"Git gud" or stats-based gameplay; not both

I don’t mind “git gud” conceptually, since I enjoyed the soulsborne games.

The problem with this game is that skill is constantly at odds with stats, and it’s not just in lock picking either. In a game like Dark Souls, stats improve to make you more efficient at the skill-based element of the game, but if you’re skilled enough, you don’t need them to improve. You can defeat enemies as an unarmored wastrel with ease if you’ve got the raw skill at the game. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance, you essentially can’t rely on pure skill or knowing the flow of combat/lock picking/etc. You have to grind through the stat portion just to bring them up to parity with your own physical skill. This is why the game feels so frustrating; you’re not “getting good”, you’re slogging through being hampered by poor stats until that penalty goes away through leveling. The RPG mechanic fights with you instead of rewarding you for playing well.

I think the part that drove me to put the game down until some of the issues get resolved is that you can perform a stealth takedown flawlessly and still fail because the stats said so. And because of the current save feature, you need to be judicious with your saves. But because random failures that are totally the fault of poor stats, you’ll need to save and reload on a fairly regular basis unless you want to replay the same portions of the game over and over and over again. This, in turn, is made even more frustrating by the fact that the game takes an agonizing time to load, so you end up wasting half of your allotted play time watching load screens. If you play on console like I do, optimizing for performance isn’t exactly an option either. I’m an adult with a life; I have precious little time to play games. I need to get the most bang for my buck, so these arbitrary time sucks in the game are really disappointing.

I do like the game and the heart that’s in it has endeared me to it. But these aren’t just minor flaws; they’re major issues that need to be addressed. I want this company to succeed and make more products in the future, not get killed because nobody trusts them to make a game that isn’t hideously broken.

Side note: people who are saying this lock picking system is realistic are full of it. Real picks don’t break. The lag from poor optimization on consoles combined with the wonky thumbstick sensitivity makes lock picking a chore instead of a fun part of the game. I’m not picking it up again until they fix it in the next patch.

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I’m playing on PS4. Not only do I not have any problems (in fact I’m having a fucking blast!) but the combat has been super easy the whole game.

It’s not the controller or the system, it’s the player.

Learn how the game works and you’ll improve.

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Combat’s not difficult. On the contrary; learning the flow is easy and the system is pretty straightforward (the sword tutorial even tells you how to win in the first few minutes of the game). But the flow is hampered by the combination of skill and stats. Stealth is hampered by stats. Lock picking is hampered by the controller. If you’re telling me lock picking isn’t utterly crap with thumb sticks, I’m straight up calling you a liar.

It’s supposed to be a representative of the growth of Henry as he goes through training. Not how good you are behind the controller. The game revolves around Henry. Not you

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Lock-picking is not realistic, but neither is you being able to lockpick after a random guy showed you how to do it once, go ahead and try.

stats+skill is the main point here, in swordplay skill is extremely important, stats are not so much, you do need to actually read the combat as the AI is smart enough to abuse and exploit your overdefense or agressivness, once you run trough all the explanations on how to do things like blocking etc you are pretty set up the sword stats wont matter much since the highest one from the starting is maybe +50 in slash and stab damage, using a appropriate weapon against the appropriate armor is important as using a sword vs full plate wont do shit, but using a mace will make the other persons day a horror.

This isn’t Dark Souls where you can roll out of the way of a attack or slash untill you go crazy, medieval combat was extremely slow and prolonged and was a endurance game.

Failing assasinations is realistic too, even if it is skill based as you actually have to know where to stab and where to put your hand to muffle the screams.

Slogging trough until your stats get to your actual skill level is realistic, you need to understand that for the character you’re playing 99% of what you’re doing is first time in life, don’t expect him to be a veteran soldier when 2 weeks before he never held a sword in his hand. The mechanics are not broken, they are simply not the mechanics that people are used to such as Skyrim, DS, Witcher 3, etc. if you want to have the gameplay system like that wait untill the mods come out.

The Load times are due to your CPU, if it takes 2 days to load the game lower your settings or upgrade your platform, CryEngine is extremely CPU demanding so the PS4, Xbox and PS4Pro will suffer from issues, instead of blaming the developers blame the platform producers for overcharging you for a underpowered platform.

Save scumming is not a point of this game, same as it wasnt in DS, the save system is explicitly designed to prevent save scumming, if you want to save scum then get a mod that enables unlimited saving instead of complaining about a feature that works as intended and is well implemented but slightly lacking due to no save at quit-delete at start function which they are adding.

You can defeat enemies as an unarmored wastrel with ease if you’ve got the raw skill at the game. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance, you essentially can’t rely on pure skill or knowing the flow of combat

I’ll just put you down right here as I personally can be wearing nothing but basic gear with a basic sword and still beat Runt during the attack on his camp without extreme issues, learn how the game works, learn how to read the opponents moves and actually pay attention to what the trainers tell you, blocking from the same attack area will end in you getting slashed since your character first needs to go to the other side of the attack area before being able to block etc.

Yeah, like I said: it’s a slog. You’re not improving through gameplay naturally and being rewarded for learning the mechanics and the system, you’re waiting for this dope to catch up so you can finally start enjoying yourself.

Like I said: stats and skill are at odds with each other, and that makes the game less fun. I don’t have time to waste waiting for Henry to stop being a meat puppet (or sitting through the wait screen that’s painfully slow for no reason, or sitting through load screens); I have a life and things to do. There’s patience and then there’s wasting time, and this game definitely leans towards the latter.

As for the git gud comments, it’s meant for whiners who are too lazy to even learn and adapt to the game mechanics and who want to be held and caressed throughout quests.

Then use a trainer that allows you to 4x or 8x his xp earning ratio. Don’t complain that there are issues with a game when it works as intended and there are already solutions to your personal issue.

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You’re totally missing the point of the game. Henry starts off as a nobody. Suppose this is real life and you’re Henry’s master. Naturally, he’s gonna take time to develop his skills when you teach them to him. He won’t become God at every skill right away just because you, his master is good at them. If you can get your head around this concept, you’ll start enjoying the game.

Like I said: there’s difficult and then there’s time wasting. I don’t dislike the game, but it’d be dishonest to suggest that these aren’t problems. I’m not picking it up again until you can “save scum” as you put it, because I straight up do not have time to play through 15-minute sections of a game over and over again, with another 10 minutes spent waiting for load screens to finish. If you do, that’s cool. But I’m far from the only one who thinks this way.

I am enjoying the game, but my enjoyment is hampered by serious technical issues. Once those get addressed, I shouldn’t have any problems. I can forgive a lot of things, but not when they’re all dumped on me at once.

Your problems with technical issues and loading times are completely understandable. But not your concept of character development. Comparing a game like this with dark souls is quite unfair to put it mildly.

I actually found the combat to be easy. But some background on what games I like: I used to play a lot of For Honor and I play UFC online. Specifically with UFC online playing against others who like to feint, or go aggressive, or bait you, and same with For Honor. You start to be able to react to subtle movements, start to be more intelligent than button mashing, start to be able to develop a flow and KCD’s combat system is pretty fluid so it all transfers over.

So when I first played KCD, first it was unarmed fights. I mean their swings are so ridiculously slow, they don’t feint, they don’t bait you… it’s stupid easy. And same with sword on sword combat — the enemy AI is so stupid. After playing against people in For Honor who will play mind games with you, and whose attacks are much more aggressive and faster, even without the stats the combat in this game is easy. And then you have that dumb feature where time slows down so you can react to a strike… lmfao cmon.

At this point I have stopped playing until a difficulty mod comes out or the devs do something about it.

You mean it’s too realistic to you? How long have you played, as combat doesnt slow down when defending out of the training area as much as I know. The enemy AI is quite smart and will bait you but only when actually fighting a experienced fighter, a common bandit doesnt know much about fighting, try going against a german knight that is a part of the story and youll get your arse handed to you if youre not careful

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nah, he has a point. Lockpicking is actually just a painful experience until level 3, and at level 5 it’s actually feasible to pick an easy lock. It’s not skill required: you have to grind to level 3 to double your lockpick duration to even have a chance at succeeding.
Combat is super easy, but it’s not really rewarding your skills… constant stabbing with a large ranged weapon has actually been the safest and most effective strategy for me. If there is more than one opponent, comboing is just going to get you flanked and wounded.

I completely disagree with the comments that imply its a player problem not the game. Most arguements I’v seen state they’ve found a “Work around” in combat, bow ranged melee weapons etc. Meaning sword play is not balanced, I too prefered using the bow. Try this game on a pc and the bow is the best weapon to use. Problem is it breaks the game, it’s TOO good!

The problem is this, The game is very very demanding early game. So frustrating that I would get a headache from how upset I would get over impossiable tasks. I remember lvl 4 trying to find ginger and wanting the headbut my monitor trying to kill two thugs for the charcol burner. I ended up using a work around and waiting till nightfall to kill them before they could draw thier weapons. Even then I was so weak that I basically had to beat him with my sword like a bludgeon to kill them. Which maybe my sword was dull I wasn’t experienced enough at the game to actually check on these things.

Nutshell Earlygame Content is too hard, Late game content Henery is god and no one can stant against him. It’s… To unbalanced. Late game I’m bored, I ride my horse around all day and am an errandboy. I run into robbers, and one shot them with my sword or I tease them and ride around on my horse and blast them with an arrow. Getting through the early phases of the game was a nightmare, but now… I’m bored. There is no challaenge to this game for late game content. Like I think I’m gonna start a new game and force myself to try and NOT level some things up. To see if I can make it harder.

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@Jayw I agree. I played this game a ton over the first few days, trying to advance in a way that felt challenging and rewarding.

Several issues make that unrewarding and I’m already using house rules.

  • Perfect Block/Parry/Riposte. Super easy to time the green shield icon. I defeated the first 2 bosses (spoiler) with a stabbing shortsword and shield, waited for them to set up a combo move and used risposte stab to the face for 1-strike kills on both of them. Yeah it felt cool after absorbing their aggressive strikes, but it also felt ridiculously easy to kill not one but two knights who had been training presumably their entire lives. One fluke, OK, but once I saw that I had an unbeatable system thanks to an unnecessary game mechanic (green means go) I had to just avoid using it unless outnumbered >3:1.

  • In the first large-ish battle (won’t say what for spoilers), Henry should be relegated to a support role, not leading the line just a few months (at most) after first picking up a sword and never having worn armour.

  • I’m Level 17 now and it feels very easy. I routinely knock out Captain Bernard using wooden weapons and the Headcracker perk. I’ve since switched to the challenge of shooting enemies from the back of a horse, without using the ride around technique. The AI is just so stupid - 2 random thugs trying to take down a mounted full plate knight with a war bow, and they do that by yelling obscenities to give away their attack 5 seconds before rushing out of the bushes while I speed past, loop back and shoot them while they run towards me with their clubs raised. It’s comic.

So, I would immediately get rid of the perfect block slowdown, the arrow and green light system for combat (just a lock-on indicator would do), and a bunch of other things such as adding a trip over function if you try to backpedal while fighting in a forest or uneven ground.

In the first large-ish battle (won’t say what for spoilers), Henry should be relegated to a support role, not leading the line just a few months (at most) after first picking up a sword and never having worn armour.

This was explained by the Lord ingame and was done because of your status and past in Skalitz not because youre experienced, merely for morale.

How is to “too” realistic? I’m a blacksmith’s son having zero problem taking on 4 Cuman mercs in full plate. How is that at all realistic? And that German knight was a complete joke. I fought him with an Axe which my character had no profeciency in, and damaged plate armor. Swings are so slow they’re easily blocked or dodgeable. The German knight got smacked silly… by the son of a blacksmith who just recently started learning how to fight.

Like I said, it’s too easy. They need to add more punishing mechanics. A failed parry should leave you vulnerable… so if the enemy feints and you attempt to parry that attack, it should leave you wide open for him to completely devastate you. There also needs to be separate buttons for blocking and parrying. Reason why is because currently if you’re late with a parry attempt, you simply block. That should not be the case. If you’re early or late with a parry, you should be punished.

Hopefully a difficult mod or a difficulty patch will come along soon. There’s no way some of you guys think this combat is difficult.

Combat’s the least difficult thing about this game. I actually have very little gripe with it outside of the completely arbitrary and random failed stealth takedowns.

This game’s not realistic at all; let’s be honest. It’s a game. It’s got some neat mechanics in some areas and outright terrible mechanics in others. The skill-based portion is hampered by the stat-based portion rather than enhanced by it. You can call that a feature all you want, but that doesn’t make it good. It makes what could be a great game into an overall mediocre game.

Don’t let fanboyism take away your ability to criticize something objectively. Being complacent about bad design choices is how you keep getting bad design choices.

RealityKings69
"It’s supposed to be a representative of the growth of Henry as he goes through training. Not how good you are behind the controller. The game revolves around Henry. Not you"

Asolutely!