Looking for a programmer...

[lordofduct]

I'd like the opinion of a gamer. I know there is all kinds of different gamers here in this forum and you may be able to assist me in this.

ok...

You get to a long boss battle. Broken into two parts. The first part is more difficult then the second part. Now say you survive the first part, but die in the second part (run out of hit points, can't figure out the pattern, whatever).

Do you think it is justified to make you as the player start over at the beginning of the entire boss battle?

OR would you rather, as the player, start over at the beginning of the second section of the battle?

[NeoRage]

If you have different difficulty levels then you could make the easy level start off at the second part and the hard level start at the begining.

I myself would rather do the whole thing over again, Feels like you accomplished a lot more when you finally do it right!

[Ivo]

I'd like the opinion of a gamer. I know there is all kinds of different gamers here in this forum and you may be able to assist me in this.

ok...

You get to a long boss battle. Broken into two parts. The first part is more difficult then the second part. Now say you survive the first part, but die in the second part (run out of hit points, can't figure out the pattern, whatever).

Do you think it is justified to make you as the player start over at the beginning of the entire boss battle?

OR would you rather, as the player, start over at the beginning of the second section of the battle?

More details would help (average time it takes to clear each of the sections - just to give an idea; some sort of comparison e.g. "Like the level 4 Ikaruga" to give an idea of how difficult)

Neorage's suggestion is a good one if you're going to give difficulty options, consider that option if you like the idea.

Personally I think you should let people not lose progress unless they explicitly want to.
Ideally you can give some sort of "achievement" (perhaps not gameplay affecting) to people who want to try to clear it in one go.

I'm thinking as an example Megaman Zero series in the GBA (if you haven't played it: Any lives you lose deducts from your rating when you clear the level; the rating is nearly only for bragging rights).

So basically, regardless of needing to choose easy, you would play your game on normal or hard, and if you wanted to clear everything without losing, you just hit "restart" yourself if you lose the life; when you finally do it you get an S rating or whatever that is kept on a record and you can have bragging rights.
Whereas the other type of gamer can defeat the boss part 1, and lose in part 2 to keep trying without needing to clear part 1 again, and still enjoy the different difficulty levels as replay value.

[lordofduct]

Well I'll give a little detail of this.

One of the scenarios I'm referring to is enter this large area and you can not return. It is now time to fight this very large beast that has a lot of armor. You go through a process of removing the armor from the beast using the machinery around you and then after that is done you defeat the beast.

After this you exit the room and take a ride out of there. But while exiting it turns out the beast isn't dead and she pulls you back into battle with her for a whole different battle. Kind of like a last stand of hope for the beast. This battle is moderately easier then the first part, but there is still a good chance of dieing.

I know, me, as a hardcore gamer would feel it is too easy if you get to respawn right at the second part. But my buddies think you should get to respawn right there instead of having to redo the entire boss. As if it is too annoying for the gamer and they won't want to play.

But I'm all like, "That's the point... you're rewarded by the fact you survived such a long epic boss fight"

[NeoRage]

"But I'm all like, "That's the point... you're rewarded by the fact you survived such a long epic boss fight""

Stick with that, You're right on the money. I don't remember how they restarted you in Final Fantasy VII(I don't think I died), But that was the feeling I got after the multi staged last boss and you never forget the good ones!

[lordofduct]

Thanks for your replies.

Anyone who wants updates on our project as it progresses can check out our blog on blogspot.

http://theapocdiaries.blogspot.com/

ENJOY!

[Ivo]

"But I'm all like, "That's the point... you're rewarded by the fact you survived such a long epic boss fight""

Stick with that, You're right on the money. I don't remember how they restarted you in Final Fantasy VII(I don't think I died), But that was the feeling I got after the multi staged last boss and you never forget the good ones!

Seriously, you should go for a hybrid option at the very least. It depends a lot on the demographic you're after; why should you exclude non-hardcore gamers (particularly when they're the majority). I'm not telling you to do an easy "Wii" game or something like that...

People get frustrated and won't play; this is an Xbox Live game IIRC, so you're going to depend on word of mouth. Let the hardcores have what they want, but don't neglect the rest.

How hard is it to include a "Retry" option and REWARD players who make it through everything without losing? You shouldn't PUNISH the ones that DON'T make it through IMO.

But, in the end, it's your vision and your decision to make
Good luck either way.