Hello everyone!

I've had a lot of fun playing the For Honor Beta despite some connection issues. This game's combat system is done really well--it maintains a relatively simple combat system while allowing for counter attacks, predictions, and lots of strategy. (I have taken many Tae Kwon Do and Korean sword classes, and I have to say that this game feels similar to real weapon sparring.)

To keep things easy-to-read and organized, I listed the pros and cons as well as some suggestions.

PROS:

  • Combat system is lovely and addicting; it's (relatively) easy to learn, hard to master. There are very few things I would change (see below for suggestions).
  • Gear stat system is great; you can pick the stats that suit your playstyle the best.
  • LOVE the ability to customize heroes! A large variety of customization options allows you to personalize your hero.
  • Good variety of gamemodes. 1v1 and 2v2 duels, 4v4 elimination matches, and 4v4 dominion matches.
  • Heroes feel very balanced. Some abilities act strange or are slightly overpowered in my opinion, but overall I definitely feel like it is down to your skill level.


CONS:

  • Frequent connection issues. Error joining games, "Match is full" errors, reconnecting in the middle of games, and getting kicked from games.
  • Laggy/delayed movement. This may be a latency issue, but in some games I feel like my movements are delayed. Sometimes I am unable to dodge attacks that I clearly reacted to in time, and other times I cannot roll away from a bad situation. (Maybe its a gameplay mechanic and I'm just bad )
  • Character stumbles over ledges/into hazards very easily. Sometimes I feel like characters will get pushed/kicked right TO the edge of a drop-off, but not enough to fall over. Then the character stumbles and falls over anyways. This is also the case with hazards like spikes; the character gets pushed next to it, but not quite enough for it to be an instant execute. I understand that this is a gameplay mechanic, but these characters are trained military heroes (Also see suggestions below)


SUGGESTIONS!

  • While the combat system is great, I feel like some mechanics should be tweaked a bit. Specifically, with some heroes' abilities. Some heroes are able spam guard break and attacks while using a comparatively small amount of stamina. This may be intended as I know it can be countered. However, I feel like in many fights, people playing heroes that have a low-reaction-window guardbreak just spam the guardbreak followed by an attack, dealing plenty of damage while maintaining a decent amount of stamina. I feel like spamming guardbreaks takes away from the strategy aspect of the combat system.


  • While discussing combat, as mentioned above I feel like the ledges and hazards can be a little too unforgiving. This has happened to me personally and to other players in fights I've seen. The character visibly stops stumbling, but because they are next to a drop-off, they suddenly start stumbling again and fall off. A way to improve this could be that the character leans over and nearly falls over (you know, when you're trying to stop yourself from falling over ), but if you react quick and dodge away from the edge, you can save yourself. However, to keep it deadly, you wouldn't be able to defend from this position, and whoever pushed you could simply attack or push you again for the guaranteed kill. Hazards would be a little different; I've seen people stumble next to spikes, only to get "sucked" into the spikes, getting impaled (and executed). A solution could be to deal some amount of damage for lightly stumbling into the spikes, as they are spikes and they SHOULD hurt. I just feel like lightly scraping them shouldn't be an instant execution.


  • Finally, some gameplay elements weren't clear to me and I had to learn them on my own. (I will admit that I did not go through every option in the "How to play" menu, but I played the basic tutorials.) To my knowledge, the game never explained how exactly to deploy war assets to defend/attack territories on the world map. Also, I feel like the gear stats should have a description of what they do. Yes, I know they are mostly self-explanatory, but a small description or "help" window with a brief explanation wouldn't be a bad idea, especially for the new players.


Well, that concludes my experience and some of my ideas for improvement. I really enjoyed participating in the beta, and I can't wait until the full release in two days. I hope to see your comments and opinions on the above!

Beware of my Nobushi on Tuesday