are you "supposed" to beat severin in the prologue?

[Icedfate]

I'm talking about in the very beginning when you see him and he's training his men and he offers to spar with you for "training purposes"

I mean, i've done it before. after like 100 reloads.

i'm just wondering if you are "meant" to beat him. you start off with no skills except holding the block button and attacking while he has kicks, ripostes, spinning backswings, 7-8 hit combos, and knocks you out in 4 hits while it takes you like 30 hits to knock him down.

did the devs mean for this "training" fight to be this trollish?
is it like a joke, like that first time you get pk'ed in an mmo by a veteran, like to knock you down a peg and teach how "harcore" this game is?

I'm just wondering what were they thinking? wht was the philosophy behind it?

[Icedfate]

I mean, you beat him, and you get nothing for it anyway and then he just offers to fight you again so what's the point?

[Duchess of Kvetch]

I think it's meant to drive home how the PC (from the first Risen) has sunk rather low due to being a drunkard and layabout. Some people do manage to beat him, but in general, you're not supposed to. You do come back to that area much later and things are vastly different.

With this game, there is little point beating your head against walls - and no level scaling - so if something is rough, come back and do it later. All the Gothics and Risens have this mindset, to a degree... I don't see it as hardcore, it's just not what folks used to modern rpg's are used to anymore. We see "open world" and we are used to behind the scenes level scaling. In German/Eastern European games, they use monster/mob levels to guide your progression.

Also, here is very little respawning. You just get stronger and stronger and can take on more of the creatures you meet as you play - eventually "clearing" areas. It's a different playstyle for sure, but if you grew up in pre-Oblivion days it feels rather natural, I guess.

[Duchess of Kvetch]

Also as a note, you rarely kill humans, just beat them up. Same goes for when they attack you - unless we are dealing with actual threats and enemies. Something else that's unique - non-lethal dueling is pretty common. Fits into the pirate theme but it's also a traditional tactic of European RPG's, people aren't killed unless they are trying to kill you first. But everyone loves a fight, regardless. ^_^ The Witcher series even has vestiges of this in their numerous brawling minigames.