Effecting the players

[Omnires]

I was talking about different bosses in games with a friend and the topic effecting the characters vs effecting the players popped up. Because some of the best boss fights that we could remember had to do with bosses that effected you as a players more than it effected your character.

For example. In many games when an enemy uses and ability to blind the player all it does is lower your accuracy making it harder for you to hit the target. But in games where the ability acts on the player and not the character something else happens. Your screen can get all blurry or even just turn all black. Blinding you the player.

And other example. In many games when an enemy uses mind control or confusion all that happens is that sometimes your attacks might hit the wrong target or the character will ignore your commands. But in games where they effect the player something else happens. You controls could be switched around and flipped, friendly fire can be turned on, you can start to see and hear things that are not really there, and/or your screen can do things like flip upside-down or sideways. Your character still acts normally but you are the one who is messed up as you try to adjust to the new controls and/or screen and/or just trying find out what is real and what is illusion.

So I was thinking. If there status effect abilities in the game that which one would you rather have in the game? The ones that only effect the characters or ones that effect the players?

P.S.
I was one of those people who learned how to play with all their buttons flipped or just held the controller upside-down because of enemies like Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid existing in some of the games.

 

[Thorp]

I would rather see things that do not completely remove the players ability to control their character or have vision. A lot of games have "stun" abilities which completely stop the player's character from all actions until the stun is removed.

I absolutely despise losing full control of characters. The way I explain how I feel is thus:

Imagine you're playing GoldenEye 64 with a friend. Now whenever your friend wants he can pull the plug on your controller. That's how infuriating it feels. It's only fun for the person in control.

Conversely with blinding the player at least the blinded player can attempt to run or 'spray and pray'.

One game that did player affecting spells well was Savage 2. The "beast side" healer had a Mind Warp ability. Mind Warp would affect a single target by drastically changing that players FoV and "slowly rotating" the screen. Some players got really good at being able to play while their screens were in the warped state. (22 seconds into the video) https://www.moddb.com/games/savage-2-a-tortured-soul/videos/shaman-class-overview

 

[Wyntyr]

I think those are good points. Perhaps one of you could bring that up in the next CC.

 

[Pandagnome]

So I was thinking. If there status effect abilities in the game that which one would you rather have in the game? The ones that only effect the characters or ones that effect the players?

I like that it doesnt totally take away from the experience thorp's points i agree with.

What about hearing strange sounds & effects with the visuals

E.g. A virus has made way inside the mek and your vision starts to change sometimes you could see Out lines of figures/shadows blurry and they vanish other times you hear voices muttering something together it is not always so clear.

Effects could start to appear like an electric eel is moving across the ground and you hear a heart beat sound like in maxpayne just like in bullet time, your still able to do as you do but everything feels warped and the sounds could add to the weirdness as if your underwater or in another dimension!

 

[Omnires]

I like that it doesnt totally take away from the experience thorp's points i agree with.

What about hearing strange sounds & effects with the visuals

E.g. A virus has made way inside the mek and your vision starts to change sometimes you could see Out lines of figures/shadows blurry and they vanish other times you hear voices muttering something together it is not always so clear.

Effects could start to appear like an electric eel is moving across the ground and you hear a heart beat sound like in maxpayne just like in bullet time, your still able to do as you do but everything feels warped and the sounds could add to the weirdness as if your underwater or in another dimension!

I've played a few games where things like that happen. You'll just be walking along and out of nowhere your friend just starts attacking nothing because the enemy is using some on them that makes them have hallucinations. You see nothing, but on their screen they could really be seeing and hearing things that are not there. And it is not just limited to seeing enemies and NPCs, but even just changes in the environment like seeing doors that are not there.

One of the worst things to fight while you are in a team is the doppelganger. This type of enemy can not only change itself to look like anyone (Not just NPCs but the players too) and will turn on friendly fire so AOEs will also damage the person they are mimicing if they are inside of it too. In Some games the doppelganger will even mimic what the player types in chat, so if you was to say "Stop, it's me!" in chat the doppelganger will say it too at the same time while also copying your name. So looking for the text bobbles over people's head is not going to help. Unless you know to spot the difference between them or go into the fight with a plan in mind you might end up killing your teammates. Again control is never taken away from the players, but the threat that there is not friendly fire on for the group and doppelgangers running around so you don't who to aim for makes it harder.

One of the tactics my team agrees on when I play a game with doppelgangers in it is to only attack the ones that look like you. This way you don't risk attacking a teammate by mistake.

 

[Pandagnome]

If this doppleganger appears what if there was a test perhaps the medic can figure it out or the engineers because they have tools to find out these things?

What if the doppleganger is a smarty pants and has copied every part of the individual right to the dna :O then there is much investigation such as doing an emote to the doppleganger and if it guesses wrong its most likely the imposter!

Sometimes doppleganger may act little strange very subtly things walk by and hide behind and appear again maybe is practising hiding skill or just to reapply the doppleganger powers before getting caught what if the doppleganger powers is limited by a range of a power source and is on a timer or that it only happens in a place near their base because those waves cannot reach further away.

If we poop the hidden energy wave station the true form of doppleganger appears but this station is hidden well and sometimes you can walk into invisible wall aah stealth technology is used now have to figure how to see it all because its all invisible with some scan recon good with this.

 

[Omnires]

That could be the case as different games have different types of doppleganger. The most basic ones just being able to copy how something looks and sounds. Others being also to copy abilities too. And some can even copy feelings and memories (Although this type is more seen in other media than in games). So going by what kind of dopplegangers exist in the world would that will tell you possible ways of how people can deal with them.

Although, some of the hardest fights I ever had in a game is with a doppleganger of myself. You see in some of the older games I played the dev give them learning A.I. This meant the game itself would watch you and keep it's own profile of you somewhere. Taking key notes of how you like to fight. What is you fav weapons and armor? At what range do you like that to fight? What do you like to aim for? Do you like to hide behind things or run all over the place? The A.I. keeps tabs on all your fights and tries to make a copy of you based on that. The more it watches you fight the more like you the copy becomes. And each time the game sends the copy after you and you win, it also looks for ways to counter you next time. By the time you are at end game level your doppleganger fight is like trying to battle an evil mirror version of yourself. And often times the only way to win is to think up new tactics and combos to win. In the end, the you of today has to find out a way to defeat the you of yesterday.

You don't really see or hear about to many games with learning A.I. in them any more. Those game tended to get really hard the more you played them the A.I. has a good idea of your personality.

P.s.
It is because of games like those that got me always be thinking about non-meta ways to do things. And also to always be thinking about different ways I could win against myself in a fight just in case I do run into a doppleganger.