Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I've been thinking about what an Usagi video game would be like lately. I still think an open world would work pretty well. There are some other things I'm wondering about, though. Would it be better in first or third person? I generally prefer first-person, but it depends on the type of game. I think either one could work pretty well. First person sword combat is tricky to do well, but it can definitely be done; the sword fighting in
Dishonored (a first-person stealth/combat game from 2012) is fantastic.
Another thing I was thinking about was dialogue options. In many RPG type games, you can kind of build the main character's personality and decide what they would say in different scenarios. But Usagi already has an established personality. It's hard to imagine him turning down a side quest of defending a town against marauding bandits. I'm not sure how this would work, exactly. Maybe there would be no option to turn down side quests, but you could do them at a time of your choosing (so, the bandits would not attack until you were ready to begin the mission).
I'm also curious about how much the player could interact with the world. In many RPG games like
Skyrim, the player can steal almost anything and murder NPCs. There would have to be some kind of system to stop the player from doing this, as Usagi is a good person. It could be as simple as making friendly NPCs indestructible and not giving the option to steal anything, or those actions could result in a "game over".
I think Usagi's personality lends itself well to an open world adventure with more variety than many games have. My problem with games like
Fallout 4 is that the interaction with the world is mostly limited to shooting at things. Usagi's more thoughtful nature would help prevent this problem, I think.
How straightforward would the game's play style be? I really like games that allow me to approach problems in a variety of different ways, like
Deus Ex or
Dishonored. I think it would be cool if levels could be approached with stealth or straightforward action, with a variety of routes through the level.(By the way, I really like Trevis's idea of a stealth level as Kitsune. I'm imagining something like the old
Thief games: a big mansion with lots of ways to get inside, putting out candles and lights, pickpocketing guards, etc.) I would also like the option to knock out or sneak by enemies instead of killing them, as I think this fits with Usagi's personality. Could Usagi use some gadgets and tools to add some variety to the gameplay? He usually doesn't need much more than his swords, but some more tools could keep the gameplay from getting stale. Maybe a bow and arrow? Some smoke grenades for quick escapes? Anyone else have any ideas?
Anyway, this is all just something I've been pondering for fun. Games with depth, complexity, and well-crafted worlds fascinate me, and I'd love to explore Usagi's world in a game sometime.
