[Concept] Some changes for Patapon 3

 Hello everyone.

    As always, i am usually preoccupied with my fantasies about games that could've been, or could be. Once such a fantasy takes over my mind a few times over, it has officially passed the test of my tiny attention span and is promoted to a blog post or even an active project. One such fantasy has been additions and changes i'd like to make to one of my favorite games of all time, Patapon 3. Fantasizing about Patapon 3 came about when i played an incredible overhaul mod by Madwig and the changes within that mod sparked my imagination and made it fly away. It'd be cool if i could offer my designer chops to the project. Actually, this blogpost may even serve as a presentation!

    For anyone unfamiliar with Patapon 3, i won't go into detail about the game. The post is shaping up to be quite long already. Basically, Patapon 3 is a rhythm game/dungeon crawling 2D RPG where the player controls a party of three Patapon and one Uberhero or a single Uberhero, in multiplayer mode. Since this game was on PSP and PSVita, i'll use Sony's notation: controlling the party or the Uberhero is done by pressing square, circle, X or triangle to strike a drum. Striking the drums on beat four times creates a command and through those commands, players get to fight their way through levels, duel with other Uberheroes or clear dungeons.

    If you asked me casually, i would say that Patapon 3 is a game that does not live up to its potential. I have a great deal of respect for what the game achieves however. As such, i have organized my ideas and my designs into levels of alienation from the original game; if i were to work on a vanilla plus mod or an expansion of the game, my design would need to mesh with Patapon 3 well. I will also include the crazier ideas i've had; they would change the experience enough for Patapon 3 fans to get ticked off and that's understandable, but i also want to mention them, as they seem pretty fun to me.

    Naturally, the best place to begin with designing ontop of someone else's design is understanding the design goals they had in mind. I unfortunately am not friends with the game's director, even after trying for so long, so i do not have their thoughts on the matter. We will have to reverse-engineer the game. Personally, Patapon 3 strikes me as a departure from the previous two games. The biggest difference is its multiplayer-first approach; players are meant to connect with their friends and strangers alike to brave the game's content, which is why the game is balanced with many Uberheroes in a party. It is possible to finish the game solo but it demands some pretty specific builds to achieve that, which brings me to my next point, that being the RPG elements. The previous games had army-building which is similar to this game's RPG mechanics, but without an army, Patapon 3 feels more barebones. Save for some insta-kill moves, the game does not demand dexterity or reflexes from the player. High enough stats can crush anything tossed their way and the strong builds present in the game can even solo multiplayer dungeons. This aspect clashes a bit with the PVP arena present in the game, where the players have learned to simply try to out-range their opponent or risk getting instantly killed because their opponent positioned themselves better. The game also has enemies who telegraph their attacks, but strike out of beat. In the previous games, that happened in the final boss but in this game out of beat attacks are present with basically every single major enemy. Not a big departure from the previous games until you consider that those major enemies in Patapon 3 are usually found in groups with slightly different attack timings, stifling any attempt to dodge their attacks. This in my opinion makes the game even more dependent on stats. In a level, players will constantly drum out their class' preferred playstyle, while trying to stay on beat. That means that classes that attack will constantly attack, which make up the majority of builds and usually a team will have three or even four damage dealers, classes that support will keep drumming the same commands to lend their support to their team or classes that defend will keep defending, since those classes have no offensive potential. This is as simplistic as it sounds but it's not necessarily a bad thing. The game manages to stay interesting through its entire run with that simplistic gameplay, because the focus is on building your character. Different classes offer different abilities with a pretty robust skills system that permits the Uberhero to mix and match skills they inherited from every class, a weapon leveling system with a blacksmith and several rarities of weapons to find and collect. The RPG elements are doing the heavy lifting in the game's decision-making and that's even more evident by the existence of levels where certain affinities with certain elements make the level easier or even possible at all. The most evident of these is the level with the treants in the Greedy Mask Jungle, where if the party does not light the treants on fire (if it's raining in the level), they cannot complete the level. This basically makes the gameplay in a level your reward for building your character well. Bosses and dungeons shake things up by having the bosses telegraph attacks that the players have to dodge (but entering a rage state at half hp which makes them attack constantly and without warning making the fight dependent on stats lmao) and dungeons which shake things up with gimmicks.

    As you can see, adding ontop of Patapon 3 without changing its core is really difficult. What the overhaul mod does is add more items that players can collect and use in order to give themselves a boost, add content in the form of levels and add replayability to old parts of the game. Something it doesn't do which i think it could get away with without changing Patapon 3's core is add more gimmicks. One such idea is a command that lets patapons turn around. In Patapon 3, the party is always facing a single direction. Letting the players turn around opens the possibilities for some pretty fun level layouts, like an arena where there's a castle in the middle and one team has to protect it, while the other team besieges it from both sides, or a level where half the party has to fight off an encroaching force while the other half has to bring down a monster or a structure. Another gimmick could be some kind of flying platforms that the party can ride by jumping onto and then disembarking by moving forward. Another idea could be the introduction of manned vehicles like the Zugagang from Patapon 2 as enemies. A wall of flame that follows the party but doesn't engulf them and enemies that knock them back into it. An enemy that has to be staggered or killed quick enough or else they call reinforcements. Bonedeth (the game's grunt enemies) that sport Uberhero equipment, like a legion of little Bowmunks or a group of little Cannongabangs. Bonedeth healing mages that have to be sniped from a distance or else they constantly heal all enemies in range. 

    These are some of the sensible additions that play off of Patapon 3's original design. I however did not write this post just to be sensible. As i said, i have certain fantasies about the game (not of that kind although Ragewolf hrngrn hhhnrn). These are my personal changes for a Patapon 3 that i would like to make.

    The main mechanical change i would propose is an aim to include more decision making and moment to moment skill displays in regular gameplay. Patapon 3 blue-balls me in this regard immensely by adding command cancels and doing nothing with them. Deciding when to sacrifice your fever mode, where the fabled Uberhero mode can be done, in order to avoid damage or death sounds really compelling. Playing off that thought, i'd like to explore ways in order to reward skillful play, like positioning properly, cancelling correctly or having the right timing on things. Rewarding skillful play of course is a means to an end in my insidious plan. What i want to see is moments of the players being really really cool. Patapon 3 on its own strives to do that and i would like to inject my own flavor of excitement and coolness into it.

    The biggest thing to be changed in servitude of coolness is Uberhero mode. It is way too linear as it stands in my opinion. I want to turn Uberhero mode into a moveset rather than a simple move. I am not going to list every uberhero but this is basically what i envision: in Patapon 3, Taterazay's Uberhero mode is, while the player strikes the defence command, Taterazay enters a defensive stance and a percentage of damage is completely nullified from the entire team. I would also add a second function to the Uberhero mode, where if the player drums out a charge input and after that a defence input, Taterazay will parry an enemy's attack for one measure. If an attack is succesfully parried, 90% of damage is nullified and Taterazay staggers that enemy, opening them up for their team to take over and burst them down. Another thing i want to explore is perfect inputs. In Patapon 3, drumming to the beat perfectly will create a perfect input, making the patapon attack better and any Uberheroes enter their Uberhero mode. It would be fun to mess up one of the beats on purpose to produce a different attack. For example, it would be fun to have Tondenga's normal attack, on a messed-up command, come out slower and deal less damage but also draw the enemy closer to the Tondenga (so then they can be completely obliterated by its hero mode), or have Alosson attack normally, but instead of firing its arrows upwards, it fires in a straight line, hitting anyone in front of it (making soloing the game as anything other than a shield class possible). I would also like to encourage combo-ing moves or even having multiple Uberheroes working together to amplify their moves. Pyokorider's Uberhero mode currently sweeps through the entire screen, basically forcing the class to stay back and pulverize the enemy from a distance. What i would do is have that if that Uberhero mode hits an enemy set on fire, they explode, being dealt more damage, getting knocked back and removing the fire status effect on them, making Pyokorider rush in to set their enemies ablaze and then cash out with a sweeping Uberhero mode, exploding everyone.

    Of course, we have to give some love to the enemies as well. If you asked me about boss complexity in Patapon 3, i would've told you that i would've liked to see Arch Pandara be the second or third boss that the players fight. While i loved Patapon 1 and 2, i am disappointed to see the same bosses i have defeated in the past in 3 as well, with the only thing "spicing them up" is a rage mode that completely goes against the entire design philosophy of the bosses. So first things first, getting rid of rage mode. Patapon 3 has ways for the party to regenerate their health, so fights can of course be exchanges of blows and not every attack has to be dodgeable, like back in Patapon 2, but i would like to create a balance. Bosses don't constantly throw out devastating moves but they also don't sit there and just take damage while they keep winding up the same four attacks; there should be a balance, with small attacks meant to set up the big wind-ups that players must dodge or interrupt. Attacks should also take positioning in account; have a boss enemy attack specifically the back rank! Have a boss designate zones where if the players enter, they get debuffed or damaged! Have a flurry of attacks that all hit at different points, making party members dodge at different intervals! 

    I would also like to see way more diversity in enemy types in the game. Dark Hero fights leave an itch that hasn't been thoroughly scratched and i think bosses that are the same size or a little bigger than an Uberhero would be fun additions to the game. Bosses should have phases as well, but instead of entering rage and just smearing the party all over the ground, they should get access to new moves (and of course the song and dance that comes with a new phase, with new visuals and maybe the music picking up as well). Grunts and major level enemies should also get some love. Patapon 3 had the right idea when the bonedeth first set a treant on fire to attack the party. More grunts should support the major enemies in a harmonious co-existence rather than just slapping down a monster and 12 bonedeth to jump out of a bush with it. It would be nice if cyclopes grabbed bonedeth to throw at the party or eat them to regain HP, or the grim reapers constantly revived the bonedeth that died close to it, or the bonedeth hit the salamanders to make them grow bigger, or a bonedeth instructor forcing the dragon pups to fight and if killed, the dragon pups lose some of their attacks. The campaign's pacing should be spiced up as well. It's such wasted potential to have designated zones where you can expect what kind of level you will be entering. Pacing and structure, in order to excite, should endeavor to create and play with expectation. The only reason for me to make the player understand that after three normal levels comes a duel with Dark Heroes and then a dungeon is so i can toss a rapidly growing amount of curveballs and take them for a ride they will never forget. Introduce a force mid-game that takes over an area of the map, making the party trudge through them and compete with them to clear the dungeon, with the "boss" at the end being slain and the real boss being the heads of the force. Make the party revisit old areas in order to uncover things they missed, protect bases that have been set up or prevent something from happening. Have a giant, sweeping world event completely change the map and the way the players engage with it. Linearity is an incredible tool at setting up expectations in a way to subvert them tastefully and satisfactorily. 

    To wrap things up, i would also like to add content that falls under the same design principles as everything listed above. I want a samurai Uberhero whose Uberhero mode is a dash-attack after a pause, dealing extra damage to enemies that are attacking (sort of like a counter) with every other attack being utility meant to set up the Uberhero mode. I want a Toripon (look it up, they are patapons that ride birds, they're pretty cool) Uberhero with a lance who dives from the air to attack their enemies only to take to the skies again and their Uberhero mode makes them dash backward and throw the lance, which explodes for damage. I want a summoner Uberhero whose Uberhero mode buffs the creatures summoned by them. I want a horse archer Uberhero whose Uberhero mode constantly runs away and towards the enemy, keeping their distance, while constantly shooting arrows. I want a siege engine operator Uberhero whose attacks are very slow and devastating (kinda like Cannongabang), who can move independently from their siege engine and who has to push it and be close to it in order to use it. I want an Uberhero based on a martial art, like karate. I want a Hatapon (flagbearer) Uberhero who, instead of weapons, has regiments of patapons like in the previous patapon games. I want melee Uberheroes that use magic as well, like an Eldritch Knight whose Uberhero mode binds them to their party and redirects all damage they take to them and whose attacks drain enemies for health. I want to see more done with armies of bonedeth supporting Dark Heroes. I want to see more done with Dark Heroes, other than them just tossing an attack every now and then and entering Uberhero mode once every 10 seconds. I want bosses that summon/are supported by armies of bonedeth or even Dark Heroes. Also let players trade equipment and items between them! And of course, i want those damn boat levels!