Castle Paradox

[Pepsi Ranger]

It's confession time.

One of my greater weaknesses in RPG design is creating worthwhile rewards for completing quests, battles, etc. And while I think some journeys, puzzles, and skirmishes can be rewards in their own rights, I still agree that good prizes make those endeavors mean something to the player.

Since I'm tired of attaching nothing but restorative items (and similar) to fallen enemies and giving the player stupid quest items for finishing a quest, I'm ready to field the community's opinions (and ideas) for better rewards.

So let's begin.

What are some other toys you'd like to pick up at the end of an RPG battle?

What would make completing a side quest worth your time (even if the quest itself is "reward enough")?

At what point does a special item become just another item?

And feel free to toss some other discussions of similar topic into the ring.
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[Moogle1]

New abilities are always great rewards.

In an RPG, sidequests tend to occur mostly at the end of the game, where you can freely give the game's most powerful stuff. If sidequests occur earlier, they should either give something that has some sort of permanence (like a permanent +5 to Magic or a learned ability) or something that gives a distinct advantage at that point in the game (like an axe for Marcus that's three tiers ahead of whatever else is available). If your game's economy is such that money is tight, a gold reward can be appropriate as well.

The ultimate reward for a sidequest is often a secret character.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[8bit]

I don't know... I've been having a hard time with this same issue. I feel like if a player takes the time and makes the effort, they should be rewarded with something more than, say, a potion. Especially if it is a long and involved side quest.

For example: I have a side quest in my game that spans the entire length of the game. It starts in the first town and is not able to be completed until you gain access to the final town. As a reward, you learn a spell that happens to be the most powerful spell against undead monsters, which, coincidentally, happen to be the main inhabitants of the final dungeon. So, if you remain vigilant throughout the course of the game, the final section becomes much easier. However, with this approach, I am running the risk of completely breaking the game by making the final dungeon LESS dangerous than the ones that came before. You know, I want the player to complete the quest, but at the same time I don't want EVERY player to complete the quest.
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[Newbie_Power]

In that case, I would likely put in the final dungeon some types of enemies (not as many as undead for the sake of theme) where the spell wouldn't be as effective. Also an undead enemy that may have exceptionally high magic defense to survive the spell, but still be killable with physical attacks.

There could also be a high MP cost to make it less intuitive for random battles.

This way it will still be a help, but not totally perfect.
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TheGiz> Am I the only one who likes to imagine that Elijah Wood's character in Back to the Future 2, the kid at the Wild Gunman machine in the Cafe 80's, is some future descendant of the AVGN?

[Moogle1]

But then you're running the risk of making the sidequest useless.

Becoming more powerful is the logical consequence of completing sidequests. The game being easier is the natural consequence of the party being stronger. The best way to go is usually to balance your game around a party that has finished the sidequests.

Chrono Trigger is the perfect example. You can fight the boss anytime after about the three-hour mark, but you won't win until the end of the game. Even then, the game opens up several sidequests to the player at the end of the game, without the completion of which it is very difficult to win. For an OHR example, Query Part I: Who Am I? does the same thing.

As for your scenario, the terms are a little different: it's not like the player should be expected to backtrack through the whole game just to get the ability. But since the effort required is so high, the bonus given should be a good one. What if the spell did destroy all undead in one hit -- but it took a good ten or fifteen seconds to charge? Couple that with a moderate-but-not-too-high MP cost and mixed/mostly undead formations and you have a sort of balance (assuming that your party can't kill all of them in fifteen seconds anyway, which they shouldn't be able to).
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[J.A.R.S.]

I've always wondered why Shinryu and Omega were worth defeating in FFV whatsoever (that's a good example of what not to reward the player with I guess)... a BADGE... laughable.

[Bob the Hamster]

I'd love to see somebody go all-out on a hero-sprite-swapping plotscript that changed your picture for every armor you could equip, turning the game into a tiny-pixeled-paperdoll-costume-collecting quest.

If course if I wanted to make that task non-painful for the plotscripter, I would implement some kind of sprite overlay system for compositing hero sprites together as layers.

[Jack]

[Bob the Hamster]

[Moogle1]

The thing is, once you're able to beat those two, you don't need stronger attacks. At that point, the best thing you can give the player is something cosmetic, like a costume change (Galuf) or a trophy.

You could give something functional, too, like a New Game+ mode, but that's just as likely to upset the players who don't want to grind for hours.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Newbie_Power]

Quite a bit of optional content in FFVI had cutscenes and intrigue, which was awesome.

FFT's sidequests gave new characters. How broken some may be is a different subject, though.
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TheGiz> Am I the only one who likes to imagine that Elijah Wood's character in Back to the Future 2, the kid at the Wild Gunman machine in the Cafe 80's, is some future descendant of the AVGN?

[Moogle1]

Not as gamebreaking as the story characters, you mean?

I assume you're talking about Beowulf, but even then, a good Calculator can win the battle before he's even in range.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Pepsi Ranger]

[TwinHamster]

A long rambling of thoughts that may or may not have a point of interest.

[Moogle1]