I got it in a Humble Bundle so decided to try it... well, now I understand why using a hit/miss system in RPG combat is the worst idea ever.

Really, that game is really great, using environment cleverly to defeat enemies, etc... yet that thing ruins the game experience completely for me. I've been ragequitting the game several times I mean, seriously... hit chance 65%-75%, and misses SIX TIMES IN A ROW ?? I know that in theory is possible, but this system encourages reloading the battles multiple times to "get a better roll"

I don't have much patience playing (also because I don't have time... so for me replaying the same battle 1500 times is not fun). But in any case, I swear I'll never do such a game system in my games again! (was present in the first Planet Stronghold only).

I agree and disagree with you, the hit or miss system can be very infuriating at times, but sometimes it works out. This isn't so much in JRPG's but in games like Shadowrun: Returns, or XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I still yell at my runner when they miss a 70% shot 3 times in a row but I just push ahead. Granted Shadowrun and XCOM both also have blocks to prevent the reloading strategy.

I think would be much better to still inflict some damage. Like:

full hit = 6-8dmg

miss/dodge = 1-2dmg



1-2 is small, but is not NOTHING and in the long run would prevent people from ragequitting or reloading my 2 cents of course!

I can't bring myself to finish this game, it's just so insufferably boring. After a while, I went ahead and cheated and gave myself all skills at max level so I wouldn't have to deal AS MUCH with the combat, but I still kept missing all the time. Of course, once you reduce the difficulty of combat, there's really nothing of any interest left in the game.

I got it in a Humble Bundle so decided to try it... well, now I understand why using a hit/miss system in RPG combat is the worst idea ever.

Really, that game is really great, using environment cleverly to defeat enemies, etc... yet that thing ruins the game experience completely for me. I've been ragequitting the game several times I mean, seriously... hit chance 65%-75%, and misses SIX TIMES IN A ROW ?? I know that in theory is possible, but this system encourages reloading the battles multiple times to "get a better roll"

I don't have much patience playing (also because I don't have time... so for me replaying the same battle 1500 times is not fun). But in any case, I swear I'll never do such a game system in my games again! (was present in the first Planet Stronghold only).

That's what I've been arguing ever since Planet Stronghold (psionic attacks and their 53% hit rate)! It's less of an issue these days, but still happens in SotW with "dodged" (I mentioned I started saving/reloading mid-battle every time someone missed a critical attack on Deceit/Act 4 bosses) and a little bit with resistances (though those are better than Loren 1).



One direction I know Blizzard has been taking is to keep the % randomness in there to keep the game feeling different, but they also curve it to avoid the really unlucky streaks. Haven't gotten a legendary in the few hours? Well, the chance to get one goes up until it drops. Did you fail to proc hot streak with fireball? Have a stacking +5% crit chance with fireball until you crit. The idea is getting really lucky feels awesome and great, but being terribly unlucky just makes you want to throw something and quit the game (Riley's quest!).

Yes OK in SOTW there is but the chances of blocking/dodging are VERY SMALL, and happens only in extreme conditions, like attacker = 10 attack and defender = 50 defense (I don't remember exact numbers but were really high). And even in that case, chances to fail are like 5%. AND, if you use a specal attack, the higher the cost, the less is the chance to fail In Blackguards for example you have 10-15% chances to fail NORMALLY

But yeah definitely that system is a big PITA and I really think is better to avoid it (I like Blizzard's approach though).

You should try playing act 4 on nightmare where every boss has 200+ defense and the best gear gives you like 80 attack.

OK, but Nightmare translated means: "that game mode that will break your balls, make you pull your hairs until you're bald and where your characters will die often"

So in that case is OK. In Blackguard happens in Easy mode, the first battles

From my experience, SOTW even in NM-mode is really reasonable with the dodges. Only Jariel gave some headache, because his best uses are not in high attack-builds and still due to his class you'll may want to use him for potion throwing once in a while. And yes, dodging experience is really a different story depending on which non-receiving side you are on. I have previously played a very high-dodge class in an online PvP. And I've met classes there that have high dodge-chance against some of my attacks. Yes, I have cursed at my computer screen a couple of times, but I don't type it to the other player. Unfortunately, that's not what everybody does and I've gotten certain derogatory terms flung at me several times because my dodge/block-build class happened to avoid their "superawesome" hit.



Dodge-ability is tricky to balance so that it won't turn infuriating to fight against but still remains useful to the player to put points into it. I tend to think that it's best limited to certain attacks, not that you can dodge everyone and their mother coming at ya.

I'd be INCREDIBLY annoyed if Blackguards took out dodging. It's a different sort of game for different sort of folk and eliminating dodging because it's not fun will dilute the tactical nature of the combat.

Yeah my brother for example (who plays a lot of RPGs) loved it, so maybe it was just me

In a game like Blackguards, though, hit chance and dodge make a lot of sense considering enemies generally don't have a lot of HP (e.g. 50 HP is considered an awful lot in that system). What they changed from P&P though is giving enemies more than one dodge per turn.



Besides IIRC there were ways to increase hit chance. I.e. powerful moves had a lower base hit chance but you could increase hit chance on a next attack if you used a low damage but very accurate move first.

Yes, but instead of a hit/miss I think that even with low HP would make more sense to at least inflict "some" damage.

Normal hit with axe bla bla : 5-10 dmg Miss: 1-2 dmg or even just 1, but at least is less frustrating when you have 65% to hit and miss 6 times in a row with different characters like happened to me!

I'd be INCREDIBLY annoyed if Blackguards took out dodging. It's a different sort of game for different sort of folk and eliminating dodging because it's not fun will dilute the tactical nature of the combat.

I get really confused when people say that % chance things make something tactical or skill based. If your tactics require the aid of RNGsus then how is it truly tactical or skill based? When you randomly get a critical hit or your enemy hits that 5% chance of missing, isn't that luck, not tactics? I get that you play the odds, but I think the luck aspect is much more prominent from the tactics, and removes the tactical elements.

If you have a 70% chance to hit, a 30% chance to crit, and a 50% chance to apply a status effect, and all 3 happen, that is a 10.5% chance. If your opponent misses their next attack with a 95% to hit, that is a .525% chance to happen. Now, the probabilities are a bit better for something similar happening, but it doesn't change that it's still a pretty small chance. It's hard to say that that's tactics, a less than 1% chance of things going their best, since aren't tactics supposed to be about planning how to do your best. Tactics would be positioning units in places to flank the enemies, not them having a 5% better chance to hit than the other guy.

A method similar to the one I described is used in Endless Legends, a x4 game which has a sort of minigame for battles (I didn't like much the game overall even if is well done).

In practice when you attack you have groups of % based probability to deal X damage, for example:

20% = 10-15 dmg (sort of critical hit)

30% = 6-10 dmg

45% = 2-4 dmg

5% = 0 dmg (the complete miss)



which is IMMENSELY better than situations like: 50% chances to hit, 50% to miss completely doing 0 dmg

That's a much better system, and it manages to move past the tactics point I made somewhat, even if I still take issue with calling getting a lucky roll as tactics .