First playthrough on Hardcore - looking for tips

[SwampDragon]

I am hoping that someone out there can give me a few tips concerning Hardcore mode?

I lose interest in games very quickly if they are not challenging, so Hardcore is the only option for me. I very much don't want to play the game on normal difficulty first because that will lessen the experience of my 'proper' playthrough. However, I am finding out that Hardcore mode requires you to know things that you could only know from playing Normal first?

1) No quest/map markers is absolutely fine (and how it should be) for me. But in some cases it is NOT obvious where you are supposed to go. For example: I was stuck in Henry's dream sequence for over an hour with no hint where I should be, and no map. How did you resolve this?

2) Combat. I have no idea where the window of opportunty for blocking is. I am not long after the point in the story where you bury your parents, so it's possible I will get a 'tutorial' on it yet, but as it stands I am struggling. If I am supposed to know that already, could you please offer some tips? Also, when is my stamina fully recharged - when he stops his laboured breathing?

Are there any other tips you can offer concerning a first run on Hardcore, things that I should know; etc?

(PS. Holy♥♥♥♥♥♥this game has a lot of bugs!)

[lamacra]

Playing on hardcore without a first run on normal must be a nightmare.
I dont think that you will play it throug because without a normal run you simple dont know the locations, must be impossible to find. I playy on hardcore too but i know where most things are located because of my first run. Same for the combat and stamina. you should play it on normal for a while to learn the moments when you can block for example. i have a feeling when i have to do the perfect block. but i have this because i did a lot of fighting in normal mode in the past.

You should at least play on normal untill you are done with the fighting training with bernard.
It will help you so much to get a feeling for blocking, your stamina ... in hardcore mode later.

[SwampDragon]

I wouldn't say it has been a nightmare other than the bloody dream sequence. I am good with video-game-map-reading, and the in game Sun does appear to rise and set correctly. I haven't got completely lost yet. When fleeing the first town Henry 'speaks to himself' and directed me down the road that follows the river. I was hoping the game will always give you a hint like this. Finding where I was in the south (once waking up) was fairly easy because I could see the big city up on the bluff, and worked out I was west of it because of the sun/time of day.

Could you briefly try and explain that window of blocking and what a perfect block is? I come from a Mount and Blade background and it is proving not very helpful - this game being both similar and completely different at the same time. I reallyt don't want to start another playthrough because there's a fair amount of slog to get to a point where I can practice combat.

[SwampDragon]

Oh, and another thing: Is picking locks actually necassary in this game, or is good loot obtainable in other ways? I say this because shaking hands 'perk' is making lockpicking a nightmare!

[lamacra]

Well if you dont know what a perfect block or a riposte is this means you didn´t do the fighting training with bernard yet. You need this trainig because without it Henry cant do those blocks and ripostes anyway. So just like you Henry has to learn them first. look for bernard to get your fighting training this will HELP a lot to get a feeling for combat. he will teach you the perfect moments even in slow motion at the beginning so you get a feeling for blocking... the quest will unlock the moment after you visited sir ratzig in rattay.

[SwampDragon]

Aha! So I can't block because he can't block.. That explains much. Am I close to Bernard? I am currently in Skalitz (Edit: I meant Rattay). I will see if I can work it out on Hardcore. If not I will restart on normal as you say.

Ah never mind, just read your edit.

Also, thanks for your replies!

[Uldra]

I played over 100 hours in hardcore mode and will never play normal again. With that being said, I would play at least 20 hours of normal just so you get familiar with the game before going into hardcore.

Combat:

Perfect block:
A perfect block is performed if you press q right when the opponent gets ready to swing at you. You have to look at your enemy, there are no Indicators at hardcore. Train with Captain Bernart for 1 hour minimum after the tutorial.

Stamina in combat:
Think of stamina as your Shield, if you get hit or block you loose stamina. Once you have no Stamina you loose health.
Meaning if you keep attacking someone & your out of stamina, he hits you with 1 combo and your dead.
Same counts the other way around, if someone hits you and you perfect block (costs 0 stamina) you can tire him out and then chain strike him to death.


Utilities you have in combat:
- Feint (act like you slash from above but then turn the sword to the side in the last moment)
- dodge with A,S,D depending where you want to go
- Shift - W,A,S,D to break combat / switch target, get away to find a better position.
- several combos
- Chain strike

Bonus tips:
1) If you see your opponent struggle blocking your blows it means he is out of stamina, even if you are at 0 stamina, keep hitting him, don't let him recover.
2) You hit where ever he does not hold sword. For example if he holds his sword down left, feint above, hit right.

Combat takes a lot of praktice, not only for Henry but also for the player. Henry gets stronger over time and combat is more forgiving. If you have some combos memorized and can work them into your rotation ( find the right moment to use it) combat becomes a fluent motion.

How to Navigate:
There are a lot of landmarks in the game that help you navigate. I basically never look at the map.

[edit] Lockpicking:
If you choose not to learn lockpicking you miss out on a lot of free gear & Gold.
It's pretty easy once you figure out how to do it. Like everything in the game, it takes praktice.


Bow:
If you shoot the bow, you want to aim the tip of your arrow at the bottom left corner where you want to hit it. Again, praktice at the archery range after your done with the Bernard tutorial.


As for the blood dream, all you had to do was defend your parents till you get killed by cumans. Don't really see why you had so many issues with that.




Hope it helps

[SwampDragon]

"As for the blood dream, all you had to do was defend your parents till you get killed by cumans. Don't really see why you had so many issues with that. "

I killed the spectral guards straight away, and then nothing... I just had to wonder around until I randomly stumbled in to a waypoint, at which point I woke up.

Thanks for that info, it was very informative. I just completed my combat training with Bernard so much of what I said in my original question is now moot, but what you said is still helpful.

Even on Hardcore a tooltip came up in the bottom right corner during training to indicate the exact window of opportunty for block/riposte. Bernard also covered the rest of combat - fients, dodges etc. I really think this is doable on Hardcore now, the training was all I needed. It was really well designed actually!

[lamacra]

Good to see that you found sir bernard. Just out of interesst did you win the fight against Hans Capon? because i failed in my first play trough. now its of course easy for me even on hardcore.

[SwampDragon]

I won the archery, but failed the sword fight - but only just I felt. Bernard said not to worry because if I had won he would have thrown a tantrum, so I didn't worry too much. :D

[Uldra]

Glad I could help, I would still train with Bernard even after the innital training. It will cut out a lot of frustration later on. Remember unlike other games, you're not a hero.

I think hats what throws most people off. They think they can kill a dragon or a group of 5 bandits after 3 hours into the game without any issues.

[SwampDragon]

No, I am not one of those people. Those games bore me. Skyrim bored me (sorry). I just wanted to know if I was missing something important. I love that Henry is bloody hopeless. :D

[lamacra]

Well good to see that i´m not the only one who got a a§§ whipping in the sword fight against capon in my first try. :)
For skyrim it also bored me untill i found new ways to entertain me.
For example i set me the goal to build my own house only with things i stole from other people and from people that i murder ;) So no looting of npc or anything as long its not totally criminal. Was fun.

[SwampDragon]

I am on a hunting trip with Capon now, and he seems to be much less of an arse. I wonder if it's the same if you beat him?

I gave up on Skyrim the moment I killed a dragon with one half-arsed hit. It was far too easy to level my smithing (or something like that - too long ago now). I also hated the more casual elements, like fast travel, I am more a Morrowind fanboy tbh.

[lamacra]

Originally posted by Wolf:

I am on a hunting trip with Capon now, and he seems to be much less of an arse. I wonder if it's the same if you beat him?

I gave up on Skyrim the moment I killed a dragon with one half-arsed hit. It was far too easy to level my smithing (or something like that - too long ago now). I also hated the more casual elements, like fast travel, I am more a Morrowind fanboy tbh.

Yeah its allways the same with capon. beating him or loosing this fight has no impact on the story (as said i did both), btw i dont want to spoil but if you ever meet a priest (and you will :) Drink with him! its hillarious. the quest can be done in a different way too but believe me you dont want to miss this.
btw i soon started to play skyrim without dragons at all :)
When you don´t fight the first dragon the main quest will never start this means NO dragons at all in the whole game.

[SwampDragon]

Ok, noted. Thank you. Haha!