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Archery Appreciation Thread

Dinobot

Dinobot

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,126
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I've been a fan of archery for as long as I can remember. From watching Legolas in LOTR trilogy to using the bow in Ocarina of Time, it's been a favourite weapon of mine.

I am a huge fan of CW's Arrow TV series (Green Arrow live action) and it has inspired me to find and play as many games as I can with a bow.

The two franchises that handle bows the best and make me play almost exclusively with them are Horizon and Tomb Raider reboots. There's something so satisfying about hearing an arrow launch from the string and making that piercing noise when you get a head shot. So quiet. So graceful. It's a breath of fresh air from shooting guns or slicing enemies with a sword, the two default combat types in games nowadays.

Horizon was so great for me because the archery was the main mechanic. You had to pick off certain components of the machines to weaken them and kill them quicker, sometimes even using a dropped component as a weapon. It was just so satisfying.

So I made this thread for two reasons:

  1. For fellow archery lovers to post some of their favourite video game archers, weapons, moments, etc.
  2. To help others like myself be aware of some lesser known games that have great archery in them.
I've used archer in the Dragon Age games, Tomb Raider, TLOU, Horizon and I main Green Arrow in Injustice 1 and 2.
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Never played Far Cry. Any other good franchises? I prefer recurve bows and compound bows over crossbows.

Also:
 
catswaller

catswaller

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,797
Dragon's dogma has, easily, the best rpg archery. I'm sure this thread will get a lot of gifs of it, but I couldn't find any good ones with a quick google.
 
Al3x1s

Al3x1s

Banned
Nov 13, 2017
2,824
Greece
Wii Sports Resort archery was pretty sweet, made you feel skilled when you hit a bullseye.

Also acts like a kind of precursor to VR play, if you've played that you know how much cooler it's going to be with a VR set putting you in that environment and far more accurate motion trackers. Similar for other mini games.
 
P-MAC

P-MAC

Member
Nov 15, 2017
4,461
You should play Far Cry! Getting good with the bow in that and combining it with stealth feels soooo good
 
ronaldthump

ronaldthump

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,439


dick wilde archery. Also available in PSVR/VR mode.
 
HeRinger

HeRinger

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,303
Archery in Breath of the Wild feels amazing.

I agree, it's one of the best weapons.

It also feels great in Tomb Raider and AC Origins. Not as great in Horizon since it feels more like a gun in that game, imo.
 
bionic77

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,894
In Breath of the Wild it was really awesome to use the bow to
"take out that snow dragon in the sky and killing a guardian with a single shot to the eye was always really satisfying as well."

The motion controls really help a lot with aiming the bow. I hope that is copied by other devs because it feels awesome when fine tuning your aim.
 

Deleted member 7450

User requested account closure
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,842
Impaling an enemy with the bows in Warframe never gets old.

The Huntress in Risk of Rain is one of my favorite characters due to the bow. Upgrading her speed to max and shooting arrows everywhere is so satisfying.

And while I'm not very found of Skyrim, slow motion arrow headshots are gooooood.
 
Al3x1s

Al3x1s

Banned
Nov 13, 2017
2,824
Greece
Monster Hunter has pretty cool archery too, if you like the game, the bow is equally in depth to the melee weapons and has a very unique feel. Very different to the bowgun as well.

 
Ravelle

Ravelle

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,803
Archery is only good as long you're playing a third person action game.

Have a character with bow and arrow in most RPG's is pretty much useless because every mob just runs up to you and you're just point blanking.

That said, Archery is one of my favorite things in video games, I finished the Tomb Raider Reboot, the first game completely using the Bow and it felt great.

Horizon Zero Dawn's Archery feels super good as long you can take things out before they can get to you because the actual combat is a frustrating mess.

Archery in skyrim was the only reliable way of combat and you could become silent death.
 
HeRinger

HeRinger

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,303
Svart said:
Impaling an enemy with the bows in Warframe never gets old.

The Huntress in Risk of Rain is one of my favorite characters due to the bow. Upgrading her speed to max and shooting arrows everywhere is so satisfying.

And while I'm not very found of Skyrim, slow motion arrow headshots are gooooood.
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Oh yeah, forgot about Skyrim. Archery is the only way to play that game, so much fun, especially with the Ordinator mod.
 
Mr. Bad Example

Mr. Bad Example

Member
Nov 1, 2017
884
HeRinger said:
Oh yeah, forgot about Skyrim. Archery is the only way to play that game, so much fun, especially with the Ordinator mod.
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It's honestly a little embarrassing to me sometimes how overpowered stealth archery can be in Skyrim.

"Dragonborn! Our town is plagued by a nest of horrible vampires. I need you to--"

"thwip thwip thwip Done. Pay me."
 
Strangelove_77

Strangelove_77

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,392
Nothing comes close to Horizon ZD for me. It's unparalleled.
I'd put Tomb Raider, TLoU and Dragon's Dogma right behind it.
Skyrim actually had a pretty good bow too. So does Warframe.
 
Crayon

Crayon

Member
Oct 26, 2017
15,580
Dragons Dogma where you're knocking up like seven arrows at a time or something... Damn that was fun.
 
Blade24070

Blade24070

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,003
I feel like archers tend to get shafted in RPGs but I loved Natalia and Raven from the Tales series.
 
Slappy White

Slappy White

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,205
P-MAC said:
You should play Far Cry! Getting good with the bow in that and combining it with stealth feels soooo good
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I second this. I played 3 and 4 with bows as much as possible. So much fun. That and sniper rifles. It's so much fun to liberate an outpost without triggering an alarm with nothing but arrows to the heads of the enemies.
 
Elfotografoalocado

Elfotografoalocado

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,618
Spain
I'm afraid to say that... I'm not usually a fan of archery mechanics in games. To me it feels like they hijack the game with a slow-ass weapon that many times makes no sense to even be there (Looking at you Crysis 3) and tries to justify it with different arrow tips, and makes it so OP you are using the same weapon all the time. Again, they are so slow the game turns to molasses, and sooo many games have picked up the trend.
The only recent game where I like the bow and arrows is Zelda:BOTW.
(i raise my flame shield now)
 
Zyrox

Zyrox

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,627
Really loved to use the bow in TLoU multiplayer.

One of my proudest Souls moments is shooting an invader off a bridge from halfway across the map with Gough's Greatbow. Regular bows were kinda eh but greatbows were really fun in that game.

Also shoutouts to Yukari "My arrows don't miss" Takeba
yukari-p4u2-win.gif
 
Karateka

Karateka

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,940
No game ive played actually feels like using a bow
Its just treated like shooting a quieter gun 90% of the time.
 
Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Member
Oct 27, 2017
842
North Carolina
Have you ever considered getting into archery as a hobby? It's not the cheapest to get into, but it's not difficult to learn and it's rather satisfying. If you have an archery shop with a range nearby, go see if they do open events or classes.

Keep in mind you'd have to consider if you just want to be purely a hobbyist, sportsman (hunter), or a competitive shooter. You can be all three, but each is going to have different equipment and costs associated. Again, a local shop can help you get setup and guide you in the right direction.

My uncle owned an archery shop and my experiences with that community were always positive. Definitely a geekier crew than guns, you don't run into any macho, bullshit Rambo fantasies when you're doing archery.

Sorry it's a bit off topic, but if you're a fan it's worth checking out. Also, apologies if you already do, but maybe someone else will be encouraged to give it a try.
 
bionic77

bionic77

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,894
Has any game ever allowed you to shoot an obstacle with arrows and then have the character cross the obstacle by walking or climbing on said arrows?

I always thought that would be a pretty cool mechanic.

You can't do it in BOTW but the game seems perfectly set up to allow this in the sequel and it would also take care of any complaints about the rain as you could just spam your way up the mountain with an arrow ladder.
 
Nezacant

Nezacant

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,085
bionic77 said:
Has any game ever allowed you to shoot an obstacle with arrows and then have the character cross the obstacle by walking or climbing on said arrows?

I always thought that would be a pretty cool mechanic.

You can't do it in BOTW but the game seems perfectly set up to allow this in the sequel and it would also take care of any complaints about the rain as you could just spam your way up the mountain with an arrow ladder.
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Rise of the Tomb Raider had this.

 

yungronny

Banned
Nov 27, 2017
1,349
BizzyBum

BizzyBum

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,152
New York
I always opt to go with ranged classes in RPG's.

Playing as a stealthy archer in something like Skyrim was always the most fun way to play the game for me.
 
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