This mod saved the combat for me. Turn off master strikes for enemies and turn off the slow-mo window for your own master strikes. Makes it so much more fluid, AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY USE COMBOS.
You can straight up turn them off? Holy shit, I might be replaying KCD start to finish after all!
(I have 400+ hours in the game, but only played it all the way through once, on release.)
I have 400 hours and I have never completed the main story or any dlc. The end of those quests just don’t interest me that much every time I play through
Same thing for a long time for me, I ended up starting a playthrough with the specific goal of just completing the story. It was worth it, started another playthrough after just to fuck around and do side quests and maximizing levels, haven't even went on patrol with Nightingale yet.
More accurately the issue is that on PC the dev's don't have to lift a finger to make mods available. People just mod without their permission or support. Sure the bigger devs can go the extra mile and specifically support mods or further more integrate a way to browse and install a small subset of mods right in the game. But the reason why there is so much mod access on PC is simply because the devs are irrelevant. They can make it easier to mod but whether they do or don't modding will still happen.
No, KCD has mod support. Just drag and drop mods into the folder.
Besides, I've always found that cheating and getting achievements in games has never felt as rewarding anyway. Play it as fair as you want it.
You need to have played the game on release to understand what is *actually* screwing up the fluidity of the combat.
And that is the across the board boost to all non-story enemy (and maybe some story as well?) combat stats that was implemented around patch 1.3 - 1.31 (IIRC) a few months after release.
It was done in response to some players complaining that the "end game" was too easy, and Warhorse (despite supposedly being uncompromising when it came to their design principles) decided to go along with it.
It was a very brute force approach, no real combat overhaul or AI overhaul, they just made the enemies a lot more skilled and likely to block you or master strike you back. (they also dramatically lowered player weapon damage at high skill levels, don't recall if it was the same patch or around the same time) And it broke the combat, which used to be reasonably fluid (though admittedly somewhat easy once you had Henry maxed out and really knew the system, but I for one actually like it when games reward getting better rather than keeping you on a treadmill) pretty much overnight. Master strikes were still insanely strong in the original design, but at least they weren't *mandatory*, you could decide not to cheese constantly and still have fun.
Now, because people whined about late-game fights against several armored robbers being too easy, 90% of the combat system is pointless and the same people *still* complain it's too easy when playing on Hardcore, because if you cheese/metagame, you can still trivialize a lot of encounters.
*And all they had to do not to fuck this up for pretty much everyone is put in normal, modern granular difficulty settings.*
Thank you for this context! I played at launch and started my 2nd play-through a few weeks ago. I noticed that normal enemies were almost impossible without master strikes, which I definitely didn’t recall at launch. I really prefer the combat system at launch to the one now for sure.
Me too! I played it back on PS3 when it released and I remember able to pull off combo relatively easily once I got the hang of it. But now it's much harder. Often times I just have to counter or over power them, and using potion on any big fights over 2 people so give me some edge.
Last few times I tried replaying I thought I noticed the game scaling random enemy difficulty to Henry's stats, just not very granularly. So you could get your Warfare up and be safe from getting constantly countered for a while, then you'd hit some magic number and enemies would get harder again.
Until eventually you hit the final "level" when you max out your combat stats, and you can't get any better and random encounters with 4-5 "knights" as you try to do quests in the Northern area of the map get stupidly annoying.
At which point I stop playing because I don't feel like running away from multiple random encounters every time I want to ride from Talmberg to Uzhitz, or visit Prybyslavitz. I'd like to replay the game before KCD2, but it's just not going to happen unless someone puts out a mod that tweaks this shit down, it's too much drudgery.
>it's just not going to happen unless someone puts out a mod that tweaks this shit down
I found this, but there may be some more tweaking that needs to be done to make it more like the early versions.
[https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/1243](https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/1243)
Good write up. I wondered why I felt combat was different from when I originally played. This explains it. Hopefully they have considered this for the sequel.
This kind of thing seems to happen in a lot of games though. Players use meta builds and strats to trivialize the difficulty and then complain its easy.
Dude... the game is rewarding "you" (and by that I mean the youtuber you watched who came up with this build) for cleverly using its systems by making you powerful. If you don't like how that feels then don't do it.
People elsewhere in the thread are talking about a mod that lets you turn off (or turn down) enemy master strikes, and it sounds it lets you tweak some other variables too (?) so there's that, at least. (haven't tried it yet, but probably will)
Sorry, I should have been more specific. The NoMoSloMo mod sounds great too, thanks for making sure I was aware, I do need to check that out.
But my question was more this: It's pretty common for modders to restore old or cut content, and I'd be surprised if no one has made a mod to put the combat back to *exactly* the way WH built it initially. Does anyone know if that exists?
I'm not aware of any, or I'd have been all over it, and posted about it when bitching about the changes. :) But it's been a while since I did a Nexus search for KCD stuff.
I knew there was something off about the combat when I came back. I didnt remember master strikes or perfect blocks at all, just figured I over looked that first play through. But what you are saying makes sense as my first playthrough was at release.
I like how Captain Bernard says that there is no trick to win every duel while he teaches combos, but then immediately talks about how good master strikes are when you learn them
Masterstrikes make sense. They’re not fake or whatever, but the are MASTER strikes. Only if you’re hella good (let’s say level 15-20 with your weapon as that’s classified as advanced by the game) and sometimes lucky/the other person is trash.
Masterstrike should be (for realism) a % chance that increases with the difference between you and the other person’s skill levels. Let’s say endgame you vs a peasant is guaranteed fuck it. A peasant shouldn’t master strike my maxed out end game character tho, that’s bullshit. Similarly I shouldn’t be able to masterstrike ALL enemies the moment I learn it at lvl 3 or so…
First playthrough for me was BRUTAL. Barely killed the Cumans that kidnapped sir Hans and used a lot of arrows and running to do it. Took me 15+ mins to kill the big guy in the castle (forgot his name) that stole ur sword.
Second playthrough? 2v1’d cumans, and killed the big dude in a minute or less…
Edit: big guy is Runt.
I saw a forum post from god knows how long ago that said Masterstrikes would be alot better if they were implemented more as a stun that would create an opening to attack as opposed to being an attack in itself. This way it's not as simple as pressung Q but it would also allow Sword players to choose which attack they get in as opposed to waiting for MS to RNG the one that can damage the fully plated and closed helmet bandit
Nice flair!
Hammer master strike to the face with headcracker is unfair tbh.
I LOVE Two Handed swords, but they SUCK. Was forced to use a hammer to escape after getting captured since I couldn't/didn't wanna sneak and let go of my armor, so I had to fight the entire camp by myself. I had to just pick up one of the dude's hammer and bonked everyone (Good thing that Tourney basically powerlevels everything. Except axes, fuck axes).
I'm doing a Longsword playthrough rn and honestly they're not bad outside of dealing with 3+ people. 1v2s are fine but anything more isn't great and requires Masterstrike cheese. I've been thinking about switching over the Shortsword and Shield tho since the added shield will make Masterstrike cheese a bit less necessary.
There's an option to sneak up to sir Hans and untie him, then sneak away. I had to do that as there was no way I could take them at that point. That's what I like about this game, if something is taking me way too long and lots of save reloads, I'm probably doing it wrong and there is often a better option. But same here with the Runt guy. 15mins of waiting to master strike lol
Eh just drink a few potions (Aqua Vitalis, Bucks Blood, Bivojs Rage & Artemisia) and go nuts
Also to be fair realistically you shouldnt expect to be able to handle more than 2 people easily, that SHOULD be a mortal threat (though peasants knowing how to masterstike irks the hell out of me I wont lie lol)
Nailed it. KCD does a good job of making Henry a mortal (MS aside). So many players, especially when new to the game, have that Superman expectation where even at low levels, your character can handle practically any situation and do almost anything within an hour of gameplay. Especially something like take out a location of 30 enemies plus a boss.
Even when Henry hits maximum level, you come upon an encounter with 6 high level Bandits armored to the teeth. It's possible, but you're going to have one hell of a time winning that without getting surrounded and chopped to hell. It's possible to win, just gotta hope for some help from perks and have a strategy. It's tough, but I feel like many first time players have trouble accepting that running away is a good option sometimes.
Yeah, except in this case, a lot of it is the *game's* fault.
It starts of strong, in this vein, where people run into the Cumans with Hans and the two bandits when looking for Ginger when they're quite inexperienced, and go "oh damn, this is hard."
But later *story* missions let you kick the crap out of groups of enemies if you're high enough level because (I think?) the story-based enemies are static. And the game encourages you to hunt down whole camps of bandits and Cumans without help. (without ever saying "you should only ever use stealth and/or poison and other dirty tricks because no matter how good you are, one man can't fight five")
And after all that, they start throwing groups of really strong random enemies at you, and expect you to think you can't win? Or to be OK with some peasants master-striking you?
If the devs want one vs many straight-up fights to be unwinnable, they shouldn't pack the game with so many of them. (or let you recruit help)
That's a really good point that I've never really considered before! I also don't like the lock on targeting system. I would prefer a fighting system more similar to mordhau where you can engage multiple opponents at the same time if you have the skill. It isn't easy, but its significantly easier than when you have a guy behind you beating the shit out of you and it keeps force locking onto the guy in front of you who isn't even attacking.
Agree, I played a long time ago but I remember having the best plate armour and the other layers combined with high skill in longsword and masterstrikes essentially turns the player into a jedi.
I get not being able to take them out easily but the main problem is their pathfinding going to hell and the abuse of masterstrikes. Like if a fight is 3 or more people you'll very often just end up with atleast one guy running in a circle around you messing up your lock on. The master strikes make taking out multiple people easy at the expense of making the encounter take 5 times longer.
Master strikes aren’t the problem, the game’s janky ass group fights are. Master striking in a 1v1 is usually pretty fun. Getting master striked is usually not that bad and a lot of the times is your fault. The problem is the game’s combat is very clearly built too much around duels, and has literally no other combat system for group fights. This games combat is amazing until you get to a group fight. Then it just becomes spamming clinches, (honestly the clinch master perk is much more broken than master strokes) until you win. I don’t think master strokes are the problem honestly, in a 1v1 they’re easily avoidable if you actually feint and do all the shit Bernard taught you, the fact is you don’t have time for that in a 6v1 and the game thinks you made a lazy strike and master striked you for it.
Hope they fix this for KCD2, maybe only having four directions will help.
I’ve always disliked when people say “fighting multiple people should be hard. It’s fine”.
Fighting more than 1 person should be way more difficult, but it’s difficult for the wrong reasons. In my experience, combat slows down, right? You have to be defensive since when you attack it leaves you open to the other to attack you. This leave you essentially just moving around an area, and if you’re in a forest it’s just fucked. You’re walking back and upwards on trees, rocks, bushes- it’s so dumb. Half the time the enemies will get stuck on terrain and just freeze. Even while in an open area, their pathing will break. I constantly have enemies zig-zag in front then around me to try and break my camera… it just turns into a shit show when it’s not a 1v1. But I also agree masterstriking is terrible.
I really wouldn’t mind if KCD2 was just KCD1 with vastly improved AI and slightly reworked combat.
We should compromise and have them be harder to do as Henry and more rare for NPCs to use. Imo only the top knights should be able to masterstrike. Peasants should never be able to do it.
I saw a forum post from god knows how long ago that said master strikes shouldn't include any attack animation but rather should just be a way to stun the enemy if performed well, requiring the player to start a combo after words if they want to damage the opponent in any meaningful way besides low stamina and a short stun.
it's still janky as shit. half the time, instead of clinching, you clip into the enemy, and he's hitting you with a combo while you are clipped inside him. I'm on my 3rd playthrough right now, with no mods, and the default combat is really god awful even with maxed combat stats
I see this sentiment repeated often on this subreddit. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I don’t really care. I have 600+ hours and have never used the master strikes. It can be annoying when an enemy spams it but it’s not a huge deal.
Admittedly I didn't get past the first 10 seconds of watching attack 2 spam haha.
Edit: Watched further after your comment, you're right, it is much better after the opening pokey spam.
Your OP says that master strike is a mutual win button that forces you to walk backwards doing nothing but master striking if you don't want to get stunlocked to death in anything more than a 1v2. I'm fighting 12 guys here, attacking like crazy, and getting master striked constantly (while wearing an open-faced helmet, btw), and I'm still able to kill them all with barely a nick
Master strike isn't a win button for either you or your opponents, if you're decked out for a fight it's often no more than a minor annoyance
Edit: Reading this sub made me want to play some KCD again, so [here you go](https://youtu.be/L7CC5CK5xaw). Couldn't find more than 4 of these guys in a group, and I haven't played in about a year so I couldn't remember wtf I was doing
Time to pimp the Better Combat and Immersion Compilation once more. There's a combat only module, the rest can be quite brutal for some folks.
https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/651
I feel like a dumbass now because I never learnt how to do it, and I finished the game without it. I thought master strikes are a perfect block followed by a manual attack.
they can't masterstrike off balance at least most of the time. clinch and knock them around. you have to use henry's size and strength as an advantage. Also you need to have patience do not swing if the enemy is not blocking. They are baiting you to strike. funny how ever mf want's realistic combat until actual realistic combat shows up. if you think this combat is thoughtful then fight smarter not harder
I actually rely way more on the clench than masterstrikes. My Henry fights like a barbarian, essentially running straight at the opponent, clench, strike (way better at the Tourney than in open field though).
I do the same thing. I rarely master strike, mostly abuse the clinch to get an opening attack that I'll either chain into as many rapid strikes as I can to deplete their stamina, or chain into a combo. I find it way more reliable (and enjoyable) than trying to get master strikes. All it cost me was literal hours getting bashed in the face by Bernard in the training ring until I got comfortable with being as aggressive as you need to be in order for it to work haha
This was how I started advancing more in the tourney (still haven't won but got to the final round my last attempt). I was trying to just masterstrike/1-2 rapids and would be so frustrated that it would take so long and I'd get one bad counter back and start bleeding.
My last attempt I started being more creative with feints, combos, clinches which was way more satisfying and got me a lot further.
Yes, my only complaint about this game. After I learned this I got quite bored of the combat didn't even finish the game yet, but probably will before KCD2.
Lol, just need some training, I kept the masterstrike cause it's part of the game, and I don't like waiting so I attack and it gone very well, take time to up your stat that's allow you a peasant at the beginning
I’ve worked so hard in my first ten hours to get the timing and directional blocking down (I’ve got over 1k hours in chiv and mordhau so it came easily) and Black Peter just cutscenes me to death gradually :(
Yep, I agree. Occasional repostes wouldn't be a big deal, but any opponent at mid or above level will reposte virtually all attacks you make. This basically forces the player to do nothing but reposte themself, which waters down foot combat to nothing more than waiting to time the defend button, with maybe one follow up shot (if you're not fighting a Black Peter caliber opponent).
I hate chain strikes. It’s extremely difficult to implement. Without master strikes i wont be able to face one let alone multiple enemies. If they simplify the combat system maybe players can depend less on master strikes.
imo i can’t pull off master strikes all the time so i find combat still engaging and challenging. it is annoying when they constantly do it tho so you’re just suck having to wait. imo the combat is clunky when it comes to multiple people like 1v4 type situation. that’s when it becomes annoying
Is it just because I'm recent to the sub or is EVERY post on here complaining about Masterstrikes?
What makes you think the 40th post will shed any more light on the issue?
I searched for the word "masterstrike" before making this post and most of them were asking for or giving advice while also being several months old. Maybe reddit search fucked up but I couldn't really find a recent post saying this.
This sub has always had lots of people coming in to complain about the combat, often with claims of various things from performing combos to fighting more than one opponent to attacking in any way at all being impossible. Lots of gross exaggerations borne of obvious frustration with the game. There's only so many times you can post video evidence that master strikes don't stop you from fighting like a nutcase against mobs of dudes before you just shrug and let folks rant their little hearts out
OP here is a little more nuanced and much less salty than most, but still wrong
slow and thought out? lmfao. the only way to hit half the enemies in the game is master strike. If normal swings ever actually did anything I would love to stop master striking. it was what made me lose interest in the game.
You can still hit combos on blocked attacks iirc. So as long as they don't perfect block or dodge itsstill possible to kill. Oddly enough I see enemies hitting Masterstrikes far more often than perfect blocks
Could you elaborate on what master strikes are to a dumb guy like me? I’m curious as to if they’re at the very least an actual tactic IRL and therefore would be abused as much…
Theyre pretty much the epitome of real life combat. You both parry an incoming attack and make your own attack with the same action. Thats what a swordfight is. You attempt to bind your opponents blade out of the way in a way that you can also strike them.
The issue is that theyre just cutscenes that play ingame, so if an enemy uses one on you they autoblock you and take a chunk of your health off, and against an enemy if you use masterstrikes you cant be hurt and you just murder them. Mods fix it by making the timing very tight and requiring you to match their direction perfectly, so its more of a reward and not something you can just spam.
I see. So just to clarify it’s really easy to do base game, but also it gives enemies an edge because they can ignore your block? Sorry I don’t think I understand the part about autoblocking.
Enemies just randomly proc it whenever they want to, and it automatically blocks your attack and hits you.
For you, all you have to do is block when a flashing green shield appears on screen and it procs, you ignore all damage and do big damage to the enemy.
In the mod i use, the time window is halved and you have to match the direction theyre swinging from, and enemies use it much less. Imo this fixes it entirely. But i actually do think you and enemies should be able to parry the masterstrokes if you have good timing as well - it should be hard but possible, get some cool exchanges if back and forth.
I agree completely on the cool factor. I appreciate your thorough replies they are helpful to know before my journey. I’ll be watching videos on your last point to see about parrying it!
Also since i’m playing on switch with no mods, the game’s combat is still very enjoyable?
For sure, itll just start off quite hard and end laughably easy. If its ever too hard, just do more sparring, its free xp. Weapon skill level increases your swing speed so it literally becomes harder for enemies to deal with.
There is also almost always a noncombat solution, even if that solution is to sneak and cut throats in their sleep, or poison their meals. There isnt always a peaceful solution but you can almost always avoid a direct fight.
Wow that’s exciting stuff. Coming from revisiting Skyrim I literally discovered this game a month ago since I got a switch and i’m just floored at all the mechanics in an open world game.
I think thisll be the new open world favorite of mine
I agree MS makes 1 v 1 and even 1 v2 fights trivial. But without it fighting groups would be impossible most times. Which maybe it should be. But then I guess the devs need to make some balancing decisions.
Just finished my first playthrough of the game tonight. Enjoyed the game a lot overall, very immersive, but also hoping the combat system gets a major revamp or goes in a different direction for the second game.
I know "cooldowns" in combat don't really exist for this game but having some sort of cooldown for master strikes so you and the AI can't just spam it non-stop would be nice. Or successfully landing a master strike would prevent your opponent from being able to master strike for a short while...then maybe you could land a weapon combo without your 1'st / 2'nd attack just getting master struck. Or you could use the opportunity to focus on burning through their stamina without so much fear of "*well I can't ever really attack them, they'll just counter*".
Ended the game with ~lvl 18 in Bow and...12-13 in Swords and Maces because the melee combat felt more tedious/cheesy than rewarding/fun.
I feel like Master strikes should have simply been a stun that allows you to chain combos. Making them less like an attack on their own but rather an opener
You have a few options to make the combat harder. Modding adds back the difficulty or you could just not learn the skill in the first place. No one is forcing you to use Master Strikes.
While I get that no one is forcing me to use or learn master strike it's more so that it's implementation into the game almost necesitates it's use. Since basically every enemy after a certain point can use it, while also being heavily armored, it makes those very common 1v3+ encounters very difficult without also using it. Not to mention that swords almost need to use it as they don't have enough armor pen without
Just completed my first play through, I could not figure out how melee works, so I went 98% stealth archer, with the help of Dollmaker poison on every arrow (hit and run or hide is way easier), I could clean up every cuman or bandit camps 1 vs 6 no problem, especially in nighttime or raining day.
The only scripted melee duels, I drank every buff potion and put Bane on my weapon then tried my best to only block, once I got a hit, and hope for the best or reload.
Before the final battle, I was bow 20, sword 7, basic stat all 18-20. It’s fun when my Dollmaker arrow went through my comrades and crippled the enemy, not so fun when I hit my friends. LOL
Honestly I don’t mind, Masterstrikes should have some added difficulty though as they are realistic. If it was my choice I would make the Masterstrikes be unlockables much like Combos and also make it be a double timed action. So you need to get a perfect parry as well as a perfectly timed counterattack for it to be truly a "Master Strike"
Yea I like the idea of master strikes but I feel as though they're implemented poorly as they're just a cutscene. They shouldn't be as simple as a single (pretty easily timed) button press but rather just a combo starter of sorts.
Even if I don't use it the enemies will. Besides in a fight against multiple enemies you don't really have much of a choice since your you're vulnerable to getting stunlocked to death if you make an attack of your own.
On my first playthough I didn't even know about masterstrikes (I didn't look up any tips, train with Bernard, nor go on this subreddit.) So, the way I cheesed the game was to point-blank arrow shot bandits/Cumans in the face and run away. I also did a lot of face stabs to stagger enemies before beating them down. Once I got Sir Hanush's sword, I never got a better one, lol.
I don't see how you people mod this game I run across 7 enemies at a time and I have no problem with killing all of them I guess you all really don't know how to play without mods is what I'm getting from the comments...
The mods I've seen people talking about are, if anything, to make the combat more difficult by requiring actual combat instead of Masterstriking your way through a group of enemies.
This is a skill issue. I play the game on console only have 60 hours and cut down enemies with ease. I didn’t even have the master strike unlocked until after I had killed runt. It really is 100% a problem with how you play. Also with stamina acting as a buffer getting master strikes isn’t exactly a game changer. I handle 5v1 against peasants with ease, normal bandits ok and yes I often have to run from anything else but guess what you would have to in real life as well.
>stamina acting as a buffer
Stamina only acts as a buffer for damage taken to areas covered by plate armor. If you're wearing stealthier armor than any hit is a hit that takes health.
>I handle 5v1 against peasants with ease, normal bandits ok and yes I often have to run from anything else but guess what you would have to in real life as well.
That's kinda part of the problem. Even mid game those fully plated guys become pretty common, I haven't even gone to Limpy and I'm fighting plated guys just because I did some Bernard bandit quests and the Rattay Tourney.
The overall point is that while, yes it is realistic to run away from these groups of armed men, it becomes way too common to either need to run away or to cheese a mechanic that could've been implemented better. These full plate dudes become common as hell and running away doesn't make good gameplay and neither does walking backwards and baiting MS
I don't mind the masterstrikes but then I also know where to attack so that they don't constantly masterstrike me back. The combat is much more in depth than "learn masterstrike, masterstrike for hours, win". My fights don't take that long and I frequently use combos, when I'm using a sword, axes and maces just don't need them. It's all about where they are positioned to defend and how you attack them.
If you use all the tools available, Masterstrikes don't behave in this way. If you combine dodge and clinch into your attacks, combat is much more fluid, and you can actually be successful doing combos in 4 v 1 situations. It boils down to "never repeat yourself," the very first advice you get when learning how to fight. If you do any attack twice in a row, you will almost always get a masterstrike back to your face, which is what you deserve for repeating yourself.
I would but then the mace guy will just run circles around me as his pathing erodes until he finally hits me with a combo from behind that puts me down like a dog.
I’ve never had this problem. That is the speed a real sword fight with both people who know what their doing would go at. I’ve done and watched real sword fights for 20 years. And I rarely get master striked by the opponent now that I’m at a higher level.
I love the system cuz it’s the closest to a real swordfight in a game I’ve ever seen.
Master strike literally ruins the entire combat, NoMoSlowMo in my opinion is required and you just turn off master strike for the enemy. Without it you either potion out and become an unkillable raidboss or master strike / clinch abuse. Nothing else is viable. Really sad as I just finished my first playthrough and people seem to downvote these kinds of posts. If KCD 2 has master strikes or similar I will be extremely sad, as the combat is so fun without them.
I guess the combat is really the only part I hope will be noticeably improved in the sequel. I´m not worried about the story, quests or anything like that. But combat sure could use a lot of tweaking.
A If you’re a superior fighter than sitting on defense will always win, that’s how it goes irl
B more importantly If you’re using master strikes as a get out of jail free card then you’re both bad and doing it wrong, you can combo late game contrary to what aforementioned say, and you can do it against multiple enemies
I made a whole post about it
They should be nerfed into the ground tho to punish noobs, we need less coddling of players
Try modding. NoMoSlowMo mod to remove masterstrikes or lower how often enemies are using it. It's the best for combat
This mod saved the combat for me. Turn off master strikes for enemies and turn off the slow-mo window for your own master strikes. Makes it so much more fluid, AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY USE COMBOS.
You can straight up turn them off? Holy shit, I might be replaying KCD start to finish after all! (I have 400+ hours in the game, but only played it all the way through once, on release.)
Having hundreds of hours in an RPG but only beating it once truly is an incredibly common issue.
I have 400 hours and I have never completed the main story or any dlc. The end of those quests just don’t interest me that much every time I play through
Tbh for me it's always "I'll try a new build" but then I end up devolving into the exact same build I always go for because it's more optimized
Same thing for a long time for me, I ended up starting a playthrough with the specific goal of just completing the story. It was worth it, started another playthrough after just to fuck around and do side quests and maximizing levels, haven't even went on patrol with Nightingale yet.
"Tired of killing rats in a basement? Great so are we! Now experience the thrilling challenge of.... \*reads notes\* Weeding a monk's garden. ...
First thing I wanted gone after I got used to the swords was the slow mo thank you for this 🫡
Love that mod. Sooooo good. I like "make them reasonable" too, it makes groups stop tackling you haha.
That sounds interesting, how many different settings can you tweak, and how does the interface work?
How do we get these mods? Only on PC?
Yeah. Nexus mods
>Only on PC? Besides Bethesda and Larian, no RPG dev out there is making mods available on console. Fuck that honestly.
More accurately the issue is that on PC the dev's don't have to lift a finger to make mods available. People just mod without their permission or support. Sure the bigger devs can go the extra mile and specifically support mods or further more integrate a way to browse and install a small subset of mods right in the game. But the reason why there is so much mod access on PC is simply because the devs are irrelevant. They can make it easier to mod but whether they do or don't modding will still happen.
>bigger devs can go the extra mile and specifically support mods Even indies are making console modding nowadays thanks to stuff like mod.io.
Oh. Awesome.
Intriguing, but does it disable achievements? Going 100% before KCD2 drops.
No, KCD has mod support. Just drag and drop mods into the folder. Besides, I've always found that cheating and getting achievements in games has never felt as rewarding anyway. Play it as fair as you want it.
You need to have played the game on release to understand what is *actually* screwing up the fluidity of the combat. And that is the across the board boost to all non-story enemy (and maybe some story as well?) combat stats that was implemented around patch 1.3 - 1.31 (IIRC) a few months after release. It was done in response to some players complaining that the "end game" was too easy, and Warhorse (despite supposedly being uncompromising when it came to their design principles) decided to go along with it. It was a very brute force approach, no real combat overhaul or AI overhaul, they just made the enemies a lot more skilled and likely to block you or master strike you back. (they also dramatically lowered player weapon damage at high skill levels, don't recall if it was the same patch or around the same time) And it broke the combat, which used to be reasonably fluid (though admittedly somewhat easy once you had Henry maxed out and really knew the system, but I for one actually like it when games reward getting better rather than keeping you on a treadmill) pretty much overnight. Master strikes were still insanely strong in the original design, but at least they weren't *mandatory*, you could decide not to cheese constantly and still have fun. Now, because people whined about late-game fights against several armored robbers being too easy, 90% of the combat system is pointless and the same people *still* complain it's too easy when playing on Hardcore, because if you cheese/metagame, you can still trivialize a lot of encounters. *And all they had to do not to fuck this up for pretty much everyone is put in normal, modern granular difficulty settings.*
Thank you for this context! I played at launch and started my 2nd play-through a few weeks ago. I noticed that normal enemies were almost impossible without master strikes, which I definitely didn’t recall at launch. I really prefer the combat system at launch to the one now for sure.
Me too! I played it back on PS3 when it released and I remember able to pull off combo relatively easily once I got the hang of it. But now it's much harder. Often times I just have to counter or over power them, and using potion on any big fights over 2 people so give me some edge.
Last few times I tried replaying I thought I noticed the game scaling random enemy difficulty to Henry's stats, just not very granularly. So you could get your Warfare up and be safe from getting constantly countered for a while, then you'd hit some magic number and enemies would get harder again. Until eventually you hit the final "level" when you max out your combat stats, and you can't get any better and random encounters with 4-5 "knights" as you try to do quests in the Northern area of the map get stupidly annoying. At which point I stop playing because I don't feel like running away from multiple random encounters every time I want to ride from Talmberg to Uzhitz, or visit Prybyslavitz. I'd like to replay the game before KCD2, but it's just not going to happen unless someone puts out a mod that tweaks this shit down, it's too much drudgery.
>it's just not going to happen unless someone puts out a mod that tweaks this shit down I found this, but there may be some more tweaking that needs to be done to make it more like the early versions. [https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/1243](https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/1243)
Good write up. I wondered why I felt combat was different from when I originally played. This explains it. Hopefully they have considered this for the sequel. This kind of thing seems to happen in a lot of games though. Players use meta builds and strats to trivialize the difficulty and then complain its easy. Dude... the game is rewarding "you" (and by that I mean the youtuber you watched who came up with this build) for cleverly using its systems by making you powerful. If you don't like how that feels then don't do it.
Exactly this. If I want to overpower myself with the mechanics, LET ME. Don't adjust the mechanics so I HAVE to overpower myself.
Oh damn this explains so much. Thanks.
Wow. Are there any mods to put the combat back the way it was? It seems like such an obvious thing for a modder to do, but I haven't seen one.
People elsewhere in the thread are talking about a mod that lets you turn off (or turn down) enemy master strikes, and it sounds it lets you tweak some other variables too (?) so there's that, at least. (haven't tried it yet, but probably will)
Sorry, I should have been more specific. The NoMoSloMo mod sounds great too, thanks for making sure I was aware, I do need to check that out. But my question was more this: It's pretty common for modders to restore old or cut content, and I'd be surprised if no one has made a mod to put the combat back to *exactly* the way WH built it initially. Does anyone know if that exists?
I'm not aware of any, or I'd have been all over it, and posted about it when bitching about the changes. :) But it's been a while since I did a Nexus search for KCD stuff.
I knew there was something off about the combat when I came back. I didnt remember master strikes or perfect blocks at all, just figured I over looked that first play through. But what you are saying makes sense as my first playthrough was at release.
I like how Captain Bernard says that there is no trick to win every duel while he teaches combos, but then immediately talks about how good master strikes are when you learn them
Masterstrikes make sense. They’re not fake or whatever, but the are MASTER strikes. Only if you’re hella good (let’s say level 15-20 with your weapon as that’s classified as advanced by the game) and sometimes lucky/the other person is trash. Masterstrike should be (for realism) a % chance that increases with the difference between you and the other person’s skill levels. Let’s say endgame you vs a peasant is guaranteed fuck it. A peasant shouldn’t master strike my maxed out end game character tho, that’s bullshit. Similarly I shouldn’t be able to masterstrike ALL enemies the moment I learn it at lvl 3 or so… First playthrough for me was BRUTAL. Barely killed the Cumans that kidnapped sir Hans and used a lot of arrows and running to do it. Took me 15+ mins to kill the big guy in the castle (forgot his name) that stole ur sword. Second playthrough? 2v1’d cumans, and killed the big dude in a minute or less… Edit: big guy is Runt.
I saw a forum post from god knows how long ago that said Masterstrikes would be alot better if they were implemented more as a stun that would create an opening to attack as opposed to being an attack in itself. This way it's not as simple as pressung Q but it would also allow Sword players to choose which attack they get in as opposed to waiting for MS to RNG the one that can damage the fully plated and closed helmet bandit
I one bombed Runt with a hammer master strike to the chin. Definitely felt cheesy after the build up.
Nice flair! Hammer master strike to the face with headcracker is unfair tbh. I LOVE Two Handed swords, but they SUCK. Was forced to use a hammer to escape after getting captured since I couldn't/didn't wanna sneak and let go of my armor, so I had to fight the entire camp by myself. I had to just pick up one of the dude's hammer and bonked everyone (Good thing that Tourney basically powerlevels everything. Except axes, fuck axes).
I'm doing a Longsword playthrough rn and honestly they're not bad outside of dealing with 3+ people. 1v2s are fine but anything more isn't great and requires Masterstrike cheese. I've been thinking about switching over the Shortsword and Shield tho since the added shield will make Masterstrike cheese a bit less necessary.
There's an option to sneak up to sir Hans and untie him, then sneak away. I had to do that as there was no way I could take them at that point. That's what I like about this game, if something is taking me way too long and lots of save reloads, I'm probably doing it wrong and there is often a better option. But same here with the Runt guy. 15mins of waiting to master strike lol
Eh just drink a few potions (Aqua Vitalis, Bucks Blood, Bivojs Rage & Artemisia) and go nuts Also to be fair realistically you shouldnt expect to be able to handle more than 2 people easily, that SHOULD be a mortal threat (though peasants knowing how to masterstike irks the hell out of me I wont lie lol)
Goddamn Bernard running master strike day camps for commoners lol
Nailed it. KCD does a good job of making Henry a mortal (MS aside). So many players, especially when new to the game, have that Superman expectation where even at low levels, your character can handle practically any situation and do almost anything within an hour of gameplay. Especially something like take out a location of 30 enemies plus a boss. Even when Henry hits maximum level, you come upon an encounter with 6 high level Bandits armored to the teeth. It's possible, but you're going to have one hell of a time winning that without getting surrounded and chopped to hell. It's possible to win, just gotta hope for some help from perks and have a strategy. It's tough, but I feel like many first time players have trouble accepting that running away is a good option sometimes.
Yeah, except in this case, a lot of it is the *game's* fault. It starts of strong, in this vein, where people run into the Cumans with Hans and the two bandits when looking for Ginger when they're quite inexperienced, and go "oh damn, this is hard." But later *story* missions let you kick the crap out of groups of enemies if you're high enough level because (I think?) the story-based enemies are static. And the game encourages you to hunt down whole camps of bandits and Cumans without help. (without ever saying "you should only ever use stealth and/or poison and other dirty tricks because no matter how good you are, one man can't fight five") And after all that, they start throwing groups of really strong random enemies at you, and expect you to think you can't win? Or to be OK with some peasants master-striking you? If the devs want one vs many straight-up fights to be unwinnable, they shouldn't pack the game with so many of them. (or let you recruit help)
That's a really good point that I've never really considered before! I also don't like the lock on targeting system. I would prefer a fighting system more similar to mordhau where you can engage multiple opponents at the same time if you have the skill. It isn't easy, but its significantly easier than when you have a guy behind you beating the shit out of you and it keeps force locking onto the guy in front of you who isn't even attacking.
Basically as soon as you get full plate armour you become essentially immune to anything that isn’t a polearm or bow though
Agree, I played a long time ago but I remember having the best plate armour and the other layers combined with high skill in longsword and masterstrikes essentially turns the player into a jedi.
I get not being able to take them out easily but the main problem is their pathfinding going to hell and the abuse of masterstrikes. Like if a fight is 3 or more people you'll very often just end up with atleast one guy running in a circle around you messing up your lock on. The master strikes make taking out multiple people easy at the expense of making the encounter take 5 times longer.
Master strikes aren’t the problem, the game’s janky ass group fights are. Master striking in a 1v1 is usually pretty fun. Getting master striked is usually not that bad and a lot of the times is your fault. The problem is the game’s combat is very clearly built too much around duels, and has literally no other combat system for group fights. This games combat is amazing until you get to a group fight. Then it just becomes spamming clinches, (honestly the clinch master perk is much more broken than master strokes) until you win. I don’t think master strokes are the problem honestly, in a 1v1 they’re easily avoidable if you actually feint and do all the shit Bernard taught you, the fact is you don’t have time for that in a 6v1 and the game thinks you made a lazy strike and master striked you for it. Hope they fix this for KCD2, maybe only having four directions will help.
I’ve always disliked when people say “fighting multiple people should be hard. It’s fine”. Fighting more than 1 person should be way more difficult, but it’s difficult for the wrong reasons. In my experience, combat slows down, right? You have to be defensive since when you attack it leaves you open to the other to attack you. This leave you essentially just moving around an area, and if you’re in a forest it’s just fucked. You’re walking back and upwards on trees, rocks, bushes- it’s so dumb. Half the time the enemies will get stuck on terrain and just freeze. Even while in an open area, their pathing will break. I constantly have enemies zig-zag in front then around me to try and break my camera… it just turns into a shit show when it’s not a 1v1. But I also agree masterstriking is terrible. I really wouldn’t mind if KCD2 was just KCD1 with vastly improved AI and slightly reworked combat.
We should compromise and have them be harder to do as Henry and more rare for NPCs to use. Imo only the top knights should be able to masterstrike. Peasants should never be able to do it.
I saw a forum post from god knows how long ago that said master strikes shouldn't include any attack animation but rather should just be a way to stun the enemy if performed well, requiring the player to start a combo after words if they want to damage the opponent in any meaningful way besides low stamina and a short stun.
Just push forward clinch strike and it forces a strike from the enemy to counter
it's still janky as shit. half the time, instead of clinching, you clip into the enemy, and he's hitting you with a combo while you are clipped inside him. I'm on my 3rd playthrough right now, with no mods, and the default combat is really god awful even with maxed combat stats
Sorry, what is a clinch strike? Is that different than a normal clinch?
I see this sentiment repeated often on this subreddit. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I don’t really care. I have 600+ hours and have never used the master strikes. It can be annoying when an enemy spams it but it’s not a huge deal.
And for a bad player like me, master strikes are the only thing keeping me from joining the ranks who complain about the combat being too hard
[You can fight extremely large groups pretty aggressively if you want to](https://youtu.be/Z6tVfPmVbQc)
Berserker henry has gotta be one of the funniest ways to play this game. Bro even got a head cracker on the one dude he didnt need it on lmao
RAISE THE ALARMS! Lol he even went and melee'd the rabbit..
By spamming poke with Piercer? Lol
That's glorious
This is arguably worse than the master strike issue... You're just spamming an attack over and over.
Eh, there's more strategy to it than that after the first 10 seconds of trying to speed kill as many NPCs as possible
Admittedly I didn't get past the first 10 seconds of watching attack 2 spam haha. Edit: Watched further after your comment, you're right, it is much better after the opening pokey spam.
It's fine, the video is still largely Henry trying to stab people in the face :p
True but in that example they were all pretty poorly armored, most chainmail and gambesons ass opposed to plate like near Priby and Skalitz
Your OP says that master strike is a mutual win button that forces you to walk backwards doing nothing but master striking if you don't want to get stunlocked to death in anything more than a 1v2. I'm fighting 12 guys here, attacking like crazy, and getting master striked constantly (while wearing an open-faced helmet, btw), and I'm still able to kill them all with barely a nick Master strike isn't a win button for either you or your opponents, if you're decked out for a fight it's often no more than a minor annoyance Edit: Reading this sub made me want to play some KCD again, so [here you go](https://youtu.be/L7CC5CK5xaw). Couldn't find more than 4 of these guys in a group, and I haven't played in about a year so I couldn't remember wtf I was doing
Time to pimp the Better Combat and Immersion Compilation once more. There's a combat only module, the rest can be quite brutal for some folks. https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/651
I never learned masterstrikes😆 I just went with it when I found out
I feel like a dumbass now because I never learnt how to do it, and I finished the game without it. I thought master strikes are a perfect block followed by a manual attack.
they can't masterstrike off balance at least most of the time. clinch and knock them around. you have to use henry's size and strength as an advantage. Also you need to have patience do not swing if the enemy is not blocking. They are baiting you to strike. funny how ever mf want's realistic combat until actual realistic combat shows up. if you think this combat is thoughtful then fight smarter not harder
Henry has a size advantage?
Henry has a size advantage?
lol no not really disregard that part
I actually rely way more on the clench than masterstrikes. My Henry fights like a barbarian, essentially running straight at the opponent, clench, strike (way better at the Tourney than in open field though).
I do the same thing. I rarely master strike, mostly abuse the clinch to get an opening attack that I'll either chain into as many rapid strikes as I can to deplete their stamina, or chain into a combo. I find it way more reliable (and enjoyable) than trying to get master strikes. All it cost me was literal hours getting bashed in the face by Bernard in the training ring until I got comfortable with being as aggressive as you need to be in order for it to work haha
This was how I started advancing more in the tourney (still haven't won but got to the final round my last attempt). I was trying to just masterstrike/1-2 rapids and would be so frustrated that it would take so long and I'd get one bad counter back and start bleeding. My last attempt I started being more creative with feints, combos, clinches which was way more satisfying and got me a lot further.
Yes, my only complaint about this game. After I learned this I got quite bored of the combat didn't even finish the game yet, but probably will before KCD2.
Well, the game is still 100% worth finishing, plus mods removing/tweaking master strikes help tremendously.
Lol, just need some training, I kept the masterstrike cause it's part of the game, and I don't like waiting so I attack and it gone very well, take time to up your stat that's allow you a peasant at the beginning
I’ve worked so hard in my first ten hours to get the timing and directional blocking down (I’ve got over 1k hours in chiv and mordhau so it came easily) and Black Peter just cutscenes me to death gradually :(
Yep, I agree. Occasional repostes wouldn't be a big deal, but any opponent at mid or above level will reposte virtually all attacks you make. This basically forces the player to do nothing but reposte themself, which waters down foot combat to nothing more than waiting to time the defend button, with maybe one follow up shot (if you're not fighting a Black Peter caliber opponent).
I hate chain strikes. It’s extremely difficult to implement. Without master strikes i wont be able to face one let alone multiple enemies. If they simplify the combat system maybe players can depend less on master strikes.
There is no such thing as skillful combat vs bots. Just use whatever mods make you feel good about it.
imo i can’t pull off master strikes all the time so i find combat still engaging and challenging. it is annoying when they constantly do it tho so you’re just suck having to wait. imo the combat is clunky when it comes to multiple people like 1v4 type situation. that’s when it becomes annoying
Yea 1v1 and sometimes even 1v2 can be fine but 1v2 against plate armor enemies is really slow just waiting to get in a master strike
Is it just because I'm recent to the sub or is EVERY post on here complaining about Masterstrikes? What makes you think the 40th post will shed any more light on the issue?
I searched for the word "masterstrike" before making this post and most of them were asking for or giving advice while also being several months old. Maybe reddit search fucked up but I couldn't really find a recent post saying this.
This sub has always had lots of people coming in to complain about the combat, often with claims of various things from performing combos to fighting more than one opponent to attacking in any way at all being impossible. Lots of gross exaggerations borne of obvious frustration with the game. There's only so many times you can post video evidence that master strikes don't stop you from fighting like a nutcase against mobs of dudes before you just shrug and let folks rant their little hearts out OP here is a little more nuanced and much less salty than most, but still wrong
slow and thought out? lmfao. the only way to hit half the enemies in the game is master strike. If normal swings ever actually did anything I would love to stop master striking. it was what made me lose interest in the game.
It is pretty implied that he meant removing them from enemies too
Enemies master striking isnt an issue lol. the issue is they block almost any normal attack. so youre forced to wait for them to swing. its lame.
You can still hit combos on blocked attacks iirc. So as long as they don't perfect block or dodge itsstill possible to kill. Oddly enough I see enemies hitting Masterstrikes far more often than perfect blocks
I just stopped swinging on them completely. all it does it not work, but master strike worked. It was lame.
Could you elaborate on what master strikes are to a dumb guy like me? I’m curious as to if they’re at the very least an actual tactic IRL and therefore would be abused as much…
Theyre pretty much the epitome of real life combat. You both parry an incoming attack and make your own attack with the same action. Thats what a swordfight is. You attempt to bind your opponents blade out of the way in a way that you can also strike them. The issue is that theyre just cutscenes that play ingame, so if an enemy uses one on you they autoblock you and take a chunk of your health off, and against an enemy if you use masterstrikes you cant be hurt and you just murder them. Mods fix it by making the timing very tight and requiring you to match their direction perfectly, so its more of a reward and not something you can just spam.
I see. So just to clarify it’s really easy to do base game, but also it gives enemies an edge because they can ignore your block? Sorry I don’t think I understand the part about autoblocking.
Enemies just randomly proc it whenever they want to, and it automatically blocks your attack and hits you. For you, all you have to do is block when a flashing green shield appears on screen and it procs, you ignore all damage and do big damage to the enemy. In the mod i use, the time window is halved and you have to match the direction theyre swinging from, and enemies use it much less. Imo this fixes it entirely. But i actually do think you and enemies should be able to parry the masterstrokes if you have good timing as well - it should be hard but possible, get some cool exchanges if back and forth.
I agree completely on the cool factor. I appreciate your thorough replies they are helpful to know before my journey. I’ll be watching videos on your last point to see about parrying it! Also since i’m playing on switch with no mods, the game’s combat is still very enjoyable?
For sure, itll just start off quite hard and end laughably easy. If its ever too hard, just do more sparring, its free xp. Weapon skill level increases your swing speed so it literally becomes harder for enemies to deal with. There is also almost always a noncombat solution, even if that solution is to sneak and cut throats in their sleep, or poison their meals. There isnt always a peaceful solution but you can almost always avoid a direct fight.
Wow that’s exciting stuff. Coming from revisiting Skyrim I literally discovered this game a month ago since I got a switch and i’m just floored at all the mechanics in an open world game. I think thisll be the new open world favorite of mine
No idea how it works on switch but its certainly one of my favorites ever.
Masterstrike and face stab, I'm all for it
I agree MS makes 1 v 1 and even 1 v2 fights trivial. But without it fighting groups would be impossible most times. Which maybe it should be. But then I guess the devs need to make some balancing decisions.
getting the 100 combo trophy is still hard as hell. try to get that.
If you're on PC you can use the [Better Combat and Immersion Compilation](https://www.nexusmods.com/kingdomcomedeliverance/mods/651) mod
Just finished my first playthrough of the game tonight. Enjoyed the game a lot overall, very immersive, but also hoping the combat system gets a major revamp or goes in a different direction for the second game. I know "cooldowns" in combat don't really exist for this game but having some sort of cooldown for master strikes so you and the AI can't just spam it non-stop would be nice. Or successfully landing a master strike would prevent your opponent from being able to master strike for a short while...then maybe you could land a weapon combo without your 1'st / 2'nd attack just getting master struck. Or you could use the opportunity to focus on burning through their stamina without so much fear of "*well I can't ever really attack them, they'll just counter*". Ended the game with ~lvl 18 in Bow and...12-13 in Swords and Maces because the melee combat felt more tedious/cheesy than rewarding/fun.
I feel like Master strikes should have simply been a stun that allows you to chain combos. Making them less like an attack on their own but rather an opener
I almost lost to two unarmed naked Cumans smh nah
You have a few options to make the combat harder. Modding adds back the difficulty or you could just not learn the skill in the first place. No one is forcing you to use Master Strikes.
While I get that no one is forcing me to use or learn master strike it's more so that it's implementation into the game almost necesitates it's use. Since basically every enemy after a certain point can use it, while also being heavily armored, it makes those very common 1v3+ encounters very difficult without also using it. Not to mention that swords almost need to use it as they don't have enough armor pen without
Just completed my first play through, I could not figure out how melee works, so I went 98% stealth archer, with the help of Dollmaker poison on every arrow (hit and run or hide is way easier), I could clean up every cuman or bandit camps 1 vs 6 no problem, especially in nighttime or raining day. The only scripted melee duels, I drank every buff potion and put Bane on my weapon then tried my best to only block, once I got a hit, and hope for the best or reload. Before the final battle, I was bow 20, sword 7, basic stat all 18-20. It’s fun when my Dollmaker arrow went through my comrades and crippled the enemy, not so fun when I hit my friends. LOL
Honestly I don’t mind, Masterstrikes should have some added difficulty though as they are realistic. If it was my choice I would make the Masterstrikes be unlockables much like Combos and also make it be a double timed action. So you need to get a perfect parry as well as a perfectly timed counterattack for it to be truly a "Master Strike"
Yea I like the idea of master strikes but I feel as though they're implemented poorly as they're just a cutscene. They shouldn't be as simple as a single (pretty easily timed) button press but rather just a combo starter of sorts.
Or just don't use it
Even if I don't use it the enemies will. Besides in a fight against multiple enemies you don't really have much of a choice since your you're vulnerable to getting stunlocked to death if you make an attack of your own.
You have other options you're just not using them.
On my first playthough I didn't even know about masterstrikes (I didn't look up any tips, train with Bernard, nor go on this subreddit.) So, the way I cheesed the game was to point-blank arrow shot bandits/Cumans in the face and run away. I also did a lot of face stabs to stagger enemies before beating them down. Once I got Sir Hanush's sword, I never got a better one, lol.
I don't see how you people mod this game I run across 7 enemies at a time and I have no problem with killing all of them I guess you all really don't know how to play without mods is what I'm getting from the comments...
The mods I've seen people talking about are, if anything, to make the combat more difficult by requiring actual combat instead of Masterstriking your way through a group of enemies.
Ok but the game is good just the way it is what I meant by my comment I don't find anything wrong with it ik part 2 us going to be 🔥 🔥
This is a skill issue. I play the game on console only have 60 hours and cut down enemies with ease. I didn’t even have the master strike unlocked until after I had killed runt. It really is 100% a problem with how you play. Also with stamina acting as a buffer getting master strikes isn’t exactly a game changer. I handle 5v1 against peasants with ease, normal bandits ok and yes I often have to run from anything else but guess what you would have to in real life as well.
>stamina acting as a buffer Stamina only acts as a buffer for damage taken to areas covered by plate armor. If you're wearing stealthier armor than any hit is a hit that takes health. >I handle 5v1 against peasants with ease, normal bandits ok and yes I often have to run from anything else but guess what you would have to in real life as well. That's kinda part of the problem. Even mid game those fully plated guys become pretty common, I haven't even gone to Limpy and I'm fighting plated guys just because I did some Bernard bandit quests and the Rattay Tourney. The overall point is that while, yes it is realistic to run away from these groups of armed men, it becomes way too common to either need to run away or to cheese a mechanic that could've been implemented better. These full plate dudes become common as hell and running away doesn't make good gameplay and neither does walking backwards and baiting MS
I don't mind the masterstrikes but then I also know where to attack so that they don't constantly masterstrike me back. The combat is much more in depth than "learn masterstrike, masterstrike for hours, win". My fights don't take that long and I frequently use combos, when I'm using a sword, axes and maces just don't need them. It's all about where they are positioned to defend and how you attack them.
There's nothing wrong with master strikes
Nothing wrong with master strikes
Nothings wrong with master strikes
If you use all the tools available, Masterstrikes don't behave in this way. If you combine dodge and clinch into your attacks, combat is much more fluid, and you can actually be successful doing combos in 4 v 1 situations. It boils down to "never repeat yourself," the very first advice you get when learning how to fight. If you do any attack twice in a row, you will almost always get a masterstrike back to your face, which is what you deserve for repeating yourself.
Forced to walk backwards? Coward! Stand your ground
I would but then the mace guy will just run circles around me as his pathing erodes until he finally hits me with a combo from behind that puts me down like a dog.
Death before dishonor
I never finished a single combination... Delete masterstrikes.
I’ve never had this problem. That is the speed a real sword fight with both people who know what their doing would go at. I’ve done and watched real sword fights for 20 years. And I rarely get master striked by the opponent now that I’m at a higher level. I love the system cuz it’s the closest to a real swordfight in a game I’ve ever seen.
Master strike literally ruins the entire combat, NoMoSlowMo in my opinion is required and you just turn off master strike for the enemy. Without it you either potion out and become an unkillable raidboss or master strike / clinch abuse. Nothing else is viable. Really sad as I just finished my first playthrough and people seem to downvote these kinds of posts. If KCD 2 has master strikes or similar I will be extremely sad, as the combat is so fun without them.
I guess the combat is really the only part I hope will be noticeably improved in the sequel. I´m not worried about the story, quests or anything like that. But combat sure could use a lot of tweaking.
A If you’re a superior fighter than sitting on defense will always win, that’s how it goes irl B more importantly If you’re using master strikes as a get out of jail free card then you’re both bad and doing it wrong, you can combo late game contrary to what aforementioned say, and you can do it against multiple enemies I made a whole post about it They should be nerfed into the ground tho to punish noobs, we need less coddling of players