User blog:Zhangnian/Video Game Logic

So many people mentioned that RWBY is a lot like a video game, and I do agree that compared to real life logic or movie logic, video game logic is a lot more evident in this series. That being said, I'd like to put together my understanding of the mechanics of this video game logic, how I see everything fits together.

First, there are a few key words to toss around: aura, semblance, weapon, normal ammo, and dust ammo.

Aura is basically HP and stamina, and is consumed when using semblance and special attacks, as well as when hit by enemy attack or putting up a forcefield for defense. It auto regenerates when idle. The key here is that you use aura aka HP for special attacks instead of MP, so using it recklessly means you'll be more easily knocked out due to low HP.

Semblance is character-specific ability unique to that character. It goes hand in hand with each character's fighting style and weapon, and really gives each character personality.

weapon, or rather, ammo is basically the MP for this series. And as video game logic applies here, every weapon has a ridiculously large clip size. Most people use normal ammo and chain firing shots into their combos, but if you use dust ammo then you can add elemental attrtribes to your attacks, or cast elemental spells. Though I do like to note that "generally" ranged projectile attacks seem not very effective in terms of dealing damage. They are more often used to taunt and disrupt enemy's rhythm. Also it is to be noted that almost every weapon is capable of melee and ranged attacks and every character has their distinct fighting style with their weapons.

Now I know there are more ways to utilize dust as shown in the series, but for this writing I'd like to keep it relatively simple, at least until more info is revealed.

Now I would like to list every character I've seen fighting and give my mental notes about each one.

Ruby - All-rounded character, semblance gives her huge speed boost, sniper rifle packs quite a punch

Weiss - Mage-fencer character, melee attacks are relatively weak, but can use dust spells and buffs, really useful in team combat, has relatively low max HP

Blake - Speed-technique character, very versatile and flexible, semblance lets her leave behind a shadow to confuse the enemy, seen to receive a notable power boost when dust ammo is used

Yang - Power character, high attack with fire attribute, though the way I see it Yang has a "special" mechanic, a rage meter of some sort that sets her apart from the rest, I'll talk about it later in another section

Jaune - Novice character, as of now(V2E11), Jaune is relatively weak compared to the others, he is shown to have potential, but until then, I don't have much to say, though I will say that his semblance seems to be defense boost and super HP regeneration, from what I gather

Nora - Power character, high attack power, and I ran out of things to say

Pyrrha - High-tier all-rounded character, semblance lets her control metal objects she made contact with, seem to have a more reserved fighting style as in she avoid attacking recklessly and defend/parry enemy attacks when possible

Ren - Technique character, reletively low attack power, but can use aura to boost attack or defense, has reletively low max HP

Sun - High-tier all-rounded character, semblance let him create light clones of himself, though his brashness can get him in trouble

Penny - OP character, high stats all around, with mega laser that's basically OHKO, though her personality seems can be easily exploited

Roman - Technique character, ranged attack has fire attribute, and able to use henchmen, stage hazards and distraction for support

Neptune - All-rounded character, attacks seem to have elemental attribute, and I don't have much to say

Mercury - Power-technique character, high attack power at close range with versatile combos

Neo - High-tier technique character, versatile with special emphasis on avoidance,counter, critical hits, and defense

White Fang Lieutenant - High-tier physical-tank character, high melee attack power, has high max HP

Oobleck - High-tier all-rounded character, attacks have fire attribute, seems to get stat boost by drinking from his thermos aka weapon

Cinder - High-tier combat-mage character, attacks have fire attribute, versatile with both melee and magic

Glynda - High-tier mage character, versatile with different magic spells

Adam - Power-technique character, high melee attack power with versatile combos, seems to be able to absorb non-physical energy to unleash powerful attack

Omissions:

These are characters I omitted from the list, either we haven't seen their combat yet, or I just rather not talk about them.

Team CRDL Ozpin Ironwood Junior The Malachite twins and many others...

Yang's rage meter:

Yang has a rage meter that sets her apart from the rest. Basically, hitting enemies and getting hit build up the rage meter, with getting hit builds up the meter a lot faster than hitting others. As the meter build up, Yang can activate it to give herself a huge attack boost and fire attribute enhancement, which is indicated by her eyes turning red and her hair lighting on fire. Do note that activating the meter at different amounts result in different effects. Activating it at lower amount gives a smaller boost, with perhaps only the eyes turning red, whereas activating at full amount gives huge boost with eyes turning red and hair lit on fire. Though it seems that the meter can be activated be sheer anger as well, but the effect is more unstable and short-lived.

Now I'd like to talk about a few character battles that are interesting to me and give my thoughts on them:

Yang vs Neo - Many people questioned why Yang didn't activate her power boost in this fight. Well, if my understandings are correct, she wouldn't have build up enough meter to give a notable boost, seeing how she didn't land any hits on her, and I do believe that the hits Yang received are criticals, which deal more damage while adding not as much to the meter. Besides, it won't help with the accuracy problem anyway. As for activating the meter on anger alone, well, Yang told us that she won't let her emotions take control of her, and I think she knows that it will be unstable and short-lived. Finally, I don't think Yang was knocked out in this fight, but rather stunned by Neo's attack, giving her an opening to deal the finishing blow. Thus she was able to recover and rejoin the team.

Weiss vs White Fang Lieutenant - Although at first Weiss seems to have the upper hand, I do like to point out that the lieutenant dodged Weiss' attack twice, and I do believe there's quite a level gap in the lieutenant's favor. Thus, he was able to withstand Weiss' attack and finish her off in two hits. Also, if using special attacks do consume aura/HP, then Weiss would have been at relatively low HP at the time, and that came back to hurt her in this fight.

Alright, I hope you enjoyed your read. I first started this whole thing to make sense of the information I've collected, and this is just my understands of the whole mechanics as of V2E11. Feel free to leave me your thoughts. A good discussion is always interesting to see.