It seems like our combat systems of today are limited to
1. Turn based
2. Real Time
3. Hybrid (Final Fantasy)
I'd like to start a new game, and I've got the story planned out, but I'm not sure how I want to do combat. I don't want to do turn based (I abhor turn based combat) but I feel like "spam skills to win" is also rather lame. There has to be a more exciting way to do things. Suggestions?
ID:1260946
 May 10 2013, 11:20 am
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May 10 2013, 11:36 am
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Vrocaan
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I'd still consider Final Fantasy's system turn-based. If we generalize combat into two separate sections, Turn-Based and Real-Time, that still includes hundreds of options. So, it's not that it's limited, it's just that you need to figure out what -you- want to aim for.
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I think I'm just gonna have instances for combat with verbage. I might just have to rely on the story for exciting.
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I think Vrocaan is on the right track. There's only two options really that combat can possibly be, turn based or real time. There's literally nothing else it can be unless you want to bend space and time which probably isn't going to happen. Also hybrids are really state switchers, you can't make a game that has some turn based and some real time and call it a hybrid. It's two games blended into one.
However, inside each of the categories are thousands of different types of combat. It's like Super Mario & Call of Duty. Both real time combat. Super Mario involves an image jumping on enemies, Call of Duty is a 3D shooter. Both real time but vastly different. Hence, I don't think there's any debate to be had. Your game is either real time or turn based. What matters is the thousands of different sub types it could be. | |
Give the players the ability to use any actions they want, but limit the points they have to complete those actions.
For instance following a FF example, FF13 did this- which is surprisingly old school since it comes from MUD text games. Player 1 has 10 action points. It costs 1 Action point to punch. 3 To use a weapon attack 5 To use a skill. Based on that the player can't exceed actions that cost more than 10 points. Or- as a slight twist: You could also limit attacks based on some sort of stamina, so that players who spam attacks are punished by not being able to use attacks or skills when they need them, and must in turn wait for these points to replenish. Or-reward extra attacks based on performance. Linking attacks with target's weaknesses for example. Hit a slime with fire and gain one extra "chain" hit. Also to expound on what they said above, I disagree. A game can also be turn based--and real time at the same time. Case in point Final Fantasy 11 online. When you attack a foe- you will engage until it dies, but during this period of time you can also choose which skills to use. Based on that the outcome of the battle will be decided with challenging foes, or for weaker ones you may not even need to use skills at all. I prefer to approach it from a stance of involvement, I don't like players to get bored with something they may be doing so often, so my approach tends to be to add as much variety as possible without making the combat needlessly complicated. Maybe you should approach it from a different angle, rather than combining or trying something new, visit further down the path of refinement for one of those categories. Real time combat, that focuses heavily on combos, in which these combos affect the target with status ailments, or provide an advantage in the fight, for example. Or, turn based combat in which a team of fighters must coordinate the right strikes to make an enemy vulnerable to defeat. How they do that could be sort of like involving puzzle elements to the real time. Also, sorry for the long post. I tend to come up with alot of ideas when it comes to things like this. | |