Thal
Prophet
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2015
- Messages
- 414
“It’s not just hack and slash”, was one the taglines used by developers of Baldur’s Gate (1998) to hype up the game before release. And true to that sentiment, renaissance-era was associated with a slew brilliant crpgs emphasizing either narrative or rpg systems that inevitably end up topping any codex polls, no matter what the nominal topic is.
Well, what if it is just hack and slash? What is best in life? Let’s discuss what makes killing things enjoyable.
Die by the Sword
Die by the Sword (1998) is the ultimate “why didn’t I think of that?” melee action game. Instead of controlling your swings with keys, you control your sword-arm with mouse and your body with keyboard. There is no other game like it. Every other melee combat system seems antiquated in comparison. And no wonder, apparently, the animations and the physics engine were built over several years of postgrad research. And strangely it works. I don’t know anything about programming, but considering how well the enemies fight with it, the AI work must be brilliant.
Since both you and your enemies can block attacks with weapons and shields, it makes sense to aim at the openings. Run past an enemy and hit it with a wide swing, and you’ll hit his back. An orc jumps at you, and you aim a middle swing at his legs. However, you have to be careful with your attacks. A backhand swing will naturally pull your shield away, making your defense wide open for a counterattack. On the other hand, when you do pull off a risky move and behead your enemy with one stroke, you really feel good about yourself. These moves take genuine skill. I think it’s quite telling that the game is immensely satisfying, despite the basic gameplay loop being fight-die-load-repeat until you finally beat the encounter. You get a break here and there with some basic platforming sequences and lightweight puzzles, but most of the time you simply cut your way through a horde of monsters.
Unfortunately, the brilliant combat system also ensured that the game was a massive flop. The learning curve is probably one of the hardest in all gaming. I recall playing the demo back in the 90s but could only clear the first two encounters and even those with luck. I settled for fighting bots in the arena as an ogre, playing golf with orcs until I got bored and moved on to other games.
Basically, when you start the game you’ll flail your sword-arm like a drunk, but by the end like a drunken master. The last level is filled with skeletons, armed with swords and shield like you, and by then fighting them feels like fencing. Most people quit before learning the fine-motor skills required to control the sword, which actually spurred me to write this post. Try the game and have patience to master its systems and you’ll be rewarded with a combat experience like no other. The game comes with Limb for Limb -expansion, which is more of the same, although the learning curve continues after the basic game, providing more content for you once you’ve mastered its combat.
Die by the Sword also has one the most hilarious end credits sequences detailing the entire "plot", written by none other than MCA and a baddie voiced by Tony Jay.
Severance: Blade of Darkness
Coming straight from DBTS Severance: Blade of Darkness (2001) did feel clunky in the beginning, but other way around it probably would have felt chaotic. However, the big draw of cutting your enemies to pieces had much more impact in DBTS where you had tactical reasons for targeting body parts. I soon forgot that though, because simply put, the game is a master class of action game design. It excels in all relevant areas.
Whereas Die by the Sword had frantic action combat, Severance is tactical to the core. This is also where Severance vindicates the existence of the genre: as with DBTS, the combat is deep enough to carry the entire game and puts almost all ARPGS to shame. You have four attack directions; the weapon moves on preset paths and by positioning yourself correctly you connect hits and avoid being hit yourself. Your enemies will look for openings and a mindless charge will only get you killed. Additionally, you have powerful preset combos that you execute with a combination of movement keys and attacks. Most of the time you are trying to pull these off, but since they take long to perform, callous attempts will only get you killed. Furthermore, the game combat is based on stamina management, which makes spamming attacks hard or impossible. The system is generous with basic attacks and simple combos but the best ones might drain the entire stamina bar, so you better be sure what you are doing when you try to execute one.
Every different enemy has their own fighting style, the orcs charging right away and dark knights hiding behind their shields. Even after you learn their movement patters, the combat stays interesting because you have to be aware of your surroundings. If you’re fighting in a staircase or with multiple enemies, your tried and true combos might not work as well as you hope. Moreover, sometimes the designers impede your tactics by placing an archer on a hard-to- reach spot to make things more interesting.
To make things even better, you can choose to play four characters, each with their own fighting styles and combo patterns. The tall Barbarian for example has difficulty hitting short targets, unless you use low swings. Only the Amazon has the infamous dodge roll. I recommend Knight for good all-around experience or Barbarian for timed blocks.
The level design in this game is simply put brilliant. Levels are large enough to feel imposing, but never too large to become tedious. The developers follow the classic Doom-style of showing you the places where you want to go, and then letting you figure out how to get there. Most of the time you are hunting keys and levers, but secret areas, breakable walls and doors, traps and platforming sequences will make all this feel involved. The level design is challenging enough to make you think, but I beat the game without consulting a walkthrough.The game even has some pitch-black areas to further enforce the point that the environment is more than a navigation mesh. Also, monsters behind corners cast shadows on walls, again facilitating tactical thinking.
Go on, run to the top, what are you waiting for?
The audio is just as great as the rest of the game. Traps and ambushes are accompanied by sound cues that you will learn to dread. Severance also is one of the few games that took to heart what Diablo taught: often you hear enemies before seeing them, allowing you to plan your moves ahead. As for the music, well, hear for yourself:
Severance has a pretty cool Sword and Sorcery -vibe in art direction as well.
Severance was criticized for not having difficulty levels and the factory setting being too challenging. Bullshit. Severance and DBTS have one thing in common, which I believe is absolutely essential for an intense hack and slash experience, which is that they ration healing sources. This makes each combat encounter meaningful, since you can never be sure if you can survive the entire level. The basic challenge level is high, but if you pay attention it is entirely possible to clear every encounter without taking a hit.
Severance developers understood correctly what makes games of these types difficult, which is the extent you cast the save/load -spell. Therefore, they allow you to save freely, but the game keeps track of the number of saves and lowers your rating (awesome, heroic, bold, normal) accordingly. Not only does it allow the game to balanced perfectly, it provides an intensive against save scumming while allowing you to do so and still have a challenging game. For once, normal isn’t a code word for retard. The elegance of this solution is so obvious that it is mind baffling that no one else has copied it since.
The plot? Neither Severance or DBTS haven’t got much of it, proving that a good story, while nice to have, is by no means essential.
Well, what if it is just hack and slash? What is best in life? Let’s discuss what makes killing things enjoyable.
Die by the Sword
Die by the Sword (1998) is the ultimate “why didn’t I think of that?” melee action game. Instead of controlling your swings with keys, you control your sword-arm with mouse and your body with keyboard. There is no other game like it. Every other melee combat system seems antiquated in comparison. And no wonder, apparently, the animations and the physics engine were built over several years of postgrad research. And strangely it works. I don’t know anything about programming, but considering how well the enemies fight with it, the AI work must be brilliant.
Since both you and your enemies can block attacks with weapons and shields, it makes sense to aim at the openings. Run past an enemy and hit it with a wide swing, and you’ll hit his back. An orc jumps at you, and you aim a middle swing at his legs. However, you have to be careful with your attacks. A backhand swing will naturally pull your shield away, making your defense wide open for a counterattack. On the other hand, when you do pull off a risky move and behead your enemy with one stroke, you really feel good about yourself. These moves take genuine skill. I think it’s quite telling that the game is immensely satisfying, despite the basic gameplay loop being fight-die-load-repeat until you finally beat the encounter. You get a break here and there with some basic platforming sequences and lightweight puzzles, but most of the time you simply cut your way through a horde of monsters.
Unfortunately, the brilliant combat system also ensured that the game was a massive flop. The learning curve is probably one of the hardest in all gaming. I recall playing the demo back in the 90s but could only clear the first two encounters and even those with luck. I settled for fighting bots in the arena as an ogre, playing golf with orcs until I got bored and moved on to other games.
Basically, when you start the game you’ll flail your sword-arm like a drunk, but by the end like a drunken master. The last level is filled with skeletons, armed with swords and shield like you, and by then fighting them feels like fencing. Most people quit before learning the fine-motor skills required to control the sword, which actually spurred me to write this post. Try the game and have patience to master its systems and you’ll be rewarded with a combat experience like no other. The game comes with Limb for Limb -expansion, which is more of the same, although the learning curve continues after the basic game, providing more content for you once you’ve mastered its combat.
Die by the Sword also has one the most hilarious end credits sequences detailing the entire "plot", written by none other than MCA and a baddie voiced by Tony Jay.
Severance: Blade of Darkness
Coming straight from DBTS Severance: Blade of Darkness (2001) did feel clunky in the beginning, but other way around it probably would have felt chaotic. However, the big draw of cutting your enemies to pieces had much more impact in DBTS where you had tactical reasons for targeting body parts. I soon forgot that though, because simply put, the game is a master class of action game design. It excels in all relevant areas.
Whereas Die by the Sword had frantic action combat, Severance is tactical to the core. This is also where Severance vindicates the existence of the genre: as with DBTS, the combat is deep enough to carry the entire game and puts almost all ARPGS to shame. You have four attack directions; the weapon moves on preset paths and by positioning yourself correctly you connect hits and avoid being hit yourself. Your enemies will look for openings and a mindless charge will only get you killed. Additionally, you have powerful preset combos that you execute with a combination of movement keys and attacks. Most of the time you are trying to pull these off, but since they take long to perform, callous attempts will only get you killed. Furthermore, the game combat is based on stamina management, which makes spamming attacks hard or impossible. The system is generous with basic attacks and simple combos but the best ones might drain the entire stamina bar, so you better be sure what you are doing when you try to execute one.
Every different enemy has their own fighting style, the orcs charging right away and dark knights hiding behind their shields. Even after you learn their movement patters, the combat stays interesting because you have to be aware of your surroundings. If you’re fighting in a staircase or with multiple enemies, your tried and true combos might not work as well as you hope. Moreover, sometimes the designers impede your tactics by placing an archer on a hard-to- reach spot to make things more interesting.
To make things even better, you can choose to play four characters, each with their own fighting styles and combo patterns. The tall Barbarian for example has difficulty hitting short targets, unless you use low swings. Only the Amazon has the infamous dodge roll. I recommend Knight for good all-around experience or Barbarian for timed blocks.
The level design in this game is simply put brilliant. Levels are large enough to feel imposing, but never too large to become tedious. The developers follow the classic Doom-style of showing you the places where you want to go, and then letting you figure out how to get there. Most of the time you are hunting keys and levers, but secret areas, breakable walls and doors, traps and platforming sequences will make all this feel involved. The level design is challenging enough to make you think, but I beat the game without consulting a walkthrough.The game even has some pitch-black areas to further enforce the point that the environment is more than a navigation mesh. Also, monsters behind corners cast shadows on walls, again facilitating tactical thinking.
Go on, run to the top, what are you waiting for?
The audio is just as great as the rest of the game. Traps and ambushes are accompanied by sound cues that you will learn to dread. Severance also is one of the few games that took to heart what Diablo taught: often you hear enemies before seeing them, allowing you to plan your moves ahead. As for the music, well, hear for yourself:
Severance has a pretty cool Sword and Sorcery -vibe in art direction as well.
Severance was criticized for not having difficulty levels and the factory setting being too challenging. Bullshit. Severance and DBTS have one thing in common, which I believe is absolutely essential for an intense hack and slash experience, which is that they ration healing sources. This makes each combat encounter meaningful, since you can never be sure if you can survive the entire level. The basic challenge level is high, but if you pay attention it is entirely possible to clear every encounter without taking a hit.
Severance developers understood correctly what makes games of these types difficult, which is the extent you cast the save/load -spell. Therefore, they allow you to save freely, but the game keeps track of the number of saves and lowers your rating (awesome, heroic, bold, normal) accordingly. Not only does it allow the game to balanced perfectly, it provides an intensive against save scumming while allowing you to do so and still have a challenging game. For once, normal isn’t a code word for retard. The elegance of this solution is so obvious that it is mind baffling that no one else has copied it since.
The plot? Neither Severance or DBTS haven’t got much of it, proving that a good story, while nice to have, is by no means essential.
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