Melee Combat is too difficult?

[Nyloc]

It could just be me, and that I suck at this game, but the combat doesn't seem well balanced in the beginning, and it's often incredibly difficult. Some of the first enemies you encounter are incredibly difficult, and it's not a good way to start the game as players try and learn to fight. Then, in the catacombs early in the game, you fight skeletons who are incredibly easy (and these are the types of enemies you should fight first). Then, all of a sudden, you fight this stone knight who's super super tough again, who can one shot you, and none of my weapons do much damage. Whether it's magic, sword, mace, hammer, you name it, almost nothing hurts this guy. So you go from super tough goblin dudes, to easy skeletons, to really tough enemies again. The game isn't good at combat difficult progression. And yes, maybe I'm just not very skilled, but it seems like a balance issue, or I'm missing something here.

[Bandy]

Yes, the game could use some balance <but> be aware, in general there are two different types of game design: 1) where the game opponents progress with the player level (think skyrim, most of the time...) and then 2) games that do not balance to the player level, the enemies are leveled to the loot or story progress -- think Dark Souls as extreme.

In your example you complain about player entering catacombs and fighting enemies too difficult for your current level, like the stone knight? I agree, a tough opponent. But in a type 2) game at that point the player should realize (getting one-shot...) they are in an area above their ability. Completing the catacomb yields to the player advancement they should not have at lower levels.

Its' simple, walk away from those places, you are not meant to be there. This is NOT skyrim.

[jaedence]

The stone guys are way too tough for you to fight in the early levels. If you run by them, they don't chase far. You can do the entire crypt without fighting one of them.

[Battury]

I agree with you completely, and I believe these people above me have missed your point entirely. Having a dungeon with dozens of (lets throw out arbitrary numbers) level 3 enemies, and then two or three level 15 enemies, is not a good choice. Because if not for those three enemies that are way too high level for the dungeon, it's a great level for an early quest.

[Vulgarum]

Or, currently, you can just play Stealth Archer and one shot everything by crouching lol!

[Kerwas]

cementy catacombs: you can completely sidestep the stone knights.

and i think that melee is at the start plain a bit underpowered but the Tank get into drive around lvl 10

And stealth archer is en common melee starter class. ^^

[Woefulnesss]

With the last update combat was definitely made a bit harder, so the only advice I can really give is if you are starting out. Play on a lower difficulty, just to learn the ropes a bit, otherwise you can try parrying, blocking, or dashing back and to the sides to avoid hits.

As to those sneaky little stone knights acting as a jump scare, next time trying sneaking by them, they seem to not activate or not activate nearly as much if you do ;)

[Nyloc]

Originally posted by Bandy:

Yes, the game could use some balance <but> be aware, in general there are two different types of game design: 1) where the game opponents progress with the player level (think skyrim, most of the time...) and then 2) games that do not balance to the player level, the enemies are leveled to the loot or story progress -- think Dark Souls as extreme.

In your example you complain about player entering catacombs and fighting enemies too difficult for your current level, like the stone knight? I agree, a tough opponent. But in a type 2) game at that point the player should realize (getting one-shot...) they are in an area above their ability. Completing the catacomb yields to the player advancement they should not have at lower levels.

Its' simple, walk away from those places, you are not meant to be there. This is NOT skyrim.

Thank you for your reply. There were lots of good comments in this thread. However, concerning these catacombs and the stone knight, bear in mind this is one of the earliest quests of the game that's making me come here. So it felt logical to be here at a relatively early level, and the enemies in this dungeon were pretty easy. All of a sudden, I'm facing this stone knight who seems like himself a crazy boss of the area, but he's just the enemy BEFORE the boss. I just feel like this game still needs balancing, but there should also be areas that are easy where I can level up and farm to get more powerful.

[Bandy]

Agree, game needs balance, devs need to hear player experiences, it's early access.
I played before the recent chapter addition, but am waiting for full release now.

[ut]

Originally posted by Bandy:

Its' simple, walk away from those places, you are not meant to be there. This is NOT skyrim.

Everyone keeps saying "Skyrim", but I was getting much stronger Morrowind vibes when playing the demo, in a good way. Is this in fact one of those "type two" non-player-scaled arrangements? (where melee is viable, eventually?) That'd be exciting. I've always hated player-scaled enemies.

[John Smith]

Bow + that hawk spell that distracts enemies make short work of any strong single entity. Also, don't forget that you can stop time for a little bit.

[wei270]

for me the problem with melee is that you don't know how strong the enemies is, and some time even a perfect parry on the enemy still take more than 50% of my hp.
so even when meleeing i am force to use ALT dash instead of parry. At that point i may just well go full archery.

[swillfly]

Hang in there. It gets better as you level up. Nuthin forces you to stick around and fight strong monsters - just run away from them - for now.

Similar experience --> Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl was really tough for me long ago -- but now I regard it as one of my all-time favorite games.

[AH-1 Cobra]

Does the game offer the player a way to analyze the enemy's strength before directly engaging them?

[thekins]

im new literally just bought this put it on hard cuz games like this are typically too easy on normal
overall combat needs a looking at
hitboxes are wildly inaccurate at times ive had mobs swing 2-3 feet away from me and whoopsie doo there goes 40% of your hp....
overall i like that its hard but if its gonna be this hard they need to tighten up the hit boxes
that and the whole lol you tried to parry goodbye to 50% of your stamina? tf is that tho

[Battury]

Originally posted by AH-1 Cobra:

Does the game offer the player a way to analyze the enemy's strength before directly engaging them?

Not at this time, no.