Junior Member
Hello!
Before I get into the feedback, I really want to congratulate the entirety of the For Honor team. The effort they have put in, which I've seen has been tremendous, and there are a lot more people working on this game than you see in the videos! They've all done an amazing job, and offered forward the game as you see it now, and as you will come Valentines day. Or rather, humiliate your friends by performing executions on them day. Unfortunately I don't know all of you, but the thanks are there either way! All in all, I had a lot of fun in the Alpha. Given it's an Alpha, it came with its' issues and of course technical difficulties, but that's the entire purpose of it. While it's ideal to have an alpha without a single issue, in the real world that's nearly impossible. So, without further ado I'll jump right into each of the issues I found. Also, here, my wicked emblem.
#Viking
Alright, so here is the characters I played and approximately how long, I won't be providing feedback on the ones I did not play standalone, but I will be offering feedback on what it felt like to play against them.
#1: Viking, Raider[Renown 1, Rank 8] (20+ Dominion, 20+ Duels, and at least 15 brawls)
#2: Knight, Warden [Renown 0, Rank 15] (10+ Dominion, 20+ Duels, and some brawls)
#3: Viking, Berserker [Renown 0, Rank 5] (3 duels, 2 Dominion)
#4: Samurai, Kensei [Renown 0, Rank 2] (1 Duel)
The rest I have no playtime with.
So, onto Class reviews,
THE GOOD
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Viking, The Raider: The Raider what hit be as their best trait is they REALLY sell what they are. They're told to be unstoppable forces gifted with a spark of the gods, and they play just like that. If you play The Raider correctly, it's very very possible that your opponents face would realistically look like a metal bowl with tomato juice pouring out of their visors. All of the kneeing to the face is simply glorious, and the sound effects are brutal! A few times while playing with a friend in 2 v 2 brawls (we played honorably, so if he won he'd watch, and the opposite as well. I'd just start yelling profanities as I mashed in my opponent (of course, not seriously mad, just channeling the inner Raider you know? And push to talk was on, nothing was being said in game :3). That was really awesome! What I also like (which worked against me a lot) is how you can dodge their LMB+RMB attack. When playing against the Raider, their are a lot of different playstyles, and the source of this particular one he really liked that ability. I don't blame him, I mean it can't be blocked.
So, after getting mashed once, I by pure coincidence dodged to the left, and went UNDER his attack, which was absolutely awesome. I ended up winning as of a result, and I just like the little details like that. I can tell that was very intentional, and for the right reasons as well. The third and final awesome thing is that unlike many of the other classes, your character's skin and such is exposed, and to I think compensate for the armor customization, the team decided to add in the tattoos and such, which is awesome! Anyways, I'll put this in point form for easy review later.
- Really felt badass, the Class was sold well and lived up to its' name.
- Playing against them, I really enjoyed the small gaps for dodging their special attack, allowed for keeping the fight up close instead of staying out of that mighty axes' reach.
- Body customization.
Knight, The Warden: The Warden was the first class I ever played back in last November I believe it was during MIGS (I'LL BE ATTENDING AGAIN THIS YEAR WOOHOO!) and back then either it was a lot less fleshed out, or it was an earlier build. Either way, the Warden has had definitive changes, some which I favor and others not so much, but for the most part it's good! So, what I do like about the warden is actually their feat, the Catapult. Now, I never actually got to raise my characters level high enough to obtain the Catapult feat, but if it's anything like it used to be it's a superb game changer. I feel it is the best application to the idea of a strategic advantage that the team likes a lot. With vantage points for callouts, and well, the catapult. Not much that I've seen compares really. Now, bias warning here, because that's probably what this is however the Warden just feels like a class I'm at home with. It was my first experience, and that probably tailored this response but when I played the Warden I kind of felt grounded, a knight by definition, no huge weapons (fairly big, but still), no otherworldly feats. I feel it's honestly one of the more realistic classes(but they are all pretty realistic(Raider/Lawbringer and that a bit of a stretch, but they're fun, and that is what matters!) Besides, who am I to judge, I'm not much of a history nut).
Playing against a Warden, like many of the Knights brought along a specific playstyle on my part which I loved. I'll detail later on what it was like against a conqueror, but my strategy of striking from the top was killed. Again and again I'd be countered, and I knew they could counter upstrikes- it was just habit! However, soon enough I got over it, and when I fought a Warden I resorted to left and right attacks, mixed with LMB+RMB (Raider) and CC galore, it worked most of the time. Honestly, the Warden if you couldn't guess by time played is one of my favorite characters. Honestly arguably my favorite if it weren't for me by default liking the class that just doesn't give a damn.
Point form
- Catapults(Meteors, I doubt anyone remembers the joke :C) are awesome.
- I felt it was one of the more grounded, realistic characters.
- Fighting against them brought its' own unique challenges!
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Things that I think could be improved
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Viking, The Raider: Honestly, playing against the raider or looking for flaws I think is really picking at straws. I like the overall class, and most of what I didn't specifically mention either here or in the good section was good, and I saw no issue with it. One thing that did sometimes end up with some odd scenarios was the charging grab. While I love the concept of it, you have to give up your lock on your target to actually build up a run and go at them. I mean it worked for the most part, and I'm mostly picking at straws, but that is one thing that I did have trouble with. Don't get me wrong, I usually was successful in inverting their face or tossing them into a pit of spikes. One thing that I truly did worry about is the raiders' customization. With armor and such its' fine, however when it comes to coloration, patterns, engravings and symbols I had trouble actually making my character unique. You can apply all of these different things, but with all of the grit on the viking, all of the fur on their shoulderguards and such, it never really popped like the Knights and the like. When I played The Raider I never really felt like my equipment was tailored to my preferences if that makes sense? However, as I said in the Good section, since they actually don't wear much armor, I believe the team is aware of this flaw, and compensated with all of the tattoos you can apply to your warrior, and that the skin tone really changes their appearance instead of the other mostly armored classes.
Simple points
- Charging sometimes came with a bit of trouble, but I think that's moreso a skill curve and not a flaw, just sometimes was tricky.
- Armor customization is limited a little when it comes to noticing the different symbols/paints with the fur and such.
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Knight, The Warden: This character overall actually didn't have many flaws. I had two issues with them, and like Raider it's picking at straws, which is a really good thing given fine tuning for all of the time up to release would be awesome! The issues were the following: One, Warden has a very specific chain, which is (what I do) [space] + w, LMB RIGHT(passive extra hit), [MMB], repeat into oblivion. At lower skilltiers it will probably stomp opponents if it gets started correctly. Perhaps a stamina requirement in order to use it? Perhaps there was, and I just did it at an ideal pace to keep it going for long enough. The other issue was with their parrying. I believe the window was too large, since while playing Warden I happened to firstly get it by accident, but after I would just parry my opponents every time they went for an upswing. Perhaps lowering the window to do the counter would be better? Ultimately, just my opinion!
Point Form:
- LMB(passive), [MMB] can be incredibly effective, almost too much so in lower skill brackets. Then again if you master it, you'd end up in a higher skill bracket.
- Parrying has a little too large of a window, just my opinion though!
09/19/2016 REVIEW CONTENT COMPLETE, WILL ADD MORE TOMORROW, 09/20/2016;
Stuff to add.
- Kensei
- Orochi
- Berserker
- Conqueror
- General Gameplay and Mechanics.
- Duel, Brawl and Dominion + Maps.
