Need a game that's actually built around tanking as the main combat style. Not a game where you can, strictly speaking, build a character as a tank.
A game where the systems are built from the ground up assuming that you, the player, will be putting yourself in front of world-ending threats, standing up straight, and blocking the enemy.
Not dodge-rolling, not skipping around going "tee hee hee i'm a lil guy you can't hit", blocking.
And not as a disappointing alternative to a damage build!
Need the CLANG of the enemy's attacks against armor, need clear sound and UI design that communicates "here's how much damage you DIDN'T take, you absolute badass", need a little gaggle of frail party members trembling in fear behind me as the extreme aura farming of walking up to a dragon and putting my entire shield in its mouth inspires them to fight on.
Also the player character should be a huge woman who's into women.
#last edition important too#between battles should be a lesbian dating sim
Bonding more strongly with your polycule of cute DPS and healers makes your brave words of encouragement in battle act as a stronger performance multiplier, increasing attack and spellcasting speeds. Blocking a really big attack makes them go "I have to do my best too, she's counting on me!!" and unleash extra strong spells so you'll be proud of them.
Its very important that your character laughs when She blocks that big hit, not only is she willing to defend her polycule with her life, but she relishes the thrill of being the bastion that she is.
Also, she does carry a sword or something but not because she realy needs it, it's solely for the purpose of taunting her enemies by tapping it against the rim of her shield to draw aggro.
Hear me out: skill tree where you use a huge sword to block instead, like death knights in WoW or similar two-hander tank classes. Still none of that dodging nonsense of course, dodging is just letting the attack hit something else than you.
Like there are a lot of ways to tank here:
Extreme Stamina Tanking: You take the damage unblocked and then survive it anyway because you've just got THAT much willpower. You can go to negative HP and still be standing.
The vampire tank: You're not dying because you're draining the enemy's life force
The Classic Knight
The Low HP High Parry tank: There is no fucking way you should be surviving and yet. AND YET.
Like if you're doing a Tanking Game you've gotta include a variety of ways to tank
asking for
myself, i refuse to feel guilt over pleasures
will there be cut scenes or similar where the damage is brutal, the battle barely won, and the healing, whilst tender and carefully applied, is slow and arduous?
to the point where it is uncertain, for a heartbeat, if the discomfort caused by the initial application will itself be the killing stroke?
