Armour and weapon designs - a plea.

[Audiocide]

The Japanese swords like the Katana, and such, aren't really what I meant because you do see those far too often as well. Think about things you don't see, are Japanese weapons something you actually rarely saw? I definitely meant ancient cultures like the ancient Sumerian and further back, or the the ancient South Americans. The Ancient middle east is a good one though, and I'm glad you brought that up. They had some outright lovely looking stuff

 

There are some pretty interesting weapons from the far east. I don't recall ever having seen the Japanese bo in a game for instance. It's just a long stick that can be held in a bunch of different grips. There's also the weapons I've seen in Chinese movies (not familiar with their names) that are heavy balls or knives tied to the end of a chain. They could even use whips.

 

But I guess they would all require seperate animations and models, so they might not be able to implement a huge variety. I'd still like to see more varied choices.

 

Well in actual history you had times that it was, and thousands of years of time in which the more traditional armors you see in Fantasy RPGs simply did not exist (obviously some never existed period if we're talking about the truly out there armor/weapon concepts ). And yet people still fought. In different armors, with different weapons, of course, but fight none the less they did. Which is more what I'm getting at than, "I want all the men to be muscled, gleaming with sweat and in their underwear! NOW!" . . . heh.

 

I see what you mean. If that's how he learned to fight, he could be more effective fighting in his tighty-whities than a standard character. But if you're going to put that dude against an armored knight or such, he should still suffer some penalties. The knight should ALSO suffer speed penalties due to his massive armor though, so I can actually see that situation working out.

[NoxNoctum]

Tera is so ridiculous looking

 

Anyways, ya I agree with going a more realistic route please.

 

Still I hope we see lots of variety and named weapons. Just having a +1 iron longsword is a bit boring. (of course you should have those too)

 

For the named stuff I hope we can get stuff more original than just "Sneakthief's Cloak of Resilience"

Edited September 17, 2012 by NoxNoctum

[Moonlight Butterfly]

My ancestors were border raiders and the average guy probably wore little more than sleeveless a cowhide jerkin with maybe some mail underneath if he was wealthy enough and some padding. They were probably a bit mad though

[dknight99]

I personally would like to see more spears or halberds in the game when it was probably the more common weapons in real life.

[alanschu]

Note that smaller weapons with a far camera viewport will make them virtually indistinguishable. Which is fine, just know what you're asking for. In 2D games there's often some level of exaggeration just for visibility.

 

I personally would like to see more spears or halberds in the game when it was probably the more common weapons in real life.

 

This is in large part because battles were fought in formations with dozens/hundreds of men.

Edited September 17, 2012 by alanschu

[Gyges]

Definitely more variations in weapon types, polearms and whip weapons for example.

[PsychoBlonde]

Guys, your characters are going to be TINY. Like this:

 

 

You will probably not be able to see any "outlandish" details on weapons. They will be less than an inch long, if that.

[Monte Carlo]

At least there is a consensus emerging!

[The Sharmat]

Psychoblonde: I'm pretty sure that the game will at least be made with higher screen resolutions in mind than 800x600.

[Kissamies]

I agree, more practical designs, less outlandish. This being isometric view, small exaggerations such as slightly oversized weapons to make the details noticeable might be OK, though.

 

Now my personal anally retentive pet peeve is equipping every soldier with plate armour. Plate is expensive, damnit! Maybe less so in a setting with magical metallurgy, but still. A common footsoldier might not be able to afford chain or brigandine.

[Akratus]

The Witcher 2 style, anyone?

[Dalar]

well i for one like the dragon age type and so on. armor and weapons from games like skyrim, dark soul dragon age and so on are just epic and i would love to have all those types clashing together

[Hoverdog]

The Japanese swords like the Katana, and such, aren't really what I meant because you do see those far too often as well. Think about things you don't see, are Japanese weapons something you actually rarely saw? I definitely meant ancient cultures like the ancient Sumerian and further back, or the the ancient South Americans. The Ancient middle east is a good one though, and I'm glad you brought that up. They had some outright lovely looking stuff

 

There are some pretty interesting weapons from the far east. I don't recall ever having seen the Japanese bo in a game for instance. It's just a long stick that can be held in a bunch of different grips. There's also the weapons I've seen in Chinese movies (not familiar with their names) that are heavy balls or knives tied to the end of a chain. They could even use whips.

check out wizardry 8. ninja, monk and samurai classes with full class-restricted armory.

 

well i for one like the dragon age type and so on. armor and weapons from games like skyrim, dark soul dragon age and so on are just epic and i would love to have all those types clashing together

thank god you're the only one

[Audiocide]

check out wizardry 8. ninja, monk and samurai classes with full class-restricted armory.

 

Will do. I've actually gotten a few game recommendations from this forum. I've never played Dark Souls either.

[Kaldurenik]

I dont want to see "crazy" weapons... But that dont mean that im against unique designs or other strange ideas... Like (if there are elfs) the elfs have the ability to craft(sing) forward a "wooden" armour / weapons that are just as strong as a metal based one. Or for dwarfs (if there are any) for them to have crystal swords (rare ofc) it depends on the setting and lore. Im however against weapons that make no sense for either lore, story or weapon that simply dont make any sense.

[Karranthain]

Actually, I'd like to point out that there are plenty of weapons of European origin which are underutilized in the games. Case in point, how often do you see:

 

1) Halberds

2) Spears and pikes

3) Rapiers

4) Basket hilt swords like that one :

 

 

5) Military flails

 

6) Repeating crossbows

7) Billhooks

 

 

 

And there's plenty more. Some of those were in the BG and ID games, but mostly neglected in the modern cRPGs.

 

That said, I wouldn't mind some exotic weaponry as well (like various sabres etc.).

[obyknven]

Do want Last Rites style design.

[The Sharmat]

Now my personal anally retentive pet peeve is equipping every soldier with plate armour. Plate is expensive, damnit! Maybe less so in a setting with magical metallurgy, but still. A common footsoldier might not be able to afford chain or brigandine.

Plate isn't the end-all be-all of combat anyway. Plenty of fighting styles and circumstances would find plate armor detrimental.

[Shadenuat]

I'm for strictly small european set of weapons with every weapon being different from each other and serving some purpose (swords - additional attacks/counter attacks, axes - splitting shields, maces - stunning/crushing armor, ect.).

Same goes for armour.

Also for a clear, realistic design of weapons and equipment, close to Witcher.

Would also like to see some design from good old AD&D, before it turned into GIANT PAULDRONS fest.

[Karranthain]

I'm for strictly small european set of weapons with every weapon being different from each other and serving some purpose (swords - additional attacks/counter attacks, axes - splitting shields, maces - stunning/crushing armor, ect.).

Same goes for armour.

Also for a clear, realistic design of weapons and equipment, close to Witcher.

Would also like to see some design from good old AD&D, before it turned into GIANT PAULDRONS fest.

 

 

I will make a topic about weapon and armour mechanics shortly. Thanks for the support guys, it would appear there are many of us

[1varangian]

Yes please.. a realistic approach with weapons and armor and combat in general. It always helps the world feel more believable. I just can't take a character waving a weightless giant sword seriously at all.

[Karranthain]

Speaking of Varangians :

 

 

It's practical and looks absolutely amazing and menacing at the same time too.

[Karranthain]

I'm for strictly small european set of weapons with every weapon being different from each other and serving some purpose (swords - additional attacks/counter attacks, axes - splitting shields, maces - stunning/crushing armor, ect.).

 

The topic, as promised : http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60205-weapon-mechanics/

[MNOne]

Small and isometric as the view may be, I hope theres a bit more variety in the models than the were in IE games. I loved them dearly, but it got a little boring when every long sword was identical save for a different colour on very special magic items, and I vaguely recall flails having the same model as the mace. Certainly clubs and bludgeons did, and if I'm carrying around a gnarled tree branch I'd like it to look like one!

 

I also remember in IWD2 getting some armour that was made of crystal or enchanted ice or something, but on the model it was just plate armour coloured blue.

In that game you also got really nice and detailed icons for splintmail and chainmail armours, but put them on your character and exit the inventory and they looked identical. A similar thing plagued a lot of the polearm weapons - most just used the spear model.

 

Whilst I agree that some designs are really far-out and crazy, in my view I'd like to see a few interesting items. Variety in the normal weapons is a must (see here for example, as well as many other reproduction companies). Magical or special ones should not be ruled out of hand (but ruling them out entirely doesn't seem to be many people's solution in any case).

 

 

 

One thing that could be done with them is very special ones require a quest to get (and they should be good - so many games give you 'unique' weapons as a reward for a quest, but these weapons turn out to be worse than many comparable ones of the same level/quality). Then they'd be regarded as properly special, what with taking an effort to retrieve.

No need for them to be ridiculous in design, but interesting accents - a viscious 'evil' blade with a serrated edge, a holy relic with a gold hilt (and I'd agree to the 'no sparklies' sentiments I've read). Things like that. Hell, I quite like the look of Skyrim's dragon-bone weapons and armour, and I don't think that's going too far into sillyland (so long as you have to raid the tomb of a famed dragon-slayer, or kill a dragon yourself and bring its bones back to a master blacksmith three towns over or something).

 

 

 

TL;DR:

Basically, the one consistent downside to my experience in IE games (in other words, those downsides not caused by my own ineptitude) was the lack of connection between the equipment I gave people and the look of said people when they were running about the world.

 

So whilst crazy-over-the-top-super-ornamental weapons and armour are both stale and intrinsically aesthetically disappointing (to my eye), i would like to see variety in the 'mundane' weapons (cross-hilt swords, sabres, basket hilts etc. - as cosmetic or functional as the designers want) and I'd like to see that variety reflected in what the character models carry around with them.

I'd also like to see some 'special' weaponry that has things every-day weapons don't, so long as it's, well... 'tasteful' is as good a word as any.

[catmorbid]

Speaking of Varangians :

 

 

It's practical and looks absolutely amazing and menacing at the same time too.

 

Oh, that picture reminds me of yet another thing:

 

Layered armor

 

Why not? Shouldn't be THAT hard to do