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So before I begin to explain why I think the current system could be better, let me remind you guys that I'm not a master duelists. Of course you're going to think that my opinions be wrong or right, are essentially worthless all because I'm not good at the system. But remember, it doesn't take a master electrician to screw in a new light bulb.
The system currently.
I think in some aspects, the system is flawed. I don't think movement keys should correlate with your attacking direction. Holding down w, sw, dw and so forth can get a bit tricky at times, especially when under extreme pressure from what's going on around you. I'm not saying the system isn't efficient, because if i really took the time into learning all these combinations, i too could be very good at saber combat. But that's just the problem, time. Time itself, is an issue for most people here. New players in general simply don't want to put in the effort to learn how this system works. It's simply too detailed for some to handle. Many people who bought this game from the steam sale had no idea that this mod even existed. It wasn't until reading the reviews that they had an idea of what this mod was all about. Now that they're in it, they just pick their favorite jedi/sith and go ham on everyone who isnt/is a saber user. That's perfectly ok with me, because it seems like they're having fun. But what's not so pleasant to the eyes, is seeing those players react to a master duelist in a casual open environment. They hate the fact that, to even stand a chance against some players, they're going to have to put themselves through several hours of practice and training to even get a clever slap off to the enemy. I'm not saying that we should baby new players, but it's getting to the point where players are leaving simply because this isn't the saber combat they were expecting.
Beyond that, there are more concerns that i have in mind. Styles, and styles in general.
Don't get me wrong, i love the fact that there isn't just some one sided hit or miss system. Styles bring a unique way to essentially come up with your own form of technique. But the way they're presented, gives off a "this is the preferred style, don't use anything else". Sometimes i think styles are heavily based on what the community thinks is good, and not what the player thinks is good. A player might look at this forum, and see that the hundreds of people who play this game, prefer purple because of its offensive capabilities. He might then decide to use purple without any research, causing him to "abuse" that style, in a way. Or better put, not using the style as intended, using it because the community said so. No style should be better than any other, but be different to the point where a style's ability may become apparent in the situation its best used in.
Now comes the part where i poorly explain how we could improve the system by comparing it to another game of similar genre in terms of x to x combat.
Meet mount and blade, a medieval inspired 3rd/1st person kingdom management game. A game's combat system that seems revolutionary in comparison to another game, Chivalry.
Mount and blade's combat system revolves around the use of the camera to influence what direction you're attacking. You tilt the camera up as you're charging towards the enemy to do an uppercut with your sword. Or you pan the camera down a tad to input a downward slash. Same with left/right slashes.
As you can see here. An arrow points the direction the camera was just tilted to influence a left to right power strike. Now what makes this combat system truly unique is that the sword, the body, everything has a collision mesh. If a sword hits another sword, they bounce off. If you don't gain enough momentum with a spear, it bounces off the armor of the enemy. If your weapon isn't strong enough, it'll scrape off the enemy.
But we're talking about lightsabers here Alk, they don't collide with anything except heavy metals and other lightsabers. That's the point. This combat system would fit MB2 exceptionally, in the end. It would all come down to reading how the enemy ready his/her saber. If you see the arms going up, pan your camera up and block/clash/lock sabers. It's similar to how you would pb a slow red user. Seeing how he can only hit 3 times in a combo. left right left, left up right, ect.
Hitboxes.
Ohh boy, where to begin. I don't know if hitboxes are accurate or not. This happened earlier today to me, but its also happened to other players as well. I slapped a sith down and he rolled to the right, saber on the other side of his body. I was behind him, he got up with his saber in front of his body. I bounced off his back.
I don't know what influenced that, but i can tell you its not right. I found a picture on google that may have something to do with what I'm talking about.
Its apparent what happened today, that neither of these truly exist in game. I don't know how many times i should've been sliced in half, or sliced a dude in half only for neither of us to be physical harmed when a saber is in bedded into our wastes. This isn't ping related, don't jump to conclusions because of ping. Me and the opponent were a solid 60. Nothing more, nothing less.
To recap, and a mini TL;DR.
Combat needs to be updated considerably if players are to thoroughly enjoy duels/fa/.
Maybe new camera directional input? (Inspired by mount & blade).
A fix to whatever the reason saber's are colliding with bodies properly.
Maybe a few tweaks to the style system. Make it more user friendly and apparent.
OH! That reminds me, speaking of styles. Staff and duel sabers. I'm not sure how to explain this so let me briefly make a chart and or still.
Please excuse my over-dramatic representation of the duel sabers and extremely childlike art style. I was talking about this to a few members of an old JK clan a couple of days ago and they really approved of this idea.
This topic took me a while, phew. I understand most of you are fine with the mostly flawed system but please be open minded.
The system currently.
I think in some aspects, the system is flawed. I don't think movement keys should correlate with your attacking direction. Holding down w, sw, dw and so forth can get a bit tricky at times, especially when under extreme pressure from what's going on around you. I'm not saying the system isn't efficient, because if i really took the time into learning all these combinations, i too could be very good at saber combat. But that's just the problem, time. Time itself, is an issue for most people here. New players in general simply don't want to put in the effort to learn how this system works. It's simply too detailed for some to handle. Many people who bought this game from the steam sale had no idea that this mod even existed. It wasn't until reading the reviews that they had an idea of what this mod was all about. Now that they're in it, they just pick their favorite jedi/sith and go ham on everyone who isnt/is a saber user. That's perfectly ok with me, because it seems like they're having fun. But what's not so pleasant to the eyes, is seeing those players react to a master duelist in a casual open environment. They hate the fact that, to even stand a chance against some players, they're going to have to put themselves through several hours of practice and training to even get a clever slap off to the enemy. I'm not saying that we should baby new players, but it's getting to the point where players are leaving simply because this isn't the saber combat they were expecting.
Beyond that, there are more concerns that i have in mind. Styles, and styles in general.
Don't get me wrong, i love the fact that there isn't just some one sided hit or miss system. Styles bring a unique way to essentially come up with your own form of technique. But the way they're presented, gives off a "this is the preferred style, don't use anything else". Sometimes i think styles are heavily based on what the community thinks is good, and not what the player thinks is good. A player might look at this forum, and see that the hundreds of people who play this game, prefer purple because of its offensive capabilities. He might then decide to use purple without any research, causing him to "abuse" that style, in a way. Or better put, not using the style as intended, using it because the community said so. No style should be better than any other, but be different to the point where a style's ability may become apparent in the situation its best used in.
Now comes the part where i poorly explain how we could improve the system by comparing it to another game of similar genre in terms of x to x combat.
Meet mount and blade, a medieval inspired 3rd/1st person kingdom management game. A game's combat system that seems revolutionary in comparison to another game, Chivalry.
Mount and blade's combat system revolves around the use of the camera to influence what direction you're attacking. You tilt the camera up as you're charging towards the enemy to do an uppercut with your sword. Or you pan the camera down a tad to input a downward slash. Same with left/right slashes.
As you can see here. An arrow points the direction the camera was just tilted to influence a left to right power strike. Now what makes this combat system truly unique is that the sword, the body, everything has a collision mesh. If a sword hits another sword, they bounce off. If you don't gain enough momentum with a spear, it bounces off the armor of the enemy. If your weapon isn't strong enough, it'll scrape off the enemy.
But we're talking about lightsabers here Alk, they don't collide with anything except heavy metals and other lightsabers. That's the point. This combat system would fit MB2 exceptionally, in the end. It would all come down to reading how the enemy ready his/her saber. If you see the arms going up, pan your camera up and block/clash/lock sabers. It's similar to how you would pb a slow red user. Seeing how he can only hit 3 times in a combo. left right left, left up right, ect.
Hitboxes.
Ohh boy, where to begin. I don't know if hitboxes are accurate or not. This happened earlier today to me, but its also happened to other players as well. I slapped a sith down and he rolled to the right, saber on the other side of his body. I was behind him, he got up with his saber in front of his body. I bounced off his back.
I don't know what influenced that, but i can tell you its not right. I found a picture on google that may have something to do with what I'm talking about.
Its apparent what happened today, that neither of these truly exist in game. I don't know how many times i should've been sliced in half, or sliced a dude in half only for neither of us to be physical harmed when a saber is in bedded into our wastes. This isn't ping related, don't jump to conclusions because of ping. Me and the opponent were a solid 60. Nothing more, nothing less.
To recap, and a mini TL;DR.
Combat needs to be updated considerably if players are to thoroughly enjoy duels/fa/.
Maybe new camera directional input? (Inspired by mount & blade).
A fix to whatever the reason saber's are colliding with bodies properly.
Maybe a few tweaks to the style system. Make it more user friendly and apparent.
OH! That reminds me, speaking of styles. Staff and duel sabers. I'm not sure how to explain this so let me briefly make a chart and or still.
Please excuse my over-dramatic representation of the duel sabers and extremely childlike art style. I was talking about this to a few members of an old JK clan a couple of days ago and they really approved of this idea.
This topic took me a while, phew. I understand most of you are fine with the mostly flawed system but please be open minded.
