Ever since Vindictus was released, we've seen a bunch of other action combat MMO/MMORPGs coming out of the wood works. I'm not claiming Vindictus invented it. I don't know what game had the first action combat, but Vindictus was one of the earliest. It's also like the only one that did it well. I mean, if you know other games, please by all means, educate me, cause I'm desperate for something Vindictus-like. Sadly, the game is dying and Nexon is ruining it.
You can criticize Vindictus for a lot of things, but that game NAILED the combat that no MMO game can replicate to this day.
A lot of games claim to use action combat, but at the end of the day, it's more like tab targeting, but you have to aim your attacks. Tera claims to be action combat, and it is... sort of. Your attacks are based on button presses, but your skills are still tied to the hotkey. The flow is just never as good as Vindictus. The problem with hotkeys is that you have to wait for your attacks to cool-down. Many of the moves in Vindictus is about timing your hits and not waiting for it to cool-down. Like seriously, I'm going to have to remember my skill cool down 1/100th of a second faster cause I leveled it up?
Look at this clusterfuck at the bottom.
More often than not, I am not focusing on the enemy in other action MMOs. I'm also distracted by my cool-downs instead of looking at the enemy's movement. In Vindictus, I almost never have to look at my UI, cause 90% of my moves aren't hotkey with cool downs.
Every character in Vindictus does have a few moves that require a cool-down, but that's like maybe 5 moves (depending on the character). One of them is your super move. I can focus all of my attention into dodging attacks, chasing the enemy, or observing the boss's animation for his attacks. Some moves can be cancelled out. Some moves have faster recovery. Your character's animation is just as important.
The other thing with Vindictus is that THE HIT BOX MATTERS! I've seen people make use of a completely useless move (IMO) and turned it into a dodge because the character lowers himself before the attack, thereby making the hit box smaller. During character creation, a taller character has longer reach, but also have bigger hit box and slower animation. Because of the way Vindictus works, it doesn't fall into the typical MMO class setup. Yes, you have your DPS, Healer (LOL), Tank, and Mage in Vindictus. What makes this different is everyone can be a Tank, or a DPS role. You can have an archer tank if you're good at dodging and reading the moves. You can have a mage tank if you're good at dodging and reading the moves. You can have a Healer DPS if you're good at dodging and reading the moves. You can have a Tank DPS if you're good at dodging and reading the moves.
You can run raids solo if you have the skills in Vindictus.
Look at his empty UI on the top left have corner. This is a pretty high level Lann, so it's not like he doesn't have all the essential moves. He has them. All he has with him are some potions for buffs, and his super move. To be fair, this guy is going super minimalist in this run, but I hope you see what I'm getting at here. Also notice how around 2:15, his HP is down to 1. He doesn't even bother to heal because he is dodging everything. He's sure as fuck not looking for his moves to cool-down. At around 3:30, he uses his super move. That has a cool-down.
Here one with a more cluttered UI. Noticed how most of the boxes are never used except for maybe the 1st and 2nd box? That's cause most of the attacks aren't hotkeys. I don't play Fiona much, so I'm not good at reading everything she's doing, but she is basically Tank DPS in that video.
I'm only using Tera as an example cause it's the only one I played extensively that's still alive. I've played games like Rusty Hearts, Continent of the Ninth, and a few others. I'm just kind of frustrated to see the genre not really going anywhere. It's not like a working example doesn't exist. It's been around for 8 years and it's slowly dying. Every time I hear about a new action MMO, I get excited only to be let down. I heard Blade & Soul is different? But I'm not seeing what makes the action combat any better than Tera or any of the other action MMO titles not named Vindictus.
You can criticize Vindictus for a lot of things, but that game NAILED the combat that no MMO game can replicate to this day.
A lot of games claim to use action combat, but at the end of the day, it's more like tab targeting, but you have to aim your attacks. Tera claims to be action combat, and it is... sort of. Your attacks are based on button presses, but your skills are still tied to the hotkey. The flow is just never as good as Vindictus. The problem with hotkeys is that you have to wait for your attacks to cool-down. Many of the moves in Vindictus is about timing your hits and not waiting for it to cool-down. Like seriously, I'm going to have to remember my skill cool down 1/100th of a second faster cause I leveled it up?
Look at this clusterfuck at the bottom.
More often than not, I am not focusing on the enemy in other action MMOs. I'm also distracted by my cool-downs instead of looking at the enemy's movement. In Vindictus, I almost never have to look at my UI, cause 90% of my moves aren't hotkey with cool downs.
Every character in Vindictus does have a few moves that require a cool-down, but that's like maybe 5 moves (depending on the character). One of them is your super move. I can focus all of my attention into dodging attacks, chasing the enemy, or observing the boss's animation for his attacks. Some moves can be cancelled out. Some moves have faster recovery. Your character's animation is just as important.
The other thing with Vindictus is that THE HIT BOX MATTERS! I've seen people make use of a completely useless move (IMO) and turned it into a dodge because the character lowers himself before the attack, thereby making the hit box smaller. During character creation, a taller character has longer reach, but also have bigger hit box and slower animation. Because of the way Vindictus works, it doesn't fall into the typical MMO class setup. Yes, you have your DPS, Healer (LOL), Tank, and Mage in Vindictus. What makes this different is everyone can be a Tank, or a DPS role. You can have an archer tank if you're good at dodging and reading the moves. You can have a mage tank if you're good at dodging and reading the moves. You can have a Healer DPS if you're good at dodging and reading the moves. You can have a Tank DPS if you're good at dodging and reading the moves.
You can run raids solo if you have the skills in Vindictus.
Look at his empty UI on the top left have corner. This is a pretty high level Lann, so it's not like he doesn't have all the essential moves. He has them. All he has with him are some potions for buffs, and his super move. To be fair, this guy is going super minimalist in this run, but I hope you see what I'm getting at here. Also notice how around 2:15, his HP is down to 1. He doesn't even bother to heal because he is dodging everything. He's sure as fuck not looking for his moves to cool-down. At around 3:30, he uses his super move. That has a cool-down.
Here one with a more cluttered UI. Noticed how most of the boxes are never used except for maybe the 1st and 2nd box? That's cause most of the attacks aren't hotkeys. I don't play Fiona much, so I'm not good at reading everything she's doing, but she is basically Tank DPS in that video.
I'm only using Tera as an example cause it's the only one I played extensively that's still alive. I've played games like Rusty Hearts, Continent of the Ninth, and a few others. I'm just kind of frustrated to see the genre not really going anywhere. It's not like a working example doesn't exist. It's been around for 8 years and it's slowly dying. Every time I hear about a new action MMO, I get excited only to be let down. I heard Blade & Soul is different? But I'm not seeing what makes the action combat any better than Tera or any of the other action MMO titles not named Vindictus.
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