ive played the game for about 161 hours, and this is where im at with it:
Story and Dialog: PEAK. its an absolute blast, every interaction in this game feels real and the story missions were epic, and what i liked the most was the level of options you get for dialog is perfect, may different directions and builds you can go with, honestly the best aspect of this game.
Crafting and equipment: GREAT. there are so many cool armor sets and clothes to make all sorts of cool costumes, the customization is pretty decent theirs a wide selection of gear and different colors, but i wish there was a dye system to reall take customization to the next level.
Combat and Gameplay: meh. this is honestly where the game fell short for me, lots of things that dont make any sense. like for example, i dont know why, but some enemies have the ability to slow henrys sword swing or outright stop it entirely mid swing, like when they activate this "time skip" ability henery could be 2 inches from a guys face mid swing and he will stop, pull his sword back and just wait for the enemy to attack, and theres absolutely nothing you can do most of the time. perfect parrys also need work, if an enemy can interupt my combo with a perfect parry then henry should be able to do the same, but what ive found is sometimes it works most times it does not. every enemy in the game has an unlimited number for stamina, ive seen dueling longsword guys swing at me through 11 pefect parrys and finish me off with the 12 swing because its a unblockable, uninterruptable combo. also and i could not believe my eyes when it happened to me but warhammer enemies can masterstike. this has only happened to me once, i recorded the incident to show anyone who wants to see it, and i promise you every kcd2 player would look at it like WTF???!! also enemies health appears to be random and not dictated by armor at all. sometimes you can masterstike a dude in full plate 2 times with martins two handed sword (the most powerful sword in the game if forged to henery quality BTW) and he dies after the second, then some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with no helmet no plate just a piece of chainmail and a tunic, takes and i ♥♥♥♥ you not 26 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ MASTERSTIKES TO KILL. 26. mind you all masterstrikes against you follow the same 2 to 4 hit rule, but an unarmored bandit from the side of the road has 2900 health points? and why cant i ever see that? it would be nice if these "minibosses" gave me some level of indictation as to their stats before an engagement so i may avoid an unnecessary minboss at my leisure. or at least let me gain access to all their cool skills from teachers. beat the game still havent found a masterstrike for warhammers, so i assume their isnt for henry, but bandits can do it. as well as slow time while your swing and make henry completely stop attacking. you can left click all you want, but when henry says its time to die he means it. next game please let me make my own character and my own stats, dont give me the weakest knight in the land period both end game and start game, makes combat boring when you just spending 48 minutes masterstrikng a single unamrored goon with the health pull of a dark souls 2 boss. just a little advice on the combat look at for honor. much more balanced for both blocking and attacking, i can see they tried their own twist on it, but in a single player rpg with random stats for enemies is not the game to put this combat system into. not exatly the worst system by any means, but it definitely has more holes than the swiss cheese at subway thats for sure.
Visual and graphics: ABSOLUTELY STUNNING. im running this at 150 fps max graphics and let me tell you the world is beautiful. very expansive full of little locations, treasures and puzzles to explore, even some caves to which led to some very creepy interactions in some of those, all in all made me feel like i was actually in the world, and the random events keep the game fresh and iteresting.
what i wish their was: JOUSTING. bro aint know what you built this gem and theirs no jousting tournaments? no fighting tournaments to make money, no jousting but the do archery and horse racing? SNOOOOOOOOOOORE, boring i want combat i want jousting i want a true medieval experience in their, still hoping theres a dlc for it, would gladly pay to have that in there.
Game rating overall 7/10. combat is lackclustered and its bascially an rng coin flip 50 percent of the time, but at least you can still progress the game. minus 3 points for end game sword imaling some no armor bandit 26 times with master strike while using the most powerful end game sword that literally has no rival? yea that need tweaks. i understand that im probally stepping on a landmine with this, but you gotta understand that when you get that sword and you go and try it out knowing it doesnt get any more powerful than that and your fighting a single dude for 40 minutes, i promise you its drains from the overall experience so much that i found myself going " is this pay to win? am i missing a crucial material or artifact? nope, the best just sucks." huge let down and makes blacksmithing worthless. what is the point in henry quality goods, if every enemy does more damage to you in full plate with a burgers hunting sword meanwhile you shove a two handed zweihander full on impaling the dude 26 times to do an equal amount of damage back is absolutely ludacris levels of unbalanced. let me know what you guys have seen down in the comments, have you ever been masterstriked by a warhammer?
