The GWJ cRPG Club Game 27 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Rezzy wrote:

Is there a "highlight pickups" button I'm missing somewhere?
Fighting bandits on a wooded hillside and I swear the thing is made out of grease. The Bandit leader was hitting me with something shiny and now I can't find it.

Nope. However, if you miss anything plot related you will be able to pick it up at the Presbytery (sp?) at Rattay later on. It’s in the lower church graveyard, but you’ll need to unpick the lock.

Found it! A couple of archers wandered back to the encampment during the night, but the next morning I did another sweep and found the sword wedged beside a log further up the hillside. Ultimately not worth it, but the sense of satisfaction was real.

Hilariously 20 steps further down the path was an ambush. Ran away from that one.

During story beats I am finding that my intimidate options appear to have the most chance for success. Not sure how I feel about that, but I am investigating a gruesome murder. I could see getting heated at the casual obstructions my inquiries are running into. Damn peasants! It's all "thank you for taking an interest, Sir Knight!" And then "I don't know nuffin!"

So 45 hours in and I think I'm getting to the stage where the negatives for this game are ever so slightly starting to outweigh the positives.

Although I've "fixed" the save problem, the combat remains a complete mystery to me - there is little rhyme nor reason to me doing well or badly in it, and the rhythm to it escapes me completely. It's a decent stab (pun not intended) at a more complex combat system for an aRPG, but for me it's far too fiddly, very very reliant on some very sensitive mouse movements, and no matter how hard I try I can never get combos to land - which the AI can seemingly do at will. This, coupled with the game being more than willing to put you into random combat encounters on the map you have little to no hope of winning too often makes this game far too much of a chore for me. I'm more than willing to admit a lot of it is my inability to get to grips with the combat system, but after 45 hours you've either got it or not. I don't have it. And it really shouldn't take that long to get proficient in it.

I find it extremely telling that when on a plot mission, all the combat encounters quite clearly have the combat difficulty significantly reduced. they quite clearly know it's an "issue" and get around it by somewhat artificial means for the story.

As for the rest of it - so so much of it is just busy work for the sake of busy work. I like the alchemy system, but for the love of God, once I've brewed a potion once, I really should be auto-brewing it if I need it again. Yes, I know you can eventually unlock it by brewing more and more potions, but that's hours into a game doing something I don't particularly find fun. And don't get me started on using a bow and arrow without at least some idea of where the hell I'm aiming. Again, the idea is sound, the execution a lot less so.

I do quite like the lockpicking system mind, that works pretty well.

In the end of the charm of the game is going to at least let me see it through, but I think I'm more or less down to just doing the plot missions and not worrying too much about the rest and all the side quests.

If they fix all that for KCD2 then I'll definitely play it, but for now this game is in my "Flawed Genius" pile. I'm not sure how much that'll change before I get to the end now.

I'm mostly with you on the combat side of things. Lockpicking? I think both versions of it can go to hell. I have a bit of a tremor since I was a child - no major condition, it's just always been there - and it really messes with this particular system.

Righto on the potion brewing system, as well.

I haven't touched the game in a few days; felt like I needed to let it simmer for a while. May get back to it next week. I'll update when I can.

I'm having a hard time getting properly motivated in this game. It's pretty, there's stuff in there I'm having fun with. I bought a new horse!

Spoiler:

I need to practice combat. I need to practice archery. I need to collect ingredients for alchemy. I need to brew potions. I need to train stealth. I need to maintain my gear and health. I need to build my reputation. I need to go back to the mill for my next date... No not now, it's raining. I need to figure out how the grindstones work. I need to remember to wander I to an armorer shop because my chest plate has been broken too far for me to patch. Did I check if I have food before riding out? Did I read ally books already? Are there visual tells on where the arrow will go because I swear there is a randomness to it I haven't sussed out yet. Am I using the wrong arrows? Why are there 10 different kinds? Will it ever not be poaching?

After finishing Indy on Friday, I finally got back into KC:D since my initial start last summer. And my save was immediately before a 2-on-3 battle with some bad guys as part of the main quest, so I had to quickly remember how to fight. Thankfully it only took one reset before I got back into the swing of things, and we took them all down - and from there, I've been running around doing all sorts of quests and having a grand time. I also just looked briefly at a guide to see how far along the main quest line I am: almost halfway, so plenty more to go, and lots of things to do, besides. I'm still using the starter horse, but I just did a main quest mission that involved riding a much nicer one, so now I have horse envy.

Rezzy wrote:
Spoiler:

Will it ever not be poaching?

Spoiler:

Do the quest chain starting with "Hare Hunt" from Nicholas the master huntsman at Talmberg. You won't be poaching from the master huntsman if you ARE the master huntsman.

Without wanting to write a huge wall of text again, I have to say that my tolerance of the combat system is reaching a limit.

You either get jumped by multiple enemies and die - repeatedly - or the only seeming option is to spend 15 minutes or more waiting for the NPC to attack you so you can master -strike them back. I completed and won the Rattay tournament using that approach the other night, but it took me nearly an hour real time to complete. I haven’t been able to land any of the ‘combo’s’ the entire time I’ve been playing the game, and I’m level 14 in swords now.

When attempting to follow the ‘rules’ of the system as the game lays them out I die every time. Even peasants with a pitchfork are apparently better fighters than I am. If I just flail around I reckon I’ve got a 50/50 chance, even against multiple enemies.

I’m just cracking on with the main quest now. I really want to like this game a lot more than I do.

Out of curiosity, are you playing M&K or with a controller? Combat has been tough but intuitive for me on controller - wondering if M&K has its own challenge?

Mouse & keyboard

FYI - When you get to "needle in haystack" I suggest using a guide to the shortest solution possible, as I'm 99% sure half the quests in this area are bugged. It makes dealing with your situation without the game wasting hours upon hours of your real-time life a lot more tolerable.

A few years back I had a big moan about games not respecting their player's time - it was primarily directed at Pathfinder: Kingmaker. There are times when this game is nearly as bad.

I like the idea of what they are trying to achieve. I very much dislike the execution.

edit: Yeah, after 2 nights and several hours trying to work it all out the game has caught up with me and decided to fail the questline. Kinda as I thought I'd broken it several times but the game has progressed a couple of in game days before I'm suddenly in trouble.

I don't have the patience for this. Will restart before the mission and just do what I have to do, consequences be damned.

I thought I had been getting better at archery, but after burning through nearly 100 arrows to take down 5 bandits at medium range I decided that maybe I need to figure out why the aim is so unpredictable.
My monitor has an option to put a crosshair in the center of the screen.
Mystery solved.
The arrow flies true to the center (with an arc, obviously) but the entire view bobs and weaves like a drunken sailor. I'm playing on an ultra wide display so it was hard to tell just how much the view moves while lining up a target.

Last night I was tasked with retrieving a thing that had mysteriously gone missing. Of course it was bandits in the woods, at dusk, but thankfully only two of them. My first three attempts went miserably, at which point I realized that I had recently upgraded from a short sword to a long sword, which behaves differently and cannot be used with the two attack combos I had previously learned. Fourth time was the charm - I shot the bow-wielding bandit twice before closing and stabbing him, and then I dueled the more heavily-armored one to death.

And then this morning I realized I probably should have just waited until night, then sneak into their camp and assassinate them in their sleep, with the stealth perk I had recently picked up. Would’ve been much simpler.

I started playing KCD last week, but only managed my first decent play-session last night. I've made it past the (surprisingly long) prologue, and I'm at the point where I'm choosing my own missions.

My early thoughts?

Jank

I initially thought the game was janky. I've revised my opinion. Rather, the game is strangely demanding of precision in some places, and glorious unconcerned by it in others. Flower-picking is an example. You can't pick a flower until a name-label appears. However, that label only seems to appear if you're at precisely the right distance from the flower, and viewing it from precisely the right angle... And two flowers right next to each other might require different angles.

Systems

There are so many systems in this game that its basically an immersive sim. Food rots. Weather changes. Random bandit encounters happen. You have to haggle... even if you don't really want to. It's all a bit overwhelming, in part because of the way that these systems operate and the way they are tutorialised.

I've won a couple of one-on-one sword fights, but I don't really know what I'm doing. I don't know when or why I should chose a particular angle for my attacking stroke, rather than the opposite angle. I don't know when I should jab rather than slash. What would really help here would be a wooden or straw practice dummy...

And I had to do a Google search to understand how the sliders for haggling work. (It appears that I should always try to move them down a bit in order to get a slightly better deal).

User Interface

There are a lot of tabs in the UI. Entirely comfortable for those on PC using mouse & keyboard; horribly fiddly for those of us stuck with controllers. I'm forever hitting the wrong tabs, as I continually confuse R1 and R2.

Lock-picking

TLDR? Lock-picking in games can always go eff itself!

But my more considered view is that it - here - it makes sense mechanically. Lift and hold tumblers with one hand. Turn barrel with other hand. While continuing to lift and hold the tumblers. But it's really fiddly doing that using analogue sticks.

Also, as the player, I don't feel I understand whether I' finding if difficult because (a) I'm new to the mechanic, (b) Henry is a novice, and the game has set the responsiveness of the analogue sticks to reflect this, or (c) it's just a difficult mechanic... or (d) all of the above. (I feel exactly the same about combat. I'm not sure if it's me, Henry or the tools I've been given.)

It looks like locking-picking will get easier as Henry gets more skilled. I wonder whether it should be player-focussed with it becoming more difficult as I get more skilled.

One final thought: there are an awful lot of expensive locks lying around in middle-ages central Europe. People who don't appear to have a pot to p*** in, have expensive strongboxes in their living rooms.

Story

The story is really good. And I've been pleasantly surprised by how emotionally affecting it is, even in this early stages. I won't spoil anything, but the set-up really has me rooting for Henry. I really want to him to succeed.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Once the credits rolled after the tutorial, it felt to me like the visual tone of the game brightened as the game opened up. And the first thing I thought of was RDR2 (which was released in the same year). Obviously, RDR2 has a much bigger budget, and this shows on screen. And obviously, the Rockstar game is in 3rd, not 1st person. But KCD gave me strong Red Dead vibes. (Not enough wildlife though.)

detroit20 wrote:

I started playing KCD last week, but only managed my first decent play-session last night. I've made it past the (surprisingly long) prologue, and I'm at the point where I'm choosing my own missions.

Lock-picking

TLDR? Lock-picking in games can always go eff itself!

But my more considered view is that it - here - it makes sense mechanically. Lift and hold tumblers with one hand. Turn barrel with other hand. While continuing to lift and hold the tumblers. But it's really fiddly doing that using analogue sticks.

Also, as the player, I don't feel I understand whether I' finding if difficult because (a) I'm new to the mechanic, (b) Henry is a novice, and the game has set the responsiveness of the analogue sticks to reflect this, or (c) it's just a difficult mechanic... or (d) all of the above. (I feel exactly the same about combat. I'm not sure if it's me, Henry or the tools I've been given.)

It looks like locking-picking will get easier as Henry gets more skilled. I wonder whether it should be player-focussed with it becoming more difficult as I get more skilled.

One final thought: there are an awful lot of expensive locks lying around in middle-ages central Europe. People who don't appear to have a pot to p*** in, have expensive strongboxes in their living rooms.

I definitely struggled with lockpicking A LOT when I started, however, there are two important things to know about it that either the game doesn't tell you or I ignored when it did:

The closer the sweet spot is to the center of the tumbler, the easier the lock is to pick.

The sweet spot is random for each session. That means if you pull up the lock picking screen and the sweetspot is way out on the outer edge of the tumbler, than escape out and start over. Keep going until you get the sweetspot as close as possible to the center.

I must just be a savant at lockpicking… almost never have a problem while using controller - even “hard” locks. I don’t have the skill to do “very hard” locks yet, so not sure how much tougher they are. There are definitely some skills that make picking easier, so don't get discouraged - practice may not make perfect, but it will give picking perks.

Talk to the miller to practice lockpicking several times, same with pickpocketing practice. Talk to Bernard to practice combat, and do all the options. Despite covering perfect blocks and ripostes in the story mission tutorial, ripostes weren't possible for me until I redid the perfect block / master strike training. Practicing combos again will grant you a free basic combo (being good enough to actually use it in combat is another thing entirely though). Get enough good armor and group combat will become more of an issue of managing stamina and positioning while waiting for riposte opportunities. I can and have taken on groups of 4-5 bandits and won, but it's always difficult and requires using the terrain to your advantage and trying to keep them all coming at you from the same general direction. If they can surround you they'll very quickly deplete your stamina and then you're just a few hits away from dying.

Merphle wrote:

I must just be a savant at lockpicking… almost never have a problem while using controller - even “hard” locks. I don’t have the skill to do “very hard” locks yet, so not sure how much tougher they are. There are definitely some skills that make picking easier, so don't get discouraged - practice may not make perfect, but it will give picking perks.

The thing with very hard locks is that the tolerance before the lockpick will break is very minimal. I think that's pretty much all the difference as you get better at the skill. Stengah is correct - if you're prepared to sink hours of in game time into just practicing and training then you'll get your skill up before the game starts and, for some skills, making everything laughably easy.

Combat however - probably the most important skill in the game - is conducted on a one-on-one format that isn't generally what you'll experience out in the wilds. There are specific skills Bernard can teach you that are extremely useful - Master Striking for example - but beyond that just playing the game will help you more, even if it's a Dark Souls experience.

I'm pushing through the final couple of quests now, and damn me if the game is doing the whole "Go here and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great! Now go there and do this. Great!" thing for the questline.

It's........ just....... f*ckING GET ON WITH IT at this stage in proceedings. It's now making me wait several in game days for the next event to happen. Great for "realism", but precisely the kind of thing I would want to be done as a cut screen when I'm trying to finish the game. I'm sort of just waiting through each day at the moment (although I did go and get a wash) for it to trigger.

In trying to make this game a "simulation" as far as they can, Warhorse have neglected that slight issue of "is it actually fun to play 100% of the time" question, which, for me at least is kind of really important.

However - and it's a big however - I can tell you this is a really, really good game. The story is great and as I've said before the Charm and Charisma are off the charts. It's just in their pursuit of "Realism", the developers have ended up with a game that occasionally just frustrates the hell out of you, and shows no respect for your time as a gamer.

I watched Cohh Carnage do his developer sponsored stream for KCD 2 last night, and I can see that some stuff they've tried to streamline and alleviate, while other things they've doubled down on (the savior snapps system for example!)

Sorbicol wrote:

Combat however - probably the most important skill in the game

Super minor nitpicky opinion: Lack of Combat skill is certainly the one that will most quickly result in your demise, but I'd actually suggest Reading as the most important skill, and probably Speech just behind that.

And kinda piggybacking on that notion - I wonder how far you can get through the game without engaging in deadly combat? Sure, there are a bunch of mandatory tutorial fights and fisticuffs, but is it possible to actually use all of the other skills available (stealth, pickpocketing, speech, etc) to get through the game?

Merphle wrote:

And kinda piggybacking on that notion - I wonder how far you can get through the game without engaging in deadly combat? Sure, there are a bunch of mandatory tutorial fights and fisticuffs, but is it possible to actually use all of the other skills available (stealth, pickpocketing, speech, etc) to get through the game?

Answer: There's a pretty big battle at about the halfway point of the story, and while you can use stealth to preemptively make the battle easier, and also sit back and let others do most of the fighting, it doesn't seem possible to completely avoid combat.

I finally attempted the Rattay Tournament for the first time last night. I won the first round but lost against the second opponent. I was going to angrily reload my save from just before the tournament began to get my meager 60 groschen back, but then I realized that 60 groschen was a really cheap price for a ton of completely danger-free combat skill training. I'll definitely be participating in the Tourney every time it pops up now, if only for the training.

And.... I'm finally done. My word does it draw out that ending......

The Too Long: Didn't Read is that this is a great game that has many, many flaws. There's so much to enjoy, and so much to leave you howling in frustration as well. Overall though, I'm glad I've played it.

If I ever play it again, it'll be heavily modded......

Sorbicol wrote:

The Too Long: Didn't Read is that this is a great game that has many, many flaws. There's so much to enjoy, and so much to leave you howling in frustration as well. Overall though, I'm glad I've played it.

I certainly don't disagree with you, but I will say that the flaws haven't significantly impacted my enjoyment. Maybe I'm a masochist for this kind of game?

Anyway, I'm also glad to see that the sequel (which comes out next week) is currently ranking #4 in the Top Sellers list on Steam right now.

Merphle wrote:

I certainly don't disagree with you, but I will say that the flaws haven't significantly impacted my enjoyment. Maybe I'm a masochist for this kind of game?

.

I suspect a lot of it is that as I have got older my tolerance for anything I consider a ‘waste of time’ has got considerably shorter, whether it’s work, home or playing games.

There are so many things in this game where I applaud the ambition of what the developers were attempting to do, but - unfortunately- the execution falls well short.

Let’s take using a bow for example. I get the idea of not having an aiming reticule, but it just doesn’t work. It makes no difference what level of bowmanship you get to, aiming the bloody thing is still just as difficult. Maybe it’s just me, my short-sightedness and how the game renders, the screen and the view through my glasses line it all up for my brain, but I was terrible with a bow.

Did it matter? No not really. The game jumps you as soon as you use it in combat anyway, unless you are safely hidden behind a wall, as any enemy will immediately rush you (and they move fast and you draw arrows quite slowly). It’s just why go to all that effort to put all that in game, and make hunting a major skill tree and then make it so effectively useless when playing the game?

Stuff like brewing potions amused me greatly but that’s mostly likely due to my line of work in real life. No, brewing what is effectively Nettle and Chamomile tea is not going to cure all your ills. Or make you see better at night. And wouldn’t recommend drinking anything with belladonna in it either! In so much as this game tries to be ‘realistic’, it’s a very selective realism.

Again, does that matter? Again, no not really, but I just found the time when they were trying to be ‘realistic’ compared to when they clearly realised it wouldn’t make for good gameplay to be very selective.

And finally (you’ve guessed it) the savior Schnapps system. Why? I mean seriously, just why? I get that the developed want you to ‘face the consequences of your decisions’. Great.

The problem is that 99.9% of the time you need a manual save, it’s because the game dumps you in a random, unwinnable and meaningless combat encounter on the map that - especially early game - you’ll struggle to win and so end up dead as running away is really, really hard.

That teaches you nothing as a player other than ‘you need to save more often! But you can’t because you don’t have any savior schnapps! You’re stupid!’ And then find you have to replay the last hour of time you’ve spent in the game because that’s the last time it auto-saved.

It’s one of the game design decision that screams about giving players the choice. By all means you can say ‘ hey, we’ve put this save system in and we think you’ll get more out of the game if you keep it, but totally OK if you want to turn it off in the game settings’. It just seems a much more sensible approach, especially when the nexus mod to turn it off has been downloaded 1.4 million times.

In another time and place, you get the impression all they want to say in response to complaints about that system is ‘Git Good, Noob’.

This article from around KC:D's launch really resonates with me.

I’m a serial save scummer. In open-world RPGs my finger snaps to F5 at the first hint of danger, ready to quick save. As soon as things go south I’ll reload, and try again until I get the outcome I want. It’s a viable—and often very fun—way to play. You win virtually every fight, pass every skill check, and get the best loot, which helps you build powerful characters.

But Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s save system has shown me that the aftermath of my mistakes is worth sticking around for, and that living with the chaos is often more enjoyable than reloading and trying again. By taking away your ability to quick save it forces you to consider your actions more carefully and react to your own failures, which makes you feel more attached to the game’s main character, Henry.

Schnapps should really only be needed if you're far away from a town for an extended amount of time. If you're in a town, all you need to do is sleep for 1 hour at a bed you own or a rented bed, or visit a bathhouse and pay 10g for a bath and laundered clothes (and look much nicer as a result, to pass those Charisma checks!). Completing a quest should also give you a save, though that's a bit harder to plan around.

Your argument against the save system seems to always revolve around combat. I might put forth that your complaint is more about combat than the save system, in that KC:D does not respect the premise that we as gamers have come to expect: in a fight against many enemies, only one enemy will engage with us at a time.

Merphle wrote:

I might put forth that your complaint is more about combat than the save system, in that KC:D does not respect the premise that we as gamers have come to expect: in a fight against many enemies, only one enemy will engage with us at a time.

Maybe, but I would be more inclined to say that the game wants you to treat combat like a quick time event rather than a first person engagement with full control over your movements. If your mouse is adjusting angle to keep your enemy centered then your swing will not go where you intended.

Merphle wrote:

Your argument against the save system seems to always revolve around combat. I might put forth that your complaint is more about combat than the save system, in that KC:D does not respect the premise that we as gamers have come to expect: in a fight against many enemies, only one enemy will engage with us at a time.

While I think that’s all valid, my issue is with how this game presents those combat situations in the name of ‘realism’. It has a very complex combat system that, to be honest doesn’t really work. In the 70+ hours I played this game I never once landed a ‘combo’ (including while trying to train with Bernard) and the higher level enemies can and do easily counter your attempts. It becomes a situation of waiting for your opponent to strike, so you can Master-Strike them back and then (with the short sword I used) effectively poke them in the eye to kill them. Which works so well, why have the combo system in the first place?

Early game, when you have little cash, and are poorly armed and armoured, combat encounters are almost always lethal to you, no matter who you encounter. Even late game, being set upon by a group of 3 or more high level, well armed / armoured bandits usually goes badly because fighting multiple enemies is hard.

I don’t really have a problem with any of that, so long as that expectation is clear. Despite the warnings you get early game it’s not really something you really understand until you’ve flutily died in multiple encounters, or tried to run away and found just how hard that this until very late game, if you’ve spent experience level ups on the right skills.

So it’s about the player - you - playing the game. Again, of the 70+ hours I’ve spent in the game, a good 15 or so of those were me replaying contend I’d already played thanks to a random, effectively unwinnable encounter.

I don’t regard that as ‘fun’, and the savior schnapps system exacerbates it. Not for me at least, and apparently not for a lot of other people either judging by that Nexus mod download number. I don’t play games to have to replay large sections of it thanks to a game mechanic I don’t particularly think actually does what they want it to do.

If the option to run away worked better, if the option for you to surrender worked better, I’d be a lot happier with it. But in most encounters every enemy starts combat without discussion and that’s it, you’re dead.

And in relation to your other point about resting to save etc - then why have the schnapps system at all? Doing all that just makes it pointless, it makes the schnapps system only be there to punish you if you decide to go out exploring. I just find the whole logic behind it to be deeply flawed.

As I’ve also said before, I like a lot of the ideas in this game, I dislike the execution for quite a lot of it as well. The ideas are there, the ambition is there, it just doesn’t actually work. This is why I actually have so much to say about it I think - I really want to like this game, it deserves my enjoyment (if that makes sense). In the end, if I hadn’t cared, I’d have just stopped playing.

Edit: Sorry I didn’t mean to repeat myself quite as much as I have from previous posts there.

The TL:DR is I find the Savior Schnapps system to be a very flawed implementation of what they are trying to achieve. I get the idea, the logic of how they’ve implemented just doesn’t work.

The game was much, much more enjoyable once I got mods that allowed saving anywhere and re-enabled the center dot when using a bow. Technically the last one can be done with just a console command, but I didn't want to have to enter it every time I started the game up.

Here's a few ~10 minute videos I've watched over the past week in the hopes of leveling up my personal skills at playing KC:D. I've been trying to use these more often, and not shy away from big combats.

And a longer one from another 'Tuber - a fun review/explanation of what KC:D is, and what I find so appealing about it:

So I restarted the game just after my doing the combat and archery tutorials, because - frankly - I didn't really feel like I knew what I was doing. It only took me a couple of hours to re-reach the same point in the game, and I now have a better feel for what the game is trying to do.

I think there are a number of problems with the early game, which stack on top of each other to detriment of player enjoyment:

Too Many Systems... Too Quickly

Mechanically, the game is composed of a number of mini-games (speech, combat, archery, haggling, lock-picking, etc.). However, the early game is poorly structured, resulting in the player having to learn - and then use - lots of different systems in quick succession. It's overwhelming for the player.

For example, in one short period, I learn from Bernhard the basics of sword combat, then archery... and then I'm immediately forced to use both to beat a much more skilled opponent, Capon.

The game it feels like most to me is modern Madden, where every phase of the game now seems to involve a complex mini-game

Poor Tutorialisation

Several of the systems are taught very poorly. Pickpocketing, for example. It is never properly explained that the player has to exit the pickpocketing interface by moving the cursor back to the start position. Specifically, the in-game explanation never says the words "move the cursor back to its start position at 12 o'clock".

Merphle, you shouldn't have to go outside of the game in order to understand how these systems really work.

Combat

I agree with you, Sorbicol, that combat doesn't really work the way the game claims that it works.

When I fought Capon pretty much none of the techniques - that Bernard had literally just taught me - seemed to work. I could not land a combo. I could not dodge consistently. The only thing that worked was block and stab... which is what I did.

It's telling that one of the videos Merphle linked to advises the player to obtain a shield and sword as soon as possible which, of course, I did not know to do in either of my starts of the game. (Indeed, right now the only weapon I own is the Captain's Bow!

I appreciate that the developers are going for a form of 'realism' here; they want in-game skills to demand actual skill from the player. But this really isn't fun in the early stages (which is when it counts).

Also, (and crucially) I don't have any feel about the extent to which I can and should specialise (or role-play, to borrow a phrase). Can I have a fun and successful playthrough specialising only in thief-type
skills? Can I be an effective charismatic herbalist? Or do I have to become Level X with a pikestaff in order to see the end credits?

There are sections later in the game that are considerably easier - or can be significantly shortened - if you are proficient in both lockpicking and pickpocketing. It’s not essential for sure, but my word things get a lot easier. And the NPCs will say ‘it would sure be a lot easier if you could get that item by other means, wink wink’.

Having both stepped back from this game and read a bit more online, I’m relatively certain that those people who love this game love it a lot more on their second & third (possibly fourth or more!) playthroughs, once they have that working knowledge of how it all works and have at least a chance before they start. It would also allow at least some role playing in terms of how you approach the game and combat I suspect.

I would recommend both the nexusmod files for removing the savior schnapps system and also re-adds the aiming reticule for your first playthroughs. You still have to remember to save, and believe there were enough times when I forgot so it’s not the ‘gimme’ people feel it might be, and the screen moves around enough when firing arrows it’s still not easy, even at higher skill levels.

Annoyingly, I'm on console so mods are not available to me. And as I'm currently struggling with the first hunting mission, I'd really, really like the aiming reticle.

I think the thing that annoys me most about the early game is Henry's utter uselessness. I understand what the game is going for; it wants the player and Henry to grow, and become more skilled, together. But the fiction - that Henry is a completely blank slate - makes absolutely no sense to me. Henry's a blacksmith's son in his mid- to late-teens. He'd probably have been learning his father's trade for almost a decade. At the very least, he'd know one end of a sword from another (having helped make a few). And he'd almost certainly have very strong arms, having spent a lot of time working at an anvil. And yet my Henry barely has enough strength to draw a bow!

I agree with you that KCD is probably great fun the second time around, when the player is able to play with (or even break) the game at will. However, first playthrough, some of the early going is a bit miserable.

I don't mind the save system so much. 'Save & Exit' offers a simple, if cumbersome, way around not having Savior Schnapps. And I like the idea that saving should come at some kind of cost. I found myself 'save-crawling' through a fair bit of Skyrim simply because I could.

Where I think there is a potential problem with the game is lack of regular auto saves. At this early stage, they feel a little arbitrary and too infrequent to me. The game seems to save after major cut-scenes (it saved after my talk with the Bailiff). I'd prefer that it saved after missions.