2013-04-29, 10:56 PM
^It occurred to me that this Curse system bears more than a resemblance to doing the elemental weapon upgrades in Dark Souls, but IMO it works much better, and is much more in keeping with King's Field.
Also speaking of curses. While trying to figure out how to manage weapons on a visible player. I think I stumbled upon the conclusion that a prayer like gesture would work much better for King's Field for casting spells. Especially since all spells would work like "support magic" as described, but mainly because you can do it with your hands full. Also building a magical field, is something that doesn't require hands in any way. My original thought was maybe you concentrate on building a bubble in your hand as a focal point that expands out into a field....
But now it seems much better if you just bring your hands together like a prayer weapons and all, and maybe mutter something under your breath, and that makes a field. Maybe each element could have a sigil that briefly appears beneath you, but otherwise fields are invisible, except where things interact with them. Which is cool in itself, because its like an aura of power that is out of sight.
Regardless the prayer approach is cool, because it looks similar to doing a curse. So esthetically they are not that far apart. The only logical conclusion to come of this is the Shield and Magic button would need to be separate. For King's Field using these magic fields that's no problem at all really, since you set the field up during a moment of safety instead of in the heat of battle. In truth the Magic button could be anywhere on the controller for this kind of magic, you could even have a different spell on each out of the way button.
PS: In trying to show all of the weapons on the player, save for those that can be fit into a backpack. It seems like the most practical thing to do is to have a Back equip slot for Large weapons (too long to wear at the side) that can only be held with both hands. The classical Moonlight sword would probably be such a weapon. Or Dark Souls portrays it as such anyway. But personally I'd prefer the Moonlight sword were a bastard sword. Making it small enough to be worn at the side. I'm not a huge fan of big swords. Plus the Dark Slayer doesn't seem like a sword worn on the back. So to my mind these swords should appear equal in stature. Plus if you have to choose between the Moonlight and a bow that isn't cool.
A spear and a bow or non-collapsible crossbow would also be large weapons. Going to Shield->Back is kind of out of the way. But players could probably figure it out. You can draw these weapons with the Shield button, which makes sense because two hands are required to do so. Large shields are Back equip. Small shields can be used with spears once the spear is drawn. The Weapons will go Weapon->Sidearm->Belt->Boot, with the latter two being knives, or weapons small enough to keep in a backpack. These slots will be filled up automatically with whats in your inventory. Unless you are in an armory or shop, or near a campsite, pack animal or a squire or something your inventory is only as large as what you are carrying.
Weapon and sidearm can hold "knives" too. Which you can carry as many as you can weight wise. I think there is going to be a knapsack system too, but its a little early to say. The knapsack is actually your belt, but if you Use it you can go light, dropping your backpack. In that mode the belt is worn diagonally if using a Large weapon...
Technically you can use two Large weapons, since you can tryout the weapon you just picked up as a temporary weapon which must be dropped to do anything more or less. It's kind of like going overweight in Armored Core, shooting off a Large weapon as fast as you can, then dropping it (in fact to do this you'd have to equip the weapon. Drop it on the ground. Equip another weapon. And then pick the dropped weapon back up as a found/trial weapon. So its kind of a trick--and of course from there on out you'd have to keep juggling the extra weapon)
Also speaking of curses. While trying to figure out how to manage weapons on a visible player. I think I stumbled upon the conclusion that a prayer like gesture would work much better for King's Field for casting spells. Especially since all spells would work like "support magic" as described, but mainly because you can do it with your hands full. Also building a magical field, is something that doesn't require hands in any way. My original thought was maybe you concentrate on building a bubble in your hand as a focal point that expands out into a field....
But now it seems much better if you just bring your hands together like a prayer weapons and all, and maybe mutter something under your breath, and that makes a field. Maybe each element could have a sigil that briefly appears beneath you, but otherwise fields are invisible, except where things interact with them. Which is cool in itself, because its like an aura of power that is out of sight.
Regardless the prayer approach is cool, because it looks similar to doing a curse. So esthetically they are not that far apart. The only logical conclusion to come of this is the Shield and Magic button would need to be separate. For King's Field using these magic fields that's no problem at all really, since you set the field up during a moment of safety instead of in the heat of battle. In truth the Magic button could be anywhere on the controller for this kind of magic, you could even have a different spell on each out of the way button.
PS: In trying to show all of the weapons on the player, save for those that can be fit into a backpack. It seems like the most practical thing to do is to have a Back equip slot for Large weapons (too long to wear at the side) that can only be held with both hands. The classical Moonlight sword would probably be such a weapon. Or Dark Souls portrays it as such anyway. But personally I'd prefer the Moonlight sword were a bastard sword. Making it small enough to be worn at the side. I'm not a huge fan of big swords. Plus the Dark Slayer doesn't seem like a sword worn on the back. So to my mind these swords should appear equal in stature. Plus if you have to choose between the Moonlight and a bow that isn't cool.
A spear and a bow or non-collapsible crossbow would also be large weapons. Going to Shield->Back is kind of out of the way. But players could probably figure it out. You can draw these weapons with the Shield button, which makes sense because two hands are required to do so. Large shields are Back equip. Small shields can be used with spears once the spear is drawn. The Weapons will go Weapon->Sidearm->Belt->Boot, with the latter two being knives, or weapons small enough to keep in a backpack. These slots will be filled up automatically with whats in your inventory. Unless you are in an armory or shop, or near a campsite, pack animal or a squire or something your inventory is only as large as what you are carrying.
Weapon and sidearm can hold "knives" too. Which you can carry as many as you can weight wise. I think there is going to be a knapsack system too, but its a little early to say. The knapsack is actually your belt, but if you Use it you can go light, dropping your backpack. In that mode the belt is worn diagonally if using a Large weapon...
Technically you can use two Large weapons, since you can tryout the weapon you just picked up as a temporary weapon which must be dropped to do anything more or less. It's kind of like going overweight in Armored Core, shooting off a Large weapon as fast as you can, then dropping it (in fact to do this you'd have to equip the weapon. Drop it on the ground. Equip another weapon. And then pick the dropped weapon back up as a found/trial weapon. So its kind of a trick--and of course from there on out you'd have to keep juggling the extra weapon)