So a big complaint for AC games, generally post-AC1, is that there is no real challenge. It's too easy.
Which I agreed with. I find myself handicapping myself during combat just to have some fun with it. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some difficult fights. Once you get enough Jager's on you in AC3, it can get rather difficult.....assuming you don't use any of your gadgets for a insta-kill.
In ACR, which is the only other AC game I have, I found that fighting groups of Janissaries was actually pretty tough. Why? Because they had a powerful, unblockable attack, you could only hurt them by ranged weapons or countering, and they could take a lot of punishment before going down. The issue was there was generally only one Janissary per group of guards, and since the rest of the guards were laughably easy to kill, they were soon killed, assuming you didn't kill them right off the bat.
So in short, the problem with AC combat, in my opinion, is the insta-kills. In AC3 they improved on this by making a lot of enemies only able to be kill by hackin' n slashin' after you disarmed them, which took time and left you vulnerable, but it was hampered by the easy solution of simply using one of your many gadgets to get an insta-kill.
My solution? Take a game called Batman: Arkham City. Now, I don't want it to be a copy of Arkham City, but I do want it to take some nods from it.
One thing in BM: AC is that in a fight you don't often get the chance to insta-kill an enemy. There are combos and such, and various things you can do before the fight takes off, but normally it requires a bit of doing to take down a group of thugs. Contrast this with AC, where aside from the normally hackin' n slashin', most attacks give you an insta-kill. This makes the combat, while not always easy, not very difficult even in the hardest situations. Ubisoft tries to mix combat up with different enemies, who generally have some gimmick like grenades or a pistol that never really does much, but half the time they can be killed EXACTLY like the stock grunts, or only pose a danger rarely and in great numbers.
So what should they do? Well for one bring back the health mechanic, but make it so only the weakest of guards can be insta-killed and maybe not even them. Get rid of the gadget insta-kills, or make them limited to things like the pistol, which can only be used so many times before the long reload. And make the "super" guards a challenge. I loved the unblockable Janissary gun because it forced me to stop just countering. I had to go on the offensive, and sometimes I couldn't do it in time. It forced me to adapt, and it was a good idea.
For guards like that Brutes and Agiles, make Brutes have significantly more health, and make them require more counters to kill. Make Agiles uncounterable, but give us some way to "stun" them so we can get some hits in before they go back on the offensive. And make the "super" guards a mix of these things, making it something of a mini-boss. This does mean that there can't be a ton of these guys rushing at you at once, but it also makes them a much more satisfying fight at the end of a fort battle. And it actually gives incentive to be stealthy and take them out silently.
Punish bad placement in combat. Guards grabbing you from behind is cool, but I feel like there should be more unblockable attacks, or attacks that can mess you up if you don't react in time. Not entirely sure what they would be, though the firing line mechanic from AC3 is a good example of this.
And finally, please add a difficulty setting. Some players want more danger in combat and making a difficulty setting would appeal to a wider audience, since if its too hard they can tone it down. It also will allow more hardcore players to have an actual fight.
Fin.
Which I agreed with. I find myself handicapping myself during combat just to have some fun with it. Now, don't get me wrong, there are some difficult fights. Once you get enough Jager's on you in AC3, it can get rather difficult.....assuming you don't use any of your gadgets for a insta-kill.
In ACR, which is the only other AC game I have, I found that fighting groups of Janissaries was actually pretty tough. Why? Because they had a powerful, unblockable attack, you could only hurt them by ranged weapons or countering, and they could take a lot of punishment before going down. The issue was there was generally only one Janissary per group of guards, and since the rest of the guards were laughably easy to kill, they were soon killed, assuming you didn't kill them right off the bat.
So in short, the problem with AC combat, in my opinion, is the insta-kills. In AC3 they improved on this by making a lot of enemies only able to be kill by hackin' n slashin' after you disarmed them, which took time and left you vulnerable, but it was hampered by the easy solution of simply using one of your many gadgets to get an insta-kill.
My solution? Take a game called Batman: Arkham City. Now, I don't want it to be a copy of Arkham City, but I do want it to take some nods from it.
One thing in BM: AC is that in a fight you don't often get the chance to insta-kill an enemy. There are combos and such, and various things you can do before the fight takes off, but normally it requires a bit of doing to take down a group of thugs. Contrast this with AC, where aside from the normally hackin' n slashin', most attacks give you an insta-kill. This makes the combat, while not always easy, not very difficult even in the hardest situations. Ubisoft tries to mix combat up with different enemies, who generally have some gimmick like grenades or a pistol that never really does much, but half the time they can be killed EXACTLY like the stock grunts, or only pose a danger rarely and in great numbers.
So what should they do? Well for one bring back the health mechanic, but make it so only the weakest of guards can be insta-killed and maybe not even them. Get rid of the gadget insta-kills, or make them limited to things like the pistol, which can only be used so many times before the long reload. And make the "super" guards a challenge. I loved the unblockable Janissary gun because it forced me to stop just countering. I had to go on the offensive, and sometimes I couldn't do it in time. It forced me to adapt, and it was a good idea.
For guards like that Brutes and Agiles, make Brutes have significantly more health, and make them require more counters to kill. Make Agiles uncounterable, but give us some way to "stun" them so we can get some hits in before they go back on the offensive. And make the "super" guards a mix of these things, making it something of a mini-boss. This does mean that there can't be a ton of these guys rushing at you at once, but it also makes them a much more satisfying fight at the end of a fort battle. And it actually gives incentive to be stealthy and take them out silently.
Punish bad placement in combat. Guards grabbing you from behind is cool, but I feel like there should be more unblockable attacks, or attacks that can mess you up if you don't react in time. Not entirely sure what they would be, though the firing line mechanic from AC3 is a good example of this.
And finally, please add a difficulty setting. Some players want more danger in combat and making a difficulty setting would appeal to a wider audience, since if its too hard they can tone it down. It also will allow more hardcore players to have an actual fight.
Fin.