Kingdom Come Deliverance – Hardcore Mode 05: Train Hard, Fight Easy

After a day of digging in the dirt for some thieves, Henry spends the next day learning how to put people in the dirt for his liege.

[G^G] Kingdom Come Deliverance – Hardcore Mode – 05: Train Hard, Fight Easy

Episode Index

Meeting The Lords

I kick things off by running straight to the Rattay keep. At the point Henry seems overly fixated talking to Sir Radzig about his missing sword, so I figured it would be good to get that out of his system. Unsurprisingly, when I arrive at the keep Radzig has bigger problems to deal with, what with his entire city taking refuge around Rattay.

So when Henry brings up the sword he basically blows him off saying he already has a sword. However, after a bit more coaxing(and despite the protests of other lords in the room) he eventually convinces Radzig to allow him into his service. As his new squire, Radzig immediately sends Henry to train with Captain Bernard. So I figured I shouldn’t keep my liege waiting and head to the training grounds right away.

Training with Captain Bernard

Captain Bernard’s training regiment starts off a lot like the sword training in the initial Skalitz portion of the game. However, he quickly expands into new techniques that unlock new combat maneuvers for Henry to use.

A quick overview of the new techniques are as follows:

• Perfect Block – Timing your block to deflect a blow instead of forcefully blocking it
• Dodging – Timing a block and move to avoid a strike instead of blocking
• Feinting – Moving your targeting zone right before striking to catch the opponent off guard

As you might have guessed, you actually cannot utilize these techniques before training with captain Bernard. While I do understand the logic behind needing training before being able to use these techniques, railroading us into this training quest does take away from the open-world element of the game somewhat. The good news is this quest is available pretty much immediately after Skalitz so it isn’t exactly a major hurdle to clear, just one that might not be obvious to new players who prefer to start the game with a few appetizers instead of the main course.

Once the melee training is completed Bernard immediately takes you over to the archery range to teach you how to use a bow. Unfortunately for me, I somehow missed the memo of when the training portion had actually started because before I actually fired an arrow I had “failed” the training. The good news is this doesn’t impact the game at all other than the red X of quest failure hurting your pride. I guess that is what I get for trying to actually listen to the tutorial before attempting the activity.

A Couple Contests With Hans Capon

During the melee weapons training session, Hans Capon makes an appearance. Initially he just makes a couple of snide remarks, but eventually he mentions that he wants to practice at the archery range. Once the initial archery training is complete, he challenges you to a contest, and offers his bow as a reward. The good news is he is absolutely terrible at archery, so even with no archery skills you stand a decent shot at beating him. I was able to best him, but being the sore loser he is, he decides that winning with a bow wasn’t enough, and challenges you to a sword duel.

At this point the game is pretty much doing the RP for you, and before you know it you are back in the sword fighting arena. Hans is a somewhat better sword fighter than he is an archer, but if you paid attention during the training session you should be able to beat him up. After besting him a second time in one day he finally ponied up his hunting bow, which is actually quite good for the stats required to use it.

Once the training is finally over for the day, you are ordered to speak with the bailiff so you can help patrol the city. By the time you arrive the bailiff already has your assignment all set up. You are to meet with a guard who goes by the name of “Nightingale”, but before you do you need to pick up some gear at the armory. Not wanting to miss out on a perfectly good opportunity to get some free loot I immediately head to the armory, grab the loot, then find my new partner in crime.

Satisfied with my progress, I decide to quaff some Savior Schnapps and call it a day.

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