Original Post
This might''ve been suggested here before as I don''t read this forum so often.. Read on anyway! 
I just recently watched some cool Jet Li, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan fighting films and immediately thought that this is how fighting should be in CRPGs. In current CRPGs the combats are usually very straightforward and easy and don''t recquire much planning nor tactics. But in martial arts films every piece of environment is utilized: throwing chairs on enemy''s face, jumping from walls, dodging under tables and even pulling a carpet under the enemy''s feet.
These moves would be great to see in an action game, but IMO would also work well in turn-based CRPG combat.
Environment
Very dense and complex environment: pillars, tables, chairs, carpets, pipes in ceiling and lots of normal furniture. You could move most of the objects, throw them, hide behind them etc.
While thinking your turn
The fighters wouldn''t just stand still as frozen statues. They would have fists covering their heads and "move up & down" (hah that''s the best term I could come up with) as if they were waiting for the other person to make his/her move, just like the fighters would do in real life! They could also automatically try to punch/kick each other if they were close enough, but they would always block/dodge the attack moves so that no damage would be infected. So it all would be just visual ''effects'' to make the combat look more realistic even when the player does nothing.
Turn length
You could move quite a bit and do one bigger move (like jumpkick) or series of smaller moves (normal punches). The movement wouldn''t be tile/hex-based but totally free.
When the turn ends
It would really matter what your final position is when your turn ends, so that you could make better counter-attack-moves. You could eg. go behind a corner and if the enemy would try to come directly at you, your character would automatically try to trip up the opponent with his/her feet (assuming you still have some movement-points left from your last turn).
Weapons
Guns wouldn''t be very appropriate for this fight model, maybe only if they were very sparsely used (like in martial arts films). Although it would be hard to limit their usage if they were available in the game, so I think it would be better to just leave the guns entirely out. Daggers, bows, shurikens, katanas, nunchakus and other typical martial arts weapons would play an important role.
Skill development
This could be much like in other CRPGs. Fight more and you''ll learn more moves. Your character also becomes faster and stronger (geetz what a surprise 
). If you only used the basic moves (basic kick and punch) you wouldn''t gain that much experience. So you should always try to use the special moves to get more experience.
Also, depending on what moves you do the most, different body parts would become better:
-legs
-arms
-general (stomach muscles, back muscles, hips etc.). Affects lots in special move performance.
Randomness
It wouldn''t have as much random as normal CRPG combats. The fighting would be more like playing chess.
Any thoughts? I think this would be very fun and I haven''t seen this kinda combat in any CRPG. (I haven''t played Shenmue though, which might have quite similar combats)
-Hans [home]
I just recently watched some cool Jet Li, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan fighting films and immediately thought that this is how fighting should be in CRPGs. In current CRPGs the combats are usually very straightforward and easy and don''t recquire much planning nor tactics. But in martial arts films every piece of environment is utilized: throwing chairs on enemy''s face, jumping from walls, dodging under tables and even pulling a carpet under the enemy''s feet.
These moves would be great to see in an action game, but IMO would also work well in turn-based CRPG combat.
Environment
Very dense and complex environment: pillars, tables, chairs, carpets, pipes in ceiling and lots of normal furniture. You could move most of the objects, throw them, hide behind them etc.
While thinking your turn
The fighters wouldn''t just stand still as frozen statues. They would have fists covering their heads and "move up & down" (hah that''s the best term I could come up with) as if they were waiting for the other person to make his/her move, just like the fighters would do in real life! They could also automatically try to punch/kick each other if they were close enough, but they would always block/dodge the attack moves so that no damage would be infected. So it all would be just visual ''effects'' to make the combat look more realistic even when the player does nothing.
Turn length
You could move quite a bit and do one bigger move (like jumpkick) or series of smaller moves (normal punches). The movement wouldn''t be tile/hex-based but totally free.
When the turn ends
It would really matter what your final position is when your turn ends, so that you could make better counter-attack-moves. You could eg. go behind a corner and if the enemy would try to come directly at you, your character would automatically try to trip up the opponent with his/her feet (assuming you still have some movement-points left from your last turn).
Weapons
Guns wouldn''t be very appropriate for this fight model, maybe only if they were very sparsely used (like in martial arts films). Although it would be hard to limit their usage if they were available in the game, so I think it would be better to just leave the guns entirely out. Daggers, bows, shurikens, katanas, nunchakus and other typical martial arts weapons would play an important role.
Skill development
This could be much like in other CRPGs. Fight more and you''ll learn more moves. Your character also becomes faster and stronger (geetz what a surprise ). If you only used the basic moves (basic kick and punch) you wouldn''t gain that much experience. So you should always try to use the special moves to get more experience.
Also, depending on what moves you do the most, different body parts would become better:
-legs
-arms
-general (stomach muscles, back muscles, hips etc.). Affects lots in special move performance.
Randomness
It wouldn''t have as much random as normal CRPG combats. The fighting would be more like playing chess.
Any thoughts? I think this would be very fun and I haven''t seen this kinda combat in any CRPG. (I haven''t played Shenmue though, which might have quite similar combats)
-Hans [home]
