How is the combat in KCD2?

[Ref]

I played KCD multiple times, including hardcore with all perks. I am still trying to decide if this game is worth it in it's current state. Combat looks simplified in several ways. Appears no maces or axes have stab options like some did in the first game, and some of the animations look disappointing. For instance, I saw gameplay of someone inflicting damage with a strike to the helmet with a longsword and it drew blood instead of sparking. It also appears like they "fixed" combat with multiple enemies by making it to where they stand back and attack one at a time like an old Assassin's Creed game. Does the AI at least try to encircle you and attack from multiple angles? The first game was not perfect by any means, and the 1-on-1 combat was trivialized with master strikes, but is KCD2's combat as rewarding/punishing? Looks kind of simplified and less dangerous, like a hack-n-slash game.

[Amene]

The whole "masterstrike needs skill" now is - to be fair - mountains out of molehills. Yes it needs a tiny bit more effort from the player, the end effect remains the same. And it's pretty banal to do.

Overall KCD2 suffers from the same issues that KCD1 did - everything becomes far too easy too fast, unless you speed through the main quest and do nothing else.

Enemies though do encircle you. And supports (bows, crossbows) do stand in the distance and keep shooting at you.

Either way, the game _desperately_ needs "hardcore" mode asap.

[Ref]

Originally posted by Amene:

The whole "masterstrike needs skill" now is - to be fair - mountains out of molehills. Yes it needs a tiny bit more effort from the player, the end effect remains the same. And it's pretty banal to do.

Overall KCD2 suffers from the same issues that KCD1 did - everything becomes far too easy too fast, unless you speed through the main quest and do nothing else.

Enemies though do encircle you. And supports (bows, crossbows) do stand in the distance and keep shooting at you.

Either way, the game _desperately_ needs "hardcore" mode asap.

I hadn't heard that it takes skill now, that is a positive in my book. Are longswords blatantly the best weapons in the game due to masterstrikes or do the other weapon types have overwhelming positives as well? I will wait on a sale at this point either way.

[-=Prepper_Jack=-]

Originally posted by Ref:

Originally posted by Amene:

The whole "masterstrike needs skill" now is - to be fair - mountains out of molehills. Yes it needs a tiny bit more effort from the player, the end effect remains the same. And it's pretty banal to do.

Overall KCD2 suffers from the same issues that KCD1 did - everything becomes far too easy too fast, unless you speed through the main quest and do nothing else.

Enemies though do encircle you. And supports (bows, crossbows) do stand in the distance and keep shooting at you.

Either way, the game _desperately_ needs "hardcore" mode asap.

I hadn't heard that it takes skill now, that is a positive in my book. Are longswords blatantly the best weapons in the game due to masterstrikes or do the other weapon types have overwhelming positives as well? I will wait on a sale at this point either way.

Yeah, I find the combat more fluid and dynamic overall over KCD. It's no longer a 1 button smashfest, waiting for that green shield to appear. There's a lot to enjoy in this regard, though I admit I've just been using top tier poison on everyone, just to get through encounters expediently. Sometimes enemies have this issue where they SHOULD be dead, but are just wandering around, attacking without any health or running away, seemingly invulnerable to everything.

So, yeah, perhaps wait for it to go on sale, when it's a bit more polished.

[Korva]

Originally posted by Amene:

The whole "masterstrike needs skill" now is - to be fair - mountains out of molehills. Yes it needs a tiny bit more effort from the player, the end effect remains the same. And it's pretty banal to do.

Overall KCD2 suffers from the same issues that KCD1 did - everything becomes far too easy too fast, unless you speed through the main quest and do nothing else.

Enemies though do encircle you. And supports (bows, crossbows) do stand in the distance and keep shooting at you.

Either way, the game _desperately_ needs "hardcore" mode asap.

You can install various mods to make game harder and using master strike is not required, just dont use it if you think its too OP.

[Foxrun]

Great but it does get quite a bit easier later on

[cifrelettere]

Combat is frustrating due to weird input timings/lag at low levels and completely trivial at high levels as you just start 1-shotting nearly everyone. All in all, it still sucks.

[Ref]

Originally posted by Korva:

Originally posted by Amene:

The whole "masterstrike needs skill" now is - to be fair - mountains out of molehills. Yes it needs a tiny bit more effort from the player, the end effect remains the same. And it's pretty banal to do.

Overall KCD2 suffers from the same issues that KCD1 did - everything becomes far too easy too fast, unless you speed through the main quest and do nothing else.

Enemies though do encircle you. And supports (bows, crossbows) do stand in the distance and keep shooting at you.

Either way, the game _desperately_ needs "hardcore" mode asap.

You can install various mods to make game harder and using master strike is not required, just dont use it if you think its too OP.

I wouldn't purposefully avoid a mechanic because it is OP. I just hope other weapons have their uses as well. I don't really care about innate difficulty if it is satisfying to win and improve. Honestly masterstrike only being for swords makes sense. I am pretty sure all of those moves come from fencing/swordfighting manuals anyhow. Some of the masterstrikes being done with maces/axes made no sense in the first game, although my knowledge on real fighting methods of the era is very limited. I guess what I am saying is, are there times when using swords feels useless against heavily armored opponents like it did in the first game? I felt that was very realistic and felt cool to go into a particular fight with a mace because you know there will be alot of armor.

Also, what difficulty mods are you referring to? I am interested.

[Ersh]

It's better - both from controls - now it's not 5 directions + thrust, but 3 directions + thrust. But still - combos are made for the controller, not kb + mouse.
If you want to make your life hard - do not use heavy armour at all (there are some perks for that btw), enemies will be able to kill you in ~3 strikes, and the life will be hard.