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<blockquote data-quote="KidSnide" data-source="post: 5856040" data-attributes="member: 54710"><p>I completely agree that player choice is the key part of combat, although I'll add the caveat that it's the presence of an <em>interesting</em> player choice that matters. "Heads or tails" is a choice, but it's rarely an interesting choice since you lack the knowledge to make an informed decision.</p><p></p><p>Combat length interacts with the "interesting choice" issue in two ways. First, the choices made in the combat are only interesting if they matter. Because many 4e combats have foregone conclusions and many of the resources reset (e.g. encounter powers), many tactical choices that could be interesting cease to be that way because they don't really matter. Yes, a more efficient defeat of the enemy might leave you with one more healing surge, but if you're a character who's not going to run out anyway, who really cares?</p><p></p><p>Second, it doesn't matter how many interesting choices you have <em>per combat</em>. What matters is how many interesting choices you have <em>per hour of play</em>. Sure, your tactically interesting combat may have 12 really cool interesting choices over the two hours you spent playing it out. But if I can manage 5-6 encounters in that time with 4-5 interesting decisions each, I can deliver a game experience with more fulfilling player choice even if each individual encounter is less interesting.</p><p></p><p>It's this second part that really does it for me. I would love to have combat that is half as satisfying, if I can run through it in a quarter of the time. Also, speaking just for myself, I like the 4e combat mini-game, but I enjoy the decisions involved in interaction and exploration more than I enjoy the decisions involved in even an interesting tactical combat. So for me, a game that lets me spend more time interacting and exploring is a big win.</p><p></p><p>-KS</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KidSnide, post: 5856040, member: 54710"] I completely agree that player choice is the key part of combat, although I'll add the caveat that it's the presence of an [i]interesting[/i] player choice that matters. "Heads or tails" is a choice, but it's rarely an interesting choice since you lack the knowledge to make an informed decision. Combat length interacts with the "interesting choice" issue in two ways. First, the choices made in the combat are only interesting if they matter. Because many 4e combats have foregone conclusions and many of the resources reset (e.g. encounter powers), many tactical choices that could be interesting cease to be that way because they don't really matter. Yes, a more efficient defeat of the enemy might leave you with one more healing surge, but if you're a character who's not going to run out anyway, who really cares? Second, it doesn't matter how many interesting choices you have [i]per combat[/i]. What matters is how many interesting choices you have [i]per hour of play[/i]. Sure, your tactically interesting combat may have 12 really cool interesting choices over the two hours you spent playing it out. But if I can manage 5-6 encounters in that time with 4-5 interesting decisions each, I can deliver a game experience with more fulfilling player choice even if each individual encounter is less interesting. It's this second part that really does it for me. I would love to have combat that is half as satisfying, if I can run through it in a quarter of the time. Also, speaking just for myself, I like the 4e combat mini-game, but I enjoy the decisions involved in interaction and exploration more than I enjoy the decisions involved in even an interesting tactical combat. So for me, a game that lets me spend more time interacting and exploring is a big win. -KS [/QUOTE]
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