Saber system suggestions

[JRHockney*]

Well, I'm still debating it. The problem I see is that making it too high would make the battles not last very long because heavy bounces are completely vulnerable to all the offensive Force Powers.

 

Idea: how about making general hits do a bit more damage when the opponent is in the DP red zone?

 

Hmm, maybe make it so that the heavy bounces are only vulnerable to force power maybe around 30 or 35 or so DP and make it distinguishable by a louder cry than just a grunt like deflaut the regular slow bounce.

 

As an alternate idea, we could make getting successfully kicked cause FP damage, just not as much as it does when a player is kicked while stunned. maybe 10 FP or something?

 

I don't know, I've never been big on causing more FP loss than already happens. I just don't like it when fights end that way. But since its the opponent who is causing more of it, maybe. I'm not sure I like the idea of making even more reason to try to kick.

 

That is the downside of having no dodge. Dodge normally is slowly depleted to absorb the idle saber damage. When Dodge is off, the player directly receives the damage and gets the scarrring. Just turn the idle saber damage debounce way down and it shouldn't happen as much.

 

As much fun and intense as dodge is to play, I think it should be worked on more to make sure its a well workable option with alot of different posibilities.

 

Secondly, I'm concerned that some of that stuff isn't realistic. How does doing a lunge make you vulnerable to getting knocked over if saber attacked to the rear? I can understand it for a kick or something but not a saber attack. Right now, I think the fact that most special attacks make the player count as running (and therefore more vulnerable to mishaps) is probably a good enough counter...maybe.

 

Well like I said, it will make more sense with a back block of some kind like their would be with Keshires anims.

 

I don't think ideas such as these should be given up on either. The idea about hitting an attack fake with a lunge to cause a disarm or something as well as the idea about making parried lunges knockdown the lunger are still good ideas in my opinion. It WILL help the combat to have more mishap options that are hard to do. Heres a few more ideas:

 

1. Attack fakes that hit the opponent in the back will cause a knockdown. The force of a stronger attack would make more sense to knock someone over (and again this would work well with a back block).

 

2. Hitting a runner with an attack fake or special will cause a mishap: maybe knock down for attack fake and disarm for special.

 

3. Running for more than a second and hitting a person with a swing (while still running) after that second of running will cause more DP damage to 25 + DP person and knock down an opponent in the red zone of DP; however, if that swing is parried, they will get knocked down.

 

4. another possible instance that I'm not sure about: if an attacker runs for more than a second and hit a person power fake while still running will cause the person to get knocked down. If the runner get hit attack fake hit or gets parried, he will get knocked down and disarmed.

 

 

Btw, I finally started messing around with fps settings and I'm amazed at the difference it makes. How badly does high fps kill gameplay on a server?

[razorace]

Idea: how about making general hits do a bit more damage when the opponent is in the DP red zone?

I'm not really sure that would help since red zone means you've only got 35 DP left.

 

Hmm, maybe make it so that the heavy bounces are only vulnerable to force power maybe around 30 or 35 or so DP and make it distinguishable by a louder cry than just a grunt like deflaut the regular slow bounce.

Maybe, I'm not sure we need to do that either. I think we need more playtesting. As for the pain sounds, we don't really have a way to turn up the volume without adding some more code.

 

I don't know, I've never been big on causing more FP loss than already happens. I just don't like it when fights end that way. But since its the opponent who is causing more of it, maybe. I'm not sure I like the idea of making even more reason to try to kick.

Fair enough, just tossing out ideas. As a positive thou, having melee attacks deal FP damage would encourage their use more.

 

As much fun and intense as dodge is to play, I think it should be worked on more to make sure its a well workable option with alot of different posibilities.

Well, I don't want to get into a situation where we're trying to work too competely seperate tracks of gameplay balancing. I already have enough to do with just Enhanced and Basic. Anyway, like I said, you can cut back on the sparks by increasing the idle damage debounce.

 

1. Attack fakes that hit the opponent in the back will cause a knockdown. The force of a stronger attack would make more sense to knock someone over (and again this would work well with a back block).

Woah, I can see this being totally abused in power duel or FFA.

 

2. Hitting a runner with an attack fake or special will cause a mishap: maybe knock down for attack fake and disarm for special.

Interesting idea, but the main issue with running now is that players use it as a way to regen their DP, which isn't an exploit. However, that does mean that it would be very hard to ever have one of these land.

 

3. Running for more than a second and hitting a person with a swing (while still running) after that second of running will cause more DP damage to 25 + DP person and knock down an opponent in the red zone of DP; however, if that swing is parried, they will get knocked down.

I'm going to have to say definitely no to that one. Maybe if we had a much more realistic running system, like the Madden Football series, but the fact that you can run/walk on a dime would make something like this a disaster. The game would turn into samerai-style single swing jousting contests.

 

4. another possible instance that I'm not sure about: if an attacker runs for more than a second and hit a person power fake while still running will cause the person to get knocked down. If the runner get hit attack fake hit or gets parried, he will get knocked down and disarmed.

This might work, since attack fakes do require a bit more in terms of windup and prep. I guess my question is if this is realistic or not. I know that charges do have an affect in massive pike/sword battles but would it really work in a small one-on-one duel?

 

Btw, I finally started messing around with fps settings and I'm amazed at the difference it makes. How badly does high fps kill gameplay on a server?

It doesn't normally. I was running the code server at sv_fps 50 most of the time. However, I was hoping to reduce that back down after the hit detection improvements. Does it still make a big difference after the 0.0.9 hit detection fixes?

[JRHockney*]

Fair enough, just tossing out ideas. As a positive thou, having melee attacks deal FP damage would encourage their use more.

 

Yeah, but I'm only afraid that they might be overused if this is the case. There should probably be and alternative to kicking as well that does the same hing if this idea is done.

 

Maybe, I'm not sure we need to do that either. I think we need more playtesting. As for the pain sounds, we don't really have a way to turn up the volume without adding some more code.

 

I dont know, I kind of like this idea because it will make conversions available sooner without the possbility of being force power spammed until their really low on DP.

 

Well, I don't want to get into a situation where we're trying to work too competely seperate tracks of gameplay balancing. I already have enough to do with just Enhanced and Basic. Anyway, like I said, you can cut back on the sparks by increasing the idle damage debounce.

 

Yeah, maybe I'll work on that when I learn how to code. Until then, I'll try to suggest ideas that work for both.

 

I'm going to have to say definitely no to that one. Maybe if we had a much more realistic running system, like the Madden Football series, but the fact that you can run/walk on a dime would make something like this a disaster. The game would turn into samerai-style single swing jousting contests.

 

Regarding the idea I had last night that is similar to this, the more I think about it, the more balanced it sounds. You could make running swings do more damage if you do the following: If you hit a person who has even just started running, they will still lose double DP like they do now. If they swing and start running while they swing and get parried or hit with and attack fake or special, they will get disarmed. Because of these rather Huge risks, run swings would have to be used VERY strategicall and VERY cautiously, but it might add another interesting element to the gameplay.

 

 

I just had an idea about what to do with the saber lock animation: If you target the enemies saber only when they swing with your swing and press attack attack at the right moment, you will force them into the saber lock animation arc. If you reach the end of the arc before they parry it by pressing back, they will get disarmed. The low the DP they have, the faster the arc moves. Two people who do this at the same time will get in a traditional saber lock.

 

Thats all I have time for at the moment.

[razorace]

The problem I see is that it's far too easy to be running when the player thinks that they're just walking (based on momentary button taps). This was the cause of all the "random" mishaps that were happening earlier.

 

I'm not against the idea of boosting the running swing damage, I just think we can't add instant disarms to running because players can't feel the connection between running and mishaps.

 

Speaking of running, I've thought about it and I think it would be a good idea to make it so that fatigued players run slower than normal. I think that would help a bit with the end game situations.

 

Also, you're going to have to give more details about your saber lock idea. Right now I don't quite understand what you mean.

[JRHockney*]

The problem I see is that it's far too easy to be running when the player thinks that they're just walking (based on momentary button taps). This was the cause of all the "random" mishaps that were happening earlier.

 

Well, I wouldn't exactly call those "random" because it was our own fault that they happened. It was just hard to get use to. The thing is, any running idea about making its swings more powerful has to be nerfed very badly or it will get overused badly. Maybe the penalty should just be those new really fast stuns that are hard to hit with the slower styles.

 

Speaking of running, I've thought about it and I think it would be a good idea to make it so that fatigued players run slower than normal. I think that would help a bit with the end game situations.

 

If your talking about DP fatigue, I agree. FP fatigue is already fatigue enough as far as I'm concerned.

 

Also, you're going to have to give more details about your saber lock idea. Right now I don't quite understand what you mean.

 

Yeah, I wrote that in a hurry. Basically, if you try to hit your opponents saber while he's swinging with your saber (while your swinging) and then press attack again at the moment of collision, both will enter the saber lock animation. This will be different from a normal saber lock because you will automatically move your opponent's saber in the arc (the rainbow like movement that both saber move in in this animaiton) that would normally win the saber fight for you.

 

If both sabers reach the end of the arc before your opponent presses back (or another chosen parry direction, maybe the direction counter to the arc), your opponent will get disarmed. The lower your opponents DP, the faster the sabers in the arc will move and the harder it will be for your opponent to press the "save" direction in time and save himself a disarm. If both players try to do this at the same time (hit attack at the collision) they will enter into a normal saberlock.

 

This idea will work alot better if the default view(normal third person view) is not changed into the saberlock view.

 

I also believe that the attacker in this should be vulnerable to force push. If it ends up happening too much, you could always make the "save" direction to get out of it actually cause a parry. I hope thats clear enough.

[razorace]

Well, I wouldn't exactly call those "random" because it was our own fault that they happened. It was just hard to get use to. The thing is, any running idea about making its swings more powerful has to be nerfed very badly or it will get overused badly. Maybe the penalty should just be those new really fast stuns that are hard to hit with the slower styles.

Maybe getting parried while running should reduce the DP of the attacker (runner). That way they could only ever really do run attacks if they were at or near 100 DP.

 

If your talking about DP fatigue, I agree. FP fatigue is already fatigue enough as far as I'm concerned.

I'm referring to FP Fatigue. Having slower running for DP fatigue would be against the concept of DP. Having your defenses getting smashed doesn't really have anything to do with your run speed. I understand that it's frustrating to have the other player move back when they're low on DP but that's the name of the game, at least that's what I think.

 

As for the saberlock idea, I think that sounds good. We might have to try that. However, the way the saberlock would be entered would have to be changed. The game system doesn't detect button taps and such and I've never had much luck with trying to impliment them.

[JRHockney*]

Maybe getting parried while running should reduce the DP of the attacker (runner). That way they could only ever really do run attacks if they were at or near 100 DP.

 

That might work too. Either way their going to lose DP.

 

I'm referring to FP Fatigue. Having slower running for DP fatigue would be against the concept of DP. Having your defenses getting smashed doesn't really have anything to do with your run speed. I understand that it's frustrating to have the other player move back when they're low on DP but that's the name of the game, at least that's what I think.

 

Dude, do I have to pull out my Monty Python parallel joke again!? I'm really not sure about this idea. I'm still worried about the possibility of TOO much kicking. If this is the case, other hits should drain FP as well. If FP is also going to be based on what is done to you rather than just what you do, their should be more moves that drain it other than just kick. I just don't like having to worry too much about how much I'm swinging because it slows down the combat for me. Maybe if swinging with regular swings didn't drain FP, I don't think I would have that much of a problem with it.

 

As for the saberlock idea, I think that sounds good. We might have to try that. However, the way the saberlock would be entered would have to be changed. The game system doesn't detect button taps and such and I've never had much luck with trying to impliment them.

 

Hmmm, I have two options for a new implementation:

 

1. Make it so that attack fakes start by pressing both attack and alt attack at the same time or just after you start the swing (basically a less interval than it is now), and then make it so if you press and hold alt attack only after the swing has completely started (not the windup fake period) you will enter in to the into the new saber disarm technique. You can escape completing the technique by letting go of the ALT attack key (this might be helpful if we eventually decide to make the "save" direction cause a parry).

 

2. create key to press and hold in the same situation.

 

I though about using a directional key to do this, but then I realized there could be unintentional mistakes where it is accidentally entered. The same rules will apply as far as starting a traditional saberlock between both players if both players try to do it at the same time. Maybe the winner of that saber lock would get disarmed or something.

 

If you want to try and create it soon, I'm available for testing Saturday night.

[razorace]

New saber disarm technique?

 

As for FP, the entire purpose of Fatigue is to monitor the player's energy level. You're supposed to die thru either skillful and quick depletion of DP or thru a slow chipping away of the FP.

[JRHockney*]

New saber disarm technique?

 

Yeah, thats what I called the new saberlock thing because its not really a saber lock at all. It's really just a one sided technique that only does a true saber lock if both players try to do it at the same time. I figure that it should cause disarms because that would be more or less what a similar technique would cause in a real life saber fight; unless you think it should cause general mishaps. I once saw my old Sensei do a similar technique with a boken when I use to take Ninjitsu. It didn't disarm his opponent, but it was obvious that that was what he was trying to do. When he wasn't disarmed, my Sensei said to him "wow, you've gotten better." What my Sensei did was more of a small twirl than a big arc, but the arc of the saberlock animation is about the closest thing to it this system has.

 

As for FP, the entire purpose of Fatigue is to monitor the player's energy level. You're supposed to die thru either skillful and quick depletion of DP or thru a slow chipping away of the FP.

 

Yeah, thats how its suppose to work, but from my experience, players usually only win the FP fight by being much less aggressive or even turtling. I'm all for chipping away at the FP, but I'm not for sacrificing the pace of the combat to do so because you dont swing as much out of fear of losing all your DP. I must say that taking away the transition cost has helped this alot though. I just hope we can find a good balance with these ideas without promoting turtling or too much kicking.

[razorace]

Yeah, thats what I called the new saberlock thing because its not really a saber lock at all. It's really just a one sided technique that only does a true saber lock if both players try to do it at the same time. I figure that it should cause disarms because that would be more or less what a similar technique would cause in a real life saber fight; unless you think it should cause general mishaps. I once saw my old Sensei do a similar technique with a boken when I use to take Ninjitsu. It didn't disarm his opponent, but it was obvious that that was what he was trying to do. When he wasn't disarmed, my Sensei said to him "wow, you've gotten better." What my Sensei did was more of a small twirl than a big arc, but the arc of the saberlock animation is about the closest thing to it this system has.

Oh, ok. I gotcha. So basically this would be the move that Vader did to disarm Luke at the beginning of their duel on Bespin. I think this is a good idea on how to use the saberlock animations. However, I think we need to come up with a more defined method for starting this move, especially since this could be a very powerful move.

 

Yeah, thats how its suppose to work, but from my experience, players usually only win the FP fight by being much less aggressive or even turtling. I'm all for chipping away at the FP, but I'm not for sacrificing the pace of the combat to do so because you dont swing as much out of fear of losing all your DP. I must say that taking away the transition cost has helped this alot though. I just hope we can find a good balance with these ideas without promoting turtling or too much kicking.

Well, I understand where you coming from on this. I agree that we need to make more options for draining the other dude's FP. That's why I was suggesting the Kick FP drain. Also, I've been thinking that it might be a good idea to make the attack fakes (or some other move) cause slow bounces in the defender. That way an attacker could actively slow bounce his opponent to make them vulnerable.

[JRHockney*]

Oh, ok. I gotcha. So basically this would be the move that Vader did to disarm Luke at the beginning of their duel on Bespin. I think this is a good idea on how to use the saberlock animations. However, I think we need to come up with a more defined method for starting this move, especially since this could be a very powerful move.

 

 

However we decide to do it, it has to be a relatively difficult move to pull off though. Maybe we could do it by just pressing attack and alt attack at the same time, since you already considered that for another move;however, the circumstances at which this move is started has to be very particular in my opinion. I would recommend that when you do it, you have to only hit the opponents saber in the his swing, and you have to be doing a full swing yourself. It has to be hard to do because it could end up being used too often (eventhough its risky at high DP) and we dont want that to happen. If you do make it easy to pull off, we may have to nerf it even more.

 

Well, I understand where you coming from on this. I agree that we need to make more options for draining the other dude's FP. That's why I was suggesting the Kick FP drain. Also, I've been thinking that it might be a good idea to make the attack fakes (or some other move) cause slow bounces in the defender. That way an attacker could actively slow bounce his opponent to make them vulnerable.

 

Ok, but we have to be careful how we go about making attack fakes cause stuns. It could easily becaome overused again. If we do this, I would recommend making lunges disarm (or mishap) attack fakes, keeping attackfakes parryable, and parrying a lunge cause a mishap of some kind as well (or just do double DP damage to the lunger). This would help both moves not get overused as well as add some more interesting dynamics and strategy to the saber play. I still fear that lunge will be used too often in spite of its already vulnerable state (which isnt really that vulnerable).

[Sushi_CW]

Well, I understand where you coming from on this. I agree that we need to make more options for draining the other dude's FP. That's why I was suggesting the Kick FP drain. Also, I've been thinking that it might be a good idea to make the attack fakes (or some other move) cause slow bounces in the defender. That way an attacker could actively slow bounce his opponent to make them vulnerable.

 

I don't know if I agree that we need more FP drainers per se, but I definitely agree that we need ways to cause vulnerability through extra skilled attacks. Being able to bounce-chain attacks helps some, since a good string of attacks can drain DP very fast (although they are generally easy to break via parry). I wouldn't mind seeing a "power attack" move that makes no attempt to be a fake, but will probably cause a slowbounce on the defender if not parried properly.

 

I'd also like to say I'm against penalizing lunges. It's one of the only practical ways to attack an enemy low: the corner-up swings just take too long.

[JRHockney*]

I'd also like to say I'm against penalizing lunges. It's one of the only practical ways to attack an enemy low: the corner-up swings just take too long.

 

Yeah I know, their one of the few good ways to effectively deal with turtlers, but because they cause double DP damage, I'm still a little worried that they will become overused unless penalized a bit more or made to do a bit less DP damage.

 

I've been practicing my combos alot lately and destroying bots with them, so I look forward to the code server being back up so I can try them on real people.

[RBitG]

On that note, is Meatgrinder still running Enhanched on Fridays?

[JRHockney*]

On that note, is Meatgrinder still running Enhanched on Fridays?

 

Well, it wasn't running it this last friday. I'm not sure what the deal is yet.

[RBitG]

Does that mean there are no Enhanced servers?

 

Edit: No, wait, Tokakeke's server? Right?

 

Re Edit: Is that regularly online? It's just a blank 'Jedi Academy Multiplayer' on xFire...

[JRHockney*]

Does that mean there are no Enhanced servers?

 

Edit: No, wait, Tokakeke's server? Right?

 

Re Edit: Is that regularly online? It's just a blank 'Jedi Academy Multiplayer' on xFire...

 

At the moment, there is none. I thought the code server would be up tonight, but its not yet. Tokas server normally is, but it hasn't for a week. He occasionally uses it for moviebattles 2. I haven't asked him to put it back yet because I've been busy and 0.0.9 had some problems in release that needed to be resolved first.

[RBitG]

Damn, it's about time i got in some practice, i've had enough of getting beaten by the likes of you.

[da_chimp]

you could make the new disarm attack only usable after the enemy is reeling from a parry

[JRHockney*]

you could make the new disarm attack only usable after the enemy is reeling from a parry

 

Maybe, but theres already a few parry based moves. I'd prefer this one to be based on something else or more attack based.

[razorace]

On that note, is Meatgrinder still running Enhanched on Fridays?

mmm, I haven't decided yet. Unfortunately, without an immediate release right before fridays, people seem to have little incentive to play on the MeatGrinder unless it's running server-side only OJP Basic.

 

Comboed with the fact that the code server is up most of the time AND that a few vocal regulars on Meatgrinder don't like Enhanced, I'm not sure it's worth the hassle anymore.

 

Unfortunately, it's pretty obvious that OJP Enhanced simply doesn't bring out the players at specific times on the MeatGrinder. When I released Enhanced v0.0.9 on an off day during Spring Break and reconfigureed the MeatGrinder to run it, basically one or two players showed up in a 7 or 8 hour period. Even after a week, we've had 87 downloads, which is less than we normally get in random download clicks by being on pcgamemods.com.

 

As such, I think it would be easier for me to just run Enhanced on the code server whenever I feel like it and just run it on the Meat Grinder on request. Currently, the request are VERY bias towards just leaving the Meat Grinder running Basic.

[/Venting]

 

Anyway, about this disarming move, maybe this should be a defensive move, or maybe one that anyone can do on a saber impact.

[razorace]

On that note, is Meatgrinder still running Enhanched on Fridays?

mmm, I haven't decided yet. Unfortunately, without an immediate release right before fridays, people seem to have little incentive to play on the MeatGrinder unless it's running server-side only OJP Basic.

 

Comboed with the fact that the code server is up most of the time AND that a few vocal regulars on Meatgrinder don't like Enhanced, I'm not sure it's worth the hassle anymore.

 

Unfortunately, it's pretty obvious that OJP Enhanced simply doesn't bring out the players at specific times on the MeatGrinder. When I released Enhanced v0.0.9 on an off day during Spring Break and reconfigureed the MeatGrinder to run it, basically one or two players showed up in a 7 or 8 hour period. Even after a week, we've had 87 downloads, which is less than we normally get in random download clicks by being on pcgamemods.com.

 

As such, I think it would be easier for me to just run Enhanced on the code server whenever I feel like it and just run it on the Meat Grinder on request. Currently, the request are VERY bias towards just leaving the Meat Grinder running Basic.

[/Venting]

 

Anyway, about this disarming move, maybe this should be a defensive move, or maybe one that anyone can do on a saber impact.

[JRHockney*]

Anyway, about this disarming move, maybe this should be a defensive move, or maybe one that anyone can do on a saber impact.

 

Yeah perhaps. As long as it's not another "right after parry" move. There are enough of those at the moment. I still would prefer this to only happen when both people are swinging and connect. I suppose if thats too hard to do, it could just be pressing attack and alt attack at the time of a hit, but it would have to be risky when the attacker has high DP as to not make it overused.

[Sushi_CW]

I've recently discovered a pretty killer move... if you parry an enemy, then quickly switch to melee and grapple-attack them, they are completely helpless and can't get out of the way in time. It's pretty easy to do... I've had a lot of fun carefully positioning Darth Vader, parrying him once, then picking him up by the seat of his pants and heaving him down an elevator shaft. I haven't seen anyone try this in human vs human combat, but I'm afraid it would be very easily spammable (as much fun as it is ). Moves like kicks and grapples become very, very easy when your opponent is frozen in place during a parry... and it only takes a few successful grapples to kill an opponent, even without an elevator shaft.

 

It would help if there was more transition time going from saber to melee. Right now, you can grapple the instant you select melee from your weapons list.

 

On another note, I think that it's still a bit too hard to mount a solid offense. Hypothetically, would it be possible to have two levels of parry? The idea would be that an indirect parry (within one parry position of the attack, but not dead on) would react differently than a direct parry (where the parry direction is dead on to the attack).

 

There are a lot of ways you could balance such a system: here's one. A direct parry would react much like it does now, forcing the attacking enemy to take a second or two to recover balance, and giving the defender a chance to launch a counterattack. An indirect parry, however, would be just like a block, but cost significantly less DP.

 

...or something like that. IMO, the biggest current weakness of the saber system is that it is too hard to mount a crushing offense against all but the most clueless of opponents. The combos help a ton, and I think that they are (and should be!) the primary way for skilled attackers to cause serious defensive damage. That said, I've regularly landed combos of 5 or 6 on bots without being able to finish them off... is there something wrong, or is there already some way of blocking without parrying that doesn't cost as much DP?

 

Sorry, this post kind of turned into a collection of rambles. Take it for what it's worth.

[JRHockney*]

I've recently discovered a pretty killer move... if you parry an enemy, then quickly switch to melee and grapple-attack them, they are completely helpless and can't get out of the way in time. It's pretty easy to do... I've had a lot of fun carefully positioning Darth Vader, parrying him once, then picking him up by the seat of his pants and heaving him down an elevator shaft. I haven't seen anyone try this in human vs human combat, but I'm afraid it would be very easily spammable (as much fun as it is ). Moves like kicks and grapples become very, very easy when your opponent is frozen in place during a parry... and it only takes a few successful grapples to kill an opponent, even without an elevator shaft.

 

Hehe, I discovered this one a while and found that it ends up being a bit harder to use on human opponents. Although that was before the parries froze the opponent completely. I'll have to try it out again.

 

There are a lot of ways you could balance such a system: here's one. A direct parry would react much like it does now, forcing the attacking enemy to take a second or two to recover balance, and giving the defender a chance to launch a counterattack. An indirect parry, however, would be just like a block, but cost significantly less DP.

 

This indirect parry sounds a little like my old swing block idea.... well, without the swing. I've been thinking of similar ideas but have been unable to come up with anything that would work that well as an easier option than a direct parry. The best option that I've been able to come up with is requiring direct parries to involve doing a windup fake while pushing the proper parry direction. I', not sure if this would fix the problem your talking about, but maybe you can come up with a better idea.

 

Hmmm, maybe make it so that if an attacker presses and holds alt attack just before the impact, it will turn the opponents direct parry into a indirect parry. It would have to have some down side to it though, otherwize it would be overused. Maybe a higher FP loss or something.

 

...or something like that. IMO, the biggest current weakness of the saber system is that it is too hard to mount a crushing offense against all but the most clueless of opponents. The combos help a ton, and I think that they are (and should be!) the primary way for skilled attackers to cause serious defensive damage. That said, I've regularly landed combos of 5 or 6 on bots without being able to finish them off... is there something wrong, or is there already some way of blocking without parrying that doesn't cost as much DP?

 

There is no particular way of doing that, but I've noticed this as well. Often times it seems like I press the proper parry direction with out parrying them and seem to lose very little DP (this could just be my imagination though).