(NOTE: I wrote this last Friday, when Temp whined about people not discussing anything until he got back. That's why it's getting put up just now.)

This topic is in the main Gameplay node, not the Battles or Puzzles, simply because character abilities will always be available, whether you're trying to figure out a puzzle, fighting a boss battle, or simply adventuring up the mountain path.

The idea is, once a player begins playing Fate of Io, they'll realize it's somewhat different than the sort of game they're used to. Staple combat possibilities are still there, but there will be another element: distinct character abilities. You first start out with Syne, who offers perhaps one or two abilities to begin with. The player will learn how to use his abilities in combat and in solving puzzles and getting past challenges in general. As the game progresses, Syne might learn a few more tricks, or maybe his one or two abilities will simply become more powerful.

To add to the complexity of battles and puzzles, the player will need to draw on the unique skills of each character as they join the party. Seldom in Fate of Io do we allow the player to choose which four characters are members of the party, so this will force him or her to be familiar with all the characters.

Needless to say, if this is our system, we need to figure out what the characters will be able to do before we begin constructing the challenges for the player.

What will character abilities look like? I thought I'd start brainstorming up just a preliminary list of possible ideas....

Syne
Reach: Syne's proficiency with quarterstaffs and lances adds to his melee attack range (he can attack enemies from further away).
Carry Ally: Syne's relatively high strength allows him to carry other members in the party. This adds to his weight (possibility affecting things such as pressure plates and unstable pathways) and also allows two party members to physically fit into the space of one.

Delloran
Flight: Until Part IV, Dell can use his wings to fly. He effectively ignores all terrain.
Magic: Dell has the ability to cast spells.

Enna
Range Attack: Enna uses a bow and arrows to attack enemies, allowing her to stay out of melee combat.
Set Explosive: Enna can set explosive charges that detonate after a set period of time. Optionally, the clock mechanism can be replaced with a sensor, and the explosives will function as landmines.
Subdue Beast: Drythians are natural animal charmers. Enna can use this ability to attempt to calm aggressive animals and monsters.

Cade
Fervor: Cade can use his armblade to attack wildly, somewhat decreasing his melee accuracy but greatly increasing the amount of damage done.
Mechanical Intuition: Cade can quickly discern how a mechanical device operates and use it. This includes driving or piloting vehicles.
Horn of Korra: After his first visit to his hometown, Cade inherits his father's foghorn. A directed blow from this horn will have different effects, depending on the creature. Animals may follow you. Monsters may become more aggressive. People have the chance of being knocked out.

Rheya
Gather Eumonite: If found, Rheya can harvest raw eumonite ore and add it to the party's inventory.
Magic Device: Rheya can use and attack with several different models of Pylos' eumonite-driven technologies. Most of these allow her to add elemental protection to herself and other party members (e.g. protection from fire would allow a character to walk through flames unharmed for a short time).
Magic: Rheya has the ability to cast spells.

Ko
Invent: Ko can put together random things he finds, creating rare items and also weapons and weapon upgrades for himself (and perhaps other characters).
Quick Dodge: With very low encumberance and youthful vigor, Ko can sprint quickly across short distances. This ability also allows him to tumble through threatening monsters, and evade dangerous traps.
Sneak: Ko can move past other characters and monsters unnoticed. He also has the chance of avoiding triggers in the ground such as landmines, pressure plates, and other traps.

Brooke
Morph: Brooke can change herself and other living creatures into any other living form she has learned. Only one party member (including herself) can be morphed at any one time. Brooke learns new forms by studying animals and monsters (Enna's Subdue Beast ability might help here).
Gather Eumonite: If found, Brooke can harvest raw eumonite ore and add it to the party's inventory.
Magic: Brooke has the ability to cast spells.

Rush
Disarm: With amazing precision, Rush can attack an enemy's weapon, breaking it or releasing it from the enemy's hold. Not effective against monsters.
Merciful Hand: Rush can heal characters that have been knocked out to prevent them from dying. This may cost him a few hit points.

Syne is quite an interesting character. I think he should have some kind of mutual advantages, being able to talk and make relationships with absolutely anyone (you know, one of those kinda people?). And I do like the ideas you gave him Dev, but I agree with Temp, he needs to totally be "beefed up"...with what, I also can't think of...cept maybe some ramming capability or something.

I admit, I like the Horn idea for Cade, and the rage fits, but...agh, I just don't know enough about this character to think of much for him. He IS semi-royalty...maybe some command capabilities? Dunno...

Rheya should have Invent, not Ko. Ko should have terrain and sneak abilities galore, IMHO. Maybe theivery abilities too, since no characters were given that ability.

Brooke won't be around Enna for a while, being able to get beast info from Enna wouldn't help for half the game...though it's still a nice idea, character combos maybe? Hmm, hadn't thought of combos before...Also, Brooke has a rapier, she should be able to cut through things (bushes, thorns, pigs, paper doors, etc., be creative).

Rush doesn't seem the healing type...and does at the same time. He's the most battle familiar, and should have several skills, including healing...but I would think he wouldn't be the only one, and he'd be rather pathetic at it. Maybe more of a sickening skill against people *shrug*. I just don't see Rush as our main healer.

Awesome things happening here. Thanks guys.

I think that carry ally should be changed to carry. I mean I might want to hide the bodies. I assume when I go somewhere and kill some people that it is possible other people that are patrolling will walk by see the bodies and then sound an alarm of some sorts. But I could have the ability if syne is with me to take the person and if he is dead I can burry him if I have a shovel but if he is simply unconcious then I can tie him up and hope he can't untie himself.

Baha, these characters move around by themselves unless they are all selected at once and told to move somewhere/melee something (if we go with the melee option). Think strategy games. So, hence, no you won't have to change that character to the front since...well, there is no order, hence no front =) And depending on the ability, it may cost MP (though that's a good point...we should talk about the different "points", like hit/health points, magic points, etc.). If I remember right, we won't have any ways of earning exp. or ap, so learning abilities through ap is out.

I like that idea better Big. What do you guys think? Carry instead of Carry Member? Nice thinking.

Yea Temp, I would think those guys would have some form of healing (except maybe Dell, but whatever). And yea, Proteans cast very small, few, simple spells because of lack of language. Antareans cast very small, few, simple spells because of lack of ore. So yeah, Brooke can cast magic.

I like that thinking, we should definitely delve deeper into that. I'm not sure about the better attacking stuff though, will that work outside of some melee type of battle? Nice stuff though.

Okay, just a couple of comments about some ideas already passed around:

Rush may not seem like a normal healer, but he is a vetran of the battlefield (right?) so he would be well versed in rough healing practices. Kinda of like Aragorn from LOTR. He could use turniquets, rough bandages made from torn clothing, or plants/vines. Or mild anti-venoms from other herbs.

Ko may not be the best suited for inventing things, but what about a combine ability? Way back when, there was an idea of combining things to your weapon to upgrade, but the core of your weapon would stay the same. His combination ability would be similar to that. He could take some plate armor off a forest rogue and bend and affix it to a club to make the club do much more damage. Or add a short sword blade to the base of an axe for extra damage.

I'll expand on this idea when I have more time.

edit:

Ok, here's another idea based on syne's abilities temp was talking about. One easy ability could be an increase in accuracy during battles. An adept field commander would always be giving direction and orders in his group, so their attacks would be more focused. So he could have an area of affect acc.+ 4, or whatever number would make sense in the final game.

Also, it would make sense for the other characters to have boosted confidence when Syne is around. People are more confident when they have someone they trust lead the way into battle. So however that can be translated in to gameplay would be cool too. Maybe a slightly hire attack lvl, or more aggresive behavior from the party during battles.

More examples of ko's "combine" ability: He could combine a lightning TW with some rope grapling hook to make a tazer of sorts. He could combine a dagger with a shield to cause light damage to all melee enemies who attack while character is on a defensive stance. The ideas are limitless really.

About the "carry" ability. At least syne, rush, and maybe cade, should have some form of carry/heft/drag/push to move heavy obstacles. This could lead way to some zelda-ish puzzle solving too. Or if one ally is knocked unconscious, you'd better hope you have a character who's awake who can carry him/her out of there.

That's all for now...

I really like both those ideas, about carrying and Syne's individual commands helping specific attributes. I REALLY like them. And that combine ability is really cool. And it makes sense with Ko's character. Think about it, this kid has lived with basically nothing but his family and junk all over, he probably had time to combine things and make cool little inventions (a skill which would come to use when he has better equipment to work with). I'm sure we could implement some sort of link to this ability with the character in the storyline. Let's see what me and Dev can think of.

Sorry about the server error. It automatically logs you out after 30 minutes of non-activity, so if you spend more than 30 minutes writing a post, it won't let you post it. If you spend a long time on a post, you should really copy it before posting just in case...

Anyway, neat ideas. I still have my doubts about the "combine" ability, but it could be that I just don't like your examples. :P For Syne's "encouragement" stuff, I'd say there is no need to limit it, but rather have only one bonus be allowed at a time. However, I'm not sure how well the idea would work in practice because I think it might just get annoying. People would spend lots of time making sure Syne gives out the right encouragement just to get the little bonuses, and would probably get sick of doing it.

Regarding "SAB" points or whatever: I really don't like that idea. Special abilities are meant more for puzzles, not battles. It would really suck if you ran out of points to use the ability needed to solve the puzzle. It would be ok for certain battle-centric abilities to be limited, but that should be a per-ability thing.