Wrestler in 'Focus' - Royale idea.

[The Masked Orange]

Came back to this game recently, still a great game. I was thinking how I'd handle doing a battle royale kind of match without breaking kayfabe, or just having ridiculously boring gameplay.

 

So, in the rumble match, it's a known fact 80% of a time a wrestler will be down by the ropes or 'trying' to put someone over the top rope, or just trading punches. But naturally there are spots and wrestlers that draw the audiences attention, if a wrestler is in the audience's focus, it means they are able to do some actual wrestling, whether it be a tag spot, seven chokeslams or go for a big elimination.

 

That's how I would see the gameplay working for that kind of match. Based on overall rating (or a mix of stats or whatever, maybe it would change each time to reflect what kind of spots open up in the match to steal focus) you would roll each turn to figure out whether you could 'steal' focus. That would be one way of going on the offensive. The other would be, if you were the victim of someone else's attention, that you could reverse of counter in the normal manner. So, to take the rumble, Kane can hit four chokeslams and Randy Orton can 'steal focus' to come from down by the ropes to RKO, or he could reverse a chokeslam attempt into an RKO.

 

This roll for focus would be against everyone else in the ring, with a significant bias towards whoever is in focus so that they can string some moves together. If you're in focus, you could choose who to focus on. Just like in real life, it would mostly be the more talented/over wrestlers who got their eye in on the roles, so no simulations where it all goes to a local jobber. Punishments for stamina loss/ bonuses for weight would also make bigger wrestlers an interesting option (even 'top heavy' and 'bottom heavy' perks to decide the ease with which their weight can be shifted over the top rope.)

 

On the whole gameplay bit, nobody wants to be stuck as Mark Jindrak for sixty minutes unable to steal focus, and rolling constantly. So wrestlers with lower ratings, apart from being chucked out by better wrestlers, might need the option to auto-skip to next significant event. Whether that's an auto-roll where they gain the focus, or a decision about how to counter being thrown over the top-rope.

 

The other thing I thought about would be the consequences of not being 'in focus'. Because, obviously, it goes better for some wrestlers than others. There should be a second roll if a wrestler fails to gain the focus to decide whether they'd be 'out of focus - offensive', somebody laying down blows and draining stamina, or 'out of focus - defensive' where they are taking damage but draining less stamina (or maybe a way to choose what you want if you're being tactical). With an auto-roll, you wouldn't be able to choose damage over stamina, you'd get what you'd got, but the opportunity to stop it at regular intervals would mean that at certain points (time elapsed or number eliminated) you could snap out and start choosing your options again. Plus, the further in you go, the lower the boundaries on finishers and high-level moves (it'd be unfair if at the end only one wrestler had the momentum, or if a wrestler was stuck on arm bars), increasing the chance of an upset.

 

I think this idea of focus is something that could be applied to multiple singles matches, since everyone spends so much time down on the outside anyway.

 

These are just some thoughts, hopefully well explained. I know there have been ideas on how to implement this before, but this is what I got after puzzling it out for a while. I know the point of WS3 is that it's done in kayfabe, and it might be a bit off to go by audience awareness for who has tactical advantage, but hopefully its an idea that helps get the ball rolling. A Royale in WS3 would be kick-ass.