calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
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A little modification for a rarer enemy. An armoured guard, who cannot be killed conventionally with a sword strike. The only way to kill him is to stab him in the back (i.e. he must be facing away from the sword that stabs him).

Behaves like a guard and pursues the player. Kind of like a weaker slayer, since it will be very difficult for the player to kill this guard. However, to make him possible to kill, perhaps he should be "invisible" to normal guards, so you can manipulate one of them to stab him in the back. Or use mimics/decoys.

Just thought it would be nice to have a monster of "toughness" in between that of a slayer and a guard.

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zonhin
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 99
Registered: 10-18-2005
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Seems a bit too hard to kill. I guess it would have some use.

(Are you a Zelda player, by any chance?)

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I looked at the world through apple eyes
And cut myself a slice of sunshine pie
I danced with the peanut butterflies
Till time went and told me to say hello but wave goodbye

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
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zonhin wrote:
Seems a bit too hard to kill. I guess it would have some use.

(Are you a Zelda player, by any chance?)

I was, many years ago - but the last one I played was the SNES one, Link to the Past. Yes, I do see the resemblance to those creatures in the original Legend of Zelda...

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starwed
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 49
Registered: 12-16-2006
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Maybe just make it so that he has to be killed like a mirror (to re-use an existing concept.)

zonhin
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 99
Registered: 10-18-2005
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starwed wrote:
Maybe just make it so that he has to be killed like a mirror (to re-use an existing concept.)

How would this work?

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I looked at the world through apple eyes
And cut myself a slice of sunshine pie
I danced with the peanut butterflies
Till time went and told me to say hello but wave goodbye

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
IP: Logged

zonhin wrote:

starwed wrote:
Maybe just make it so that he has to be killed like a mirror (to re-use an existing concept.)

How would this work?

I'm not entirely sure... could you clarify, Starwed? Do you mean that the guard can only be killed with a straight sword poke, not a slash?

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baf
Level: Goblin
Rank Points: 18
Registered: 04-15-2007
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Hm, that last idea is interesting. Currently, the mirror is the only element that's at all sensitive to the way you hit it. One could imagine all sorts of monster variants that are only killable by thrusting, or swinging, or diagonal slashing. Whether or not this has any puzzle potential depends on whether you can devise situations that make the specific blow difficult to administer. Or, you know what might be cool? Squadrons of enemies in mixed vulnerabilities. Like, you'd have a creature vulnerable only to thrusts, a creature only vulnerable to swings, and a creature only vulnerable to slashes attacking you together, and you'd have to work out an attack pattern that takes them all out.

Someone Else
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2338
Registered: 06-14-2005
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What's the difference between slashes and swings?

calamarain
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 933
Registered: 03-25-2007
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baf wrote:
Hm, that last idea is interesting. Currently, the mirror is the only element that's at all sensitive to the way you hit it. One could imagine all sorts of monster variants that are only killable by thrusting, or swinging, or diagonal slashing. Whether or not this has any puzzle potential depends on whether you can devise situations that make the specific blow difficult to administer. Or, you know what might be cool? Squadrons of enemies in mixed vulnerabilities. Like, you'd have a creature vulnerable only to thrusts, a creature only vulnerable to swings, and a creature only vulnerable to slashes attacking you together, and you'd have to work out an attack pattern that takes them all out.

Indeed. I proposed something like this with the tarstuff variant "The Conscious Slime". Having a monster that depends on how you hit it, and not just hitting it... would lead to some interesting reactions.

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zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1723
Registered: 02-04-2003
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I would think that the thrust is what destroys a mirror, and a slash is a non-turning move that is not a thrust. So if your sword is N, any direction but N would be a slash.

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schep
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 865
Registered: 03-01-2005
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zex20913 wrote:
I would think that the thrust is what destroys a mirror, and a slash is a non-turning move that is not a thrust. So if your sword is N, any direction but N would be a slash.

Not South, either... that's a full-out retreat

zex20913
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1723
Registered: 02-04-2003
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...the world's most useless slash? Like a dog chasing its tail? "Darn...I missed stabbing myself. Darn! Missed again! And again! I'm such a failure!"

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