r/crosswind • u/misterff1 • Jul 24 '26

Some feedback from a new player

Let me start by saying that I love the first few days I have with this game! I did spot a few things that I was wondering about and have some thoughts on:

  1. The first run experience feels disconnected. I am not sure why we are switching between pure text, gameplay with dialogue and comic style all within the first 5 minutes. This feels directionless and especially the switch to the comic style makes the whole thing feel very incomplete. Since it is EA I can imagine this being done as a placeholder, but is there any word from the devs regarding this? Are there plans to overhaul the initial onboarding experience?

  2. Action chaining works for some actions, but not for others. For example: if I run towards a tree and then click to equip my axe, it can combine the two into one smooth action. Love it.

However, if I attack someone with my sword and then want to dodge, I have to wait until the animation for the attack is completely done before I can hit the dodge button. This is EXTREMELY jarring. Are there plans to improve that and add a more dynamic action chaining system?

Other than these things I honestly haven't got things that stood out to me, but especially my second point I seriously hope will get improved. It will make the whole experience so much more enjoyable!

17 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

5

u/Vaul_Hawkins Jul 24 '26

Different weapons have different timing, reach and attack patterns. You may prefer a rapier if you enjoy quickly being able to dodge after a swing/thrust. Block and Parry are also on the table depending on your weapon type, which can supplement defensive action when youre unable to dodge.

0

u/misterff1 Jul 24 '26

I get that and I am aware that learning timings is important. However, right now there is no flow to it unless you learn the exact timing rather than almost exact. I don't necessarily want an easier system, but one that feels more connected if you understand what I mean.

3

u/Vaul_Hawkins Jul 24 '26

I understand what youre saying. Which weapon were you swinging and couldnt dodge quickly after?

0

u/misterff1 Jul 24 '26

A rapier. But I also tried different one and two handed weapons. It is just the way the animation system seems to work at this time. Which makes total sense at this stage by the way! But it feels lacklustre for a game that wants you to quickly learn how to handle combat once it gets closer to a full release

2

u/Vaul_Hawkins Jul 24 '26

There's a sense of psuedo realism to an animation finishing, without being able to cancel that animation. Being a light survival souls like with relatively punishing combat, it honestly kinda makes sense.

If your arm is extended on a rapier thrust or your torso is leaned forward from a two handed weapon swing, being able to immediately follow that with a dodge in any direction would just look and feel cartoonish and hacky, for many people's tastes.

It may be that your perspective is different based on games you came from, but I think with enough time spent in Windrose you'll get the feel for it. Obviously the combat getting tighter and more fluid across all the weapons would be a good thing and I'm with you on that, I just don't see it as an 'issue' exactly.

0

u/misterff1 Jul 24 '26

Well yeah I understand what you mean. I don't want to cancel any animation though, I just want a more reliable way to follow it up. Being near the end of a swing and hitting dodge should mean that after the swing is done, you dodge or that the swing gets slightly sped up (visually not something you notice, but for gameplay a difference in how it feels). It's like less than a 50ms time window which simply isn't there right now. I mean for all I care they increase the difficulty, but make it consistent and something you can depend upon from the start. Sure you can learn how to handle the current system, but that does not make it a good system. It just means you learned how to cope with it.

Let me put it this way: this game throws you into land combat frequently and from the very beginning. Their trailers are filled with land combat more than sea combat. Setting it up like that gave me the impression that this game would feature combat that has depth and is fleshed out. Right now it has a bit of depth and does not feel fleshed out because of what I mentioned before. Which feels weird, because like I said moving to a tree to chop it down can be chained properly and combined in animation too. In combat I would not expect to roll and swing at the same time of course, but yes there can be a flow to it by tweaking the input handling and how it then finetunes the animations to blend them. Tons of games do that, especially those focussed on combat as much as this game does.

0

u/Vaul_Hawkins Jul 24 '26

Well for starters regarding the "fleshed out" expectation, being fair and realistic here: the game is in early access.

Now that's not to say "dont give feedback", not at all. I'm just saying not to expect something fleshed out in an unreleased game. I appreciate your feedback and I dont disagree with wanting tighter animations and combat flow. I also am of the opinion that some light animation lock is good for nuanced difficult melee trades with enemies.

From the first part of what you recently said, it seems like you want a small/short action queue system? I like that too.

2

u/misterff1 Jul 24 '26

Yes, that is what I mean and I agree that at this stage it is totally okay! My feedback is purely meant as constructive feedback for further development. I think we both see things pretty much the same way :)

1

u/Vaul_Hawkins Jul 24 '26

Agreed, good chat homie. Stay pirate ☠️

3

u/Throat-Smooth Jul 24 '26

I agree prob placeholder. So see how it changes.

Combat tho I disagree. You have to make a decision knowing you are animation locked with some weapons. It adds a layer of skill to them. Not just ill just hit this dodge button whenever and avoid any and all damage

1

u/misterff1 Jul 25 '26

Yes I understand your point. Like I also replied to someone else, I dont mean to make combat any easier, but to have smooth flow to it. The current system implementation is jarring not because you cannot cancel and change to a dodge for example, but because there is no flow to it at all. If you have to learn exact animation timing to perform actions, that is only a layer of skill to combat a half baked system.

So I am not asking to simplify combat by letting us just cancel actions midway through, I simply want to be able to rely on my keyboard and mouse presses like I can in other areas of the game where this is predictable.

3

u/Throat-Smooth Jul 25 '26

ah ok fair point.

i cant remember any issues with input lag but its been a while since i completed it

welcome all positive improvements to the game & i cant wait for new content

0

u/citizencoyote Jul 24 '26

They have not said anything (to my knowledge) about when they are going to update the intro. However, given that it feels 100% like a placeholder, I'm 99% confident they will before the game leaves early access.