A fun game, a REALLY fun game...
bogged down by a mountain of questionable decisions.
The combat this game has is...excellent, genuinely. It's a beautiful system, though it has a few flaws here and there. My problems with the game are everything *around* the combat system.
Why is this game so bogged by RNG?
Why are patrons so...annoying?
What's the point of fundraisers and promotions?
You realize the fame multiplier system heavily discourages intense customization, right?
Just to name a few of my...more prevalent problems.
To keep it blunt, this game's RNG is *atrocious*. The gear you can buy each week is a roll of the dice, the matches you can fight in are a roll of the dice, the skills you get offered are a roll of the dice. Almost EVERYTHING that impacts your character out of combat, and even some major *in-combat* events are RNG. You can be completely f'd out of getting the gear for your build, or you can be offered a cheap Godly item on Week 2 (both from personal experience). What's...the point? Sure, you can mitigate the gear bit by performing a Shop Order...but even then it's still rough completing your build. It feels like the game doesn't *listen* to your shop orders. The fact that disarming is based on chance as well, and that you can be *chain* disarmed is highly annoying as well. Why not make it something more skillful? I know it's tied to stamina...but, that's it? And even then, I've been chain disarmed at around 60% stamina (am I supposed to just never attack? Or...block...or dodge...?) Even more frustratingly, you can be repeatedly handed *objectively awful* characters. You can re-roll these characters, but there's still no RNG protection. If you roll 3 objectively awful characters, you either play an objectively bad hand and an unfun character, or you lose the benefits you'd built up from your last run. I can understand putting the player in a bad spot, making them play from behind...but you must realize that if a punishment is only decided by a roll of the dice, you're only punishing the player for deciding to play the game. Punishments MUST correlate to consequences of actions, otherwise the only action I committed was daring to play.
Secondly, patrons. Burn this system to the ground. Completely destroy it. Stomp and kick the ashes around. In theory it could work, but I would much rather never see a patron again then play with these numbers. You gain favor for the patron that sponsored your match, but you lose favor with the 3 other patrons (some matches are special and give you favor for ALL patrons, but they're rare...and it's a small amount). The issue is...the amount you LOSE favor between the three patrons combined is more than double the amount you gained for the one patron. Plus, going back to the RNG factor, you're not even guaranteed to get a specific patron's match that week. **WHY?** Going back to consequences and punishments, I'm punished for *not rolling* my Patron in a match that week. That's...objectively BS, you know that, right? You can focus a Patron for 2 weeks, then not get them for 3 weeks...and now you're negative with EVERY patron, even the one you originally focused. I'm almost under the impression you shipped this update I played with the wrong numbers, this feels so awful conceptually. It doesn't help that your reputation with the patrons is tied to a good majority of the random events, your payout from matches AND the small tasks you can complete on the side. Is bribery supposed to be a long-term solution? It certainly isn't cost-effective enough for it. Speaking of cost effective, when is Promote or Fundraise EVER worth it?
My proposal: Halve the favor loss for not fighting for a patron. If a patron was unselectable that week, you don't lose favor with them ("I didn't offer you a job, but you didn't take my job, so I'm upset at you now" makes absolutely zero sense) BUT, if a patron offered MULTIPLE matches that week and you refused, the favor loss scales. This should make playing all sides, or having a favorite actually plausible. Also, add more ways to actually choose a patron's match or at least make having a positive favor matter more.
The last big one...equipment. Fame Multiplier shouldn't exist. Is the implication that a man in heavy armor cannot be respect and renowned among fans? Seriously? You've never ONCE cheered for a juggernaut? We're GLADIATORS me boy! A man in an iron suit and mask can be an icon. If you really want to reward players for using risky/bad equipment, keep the positive fame multipliers. Heavy equipment is already balanced by its intense stamina decrease (and if it isn't, then actually just balance it?). All fame multiplier does is discourage the player from using specific equipment, and just looking for other options that are "Meh, good enough". You have 300+ items in the game, but half of them are objectively better than their same-tiered counterparts for bs reasons. It...doesn't make sense, mate.
But the actual meat and potatoes of the game, the combat, is REALLY good. My one big complaint though: Why is there a top-down mode? Why does it feel like blocking without a shield is balanced around it, too? I'm told when I'm in third person to "hover my mouse over the enemy's weapon"...but...that's not the solution. If I hover it over their weapon, I either do not block their swing or my character doesn't adjust their weapon correctly TO block (such as holding the weapon up horizontally to block an overhead). If I try to be predictive and block where their weapon will arc during the swing...I run into the same issue. It's finnicky, and punishes people for playing in third person ((which I think is the superior way to do this)). As a side note, your own model additionally gets in the way and obscures block angles. Maybe add transparency to your own model when blocking? Other than that, my only complaint is that the AI likes to get REALLY close for no reason...even if it destroys BOTH of your effective weapon ranges...so it's just a... why?
Tl;dr
This game's combat is supremely amazing, but **ALL** of the content surrounding the combat (and a few minor annoyances with the combat) stop me from positively recommending this game.
