Kingdom Come: Deliverance a half-year on

This game was released in February, and had it's share of issues, as I understand it. I found the game appealing from the first glimpses in development, but as is my SOP I waited a while, and just picked it up. Anyone still playing?

Many of the features and themes strike a chord with me, reading about it evoked memories of all those hours playing Gothic 2. The 'living world' aspect with day/night behaviors and NPCs going about their day. Falling in to the game's rhythm. The "sun's hanging low, best get back to town before the trader closes" type of stuff. A small sort of detail, but one that has an effect bigger than it might seem to warrant.

The absence of fantasy elements has appeal as well. I like fantasy games, but here's one that has none of it, making it the exception rather than the rule.

I've only played a few hours. It's a big download and took an hour on my connection. That left just a few more to actually play last night. I made it to the point where



So just a few hours in. I had no issues that I could see. I downloaded the HD textures DLC and am running on Very High (i7 6700k/1070/16 GB RAM). In the few locations I've visited it has run smoothly at 60 fps, but I have yet to see any large cities or big battles. From what I've read the game was plagued with bugs and poor performance at release, and possibly still is. If anyone is still playing they'd have insight in to the current state of the game and it's something I'd like to know. Trying to gauge my prospects for a mostly trouble-free run.

Early impressions are favorable. There is a distinct realism/authenticty vibe here. For example the maps are medieval-period flavored, which is the sort of touch I like. The codex entries are fairly detailed to educate the player on life in the middle ages. The early pace is slow, which is fine by me. Skills are learned in the same sort of manner as say Morrowwind or Skyrim, the more you do it the better you get. So, yeah, jump around a lot if you want. These systems can have their flaws, but it does impart the sensation that you are learning and improving through repetition and practice, and not just suddenly can shoot your bow better because the fetch quest you just completed gave you enough XP to arbitrarily be a better archer. Time will tell how well it all works in KCD.

I'm actually on my first playtrough since I waited for my new PC. A bit past where you are, not too much further.

I like it so far, even though it's performance hungry. What bugs me most is the animations and facial expressions. In that regard it reminds me of Skyrim, more than of Witcher 3. I've had one cutscene so far that was really well made, and when it works, it works brilliantly.

What bugs me also is a lot of cut to black screen... or the way code entries pop up on you while you're focusing on gameplay. I.e., more fluid, more "steady in engine" storytelling would be appreciated.

The combat makes up for it though. I enjoyed M&B Warband a lot, and this is by far the most interesting approach to medival combat I've ever seen. That and the very authentic, natural environments.

Graphical glitch complaints are frequent. I noticed none so far, but I've barely begun.

FWIW, they added a save on exit in one of the patches. The save system was not all that well received, so they added that so at least people could stop when needed. I don't mind it, it adds some tension and weight to actions, not just save-scumming your way through each encounter.

Still playing. Have around 400 hours in the release version (and had about the same in the pre-release versions).

For smooth experience be patient. Rushing through cutscenes/dialogues/npc day cycles (e.g. waking them in the middle of the night or unnecessarily trespassing) will cause trouble some of the time, and is easily avoided.

Saving can be done with the Saviour Schnapps, brewing it is easy with cheaply available (or free for the picking) ingredients, and you can make a profit from selling any excess you make to those you consume before the next brewing session. You also save in a proportion of beds (clearly marked as "Sleep and Save", rather than "sleep" on their 'use' tooltip. It can be worthwhile getting a sense of where these can be found, and remembering where you see them for future use. If you roleplay the day cycle then you should be getting a save roughly once an hour from beds. I do this as an "hour's nap" from time to time, even if subsisting on stimulants and active around the clock.

Be cautious about committing crimes unless you actively intend to do so. Be aware that as in real life, trespass (especially into deeply private areas owned by those more privileged, and at night), theft, poaching, possessing/selling stolen items and assault are crimes, and you will be challenged if detected... but may lose trust and reputation even if they are 'unsolved' as a stranger/outsider.

Of course it is entirely possible to live a life of crime, but to do it easily you still need to consider how people will perceive you, and to adjust your choice of actions accordingly.

A few quests are fairly sensitive to how you do them. Notable is the "nightingale (bird)" quest, once you accept it you can leave it indefinitely, but once you start you should complete the collection and delivery in the same session. Loading mid-quest has been an issue in my experience (though that may have been fixed since, it may be prudent to treat it as still flaky).

On learning combat (again) later in the main quest, I'd recommend returning to do a bit more the next morning before following the next main quest segment later that day or the next, as otherwise it is a long time before you can access more training.

Ask any questions you may have. Don't want to inadvertently seriously spoil anything important, as you are still at the very beginning, and around half way through the prologue...

When it comes to the issue of saving progress in games, I've always had the opinion that the choice should be left to the player.


If a player wants to be hardcore then they have the choice not to save. No one is forcing them to do otherwise. If they want to restart a game from scratch because their character died then they are completely free to do so!


For the other 90% of gamers, having the ability to save your progress whenever you want to is practical and at times a necessity in case something comes up and you have to leave your PC.

Thanks Lieste, appreciate your feedback. Are those 400 hours in a single run?

I don't mind a few bugs, but it's the ones that halt progression that can be infuriating. I have no questions yet, but I've mostly been along for the ride so far. Once I leave this place the game is supposed to open up a bit.

Actually, any insight in to the sort of character progression that you like would be helpful. Which skills, traits, perks sort of stuff do you find most desirable? What sort of character are you playing?

Lieste, one thing I'd like to know - if needed in a spoiler tag:

And on progression... it can be a bit steep in the vanilla game, depending on how much side content you do, you can easily get to the point where the equipment and skill combination make combat a bit broken (too easy to kill armoured opponents).

I started, and am still working on an overhaul mod which still allows skill to influence combat outcomes, but makes armour much more beneficial, and weapon and armour stat inflation largely restricted to cost, durability and appearance... I also toned down (almost removed) the use of stamina as protection.

This is my own personal preference of course, and YMMV, but it might be worth considering using a suitable mod or mid-ish range weapons only if you find the late game escalation of damage to be a bit much. This is a not infrequently seen complaint though.

RS Colonel. Yes.

I gave up on it. I hated the combat system. I would love an open world coop game like that but with mount and blade / chivalry combat.

Thanks Lieste!

Since it first came out you can now save on exit, which is handy. Savior Schnapps are easy to come buy, but using them all the time makes your character a drunkard. There's also mods out there that allow saving anywhere and anytime with the menu like most other games.

There's still some bugs and glitches, but at least the one that corrupted you save files seems to be corrected. I would back up my save game files every time I played for the first month or so.

I haven't played in a few months, but was looking to start another run at it to see what they added and or fixed. The details and immersion in this game are great. The problem with that is I tend to just wander around and hang out in 14th century Bohemia instead of getting on with the story.

Saviour Schnapps is quite safe to drink - the occasional use needed is only enough to make you intermittently tipsy, not really "drunk". To become an alcoholic, you need to consistently and heavily abuse stronger drink in much larger quantities.... though being drunk is quite amusingly realistic, especially when you fall asleep from a mix of being tired and "tired and emotional" while meandering homewards.

It does make Henry's body language a bit more expansive if you Saviour immediately before an important conversation, but nothing sufficient to cause any problems... while being three sheets to the wind can improve (or diminish) your ability to persuade and impress in a progressive and fairly complex way. Being a bit drunk does also make you a little more loud and conspicuous, so being a heavy drinker (even of only potions and tinctures) works against a very stealthy approach.

If you are saving often, you may want to thin out the herd from time to time, as the save folder can be quite large. (Each about 5MB, and you can see many hundreds build up in each playline you complete if you don't manage them at all).

I have a feeling I haven't really gotten to that point in the game where it really opens up and starts to click. Starting out there were a few "this is getting good" moments but at about 39 hours in I have found that I hit a bit of a wall that has impeded my enjoyment and progress. Somewhere in the process of investigating murder I find myself now trying to get some towns people a job and meet the prince kid at the local baths but he hasn't or won't show up yet. I'm not sure what happened but I hit a wall that zapped the fun that I was having and has become tedious. I have a feeling its really just a small road block but after spending 39 hours in game only to hit that it bugged me enough to step away from it awhile.

I really want for it to pick up and I think it will I just need to bite the bullet and push through these more fatiguing parts. I love the setting and historicity of the game and what combat I've experience was fun. My main issue has been the games performance. Its not optimized well and I have consistently inconsistent bad performance in the game. I had a few times where Rattay actually ran smooth(even though it first started rough) and now its gone back to rough. Outdoors the fps is pretty good but sometimes when I start the game up I get a weird granular look to everything that takes time to somehow clear up. That, slow texture loading, poor fps problems and excruciatingly long load times upon changing the most basic and simplest of graphics settings each time you want to adjust something is very irritating to me. I'll eventually make a push back into it though because I'm quite convinced that ultimately what's here is a solid game that will prove to be a gem if albeit a bit of a rough one.

Good post Coot. How long since you've played? Usually posts by others saying they have no issues aren't very helpful, but I've now completed the prologue and it's run at a consistent 60 fps the entire game so far. perhaps they've patched it since your last go and it may run better for you now. The point about load times after a graphics change I have no argument with. That's unlike any game I've seen before.

I'm liking the game so far, there are little underlying mechanics that are subtle, and make perfect sense, but which aren't standard stuff so it surprises you when you see the effect. For example how each part of your appearance seems to have an effect on how others perceive you. A fancy ring or blood splatter has an effect, which can be good or bad depending on the other person and what you are attempting to accomplish. It seems these internal values are not an absolute, but are always compared to the NPC you're dealing with.The scope of options and outcomes also has surprised me. For example, in spoilers...



I'd also like to mention that of all things the part where the opening credits roll I found delightful. The way it was done, the guitar music, the sweeping medieval vistas... really found that to be well done, It's still way too early for me to make any conclusions about the game as a whole, but what I've seen so far I have enjoyed.

LOL DBond, that's a great detail. I went too boneheaded straight at it I guess, and missed that option.

I just bought it off him for a song. (Though far more than it is worth). On another occasion he was happy to have found that Peshek did indeed have a bag of flour to collect.

Colonel, maybe you didn't miss it but hadn't as many points in speech at that time so the option wasn't there? Perhaps you didn't converse with him at all. I reckoned that with Henry's crap fighting skills that being able to talk my way out of things might come in handy so have gone that route early on.

I absolutely love this game and have been lucky enough not to run into any game breaking bugs. If I have any advice it is to go do the very first part of the main quest as soon as possible. This will introduce you to the town of Rattay and give you the option of fight training. It's important to remember that you need to get those skills up otherwise you will have your ass handed to you in each and every fight. The people that give up on the game because of the combat mechanics forget that this isn't Skyrim. You simply aren't good at anything at the beginning of the game. Stick with it though and the game becomes more enjoyable as you progress. There are a number of mods that help with combat and lock picking but I would strongly advise not using these as it takes away the feeling of accomplishment as you progress.

Yes, once you reach Rattay things open out from the prologue. Robard in Talmberg can train you too, as well as trainers in other towns such as Sasau.

The only bug I've encountered was (in spoilers since it's a quest/mission)



I managed to make good progress yesterday. Got a mount and got out and about, exploring and visiting towns. I love the terrain and the way the countryside looks.The way it rolls, how villages are tucked in the draws and valleys. I think the devs did a wonderful job of recreating the layout of medieval towns. Everything is in the right place, they clearly made an effort to get that right. I guess I've always thought it would be more like the 'Bring Out Your Dead' scene from the Holy Grail. KCD strikes me as perhaps a bit more sanitary than what I might expect. Still, they did a wonderful job of crafting the look of life in this time.

I enjoy just going for a gallop and seeing what I can find. So much so that I opt to ride around in real time instead of fast travel. Learned to read, got some better gear. I'm getting the hang of the combat, especially defensively. But my striking needs work (skills?). Ripostes in particular I don't seem to time right. Fights often end with me alive but in bad shape.

Combat training went well, as it was rather clinical. In the field I would panic and start jabbing the mouse button, but managed to move past that and begin to become a proper sword fighter. As the skills grow and I invest skill points the options are growing, and I'm starting to get it. Multiple opponents are trouble, but I can handle the single fights.

Saving's been no issue. Matter of fact I haven't felt the need to use a single Schnapps. You fall in to the rhythm, getting your sleep and progress is saved. Plus it auto-saves at various points during quests. Non-issue for me.

I mentioned earlier how my research in to KCD evoked thoughts of Gothic 2, and it's there, but KCD goes further. You really can feel you're living a life. Sleeping, eating, maintaining equipment and clothing (my boots really seem to take a beating lol), bathing, laundering. Of course it's simplified, you're not sitting there with a wash tub and a bar of tallow. But it remains something that must be done. Standing impatiently outside the armorer waiting for him to open the doors in the morning. Avoiding the cops when you have something on you that you nicked a few hours ago.

I've really only scratched the surface here so far, but I'm having a great time with the game. It runs very well, the quests are interesting for the most part, and some of the solutions I've found have brought a satisfied grin. I dig the whole vibe of the game.

There's a target unlock button (middle mouse by default IIRC), this won't lock you onto a target and is very helpful when fighting multiple opponents. It lets you just look at whichever opponent you need or want to by moving the mouse (or gamepad stick) and looking at them. It's much better than toggling through all the wrong targets first.

Also, for the map they used satellite data, maps, and ruins to place everything as correctly as they could. They did scale the map down a bit to get the entire are to fit.

Also, for those that haven't played it, with all this talk of combat, many of the quests don't actually involve combat. So if that's putting you off, don't worry about it too much. You'll get to spend a lot of time being a 14th century Bohemian detective.

And be careful the world is dangerous in this game. Falls in particular. I died right out of Rattay one time. I slid down the hill overlooking the river just east of town.. Broke both legs and started bleeding to death. The two bandages and no bandage skill didn't do much to slow down the bleeding. So I tried to crawl back to town or a bed, but bled to death halfway there.

When you unlock do you still have the attack pentagram or whatever it might be called?

Not until you lock to the next target. You only get the default 'attack' you get when playing with the weapon out of combat.

Attacking without the 'structure' it provides is possible, but you reasonably only get part of the 'impact' of the weapon strike (this was added to avoid cheesing the AI, but IMO it is very reasonable if not even still under-represented (too little loss of effect) - the difference in how I hit when cutting with my whole structure and merely swinging a weapon (especially when the impact point isn't on "the line" is very noticeable in my real world fencing).

You can change targets easily in combat. If you 'parry' when attacked, you will adjust the current line to match the attack you are defeating. This is a change of target if you are soft-locked (only the star), or a temporary change if you are hard-locked (TAB - and a circle around through the star). You can riposte the 'line' target during the temporary change.

To adjust which soft-locked target is active you can press shift or MMB and swing the view to your desired line - this is also possible with the 'hard-lock'. An additional method for the hard-locked targets is to press TAB to cycle through visible targets, and you can also use the scroll-wheel to move up and down the list of targets.

I fight multiple opponents by moving laterally, and aim to take out the 'weakest' first - those with open face helmets, no shields, lighter/fewer layered armour... then prioritise those with the 'strongest' anti-armour weapons - maces and hammers. If I pick the right person, I can drag him in front of his allies, pull him around with me to the flank I move towards and then by continuing to move to the side as we move and circle use him to slow/block the approach of most of his allies. You can also use him, the group or trees to reduce the amount of effective fire from archers, but in general they also tend to be enemies who fall into my priority list quite nicely.

In reasonably open ground you can try fighting from the horse, but I prefer to mostly fight on foot.

Polearms are a great tool for more dangerous fights - they hit hard and can defend reliably from multiple sequential attacks (but not multiple simultaneous).

Thanks Lieste, that's good info. Your knowledge of the underlying mechanics of various RPGs is quite helpful. You've done the same for me with the Witcher 3 and maybe Divinity and probably others? Not to mention the Witcher DLC gift. Much appreciated.

Which perks do you go for, which do you find most useful? How many playthroughs make up your 400 hours? Anything else you'd care to share about how you build your characters? Light armor or plate? Which weapons (type or specific/unique). Do you carry or store different ones and re-equip as the situation demands?

I feel a bit scattered in my approach, and I think I would benefit from a little focus. I'm early days obviously and have a decent gambeson and the Piercer. Various other low level bits and bobs, but all immaculately maintained of course

I run a modded version, so my current experience is a bit different from your vanilla one, although most of the mechanics are similar.

My unarmoured fights tend to be shorter, armoured ones longer than in the vanilla game, as I have reduced weapon effectiveness relative to armour (for higher tier weapons especially), tightened the spread of affordable to 'unnecessarily elaborate' weapons in terms of effectiveness, and got rid of the silliness of "levelled" weapons - there is no reason that a 'high damage' longsword should be tied only to a high strength character (especially since the 2 handed arming sword is by far the easiest for a 115lb weakling like me to use effectively - and it really should be an agility rather than strength weapon). To go with this reduced damage potential though, I have also removed the 'protection' from stamina, as that seems entirely contrary to my own experience (which is that to be caught napping hurts just as much as parrying three times and having the next attack connect).
Currently doing an overhaul of the balance I have been using for a while in an effort to 'un break' the hunting of hares, which were unreasonably tough despite having no 'armour' or built in toughness.

With that said though:

You *need* to run a layered armour, if you want to be resistant to attacks - a Gambeson is moderately weak, but it's strength lies in it's resistance to blunt impacts - it will do nothing vs piercing and little vs slashing attacks on it's own. Maille adds a bit to all three, but is strongest against slashing, followed by stabbing resistance. Harness or good quality brigandine gives good stabbing and slashing resistance.

Cheaper items tend to offer very weak protection in vanilla, so you want the more expensive ones if you can find/steal/buy them. They also have the added benefit of being (for their protection, or in absolute terms) lighter, and having higher intimidation and charisma in many cases. Sometimes two expensive layers give more protection than three cheap ones for less than half the weight...

However... watch your speed stat in the lower right of the inventory - especially with a lower level Henry, you will see quite low values even if you don't become over-encumbered. (A late game player can see speeds of 33 without any modifying perk if wearing only normal clothing, to 26 with full white harness). You should absolutely avoid over-armouring to the point where you are over-encumbered in a 'stripped down' for action with only a minimal supply of food, an arming weapon and a bow with a sheaf of arrows, plus a bandage or three. If you need to reduce armour, start with your legs, and then perhaps maille on the torso - as maille tends to be heavy for it's protection. If you are relying on armour, you must armour your arms and head - the former because this directly protects your weapon skill and speed, the latter because you take a *lot* of damage from hits to the head.

I tend to only take perks with a positive influence. The trade-off ones are usually not worth bothering with... but if you want to experiment, feel free, you can get the recipe for "Lethean water" which resets your perk choices (with a possible loss of one perk-point, if that issue wasn't fixed), from the Sasau Apothecary, and brew them at need (or buy them for a reasonable price).

Longsword is the first weapon I learn, followed shortly after by maces/hammers. The first (and most useful) longsword device I use with any regularity is the Fehlen (scarmaker), a cut from the lower left followed by two thwart cuts (represented by a double thrust). I also find the Drei Wunder (wrist) to be useful, A cut from the lower left, a second cut returning from the upper right and two thrusts which strike the exposed wrist with a beat and strike. Both of these *don't* require any mutation of the cutting line, only delivery of the 3 or 4 attacks, making them quite reliably delivered. I have an affinity for the thwart cut as it works well IRL too.

Because I am working on a mod I collect (at least) one of every item I come across so I can check the changes as I go. This makes the stash a bit slow to navigate though, so I'd not recommend it - just keep the items which are interesting to you. A dark set of armour, a dark/silent set of light armour or heavy clothing, a Cuman set, cheap armour for abusing during training (saves repair costs) and your 'best' clothing and armour sets for everyday travel/trading/conversation is sufficient. Note you can use the 'treasure' and other lootable "wild" chests/graves/sacks (but maybe not those in bandit/cuman camps) as long term storage for items you might need, but can't or don't want to lug around with you... I'd avoid storing any unique/rare just in case the game does decide to vanish them for you... but generally I find they remain for in game months without trouble. Polearms dropped to the ground also seem to survive at least a few days - but the main problem there is finding them again if you are careless about using a landmark to identify the location for easy search.

On my person I carry my worn armour (or clothing if busy in town for a few days, or if I want to play 'risky' on the road)...
A longsword (usually St George's or similar for the Charisma, but in vanilla I preferred the Merchant's sword as it gives a damage output appropriate for the combat system and armour - one of the prime inputs for starting to mod stats on weapons was the realisation that unchanged the St George's sword made armour a waste of time/space for the NPCs, and I wasn't landing any devices as opponents died in the first few hits, while they had been common a few hours before with the weaker sword).
A mace or hammer. A hammer with a spike is more effective against lighter armour, but it doesn't matter vs harness.
A bouce shield (light and large) to go with it.
A bow - for most of the game, Hans Capon's hunting bow, but any middling bow will do. Cuman 62/64lb is quite useable. A heavier than needed bow is slower to draw, less accurate and not much more useful.
A sheaf of cheap arrows (tournament will do, as will hunting, or anything else gathered from enemies).
A sheaf of better arrows - either long distance for easier shooting, or better piercing for damage. You don't need *very* many. I tend to take 30s, but 24 is the traditional sheaf size.
A Saviour Schnapps or two.
A Marigold Decoction or two.
A handful of apples.
Sufficient bandages to treat the wounds you commonly take from a simple fight.
A couple of lockpicks.
A Spade.
One light source - required for legally being on the roads/streets at night... Useful in addition (if a little 'cheat-like') is the Nighthawk Potion.
Small stacks of herbs in every variety, just sufficient to activate the charisma perk under Herbalism.
Around 240-1000 groschen. (I have modded coin weight - this is 2.4-10lbs of silver alloy coins).
When travelling for combat, or in areas with heavy bandit population of the tougher types: A Polearm, in hands.

This is likely to be too much at the start, and you should pare down the duplicates/support items/spare weapons/armour worn as needed to keep mobile. (These should all go to the horse).

The horse with as good a saddle as you can afford, with 4 bags if possible. Carries my loot, excess coin from recent sales, and my larger reserves for purchasing trips, additional food/drink/clothing sets/repair items etc. Once full I can choose whether to desist from additional looting/sort and purge the collection so far/store excess in a local container/or just carry the rest and suffer the penalties. Heavy Duty Pony is one trait with trade off I do consider and usually take - I like stuff - and it makes up for only having one horse (I'd actually have my Warhorse, unladen and unridden, a second horse for riding, and a pack pony or two if I were doing it 'properly').

This is for a 'man at arms' type play style though, and if you deal with encounters and other problems in different ways, your default carried set might differ.

Best post I read all day

Thanks, man.

I've been keeping an eye on all my attributes, but of course had no point of reference. My speed is 18 or so at this point but had no way of knowing if that was fast or not. Now at least I know there is lots of room for improvement there. The only layered thing I have is my head at this point (open bascinet and a liner thing. Sorry, don't know all the terminology yet!). I've been spending most of my money on training, but I think soon I should invest in some better kit. Wasn't sure if I'd be finding much good stuff (or stealing it) so have held off spending much money on kit. I did buy some nice boots.

I have yet to try a shield, and worried it may take up too much real estate on the screen, but I took the perk that reduces enemy stamina on my blocks, so a shield probably goes well with that and I suppose would help my blades last longer?

At my stage I'm basically just rolling with whatever is the best stuff I have on hand. As the bank account grows I can be more selective. Longsword and shield perhaps. With a mace for armored foes. I've been using a seax, which is not very good, although the Piercer has nearly lost all it's heat so can start carrying that around more. I'll check out that Fehlen.

I don't plan to lead a life of crime, but made sure I have the skills just in case it should come in handy.. I see my Henry as more of an adventuring type. Silver-tongued, light armor, one handed swords and a bow. A lawful good loner, with occasional trips to the dark side when the benefits are too good to ignore. But I haven't been running around ripping everyone off so far. Pickpocketing and lockpicking are tricky, so I'll toe the line mostly.

Thanks for taking the time Lieste, that was very insightful

Longsword only works 'properly' with two hands. None of the longsword devices work with a shield in the other hand, and I think that even the sword in one hand devices are either much less effective, or just don't work.

Arming swords, long knives/messers/hunting swords and sabres work well with shields if you want to go sword and shield.
I personally prefer the use of a percussion/anti-harness weapon (mace/hammer or axe) with the shield, and a more agile/flexible sword in two hands for unarmoured opponents... note that the mace still works perfectly well on unprotected enemies, but has slightly less reach and fewer devices to play with.

Shields are *really* good at soaking up arrows, allowing you to advance towards a threatening archer without too much concern if you block when he aims.... and they are quite good for passive protection of your left side if you rotate the fight by moving to your right. Not perfect, but better than absorbing the hits directly from people you can't see or block. Also note that dodge is more effective than blocking in some respects (it always breaks any device he may be working towards, results in no injury or damage to your equipment (and less to his if you want it to upgrade too - on the other hand you might want to destroy his weapon to make him less of a threat...)

Finding kit is really 'big' - with the interesting places, hidden or buried chests there are dozens of sets of good quality items just lying around for the taking (more or less), and while early 'area' and early phase bandits are less well equipped - elsewhere and later the haul of high quality armour and weapons could be described as excessive.... but in order to get it you need a better plan, or similar stuff yourself. Most of the 'found' stuff is carefully preserved, but the loot from camps and battles is usually in poor to terrible condition, so it may not be worth too much, or be really expensive to bring into a worthwhile condition. Note that keeping higher end equipment in perfect condition can be quite expensive - hence the suggestion to keep a set of lower charisma/slightly less effective armour for the training fights against Bernard and anywhere else you get the opportunity, when that is your 'morning's task'.

Be aware that looting corpses is always a sin, and in some cases may actively be seen as a crime... be aware of the loot/steal status before just taking things (or even examining the body/container).

Well there goes that plan



True dat. I was on the nightingale quest you mentioned earlier, and came across an interesting place that had a chest that was easy to pick. In it were all sorts of things including a nice brigandine. I also died for the first time in the game on this quest when I stumbled upon a bandit camp. They got me. But I returned and got them, and this yielded a full set of chainmail. With all this new stuff I was able to triple my armor protection. And for free which is nice. Well, aside from all the blood.

And a confession... when you mentioned the Fehlen Scarmaker I thought it was the name of a sword. But it's a combo move, doh!

I have all of these skill points unspent as I can't decide and keep saving them for higher levels. I should get a combo move or two learned though I think.

I wish I could comprehend KCD the way you do, Lieste! Lots of information to digest there.

I'm about 3 hours in and I haven't been nearly this captivated by a game in a long, long time.

A couple of screenshots

On the road to Neuhof and Uzhitz looking south from roughly half way between river and inn, if I am not mistaken.

Haha, maybe so. It's on the way to the camp during the Prey quest with Lord Capon.

The second one is Uzhitz,

Edit: Actually it must be looking northeast, as it's morning. And it must be between Rattay and Talmberg?

There's a fellow sitting on the ground if I recall on the way to the first stage of that investigation(first real main quest)that has a quest I think. Does anyone know if he shows back up? During the course of those missions he seems to have disappeared on me. Also, does anyone know how to remove the compass tape? I tried a mod that's supposed to minimize or hide those hud elements but it did not work for me. I can live with the health meter at the bottom but the forced/permanent compass tape at the top really bugs me. I don't understand why the developers didn't allow that to be turned off at the player's discretion because it really is intrusive and obscures the view.

This is the console command, but from what I read anytime you perform an action the HUD elements return.

wh_ui_showcompass 0

That can be entered through the console with the tilde key or edited in to the launch options as I understand it. Hardcore mode removes it, but of course has many other effects as well that you probably don't want.

As to your quest question, do you know the name of the character you're referring to?

It'll be a wayfarer, or beggar.

Some need help, some offer you items to buy, or other types of 'random encounters'. They will repeat in the same places from a random pool, assigned to each 'type' of location. Some areas have fewer friendly wayfarers and more assaults by local thugs or bandits.

For the HUD it is possible to use a mod to attach a keybind to the show/hide. I've not felt the need, but have seen things which claim to do that.

I got drunk (in game) and lost my bow. Now that's realism

Had to buy another one. Seriously. Lol, actually I don't know how I lost it, or if I sold it accidentally, not likely, but since I don't know what happened to it I can't rule it out. But I woke up in a back yard and my bow was gone. Hell of a hangover too.

10/10 would lose my sh!t again.

Lieste, you had recommended the Scarmaker sword combo move and I took it some time ago. But I didn't have a longsword. Well I did, but it took forever and a day for the heat to cool off on it so I left it in the trunk at the Rattay miller's house. After about two weeks in-game I could finally begin to carry it without fear of confiscation or being thrown in the hoosegow. A few days of no combat later I was galloping down a forested bridleway and blew by a lone bandit that shouted besmirchments of my lineage or somesuch.

Being an honorable sort, I could not let this stand so I galloped a bit further down the path and dismounted, taking a few seconds to sort my armor in the inventory and turned to face the rotten scoundrel. Expecting him to still be some way off I was surprised to find him right in my face with his sword raised. Instinctively I slashed, and stabbed, and stabbed.... and he collapsed dead at my feet.

Most swordfights take a bit more time lol. I've had them last for 5 minutes, this one took 5 seconds. Then I realized that purely by happenstance my first strike was the opening one for the combo, and the second and third were correct as well. It's was entirely unintentional, and entirely awesome. The first strike threw him off balance, and he was wide open for the stabs. The sword is the Piercer, which is made for stabbing strikes, and this bandit stood no chance. Cool stuff.

Having a great time with this game. It's different, unique. The layered armor system is cool. Quests are hit or miss for me, some better than others. The horse is fun, with different ones you can buy with various stats, and a variety of equipment such as shoes, bridles, saddles and caparisons to customize it. NPCS are persistent. In many games, if an NPC says something like "OK, I'll meet you later at the mill" he trundles off and after a certain distance, or when out of sight, he is then teleported to the location. in KCD that NPC will always travel there in real time. I think this also contributes to some of the bugs that crop up on quests, but it's pretty impressive at the same time.

The leveling system lacks panache. It works fine, but it's a bit dull for me. Some of the perks are too OP for me to consider, some that essentially negate what I would consider core mechanics and challenges that make the game fun. But this is subjective opinion and others may find it more compelling. Character progression though is one of the best in any RPG I've played (and it's a lot of them). The sense of improvement through practice is fantastic. Little in the game feels arbitrary, it all makes sense.

Even 50+ hours in, I am still traveling everywhere on horseback. I have almost ignored the fast-travel system entirely, and that says a lot about the in-game world right there. A really good game.

Yes. Agree that balance with the Perks, on top of stat enhancements and skill progression.... coupled with stat-locked weapons is all a bit much.

I ignore some of the perks as being contrary to my RP style (such as eliminating the need to eat/sleep in some circumstances). I haven't yet considered how I might tinker with this area though, as the economy and weapon/skill/stat/armour relationships are more of an immediately intrusive 'blob' and quite big enough to tackle as a first step.


Fast-travel is 'the same' as moving along the same marked way in real time. I only used it 2 or 3 times outside of the story mandated points though, as it is far more enjoyable to actually ride the routes, and even to explore off the beaten path on the way to and fro.
There is also a risk of being deposited into an ambush with a slightly longer than desirable load/initiation time and too close, while you could more reliably observe/respond/evade if in the 3d world at the time of the encounter. Not personally experienced any issue, but I could see it as being one.

Exactly, and it's simple enough just not to choose those, and that's what I've done.

I did however, take Troubadour

This game is 40% off on Steam.... for another hour and a half I paid full price, $60, which I never do, but I feel I've already got my money's worth.

There's a bit of paid DLC, but after researching it I decided it wasn't worth it (From the Ashes). Anyone recommend it?

I'd reckon I'm about halfway through the game, about 70 hours in. I take my time. I've gotten used to the combat system, and my character too, and together it makes it the best melee system I've seen in any RPG. When you come up against a skilled opponent it really shines, it feels like swordfighting. Not just clicking the mouse. You can dodge, block, riposte, smack him in the face with the pommel. There are 6 'zones' for striking, slash or stab. In addition, there are several weapon types (longswords, short swords, mace, halberd, axe, etc) that your character needs to train in to become efficient. This is done through normal gameplay, and through a trainer you can spend time with to polish your skills. Combo moves are very effective, once you've learned them. However, combo moves are hard to use against skilled opponents, as they break your chain because they are faster than less skilled ones. So combos are quite difficult to use except against the foes you don't really need them for. the result is I fight reactively, defensively. I let the opponent strike first, and block it to open him up for a counter stroke. It all adds up to a wonderful experience, beginning the game as a complete noob, but over time acquiring the skills to become proficient, not just through perks, but by actually practicing and figuring it all out.

Archery though is a disappointment. I use the bow all the time. But why they chose to do it the way they did is hard to understand. Henry holds the bow about a foot to the right, so that you aren't looking down the arrow shaft to aim. And the amount of sway is over the top. With the non-centered view and no reticle it is harder than it needs to be. Of course you get used to it and can be effective, and there are mods to add an aimpoint if needed. But for a game that has realism as it's calling card, the decisions made regarding implementation of the bow are a bit baffling. Things improve a bit as you level up, but even then it feels little like actually shooting a bow and arrow.

After putting in the time I can say that the game runs beautifully (on my rig) and that whatever bugs exist haven't seemed to effect me. But I have far to go yet. My experience though is that it is in far better shape than some of what you might read suggests.

7 attack zones actually - a thrust from the high guard goes to the face, the other four guards thrust to the sternum.

The bow really is weird. The archer's paradox is what is missing, and the arrow flies on a prolongation of the shaft (so it is tolerably easy to predict the in game aimpoint with practice, but the sight picture is wrong for correctly made arrows suited to the draw weight of the bow). Doesn't require any animation of the physics, just using the edge of the stave as an aim-line (or just barely 'off') to significantly improve the situation. Should be a relatively simple adjustment, but not one within my competence.

The 'sway' of the bow is if anything understated - but the physical feedback and 3d viewing make instinctual shooting when passing through the target much easier IRL. To aim at distant targets without the reticle I place the target on the approximate centre of the screen, allow superelevation, then draw the bow - once the full draw is obtained there is a settling of the bow arm and then a regular sway - loosing immediately is often a hit. I then shoot consistently using the same method, and adjust by the miss distance if I need a second shot. (I get a roughly 50 % hit rate, and do as well against comfortablely distant as 'in your face' targets, preferring to shoot further if possible as arrows break at very short ranges, and the enemy take some time to identify an unseen shooter, giving time for more follow up shots if needed). Shooting from the horse is not nearly as effective as from the ground, but you can more easily evade when you miss.

I enjoyed remaking the hamlet is FtA, but the scaling and 'purpose' of the dlc seems very off. (supposedly a money sink, initially does require some small investment, but then gives a profit large enough to repay all the invested funds in a few in game weeks). The ability to specify the skill and equipment of arena opponents for practice and experimentation is worth considering this dlc for alone though, and the process was enjoyable enough, with some elements of the new hamlet visually striking, and interesting interactions with the 'judgements' mini-game. Quite short, especially if you have no shortage of money already and you don't deliberately pace it yourself... Not a 'must have' IMO, but nice to have if it were on sale for example.

The next dlc (Amorous Adventure of Hans Capon) seems to be more solidly promising though, with a more story driven quest, and a (free to all) tournament mode 'soon' and two more story dlcs to follow (Band of Bastards and A Woman's Lot).

Thanks Lieste. From what I've read of the FtA DLC it seems mainly to be a way to spend all of the money you've accumulated. I think if all buildings were able to be built there I would get it, and maybe I will regardless. It was just on sale but I passed. For example I'd want at minimum a bathhouse, a swordsmith and armorer (or blacksmith?). Am I right that those cannot be built in Pribyslavitz? And other things are an either/or, like a baker or a butcher, but that doesn't mean much to me.

Not sure I agree about bow sway. I shoot bows and while I'm no expert, I am far steadier than Henry The way it works in the game you have to 'offset' your aim and then wait for the traverse or whatever you might call it for the sight picture to come in line with the target, It's not difficult once you're used to it. It's funny, but this all clicked with me when I did the archery contest when trying to get the wine for Stephanie. I was crap up to that point with the bow, and thought I stood no chance. But once the contest started it all fell in to place. I discovered the correct aimpoint by happenstance and just drew and waited for the aim to swing over with a one-count and scored a bull. Fell in to a rhythm and smoked the competition with a perfect score. I was amazed. Since then I've had little trouble, but I do enable the cursor sometimes, for long range combat like stealth-killing a bandit camp.

There are mods that do this but I just type the following in to the console

wh_pl_showfirecursor=1

Had my toughest battle so far last night. I was returning to Talmberg from Skalitz after securing the priest for Rovna and took the shortcut through the woods, up the serpentine path and blew past some bandits. I've grown accustomed to galloping a little further, jumping off the horse and turning to face the bandits who usually are low level and no match. After killing one or two the others usually bug out and head for the hills. Only this time I got a much more difficult group. Six of them actually and one fully kitted out in heavy armor with a hounskull, and a heavy shield with flames on it. Uh-oh.

So I took out two quickly in melee, but the others were getting their whacks in. So I started backpedalling shooting arrows which feels so wrong, but I want to live lol. Took out two more then hopped on my trusty Bucephalus and took off to gain some separation. Took out number five with the bow while mounted which left me and Mr Knight guy. I let him get too close several times somehow and he unhorsed me. That's scary when you are laying on the ground, looking up, and see this dude in full heavy kit raising his weapon to finish you off. I got up though and got back on the horse. He unhorsed me again! Not going well.

I didn't have any head protection on. Armor was a gambeson, Aachen brigandine, padded chausers, cuman vambraces, leather gloves and hunting boots, my standard day-attire. This gives me the light armor perk at least for the 50% dodge bonus. And we squared off. My health was down to 3/4, but good enough I suppose. I don't know really how long the swordfight lasted. Close to 8 minutes I'd guess. Each of us blocking the other's strikes. Eventually I began connecting, and he did a few as well. Maybe his stamina dropped and I was able to get some master strikes in. His armor though meant my successful strikes did little apparent damage.

The fact I was using a longsword against heavy armor didn't help. If only I had a good mace! Well, this guy has one. And I wanted it since it hurt so much haha. Eventually I wore him down and he surrendered and I ran him straight-through. I felt bad about it. The honorable thing would have been to let this valiant knight live to fight another day. But my blood was up. And now I have the Raven's Beak. Nice weapon. Called a mace but looks like a warhammer. That was an awesome fight.

Got further in the main quest to the Hunt and Charcoal Burners...

Have to admit the game looks a ton better in the forest than in the city, IMHO. Killed two bandits in their nightshirts after repeat attempts to fight them fairly failed... so I surprised them while they were unarmed and unarmored. Evil me.

All in all it's becoming more enjoyable. Just really heats up my computer - most agressive demanding game I've seen yet.

Forests/woods look fantastic in this game. I've spent a lot of time hunting and the woods are really nicely done. Matter of fact I think everything about the countryside looks fantastic.



Nope, that's called tactics right there

New DLC came out the other day for this.

Rather than reload an old save to try it, I foolishly started a new game instead. I forgot how utterly worthless Henry is at the start.

I got beat nearly to death by two peasants with no armor and only a stick between the two of them. It was a far cry from end game, fully kitted out and max leveled Henry I got used to playing. It was right when I got to Rattay. I decided to not go and see Radzig and first try to level up, explore, get the buried treasures, buy a horse, and learn to read. So I grabbed a bow and a sword I didn't have the skill to use and ran off the the woods. That's when I saw an unarmed peasant in the road trying to lure me over there. Having played the game before, I knew it was a trap and cautiously approached and prepared to run. That's when only a single peasant emerged from the woods armed with only a bludgeon to help. I figured it would be easy. After a few minutes, a cracked skull, and a few broken ribs later battered, though victorious, Henry limped back to the Rattay Mill and couldn't sleep long enough to fully heal.

That's when I found out that you can't even preform a perfect block or dodge until Captain Bernard teaches them to you.

I love this game. I had it on my steam wishlist since it was released, but I never pulled the trigger because of all the people talking about how buggy it was. My brother recently lent me his PS4 to play another game and KCD was on there. He suggested I try it, I did, and then shut the PS4 off and bought the game for PC. My mind has been blown since the first time I played it. Money well spent in my opinion. I also just purchased all the DLC, except the art and music ones. I really think it's one of the best games I have ever played.

Glad to see more folks enjoying this game. I'm still playing and am fairly far along. The list of good, first-person RPGs has been a bit sparse in recent years. And with it's unique vibe KCD stands out. I'd put it up there with Gothic 2, Deus Ex and other games I consider classics. While I would give the nod to Witcher 3 as the best game overall, KCD has it's own brilliance. I don't doubt that folks have problems with the game, but my experience has been trouble free. It runs smoothly (you can see the screens I posted earlier have the frame rate in upper left corner), everything has worked.

The world is amazing, it really pulled me in. I love the countryside as mentioned, and the towns, the castles, it all looks fantastic. Climb high in a castle and you'll see all the mechanical contraption for the portcullis for example. It doesn't actually do anything, I've yet to see the gates operate. But it's there, and this sort of attention to detail is evident everywhere you look.

I've heaped praise on KCD in this thread, and mentioned a few of it's foibles, but overall it's one of the best RPGs I've played.

wormfood, nothing you don't already know, but for other folks starting out I'd recommend avoiding combat when possible until you meet Bernard and can pick up a few skills. Not always possible, but good advice anyway I think. I've passed on the DLC, seems sort of weak to me, but of course I haven't played it.

The alchemy system in KCD is exceptional, I cannot think of a game where I'm more impressed with the alchemy mechanics than in KCD. I don't use it much aside from plot requirements, alchemy isn't my bag really. But even so I think it's very well done, detailed and interesting.

A point I made in a KCD thread on a different forum is about gear. In most RPGs I am highly focused on gear and inventory. There is so much stuff, and I'll spend hours finding it, sorting it, selling it, upgrading it. In KCD this is mostly a non-issue. I've been carrying the same sword and bow for 40+ hours now. It allows me to focus on the gameplay and not obsess over the gear, which is nice really. No agonizing over whether to carry the +2 strength or+2 agility weapon, ya know? I don't need to worry about enchanting it or any of that stuff. Just an occasional stop at a grinding wheel to sharpen the blade and get the blood off

I remain impressed with the way my character and I have progressed. The combat system has this subtle way about it. Both the player and Henry are lousy at the start, but as Henry learns so does the player, through actual practice. It has an amazing synergy that really makes me feel tethered to Henry. I've enjoyed the journey from blacksmith's boy to champion of Bohemia.

Frame rates and/or streaming might get a bit screwy in the late game 'large skirmishes'.

I'd strongly consider reducing graphics a little before going beyond the highlighted 'point of no return', where you will lose relevant unfinished sidequests. YMMV, of course but I had some disappointing 'delayed/failed' streaming errors in these. Remained playable. Looked like arse.

On the DLC ~ If they go on sale, worth nabbing for what they offer. I have both paid DLC so far (plus obviously the free stuff from Kickstarter and the other freeLC). FtA is indifferently implemented and doesn't fit the game scale. Can't comment on the AAoHC as I haven't yet started on the quest line, but I expect it to have some variation in method, but to be brief.

The chatter on the WH boards is that the Hans DLC takes about 3 hours to complete. I'd buy the DLC if it was like Witcher 3 expansions, new areas, with new quests. But thus far I haven't been interested in what they have released.

I enjoyed reading your account. I also ride Bucephalus. Was pretty much sold once I saw the name, which was the name of Alexander the Great's steed. Nice, also, that he is a very good horse. The Raven's Beak is awesome! I had been fighting using longswords for most of my game. I couldn't figure out why I didn't fight as well when using a shield. Did a little research and, oof, operator error. Shields are meant to be used with short swords or maces/warhammers. So I decided to try my hand with that armament and was pleasantly surprised when I fought my first armored opponents with it. Henry is not one to be messed with.

Yeah, a fine steed indeed. With all the perks he's way too fast enough I ride everywhere, horsemanship was comfortably the first skill for me to max out. He carries a lot, doesn't frighten. Good mount, and frankly I can't be seen on a white horse, so...

I don't use a caparison as that seems a bit too gaudy for me, I carry one in case I got in to a really tough fight I guess, not that I'd remember to equip it at that stage.

You are right about the shield and weapon stuff, and Lieste clued me in earlier in the thread. My plan was to go longsword and shield, but I've stuck with the longsword and light armor. I didn't have a good mace/warhammer until the Raven's Beak and by then my sword skill was far in advance of mace. Once it's maxed I'll diversify a bit. And a bow of course, but I would guess everyone carries a bow? I usually use the Cuman bow as it's the best blend of draw speed and power it seems. These bows are easy to get but they aren't all the same power. The one to look for is 74, or at least that's the best I've found. I carry a second hunting bow for contests, as the draw speed is better, and power means little other than a flatter trajectory.

I like that you're going with mace/shield, especially as there is a perk that negates shield block stamina drop isn't there? That's a balanced setup good against all foes. My setup maybe isn't so strong against heavier armor, but I seem to outlast them due to stamina. I didn't care for shortswords, I've really only used them to train agility. The mace, though, now that has possibilities!

I prefer the 64, looks nicer and is a bit quicker in the draw. Mostly looks nicer though.

That's worth another 20 right there. Ya gotta look good

I looked and see it's 30%, but still a decent perk. Starting out I couldn't have known which skills exactly I would develop, or how long it might take. Horsemanship, as mentioned, and defense, maxed out fairly early. Others hardly improved at all, because I just didn't do much of it. Things like pickpocketing and alchemy, and weapons skills like axe and mace are quite low. Stealth I've tried to work on, but even at this point I'm only level 9. That one's hard to level. Maintenance is one I wish I had focused on from the start, but money isn't that tight so I was able to keep everything tip-top by using the merchants.

There are some nice perks in maintenance though and eventually I got them, but feel I should have done more earlier.. Speaking of perks, which ones to get or not was fairly easy. Like Lieste mentioned earlier I just took most everything that didn't have a malus, and did not take any that do. The toughest choice for me was between Burgher and Savage. I took Burgher but at times I've wished I had chosen Savage. Otherwise it seems straightforward, and touches again on the 'lack of panache' I talked about earlier. in regards to the leveling system.

I'm nearing the end of the game (130 hours in), don't want to spoil story elements, but the story has been quite good I think. There's no save-the-world slant, though you suspect all along that you will be at the center of it all. But I've found it all intriguing, and plausible, and interesting. As a first effort, War Horse has really done a job I'd say. This game is just so unique, it's been a hell of a good time. I still have a bit to go, and could stretch it as long as I want. I wonder though about replayability. Having played most of it I can't see how subsequent runs would play out much differently. It's a strong enough game though that it might not matter that much.

Some strengths and weaknesses from my point of view

Strengths

-- Graphics. Excellent. Everything looks fantastic. I have a decent system, no longer top end. On my 1070 it runs like butter and even after all this time I still am in awe of the countryside. The terrain, the forests, villages, towns and castles. Riding over a crest approaching Sasau and seeing the town open out before you with the Monastery on the hill is just awesome. Townsfolk bustle about their lives, smoke rises from chimneys, water wheels turn, hammer blows ringing out from the blacksmith just down the street. It's all impressive and highly immersive. Top marks on world building.

-- Voice acting. So subjective, but overall I think it's a strength. Good characters, well acted.

-- Melee combat. I reckon it's the best I've seen. Skill based, requires practice. I went from knowing in the early stages that I would get my ass kicked to knowing later that I had mastered it and could take on anyone because of the skills and training I had received. Really cool. In so many RPGs this occurs because of the gear, or because of arbitrary perks and traits. In KCD it's because I learned to be a better swordsman. Love that.

-- Mechanics. I debated mentioning this, as it's usually too broad to paint with a single brush. But this game has never failed to impress me with the mechanics, how they make sense, how the are implemented, how in some cases it's a thing at all. Like for example if you don't have a torch out when in town at night the guards will be suspicious and question you about it. Or how you can suffer negative modifiers if you overeat. It's at the same time both surprisingly simple, and elegantly done.


Weaknesses.

-- Archery. Not a fan. I love bows in any RPG that has them. I've gravitated towards ranger-style characters ever since Baldur's Gate. It's my thing. In KCD however I'm disappointed in how the bow is done. I got used to it and do fine, but I wish it had been done in a different way.. You don't aim as much as guess. Over time you usually guess correctly, but it lacks the focus on skill and mastery that makes melee combat shine. A miss.

-- Side quests. Some are quite good, but the overall feel is lackluster. This guy wants boar skins, and that guy too, And this guy wants hare meat, and then he wants hare skins, and yadda yadda. One trend I see in modern RPGs is the emergent side quest. That's my term for a seemingly simple task that leads down a path through more and more side quests, seemingly unrelated but triggered by the one you started on. One leads to the next until you've probably forgotten what started you down this path. KCD is much simpler in this regard.

-- Leveling system. On one hand I love that it's use-based, like Elder Scrolls. The more you do something, the better you get at it. You can't become a better swordsman because you gained enough XP on that herb fetch sidequest and therefore can spend a point on sword skill. The perk choices though are just so uninspiring to me. Some are quite useful like the one that lowers your noise signature when you repair your own clothes, or additional armor damage for blades you've honed yourself. Others are ones that I'd never pick. In the end I have a number of unspent points simply because there is nothing I want to spend them on. A bit of letdown, at least in comparison to most RPGs I've played. It doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the game, but I still find myself wishing it was more robust and interesting.

Well, that's a wall of text so I'll cut it short. I had only come on to post that the shield block stamina perk was 30%, and that lead to all of this haha. Like those emergent side quests I suppose

With the archery, it has some aspects very like real shooting, and some misses.

I tend to look at my target, make an allowance for range, then draw and loose once the arrow is at full draw and pointed at the target (there is a very small settling animation when you get there). Holding the draw and trying to "aim" generally doesn't work well for me (IRL or in game).

Comparing the bow sway to an 'Olympic archery' simulator suggests that if anything KC:D understates the sway, and IRL I'd say that there is a noticeable dwell before I loose as I am not 'lined up'. It is a feeling thing, rather than a visual one perhaps, but there is a reason you typically don't gain anything from holding the draw compared to loosing 'at' the target directly.

What is flat wrong is the 'picture' of the drawn bow. The aim point is along the arrow shaft projection, rather than behind the bowstave, as Archer's paradox is completely missing (no expectation it should be animated, but the aimpoint should lie much closer to the bowstave and vary depending on arrow stiffness and bow weight, and this could be relatively easily corrected).

As noted I generally don't aim beyond looking at the target (placing it into screen centre).

Typically get 3s with an occasional 2 in archery contests, and score 17-18 in chumps (out of 20). Using less powerful bows increases accuracy you can reliably obtain, at the expense of armour penetration (and I have reduced damage in my modded game, making armour a serious issue to archers (aim for weaker points like hands/legs or open face helms)).

I do well in the contests too, but it's more like painting by numbers than true artistry if that makes sense. I get what you're saying Lieste, and I won't disagree. The overall result though is, for me, less than satisfactory.

Like you I also use a different bow for contests, usually an ash hunting bow, simply for the speed. In round target contests, finishing first nets extra points, . And the extra shots pay off in chumps since there's no arrow limit so it's a no brainer for me

I asked before, but how many playthroughs would you say comprise your 400 hours? I'd say I'll be done by around the 150 mark. I just moved beyond Vranik and can forge ahead with the main quest or take more time and stretch it out. But it all got quite interesting and I'm keen to see how it all goes from here. No need to lean towards completionist I don't think.

The chatter is somewhat silly.

Witcher 3 has been completed in under 3 hours. KCD in under 2 hours.
Are either of these strictly representative of the gameplay in these?

I have played *part* of the dlc and patch content and spent well over 10 hours so far without getting unduly distracted by anything else.
I currently have a laundry list of things to do (which I could skip by just throwing money at the problem). I choose to do the content, instead of buying my way around it because it will be more interesting that way.

It is probably possible to do the dlc content in around an hour if you did the simple/obvious thing and fast travelled. To do more complex options (or to uncover them all so you can select which to perform ~ a lot longer)

This is often the same people who complaining of how "tiny" the map is claim they can ride across it in "2 minutes", which seems improbable to me, especially since this "tiny map" is larger than the active part of Velen and Novigrad from the Witcher 3 which is considered 'quite large'.

AAoHC is much more compelling than FtA was (although that does give a useful northern 'base of operations' - quality of implemention was a bit iffy though). But you do get rewards from what you put in in many of KCD's quests - a reasonable amount of content is hidden behind curiosity... and you can truncate gameplay by being too quick to jump on the first option that you see. Reading the quest log and figuring out how to do 'impossible' things using what your current situation permits is a big part of gameplay (such as during the Neuhof/Ginger investigation, )

270 hours are in my current playthrough - I also had one which I terminated just after Neuhof, and another just after the Pribyslavitz battle early in the patching process. Plus a number of release candidate playlines (6 maybe?) as each new version necessitated a restart to ensure no residual bugginess.

Some of that 'extra' time in the current playthrough is from mapping processes, which take a few hours in each area I explore thoroughly, for the mines, or for a survey of saving beds world wide for examples. And combats take me a bit longer to work through, as armour functions against edged weapons reasonably well, and there have been 'a lot' of fights.

Chumps has a 20 arrow limit btw.

Question about patches: If I update vom 1.6 to 1.7, do I need to reapply the updated HD packs too?

Doesn't seem like you need to. I didn't and everything looks the same.

The patch did mess up the character equip screen for me. Especially when you repair an item. I have to re-equip everything. It shows equipped, but it isn't. Not a big deal, but still...

They also changed the dismount to only when stopped, which cramps my style



That's the floating logs right? How did I not notice that? lol

I had wondered how many playthroughs because I was curious how long someone might free-play. I feel like I've really taken my time, no rush to do anything, hours spent just exploring and hunting and admiring the vistas, and still at just 130. Thanks for the answers.

Game is on discount at GOG right now

After posting at 7 yesterday, I finished off the first play of the dlc & patch content. Taking another 6 hours. Total at least 16 hours. (Only one of 4-5 tourney cycles as a bug prevents the second from starting during the Epilogue, so more (repeating) content with armour pieces as a prize for winning each forming a set as a reward).

I can see how you could just buy something in game which was the bulk of the second half of the questing... and with the use of fast travel about half of the playtime could be removed (but for me that is at least part of the pleasure of playing - the travel between places, just for the hell of it, or for the current main purpose). Still it would be a very preciously 'rushed' playstyle to get a meaningful involvement and less than 3 hours IMO - or in other words looking for a reason to complain about thinness.

There are numerous alternative options not pursued that I'd love to see played out, but I will either save these for a later full playthrough, or watch them if they form part of one of the Let's play channels I follow, rather than systematically working through them right now.

Well then that's not so bad, what did you think of the DLC? I've only used fast travel a few times so would probably get some mileage out of it.

I've avoided triggering the tournament since I've read it has some issues. Not bothered by it, and it would give me something new to look forward to if I should start a second run. If I were to buy the DLCs that would add more new content. And maybe I'd look for some mods. Not much I want to change, but if there is a mod that removes the thing that ties player damage to stamina I might consider that. I'd also consider some changes to the archery, but I have no idea what mods are out there as I have yet to look. This run has been stock vanilla.

I really enjoyed the AAoHC quests.
I got a bit murdery in the first quest... on reflection I don't know whether that was a good call or not. There are certainly alternatives to this. Felt good though in context. Though obviously that by itself doesn't make it the best option.

There is a follow up to "Miracles while you wait", with the Charlatan making his promised way to Ledetchko (in the base game he fled 'to Ledetchko' but never showed up). This quest is complex, involved, requires some thinking to get 'full' success (and I missed one option) and some potential for unexpected consequences... or you can bypass it (as those who complain the dlc is short apparently have all done).

Then bringing it all together for a wooing "in the French style".

Places where the game asks the player to think, and come up with their own solution, places where the player gets to make moral decisions, and some comedy. Plus a tale of love and longing of "the most beautiful creature in the world".

While I'd suggest FtA only if on sale, because it is out of scale, has balance issues and fails to 'solve' the problems it was introduced to fix... but is a pleasant if pandering quest. It could be significantly improved by reworking some of the rules, but falls a bit flat as is, AAoHC was fun, fit into the world scale and allowed (if not strictly required) some thought to get 'right' with the possibility to fail in 'interesting ways' seemingly available, as with elsewhere ~ so some replay exists as there isn't only one outcome or path for each stage.

Worth the full $10? Maybe, depending in part on your expectations of VFM in entertainment (For me this isn't a lot of money to have (by the time I am played through with it) 20+ hours, because I will explore in some way or other the options not seen). I'm decidedly not wealthy, but will happily spend hundreds on hobbies I enjoy.

Thanks for the info. I think if I were to replay KCD I'd get that stuff.

Here are some shots of the towns, mostly in and around Sasau

Talmberg Castle



My trusty mount Bucephalus







The nightlife in Samopesh

Some random tips:
If you have an older PC and are having issues with frame rates and or bad pop in, don't buy a fast horse. This will make it much worse.

Want to get your sneak skill up? In the prologue there's a guy with a pitchfork by a haystack between the inner bailey and the town proper, just keep knocking him out. Already left and Skalitz burned? Try wayfarers, there's no witnesses. Also, keep asking the miller to practice pickpocketing, it's slow, but safe and easy. There's also the practice chest behind the mill, you can only unlock it a few times, but it'll help a bit. Anytime you sneak and either pick a lock/pocket, knock someone out, or stealth kill them, your stealth skill will go up.

Having trouble with archer?
The bowman's brew helps quite a bit. It'll improve your skill by +5 making it a little steadier for about 5 minutes.
Also, use the smallest bow you have until you get your stats and bow skill up. Using a bow at or above your strength stats seems to add to the sway. That sway is also only left or right, you need to figure out how high to aim depending on the range and the bow being used. It's kind of an art and I don't have any easy tips other than to practice.
The log contest is great practice, your skill will go up and you get a lot of practice on moving targets. Other archery contests are OK practice for stationary targets, but your skill doesn't go up.
If you don't want to use a reticle mod, use the cuman gloves with a bow. Where the arrow is aimed is a point where a line on the back of the gloves and the arrow meet. It's something like this picture, but there's an actual line on the gloves:

I just wish they would optimize the engine a bit more.

OTOH maybe it's too visually open and large to have miracle 4K framerates...

My biggest immersion killer are the animations on NPCs in daily tasks.

Oh, and ssomething no game ever managed: plate that doesn't bend/stretch.

Good tips wormfood. I've used the Cuman vambraces trick, as those are the ones I wear all the time. And I think all archery contests contribute to raising bow skill, though maybe you have to win for it to do so? I've only seen it increase upon completion of the event anyway. I certainly used the fixed-target one in Rattay to level up a bit.

Your tip about knocking the guy out again and again is a good one, but I've avoided these sorts of things and just let the character develop naturally. The one exception is that I vaulted everything, often going out of my way to take the path through town with the most fences to hurdle over lol. I never did get in to pickpocketing, my skill is like 2 even at this late stage.

Colonel, I'm not running 4k and maybe that's the thing, because as you see in the shots I've posted it's always pegged at 60 fps, except in the nighttime shot where it's 53, I assume rendering the torchlight./shadows is the reason. I don't have a cutting edge box any longer and my impression of graphics performance has been great. Maybe I'm just lucky?

By the way that was quite a hot fix yesterday at 10 gigs! Most of the DLC bugs should be fixed it appears.

Finished the game last night, Steam says I played for 147 hours. It's the sort of game where you could play half of that, or double that, or endlessly if you choose. I really enjoyed it, for reasons that I've covered already.. I liked the main quest, most all of the mechanics and I had very few of the issues that are often mentioned about this game. It ran great, played great, never crashed and I'm glad I gave it a go. Paid full price 6 weeks ago (it's on sale at the mo) and easily got my money's worth.I did not opt in the end for any of the paid DLC, but might do if i should start another run. In all I'd highly recommend it if you enjoy first person RPGs. Based on my experience I'd say to ignore the negative voices that claim the game is unfinished or a buggy mess. I saw none of that.

Fellas, dragging up an old thread but I was somewhat late to the party with this gamr. Everything was going swimmingly well, for 3 hours, but now there is no in game sound. I get the title music, I get the speech at the beginning outlining everything, then nothing. Tried a reinstall of my realtek driver, but as everything else is groovy on my PC I'm at a loss. Tried to get refunded but Steam say no as I've now got 3.5 hours in. Any pointers please?

I am now trying a reinstall, so fingers crossed.

Did you turn the volume down in the sound effects menu perhaps? Or hit the MUTE key or something?

Otherwise check your windows volume sliders and make sure everything is turned on. If sound is being played in the game but not coming out through your speakers you should see it in the windows volume mixer (right side of the taskbar, not in game)

Also double check that your windows default sound device is set to the right one, just in case.

Appreciate you taking the time to reply VF. It's just KCD I'm having issues with. Re install didn't cure it. All other games work correctly, on line everything works. Most odd. I wondered if perhaps I had d/l something that was causing the issue, but nothing. Like I say I d/l the game again but still nowt.

Maybe you have 4.1 speakers? I do, and many games don't work correctly with them, so I have to set my speakers in windows to 5.1, then manually disable(not mute) the center channel to get speech to play through my right and left front speakers.

I saw this posted in the Steam forum:


"it seems the no sound issue happens when the game starts in full screen. switching to windowed put the sound back, then you can manually switch it back to full screen.. weird bug ."

I don't know if it will do anything but they also have HQ sound packs for the game. Maybe you can try installing those (or uninstalling if they are) and see if that gets the sound working again.

Thanks for the tips gents, sadly none of them worked. Sound still bost. I've only got the two speakers, and the output on the volume setting is correct. I tried with headphones, but still no go.
I've put a ticket into Warhorse studios, so who knows? In the mean time just need to find something else to play.

Win 10?

Try this...

Right-click the speaker icon beside the clock

Click “Troubleshoot sound problems”

Select your audio source and run through the troubleshooter

See if that helps

Tried that DB. Warhorse said reinstall Steam, so I did. Still knackered. No idea what it could be, and I think enough time has been spent pondering. Cheers chaps.

I had something similar which I fixed by poking around for a few minutes.

It was something in the arc of:

1) Uninstall the HD sound and Voice pack
2) Load the game and reset the sound options from the menu (may be the most important) & exit and Reinstall the HD sounds and Vox.
3) retry the game with working audio.

I will also lose sounds if I alt-tab to another media window, or if something else with media functions takes focus. This is simply fixed by returning focus to the game window though, so it probably isn't the issue.

Because I 'fixed' it so quickly, I don't have a very thorough set of testing/notes because this 'first try' resolved the problem.

Certainly if you haven't already tried it, just 'resetting' the in game audio from the menu might be worth a shot.

Lieste, you sir are a certified genuis. Worked a treat. Thanks very much. After watching the latest series of Knighfall I really wanted some sword play. I'd tried the tip Coots gave re uninstalling sound pack, but like an idiot I never thought of the extra steps about resetting the sound etc. Well played mate, thanks again. Thanks to all who gave me some pointers.

I really wish this game would grab me and keep my attention...

I'm pretty interested in some Youtube Channels about Medieval Warfare these days, yet somehow with a perfect game to go along that interest, I still don't "get it". Part of it are the GFX, and part of it... I dunno, the writing and animation I guess. I keep playing it an evening or two and then something else comes along.

Anyone got some ideas? I'm very early in the game, just after you discover what's happned to Lubosch...

I don't think there is much to say RS, to some the game mechanics click all of a sudden but to most(?) it just becomes a tedious walk of grinding until you can even consider doing anything fun,
And reading their toxic forum it seems once your character levels up to be usable it becomes boring for the 1-strike-1-kill you start to deliver.
Myself I just now uninstalled it after trying to understand this for 24 hours worth of playing (I never did found out about Lubosch btw, congrats to you there)

Needless to say, to me this is the worst gameplay I have ever seen. By far.
Shame for such nicely looking environment.

That's interesting Oden, as I found it a great game. One of the best first-person RPGs I've played in years. Too bad it didn't click for you, but that happens.

That's a tough one Colonel. I do recall that things really opened up after reaching the city of Rattay. Maybe stick with it until that point and see if you feel any differently. But perhaps it just isn't your bag? I thought it was great, obviously, as my posts throughout the thread attest. The melee combat being the best of it's sort in my view. If you're in to Medieval stuff this should be right up your alley, with it's authenticity. But sometimes that's not enough.

Edit: Looks like there have been three DLCs released since I finished the game last October. Any good? Any opinions on the three latest DLC

I believe these are called

A Woman's Lot
Treasures of the Past
Band of Bastards

In no particular order

+1

I have a mod I am working on which alters some of the combat mechanics.

A blend of reducing some of the 'verticality' of weapon and stat levelling, removing the 'protective' shield of stamina, but also significantly reducing weapon damage to keep armour effective against weapons suited to cutting softer targets, and a more accurate rendering of 'weak points' of the armour array.

All done with parameter modifications so far, I haven't needed to tweak any scripts.

I'd be happy to share the current version mod files if anyone wanted to test and give feedback (though it is WiP, and not complete (I also want to revise the economy values ~ a lost edit to the pickables file from a versioning error which I really regret), and there are some modifications to the start state which I haven't made, but want to touch on later (increasing base stats a little, but reducing the rate at which they improve more).

I haven't played Band of bastards and cannot comment much on it. I think this added the tournaments you can participate in so it might be worth it on sale.

Treasures of the past you can skip. It adds a bunch of treasure maps around the map you can hunt down and dig up. Not a bad way to get some money and equipment outside of combat, but I think you can skip it. Best part of it is the Warhorse gear, it's not great stat wise, but if you have to repair it, it only costs a buck per piece of equipment.

A Woman's lot is good, but short. You play as Theresa for a couple of days before, during and after the Skalitz raid. You get to see a lot more of Skalitz and it's people before and find out what happened so many of them.
It also adds a few more missions you can do for Johanka, one of the other Skalitz survivors.
And it adds more lines and interactions with Theresa.
Finally, it adds a dog companion. Dogs were also added to the game and can make some combat more difficult as they will attack you when you're in bandit camps. They don't do much damage, but can sometimes chop on your arm and prevent you from attacking for a moment.
Having one that can attack and temporarily incapacitate an enemy is useful.

Thanks for the info wormfood. The tournament was out just before I finished the game, but I never triggered it as it had issues, evidently, at that point.

The rest of the DLC fails to light my fire. Too bad, a compelling addition might make me give it another go.

Woman's Lot is fairly long, with the 'few extra missions for Johanka' being a solid 5-6 hours of play (with sufficient travel to distract and extend the players time in game in addition to this basic core), in addition to the reprise of the prologue (from a day earlier) from Teresa's point of view (another 2-6 hours).
The Dog companion is also a useful addition, and gives me an intent to replicate and extend some of the follow mechanics to the horse (maybe).

The tournament is now fairly solid as an event - it has a more or less annoying repeating notification, but functionally it works much better than at release. I like it because it removes 'equipment advantage' and in particular goes with the mod I run to have a strong distinction between the faces and 'everything else', except with the maces, where it matters less.

Band of Brothers I haven't yet played, but it is installed.

Amorous Adventures of Hans Capon was enjoyable, but fairly light. Much of the criticism was around how short (less than half) of the content was after players 'skipped' over the major portion of the second quest. It didn't add much new and unique, but had some 'gray' decisions to make or evaluate.

From the Ashes was something with more potential than the result. My main beef was the design failure of a money sink, which then produces a strong income after a (relatively trivial) investment of money and time. It was nice to have the decorated church... and a 'programmable' training arena for practising varied 1v1 combat scenarios. (More than worth it for testing a combat mod alone).

Treasures from the Past was a 'free promotional' nonsense that gives a 'free to maintain' set of average to good gear. It was later offered for sale to people who hadn't pre-ordered, and has a 'treasure hunt' to collect the pieces.

I would say, if you were to buy one dlc only, get A Woman's Lot. The bundle of all dlc isn't significantly more expensive though, and at the bundle/discount rate I think that all of them have enough value to worth the asking price.

Thanks for the insight Lieste, appreciated as always. Maybe I'll give the game another go. I really enjoyed the first run. I made a comment earlier in the thread about how replayability may not be one of this game's strong suits, for me anyway. But I liked it enough to warrant another run I reckon.