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[Alec S.]

i thought it was really boring tbh. im interested to hear what you think was good about the combat. i found it to be pretty shallow and mashy. also iirc enemies take way too many hits (a common problem with action rpgs).

Yeah, to be honest, the combat probably isn't that great from a straight mechanical standpoint (at least so far, it might get better as the game progresses), but it feels good which is pretty rare for western Action-RPGs.  The weapons have distinctive feels to them, positioning actually matters, the roll feels pretty good, and your skills seem to be more interesting than straight DPS (for example, the harpoon which grapples enemies towards you).  Yeah, the enemies are hit-sponges, which is unfortunate.  Also, they get stun-locked too easily, which means if you're in a good position (either fighting one enemy, or fighting multiple enemies directly in front of you/you aren't surrounded) then it just becomes mashing the attack button over and over.  Although it's helped that enemies actually have some interesting movement patterns that make it more difficult to get them where you want them. 

Also, the battle camera is really interesting and tries to keep as much of the combat in view as possible in a way that I haven't seen much of before.

Basically, I think the combat system does some things really well, and some things poorly.  With a few different design decisions, it could have been a great combat system (and, as is often the case, one of those decisions would be "more enemies with less health").

KoA is a game that appealed me at the start; while never great, it was like Skyrim in WoW clothes, which proved to be entertaining enough. Then I started Dragon's Dogma, got insanely hooked into it, and any time I tried to return to KoA, it just fell flat to DD in everyway. Unlocking minigames were bullshit, there was no verticality, even troll combat was repetitive as fuck, and everything took too long to die.

I've been wanting to get Dragons Dogma.  I guess it's a good thing I'm getting KoA out of the way first.   

[Alevice]

Yeah, its not a terrible game, but at least as a rogue mage i evetually felt that there was no more depth than the first hours. I was never able to get hooked by the lore, so I never cared about what really happened and just saw events pass by.

If you like the movement patterns for the enemies on KoA, you will love DD. Wolves circle around you and attack you while you try to focus on one of them, and higher leveled wolves add quirk to their patterns, where they might dodge your attack by stepping backwards and have another of them behind you bite your ass. And the mythical beasts are always a delight to fight.

[s0]

Basically, I think the combat system does some things really well, and some things poorly.  With a few different design decisions, it could have been a great combat system (and, as is often the case, one of those decisions would be "more enemies with less health").

ya enemy health is really the main thing that undermines the otherwise decent combat. but on the other hand it just didn't feel that special to me i guess. seemed like relatively generic "character action" (cant someone come up with a better name for this genre??) style combat to me. 

[s0]

ANYWAY, dragons dogma is good. it's pretty much elder scrolls meets xenoblade but with actually good combat. also they did a great job making exploration a risk and making it feel like youre actually, u know, exploring. the way combat slowly wears down your max health is pretty genius tbh.

it has several issues tho: firstly the setting, story, dialog and art direction are extremely bland, even moreso than in KoA. everything about it is totally cookie cutter and superfluous. it's really a credit to the exploration mechanics and level design that it manages to be immersive despite this.

secondly, your "pawns" (NPC party members) talk constantly, comment everything that happens and sometimes give you hints. the idea seems to have been to make party members feel more "alive" and tie "regular gameplay" into the story which is basically a very good idea. HOWEVER, your pawns just won't ever shut up and they keep repeating the same lines over and over. they also talk in a very awkward faux "old english" which basically means they use the word "aught" a lot.

thirdly, the encounter rate on the world map is waaayyy too high. fighting 1 band of goblins is fun, fighting 10 in a row not so much. otoh it's needed for the "attrition" mechanic i mentioned earlier to work. also the dungeons are well designed and satisfying for the most part.

[Alevice]

it has several issues tho: firstly the setting, story, dialog and art direction are extremely bland, even moreso than in KoA.

NO U.

I actually liked that it isnt that overt that its pretty much a Berserk ripoff (with dragonkind being basically apostles). It is relatively grimdark without being so fucking obvious, at least until you kill Gregori. The dialog is admittedly uninspired however and how the system chooses your significant other is fucking egregious.

I definitely agree that your Pawns speak way too much, but I found that there were hints of a more elaborate ai for them, at least based on some context sensitive pieces they had here and there. I suppose time got the best of them and what we got is quite subpar, sadly.

I am quite okay with the encounter rate, at least I felt it add to the sense of a threatening world, you cant just run like stupid. I kinda wish the fast travel system were a bit more efficient however.

The rotting mechanic is brilliant.

[s0]

SO ANYWAY, shin megami tensei 4 finally came out in europe ( ) and it rules. i think my fave thing about it is how "organic" and "handcrafted" the dungeons feel. thats very unusual in these kinds of jrpg dungeon crawlers.

[s0]

yo shadow of mordor is on sale on steam right now. is it worth it?

[gimymblert]

All return are positive so far, my brother didn't want it, got it and enjoy it. It's not massively original but whatever it stole from other game is competant and the people geek out on the strategy system of the nemesis.

[Netsu]

I'm trying to find some good examples of melee combat with the camera zoomed out quite a bit, where positioning and timing is important, as case studies for my current game.
Any suggestions? Is Darksiders 2 combat considered good? Haven't played it yet but my dev partner recommends it.

PS: Fast, brutal and challenging is what I aim for.

[s0]

All return are positive so far, my brother didn't want it, got it and enjoy it. It's not massively original but whatever it stole from other game is competant and the people geek out on the strategy system of the nemesis.

ok i bought it. if it sucks im holding YOU personally accountable! 

[Tuba]

I'm trying to find some good examples of melee combat with the camera zoomed out quite a bit, where positioning and timing is important, as case studies for my current game.
Any suggestions? Is Darksiders 2 combat considered good? Haven't played it yet but my dev partner recommends it.

PS: Fast, brutal and challenging is what I aim for.

Pretty much every melee combat based game from Platinum: Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising and Legend of Korra (overall game is quite bad but the combat system is good).

They're all fast and challenging. All require timing and positioning. I personally enjoy the parring system in Metal Gear.

Yes, Darksiders 2 has a good combat, but it's not as challenging, reminds me more of a God of War game.

[SolarLune]

I'm trying to find some good examples of melee combat with the camera zoomed out quite a bit, where positioning and timing is important, as case studies for my current game.
Any suggestions? Is Darksiders 2 combat considered good? Haven't played it yet but my dev partner recommends it.

PS: Fast, brutal and challenging is what I aim for.

Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but Dragon Nest has some solid melee combat. That could also hold true for Vindictus, though I prefer DN. The Batman games are good examples of zoomed-out-combat, as well.

[Boreal]

Nobody's talking about the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth?

In many ways it's a huge step up from the original, especially in terms of frame rate and difficulty.  Hopefully the annoyances like guaranteed damage rooms/encounters will be patched out.

[s0]

ok so shadow of mordor is very good as an open world game. way more dynamic and less of a scavenger hunt than asscred (tho ive only played asscred 1&2 maybe the series has improved since then). im already getting sidetracked a lot and am not actually that interested in progressing the main story.

[baconman]

Well, I've been playing Rebirth a bit, and I was surprised to find it played smoother on a computer with 2 GB of RAM than the original/Community Remix played on my missing computer which had 8 GB of it.

That said, the extra room layouts actually make finding the secret rooms even EASIER (side modifications will show you where it ISN'T.), and some of the new powers and combos are terrific. That said, once I unlocked Asrael, that was IT. You pair him up with Tammy's Head, Third Eye, or Mutant Spider and just melt away bosses. :D

Now it's almost too easy.

[Jondog]

Started up Valkyria Chronicles, it's pretty good so far.
After the prologue missions I got introduced to the soldier management and when I had set everything up and went to save, the game crashed.

So now I have to go back and sort that all out again.

[Fallsburg]

Put way too much time into Endless Legend.

I think it's better than the average Civ-like.  It's probably closest to Alpha Centauri, which imho is the best Civ-like out there.  The different factions are different enough that things stay interesting, in particular the Dust Lords (don't use food, only use gold), the Necrophages (shit at food, require killing for growth), and the Cultists (can only have one city but can convert the natives to their religion) all have unique and interesting play styles.

[Impmaster]

Osu!

It's a japanese rhythm game which someone recommended to me. It's surprisingly addictive. Think of it as DDR played with the keyboard with a freer range of motion.

[Carrion]

http://biomediaproject.com/bmp/files/gms/online/hahli/

[rj]

oh holy fuck i remember this from way back

this point and click is the actual shit