RK47
collides like two planets pulled by gravity
After having some back and forth discussions with other codexers over steam chat, it seems like there are many people who genuinely like this game. I honestly have many gripes with this game, and I can't see any 'feedback of fun' from the game despite putting in the effort into learning it. It's funny, I tend to be very forgiving unless the game's a complete trainwreck or is out to unnecessarily punish the players. In this game, it's mostly the latter IMO.
So, here goes. This is my first PB game btw, I never played gothic or other eurotrashes from them.
The only thing comparable to it was probably Two Worlds 2 which I got to the end and quit because it has a turret section.
Couple of things that bothered me a lot...
1. Everything seems vague and under the hood
Yes, I know. It's the 'next-gen' demand of having things spelled out to you. But I honestly got frustrated when the game refused to guide me in the first 10 minutes of the game. My first start was a 3 minute search for a non-highlighted item in a beach... sue me. That's like being set up for a date with an Indian girl by the way.
Why is everything so 'hidden'? From how the combat is supposed to be played - the game only told me Left click to attack. Not a single time did the game told me double-tap is to dodge. Only through the Witcher 3 play experience I decided to double-tap move keys in combat, and voila. I dodged. I didn't know you could 'HEAVY attack' in this game by holding Left Mouse Button. I also didn't know you could CONTINUE DRINKING FROM THE BARREL by holding the mouse button (LOL). Why not tell the players? Why is it such a hidden feature?
There's a huge difference between challenge and frustration.
Try playing chess without knowing what moves are even valid. Have fun taking back invalid moves over and over again till you learn each piece's property. That's what's happening to me in the next paragraph.
2. Poorly done training scenario
Yes, I admit, I fooled around to get into the monastery, but this is by no means a 'loss state' unlike what some codexer claimed. You tempted fate, Steve now pay for it. No, sheeplords, this is a branching of starting factions. Which is cool in my book, at first. Only to experience the whole bitter 'training school' gameplay. This is supposed to be 'Advanced Combat Tutorial' segment, done well, it could fit right into the monastery scenario. You train, you make mistakes, learn new moves from your fellow students, gain advice, have fun while doing it because this is a game. It's supposed to be fun.
Except the last 2 never happened. Let me just add the oddity of having to pay your fellow students money to gain STR/DEX off training. Hey, I thought I'm supposed to e conscripted here, why am I paying you for? Okay, never mind. Advice? Very little advice was dispensed. All the STR guy said is hit hard, hit fast, win fast, hence less chance of losing. OOOOKAY.
Then I walk into the area and get beat down like a chump
No one tells me what I did wrong.
The game won't tell me anything.
Just like in chess, I spent time trying to move my Horse piece diagonally, spent fruitless hours moving the bishop horizontally, trying to figure out how to play Risen's Staff Chess with an unfeeling robot.
I lose a lot of times, I learn nothing out of it, except ...maybe dodge here, spank them on the butt, block, hit, block, move here,..
This is an entirely one-way learning experience. I grit my teeth, people criticize my spamming but c'mon I'm frustrated. Do I look like I was having fun?
The game is supposed to explain, help me understand what the fuck is going on. Not beat me down and tell me repeatedly 'get up and try again' while I gained very little in terms of understanding. This is a training school, but I gained no exp from losing in arena fights, only lose pocket change over and over. And when people called me out on degenerate plays in games that left many things unexplained, I'm supposed to git gud without knowing what is 'average' plays?
So...after beating three of my seniors from trial and error with nary a trace of fun, I finally waited for the game to open up.
What is my motivation in this game so far? I want to escape from this hell of a monastery, which never happened. Cause that's not an option.
Also, I want to murder the designers who thinks I'm to be rewarded after beating three seniors in arena combat with a 'boss fight' aka 'you beat the students, now face the master' like it was even possible for a kid who is just fresh off the boat that got wrecked in the intro.
All in all, it was soul-crushing. I worked so hard to grind through the three robots in duel, only to get tossed into a fight that took out 80% HP in one hit because 'it's funny'
I wasn't laughing.
I wasn't having fun.
This is insulting.
So I decided to side-step, asked for advice, and finally, someone told me to humble this trainer with another trick. Get him drunk and get him to relinquish that sword of his.
GREAT! I finally will humiliate this faggot. I even got him one of the WORST SWORD IN THE WORLD! Hahaha, no way I can lose.
Except...I still lose, horribly.
True, the guy hits for 30% per hit now but he still fucking swings just as fast, and that is a serious problem when I'm still coming to grips to how combat is supposed to work, DID YOU REALLY THINK ALL THAT THREE SESSION WITH A STAFF IS GOING TO PREPARE ME TO FIGHT WITH A FUCKING SWORD AGAINST A SWORDMASTER?
The fuck? This is how you reward players who took an extra step to beat an opponent?
He was even intoxicated, ffs! Yet he fought like a well-drilled soldier. Blocking when needed, striking just as fast as I do. Once again, I knew no tricks, I learned none in the past student fights, I simply block, and tap my mouse twice, then hold block again. Sometimes I hit him, sometimes I don't. All I know is his red bar better drop to zero before mine does.
Eventually, this degenerate play was rewarded and I still wasn't having fun. Thank's for wasting 3 hours of my life, Risen.
BTW I am very glad when NPC Vitus ended up 'broken' after I opened someone's chest by accident and unable to progress the game. At that point, I just felt the game wasn't offering anything fun and it didn't deserve more effort wasted on it.
No offense to those who like this game, I can tell the game had great open world, faction choices, and niche alternative to those tired of next-gen bland RPG, but based solely on my Monastery experience, broken NPC bug or no, this game is not for me.
So, here goes. This is my first PB game btw, I never played gothic or other eurotrashes from them.
The only thing comparable to it was probably Two Worlds 2 which I got to the end and quit because it has a turret section.
Couple of things that bothered me a lot...
1. Everything seems vague and under the hood
Yes, I know. It's the 'next-gen' demand of having things spelled out to you. But I honestly got frustrated when the game refused to guide me in the first 10 minutes of the game. My first start was a 3 minute search for a non-highlighted item in a beach... sue me. That's like being set up for a date with an Indian girl by the way.
Why is everything so 'hidden'? From how the combat is supposed to be played - the game only told me Left click to attack. Not a single time did the game told me double-tap is to dodge. Only through the Witcher 3 play experience I decided to double-tap move keys in combat, and voila. I dodged. I didn't know you could 'HEAVY attack' in this game by holding Left Mouse Button. I also didn't know you could CONTINUE DRINKING FROM THE BARREL by holding the mouse button (LOL). Why not tell the players? Why is it such a hidden feature?
There's a huge difference between challenge and frustration.
Try playing chess without knowing what moves are even valid. Have fun taking back invalid moves over and over again till you learn each piece's property. That's what's happening to me in the next paragraph.
2. Poorly done training scenario
Yes, I admit, I fooled around to get into the monastery, but this is by no means a 'loss state' unlike what some codexer claimed. You tempted fate, Steve now pay for it. No, sheeplords, this is a branching of starting factions. Which is cool in my book, at first. Only to experience the whole bitter 'training school' gameplay. This is supposed to be 'Advanced Combat Tutorial' segment, done well, it could fit right into the monastery scenario. You train, you make mistakes, learn new moves from your fellow students, gain advice, have fun while doing it because this is a game. It's supposed to be fun.
Except the last 2 never happened. Let me just add the oddity of having to pay your fellow students money to gain STR/DEX off training. Hey, I thought I'm supposed to e conscripted here, why am I paying you for? Okay, never mind. Advice? Very little advice was dispensed. All the STR guy said is hit hard, hit fast, win fast, hence less chance of losing. OOOOKAY.
Then I walk into the area and get beat down like a chump
No one tells me what I did wrong.
The game won't tell me anything.
Just like in chess, I spent time trying to move my Horse piece diagonally, spent fruitless hours moving the bishop horizontally, trying to figure out how to play Risen's Staff Chess with an unfeeling robot.
I lose a lot of times, I learn nothing out of it, except ...maybe dodge here, spank them on the butt, block, hit, block, move here,..
This is an entirely one-way learning experience. I grit my teeth, people criticize my spamming but c'mon I'm frustrated. Do I look like I was having fun?
The game is supposed to explain, help me understand what the fuck is going on. Not beat me down and tell me repeatedly 'get up and try again' while I gained very little in terms of understanding. This is a training school, but I gained no exp from losing in arena fights, only lose pocket change over and over. And when people called me out on degenerate plays in games that left many things unexplained, I'm supposed to git gud without knowing what is 'average' plays?
So...after beating three of my seniors from trial and error with nary a trace of fun, I finally waited for the game to open up.
What is my motivation in this game so far? I want to escape from this hell of a monastery, which never happened. Cause that's not an option.
Also, I want to murder the designers who thinks I'm to be rewarded after beating three seniors in arena combat with a 'boss fight' aka 'you beat the students, now face the master' like it was even possible for a kid who is just fresh off the boat that got wrecked in the intro.
All in all, it was soul-crushing. I worked so hard to grind through the three robots in duel, only to get tossed into a fight that took out 80% HP in one hit because 'it's funny'
I wasn't laughing.
I wasn't having fun.
This is insulting.
So I decided to side-step, asked for advice, and finally, someone told me to humble this trainer with another trick. Get him drunk and get him to relinquish that sword of his.
GREAT! I finally will humiliate this faggot. I even got him one of the WORST SWORD IN THE WORLD! Hahaha, no way I can lose.
Except...I still lose, horribly.
True, the guy hits for 30% per hit now but he still fucking swings just as fast, and that is a serious problem when I'm still coming to grips to how combat is supposed to work, DID YOU REALLY THINK ALL THAT THREE SESSION WITH A STAFF IS GOING TO PREPARE ME TO FIGHT WITH A FUCKING SWORD AGAINST A SWORDMASTER?
The fuck? This is how you reward players who took an extra step to beat an opponent?
He was even intoxicated, ffs! Yet he fought like a well-drilled soldier. Blocking when needed, striking just as fast as I do. Once again, I knew no tricks, I learned none in the past student fights, I simply block, and tap my mouse twice, then hold block again. Sometimes I hit him, sometimes I don't. All I know is his red bar better drop to zero before mine does.
Eventually, this degenerate play was rewarded and I still wasn't having fun. Thank's for wasting 3 hours of my life, Risen.
BTW I am very glad when NPC Vitus ended up 'broken' after I opened someone's chest by accident and unable to progress the game. At that point, I just felt the game wasn't offering anything fun and it didn't deserve more effort wasted on it.
No offense to those who like this game, I can tell the game had great open world, faction choices, and niche alternative to those tired of next-gen bland RPG, but based solely on my Monastery experience, broken NPC bug or no, this game is not for me.