Only i really hate play on melee on rpg games?
SorcererV1ct0r
Member Posts: 2,176
in Off-Topic
Is not just an simple preference for shooters/casters, i just can't enjoy any game who forces me to play on melee. Even when the game have an amazing story like Witcher, i just can't enjoy much the game... Recently i started to re play Dragon's Dogma, an game that i loved and finished the game as a Magick Archer. During the prologue they force you to play as a fighter, so i got really bored and almost uninstalled the game. Only when i managed to pick my bow, i started to like the game. Then switched to assassin then to Ranger and i an now at NG+ almost at lv 100 and enjoying a lot. Honestly i an liking more the Ranger vocation than Magick Archer, since i can use special arrows like blast arrow and Maker's Finger.
On most RPG's, i usually play as casters, look to Might and Magic VIII Day of the destroyer, while the guy who started as a necromancer is raising an undead army(if you have high level dark magic and grand mastery, you can raise even dragons), can nuke towns out of existence(Armageddon spell), fly, teleport, become an Lich, the "melee" guy can.... Swing an piece of metal.
Same on D&D based games. On IWD i was stopping time, conjuring 5 Efreets to nuke firebals into the enemy and if i need to go on melee, BBoD + Haste + Stoneskin + Tenser's Transformation and GG easy. Even for melee, as a caster you can do in a more effective an cool way.
On NWN for example, i own the original diamond edition on gog and EE on steam. I've finished the OC and Hotu expansion many times, as a Sorcerer, as a Druid, as a Cleric, but never as a melee character. The unique melee class who i've played was as a Monk even even as a Monk, i become bored and din't completed the game.
On most RPG's, i usually play as casters, look to Might and Magic VIII Day of the destroyer, while the guy who started as a necromancer is raising an undead army(if you have high level dark magic and grand mastery, you can raise even dragons), can nuke towns out of existence(Armageddon spell), fly, teleport, become an Lich, the "melee" guy can.... Swing an piece of metal.
Same on D&D based games. On IWD i was stopping time, conjuring 5 Efreets to nuke firebals into the enemy and if i need to go on melee, BBoD + Haste + Stoneskin + Tenser's Transformation and GG easy. Even for melee, as a caster you can do in a more effective an cool way.
On NWN for example, i own the original diamond edition on gog and EE on steam. I've finished the OC and Hotu expansion many times, as a Sorcerer, as a Druid, as a Cleric, but never as a melee character. The unique melee class who i've played was as a Monk even even as a Monk, i become bored and din't completed the game.
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Personally I find melee the most satisfying when it involves therianthropy. Morrowind with its Bloodmoon expansion was superb in that regard. At the same time I hated, I mean really hated being an archer in that game. Ranged combat feels so utterly jaggering in that game... *ugh*
Come to think of it, the only weaponry I hate almost as much as swords are bows. They are so damnable overused. In every single RPG at that! Not even guns manage to invoke that "oh, not another one of those..." kind of feel in me.
On medieval times, polearms was prevalent, swords are more used as backup weapons, ceremonial weapons and dueling weapons(since most dueling was until first hit/first blood not until death like most movies portrait)
If someone was in full armor, an Danish axe have much more chances of piercing it and even if not pierce, the body will absorb much more impact. Since armor in video games tends to just absorbs a little of damage by percentage, everyone uses swords on gaming...
I like games who treat armor as a amount resistance, not percentage, on fallout new vegas, an 9mm SMG will tear unarmored targets apart, but against an heavily armored target, will barely do any damage .50 BMG armor piercing will probably ignore the armor. This isn't like on CoD were ballistic shield and body armor can protect you from 14.5x114mm(that can pierce 45mm of a tank armor) just like is a .22 LR...
I agree that bows are overused but an game who allow you to use in interesting ways are very few... First of all, why bows are mostly DEX weapons on RPG's? Warbows require a high amount of strength. I an pretty strong and can't do accurate consecutive shoots with a mary rose warbow(170 lbf) replica
In Kingmaker, I absolutely adore the magus class. It's the closest thing to playing a fighter/mage from the 2nd ed days, which was my favorite for the BG games. Granted, Eldritch Knight existed in NWN2, but you weren't very good at fighting or magic until you manage to unlock that class.
Archers, few games actually make archers interesting. Most of then have only one type of arrows, have only low lbf ""shortbows"", doesn't need to lead the target or manage your income to decide what equipment to use.
Most of then who have good archery are actually action focused games. For example, on Dragon's Dogma, you have knifes and fast attacks to defend yourself on melee, have sniping skills, tenfold flurry and many types of arrows to choose. Explosive, poisoned, sleeping and even an ultra expensive arrow who can OHK even the strongest bosses and deal a lot of damage to the death himself...
I still think that Ranger can be better for example, instead of only blast, poison, etc type of arrows, should be an arrow who is better at dealing against armor, but with more weight on the point, other who is very cheap but ineffective, or even historical accurate arrows like Bodkin and Broadhead, the game also needs more enhanced longbows, only Dragon Glaze is enhanced... Also i din't liked the magick archer homing bolts. Magick archer should be able to use special arrows... I really disliked the lack of aiming on MA and the lack of an skill like comet shot
And din't liked that you can't choose what to level up. So in order to have the highest magical attack as a magick archer for example, you need to play with mage until max vocation rank then play until lv 200 as a sorcerer then finally as a magick archer. This is awful.
Early 3D games were shooters where more action was needed then just going up to an person and clicking on them (basically how melee attacks are in current games) Strafing and using the terrain adds more tactical elements to playing range (and why I like playing them in 3D games), which can get lost in side scrollers and isometric gaming.
Don't come any non action rpg who made archery great.
I couldn't do Dragon's Dogma. The nail in the coffin was quest markers telling you to go to completely wrong places. I had the same problem with boss fights in it I'm having with AC: Odyssey's, they're not hard, they're just tedious.
I completed the game on hard and honestly think that the fact that they increased the damage and stag resistance on enemies, most games put ridiculous inflated hp on mobs and think that tedious battles are hard battles...
I like die and kill faster. If a cyclops is swinging an gigantic tree sized flaming mace and hit your face, you should be dead(or near dead), the hard mode is good by it. I fear being hit on hard mode.
One problem that i have with DD is that not only you are very gear dependent, but you get the best BI weapons randomly, i wasted an entire day trying to get a better bow purifying lv 2 BI weapon, got an collection of everything, except an magick bow and.... Was forced to face Daimon second form with just a Dragon's Breath, this time i choosed to be Ranger only to not have this frustration. Even using many items to boost my damage, took almost half of hour to defeat him in his two forms. As a ranger, i can easily get the second best bow and ignore this RNG bu****it
(spoiler about how get an epic bow earlier in the game)
Only the first one. Liked most of the combat(din't played on melee), the unique critique is certain bosses like Capra demon, bed or chaos and that i can't aim my soul arrows/soul spears/etc; i really don't understand why a aRPG have this boring "lockon" system.
So you see, I guess it really depends.
NWN2 in order to play as a caster, Spell fixes mod is a must have. Because a lot of spells works completely different than PnP. About Pathfinder Kingmaker, the "tanker" can be an animal companion or an wall of summoned creatures.
But usually be forced to play as melee mainly and be unable to choose the MC ruins the game for me. Mainly when the MC can only uses swords. Come one, an monster hunter like Geralt with his super strength should be able to load an arbalest with his bare hands, if i was hired to hunt an mythical beast like a Cockatrice, the last thing that i will use will be a sword. I will choose to use an ballista, if i need silver to hurt magical beasts then i will have an small piece of silver in point of my "arrow" or at least use an arbalest. If i can't pierce him with this an spear flying flying super fast can't damage him, is a waste of time trying to use an sword. Is better to try poison his food, try to use traps, or anything else, except an sword...
Is like if you are trying to pierce an armored vehicle armor IRL. If you failed to penetrate with an 14.5x114mm, try use an 9mm pistol is a waste of time(and ammo)
EDIT : Assuming that he is 5x stronger than a normal human, he can use an bow 5x stronger than a Mary Rose longbow, imagine this with deadly alchemical poison on the arrow....
Plus, Gerald is of the Wolf School (or Nilfgaard) of Witchers. It's possible that his school taught mainly the sword, so he relies on it as his main weapon. In the books, there is also the Cat School (who were assassins and turned hunters of men as well as monsters, and according to the books, were all psychopaths, sadists or simply crazy). They gave the other schools a bad name and were wiped out by the Wolf School. As well as a Griffin School (in a comic book), who worked more with signs and were better at magic. And in the games, there was the Bear School (wears heavier armor and weapons, use crossbows), Viper (work extensively with poison, use shortswords, and a Manticore school (not defined AFAIK).
(proof that i can lift this weight on spoiler)
There lore explanations, but my point is that the focus on melee is something that i really don't like. Mainly cuz isn't the most effective way to take out bigger and stronger animals. Imagine if neanderthals decided to use any melee way to hunt mammoths instead of trowing spears/rocks/traps. They will gonna die.
The unique game who allow you to use trowing spear that i remember is fallout new vegas. Fallout new vegas with anti materiel rifle + explosive rounds is insane. You see limbs flying... I din't liked fallout 4 cuz is IMO just one more shooter. Not an RPG>
I think melee being for badasses and archery for cowards goes back to the Iliad. Paris being portrayed as unwilling to face the Aceans in a fair fight and a wife stealer. It may not be the best way to fight, but there's a lot of culture that real heroes fight in the melee. There's always exceptions, like Robin Hood, Odysseus or Legolas, but most heroic figures fought with a melee weapon until guns took over.
Anyway, if fantastic creatures exist, people will try find ways to fight this creatures with weapons who are effective to hunt this creatures. Swords was never used on "big game hunting" An amazing video that i've watched some time ago was this
An funny comment
We prefer to be called paladins, thank you very much!