I was thinking, perhaps one way to improve the combat would be to take inspiration from history, and how we know people actually used the weapons involved in Exanima/Sui Generis. For example, when wielding a 1 handed weapon with nothing in the offhand, you could have the wielder hold their offhand behind the back like this:
http://i.imgur.com/EEzysI4.jpg
Also, the general "sideways" nature of the stance provides a smaller target to the enemy and stuff. Perhaps a more "trained" stance could be a learnable skill? Seeing as there are tons and tons of free binds in this game there would be no issue adding a key that could cycle through different stances, something that would be genuinely useful in a game so heavily based on physics.
There's also the manner in which weapons were wielded historically. The most important example, and one that I think games in general miss out on way too often, is the size of a swing. In Exanima (and pretty much every game and movie I can think of) there are these big, dramatic swings going on with tons of wallop, whereas in real life you can gain a ton of momentum out of much shorter, subtler actions. An important part of this would be adding in diagonal attacks by the way.
Again, more experienced (and say, not undead) characters would look and feel significantly more dangerous if they're attacking with the speed and precision of a martial artist.
My suggestion boils down to this: If they haven't done so already, the devs could use historical literature as well as reconstructed martial arts as a baseline to help improve the combat system in a way that is fun and believable. It also just might innately work well because of the physics-based nature of the game. HEMA especially would make a great reference for how swords and stuff were really used.
http://i.imgur.com/EEzysI4.jpg
Also, the general "sideways" nature of the stance provides a smaller target to the enemy and stuff. Perhaps a more "trained" stance could be a learnable skill? Seeing as there are tons and tons of free binds in this game there would be no issue adding a key that could cycle through different stances, something that would be genuinely useful in a game so heavily based on physics.
There's also the manner in which weapons were wielded historically. The most important example, and one that I think games in general miss out on way too often, is the size of a swing. In Exanima (and pretty much every game and movie I can think of) there are these big, dramatic swings going on with tons of wallop, whereas in real life you can gain a ton of momentum out of much shorter, subtler actions. An important part of this would be adding in diagonal attacks by the way.
Again, more experienced (and say, not undead) characters would look and feel significantly more dangerous if they're attacking with the speed and precision of a martial artist.
My suggestion boils down to this: If they haven't done so already, the devs could use historical literature as well as reconstructed martial arts as a baseline to help improve the combat system in a way that is fun and believable. It also just might innately work well because of the physics-based nature of the game. HEMA especially would make a great reference for how swords and stuff were really used.
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