Zero Punctuation: Kingdom Come Deliverance
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
Cantehman said:
You don't need to do anything strange to loot Runt, that much is certain. Unless his corpse glitches out which didn't happen to me. I simply returned to the battlefield after it was over and loaded up on stuff. His body is exactly where it falls and you can climb up the same way you did during the initial battle. If you have a horse by that point with decent carry capacity you can rack up just selling all the equipment from the fallen soldiers. Numerous chests to open as well.
It was also mentioned that 'Damage from the battle carries over into your fight with Runt, with no opportunity to heal up.' That's also inaccurate. If you have Marigold decoction you can drink it and stand at the bottom of the ladders until it's had its full effect. You can also bandage up any bleeding. Yes, the game makes it clear you're heading to a showdown with Runt, but it doesn't 'railroad' you there with no opportunity to prepare. Granted, there's no quick healing in the game, but you can drink any potions you have and stop your bleeding before starting the fight.
I'm not going to say the game is great, it is buggy and some of the decisions were baffling, but after hitting level 7 with my sword skill I started noticing the game felt much more responsive. Doesn't make it good design to make it feel clunky from the start, as that's frustrating, but I'm 40 hours in now and one on one fights are a joke. Takes a group of 3 or 4 to get me concerned. I think this is one the mod community will have a field day with. I remember the broken mess Vampire Bloodlines and KOTOR 2 were on launch and how much I enjoy playing them still today with the unofficial patches. I think this game has got that kind of potential to it, but to each their own.
Sorry for the late reply but for some reason my account didn't show anyone replying to me. Good to see someone who likes history have another viewpoint about the game then my own. Still correct me if I am wrong but when it comes to brass tacks it feels like you are comparing game mechanics to the game world/setting which I think is a little unfair. By their nature video games can never hit true realism when it comes to their mechanics. For instance there is no quick healing in the real world. In the real world death is permanent and there are no continues. I doubt anyone would be satisfied with a game that never allowed you to play it after your first death or even made you wait months to years to heal from grievous wounds. I don't think you really can blame a game for having a mechanic to heal like alchemy.Gethsemani said:I appreciate history a whole lot, to the point that most of my recreational reading are variations on history books (though lately that's mostly been limited to scholarly discourse on WW2). The problem with the "realism" in KCis that it is unevenly applied and not always for obvious reasons. For example, you need to bring food with you and eat at regular intervalls, because real people need to eat obviously. This is a chore from the get go, because finding food is not hard and you only need to eat to stave off negative effects. In a similar vein, the debuff from not sleeping is more of a chore then a serious gameplay consideration. Then on the flip side, you can teleport stuff from your own inventory to your horse and back with no delay. I am absolutely grateful that I don't need to run to my horse fifty times to sell off the stuff I scavenged, but in a game that's all about realism and simulation it feels off, especially when you have to repair your clothes after every battle where you took a hit (and where your clothes get dirty just from walking beside the road).
For a game that's all about "historical accuracy" the omission of the crossbow as a weapon is baffling. As is the entire set-up, where your dad is some master smith that's friendly with nobles, yet you don't know how to read (master craftsmen invariably knew how to read, since that was one of the few ways to share trade secrets within your guild with the other masters). Guess your dad really hated the idea that his son could pick up important life skills, huh? Let's also talk about how a lot of wooden buildings in this game have the textures of sun-dried wood, which is how they look now a days but not how they would have looked in the middle ages, when they would have been oiled, tarred or painted to prevent the wood from drying out and rotting. Oh, and then there's the entire Alchemy skill, which let's you do Geralt of Rivia-type potions (nightvision, really?) in a game that's supposedly all about being realistic and not offering concessions to fantasy.
And while I sympathize with the idea that Henry is a worthless fighter initially, the way the game shows that is by making one of its' core mechanics a chore. Bethesda, for all their shortcomings, learned this lesson 1,5 decade ago after Morrowind: You don't gimp the entire system and make it a drag to use until the player character gets good, you maintain the flow of the system but make it either harder or make it clear you are restricting options for now. KC
Now your point about crossbows I fully agree with. They should have been included and the only reason I think they weren't was a lack of time and resources on the part of the developer. It is an odd omission that I really wish they had taken more time to include. But on the other hand I don't agree with your view that a craftsman's son would have been able to read. It is pretty apparent that Henry had not learned much of anything from his father about his trade so I really don't think it would be unusual that he would also lack the skill to read. As for the battle mechanics I really don't know how the devs could have properly illustrated Henry's inept fighting without making his controls somewhat sluggish. The problem with giving the player more sophisticated and responsive controls at the beginning is that there is always a way for a skilled gamer to overcome them and play Henry like he is a master of combat. I recognize this probably makes me come across as an egotistical ass but I genuinely have no doubts that if they used that type of system that I would have been able to breeze through the start of the game. I generally play on the most extreme difficulty for any game and rarely have difficulties. I actually appreciate the fact that I physically couldn't breeze through the combat of this game and it helped me role play as a schlub who didn't know how to fight. I haven't felt that powerless when playing a game in years. That for me is freaking awesome and actually somewhat nostalgic.
Guess there's a lesson in there about not necessarily trusting everything you read for me, eh? But yeah, I'll fully admit the game should receive praise on many points, but this being the developer's first game really shows in some design decisions. And it just so happens to be on some critical issues. If anything, the only thing that really bothers me (as you say, to each their own on the game's advantages and disadvantages) is the sheer fervour in which some people defend the game's flaws, really.Jeralt2100 said:
Actually he said that, but ended with "..and press your button to slash your sword, about half and hour of camera jiggling passes and then the slash happens." Does lock-on negate the massive delay between telling the game to attack, and the attack actually happening? If so WTF are these devs on, and where can I get some?Zaper said:
Lock-on: The essential mechanic the devs could not be bothered to mention in the tutorial that is only 6-7 hours long...
To those claiming, or is that maiming, realism (not aimed at OP): If this is so realistic, why does does everyone have more stamina than a 20 year old blacksmith when running? Especially if they are in armor and he is not? Real-lipstick indeed, and you are the trap in that relationship.
If this is not early access, then why does the song "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs, glorious Bugs, Bugs, Bugs..." play in my head when I read the serious Steam reviews (excluding "get gud" and "crap")? What can this teach Bugthesda about the next Elder Scrolls game someone asked. My response: They do not need to work as hard (snicker) as they currently do, just toss in some artifical limitations, call it science (cough-realism-cough), and shove it out the door about a month earlier than usual, which is usually two months before being stable so they can work on the paid-DLC, or their tans at the salon.
Yahtzee - We are the PC Master Race, not those nock-kobblers. We are not exclusively S&M freaks for bragging rights on how virtually hardass we are. We leave that to the DS-ish crowd (nudge-nudge). If consoles can meet the average PC gaming rig, then consoles would be a welcome edition to the club. It would bring in some desperately needed membership dues. But those companies seem to think shiny (4K) is more important than refresh rate, so it may be awhile. The executives running those companies are the peasants, not the people forced to suffer their slavery to screen tearing, and lags. The true PC Master race hopes console execs will one day evolve into an equal, so we can all be one. We will bring the oil.
Meh. I lost interest at "first-person camera". For shooters or puzzle games? Sure. For melee? No. Realism is also kind of a red flag for me. Whenever I hear a anyone go on about a games realism it immediately translates to, "This game will be a chore to play. Do Not Touch!"
I'm not particularly interested in the game, but I enjoy his reviews. I'm always entertained at the shitstorm that went on in here, I mean, it's just a game, not the holy grail. Besides, Yahtzee regularly shits on games I happen to enjoy, that doesn't dampen my enjoyment in any way. nor should it yours. He's a game reviewer, his opinion about/stance on games is entirely subjective
I don't think some people realise he's an entertainer, hyperbole and snark are his trade by design.
you'd think Yahtzee personally punched a couple of babies in the head or something by the way some people are upset.
I don't think some people realise he's an entertainer, hyperbole and snark are his trade by design.
you'd think Yahtzee personally punched a couple of babies in the head or something by the way some people are upset.
I'm also quite amazed more than 60 people still post on this site, I thought this place was kind of done for. Or at least on its last legs or something. I mean, to me it appears that the only remaining content is zero punctuation.
[this has been a personal pondering by a user who's been inactive on this site for a while now, I don't intend to derail the thread.]
[this has been a personal pondering by a user who's been inactive on this site for a while now, I don't intend to derail the thread.]
I'm kind of interested in this game, Yathzees dislike notwithstanding, but the fact it's apparently buggy as hell is a constant in every review I've read so far.
So I'll wait until the game is reasonably bug fixed before jumping in, especially since I wouldn't have time to play it until at least next year anyway.
So I'll wait until the game is reasonably bug fixed before jumping in, especially since I wouldn't have time to play it until at least next year anyway.
Must say that I enjoy this game immensely, even though I really didn't think I would (it wasn't even on my radar, picked it up because a let's play made me interested).
Always take Yahtzee's reviews with a grain of salt. I really don't agree with any remarks about story, it's excellent and refreshing, especially because the atmosphere and the world itself is really authentic.
The limited save system can be easily circumvented with mods, many of the game's problems can be fixed this way already. On the combat I will agree that it isn't optimal, but I do feel like he didn't approach it in the right way.
Always take Yahtzee's reviews with a grain of salt. I really don't agree with any remarks about story, it's excellent and refreshing, especially because the atmosphere and the world itself is really authentic.
The limited save system can be easily circumvented with mods, many of the game's problems can be fixed this way already. On the combat I will agree that it isn't optimal, but I do feel like he didn't approach it in the right way.
Boy, there sure are a lot of new users signing up just to defend this game. Not suspicious at all that.
Quote notifications has been broken for quite some time. Just another of those things after DEFY laid off the tech team.Blazing Hero said:
Sure, I am doing a bit of that. However, I wouldn't do it if Vavra hadn't doubled down on hos realistic this game was and how it would dispense with the magic and fantasy of other RPGs. If your defense against criticism is "historical accuracy" and "realistic mechanics" then you better deliver on both fronts. KCBlazing Hero said:
often does, at least far other than most historical games, but as I said, it is still unevenly applied. This game is so realistic it has to have food and energy mechanics, yet I can just keep a thousand bags of mushrooms on my horse and snack on them whenever I need food or healing.My problem is that the more I play, the less realistic KC
makes my behavior. Once I realized that dried mushrooms were cheap and provided only minuscule nourishment, I realized that I can just keep my hunger slightly above 50 (to avoid the hunger debuff setting in) and then gobble down on pound upon pound of mushrooms to get my health back after some guy bashed my ribs in with a warhammer. Henry, with the right (easily available) perks, can literally go 2 days without sleeping or eating without serious side effects and still fight unimpeded. I wanted to level stealth and lockpicking, so I broke into people's house at night, knocked them out while they were asleep, picked the locks of their chests and left. Because that was the quickest and cheapest way to get good at sneaking.I can absolutely forgive these things because KC
is a game. It is harder to overlook them when Vavra insists on how realistic this game is and there are other mechanics that are just fake difficulty (the removal of the aiming dot for archery, the atrocious save mechanic) because of 'realism'. KC applies its' realism very unevenly and to very different effects. It is really cool that you actually get thrown in jail if you mouth off to a nobleman, it is less cool that the only reason archery is hard (because archery is hard in real life) is because the game absolutely forbids you from taking proper aim.As a minor gripe here, the inconsistency with which KC
handholds you is also irritating me. Most quests give you a quest marker and asks you to follow it, even making the journal imply that it is the only path available, only for there to be "hidden paths" that you can find by disregarding the journal and quest updates. The "Saintly Remains" quest is a great example of this, where the quests wants you to find a charlatan to get flashier relics, without ever informing the player that it is totally possible to just show up with the "plain" relic you've found. Some times it is like that, at others you absolutely must do exactly as the journal and quest updates says. This inconsistency is not "deep" or "incentivizing exploration", it only breeds distrust in the author (to borrow a literary term), because it is never obvious if you are allowed to strike out on your own or must follow the author's intent to the letter. It is a sign of someone who can't make up their mind about whether KC is a simulationist RPG or a traditional RPG where the authors quests are sacrosanct in their execution and the end result is a janky game that frustrates more than it achieves player connection.My guess is that a crossbow would be a game breaker like you wouldn't believe it. Imagine a boss fight with a fully clad knight that ends before they reach you because you point and click with the most powerful weapon in the game. A weapon that every other soldier and hunter in the game has access to. Unlike the fake difficulty archery, the Crossbow would be very easy to use and it would be insanely powerful, which would be realistic, but would require a total rebalance of the entire game. Not to mention how shitty it would be to get killed in every other encounter because one of the enemies spawned with a crossbow.Blazing Hero said:
I can concede this point. It is just one of those slight annoyances that is exacerbated by Vavra's insistence on historical accuracy. A master smith that commanded the respect and friendships of nobles would most certainly be a guild higher up and as such would most certainly be literate. That he'd fail to pass that highly useful skill onto his son (who will one day take up his trade and legacy) seems highly unlikely. Just as it is unlikely that adult Henry somehow isn't a proficient smith on his own, and in fact is so inept that he can barely sharpen a slightly dulled blade prior to 10 hours of Maintenace skill level ups.Blazing Hero said:
I think this is a hard issue to solve overall. The problem is that a lot of people will try the clunky combat of early game KCBlazing Hero said:
and will probably think that this sluggish, unresponsive system is all there is to it. Which will get them fed up and have them give up on the game, because no one wants to play an action RPG where the combat sucks. Then there are some people, like you, that will be quick to master the system and who could use that to break the difficulty curve utterly. I am not saying my solution is necessarily good, but it'd probably be better to have enemies that scaled in reverse to Henry. So that when Henry is a schmuck who can't wield a sword his enemies will dodge, parry and riposte often. As Henry gains skill, those enemies that he levels past start becoming worse, they will stop being able to dodge and parry and will much more frequently be unable to interrupt his combos. Meanwhile, high skill opponents like knights will still keep doing all that fancy parrying and riposting until far into the game when Henry is nearing maxed out skills. To me it seems a more elegant solution, because early in the game you'll see your opponents outfancy you, but you won't feel as if Henry is a rheumatic turtle stuck in syrup (apologies to any rheumatic turtles I offended) and get fed up with an unresponsive system.
Specifically it saves whenever you complete a quest, sleep in a bed that doesn't belong to someone else, or if you drink one of those limited save items he was talking about. Which are limited insofar as you are only given a limited number of them and if you want more you have to craft them by learning the appropriate skill and getting the right flowers to use for ingredients.Darth_Payn said:
Like most things that people complain about your illiterate peasant being completely ass at, you gradually get better at them if you actually *do* them. Like if you're having that much trouble shooting, got to an archery range for a while and actually do it until he gets less terrible. Same applies to melee, the better your combat related skills, the quicker and more competently he moves, it doesn't just effect damage numbers like Skyrim.Undomesticated Equine said:
You mean his statements that there probably weren't any black folks in this particular 9 square kilometers of Bohemia at the start of the 15 century, so he didn't put any in his game? Or was there another one?darkrage6 said:
The save system isn't really limited, despite what Yahtzee says. The game auto saves whenever you start/complete a quest, and it also saves every time you sleep more than two hours in a bed. Add onto that the fact that the recipe for 'Savior Schnapps' is auto-unlocked without the need to learn it, and that the raw ingredients for it a) grow outside the first house you have access to after the tutorial and b) can be bought at any alchemist shop for less than four Groechen and you can basically drop a save whenever the mood takes you (except in combat - you can't save in combat).Arnoxthe1 said:
I'll admit it does add another level of faff to saving, but there are reasons which kind of make sense as you play the game. For example, even if you have a dozen Saviour Schnapps in your inventory you still need to be careful about popping one as they are, as the name suggests, alcoholic and getting pissed just before attempting delicate tasks (*cough* lockpicking *cough*) isn't the greatest idea in the world. The fact that it has, in most cases, been many in-game hours since your last save makes you approach decisions in general and combat in particular in a very different manner to most other RPGs that I've played.Arnoxthe1 said:
To be fair we've had a plague of advertisers on this website of late. Not just bots, but people just openly advertising stuff.Arnoxthe1 said:
And with this games stupid but admittedly passionate controversy, its not so absurd to think people are coming here to defend the game, thus advertising for it.
Amen to that. After my first hour of gameplay I thought I was playing a Bethesda game.Cantehman said: