Flaws with the skill system

Hello,

I am getting the feeling that the skill system needs more polish in that regard, that I don't really feel like you need the almost overwhelming amout of choices you have in the beginning of the game. I have played the beginning of the campaign quite a few times now and came to the conclusion that you are probably better off not taking most of the skills that are available to you. Also having two different weapon sets is not really efficient, yet (it becomes efficient later).

So what really bugs me about this, is for example I am playing a warrior right now that found a good quarterstaff. I am using this quarterstaff, I am using +stun buildup and staggering palm + autoattack. And to be honest, this is enough. I am using two skills and I feel this is fine and it's maybe even more fun than using a 3rd and a 4th one.

I am not using the bell, nor do I want to. It's not that it's a bad skill, it just doesn't seem necessary at the moment. I also have a mace and a shield as a second weapon set and I could use bone shatter and rolling slam if I wanted to, but I don't. But maybe I'll get shield charge, just because of the mobility and because it's just such a good skill.

What I am implying is that I think this system needs more polish, especially for the early game. You kind of have too many choices and it does feel like the real challenge here is to make the conscious decision to limit yourself in what you want to use. I guess this might be intentional.

Anyway it does seem difficult sometimes to find good skill combination of different weapon sets. Shield charge always seems like a good choice to combine with other weapon sets. But then there are few others that fit this criterium.

I like that it's not easy to find good combinations. This is also I think what the design of the game should aim for. It shouldn't be easy to find good combinations, because then you can easily get the feeling that the game is making decisions for you and you just have to figure out which they are.

This doesn't seem to be the case here and I am glad about that. There is just something wrong with the system as of now, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

I think my biggest gripe with the system though is that often times it doesn't really feel necessary to have certain skills or to use a lot of skills or to play optimally. Often times it feels like you'd just progress quicker if you did, but not that you'd really struggle to win fights. And I think this needs to be the case. It was the case in Dark Souls. If you didn't use your skills proplery, you'd fail, you'd die. Seeing as this game tries to be a little bit more like those hardcore games, I think it's mandatory that this is also the case here.




In kind regards