Zero Punctuation: Kingdom Come Deliverance

[springheeljack]

Wow, honestly that is the first time I've actually laughed at a zero punctuation video in quite a while
I'm glad that he's still got it

 

[Hawki]

Dick Slurp All-Stars

Make this a meme.

Now.

 

[Cantehman]

What a trite review.

I could forgive the shallow understanding of game mechanics if you gave a shit about the plot, but it appears you don't. At multiple points you suggest that major events happen "because reasons". Well, yeah. Talking to NPCs about the intricacies of the plot is optional, and I think we see what you chose. Which is frustrating because you seem to place importance these plot points and the details are interesting and worth investigating.

Signed up just to bash this review of a game you liked eh?

First off, you can use fancy words all you want, it doesn't change the fact the plot's amateurish at best. How about the "but muh sword" thing Yahtzee mentioned? Or how you're railroaded into losing that first fight which makes you lose the sword? For those who don't know, there's a fight in the start of the game that you're just scripted to lose. Enemy kills you in one to two hits, whereas you can hit him a hundred times and he'll not go down.

Your complaints about the combat are also frustrating. You provide some ambiguous anecdotes but fail to reference the overwhelming majority of the combat system. What did you think of the perfect parry and masterstrike system? How is it that a series of back and fourth perfect parries looks amazing and feels visceral, but somehow isn't worth mentioning? What do you think of the different weapon types and how they interact with different types of armor? What did you think of the location-based damage effects and the weapon combos that target specific armor weaknesses? What of mounted combat, the surrender system, clinching, fight-club, and the myriad of combat-altering potion effects?

Oh boy. You mean the perfect parry and masterstrike system that ultimately takes all skill out of the game? Get a perfect block and you'll have a chance of a free counterattack. That's what the combat boils down to in the late game: triggering that percentage. There's just one block button so it's just about timing. You say it feels visceral, I say it looks silly. And differing weapon types were old news years ago. That last sentence is nothing worth mentioning either tbh.

"limited save"? We're REALLY going to call it simply "limited". Did you not take note that you learn how to make the save item in the intro to the game from shit that's just growing everywhere? Even so, if you can't be bothered to harvest the ingredients or even buy the ingredients, the save item itself is sold in those "pawn shops" for a trivial amount of currency. I'm at a loss on what to think your inability to notice the game auto-saves whenever you make significant progress in a main or side quest. What's even more shocking is that you didn't notice it auto-saves when you SLEEP. Ultimately, the limited saves comes down to how much of your carry limit do you want to dedicate to saves. The answer is a minimal amount, leaving spares on your horse and hording the remaining in your personal storage chest.

Why are you even defending this? It doesn't matter how easy it is to make new save potions. You still need to put effort into a function that every other game implements with no hassle. And fyi, autosaving only on quest progress and sleeping doesn't cut it when the game is an atrocious mess of bugs.

Had to retry that siege six times, eh? Well, considering the pattern you've shown up until now, I'd bet money that you didn't pay any attention to the previous quest or the strategizing that determined the flow of the battle that is decided by your measure of success in the previous quest. You didn't understand why Henry didn't command his lord's men to disengage from the battle and chase runt? Henry does have a moment of hesitation, but the performance by Tom McKay as Henry in this scene should tell you everything you need to know. Henry is not cold, calculating and scheming (as you would have him), he's overcome with complex emotions that are the result of the plot up until this point.

The developers can't have their "player freedom" cake and eat it too with shit like this. Deus Ex didn't get away with mandatory boss fights years ago, neither will this game. And good for Tom McKay that you liked his performance. For me, Henry will never have more personality than someone who'd be credited as "Village Buffoon A" in movie credits.

Nice of you not to mention the controversy surrounding the game too. It seems a number of critics have ideologies that prevent them from being even remotely objective about the game. Something to do with the problematic portrayal of women in-game? Oh hey! You made an offhand joke along those lines. I'm sure it's just a coincidence though.

Not sure what you're on about here, but not to worry. The game doesn't need a controversy to not live up to the hype.

 

[Zaper]

Oh boy. You mean the perfect parry and masterstrike system that ultimately takes all skill out of the game? Get a perfect block and you'll have a chance of a free counterattack. That's what the combat boils down to in the late game: triggering that percentage. There's just one block button so it's just about timing. You say it feels visceral, I say it looks silly. And differing weapon types were old news years ago. That last sentence is nothing worth mentioning either tbh.

you played ten hours and stopped didn't you ? becasue unless your fighting untrained bandits 95 precent of the time when you riposte the enemy will simply execute their own perfect block

 

[Cantehman]

Oh boy. You mean the perfect parry and masterstrike system that ultimately takes all skill out of the game? Get a perfect block and you'll have a chance of a free counterattack. That's what the combat boils down to in the late game: triggering that percentage. There's just one block button so it's just about timing. You say it feels visceral, I say it looks silly. And differing weapon types were old news years ago. That last sentence is nothing worth mentioning either tbh.

you played ten hours and stopped didn't you ? becasue unless your fighting untrained bandits 95 precent of the time when you riposte the enemy will simply execute their own perfect block

You're*

Enemies doing their own perfect blocks doesn't make the situation any better. On the contrary. Master strikes being unavoidable is just bad design.

 

[Zaper]

Oh boy. You mean the perfect parry and masterstrike system that ultimately takes all skill out of the game? Get a perfect block and you'll have a chance of a free counterattack. That's what the combat boils down to in the late game: triggering that percentage. There's just one block button so it's just about timing. You say it feels visceral, I say it looks silly. And differing weapon types were old news years ago. That last sentence is nothing worth mentioning either tbh.

you played ten hours and stopped didn't you ? becasue unless your fighting untrained bandits 95 precent of the time when you riposte the enemy will simply execute their own perfect block

You're*

Enemies doing their own perfect blocks doesn't make the situation any better. On the contrary. Master strikes being unavoidable is just bad design.

You're what ? where exactly does that word fit in my sentence ? as to the perfect block it exists because otherwise the player would be too overpowered and you can avoid them by playing defensively

 

[Cantehman]

Oh boy. You mean the perfect parry and masterstrike system that ultimately takes all skill out of the game? Get a perfect block and you'll have a chance of a free counterattack. That's what the combat boils down to in the late game: triggering that percentage. There's just one block button so it's just about timing. You say it feels visceral, I say it looks silly. And differing weapon types were old news years ago. That last sentence is nothing worth mentioning either tbh.

you played ten hours and stopped didn't you ? becasue unless your fighting untrained bandits 95 precent of the time when you riposte the enemy will simply execute their own perfect block

You're*

Enemies doing their own perfect blocks doesn't make the situation any better. On the contrary. Master strikes being unavoidable is just bad design.

You're what ? where exactly does that word fit in my sentence ? as to the perfect block it exists because otherwise the player would be too overpowered and you can avoid them by playing defensively

Remind me where the fun is in just circling eachother until someone attacks so you can just masterstrike them. All this realism is fine and dandy, but don't complain when people don't like the game because fun had to take a backseat.

 

[Zaper]

Oh boy. You mean the perfect parry and masterstrike system that ultimately takes all skill out of the game? Get a perfect block and you'll have a chance of a free counterattack. That's what the combat boils down to in the late game: triggering that percentage. There's just one block button so it's just about timing. You say it feels visceral, I say it looks silly. And differing weapon types were old news years ago. That last sentence is nothing worth mentioning either tbh.

you played ten hours and stopped didn't you ? becasue unless your fighting untrained bandits 95 precent of the time when you riposte the enemy will simply execute their own perfect block

You're*

Enemies doing their own perfect blocks doesn't make the situation any better. On the contrary. Master strikes being unavoidable is just bad design.

You're what ? where exactly does that word fit in my sentence ? as to the perfect block it exists because otherwise the player would be too overpowered and you can avoid them by playing defensively

Remind me where the fun is in just circling eachother until someone attacks so you can just masterstrike them. All this realism is fine and dandy, but don't complain when people don't like the game because fun had to take a backseat.

maybe that's why they made the master strike really hard to pull of and do that much damage also i don't have problem with people disliking the game because of realism i have a problem because Yahtzee complained about the mechanics even though he clearly dosn't understand them he dosn't even appear to be aware you can lock on it annoys me because a lot of people see him as a reviewer and not a comedian/critic and it saddens me that some people who might like the game will miss it out because they think the combat is terrible

 

[Cantehman]

maybe that's why they made the master strike really hard to pull of and do that much damage also i don't have problem with people disliking the game because of realism i have a problem because Yahtzee complained about the mechanics even though he clearly dosn't understand them he dosn't even appear to be aware you can lock on it annoys me because a lot of people see him as a reviewer and not a comedian/critic and it saddens me that some people who might like the game will miss it out because they think the combat is terrible

So because people don't bother to check whether Yahtzee is a critic or a reviewer, he shouldn't be critical? In my opinion, the combat is terrible indeed. Common bandits use advanced fencing techniques and the AI has clear advantages over the player. Mechanics like masterstrikes are there as a bandaid because the combat system has holes when it has to provide for early and late game. Archery's bad because no crosshairs might be realistic, but even a fully leveled Henry still can't look over the arrow to see where it'll go. Realism can only excuse so much.

 

[Zaper]

maybe that's why they made the master strike really hard to pull of and do that much damage also i don't have problem with people disliking the game because of realism i have a problem because Yahtzee complained about the mechanics even though he clearly dosn't understand them he dosn't even appear to be aware you can lock on it annoys me because a lot of people see him as a reviewer and not a comedian/critic and it saddens me that some people who might like the game will miss it out because they think the combat is terrible

So because people don't bother to check whether Yahtzee is a critic or a reviewer, he shouldn't be critical? In my opinion, the combat is terrible indeed. Common bandits use advanced fencing techniques and the AI has clear advantages over the player. Mechanics like masterstrikes are there as a bandaid because the combat system has holes when it has to provide for early and late game. Archery's bad because no crosshairs might be realistic, but even a fully leveled Henry still can't look over the arrow to see where it'll go. Realism can only excuse so much.

no it just that a lot of people take his word as gospel this is more to do with the fan base rather then him and about the combat thats your opinion and thats fine but it is a minority opinion as to the archery you can become quite decent at it you just need to learn how to align it properly

 

[Ectoplasmic Alcohol]

"Signed up just to bash this review of a game you liked eh?"

Bash? Criticize is more like it. Should I not give my opinion? Is that not allowed?

"First off, you can use fancy words all you want, it doesn't change the fact the plot's amateurish at best"

What does MY choice words have to do with how good the plot is?

"How about the "but muh sword" thing Yahtzee mentioned?"

If you played the game enough to understand the plot, then you would know that it's not simply about a hunk of sharp metal that needs to be delivered. Is it so hard to believe that a person could form an irrational attachment to one of the few things that remain of his life with his parents, friends, and neighbors?

"Or how you're railroaded into losing that first fight which makes you lose the sword?"

Yes. A layabout who had his first and only swordfighting lesson yesterday should be able to have a chance against one of the most dangerous cut-throats in the region.

"Oh boy. You mean the perfect parry and masterstrike system that ultimately takes all skill out of the game?"

You're kidding right? Reacting within the first fractions of a moment as an enemy attack animation goes off while matching the enemy swing direction to perform a masterstrike constitutes something that takes no skill whatsoever?

"Get a perfect block and you'll have a chance of a free counterattack. That's what the combat boils down to in the late game: triggering that percentage."

What? Perfect blocks don't trigger free counterattacks. Percentage? God I hope you're not talking about masterstrikes. What do you mean that's what combat comes down to in late game? Late game combat is about feinting into combos more than it's about defense.

"There's just one block button so it's just about timing."

Timing, directionality, and momentum. Did you not even pay attention to the tutorial?

"You say it feels visceral, I say it looks silly."
Okay? Guess we'll agree to disagree.

"And differing weapon types were old news years ago."

Ah, your reading comprehension has failed you here. See where I said "and how they interact with different types of armor" That's to indicate that the point being made isn't simply "hey look there's a buncha weapons" but rather there's a reason to carry multiple types of weapons as different weapons have different effectiveness in different situations. This also means that the outcome of many fights are strongly influenced by preparation.

"That last sentence is nothing worth mentioning either tbh."

Yeah, I understand why you'd say that. They're all easily overlooked if you've already made up your mind and aren't interested.

"Why are you even defending this? It doesn't matter how easy it is..."

Oh, I see. Taking issue with the usage of the term "limited" is, to you, a full endorsement.

"The developers can't have their "player freedom" cake and eat it too with shit like this. Deus Ex didn't get away with mandatory boss fights years ago, neither will this game. And good for Tom McKay that you liked his performance."

Not even going to touch on how much of the battle is decided by player agency? Figures. Calling anything a "boss fight" in this game is hilarious and shows a pretty stark misunderstanding of the mechanics. The enemies, bosses included, have access to the same skills, mechanics, and combos that the player has.

"For me, Henry will never have more personality than someone who'd be credited as "Village Buffoon A" in movie credits."

Tom McKay as Henry did an outstanding job and the fact that you're just dismissing his work out of hand is pathetic.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Sad to say but the only people I see complaining about the "realism" don't exactly seem like the types who would appreciate history anyway. Also, Yahtzee has admitted to being shit at certain games before. If he was having trouble with the combat then he did need to "git gud" because it becomes quite easy and satisfying once you level up and learn it. The point Yahtzee seemed to miss is that the mechanics of the combat in the beginning of the game are intentionally bad because Henry is someone who doesn't know how to fight.

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 KC is 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 makes it harder but also makes it sluggish and unresponsive and has a lot of feature hidden in the first 10 hours, which means the entire system feels like shit. Now that I'm 10 hours in and Henry has some skills, I am actually starting to see the flow, but that's as much down to me learning as Henry no longer taking a minute to wind up a basic slash. Keeping the flow even if Henry is unskilled, but making the AI parry or dodge more early on would have given the same effect, but with much less player frustration. You would still feel outmatched, but you'd do so because you'd feel your opponents are better, not because the fighting mechanic feels like trying to move through jello while drunk and concussed.

 

[Undomesticated Equine]

So i just came here from watching the post ZP stream and I want to say i hate vieventar or whatever his name is. He literally just takes whatever stance yatzee took and repeats and between that he just tries to proove everybody how super smart he is. Relly the streams would be better if you just dropped him.

 

[DropkickCleary]

I'm not going to argue with the save system problem, but PC Master Race to the rescue, we have a wonderful mod to fix that already on the Nexus.

I will, however, vehemently defend the combat. It's fantastic once you learn it. I mean, that really is the crux of this game; learning stuff. You begin as an idiot who knows nothing. If you don't work on the combat, you don't get better. It really does require time and practice. That's why I love it.

I haven't reached the bandit camp in question, but I'm disappointed to hear it's a boss fight thingy. Didn't expect that considering there don't seem to be other situations like that in the game. That said, I heard from another reviewer they were having a lot of trouble with that fight before someone provided them with a better tactical approach and then they won.

 

[Cantehman]

Bash? Criticize is more like it. Should I not give my opinion? Is that not allowed?

Ye gods, the quoting system is not that hard to use.

Sure it's allowed. Starting it off with "trite" and the lengths to which you're defending some stuff beggars belief though.

What does MY choice words have to do with how good the plot is?

It doesn't. But more eloquence went into your championing of the game's plot then the game's plot.

If you played the game enough to understand the plot, then you would know that it's not simply about a hunk of sharp metal that needs to be delivered. Is it so hard to believe that a person could form an irrational attachment to one of the few things that remain of his life with his parents, friends, and neighbors?

Possible, but after playing the game's tutorial for 5-8 hours you'd probably want some indication that this is the case considering it's the plot line that starts off Henry's journey. Instead, you get the lord just saying "I don't care about that sword" and Henry going "but I must". No indication of anything you say at a point where such a motivation would be critical.

Yes. A layabout who had his first and only swordfighting lesson yesterday should be able to have a chance against one of the most dangerous cut-throats in the region.

Unlikely indeed. But the developers don't get to flaunt "player freedom" and then pull this stunt. If you're going to railroad, do it in a cutscene. Don't pretend like you've got freedom and then just disable it. Same for the second fight against Runt. You need to abuse game glitches just to be able to loot the body of someone you can kill. Some freedom.

You're kidding right? Reacting within the first fractions of a moment as an enemy attack animation goes off while matching the enemy swing direction to perform a masterstrike constitutes something that takes no skill whatsoever?

Plenty of people are upset with the masterstrike system. Just check Steam discussions for instance. Beating a fully plated and armed knight in your undies with a stick just by standing there and masterstriking is very possible in game. It doesn't really vibe with that whole realism thing people are lauding though.

What? Perfect blocks don't trigger free counterattacks. Percentage? God I hope you're not talking about masterstrikes. What do you mean that's what combat comes down to in late game? Late game combat is about feinting into combos more than it's about defense.

My bad, I meant masterstrikes. And percentages came from initial uncertainty as to how to trigger masterstrikes. However, it being unblockable is still utter nonsense, especially since late game enemies hardly let you do a full combo anyway. And when Mount & Blade's sytem is years old by now but can achieve things as impressive with a much more simple system, stuff like masterstrikes is just baffling.

Timing, directionality, and momentum. Did you not even pay attention to the tutorial?

Getting perfect blocks hardly requires that much dedication. Or just go full plate and lose less stamina by just eating hits.

Ah, your reading comprehension has failed you here. See where I said "and how they interact with different types of armor" That's to indicate that the point being made isn't simply "hey look there's a buncha weapons" but rather there's a reason to carry multiple types of weapons as different weapons have different effectiveness in different situations. This also means that the outcome of many fights are strongly influenced by preparation.

Curb the smarminess, sir knight. Weapon types interacting with different kinds of armour isn't innovative by any means either.

Yeah, I understand why you'd say that. They're all easily overlooked if you've already made up your mind and aren't interested.

Mounted combat, the surrender system, clinching, fight-club, and the myriad of combat-altering potion effects. Notice how even Skyrim does all of those except clinching? Hardly something you'd put on the back of the box for advertising.

Oh, I see. Taking issue with the usage of the term "limited" is, to you, a full endorsement.

Call it "limited" or "restricted freedom" or what have you, it's a terrible system. Unless you're going for the Dark Souls experience, no game in 2018 should penalize you for wanting to save progress. Again, plenty of bugs, imagine losing hours of progress because the game crashes when turning in a quest and has no proper autosave function. In fact, you don't even need to imagine it, it's happening.

Not even going to touch on how much of the battle is decided by player agency? Figures. Calling anything a "boss fight" in this game is hilarious and shows a pretty stark misunderstanding of the mechanics. The enemies, bosses included, have access to the same skills, mechanics, and combos that the player has.

Wait. Wait wait wait. You're telling me Kingdom Come: Deliverance has a mechanic where you can influence a battle before it happens?! Ye gods, the rapture is upon us indeed!

And you get dropped into a cage fight with an important storyline villain so you can fight him mano y mano despite all your allies. How much more boss fight-ish can it get? Would it take a health bar on the top of your screen to convince you? On that note, it's amazing how they designed that fight so all the damage from the previous big battles carries over, with no opportunity of bandaging because you can't bandage during fights. That's bad design 101.

Also, you're telling me you can't have boss fights in D&D because the villains technically use the same skills and mechanics that the player has? Using the same system means nothing.

Tom McKay as Henry did an outstanding job and the fact that you're just dismissing his work out of hand is pathetic.

If by out of hand you mean my impression after hours on hours of his work, then yes. In fact, you mentioned something about Henry's attachment to that hunk of metal because it's all that remains. Funny how Henry barely ascends Oblivion NPC's in terms of emotion when you talk to that noblewoman about the whole "my village got sacked" thing. And then he just goes adventuring and partying with his noble friend with nary an indication of personal drama. Tom McKay might be an outstanding professional, but he'd surely be wasted on this role then.

 

[darkrage6]

He is "gud", plenty of other people complained about the bullshit "realism" aspects of the game.

I never said anything about realism. He says the combat is *FUCKING TERRIBLE* yet I've seen and talked to enough people who say it's not that hard. Yahtzee's the first person I've heard who has had a problem with its technical aspects. Of course this isn't the first time Yahtzee has mistaken his opinions for objective fact, and I doubt it will be the last.

Take his Witcher review: the one in which, "Glorious PC Gaming Master Race," was born where he criticized the game for being overly complicated, citing for one its menu system. When I played Witcher I didn't have a single issue and likewise never heard anyone else complain about it being too complicated nor knock the menus. In reality, there is more complexity (both in terms of menus and gameplay) to TES IV: Oblivion which is regarded by many to be drastically dumbed down from Morrowind.

A large part of me doesn't think he actually had issues with KCD's combat but instead just didn't like it. Only, "I didn't like it," doesn't sound as hard-hitting and edgy as, "The combat is *FUCKING TERRIBLE*." Furthermore, I don't think he really believed Witcher to be complicated yet needed an extra gag to pad his argument.

All this being said, I think anyone would be doing himself a disservice to base his decision to buy a game on a Yahtzee review. This is akin to how people shouldn't watch The Daily Show for news. It's entertainment with bits of truth sprinkled about. Somehow, the fact that it makes you laugh gives the impression of veracity.

I was never going to play this game anyways because the creator is an asshole and because i'm not big on fantasy RPGs.

 

[Jeralt2100]

-Unlikely indeed. But the developers don't get to flaunt "player freedom" and then pull this stunt. If you're going to railroad, do it in a cutscene. Don't pretend like you've got freedom and then just disable it. Same for the second fight against Runt. You need to abuse game glitches just to be able to loot the body of someone you can kill. Some freedom.-

Have a question about this one. Did you not know you could return after the battle? I went back to the site of the battle after it was over and looted pretty much everything. I cleared over 7500 selling all that equipment left on the soldiers, and you can climb back up and loot Runt's body as well.

 

[Cantehman]

-Unlikely indeed. But the developers don't get to flaunt "player freedom" and then pull this stunt. If you're going to railroad, do it in a cutscene. Don't pretend like you've got freedom and then just disable it. Same for the second fight against Runt. You need to abuse game glitches just to be able to loot the body of someone you can kill. Some freedom.-

Have a question about this one. Did you not know you could return after the battle? I went back to the site of the battle after it was over and looted pretty much everything. I cleared over 7500 selling all that equipment left on the soldiers, and you can climb back up and loot Runt's body as well.

To be fair I've not gotten to that point myself, but when there's threads on Steam like:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/379430/discussions/0/1693788384145406406/

Yeah. Not to mention the many threads where fun stuff pops up. Like killing the boss too fast makes the game glitch out. Also, found this gem:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/379430/discussions/0/1696040635906427023/

That quest that allows you to influence the big bandit camp battle? It's scripted, so you'll have bandit spawning in the fight regardless of what you do.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

maybe that's why they made the master strike really hard to pull of and do that much damage also i don't have problem with people disliking the game because of realism i have a problem because Yahtzee complained about the mechanics even though he clearly dosn't understand them he dosn't even appear to be aware you can lock on it annoys me because a lot of people see him as a reviewer and not a comedian/critic and it saddens me that some people who might like the game will miss it out because they think the combat is terrible

So because people don't bother to check whether Yahtzee is a critic or a reviewer, he shouldn't be critical? In my opinion, the combat is terrible indeed. Common bandits use advanced fencing techniques and the AI has clear advantages over the player. Mechanics like masterstrikes are there as a bandaid because the combat system has holes when it has to provide for early and late game. Archery's bad because no crosshairs might be realistic, but even a fully leveled Henry still can't look over the arrow to see where it'll go. Realism can only excuse so much.

The Archery Tutorial gives me a hint, aim above the target and watch as it go in a pendulum swing and loose the arrow when you feel your inner "middle of the swing". A reticule trivialize the archery mechanic that I was able to put several arrows into the Elite Cumans before dealing with the bastards with the shields

 

[Cantehman]

maybe that's why they made the master strike really hard to pull of and do that much damage also i don't have problem with people disliking the game because of realism i have a problem because Yahtzee complained about the mechanics even though he clearly dosn't understand them he dosn't even appear to be aware you can lock on it annoys me because a lot of people see him as a reviewer and not a comedian/critic and it saddens me that some people who might like the game will miss it out because they think the combat is terrible

So because people don't bother to check whether Yahtzee is a critic or a reviewer, he shouldn't be critical? In my opinion, the combat is terrible indeed. Common bandits use advanced fencing techniques and the AI has clear advantages over the player. Mechanics like masterstrikes are there as a bandaid because the combat system has holes when it has to provide for early and late game. Archery's bad because no crosshairs might be realistic, but even a fully leveled Henry still can't look over the arrow to see where it'll go. Realism can only excuse so much.

The Archery Tutorial gives me a hint, aim above the target and watch as it go in a pendulum swing and loose the arrow when you feel your inner "middle of the swing". A reticule trivialize the archery mechanic that I was able to put several arrows into the Elite Cumans before dealing with the bastards with the shields

Yeah, it's just padded difficulty really. Not to mention Henry the humble blacksmith boy having no problems with horse archery besides the archery aspect.