Absolutely true, but considering only 23% of people actively use parry, it’s likely much harder for the average player!
The average person hasn’t fought him since the very beginning and likely will not remember his move set.
If you don’t consider this game from a perspective like that you won’t really help the devs with feedback, IMO.
i like this idea 
Absolutely blown away by NRFW! A genuine masterpiece that sets a new bar for NRFW. The world-building is staggering, the combat is phenomenally satisfying, and the story had me utterly hooked from start to finish. This isn’t just a game; it’s an unforgettable experience. 10/10, must-play!
When I first started playing a year back, the tutorial mobs could almost kill me because the isometric view gave me the impression that I can button mash like a traditional ARPG . The other day, I had my friend over so I asked her to try the game. She successfully button mashed her way to Warick and killed him after three tries. No timing, no parries, just some random panic dodges.
I am all for making the game more accessible to all players of all skillsets. But not at the cost of the integrity of it’s core systems. Some people say this is the tutorial section of the game and it should be somewhat easy. Yes, a tutorial should be easier than the content that comes after it, but it must keep the same systems. If the tutorial teaches you to button mash, then the rest of game should also be accessible by button mashing. On the other hand, if the tutorial thaught you how to dodge, parry and respect enemy movesets, then those are the core mechanics you would be expecting from the rest game of as well. So where are we now? In yet another identity limbo.
An RPG is allowed to be challenging, or hard regardless of the souls-like tag and it will still be accessible to a wide range of skillsets. Traditionally, when you hit a skill or ability wall, you would go and try to raise your level to make it easier to overcome whatever wall you’ve hit. This is a healthy work around, making the combat braind-dead is not.
OK so how many times do you think your friend should have died?
After how many deaths does the average person quit and ask for a refund?
Do you really think the first boss is equivalent to the last boss in difficulty?
Making bosses hard AFTER the first boss is fine, because at least you have access to 3 areas you can farm in and Sacrament is unlocked. If you’re stuck at the first boss it could get frustrating very fast.
I think it is a valid concern though, regarding how the game teaches the systems. Perhaps there could be side bosses that help teach these:
Or they could be optional tutorials in Sacrament with some men-at-arms. Some place to learn where you don’t have to stack up on 500 mushroom soups to learn how to parry properly.
Teach a man how to fish and…
The number of her deaths is not important, the manner in which she got through the fight and the tutorial is what I was trying to highlight.
NRFTW needs to make up it’s mind with regards to it’s identity. If it wants to be a button masher, fine. If it wants to be souls-like, also fine. You can’t be both. If blocking, dodging and parrying are core systems of the combat, then players must learn to use them in the initial stages of the game. That’s how the game was before the Breach Hotfixes. Now, you simply do not need to do any of these properly to get past the first boss, never mind the mobs. The work around, for players who didn’t want to learn these systems or couldn’t, was to level up in the 3 accessible areas (Shallows, Mariners Keep and Glades) prior to unlocking Sacrament.
This game would need a training room or training quests ONLY if the mechanics being practiced are a necessary set of skills for the player to advance through the game.
Right now, you don’t need to dodge, you don’t need to block, you don’t need parry to finish the game. And if you don’t believe me, I can make a video showing you exactly how braindead this game can be. I like this game, it has great potential, but that doesn’t mean I can close my eyes on the reality of what they’ve done to the combat to make it more “accessible”. A knee jerk reaction to review bombing.
I disagree. I did not parry or block prior to the breach and I had 5 characters at level 30 all finished the Crucible.
The point of having a training room after you reach Sacrament is so that you can then up the difficulty and at that point you can require players use the mechanics.
Unless you have some broken build or are over levelled you absolutely need to either Dodge, parry or block. You don’t need to do all three but you need to at least do one.
I think you also forget how easy the game was before Breach. As soon as you could spam your runes it was all easy-no dodging, parry or block required!
For what it’s worth I think the current game is fine up until the point where you can: insta freeze then shatter everything, insta-stagger everything, one shot the room with various rune attacks.
I think you should have to at least dodge, parry or block-throughout the entire game. I’m not sure if requiring all three would sell well. Perhaps Realm modifiers will allow the difficulty to be upped where that is a requirement. Note, we are a minority here. Most people want the power fantasy at some point in the game.
Looks good, but I thought maybe you could increase chest capacity, I have a house full of the largest chest, and I have problems with armors and weapons.
I separated between helmets, armor, gloves and legs, and between strengh, dex, int, faith, int+anythint and faith+anything… And still have some problems with some parts.
I think everyone can get what they want here. At first I was against the custom realms and wanted weaker players to accept this wasn’t going to be an easy game, but who am I to demand that? I hope they add a hard and even extreme difficulty in addition to an easier experience for those who wish it. Send this baby to number one in Steam sales and keep the content coming for a decade, I says.
I love this game Thomas. Thanks for that.