Camelot Unchained BSC Days Wrap-Up

Combat: Getting Physical

3/5 on the Bat Shit Crazy Meter

With all the cool stuff mages get, those who weren’t planning to play a mage might feel a little disappointed already. However, CSE is going to apply many of the same principles from the magic system to the melee system to make sure mages don’t get all the fun.

Like spells, abilities for other characters will be created at the player level by combining components. There are four component types: primary, secondary, modifiers, and modal components. Primary components are the object, or “noun,” that the player wants to use the ability (such as a sword), while the secondary component is the “verb,” or way the player wants to use the object (such as slash). Modifiers and modals, then, make up the majority of components, allowing players to tweak the ability and how their character uses it. All of these parts must be learned and practiced to be used in battle. A small amount of gain in these abilities can be earned through practicing on a target dummy, but the real gains will be in battle against other opponents. As a final note, like mages, specific components will be class or realm locked to promote class diversity.

Since Camelot Unchained is a physics based game, each body part is judged individually on a character. Helms only protect heads, and boots only protect feet. Likewise, each area has its own health and injury system, meaning that a blow to your shoulder won’t keep you from being able to run away. Thus abilities can target specific areas on a player’s body. Counter-attacks, defense, and ability disruption also play a key role in combat.

A few awesome possibilities and features were also teased. Giants picking up lechorpans and using them as projectile weapons is an awesome mental visual. Since the game has collision detection, giants (and others too, of course) can also stand shoulder to shoulder in an impenetrable wall of flesh to protect their claims. Line of sight will also be an important factor, for both direct attacks and arching abilities, which is promised to help prevent the infamous buff bot problem.

The trouble with the combat system reveal isn’t our doubts that this could work; after all, we’ve seen other physics based combat games come and go for years. The problem is that until we see this system in action, we’re only given a blind man’s idea of the elephant. While there was some live pre-alpha gameplay testing during the event, it’s a very primitive build with none of the aforementioned features yet implemented. But, like the magic system, if the combat system proves true, we’re in for some damned impressive PvP.