2x2 strafing undermines character building [edited]

[gasgas]

I dunno- the game IS an action-RPG at the end of the day.

However, I definitely feel the combat needs some spicing up.

Tougher enemies, smarter enemies using tactics, faster enemies, weak points and strong points, etc. etc.

[Saice]

- Add rules of engagement. If you strafe away from a monster, it gets free attacks at you. If you dance around monsters instead of facing them, you deserve to be eaten. (There could be skills to increase Evasion bonus against these attacks for those who like this style of gameplay.)

If you stand toe to toe with an Ogre you deserved to be eaten. Without a huge over haul of the combat system any change making it so that you have to fight toe to toe would make combat way to brutal and force way to much down to to recover between fights.

And if you are going to suggest "Fight smarter" and use range... well then the 2x2 strafing is fighting smarter and it not much different then rolling a party of rouges and mages and using range the whole game.

- Add a short delay or build-up to attacks so you have to stay in the square longer when attacking. Daggers could have less/no delay so Rogues could still feel like ninjas. The delay could also help make weapons feel different - slow heavy hitting vs. small and fast. (i.e. click on Great Hammer.. build up sound effect plays.. 2 seconds later the attack lands with a massive thud)

They do have weapon delays already slower weapons take longer to cycle.

- Prevent moving completely under certain circumstances (say, someone is grabbed by a tentacle). Or have the incapacitated party member be auto-killed if the rest of the party flees instead of helps.

Once again the combat as it stands right now requires movement. Especially at the lower levels were you have to dance between multiple mobs or get cornered and face stumped.

- Give some large monsters the ability to sweep attack across all 3 squares in front of them.

Orges can already side swipe parties. And honest 3 squares in front would not change my style I tend to keep mobs at the diagonal from me and quickly slide over to attack then slide back around to their side.

- Have some monsters attack so fast you have no time to strafe

Some are already pretty close the bugs come to mind as fast attackers that are hard to strafe.

- Make charging monsters a bit smarter

This is really the only suggestion in your list I agree with. Even on hard it seems they take their on sweet time to decide what square they want to step into to attack.

[Kailos]

- Give some large monsters the ability to sweep attack across all 3 squares in front of them.

Orges can already side swipe parties. And honest 3 squares in front would not change my style I tend to keep mobs at the diagonal from me and quickly slide over to attack then slide back around to their side.

The three squares in front would include the one immediately in front, and the square on either side, your diagonals.

The ogre sideswipe is a good thing, but not quite enough since you can simply treat them the same as if it was facing you anyways.

[Saice]

Orges can already side swipe parties. And honest 3 squares in front would not change my style I tend to keep mobs at the diagonal from me and quickly slide over to attack then slide back around to their side.

The three squares in front would include the one immediately in front, and the square on either side, your diagonals.

The ogre sideswipe is a good thing, but not quite enough since you can simply treat them the same as if it was facing you anyways.

I go for the back diagonal or the side if that is not available. I love the back stab.

[BlueLegion]

Orges can already side swipe parties. And honest 3 squares in front would not change my style I tend to keep mobs at the diagonal from me and quickly slide over to attack then slide back around to their side.

I think the suggested feature was a swipe that hits the 3 spaces in front and diagonally in front of the ogre. So if you stood in front of him and strafed either left or right, you would get hit anyway, and you'd need to back off to dodge. I think an attack like this could be a good addition (but with a slight visible and maybe audible charge-up delay, just like the ogre's charge), and you often see something like this in FF Tactics and similar grid-based RPGs.

[Saice]

Orges can already side swipe parties. And honest 3 squares in front would not change my style I tend to keep mobs at the diagonal from me and quickly slide over to attack then slide back around to their side.

I think the suggested feature was a swipe that hits the 3 spaces in front and diagonally in front of the ogre. So if you stood in front of him and strafed either left or right, you would get hit anyway, and you'd need to back off to dodge. I think an attack like this could be a good addition (but with a slight visible and maybe audible charge-up delay, just like the ogre's charge), and you often see something like this in FF Tactics and similar grid-based RPGs.

As I have pointed out I tend to go for the mobs back diagonal or there side if the back is not an option because I tend to use back stab a lot.

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__OO
__MO from here
__PO 

__OP
__MO to here
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__MP or here but sometimes he will get is side swipe here. 
__OO

While I agree mobs should have more options and chances to hit parties I do not agree with the OP about free attacks or locking down mobility as the way to improve combat. I flee just a better AI would fix some of the problems with combat as it stands without adding special status effects or free attacks.

[Kailos]

While I agree mobs should have more options and chances to hit parties I do not agree with the OP about free attacks or locking down mobility as the way to improve combat. I flee just a better AI would fix some of the problems with combat as it stands without adding special status effects or free attacks.

Ai that retreats when damage and blocks player movement towards the fleeing injured would certainly make things more interesting. I have said before that the monsters ought to have some sort of regeneration. Not a large factor, just enough that leaving them be is not optimal.

[Saice]

Ai that retreats when damage and blocks player movement towards the fleeing injured would certainly make things more interesting. I have said before that the monsters ought to have some sort of regeneration. Not a large factor, just enough that leaving them be is not optimal.

And that I something i can agree with. I would have no issue with mobs healing especially when the party rests.

AI that did stick on move tactics on the faster mobs would indeed be fairly awesome. With the larger ones they would just be to slow.

But if they could improve the AI to the point there mob groups interact I would enjoy seeing them use smarter group tactics.

[atngnd]

I for one like the current system just fine.

Perhaps AH can implement some more exotic attack types for the new monsters in LoG 2 or whatever the sequel is going to be called. But the basic system is fine.

Yes, circle strafing may seem like cheating, but it is IMO a lot more fair than having to redo hours of gameplay from an earlier save just because you happened to pick the wrong stats to spend your experience points on. Besides, with more than one mob circle strafing isn't as simple as it seems. There's also often not enough space to do it, although you can lure enemies to a place where you have enough room for it. But that's precisely the kind of strategy that I like.

[Sir_Veillance]

The ONLY thing I though was even close to a good idea within all of that was the weapon charge time, so that you can't quickly strafe past a monster and hit it with a hammer at the same time.