I am a HEMA practicioner and this is a very fun game, I would like if you made it possible to grapple in very close quarters. Grabbing the oponent blade and disarming too. Kick to the chest would be nice to see too. Nice work all around.
Reviews for "The Forgotten Art"
IMO, the real semantics of the four attack buttons are:
T- high/up in general; F- cross wrists, hence the zwerchau from afar and duplieren when at the bind;
G- probably the most subtle and important button out of the four. If used at the bind, this is the winding button; if not, on first press, it brings your sword on line for a thrust, and on the second press, it inverts your grip for mordhau;
H- if used the first time, it does a cut; if used as a second attack in some combinations, it performs a follow-up thrust
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The fact that zornhau-ort is "H-T" causes two problems:
- After I miss an oberhau, I press T somehow thinking that I will re-guard into ochs. Hell nawh, I do the "ort" in thin air. Re-guarding should not be a three-button sequence.
- Judging from how T-H and G-H work, my brain subconsciously thinks that "H on the second press is a follow-up thrust"... except it's H-T.
I get it, a zornhau-ort points UPwards, so you went with H-T, but considering how zornhau-ort is like hands and glove with the zornhau IRL and how H tends to get imprinted as the "follow-up thrust button", H-H would probably serve better.
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The fact that switching back and forth between cutting and mordhau mode is NOT on a fifth button is probably THE source of the confusing key combinations.
- The contrived key combinations in mordhau. If you use a fifth button for mordhau mode, H becomes the overhead cross guard attack, and G becomes the "thrusting" attack with the pommel.
- The very fact that "initial thrust" is G, but "follow-up thrust" is H. After re-assigning "switch from/to mordhau mode" on the fifth button, it is now possible to let G be the "thrust" button in general, and H be the "cut if far away, wind if at the bind (you don't have zucken anyhow, which is probably just about the only cutting attack at the bind)" button. Then, stab, upper-stab and zornhau-ort would be "G-G (LOL aside, press G to keep thrusting! Note how intuitive this is)", "T-G" and "H-G" respectively, and go-around, winden and auswinden would be "G-H", "H-H" and "T-H" respectively.
DolphiusWhaleman responds:
You explained it way better than I could think of. Thank you very much for this helpful comment. You really actually learned the game and I appreciate it. Thanks for the 3 stars as well.
Again, very well explained.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
1. I really love the background music and sound effects for this game.
Ex: the title/intro BGM, or the sound effects of birds chirping during the day, which makes it more lively. (or perhaps it is just me?)
2. The art is very simple, modest and medieval-like which is unique as well as interesting in my opinion since I have always liked the vibe and theme from ancient or medieval era.
3. The game is about fencing/swordplay which I have rarely ever tried before so again it is something new and intriguing but to be honest, it is very hard for me because I am used to playing RPG games which doesn't involve too much thinking or fast-pace movement or action for the combat system.
(I'm not sure if anyone would get what I mean, let's just say that I'm used to playing RPGs with game style or gameplay like the old Final Fantasy series (which you can easily play on any android phone). Yeah. The pixelated ones... I am very 'softcore' TT).
4. There are an extensive amount of customization which is a plus of course.
5. The story is interesting, but I wish that there would be more to it. Perhaps more plots, quests and characters so the players or audience can empathize more to the character(s).
Just a suggestion here: Maybe next time, the creator/developer can make other game which would focus on the antagonist of this game as the main character? That would be great~
6. To be honest (again), I already lost it when I first saw the tutorials. Dayuuuummm...too many things to brain in TT. I hardly remember a quarter of them. But I guess it showed just how much efforts did the creator/developer of the game had invested into this game.
Dude, imagine researching on all of those fencing moves, terms, wardrobes, hairstyles etc., as well as on the medieval theme. Kudos for that. Please keep up the good work, or better, improve it.
P/S: Poor all those people who got brutally killed by those sharp thingy :") RIP. They looked kinda stiff and funny when they got slayed. But the sound effects of the swords and of the stabbings/slashings are oddly satisfying.
DolphiusWhaleman responds:
Thank you very much for your review and feedback.
About the fact that the game is difficult,
Yeah, the game is difficult and the difficulty curve doesn't make sense (which is not good). There are a lot of moves as well and different buttons.
If I made the game today I would have done it differently in a way, perhaps.
Again, thank you very much for your nice words and appreciation. You made my day.
A great game and i like the fact you tackle historical sword fighting from medieval manuals, of course doing that in itself is a hard task which leads to some annoying moments from time to time. but that might just be me.
The only problem i have is the fact that there is no tutorial teaching you how to apply simple moves in combat, while it's nice to know how to do them in the first place it can sometimes take a bit of time to decipher what to do in what situation.
In the end, i love the idea and you should keep going with this.
DolphiusWhaleman responds:
Thank you for your feedback and rating.
Yes I agree, sometimes the combat system can be very frustrating.
Personally I think I should have done some things a little bit differently. Such as doing zwerchhau as counter to oberhau, slower animations...
Hopefully it will only get better in the future games.
Your controls lag if you inpput too many moves but unfortunately your enemies aren't bound to the same schackles. The will constantly dish out moves at a rate you just can't keep up with, thus overpowering you and killing you. unless you get a lucky shot in at the first second, you will most likely die. Taking on one or maaaybe two opponents like this is just a matter of trial and error, but eventually, you'll need to kill six or more at once. Wtihout getting hit even once. There is, however, an extensive amount of customization and a story mode, so i can't rate it too low.
DolphiusWhaleman responds:
That's not true. You don't have to click too fast to outsmart the bot.
And trust me, I play a lot my own game. You can keep up easily.
For instance, let's say your sword is forward - they might go with their sword down and do with their super-bot-efficiency a move as fast as possible. That's why you should manage your distance. By the way, I won my own campaign - I know it's possible.
I taken 8 opponents at once. You have to get good in order to do well in the story.
Thanks for your feedback anyway.