The AI can provide dynamic approach to encounters rather than a procedure.
Would you suggest linking movement to some form of RNG if it isn’t procedural?
When I said “procedural” I meant how we run dungeons – It feels like a procedure rather than fighting. A well developed AI would alleviate a side of this and it doesn’t need to be overly complicated. It also needs movement as a complement.
Also yes, some movements and decisions could involve a little RNG. Example would be like if boss is pinned to a wall it puts it in a defensive or cornered state and has an increased chance for some options such as AoE launch/simple sidestep/directional rush attack. With these examples if he opts for aoe launch players can dodge and punish while sidestep is purely defensive repsitioning, directional rush is a combination of both.
Also the need for flanking enemies and positioning (if bots can detect terrain I’m sure you guys can do it better); put them beside cover and a little spread and you could see a fresh take on combat.
I think there’s a challenge aspect to programming mobs to incentivize flanking. It certainly exists in game. (High lvl mossman incentivizes you to flank while you melee him.) Do you have any specific mechanics that would be part of a mob mechanic that would encourage flanking?
I think you misunderstood this one, I’m mainly focusing about the AI and mob behavior and not players. The goal is for players to react differently, and in-due time might have a macro strategy but the fighting itself would involve subtle individual decisions depending on mob patterns.
I mentioned bots and how they detect terrain because it can add an element of depth for mob AI and their decision on how or where to position themselves. Imagine if ranged mobs “accidentally” set up their positions where their flanks are covered to avoid getting hit with guardian GS5 all at the same time, the guard can think quick and find a sweet spot that captures them all or the party can split to avoid being aoe’d.
With your example of players flanking a boss, I can think of a few things that can provide incentive to this but not one single mechanic. It;s more of an approach on how to design bosses to make it less RTS-like and more action-like. It deals with decision making which also ties into basic fighting movements. I don;t want to get into it right now since it;s going to be long.
Less gimmicks, more mobs who know how to fight (does not mean 1 shot difficulty – encounters can be casual but still enjoyable). It’s about time we have mobs and bosses that does not have primitive AI (see enemy>run straight and spam all skills). On replay value a lot of it can come from bosses and encounters when done properly, I can name a few games that only has bosses and does it well.
I think “gimmicks” can be a very general turn. You could say that the Molten Berserker’s Shockwave is a gimmick, and the Firestorm’s AoE fire circles are also gimmicks, but when you put them together, they add a dimension of difficulty that each one alone couldn’t do.
I think maybe you’re looking for something that has extreme depth of combat, yes? “Easy to learn, hard to master.” Recognizing the shockwave is easy, but being able to dodge the shockwave while worrying about the firestorm makes it more challenging.
I used the term gimmick very loosely. An example of it could be the clockheart in aetherpath and the hologram + electric floors; sometimes it’s fine i guess but it shouldn’t be the focus at all. Worst gimmick is breachmaker LS boss, that was just terrible.
Berserker and firestorm is ok in my book except berserker’s animation is terrible and not indicative of the range on where his fists land, he looks like a child flailing his arms with a phantom range; not very intuitive.
You’re right with the “easy to learn, hard to master” but I don’t think it needs extreme depth in combat, maybe extreme in comparison to what we have now. One element I keep coming back to is zoning (like in fighting games/good action games). A basic element is maintaining your step-in reach and knowing when to throw a few jabs or when it is worth throwing a heavy attack. The amateur will be very cautious and sometimes the window to attack is short that he cannot capitalize on it maybe due to slow reaction or bad positioning (too far), the skilled player or experienced will punish all the misses the boss makes and step out just in time to avoid the next incoming attack (basically a counter and backstep, or sidestep then launch another attack).
As abstract as this is I hope I made sense. To make it more concrete I would need to spend a lot of time and provide something similar to a draft.
