(02-25-2015, 02:30 PM)Graeham Ridgefield Wrote: The biggest problem with powerful characters is that many role-players seek to embrace all the perks and none of the drawbacks that accompany such a role. An experienced soldier would realistically spend most of their time fighting their foes and would be exhausted during what little free time they actually have to piece together something resembling a social life.(Disclaimer, my typing may be off, not feeling well. If it's super incoherent I'll edit it later)
Yet because of how frequently instant teleportation is embraced that eliminates the 'distance' drawback for many. You'll see people fighting in La Noscea one minute and then teleporting to Gridania shortly afterwards.
So what other drawbacks does that leave us with? Well, anyone who has actually been to a real battlefield will agree that it isn't something you just get over. It affects one's ability to connect with their friends and family due to the trauma that arises as a result of injuring and killing others for a living.
...and yet that is rarely exploited as a drawback either since the majority of powerful characters happen to be role-played as social butterflies who somehow manage to juggle everything at once.
Putting aside the mental trauma there's also the risk of physical trauma which, again, so rarely ends up being embraced as a realistic drawback. Instant healing is often embraced, eliminating much of the danger and potential for scarring. Thankfully some role-players are brave enough to go down the route of allowing their character to bear some lasting damage but it seems to be fairly rare from what I've seen in-game.
In short, I have no issue with powerful characters...assuming they're not just created with the intention of wanking off their creator's ego. If you're going to put your character on a pedestal above everybody else's then the least that can be done is to exploit some realistic drawbacks that are actually drawbacks and not just vague cop outs like 'he is too nice'.
Just have to say that is a beautiful example of how an overpowered character can really be worked well into the world of Final Fantasy.
I had a character years ago not from the world of Final Fantasy who was what you would consider higher in the power department. He was created to help a friend who had an undead underground storyline. Most people were playing Blade-like vampires that ate npcs and had all of the god perks of said vamprism, even removing the negatives of the disease by use of magic, enchanted jewelry, or half breed or what-have-you.
I really don't care for vampires, but he was a friend so I designed a Human.. since, there were NONE being roleplayed. I got inspiration from Father Anderson from Hellsing, mixed with the insane reverend from Half-Life's Ravenholm. He was a military strategist suffering from PTSD. He used IEDs, bowguns, whatever his money could afford him from check to check in order to keep the undead back. Alcohol abuse doesn't make the best marksman. I balanced his ability to get things done when a mini nuke was requested by the story writer, when the other characters got the hint they can't rampage and eat every human in the city without consequence it created a balance. My friend was the official OP and would not be able to be beaten by mine, but this was a mutual understanding and gave all parties reason to work together instead of soloing npcs all day. Eventually it let roleplayers who were too afraid to join in actually pick living characters, which picked the story up from being a dying forum to one that had to be split up for being so huge. It's that sort of teamwork that moves stories along.
My favorite character was a guy who was a mummy with a chain smoking habit that would light himself on fire at inopportune times. His character was so hilarious it cut back a lot of the serious player's tensions. I try to strive to be more like him.
