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Chivalry Medieval Warfare or War of the Roses?

Chivalry Medieval Warfare or War of the Roses?


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Honestly, I'm not an expert with these "melee" genre as I just couldn't get into M&B and I had no interest in them for a long time. For me, fighting was awkward and aside from the atmospheric scale of things, they sucked.

Cue in Chivalry. This kind of came out of nowhere for me. I knew the Source mod but that was about it. I accidentally watched some Youtube videos about it and also read the positive experiences from the thread in RO forums and made an impulse buy. So far I averaged 3 hours per day, and I'm barely learning how to play it competitively.

What makes Chivalry special for me is personality of the combat. Every fight you get into is different and personal. It's not just attack-block-attack routine of other games, as you can still hit a blocking player if you aim for the open spot. Is that knight hiding behind his kite shield? Just smash his head with your warhammer with an overhead attack, or kick him to throw him off balance. Longer weapons with more reach and more damage can be countered by clever blocks, positioning and using the advantage of their slow "wind up" speeds. It all boils down to skill, experience and some randomness thanks to the unpredictability of the excellent hit detection.

The best feature of all IMO is brutality of the combat, thanks to the awesome first person animations. You feel every hit either from enemy or yours, chop heads/arms/legs off, smash them with maul, kick them out of balance. I've never played anything like this.

Objective gamemode is fun, it's actually a bit like Ostfront with wave spawn and fun objectives(pillage, burn, escort, defend a castle etc.).

Normally I don't answer to "Guys I'm too lazy to search, convince me" type of threads, but I fear the same as Chivalry devs, that it is a great game nobody knows about. So, if you like your fights brutal and satisfying get Chivalry. If you want a larger scale and more realism maybe stay with M&B. it's a great buy for just 25$. Also, there are already new content and fixes on the way.

Also, TB did a comparison video between two:

The Deadliest War - Chivalry vs. War of the Roses - YouTube
 
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If I would point out one thing I prefer in WotR compared to Chiv is that in WotR weapons are ineffective if you are too close to your opponent (different for different weapons), compared to chiv where an overhead attack with a three meter long spear will insta-kill you even if you are hugging the opponent.

And something that neither game has: Making the beginning and end of a swing weaker than the center.

Too many times I've been killed or been damaged by a guy who hit me with the tip of his sword because he swung behind me at somebody else, and it was just barely in reach at the beginning of his swing to contact. Or the very edge of a spear's thrust is still powerful enough to skewer me when in reality it would hardly poke my armor since all his energy is expended.

Not sure if anyone is aware of this oversight on their forums. Probably not. Still an amazing game though, this issue is one minor crumb of annoyance on the cake of awesome that is Chivalry.
 
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WotR:
+ Historically accurate setting
+ Simulation-esque combat model where armor matters
+ Satisfying hits when you succesfuly hit flesh rather than glance off armor
+ Customization of characters: visual, weapon stats, combat style etc.
+ Mounted combat
+ Better ranged combat
- Floaty feeling combat

Chivalry:
+ Hilarious and atmospheric sounds
+ Hilarious and atmospheric animations
+ Full dismemberment
+ Intense, natural feeling combat (think RO level satisfaction, medieval style)
+ Balanced set of character classes
+ Strong set of gamemodes (especially objective)
+ Ranged combat isnt as much of a nuisance to melee players as it can be in other medieval games
- Lack of in depth customization

Both have good graphics. Preference in that area is subjective. WotR is more realistic looking while Chivalry is more exaggerated Hollywood-ish. Both also promise future updates.

Verdict: Both are good games, but Chivalry gets the edge.
 
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WotR:
+ Historically accurate setting
+ Simulation-esque combat model where armor matters

I disagree with both points. The setting is at best historically inspired. And the armor doesn't matter that much because any weapon can penetrate it. Also the numbers are confusing and totally annoying. And when people reach a high enough level even archers will run around in full plate (not going to happen in Chivalry).

At the moment lack of content is a negative for both games imo.
 
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I disagree with both points. The setting is at best historically inspired. And the armor doesn't matter that much because any weapon can penetrate it. Also the numbers are confusing and totally annoying. And when people reach a high enough level even archers will run around in full plate (not going to happen in Chivalry).

At the moment lack of content is a negative for both games imo.

WotR is based on an actual war, includes historical tidbits, has era weaponry, and has appropriate looking battlefields. Pretty sure they even modelled the maps off of real areas. Not sure what you're contesting here. But even if its not 100% accurate, its still much closer to reality than Chivalry, hence its a positive. Not saying Chivalry needs to be historically accurate too, but that extra atmosphere is nice.

Any weapon can't really penetrate plate. Try taking down a guy in plate with the first stock class. If you mean you can do damage to plate with any weapon, yeah you might be able to. But when your doing a few damage points here or there its still not viable at all. Plus with most weapons you are forced to stab to penetrate plate which puts you at a big disadvantage. Enemies catch on pretty quick if all you're doing is repeatedly stabbing.

The damage numbers are based on a bunch of factors, including momentum. If you backpedal and strike an enemy it won't be as damaging as moving towards the strike. I do agree though that it doesn't always seem like its working right. It also can seem totally random whether the game wants to recognize a strike or not. This is where the game really needs work.

EDIT: Also have to disagree about knocking both games for content. Both have a pretty standard amount of content for multiplayer only games. What more do you want for $25-30?
 
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I like Chivalry much better than WotR. Melee combat in WotR is just sooo awkward and floaty. I'm too lazy right now to explain why, but Chivalry is kinda like a medieval RO for me, and it's 10x better than WotR, which is more arcadey, IMHO. I've only played the beta of both games. I wish I had spare money to buy Chivalry right now, but maybe later next month :p
 
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I haven't played either, but as a fencer, I have to say that Chivalry's melee system looks damn impressive--there's room for distance to play a role, button-mashing is easily countered, blocks must be timed AND aimed (wow), hit detection looks good, and there are multiple lines of attack, feints... you can vary the speed of your hits...

As soon as I have some spare time on my hands, I'm picking this up.
 
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And something that neither game has: Making the beginning and end of a swing weaker than the center....
I haven't investigated myself, but I know they nerfed the two handed sword by making it do less dmg at the beginning and the end of the swing in WotR.

Also like to point out that you can feint attacks in WotR too, and do need to time the blocks. If you do not time your blocks an enemy with half a brain will crush you. Distance makes a huge difference in WotR, more than it does in Chivalry.
 
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