Most Elegant Gaming Designs Ever

[Vilidius]

Thinking about new games and getting excited about them has me thinking about old games and some of the coolest stuff I remember from them.

There was an installment in the Ultima franchise (I think it was III ... checked, it was IV) where you would start as one of eight character classes, and each had a prime virtue. Instead of choosing a class, the game took you through a series of ethical dilemmas that would pit each virtue against another. So there would have been 28 possible questions in total. But after seven questions in a single-elimination format, your dominant virtue would emerge and you'd have your starting class.

Even after all these years, it's the most clever character generation system I've ever seen.

Other stuff you've especially liked over the years?

[Jezerai]

Oh yeah, I remember that also, Vilidius!  Very well done.  I also really like Minecraft's approach to levels.  They are valuable because you need them to repair armor and enchant and what not, but they are also replaceable.  I hate losing my levels, but I'm not so discouraged that I want to quit playing.

[Askari]

Love diplomacy in Vanguard. Love shinies/collections in EQ2. Love that characters has to decide to go with giants or dwarves in EQ1 Velious (where faction mattered).

Loved the vast amounts of emotes in City of Heroes/Villains and how the spawns of foes would be "doing" something based on those emotes. Also loved how many NPC citizens and cars were driving around. All of that made the world feel more alive than most MMO worlds.

[Jezerai]

Ooooo!  Loved the way they did armor in TSW!!!  You could put together outfits!

On the same line, I really loved the way you could switch between gear sets in Vanguard!

[PinkRose]

I love a Ogre Battle.
Basic class. That gets better and can be chosen as to which way to progress.
I don't know why that's the first one that pops into my head.

And of course D&D. Where you get to choose your class each level, or feats and/or proficiencies for your current class. Gives you the ability to really make your character. As opposed to most MMOs, EQ, EQ2 to name a few, where you are no different than any other character of your level until you start doing AAs. But even then, you have the same spells and abilities as any other 50th level class just like you.

[Mixxi]

Since when do you change classes with a new level in D & D (reveals her true dinosaur status)?

[Namae Nai]

Since when do you change classes with a new level in D & D (reveals her true dinosaur status)?

I think he's thinking of 3.5 D&D. You could choose a new class every time you leveled up. So it was possible to be a Fighter 1/Rogue 1/Wizard(enchanter 1) at 3rd level, or you could do 3 levels of just Bard class. It's up to you!

[Corsair]

Funny. I just mentioned two game designs I love...non computer...Dominion and Ascension in another thread here.

For computer games, Askari and Jez his several of my highlights. Truly loved the faction choice being meaningful in Velious/EQ. Loved Vanguard diplomacy mechanic mini game. I actually quite liked the simple but good use of the Horizons mechanic where you moved faster if you stayed on a road/path. Making the road a useful travel function, rather than a road actually slowing you down if you followed it due to it winding around to make the world seem larger...simple yet brilliant.

I LOVE the question/answer mechanic Vil mentioned too. I had hoped the GW2 mechanic would be sort of similar, but it wasn't as useful. I suspect designers now avoid anything that "locks in" a player. Now it often seems to be all about letting players always be able to change stuff retroactively, (and easily). Players should never feel they got locked into any consequence they may or may not have anticipated from a past decision. (Presumably a customer retention tactic.)

Back on the non PC theme, there is a family board game out there called Blokus. It is uber simple/elegant, yet really good at the same time. ( http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2453/blokus )

[PinkRose]

You can go all the way back to Second edition to Multi-class.
Each class had it's own XP pool, and you divided up XP for your classes. So you could start as a Cleric 1/Magic-User 1/Fighter 1 if you wanted.
But you wouldn't level any of them up until you gained 3x enough XP, basically when everyone else hit 4th level, you would be Cleric 2/Magic-User 2/Fighter 2.
3rd Edition let you switch each level. You gained X XP and you gained a level in rogue. Then you gained X XP and either chose Rogue 2 or Fighter 1 to go with your Rogue 1 and on and on.