State of the game and 100% on march 2020 [SPOILERS]

[Hartgroove]

For people who is wondering about the state of the game and difficulty of 100% the game.

In short - it is PAIN to 100% but the game is fun and unique.

 

The idea of the game is great, it is hardcore, difficult, but the implementation even after 2 years of patches and DLCs is still very bad.

Just did a fresh playthrough for the Woman's Lot DLC, again some trophies prevent others and intersect with the main campaign, had to start over to get all the trophies again for the forth time.

 

The main problems in my opinion are:

1. Clunky animation, you and horse will stuck a lot against stones and bushes, etc.

2. Clunky combat, great idea, but does not really work.

3. Waiting times - because of the NPCs schedules, you will need to wait/skip time a lot to get or turn the quest, as NPCs will be sleeping, eating, praying and doing other things. As an example in the last DLC i had to get a book from the priest, first came 18:00 he said he was busy (praying), skipped to 20 - busy walking to home, 6 am - busy eating, 8 am - busy sitting on the bench, 11 finally he just game the book. One time i was skipping time for 24 hours the guy on the bench slept and didn't wake up - bug. Next day he did.

4. There is many mutually exclusive trophies unfortunately, getting 100% will require a good plan with a lot of reloading and backups or just many playthoughs, for example you cannot complete all side quests not killing anyone. You cannot complete quest to learn to read and complete Trial-and-Error. For You had one job! you need drinking skill less than 9 or around that, but for good ending Angel of Mercy you need that skill more than 9, for Friends without Benefits you need to keep them alive but for Judas you need to kill them, etc. That's probably not all of them.

5. Some trophies are also not always triggering, there were a couple when i was doing the main game trophies, but one the recent ones Full House Sinner. Requires you to commit a list of sins and confess them, i did all including Sleep with Bath Wenches, no matter what it was not counting, i had to do it 3 times to make it work.

 

Anyway, the game is very interesting, one of the best plots i saw, quests are great, all unique. But be ready for a lot of frustration if aiming for 100%.

[damon8r351]

I'd imagine this is the sort of game for people who play Skyrim on console because they don't mind bugs that much.

[Dauersack]

I just now got the 100%, finally. Two crappy bronze trophies in the Womans Lot dlc required me to start an entirely new playthrough because one was literally impossible if your character was too good, the other expected you to have done 6 specific things in 6 quests that are divided all over the game, and I missed a particulary well hidden sidequest that could only be gotten during a specific main quest so I was just shit out of luck. Thankfully with everything I knew about the game at that point, I rushed through it, powerleveld my ass off, skipped whatever I could from the main questline to save time and then finally got these last trophies, wouldn't have been possible for me if it wasn't for the lockdown leaving me with literally nothing productive to do.

 

The game still has many bugs and problems, it is barely functional on base PS4 at times, the performance is still insultingly bad and the sheer thought of immersion is absurd whenever you are near civilization because you will see things pop into existence constantly, including body parts of the people there, or face details. Some day 1 bugs are still there over 2 years after release. The main game has its ups and downs, the dlc is mostly low value crap with the exception of Bands Of Bastards. This game is crippled by its horrible combat system that is ridiculously favoring the turtle strategy due to often actively punishing you for attacking, most sidequests are fetch quests, and the worst offence aside from bugs and performance is probably the design for some of the quests in the game. The Monastery Quest is already infamous, and for good reason, but is not the worst one, for me the true heavyweight in bad design was Theresas backstory, featuring things like looking for tiny flowers in a dark area as a useless and weak character surrounded by enemies, and a return to the dark Skalitz mine labyrinth, probably the least liked part of the map for anyone. Some quests are still bugged, even while rushing through a part of the game with a clear goal in mind I had to murder 2 quest givers to reach it, including the Merhojed boss because the Pestilence quest bugged out into a neverending affair that trapped Johanka in the village for eternety (no move on her part even after skipping several days), yet I needed that nasty creature in Sasau for the dlc quest to become available.

 

Regarding trophies, some pretty bad requirements among them for sure, both dlc and main game. The Merciful trophy and the Virgin trophy are certainly among the worst, as both make the game a lot worse by severely crippling your possibilities and denying some of the funniest events to you respectively. The King Charming trophy gets an honorable mention to me because it was more or less unachievable by conventional means when I got it, had to do a grind that took many hours and was heavily depending on rng, which I did, and I doubt it is fixed by now to be more realistic to get in regards to Merhojeds reputation, they probably did not test that part enough. Obviously there are also some grindy trophies and highly missable trophies, those are always fun, and the dozens of cumulative hours I spent in loading screens (even washing or eating from a pot can cause a minute long loading screen if the games still catching up on rendering the surrounding area) certainly did not help, and neither did the time stuck in rivers, bushes, or doors. There is a reason the platinum is ultra rare despite not being all that hard in terms of sheer difficulty, so if you are after the platinum you should be aware of these things, and if you are like me and aim for 100% because you do not want to look at an incomplete game you didn't like all that much each time you open your profile, then you are definitely in for a big and unrewarding task. This is a game for people who prefer tests of willpower and patience more than tests of skill.

 

Well time to delete that thing for good, if that horrible studio craps out another low value DLC I might actually forget my good manners. I would put nothing past them, the first dlc came at a time when game breaking bugs still were there in abundance and it was by far the lowest effort, and the fact that they consider the current state to be acceptable means they deserve to have any future games they release on official avoid lists. Anyone still going for the plat or 100%, good luck and lots of motivation, you will certainly need both of these things. I recommend watching the best moments, and there are some good moments, in a let's play instead of buying the game.

Edited April 1, 2020 by Nighcisama

[t-i-g-o]

On 01/04/2020 at 5:50 AM, Nighcisama said:

I just now got the 100%, finally. Two crappy bronze trophies in the Womans Lot dlc required me to start an entirely new playthrough because one was literally impossible if your character was too good, the other expected you to have done 6 specific things in 6 quests that are divided all over the game, and I missed a particulary well hidden sidequest that could only be gotten during a specific main quest so I was just shit out of luck. Thankfully with everything I knew about the game at that point, I rushed through it, powerleveld my ass off, skipped whatever I could from the main questline to save time and then finally got these last trophies, wouldn't have been possible for me if it wasn't for the lockdown leaving me with literally nothing productive to do.

 

The game still has many bugs and problems, it is barely functional on base PS4 at times, the performance is still insultingly bad and the sheer thought of immersion is absurd whenever you are near civilization because you will see things pop into existence constantly, including body parts of the people there, or face details. Some day 1 bugs are still there over 2 years after release. The main game has its ups and downs, the dlc is mostly low value crap with the exception of Bands Of Bastards. This game is crippled by its horrible combat system that is ridiculously favoring the turtle strategy due to often actively punishing you for attacking, most sidequests are fetch quests, and the worst offence aside from bugs and performance is probably the design for some of the quests in the game. The Monastery Quest is already infamous, and for good reason, but is not the worst one, for me the true heavyweight in bad design was Theresas backstory, featuring things like looking for tiny flowers in a dark area as a useless and weak character surrounded by enemies, and a return to the dark Skalitz mine labyrinth, probably the least liked part of the map for anyone. Some quests are still bugged, even while rushing through a part of the game with a clear goal in mind I had to murder 2 quest givers to reach it, including the Merhojed boss because the Pestilence quest bugged out into a neverending affair that trapped Johanka in the village for eternety (no move on her part even after skipping several days), yet I needed that nasty creature in Sasau for the dlc quest to become available.

 

Regarding trophies, some pretty bad requirements among them for sure, both dlc and main game. The Merciful trophy and the Virgin trophy are certainly among the worst, as both make the game a lot worse by severely crippling your possibilities and denying some of the funniest events to you respectively. The King Charming trophy gets an honorable mention to me because it was more or less unachievable by conventional means when I got it, had to do a grind that took many hours and was heavily depending on rng, which I did, and I doubt it is fixed by now to be more realistic to get in regards to Merhojeds reputation, they probably did not test that part enough. Obviously there are also some grindy trophies and highly missable trophies, those are always fun, and the dozens of cumulative hours I spent in loading screens (even washing or eating from a pot can cause a minute long loading screen if the games still catching up on rendering the surrounding area) certainly did not help, and neither did the time stuck in rivers, bushes, or doors. There is a reason the platinum is ultra rare despite not being all that hard in terms of sheer difficulty, so if you are after the platinum you should be aware of these things, and if you are like me and aim for 100% because you do not want to look at an incomplete game you didn't like all that much each time you open your profile, then you are definitely in for a big and unrewarding task. This is a game for people who prefer tests of willpower and patience more than tests of skill.

 

Well time to delete that thing for good, if that horrible studio craps out another low value DLC I might actually forget my good manners. I would put nothing past them, the first dlc came at a time when game breaking bugs still were there in abundance and it was by far the lowest effort, and the fact that they consider the current state to be acceptable means they deserve to have any future games they release on official avoid lists. Anyone still going for the plat or 100%, good luck and lots of motivation, you will certainly need both of these things. I recommend watching the best moments, and there are some good moments, in a let's play instead of buying the game.

 

Everything you said is so true! I'm now finishing the platinum/hardcore mode playthrough and the game just crashed when I was about to sleep and save... It's probably the 5th time this has happened to me. This is so frustrating, now I have to do the progress 1-hour progress all over again I had before that save.

 

Don't take me wrong, really like the game, but the amount of bugs and crashes is insane.

 

Not to talk about how the bad the game plays itself on PS4, for example, when you get inside the towns, the NPCs don't fully load, you see random floating heads wandering and you have to click several times to interact with the merchants where you can't even start the trade because your character and it's inventory take a ton of time to load.

 

Anyways, I try to enjoy the game, yet I can't wait to finish it so these bugs stop perturbing my life and making me anxious.

[sephiroth4424]

On 4/1/2020 at 7:50 AM, Nighcisama said:

I just now got the 100%, finally. Two crappy bronze trophies in the Womans Lot dlc required me to start an entirely new playthrough because one was literally impossible if your character was too good, the other expected you to have done 6 specific things in 6 quests that are divided all over the game, and I missed a particulary well hidden sidequest that could only be gotten during a specific main quest so I was just shit out of luck.

Can you recommend a playthrough for someone who starts the game? I'm talking about efficiency, like in 1st pt focus on trophies X,Y,Z. 2nd pt A,B,C

Including dlc trophies

[Dauersack]

7 hours ago, sephiroth4424 said:

Can you recommend a playthrough for someone who starts the game? I'm talking about efficiency, like in 1st pt focus on trophies X,Y,Z. 2nd pt A,B,C

Including dlc trophies

Well if all you are going for is efficiency, then you technically can get every single trophy for the platinum in a single playthrough if you make yourself a good to do list and most importantly abuse your own saves a bit. Some trophies exclude each other, like Virgin and Casanova, or Merciful and the killing of enemies, but you can quickly earn some of those and then reload to get the others to avoid a second playthrough for them. Impossible with the 100% in the DLC because some of the things you do for one of the dlc trophies voids the Virgin trophy, and theres way too much time in between to make that worthwhile anyway as the quest appears very early.

 

I honestly recommend 2 playthroughs in any case because the Merciful trophy will severely cripple your possibilities and make an already troublesome game a hell of a lot worse to play, especially in the big encounters. You gotta ask yourself how much you value a balanced game experience and how high your endurance for frustration is, because I can give you 3 possible approaches if you are after 100%, and 2 for the platinum.

 

Platinum

Let's say all you go for is the platinum and you have no problem power leveling early in the game. In that case I recommend playing the prologue normally and remember to save Theresa and get the Firestarter trophy during it, then before you really follow the main quest too far get yourself in a good position to reload this save for the second playthrough. You want to get rich by leveling lockpicking, learn about herbs and level alchemy to abuse potions, learn some pickpocket because that can become useful at times, train with captain Bernard a lot to power level your fighting skills (do not go hunting with Hans, when that quest is next stop following the main quest and get your character up), learn how to read, get yourself full plate armor either by stealing it or buying it, find the St. George Sword via map, level your hunting up a bit, buy Warhorse Jenda from Merhojed before going further in the main quest because it is the best horse in the main game and becomes unavailable if you do not buy it before a certain quest, and generally do some of the side quests that require no killing. Important is to not get caught stealing because that ruins your reputation, also avoid killing any enemies in random encounters for now, you want that reputation high until you get the King Charming trophy and Henry wants to stay without any kills to his name to reuse the save later. You will unlock many trophies while doing these things. If your Henry is rich, beefy as hell, well equipped and has mastered most of the things, then you make that big save that you can later reload for for the second playthrough and save a lot of time.

You can start killing shit at this point in the first playthrough to grind towards some of the trophies, do all sidequests and activities for the Completionist trophy, screw Bathmaids if you want, collect all the crosses, win the horse race, max speech by talking to as many people as possible, reach max level and try to use every white dialogue option you can, get the right main quest trophies by picking the right decisions for it and try to enjoy the game if you can. You won't be able to get the ending for the game without buying one of the DLCs, thanks Warhorse studio for being scumbags.

 

If you quickly reloaded for some mutually exclusive trophies during your first playthrough, then your second playthrough is only for the two trophies that you avoided like the plague so far, the Virgin trophy and the Merciful trophy. Basically you roleplay as loser Henry and can neither have any sexual contact nor kill any bandits, cumans or annoying npcs, ever, aside from one specific enemy you fight during main questline, severely crippling your possibilites in the game and making some quests a pain in the ass to complete. The good news is that you more or less can skip some main quests, even some really long ones, almost entirely if you already know where to go, which you should know by now. You can save several hours of your time and just blitz through the game, finding things and characters you aren't supposed to find yet and letting people die if they are no longer needed further down the line, also remember to avoid any devilish wenches to save poor Henries virtue. The bad news is that in order to get Merciful, you basically have to really finish the game this time so you must buy the Hans Capon DLC, complete that without killing or fucking and then you are finally finished.

 

100%

3 playthroughs are recommended, the normal one for the bulk of the main game and DLC trophies, the merciful virgin one and the hardcore run.

In the first one you want to finish 6 quests in specific ways for one DLC bronze (Clerics pet) I more or less had to start a new playthrough for, also avoid leveling your drinking skill too high (stay below 10) because having that too high makes another Bronze (You had one job) impossible to earn. Remember to reload your save after getting the Judas trophy because you need these characters around for a dlc trophy. You can knock all non hardcore dlc trophies out in the first playthrough, which I highly recommend.

The third playthrough for all negative perks hardcore will really amp up the games difficulty and inconvenience, it is not fun and incredibly frustrating at times. Here is the point at which I tell you that you can do what I did(though I advise against it) and combine the Merciful&Virgin and Hardcore difficulty playthrough into one incredibly horrendous experience. You will save some time by doing that and you can do the 1st playthrough much more naturally because you can progress in a normal way without power leveling due to the hardcore playthrough starting from scratch anyway, but oh boy some of the main quest encounters will make you want to rip your hair out, especially some of the later ones because they have to be completed in ridiculous ways if you want to avoid killing anyone.

 

In the end it comes down to what you prefer. One natural and one terribly unnatural hardcore playthrough, or one somewhat natural followed by a speedrun followed by an only somewhat terrible hardcore run instead of completely terrible hardcore run for 100%. If you are only after the platinum gold it is either one complete playthrough aside from Merciful&Virgin and one speedrun(thanks to your save) for Merciful&Virgin, or one single but pretty annoying all main trophies run that you need to plan more carefully (and you will miss some of the funniest things in the game due to the decisions you have to choose so be aware of that). If you have any further questions for some of the trophies feel free to ask, completing this game was not really worth it for me aside from getting the 100% so if I can help others to save time and energy with this game I can consider this to be more worth it. Definitely a purchase I regretted several times and given the still terrible state of the game I'd not recommend this game to anyone, not even diehard fans of the genre. Let's just say if I as a Mount&Blade: Warband fan think this games flaws can't really be overlooked, then its pretty damn dire.

 

8 hours ago, t-i-g-o said:

 

Everything you said is so true! I'm now finishing the platinum/hardcore mode playthrough and the game just crashed when I was about to sleep and save... It's probably the 5th time this has happened to me. This is so frustrating, now I have to do the progress 1-hour progress all over again I had before that save.

 

Don't take me wrong, really like the game, but the amount of bugs and crashes is insane.

 

Not to talk about how the bad the game plays itself on PS4, for example, when you get inside the towns, the NPCs don't fully load, you see random floating heads wandering and you have to click several times to interact with the merchants where you can't even start the trade because your character and it's inventory take a ton of time to load.

 

Anyways, I try to enjoy the game, yet I can't wait to finish it so these bugs stop perturbing my life and making me anxious.

I fully agree. This is still the only PS4 game to date that forced me to store my saves on an external harddrive to avoid a crash killing my savegame yet again. That should no longer be necessary now because, as hard as that is to believe, the game was a lot more unstable in 2018 when I got most of the trophies for it, at least in terms of game breaking bugs and total destruction of saves. The visual bugs, horrendous performance, insane loading times and day 1 bugs like the phantom Henry that prevents you from using basic features like buying stuff at shops remain in the game though and are inexcusable, they basically establish Warhorse studio as a scam developer to me that is not to be trusted with any further games because they seemingly can't be bothered to get their crowdfunded! game into an acceptable state.

Edited April 3, 2020 by Nighcisama

[gernboes]

Wait, you cant reach the end without DLC? I mean i have all the DLC, so it doesnt really affect me, but that sounds like a real dick move! 

[Dauersack]

26 minutes ago, gernboes said:

Wait, you cant reach the end without DLC? I mean i have all the DLC, so it doesnt really affect me, but that sounds like a real dick move! 

You could before they released their DLC, but not anymore as far as I know. I saw people complaining that they can't get the ending because for that to happen you have to get a dialogue option from Hans Capon, but he won't really give you that until you finish his DLC questline. I remember not seeing the option to end the game when I talked to Hans in order to get the DLC questline for the trophies, so this seems to be the case, also I saw at least two guys complain that they have to finish the DLC on top of the main game in order to get Virgin and Merciful. Unless theres a workaround for it or you can set the game version back to a point before there was DLC, which I do not recommend given that the games state was ten times worse back then in terms of bugs, crashes and performance drops, then yeah it seems you really need that DLC even if you are only after the platinum.

[Chepps_]

All fair and valid points here! If you are expecting a nice 100% platinum trophy, I say move on to a different game.

 

It took me about 3.5 playthroughs to 100% this game because of Woman’s Lot DLC. The one trophy that pissed me off to no end was the CLERIC’S PET. I missed finding the evidence that the monks were drinking in the basement at the Monastery  and had to start another playthrough; the Monastery mission is about the halfway point through main mission.

 

With all that said, I still enjoyed KCD! It’s all about the role play. 

I obtained all the HARDCORE, MERCIFUL, and VIRGIN trophies by roleplaying as a cowardly and incompetent Henry who wishes to be a valiant Knight, but can’t stomach combat. I gave that particular Henry a mustache and the ridiculous looking bowl haircut with fade to make him look the part.

 

On my second playthrough I role played as an honorable knight which made the KING CHARMING trophy easy.
 

Sure the game isn’t perfect, but if you approach it from a role playing aspect, it isn’t that bad. 

 

 

[BlackTorito]

I just clocked 115h in the game, without even completing my 1st playthrough. I’m taking my time, since nevertheless the difficulties, it is still a nice and enjoyable game.

 

I have to agree with most of the points stated:

 

- The game is clunky and slow, and is increased proportionally to the time you spent on it. Right now, textures and people not loading is a VERY common issue, sometimes I can’t even press the purchase button because Henry is still loading into the merchant screen.

 

- Trophies will definitely require some planning, not too much, specially if you understand how the game works. All in all, you can do the platinum with 2 playthroughs (one free, messing, robbing, killing, and bathing...  and another as a virgin, merciful, hardcore guy).

 

- King Charming is on nobody ground, since you COULD potentially unlock it even messing around robbing and completing bad quests with the Infamous perk. I’m still testing this, since the quest from the Old Whore at Inn Glade drops a lot of reputation on Neuhof. If not, is always possible to unlock at the merciful playthrough.

 

- You need a lot patience, not only for the how slow the game loads (yes we already heard how Wencelas didn’t make to his own coronation...) or performs overall, but some quests are very tedious (like the hunting ones), and require a lot of traveling back and forth, you need to plan well your journeys if you don’t want to spend half your sessions on the quick travel screen (and also invest on Scout perks).

 

- I’ve had 2 crashes in all this time,  it wouldn’t be that bad if the saving system wasn’t based heavily on drinking a potion, but I’ve lost many hours just on stupid mistakes too anyway, so be careful and don’t hesitate to save, enemies or any other random thing can totally make you lose a lot of progress if you don’t save.

 

- I also agree that you shouldn’t stick entirely to the trophy guide, there is a lot of old information or misinformation, so be sure to get insight from various sources and you also have some helpful tips on the forums here (specially the reading the shrines and crosses to count).

 

- I also found this useful interactive map you can potentially print to control treasures and shrines/crosses: 

https://kingdomcomemap.github.io/#2/2048.0/2048.0

 

To sum up, it’s obviously not an easy peasy 100%, it requires some planning (nothing too crazy in my opinion). So far I haven’t encounter any trophy not unlocking, but again I yet have to reach some DLCs where they are supposed to be. I also need to experience if the hardcore + merciful is as frustrating as its said.

 

Will share my end thoughts after I get the 100%.

 

 

 

[MrFudge]

On 05/04/2020 at 7:38 PM, gernboes said:

Wait, you cant reach the end without DLC? I mean i have all the DLC, so it doesnt really affect me, but that sounds like a real dick move! 

This is false. Without DLC installed you can reach the end of the game just fine. 
 

However if ‘The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon’ is installed you have to beat its main questline to reach the ending of the main game. 
 

Fortunately this doesn’t take long and is highly entertaining. Even on Hardcore Merciful it’s no obstacle. 
 

I also want to reiterate what others have said; this is by far one of the worst trophy lists I’ve ever come across. Conversely it’s one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played. 
 

Ergo avoid it if trophies are all-important to you, but I highly recommend it if you just want to play a good game. 

[fadingtrails]

On 1-4-2020 at 6:50 AM, Nighcisama said:

I missed a particulary well hidden sidequest that could only be gotten during a specific main quest...

 

Could you please share which one so maybe we don't have to go through the same experience?

[Dauersack]

3 hours ago, fadingtrails said:

 

Could you please share which one so maybe we don't have to go through the same experience?

It only affects you if you go for the 100%, all the base trophies can be achieved without ever touching that quest.

 

There are two monks who hide in the basement of the monastery while you are there during the main questline. They break the rules of the monastery by getting shit faced drunk every night, you can find them by sneaking out of the sleeping room at night and entering the basement. They give you a quest that may last several days depending what else you have on your plate and how efficient you are. You complete this quest so that the knowledge of these two drinking is in Henries thick head, and later you can rat them out to the Inquisitor, which you have to do for the Cleric's pet trophy. That trophy requires several other quests to be done in specific ways as well so Henry will mention the right things to the Inquisitor, six in total, so plan ahead early if you want to unlock it, or you have to dedicate two thirds of a playthrough for that shitty dlc bronze.

[KingTom95]

I recently found out how to skip the Hans Capon DLC if you have it installed and posted the requirements in the specific thread.

 

I didnt had anything against the clunky controls cause the game is designed to be highly realistic so it makes sense you cant just pass everything with your horse

but there is definitely some objects the horse should pass.

 

With bugs its always hard to tell since they arent consistent, some people are more affected than others and it seems i was lucky this time cause i didnt had any gamebreaking bugs except for a few crashes and that typical pop up stuff, nothing which wouldnt happen in any other open world game too but indeed it happens more frequently in kingdom come than any other game. 

 

With those minor bugs i still had more enjoyment than frustration at any point but this shouldnt excuse the current state of the game cause it definitely needs some patches especially for crashes.

 

Well i dont like those exlusive trophies either but thats because we are trophy hunters, they just want to show us how many outcomes a single quest can have and thats totally fine, cant really blame the game by giving you more freedom and options but you wont use it cause you will go for those trophies anyways.

 

 

I never experienced any performance issues except for the monastery but thats a known bug which happens when your dog glitches trough one of the doors, i played the game on the pro tho.

 

I also cant understand why nobody likes the monastery quest haha i really liked that quest but i would admit that the Womens Lot DLC´s was one of the worst DLC´s i have ever played.

 

 

Just giving my 2 cents that not everybody having those big issues but you cant never know, maybe borrow the game and play on a 2nd account if youre unsure about it.