Magic and Elements

A common theme in RPGs is to have magic in some capacity. Frequently, attack magic comes in multiple forms. The three I'm going to use and an example as they are fairly common are fire, ice, and lightning.

Why do we need multiple spells? Well, besides giving the player multiple spells to watch, each deals a different type of damage. All are magic based, but fire does fire type damage, ice does ice type, etc. Then of course, why do we need different damage types? The basic answer is, to add strategy. Fire deals double damage to ice enemies, and half to lightning enemies. Ice deals double to lightning, half to fire. I think you can guess where lightning fits in the circle. So, as long as you know what enemies you're going up against and plan properly, you should be fine right? Usually the answer is yes, but sometimes the system can be exploited.

Let's take an example from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This uses the element triangle I explain above except that instead of half damage to strong elements, the elements deal no damage to enemies of the same type. I play an "Aggressive Mage" and high elf with the apprentice birth sign, meaning I am very powerful but I have a 175% permanent weakness to all types of magic. So I have to dodge casters like crazy, cause their spells will deal 175% more damage to me. However, using my own great magical aptitude I created a spell that I call Apocalypse Ray. It deals 100 damage of each type to my target. It looks like a lightning bolt but does do each damage type. So, with this I can deal 300 damage to whatever poor creature crosses my path, assuming I can hit it, and with how much mana it costs I better hit it. Then I came across a fire element creature. I hit it with the ray and received a message informing me that the damage was resisted. As I read this I also noticed the creature exploding into little bits. It had resisted the fire damage completely, but took double damage from the lightning, meaning it still got hit for the full three hundred. No matter what, that spell will always hit for 300. Now all I need is another 250 maxium mana so that I can add another effect to lower the target's maximum hp by another 100, so I can effectively do 400 damage to everything.

That one works to the players advantage. But what about when an enemy absorbs damage done by a weak element, or the same element? By absorb, I mean they are healed for the amount of damage they would have taken. In these games, a player quickly learns what element his foes are or they get crushed. Sometimes this leads to great angst for companion NPCs. Caster companions in games with absorption can be your bane as they usually do not respect the element rings very well, often keeping your opponent alive while you hack away at it. Most of the time now you can customize your companions actions, but being able to do this mid combat is still a rarity. And even then, you can't always customize exact spells instead of just magic in general.

I finish this with an amusing elemental twist from Kingdom Hearts 2 that I ran into the other day. Demyx, this nobody boss fights the player using water and this is his element to control. However, Kingdom Hearts uses the example triangle. Where does water fit into this? It doesn't, but it is most closely related to ice. I am replaying the game on proud mode specialzing in magic, so I need to use the elements. It was rather odd to see me mutilate the gyser spewing boss by running in and hitting him with fire.

This spell gives a whole new meaning to "Taste the Rainbow".