User blog:Neoexlucky/Tales of the Echo: Relationship system and Tales Choices in full

"How do the new mechanics work Neo?"

Well, I suppose since I never explained how they work, I'll start here!

Relationship system
The relationship system, as I've said is a system that focuses on increasing a characters relationship with other characters, which will be kept track on character pages. It uses a point system, similar to that found in Dragon Age: Origins, which may have one of my favorite relationship systems in gaming. Anyway, here is how it's going to work. (Note that Neo and Fey can only be neutral with other player characters and higher. They cannot get lower than that.)

Here's how it works: Every action you make that affects a character will affect how they preceive you. Let's say that Celia and Kala got in a fight, if you choose to side with Celia, Kala may lose AP or affection points with that character. When people get low enough they will start to dislike you, going so far as to argue with you and even start fights, if a character dislikes most of the group, they can even turn traitor and become a villain, which is another can of worms I'll get into later.

You may notice that the -100, -75, 75, and 100 point markers have two titles next to them. Certain characters can be romanced, such as Echo with Zapor. On the flip side of that there is also a rival system, a system that can be a character become a villain that persists throughout the entire series with their only goal being to kill you, such as Era with Neo. Rivals will have moments where they may need to work together and it is through that system that if you'd like you can raise AP with said character. Redemption arcs have always been a favorite of mine and they can always be welcomed here.

Now then, what happens if a character becomes a villain? How exactly does that fit into things? Well we like to focus on one villain at a time and usually a villain will generally get their own season where they are the primary target of the Mythic Knights. That's something that goes hand in hand with Tales Decisions.

Optional Seasons
Tales Decisions are going to play a pretty big part in the series. They are the option to make impacting choices in the world. Where you guys, as players will have to choose between two options, such as whether to kill someone or not. Now I explained this pretty well on the other blog post about it, so let me cut to the part that hasn't been explained yet. Optional seasons.

In Tales of the Echo, I have written 10 season arcs which are going to be static, no matter what you will go through these arcs. Then there are optional seasons which can only be played through by meeting certain requirements. Let me give an example.

Recall back to episode 107: Technology these days. When we met Adam and the Mages guild, Trinity mentioned that she worked with a group called the Mystic Magi but that she didn't want to talk about it then. Well, the Mystic Magi arc is an optional season which can only be unlocked when someone gets to 75 AP with Trinity.

Or perhaps if you managed to get Era from -100 to 50, then we have the Dark Poison arc, involving a redemption of Era and why she Rivals Neo. The possibilities are endless when it comes to Optional Seasons, including doing arcs that I haven't even thought of before. I have a general idea of what optional arcs there could be, but as we progress you guys may even make a decicion that inspires me to make a season arc for that. Perhaps you guys even have arcs as well? Remember, if you have you're own season arc, you can always shoot me a message and we can talk about, either on here or on my email, whichever.

The power of Tales Decisions
Something I do want to make sure we explain about Tales Decisions is that they don't just exist when I give you option A or option B, you guys have the power to make those decisions yourself, whether that means killing off the shady and aloof ally of Aero Facade because he does something fishy or even offering a temporary ally a permenent place in the Ranks of the Knights.

Let's say that we have a season arc that involves us working with Hart. During this time we all get to know him better, and he opens up to us and starts talking more (Despite the fact that he's mute) and everyone has a pretty good relationship to him. I never give you the option to offer him a place in the Mythic Knights, but Zapor offers him a place in the knights. Not only is that a new member of the group, but that is a brand new main character of the series. You guys always have the option to do that. The person would have to like the knights and probably have a good reason to join, but this is something you have the power to do. Remember that you guys are plaing main characters here, this series wouldn't exist without you guys as players.

Coffee Break? Coffee Break! (talk) 14:46, December 22, 2015 (UTC)NeoExlucky