Which action RPG has the best combat?

P

Poordevil

Gawd
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I am thinking modern games, like from Oblivion onwards, or earlier if you know one that really is outstanding.

I thought Risen was okay, maybe PB will improve on in with Risen 2.

Gothic 3 was barely passable, it was playable, but that was about it. Even Alternate Balancing can't really help it much.

Peeps knock Oblivion's combat, but I thought it was fine. Especially archery I thought was well done. The combat was much better than Morrowind, that's for sure.

I didn't like Dragon Age much at all, but that is not even an action RPG is it? What ever it is, I don't care for the pause and play combat. Main reason I never got far with the game.
 
archery was fine in oblivion but was WAY to weak to be used as a primary combat skill
 
Parmenides said:
Mount & Blade/Warband, no contest.
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+1. It's definitely different than your conventional RPG... but pure combat wise, it's very addicting.

even though this is in the PC forum...I'll suggest a 360 RPG that I reallyyy liked:

Tales of Vesperia
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Vesperia's combat was ok. Personally I liked Star Ocean's (the most recent one) combat system the most since I felt like it was the most involved.

archery was fine in oblivion but was WAY to weak to be used as a primary combat skill
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What? You can blow through everything with just sneak + archery. That's what was broken about it.
 
Ah Mount n Blade, haven't played that game since it first came out. It had great mounted combat, I remember that.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
Vesperia's combat was ok. Personally I liked Star Ocean's (the most recent one) combat system the most since I felt like it was the most involved.
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Vesperia's combat was pretty broken as well especially Blah Blah Blah Tidal wave!.


What? You can blow through everything with just sneak + archery. That's what was broken about it.
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Unless you have some overpowered poisons and enchantments it took forever to kill higher level enemies with a bow on normal or higher difficulty. Many times I found myself playing on easy just to clear a Oblivion portal because I didn't have the thousands of arrows required to kill things. Sure you can sneak pass a lot of stuff but where is the fun in that.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
+1. It's definitely different than your conventional RPG... but pure combat wise, it's very addicting.


Vesperia's combat was ok. Personally I liked Star Ocean's (the most recent one) combat system the most since I felt like it was the most involved.


What? You can blow through everything with just sneak + archery. That's what was broken about it.
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you couldnt use it without sneak was the problem. it would take 30+ arrows to kill things at higher lvls
 
"At higher levels" - You realize the goal of optimizing Oblivion's leveling system was to never level past 20ish since mobs scale with your level?

Both times I played through oblivion, almost all mobs were 1 shot sneak attack kills. It would require at most 3 shots from sneak. With high enough sneak they don't even realize you're there after the first shot hits.
 
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

Perhaps too linear for what you want, though.
 
Intel_Hydralisk said:
"At higher levels" - You realize the goal of optimizing Oblivion's leveling system was to never level past 20ish since mobs scale with your level?

Both times I played through oblivion, almost all mobs were 1 shot sneak attack kills. It would require at most 3 shots from sneak. With high enough sneak they don't even realize you're there after the first shot hits.
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So what you're saying is because you took advantage of Oblivion's scaling, instead of just playing the game normally, the bow and sneak skill were overpowered. Gotcha.
 
KamelRed said:
So what you're saying is because you took advantage of Oblivion's scaling, instead of just playing the game normally, the bow and sneak skill were overpowered. Gotcha.
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Are you kidding me? It's pretty common knowledge that you aren't supposed to just power level in Oblivion. In fact, the dev's advice if you're high level is to turn the difficulty down.
 
Even though it made me want to pull my hair out sometimes I really enjoyed the combat in Gothic 3. It was hard and the AI was really unpredictable. Only until you got a pole weapon did it become a bit easier, do to the reach advantage .I think I liked it so much because it was so hard and it gave me a sense of accomplishment in the end. Gothic 3 gets my vote. Pre Oblivion though....I would have to say Final Fantasy Tactics.
 
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Intel_Hydralisk said:
Are you kidding me? It's pretty common knowledge that you aren't supposed to just power level in Oblivion. In fact, the dev's advice if you're high level is to turn the difficulty down.
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That is a cool story, bro. But that still doesn't make using a bow and sneak overpowered just because you set the game up in a certain fashion to succeed. I can play through normal difficulty with a sword and shield and not have to turn down the difficulty ever no matter what level I am. Does that make it overpowered because a bow user cannot do it as easily as a melee character?
 
A sneak headshot with an arrow ought to kill in one hit anyway, it allows you to ghost dungeons otherwise if your enemy is wailing about because he knows you're there, then it attracts all the other nearby enemies and sneak is ruined.

My main play through of Oblivion as a thief/assassin with archery and my main weapon became a bit of a joke near the end.
 
Dark messiah might and magic was fun and the combat good for a firstperson view. The rope bow meant sniping was fun.

Whilst I am sure some will disagree, I will have to put witcher up there just because I always like the swordplay at the higher levels especially.

Oblivion was good I thought if a bit too much of a click fest. The sneak plus bow was great and I used it alot especially combined with alchemy meant that dieing was pretty much impossible at the higher levels.
 
AceCR42 said:
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

Perhaps too linear for what you want, though.
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I loved this fucking game. I hate to think that I would have never played it had I not gotten it for free from that Brazilian magazine website or whatever that one day.
 
Yeah, I'd have to give Dark Messiah second place.

Oblivion did suffer hitpoint bloat at later levels. Level 20 is sort of the max before it gets absurd. The Deadly Reflexes mod really enhanced Oblivion's combat. The author's next version will be taking a lot of inspiration from Mount & Blade.
 
Q-BZ said:
I ought to revisit this game. I liked it. An underrated and overlooked gem IMO. I wouldn't mind a sequel, either.
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I have this and never played it.... I think it kept crashing on me, but my PC has been upgraded since... I'll have to give it another try. I think it was a freebie.
 
kilgore777 said:
I have this and never played it.... I think it kept crashing on me, but my PC has been upgraded since... I'll have to give it another try. I think it was a freebie.
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You have nothing to lose and you might even be pleasantly surprised. :)
 
If you want a good laugh, play Dark Messiah multiplayer. (Only for laughs, don't expect more)
 
Parmenides said:
If you want a good laugh, play Dark Messiah multiplayer. (Only for laughs, don't expect more)
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Actually when the game was being given out for free there was a shit load of people playing multiplayer and I had a lot of fun with it. What's laughable is that there is only one series of maps and one game mode.
 
SixtyWattMan said:
Actually when the game was being given out for free there was a shit load of people playing multiplayer and I had a lot of fun with it. What's laughable is that there is only one series of maps and one game mode.
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I thought there was some variety, but I can't remember too well. I remember capture the flag, and another game of forward base capturing.

I just remember the glitches, that's what made me laugh. I sure wish there was another campaign for single player.


*edit "wish" not "with"
 
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Parmenides said:
I thought there was some variety, but I can't remember too well. I remember capture the flag, and another game of forward base capturing.

I just remember the glitches, that's what made me laugh. I sure with there was another campaign for single player.
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What I remember mostly was 1-2 shotting people with lightning bolts.
 
While the game has many issues, Fallout New Vegas has excellent combat for an RPG'ish game. You can target things like an FPS, you can use multi-shot VATS if you don't want to twitch aim, there are tons of weapons and specialties, etc.
I think it takes what was right/wrong with Oblivion and Fallout 3 and fixes them. Combat's the one area where I think they did a perfect job.
 
Yeah, if you go for the non-medieval/fantasy category New Vegas is probably on top or at least among the top. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any game in the non-medieval category that would be better than New Vegas combat.
 
Parmenides said:
If you want a good laugh, play Dark Messiah multiplayer. (Only for laughs, don't expect more)
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The problem with Dark Messiah's multiplayer is it was developed by another studio, a quite mediocre one at that, and they really didn't give a shit about game balance or bugs. I remember playing it at launch and if you weren't playing a Fire Mage you were at an immediate disadvantage.

In any case, Arkane Studios (Dark Messiah SP dev) was bought out by Bethesda, so perhaps the next Elder Scrolls game will actually have good combat.
 
AceCR42 said:
The problem with Dark Messiah's multiplayer is it was developed by another studio, a quite mediocre one at that, and they really didn't give a shit about game balance or bugs. I remember playing it at launch and if you weren't playing a Fire Mage you were at an immediate disadvantage.

In any case, Arkane Studios (Dark Messiah SP dev) was bought out by Bethesda, so perhaps the next Elder Scrolls game will actually have good combat.
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What? I didn't know that. That's gotta be good news. I really hope the next Elder Scrolls will take lessons from Dark Messiah and M&B.
 
I'm a big fan of Dungeon Siege 1 combat...and Dungeon Siege 2 to a lesser extent.


Edit: oops failed to read the OP and just read the title....so I guess my recommendations are invalid
 
Bigbacon said:
WTF....literally blah blah blah???? really
can't even tell whats going on....like there is no input just keeps blah blah blahing forever.

I want to play this now and do this just to annoy the shit out of my wife.
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The jist of it is using the limit break in order to instant cast spells that normally take a couple of seconds to launch (hence the blah blah blah part, she is skipping parts of the spell incantation). The retarded amount of damage being done is refilling the limit break meter so you can chain cast instant AoE spells. The only time you switch from Tidal Wave! to another spell is if that enemy is immune to water/frost damage.

I played through the game a couple times (new game+ hellz yeah) and I really enjoyed it. Sadly, I sold my 360 awhile back and only have a PS3 now and for some reason Namco/Bandai refuse to port the Japanese PS3 version over to America.
 
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AceCR42 said:
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

Perhaps too linear for what you want, though.
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Yep, this was the most "reactive" gameplay in an action/RPG I've played. The parrys and use of shield as well as the finish moves were right on -- not overly complex, but not too simple.
 
Parmenides said:
What? I didn't know that. That's gotta be good news. I really hope the next Elder Scrolls will take lessons from Dark Messiah and M&B.
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Unfortunately, Bethesda bought Arkane to kill Might & Magic, not to make more of them. M&M was Oblivions main competitor at the time and they didn't want more competition with sequels of one of their cash-cows.

On the bright side, they did get Arkane's talent, so maybe some of it will brush of in gameplay for the next ES.
 
harmattan said:
Unfortunately, Bethesda bought Arkane to kill Might & Magic, not to make more of them. M&M was Oblivions main competitor at the time and they didn't want more competition with sequels of one of their cash-cows.

On the bright side, they did get Arkane's talent, so maybe some of it will brush of in gameplay for the next ES.
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What? Arkane never owned the rights to Might and Magic. Ubisoft owns that IP If I recall.
Also, there were no recent Might and Magic games out to compete with Oblivion in the first place, unless you mean the HoMM series, which is turn based strategy/rpg and isn't competition at all.
 
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