I f***ing love this game. It’s grim, it’s gritty, it’s gloriously gory, and it’s hellishly unforgiving. I’m the sort of gamer who can get pretty immersed in the world of a game like this. My experience playing Battle Brothers isn’t only about the puzzles of build optimization and the satisfaction of watching my carefully devised strategies unfold; it’s about forging a narrative of courage, fraternity and heroism in the face of brutality and horror. To me, it’s largely about character development.
Naturally, because the characters are so integral to my enjoyment of the game, I often find I have to start campaigns a few times before I end up with 3 solid blokes who are neither greedy, nor disloyal, nor dastards. It’s important that they feel like true protagonists, so that I can revel in their victories and appreciate the poetic value in their deaths. I don’t obsess about starting each game with perfect characters; I’m happy to settle for solid ones. But I feel like the game good be even more immersive if players could see it through the eyes of one GREAT character, tailored, of course, to suit their individual fancies.
I am suggesting an OPTIONAL RPG mode. Admittedly, although I know nothing about videogame programming, it doesn’t seem like it would take too much effort to implement such a mode. Here are a few initial thoughts. If people comment, I’ll know someone’s actually reading this and I’ll offer some more ideas :D
Character creation: customization of your character’s background, appearance, and initial skills.
– Background: choose from a list of possible backgrounds (e.g. miller, farmhand, etc.). A Mount and Blade-esque back-story creation might be interesting.
– Appearance: cycle through a number of face options, hair options, beard options, etc.
– Initial skills: all characters have certain base levels in each skill. The player then gets a certain number of free skill level-ups (maybe 6-12).
Being a badass: developmental measures must be taken to ensure that the player’s character isn’t a wuss compared to other party members. Here are some ideas:
– Straightforward XP bonus (maybe 25%) and maximum level bonus (maybe 3 levels)
– Leadership perks: your character acquires special perks that make him a compelling leader (E.g. “For Glory!” boosts party moral with your great
pre-battle speeches, “Trainer” trains other soldiers between battle (credit to M&B), etc.)
.