If you have watched action movies, anime, read manga or anything of the like, then you must have wondered at least once "What it'd be like to be on their shoes?"
A split-second decision, the rush, the thrill. To train, to predict. To take a deep breath, a step back... to bait, to be lucky...
There are multiple phases, yet they all happen incredibly fast in just one match. That's For Honor: one of the most rewarding and frustrating games I've ever tried.
So, In a semantic sense
For Honor is an action PvP fighting game (Or hack and slash. Up for interpretations) developed by Ubisoft Montreal for Microsoft Windows, PS4 and Xbox One.
In a more literal sense, as shown in the trailers and in the video up here, the game aims to be realistic (which should not be confused with Historically accurate). There are no flashy movements (*cough cough* Shinobi *cough cough*), you can see and almost feel the weight behind every attack in how your character just gets pushed back, or even thrown to the floor. Is actually quite nice for a change to find a game where your most powerful move is not a black screen full of Japanese letters, or a 50 hit combo.
The heroes also talk in different languages (with some exceptions, because why not.), when executing some particular attacks of their move set, which really adds to the mood of Blood shedding deathly iron tasting battle.
Next, from a background point of view, For Honor talks about a great cataclysm that shattered the Earth, bringing three cultures together which in our history never met: The Vikings, the Knights and the Samurai. In a life or death situation, these factions had to fight for resources to survive, which led to a war that hasn't ended in today's time.
Now, as a new player you'll have to choose between these three before getting into the game. But don't worry, choosing a side doesn't limit you to only play the warriors from that Faction. Being a Nobushi fighting for the knights is totally ok. Once you decide what side deserves your bravery, you'll have to design your shield, which you'll be able to change anytime. The patterns and possibilities are quite a few (you may have seen people with the Twitch icon in theirs. No, that's not a predesigned picture), so you won't get bored if customization is your thrill. And that without mentioning all of the options you have in fashion for your Hero.
And then, comes the great decision. Once you complete the tutorial, you'll be able to do three things: fight in multiplayer right away, train the different mechanics the game offers... or to dive into the story mode.
Personally, the first thing I did was to play the PvE campaign. Is not long, approximately 10 hours with some calm exploration. But Why? well, I had already played the beta, so I knew more or less what to expect of multiplayer, but that is not the main reason. I went for it because I heard there was this max difficulty called "realistic".
You see, when facing an opponent, the game tells you where the attack is coming from. Right, left or top. In "realistic" PvE... there isn't such a thing. And I tell you now, is quite good to get used to watching the animations rather than the indicators, which in some cases come too late to actually react to an attack. (*cough cough* Pk *cough cough*)
In any case, the story is quite good. Great narration, and you get to know the background of some of the iconic characters For Honor has, (Like Raider...LEGENDARY) besides WHY the war continues even to this day. Is arguably a big badass tutorial.
Which leads us to the question... What does the big badass tutorial teach us?
Well, basically how to keep yourself alive. The first level of knowledge out of three in my opinion. Every level with more depth than the one before. Is in fact one of the things that I liked about For Honor the most.
(Also, let me say this: Most of the problems you may read on reddit or the forums about unbalancing and such... you won't really feel them until you reach a certain skill level.)
But then, how to keep yourself alive? Learn to counter guardbreak (a move that lets you exposed for a brief period of time). Learn to parry (to attack with a heavy in the direction of an incoming attack as its about to hit you). Learn to watch your stamina. Learn to recognize unblockables as soon as possible. All very basic but it can take you some time to get used to. All the more because of how new all of these mechanics are... which is pretty exciting to be honest.
In this line of thought, you'll eventually arrive to the second level of knowledge: You hero's own mechanics. Every hero in the game has "that" something that makes them especial (except Orochi. You'll understand why eventually), with some being more unique than others by design (good or bad, arguably).
For example: Nobushi, the character I have played the most. She fights with a Naginata: a two handed spear meant for thrusting and cutting. Thanks to it, she has more range than most characters, so she is able to poke from a safe distant. One of her traits is to be able to deal more damage to bleeding targets... and as you may have guessed, she also has in her skill set quite a few attacks that cause bleed upon hit.
Her moves are quite fast, and she can use them to overwhelm a "green" opponent. She can mix most of them up in order to confuse a veteran and be able to get some damage in as well. Hidden stance, one of her most characteristic moves, can be used to cancel some of her recovery times, in addition to feint her light attacks which is something none of the other heroes can do.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. On paper is easy to miss some more practical skills: for example, Nobushi has an unblockable kick, which opens her opponent to a guaranteed bleed attack... but if her enemy gets pushed against a wall, she can land an overhead heavy instead. And that's big damage, I assure you.
A big. Chunk. Of. Damage.
There is even more, and it would cover an entire article on its own. And that's just the second level. The third level is even more complicated, as it includes all the other heroes. But don't worry, the second and the third level can be learned at the same time... they just teach you different things.
Let's revisit Nobushi's example: As I said, she has long range which against most heroes means that if she gets a light attack parried, they can't punish her. Yet, a Lawbringer and a Kensei, who also wield two handed long weapons (A Halberd and a Nodachi, respectively), would be able to land a top heavy on you. Is also right to mention that a Raider would be able to guardbreak you thanks to one of his skills; and a Orochi, to land two lights on you as well, even though he fights with a Katana.
In time, you'll learn that all heroes have different interactions and a variety of ways to be dealt with. In addition, you'll also learn all these interactions multiply depending on what hero are you playing at the time...
Isn't it exciting? It is for me.
But not everything is Guns & Roses. Or however is said. For honor also has clear and heavy problems. Heroes are unbalanced. Some have many options, good damage and little punishable moves (Aka Warlord), while others have arguably but two reliable attacks... and everything else is just asking to be beaten (Aka Orochi).
Issues just pile up when you start playing and understanding what's going on around you. And this is coming from someone who has played Duels and brawls the most. The game has five kind of matches, of which three are 4v4: Dominion, Skyrmish and Elimination. In these game modes, all heroes have something called "feats": abilities much like those you'd find in MOBAs. But not even these have the balance they should have. You could say they just remark what's already overpowered.
(All being said, in last patch they fixed one of their biggest problems, which was gear stats applying to feats.)
In conclusion: the art, the graphic detail, the realism... For Honor is great as an ideal, and the aesthetics are really polished, If you keep an eye open you'll see all kinds of details, and in fact, the PvE campaign is great to appreciate this side of the game. Yet, as for now the game is not something you'll enjoy in the long term because of how unbalanced it is.
What was the main problem that led to its current state? In my opinion, it was something really simple: the game, mechanically, is completely new. There are no real precedents to guide yourself with, so the developers found themselves suddenly having to balance a game they had no idea how(and arguably, still don't). Yet, little by little, they are learning.
And well, as the title says, hope is not lost. I think they are taking baby steps precisely because they still have a long way to go, but once they understand what's wrong and learn their ways to get around some of the major bugs, like the flicker, everything will go much more smoothly.
So yeah, I wouldn't recommend For Honor as of now, but you should definitely keep an eye out. New characters have been released, new balances to the current meta are incoming, etc. And maybe, just maybe, the game will become what everyone saw at first in the trailer: the medieval fighting game we all want.
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