Saber bloking, in times past long ago...

[jewbacca]

Hey guise!

I remember myself stumbling upon a video with some older mb2 build. The thing I noticed is how different block animation was back then. So... it's sertainly not something we have now. So I have a couple of questions to vets out there.

- Was that fun?
- How it affected duels?
- Somehow it promoted unskillful gameplay?
- Was it too difficult to control saber during block?
- Why it was removed?
- What devs think?

 

[SeV]

Hey guise!

I remember myself stumbling upon a video with some older mb2 build. The thing I noticed is how different block animation was back then. So... it's sertainly not something we have now. So I have a couple of questions to vets out there.

- Was that fun?
- How it affected duels?
- Somehow it promoted unskillful gameplay?
- Was it too difficult to control saber during block?
- Why it was removed?
- What devs think?

- Yes. I was a huge fan of RC1. One of my favorite builds.
-No, I wouldn't say that.
-No, I enjoyed it at the time and didn't think it was difficult.
-Blocking animations locked sabers, but it had some upsides aswell. I wasn't in the dev sphere at the time so I can only guess why it was removed. RC2 was an utter garbage build, then RC3 sort of fixed it a bit. But RC1 sabering was very unique and enjoyable and one of my favorite builds. If I remember correctly it was the build in which Sekundus began dueling/playing. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think RC1 was the build in which I pretty much dominated the dueling scene. It fit my temperament, nudges, cool block anims locked, felt movie like and cinematic to duel. Describe in 1 word: Cool.

*On a side note, stassin and I fiddled with bringing back RC1 style saber animations, but found that they locked you and prevented you from reacting, which was deemed bad. Hence what we have now (1.4+). I wasn't too much against it, and designing a system around it, but it was one of the first things we tried when testing for 1.4 early in the process, so it was scrapped/replaced with faster block anims that didn't lock you in place.

EDIT: Just noticed that it's shane in the video, lul. Rare footage of a long extinct creature.

 

[jewbacca]

Thanks for answer :3

Well, I haven't played it, but just by judging the video it looked a lot better. The next thing I thought was:
"Hey, this looks amazing, why it was removed?"

So that's why I created this thread.

 

[Tempest]

RC1 felt better in most ways except for the animation locking. You spent more time fighting your own inputs than the actual opponent in front of you.

 

[LanceOfLonginus]

I feel like old sabering came down to a very simple set of concepts:
How deeply your saber cut on the enemy model based on angle and player positioning and how well you broke your opponent's swings by attacking them with hard hitting moves while they were in their "wind up" animations for a swing.

I don't know if any of that is even relevant today, but that saber system seemed (if I gauged it right) simple and elegant. Toss in extras like when swings hit each other they cancel out BP damage and mblock and it felt manageable, and easily comprehended.

Current saber system has so many mechanics that I just don't even know where to start tackling it, so I end up spamming and using ACM.

 

[GoodOl'Ben]

The thing I liked about RC1 was that you could control the pace of a fight. When you attacked someone, they would block it. This meant that they would have to recover from blocking. It was the most fun I had dueling.

 

[{Δ} Achilles]

I never played it, but from most of the opinions I've gathered from Vets who have, it was: Fun but inconsistent, and you had to fight yourself as much as the opponent.

 

[k4far]

Not sure if it is a good sign but I am winning a lot of duels by not paying much attention to Perfect Blocking I just go with the flow, dodge and slap a lot. I am not a fan of 1 vs 1 fair and square. In open I am feeling like I can play more freely now.

I like the changes introduced to sabering. Btw. I am using yellow.

 

[SeV]

Not sure if it is a good sign but I am winning a lot of duels by not paying much attention to Perfect Blocking I just go with the flow, dodge and slap a lot. I am not a fan of 1 vs 1 fair and square. In open I am feeling like I can play more freely now.

I like the changes introduced to sabering. Btw. I am using yellow.

No matter what, if you focus on PBing you won't win that many duels. It has to be something subconscious, a reflext more or less. If you have to think about or focus on PBing, then you will be playing markedly worse because your attention is partly tied up in that. It's what you do when you first learn to PB, but after you know the zones etc, it should come naturally and you should focus on other things like timings and the flow of the duel. Also, cheap swings and parries is absolutely essential for good open mode 1v2 1v3 etc etc situations. If swings cost alot, it's rly bad for 1v2. If parries rape your BP, it's also bad for 1v2. So in that sense this update is good for 1vx open mode situations (assuming we talk saber vs saber).

 

[LanceOfLonginus]

I feel the saber system should readily account for open mode's unfair odds.

It should be nigh impossible to win a 2v1 with equal opponents without some level of trickery and deception on the part of the 1.

 

[Liniyka_xddd]

It would be cool to actually try it out, whether it's balanced or not

 

[{Δ} Achilles]

I feel the saber system should readily account for open mode's unfair odds.

It should be nigh impossible to win a 2v1 with equal opponents without some level of trickery and deception on the part of the 1.

It... already is that way?

If I had to fight Tempest and Kael simultaneously, I'd lose, unless I get a lucky SW or knock them off a ledge. Simple as that.

 

[LanceOfLonginus]

Duels can run a little long for what I would consider open friendly, and that's before you even add evasive tactics