If you go look at the SWG category on this site you’ll see that I wrote a whole lot about the NGE (the last radical redesign of the game).

My opinion basically was that I wouldn’t have personally gone in that direction and dump the RPG-style of the combat in favor of something completely different. But I would still have moved away from that absurd and stupid kind of inconsistent, unimmersive “puzzle combat” with three bars and special shoots, to instead integrate more realistic elements that could make sense in a ranged combat. Like arcs of fire, covers, barrage fire and things like that. Patterns that make sense and are coherent with the setting, maybe even with a focus on formations and other tactical decisions (some elements taken out of “Jagged Alliance” could have helped).

I criticized strongly the way SOE brought over these changes, but at the same time I said that going toward a model of “twitch” combat whould have forced them to make it more consistent and move away from the retarded puzzle game. It’s not that “aiming with the mouse” is “more fun”. It’s just that it is more consistent with the mechanics of “ranged combat”. So more intuitive. So more fun because it speaks to you in a known tongue instead of through an arcane and abstract puzzle system that worked properly only in Raph’s mind.

Problem is that the execution, when you do a twitch game in particular, is king, and the execution of SWG:NGE was AWFUL. For example it was rather frustrating to manage aggro since a creature you were attacking could pass near a neutral one and you could finish easily to pull both. In particular with the jerky movements and animations that the game has (and a problem shared by all SOE games). You really cannot hope to do “twitch” if the controls aren’t perfectly smooth and if you don’t do a great work on the movement and animations.

With the last patch the devs finally managed to partially fix this system by improving its usability. There are detailed notes explaining how the new targeting system works. The complete patch notes are also available.

If you read their explanation you may think that the system is still rather intricate and complicated, but I think I can do a better work and explain how it works in short (guesswork, though. I don’t play the game from years).

With the “old” NGE system you basically had to target with your mouse as in a FPS and then shoot with the left mouse button, or use silly specials with the right, while switching them through an hotbar. This lead to the issues I explanied above since the game has no collision detection and the execution was really bad.

With the new system they introduce some sort of “safe lock”, so that you don’t shoot at things you don’t want to. Basically you have still to target with the mouse and then press “X” to acquire it and lock it. Let’s say that you are walking around and decide to shoot at something. With this new system first you target with the mouse (mouseover), then you press “X” to acquire it (the brakets around the target will change) and then you start to shoot with the mouse button. It’s not a “full” weapon lock because you still need to “aim” while you shoot, so if you turn in the other direction you will shoot at the air.

Basically the “lock” is just there so that or you damage it if you aim well, or you miss. Without risking to hit things you didn’t want to. Then with the “Z” key you can also cycle between the targets around you, classic style. But, again, when you fire you still have to aim.

My opinion is that these tweaks will help to make the original system usable. And it definitely wasn’t before. So it’s an improvement.

Darniaq is still convinced that collision detection is coming, while I’m still skeptical about this. Sure thing is that without it this system will continue to be crippled. Quoting the patch notes:

– Kneeling and Prone positions may be used in combat by using either an ability button (the buttons can be found in your command browser by pressing “;”) or the slash commands (/kneel, /prone)

What’s the sense and purpose of this without collision detection? It’s when I can take cover behind an object that kneeling can make sense. Right now you can shoot (and get shot) right through solid objects, so why I should need to kneel? To be a better target?

Plus they seriously need to bind those actions to default keys, not the quickbar or slash commands. At least if they want to incorporate those actions consistently in the combat mechanics (as they should when collision detection will arrive, if it will arrive). Giving more relevance to the environment (like ducts that you have to crawl through, indoor) is the way to go.

There are other fixes that were long due, like making creatures attack at slower speed and slow down melee movement. Things looked ridiculous before. We’ll see if the implementation is good this time and if the combat “looks and feels” decent. On the paper the changes are good.

Then there’s a last thing that drew my attention:

Weapon Retrofit: Combat damage inflicted by all weapons in the game will be based primarily on the weapon’s stats, rather than the character’s level.

I wonder who the hell approved the design document where it was written that the character level affected the damage of a laser pistol. This was utterly retarded. I guess that the weapons still have level requirements on their own, so the system is basically the same. But at least it is more coherent.

Darniaq also mentions a veteran reward that allows you to insta travel by calling a shuttle anywhere in the world. I wonder if you just click on an icon and select the destination from a menu before being insta-ported, or if you really do see a shuttle coming and landing that you can board with your group. Because if it’s the first case then it’s superbly lame. If it’s the second it’s the coolest thing ever.

I suspect it’s the first…