DELETED

[DrunkOnEstus]

(Snip).

The old avatar was better. Now I'm a sad Simon.

OT: Oblivion's combat felt like you were just playing a game of bumper cars, colliding and scratching at each-other with little in the way of meaningful feedback besides the heartfelt verbal abuse of Wes Johnson. I prefer combat with more meaningful feedback, like what you got with the flawed Soldier Of Fortune 2. It should ideally be short and hellish for all involved.

I didn't think anyone would actually notice...consider yourself a happier Simon : )

Definitely agree on Oblivion. A big problem that everyone knows about Morrowind is that they tried to marry real-time action combat with old-school dice rolls, and the animations and such are even less satisfying when you make an impact and literally nothing happens because you "missed". Oblivion essentially feels the same but with collision detection, but it still doesn't look or feel great. Neither does Skyrim for me really, it's why I prefer archer or magic. Fallout 3 has the same problem, but it's amazing how much better a baseball bat swing to their head feels when their head flies into the distance and the body ragdolls out (and now, for a fleeting second, I can see how the Jack Thompsons of the world get confused).

 

[Salsajoe]

When you strike a body with a weapon, be it ranged or melee, it needs to react properly. Decapitation or other dismemberment, bulletholes, bloodsplatter, disintegration, that sort of thing.

Also what I find absolutely annoying is when stuff like the conservation of momentum isn't part of the reaction. Like striking a person with a hammer and the body doesn't follow the direction of the hammer after the impact.

Furthermore it needs to be difficult to a gree as to propose a challenge, so that you get a sense of achievement or completion. You just won a fight for you life or defeated a really strong enemy, now is the time for loot and rejoice.

There is also a sense of feel to how weapons handle in games, like having easy to learn difficult to master sense to it works well imo.

 

[Imre Csete]

It only has to serve its purpose. I like the ones which depend on player imput more than character stats, but I don't mind turn-based or oldschool right click and watch the combat log roll ones either.

 

[gigastar]

Part of what indoctrinated me into the Monster Hunter series was how its combat style made you commit to your actions at a time when even Demons Souls was little more than a nascent spunk of an idea inside Miyazaki's skull.

 

[the December King]

Personally the key to good combat stems from control. I like the illusion of control to be very convincing, and in this, I mean that I need to feel capable in the role I am in in the game. This can be accomplished through good general control of the character, weapons or capabilities that imply almost impregnable or unstoppable general application (while of course being not that at all, simply leaving me feeling some level of comfort in my journey/travels/missions and my ability to react to problems that arise), immediate response times, and the allowance of a certain degree of finesse, so that an actual improving of certain interactions can actually be developed in my playing the game). I also appreciate the advancement of a character's abilities in game being somehow reflected in the mechanics, either through stronger attacks, better gear, or even a general allotment of more powers or hit points(as a reflection of the skill you have attained, it is harder for the enemy to land a fatal blow, not that you are necessarily more healthy).

 

[Thaluikhain]

Decent controls, for one.

Also, just lack of annoying things. When friendlies get in the way and I can't move past them (or shoot them in the back by mistake), or when the enemy stops being a threat and starts being a nuisance instead.

 

[omega 616]

Something that gives a very small amount of screen shake during the big finishers, a good bassy thud and bone crunching, brutal looking combat, think of manhunt style gore with Batman style sound.

I'd also like it to evolve but not into 2D fighter levels of combos, I meant how like in assassins creed enemies start negating counters or direct attacks or stop you from hurdling them an/or you can add gadgets into it, to extend combos or help with crowd control. I should never just be mashing attack or having to remember insane combo strings.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

Weighty animations mostly.

The Last of Us has some of my favourite combat of all time. Thing is, mechanically it's rather simple stuff. Basic stealth, a melee system that mostly boils down to mashing one button and third person shooting distinguished only by the "soft cover" system.

But I love it because when Joel bludgeons a dude to the ground with a brick and then kicks him in the jaw it actually looks like blows are being exchanged. To the point where on my first playthrough it was making me wince from time to time. The player character's motions flow nicely and enemies have specific flinching or staggering reactions to each kind of attack.

None of that weaksauce bullshit you get in 99% of games where your character will perform an attack animation and then the enemy will either lose some health but continue moving and attacking as if nothing happened, or they will perform a generic flinch animation that has little connection with the manner in which they were hit. (Looking at you Skyrim). Often in games involving swords or other melee weapons your blows will pass straight through the enemy as if you were swinging at empty air. (Looking at you Dark Souls.) Fucking lame.

It carries through to the shooting as well. None of that Borderlands garbage where enemies barely even react to being shot and it feels like you're just whittling away at ambulatory health bars all game. When an enemy takes a bullet they flinch or stagger. It's good visual feedback.

I'll also second the OP on Mass Effect 3 as a fellow Vanguard aficionado. That class was a joy to play, with shotguns, the nova ability and the heavy melee all being very satisfying to use.

It could have been better though. The charge ability animations were a bit janky and the ragdoll physics were a bit overdone, sometimes making enemies seem weightless or lifeless. Also, some over-reliance on bullet sponge enemies.

I would like to second this times a million.

Mechanically, TLoU is a pretty standard third-person-cover-based-shooter, which I usually can't stand. But holy shit the first time I shot a guy in the head, the first time I strangled the life out of a dude, and the first time I lit a guy on fire and heard him scream and heard Ellie react to it, it was the first time in a game I actually felt like I was killing people. It made each battle so much more intense because it kept the illusion up that these were actual people you were murdering.
Until the AI would break and they would start walking towards you with baseball bats and you shoot them one by one. Still, it kept me immersed most of the time and it more than made up for the bad parts

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

One Finger Death Punch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN6rYygppY0] is a good example; combat is responsive, a good example of 'easy to learn, hard to master', and every move, from the standard punch to the jaw-shattering kick that sends your opponent into the stratosphere, just shoots a feeling of visceral joy up my spine.

I believe that is the elusive term people mistake as "complexity" when the actual term is known as "depth".

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Weighty animations mostly.

Generally this.

There are exceptions, but my favourite action games usually have a grounded feeling to them (Resident Evil 4, The Last of Us). To me action holds little excitement if gravity is completely absent, whether it's games or movies.

Third. Basically: a good physics/ragdoll engine that makes me feel how the blows/bullets connect. I love the satisfaction of bricking a guy in TLoU, then running up to him and bashing him dead with a single, clean swipe of my 2x4.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

For me, a lot of the satisfaction in game combat comes from having "weight" and good audio-visual feedback on your attacks and enemies reactions to those attacks. (Probably why I don't like Skyrim's combat very much...)

I think you nailed it in the OP. This is probably the biggest thing that matters to me. I'd say it goes beyond games too, you can see the difference it makes when a fight has weight and impact to it. Chipping away at a health bar is so abstract, when that's all your attacks do it can get incredibly boring. As you said, having other kinds of feedback gives you a more tangible feeling to what you're doing.

Seriously, that's what I think is by far the most important thing, without contest. If a game doesn't have that, it just feels empty for me.

Now, to delve more into my own personal taste, I like slow-paced combat that's based on timing and position more than anything. There's some games where it's all about stacking together long combos of attack so that your opponent doesn't have a time to respond, and I can get their appeal, but it just isn't for me. Waiting for the right time to attack, and having myself in the right position requires planning and skill to execute.

There's probably some people who can do deliberate planning on the fly in the middle of executing complex combos at 8 buttons per second, but just can't do that. It's like people who play Starcraft 2. I'm told that at some point you get to the level where you can manipulate your 100 units in a tactical manner while micromanaging your 30 buildings, but I never got to that point. It's either all on tactics and my bulidings are sitting idle, or all on micromanagement and my units aren't getting any attention at all.

Uh, that was a bit of a tangent, but I think it illustrates my point decently. With slower-paced games I have the time to be able to afford to plan dynamically, too fast paced and I find I'm just working mechanically off of muscle memory.

Dark Souls is a game that I thought was good for both weight and timing based combat. An older example would be Phantasy Star Online

 

[Evonisia]

You've got me thinking about how awesome it would be if they gave Dark Souls weightier impacts *swoon. Did they do that with Bloodborne or was that just blood splattter?

Bloodborne has more weight to it than the Souls games, but it does mostly rely on blood splatter.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Games with interesting or unique game mechanics always get me excited.

I also enjoy when there is a merging of combat and another game element integral to the game (environment, story, atmosphere, etc.) that makes you feel like you are part of the world.

Some examples include the Bioshock series, Dead Space 2, the Disgaea series, the Vanillaware titles, and the Kingdom Hearts series.

Edit: I forgot to mention Professor Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure and Monster Tale, both games that incorporate platforming/Metroidvania exploration with real-time matching block puzzles/RPG elements in its gameplay, creating unique experiences that work seamlessly.

 

[Gray-Philosophy]

Like a lot of people mentioned already, weighty and grounded animations are super important to make it feel right. Even if it is just a fairly simple click to hit system.

Other than that, responsiveness and feedback is at the top of the list for me. Like being in full control of whatever attack/defend/dodge maneuvers you might have, as well as being able to fluently pull them off. Being able to clearly tell whether or not you've done something right based on the animations of the characters, enemies staggering etc.

I'll have to nominate Dark Messiah as one of the coolest games I've played with an awesome combat system, albeit a bit dated.

Spoiler: Dark Messiah video

[link]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYFqZrsS7VM[/link]
How do I make those fancy video thumbnails?

 

[maninahat]

Weighty animations mostly.

The Last of Us has some of my favourite combat of all time. Thing is, mechanically it's rather simple stuff. Basic stealth, a melee system that mostly boils down to mashing one button and third person shooting distinguished only by the "soft cover" system.

But I love it because when Joel bludgeons a dude to the ground with a brick and then kicks him in the jaw it actually looks like blows are being exchanged. To the point where on my first playthrough it was making me wince from time to time. The player character's motions flow nicely and enemies have specific flinching or staggering reactions to each kind of attack.

None of that weaksauce bullshit you get in 99% of games where your character will perform an attack animation and then the enemy will either lose some health but continue moving and attacking as if nothing happened, or they will perform a generic flinch animation that has little connection with the manner in which they were hit. (Looking at you Skyrim). Often in games involving swords or other melee weapons your blows will pass straight through the enemy as if you were swinging at empty air. (Looking at you Dark Souls.) Fucking lame.

It carries through to the shooting as well. None of that Borderlands garbage where enemies barely even react to being shot and it feels like you're just whittling away at ambulatory health bars all game. When an enemy takes a bullet they flinch or stagger. It's good visual feedback.

I'll also second the OP on Mass Effect 3 as a fellow Vanguard aficionado. That class was a joy to play, with shotguns, the nova ability and the heavy melee all being very satisfying to use.

It could have been better though. The charge ability animations were a bit janky and the ragdoll physics were a bit overdone, sometimes making enemies seem weightless or lifeless. Also, some over-reliance on bullet sponge enemies.

Pretty much this. Being able to wind up the punch myself helps. Games like Xeno Clash and Mount and Blade has an analogous mouse movement to simulate you winding back for a huge attack (which feels great when it connects and sends enemies flying). Any game that introduces this simulated tactile quality to movement, like Grow Home's climbing mechanic, or if a simulator lets you drag heavy objects and levers, makes for a rewarding experience.

 

[dreng3]

How the environment influences the game. In Sleeping Dogs for an example. There is nothing quite like hammering someone's head through a window and seeing glass shards fly all over, bodies impacting with solid objects should produce an impact, something rarely found in modern games.

 

[go-10]

Batman Arkham games that's satisfying to me. Challenging in it's own right but once you understand and master the system you feel super powerful and it's just like an awesome rhythm game... Until you face off against Mr.Freeze when it turns into an incredibly amazing combat system where you have to use every tool and advantage in your disposal, everything just works so perfectly together

as for shooters... I dunno I think Halo is by far the best in that field