If you could design a sword-fighting game, what would your combat system be like?

[Prince of China]

In the worst game ever thread, you may have noticed me bitching and puking about Jedi Knight's crap sword combat system. I like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time because it has a cool combat system with cool moves...and the same goes for Ninja Gaiden.
In Jedi Academy, there is no locking, parry and block; all you did was attack and a) hit b) not hit.
How would you design a sword combat system? How would blocking, parrying, counter-parries and etc... fit in?
I want to know since I'm a fan of kick-ass sword fighting games.

 

[Geno]

i'd put it on the DS and have you drag the stylus across where you wanted your sword...

 

[-=jt=-]

insult sword fighting!

otherwise theres die by the sword with free swingin sword fun. you could even record moves and do them over and over again.

 

[JimmehH]

I have a friend who's working on a sword fighting game at the moment. Can't remember a whole lot about the control system apart from that it's a bit like Die by the Sword. It sounds promising.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/diebythesword/review.html

 

[Prince of China]

I just tried Die by the Sword and it was pretty fun. Ravensoft could learn a thing or two from these guys.

 

[B.Calhoun]

I really like JA, but the combat would be better if you can either attack or block on your own. I dont like locking on, at all. It limits the freedom and just consists on you killing every guy one by one.

Ive only played the demo of JA, but was a big fan of Outcast and i think ima buy JA (its been out for a while i know)

 

[Warbie]

Any decent fighting system will work fine with swords.

Personally I think the fighting from No Mercy is the best in any video game - stick some swords in there and it's all good

 

[Dalamari]

I liked the system from MGS2, I would just have the joystick that controls the sword be pressure sensative and certain button combos along w/ a proper joystick movement can trigger a cool move.

 

[Prince of China]

I also thought Zone of the Enders' combat system was pretty awesome too.

 

[outpost]

Two words.... Ninja Gaiden

 

[Prince of China]

Hell yeah!

 

[DarkStar]

You know a sword-fighting system that I found really great at the time? The original 'Alone in the Dark.' Lordy I just aged myself there.

 

[<RJMC>]

tree words...Devil May Cry

 

[CyberSh33p]

I dunno... tales of phantasia?
serioussly, was good for snes

 

[dawdler]

Gothic II but expanded. Its an *excellent* system for sword fighting, yet so very simple... However it needs more "response" on the swings (for example if you swing to the side, the enemy would block to the side) and physically real swords (they are halfway there already, but not quite good). The AI is really the biggest concern, one need to free it from any timed attacks and simply swing as good as you can, blocking whereever you can.

Edit:
In Jedi Academy, there is no locking, parry and block; all you did was attack and a) hit b) not hit.
You do know that not attacking means parrying/blocking for your character, do you?

 

[el Chi]

I have a friend who's working on a sword fighting game at the moment. Can't remember a whole lot about the control system apart from that it's a bit like Die by the Sword. It sounds promising.

I do too as it goes. He didn't explain it, but he also said he wanted to try it in HL2 - I wonder if it's the same guy

 

[-=jt=-]

terrenigma on the snes had a very good system, you should try it sometime

 

[-JeZ-]

I don't think we're going to see a intuative sqord fighting game using current controllers, be it keyboard + mouse or console style joypad. Everything that has turne dout good has always been a little over-complicated imo.

[EDIT] The best one I've seen thus far is Die by the Sword. If the did that using HL2's engine it could be awesome.

 

[burnzie]

yeah id have to go with insult sword fighting.

 

[Matt's Alias]

you'd have to do this on an xbox controller but what if you controlled your movement with the left stick and the sword with the right. You'd have to have a lock on feature though with an over the shoulder perspective.

 

[el Chi]

you'd have to do this on an xbox controller but what if you controlled your movement with the left stick and the sword with the right. You'd have to have a lock on feature though with an over the shoulder perspective.

I was thinking a similar system, but I don't see why it ought to be X-Box only. I was thinking 1st person, which I know isn't the best for swords, but it could still work in 3rd person almost as easily. You could easily do something like:
WASD - movement (natch)
Left Mouse Button - Slash (also acts as block)
Right Mouse Button - Stab

To work it, you simply hold the attack you want and move about to dodge etc. Hold down "slash", for example, and you aim it with the mouse - you aim it at the opponent's leg, and the strike goes for the leg. To block, simply aim the strike at the opponent's sword. This would work especially well in Source, as the two swords could be fully interactive physically simulated bodies.

 

[Kazuki_Fuse]

I'd make it like Soul Calibur, and maybe cut down on the button mashing aspect of it.

 

[Dedalus]

how about using the mouse to control your sword swings?

you'd hold down the left mouse button to begin an arc, and then just move the mouse around to swing/parry/block.

i guess it wouldn't be favourable for those hack 'n' slash type of gamers. but it'd definitely be useful for swordplay games, like samurai themed games or lightsabre fights.