Post
by Neon_Knight » Tue Oct 19, 2021 4:34 pm
Combo Breaker
In Fighting Games, combos are technically defined as any combination of attacks where if the first hit lands, the opponent will be unable to dodge or block the hits that soon follow — indeed, the character will be unable to do anything since they are being struck too quickly to even recover from hitstun.
The ability to string together very long and damaging Combos is a mark of skill among the elite gamers, but if a player can make their fighter string together a nearly infinite sequence of hits, with the opponent unable to escape the inevitable Death Of A Thousand Punches, how does a game developer keep Combos from becoming a Game-Breaker?
Enter the Combo Breaker: A game mechanic that allows a player to escape from the middle of a combo attack so they can retaliate while the opponent is open, rather than stand there helplessly, as their Hit Points are battered away. Depending on the game, this may involve a separate button combination rather than the usual defensive command, or it may incur some kind of cost to discourage players from overusing it, such as relying on a power gauge, or being Cast from Hit Points.
Thus, a truly skilled fighter must not only master the ability to string hits together to make combos, but also master the ability to escape from them as well. Should two players who have mastered the Combo Breaker technique fight head-to-head, the ensuing battle will involve a lot of tactical improvisation as the two fighters continuously break out from underneath their opponent's attacks.
Since it usually just requires precise timing and\or quick reactions, it's all too tempting to make AI very good at this to compensate for its shortcomings elsewhere. See Computers Are Fast.
Compare Recovery Attack, another ability to break being hit repeatedly.
