How difficult is this game to play?

[Tiwaking! 56k NZ]

I was watching people play this on Twitch and, urr, they're not very good....

I've been playing Bushido Blade for years and find this game to be easier than Bushido Blade (thankfully). I would rate this game a 3 Bushido Blades/5.

It seems the non-Bushido Blade non-HEMA people on Twitch would probably rate this game a 4/5.

I was wondering: On a score from 1 to 5 (1 being easy and 5 being difficult), how do you rate the difficulty of this game? HEMA folk? What about you Tekken/Street Fighter playing people out there?

[Yak Black]

HEMA folk here. Even though it's an unfinished technical demo and definitely needs plenty of tweaking, it's probably as close to real fencing as it can get without ruining the fun of being a game.

For a fighting game, I think the only way to judge difficulty is by how long it takes to learn the controls. However, understanding actual fencing tactics--i.e. exploiting 4 quarters, "Before and After" momentum etc.-- makes it a great deal easier...which is testament to the developer's skill because they've done an fantastic job with realism especially in the physics department. So i would give it low difficulty which is a good thing. Bushido blade had a higher difficulty but it was limited by accurate physics and biomechanics.

Bushido blade is like a 3/5 quality-wise only because it's closest thing we've had to a realistic weapon fighting-game for decades. But, HQ is 7/5 by comparison. HQ takes so much more into account with biomechanics.

[NTPGMR]

Well, just to add some comments to the sample size: As a gamer who doesn't typically do fighting games, but one with an interest in all things HEMA (I'd love to actually properly learn, but facilities are not too particularly close) I find the controls, at least with a controller, pretty intuitive. I found it pretty easy to learn the very basics of the game, and win some fights on the current hardest difficulty. I think the 3/5 rating for difficulty is appropriate for the game. Obviously higher level tactics and strategy are another thing entirely, and any current metas are bound to change, but for a bare-bones demo, it's great in quality, extremely fun, and not too difficult to learn.

[Hans Lecküchner]

I haven't played against people yet, but for fighting against aggressive AI, I would say it's like 2 to 3 in 5 for me. I feel like there are already several exploits to consistently beat the hardest AI.

I haven't played much fighting games, but my experience with mortal kombat x was quite defeating. I could never win against hard AI : (

You don't necessarily have to remember or even use combo moves in this game. One of the exploits is to use distance+timing. Another one is quick parry+reposte to the openings of your opponent. Tt quickly gets pretty easy when you master these two. The AI won't feint much and almost every one of their attacks are fully committed powerful cuts which gives you a lot of opportunities to fend against.

[Sekij]

Originally posted by Hans Lecküchner:

I haven't played against people yet, but for fighting against aggressive AI, I would say it's like 2 to 3 in 5 for me. I feel like there are already several exploits to consistently beat the hardest AI.

I haven't played much fighting games, but my experience with mortal kombat x was quite defeating. I could never win against hard AI : (

You don't necessarily have to remember or even use combo moves in this game. One of the exploits is to use distance+timing. Another one is quick parry+reposte to the openings of your opponent. Tt quickly gets pretty easy when you master these two. The AI won't feint much and almost every one of their attacks are fully committed powerful cuts which gives you a lot of opportunities to fend against.

The AI is... i dont want to say bad but they are not good at fighting lets say :D they lack defense and they lack feinting and footsie skills obviously. The Game is much more interessting in MP right now.


I as someone with less HEMA knowledge but more of 3D Fighting games, find the game is extremly easy to pick up and learn everything to it, it really is just about the use of it and i find it quite well, low execution, low amount of information for moves but still A BIG amount of fun in combat duo to its mechanics.

I think the game is perfect for fighter game fans and non fighting game players that are more into hema and realistic stuff that are interessted here. The Entry level is so low, you go straight up to the interessting parts of an Fighting game... mind games :D

[Tiwaking! 56k NZ]

Originally posted by Sekij:

The AI is... i dont want to say bad but they are not good at fighting lets say :D they lack defense and they lack feinting and footsie skills obviously. The Game is much more interessting in MP right now.

From watching new players try to play Hellish Quart, it seems the A.I. is competent for beginners. Watching them die to the "passive" A.I. is quite amusing and the shock of them facing the aggressive A.I. which relentlessly hunts them down like a mad dog is also quite interesting.

At the moment, the challenge against A.I. for good players is based around restricting yourself. For example: To add challenge to the game, dont do the following
https://youtu.be/n6yGyTtQ1TY

[Sekij]

Ya the aggresive one especialy is a bit fine to learn and try some basics i guess :D

[G-strogg]

I've been fencing for almost a decade and I want to echo the comments talking about how its both a very good digital representation of fencing but also remaining core as a proper fighting game. This game seems to hit a good spot in both of these crowds and I'm not sure it gets much better than that. This also does make the game a bit easier for anyone with a background in either or both, which is just natural of course.

For someone new, it's hopefully gonna be a fun ride!

[admafi]

I have no experience with games like Bushido Blade but it took me an hour or so and now the AI feels pretty weak.

[CaptainCatbutt]

Originally posted by Yak Black:

For a fighting game, I think the only way to judge difficulty is by how long it takes to learn the controls. However, understanding actual fencing tactics--i.e. exploiting 4 quarters, "Before and After" momentum etc.-- makes it a great deal easier...which is testament to the developer's skill because they've done an fantastic job with realism especially in the physics department.

Hell, i dont even do sabre (i do longsword and sidesword) but as soon as i learnt what move does what it was pretty easy to just apply what i knew to the game. Which is something i dont get with other fighting games.

[Yu Ryujin]

Originally posted by Tiwaking! 56k NZ:

I was watching people play this on Twitch and, urr, they're not very good....

I've been playing Bushido Blade for years and find this game to be easier than Bushido Blade (thankfully). I would rate this game a 3 Bushido Blades/5.

It seems the non-Bushido Blade non-HEMA people on Twitch would probably rate this game a 4/5.

I was wondering: On a score from 1 to 5 (1 being easy and 5 being difficult), how do you rate the difficulty of this game? HEMA folk? What about you Tekken/Street Fighter playing people out there?

The game is way too easy rn, and I bet people usually dont see the depth of the fight yet. the game has way more than it seems and characters slightly changes the pace of the fight.Mostly because Ai is not good enough and can't react like a human.

Agressive is one of the worst one, but it helps you to learn about the high block and parry counter mechanics

I think Maneuvrable is the best one overall to see what you can do in this game, but its better to play agaisnt the 3 to have a wider view.

[MadClownDisease]

Another HEMA-ist here. I don't play much fighting games at all. I practise mainly Longsword and British Military Sabre at the moment. I

I find that the controls were quite easy to grasp and I got the hang of the game fast. It was easy to pick up within the first hour for me.I

I have only played against the AI so far, about 4-5 hours. I personally find that the aggressive and maneuverable AI's are both a fair challenge but if I play safely with mostly the 2 downwards cuts from Right and left shoulder and work with simple parry-ripostes without any risky moves I win *most* of the time. The passive AI still gets me from time to time, though mostly when I experiment with the various special moves or when feinting.

Though I don't have much experience with Fighting games like MK, Tekken or Street Fighter and such, having played some other games with melee combat against AI's, I feel like I have a rough idea of when the AI is about to attack and I tend to exploit that frequently. I definitely need to try it against other players.

In terms of Difficulty against the AI's I'd put the Aggressive and Maneuverable settings at a 3/5 maybe, the passive one at maybe 1/5 or 2/5 depending on whether I experiment with risky moves/tactics or not.

Like someone else mentioned above, i feel like you're going to like it if you have experience in either HEMA or Fighting games or both. I can't say for certain when it comes to players that don't do either, but i think that they can enjoy the game a lot if they put some time to familiarize themselves with the game and learn the basics.