Thought I'd jot down my multiplayer impressions.
First off, playing under the name Kingslayer, so if you see me say "hi"
I already ran into at least one gaffer in my games.
Overall, it's surprisingly addictive, even if mechanically it feels broken more often than not. The mechanics themselves are consistent with the SP mode, no major surprises, but along comes the poor frame rate and relatively poor controls to go along with it; combat feels really clunky, especially when things boil down to a 1-on-1 with swords, or something. It's difficult to punish people swinging into nothing with a melee weapon, which surprises me, since in NG3 the melee combat in MP felt pretty competent in that regard. Most of the time, as has been said, you're better off rolling away and shooting at close range when caught off-guard rather than trying to fight back with controlled blocks and counters.
Speaking of shooting, it's... rather bland. And to make matters worse, it controls pretty poorly -- something I'm seeing a lot is people either blind-firing (not aiming down sights, just holding the trigger and strafing) because there seems to be more significant aim-assist when you do that. It's a shame, because going into first-person is typically fun because the transition is so seamless; it's too bad that a lot of the time you do this you start by aiming at the ground (or wherever you were aiming previously) -- it would be nicer if the game tried to help you out a bit by leveling your aim to begin with, or, if you were aiming above a certain angle, maintaining that. Otherwise, when it works, it feels pretty good. I had a lot of moments where things "worked", and many where things definitely didn't. It's just not a very smooth experience in any sense of the word, so be prepared to struggle against the systems.
Map design is very solid. There's only one map where I literally wanted to rip my hair out -- where you could fall in water. It's just not very obvious where those pits are, and it's pretty unceremonious when it happens. Maps that don't have those pits are much more fun and very vertical, rewarding different weapons tuned for the map.
There's plenty of upgrades and weapon combos, and I'm not even level 5, which is where the "siege" mode unlocks, and I imagine a lot of combat to go along with it. Be prepared, starting fresh, to deal with people who have a lot of unlocks -- which *do* make a difference. It'll be an uphill climb for a while.
Overall, I'm still pleased, though I think people who will take this MP seriously ought to move onto PC as soon as it's available. I think a lot of the jank has to do more with technical problems rather than major design flaws. 60 fps is really needed for this kind of game, or, at the very least, a solid 30.
See you guys in there
