intransparency

[rupsch]

I know that keeping descriptions vague is a beloved trope of almost all video games ever, but I would love to have more games to make transparent what a skill, item or effect really does.
What is the difference between "severe" and "heavy" damage"?
What does "significant health boost" mean in numbers?
What is a "high chance" to dodge?
What is the devs' idea of regenerating "a massive amount of MP"?
I can't remember clearly, but either Diablo 2 and/or Path of Exile were the only games I played that offered you some idea of what exactly happens when you equip a certain item or use a specific skill. And I liked that because otherwise, I'd have a hard time knowing if any of the effects stack or even cancel each other. With some effects like regeneration, there is a way to test if some build works, but most of the time, it is annoying to playtest every new strategy first.
I guess that this is some way of challenging the player base to try different things and feel clever for figuring out the game mechanics, but since we could look up stuff on the internet, it is just a way of making gameplay tedious.
Or is there another reason for this (imho) weird design choice?

[REBirthTheEdge]

Honestly the developers don't want to clear out the number and turns it into a maths game (when yes, it IS a maths game), because once you crunch out the number, it gets boring.

[Unforgiven]

Originally posted by rupsch:

I know that keeping descriptions vague is a beloved trope of almost all video games ever, but I would love to have more games to make transparent what a skill, item or effect really does.
What is the difference between "severe" and "heavy" damage"?
What does "significant health boost" mean in numbers?
What is a "high chance" to dodge?
What is the devs' idea of regenerating "a massive amount of MP"?
I can't remember clearly, but either Diablo 2 and/or Path of Exile were the only games I played that offered you some idea of what exactly happens when you equip a certain item or use a specific skill. And I liked that because otherwise, I'd have a hard time knowing if any of the effects stack or even cancel each other. With some effects like regeneration, there is a way to test if some build works, but most of the time, it is annoying to playtest every new strategy first.
I guess that this is some way of challenging the player base to try different things and feel clever for figuring out the game mechanics, but since we could look up stuff on the internet, it is just a way of making gameplay tedious.
Or is there another reason for this (imho) weird design choice?

From previous game it SHOULD be weak > medium > heavy > severe > extreme but in this game some heavy attacks deal far more dmg than some extreme skills and the same goes for a few of the severe ones, just dealing a ton more dmg than extremes

[rupsch]

Originally posted by REBirthTheEdge:

Honestly the developers don't want to clear out the number and turns it into a maths game (when yes, it IS a maths game), because once you crunch out the number, it gets boring.

You're right. It becomes annoying, though, when you run around with several buffs and still get bodied by the monsters just to find out from a research that you wasted several equipment slots for a bonus that doesn't stack or does something that wasn't obvious from the description (or geared your team towards a strategy that just doesn't work the way you thought it would).

[Aoitenshi]

In Persona, it was pretty clear cut:
1. magic that costs 50MP is obviously stronger than 20MP.
2. item descriptions like "gives Dodge Fire", "gives Evade Fire" makes it obvious which skills they correlate to.

I'm not sure myself why it was made confusing in Metaphor.

[Clown Reemus]

Originally posted by Aoitenshi:

In Persona, it was pretty clear cut:
1. magic that costs 50MP is obviously stronger than 20MP.
2. item descriptions like "gives Dodge Fire", "gives Evade Fire" makes it obvious which skills they correlate to.

I'm not sure myself why it was made confusing in Metaphor.

This isn't how a self-respecting tactical RPG would do it, though. The players cannot build/plan around those generic statements. The only solace for the game is that it is so primitive combat-wise that it doesn't really matter, in the end. But in no way the way Refantazio handles the combat information should be anyhow commended. It's absolutely barebones and an insult to veteran players in the turn-based RPG genre.