https://www.improbableisland.com/motd.php?month=2019-06

Recently, by which I mean some time this year, I got the chance to check out the new combat system, by which I mean the new coat of paint the old combat system received. I like it!

I like the flavor text associated with learning puzzle combat.

I like the in-depth explanation, which makes me slightly less likely to just ignore puzzle combat as I, a seasoned veteran, am wont to do.

I like how this change adds more later-game content. I feel that, in any video game, the content should be scattered around to keep the learning curve low but the novelty high. A balancing act. I think II had maybe a little too much stuff for the player to learn immediately, so I'm glad this is optionally pushed back to whenever the player chooses to learn it.

I would not be surprised if the powerplayer move here for some reason involves never learning puzzle combat. I can't say for certain why that might be, but since learning puzzle fighting permanently changes combat in a way that might not always be advantageous, some play strategies might rely on never getting puzzle combat. For instance, before you get puzzle combat I don't think enemies can strong attack you, maybe some day the best strategy for DKing will be something that relies on that fact.

Losing to Training Robot while trying to get access to the Information Exchange failboats you, which seems incongruous; neither the Nightmare nor your master, the two closest analogues, can send you to the failboat. Maybe you should instead lose a stake of 250 req on defeat, or something.

The new graphics (health bars, etc) look much worse than the old ones in the default skin, though they look much better in the console skin. Is there some way we could get the old art back for the default skin? I really liked it. Also, for the console skin, the combat system is written in a different monospace font than the rest of the page, which looks odd.

All in all, I like this update, and Merry late Christmas!

I am a vet (possibly one with not enough extra HP compared to my att/def?) which means after two shots either the monster or me is dead. Puzzle combat just ain't applicable to me any more
Essentially I might be getting all the drawbacks (strong attacks) without ever getting the advantages (disabling enemies), just as you pointed out. I don't mind that, I've managed enough R7s/Bastards with my stats. It's just that the new graphics are giving me one problem: It's hard to discern the status of a limb. The text colors are pretty subdued. The status bars are initially all black turning to colors - too late for me. I don't know how often I've overlooked a strong attack...!

Could you invert the status bars? Colors going black, as the hunger bar does? That'd make it easier to spot a strong attack.

I generally like the new system (thanky you CMJ!), adapted to the new HP status bars, but the limb health bars continue to bug me, especially since such a small change could make them so much more useful!


FML Aren't you a script-savvy person? I assume a user-script could fix that, and CMJ wouldn't even need to get his hands dirty




Now I'm lighting my MM Candle in memoriam of Count Sessine, who used to be "mod most likely to reply" to questions.

Update for those of you playing along at home: I am a script savvy person, so shortly after Widdershins posted the above I got in contact with him and tried to figure out how to make the script. Alas, it was difficult to actually invert the status bars. Instead, I made this script:

which just fiddles with some other parts of the combat UI to try to make it a bit more readable.

This was about two months ago, and I haven't had any better ideas since then, so I post that script here in case anyone else wants it.