What do Critical Strikes represent for you?

[Haydeos]

When you're squared up with someone, you're not just trying to hit each other, you're actively trying to avoid getting hit at the same time. Go experience LARP yourself and see firsthand, I'd recommend it! XD but anyways...

You can swing at someone a lot, quite a few will miss entirely. If you're good, you can hit them more often than not, but not as hard as you hoped, or in the exact place that you were trying to strike. Again, this is because they don't exactly want to be hit!

However, when the stars align, and you see that perfect opening and stab them right in their gut as their shield is just out of the way, THAT'S a critical hit! That's why I think most RPGs get them right; part luck, part skill, massive damage.

I also think an interesting mechanic based on that is level disparity affecting critical hit success. A knight who trained all his life, fighting a 15 year old squire boy is going to land so many more critical hits, and will be opened to so few of them.

 

[HeathRiley]

For me , its a reference to where a lot of RPG's got their roots, D&D and other tabletop games of the past.
A critical Roll, which is the Opposite of a Critical fail. Just a low chance to get something extra nice. Many
people don't use the critical fail anymore. It has more or less just turned into a miss. Which hurts the player
less as a critical fail could hurt your own team.

That's how I see critical hits, and is why I don't usually mind a "Luck" or "Dexterity" stat effecting them. There
are times when it goes overboard though.

 

[Countyoungblood]

I also think an interesting mechanic based on that is level disparity affecting critical hit success. A knight who trained all his life, fighting a 15 year old squire boy is going to land so many more critical hits, and will be opened to so few of them.

I love this. The idea of crit chance being dependant on the difference in skill.

 

[Leon Kennedy]

A critical strike to me represents....someone being struck...critically.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

As a few others have mentioned, I too think of HP as a sort of shield point system that, when it drops to 0 means the character has been fatally wounded. So glancing blows, that are deflected off armor or with the opponents weapon/shield, are regular attacks while critical attacks strike truer and do more damage to the opponents overall combat stamina/strength/life force/etc.

I like the idea then of critical strikes, while remaining in regular combat with a low chance of success, to be more of a reward for the players who take the time to exploit enemy weaknesses. For example, if a fire spell hits an enemy then it may cause a burning effect that leaves the enemy weak to any other fire attacks for the next few turns. So if a mage comes along and and hurls another fireball, it has a much higher chance of critical damage. Similarly, if a warrior comes along swinging a fire elemental sword, they have a much higher chance of critical damage. So however weaknesses and exploits are worked into combat, critical hits should/could then be used by a player who is paying attention to those subtle combat mechanics. If done properly, it would almost be like a combo system that would allow the player to end a battle quickly, which is essentially rewarding the player for learning how combat works.

 

[velan235]

I don't mind having RNG like critical. I think its just a good reward from RNG (also evasion)

some people hate RNG , but I think RNG is essential in a game. or else it would be "chess" where the best method already defined