Why do we play games?? Get distracted, relax, have fun, get some new experience, or an old one that you love.
What are we looking for in an RPG?? Roleplaying a specific role model? Well yes, it’s possible. Let’s remember the same Fallout, Neverwinter Nights and Torment, which could be played as a virtuous knight in shining armor, or a villainous villain who does not miss the chance to spoil his neighbor (or distant) (or not), and an absolutely neutral guardian of justice, regardless of the identity of the culprit of this or that situation (hello, canonical Geralt!) Roleplaying is definitely important.
Interesting story? It’s also true – killing another typical villain who is bad “because gladiolus” is not the most addictive goal for a gamer who has a considerable choice of what to play. Whether it’s sudden twists, heroes, villains who turn out to be heroes, and other twists and turns of the plot that make you grab your head and methodically sway back and forth.
All this is important – roleplaying, history, the world, the dialogue system, and everything, everything, everything. But there is one feature that makes the game more interesting than all this – the combat..
Let me explain why I suddenly decided to write on such a topic. Being a fan of such a series of games as "Gothic", I was wildly a fan (and still am a fan) of the melee combat system of this game. At the same time beautiful, effective and logical. Giving a challenge and a fierce thrill from successfully completing a fight… Then I met other RPGs. They had their advantages, which “Gothic” did not have, but there were disadvantages. And one of these disadvantages (against the background of “Gothic”) was the combat system..
Now, having launched the next game and seeing the “Kick, hit, roll” combat system that has become fashionable, I feel sad. I wanted the same symmetrical challenge that “Gothic” gave – when you, having the proper skill and reaction, can with a simple club and, being almost a noob in the use of one-handed weapons, overwhelm an enemy 10-15 levels higher and, at the same time, when you come to him, being already 5 levels older than him, you can grab non-illusory ones from him and lose your gold and self-respect.
Remembering “Gothic”, on a wave of nostalgia I was carried to StopGame.ru – write your first blog.
To be objective and (if possible) diversify this article, I will compare the combat of “Gothic” with the combat systems of several other, no less eminent, in my opinion, similar to the object of the study action-rpg: “Two Worlds”, “Divinity 2 – Ego Draconis” and, with its once age-old rival – several representatives of the “TES” series.
From “Gothic” I will focus on the first 2 parts, “Two Worlds” – both parts, “Divine Divinity” – only on those parts that are first-person action-rpg (not strategy or isometric), and from the TES series – Morrownd, Oblivion and Skyrim.
To immediately remove the question that logically comes to mind – I am in no way saying that all the games in this article, except for “Gothic”, are bad. No. Right now, while I’m writing this article, I’m stuck in the same “Divinity 2” for 6 hours a day. All the games here are decent, with their own strengths. But according to the main criterion for this article – the combat system – in my opinion, they lose.
About the object of study
In this article, the https://candylandcasino.uk/withdrawal/ combat system will mean a set of methods of interaction between the main character of the game and opponents, entailing death or loss of consciousness (as well as property and self-esteem) by the latter.
Also, I will highlight separately the melee and ranged combat systems. I will be considering the system neighbor battle.
What, in my opinion, makes the combat system stand out in Gothic?? Firstly — implementation of control. To strike, you need not just click the mouse button, but hold it down and select the direction of movement, on which the strike itself will depend – its animation and speed. To dodge a blow, release the mouse button and select the direction of movement. Moreover, moving to the side and moving backwards differ in their effect. Running to the side and jumping back can save you from some blows. From some – just a jump back.
Secondly – battle intensity. If at the beginning of the game you are killed by the first wolf you meet, and meeting two goblins at the same time automatically means death – this is normal. To defeat even just a beast (except for a meat beetle – and even then you could miss it a couple of times without “catching” the correct distance) – you need to understand how it acts, moves, attacks, dodges. And, at the same time, calculate the speed of your attack animation, because it is simply interrupted if the enemy’s blow (impact animation) is faster. In a fight with a goblin, you can catch him when he runs around you just within striking distance (and the striking distance, by the way, is different for each weapon. This is not stated directly anywhere, but practice shows this more than clearly). But, as the famous joke said: “There is a nuance. “- if at this moment you try to hit the goblin with a forward blow, there is an extremely high probability that you will miss, and the goblin will be behind you and will be able to contribute to the fact that four dancers of a special genre will come after you… But a side blow, which does not move the character forward or backward, will just allow you to cause damage! And if you also catch the right timing and strike with a certain frequency, the monster will definitely not run far.
And if we remember the battles with NPCs, which can be roughly divided into 3 types: the first ones run at you and before hitting you, they furiously raise their weapons to strike – giving us an excellent moment to hit them first. These are not difficult opponents, with whom the main thing is to simply keep your distance to give them an incentive to run at you again and again until they run out of HP. They are usually very modestly armed, but at first they can make a pretty good deal even with a simple club. An example of such a character is the “security guard” of a tavern in the port quarter of the city – Mo.
The second type are those who cannot be fooled so easily. Having run up to you, they stand still, waiting for the right moment to strike, they do not hesitate to run around you, suddenly striking, or block your attacks, sharply striking back. With them you need to move more actively, seize moments and show almost miracles of reaction, catching their attacks with blocks. Almost all guards, city citizens, orcs and some mercenaries belong to this type.
The third type are walking meat grinders with serious faces, who not only deal a hail of very painful blows, but also pretty well block your series of blows. It’s quite difficult to catch them; blocking all their attacks is also quite difficult. The most effective way to fight against them is on counterattacks – having time to insert a blow immediately after blocking. And here you can forget about combinations. Having missed one hit, the NPC will immediately go into blocking, and subsequent hits will not have much effect.
As an example here, I personally remember Sentenza robbing newcomers on the approach to the Onara farm. Try to engage him exclusively in close combat and hold out while standing still for as long as possible – exclusively by blocking and attacking. For me it causes sweat to form on my body, a bitten lip, a wrinkled forehead and other symptoms of playing Dark Souls.
It’s clear that all of the above types of opponents have some patterns in combat. But these patterns, most often, have to be cleared out already during the battle, and they are not so obvious and monotonous that you can relax and mow down enemies one by one.
Thirdly, pumping and visible development. This is exactly why I personally adore this game so much and what is so lacking in other, more modern games. By upgrading your proficiency in one or another type of weapon, you’re not upgrading your punching power – in order to hit harder, you can stupidly invest upgrade points in strength – you’re upgrading precisely possession them. With a new level of proficiency, your movements become faster and more refined, you can do longer combinations, and overall you look cooler. Moreover, not only the movement of the blow changes – the hero’s stance also changes – compare what the character looks like in the first part of the game with a naked weapon at the “beginner” level:
You don’t just invest abstract skill points into some skills – you see with your own eyes that the character is really developing, and you feel the difference in battle – strikes are faster and more effective.
It is clear that over time the player also learns this combat system and better understands how it works. That, it turns out, after a certain blow there is a pause in your connection when you cannot jump away or run away, and which the enemy can take advantage of. Or that the animation between a side blow to the left and a forward blow at the level of proficiency with a one-handed weapon “Fighter” is a little shorter and you can manage to deal two blows to the enemy instead of one before he makes a block. Or that the enemy can be bombarded with blows if, after an attack, you take a sharp step to the side, hit again and repeat this at a speed of two blows per second. And so on. You begin to feel the character’s movements, notice good moments to attack the enemy and, in general, become a true master of melee combat in “Gothic”.
What about others??
"Two Worlds" and "Divinity".
I combined these games because of the similarity of their combat systems. Everything is standard – 1 click – 1 hit. a certain number of clicks adds hits into a combo. Of course, the animation makes the strikes look nice. But in fact, there is no smell of “Gothic” dynamics here. Interrupting an enemy attack? Trying to step aside? Let’s do it? The enemy allows himself to be attacked completely. Apparently, so that the player would not be offended, and he could see how enchantingly the character twirls the weapon.
In other words, we have the good old calling of the enemy. As a development, here is only the amount of damage caused. In principle, the combat of “Divinity 2” and “Two Worlds” differs from the combat of the same “Dragon Age 1-2” or “Neverwinter Nights” only by the absence of a tactical pause and the need to click to make each blow. It’s sad, unfortunately.
TES 3: Morrowind:
Legendary Morrowind! Everything about it is great, but the combat, alas, let us down… (well, also the animation of the characters walking, actually, but that’s not about that now). Here we see the division of attacks into 3 types: cutting, piercing and chopping, depending on the direction of the character’s movement. And it’s cool and is used in many other places. But what’s a bit mind-boggling here at first is the linking of the chance of hitting an enemy to the character’s performance and level of weapon proficiency. Simply put, if your “Short Blades” skill is somewhere around 10 out of 100 possible, in terms of your combat effectiveness you will be very close to the well-known Alexander Radionovich Borrrrodach:
But there are also advantages here – in the end, when the skill is closer to the coveted hundred – in contrast to weak blows and constant deaths at the beginning – the sensations from each blow and each killed enemy will cause an involuntary satisfied smile.
TES 4: Oblivion:
Quite a controversial game in the series. Cool, beautiful, interesting. And with more “action” combat. Chance to hit no longer depends on skill level. Now all hits hit the target. The system from the previous part – the influence of the direction of movement on the delivered blow – has been transformed – now, if in battle, while holding the left mouse button, you move to the side or backward – the character performs a special blow. And with the development of the level of weapon proficiency, a certain semblance of perks is added to these blows – a blow with a step to the side can disarm the enemy, and with a step back it can knock him out. Plus, blocking has begun to play a greater role – now, when blocking, at a certain level of proficiency, you can stun or disarm the enemy.
Overall, the combat system has become more dynamic. The 1st person view plays a significant role in this. The closest combat to “Gothic”. The only thing that, in my opinion, is missing is a change in the animation of strikes as the character develops as a fighter.
TES 5: Skyrim:
And again we see the inheritance of the combat from the previous part with additions, namely the ability to fight with a weapon in each hand, and with finishing animations. Very impressive, I must say.
Here we already have more tactical variety – at least the damage we receive and the consumption of stamina depend on the chosen weapon – the most successful option for protection is a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other. Weapon in each hand removes the ability to block, but increases the number of strikes per unit of time. Two-handed weapon – allows you to block and deal a lot of damage, but quickly eats up your stamina.
There are strong impacts that depend on the direction of movement.
Results:
in general, if we compare the influence of the combat system on the interest in playing a particular game, the combat of each of the listed games certainly has a chance to exist. But in almost none of them the combat captivates us from beginning to end – neither the characters in “Two Worlds” and “Divinity” who move in a formulaic manner throughout the game, nor the Nerevarine or Dovahkiin in the TES series, who, despite more powerful weapons and skill in using them, do not show this skill in their movements. TO
What do we see in “Gothic”? At the beginning, we can hardly come out alive from a fight with the first opponents we meet, and the game for us is a sort of “Dark Souls” – because almost any character, monster or beast can beat you with just a couple of blows. And you have to dodge every blow, sweating profusely, and look for a safe moment to deliver your. Soon you already acquire some kind of weapon that looks like a serious sword, train to wield it a little better, acquire weak but still armor – and you can advance in your research a little further – although most opponents are still dangerous for you even in a 1 on 1 fight. And towards the end, when you have mastered the weapon of your choice to the “Master” level, you have acquired a really high-quality sword and armor – you can afford to miss a couple of blows in order to defeat the enemy faster. And this already makes you feel the game differently. With your own efforts, you have earned yourself the status of one of the most dangerous predators in this game, and although from time to time there are those who can cause you serious damage, now you can answer them in kind.
It is thanks to such moments as the visibility of progress and the challenge in battle with almost every enemy that the “Gothic” combat system does not have time to get boring for the player, gives pleasure from mastering it and makes you return to the game over and over again for almost 20 years!
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