法者每回合施放两次法术,这样的设计确实过于强大(游戏邦注:这个问题在3.5版本中得到修正)。

技能专门化不平衡:未受限制的技能系统往往会出现这个问题。游戏机制平衡的基础往往是假设玩家会选择让角色相对全面地发展,甚至通过游戏设计来实现这个目标(游戏邦注:比如有时设计师会选择在游戏中强行加入基于关卡的机制)。但是,也有可能出现专门偏向某个方面技能的玩家。对于这样的角色,为其创造有趣的冒险着实是件难事。

似是而非的选择:在任何系统中,为不熟悉的系统创建新角色是件很令人厌烦的事情。在基于职业的系统中,从数十个角色职业中做出选择已经算是很困难的事情。从40种潜在的技能中选择8个,这种情况要更为复杂,在玩家根本不知道他们偏爱的“Big Guns”技能在游戏后期能否发挥作用尤其如此。

角色可能改变:在基于技能的RPG中,玩家可以随时间改变角色,使其适应游戏内容和战役的需要。或者,玩家随后可能想要试验他们在游戏早期忽视的某些技能,却不想创建新角色。基于技能的游戏系统允许这种角色改变现象的出现,而基于职业的系统往往做不到这一点。

玩家选择技能多而不精:这个问题在多人游戏上特别突出,玩家想要在所有有用的技能(游戏邦注:有用的技能指那些最有助于角色持续生存下去的技能,以及能够使玩家在游戏中的进展率达到最大的技能)上获得提升,但这种想法可能导致所有角色的技能杂而不精。

某些技能完全被玩家忽视:玩家专注于提升能够实现最多回报的技能,所以自然就不会有足够的点数用到重要性相对较小的技能上。也就是说,有99.9%的玩家会忽略这些技能。对我来说,“Pickpocketing”便属于此类技能,这是个高风险低回报的技能,在游戏后期的作用并不大。而且,这个技能不符合多数角色概念,除非你想要成为喜欢抢夺穷人财物的小偷。对我来说,任何值得抢夺的对象往往也是该被杀的角色,而且多数游戏并没有设置让我面对难以杀害,而只能窃取其战利品的敌人,所以这个技能似乎并无价值。或许我的调查对象仍不足,但就我询问过的人,没有人愿意在基于技能的游戏中提升该项技能。因为没有人会使用这项技能,所以设计师也不愿意将其设计得更为有趣。于是便形成了恶性循环,这个技能便可以完全地从游戏中移除。当然,也有可能存在例外的情况,但这确实算是个问题。

玩家只愿意采取自己熟悉的做法:在基于职业的游戏中,早期的职业选择便决定了玩家今后的玩法风格,这或许会强迫他们抛弃自己熟悉的做法,去尝试自己此前未接触过的玩法。但是在基于技能的游戏中,玩家很可能会根据自己熟悉的玩法来构建技能。这种做法并没有明显的是非之分,但我认为新游戏系统能够吸引玩家接受不甚熟悉的玩法,这才能让人感到耳目一新。

基于技能的冒险设计:创造专注于角色扮演和技能使用的冒险需要一定的技巧,但是IMO显得更具奖励性。它可能会强迫设计师故意设置多种克服挑战的方法,确保玩家能够体验各种不同的技能,而不是只专注于那些关键技能。对玩家而言,这会让其游戏体验更加丰富,但是同时意味着设计师的工作量大幅增加,而且可能产生平衡性的问题。比如,高等级潜行可以让玩家避开许多挑战,或者不喜欢战斗的玩家遭遇到需要高等级战斗技能才能打败的BOSS,这都会使游戏的趣味性受到影响。

扩展挑战为游戏添加新职业,使之增加现有角色的变体,这是件相当简单的事情。但是,为现有的CRPG添加新技能作为扩展内容确实很困难的事情,因为所有之前已经设计的游戏都需重新调整,以确保玩家能够顺利使用这项新技能。对纯粹面向战斗或提升能力的技能来说,所需要的修改或许不会很大。但是,确保某些技能能够运用到之前的战役中,这或许会给开发者带来很大的麻烦。而且,这里又会出现技能组合的平衡问题。

我觉得作为游戏设计师,应当定期思考和衡量上述问题。设计师构建符合自己愿景的新系统,但不可随意选择基于职业还是基于技能的RPG系统,系统的选择应取决于项目授权或开发引擎,即便如此,设计师也应当对游戏整体进行适当的架构。游戏设计是艺术而不是科学,不存在“完美的”系统。无论是玩家还是设计师,都要认识到系统选择可能涉及到的问题,不能仅以自己的偏好为判断基础。

游戏邦注:本文发稿于2012年1月2日,所涉时间、事件和数据均以此为准。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

RPG Design: Skill-Based Systems

Rampant Coyote

Okay, I figured I’d chat a bit about the features of skill-based RPG systems – good, bad, and neutral. This is a continuation of my previous articles about the skill-based vs. class-based systems, and the features of class-based systems.

When I first started playing skill-based systems, I thought I’d never want to go back to class-based systems again. This was really nothing more than a reaction to discovering that skill-based systems overcame the significant limitations of the early class-based systems. It took a little while before the honeymoon was over and I got tired of the limitations inherent in the early skill-based systems as well. Fortunately, game rules have generally experimented and improved over time, borrowing from the best ideas of either style of rule system, so that while weaknesses remain they are not quite as overwhelming as found in the early systems.

But here are some things to bear in mind with skill-based systems:

Increased Flexibility: This is the obvious advantage of skill-based systems. Rather than adhering to a designer-manufactured template that may not match your character concept, you can build your character piecemeal and achieve a closer match to your ideas. Note that I said “closer match.” Skill-based systems still have to abstract abilities and balance the game somehow, so you may still have a tough time creating your perfect rock-star / brain surgeon / test pilot character.

Gradual Progression: This may or may not be a feature of your skill-based game. While level-based progression is normally paired with class-based systems, that’s not necessarily the case. But more often than not, skill-based games offer the players the chance to build up their skills or attributes gradually rather than massive increases all at once. In a system like The Elder Scrolls or the Call of Cthulhu dice-and-paper RPG, this could be a chance at an increase based on usage. In a game like the Hero System or World of Darkness, you can purchase your increases directly with experience points (or some similar analog). Gradual progression is more realistic, but lacks the inherent milestones of level-based progress, which is a great reward / gratification mechanic.

Skill Combination Imbalance: It’s a lot harder to balance skill-based games, and one of the challenges comes from the difficulty of testing all possible skill combinations. If the game system is “interesting,” meaning that there are several skills that can interact with each other in a course of action, there’s a chance that some “combos” of skills are far more effective than others. If it’s extreme enough, this can cause game balance issues. One example of this is in Dungeons & Dragons 3.0, where the reworked “Haste” spell – which was intended to make higher-level melee characters moderately more deadly in combat – could be used to allow spellcasters to double-cast spells every round, which was an extremely powerful side-effect (and corrected in 3.5). And speaking from personal experience, the challenges of balancing feats like Dual Wield, Speedy, Auto-Fade and the various special attacks in Frayed Knights felt like it was constantly fraught with peril. I still don’t know if I got ‘em all right, but at least they don’t seem terribly broken.

Skill Specialization Imbalance: This issue is often a problem with unbounded skill systems. The game mechanics are normally balanced with the assumption that players will attempt a somewhat rounded character, and even make efforts to enforce it (sometimes with the imposition of an artificial level-based mechanic). But there’s always a risk that a player may create a paraplegic pantaphobic idiot-savant who can destroy worlds with mind. It’s really hard to create an interesting adventure that works for a character like that.

Paradox of Choice: Creating a new character for an unfamiliar system can be a frustrating in any sytem. Trying to choose one of a dozen character classes in a class-based system can be hard enough. Trying to choose eight out of forty potential skills can be much worse, particularly when the player has no idea whether or not their favoring of the “Big Guns” skill might actually be nearly useless later in the game. (Yeah, I’ve been there…)

Characters Can Adapt (eventually): In a skill-based RPG, players may have the opportunity to adapt their characters over time to the content and demands of the campaign. Or perhaps players might like to experiment with some other skills they ignored earlier in the game, without starting over with a new character. Skill-based game systems do allow this kind of character transformation in a way that class-based systems generally don’t. (Let’s ignore respeccing for the purpose of this article…)

Everybody Does Everything: This is particularly a problem with multiplayer games, but the tendency for players is to take all useful skills (useful can be defined as those skills most conducive to the character’s continued survival, followed by those that work best to maximize progression rate), resulting in all characters being minor variants of a jack-of-all-trades theme.

Minor Skills Get Ignored Completely: With players focused on maximizing all of the skills that yield the biggest bang-for-the-buck, there’s never enough points left over to spend on less significant skills. Which means they will be ignored completely by 99.9% of the player base. Pickpocketing is a great example for me… it’s generally a high-risk / low-reward skill which is useless by the time the player can build it up to a reasonable success level. Plus it often doesn’t fit most character concepts, unless your concept is a dirtbag thief who likes robbing the poor. (From my perspective, anyone deserving of robbing is often deserving of killing, and since most games don’t throw me against enemies that are too tough to kill but safe to pickpocket, it’s of little value). Maybe I’ve just asked the wrong people, but I’ve never found anybody who has really put any effort into increasing pickpocketing in a skill-based game. And since nobody will use it, the designers don’t bother doing anything interesting with it. It’s a vicious cycle that really dictates that the skill should be removed from the game entirely. Exceptions exist, no doubt, but it’s a problem.

Players Tend to Stay Within Comfort Zones: With class-based games, the early choice(s) of class will dictate play-style for players, which may force them outside of their comfort zone to take on a different type of role than they are familiar with. But in skill-based games, there’s a tendency for players to simply build up the skills that allow them to most closely match a familiar play-style. This is neither good nor bad, but I do find it refreshing to learn how to “grow into” a less familiar role in a new game system.

Skill-Based Adventure Design: Creating adventures focusing on role-playing and skill usage rather than roles can be a little trickier, but IMO more rewarding. It may force the designer to very deliberately allow multiple approaches to overcoming challenges to make sure players get rewarded for interesting but often less key skills. This is a more satisfying approach as a player, but it may also mean more work for the designer, and lead to balance issues – for example, when everything can be bypassed by a high level of stealth, or when boss encounters are created that demand a high level of combat proficiency from characters who may not have favored combat skills.

Expansion Challenges: Adding a new class to a game that provides a variation on an existing role is fairly easy. But adding a new skill to an existing CRPG as an expansion can be extremely problematic, as the entire previous game must be retro-fitted to allow players to use that skill. In the case of purely combat-oriented or competence-enhancing skills, this may not be a big deal. But going back and making sure the new “computer use” skill has value in the original campaign may be a major pain in the butt as a developer. Then there’s the skill combo balance problem, revisited.

So there you go. No doubt I’ve missed some aspects… feel free to chime in here and suggest other considerations of class or skill based systems that I skipped.

I’ve found that these are good to review periodically as a game designer. Designers will mold a new system to fit their vision, and the aspects of class-based versus skill-based RPG systems shouldn’t be chosen haphazardly. They may be dictated by license or engine, but if so, the overall game should be structured appropriately. It’s an art, not a science, but there is no one “perfect” system. As either a player or a designer (or both!), it’s important to recognize the issues involved and not just assume that “bolting on” a variation from a favorite system will automatically work to improve things. (Source: Rampant Games)


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