I figured out Kingdom come (Wall of Text)

Gameplay
#1

Last night I was beaten 15 times by Hans, the noble cunt. Just because I was forced into the fight and had no say about it (so much for freedom of choice). Hans is, when you follow the mainquest hardly beatable, because you lack of skill, strength, Stamina and Equipment. So As I was standing there in the 15th try I figured, I am the village moron who is too stupid to live his own powerfantasy. So I just stood there an took a beating again.

#nohate

After that I thought about my epiphany and I am sure Henry IS the village Moron of Scoldlitz. Stick with me please.

Henry is about 15-18 years old. He is clumsy as fuck and has not learned one Skill of his fathers Handicraft, none. Well, in the cutscenes he knows what to do but that is gone as soon as the player is on the controls. Also he is clumsy and not able to talk himself out of a pickle. But the thing that gave it away was that he is getting dirty like a pig, when he walks along a road for 500 meters. It is like he is jumping in every puddle on the way.

Also Henry never left Scoldlitz, he was wounded and raped by the tatas, as well as by the german skinhead. So he flees into the fantasy In there he is the hro at first, he rescues theresa and gets to Calmburg as a Hero. But now his moronic side sets in again. He is even more unable in his fantasy than in real life before. So he stumbles from one desaster to the next and gets his wealth from plundering Birdsnests. He found two necklaces worth 1000 Groschen each. As he tried selling them he gets 270 Groschen, wow, what a windfall. So now he gets to Rancid, tells him what a moron he is by losing his dads butterknife. Rancid feels pity for the boy and offers him training, well I am not sure what was offered but it was not swordfighting.

So the boy has one lesson with Sir whatnot and he learns the basics of “getting your ass handed to you”. Instead of embracing the fact that he is a incompetent imbecile he picks a fight with Hans. But also he did not want that fight. It was like someone else decided for him “It is time to get your ass handed to you Boy”. Hans the cunt as he is called by his many lovers was raised with sword and Bow, so Henry has to be a moron to pick fight with him. Henry then tries to beat him and gets beaten over and over and over again. And then he thought fuck it, it is not worth it. So he took the beating without even raising his sword and Hans rubbed the loss of the fight into him. Hans also was a moron who did not even notice that Henry did not even raise his sword. So Henry was standing there contemplating about his lifes choices and thought. Fuck Rancid and his butterknife, Fuck sir Whatnot for a shitty swordlesson and fuck Hans that gilded Moron. And then he went into the wood to fuck some boar.

For real:
gamedesign forcing players into conflicts which they cannot win without doing Stuff before on their own, even in the beginning of the mainquest. But it really was unnerving as the fight against Hans did not follow the rules of the training before. For instance the chain attack was supposed to work when you press the attack or stab when you hear the meeting of the swords. But it did not. Also the perfect block was not successful even the icon showed it was successful. Same with the dodge. After that I checkt the AV Receiver and my Telly for a lag, but it was not that. Henry is a peasant but not even passable as a smiths apprentice? Come the fuck on, what did he do with his life?

The Game tells me “git good” at every corner. But to get better you have to succeeed, but I can only succeed when I am better or just lucky (Lock Picking). I am maybe wrong but I never gained a level from failing at something. It seems that repetition is not getting you better only succeeding does.

I so want to love this game but it felles like I am reliving some kafkaesk dream of failure wich leads to more failure. I get that I might be the problem in thinking that a game can be hard but not demotivating.

So, were am I wrong?

2 Likes
#2

what can I say… if you lose with Hans, it just your fault. I mean you as unskilled player should try to learn combat system. In fact you are first person I have met who has a problem defeat the Hans. And he is not noble prick… he is really cool character when you know him better.

About combat… it very easy (too much easy) when you get some skill. The game is about realism… you have to spend some time with your sir whatnot (Bernard) and train. In real life you arent best swordsman as soon as you get the sword too.

I agree with you Henry should learn some blacksmithing… maybe he did but in game we dont have crafting… yet.

7 Likes
#3

I can understand your frustration, man. I have to this day, never beaten dark souls because of the sheer rage the third boss created in me.

But, you have to put aside the, ‘I can only get better by winning and I must win because I am the player’ mentality.

I don’t think warhorse decided to make an incredibly tough game. But, their selling point was realism. The entire goal behind the fight with Hans and how early it was, was not to punish you. It was to drive home the point that if you want to fight as Henry, you have to train. That is why Hans seems unbeatable. Henry is the son of a blacksmith. And yes, he has done dick all with his life.

I’ve done plenty of training and fighting with a longsword in reality, and it hurts and is tough and if you do not train… well, you are in the situation of Henry vs. Hans.

Again, you have to put aside the ideas of gaming that have been drilled into every gamer’s head for years upon years upon years. That you are an unstoppable behemoth from the get-go. You can’t just mash a couple of buttons quickly and win. You have to train your own reflexs aswell as Henry’s skills here.

I went from wanting to throw my PC through WH’s HQ window, to beating the one real boss fight in the game without taking the cheap way I see most people say they are using. You just have to push through it, and not in a ‘git gud’ way either. Seek help and guidance, train and learn. Thats how you improve.

5 Likes
#4

hey I want to start longsword (or maybe messer) fighting in reality and yeah… I am ready to be beaten like Henry everytime :smiley:

About the game… I have other problem. I kill the boss with 2 hits. The combat system is too easy after you spend some training with Bernard.

1 Like
#5

I bloody love bastard swords. And I almost cried when I could effortlessly switch between a swordx/hield and two-handed styles with Herod’s Sword. They truly put a bastard sword in the game. Usually they are jsut one or the other.

#6

wow I have not tried bastard sword with shield yet… so is it possible to fight when bastard sword and shield? … its great!

#7

Yea, what they call a longsword in KCD is more of a bastard sword. Which, you CAN use with a shield, but 1) you need to be strong enough to do so. 2) You need the properly balanced blade. Which is a pretty penny to get, as it needs to be effective in both styles and 3) Split your time training between the two styles so you aren’t a scrub. 4) You need a good shield to go with it.

KCD makes it seem much easier then it is. But if you can master it, like I am trying to do, you then have technically three ways to defeat/kill your opponent(don’t recommend killing someone irl). The msot effective weapon, though, is your shield.

2 Likes
#8

Hej, thanks for the constructive answers and understanding that I am not hating the game instead having a hard time loving it. Also for your moral support :smiley:

Don´t get me wrong! I don´t want a “I am a hero, I can beat anybody” Game, I just find it strange that i have to fight him after one lesson in swordfight and no lesson in archery. It was no choice to fight him, I just had to. Also you cannot train before that, well once in Skalitz, but that was not very helpful. I even managed to kill two bandits while I was traveling back and then with Hans I did not even score one hit? That has nothing to do with being a behemoth.

The experience systems seems to reward you only for succeeding, not for trying. In real life repetition and failing gives you the experience you need to succeed.

I know it is my fault, don´t get me wrong. The thing is I cannot train swordfight without dying and then the experience is gone. I also did not want to win, I just wanted to hit at least once, wich I did not. That is demoralising as hell, same goes for the Archery wich was “here you have 5 arrows and then compete agains Hans”. I just thought, what the hell is going on here? Just tell me I am worth nothing, then I creep into a hole an die :smiley:

I beg to differ, because they force you to fight. But that is a matter of opinion

I don´t want to spew hate on the game. It inspires me as a Pen an Paper GM to so many things I can use in my campaign. But if I would punish my players like the game does over an over they would just run around and fuck up the campaign. I think it is a fine line between evelish punishing (Dark Souls) and motivational punishment (Monster Hunter). KCD lies somewere between.

Of course, but there is no line to see. Nothing in the training session helped me to beat Hans, there was not one thing wich worked even if the indicator showed it worked. For instance I blocked perfectly and even the animation slowed down but Hans managed to hit me. I used the dodge got the animation, still got damages because he hit me. There was no Learning effect for me as a player, because everything wicht worked in the training did not work on Hans. I call that punishment.

BTW: I was happy to find necklaces in Birds Nests to pay of my dept to the apothecary.

#9

Are you sure you already did learn the “perfect block/perfect hit” for your chosen weapon from bernard? Because I could use the perfect block mechanic against Hans and beat him eventually, although it was a pretty hard fight, since Henry had barely started training in the sword at that point in the story.

1 Like
#10

bad player confession thread #352

#11

I will admit, there are some things about the combat system that do irk me, like the ‘perfect block, but I got hit instead’. However, and don’t quote me here, I think that is entirely having to do with Henry’s skill levels. As the more skills and perks you have, the longer your chance on the counter with a perfect strike. But, with Hans, you have nothing so its literally in real time. You have to block and strike at the same time. I just kept clicking every time I hit the block button and only managed to land one blow.

As for the archery? That sucked, bad. I somehow manage to get almost all bullseyes though. However, I have yet to kill anything but a bunny with a bow since.

I totally understand the frustration and from a pure game perspective, it is kinda BS. But, from a story perspective it makes so much sense.

And yes, the matter of the fight being a punishment or not is a matter of opinion. I’m more inclined to say it is negative re-enforcement. ‘IF you don’t train, this is combat for you, buddy.’ type deal.

1 Like
#12

I am pretty sure I did. I was never scolded by him for being useless. sadly I have not recorded that, bad judgement from me. AFAIK when I am in the animatio I did it right, right?

Go away number and be toxic somewere else :smiley:

#13

The thing is that when I am fightng outside the ring in the wood for example. I will be dead when blocking does not work like in the Hans fight. Then the experience is gone and I as a player still cannot figure out why the correct animated block was not successful. When I set up rules in a Game the should work for anybody in it. Not only for the player. And I guess THAT is the main point.

#14

Yes, if you got it there is an animation. Though I believe(at least it seems that way sometimes) that it can still fail, if your skill is too low or you started a fraction of a second too late with the block. The latter especially since the window of opportunity is extremely short at the beginning of the game and dependent upon skill.

And it could always be that something is wonky with that particular save after the patches. Afterall the perfect block did work for me. I just odn’t know ;( .

1 Like
#15

Wich patch? Xbox got the day one patch and the Week 1 patch is not in sight in week 2

If it is intended that a higher skilled NPC can ignore your perfect block, why bothering fighting with that enemy? Run away or just stand still and die. But not giving away the reason why it did not work is just well, stupid

#16

Well, to be the devil’s advocate here, the rules that losing the Hans fight teaches you is ‘train a shitton before you run off to fight bandits’. If we take that into account, then losing to Hans where you don’t die, but then running out in the world right away and dieing is your own fault.

I do think that they should’ve given you the ability to do a few fights before Hans shows up, however. But, its a little late to ask for that now. It’d just make the game buggier as hell to add that in now.

#17

I beat Hans, he gave me a bow i couldnt use at all. I beat him other places, and i still wound up having to save his ass just to have him call me an asshole because i was poking fun at it.

2 Likes
#18

Lol! Some things are accurate.

I gotta say though, i kicked hans ass every time. Archery, swords, fists, hunting, lol not bad for the village idiot

2 Likes
#19

Pay attention to the combat guide. Read some guides online maybe. It’s not supposed to be simple.

#20

Lol he’s super easy to beat, I destroyed him!

1 Like
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