What's your favorite magic system and why?

[locowhiteknight]

I'm brainstorming some ideas for a magic system that I've been working on for some time now. I guess I want to get a better idea of other really interesting magic systems that have been created. This way I can look at my own creation under a more critical light, to make sure I keep it as original as possible. I don't really care if your choice comes from a novel, video game, or  is one of your own designs; I'm just hoping to learn about a new magic system that I've never heard about before today.

I guess my favorite magic system comes from the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paloni. I've been told that his magic system is very derivative from other works, but I haven't read them.

I like his magic system, because the casting of magic has limits and penalties. Magic casting is very rare in the world of Algaesia (I hope I spelled that right) and very difficult to accomplish. The first two books do an excellent job explaining the rules of the magic system (especially the second book) and it's inherent dangers. He handles the explanation of the magic system superbly so it doesn't feel like a big info-dump.

If I were going to choose a jrpg for my favorite magic system I would lean towards Final Fantasy 3(VI) in stark contrast to Paloni's system. In this game everybody can use magic if they are taught how to perform the magic by an esper or if they are half-esper themselves.

Which magic systems do you think are the most interesting?

[Blizzard]

I played Treasure of the Rudras (WhiteRose mentioned that game a few years back so I checked it out and played it through) and it had one of the most creative magic systems I have seen. Heck, Square made it. Of course it's good. xD
Basically you write your own spells and depending on what you write, you get a spell. That's it. There are a few predefined spells that have certain effects. There are core-words that create a certain type of spell and prefixes and suffixes that alter its effects.

A few predefined examples:

• Death - standard death spell


• Phoenix - auto-resurrection at 25% HP


• Powerup - increases strength


• Soft - decreases defense


• Barrier - increases magic defense


• Tsunami - water damage spell

The basic core-words for certain categories:

• lef - healing spell


• ig - fire


• aqu - water

Some prefixes (for core-words):

• mega - increases spell power


• giga - increases spell power greatly


• nani - increases spell power insanely


• piku - increases spell power and reduces spell cost


• o - turns spell into multi-target spell


• vu - reduces spell cost greatly

Some suffixes (for core-words again):

• god - increases spell power greatly


• reem - alters spell to create elemental barrier rather than dealing damage


• rex - extra spell power at reduced cost


• teum - increases spell power

There are some limitations, though. You only have 12 characters for a spell, some of the modifiers don't work together and the longer a spell is, the more it usually costs. Some examples of really good spells. *fires up his SNES emulator*

• nanixigeteyus - high power, single-target fire spell at a higher cost


• pefavubulbit - powerful, single-target fire spell at just 1 MP cost


• pebuulkaaluci - powerful, multi-target fire spell at just 1 MP cost


• otefaaqureem - low cost, multi-target water protection


• petebemegami - "megami" is a strong healing spell so I just added stuff to reduce cost and increase power


• fatepowerup - same as "powerup", but multi-target and low cost


• fatekepelife - "life" is a resurrection spell, I added stuff yet again to increase power and reduce cost

Some of the combinations don't make sense, e.g. the low cost fire spells don't contain IG, but they are still fire spells. Or if you just write "water", you might get a lightning spell (not literally, but I had similar stuff like this happen to me). The cool part is that you can write in whatever you want and you will always get some sort of spell.

EDIT: It's also cool that you technically have a blue magic system integrated since you can copy spells of enemies when they cast them by entering them into your own spells after battle. e.g. an enemy uses "Godhand" or "Granigna" and you think "shit, this is strong, I'm gonna use this" and right after the battle, you enter the spell into your own collection.

EDIT: Oh god, I would totally love to make a script for this magic system. It would be SO powerful. <3

EDIT: Also, the game is most fun when you don't know what you're doing and you have to experiment in order to get different prefixes and suffixes. Or when you get a prefix or suffix from an NPC and then you alter all your spells to use it, lol!

[WhiteRose]

I think it generally falls into one of two categories: magic is common (most people have seen it at least a few times in their life,) or it is rare. (FFVI, for example, where it is virtually forgotten until the Empire brings it back) Both are completely viable, so it's more of how you want to implement it.

From a gameplay standpoint, having the first option gives you more possibilities, such as NPCs being able to teach you about spells, like Blizz's example. The second option can potentially make for a stronger key point in a narrative, though, as long as you support it with good characters and that kind of thing. Pretty much, it's all about what fits best with both the gameplay and plot that you want to put together. If you want magic to play a key role in the story, option two is good. If you'd rather have the story focus on more important things, option one is probably your best bet.

[Ryex]

Personally the Golden Sun franchise's really resonates with me. the idea of unlocking your magic skills by changing your class not just by leveling but by equipping things that create a unique class based on your starting class was brilliant. sure it wasn't as complex as somethings but it sure was fun.

[Blizzard]

I agree, a system doesn't have to be complex to be fun. The example I gave was a very complex one, but its charm was in the fun, not in its complexity.

I also like Morrowind's and Oblivion's magic systems where you can create your own spells and name them. Depending on your skill level, the spells would be more powerful. While it may have a lot of possible combinations, the system was still quite simple on a user level.

[StorocnekXx]

I totally enjoyed the magic-system of "Lost Magic" for the gameboy ds.
To cast a certain spell, you had to press L (i guess) and draw a rune with the pen.
If you draw the wrong on not that clear, the spell will not be cast.
Depending on which runes you drew in combination the effects changed and combined.
Those are the runes:

Basically, that gave me the feeling I realla actually casted that spell myself and not the charakter.
That game ing eneral (battle system and so one) is quite good, but you can only reach lvl 50. That's okay in one point, BUT you reach lvl 50 after half of the story quests is done, making any other battles absolutly useless and just timefilling (since you can't equip/dropp stuff and so on), but that was just totally wrong here.
nevermind, the magic system it has really fascinated me for given reasons.

[locowhiteknight]

Insert Quote
I played Treasure of the Rudras (WhiteRose mentioned that game a few years back so I checked it out and played it through) and it had one of the most creative magic systems I have seen. Heck, Square made it. Of course it's good. xD

"Treasure of Rudras" I remember that one now. Somebody gave me a rom of that game and suggested I check it out. You're right, that game did have pretty interesting magic system. I never finished the game or got very far, I remember there being something about giants. Anyways, that was a good choice.

I think it generally falls into one of two categories: magic is common (most people have seen it at least a few times in their life,) or it is rare. (FFVI, for example, where it is virtually forgotten until the Empire brings it back) Both are completely viable, so it's more of how you want to implement it.

Yeah, I guess in that sense it would definitely fall into either one category or the other. But I like a magic system to have rules that help flesh it out and make it seem real. Perhaps some of the mystery and allure of magic in a fantasy story is lost when too much is explained. But I think skillfully written story can satisfy both desires.

Personally the Golden Sun franchise's really resonates with me.

That's an interesting way to handle the magic system in a game. I haven't spent much time with the Golden Sun  series (I think I have a couple gba carts laying around here somewhere) I'll need to revisit them and take another look.

I also like Morrowind's and Oblivion's magic systems where you can create your own spells and name them.

I just picked up Morrowind late last year and installed the overhaul mod. That game does have cool magic system for creating spells. I really liked the lack of limits with the magic in that game. It seemed like if you were clever enough to try something crafty it would probably work.

I totally enjoyed the magic-system of "Lost Magic" for the gameboy ds.

I've never heard of that game, but that seems like a cool magic system (very fitting for the DS.) I remember one of the Castlevania games, Aria of Sorrow (I think), had a similar mechanic.

Are there any fans of Final Fantasy 8's magic system? That one seemed to have a wildly different way of employing magic.

[R.A.V.S.O]

I really liked the very first final fantasy's spell usage (before switching over to MP)
basically because it was similar to dungeons and dragons spell usage.

a mage/healer would have a pool of magic spells based on level

lv.1 10/10 lv.2 10/10 lv.3 8/8 etc....

and getting the well-rested bonus (equivalent of going to the inn at FF) would grant you more effective spells and sometimes
increased spellcasting.

the MP system isn't so bad either, I kinda like my spellcasting simple and reliable tbh.

[Zexion]

I'm obviously biased when I say that I love Kingdom Hearts's magic system. More specifically, Kingdom Hearts BBS and later. I love that you can use it anywhere at any time and that you can only hold so many spells at a time. It makes strategizing for a specific fight fun, but also means you can go the whole game without ever messing with them. Unlike previous games, there is no MP just a cooldown timer for each spell which shortens as you level them up. You don't need to hold useless spells in your deck if you don't want to. No more scrolling through huge lists of spells to get to the one you need. Also, no waiting for the MP to recharge from your last thunder attack to use a cure spell. Instead, cure spells and recoveries take longer to cooldown, and thunder/attack spells are ready pretty fast. Allowing for varied combat while still not becoming OP.