For Honor Dual Gameplay Commentaries | Forums

[MisterWillow]

* At 5:30 we see a player performing a good parry against a strong attack. Interestingly, he is actually standing a long time in the same stance. Maybe that's the way to do it, the opposite of what I thought.

* But then at 5:56 a guy performs a bad parry, even though he was at the stance for quite a while. Dunno. Maybe it wasn't long enough.

I'm suspecting there is some extra command required, that they haven't told us. Argh, the mystery!

I suspect that when entering guard mode, you are automatically set as 'left guard' as a sort-of neutral stance (which means my comment earlier about the guy spamming 'up-strong' would really be 'left-strong'), but to parry, you need to time a stick motion with the incoming strike (if I remember correctly), so even though it looked like the defenders were holding 'left', they could not have even had their thumbs on the stick, and (the one who parried anyway) flicked their thumbs in the appropriate direction when they saw the attack start.

* I've noticed you don't gain the points revenue simply by owning an objective. When each team has 1 place (and the othe is being contested), no one wins points. So the revenue only happens when a team has more objectives than the other.

Conversely, I noticed that you can gain Feats from killing AI. It's most noticeable in the Spanish video, because he wades through the mob more than the others, but if you look under the square for the Feat he's about to unlock, there's a little bar that starts to fill as he kills guys. It's too slow to be abused---in that, you probably won't get to Feat four by farming, as you're likely to be noticed by an enemy player prior to that---but for a quick little dive into the fray to get your first Feat at the beginning or on respawn (or your next feat, if you think it would be useful in a clutch moment), it's nice to know that's there in a pinch.

[Solid_Altair]

About the parry, that's a creative hypothesis. I don't find it likely, though.

And about the feats through adds nice catch. Hadn't noticee. I liked the feature, too.

[Deadshot.]

Lots of great information to glean from this video - but foremost was, indeed, the disappointing "flaming catapult" that came in point "C".

Perhaps it doesn't have a roof? Otherwise, they definitely need to fix that.

[MisterWillow]

About the parry, that's a creative hypothesis. I don't find it likely, though..

Why's that, if you don't mind elaborating?

Perhaps it doesn't have a roof? Otherwise, they definitely need to fix that.

When he's running up the stairs at the entrance you can clearly see it's a fully enclosed structure. The fireball came right through the ceiling without any perceptible damage to the building.

[Solid_Altair]

If you release the stick you maintain the stance. I suppose you also maintain it if you hold guard mode, without addressing the right stick (as the Warden, not as the Oni). I just think that what the character is doing is what matters. Whether or not you're messing with the stick, if the character is in the stance, that's it. I guess (and hope for) a logic where the character action takes precedence over the input. But this is total speculation... and optimism.

[MisterWillow]

If you release the stick you maintain the stance. I suppose you also maintain it if you hold guard mode, without addressing the right stick (as the Warden, not as the Oni). I just think that what the character is doing is what matters. Whether or not you're messing with the stick, if the character is in the stance, that's it. I guess (and hope for) a logic where the character action takes precedence over the input. But this is total speculation... and optimism.

Sorry, read my post again, and I think 'default stance' would be a better phrase than 'neutral stance' for what I meant---that is, the moment you enter guard mode, you are in a 'left guard' stance (obviously any further manipulation would alter it).

[Solid_Altair]

That's what I had considered. I'm just hoping the controls won't have an effect on the parries, if they don't have an effect on the character. I think parrying should be an action, not just an input. So, I'm assuming pressing left when you dude is already on left won't make a difference.

As I said, you hypothesis is creative. I'm just guessing and hoping it won't be the case.

[MisterWillow]

That's what I had considered. I'm just hoping the controls won't have an effect on the parries, if they don't have an effect on the character. I think parrying should be an action, not just an input. So, I'm assuming pressing left when you dude is already on left won't make a difference.

As I said, you hypothesis is creative. I'm just guessing and hoping it won't be the case.

You mean that you wouldn't be able to parry an attack from a certain direction if you're already guarding in that direction?

I think that would put unnecessary burden on the defender to purposefully not be guarding in the direction they need to be in order to block an attack, just so they can hope to switch guard directions in time with an attack to parry it. It would be more intuitive to be prepared for an attack by positioning your weapon where the attack appears to be coming from (in relation to your opponent's stance), and when the attack comes, quickly release the stick for a moment and flick it in that direction to parry.

[Mr_Moonstone]

I followed your other discussion about parries and always wondered why you did not factor in the momentum of the incoming attack. (correct me if I'm wrong)
So naturally parrying a heavy attack would need a more balanced stance. Maybe in this case a short timelimit is involved.
This would match a risk-reward-scenario where light attacks are faster but easier to parry while heavy attacks are slower but have more impact.

Also seeing that there are parry animations where the enemy's weapon is "attacked" and another one where the incoming strike is deflected these might require different motions of the stick. The first one being a motion of the right stick's center to the gate, the other being a rolling motion of the stick to the left or right side of the gate.

Then again it might even be solely depending if it's a light or heavy attack... Who knows...

As a sidenote to the videos: you fully heal when inside a captured zone.
Also the last healthbar regenerates after some time until it's filled. This also negates movement drawbacks.

Greets

[Altair_Snake]

You mean that you wouldn't be able to parry an attack from a certain direction if you're already guarding in that direction?

I think that would put unnecessary burden on the defender to purposefully not be guarding in the direction they need to be in order to block an attack, just so they can hope to switch guard directions in time with an attack to parry it. It would be more intuitive to be prepared for an attack by positioning your weapon where the attack appears to be coming from (in relation to your opponent's stance), and when the attack comes, quickly release the stick for a moment and flick it in that direction to parry.

In this case, what would prevent players from simply mashing flicks to get the parry? A cooldown?

I'm actually starting to lean towards your hypothesis.

I followed your other discussion about parries and always wondered why you did not factor in the momentum of the incoming attack. (correct me if I'm wrong)
So naturally parrying a heavy attack would need a more balanced stance. Maybe in this case a short timelimit is involved.
This would match a risk-reward-scenario where light attacks are faster but easier to parry while heavy attacks are slower but have more impact.

Also seeing that there are parry animations where the enemy's weapon is "attacked" and another one where the incoming strike is deflected these might require different motions of the stick. The first one being a motion of the right stick's center to the gate, the other being a rolling motion of the stick to the left or right side of the gate.

Then again it might even be solely depending if it's a light or heavy attack... Who knows...

What do you mean by that? That the input should be early, or late?

I'm also considering a specific input for parries, that is not about only pressing or flicking the right stick. It could be a swoop as you suggest, or something else entirely. Then again, it could be Willow's guess, a flick (with a cooldown), regardless of whether you are or not in the same stance for a long while.

I'm pretty sure it's not just that. It seems the usual "attack" parries (maybe we could agree on "repel") happen only from light attacks, whereas the deflections happen only from the strong ones. Guard crushes, the mysterious element so far, may happen from both, though the light attacks seem to guard crush only in very specific circumstances, while the strong ones guard crush in normal situations, too.