Orcs refuse to die: cannot complete quests in Reddock

[alexeivd]

Situations was okay in 1.69 Steam version. After switching to 1.75 either steam branch or community patch (incl.update, but no mods) orcs just do not die. WTH!? and vise versa, cannot free Kliff as Topork dies instantaneously.
Orc's over-head sign is orange, changes to white when orc's HP low. Only once sign became red, but hero didn't survived that case. Whats wrong and how to anger these mobs?

Tried several times, beginning the quest from the start.

[kris.aalst]

You need to perform a killing blow when an NPC (that isn't 'red' to start with) is down to actually kill them. This has always been the case, no matter the version, and was even the case in G1 & G2. I don't remember exactly what button(s) to press, but I do remember I used to press and hold both mouse buttons down for several seconds while standing very close to a downed orc (making sure you have him targeted), which did the trick.

[alexeivd]

thanks, will try. The problem is that the targeting focus disappears when orc falls.

UPD: Thanks a lot! it worked! just needed to hold 2nd attack for few secs.
Ranged bow attacks didn't work: arrows hit them for no DMG.

[Darth Revan]

Originally posted by alexeivd:

thanks, will try. The problem is that the targeting focus disappears when orc falls.

the targeting focus should come back if you hold the right mouse button, if not then you can kill a low health orc with a bow, range weapons and magic kills everytime, both never just knock npcs out. (Except if you use a spell which is made for that)

if the orcs names dont turn red by the 1st time try to kill some more.

[Carinth]

Shooting them with a ranged weapon will kill them (like Legatus said), not requiring a killing move. But if you are having trouble check 17:20 of this vid and it goes through the sword attacks
https://youtu.be/y86YITucDW8

[Elondrius]

Another little detail is that if you attack them with ranged or magic at some point (pulling, for example) and finish them off with melee, the finisher isn't necessary as they'll die instantly.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

It's possibly the biggest pitfall in this game - since beginners of the game didn't have to use the finishing move against the orcs in Ardea.