Developer Journal : The Combat System

The Combat System

The combat system in 9Dragons was designed to be different to those of other, the combat system has been designed to be both fair and involving. 

When you first start the game, you have no fighting ability at all. Just like in real life, when you attack, you just flail around with your fists because that is the natural thing to do. However, you know that you can be so much better! What you need is someone to teach you some moves. Depending on what clan you chose to join at the beginning, you will find a master somewhere near the starting point who will teach you the basics.

They are easy to spot because around them are all the training aids that you will have seen in martial arts films - training dummies, platforms and practice areas. They will charge you a nominal amount to teach you the basics. Each basic trainer may know a few easy moves... two or three for unarmed combat, and a couple for a sword or exotic weapon training. 

This is where it gets interesting! Let's say that you are learning an unarmed routine of say a punch, kick, kick combination. First, you need to complete a mini-game that allows you to acquire the skill. If you fail, you have to go back to the trainer to get him to explain it to you again. These mini-games are unique, and mean that you have to work to acquire your skills.

As long as you complete the mini-game successfully, you now have the basic knowledge of how to perform this combination.

But can you do it? No way! Just like in real combat, practice in the training area is never like using a move in a real fight. You only get to use the combination when you have perfected each part of the move in actual combat. 

Fortunately, there are hundreds of quests in 9Dragons, so you are never short of opportunities to go and practice your moves. At the bottom of your action bar, you get a number that indicates how far in the combo you will progress. You might have done a three-move combo in the training, but until you have mastered the first punch in real combat, you can't move on to putting the kick in afterwards.

So, you practice your punch, and when you are competent with it, you then add the kick. When you can do both of those, you can then add the second kick. You have now mastered a three-move combo! 

Well done! A three-move combo does much more damage to a monster than just a punch or a kick because the first moves have already got it on the defensive, and then the follow-up moves in the combo will force him back and damage him more. Some monsters can be taken out entirely with one well-timed heavy combo.

However, in 9Dragons, once you have mastered the move, it means that you can use as much or as little of it as you wish. Different monsters will have different weaknesses. Some will require quick repeated jabs to wear them down because they move so fast. Others will require really heavy combos to break down their defenses. If you have learned to use a three-step combo, you can choose - by clicking on the number button under the skill - to use just the first step, the first two, or all three. Using just the punch is quickest, but using all three does the most damage. It's your choice. 

Once you have been taught several combos, you can then start to string them together. So, you can get combos of almost unlimited length... provided that either the monster is still alive or that you have not run out of energy to deliver the blows.

The same is true of weapon skills. You can master say a sword, and then link together many combos into a true master's series. Choosing what you are going to do before you attack your enemy becomes a cerebral challenge. It is not enough just to wade in and start clicking buttons. You need to anticipate what combos the monster is vulnerable to, and then be prepared to unleash them at the correct time.

This is even more important in the PvP duel arenas. When you are one on one with another player, then choosing your battle tactics will be the difference between victory and sitting in the sand wondering what you did wrong. 

When you complete quests, you can also learn special moves, or add special enhancements to your moves. There are over 400 different combos for you to learn and develop. This means that almost everyone will have different favourite fighting moves, even if they belong to the same clan. So as you develop, you will create your own unique way of fighting.

All of the graphics for the moves have been created using full motion capture techniques so that each truly looks authentic. 9Dragons gives you the whole of ancient China to explore. Perfecting your fighting techniques is probably the only way you will survive it.