Yeah I agree. And setting his defence, warfare and weapon skill to a certain level (15 for instance) would mean that if you meet him early game you won’t be able to win. Mid game he will be a challenge and late game hopefully he will still be a challenge though the AI is rubbish.
thats a big thing there is the overall AI of the enemy. Some enemies can block and riposte for days, most just meet their doom faster then Henry stops talking to women he’s fucked. Look at when you’re surrounded…there is no reason 3 v 1 the 1 should every win. Maybe have key points in the main quest that trigger like auto saves where the overall enemy ai/skill increases slightly (def, warfare, str weapons skill etc) and my even higher spawn rate/spawn numbers. That way you can grind as much as you want on side quests or with Cpt Bernard if you reach a point in the main quest line that you cannot get any farther. I like freedom of choice but right now you can just breeze through the main story almost no problem minus the first few hours.
What you’re proposing is not bad but I would rather make it dependant on Henry’s combat skills. Otherwise you will force many players to grind and not everyone enjoys it. If someone wishes to neglect combat and still can progress main story, let him. If someone focuses on combat and evolves those skills, then it should trigger what you’re proposing (more or less), as this will keep combat somewhat intresting at least.
but there are some circumstances where combat is a must. WH says you can go all stealth/speech but I’m not sure how you would do the raids at Pribaslavitz and the Siege, although I have not finished that one just yet so I’m not sure how big it is, with out some sort of fighting. But I do see what you’re saying. Something needs done, even if a difficulty slider/settings and toggle options for combat cues
But there must be somewhat with the character stats also! I can one hit an enemy even when I hit his shield…absolutely no body contact with the sword. I’m Level 19 now, master in swordcombat (16-17 I guess), fighting with St. Georges sword
Sure but I can imagine someone cheesing what litle combat is forced upon the player. Anyway, if you would tie difficulty increases to main quests it would be very hard to balance. People can reach those points in story with completely different builds/levels. While if you tie it directly to combat skills then you will have roughly an idea what would be too much/too little. Easier to optimize those difficulty tweaks.
In every RPG there is this issue, except in my tabletop rpg. High level characters can be bested by low level enemies, yet everyone improves at a satisfying and noticeable rate. At no point will the characters be without a challenge. No scaling necessary.
Obviously high powered characters will go scouting bigger challenges, but the level 1 creatures remain level 1 creatures, they dont become more powerful as the character does.
Gotta reduce your sword. I am using page sword gonna reduce to butcher knife
If you are a game master/dungeon master whatever, you are actively scaling challenges for your players. As they develop, you are making new campaigns for them, filled with enemies that are actually capable of posing a true challenge for them. This is scaling. In crpg you do not have a human to do it, you need to implement some sort of artificial system to make up for it. So either you scale through more and more premade areas filled with tougher and tougher badies (1) , or you simply make the enemies get tougher as the players character gets tougher (2). Both are ways of scaling imho. First one fits better to more linear worlds, latter to open ones. I’m not saying that every oponent should be always at the same level as Henry. But if they don’t get stronger as he gets stronger, then Henry will become god of war, just as Geralt became one (in Witcher series), just as your character in dragon age series (even though dragon age had the 1 aproach to scaling), just as it was in Kotor or Bloodlines. At a certain point in every crpg I played my character got op. But at least I was not one shoting the enemies, combat remained fun (allbeit less then initially). You have to scale challenges player is facing. If you do it wisely, then feeling of progression remains. If not, then you’ll get something like oblivion (badly done scaling to put it lightly). Scaling does not and even should not be linear (everything does not have to get equally stronger). If you set challenges in stone, irrelevant of player, fine, it can work, if you plan them smart enough and said player will not be able to, hmm… over level them by too much. This as well is sort of scaling tbh. Only issue it will not work as well in an open world, especially with gameplay mechanics encouraging grind.
Well just noticed you’re talking about your own tabletop system. 
One that you created I assume? Well gg, if it works the way you say, great. Sadly, you will most likely not be able to redo KCD mechanics completely, even if your system worked. Scaling would be easier to implement and good enough to do the job.
Fifavenue - yes, I’m running around with an axe, since my skill in them is worst. Soon I will start switching to worse quality weapons. But it is not how it should be. I want to be using those “shiny, end game weapons” and still have fun from combat…
I disagree scaling is needed. A much more elegant and realistic solution would be to assign preset skill levels to certain classes of enemies. That way mercenaries knights and Cumans will always be challenging or even too much for you to handle at certain points in the game. You don’t have to worry about player progression and you will be more challenged in combat throughout.
Elaborate on what you mean by “present skill levels” please. Either way nonlinear scaling (meaning some will get stronger more rapidly, others less so), would ensure Henry won’t one shot an opponent. Still, not my job to fix combat, neither to promote scaling. So, whatever suits you guys. Wonder how (and if at all) WH will resolve that issue.
It was phone’s autocorrect take on preset. Already corrected it.
What I mean is that foes won’t scale at all. Some will just be impossible for you to take on at first as their skill level will be too high. I believe game should transition from a stat based system at first to a skill based system later on and this should allow for it.
It would also mean that you can find enemies who are too strong for you at first and your only option is to run while later in the game they will be a worthy opponent. Enemies like the wandering knight for instance.
So basically passive scaling Done before you let the player play the game. Sure, in theory it will work nicely. Enough training with Bernard will break it though. But that is up to player decision. Still most enemies will become a joke very quickly that way. Maybe then increase number of low level mobs in mid to late game?
If the combat will make a transition to skill based system (player skill), you will lose some of the player base, well, me at least. 
But it could bring in Dark Souls fans and the like, so sure, that is an option.
Well, there has to be a balance. As we have it now combat is purely stat based. You never played the game before, you get into my end game save, you will kill everyone in one blow. No skill involved. Stats are so high you just guard break everyone.
Training with Bernard would not break it as if combat evolves to skill based towards the end (by enemies being as high in stats or higher than you and similarly equipped) you will not be OP. In fact the game tells you about it already. When you face an opponent and he constantly parries and master strikes you it is the game telling you that you are not ready. Unfortunately you go over to the other side far far too much and fighting loses enjoyment because of how OP you are. I made a detailed post on my proposed changes somewhere in this thread. Check it out and you will see what I mean.
Ok, guess I understand what you mean. Not convinced if this will prevent one shotting though. It will make it harder for player to connect that shot, but once it hits… It may however make enemies capable of one shotting Henry… And keep in mind that the ai won’t get any better until next game at least, so stats alone won’t help it to not “open itself” from time to time. So possibility to one shot has to be somehow removed (unless performed on unarmoured enemy). Still, add proper (or actually any at all) balance to how skills and stats improve combat efectivness (mainly of Henry) and it would make combat better. Probably will also make combos hard if not plain impossible to execute, but its hard to judge it only in theory.
Yeah. My more detailed post mentions all that. How weapon stats should not change dramatically from sword to sword (some should be better at slashing and others at piercing) and the maintenance intervals should be increased with quality. Also they should change the charisma bonus as the main difference between Herod Sword and a merchant sword should be in status. The AI can be made more aggressive which already makes it better and removing most of the stat effects on the attack and reworking armour stats should make one shorting a well armoured enemy impossible. Basically you can no longer break through their guard and stagger them as easily. And when you do strike his armour will stop the damage.
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I like how it sounds, would love to see it in practice. Doubt WH will go for such extensive rework of combat system, but one can hope. Maybe modders will eventualy do something along those lines.
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I agree its much easier to implement scaling enemies, im just saying there is another way, reliant purely upon the mechanics and their perameters
Whistle for your horse, hop on, ride to the next guy… take everything… hop back on, ride to the next guy… take everything… etc… then ride the horse carrying four bazillion tons (in case the math guy wants to check that math) of gear to the closest merchant.
A bazillion is a one with 26 zeros, I don’t think there’s even that much loot in the whole map.
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