Meta:Interview: Two Worlds 2 - Combat

This Q&A was posted to the website IGN by propheet on April 7, 2010.

Questions and Answers

During the recent CD-Projekt Spring Conference held in Warsaw, we had a chance to sit down with Reality Pump's head, Mirek Dymek, and talk a bit about Two Worlds 2, regarding its combat, multiplayer and magic system in detail. We were especially interested to learn what improvements the upcoming sequel has in comparison to its predecessor. Mirek talked in a frank and open manner, so much so that we've learned a lot of things you usually wouldn't hear from a developer - and from a CEO of the developer studio, at that! Read the "Combat" part of the interview below or check the previous parts - Exploration in TW2 and Multiplayer in TW2. The original interview we've taken was a bit longer, but as things are going ahead at the studios at warp speed, a lot of the answers were outdated by the time we got to the publishing of this part of the interview. Still, we managed to get some of the basic ideas behind melee/ranged combat in the game - read about them below!

TWVault: Many improvements have been done to the combat melee system, and spellcasting system. We now know about two new melee features; active blocking and enemy ‘memory’, that allows them to protect against repeated attacks from the player, thus making typical ‘button-mashing’ a bad idea. How is that done from the game-mechanic standpoint? Are hits from your weapons aimed at different sides of the enemy, thus allowing for greater variety in attacks?

Mirek Dymek: You have to click with proper timing to build sequences – and obviously the brute-force button-mashing will be able to win – but there’s a lot of intricacies here. First, physics and animations system work here – you hit an enemy, and there’s a high chance that the hit will move that enemy along with the blow’s inertia. The longer the combo, the higher the chance your hitbox will actually miss the enemy altogether, simply pushing them out of the weapon’s way. Now add to that the fact that you have an active block – which is cool and all, but only protects from one side! More enemies, tactically rounding you, and something is bound to get through. Size of the shield will also play a role here. Instead of physical ‘hit zones’, we went for a horizontal zones system, where sides, front, and back, are all tactical targets of the enemy. AI that we’ve created makes many scenarios possible – enemies can have multiple weapons, for example a bow and a sword, which they can switch as needed. When fighting many opponents, some may block the path to the others, who might try to flank you or “wait their turn”, so to speak.

TWVault: Are the ‘comboes’ used like activatable skills (known from MMORPGs), which are developed or obtained by skillpoints, or just some basic attacks available to all players since day 1 (and performed by simply clicking many times in some order)? In other words, does it take a slow development in RPG system or reflex-based skill with a pad to perform a specific combo? Maybe a bit of both?

Mirek Dymek: We simplified the system, but it still gives a lot room for flexibiity. First type of attack – “clicking” – can be repeated, and will chain a sequence if timed right. There’s always a chance for a critical hit, which is ruled by a special skill; when performed, critical hit will be signified by a cinematic camera view and special effects. Then there’s an active block. It can be used to passively soak the blows, but you can add a “click” attack to it. Time it right, and you have a counterattack, which will use opponent’s opening immediately after their attack, which is another type of move. Now, the enemy can ALSO counter your attacks. So, what do you do? Make an attack that can’t be countered – a leap attack. It’s a specific skill this time, not a combination of regular attacks. You can also do a backjump to avoid attack altogether. There’s a lot of such contextual activities depending on what you’re facing right now.

TWVault: TW has been renowned for its unique system of special moves, executed in a skill fashion, for example, stunning and pulling shield. Can you say something about similar special skills in TW2? Any cooldown, maybe stamina usage built-in, disallowing simply spamming those at will?

Mirek Dymek: Stunning and pulling shield abilities are still weapon-restricted, so you can only perform those skills when armed with a 2-handed blunt (stunning) or an axe (pull shield). There’s a lot more special attacks this time; you can kick someone to knock them down on the ground, and if you use your jump attack to follow up while the enemy’s down, chances are you’ll perform an instant kill. This and other special attacks may kick in depending on the enemy’s health. The healthier the enemy, the lower the chance to stun or knock him back. Skills themselves are put on a cooldown when used. There’s no inherent limitation in time it takes to perform the skills, too – if you click “kick”, your hero kicks immediately selected target… the restriction lies within repetitition of that move – you can’t do it again for a while. Besides, if you have many enemies that you would like to kick to the dirt, you won’t even use a regular kick skill, but rather magics – like a spell called “Mental Blast”...

TWVault: Thanks for your time, see you soon!