Road Signs!

Gameplay
#1

Playing hardcore has been fun, my biggest issue with it so far has been that I get lost so easily. I guess I’m terrible at reading the map and then figuring out where to go based on the landmarks. Much more difficult than our modern road systems I’ll say! Anyway, one thing that I feel like is really missing are road signs. I’d find it very difficult to believe that in medieval times there would be no signs at crossroads pointing you in the direction that you need to go.

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I’m not talking about something crazy, just a post pointing in the different directions for which town the path leads you towards. This would make life way easier. Another nice thing would be signs when you enter a town. I’d assume such things existed as well. It can just be a small wooden sign that has the name of the town on it. Simple and doesn’t break immersion.

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#2

Since people did not read, signs weren’t really a thing that time (at least in Bohemia).
That is why they used thing s like wreath to mark the tavern and similar things. Otherwise, if they have to travel where they don’t know it, they asked locals. But travelling was dangerous and so not much common anyway.

#3

I know Wikipedia isn’t the best source, but: " The earliest road signs were milestones, giving distance or direction; for example, the Romans erected stone columns throughout their empire giving the distance to Rome. In the Middle Ages, multidirectional signs at intersections became common, giving directions to cities and towns."

People did travel, it’s not like today, but people did travel. It was a fairly common thing for common people to make trips to holy sites and I’m sure to visit family as well. They maybe didn’t do it often, but they’d do it. Also, even if you can’t read, the name of a town would probably be something that you’d be able to make out. Additionally, merchants, nobles, clergy, etc. would need to go from place to place. I’d imagine that signage would have been more common than you think.

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#4

How does this game start? Massive army roles through town doing what ever they want while passing through. Now tell, me how many road signs, if there were any, would be left standing? That would be like a glass window not being smashed in a riot.

#5

I have about 100h played on my steam account and 150h on GOG and last week i started a new hardcore game on the xbone x and i know pretty well the map but i still managed to get lost, i was riding to Neuhof and somehow arrived in Samopesh and i have been lost in the woods a few times too but fortunately found a graveyard and an interesting site which allowed me to find my bearings in the map but for me this is what i find really interesting in hardcore mode, i have about 10h in this new game and i have already found things i haven’t seen during the previous 250h of gameplay. Once you find a new place it will appear on the map i think with a little delay and sometimes when i see where i am i think " How the hell did i get here, i thought i was there? "

1 Like
#6

Not sure what the point of your argument is. The rest of the world is untouched; only Skalitz and Rovna are destroyed. I’ve wasted too much time in my hardcore play through trying to figure out where I’m going. End up wasting 20 minutes going around in circles because I took a wrong turn somewhere. Gets old when that happens over and over. Sure, I’ve learned some routes, but I’ve still not figured out a good route to get to Sasau from Rattay for example. Sometimes I find it easier to just take my horse and ride in the water on the edge of the river rather than figuring out all of these off beaten paths through the woods that are supposed to connect major towns/cities.

#7

Yeah but Romans weren’t there, and the common thing used for orientation were landscape features, unusual buildings and such. But that was for locals.

I did not mean that people never ever travel. But they did not unless they have to (sell/buy, see family…etc) or just to village or town nearby.

Name of your town? Lets say you do - that is not much helpful in a land you don’t know.

Merchants known their roads they travel in groups, there were taverns and they also asked and form groups.

Rich people paid someone to prepare everything, to hire someone local as a guide.

There might be stones to mark taxing the road. And unmarked stones that really mean something like town this way… etc. But I never heard or read about milestones (with inscription anyway) or signs in this area and this time.

#8

Keeping an eye on shadows and time of day helps. Doesn’t mean you won’t get lost, but it does help. I’ve been on a road I was certain was leading me towards neuhoff only to find myself leaving the woods and approaching uzhitz.

#9

agree
despite most people didn’t know to read, they could recognize some specific images.
also, I always get lost when I’m in a town and nobody is telling me where the f**** I am :confused:

#10

This is a good thread, devs should take note of opinions expressed.

I am no historian for the part of the world in KCD, but would have to say that if there were any road signs at all there would be very few of them, and perhaps then only at major junctions. I do not think there would be “Welcome to Uzhitz” on the outskirts, LOL…

While some opinions here are vocal about “historic accuracy”, people not being able to read, etc. it is a game, and the player cannot ask for directions from the AI (would be impossible to code and provide all the voice acting), so at least a few road signs may be appropriate to compensate. Again, not on anything but major “road” junctions, such as they are.

Some people simply do not have a good sense of direction ‘perk’, fortunately I do have practical orienteering skills, but I still easily get lost taking the less traveled paths in KCD, and my experience is all the better for it.

BIT OF A SPOILER: have any of you seen the stacked stones on some paths in forests? When I first saw them I said to self, “Hey, people make those to mark a path or location to head off a path”, and sure enough, when I did would find something of interest like bandit camps.

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