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Telepath Tactics - opinions

Started by Ertxiem, May 29, 2011, 05:57:02 PM

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Chocobo_Fan

Note that, while this does show you what they use to counterattack with as well, it does not explicitly tell you their range. Usually it's pretty obvious -- you should know that Spear is 1-2 spaces, Bow is 2-4 spaces etc. -- but that is still a potential blind spot in the game.

I can agree that it would be nice to have easier access to information -- including attack range into enemy movement range, in particular, would be nice.

CraigStern

I agree that the game could stand to have some UI improvements, but directly copying Fire Emblem would not do the job, as Fire Emblem is actually way simpler in terms of what relevant information there is for the game to show you!

In Fire Emblem, for example, each weapon gives you access to a single type of attack and that's pretty much it, so it's easy to compare them directly; in Telepath Tactics, by contrast, attacks are not always explicitly tied to weapons, and switching weapons can change access to (and properties of) multiple kinds of attacks at once!

Likewise, directly comparing an attacker to the target is easy in Fire Emblem because there are no AOE attacks and only one character can conceivably counterattack; but in Telepath Tactics, certain attacks can hit 9 or more characters at once, and each of those characters could potentially counterattack. I could definitely improve the UI in this area to show more information, but making it work like Fire Emblem would not be sufficient to account for the much greater range of tactical situations you'll find yourself in in TT.

Showing enemy attack ranges would also be of somewhat limited utility in Telepath Tactics for similar reasons: since most characters have access to multiple attacks, many with differing ranges, you'd never be able to tell what attacks you're at risk of being hit by.

So, yeah; I'm definitely open to improving the UI, but it's not nearly as easy as it first looks. :)

FreudianLisp

Ah, yes, I guess it shows that I am only a couple hours in.

Would it work to list the range and different attacks available in the tooltip for each weapon as seen in the stat screen of the enemy / the tooltip on the player's attack buttons? The ranges are obvious on a lot of weapons like swords and axes, but not as obvious for things like the long range bow attack or some of the mages.

As for comparing stats, being able to open more than one stat window at a time would be incredibly handy.

LightningLord2

My idea is to display a small icon on every enemy that can counterattack if you attack with the selected skill.

ArtDrake

Ah, kinda like the little crosshairs icon that shows up on enemy infobars in XCOM 2 when you mouse over a tile a given unit could shoot them from when moving.

LightningLord2

I replayed the game recently and would like to phrase my thoughts on the game:

On the plus side, I really enjoy the general engine of the game. You have a lot of ways to design a map, make much more use of positioning than in most tactical RPGs and having variable attacks gives classes and characters a lot of flavor. The map editor is also easy to use and let me have fun making various multiplayer maps.

However, the campaigns both felt rather weak. The Vengeance of Emma Strider had some nice ideas, but the execution was rather bland. I'm not very fond of dark and serious stories, mostly because the characters tend to become too much alike and many writers refuse to let positive and fun things happen. The character interactions in the campaign were only mildly interesting at best and forgettable at worst. Also, the maps are obscenely oversized, it takes a lot of turns just to get to the next batch of enemies. It doesn't help that the AI plays rather slowly and attack animations can't be turned off. After the rescue Meridian mission, it became so bad that I stopped altogether.

Guard Llama is much shorter, but it's overall still not very good - while I admit that I liked Lorenzo (particularly the Llama puns), most of the 'humor' is simply repeating tropes and claiming they're funny because they're blatantly spelt out. The final map also has the trouble of being rather big and taking a while to traverse - it's also easy to die to the final boss when not moving properly, making this lengthy map rather grueling. However, it having a puzzle map, a more unique main character and a legit funny ending makes it the better campaign overall.

I know I should finish the main campaign to properly review it, but it was so painfully long and tedious that I just couldn't do it. Not to mention that permanently crippling/losing units for a single mistake magnifies this problem even more.