I've been thinking a lot about how much I enjoy coming up with ideas for RPGs. When I was several years younger, I wrote down a lot of these ideas and went into pretty extreme detail. I wrote about classes, interaction with environment, some small details about the setting and plot, and crammed as many ideas as I could think of into a massive folder. I made charts, drew maps (in MS Paint, no less) and even wrote out some branching dialogue paths, ala Baldur's Gate. My idea was to fuse elements of western RPGs (branching dialogue, character customization, emphasis on storytelling) with elements of Japanese strategy RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. I still love the idea, but all of the files associated with it are lost now.
I'm not a programmer and I don't have any money, so what point is there to putting forth so much effort to document these ideas I have? I don't have the means to make such a thing happen. For some reason, I still love the idea of coming up with character classes, abilities, and mechanics for a video game. D&D is completely playable with pen and paper, so why can't my game be the same way? There are tons of games out there that use D&D-inspired rules to base their mechanics on. Maybe I could make my game playable with pen and paper (or through text as the case may be) and then many years down the line I could look at my options.
My ideal RPG would include a lot of different things. I've thought about what I would include for many years, and perhaps most importantly, what I would omit. Turn-based strategy RPGs are definitely my favorite kind of game if done properly, but no title has ever aligned with my preferences completely. Disgaea requires too much grinding and doesn't have enough variety in character classes. It has a lot of interesting gameplay elements but overall doesn't hit the mark with me. Fire Emblem handles its characters in just about my favorite way, but it is pretty lacking in character customization. Furthermore, there's too much reliance on RNG, not only for critical hits and dodging, but for stat increases as well. If you're unlucky, you might end up leveling up without a single stat increase!
Final Fantasy Tactics does a lot of things right. It allows you to combine skills from several different classes to tailor your characters to your needs. Many of the classes have a large variety of interesting skills at their disposal, but some are actually pretty uninspired. Archers have a series of boring Charge skills that are variants of each other, whereas Lancers' only active skills involve jumping further and higher. Still, combining elements of various different classes to create your perfect character was always a fulfilling experience and I would definitely include a similar system in my ideal RPG.
Another strategy RPG I drew influence from was Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis. It's one of the few titles I've seen where terrain plays a part. Sure, a lot of strategy RPGs will impart small bonuses based on what kind of terrain you were standing on, but this game took it a bit further. When it was raining, the water level would rise and that would affect things like evasion, accuracy, etc. I thought that was a cool idea so I started thinking about what other effects terrain could have. I played a little-known game called Bahamut Lagoon in which you could do things like poison or freeze water, and that would affect enemy units in that area. Maybe you could cast a lightning spell that would effect anyone in the water, or you could burn down bridges, knock over trees to obstruct paths. Some of these elements are present in Western strategy RPGs, I'm sure.
One of these days I'm going to start writing this stuff down again. I'm not sure what my purpose will be, but it's really fun to think about.
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