Racial differences, why not?

I think anyone that plays the game for only a few hours would expect that Hylotl could breathe underwater, that Avians could glide, etc.

Clearly the devs thought it better that you get these bonuses later from your Race-specific armor, but I want to know why?

I would think that it would be funner if Hylotl (herbivores as described in their intro) could only eat vegetables (and maybe fish) but that they could breathe underwater by nature, while maybe (???) Avians only eat meat and grains, not fish or red meat, but can glide, etc. etc. Humans and Apex could be omnivores, with maybe Apex having a slightly higher jump by default and Humans with the higher carrying capacity or whatever.

It seems a whole universe of potential fun is being missed out by not having the races having very simple pro's and con's. Apex could have a bit more resistance to cold (due to furriness) and Avians suffer more from rain (due to wet feathers)

I GET IT that the devs seem to have made the decision to not do this, but I still remain curious as to the reasons why. I put this thread out only for my own enlightenment, and not to make an argument for or against racial differences. Those that know, please share.

 

Okay seriously. People need to start reading up on Avian lore. They can't glide/fly for good reasons.

I believe they did this so that no species would have an inherent gameplay benefit over another, causing people to eventually discover which species is the best (because, you know, they ALWAYS do) and then watching the population of that species skyrocket leaving the others in the dust.

 

It's still too early to count anything out. I would not be surprised if all the races had specific traits in a future version.

 

The only racial bonuses will be in the racial armor which anyone can unlock and use later on down the road.

 

i think thats the problem. it makes having races pointles really besides cosmetics. how does it make sense that a fish person cant naturally breathe underwater, but has to wait till pretty far in the game in order to make armor that lets him do it. armor that any race can wear?

i dunno, they said that its because they dont want the races to have advantages over any other at the start. but who cares? it cant be that hard to balance racial traits so that one isnt much better than the other. And say for instance someone goes hey, i wanna be able to breathe underwater instead of jump higher? well then they can just roll a hylotl instead of apex

 

Hard to say for sure, I know racial bonuses are fairly balanced in D&D, but for some reason when things go digital it gets kinda loony. People whine more, stuff breaks more and the balance ratio never seems to click just right. The only games I've played with fairly balanced racial traits was Ever Quest 1 and 2

 

While that is a legitimate risk in most games, I don't see it being an issue here. Sure, the Apex's superior mobility could make them the preferred combat race. So? Some people want to explore, and pick the Hylotl, so that they can breath underwater and search the oceans. Or else the play the Glitch, having an easier time mining through the earth to find the wonders of the subterranean world. In a game like Starbound, there isn't just one goal. There's tons of goals, and even if there was a clearly defined best race for a given playstyle... that would still allow for a broad spread of races.

Now I'm not necessarily in favor of racial bonuses. I like the idea that you are what you build, and you don't have to select a 'class' or anything. But if they were introduced, they wouldn't lead to single race dominance. As long as they were well balanced, I'd see more on the line of three 'favorite' races. One for combat, one for exploration, and one for building, which encompasses the three broad activities players can enjoy.

But I like the idea that you aren't compelled to place your personal asthetics second to your power-ups. It can be a bit immersion breaking to play a fish-man who can't breathe under-water, but it's better that than to force you to play a monkey because you want to be fast, rather than the fish dude you wanted to play.

 

The characters do not come with racial bonuses so they are all equal, and are only different cosmetically so no race is better than the other.

It's how it will always be and wasting your breath on why they should is moot. Deal with it.

 

Tying cosmetics to game mechanics isn't generally a good idea.

What if you like a specific armor, but hate the stats?
What if you like the stats, but hate their look?

Same with racial differences. Fortunately Terraria and Starbound solve this issue by having a social slot you can wear over your actual armor, and having armor be the determination of what you can do.

If you want to be a hylotl who mines faster but still looks like a hylotl, you put on glitch armor, then you put on hylotl armor in your social slot.

The current system is ideal, let's not change it.

 

Thank you for your insightful opinion! It is always refreshing to see new, flexible ideas from people like yourself, rather than stymieing creativity.

 

I try.



I really don't.

 

Aside from the fact that Avians simply don't have wings and Hylotl were never a water breathing race, I don't like being restricted like that. Perhaps if other races got a tech equivalent at higher teirs then it might work.

I like being able to have choice, choice of race, of what gear he uses and what foods he eats. I also want to be able to experience everything the universe has to offer and not have to make another toon to play with a short lived mechanic

 

I agree, the racial bonuses need to actually apply to the race and not the armor. Even more since you can get said armor as another race and get that bonus which no long makes it a racial bonus but a armor bonus. If a human can wear avian armor and glide that makes it not racial. It has to apply to said race and only said race to be racial... hence the term.

 

To be fair, they're called Racial Armor Bonuses. Also, it's quite difficult to get race-specific armor as it's both hard to find and expensive to buy (unless you have a friend who gives you the armor).

 

Best bet is to wait till the games in a more stable release and wait for a racial perk/trait mod.
Because it will be made, I assure you.

 

Why would there NOT be racial bonuses? "Oh, because one could eventually become better than the other!" And...? who cares?
It's mainly a single player game, sure you can play with others but what does it matter if one of you can fly, while the other takes less damage and yet another can breath underwater?
Who cares? they do not all need to be the same because this is not a competitive multiplayer game, this is a sandbox sci-fi game where all of the races look different, think different, act different, yet aren't different at all.

An apex is just a human with more hair. An avion is just a human with feathers who can't fly, a florin is just a human infected by a fungus who lost a lot of IQ.

They don't feel different because they're not, and it's a stupid design choice, I don't care if one of my friends gains some sort of benefit over me because he chose a different race than me, that'd make working with someone of the different race more interesting.

 

I'd rather race choice be purely cosmetic or lore preference in this case. Would be silly to lose out on gliding just because I wanna be a human. Say they implements purely underwater worlds at some point. Should a human miss out on an entire planet type?

 

I'll agree it doesn't make any sense a race of fish people can't breath underwater naturally. That doesn't really seem like that's how a race of fish people would evolve. But I do understand how giving every race a bonus at the start of the game would influence your choosing of said race and the devs might not like that.

A counter point to that could be games like D&D have been doing that with player characters for a really long time now where each race has it's own bonuses and stats, but this also isn't an RPG. Also I like my human being able to wear Hylotl armor, and kind of wish I could give my girl some of the more Japanese hair styles of their race as well.

 

Perhaps. On the other hand, every entire little thing the devs have said should make us believe otherwise...like since the very beginning.

 

I'm not trying to argue with the devs if they have decided not to, all I meant is that if the game continues to be developed even after beta ends, like devs have promised, then it is entirely possible that racial perks could be added to the game. It all depends on if they can work out how to do it in a good way, versus a stupid way like some MMOs that have way too many people playing them.