Melee combat feels really lacking, where's the swashbuckling or skill?!
Slash- At the moment the Slash attack is the best option by far, so melee is just spamming the Slash button over and over.
Thrust- no point in using it as it's too slow and if you miss the recovery is way too long.
Parry - not much use really, you are just delaying the inevitable hit.
Jump- there is no dodge button in melee so players compensate by using jump.
I think for fighting to feel fun you need at least a couple of attack options and a couple of defend options, and reasons to use them. Here's what I suggest:
- Slash- keep this almost as is, just balance the damage done
- Thrust- this attack cannot be parried, make it quicker but deals less damage (but more damage than Slash). If you miss the attack make the penalty less time.
- Parry- as is, but also if you parry at the same time as you are melee attacked then it does knockback. The only way to parry a Thrust is to parry at the same time as you are attacked.
- Jump- cannot jump with weapons drawn (this also stops Bunny hopping). But the jump button does a Dodge instead. The player can dodge left, right or back. It's just a side step, but enough to get out of the way. Could have a cool down so can only be used 2 or 3 times in row just so it's not spammed. (with no weapon drawn- can jump 2-3 times before fatigued for a few seconds (just like if Thrust missed). This could help reduce bunny hopping.)
This gives some options and tactics to fighting. The basic Slash and Parry are still easy to use for beginners. But If the enemy uses a Thrust attack then I have to Parry just as he hits me, or Dodge to get out of the way. And if being attacked by Slash attacks, and I time my Parrying right, I can create an opening. It's not overly complicated, but makes the player feel like he is outwitting his opponents. A skilled player should be able to beat a player that just spams the the buttons (in a sort of Street Fighter 2 way).
It would make fighting the NPC skeletons a lot more interesting too. For 90% of the encounters with them I just use the Slash attack on them and nothing else.
A few more suggestions:
More feedback when getting hit by all weapons, so the target staggers, flinches or has knockback.
Guns- when gun equipped the parry button could be used as a melee attack. Doesn't do much damage but does a knockback. This allows the player to get away, finish reloading or switch weapons.
Combos- consider adding combo's (slash, slash, dodge, thrust etc). These don't have to be too complicated or too many, just adds a little flair to the fighting, perhaps do a little more damage on the last hit. You could find out about these from journals or NPCs.
No double guns- I'm one of those that would prefer it if players had to have only a melee and shooting weapon. I think it would encourage people to fight in hand to hand, at the moment it feels like its becoming a pirate FPS. (it's just an opinion)
Hit locations- might be nice to have head shots do more damage and more knockback. Might mean players shooting taking a little longer to aim rather shoot from the hip. And maybe Blunderbusses can't do head shots. Weak Points on big creatures and bosses too.
More NPC enemy types- why not have NPC pirates? You have all the animations and models. Maybe change the clothing colours if needed.
More Swashbuckling- in pirate films they are always using any objects to hand and the environment to fight. Perhaps you can throw more things at players to cause knockback, temporarily blind the enemy by flinging the contents of your flagon at them (screen effect), or knock the enemy off balance more. These secondary attacks would need to be easy to access and use, just a button press if equipped, you don't want to be trawling through the radial wheel to find an object. Perhaps they could tie into the combo's above in some way.
