Why do the game mechanics suck so much?

[Boo Seta]

I understand developers tryed to make the game difficult by putting some awful mechanics in the game, but they just ended up making the game clunky, unrewarding and unplayable in the end for me. Combat mechanics is terrible, with every weapon, but specially with the bow. It's not a simulator of the difficulty of trying to learn how to handle weapons, it's just bad design. The game doesn't give you the feeling that you're mastering a skill as you advance in levels, I just feel that mechanics suck less, are less clunky, but are still awful. The mini-game mechanics are terrible too, to the point that I had to install a mod to remove the lockpicking mechanics entirely from the game, which ruined my lockpicking experience. Driving your horse feels awkward, its mechanics is terribly designed too. Running, interacting with objects, preparing food, everything feels weird. I can't think of a single game mechanic that was right. I tryed using countless cheats and mods to remove or to balance the game mechanics, but you just can't fix what's broken by design. Overall, the game mechanics ruined the game for me, to the point that I stopped playing. And that's a shame, because in every other aspect, the game is excelent and I'd have loved to play it till the end, but I couldn't endure its mechanics.

[vine]

i read 3 lines and im fine, don't need to know the rest. i know you are wrong. i am one of the examples of opposite to your opinion. TLDR KCD is the best RPG of decade 2010-2020.

[westrud]

I did read everything and have to disagree, the horse riding is enjoyable, the lock picking minigame is fun, the potion making is amazing, love that mechanic, and combat skills felt more rewarding as I improved them more then any other game I have played. I feel like the combat in game made me improve my own skill, which is very rare these days, while also getting better as the in game skills went up. I enjoy the fact that I have to strategize every combat, because every opponent is dangerous, and more than one opponent is very dangerous. There are no trash mobs in this game. The bow in particular really gave a sense of getting better the more I practiced.

[Mr.Damm]

This game has the best lockpicking; not because of the mini-game itself is innovative, but the fact there's actual risk involved. It makes noise, people might see you, so you want to do it fast, but if you snap a pick you'll alert people. Other games just freeze time while you lockpick and there's no risk involved.

Potion making is awesome, no question about it. It doesn't take long to hit level 10 utilizing skills books / trainers, then you can auto-brew to reduce tedium, but you still have to brew each potion at least once. It's very zen.

The 1v1 combat is amazing once you play it properly. Having your own skill improve as Henry's does is very rewarding. I can routinely pull off combos against high level enemies now that I understand the combat better. Group combat is kinda lame, I must admit, as it just devolves into endless back-pedaling while waiting for a master strike opportunity.

The only real combat changes I'd like to see are making combos better and preventing clinch/master-strike spam. I only go for combos for "style" points, and the animations are awesome, but they don't really do much for how difficult they are to pull off (some exceptions, like Run Through or Scar makers are pretty easy to do and give you nice openings). And I have to use self-discipline to not just spam clinches or master-strikes to win.

[Valden21]

KC:D is one of those games that requires skill of both the character AND the player. You gotta practice, you gotta learn, and you HAVE to put in the effort. If you can't do that, you won't learn how the mechanics work. It's just that simple. The early game is the hardest part, but if you can put in the time and effort to learn, victory will be yours. Everyone playing the game for the first time goes through this, so it's not just you, OP. Learn, or don't learn; It's your choice. That's all there is to it.

[noxteryn]

Lockpicking was my favourite mechanic in the game. Combat was my second favourite.

It's okay if you don't like it. There are plenty of mods out there you can use to enhance your experience.

By the way, this isn't the only game with this gameplay style. Red Dead Redemption 2 is very similar to this. I understand that some people may see it as "clunky", but I see it as realistic and slow-paced.

[DargonBlak]

Originally posted by Boo Seta:

...developers tryed to make the game difficult by putting some awful mechanics in the game,...

i disagreed with this so badly that i didn't read any more.

you imply a "hey.. let's make the game suck on purpose" which can never be attributed to respected developers. You're just plain wrong.

but, i do agree the combat is clunky (and janky, awkward, etc).

the devs reportedly wanted to improve immersion by having the melee combat actions match modern versions of actual (RL) weapon melee fighting (it's a thing). they fell short, imo.

and, as far as this statement goes,
"Why do the game mechanics suck so much?"

i ask why do folks suck (so much) at the game mechanics ? They are simplistic.

[Raï 𓆣]

I think I like the combat so far, even though it's quite difficult right now - it's a skill I'd love to learn to improve upon as a player and a character. It makes sense and I do feel as though I'm improving. I can't really shoot anything with a bow and it was kind of funny that Hans didn't manage either ;)

It's the invisible walls for me that really drive me up the proverbial wall sometimes. You're running from foes and they're fast! And you think you can pass through or by something but you can't? You're not allowed to do it, because they want to railroad you into taking a certain path perhaps? It's gotten me killed more often than I'd like to admit. The queues regarding what's passable or not are not very good.

I'm also very confused when it says I can knock out an enemy, but nothing happens? I sometimes don't even know if that's intentional or if the game is bugged out - bugs happen often too. Like I didn't even get to practice archery and immediately failed - I hadn't drawn my bow even. I just wanted to have a look at those arm bracers and tried to open inventory to equip them.

Anyway, love the game as a concept though. I really enjoy reading all of the codex entries and find the story with Sigismund invading thrilling. I really like the medieval setting and visiting the churches and castles. It's very immersive and very informative. More games should have this educational component to them, it's great!

[xShapelessx]

The combat is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ amazing

[stmpunk]

Originally posted by Boo Seta:

I understand developers tryed to make the game difficult by putting some awful mechanics in the game, but they just ended up making the game clunky, unrewarding and unplayable in the end for me. Combat mechanics is terrible, with every weapon, but specially with the bow. It's not a simulator of the difficulty of trying to learn how to handle weapons, it's just bad design. The game doesn't give you the feeling that you're mastering a skill as you advance in levels, I just feel that mechanics suck less, are less clunky, but are still awful. The mini-game mechanics are terrible too, to the point that I had to install a mod to remove the lockpicking mechanics entirely from the game, which ruined my lockpicking experience. Driving your horse feels awkward, its mechanics is terribly designed too. Running, interacting with objects, preparing food, everything feels weird. I can't think of a single game mechanic that was right. I tryed using countless cheats and mods to remove or to balance the game mechanics, but you just can't fix what's broken by design. Overall, the game mechanics ruined the game for me, to the point that I stopped playing. And that's a shame, because in every other aspect, the game is excelent and I'd have loved to play it till the end, but I couldn't endure its mechanics.

it's awkward, but hardly "difficult"... All you have to do is "get used to it". Most of the mechanics are very out of the norm, and as such the controls HAD to be out of the norm... If you expect to ride a bike with expertise on the first go, you'll end up cracking your skull....
Just "train" a bit, take your time, and tone down the difficulty settings until you get the hang of it... hardest diff I can breeze through 5 men camps naked and laughing...

PS: We're not supposed to do any fighting until the Tutorial is over - yes, it's a bummer, but it is intended - if that was your take on the game, you're being silly.

[Griswold]

Originally posted by stmpunk:

Originally posted by Boo Seta:

I understand developers tryed to make the game difficult by putting some awful mechanics in the game, but they just ended up making the game clunky, unrewarding and unplayable in the end for me. Combat mechanics is terrible, with every weapon, but specially with the bow. It's not a simulator of the difficulty of trying to learn how to handle weapons, it's just bad design. The game doesn't give you the feeling that you're mastering a skill as you advance in levels, I just feel that mechanics suck less, are less clunky, but are still awful. The mini-game mechanics are terrible too, to the point that I had to install a mod to remove the lockpicking mechanics entirely from the game, which ruined my lockpicking experience. Driving your horse feels awkward, its mechanics is terribly designed too. Running, interacting with objects, preparing food, everything feels weird. I can't think of a single game mechanic that was right. I tryed using countless cheats and mods to remove or to balance the game mechanics, but you just can't fix what's broken by design. Overall, the game mechanics ruined the game for me, to the point that I stopped playing. And that's a shame, because in every other aspect, the game is excelent and I'd have loved to play it till the end, but I couldn't endure its mechanics.

it's awkward, but hardly "difficult"... All you have to do is "get used to it". Most of the mechanics are very out of the norm, and as such the controls HAD to be out of the norm... If you expect to ride a bike with expertise on the first go, you'll end up cracking your skull....
Just "train" a bit, take your time, and tone down the difficulty settings until you get the hang of it... hardest diff I can breeze through 5 men camps naked and laughing...

PS: We're not supposed to do any fighting until the Tutorial is over - yes, it's a bummer, but it is intended - if that was your take on the game, you're being silly.

Falling off your horse for no reason after running passed enemies and not even getting swung on takes a lot of getting used to.

Hits not connecting despite literally watching a mace pass through your characters face takes getting used to.

Coming onto skirmishes and them not fighting each other and instead fighting the player takes getting used to.

Let's cut the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ my guy. Game's combat is ass. Everything else is top notch.

[vine]

Originally posted by Ascetian Griswold:

Originally posted by stmpunk:

snip

just 1 point - what horse throws you off? Pebbles? don't blame him. he's scaredy cowardly horse

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Don't criticize the obviously garbage combat system or you'll make them reeeee. For those of you reeee'ing right now, just because you can learn to win fights doesn't make it a good combat system.

[Bodean Abernathy II]

Sorry you think that. That's the game and it seems it's not for you so hopefully you can get a refund. The only real issue for this game are the BUGS everywhere and the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ DLC's.

[Heavy]

look up on nexus. immersive compilation. improves combat mechanics to actually be good and fair all game long and also other qol fixes

[wjpower2003]

Originally posted by Ascetian Griswold:

Falling off your horse for no reason after running passed enemies and not even getting swung on takes a lot of getting used to.

More detail would be needed for this but I imagine if you were thrown from your horse (rather than dragged from it) then it's probably because you were on a horse with low courage, the horse got spooked by the bandits, threw you and then legged it.

Ideally you need to get a horse with high courage as soon as you can afford one. My 2 favourites are Bucephalus and Warhorse Jenda as they also have high carrying capacity for carrying away loot.