Leave questions for our buddy, Assassin_M, a For Honor tester at E3! | Forums

[Justinian.I]

1.Will there be some kind of unique attacks (not finishing moves) but actually faction based attacks such as the knight half-swording or they are just there as a flashy killing moves, ? I am talking about duels not vs minions

2.Are there any counter attacks after you block an attack or penalty for constant attacking? Can you tell us what besides the guard break, normal and heavy attacks and dodge are there in the game?

3.Do the factions play differently? How are knights better at defense is it just stats or do they have bigger window to block an attack?

[TheGreyHawk]

Is there a wide arsenal of weapons for each of the classes in the game? Can these be customized? Or are they already preset to that character?

[Solid_Altair]

I have a ton of questions, but I'll try to ask them a few at a time.

In the gameplay trailer that features the HUD I noticed the Saurai could have aneutral stance, without inputing any direction. In the very last fight of that trailer there appears to be a partial parry that results from taking a strong attack in the neutral guard. A little bit of damage is dealt and the Samurai seems to stagger a little.

Does the neutral guard really result in a partial parry?

And can the Knights use neutral guard, too? I don't think I saw it in the trailers.

[Assassin_M]

It may sound like a stupid question but in a game where duels and such prevails, I believe rivalry starts building up pretty fast, how was taunting handled in the game ? Was there any way to communicate with your enemies mid fight ? Most duel fighting games I remember playing were very clunky about that, either making it very irresponsive, too dangerous or just not so satisfying.

Nah, no question is stupid. There was no taunting in the demo and from the way the creative director and devs talked about it, this game is about complete stoicism in the battlefield, you know? More about badass combat than goading. I don't entirely disagree with you, though. Something like Bloodborne where you can greet an enemy or bow down to them in respect could be pretty cool.



Sorry for the absence, man.

Did you play the Chosen? How did you feel about the abilities? --Like the throwing star. A bit OP, maybe?

Unfortunately, there was only the Knights faction but I am looking forward to playing with the chosen. That's what I said in my interview actually. I think the throwing star might be a feat. Like, it wont be a regular thing you have to be running with and it wont be easy to gain.

So how does the combat work?

It works just like fencing. If you ever watched a fencing match, it's about hitting and not being hit because when you're hit, you lose momentum and the opponent already has an opening. One on one combat works exactly like that. You meet a warrior, you lock on to take your defensive stance. You can also just run in and steal a quick attack before taking your defensive stance.

From the demos I couldn't really make out, is there an attacking and defending turn? Or attack is free, so you can just spam attacks as soon as combat-lock is on?

There are no turns nor waiting times and yes, certainly you can spam attacks but if you're attacking a closed area (i.e a direction where the opponent is defending), it's blocked. There's also a dodge button.

Is there a cooldown period after target lock? or you can start with a preemptive entry attack? It that someone can abuse?

No cool downs. Yes, someone can do a quick running attack but you can dodge it or even, if you're quick enough, block it.

Was there a chance to play a Viking character? Or there was only one gamemode with Samorais vs Knights?

No, just one game mode and only knights.

I have many more questions but this should do for now ;p

Totally fine, ask any time.

1. Is it possible to really trick your opponent? Let me explain exactly what I mean with this: You're guarding the left side, the other warrior sees that, so he knows that you could attack on the left side immediately. But then you quickly turn guarding off and attack him on the right side with him still guarding the left side (his right side). Is this possible and how fast is this possible? Since this would really help the skill gaps in this game to make more skillful in the matter of mindgames and the speed you can act as a player.

Yes, it's completely possible to trick opponents. It's all about reaction time and your focus. I did exactly what you're describing quite a few times when I played. It's really a condensed and contained strategic experience. One time, something I did was break the opponent's guard and not attack but change my attack direction to the right (he was on the left, my previous attack direction as well) when he came back from the break, he didn't change directions, he sub consciously stayed on the left thinking that I stayed on the left too, so I immediately attacked to the right.

2. In the Live-Demo from Ubisoft we didn't see any 'R's (the thingy behind your own body), life bar and signs for attacks and guards. But later on on the developer multiplayer walkthrough there were all those signs. Did they probably hide them so it looks more realistic and juicy for the show or is it just because that was an early early version of the game and they didn't implement the other assets we all saw later on.

Presentation demos are always displayed without a HUD. I'm sure we'll be able to turn it off in the final game.

It acutally would be amazing to see the 'R' and signs for attack and defense disappear! This would once again help to increase the skill gaps and make it firstly more realistic and secondly more skillful, don't you think?

I would say so, yeah. Eliminating HUD elements can definitely alter the experience sometimes. The demo I played also had a bit less HUD elements than the multiplayer demo shown, though.

in response to the thought that making the creepers two hit kills would break the game. can you explain your reason for that? one hit kills makes it appear much to easy to be honest. I hope that the AI for the soldiers is stepped up to make them a bit more challenging, especially so if we're on a match that doesn't have respawn.

Because they ARE already challenging.

1) You can't lock on them, you can only guard because they WILL attack you.
2) They can swarm you and they have no qualm about attacking you all at once
3) You may kill your soldiers as you're killing them

Trust me, it looks easy but you try and take them on, it can be pretty hard. Keep in mind that your actual targets are the other warriors, you're only supposed to be fighting these guys when they're absolutely in your way. Making them 2-3 hit killables I think would disrupt that balance.

Regarding the campaign mode: can we play it cooperatively with friends?

No info on that yet but I would assume that this could be done.

1.Will there be some kind of unique attacks (not finishing moves) but actually faction based attacks such as the knight half-swording or they are just there as a flashy killing moves, ? I am talking about duels not vs minions

There are finishing moves, yes. When you're opponent's health is almost done, the next attack is an execution move. I got decapitated once.

2.Are there any counter attacks after you block an attack or penalty for constant attacking? Can you tell us what besides the guard break, normal and heavy attacks and dodge are there in the game?

Counter attacking works naturally and seamlessly in that it's not its own mechanic but you can create a riposte by simply quickly attacking right after blocking an attack. Of course your opponent can be quicker and do a riposte-riposte. I think the fact that you have to change directions to find openings will discourage anybody from constantly attacking. If you're spamming in one direction, the opponent can easily break that momentum, dodge or even break your guard (Because you're always in a defensive position) and attack you. Spamming is not really an option.

3.Do the factions play differently? How are knights better at defense is it just stats or do they have bigger window to block an attack?

Only Knights were available in the demo

Is there a wide arsenal of weapons for each of the classes in the game? Can these be customized? Or are they already preset to that character?

No info on weaponry. We know so far that only different factions will have different weapons. There were a few different outfits and armor presets for the knights.

I have a ton of questions, but I'll try to ask them a few at a time.

In the gameplay trailer that features the HUD I noticed the Saurai could have aneutral stance, without inputing any direction. In the very last fight of that trailer there appears to be a partial parry that results from taking a strong attack in the neutral guard. A little bit of damage is dealt and the Samurai seems to stagger a little.

Does the neutral guard really result in a partial parry?

And can the Knights use neutral guard, too? I don't think I saw it in the trailers.

Samurais were not available in the demo, and there doesnt seem to be a neutral defensive stance. You're either open or you're defending in one of the directions.

[Doctrinaire]

are you sure there are no taunts or anything?

in the original game play trailer discussed in the Masterclass ,the samurai assassin at the tower control point issued a challenge to the knight on the battlement. that was the part where we saw the samurai throw a shuriken and quickly dispatch the knight because they were already badly wounded.

[Assassin_M]

are you sure there are no taunts or anything?

Not in the demo I played.

in the original game play trailer discussed in the Masterclass ,the samurai assassin at the tower control point issued a challenge to the knight on the battlement. that was the part where we saw the samurai throw a shuriken and quickly dispatch the knight because they were already badly wounded.

I unfortunately did not attend the master class because of the star player schedule :/ But that's good to hear, that it's there. It's not what I would consider a taunt, it's more of what I described.

EDIT: So I watched what you talked about. It's not a taunt, it's one of the feats being used.

[Doctrinaire]

awww nuts. it looked like a challenge to the knight as he was looking at him and then beat his fist to his chest and pointed at him then ran to battle.

while I don't really are for auditory taunts, it would be neat if you could offer challenges to opposing warriors to meet.

[Assassin_M]

awww nuts. it looked like a challenge to the knight as he was looking at him and then beat his fist to his chest and pointed at him then ran to battle.

while I don't really are for auditory taunts, it would be neat if you could offer challenges to opposing warriors to meet.

Yeah, it was really conveniently timed and placed haha, sorry man.

I think it'd be cool too, we'll see if it's in the final game. It might be a feat for some factions or all. Maybe a war cry.

[Ovathir]

Hey!

Coming from war of the vikings, which implements a similar combat system. I'm really looking forward to this game but have some questions.

• I read something about leveling, do you get "stronger" as you level?
  I hope not hehe.. A level one should be just as strong as a more experienced player, it's the skill that matters
• How are they handling the different weapons?
  Are you able to swap out weapons on a class, or doess every class have a different weapon loadout?
• How complex is the combat, what is your repportoire; what's available to you to fight with?
  From the video I saw it was looking good. Being quite the veteran in WotVK, I hope there's a lot of speed to it, and feinting going on. As you've said it's looking for openings and once there are some really good players, able to match up with parrying. Fun times will be had, long duels!

Thanks in advance Assassin ^^

p.s. Btw, 60+ fps really does help in games like this. Once the fights become a bit quicker due to player experience (feints, changing directions, movement, etc.). You want to really be able to SEE what way they are going to swing, visuals are very important as they give you better reaction times. A good part in games like this comes down to being able to react quickly to your opponent.

[CG_HouseVincent]

Hey!

Coming from war of the vikings, which implements a similar combat system. I'm really looking forward to this game but have some questions.

• I read something about leveling, do you get "stronger" as you level?
  I hope not hehe.. A level one should be just as strong as a more experienced player, it's the skill that matters
• How are they handling the different weapons?
  Are you able to swap out weapons on a class, or doess every class have a different weapon loadout?
• How complex is the combat, what is your repportoire; what's available to you to fight with?
  From the video I saw it was looking good. Being quite the veteran in WotVK, I hope there's a lot of speed to it, and feinting going on. As you've said it's looking for openings and once there are some really good players, able to match up with parrying. Fun times will be had, long duels!

Thanks in advance Assassin ^^

Just thought I would answer your second question. There are different weapons, HOWEVER, each faction has three sub classes and are designed to only have one weapon set that works with that class. For example, the Warden as seen in many of the demo videos will ALWAYS have a two handed claymore. Another example is the Oni; the Oni will always wield a Katana (two handed Samurai sword). These swords can be customized by appearance though to make it more unique to each individual.

Each sub class will have a different load out of weapons though. The knights that I can see in the wallpaper for their helmet shows a sword/board hero, a halberd hero, and a claymore hero. The Samurai show a pole arm hero, a duel wielding sword hero, and an Oni. The vikings show a two handed bearded axe (heavy) hero, an axe and shield hero, and a duel wielding axe hero.

To answer your third question. The developers have said and many players who have played/experienced the game play (I am not one of them) have expressed that the game play is EASY TO LEARN, but DIFFICULT TO MASTER. This creates a competitive atmosphere where the slightest things can change the outcome of a battle. For instance, a pillar in the middle of a courtyard allows someone to duel 1v2 without being slaughtered. This is because the pillar acts as a back shield and allows the player to parry all the attacks of one of the heros while dueling the other. This only happens if your guard is up on the side of the second hero though so if the 2 players are smart they will force you to switch guards and make you vulnerable to side attacks.

The first question I have heard nothing about. Leveling is weird in this game. The only way I can see it being somewhat justified is if we get new perks/feats, is how they described them, as we level. This will definitely make it a difficult balance of power though. Maybe customization options unlock as well? Not sure.