Grim Dawn: The game is really a "rainbow of damage types", but all physical weapons have a "% as piercing" trait that converts some of its global physical type damage to piercing (that then is resisted with piercing resistance rather than physical resistance).

So I could see a video game where each weapon (and armor) exists on a triad of Pierce-Cut-Crush for what percentage of its damage lies there. Not so hard for a computer to calculate, but could a human properly interpret it to utilize it?

This works when having multiple damage types is favorable, but not when it isn't.

In Final Fantasy 5 and 6, for example, if the target absorbs even just one element of a multi-target attack, the target absorbs them all. For example, if you summon Tritoch (tri-elemental damage to all enemies), and there's an enemy that absorbs ice but is weak against fire, the enemy will absorb the entire attack.

(In FF5, I can only think of one multi-element attack, and it's a Mix that isn't usually worth using, particularly since it requires 2 of the most valuable (non-Elixir) ingredient.)

This is one of those things where you either have to go big or go home. Dwarf Fortress, has no HP. Instead, if you want to strike down a zombie, you'll have to pulp it. Things without brains are harder to kill than things with brains.

As far as damage type vs enemy's resistance to it goes, I like it, but only if it makes sense. Definitely prefer it to just everything doing the same damage like in Diablo 3, no matter what you are hitting. But also, slapping resistances and immunities on everything willy-nilly and calling it a day like in Diablo 2? No.

Titan Quest is an example of where it's done very well. You can't ever bleed or poison undead enemies and they are also resistant to pierce damage but vulnerable to normal physical damage. Fire or cold beings are nearly immune to their respective element and vulnerable to the other. Spiders and Rat-Men are highly resistant to poison etc. Constructs, animated statues etc. are resistant to physical damage.

So a hunter with pierce and bleed damage will have a very easy time against living enemies but will struggle and have to use alternative items or skills in an undead heavy area.

I remember one game that had a stat called "Sharp Resistance" (though it may not have been visible in-game), and I remember it went from 4 to 7; unfortunately, I don't remember what game it was.

Actually, I do remember: It's Dungeon Master (and by extension, Chaos Strikes Back and probably Dungeon Master 2); that game has some rather complex internal mechanics.

Reminds me of the Dry Bones enemy in Super Mario RPG. The game *does* normally assign HP to everyone, whether friend or foe, but if you use the ability that's supposed to reveal the target's HP, if the target is Dry Bones the result will be 0.

To actually kill the Dry Bones, you need to use a magic attack; physical attacks will appear to do damage, but the enemy won't die.

(This reminds me of one character in Romancing SaGa 3; normally, a character who reaches 0 LP is removed from the party, but there's one character who *starts* with 0 LP and follows special rules.)

In many new games either in the opposite way than FF5 (example; Spellforce 3, if you have different types of damage only the most effective will be counted) or based on the move you're making (example: Kingdom Comes, where you can stab, slash or pommel strike with the longsword). Some other RPGs like ATOM let you shoose how to use your wepon: if an AK-47 has burst or full auto mode, a knife has stab or slash selection.

Wasteland also lets you choose if you want to fire Single, Burst, or Auto when using a weapon.

Interestingly, if your weapon has no ammo, in Wasteland it behaves like a melee weapon until reloaded (with the exception being that the gun's weapon skill is used for weapon damage rather than Brawling, which still determines the number of attacks).

Does ATOM allow you to use a gun without ammo as a melee weapon? (That is, hitting the enemy with the gun itself, rather than shooting a projectile from the gun.)

By the way, it's also interesting when certain types of attacks behave differently from a mechanical perspective. Final Fantasy 5's Blue Magic has some rather unusual mechanics: Goblin Punch is a physical attack that doex 8x normal damage if the caster's and target's levels are the same, and Level 5 Death is instant death, but only works if the target's level is a multiple of 5. SaGa 1 and 2 have a Chainsaw, which is an instant death attack; whether it can work is determined by the attacker's strength and the defender's defense (and, in SaGa 1, the comparison is not what you'd expect, making it easier to saw apart a god than a goblin).

One could also get some interesting strategy by using an "attack - defense" damage formula for physical attacks, and providing the player with both weak multi-hits and strong single hits. Then multi-hits work well against low defense, but against single targets you want a stronger single hit attack. (The Ranger class in Stranger of Sword City is like that, with the two main damage skills applying their multipliers before defense is subtracted.)

Also, as I mentioned, SaGa games (not counting original SaGa 3, where Thunder is Ice + Tornado, and I don't actually know how this game and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest handle this situation) use the lower defense value of the target, which is more like those newer games you mention. (I also note that there's the occasional weapon art that has a different damage type, like doing blunt damage with a sword, or even electric damage with martial arts.)

Some real-time strategy games use damage and armor types as way to balance to the game, encouraging players to mix and match units depending on the situation.

In Warcraft 3, every unit has a single armor type, which dictates their resistance and vulnerability against various attack types.

In Age of Mythology, units have varying levels of hack, pierce, and crush armor. It is mainly siege units that possess crush damage, thus they are used to destroy buildings and most ships, which have low crush armor. Every other unit possess very high crush armor, making siege units useless against them.

In the context of an RPG, it's not that much different if the game is reasonably balanced. It can encourage players to diversify in their equipment, skills, and party members.