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Prosper I love archery in RPGs, here's my top 10 (sort of).

murloc_gypsy

Cipher
Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Messages
323
Oh fuck yeah, arrows. I always loved trying to sneak behind enemies at a distance and snipe them with some well-placed arrows to the head. In this sense, I think these games were some of the most rewarding, in no particular order: Gothic 1 & 2, Skyrim, Thief games, Oblivion. I've yet to find a non-first person RPG in which archery feels good. I do realize that it was outright broken in some of these, not unlike this video shows.

 

pakoito

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
3,086
Fucking acronyms. What's ToME4?
ToME4. As in "we had to change our name from Tales of Middle Earth to ToME due to C&Ds". But you can also use Tales of Maj'Eral 4 if you feel like using the non-name they came up with.

You can have it free http://te4.org/ or you can pay a couple of bucks in Steam for shared stash, custom tiles, exploration mode and an extra class and help development.
 
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Mastermind

Cognito Elite Material
Patron
Bethestard
Joined
Apr 15, 2010
Messages
21,144
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I know the game is loathed around here but archery in Gothic 4 felt pretty good (though it'd probably get too repetitive in the long haul).
 

Ebonsword

Arcane
Joined
Mar 7, 2008
Messages
2,326
Archery in Dragon's Dogma is quite enjoyable, especially the Magick Archer who gets auto lock-on shots plus a host of other cool arrows.

 
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Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
Yes WARBAND archery is stuff of legends.

IT has right amount of skill and passive abilities.
Starts very weak but later in game with good bow you can kill few dudes before even fight starts.


edit:

Also like poster above. Dragons Dogma Archery was really interesting especially magic archer.
 

Essegi

Cipher
Joined
Nov 21, 2012
Messages
396
I sorta enjoyed bows in Enclave. Of course nothing at Mount & Blade level (i often played a bow character in MB games).
 
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Crichton

Prophet
Joined
Jul 7, 2004
Messages
1,210
I left out Arcanum because I honestly haven't made an archery build, I assume it would kick ass. Bloodlines mods might also allow you to use xbow effectively now, I'm not sure. Note that this list makes no claim to being authoritative or exhaustive, it's just I've been thinking about, and it would be great if you guys could fill me in on other RPGs with entertaining or unusual ranged combat, especially anything pre-Infinity Engine.

Archery can be both effective and amusing in Arcanum. I've played a dwarven techo-archer with a pyrotechnic bow and it's all the convenience of gunslinging without the stat-split since you don't need Perception. There's also one bow that will allow a 100-magic-aptitude 20-dex character to fire at 1AP a shot, 25 shots a round; as fast as the mechanized gun.
 

Western

Arcane
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
5,934
Location
Australia
Codex 2012 Codex 2014 Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2
I had fun with archery in Arx Fatalis, it's been a while but I remember getting a secret bow off a chicken, also levitating while shooting arrows, sneaking around and opening a fight with a poisoned arrow. It's a shame the paralyse enchantment doesn't work with bows and arrows, though that'd probably be extremely op.
 

Daemongar

Arcane
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
4,706
Location
Wisconsin
Codex Year of the Donut
All right, I'll ask: what is your premise for your archery top 10? Your Oblivion entry starts with Lol Oblvion, arrows are broken. What, you completed the game with a mod and a level 1 archer, and you are complaining that arrows... are weak? I know everyone hates Oblivion, so you can say whatever you want, but what are you trying to say? Is Oblivion too easy or too hard?

Then it appears the list is how powerful the arrows are in each game, culminating in the "best" Game, M&B: Warband where you can do mega damage. So... your premise is that more damage == better bow game? Seems kinds screwy.
 

bloodlover

Arcane
Joined
Sep 5, 2010
Messages
2,039
My favourite would have to be Might and Magic 6 and 7 where I equip the entire party with bows and spam arrows.

I used to play (or at least try to) archers in most games but I found them to be game-breaking in many cases. Gothic 2 and 3 or TES games being good examples (though I admit that casting levitate and spamming arrows around Vicec was quite fun). Never tried them in D&D games because... mages. I found casting a shitty magic missle to be more exciting than shooting arrows and I know there is the arcane archer but it always seem to take forever to get there.

H&S games are where the class shines the most imo. Diablo2, Sacred, TQ you name it.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
All right, I'll ask: what is your premise for your archery top 10? Your Oblivion entry starts with Lol Oblvion, arrows are broken. What, you completed the game with a mod and a level 1 archer, and you are complaining that arrows... are weak? I know everyone hates Oblivion, so you can say whatever you want, but what are you trying to say? Is Oblivion too easy or too hard?

Then it appears the list is how powerful the arrows are in each game, culminating in the "best" Game, M&B: Warband where you can do mega damage. So... your premise is that more damage == better bow game? Seems kinds screwy.

The entries in the list are just what I found personally amusing or highly effective, I freely admit they're all over the place, thanks for the criticism.

You don't need a mod to beat Oblivion with a lvl1 archer, if that's what you thought.
 
Possibly Retarded The Real Fanboy
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
Messages
1,114
Location
Ancient Aliens Spaceship
For good archery in crpg, you should take a look into the past for a crpg from Amiga and early Pc called , Robin Hood Legend of Sherwood, it has good physics and you can kill many sheriff's soldiers and some monks at the abbey. Isometric view is good, sound of sinew too and hit satisfaction is amazing due to brutal gore . Game is on only 1 floppy 3,5 , or most old game sites. Tally ho! Beware of dragon.
 

buzz

Arcane
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
4,234
You might be confusing things Wulfric. Legend of Sherwood is a Commandos-style game from 2002.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Yeah, I've been searching for this game that will fit on an 880k diskette, but came up with nothing. It's a CD-ROM game, and not on the original Amiga OS, but MorphOS.

Still, it looks sweet.

Actually, just as I type this my WHDLoad search completed, and a Robin Hood Amiga game resulted, called "Legend Quest". This must be what he meant.
 
Possibly Retarded The Real Fanboy
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
Messages
1,114
Location
Ancient Aliens Spaceship
Yeah, exactly sorry for messing up sub title. Game is very characteristic, it was both on Amiga and Pc (on starting screen was Kevin Costner ) , isometric with pixel graphics, nice ai and great intro on game engine. It was on 1, 3.5" disk. Also it was my first crpg game. Today real abandonware gem. Still playable, still having features that today Aaa crpgs are missing, like monks at abbey that make proper burial for each of your victim/killed npc .
 

granit

Scholar
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
128
Morrowind archery is very strong indeed - and really fun! One of my favorite characters is a heavy armored crossbowman. You can even go the complete Dwemer outfit and larp the coming of a second Numidium.
 
In My Safe Space
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
21,899
Codex 2012
7) Baldur's Gate -- Bow-wielders start off with two flat attacks per round, enemies are weak, enemies move slow, enemies get pin-cushioned. You can have max6 archers in your party, who can get several attacks per round, hasted - that's every 3 secs on 60 AI updates - firing detonation arrows which have fireball AoE/dmg. 2d6 acid arrows are also killer. Coran, Khalid and Kivan can be specced to be lordly archers. I presume forests got chopped down to supply my guys with arrows. Annoyingly, archery was nerfed in Baldur's Gate 2 but an archer prestige with Firetooth xbow (ToB) or Gesen will still tear through the field and drill down bosses to death with Greater Whirlwind, real fast.
Archery is pathetic in IE games. No possibility of friendly fire, self-guided arrows, arrows of detonations disappearing when missing their targets, range limited to 15 metres, etc.
 

Lonely Vazdru

Pimp my Title
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
6,656
Location
Agen
I loved archery in Daggerfall, not overpowered, not useless either. Then again, I loved so many things in Daggerfall.
hqdefault.jpg

:love:
 

tuluse

Arcane
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
11,400
Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
7) Baldur's Gate -- Bow-wielders start off with two flat attacks per round, enemies are weak, enemies move slow, enemies get pin-cushioned. You can have max6 archers in your party, who can get several attacks per round, hasted - that's every 3 secs on 60 AI updates - firing detonation arrows which have fireball AoE/dmg. 2d6 acid arrows are also killer. Coran, Khalid and Kivan can be specced to be lordly archers. I presume forests got chopped down to supply my guys with arrows. Annoyingly, archery was nerfed in Baldur's Gate 2 but an archer prestige with Firetooth xbow (ToB) or Gesen will still tear through the field and drill down bosses to death with Greater Whirlwind, real fast.

6) Planescape: Torment -- WTF? Oh I see you forgot about Nordom! The only companion with missile weapons, means he must be mentioned with adoration. A shame he can't be recruited earlier, but he gets some use when farming XP down in Under Sigil.
Fun archery in rpgs, not actually doing anything.
 

eremita

Savant
Joined
Sep 1, 2013
Messages
797
10) LOLblivion -- Starting off with a joke entry, but archery on a stealth build is mildly entertaining for a few hours due to how broken it is. You have bowzoom, high RoF and couple that with high sneak and knockdown perk, you're untouchable. Expect to get 4 extra plinks at a knocked down enemy before it can get back in your face. I defeated Oblivion with a lvl1 archer. Morrowind's archery was over-balanced (read: weak) unless you fetch that daedric bow early and install the official plug-in that gives AoE arrows. Then things get interesting.

9) Dark Souls -- I love this game, the mechanics are wonderful, if I may be allowed such a term. Providing you spec right and are skilled at headshots you really shouldn't hit many speedbumps in the single-player game. Melee opponents in PvP who are killed by staggering headshots will rage hard and call you cheap. There's nothing like chaining staggers together on a tanky opponent, knowing that if the next shot fails to stagger, you're one-shotted. Enemy archers can be extremely frustrating, I cite the knights wielding dragonbows who fire SPEARS which knock you down into oblivion. This dragonbow can be used by the player later, though it's largely a gimmick short of long-range knockdown sniping in PvP. There are much better bows in DkS.

8) Deus Ex -- When I get to choose between a GEP gun and mini xbow, I choose the latter. Tranquilizing "terrists" for non-lethal silent takedowns is very satisfying and faciliates the stealth approach for which Deus Ex is famous.

7) Baldur's Gate -- Bow-wielders start off with two flat attacks per round, enemies are weak, enemies move slow, enemies get pin-cushioned. You can have max6 archers in your party, who can get several attacks per round, hasted - that's every 3 secs on 60 AI updates - firing detonation arrows which have fireball AoE/dmg. 2d6 acid arrows are also killer. Coran, Khalid and Kivan can be specced to be lordly archers. I presume forests got chopped down to supply my guys with arrows. Annoyingly, archery was nerfed in Baldur's Gate 2 but an archer prestige with Firetooth xbow (ToB) or Gesen will still tear through the field and drill down bosses to death with Greater Whirlwind, real fast.

6) Planescape: Torment -- WTF? Oh I see you forgot about Nordom! The only companion with missile weapons, means he must be mentioned with adoration. A shame he can't be recruited earlier, but he gets some use when farming XP down in Under Sigil.

5) Gothic 2 -- Just like in Dark Souls, a player who specializes in melee will still nock an arrow and make a bow sing, every now and then, because the design is thoughtful and the game logically at times calls for it's use. The only problem is that the cheesy side of my gaming brain calls for it's use a little too often...

4) Storm of Zehir -- It's the solid crafting mechanics in this underrated expansion for NWN2 that ensures bows + xbows shine. Make them out of rare materials like duskwood and zalantar, deck your low lvl slobs out with them (yep, even spellcasters), and mowdown rag-tag mobs before they even get to your meatshields.

3) Temple of Elemental Evil -- General consensus seems to be ranged weapons suck in this game, but holy axiomatic or icy-burst +3 longbow on max-INIT buffed elven archer with all the right feats = dropping behemoths like hill giants before they can even raise an eyebrow. Make two.

2) Diablo 2 -- Bowazons were a whole lot of fun, but the letdown was they were so loomingly overshadowed by lightning javs. The Median XL: Ultimative mod turns them into glass cannons, but they can clear out areas in a couple of clicks - fastest killers I ever saw in any game. But the ranged king in Ultimative is the xbow necro, boasting of a skillset mixing in sniping, SMG and shot-gun firing modes.

1) Warband -- OK, this is it! THIS IS IT! First off bows far outstrip xbows as the latter only do flat dmg. A total newb using a starter bow with bent ammo can headshot an armored vet for 80 dmg. Now, a masterwork warbow in the hands of a strongarm build with 10 power draw and +3 arrows will one-shot anyone but a king decked out in lordly fullplate. Headshots do in excess of 200 dmg. RoF at skill 400 is probably 2.5 draws per sec, causing RSI. 2nd off, Rhodok snipers using xbows can single-handedly win sieges, expect to get 50-200 kills before you even send your sergeants up the ladder, depending on fortress type. Plus they are tanks, their board shields protect them from responding hail when they reload. Third, Khergit veteran horse archers are sexy as allfuck, 200 of these guys circling and kiting an infantry force = pincushioned into oblivion. A player with 10 horse archery and 10 ride on a champion coarser is untouchable short of being fired on by top-tier archers himself. LASTLY, the Noldor rangers in the Prophecy of Pendor mod fire bows like machine guns, their arrows blot out the sky. Nothing lives. The player can earn a sapphire bow by jumping through unreasonable dev hoops, thereby even exceeding the RoF/dmg of ancient elves.

I left out Arcanum because I honestly haven't made an archery build, I assume it would kick ass. Bloodlines mods might also allow you to use xbow effectively now, I'm not sure. Note that this list makes no claim to being authoritative or exhaustive, it's just I've been thinking about, and it would be great if you guys could fill me in on other RPGs with entertaining or unusual ranged combat, especially anything pre-Infinity Engine.
Blade of Darkness. The archery there is quite difficult, but very satisfying...
 

eremita

Savant
Joined
Sep 1, 2013
Messages
797
Bows are absolutely ridiculous in Icewind Dale 1 on Rangers specifically because they get an extra attack per round to fake "two weapon fighting". This bonus attack also applies to Bows, so you get like 3 attacks at level 1.
At least one DnD CRPG where Rangers have some advantage...
 

potatojohn

Arcane
Joined
Jan 2, 2012
Messages
2,646
Archery in Cataclysm: DDA is quite cool.
 

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