Dear Traveller,
Combat in Book of Travels has been something of a (ahem) divisive issue, with many wanting a damn good brawl while others would rather avoid confrontation altogether. There will indeed be avoidance tactics at your disposal - more on those later! For those in the former camp, here’s a bit about the kind of conflict you can expect.
Pit your wits against bandits and beings
As you might imagine, there’s no PVP combat in Book of Travels, instead you’ll face off against characters, creatures and mysterious beings, most of which you’ll find in the Wilds. Towns or villages are somewhat safer, where the main threat comes in the shape of bandits offering a duel, but off the beaten track packs of wolves or bandit gangs may present you with a heavy duty challenge. Supernatural adversaries may appear too, so stay watchful or you may just find yourself up against the might of a Maisu or the chaos of a Kettem. Fighting for survival is one thing, but acquiring exceptional items or bounty hunting may also find you baring arms.
Preparation, tension and targets
Should you find yourself in a combat situation, the first thing you’ll need to do is prepare. This is a combat system designed around preparation, initiative and timing and there are three essential stages that build up to the decisive moment. Before you begin of course, you’ll first need to survey your surroundings for a worthy opponent. Putting your hand on your sword will cast a red circle about you, alerting you to anyone (or anything) within challengeable radius. You’ll also be able to see their Force and Ward numbers, which will help you decide if you want to take them on.
Having selected a worthy opponent, you’ll need to make sure that you’re ready for action: equip your gear, cast any knots or drink any teas that you think are fit for the occasion (such as the Warding Arc - a knot that protects you from one hit, or Lilit's Cinnabar Brew - a tea that increases your force). This is also a course of action that you’ll need to take as a preventative measure should you see a threat close by, so even if you’re not looking for a fight, it’s a good idea to keep some spells close to hand. Some opponents are aggressive and will put their hands on their swords or enter combat preparation stances (e.g. wolves or Kettem) if you get too close!
Once the initiative has been taken it’s all about the timing! The longer you wait to strike your opponent, the more accurate your blow will be - so while your chance of hitting your target increases you will remain vulnerable to assault. Every second that passes between you and your opponent will be loaded with the tension of not knowing who will strike first... Dare you risk receiving a blow or will you deal your own, less accurate strike? The choice is yours! The stakes get higher still once you’re hit, which will leave you dizzied and knocked off balance and with your chance to hit back diminished - a very strong blow can significantly reduce your chance of landing a return strike.
Should you take a hit during battle, your Ward becomes depleted by the total count of the Force owned by the attacker. But once it's all over and should you survive, your Ward will return to its full value.
Fight, flight or flee?
We’ve often been asked, can you evade conflict altogether? Certainly! Just as in life there are ways to stay out of trouble! If you’re a more peaceful player and you detect a threat from afar (red name tags are an indicator) you can choose to skirt around it, and if that doesn’t work, then you’ll be able to evade it by equipping skills such as a Smoke Cylinder - a fast acting ability that grants temporary invisibility. This way you can choose to quietly pass trouble by, or hide, or become invisible. And if you’re feeling cheeky and in need of supplies, you might be able to nip in and steal from a bandit without any conflict at all by using teleportation!
Oops, I changed my mind - get me out of here!
And what if you want to decline? Or if, once that circle is drawn an enemy takes initiative, you don’t want to fight? You can simply walk away. If it’s bandits you face, then in this case your worst fate is usually robbery, and unless you refuse to hand over what’s demanded you won't face an attack. Your final get-out option after initiative is taken is to flee - fleeing won’t have any permanently adverse impact on your character, but it will mean that you’ll wake up somewhere completely new and for a while you’ll be slow and demoralised.
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We hope this sheds a little light on this much anticipated topic, and we’ll get some answers to your questions so please do leave them below! In the meantime you can find out more about dangers in Braided Shore in our new video short with Artist Lotta tomorrow (follow our Youtube to get notified), or hear a game dev perspective on designing combat for a serene game from Lead Programmer Jens at his Nordic Games talk right here.
Just 20 days to go! Thank you for being with us!
Best Wishes,
Helen & the Dev Team xx
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