Unit 8 Week 3
Combat
One of the biggest parts in most games are the systems that they are made of and in the case for my game it will be the combat that will be most important. There are many different styles of combat and most games have their own variant of a style, meaning that that there is no set way a style has to be done.
The Legend of Zelda
Info on game:
Controls on original controller:
The original Legend of Zelda is an action RPG that released on the Famicom Disc System, before getting ported to a cartridge on the NES. The game has you moving around the world killing monsters
to complete dungeons and collect 8 pieces of a ‘Triforce’ before saving a princess from a demon king.
The game uses a real time fighting system with basic controls. To move all you need to do is press the button that corresponds to the direction you wish to move and link will turn and start walking. To attack you just press the attack button and link will stab with his sword. You can also use items such as bombs or boomerangs by pressing the use item button. There are a few more tricks to the combat system too, like if you face an attack your shield will block it (if it’s an attack that can be blocked).
This style of this combat makes the game feel faster paced, as the player has to make quick decisions on the moves they make, as while you are not moving the enemies are. This means that the basic controls will complement the style of gameplay, as you won’t need to remember lots of complex moves in a tight situation.
Fate/Extra
Personal experience
Fate/Extra is a JRPG that was released on the PSP in 2010 in Japan and 2011 in the United States. As part of a tournament to win a mystical item known as ‘The Holy Grail’ the player must be the last one standing in a battle to the death. The game has the player fighting through dungeons and completing goals to learn information on an opponent that you will fight at the end of the week. The player fights using a heroic spirit called a servant, which the player can choose out of three options. The idea is to give them commands that they will follow to try and beat any opponents you face.
The game works with an instance styled turn based combat system, this has the player initiate battle sequences by touching enemies or through scripted events. Once this happens the game transfers to a battle scene, where the player can make decisions on how to fight the opponent.
The combat system gives the player six moves in a turn and using these moves the player can set up a sequence to try and defeat the opponent. This is mostly done through selecting one of three options, being Attack, Block and Break. Each of these commands has one they beat and one they lose to (Attack > Break > Block > Attack). Once you have your sequence built you click the fight button and a scene will play out on screen with your servant fighting the opposing monster or servant. Also, if you chain three wining moves together you get a free attack.
Each of the options is self-explanatory in what they will do and the idea of this is to make a pattern that will beat your opponent’s move in the same slot, i.e. selecting Attack on a slot that your opponent chose Break. This will cause you to deal damage to your opponent, and once the sequence is over it will take you to the next turn and you will repeat until you have lowered your opponent’s life to zero, or have your own drop, at which point the battle will end and you will receive exp, money and possibly some items as well.
Also during battle you can have your servant use different skills in place of a command, these skills can do things like temporarily raise stats or even stun or damage opponents that use a certain command. These skills will be placed in the same move slots as an attack command, so you can only use six every turn, they also cost mana which you only have a limited amount of and will be unavailable if you have not got enough.
There are also a special type of skill known as ‘code casting, which uses mana from the player rather than the servant, so it works off of a different mana bar. These can only be used once a turn, but can be placed over a move in the sequence, so you could use a code cast and a command on the same move. These are more of a support ability and can do things like heal your servants mana, cure status effects and even stop an opponent from attacking for one move.
Over time you will accumulate exp and can level up your savants stats making them stronger and unlocking new skills. You can also buy different items that you can equip to unlock different code castings and status buffs for your servant.
This combat system is far more complex than The Legend of Zelda and requires far more thought into what your next move will be. This is supported by the fact that you can take all the time you need to select your next move, as battle wont happen until you are ready. This style of gameplay makes the game feel slower paced and would not be appealing to someone who wants to have quick battles. Also as the game requires you to level up stats to improve, it requires what’s known as grinding, which is where a player keeps killing enemies in an area until they are a level that can progress. This means the game can get repetitive and possibly boring for players who are not a fan of this style of game design.
Undertale
Official Site: Undertale
Undertale is a 2D game created by a single developer named Toby Fox. The game has the player take control of a child that has fallen into an underground world of monsters. The aim of the game is to let the player make choices on how they are going to get out and the consequences of those choices.
Over the course of the game the player will encounter a wide variety of monsters which the player will usually battle. If battle is initiated then the player is sent to a battle screen where the monster or monsters are represented by 2D black and white sprites. On this screen the player is given various pieces of information including what the monster is currently doing, the player’s health and level, as well as the options the player can use in battle.
In battle the player will usually have four options to choose from, these are Fight, Act, Item and Mercy. Each of these will allow you to do different actions within the battle and can lead to different outcomes. Fight will allow you to try to hit your opponent, this is done by trying to stop a moving bar as close to the middle of a bar as possible, this will deal the most possible damage. Act allows you to select from a variety of different actions that will vary from monster to monster. Depending on the action it may make the monster less inclined to fight or maybe want to hurt you more. The next is Item, which will allow you to use various items to heal or buff you. Finally is the Mercy option, which is to be used in conjunction with the Act option. This allows you to end a fight with a monster that has lost the will to fight without killing them.
After choosing an option, you will then transition to a white box with a heart inside. This section of battle is where the opponent is trying to attack you. By controlling the heart you have to doge attacks from the monster. Each monster can usually use several different attacks and the type and style of attacks will vary depending on what monster you are fighting. If you are hit then you will lose some life and will continue until the attack ends and are taken back to the choice screen to choose what to do next.
Once the battle is over you will receive varying amounts of gold and EXP, depending on if you killed the monster or spared it. You receive more gold for sparing them, but will receive no EXP, while killing them will grant EXP but less gold in return. Also if a certain amount of EXP is earned, then you will go up a LV giving you more life.
Depending on the way that you play the game, will affect the overall story and how characters will react to you. For example, by killing lots of monsters you will scare away people who live in the towns, meaning you will miss any interactions with them, but allow you to steal items from them without paying. While being nice and sparing them will cause them to be your friend, allowing you to interact with characters and learn more about them and the world you are in.
This game shows how important a combat system is to a game, and how greatly it can affect everything within the game. The simple style of the appearance means that less time would be needed as it does not require as much animating. The way that different characters have different attacks also gives them more of a personality, as they will feel more like an individual than a copy of another character.
Analysis
The combat style for my game was strongly influenced from the gameplay of Fate/Extra, as I have been having fun playing the game mostly due to this unique combat style. This was why I aim to create a similar styled system within my game, focusing on a rock, paper, scissors styled combat. This simplicity also seems to go with the combat styles of both The Legend of Zelda and Undertale in that they focus on simplicity over complexity. By having a simple combat system, not only will it shorten the amount of time I spend on it but also be more inviting to new players.
