Do you think guns should be in games with magic and swords?

[Marc]

I've been thinking about this the other day...

Let's say a game on a Nintendo console has magic and swords. Do you think a gun would fit into the gameplay? I mean, guns have a large advantage against people using a sword to fight. Magic is capable of stopping it depending on what it does.

There are already games with all three of these things. I'm just curious about your opinion about it.

 

[Hayleia]

Not really. I mean, people used swords when they didn't have guns so it's either guns or swords but both doesn't make sense

However, Magic and Guns or Magic and Swords aren't incoherent combinations to me. Because even if you think that swords would lose to magic, if that world has magic, maybe swords could be magic and allow non-wizard people to have limited magic power (like blocking magic attacks or throwing some waves of whatever) plus sword abilities to be on-par with magicians.

And obviously, you can make games with these weapons and have balanced gameplay, but then guns would have to be nerfed in some way. Just look at how "guns" in MH4U prevent you from walking fast for example. That's not exactly what you think about when you hear "gun" but if they were handguns, you'd just run around all day, 16 meters away from the monster, firing at will, not necessarily dealing a lot of damage each hit but you'll keep hitting and then the game would be no fun.

 

[Troy21]

Yes, I agree with @Hayleia. If there are going to be guns in a game that would typically have swords or magic, they would generally have to be nerfed a lot. Having a little handgun and just running around crazy and firing doesn't exactly sound like fun, and you would bore of it quickly. In MH4U, I think they balanced everything perfectly, with the magic(I suppose the monsters and their special elements can we considered magic, along with special weapon elements), The swords and other weapons, and the guns. I rather enjoy sniping, going on a super high spot and using my super scope is a lot of fun, and the fact that they nerfed them in different ways, such as slow movement(as Hayleia said), Less defense points on the armor etc. actually makes it better. So, my opinion is if your gonna bring a gun to a sword fight, It's gotta be fair.

 

[Ace]

Well, a gun is just a ranged weapon like any other item. So I'm rather indifferent. (Could do with or without.)

 

[18]

It's up to the game to make it work. One of my favourite games that has both swords and guns is Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. It evens out the 'people with guns have a huge advantage' objection by making the characters extremely skilled with swords and magic, not to mention agile, and making melee combat look more powerful. Even the cutscenes make it look like the guy with the sword can pull it off. So yeah, it is possible for the game to make it believable. If it can do so well, bring in the guns I say.

 

[Artisan]

I think the 3DS game Heroes of Ruin used all three. It normally seems strange though to have guns when compared to swords and magic, which are more medieval type weapons. But if given a different theme like sci-fi (like Star Wars for example where the force is a little like magic but not exactly) it could work out well but I'm not sure how balanced that would be.

 

[Leviathinian]

I think having guns in games with magic and swords would be an interesting concept.
I don't think it would be impossible.
Imagine this: A world is shared by humans and magical beings. The power and might of the magical beings intimidates and scares the humans, so they seek to control them. The humans can't use magic, so they stick with what they have: Guns!
Now that would be an interesting game! Man, now I want to play it! Where can I buy it?!

 

[Monster Guy]

I think the 3DS game Heroes of Ruin used all three.

It had the Gunslinger class. I am not sure if this counts though since it's limited to one character that can use them.

Why would anyone want a gun when they have magic to essentially achieve the same purpose? Personally, I'd prefer shooting fire/ice/lightning at my enemies than boring ol' bullets. xD

 

[3905]

This isn't necessarily a "Nintendo" game but it was on the DSiWare shop at one point. The game is Zenonia and it had a gunner class, a paladin, and an assassin class. Mages weren't introduced until the 2nd game, which wasn't available on the DSiWare shop. Point blank, in online PvP matches, the Guns easily outplayed a Swordsmen, Magic outspaced the Guns, and Swords could easily run up and damage the Mages. So depending on the skill level of the players it would most likely end up that a Gunner would win against a Swordsman, a Mage would beat a Gunner, and a Swordsman would destroy a Mage. There's a 4th class known as the Assassin as well, which sort of goes hand in hand with the Swordsman, except much better, and actually outplays the Gunner. So going back to the original point, I think that Guns being in games that have Magic and Swords would be a pretty logical thing to have, and if I were to guess a game series that would start to feature all 3 at some point is Fire Emblem, since they already have Swords and Magic, plus with a warfare concept, it could easily fit in a Gunner class into the mix.

 

[J9794]

It depends on how it's implemented. I mean, it's an alternative reality, if you say guns > swords, then a wizard able to throw a fireball should totally rekt a swordman.
Example, I don't know if you can call it exactly magic, but in star wars, there are range weapons that are a lot more powerful than nowaday guns, and still the 'swordmen' can handle that really well.
The game doesn't necessarily have to be realist, if you aren't going down after one sword hit to the head, I don't see why you should get killed by one shot of a gun. Also, it gives you the chance to create some really awesome weapons like magic imbued guns: a shotgun that shots ice shards, a pistol that absorbs magical energy (mana?) from your enemy each time you hit it... etc.

 

[Blue Knight]

A way to make it work is to lump magic (supernatural powers) and swords (and other martial arts weapons like spears and bows for example) on a single classification.

Sure, a nornal person with a gun would be dangerous, but if a magically enhanced swordsman runs towards you in the blink of an eye and slices you in half, a gun won't work very well

 

[Hayleia]

My point wasn't that a game wouldn't balance guns and swords. As I said, MH4U does it by nerfing "guns".

My point was that it sometimes doesn't make that much sense to have epic swordsmen with epic magic powers with their epic swords, and the people with guns are just normal people. If some people in that world can have amazing powers, and if some people can have guns, why is there no one with amazing powers AND guns to wreck everyone else ? Even a swordsman could stick a gun on a sword and use it as a sword most of the time and fire a bullet every once in a while, just to have that little advantage over other swordsmen...

Then of course the game would not have such an overpowered character... But you know that it's not realistic. If that world was the real world, someone definitely would stick a gun on a sword

 

[Blue Knight]

My point wasn't that a game wouldn't balance guns and swords. As I said, MH4U does it by nerfing "guns".

My point was that it sometimes doesn't make that much sense to have epic swordsmen with epic magic powers with their epic swords, and the people with guns are just normal people. If some people in that world can have amazing powers, and if some people can have guns, why is there no one with amazing powers AND guns to wreck everyone else ? Even a swordsman could stick a gun on a sword and use it as a sword most of the time and fire a bullet every once in a while, just to have that little advantage over other swordsmen...

Then of course the game would not have such an overpowered character... But you know that it's not realistic. If that world was the real world, someone definitely would stick a gun on a sword

I once thought on a possible justification I could give a fantasy story for why "normal" peeps use guns (or othee modern weapons) while superpowered peeps don't.

Imagine if monsters/spirits/whatever can only be hurt by magic, it would make guns useless while also making swords and such useless as well, but the superpowered peeps can infuse their martial arts weapons with magic, something that guns cannot properly make without the bullets losing the magic power or dissolving or something.

 

[Hayleia]

I once thought on a possible justification I could give a fantasy story for why "normal" peeps use guns (or othee modern weapons) while superpowered peeps don't.

Imagine if monsters/spirits/whatever can only be hurt by magic, it would make guns useless while also making swords and such useless as well, but the superpowered peeps can infuse their martial arts weapons with magic, something that guns cannot properly make without the bullets losing the magic power or dissolving or something.

Yeah, I guess that in a world that doesn't exist anyway, anything can be explained because if you start saying "that thing here is not realistic", someone will just tell you "well, it's a magic world and only this part here seems unrealistic to you ?"

 

[Blue Knight]

Yeah, I guess that in a world that doesn't exist anyway, anything can be explained because if you start saying "that thing here is not realistic", someone will just tell you "well, it's a magic world and only this part here seems unrealistic to you ?"

Really, if there's magic, there's no reason there can't be monsters only defeatable by using it

Ofc, it's possible to use guns with superpowers too, it just depends on the type of superpower.

Since both martial arts weapons and firearms are regular weapons there's no reason not to enhance them with magic. Or use magic on the body of the user so that they can use the weapons more effectively, Fate/Zero's protagonist is a good example, using time-acceleration powers together with firearms

 

[3823]

I personally don't like guns and magic both present in a game. It makes it feel more unreal. Like an unreal fantasy. I mean why use magic when you can just shoot up people. Or vice versa. In short, the games I play usually have consistency. Guns + Magic makes things inconsistent for me. Then again, I'm not a big fan of guns either so that could contribute into that opinion.

 

[Blue Knight]

I guess it depends on how powerful and diverse magic is in the story.

If you can only do basic things like levitating and such, then magic users should use guns as they're more efficient offense-wise. Regular peeps would be slightly overpowered before magic users.

But if it can allow things like make a sword throw sword beams, enhance your body so you can shoot 10+ arrows from a bow in a blink, make a punch shatter buildings and such, then it would be more effective to use the antiquated weapons since firearms mostly don't depend on the body's condition, pretty much being "aim and shoot" kind of deal xD

 

[8150]

It's not all that weird. Guns can just replace bows or be as powerful as projectile magic. Either way the sword users are screwed

 

[2071]

It would depend in my opinion. The way how it is put into context in collaboration with the game's atmosphere or environment and the role it plays all put in a concluding and definite answer Put in something like a real life physic, then it would not make sense, but in something like a fantasy, then it would look totally normal xP

 

[NOKK]

MH4U incorporates swords and (very subtle) hints of magic throughout the game. The Great Sword, Dual Blades, Sword and Shield, etc. are all blades that exist in a game with 'guns'. Some people might not consider the Light Bowgun or Heavy Bowgun to be 'guns', but (in my opinion) anything that has a barrel, ammunition, can harm people/things, and needs to be reloaded is a firearm. I think MH4U did a fantastic job incorporating more modern weapons into a game that somewhat represents the ways that the Amish live. I love that game no matter what.