Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post

Dave Crowell · 01-04-2018, 05:18 PM

I think that a melee combat game should have some sort of dodge/parry/all-out defense mechanism. I'm not sure that it really needs more than one to be a playable game. From a game play point of view I don't see it being important that opponent A is parrying with his sword, opponent B is hiding behind his shield, and opponent C is dodging out of the way, what is important is that each of them is harder for me to hit and damage.

My primary experience of a game with seperate attack and parry was Stormbringer and combats between well matched, skilled opponents could drag on in an endless dance of Attack-hit, Parry-blocked (or Dodge-miss), lather, rinse, repeat until finally someone landed a critical hit and it was game over for one of the fighters. Realistic, maybe, but it made for boring game play after a while.

I like combat games to be decisive.

01-04-2018, 05:18 PM	#80
Dave Crowell Join Date: Jun 2012	Re: The Fantasy Trip I think that a melee combat game should have some sort of dodge/parry/all-out defense mechanism. I'm not sure that it really needs more than one to be a playable game. From a game play point of view I don't see it being important that opponent A is parrying with his sword, opponent B is hiding behind his shield, and opponent C is dodging out of the way, what is important is that each of them is harder for me to hit and damage. My primary experience of a game with seperate attack and parry was Stormbringer and combats between well matched, skilled opponents could drag on in an endless dance of Attack-hit, Parry-blocked (or Dodge-miss), lather, rinse, repeat until finally someone landed a critical hit and it was game over for one of the fighters. Realistic, maybe, but it made for boring game play after a while. I like combat games to be decisive.