And yes, the pun in the title is intentional. Sword fighting in games of hack and slash or RPGs is really boring most of the time. It feels like you are clubbing someone to death with a dull blade (see? It was intentional!) rather than slashing and thrusting with a deadly weapon.
It has always pulled me out of a game when what looks like it would be a lethal hit only takes off a chunk of health instead of just killing someone outright.
With this in mind, I've come up with a system that could make combat more lethal without making it look dumber in the process.
#1. Animations.
Leave hits on the body for killing moves or slashes. Instead of whacking at someone until they fall over, make the animations show blocks and parries whenever you attack. Instead of chipping away at someone's health, you are beating down their defense. Slashing, dodging, blocking with a shield all look really damn cool.
This not only looks a hell of a lot cooler than just beating a guy like a stead tenderizer, but it also makes more sense. It is about making it through their defensive wall and getting a killing blow in past their guard. That makes the kill all the more satisfying.
#2. Momentum, Endurance, Vigor
Instead of a health bar, you have three values to take into account: Momentum, Endurance, and Vigor.
Momentum
Momentum stands in for Damage. Any weapon can be lethal, so placing a numerical value on it makes no sense. Instead, give each weapon a level of momentum. Momentum reflects how much pressure you can put onto your opponent as you wail on his guard, representing the aggression of your attack.
For example, a morning star would be a weapon with high momentum. To be used effectively, you need to keep the pressure on, swinging the ball and chain in a constant motion in order to land a hit. This amount of momentum allows for more damaging hits.
On the opposite end is a dagger. It has a lower momentum due to the lightweight nature of the weapon. It is harder to put up a constant attack like the morning star achieves, but it is counterbalanced by the other two values.
Vigor
Vigor acts like your mana bar, or how long you can hold up an attack. Using the morning star example, it has very high momentum, but its weight and awkwardness limit your amount of vigor you can use. This makes the weapon better for shock attacks to overwhelm an enemy quickly, but it is not well designed for prolonged combat, as your vigor drains very fast while using it.
The dagger works better here, as it is lightweight, and easy to handle. This makes it better to use in longer attacks, whittling down an opponent over time. It has a higher vigor pool, allowing it to last longer in a fight.
Endurance
Endurance is how long you can last before getting hit and killed. Depending on your equipment, Endurance can be affected in different ways. Using a shield and heavy armor gives you a high endurance, but they affect your vigor due to their weight. So armour allows you to last longer in a fight, but you have to fight smarter due to the limits it puts on your vigor.
Contrasting is light armor such as leather. It gives you less endurance, but also more vigor, since it is lighter.
Endurance can recharge, much like how in real life we can catch our breath. So you have to juggle how hard you go on the attack, lowering your vigor, which leaves you more open to counterattack adversely affecting your Endurance. When to commit and when to play defensive is key.
Putting them all together
So the gameplay works through how these three values affect each other, altering how you play. Do you use a high momentum weapon with heavy armor, making you lethal on the first attack, but much more vulnerable in the follow up? Or do you use lightweight equipment allowing you to attack further, but you are less able to defend yourself?
Attacks
First of all, no quicktime events. You have three attacks: Horizontal, Vertical, and Lunge. Horizontal attacks work well with less momentum weapons like daggers or knives, slashing swiftly to whittle down their endurance. Vertical attacks work well with the morning star due to the high momentum, using the crushing power to your advantage. Lunges are very risky: you stand the chance to kill an enemy outright, but you could also over exert yourself, resulting in a big hit to your endurance if they counter you while you are extended.
I'm still working on how this would all be applied in the context of gameplay, but I wondered what you guys thought of it first. Please leave comments on what you think works and what could be improved.
It has always pulled me out of a game when what looks like it would be a lethal hit only takes off a chunk of health instead of just killing someone outright.
With this in mind, I've come up with a system that could make combat more lethal without making it look dumber in the process.
#1. Animations.
Leave hits on the body for killing moves or slashes. Instead of whacking at someone until they fall over, make the animations show blocks and parries whenever you attack. Instead of chipping away at someone's health, you are beating down their defense. Slashing, dodging, blocking with a shield all look really damn cool.
This not only looks a hell of a lot cooler than just beating a guy like a stead tenderizer, but it also makes more sense. It is about making it through their defensive wall and getting a killing blow in past their guard. That makes the kill all the more satisfying.
#2. Momentum, Endurance, Vigor
Instead of a health bar, you have three values to take into account: Momentum, Endurance, and Vigor.
Momentum
Momentum stands in for Damage. Any weapon can be lethal, so placing a numerical value on it makes no sense. Instead, give each weapon a level of momentum. Momentum reflects how much pressure you can put onto your opponent as you wail on his guard, representing the aggression of your attack.
For example, a morning star would be a weapon with high momentum. To be used effectively, you need to keep the pressure on, swinging the ball and chain in a constant motion in order to land a hit. This amount of momentum allows for more damaging hits.
On the opposite end is a dagger. It has a lower momentum due to the lightweight nature of the weapon. It is harder to put up a constant attack like the morning star achieves, but it is counterbalanced by the other two values.
Vigor
Vigor acts like your mana bar, or how long you can hold up an attack. Using the morning star example, it has very high momentum, but its weight and awkwardness limit your amount of vigor you can use. This makes the weapon better for shock attacks to overwhelm an enemy quickly, but it is not well designed for prolonged combat, as your vigor drains very fast while using it.
The dagger works better here, as it is lightweight, and easy to handle. This makes it better to use in longer attacks, whittling down an opponent over time. It has a higher vigor pool, allowing it to last longer in a fight.
Endurance
Endurance is how long you can last before getting hit and killed. Depending on your equipment, Endurance can be affected in different ways. Using a shield and heavy armor gives you a high endurance, but they affect your vigor due to their weight. So armour allows you to last longer in a fight, but you have to fight smarter due to the limits it puts on your vigor.
Contrasting is light armor such as leather. It gives you less endurance, but also more vigor, since it is lighter.
Endurance can recharge, much like how in real life we can catch our breath. So you have to juggle how hard you go on the attack, lowering your vigor, which leaves you more open to counterattack adversely affecting your Endurance. When to commit and when to play defensive is key.
Putting them all together
So the gameplay works through how these three values affect each other, altering how you play. Do you use a high momentum weapon with heavy armor, making you lethal on the first attack, but much more vulnerable in the follow up? Or do you use lightweight equipment allowing you to attack further, but you are less able to defend yourself?
Attacks
First of all, no quicktime events. You have three attacks: Horizontal, Vertical, and Lunge. Horizontal attacks work well with less momentum weapons like daggers or knives, slashing swiftly to whittle down their endurance. Vertical attacks work well with the morning star due to the high momentum, using the crushing power to your advantage. Lunges are very risky: you stand the chance to kill an enemy outright, but you could also over exert yourself, resulting in a big hit to your endurance if they counter you while you are extended.
I'm still working on how this would all be applied in the context of gameplay, but I wondered what you guys thought of it first. Please leave comments on what you think works and what could be improved.
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