Castle Paradox

Abelhawk · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:58 pm Post subject: Science Fiction RPG

I haven't seen one of these before, so I'm currently working on one right now. Has anyone else thought of a Sci-Fi RPG?

Usually we think of fantasy games, with weapons like swords, axes, staves, and spell books; with elements like fire, water, earth, and shadow. But with my new Sci-Fi one, the weapons will be guns, laser cannons, and magnets!

The elements are going to be things such as Plasma, Thermal, Laser, and Artillery. The sound effects will be easy --- StarCraft soundtrack!

Has anyone else ever thought of this? Do you have any suggestions? Also, if anyone's good at writing Science fiction stories, I'd love to hear suggestions. That's the only thing standing in my way right now.
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JSH357 · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 1705

It's called Phantasy Star.

But by all means, make another. As long as it's interesting, I'd love to play one.

Calehay · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject:

There's been a few sci-fi RPGs. (Xenosaga and Star Ocean come to mind.) But there definitely is room for more.

If you're going to pursue this, I suggest making sure you're not just reinventing the wheel. Make sure that you don't just rely on the Sci-Fi aspect of it to make it interesting. So far, it just sounds like a regular cliched RPG in Science Fiction skin.
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Abelhawk · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:11 pm Post subject:

Well of course it's going to be somewhat clichÃ©d, in the turn-based, weapon-equipping, weak-against-element sense, but as far as genres go, no one has really made a sci-fi "Final-Fantasy-turn-based" style one that I know of. I think it's a good enterprise. Let me know if any of you have any ideas.

Phantasy Star wasn't exactly what I had in mind... it's 3D, and real-time battling.
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Calehay · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject:

Abelhawk · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:25 pm Post subject:

Really? I've just played the Gamecube version. How cool. I had no idea.
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JSH357 · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 1705

Um... yeah. I don't know what Phantasy Star you're talking about, but the ones I've played were essentially Dragon Quest-inspired (which Final Fantasy also draws inspiration from). Xenogears/Saga is even more FF-based. So, yeah, it's been done, but there's always room for more.

Calehay · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:32 pm Post subject:

I guess he's talking about Phantasy Star Online.
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Abelhawk · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject:

That's the one. I hadn't heard there were previous installments.
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Newbie_Power · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1762

Nothing wrong with a Sci-Fi RPG, though most commercial Sci-Fi RPGs, including Phantasy Star 1-4 have fantasy elements thrown in such as swords or magic. None of the less, Phantasy Star is really refreshing.

This screenshot is awesome because it shows both Rune (magic user) and Wren (android) in the same shot.

If you are going for a pure Sci-Fi game, then that should work out well too, though I wouldn't use more than four elements since elements are useful for triggering events in-battle.
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TheGiz> Am I the only one who likes to imagine that Elijah Wood's character in Back to the Future 2, the kid at the Wild Gunman machine in the Cafe 80's, is some future descendant of the AVGN?

Abelhawk · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject:

Hmm... good point. You mean like spawning and whatnot. Unfortunately, I've already come up with all 8 elements and woven a web of weaknesses and strengths between them and the enemies.
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Newbie_Power · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1762

Hopefully you can integrate that sort of gameplay well, such as having alien party members that are actually weak to things by default instead of a bunch of humans that have no elemental resistances or weaknesses.
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TheGiz> Am I the only one who likes to imagine that Elijah Wood's character in Back to the Future 2, the kid at the Wild Gunman machine in the Cafe 80's, is some future descendant of the AVGN?

Abelhawk · Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 8:20 pm Post subject:

Well, most of it is probably going to take place in space. Your starting character is a probe, so it's just like a mechanical enemy, which has weaknesses and strengths. I'll probably add alien party members as it progresses.
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Rya.Reisender · **Snippy** Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 821

The endless evil series I designed (but never got to create) some years ago plays somewhat in the future. Well actually the time frame of the story is like 10000 years, so "EE Zero" plays in the past "EE" plays in the future (you can't really compare it to the earth future, though, since it's a quite different planet) and EE2 plays in the very very far future (Captain Harlock stylish).
I really should take up the story one day again.

My Hacker Alice series plays in near future as well.
Well, I was never really font of those "King: You must save the world" stories.

Also Phantasy Star series for Genesis was awesome. Really really awesome.

And I agree don't just make a sci-fi RPG when you still somewhat rely on a traditional gameplay. Just renaming the elements and letting it play in space just won't do it.

Abelhawk · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:40 am Post subject:

Well, any suggestions are welcome. Especially storyline-related ones.
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