Innovative Combat

penandpaper

There's been a lot of talk lately about mmo combat not being innovative.  It's the same old thing, is what I hear.  Well, here's your chance.  Innovate.

And just to show I'm on board and not trolling, here's an example:

- Start with two concepts; make combat interactive and meaningful. 

     + By interactive, I mean plant key items in combat that might be effective against your enemies.  These key items might be highlighted, or there might be a tinted square that you need to get to trigger these items.  Once you do get there, you activate the key items to trigger the effect against enemies.

     +  Combat should have meaning, not be mindless.  If combat is touching then it should be sparse.  I know that's a bad word because it means that five seconds of a player's time is not spent hitting 1, 3, 4, then 2.  But, if combat follows a storyline then it can be sparse, but still good.

 

An overall example of this would be a quest to a small fishing village that's being plagued by a sea hag.  On the ship, you may encounter a few pirates the hag hired to get rid of you.  So you're on the deck of this boat, guarding against arrow shots, trying to make it to the tinted square.  You do so, and pull back your bow.  You slice through the sail line releasing the boom mast and knocking (in good ole cutscene fashion) two of the pirates off.  Only one more to go.  He pulls a rapier, you pull your weapon and fight.  I'm say, more defense and less attacks.  A player should not be able to get stabbed ten times and still run around.  The duel is close and personal.  He swings, you parry, counter and with one fell swoop he dies.

Is that the end.  Of course not!  Now you have a sailboat with a broken mast that doesn't allow you to steer to well.  So you grab the wheel and play a mini game.  Yup, sail the ship into harbor.  The more damage you do, the angrier the townspeople are at you; hence, the less information they give you about the sea hag.

You explore the little town, get healed by the priest, find out some secret about a maiden being sacrificed, and realize you're are on a timed quest.

Off you dart to the sea hag's cave.  She's placed a pool at the front with a guardian crocodile.  Your job, get over in the small rowboat without getting knocked over.  Another mini game.  The croc hides underwater, you see bubbles, and paddle like hell to avoid him coming up.  If he knocks you in, you sink (if you have armor) or you climb back in the boat and keep paddling.

You reach the other side and notice a labrynth of caves.  You can hear the ocean's waves in the background.  Evvery so often (at key points), you hear a rush.  The sound will dictate which side it's coming from.  That's when you realize these tubes are giant blowholes for the crashing waves.  You need to dart to the opposing side to escape being thrown out to sea, and a precious climb (another mini game) up the cliffs to reach the hag in time.

Finally, in a large clearing covered with slimy water, there she is: weathered, scaly, green, and ugly.  The maiden lies unconscious on a sandy outcropping.  She morphs into a slithering creature and you fight.  (Fortunately, you didn't crash the boat so the townsfolk to ld you to bring fire.)  You clasp the flint and steel together and light the torch.  She is charging.  You dive out of the way of her poisonous bite and fling the torch at her.  She burns, but isn't done yet.  She turns and you draw your weapon.  The duel is on.  You swing and miss from not being close enough and she takes advantage of your clumsiness.  Her fangs bite deep into your shoulder.  The poison is acting fast, and your vision is becoming blurry.  You step back and she strikes again.   You swing from intuition and hear the sharp slice of your weapon cutting through her.  She falls dead and you fall unconscious.

You awake to the sound of bells and soft sheets.  The maiden is there, coating your neck with a paste.  You survived, she survived and the town is grateful to be rid of their curse.

You step outside to a town in celebration; music and singing, beer and wine, and dancing.  People thank you.  You are awarded some money and an item.  Then after your fill of the celebration, you leave and head back home.   

Sorry for the long post, just wanted to get my point across.  Seems like a lot of work, a lot of cutscenes, but it could be worth it.  Btw, if you didn't have the torch, you would just have to take her down the old fashioned way - fighting, shooting, or casting.  Of course, it would be a bit harder with probably a greater chance of death. 

What'ya think?

penandpaper

I guess I should add that the above example has cut scenes, but similar of say, God of War's fighting cut scenes.  I think it's important because it allows death scenes to have greater impact and have more variety.  I think several people liked the death blows in AoC, this simply enhances it with "unique" ways to die.