Combat and DA4

     Yes, I'm going there.

     I had been meaning to create this thread a while back when lo and behold, the Twitter reaction thread blows up with a string of comments on comparative combat systems of the DA series. Sometime, you just need a nudge from fellow geeks.     The following is not necessarily as well organized as I would like, but when the energy is there, go with it!

    Some basics: To me, tactical combat consists of significant combat effects caused by a choice of the means of engagement. This can mean the selection of position (like flanking), terrain (like an archer taking to higher ground), skill or spell type (like selecting an ice spell against a fire demon), utilizing special conditions on the battlefield (Gaatlok barrels or a winch to allow knights to enter the castle walls), utilizing skills/spells in certain order (Combos!), etc. To that extent, scripts that the Player can access are neat tools, but they aren't definitive of tactical combat. Limitations in the number of spells and skills were largely balanced by far more synergies between different party members use of those spells and skills. My own basic hope for DA4 combat is that it continues to combine tactical and action combat where it can and balance between the two when there are absolute clashes in the style. Also, I played DA:I almost entirely in the tactical camera mode. There were certainly some challenges and glitches (the worst for me wasn't the camera, it was the amount of time a character would simply freeze in mid action until you zoomed in and caused her/him to jump. Strange that) but I was able to get around most of them. Outside of underground locations not allowing you to see through the ceiling, what kinds of challenges did you face?

Now for my own grocery list.

1: Keep the stuff that did work in DA:I and expand it. Did I mention combos? (BTW, played DA2 after DA:O so, yes, I do know they were actually introduced in 2)  That was, to me, the realization of the promises made back in DA:O about combining spells to make new effects that turned out to be rare and largely useful only in special situations. Moar! Also, destructible items finally made an appearance. Always fun blowing up some archer's cover. Health not regenerating after combat would have been better if there weren't so many camps and caches around. It makes you far less cavalier about risks without really slowing down the adventure. 

2: Emphasize quick combat results over wars of attrition, even with bosses. Here's a place where more combos with more differentiation could come in handy. One of the things I didn't like in DA:I combat was the long slog that just about any combat could become because even the mooks had 10-20 times more hit points than you to make them challenging. DA2's criiter-ranked mobs aren't the answer, but good choices should lead to shorter duration combats. That would fit in better with action fans, reduce tedium, and give tactics a boost as well as you look for the best combos and approaches to end different enemies more quickly. Make bosses more terrifying in their offensive prowess, not in the fact that you know the next combat will take 15-20 minutes of pounding while countering the same kinds of attacks. No one should have to suffer through the Nightmare Demon battle ever again.

3: Reduce the random mob respawns and replace with purposeful, thoughtful encounters. The rifts were actually much more entertaining for me as combat than many of the other combat situations in DA:I because each one was hand-placed to be a different kind of environmental challenge. Respawns should only happen in specific areas where they make sense and be limited. The fact that Lyrium Smugglers kept spawning in the Hinterlands well after you had cleared out most of the area was truly annoying to me. Fewer, more entertaining and challenging encounters are better for most Players. 

4: Give each Companion a unique skill tree like in DA2. This may be more Companion than Combat but I thought it fit here. Having a unique set of skills (that can trigger unique combos, natch) gives each Companion an interesting flavor that extends beyond the Camp. It also could get the Player to experiment more with Companions that they may not initially be interested in. It also could encourage the Player to take Companions that are not typically compatible as characters to entertaining effect.

5: If Guard continues to exist in DA4, give it some vulnerabilities. Part of this goes into Point 2 about emphasizing quick combat resolution. Part of it goes into the fact that over a short amount of time the Tank almost never was in trouble because he/she was constantly regenerating guard and very few opponents actually had it. (They had metric ****tons of ablative hit points after all). I know there was a Guard Breaker skill added to opponents in Jaws of Hakkon but that didn't seem to have much visible effect (I could have just been unobservant). I don't want to be perforating Tanks left-and-right, but there should be some things a Guard generating character fears other than having to revive the rest of the Party (again).

6: Differentiate between weapons in the same class more. For me, this is absolutely a place where they should crib from DA:O. Each weapon type in a class should have distinct advantages that are enhanced by more powerful types over time. It also offers a chance for a character to either enhance a strength even further or balance out a weakness. While we are at it, ditch the 1, 2, 3 percent stuff unless its a really powerful effect. 3% more armor penetration is astonishingly meh. Three percent chance to decapitate is just astonishing.

     That's the quick dump. have fun and please add many more ideas. Love to hear them. Thanks.