Post by Celestia on Jul 14, 2019 10:15:04 GMT -6
One game worthy of mention which has pulled off asynchronous online play incredibly well is Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.
Released in 2011 on PS3 and Xbox360. While you can fly solo, where it truly shines is in multiplayer. The design model was clearly built for this.
If core elements from Harmony of Despair were incorporated into these modes and it was done correctly, it could potentially add several years of highly enjoyable replay value.
That game was/is underappreciated. To this day, it still has a small but dedicated cult following who come online to play co-op time and time again.
This game had around a dozen stages which were mid-large sized, non-linear maps which were crafted with the same visual assets used previously in late Igavania games and had much of a likeness in aesthetic. Although map design as previously stated is quite different from the usual.
Each one contains numerous enemies and chests, and often levers which would unlock doors in other parts of the map. There was a 30 minute timer on each stage, if time ran out, that would mean Game Over.
There was also Water of Life which was found in select areas in multiplayer. This is used to revive other players once they die and transform into a skeleton... Players can't do much when they're in this state.
If they happen to die again in this state, around 4 minutes will be detracted from the timer. A water of life would restore them back to their original state if another player used it on them. If everyone became a skeleton it would also mean Game Over.
Healing items may only be used in moderation, and once they're used you would have to find a grimoire/checkpoint in the map in order to restock. Preparation for bosses is key.
Music is almost solely rock-based arranges of tracks from previous games, reminiscent of some of the guitar medleys that were composed for Castlevania in the past and quite enjoyable to listen to.
Character building took a very long time, but it felt satisfying and fun.
Always new weapons, armor, and accessories to grind for, especially when you manage to unlock hard mode. That is, once you've cleared all of the maps on normal mode and obtained some of the good stuff and are ready to move on to hard.
The replay value in this game is incredible. Even if you've played for hundreds of hours, you still wouldn't have every item in your collection, as some were only obtainable from clearing the map and defeating tough bosses. On top of that, many of them also had insanely rare drop rates.
Now that might sound tedious and it can very well be when you're not rewarded for your efforts, it's the journey which ends up being fun, playing with others and taking down enemies and bosses together with a myriad of different weapons and abilities at your disposal. The destination is a well-cemented incentive for the journey and it's nice to know there's always something to strive for when you play in routine fashion. It's in ways, much like traditional Monster Hunter. (My next favorite franchise after Castlevania.)
Furthermore, rather than one main character, there is a roster of characters to choose from who all happen to share something in common: They're protagonists of previous titles.
Each one, as you may expect, have their own set of abilities and a mastery/progression system which involves collecting skills from treasure chests, enemies, or bosses (chance-based), and then usually leveling them up either through repeated use, or continually collecting them. They're vast and there are many to collect. Especially for certain characters, such as Soma or Charlotte.
It is, admittedly, a very grindy game. Boss and enemy health + damage for each map would scale depending on the amount of participants, so it is always plenty challenging and not at all a cakewalk, even as a group, which to me at least, is an important factor when it comes to co-op modes.
Now then, if we're talking about Bloodstained and co-op modes... Taking into consideration how powerful Miriam can potentially become in the end-game (with maxed out shards and equipment), to achieve the same kind of balancing and refinement that HoD has pulled off, some kind of limitations/scaling are necessary. This could be based on the tier of equipment and shards of each participant, calculated and averaged out.
Now, where are we...
That's right. Rewards.
A mode like this (as well as the Roguelike Dungeon) should contain a variety of rewards, again, much like Harmony of Despair. Drop chance and tier of reward based on varying performance factors and difficulty of the stage/boss. Now, I'm not too sure about procedurally generated rewards... That's a bit controversial in an Igavania game, but I'm a big fan of them and the longevity they induce in these sort of modes and would push for them to be released given the choice.
I absolutely love Bloodstained with all of my heart, and I'm hoping for a comprehensive and immersive co-op experience comparable to the one HoD offers.
There is so much potential for these modes, and I look forward to seeing what they bring to the table.
Versus mode too!
Released in 2011 on PS3 and Xbox360. While you can fly solo, where it truly shines is in multiplayer. The design model was clearly built for this.
If core elements from Harmony of Despair were incorporated into these modes and it was done correctly, it could potentially add several years of highly enjoyable replay value.
That game was/is underappreciated. To this day, it still has a small but dedicated cult following who come online to play co-op time and time again.
This game had around a dozen stages which were mid-large sized, non-linear maps which were crafted with the same visual assets used previously in late Igavania games and had much of a likeness in aesthetic. Although map design as previously stated is quite different from the usual.
Each one contains numerous enemies and chests, and often levers which would unlock doors in other parts of the map. There was a 30 minute timer on each stage, if time ran out, that would mean Game Over.
There was also Water of Life which was found in select areas in multiplayer. This is used to revive other players once they die and transform into a skeleton... Players can't do much when they're in this state.
If they happen to die again in this state, around 4 minutes will be detracted from the timer. A water of life would restore them back to their original state if another player used it on them. If everyone became a skeleton it would also mean Game Over.
Healing items may only be used in moderation, and once they're used you would have to find a grimoire/checkpoint in the map in order to restock. Preparation for bosses is key.
Music is almost solely rock-based arranges of tracks from previous games, reminiscent of some of the guitar medleys that were composed for Castlevania in the past and quite enjoyable to listen to.
Character building took a very long time, but it felt satisfying and fun.
Always new weapons, armor, and accessories to grind for, especially when you manage to unlock hard mode. That is, once you've cleared all of the maps on normal mode and obtained some of the good stuff and are ready to move on to hard.
The replay value in this game is incredible. Even if you've played for hundreds of hours, you still wouldn't have every item in your collection, as some were only obtainable from clearing the map and defeating tough bosses. On top of that, many of them also had insanely rare drop rates.
Now that might sound tedious and it can very well be when you're not rewarded for your efforts, it's the journey which ends up being fun, playing with others and taking down enemies and bosses together with a myriad of different weapons and abilities at your disposal. The destination is a well-cemented incentive for the journey and it's nice to know there's always something to strive for when you play in routine fashion. It's in ways, much like traditional Monster Hunter. (My next favorite franchise after Castlevania.)
Furthermore, rather than one main character, there is a roster of characters to choose from who all happen to share something in common: They're protagonists of previous titles.
Each one, as you may expect, have their own set of abilities and a mastery/progression system which involves collecting skills from treasure chests, enemies, or bosses (chance-based), and then usually leveling them up either through repeated use, or continually collecting them. They're vast and there are many to collect. Especially for certain characters, such as Soma or Charlotte.
It is, admittedly, a very grindy game. Boss and enemy health + damage for each map would scale depending on the amount of participants, so it is always plenty challenging and not at all a cakewalk, even as a group, which to me at least, is an important factor when it comes to co-op modes.
Now then, if we're talking about Bloodstained and co-op modes... Taking into consideration how powerful Miriam can potentially become in the end-game (with maxed out shards and equipment), to achieve the same kind of balancing and refinement that HoD has pulled off, some kind of limitations/scaling are necessary. This could be based on the tier of equipment and shards of each participant, calculated and averaged out.
For every participant who is summoning Hellhounds and using 8-bit Fireballs with Gebel's Glasses equipped, it would actually be fair for enemies and bosses to have their health scaled twenty times the original amount.
With a dynamic like this, it would encourage people to try out different shards and equipment instead of everyone spamming the most well-known and overpowered shards which, while may be fun during a standard playthrough, could be catastrophic in asynchronous online/local play for those trying to obtain easy rewards.
With a dynamic like this, it would encourage people to try out different shards and equipment instead of everyone spamming the most well-known and overpowered shards which, while may be fun during a standard playthrough, could be catastrophic in asynchronous online/local play for those trying to obtain easy rewards.
Now, where are we...
That's right. Rewards.
A mode like this (as well as the Roguelike Dungeon) should contain a variety of rewards, again, much like Harmony of Despair. Drop chance and tier of reward based on varying performance factors and difficulty of the stage/boss. Now, I'm not too sure about procedurally generated rewards... That's a bit controversial in an Igavania game, but I'm a big fan of them and the longevity they induce in these sort of modes and would push for them to be released given the choice.
I absolutely love Bloodstained with all of my heart, and I'm hoping for a comprehensive and immersive co-op experience comparable to the one HoD offers.
There is so much potential for these modes, and I look forward to seeing what they bring to the table.
Versus mode too!
yey