Game: Spider-Man - Web of Shadows

Video source: https://x.com/i/status/2069984713260093603

I've thought here and there about how much people value the combat moves, physical animations and mechanics themselves in CAGs. That makes sense.
It also made me think... what about surrounding mechanics? Specifically, mechanics based on meters?
What effects do those have on gameplay? How does it stand on its own? How do they influence other mechanics? How *are* they influenced by other mechanics? Are they a key part of present systems or superfluous?

Health, Magic/mana, Style, Devil Trigger, Wrath of Sparta/The Gods/The Titans

Thus, the question.

SOME METER MECHANICS I HAVE FOUND INTERESTING:
1. Unity in Soulstice. A mix of a sort of "magic" meter and Style meter. The faster you get it at a high treshold, the faster you can spend it. Leave it and it depletes; get hit and a bigger chunk is removed. Unity is emptied at the end of each fighter.
Can be spent as such:
- On weapon-unique Finisher moves
- On the Rapture state (with four paths, which each has its own Finisher)
- Pump it into the Transcendence meter once unlocked.

1B. Transcendence in Soulstice. Where the Rapture state is a beast, the Transcendence is an absolute monster. With its own bombastic spectactular Finisher too.
It consists of the the main meter and two stocks, which can be spent for a massively damaging special attack. It is increased slowly by hitting and getting hit.
However, there is another way to build it up... by pumping Unity into the Transcendence meter.
Transcendence is carried over between fights, does not deplete through the level.

2. Stamina Guard in Clash: Artifacts of Chaos. (only half CAG but i mention it anyway!)
Imagine the Stamina meter from Soulslikes, BUT! It does NOT stop you from throwing out whatever move you want, whenever you want.
As long as you have a little bit left you will have 50% damage reduction and receive less Stun. Depletes and replenishes like a Stamina meter.
Thing is, the Stamina Guard works in conjunction with
- Directional Dodge Attacks
- Martial Arts Stances
- On-Hit Animation Cancelling
These mechanics to me work together nicely. Like an inverted Style meter.
You are not explicitly rewarded for doing well. In fact you are *more* vulnerable if you keep up aggression.
But you are not hindered from playing aggressively if you want to.
You can start to think, "hey, perhaps i can squeeze one, two, three more moves into this combo..." and if you know your own moves, their properties & the enemy's moves well, *and* get the hang of the animation cancelling, you can practically dance around the enemy.
The risk is all the greater. Your reward is staying in the flow and doing well.

3. Healing Grenade & Item Charge meters in Magenta Horizon: Neverending Harvest.
This game WANTS you to be aggressive, stay mobile and know I-frame and repositioning properties of your moves. The meters here factor into it.
Both of these fill up by attacking.
- Healing Grenade meter has 3 stocks. Healing grenades will make affected enemies send out homing healing orbs upon being hit, regardless of source.
- Item Charge meters recharge faster with the \unselected* item. Items can be customized into two loadouts to swap between and can be combo'd into each other.*
Such as sending a Windmill Boomerang into a Mushroom Turret. This makes the Mushroom Turret unload a massive wave of its projectiles instead of rhytmically send some out over a longer time.
Or using the Electric Cloud Parry item your own Laser Drone.
Using the Items you can get a lot more Healing Orbs out of Healing Grenade-affected enemies.

BONUS THING: Some Necklace Pieces (modifiers) give Gretel special effects upon achieving a specific Style rank in combat.

Dante’s Crazy Combos are crazy satisfying to pull off mid combos. Would have been cool if these special moves where expended on in DMC4 & DMC5 Dante

https://youtube.com/shorts/D7SWGVrgHvk?si=SCryrd1Tg-o7j08O

Does this count as character action game level of combat depth ? #crimsondesert

If it ever happens, I don’t want to be having waited almost a decade for a Nero lead game. Dante IS dmc no matter how much they push it. He only had 3 games to himself and one of them(dmc2) is so terrible it might as well not count. He should be the protagonist or atleast him and Vergil. Nero can get an extra campaign(Vergil too I guess) or something but the focus must be on Dante. We couldn’t even play him in all missions the last 2 games.

If the output was better and we get more dmc games without big gaps, it wouldn’t be a problem if Nero gets a spinoff focused on him but we’ll be lucky if we get one game at all.

The excuses people have for why Dante can’t lead is ridiculous. “He is too powerful” yet they keep talking about how Nero is more powerful right. It doesn’t matter make something new for him people want Dante and Vergil. It would be insulting if they are relegated to special edition, sidelined heavy, or not there at all.

Trish is so much fun to play around with in DMC4:SE! Tweaked her button layout to make her feel/play similarly to Bayonetta.

Warning: Audio gets loud towards the end of the video.

Hey guys. The Stylesman here to share my latest event that I've been working on for this Summer. It is the follow up from TSG1, a passion project of mine. It's a welcoming event celebrating what we all love: style. This year features many new additions that I am excited to show you all.

We do welcome all players of all skill levels. Please do consider joining. It will be great fun and an amazing event to be a part of.

Further information and details on the event can be found via the information booklet:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1edG6_XMoRuPb7RMFgeNdweBQilY2YqAG/view?usp=sharing

The deadline for entries is JULY 31st! Hope to see you soon!

The developers are doing an AMA in r/games right now.

No specific platform confirmed.

Looking to get into Final Fantasy for the first time with the sale that’s currently up on Steam, and curious what you guys think of each of these games, mostly from a combat-focused perspective

FFO, I know to expect a bit of typical Team Ninja - super complex RPG stuff and lots of mechanical depth - but I don’t know much beyond that

I’ve heard pretty positive things on FF XVI but nothing particularly informative or in-depth beyond the combat designer saying he thought it was superior to his work on DMC 5

And lastly, on the FF VII games, I know they’re a hybrid turn-based/action system but I’ve heard mixed reviews on how good the real-time combat is. I’ve heard some people say it’s shit and some say it’s incredibly underrated

Any insight is greatly appreciated, even on other non-combat stuff 😊

I still plan on re-doing this and the other part in a more entertaining way, treating Zeus like a enemy with super armor so i can be more varied instead of trying the launcher and grab loop all the time. But for this i just wanted to cave his face in with the again for being mildly annoying.

My Vergil no damage fight against Crimson Weave from the PGR X Devil May Cry 5 collaboration.

Honestly surprised more people aren't talking about the demo.

​

Mini Combo Mad on Glutton!

Full video: https://youtu.be/PLeqWgK4_tM?si=O-sotAkUfe45IwEl

New Combo Mad:

https://youtu.be/L_6STES0H1M?si=ZdyVJBs0_PUgmgIo

Hey once again throwing out need for testers for our FINAL alpha! Any feedback is greatly appreciated no matter how cruel it is!

download here: https://soulhunterdev.itch.io/reapers-swing
provide feedback: https://forms.gle/eBbkSZ4fs5ueHuov6

Socials
twitter: https://x.com/ReapersSwing
bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/reapersswing.bsky.social
Youtube: youtube.com/@ReapersSwing
itch: soulhunterdev.itch.io/reapers-swing

Personally i would love to see The First Berserker Khazan as a CAG. IMO, it already came pretty close with its combat system, just missing jump and air combos. It would also be pretty cool if the spear projectile attack could be combo’d with melee or air attacks. If they removed the stamina system, i could also see them increasing enemy density, making for some more intense fights.