I finally got to play KCD properly during the last week. In the final, I spent whole three days playing it and finally got over the first boss. After about 40 hours of gameplay, I still didn't complete the game, and I'm at the beginning of the last third of the campaign. I think it's enough to share some more impressions of the game with you.
My Ferrari. The saddle-cloth was a reward from some side quest.
Of course, the whole campaign can be finished much faster, but I spent a lot of time filling the side quests to exp Henry a little and get a better equip to make a blacksmith's pussy into a proper knight who can't be killed by one shot. But I didn't miss this time, because even side quests are cool, original and definitely worth it.
Well, by side quests I don't mean activities. The activities are terribly annoying, and I certainly haven't finished one, because collecting 100 pieces of venison for the poor is hard and I didn't want to spend hours in the forest by catching hares. Sure, with a bow it would be much better, but I'm not able to hit even the door from the barn with it.
What I like about the game:
1. Realism
Well, it belongs into both categories. It's finally an RPG where the main character is not an OP guy who can see and smell every footstep some man who has passed the day before made. There is no hint, and you have to do everything by yourself. When tracing somebody, you have to search for blood or horse shit on the ground (I'm not kidding, in one side quest I had to find a horse, and horse shits were the only guarantee I chose the right direction) or find some way or knowledge in written text. But in this case, you have to learn to read first. Only a few people knew how to read and write in medieval Europe.
There is also no magic and spells. They would burn you on a stake because of it.
Monk ceremony
2. Quests
The quests are cool and original, and both the campaign and the side quests will force you to solve a lot of interesting situations that could really be solved at this time. Or you can try the life of a monk. It sounds pretty cool, or not? After trying the monk life, I have to say that it sucks. In the monastery, it was worse than in jail, and I spent at least three days in solitude because I allowed myself to leave the mass or the job earlier.
In addition to monkhood, you'll also help in the search for heretics, help your friend executioner spoil the execution of his competitor. You'll search for a source of false money, get drunk with a priest, try to cure some plague and much more.
The quests are really worth it.
3. Alchemy
The alchemy is moved to another level in this game. Do you like making potions with just one click like in other games? Well, you can forget it in KCD, because you must cook every potion or buy them, but they are really expensive. To prepare them you must be able to read, collect a few recipes, find an alchemical table, and follow the procedure described in the recipe.
At first, you pour water or another liquid into the kettle. Then you add some herbs (some of them you have to powder before), boil them, and then repeat the procedure as many times as necessary and then collect the product. Every single step you make by yourself, so you can finally try out preparing potions on your own, and you'll definitely want to try it in real life.
Sure, after a while, it will start to bother you, but I guarantee that you will be enthusiastic from the first brewed potion a lot!
4. Language
Although I was a bit disappointed that the Czech game doesn't have a Czech dubbing, I have to laugh every time I hear the Czech swear-phrase "Do prdele!" (it's like "Oh, shit!") and so on by an English-speaking actor. The English accent is simply hilarious.
5. Saving
I wouldn't mention that, but when I bought the game, the only way to save it was by drinking some "save potion" or sleep in a bed. However, the new patch solved this problem, and the game is saving after each quest. So all rollbacks are a little more tolerable, and you don't have to tear your hair when you die at an inappropriate moment.
What I don't like about the game:
1. Realism
As I already mentioned, it's not perfect. The most annoying is combat. If a few guys with quite a good armor and archer attack you, you have to run, because they'll crush you. So most of the time you're just trying to escape some ambushes, and when there is finally some 1v1 then most of the time, you will only be spinning around and waiting for the right moment to attack. In this game, it is not worthy to smash buttons insanely. It'll in most cases guarantee you a certain death, or that you will get nervous along with the falling HP. Also, it is nowhere to be seen whether the enemy is almost dead or not.
And such a bow is also almost unusable because you have no aiming aid and so you have to shoot according to your eye. Well, basically like in real life.
Ultra long save (about 18 sec)
2. Looooooong loading and saving
It comes to me that the game is badly optimized and therefore every loading or saving takes a long time. When saving it takes tens of seconds and loading. Well, your hair will turn gray, and you would die sooner than it's finished. Retrieving a saved data is not that terrible, but it takes a long time to even start the game.
Broken Ferrari
Mars Attack! porn leakage
3. Bugs, bugs, buuuuugs!
I must say that I haven't met yet, or I don't realize that I encounter a bug that would make it impossible for me to complete a mission except for a bugged bench in the pub when I wanted to drink with father Godwin. Due to this glitch, I had to retrieve the old save to get the missed trophy. This time the bench was working.
But during the game, you find a lot of more or less fun glitches. Like a disturbing sex scene, a horse jammed in a jump, a horse going backward in a place, jumping into a hole in texture, and so on. If you're interested in the game, you definitely found a lot of funny videos full of bugs.
Then there are also good bugs. At least two times, I got a trophy that I wouldn't get otherwise just because I loaded the game (because of Henry's death or spoiled mission). E.g., a trophy for winning a horse race. You can't simply win the race because you have to collect some sort of ribbons that are not marked on the map, so when others run away, you are fucked. I was just lost, and I loaded a save when I got a trophy for winning the races. But how? I didn't do anything?! Well, the host just said I was the only racer.
4. Traveling and waiting
For the game to become at least a bit bearable, it mustn't miss fast travel and some sort of waiting (similar to meditation in the Witcher). Well, but fast travel is not fast at all! All the time you are watching some figurine walking around the map because sometimes someone attacks you and you have to respond. You just have to wait for something the whole game. To load, to save, to reach some destination, etc.
5. Lockpicking
I don't know how the PC version of the game is, but lockpicking on the PS4 controller is almost impossible. You have to concentrate a lot. Well, I'll explain it so you can imagine it better.
With the right joystick you must find the right place to place a lockpick. Once you have found it, you must... You MUST keep it in the same position even when you start to turn the lock with the left joystick. So you have to synchronize the movement of both joysticks, which is really hard. You must turn the lock by 270 degrees. Thanks to this, opening the lock at an easy level will make you a lot of nerves, and you'll break a lot of lockpicks.
Well, that's all for today. I'll write more about it once I finish it.
