Introduction
The Reactionary Battle System (RBS for short) is a new type of battle system being built for Patchwork Battles. It mixes the ever popular Active Turn Battle (ATB) with a reaction based system.The goal of this system is to create fast paced battles that scale along with the level of skill a player has. This system provide a way for the game to be less about gear and more about player skill.
Threat
Threat is a mechanic that is used to determine who the AI should target first. Each action a mimic takes generates threat. A damaging spell cast on an enemy, for instance, generates threat proportional to the amount of damage that spell did. Likewise, a beneficial spell cast on an ally also generates threat based on how beneficial the spell was (i.e: How much did it heal for). A beneficial spell will generate threat towards each enemy in the battle, while damaging spells and skills generate threat only for the enemy(ies) they were used on. Some classes are better at generating threat (Knight) while others are very good at keeping their threat low (Archer, Rogue).
Reactions
Reactions are skills that cannot be used until a certain criteria is met. The criteria that needs to be met is defined by the reactionary skill. If that criteria is met, the player will have a certain amount of time (again, defined by the skill) in which it can be used. These skills will act as a direct counter to other skills.
Some examples of Reactionary Skills are Dodge, Stun, and Spell Shield. Dodge is a reactionary skill that can be used by a mimic that is the target of a melee attack. Once they are selected, and the skill is triggered, they will have a short time to dodge it. The Stun reactionary skill can be used by any mimic that has it equipped. It can be used when an enemy mimic has started casting a skill. They will have the duration equal to half of the cast time of the enemy skill to use it. When used it will double the cast time of the effected skill. Spell Shield is a reactionary skill that can be used on the mimic who has it equipped, or an ally mimic. It becomes available when an enemy casts a magical skill on an ally. For a quick second the mimic can react and cast spell shield on the target, negating some of the damage the magical skill does.
Reactionary Skills can be used regardless of the mimics action timer. Whether it?s their turn or not, a reactionary skill can be used. Using the skill, however, does have a drawback. When a Reactionary Skill is used, the mimic will suffer a slight penalty to their action timer. This penalty increases as more reactionary skills are used and decreases as they are not used. If it?s already the mimic?s turn when the reactionary skill is used, the penalty is applied to the next action timer countdown.
Goal of the RBS
The goal of the RBS is to create a very fast, very fluid battle system while keeping a mechanic most all RPG players are familiar with (ATB). The system should feel seamless and the player should never be waiting to take an action. In order to ensure the player never waits, timers will be short and Reactionary skills will be abundant.
For reference, while designing the battle system, our target was to create a system that feels like Final Fantasy VII mixed with Soul Calibur: a turn based fighting game, if you will.
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