The Enduring: Fair Warning On The Thornmarsh Melee Pit

[PhantomFear94]

Whilst working on The Enduring, you need to complete all 4 melee pits across the HFW map. The first 3 (Chainscrape, Scalding Spear and The Bulwark) were all pretty straightforward. However, -- my god -- Thornmarsh was difficult. Well, it isn't really, if you know why you're failing.

 

I spent well over an hour on this melee pit, finding it comparable to some of the harder MK11 tutorials, and lucked my way through just the first of the challenges. For "Reap and Clear", "Energy Surge Chain" and "Power Rush" I wasn't even close. Following the on-screen prompts, I could often luck my way through the first 2 combos, before my corresponding input not working properly. It was endlessly frustrating, and whilst I'm not a fighting game aficionado, I could clear all the individual tutorials with ease, so I knew how to do the combos individually.

 

If you too are struggling, it turns out the prompts for the combos on screen are partially wrong when putting them together in a chain. The issue is mainly that with the 'jump over' combo ending most challenges in this melee pit, it doesn't tell you that R1 from a previous combo replaces the first R1 in the next combo. So, for example, the prompt tell you to HOLD R1 for a halfmoon clash, then pressing R1 again for jump over is incorrect. When doing this, you'll stop and do a slash instead of charging a hit, or break for too long between the 2nd and 3rd combo

 

This may come naturally to fighting game fans, but otherwise, this is very unclear and poorly displayed. Here what I did, and it worked within a couple of attempts after severely struggling. 

 

"Reap and Clear"

 

Spoiler

 

What you SHOULD do - R1, R1, Pause, R1, R1, HOLD R1, forward*, HOLD R2 (don't pause except after the first two hits)

 

The game's on-screen prompts tells you to do this -

R1, R1, Pause, R1, R1 [Spinning Scythe]

Hold R1 [Halfmoon Slash]

R1, Forward, Hold R2. [Jump Over]

 

Take out the button press I've crossed out, it'll fail you on the 3rd combo. Hold R1 hit for Halfmoon Slash, and use that hit to replace the first R1 for the jump over. I barely even had to press forward, so if you're still struggling*, try holding R2 immediately after holding R1 and it may naturally do the combo in sequence if you're close enough.

 

 

 

"Energy Surge Chain "

 

Spoiler

 

What you SHOULD do - R1, R1, R1, Pause, HOLD R1, HOLD R2.

 

The game's on-screen prompts tells you to do this -

R1, R1, R1, Pause R1* [Spinning Scythe]

Hold R1 [Halfmoon Slash]

R1, Hold R2. [Jump Over]

 

Essentially the same, just pausing at a different point. Take out the button presses I've crossed out, in particular, Hold R1 hit for Halfmoon Slash, and use that hit instead of the prompt R1 for the jump over. If you're struggling, include the * marked R1 I've initially crossed out. This worked for me, but it was typically the end of the combo I struggled with.

 

 

 

"Power Surge "

 

 

Spoiler

 

Power Attack into Halfmoon Slash into Nora Warrior into Arrow Shot  = Hold R2, pause, Hold R1, R1, R1, R2, Shoot with Arrow

 

The game's on-screen prompts tells you to do this -

Hold R2 [Power Attack]

Hold R1 [Halfmoon Slash]

R1, R1, R1, R2. [Nora Warrior]

Shoot

 

The key to this one is to imagine the Nora Warrior combo is 2 R1 hits, not 3. First 2 attacks are easy, then just do 2 R1 hits, not 3. If you're stopping mid-Nora Warrior, it's because you're doing 3 hits. 

 

 

 

 

Rant time. Whether this is convention in fighting games when 'blending combos' I'm unsure, but Forbidden West isn't a fighting game, so this feels like an over-sight to me, and at best, highly confusing. I'm loving Forbidden West, but controls for melee combat are a huge issue even in 'live-action', outside the melee pits. Some may disagree, but when fighting machines I find combos seldom trigger consistently, and dodging (your only real defense) is awfully unfluid. I'd too often roll into my target or to a meaninglessly close distance. I use bows and ranged weapons 90% of the time as a result, as CQC is very hit and miss. Similarly, traversal is buggy as all hell. Often get 'rubber-banded' on vertical jumps, grapples don't trigger, pull-rope doesn't trigger, etc. Coming of the Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection, the difference is STARK. 

 

I do really like the game - an 8/10 for the story, open world, quests and graphics - but the mediocre at best controls are dragging the experience down from that 'great' category for me, at least until (if) the fluidity or combat and traversal is patched.

Edited February 22, 2022 by PhantomFear94

[Neme-ita]

Thx for the advice 

[Infected Elite]

aside from crouch not being circle, i have 0 issues with controls or traversal. Game is fine. 

 

Just wait for Horizon 3 in 2026-2027.

[ArtMontef]

22 hours ago, PhantomFear94 said:

Whilst working on The Enduring, you need to complete all 4 melee pits across the HFW map. The first 3 (Chainscrape, Scalding Spear and The Bulwark) were all pretty straightforward. However, -- my god -- Thornmarsh was difficult. Well, it isn't really, if you know why you're failing.

 

I spent well over an hour on this melee pit, finding it comparable to some of the harder MK11 tutorials, and lucked my way through just the first of the challenges. For "Reap and Clear", "Energy Surge Chain" and "Power Rush" I wasn't even close. Following the on-screen prompts, I could often luck my way through the first 2 combos, before my corresponding input not working properly. It was endlessly frustrating, and whilst I'm not a fighting game aficionado, I could clear all the individual tutorials with ease, so I knew how to do the combos individually.

 

If you too are struggling, it turns out the prompts for the combos on screen are partially wrong when putting them together in a chain. The issue is mainly that with the 'jump over' combo ending most challenges in this melee pit, it doesn't tell you that R1 from a previous combo replaces the first R1 in the next combo. So, for example, the prompt tell you to HOLD R1 for a halfmoon clash, then pressing R1 again for jump over is incorrect. When doing this, you'll stop and do a slash instead of charging a hit, or break for too long between the 2nd and 3rd combo

 

This may come naturally to fighting game fans, but otherwise, this is very unclear and poorly displayed. Here what I did, and it worked within a couple of attempts after severely struggling. 

 

"Reap and Clear"

 

  Hide contents

 

What you SHOULD do - R1, R1, Pause, R1, R1, HOLD R1, forward*, HOLD R2 (don't pause except after the first two hits)

 

The game's on-screen prompts tells you to do this -

R1, R1, Pause, R1, R1 [Spinning Scythe]

Hold R1 [Halfmoon Slash]

R1, Forward, Hold R2. [Jump Over]

 

Take out the button press I've crossed out, it'll fail you on the 3rd combo. Hold R1 hit for Halfmoon Slash, and use that hit to replace the first R1 for the jump over. I barely even had to press forward, so if you're still struggling*, try holding R2 immediately after holding R1 and it may naturally do the combo in sequence if you're close enough.

 

 

 

"Energy Surge Chain "

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

What you SHOULD do - R1, R1, R1, Pause, HOLD R1, HOLD R2.

 

The game's on-screen prompts tells you to do this -

R1, R1, R1, Pause R1* [Spinning Scythe]

Hold R1 [Halfmoon Slash]

R1, Hold R2. [Jump Over]

 

Essentially the same, just pausing at a different point. Take out the button presses I've crossed out, in particular, Hold R1 hit for Halfmoon Slash, and use that hit instead of the prompt R1 for the jump over. If you're struggling, include the * marked R1 I've initially crossed out. This worked for me, but it was typically the end of the combo I struggled with.

 

 

 

"Power Surge "

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Power Attack into Halfmoon Slash into Nora Warrior into Arrow Shot  = Hold R2, pause, Hold R1, R1, R1, R2, Shoot with Arrow

 

The game's on-screen prompts tells you to do this -

Hold R2 [Power Attack]

Hold R1 [Halfmoon Slash]

R1, R1, R1, R2. [Nora Warrior]

Shoot

 

The key to this one is to imagine the Nora Warrior combo is 2 R1 hits, not 3. First 2 attacks are easy, then just do 2 R1 hits, not 3. If you're stopping mid-Nora Warrior, it's because you're doing 3 hits. 

 

 

 

 

Rant time. Whether this is convention in fighting games when 'blending combos' I'm unsure, but Forbidden West isn't a fighting game, so this feels like an over-sight to me, and at best, highly confusing. I'm loving Forbidden West, but controls for melee combat are a huge issue even in 'live-action', outside the melee pits. Some may disagree, but when fighting machines I find combos seldom trigger consistently, and dodging (your only real defense) is awfully unfluid. I'd too often roll into my target or to a meaninglessly close distance. I use bows and ranged weapons 90% of the time as a result, as CQC is very hit and miss. Similarly, traversal is buggy as all hell. Often get 'rubber-banded' on vertical jumps, grapples don't trigger, pull-rope doesn't trigger, etc. Coming of the Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection, the difference is STARK. 

 

I do really like the game - an 8/10 for the story, open world, quests and graphics - but the mediocre at best controls are dragging the experience down from that 'great' category for me, at least until (if) the fluidity or combat and traversal is patched.

I thought I was the only one, I genuinely couldn't understand what was I doing wrong with those goddamn combos. Thanks for the tips. 

 

I really like the game so far, came upon some various bugs, but they were more entertaining than gamebreaking. (Models not spawning, random animations not triggering, some models spawning twice, machines still being in idle "alive" animations even after being killed and looted). But bugs in open world game are given, these games are so complex and hard to make that it's barely possible to eliminate everything. 

 

Thanks again for the tips, maybe now I will finish this quest

 

[EDIT] I have finished all challenges with ease once I skipped unnecesary inputs. Legit the game give you flat out wrong instructions. How did it even go past testing? I understand the challenges have a note about chaining those combos together but it is worded in a way that made me think I should just well chain those combos together without pauses, not flat out skip inputs. 

Edited February 23, 2022 by ArtMontef

[DwayneHawkins]

These challenges are just dumb. How is one supposed to know the last and first buttons blend together. Another reason for me to hate this stupid game.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Beyondthegrave07
Don't use retarded in a derogatory manner

[mega-tallica]

16 hours ago, DwayneHawkins said:

These challenges are just dumb. How is one supposed to know the last and first buttons blend together. Another reason for me to hate this stupid game.

 

Because the game literally tells you that in the description of the challenges. 

Edited March 3, 2022 by Stevieboy
clean up for edited post

[ZZ383]

I disliked the melee combo challenges, it brought back some fondly awful memories of Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. 

 

I also couldn't figure out how to break the energy shield, so beat that one on Story.

[Infected Elite]

These really weren't hard

[HusKy]

11 hours ago, Infected Elite said:

These really weren't hard

 

Agree, not hard. Just straight up awful melee combo design.

[SpaceIsDandy]

The melee combos are fine imo the poorly designed part is that it just shows the default buttons for each attack but expects you to ignore that. Nothing like the MK11 challenges that sometimes the AI can't even pull off

Edited March 3, 2022 by SpaceIsDandy

[Angel-CashBag]

In my opinion, the game was great until I had to overcome the 4 pit trials for the platinum trophy requirement. Not that anyone cares. I got it done with luck on my side and crushed the Enduring. ? ?

[tpaullin]

Thanks for the tips! I've been struggling with Thornmarsh for awhile now.

[Rico3k]

Thanks so much for those tips. Did the power surge and energy one first go with the above.

[Nuoragh]

This is just a case of people not reading the challenges before attempting them. I mean, before accepting the challenges the text on screen spoon feeds you exactly how to do them. Just read the 5 lines of text once, instead of endlessly doing it wrong after rushing through the info screens. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Nuoragh

[JNSpradlin]

Yeah, they show how to do each solo on the side, but to combine them you have to make it flow. It was super easy.

[whatahood]

No matter what I did, I could not get the spear to ting/glow after the third R1. After experimenting for an hour, I figured out that energy surge will NOT work unless you unlock the Nora Warrior skill. Only after unlocking this skill did the spear make the sound and the glowing circle appeared. Finally I was able to do the damn energy surge. Cannot believe this issue still exists after a year of the game being released. 

[Fozzyabear]

Thanks for the advice! I had a hard time with them as well when I did them. As for people making comments of "this was easy", or "learn how to read', what are the purposes for your comments? If it is your aim to make people you will never meet in your life feel like they are less than because it was easy for you, then shame on you. I feel bad that you have to put others down to make yourself feel superior. If that is the only joy you get out of life then you really are missing out on what healthy relationships are between other humans.

[shantanu-zenmst]

Thank You ArtMontef for sharing this information. This is the last thing I did in the game. So I was struggling with this activity  mission you call it.In my trophy hunting community and my PlayStation group everyone got the Platinum trophy of this game and I was thinking how is this possible that everyone completed this hurdle. Basically Game Developer who was incharge of writing this combo machanics did messed up and wrote extra R1 button and some jump here and there. So players like me gets confused that how it is possible that I am doing wrong every time when games telling me to press certain button to press. Thank you for sharing this precious information with us. And live long and prosper.