1eyedking Spider Graphs for RPGs stats

[felipepepe]

Was reading about old MMORPGs and came across Phantasy Star Online's character screen:

One thing stood out: the spider graph used to display stats.

That's a really cool visual representation, and it makes easy to see the difference between the various characters. Question is, are there other RPGs that show stats like this? I'm quite sure I've played others, but the only one that's fresh in my mind is 46億年物語:

Any others? And do you think this is a useful visual cue? DISCUSS

 

[Lhynn]

Latest japan GOTY conception II: children of the seven stars represents stats with graphs.

 

[CryptRat]

Deity Quest :

Some Tales Of :

Only bonuses actually :

Spoiler

Also I searched for Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire and it's only for beauty contests :

Spoiler

but I found this from Pokemon X/Y in the process (can't 100% certify it's really taken from the game) :

 

[Tigranes]

Very common in Japanese games. It's still used year after year in Winning Eleven / PES.

 

[Declinator]

Perhaps Football Manager is not strictly speaking an RPG.

 

[Jrpgfan]

Xavi looks like he just woke up in that pic.

Ragnarok Online had a similar graph:

 

[V_K]

Hero's Realm:

Although personally I think color-coding makes for better visual aid (the screenshot is from Aleshar):

 

[mutonizer]

Perhaps Football Manager is not strictly speaking an RPG.

Bit like CK2, among the best cRPGs out there. Been playing FM series for nearly a decade and I don't give a fuck about football


As for OP:
I think it's very useful if your game requires quick comparisons between many characters but the less characters you have and the time the player has to decide, the less these graphs are relevant.
For example, if you have a game with dozens of available characters and lots of quick filler encounters, or a timed reinforcement system and whatnot, then yea, it's can be useful.
But if you have 4-5 dudes total and no time pressure, then I think it's better to "push" the player into the actual stats and get to know the characters better, than offer a quick sum up that may cause disconnect and automatism that will prevent the player from thinking, trying new things, etc.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

Deity Quest :

Wait... you can put stat points directly into RNG?

 

[Ninjerk]

DotA 2 has it

 

[deuxhero]

I don't like them. They're pretty, it's difficult to compare all but the most extreme differences and they take up a lot of UI space.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse (and the sequel going by the beta) have them on the character select screen. It makes how the derived stats in that game are super opaque much worse.

 

[Lhynn]

Although personally I think color-coding makes for better visual aid (the screenshot is from Aleshar):

Spider graphs are better to show growth, you can superpose two or more in different colors and will easily see the difference.

 

[Excidium II]

Never liked those damn things. Don't find it intuitive to look at.

 

[AArmanFV]

Nah, they are easy to understand, but you loose some accuracy without numbers.

 

[Haba]

And here I thought this thread was about Euler diagrams.

It is called radar chart or "spider chart". Pretty sure japs were the first to apply it to an rpg, before that it was exclusively sim/war game thing.

 

[V_K]

Spider graphs are better to show growth, you can superpose two or more in different colors and will easily see the difference.

And which games allow to do that exactly?

 

[Damned Registrations]

First game that came to mind for me was Ehrgeiz. No screenshots because too obscure. IIRC it was just used for your nutrition stats there, which made sense because that was a sort of zero sum game you had to check frequently as you ate to survive but the nutrition types influenced stat growth.

 

[Lhynn]

Spider graphs are better to show growth, you can superpose two or more in different colors and will easily see the difference.

And which games allow to do that exactly?

The one i mentioned does. Other than that i never really paid attention to it.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Is there a point in using those charts other than imitating what others did before? It bothers me that those charts suggest a relatedness between neighboring stats / skills / abilities which often isn't the case.

 

[Wayward Son]

Dragon Ball Xenoverse

 

[TigerKnee]

I always wondered what these were called. Now I know. Thanks!

Anyway Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers does it

 

[TigerKnee]

What is that, a clown for ants

 

[Excidium II]

Is there a point in using those charts other than imitating what others did before? It bothers me that those charts suggest a relatedness between neighboring stats / skills / abilities which often isn't the case.

Japs are masters of cargo cult.

 

[Carrion]

Is there a point in using those charts other than imitating what others did before?

As has been mentioned, some sports game use them, and it makes sense there, as it allows you to quickly assess the strengths of a player, which is potentially useful if you happen to be scrolling through a list with dozens if not hundreds of players on it, each one with a few dozen different stats. I guess certain strategy games might benefit from such charts too, giving you a rough estimate of a unit's strengths and weaknesses with just a single glance, but off the top of my head I can't think of a non-weeaboo game that uses them.

In an RPG they seem kind of pointless, though, as you're only dealing with a handful of different characters with visible stats. You might as well just look at the raw numbers, which give you a more accurate description of a character anyway.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I always wondered what these were called. Now I know. Thanks!

Anyway Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers does it

That screen is from original Devil Summoner, which also does that.