Combat, Blocking, and Parrying in 0.4

I can parry almost 90 % of the time I just find the multiple parry very hard to accomplish. As for dodge I have given up. It rarely works for me but perhaps that’s the controllers slower feedback.

When i successfully parry or dodge its because I sidestep or hit block when the AI starts their back swing.

I play primarily with a controller, but when I have tested the KB/M controls I hold it.

So far I have only done it on accident, the stab animation is to fast for how low of FPS I get.

Dodging is still the number one thing I fail at.

what would you suggest to make them better? What in particular makes them seem artificial to you? Im not disagreeing just curious on what your take on it is.[/Quote]
Maybe I’m just not able to make clear what I mean. I want a “sixth” central stance for general defense in front of the body without any directional element. In the game the stances are all around the body (head, upper sides, lower sides) but not one that just covers “the central breast” area and that would require the smallest amount of strength to uphold. Central stance means that you could go to each other stance quite fastly. But maybe I’m looking to much at modern fencing.

[Quote][quote=“LordCrash, post:77, topic:23640”]
a neutral middle stance would be a good idea.
[/quote]

I would like to see a centered stance maybe Highlight the reticule in the center of the star, but I would not like to be forced back to that stance from each attack.

The system already works well in the sense that I make an attack and then I end in the stance that has the closest relation to the end of my follow through. If the mechanic auto snapped back to the center I would feel like the game is playing its self a little.[/Quote]
Yeah, I could live with that without an automatic snap back (optimal solution would imo be an option to switch that on or off as you like). But there should be a button to let you go back to the center anyway which would ease the input with a mouse imo. Without a clear center position the mouse feels just clunky and imprecise.

[Quote][quote=“LordCrash, post:78, topic:23640”]
You can only automatically block but not parry in the current system
[/quote]

You can parry, you just have to time it properly. I have performed successful parries with both keyboard/mouse and gamepad controls.[/Quote]
You misunderstood me I think. I meant that there is no automatic parry function in the game while there is an automatic block function (which is inconsistent).

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This sixth spot doesn’t need to exist as when you stab no matter what direction you come from it goes to the middle of the body, it would be impracticable to maneuver the sword to the front to slice in the center.

Actually a central stance that is stabbing guard would be nice you cannot stand in that stance without following through with a stab.

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The six spot is imo needed for precise mouse movement alone. The system right now is an imprecise and clunky mess with the mouse due to the lack of a clear point of reference. A sixth central spot would solve that.

But it’s not meant as an attackt spot. For attacking you would have to use one of the directional stances. It’s more meant as a “relaxation spot” to spare stamina and to think about the next step in the battle while being able to react to movements of your enemy. That’s why I called it the neutral stance.

Edit: Could work as stabbing guard as well though, I agree.

I unlocked a lock with controller :smiley: It took me some time to figure out, that I have to do multiple circles with left stick to turn the lock around… keeping lockpick in spot with right stick was fairly easy then…

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I also play with a controller, so I was talking about holding or tapping the thumbstick. Guess this part still needs to be tweaked.

Anyone figured out stamina costs yet? I need to record some gameplay and check it out. I think dodging doesn’t consume much stamina, attacking consumes some, blocking consumes a lot. Not sure about parrying and “wrestling” (not sure how to call that).

Well, we know that behavior of combat rosettes are not completely happy. If i go with my mouse 10 cm to the left and after that (if i need to change my attack direction) 10 cm to the right, its something wrong. This problem has been already resolved, next version will include it already. Thanks for your ideas and contributions, we much appreciate it!

WAR :horse: is better than NO :horse:

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Agreed with Elwin, there is no such thing as a neutral stance in fencing.

The stances WH use are actually fechtbuch correct (even though the fencing itself is not). The stances in KCD used are Vom Tag (roof - sword upwards), Ochs (the ox - crossed arms, pointing to opponents head from above), Zornhut (guard of wrath - sword angled from shoulder, pointing above), Nebenhut (low guard - the opposite of Zornhut from below) and Alber (fool, sword in centre pointing to the ground). In reality, there are various other stances, obviously.

The strikes KCD uses then follow from these guards into other guards, which is correct, but the fencing itself has otherwise no connection to reality. Longsword technique is basically all about wrist work - you would actually never slash with your sword as you do in KCD, and you would always strike to the head (or to elbows/knees in certain special circumstances). Hitting other parts of the body makes no sense in unarmored fencing because once you are hitting the opponent into - say - shoulder, you are being hit to your head at the same time or even earlier. You would never block just to block, every block is moving from a stance to stance guarding your head with the strong of the sword while you are hitting your opponent also with the weak or point of your sword.

In armoured fencing, you would almost always half-sword and get into wrestling shortly after. Armoured fencing in KCD is unfortunately completely detached from reality.

But I find the KCD combat system good fun all the same.

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Dodging costs none and parrying costs none, it’s when you counter that it takes stamina. The wrestle or what I call clashing costs none it depends on whether you kick, shove or hit them. Failing to push, kick or hit results in them winning the clash and pushing you. So the act itself costs none but results in you losing stamina no matter what you do.

When clashing if an enemy shoves you, you lose a little, if they kick you, you lose a little but if they hit you, you lose half a bar almost.

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And how do you (during the clash) decide, which action to do? I think stab command will result in pommel strike, kick command should result in a kick (didn’t try it yet) and how do you shove?

Also, is there some timing, similar to parrying/dodging? Sometimes I fail to execute the action, even though I have enough stamina, especially if I’m mashing ^^

F (Left Trigger) is push, R-Mouse(Right Trigger) is kick and L-Mouse (Right Bumper) is Punch/hit

Is it a combo that throws the enemy to the ground?

I have had the AI do it to me several times just cannot figure out how to do it on them.

It seems that if you go evade back too much the enemy see’s through this and pushes you. I have tried countless combo’s but I can’t seem to figure this one out.

Currently I think it’s a combo we’re not made aware of, that or enemies aren’t as predictable as we humans.

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I have recorded a couple of duels last night. Are we allowed to post gameplay videos (this being an alpha and such)?

STAB ATTACK, UPPER LEFT SLASH ATTACK AND WHICHEVER SLASH ATTACK :horse:

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rly, Tobi told me it was STAB + UPPER LEFT SLASH + STAB; but i could not get the enemy to the ground. Now I know why.

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Here is a compilation of a few rather strange moves that the advanced AI pulled on me last night.

Can players perform these moves?

  1. Counter-attack from dodge (instead of parry)
  2. Use clash moves like pommel strike and halfswording during counter-attack (after parry) instead of a normal attack
  3. What was that swirl thing? Did he shove me or is that some glitch? Or some cool move?!

Here are all videos I recorded last night:
Note my fight #3 against the beginner AI, after holding my ground against harder opponents, I got bested by a supposedly easy opponent (I was really trying to win that fight!).
Fight #6 was my first time when I defeated the Advanced AI.

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They seem to be able to perform more attacks.I think they are either not implemented for the player(controls) or we’re in the dark about how to perform them.

I really want to be able to do that shove thing,where they push you over.