Spear Revamp

[DanteBrane]

The spear should be the most versatile weapon in the game. There’s a reason why the design has been used since the ancient times and throughout human history. This is already in the Long List of Combat Ideas but I can’t help but make a thread specifically for this. I bought Far Cry Primal recently and wow, the spear is good. It deserves to be even better in The Forest as well.

- Be able to wrap cloth on the tip of the spears to light it on fire

- Able to stealth kill with spears. Throwing the spear at an unsuspecting enemy would also get a stealth damage bonus.

- Able to block with spears. If balance is really an issue, make it have bad block stats so that blocking doesn’t completely protect you from damage.

- Able to charge attack with spears. There could even be a new move where you charge an attack with the spear while running and it makes you go into a sprint with the spear aimed in front of you.

- Able to do a jump attack with the spear

- When a spear is thrown at a cannibal, make it knock them down. If a thrown spear lands the killing blow, let the spear impale the cannibal. Also let the spear stick to mutants when thrown. And let the spear impale animals and get stuck to them.

- Not sure if already in the game, but a headshot with a thrown spear would do more damage.

- Better aiming with the spear. Make the character point with their index finger to where they are aiming the spear.

- Carry more than 1 spear of each type. To hold more, add a craftable spear bag.

- Also I've noticed that the upgraded spear has a sharp rock tied to the end of it, so maybe add 1 rock into the recipe for making an upgraded spear.

- Spears(and other weapons)should have durability. If your spear is about to break, you might as well throw it at a cannibal to do some damage. And you can carry up to 20 sticks and 15 bones, along with sticks being everywhere, so making another spear on the fly should not be a complaint.

I guess the thought was to limit the amount of things you can do with the spear compared to other weapons as a way to balance it, but balancing combat would be better aimed at tweaking cannibal AI rather than nerfing weapons. I’m looking at you katana...

EDIT: Spears already do more headshot damage so thats crossed off the list.

[Louie04k]

Let some cannibals use spears to, its a primitive enough weapon, also the better aiming is definatly needed, iv gotten pretty good at the wonky aiming system they have but still. Also let use craft a spear bag so u can hold like 3to5 spears at once

[DanteBrane]

Originally posted by Louie04k:

Let some cannibals use spears to, its a primitive enough weapon, also the better aiming is definatly needed, iv gotten pretty good at the wonky aiming system they have but still. Also let use craft a spear bag so u can hold like 3to5 spears at once

Yeah you can even find some upgraded spears in the cannibal villages on the coast, so why don't they actually use them? Spear bag would be a good addition too.

[phoenix_death12]

Originally posted by DanteBrane:

- Able to do a jump attack with the spear

?

Originally posted by DanteBrane:

- Not sure if already in the game, but a headshot with a thrown spear would be an instant kill.

For the longest time I thought the spear was just OP, until I realized I was getting headshots almost every time without even realizing it xD

[DanteBrane]

Originally posted by phoenix_death12:

Originally posted by DanteBrane:

- Able to do a jump attack with the spear

?

You know, when you jump, look down and attack. That giant swing you do towards the ground that can make cannibals explode if you fall a certain height and hit them.

https://theforest.gamepedia.com/Jump_attack

[BananaKaboom]

I read most of the suggestions before reading the first paragraph, and the first thing I thought was "oh yeah, like Farcry Primal". Much better game (obviously with a much higher budget), and they absolutely nailed fast, brutal combat - coincidentally versus cannibals.

It's going to be really interesting to see how they ultimately handle the spear, because at it's heart this is still a survival game, and you don't much more "survival" than that. They need to make it stick in to enemies and animals, because otherwise it's just goofy. Once they do that though, it kind of demands an instant kill like FP, otherwise we can look forward to watching it disappear over the horizon stuck in some jerk's chest.

[DanteBrane]

Originally posted by BananaKaboom:

I read most of the suggestions before reading the first paragraph, and the first thing I thought was "oh yeah, like Farcry Primal". Much better game (obviously with a much higher budget), and they absolutely nailed fast, brutal combat - coincidentally versus cannibals.

It's going to be really interesting to see how they ultimately handle the spear, because at it's heart this is still a survival game, and you don't much more "survival" than that. They need to make it stick in to enemies and animals, because otherwise it's just goofy. Once they do that though, it kind of demands an instant kill like FP, otherwise we can look forward to watching it disappear over the horizon stuck in some jerk's chest.

So far I enjoy the combat in Far Cry Primal, although I wish it had a block or dodge feature. Sometimes I felt like it was inevitable that I’d get hit at least once when going in for melee kills. AI in that game is rather simplistic though. Archers would stand still in the same spot and melee enemies would charge in a predictable straight line every time so personally I had to dial the difficulty up to hard so that I could die just as easily as the enemies.

I’m thinking that the best thing for them to do would be at least making the spear knock down enemies but bounce off of them. Like you said, a cannibal running away with all your spears in them would be annoying and ridiculous to look at. Maybe making strength also increase how much damage a thrown spear can do or making it do more damage the farther it travels. Spears can be instant kills on normal if the devs want it that way.

[Syncourt]

The spear is already my favorite weapon to use for pure fun and it's range and throw are very good against mutants. But it's not so good in caves with limited mobility due to the lack of block.

The blocking balance is something that needs to be applied to every weapon really. It should also consume stamina when you block a hit. What would be really neat to see though is if you still recieved some damage when blocking depending on the blocking stat, but if you perform a parry you only take 1/4 of that damage. It would encourage higher level play by rewarding practicing the timing of your blocks instead of just lazily holding it. The slight knockback isn't really rewarding enough.

Sticking into enemies would make the game feel more realistic and rewarding when you land hits. Also allowing you to better see where your shot landed. Cannibals and armsy could pull the spear out and throw it on the ground or even throw it back at you if it isn't a lethal hit in order to prevent them running off with it. Only problem with them throwing it back is trying to find them again to recover them.

Which brings up another thing, with how easy it is to lose thrown spears when you throw them a long way or in the dark. You should be able to/require combining 3 feathers in the recipe for the upgraded spear. 3 different brightly coloured feathers which stick up in the air when it's on the ground, making them easier to spot and recover.

I'd also really like to see the spear upgradable with teeth, glass and feathers. It's the one weapon in the game that would really see the benefit of damage upgrades over speed being about direct damage instead of knockdowns. It would be a great weapon for rewarding slow, well timed hits with a huge damage.

[BananaKaboom]

Originally posted by Syncourt:

Sticking into enemies would make the game feel more realistic and rewarding when you land hits. Also allowing you to better see where your shot landed. Cannibals and armsy could pull the spear out and throw it on the ground or even throw it back at you if it isn't a lethal hit in order to prevent them running off with it. Only problem with them throwing it back is trying to find them again to recover them.

Agreed. I think there are some things that a game can get away with because "it's a game", and some that it really can't if it wants to be taken seriously. Having a spear that bounces off enemies for any reason other than they're wearing armor or made of rocks doesn't make any sense. Hopefully it's just a placeholder for now while they figure out what they really want to do with it.

[cruiser]

Agreed on all points.

I don't want to use the katana. It doesn't feel right, it doesn't fit with the theme, and as a spear fetishist, having a short saber be superior to the spear just isn't right.

I'd like to be able to use the spear till the end of the game, but for that, I need to be able to block.

I stopped playing this game because of this.

[Crazyloon]

Been dreamin of turtle-shell-sheid and spear combo since day 1.