A Way to Innovate Combat in MMO’s

We are talking next gen amazingness.

One of my favourite posts is “Greatest Fantasy Movie Ever“. In it I describe how a typical boss fight in any MMO would translate into a big budget movie and how ridiculous the whole event is. Sure, arguments of tech limitations and what not on why that is but really – that isn’t an excuse anymore.

Check out Batman: Arkham Asylum. Yes it is an old game (thank you humble bundle) and how action sequences play out there is much more enjoyable and sensible. Sure, you would need to slow down the combat just a bit but just watch:

Notice something? Batman doesn’t get hit. There are 20+ bad guys around him and he dodges, blocks, and counterattacks his way through the group. When he DOES get hit, you really tell. The screen changes color and there is impact. I got hit with a lead bar once and the screen showed me an interpretation of concussion like symptoms. Even more so, the fighting is really smooth, makes sense, and is somewhat believable.

The result is a ton of industry awards and 2 sequels. This was released in 2009. Don’t tell me we don’t have the technology.

Now compare to every MMO where bad guys arms and legs would be going through Batman’s torso and little -10’s would float up from the damage, blocks would show the letters “BLOCK!”, and so on.

It’s a natural progression. We went from standing in place with 4 buttons, to standing in place with 3 hotbars of buttons, to active dodging/attacking – all while not having the graphic interactions between combatants accurately reflected.

It would be an amazing innovation, and well overdue.

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