Combat in The Witcher 3

[sidspyker]

The only time I used Quen was in Prologue and parts of Act1, after that I never needed to use and forgot about it until the dragon fight.

Don't you think that in the witcher 3 Igni became OP, the igni and quen where the most used signs in gameplay videos and when geralt cast igni it seems that do a better job than aard, aard just push your enemy and stun him briefly, igni do damage to your enemy and "stun" him briefly, to know what I'm talking about, look the downwarren gameplay, give a special care for the werewolf fight:[

But that will only be an issue after they've finished balanced the game. But good point, should bring it up nevertheless.

 

[Avidya.454]

So, everyone's fine with the lack of variety in combat animations (95 moves anyone?), excessive use of dash movement, absence of pirouette evasive move (witcher signature) ?

 

[thislsmadness]

So, everyone's fine with the lack of variety in combat animations (95 moves anyone?), excessive use of dash movement, absence of pirouette evasive move (witcher signature) ?

Considering how little we've seen... yep. Even in this unpolished state it looks like a huge step up from W2.

 

[EliHarel]

So, everyone's fine with the lack of variety in combat animations (95 moves anyone?), excessive use of dash movement, absence of pirouette evasive move (witcher signature) ?

The excessive use of dash and the absence of pirouettes have been mentioned a lot, so no worries, you're not alone in this concern. As for the animations - somehow I'm not bothered about this because I can't see a scenario where they don't have the number of animations they stated they recorded. So it's probably just a simple tweak, or seeing more combat.

 

[goopit]

So, everyone's fine with the lack of variety in combat animations (95 moves anyone?), excessive use of dash movement, absence of pirouette evasive move (witcher signature) ?

We don't want Geralt spinning like a top. If the most efficient way to dodge isn't a pirrouette then they should use dashing instead of trying to be fancy.

Excessive dash moves? It's part of the unique gameplay and making you feel like Geralt is vulnerable and human who can die quite easily is he's not careful. There are too many games out there where getting hit is okay and we don't need to watch for our health at all. It's just like W2 I think where getting hit meant a lot of damage.

As for the combat animations we haven't seen much yet or maybe they have yet to implement them all. Go watch the motion capture video from last year to see some of the stuff they might do.

 

[Pedrolago]

Considering how little we've seen... yep. Even in this unpolished state it looks like a huge step up from W2.

Well... we have seen demos which are months apart, and if they are showing it then this is most likely how the end result will be, I actually preferred the rolling over the megaman dash, when they said side steps would be a big thing I imagined geralt actually doing footwork and stepping or hopping to the side, and when they said pirouettes I imagined geralt spinning around his opponent. I know people here hate it when we say AC but the series proves that these kinds of animations can be done. Like someone already said here, the dash is just a replacement for the roll, because we see the same " hit twice and get away" type of gameplay which pissed so many people off in W2

 

[Garrison72]

I've been watching videos of Bloodborne (new gen Demon Souls) and its interesting that they've also dropped the roll-dodge in favor of a dash-dodge. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc7wEsaYL50#t=45

It looks a bit more "fully animated" compared with the Witcher, though it could be the much slower pace of the combat.

That's some slick gameplay. It does seem more fully animated. I think From has nailed it, and it looks much better than a roll. Kinda tired of the roll in video games tbh. Witcher has much faster enemies so Geralt's dodges will need to be swifter. It's just a matter of polishing things in TW3, they're super close.

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

Dont you guys think they are hiding many combat animations from us?
So we can be like, wow... "this is awesome when we play it alone, think about it."
Geralt is only a level 7 out of what 60 levels? I don't know about you, but if they showed us all of Geralt's combat moves in these demos..
I would be really really upset to say the least.
To me TW3 already looks a billion times better that TW2 in every way, with tons more freedom and options.
I Don't Believe CDPR Red Team is stupid enough to show us all the cards in their hands, that would spoil it for us.
I know some donnot like the new dodge but I do, and maybe the distance and style of it will upgrade as well over time. Maybe it is a random combo of roll and this new side step dodge, but who knows.. if the distance and speed are the same, then these random dodge animations might work, even if it is just for looks. The only think that might upset folks is when they push dodge and it does the one they didn't want to see or like... but whatever, this game is still going to own TW1&TW2 and a lot of other rpg's out there

 

[Mohasz]

I know people here hate it when we say AC but the series proves that these kinds of animations can be done. Like someone already said here, the dash is just a replacement for the roll, because we see the same " hit twice and get away" type of gameplay which pissed so many people off in W2

I agree that the animations in the AC series are absolutely amazing for the most part. But, - and this is a huge BUT - that doesn't change the fact there's absolutely no challenge in that combat system. Which is kind of a big deal for many, and understandably so.

On dashing: It really seems like a mere visual difference, although I definitely prefer it over the rolling.

 

[tommy5761]

But it could be that additional combat animations might be added the further up the skill tree you go . Like witcher 1 when you went from tier 1 to tier 2 different animations come into play .

 

[Garrison72]

But it could be that additional combat animations might be added the further up the skill tree you go . Like witcher 1 when you went from tier 1 to tier 2 different animations come into play .

I recall they did mention this, that upgrading in the skill tree would add new sword attacks, just like it was in TW1. So we might be seeing level 7 sword attacks cycle and at level 25 Geralt will be a whirling dervish of death.

 

[Mohasz]

So...level 7 Geralt cannot stab?

It's the only logical and satisfying approach to progression in Swordsmanship skill tree if you ask me.

I'll give you that, TW2's passive buffs were pretty boring.

 

[gregski]

I recall they did mention this, that upgrading in the skill tree would add new sword attacks, just like it was in TW1. So we might be seeing level 7 sword attacks cycle and at level 25 Geralt will be a whirling dervish of death.

It's the only logical and satisfying approach to progression in Swordsmanship skill tree if you ask me.

 

[Percival_Dickenbutts]

I hate it when games lock away animations, it just makes the combat seem really stale for the first hours of the game.

Like when I played Ninja Gaiden, by the end of the game I had learned every single combo in the game and was able to make the combat look amazing by using a huge selection of different attacks. But when I started up a new game, it was back to using just two different combos. Completely ruined the replay-value.

 

[Mohasz]

I hate it when games lock away animations, it just makes the combat seem really stale for the first hours of the game.

Like when I played Ninja Gaiden, by the end of the game I had learned every single combo in the game and was able to make the combat look amazing by using a huge selection of different attacks. But when I started up a new game, it was back to using just two different combos. Completely ruined the replay-value.

'New Game +' might help that (with much harder difficulty of course).

 

[Percival_Dickenbutts]

'New Game +' might help that (with much harder difficulty of course).

But the combat will still feel stale compared to the later game though, I didn't like it in TW1 either.
We already see plenty of people complaining about seeing "less than 10 different animations" (paraphrasing of course)

 

[Garrison72]

I hate it when games lock away animations, it just makes the combat seem really stale for the first hours of the game.

Like when I played Ninja Gaiden, by the end of the game I had learned every single combo in the game and was able to make the combat look amazing by using a huge selection of different attacks. But when I started up a new game, it was back to using just two different combos. Completely ruined the replay-value.

Well TW1 did this right though. You already had a lot of badass moves in the beginning, that only got more badass later on. I wonder how many different types there were but I suspect it was way more than TW2. As for the repetition we're seeing now, I think It's more likely they just haven't tweaked the cycling yet.

 

[Percival_Dickenbutts]

I really hope it just has to do with the cycling, and that they don't actually lock away moves.

Let's not forget that from a lore-perspective, Geralt has already long since reached his prime, he's not some young witcher in training.

 

[tommy5761]

I really hope it just has to do with the cycling, and that they don't actually lock away moves.

Let's not forget that from a lore-perspective, Geralt has already long since reached his prime, he's not some young witcher in training.

No he`s not but then again the only way around it if you were to know everything from the beginning would be like some games where you never level up . Most of which get very repetitive in a hurry .

 

[sidspyker]

Yep.

Videogame design in a nutshell: