RPGs for fun spear builds

I

ilm

SasqWatch
Original Sin 2 Donor
Joined
June 5, 2009
Messages
1,502
I got a craving to play around with spears lately. Mostly I choose to go for the standard sword, magic, bow, etc. build in my playthroughs, depending on how long ago I played them, whether it is fun to play, and if it fits with the character I'm thinking of.

Spear is something I almost never pick. Most of the RPGs that have spears seem to have them more as an afterthought and never as powerful as, e.g., a sword (let alone spear + shield).

So I was wondering, in which (RPG) games are spears a first-class citizen?

The first game that came to mind is demon souls, where a spear really works well in narrow passages and you can really exploit the longer range.
 
Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Messages
1,502
Hate to say it but the Dark Souls games fit the criteria.

Here are some more games.

  1. Exanima
  2. Mount and Blade Warband
  3. Morrowind
  4. Final Fantasy Tactics
  5. Diablo 2
  6. Neverwinter Nights EE
  7. Tyranny
  8. Disgaea Games
All have spears but your opinion may vary.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,405
Location
Spudlandia
I use spear in all souls games, best weapons in the game!:thumbsup:
The winged spear in particular (grade A for dex builds).

Baldur's Gate 2 has some good magic spears if you play a druid.

In Morrowind spears are a good choice to max out the endurance stat.

Temple of Elemental Evil has a good variety of weapon type, all viable.

There's maybe spears in Neverwinter Nights, I can't remember (EDIT: Couch remembers).
 
Joined
Jul 27, 2018
Messages
1,026
Location
France
I didn't play Age of Decadence, but I remember it having spears. I could be wrong.
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2014
Messages
899
Some good suggestions, I saw lotr online and AoD being suggested in some Reddit threads too. Don't forget monster Hunter :)

Must admit I'm looking for some modern games. Maybe I should give dark souls a try after all. I liked demon souls, but scrapped all successors of my list due to time restrictions.

The idea came to me after watching a death's Gambit video. Looks more fun to me than dead cells, despite the review scores.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/356650/Deaths_Gambit/
 
Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Messages
1,502
Not an rpg, but Blade of Darkness/Severance was ridiculous(ly) good at his, playing as Amazon( Zoe) using spear or naginata.
Haven't played a game in decade, but still remember some of the attack combos. ( Way of the Goddess doing this crazy AoE three spin, than follow up finisher). It had that odd balance of elegance and brutality.
 
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
3,898
Location
Croatia
Ivanwah said:
I didn't play Age of Decadence, but I remember it having spears. I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Yes it does and it's one of the most viable builds throughout the game as well as in dungeon rats the party based dungeon crawler spin-off

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
9,195
Location
Manchester, United Kingdom
Games and spear, bleh, not a single one covered all possibilities to do with a spear. Darksouls, hahahahaha, gimme a break. We know who thought it's awsome game and what he did - brought that game to RL and of course failed:
tenor.gif


Movies and spear however… Almost a masterpiece you need to watch before dying:
Musa - The Warrior
Avoid trailers, all are 320x200 resolution with blur as if were made on playstations, get the movie. Now.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
Expedition games might fit that build nicely. I know in the Vikings game one of my most superb fighters was built on a full strength/spear build, and he was downright lethal in combat.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
19,042
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
The reach of the long spear was a pretty nice feature in ToEE. It allowed a lightly armored character like a druid to participate in melee without becoming an HP sink.
 
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
5,531
Location
Seattle
I liked using spears in Morrowind. My favorite was an ebony spear that I enchanted with Drain Health. It pretty much broke the game though challenge-wise.

It's a shame spears were removed, along with so many other things, in Bethesda's constant effort to further streamline their games.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,401
Location
Florida, US
JDR13 said:
I liked using spears in Morrowind. My favorite was an ebony spear that I enchanted with Drain Health. It pretty much broke the game though challenge-wise.

It's a shame spears were removed, along with so many other things, in Bethesda's constant effort to further streamline their games.
Click to expand...
Bethesda streamlined a lot of things with Oblivion, but I think spears were just not popular enough amongst players for them to waste precious ressources on it. Same with throwing knifes and shurikens.
In any case, yeah, it's a shame...
 
Joined
Jul 27, 2018
Messages
1,026
Location
France
Yeah, I normally avoid spear skills, as they tend to be neglected in the loot, for some reason. I seem to remember something I played had some good halberds and stuff, and made me consider a spear build afterwards. Might have been BG2.
 
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
12,085
Carnifex said:
Expedition games might fit that build nicely. I know in the Vikings game one of my most superb fighters was built on a full strength/spear build, and he was downright lethal in combat.
Click to expand...
Strength? Interesting, most of the time spears are put into the agility/finesse category, which makes kind of sense. It is a safer option dealing less damage. Not sure if anybody mentioned the banner saga yet or salt and sanctuary. The latter is a bit obvious just like Nioh, these seem the go to games for spears.

Of course, with spears I also meant halberds, pikes, tridents, (staffs), etc. Anything that could give me a more interesting challenge than plain swords, although as mentioned they are usually less viable. Strange enough, as it seems spears are like the most common weapon in medieval times.

Could be that the western RPG is almost defined by the early DnD editions which preferred swords according . While this should be corrected in current editions this has not yet trickled through to the gaming scene. Picked this up from a reddit thread (which I can't find anymore) and while I don't know DnD very well it does make kind of sense. The gaming scene is always slow to evolve imo, always sticking to the tried and tested forumulae.
 
Joined
Jun 5, 2009
Messages
1,502
Not an rpg but total war games you live or die by the spear when the cavalry charges !
-
The problem with a lot of rpg (not all); the spear is not that great compare to alternative. Actually there was a game where with spear you could attack from second rank (swords and similar you had to be front line) but i can't for the life of me remember the name of it.
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
7,758
Location
usa - no longer boston
It's funny how spears were "streamlined away" in Bethsoft games.

I guess that means trivial matters like dual-wielding, light/sound-based stealth, physics-based archery, superior melee combat, mounts, distant terrain, dynamic ai, mounted combat, fully voiced NPCs, crafting, companions, and on and on - were all "streamlined" into their future games, right?

Oh, but those spears really tied the room together ;)

Nah, it's true. I like options and wouldn't mind spears. Not that I'd ever use them, as I don't like the aesthetics of spear-based combat.

In fact, it's the reason I don't enjoy the Warden in LOTRO - even though I like the mechanics.
 
Even more shocking that you felt the need to point it out, immediately, instead of correcting any potential error in the argument ;)

But it's cool. Morrowind is the holy grail and the rest have all been "streamlined" into something less.

I get it ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom