Savagezion said:
It is a mechanic because it a tool offered to the player as a part of the combat model.
Basically, the knife is a weapon that creates an area in front of the player. If an enemy is caught in that area, he is killed.
It is not a mechanic, it simply offers a 1-hit weapon for close range, just like the buttstock of a rifle or pistol whipping in CoD2.
Savagezion said:
I am aware adding swords isn't a mechanic. However, having swords means you need some mechanics as to how they function in the game. Skyrim has a regular 3 combo attack mechanic, a power attack mechanic, etc. The fact that you can use a knife and not that there just happens to be one in the game, means it has a mechanic.
Those are a mechanic in a whole because they are a part of sword combat. When you integrate several features to work with each other, they become a mechanic.
Adding a knife does not create a "mechanic" because there is no knife-fighting.
Here, I'll toss an example:
-- Call of Duty 4 features a knife for close range kills
-- Metal Gear Online features a CQC mechanic for close range combat
Savagezion said:
BTW, it isn't 3 songs about Creepers, it is 1 song re-released with a name the band prefers over the original in my example. Portal is a remixed, re-release of NDrop.
I was talking about BF2.
The core mechanics of the game exist even without unlocks. But they do exist.
They add new weapons, nothing more. The fact that the number of weapons is fewer than in Call of Duty 4 doesn't mean anything.
Iron Maiden made a song about creepers and published in in a new album. Two years later Metallica release 3 songs about creepers. They released 3, but Iron Maiden did it first.
This is non-sense, I am not saying that BF2 was the end-all, be-all of innovation. They just added ranks and unlocks the same year Call of Duty 2 was released.
Savagezion said:
-- It is not ONLY influenced by time played, it is influenced by player actions. It is based on assists, headshots, challenges, killstreak rewards, etc. If me and you played the game for the same period of time our levels would be different. Exactly. If you played really good for 1 month and I played really bad for 1 year, we would have the same rank in the end. So it's only a matter of how long you have been playing.
Every game does that.
S'cuze me
First Sergeant
Requirements:
Rank: Gunnery Sergeant
Score: 20,000
Awards: Basic Knife Combat Badge, Basic Pistol Combat Badge, Basic Assault Combat Badge, Basic Anti-tank Combat Badge, Basic Sniper Combat Badge, Basic Spec Ops Combat Badge, Basic Support Combat Badge, Basic Engineer Combat Badge, Basic Medic Combat Badge
This is a rank from BF2. You could only achieve certain ranks by completing badges. So they didn't judge the time spent playing alone, the Veteran badges also require a certain amount of actions IAR - In A Round.
That way you have to prove you can be proficient, not just hoard up scores without playing well.
Savagezion said:
Again, not sure what you are trying to imply. Playing as a warrior in an RPG, same effect.
I am trying to imply that the mechanics are not the same if you played in another class.
If you change classes in CoD, the mechanic is still the same.
Savagezion said:
I'll give you that but that doesn't mean no innovation happened. Not exactly sure why you are going into all that. This type of thing actually implies that the innovation is mostly in the engine to you. Even though you just said that you never said a game can't innovate within the same engine.
No, innovation is not on the engine.
Parabellum, the short-lived free 2 play FPS developed with Unreal, played much differently than Unreal Tournament.
Same can't be said if I made a Unreal Tournament look-alike in Unreal. It would play the same even if I changed some characteristics in the weapons.
Savagezion said:
Simple arguments don't beat complex ones. What even makes you think that? Logic dictates a argument's validity regardless of how simple or complex it is. Simple arguments are just easier.
Yeah, I didn't explain all the way trough.
Simple beats complex because complex arguments would take me a lot of time to develop. If I can express that Call of Duty did not innovate that much in a simplistic manner, it is better than wasting my time on a complex view that nobody would share.
Savagezion said:
You mean it wasn't the first to do it but rather, it expanded upon the idea?
Let's assume Wolftenstein 3D had the same setting as Doom, and featured similar weapons.
Doom would be still a huge improvement because of the breakthroughs in level design that allowed for more complex levels and changed the way things are played.
Since you focused so much in the multiplayer, I'll bite
Level ups aren't a mechanic. Unlocks due to racking up kills with weapon X? I don't know, could be. Let's assume they are.
I have mentioned how perks counter each other, and counter the helicopter. I did say it was a mechanic.
Attachments: the only real thing that matter are silencers in CoD4. The grenade launcher is just another weapon. But the silencer masks the shooting in the enemy UAV. That could be a mechanic.
However, the only difference it makes is that there is an option for stealthier gameplay, and there isn't even a way to counter it. Doesn't sound like a mechanic if it's just an isolated feature.
If you skip to MW2, then yes, attachments are a mechanic. You have under-barrel shotguns, grenade launchers, foregrips, heartbeat sensors, silencers, FMJ ammo, extended magazines and optics.
Partially because you can also chose from several kinds of primary items to bring with you, instead of just grenades. It is a mechanic in it's whole, simply having different grenades doesn't make it a mechanic, add blast shields and then it becomes something that affects gameplay severely.
