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Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP)
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 12:07 am
by Antison
I was thinking about the "Taunt" skill and how it reduces the NPC's action points by 2 when it misses, when it just came to me: The game does not show the NPC's Action points (AP) or Attack cost (AP). Even when clicking on the NPC image button during battle, this information is not available. What caused me to notice this was that I wanted to see the NPC losing its AP when the "Taunt" skill takes effect.
Now it is my belief that at this moment all NPCs have a total of 10 Action points (AP), so some will argue that this is why its not displayed to the user. This may not always be the case and because the Attack cost varies from NPC to NPC, I would like to see both added to the GUI.
Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 12:14 am
by nyktos
holy snap!
great post & great point!!!
YES!
we need to see this!!!
(the more info the better!!!)
Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 1:37 am
by Pyrizzle
tek wrote:I was thinking about the "Taunt" skill and how it reduces the NPC's action points by 2 when it misses, when it just came to me: The game does not show the NPC's Action points (AP) or Attack cost (AP). Even when clicking on the NPC image button during battle, this information is not available. What caused me to notice this was that I wanted to see the NPC losing its AP when the "Taunt" skill takes effect.
Now it is my belief that at this moment all NPCs have a total of 10 Action points (AP), so some will argue that this is why its not displayed to the user. This may not always be the case and because the Attack cost varies from NPC to NPC, I would like to see both added to the GUI.
The closest i have gotten to being able to figure out a NPCs AP has been to try and figure out how many swings the NPC gets in one turn, but since the Attack Cost and Total amount of AP can vary it is really hard to get definite numbers.
Great suggestion Tek! I would like to be able to see the NPCs AP/Attack cost.
Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:24 am
by phydeaux
And not all npcs have 10 ap... If I remember correctly, the arulir have ap 5/5 ... But that is an excellent point, tek, we should be able to see this info

Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 9:11 am
by buddyCasino
This might be interesting for hardcore players like you, but I don't think it should be a default configuration. It takes away some of the mystery and immersion of the game if you see too much of the math that happens in the background. I like it if explicit information like HP are communicated in a more subtle way. For example health metering in Red Dead Redemption: There is o bar, but the screen darkens and blood stains appear if you get hurt. Of course you can't tell how many more hits you can take. But you know when it is time to take your potions. It is kind of hard to design something like that for AT, but visual communication usually has a stronger effect than just displaying numbers.
Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:16 am
by Antison
buddyCasino wrote:This might be interesting for hardcore players like you, but I don't think it should be a default configuration. It takes away some of the mystery and immersion of the game if you see too much of the math that happens in the background. I like it if explicit information like HP are communicated in a more subtle way. For example health metering in Red Dead Redemption: There is o bar, but the screen darkens and blood stains appear if you get hurt. Of course you can't tell how many more hits you can take. But you know when it is time to take your potions. It is kind of hard to design something like that for AT, but visual communication usually has a stronger effect than just displaying numbers.
no offense, but not wanting to see the NPC's action points is just silly.
I am not asking to see the math, just how much AP the NPC has.
Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:14 pm
by buddyCasino
I see them as numbers that are the base for calculations. That makes you think about the algorithms behind the behavior. That is different from analyzing the behavior itself. Explicit information vs. implicit information. I guess that's one of the differences between die hard gamer and casual player.
edit: spelling
Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:51 pm
by Mino
Bringing this back up since I was just trying out the Taunt skill (using some extra saved up skill points I had) just to see how it works. Without being able to see the NPC's max AP, there's really no way to tell when the skill is working or not.
So I would also like to add my +1 to this request, although we can now see their Attack Cost, so we just need to add being able to see how much max AP they have. Or, there should be a status condition symbol that shows up when looking at their info when they've been successfully taunted. Maybe a face with a tongue sticking out?
Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:02 am
by Pyrizzle
Mino wrote: Maybe a face with a tongue sticking out?
YES! +1
Thanks for reviving this thread! You are absolutly correct, the taunt skill may or may not work but unless you can see the NPCs AP and Attack Cost, there is no way to tell if it is working or not. I have tested Taunt out as well and discovered the same thing thru my trials.
If the NPCs AP & Attack Cost are not shown then there should at least be a symbol for the status effect when it is inflicted.
Re: Displaying of NPC's Action points (AP) & Attack cost (AP
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 5:53 pm
by Fire7051
Pyrizzle wrote:Mino wrote: Maybe a face with a tongue sticking out?
YES! +1
Thanks for reviving this thread! You are absolutly correct, the taunt skill may or may not work but unless you can see the NPCs AP and Attack Cost, there is no way to tell if it is working or not. I have tested Taunt out as well and discovered the same thing thru my trials.
Same here. I never noticed a difference so I immedietely loaded my save file to get that skill point back. I would love to see the AP and attack added.