Sounds good to me!
I don’t know how much of the combat system you have planned out, but I had a few ideas I wanted to run past you.
So, to me it, it’s important that the combat and the harem management aspects of the game feel interconnected. I also don’t want to spend hours grinding characters in the Danger Room to make them useful. With that in mind, and taking into consideration the stuff said you wanted in the game, here is my proposal:
Combat functions much the same as a standard jrpg, with your party consisting of Loki, a Hero, and a Villain. Each character also has the standard rpg options: Attack, Defend, Special, and Item.
What differs Agents of L.O.K.I from most jrpg’s are two mechanics: Leadership and Conviction.
You can think of Leadership as Loki’s ability to lead his team and handle himself in combat. Whenever you win a fight, Loki gains exp and his Leadership goes up. The Agents that work for you, both heroes and villains, don’t gain exp individually, rather, they each have base stats that are then modified by Loki’s Leadership. So, when Loki reaches level 10, it’s like your entire team has reached level 10. This means that a character that you’ve never used before is potentially as viable Boom Boom or Shadowcat, who were with you from day one. What makes the difference is Conviction.
Conviction is how much respect/loyalty/love an Agent has for Loki. In this example, we’ll imagine Conviction as a scale that goes from 0 to 5 for each character. Each Agent you recruit starts with 0 Conviction: Heroes resent you capturing them, Villains are only in it for the cash and both refuse to do any special moves, and instead will only Attack, Defend, or use Items.
However, you can increase an Agent’s Conviction in Loki by talking to them and choosing the right dialog options (in the “dungeon”, not while you’re in combat), buying them special items (like alternative costumes), and (in special cases) completing side quests/activities for them.
As their conviction levels up, you start to unlock new moves for them, both in combat and in the bedroom, as well as new dialog options and passive stat increases. When you reach max Conviction for a character, a special cut scene plays, all their moves become unlocked, and they become a willing follower of Loki. Heroes no longer need to be actively mind controlled and villains either join L.O.K.I full time, or ask to be paid solely in “favors” later on. (you know, the kind in the bedroom.)
That’s the basics, anyway. I also kind of like the idea of Loki having to fight a hero before he can mind control them, in a Pokémon sort of way.
Also, to save time and energy, I recommend having combat be in first person, kind of like this:
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