@D-bone said in The guy who coded Kishi Kaisei MUX [L5R]:
I knew it, fantasy flight was going to use some proprietary dice shit. Hate that so much.
7th Sea also got rid of the R&K mechanic. Perhaps because it has had issues throughout 4 iterations that, much like Shadowrun 1-3, kept building on itself instead of being fixable, so it was all thrown out in favor of a new approach?
Further, since we're on the topic of dice, I actually really appreciate how the Rings themselves now bring less bang for their buck than proficiency in the skill itself. More success options on the skill die, afterall. The rings are still important, but certainly nowhere near as important as previously, where one spends all their XP on them because of it was a two-fer, extra die AND extra keep.
Honor, Glory, Status etc is no longer a set of ranks out of ten, but now out of 100, with accompanying flaws/perks. So more complicated. Everything else because of the new dice system appears incredibly simplified.
Honor may have operated on a whole-number scale, it is important to point out that Glory and Status went to the first decimal place (granted, only in a <1 capacity for Glory, but Status ranges from a -10 Ninja, to a 0.1 Craftsman, and even goes so high as 9.9 for the Empress), so it is KIND OF like operating on a 100 scale instead of 10s.
Also ranking up your school, (which in 4th edition you just did by spending xp in general if I recall correctly) requires you to spend xp only on your school (aka class) related abilities only. No ore Courtiers taking kenjutsu to level up. I already see this having to be changed.
So for examlple.. take the Hida Defender- a Bushi warrior class. Look at what ranks you are and are not allowed to take certain skills to level up. Develop a strategy now to game the system to level up as a fast as possible while also making the most hyper optimized character while still leveling up. For example, level up Martial skills as much as possible in first and second ranks, because you can't for some reason level them up in 3rd or 4th. Dump stat skills like Command, Tactics, meditation and Theology becuase taking them in cgen doesn't count towards leveling up, so you can buy them on the cheap to help kick you over the edge to level up.
This is indeed an issue; the FFG forums are very active discussing some of this, and this is one of the things going in my review, for sure. On one hand, I can understand it. What does Kenjutsu have to do with being a better courtier? Despite this, I do lean towards agreeing with you in principle.
Why is this a game that is about narrative focus with one of the most obviously abusable level up designs I've ever seen that also clearly destroys character variety. No more Samurai with deception or persuasion skills, becuase lul fuck you. This system also is meant to replace the system where-in every school gets a set of unique abilities. Instead of getting 5 abilities, you get one. (which in turn explains why characters can only level up certain ways- because all the classes are the same practically)
I don't know where they are planning to go with level advancements and advanced school options or any of that. This is literally the free beta to show the basics of the game. Hell, they don't even have all the basic schools in the beta (notably missing to my Scorpion-masked eyes: the Soshi Shugenja and the Bayushi Bushi schools).
I stand by all my previous claims: at worst, Fantasy Flight makes decent games, and I will have some level of fun playing it. What level remains to be seen. WHAT I DO KNOW is that the +dice mechanics are hella easier than FFG SW, so I might be able to backwards engineer the +roll code from Theno, if I can find it again.