Combat in The Witcher 3

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Couple of things I also noticed from the Gameplay:

1. Energy regenerates much slower now compared to the 35minute demo. So thank fuck for that.

2. Looks like you can parry either infinitely, or a lot (Confirmation on information we heard a couple months ago) as it doesn't seem to use up any energy or have a cooldown. Not very happy about that.

Looks like it depends on Geralts stats. I saw it one of the clips rapidly regenerating.
 
Looks like it depends on Geralts stats. I saw it one of the clips rapidly regenerating.

Yea when fighting the Ekhidna the energy regens a little faster, but not by that much compared to when fighting the Wraiths. It also could have been the differences in sign & power that caused the change, as in one he uses Aard's alternate version and the other is just a standard Igni.

So there's a little unknown there but definitely it's regenerating way slower than in the 35 minute Demo & I'm just happy to see that.
 
Yea when fighting the Ekhidna the energy regens a little faster, but not by that much compared to when fighting the Wraiths. It also could have been the differences in sign & power that caused the change, as in one he uses Aard's alternate version and the other is just a standard Igni.

So there's a little unknown there but definitely it's regenerating way slower than in the 35 minute Demo & I'm just happy to see that.

Yeah way better than witcher 2 half an hour recharge time on stamina, and better than the sith lords unlimited power routine of the earlier witcher 3 vids.
 
again, I hope easy is still easy! I want to have fun and enjoy the story while being the total bad ass Geralt already is :)
 
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Not sure if the Witcher devs read these threads, but I'd like to request something for the PS4 and other versions of the game.

Mapping the Signs to buttons would be a great implementation, and would make the combat even more fluid.

For example:
R2+Triangle = Air spell
R2+Square = Igni spell
...
...
R2 (double tap) = 5th spell (or make some other button combination).

The radial menu to change spells disrupts the flow of the battle, and I feel the instant nature afforded by these mapped buttons would really improve the battle experience. Please consider it, esp for the PS4, as that is the platform I intend to buy Witcher 3. :)
 
Not sure if the Witcher devs read these threads, but I'd like to request something for the PS4 and other versions of the game.

Mapping the Signs to buttons would be a great implementation, and would make the combat even more fluid.

For example:
R2+Triangle = Air spell
R2+Square = Igni spell
...
...
R2 (double tap) = 5th spell (or make some other button combination).

The radial menu to change spells disrupts the flow of the battle, and I feel the instant nature afforded by these mapped buttons would really improve the battle experience. Please consider it, esp for the PS4, as that is the platform I intend to buy Witcher 3. :)

on that, I´d agree.
It would be enough to just let us circle through the signs honestly.
 
on that, I´d agree.
It would be enough to just let us circle through the signs honestly.
If you look at the 35 min gameplay you can see him circling through the signs in the first fight with the drowners.
First, he has Quen, then Igni, Axii, Aard, and finally Yrden, all without using the radial menu.
 
I just want to hop in and say that I'm very happy that it looks as if the backwards dash has been changed. @King Milhouse where are you?! Rejoice, rejoice!

I would've made GIFs if I weren't a retard, so instead ->
00:25
09:48
09:54


Combat looks better, but there was too little of it in the new footage, damn you, Reds. I'm thirsty for more. Also, when the Ekhidnas suddenly lunged underwater? Wow! I wasn't expecting that, and I'm hoping that many more enemies will be dynamic like this. Going by the previews, no one was stunned by the fighting mechanics (it doesn't bother me, as I enjoyed TW2), but I think the core "bland" mechanics can be "compensated" for with battles that are varied by unique abilities from the many monsters. So even if the game is simple, if you have more and more of these encounters that aren't similar to one another, it might engage more people.
 
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on that, I´d agree.
It would be enough to just let us circle through the signs honestly.

Having it cycle through with a button isn't bad, but is secondary to an instantaneous casting provided by mapped buttons. Cycling through the spells means one has to remember what spell they are currently on, and how many times they have to press the button to get to desired spell. If you're going to waste time figuring that out, you might as well have the radial menu.

That's why I feel dedicated mapped buttons to spells would be amazing. Switch from instant Aard, to a Sword swipe, to Igni. Glorious!

If you look at the 35 min gameplay you can see him circling through the signs in the first fight with the drowners.
First, he has Quen, then Igni, Axii, Aard, and finally Yrden, all without using the radial menu.

That's most likely being played on the PC. The PC version has no issues, as people can just mod or change the controls as they like. The comment here is for devs to allow console gamers the option of remapping controls (and not be restrictive while doing that; give full functionality of button mapping like combination of buttons etc).
 
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I dont think the combat will be bland, the difference now is that a much bigger portion of the combat is hidden in skills to unlock from the char development trees.

They only played with some basic moves and attacks that basically all mean the same thing, but we know there will be special attacks, moves, with different strikes, ranges, durations, effects, etc., and then that will probably show the depth of it and its customization and versatility.

The impressive move from the fight with the endreegas where Geralt swings his sword all over the place is one example of what I said, and the "finisher" like move used to cut the bandit in the XOne demo is one too, as with get these attacks with different uses and cons/pros and combine them with the needs different enemies give I think combat wont be able to be called bland.
 
Having it cycle through with a button isn't bad, but is secondary to an instantaneous casting provided by mapped buttons. Cycling through the spells means one has to remember what spell they are currently on, and how many times they have to press the button to get to desired spell. If you're going to waste time figuring that out, you might as well have the radial menu.

That's why I feel dedicated mapped buttons to spells would be amazing. Switch from instant Aard, to a Sword swipe, to Igni. Glorious!



That's most likely being played on the PC. The PC version has no issues, as people can just mod or change the controls as they like. The comment here is for devs to allow console gamers the option of remapping controls (and not be restrictive while doing that; give full functionality of button mapping like combination of buttons etc).

Good news I just read an article that said in order to roll you don't have to hold the dodge button but you can also hold down block and if you press dodge you roll, so it is instantaneous. Don't know about signs though.
 
Good news I just read an article that said in order to roll you don't have to hold the dodge button but you can also hold down block and if you press dodge you roll, so it is instantaneous. Don't know about signs though.

Yeah, I read that too. Definitely great news :D
 
I dont undestand some of the journalist calling combat '' simple''. You have block, riposte, dodge, rolling, fast and strong attacks. Then you have 5 signs with 2 modes each. Then you have alchemy, bombs traps crossbow throwing daggers. I am sorry, but thats as complex as action combat can get. I mean...

Arkham combat- punch, punch, counter, punch, finisher, punch, counter...
Dark souls- block, block, block, dodge, attack, block , dodge, attack...
Skyrim- whack, whack, whack, ''open inventory'' potion potion potion ''close'' whack whack whack...
Assassin creed- counter, counter, counter, counter, counter...

Though majority of the previews I read are actually positive when it comes to combat. There are very few annoyed like RPS.
 
It's easy to fall in the trap of calling something simple if you play the game on easy mode and are not required to pick up on the combat's subtleties, things you would take advantage of if you played the game on higher difficulties (timely dodges/rolls, knowing when to use light or hard attacks, which variant of the sign to use or when to use it, etc.).
 
I dont undestand some of the journalist calling combat '' simple''. You have block, riposte, dodge, rolling, fast and strong attacks. Then you have 5 signs with 2 modes each. Then you have alchemy, bombs traps crossbow throwing daggers. I am sorry, but thats as complex as action combat can get. I mean...

Arkham combat- punch, punch, counter, punch, finisher, punch, counter...
Dark souls- block, block, block, dodge, attack, block , dodge, attack...
Skyrim- whack, whack, whack, ''open inventory'' potion potion potion ''close'' whack whack whack...
Assassin creed- counter, counter, counter, counter, counter...

Though majority of the previews I read are actually positive when it comes to combat. There are very few annoyed like RPS.
I mostly agree with you, but I think you're being a bit unfair towards Arkham, considering you have special moves once you reach a certain combo level, and many gadgets, so combat can be very variegated. In this respect you can do in Arkham more than you can in TW3, I suspect. But I'm not ruling out that I'll enjoy TW3's combat more than any other melee game - it's varied enough for me, and the fact that Akrham allows you to do more doesn't necessarily make it funner (for me). Ultimately, Akrham is very easy.
 
Did any preview describe exactly how the parrying system works?What stops us from holding down the parry button all the time thus being invincible?

Sounds like the only thing stopping us from doing that is enemy design. Enough variety in move-sets that means even if they do a basic attack that can be parried, they'll also have an ability that is un-parriable and forces you to react differently.

Otherwise I haven't seen any previews mention it, and going purely off Gameplay footage it seems we can just hold the button down and go forever.
 
I'm wondering how fast the responsiveness in combat really is.

Does anyone know if you can you cancel a mid attack/swing to dodge or block an upcoming enemy attack or do you have to let the current swing animation finish?
I haven't seen, heard nor read anything about it.

Speaking of the Arkham games, the latest games had really high responsive controls.
 
Did any preview describe exactly how the parrying system works?What stops us from holding down the parry button all the time thus being invincible?
In W2 you had parry but it mostly worked in 1v1 fights, and unlike in Assassin's Creed, in Witcher games enemies attack you at once / when they have a change. They don't just wait while you will butcher all of the squad one by one like in AssCreed, just by countering.

This is Witcher, not AC/Batman where you win fight by counter/parrying (atleast in Arkham games and latest Unity enemies also attack at once).
 
I'm wondering how fast the responsiveness in combat really is.

Does anyone know if you can you cancel a mid attack/swing to dodge or block an upcoming enemy attack or do you have to let the current swing animation finish?
I haven't seen, heard nor read anything about it.

The devs said that most of the combat animations are about one second long, sword attacks can be cancelled mid-swing as well. They learned from W2's animation locks. :)
 
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