PaladinHeart wrote:Let's take a situation.
Not again!
Here's where the problems start. You're in the doorway so naturally your idiot party members just stand around and don't do a thing.
Yeah, that's usually what happens when you open a door.
It's your turn again now if you have decent perception. Otherwise the enemies all get a free turn.
Sequence, you mean? Oh well it was based on perception, although you could increase it with perks.
Better party control would have solved this problem.
What you're describing are AI issues, not a party control problem. This could be solved by making a smarter AI and/or the possibility to give instructions to your NPCs(range, weapon of choice, target of choice etc). Fuck, it worked decently in Ultima 7 and in Fallout 2 and it certainly can be improved.
Of course I'm hoping that if we don't have control of NPC party members in FO3 that they are at least smarter than those in FO1 and 2.
The topic title indicated you had come up with a master plan as to why change the perspective in Fallout from individual-based to party-based. Frankly, I was disappointed. I hoped you could give us valid reasons as to why Fallout 3 should be party-based instead of describing some images you jerked off to last night.
The story in Fallouts have always revolved around one character. Even one of the original designers(I don't remember which one) has said that was the reason they didn't allow you to control multiple characters.
The Vault Dweller, The Chosen One... The focus has always been on the player character(YOU, in other words, and YOUR actions). NPCs were there to aid you if necessary, but ultimately it was you who ran the show and carried the responsibility. Consider the NPCs more like associates or companions. I believe the fact that you couldn't control them made you genuinely care for your NPCs. They were individuals, not 'team members', even if they sometimes shot you in the back.
As for NPC personalities, it was one of the few things Baldur's Gate did well. There's your role model.
A toga wrote:Y'know, PaladinHeart is sorta right. Sorta. Full-on control is stoopid though. Perhaps the player should be allowed to control their party members in some situations (possibly through use of a skill or a perk requiring some investment on the player's part).
You could utilize your NPCs 'special skills' in Fallout, except that you hardly ever needed to do that. Partial or temporal control(i.e. jumping between characters) would kind of pull you away from the PCs character, making the game feel scripted and fake.