@Perpetual Lurker: . . .yeah. Your probably right. . .

Indeed.

edited 11th Mar '12 5:03:09 PM by Mio

speaking of hypothetical persona influenced pony rpgs, this is tangentially related.

Keg, I also enjoy trying to find solutions besides direct physical confrontation in games.

and some more Aigis-pony

edited 11th Mar '12 5:03:27 PM by Drenius

Shameless plug here...the foils would be dam powerful in a straight up fight!

@Lurker I have no problem with it being cartoony, it's just that it's Pinkie's primary function, and she's the one who most egregiously acts like this.

@ginger: No, I see what you;re getting at.

The trick with a system like that is simply representing it in a way that becomes engaging. Looking at Persona again(guh), it's literally all about psychology - even the name is a psychological concept. But it puts it all forward in metaphores, because a game about a person sitting in his bedroom, struggling to come to terms with the fact that who HE is isn't the same person that society SAYS he is isn't terribly engaging. Now, you take this person and turn his personality into a giant monster, give him the ability to summon it, and have the ability to summon it be triggered by not defeating, but accepting his Evil Twin that openly and loudly espouses his inner secrets, then have him use that giant monster to fight other giant monsters, it suddenly becomes much more interesting. an element of the message is lost, but the game becomes fun and a careful viewer can still see the message.

I see where you're coming from completely, but there's just a trick to taking the moral of the game and making it fun to play.

@Ginger And that's an important part of her character to me. You reject it, while I embrace it. Being overly cartoony is part of what makes Pinkie Pinkie.

I get this feeling too. I don't know why they keep forgetting that the other ponies can be cartoonish and funny too ("The Ticket Master" for example. Actually, I find Twilight is far more fun when she's being cartoonish).

What, you don't think Twilight would be upset that her Beyblade isn't strong enough and put all her scientific genius into building a battle top to shatter the heavens?

Yeah, I get what yer talking about. The trick would be balancing it with playability. I've seen a lot of RP Gs (mostly computer ones) that try to be too nuanced, and wind up just being unplayable. The scenario you suggest, for example, has the potential to create a lot of Useless Useful Spells if not balanced properly.

@Lurker and as I said earlier on, while I personally don't care for it much, I've grown more accustomed to it. My problem is with the fans.

But whatever... I'm used to no one (or at least the majority not) agreeing with me

I prefer cartoonish Twilight as well, though I admit if she were like that all the time she'd likely turn into a one note gag, same if she were always serious and straight laced she'd likely end up rather bland and 'normal'. Pinkie Pie, while not 100% comic relief, is cartoony and air headed the large majority of the time, and unlike the rest of the cast, she doesn't really act as such on a driven flaw or motive (eg. Twilight's neurotics, Rarity's pompousness), she's just kind of nuts. I don't think she sucks because of this, but I can see why some think she is a bit one dimentional as a result.

edited 11th Mar '12 5:11:05 PM by Psi001

Ginger's problem with Pinkie is probably analogous to my problem with Trixie. Except with me it's less Trixie and more that other thing.

My problem isn't with Pinkie being cartoony either. My problem is with a lack of balance re: her exposure and her portrayal. Put simply, she needs to be used less often and her antics need to be scaled back just a teensy bit.

This one is even better. Wait, wouldn't that mean Matilda is.... Oh no...

@Kegi I'm actually thinking of it a bit like Psychonauts, where almost EVERYTHING is representative of something else.

In Persona 4, certain characters are weak to certain elements, now those elements aren't explained. What I suggest is instead of say, lightning and fire, you have egotism and stubborness.

Not exactly like that, but that's sort of what I'm thinking of

@Lmage I just uploaded moar luna avatars in case you want :)

@ Mio

Eeeyep!

That's actually their stic...the mane six are good at settling diplomatic desputes...the foils kick scumbag ass.

I think it's more down to the fact that Pinkie is usually meant to be more of a foil to another character to get reactions from them for comic relief rather than have a huge involvement in story. When she does play the main star she comes off as more whole and sympathetic in her antics (eg. A Friend In Deed). The same could be said for most of the characters really, after all the Sympathetic P.O.V. can't be on all of them each and every minute, just Pinkie more frequently is designated as such rather than getting (semi) serious development like the other lot.

edited 11th Mar '12 5:15:35 PM by Psi001

@Ginger: Yeah... Yeah, I definitely see you point. In the design document for the system I'm already regarding 'magic' as mental, so simply chanign elements to different mental elements is simple enough.

The main issue is readability. It feels sort of arbitrary to have weaknesses and strengths like egotism and compassion when they effectively function the same as magic elements, which are genre conventions.

edited 11th Mar '12 5:14:29 PM by kegisak

I leave for a few minutes (well, about 40 or so) and we're on to another topic? Normally, this would be "WTF WHY?!", but in this thread: perfectly normal. Oddly, we're talking about ponies, I think. Huh.

So what're we discussing, exactly?

kegisak's RPG ideas.

RPGs, huh? Very well, then. Don't know much about them, but I could try to join in

@Kegisak what would you think on using an Alicorn in an rpg?

Do you think it woud be too much?

@kegi well you could have negotiation encounters mixed with mental battles, that way egotism and compassion and the like could serve dual roles. Say, you leave a mental battle with your Compassion drained, you wouldn't be able to use said compassion in a future negotiation until you built it back up.

I know what I'm saying is in no way practical... I'm just thinking...

edited 11th Mar '12 5:21:00 PM by gingerninja666

What does My Little Pony have to do with rocket propelled grenades?

Y'know, this kinda brings to mind my thought about how I'd like to see a video game with a pacifistic main character. Granted, this kinda clashes with the "power fantasy" shtick of typical action games. I'm aware of games where pacifist runs are possible, such as Deus Ex and Thief The Dark Project.

The problem with a pacifist main character isn't that the type of character isn't doable story-wise. It's that combat is usually what keeps a game from being boring. It's certainly doable, you just need to find a new source of conflict and an engaging gameplay style, which isn't easy.