Thanks to your replies in the previous combat post! I’ve read them carefully over and over again in the dark of the night, and tweaked and tweaked. And here’s the short of how combat in Driftmoon works right now. Bear in mind that Driftmoon is an RPG, and not a very action oriented at that. This is not Diablo, and you will not be blindly fighting enemies for hours at an end: you’ll be doing much more questing (eg. exploring, finding interesting places/items, solving mysteries, having deep and/or entertaining discussions – perhaps even meeting Bobby).
Combat will be real time, but can be paused to use items and give orders. I switched ranged combat from Diablo style constantly clicking into a more strategic style. Now we click once on an enemy to attack it, and from there on we select from various attacks we want to use. In the screenshot we are wielding a bow and a shield, so we can select from two bow attacks (Double shot is cool!) and one shield attack (ram enemy).
Another change is that we have damage types. The basic damage types are slashing, piercing, crushing, and slapping(!), and we’re going to have more for magical weapons and creatures. The skeleton is pretty resistant to piercing damage, as arrows go straight through it. Flying insects are resistant to all other damage types than slapping. So you can kill them simply by slapping them real hard.
The new system also allows you to wield all kinds of weapons simultaneously. Wielding a shield and a bow in the same hand is not prohibited. If you happen to find a spiked helmet, you can use that to headbutt your enemies. All weapons can have multiple different attacks. And I’m actually thinking of making the torch a weapon as well!
Personally I like the new combat system. It allows a fair bit of strategy and differentiation, and it is fairly simple in the beginning while it can get more complex later in the game. Plus we’ve got slapping! 
Your comments?
Double shot by bow while wielding a shield.
Slappity slap.
If the main character ever finds a woman, you know just what to do!
Right now I assume the crushing type is similar to what other games call blunt damage, right? You can’t really crush someone’s skull with a staff, after all.
Also, make sure that we can select different types of arrow or any other projectile that is compatible with the long range weapon (poison arrow, fire arrow, iron bolt(crossbow?), blazing iron bolt, etc.)
One more question. Can you fire 2 arrows at once as often as firing a single arrow?
E_net4 said: “You can’t really crush someone’s skull with a staff”
Er-r? Why not? Well, maybe not someone in a helmet, but theoretically…
The shield… The shield usually protects the arm up to its elbow. Even small ones. Here it’s somewhere in the grasp. Perhaps pretending that character holds his stripes in his hand.
Headbutting your enemies for a warrior is possible always, even WITHOUT any helm. The difference is in the outcome effect. Without it, he’ll get some pain himself (depending on forehead sturdiness and blah-blah-blah). In it, the damage varies (apparently the spiked helm – ouch!). BTW, Diablo II had that shield slamming attack skill. But even D2 didn’t have headbutting AFAIR.
That’s definitely a valid point, a shield wouldn’t protect much if it were held like that. Hmm… Perhaps I’ll only allow it’s use when the arm is not held out so much.
Sweet!
The new combat system looks awesome, but it would be cool if u would have some kind of kicking attack that when u kick someone in the balls (heh) it would stun him for a sec?
Oh well anyways, Kyllä pelistä tulee upea ;D
Wow, great!
I think you should add my previous suggestion – ‘combat stances’
You see, I recall you made a comment earlier about how in RPGs nowadays the talking and the actual RP is just cosmetic; the battle being the primary focus. You said that Driftmoon is aimed to be different.
However, you don’t want to go to the other end of the spectrum – the combat becoming just cosmetic.
There is a simple remedy – make combat more immersive, rewarding those that make split second or pre mediated decisions. (Not sure if I used the right word…)
E.G: You have a quest from Wizard Keyne to aquire the Skulltrot Amulet. He doesn’t know where it is, but wants you to get it nevertheless. So you ask around town, eventually being pointed in the direction of the Mad Oak Tavern. Once there, you meet a man named Spiney Pete. He says he knows where the Amulet is, but refuses to tell you. Here you are faced with a decision – beat it out of him, or bribe him with a few drinks. Fighting him would probably get you attacked by the other barlies. Drinks of course, cost money. Anyway, when you make a choice, he tells you that the Skulltrot Amulet was taken by Yngling Madblood, the giant who lives in the Battleaxe Howls – the nearby mountains.
You can either scour the mountains, going around killing everything -OR- you could try to find a guide or a map or any clue as to the exact location of Madblood. Maybe you pick up a few clues along the way as to his strengths and weaknesses.
-FAST FORWARD-
So, you find Yngling Madblood’s lair. You were warned of his legendary temper, but so far you have been beating the stuffing out of him.
Just as you are about to deliver the killing stroke, Madblood begins to shiver and convulse.
All of a sudden, a deep primal roar comes out of him, his wounds forgotten. To your dismay he begins to smash at you – destroying enviromental doodads? Icicles falling down? Screen shaking?
Here again, the player is faced with another decision – try to fight the mad giant, or find some kind of environmental edge against him.
The point im making is that like in Shadow of the Colosus, there are indepth ways to beat the bosses. OR you could just hack away if that’s your kind of thing.
To beat Yngling, the player could lure him out of his cave and somehow infuriate him – Taunt? Attack? Just run around? When he screams in fustration at you, the loud noise will cause an avalanche to bury the giant… Maybe you if you can’t dodge it!
Then you could just search Madblood’s corpse (After he is dead, of course) for the Skulltrot Amulet. It is not there. Could you have been sent on a wild goose chase? But what is this! At the base of the giant’s skull is an insignia scorched into the back of his head – a raven with a sword clutched in it’s beak.
The plot thickens!
Yeah, well that’s my two penneth.
Hope you consider my ideas.
That’s an interesting story Ed!
I definitely agree that boss fights should be more than just more difficult versions of regular opponents, and there should be a way to use the environment in battles. I haven’t really touched this part yet in the game, but I will!
This hero is kinda very strong.
Holding shield and using bow simultaneously like that – wow! XD
Maybe have some strength check on such wield… duh. That just complicates it. I recall ADoM roguelike game. There one could wield two shields, increasing his/her defensive stance. Incredible for mages, LOL. What about balance, I can’t even imagine. Oh, BTW, are the enemies able to hold both shield and bow in one hand?
P.S. Look at ADoM to see bad sort of balance. There’s no balance there, I assure you!
Enemies can wield items just the same as player, but don’t except to find too many people having combos like that. Enemies can also wear armor, and it shows on their characters. What will the player do with a hundred pairs of boots is beyond me though.
Will there be some kind of encumberment penalty? I mean, I can imagine someone holding a bow and a shield in one hand, but I can’t imagine him/her/it wielding both effectively.
Such a feature is not in the plans. I hope to keep the combat system simple enough for even me to understand.