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    Archery

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    Archery is the practice of propelling arrows with use of a bow. Throughout history, archery skills have been used in both hunting and warfare. Today, it is also a sport and recreational activity.

    Archery in video games

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    fledeye

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    In real life I'm an outdoor activity instructor and specialise in archery.

    Because I know a lot about archery, I tend to get angry at movies, TV shows and games that feature archery as I find its almost always done wrong and/or dangerously.

    The day we got our Wii I tried the archery in Wii Sports and broke the controller when I let go of it, the way I'd let go of my bow after releasing an arrow.

    Archery games were banned by my husband after that, but lately I've been wondering if there are any games that actually get it right and can be played by someone who actually participates in real archery.

    I always play an archer in Elder Scrolls games, but they're not archery games, it's just a part of the gameplay.

    Can anyone recommend me a Olympics game or a Cabela type game that's actually good? Do they even exist?

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    Corwag

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    I just played Sonic & Mario Olympics at my local arcade. That had an abysmal Archery game in it.

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    fledeye

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    @corwag:

    My friend has that game. I think we tried the 100m dash and put it back in the box, never to see the light of day again.

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    imhungry

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    As someone who has tried archery a grand total of one time, what would be involved in a game 'getting it right' in your opinion?

    Also, your Wii Sports analogy seems like more of an issue of not following instructions and yet also a ringing endorsement of the potential for immersion via motion controls.

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    matoya

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    You should have worn the wrist strap

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    fledeye

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    @imhungry:

    It's hard to describe to someone who's not shot much.

    I suppose one of the things I mean holding the bow correctly depending on if you're shooting barebow/longbow, recurve with sights etc or compound. I teach so many people who think they know how to do it because they've seen a Robin Hood film or something. Wii Sports was definitely the most immersive as I got to stand in a proper position and I do play games where I get people to shoot balloons, but I don't normally teach people who are balanced on a cliff edge...

    @matoya

    Nintendo want to put a warning in front of their games for idiots like me.

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    ArtisanBreads

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    #7  Edited By ArtisanBreads

    I have little experience with it myself so I can't tell you all about the accuracy much but a game I love for its archery and comes to mind is Mount and Blade: Warband. Of course, it isn't trying to be a pure archery sim or anything, but it's rather realistic You have to really lead targets and account for drop which makes it rewarding to get good at. I really enjoy particularly mounted archery, which I find pretty badass in real life.

    There is a game called theHunter: Call of the Wild on Steam that seems to be the best hunting sim game out there (I'm no genre expert but it has looked the best to me).

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    HellBrendy

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    How much realistisk archery is it possible to wish for when your tools are a controller or mouse and keyboard? I enjoyed Tomb Raider's bow a whole lot, but it's probably far from realistic.

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    fledeye

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    @artisanbreads:

    Thank you. I've heard good things about Mount & Blade, so I'll definitely look into that one.

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    The_Nubster

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    I can't think of any good archery games! There's a whole glut of them in VR, which would encourage proper form I would imagine, but they're all so exaggerated or straight-up trash that it would be frustrating to a trained archer in an entirely different way.

    Most of the time, archery exists as a risk/reward alternative to guns. Much, much higher damage per shot at the penalty of ammo and needing to prepare each shot individually. This mostly comes down to shooting by letting go of a trigger rather than pressing it, and doesn't really impact much else beyond that.

    How would proper form and technique be represented in a video game? And what situation would the player find themselves in? There are only so many button on a controller so it seems as if bows are massively simplified in the favour of ease-of-use and being able to quickly access the rest of the player's arsenal of movement and weapons.

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    fledeye

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    @the_nubster:

    I suppose what I'd like is a bit like one of the glut of archery games on iOS and Android, but with better controls. Things like Horizon and Elder Scrolls handle the controls the best with a controller, but what I'd really like is target shooting rather more like an archery competition rather than as an alternative to guns.

    I'd love to try VR, but with a family, the cost is a bit prohibitively expensive.

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    Corwag

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    @fledeye said:

    @corwag:

    My friend has that game. I think we tried the 100m dash and put it back in the box, never to see the light of day again.

    He has the full arcade game??

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    shiro2809

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    Hmm, maybe try out Sports Champions/SC2 for the Playstation Move? While it's not super technical (the whole 'holding the bow correctly' thing you mentioned above isn't there), but it's 100% target shooting against someone else/the AI.

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    Ezekiel

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    #14  Edited By Ezekiel

    I don't understand why you'd want a crummier version of this if you already do it in real life.

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    Corwag

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    @ezekiel said:

    I don't understand why you'd want a crummier version of this if you already do it in real life.

    Doesn't stop the millions of people that "play" football irl from buying Madden every year.

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    Pete0r

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    #16  Edited By Pete0r

    If you are a fan of overly complicated controls they you could look at Probably Archery. Having not played it, all I can say is that it looks like a 'wacky' target shooting game.

    I can't think of many games that use archery in a way that isn't just effectively a silent gun. Skyrim probably did it the best for me as the arrows move slowly enough to make hitting moving targets at long distance a challenge. And there is something satisfying about hearing a good thrum of a bowstring and then seconds later seeing some unfortunate npc with an arrow stuck in their chest.

    The most challenging in game archery I've had in recent years would probably be Far Cry: Primal with all of the hud turned off. This way you don't have any aiming point other than your best guess at the screen centre, and distance shooting becomes extremely difficult but quite rewarding.

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    mike

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    #17  Edited By mike

    As someone who did archery in Boy Scout and then in college, I'm struggling to think of how it could be portrayed "accurately" in a game without a very complicated (and expensive) dedicated peripheral. Without an actual bow in your hand, archery in games is usually only about putting a reticle in the right spot which makes bows very similar to guns.

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    Panfoot

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    Can't think of any off the top of the head, the nature of how a bow actually works doesn't translate to the way most of the games that use them play(primarily shooters). Maybe some of the hunting games have done it pretty well, otherwise my only other idea would be Mount and Blade: Warband, though it's been a long enough time since I played it I just can't remember.

    As someone that did do some target shooting for a couple of decent couple of years during middle school/high school, the only thing that REALLY bothers me in games is when your character can just drawn the bow infinitely with no problem. I mean...at least make it a compound bow if your gonna do that.

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    MocBucket62

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    #19  Edited By MocBucket62

    There was a time when I was really into archery, but that spawned from liking a game series that had a pretty basic portrayal of archery, and that was Age of Empires. Archers were some of my favorite units about AOE and eventually crossbowmen were sweet upgrades.

    For games that I played that have a more intuitive portrayal of archery, I'd say Skyrim and Wii Sports Resort.

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    Blackout62

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    #20  Edited By Blackout62
    @mike said:

    As someone who did archery in Boy Scout and then in college, I'm struggling to think of how it could be portrayed "accurately" in a game without a very complicated (and expensive) dedicated peripheral. Without an actual bow in your hand, archery in games is usually only about putting a reticle in the right spot which makes bows very similar to guns.

    Well there's your first problem. I shoot without a sight, using the tip of the arrow for that job, the last thing I would aim for is my target.

    Also, hi OP! I did a semester of archery in college, just long enough to nitpick media depictions so I love that started this thread.

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