SD) Combat Mechanics Pt. 2

Last time, I covered a bit about how I'd like to incorporate mechanics from each character's home game into how they play in Shattered Destinies, and today I'd like to expand a bit on how this will affect party composition as well as how it we can encourage experimentation so that player's are more apt to use the full roster of characters instead of simply relying on one or two of them. I'd also like to reward players for understanding the game's these characters come from as well as the individual characters themselves.

First and foremost, I feel it's important to establish the size of the active party, as this will greatly influence how we design encounters and boss fights. I was a bit torn on this point, but finally arrived at a party of four. With our current roster of 12 characters, this gives us 495 combinations from which the player can choose. In addition, I want to borrow mechanics from two separate games that I greatly enjoy to help give the player even more incentive to experiment.

We're going to combine the party dynamics present in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Chained Echoes. Though the player can only use four characters at a time, they can travel with a group of eight. Like in Clair Obscur, if one team falls, the other team will jump in, giving the player a second chance in particularly difficult battles. In addition, as in Chained Echoes, each active party member will be linked with a member in the reserve team, allowing the player to freely swap between those two characters in in and out of battle. This will allow players to adapt to varying enemy groups and tactics in real time while still maintaining the safety net. It will also encourage players to use combinations that they might not otherwise use if they realize they don't need a mage or a healer in a particular encounter.

I want to combine this further with a feature from Fuga: Melodies of Steel, wherein linked characters will build an affection with one another. To expand it further, I think active party members would build it with one another as well, but the linked characters would build it faster. We can include bonuses, similar to what you see in Fire Emblem games, so that teams that like one another get boosted effects, and at certain levels, characters would have interactions with one another that help flesh out party dynamics. I'd personally prefer to avoid anything romantic, as I don't want this to turn into some crackship simulator, but rather show these characters going from an uneasy alliance to actually bonding and becoming friends, if not just mutually understanding and respecting one another.

We can incorporate this bonding mechanic further by giving linked characters special effects when they tag one another in and out. Claude using the bombastic entrance of someone like Kanji to take a pot shot at an enemy as they swap, or Estellise healing Lily of any status ailment with some kind, calming words are a couple of examples. At high enough bond levels, we could even have the reserve character jump in to deflect or tank a potential finishing blow on their linked partner. We can get as granular or as broad as we want with this, and I think that's part of the fun.

All of this will combine to make battles more dynamic and reward players for experimenting with party composition. It should also serve to not punish players who simply want to use their favorites, and ideally will encourage players to play and experience the games these characters are originally from. While I want to make this experience as genuine and self sustaining as possible, any sort of crossover collaboration of this nature will ultimately be serving as promotional material for the properties involved. If done correctly, it should come off as paying homage to the myriad of games that have come before and serve as inspiration. If done poorly, it will come off as pandering, and I would genuinely like to avoid that at all costs.