I have mixed feelings about the game, with the Better Combat and Immersion compilation:
The atmosphere is very good. It feels truely authentic, and even the random encounters seem to make sense.
The hardcore mode was also very cool. Not having most of the HUD helped a lot with immersion (and was a great throwback to early RPG gaming), but sadly, I just could not do without fast travel (the map is quite big, even if it's not nearly as bad on horseback).
It also has this silly Morrowind feel where you can do a lot of things unrelated to the main quest (learning to read, alchemy, stealing...).
But the combat is really weird:
I spent more time training longsword and sword and shield IRL than in the game:
I find it better than Bannerlord combat in 1v1, but worse from horseback, or in 1 vs many.
The atmosphere is very good. It feels truely authentic, and even the random encounters seem to make sense.
The hardcore mode was also very cool. Not having most of the HUD helped a lot with immersion (and was a great throwback to early RPG gaming), but sadly, I just could not do without fast travel (the map is quite big, even if it's not nearly as bad on horseback).
It also has this silly Morrowind feel where you can do a lot of things unrelated to the main quest (learning to read, alchemy, stealing...).
But the combat is really weird:
I spent more time training longsword and sword and shield IRL than in the game:
- I'm pretty sure that engaging farm pig in combat would not have been a very efficient way to improve
- Blunt damage against armour is a bit over the top. I think I had more troubles fighting unarmed opponents than those armed with a longsword.
- All 1 handed weapons should be poor choices vs armour. The glorious poleaxe should be the best anti armour weapon, but the polearm implementation is really wonky, even with polearm unleashed (the poleaxe would be more like a 2 handed hammer). There is a reason for shields going out of fashion vs plate. A 1 hander mace/hammer doesn't have enough lever to be very effective against an opponent in plate...
- 1 v 3 is hard IRL too, but not because of camera control! It is really weird that the combat system requires locking on someone when most of the fights are 3 v 1 or worse. On the plus side, these issues go away once you get used to killing enemies from horseback.
- I really like their implementing real longsword techniques in the game, but these were all for unarmoured combat. We have like 5 slash directions in game, but slashes don't do anything vs armour, and there is little variety in pokes, which are the only way to kill armoured opponents with a longsword (both in game and irl, so that's pretty good). The game also lacks half swording (and stances in general don't really do that much). Halfswording should not be a combo!
- Combos are actually a bit too hard to pull out: If the opponent is weaker, he'll typically die before the end of the combo. If he is equally skilled or stronger, he will perfect block you or worse before you land out the third hit most of the time.
- Master strikes raining left and right is really weird. It is very very hard to pull these out in sparring(ie at full speed with the opponent not having the courtesy to tell you what he will do beforehand), and even against fencers much better than myself, I don't think I saw anyone pulling it in sparring (that said, as with all martial arts, you kind of use quickened worsened versions of the theoretical moves in combat, but then, it is not totally different from a standard parry/riposte). Also, a lot of the masterstrikes require you to be physically stronger than your opponent, which is not a requirement in the game.
- I like wrestle being included (clinching), but the feats in the base game made it a bit too strong, then the BCAIC mod nerfed it to oblivion. It lacks variety, but it is a reasonnable abstraction (it should be based on unarmed, though. Clinching/disarm was my goto technique against fencers who had better sword skill but weaker strength than me).
- It is very weird that double hits are not a thing (ie hitting your opponent as he hits you). It seems that most of the time (every time), the one hit is interrupted. There seems to be a relatively high number of historical duels ending with both contestants wounded/killed at the same time.
I find it better than Bannerlord combat in 1v1, but worse from horseback, or in 1 vs many.
