Hello, there's no story content here, it's just one big author's note, so skip if you're just here for the story. I'm planning on making mechanical changes to the next arc. Since I remain undecided on many things I've decided to ask what people think would be good things to change. To be absolutely 100% clear, I may not necessarily follow the votes, this is just sort of an impromptu survey to tell me what direction to change things.
PERSONA CHANGES
Okay, since we're going to be swinging up against dozens of Personas active at once, I'm thinking of axing the entire upgrade system.
The proposed change is simple: No More upgrade point system. I'll dole out the Release Recollections and the Enhance Armaments with the SL upgrades (probably Enhance at SL 2, Evolve at SL 3, Release at SL 4 and the final upgrade at SL 5).
It does let me be a bit more creative with Persona mechanics, and it'll let me somewhat balance things better. (Or rather make the unbalance more controlled).
This will mean that everything is gonna get a nerf hammer to an extent.
If people really like the upgrade system I am open to keeping it.
COMBAT CHANGES - PERSONA
I finally read a sourcebook. So as far as common dicepools go I guess Shadowrun is the most popular, and it has the added advantage of actually having stat sheets for guns! Which will become very relevant later.
Here's the main outline of gunfights in GGO.
First off GGO is a world of anti-fantasy. Magic and the ilk are unbelieved. Something like Persona is not out of place in a swords and sorcery setting like ALO. But in GGO? Magic is anathema and resisted.
So 'Magic' in GGO always fights with DISADVANTAGE.
You counter this by giving the system an 'excuse' to manifest the magic, which will primarily be in the form of guns. Which you will need to invest into. To tie in to Persona 5 Royal a bit, you could buy guns with fire decals to cause burn effects because of... cognition. =P Gonna use that here. So the idea is that in order to cast your Persona you literally have to load it into a gun. In ALO I just randomly gave you more Persona slots as you progressed. In GGO the amount of Personas you get is tied directly to your arsenal of guns. Buy more guns, use more Personas. Your spells will basically be like loading special bullets.
And regardless of if upgrades are being kept or not, I am going to balance out your current roster. Things will be nerfed to play nice with the new system.
COMBAT CHANGES - BULLET LINE
I am getting rid of Smirk and Once More. They were there when combat was just starting so I could resolve fights faster.
In GGO the main change I'm doing is something I call the BULLET LINE. Basically I will draw a line at the start of every fight that indicates relative distances between you and your enemy on a line.
If you fire within the effective range of your weapon, you do neutral damage with some bonus (ie firing a shotgun CLOSE RANGE means the enemy cannot roll their AGI dice). If you fire outside of an effective range you get DISADVANTAGE.
Because of this I am introducing INTIATIVE, as he who fires first often has the advantage.
COMBAT CHANGES - DAMAGE
Just gonna steal from Shadowrun. If your attack successes (live dice) > your opponent's defense successes your attack hits.
All guns have a minimum damage. Any extra dice is extra damage.
You can buy ARMOR to reduce the damage from gunfire. You more VIT you have the higher your armor. Furtehrmore high STR lets you buy and equip heavy armor.
Magic always bypasses ARMOR.
COMBAT CHANGES - STAT
Here's the proposed stat changes.
STR: Governs damage when in melee range. Governs carry weight, or how many Guns you can have equipped and how powerful they can be.
MAG: Governs damage when using skills (ie, magic bullets).
VIT: One of the two damage resistance stats. Also gives you ARMOR which reduces damage by flat numbers when hit.
AGI: One of the two damage resistance stats. Governs INITIATIVE and how much you can move in combat.
CHT: Largely unchanged, governs status application and resistance.
Open to thoughts and discussion. I'm mostly playing it by ear here.
MISTCOIN CHANGES
In line with the nixing of the Upgrade System I'm gonna change Mistcoin a bit. I'll call it MISTCOIN PLATINUM or something. Basically it's gonna be cheaper and less variable with time, but it will be the main way to buy equipment in GGO.
You'll also get it very regularly, with most if not all fights.
As this is GGO you can also spend money earned IRL via part time jobs or reports to buy cash shop items, but the fancier stuff will likely be out of your reach unless you really, really grind for them.
ACTION ECONOMY CHANGES
This is gonna be a big one. I know everyone likes actions, but I do need to carry a sense of forward momentum.
So I'm thinking this is going to be the change:
Extra actions will now cost more Determination.
I'm thinking SL will be a bit cheaper than non-SL stuff, because SLs don't have the chance of entering into a multi chapter combat encounter.
Maybe something like virtual action: 12 Points
SL action: 10 Points
Minor action: 5 Points
Although in Persona games it's meta to just chunk out all the combat stuff in one or two sittings then do nothing but SLs I don't think that kind of methodology works well in a quest. So I'm trying to discourage circumstances where it's just endless heavy combat/plot, followed by like 5 SLs in a row.
We will be more or less sticking with LARGER time chunks. Doing time 2 days at a time is fine, but if I can do more days at a time it gives me more flexibility in writing (ie, I can have one scene accomplish multiple purposes, fold 2 SLs into a single scene, etc.)
SOCIAL STAT CHANGES
Not so much of a change but more of a way to make things less opaque.
As Social Stats increase you unlock more SL. It's not like I have every possible option decided before I make them when I offer votes, but I generally have an idea of what you are good at and bad at, and price the decisions accordingly. Now due to the nature of the beast MASK and EMPATHY are rolled often.
Each SL is tied to a stat and you need to reach thresholds to max out SLs, which is the main incentive to invest into social stats.
And... well, I'll reveal one thing. It's not gonna be relevant in Arc 2...
But your Social Stats will be directly converted into your combat stats/avatar power in Arc 3. For reasons. Better grind that FITNESS, it's probably the most important stat in Arc 3.
These are just thoughts. Open to feedback as to what works, what doesn't, what needs to change, etc. Not votes per se but an open call for suggestions. Anybody please, even if you're a lurker and not a voter, I'd like to hear your thoughts.
As as the future of this quest goes, I plan on finishing it, no matter how long it takes. But I'd like to offer fair warning that updates may be slowing. I am strongly considering another quest, a Pokemon quest, though I'm having trouble figuring out the mechanics as usual. If anyone knows a lot about competitive pokemon battles PM me!
And finally...
There is something I've been debating. It's been bugging me since the start of this quest. I remain very undecided so I'll put it to a vote.
"Pete-senpai, Pete-senpai! Congrats on finishing the arc!"
"Oh... honorifics-chan. I suppose we've been through a lot together haven't we?"
"Of course! Hehe, you can praise me some more you know! I won't tell anyone, Pete-senpai!"
"Ah... but I did write a bit too much..."
...
"P-pete-senpai. W-what are you doing with that hatchet?"
"Honorifics-chan. I told you, didn't I? That this story needs some cuts."
"B-but... wait, wait, why me!? This is Persona fanfiction! I'm all over Persona! You can't write Persona without honorifics!"
"Nobody uses honorifics anymore in translation. Not Yakuza games, not even goddamn Trails games. It's just Persona now."
"W-wait... Pete-senpai I promise I'll be useful next arc! I-it's super advantageous! Real, show don't tell stuff, can imply all sorts of things just by how people use honorifics! W-why would you throw that away!?"
"You can already do that with the English language. And it's not like my audience speaks Japanese. I certainly don't speak Japanese. We're already using American idioms. It's called localizing, honorifics-chan, but I wouldn't expect you to understand. I only expect you to die."
"Nonono, Pete-senpai! You can't! T-think about it, if you change now, you'll have to go back and edit everything to be consistent! It'll be tons of work. Please, Pete-senpai! Pretty pwease..."
"Goodbye, honorifics-chan."
"W-wait! Put the hatchet and just listen! This is a quest, isn't it?"
"Yes, and?"
"Let's put it to a v-vote! T-they wouldn't vote to murder poor innocent honorifics-chan would they? SV-chan, you wouldn't do that to me, would you? Would you!? Please don't let Pete-senpai do this!"
[ ] KILL HONORIFICS-CHAN
[ ] Spare honorifics-chan
