[ACT I] To the developer who designed the beast encounter:

[jash]

[ACT I] To the developer who designed the beast encounter:

You need to be strung up by your balls.What the hell were you thinking? WHAT THE HELL were you thinking? You must have a sick sense of humour. Because you have a game with a pretty clunky combat system, and this fight is a beautiful illustration of all that is wrong of the witcher's combat. Stay with me here. Lets say you zone in to a hypothetical room and for "effect" the game fades in to the encounter. Lets say that by the time the game finishes fading in that you have four meanies gnawing on you, and you are half dead. Lets also say that even though this is the toughest fight of the "chapter" you are given no opportunity to prepare(by that I mean drink potions at a time that their effects will be up for the "boss"). And goodness, lets say you die in such a display of developer sadism. To retry the encounter YOU HAVE ENDURE A POORLY SCRIPTED DIALOGUE EVERY. DAMN. TIME.I mean, I have never heard of your developer studio before. If I were sober, I would chalk this one up to the idea that it was one of the first things designed in the game. It was done before you knew what you were doing, and yea, we are all human so what the fuck right?But christ, this was stupid. Bad game design. Shame on you mr. developer.

 

[wikingdk]

I love this game so far, I have just killed the Beast and I have to say, that the encounter where a little frustrating.I come from the caves, not buffed, no potions effect not anything, not even a savegame.Then we have the great dialog and cut scenes. and then "no warning or preparation at all" the big fight I died so many times, I only managed to kill the best because I where lucky to stun it after 10 loadgame. That where not fun

 

[Zanderat]

You need to be strung up by your balls.What the hell were you thinking? WHAT THE HELL were you thinking? You must have a sick sense of humour. Because you have a game with a pretty clunky combat system, and this fight is a beautiful illustration of all that is wrong of the witcher's combat. Stay with me here. Lets say you zone in to a hypothetical room and for "effect" the game fades in to the encounter. Lets say that by the time the game finishes fading in that you have four meanies gnawing on you, and you are half dead. Lets also say that even though this is the toughest fight of the "chapter" you are given no opportunity to prepare(by that I mean drink potions at a time that their effects will be up for the "boss"). And goodness, lets say you die in such a display of developer sadism. To retry the encounter YOU HAVE ENDURE A POORLY SCRIPTED DIALOGUE EVERY. DAMN. TIME.I mean, I have never heard of your developer studio before. If I were sober, I would chalk this one up to the idea that it was one of the first things designed in the game. It was done before you knew what you were doing, and yea, we are all human so what the fuck right?But christ, this was stupid. Bad game design. Shame on you mr. developer.

This is your fault, not the game design. The Beast is a one hit kill.

 

[Edirr]

To the person who started this thread: Kindly sod off and stay wherever it is that you decide to sod off to.Everyone else here managed to beat the Beast, whether it took them two attempts or twenty. It is YOUR problem if you are too incompetent to manage what is a VERY simple combat system even on hard difficulty. Maybe next time you might take a tone a bit more polite and you might get somewhere. We have a saying around these parts to the effect of "So the forest answers as it is called" and that's what you're seeing here.Now, go right ahead and read the sticky thread on top of this particular subforum. There are several links in that one to other threads with solutions and most solutions are specced out in there as well.The dialogue thing pissed me off too, but I asked a friend of mine and he pointed out that if you left-click while some character is speaking, it skips the speech, so all you need to do is left-click until the dialogue hits a choice, then select 1 or 2 and then left-click again until the next one till you're done. When it gets to the cut-scene, hit ESC and bam, you're nose to face with the Beast and can try again. It is NOT difficult to find answers if you pay attention.Yes, the Beast fight was tough. Who the hell cares? For my own part, The Witcher happens to be the best goddamn game of this kind that has come out in YEARS.

 

[xhan]

1. Head straight to the hut and tree in the corner2. switch to group style3. if anything gets too close use aard, whether it's powered up or not.4. left click on the mouse, and then click it some more. Keep clicking until the Beast is dead. If you don't understand this step uninstall the game and never turn your pc on again. ever.5 the more arfs you hit, the more damage is done.

 

[gwildor]

I have to admit, I am playing on easy, but on easy the beast was easy to kill. I just got ready to get seriuos with it to try the stun and kill technique and it already dropped dead. so start easier if you really cant get it done

 

[azsportsfan]

The post was not about whether the Beast could be beaten or not, because obviously, it can. It was about...1. The scripting puts you into the action with no forewarning or prep time - TRUE. Now of course, once you know, then you can buff in the tunnel before exiting to face the mob.2. Once the script ends, you are right into the battle with the Beast and friends at your heels - TRUE. Now with the preparation ahead of time listed in 1, then you are ready.3. If you happen to die (easy to do when you haven't read the spoilers, didn't know it was coming, first time through the game, didn't stack the Aard sign, didn't coat with Specter Oil, etc) then you must endure the same poorly worded dialogue (I know, it is probably great in Polish, but in English it is kinda off, IMO) - TRUE. Those were the complaints, and they are all true, IMO. I too was frustrated - not with the Beast battle, cause that was a challenge if Aard is not stacked AND without the blade coating. I was frustrated with having to click through the dialogue a number of times. Then I went back to a previous save, ran through the crypt deeper and gained a level, added Stun to Aard, coated the blade with Specter, drank a Blizzard, and then exited the cave. And it was ridiculously simple. :wall: But again, I agree with the OP that it is not the greatest of things to not put a save right before the Beaat. Maybe have then walk a few paces before the Beast cutscene. Wouldn't have changed the game at all, but might have been a little less frustrating for the first run through. Anyways, still a great game even with that hour of frustration...

 

[azsportsfan]

Wait, so you are saying that you knew, with no prior hints, that as soon as you walked out of the cave you were going to be "actionless" until live against the Beast and barghests? Possible, but I gotta say doubtful. Every player knows it's coming sometime, but not when. If you run around buffed the entire game, then when you really need it, your toxicity may be too high to do anything. Again, I am having a lot of fun with this game - only in chapter 2 thus far - but I think that that sequence could have been done better. Just my opinion.

 

[jash]

To the person who started this thread: Kindly sod off and stay wherever it is that you decide to sod off to.The Witcher happens to be the best goddamn game of this kind that has come out in YEARS.

The first sentence is what I deserve after creating such an incendiary thread. To be honest, I'm surprised I am not banned. I had to include the second sentence because I agree 100%. However. There are some very evident lapses in the game design that make me want to throw my cd into the pool. This one particular encounter shows all the major flaws to this game's design that I have seen. I need to create a list, so I will. 1. Certain "fails" do not give enough feedback. If you are fighting a group and even in group style, Geralt will just sway back and forth while the monsters chew on him. Is this because of bad game mechanics? Is it because I haven't chosen enough defensive talents and the game assumed I would? Am I clicking at the wrong time? Do I suck? 2. To those who said " we beat it so HA". I've beat it too, on medium. I just spent three hours with every potion combo I can think of on hard. Its beyond ridiculous. Its so hard I got over my embarassment of the original post and came back to defend myself a bit. I am so confused as to why there has not been a bigger reaction from the fans about this encounter, because I had a bitch of a time of it even on medium. Try it on hard folks, maybe you will see where I am coming from.3. "TWO HIT COMBO" Er, again. Try it on hard. Aard and kill was how I finally cheesed my way through on medium. On hard? Man, three hours later and that damn dog will not drop.Maybe I do in fact suck. I welcome the opportunity to be corrected, so if any of you know of a solid strategy please do illuminate me. I CAN NOT be the only one cursing cdproject over this one.

 

[Zanderat]

1. Certain "fails" do not give enough feedback. If you are fighting a group and even in group style, Geralt will just sway back and forth while the monsters chew on him. Is this because of bad game mechanics? Is it because I haven't chosen enough defensive talents and the game assumed I would? Am I clicking at the wrong time? Do I suck? Maybe I do in fact suck. I welcome the opportunity to be corrected, so if any of you know of a solid strategy please do illuminate me. I CAN NOT be the only one cursing cdproject over this one.

This is caused by the "pain" effect.

 

[tlazolteotl]

Yeah, pain hurts.I always play hard, and I don't have a problem with the beast fight ... the only thing I use to prepare is Specter oil.With Dex 2, all dogs can be hit (including the Beast) with Strong, so that's my style of choice.The Aard thing works, but since the % chance depends on your target's vitality, so it helps to hit 'em a few times first.If pain is -really- an issue, take the Buzz talent and run around while drinking some alcohol. 2 vodkas should do. Sure, you'll need to switch to fast to fight back, but immunity to pain might turn the tide for you.By far the biggest issue in that fight isn't the difficulty of the fight itself, IMO.It's the lag due to the burning buildings .. if people have controls that are a little more responsive, and the combat system's pathing a little more fluid, it would be a lot easier.I'm just saying, 'cos on my system the fight is no problem, but on a friend's system (video card a little weak), that fight is ridiculously frustrating.

 

[Edirr]

1. Certain "fails" do not give enough feedback. If you are fighting a group and even in group style, Geralt will just sway back and forth while the monsters chew on him. Is this because of bad game mechanics? Is it because I haven't chosen enough defensive talents and the game assumed I would? Am I clicking at the wrong time? Do I suck?

This happens sometimes. I've been running into that problem in Ch 2 with drowners. Group style requires a tiny bit of room around Geralt before he can hit targets, so if the enemies crowd too close, you may not be able to hit the closest ones. In that case, you need to try and hit an enemy on the outer fringes, then he will execute the attack. The problem is that if you have a crapload of critters going at you, or just a few stronger ones, you need to figure out who to hit VERY fast or you're in a world of hurt, as I found out when I got swarmed by four alghouls and two ghouls in Ch 2. Or three wyverns. Or four drowned dead (fast buggers...). So that is not a bug, but a function of the game mechanics and even logical. I've found that most often there is a group style problem if you try to hit the creature directly in front of you. Hitting one to the side will make Geralt spin in that direction and launch an attack. If you keep switching the primary target between sequences, you shouldn't have a problem (or if the primary target backs off, giving you room).

2. To those who said " we beat it so HA". I've beat it too, on medium. I just spent three hours with every potion combo I can think of on hard. Its beyond ridiculous. Its so hard I got over my embarassment of the original post and came back to defend myself a bit. I am so confused as to why there has not been a bigger reaction from the fans about this encounter, because I had a bitch of a time of it even on medium. Try it on hard folks, maybe you will see where I am coming from.

Never played anything but hard. It also depends on what skill choices you made. Stamina lv 2 is required because it does give you 10% pain resistance. Also increased endurance and greater endurance regen (especially if you also have the sub-ability that gives +25% endurance regen).

3. "TWO HIT COMBO" Er, again. Try it on hard. Aard and kill was how I finally cheesed my way through on medium. On hard? Man, three hours later and that damn dog will not drop.

Take a look at the sticky thread. I think my post there has some useful info in it, but basically don't waste all your talents but save them up and use them right before you go out of the cave. That way you can try different combos to see what works. Potions are your friend. Make a Blizzard potion with dominant nigredo (ghoul blood and celandine, basically), something with dominant rubedo if you can and Swallow.The first time I played Ch 1 I screwed up and had to play the whole chapetr again. The second time I refused to commit my abilities beyond some basic necessities I knew were required anyway, so I had 10 talents unused before I went to see the Beast. That and the potion inventory allowed me to try any combo I liked. The first time on the failed play, the Beast kicked my arse some 20 times. The second time with the 10 open talents, once I'd assigned those, the Beast went down on the second try (same talents, so I didn't even need to try different combos) and I didn't even have any signs powered up.

Maybe I do in fact suck. I welcome the opportunity to be corrected, so if any of you know of a solid strategy please do illuminate me. I CAN NOT be the only one cursing cdproject over this one.

You're not and you probably don't suck either, but you may have a badly suboptimal talent distribution. I can post what I had sometime late tonight or tomorrow to give you an idea of what I did and how. You can take it from there.

 

[Hiver.147]

Ill just add that by tapping the movement keys two times fast you can make Geralt roll and evade atacks or even jump over the enemies. Same thing with two fast clicks on the ground.So if the dogies swamp you, you evade a bit untill you find a nice position, blast them away with aard to make room and then atack.

 

[starwolf]

Wait till you encounter the %$%&#@$! K. Queen, in a couple chapters. (spoiler concealed by abbreviation).I'm on playthrough #2, back at her again. OMG. I wonder how many ways I can die. Burning dogs? meh. This queen bugs me. To hell with having GERALT drunk to ease the Pain. I will need to be drunk to ease the pain of this battle. And I play on EASY. I can't even imagine on hard. :dead:BTW Hiver: you have some good stuff there. I soaked up a few extra tips from you. Thank you!!! Any hints on how to get away from the aforementioned Queenie, when you are also being confronted by a mob of her young-un? Because I have a sneaking suspicion I am facing another day of death and destruction (mine), and I REALLY don't want to have to give up and go play solitaire for the rest of my life.

 

[coelocanth]

Starwolf: just run as soon as you get the chance. The tricky part is getting in the right position to down the support timbers without trapping yourself. I haven't tried this, but maybe Blizzard would give you a better chance (maybe it will allow you to run faster and/or act quicker).

 

[starwolf]

Coleocanth: I'm potioned up with blizzard, swallow, wolf, and insectoid oil on the blade. And I'm playing on easy. wuss n00b level. I run like hell, get slammed to a dead halt by a mob of those damnable workers, and either chomped by queenie or crushed when I aard the support beams. On death number 6 and counting..... :dead: :dead: :dead:I dont remember this many workers the last time. I think the boss battle developers were merciless sadists. Oh puleeeezzzeeee.... why is there no GodMode when you need it?????

 

[coelocanth]

When you get to those mobs, don't fight them. Double tap your button to evade them (tumble, jump over them, etc.) Don't stop for any reason other than to Aard those supports. I did this on medium difficulty and I think I only had Swallow active. Took me three tries. Hopefully you'll nail it on your next attempt. I found this sequence the hardest part of the game. Good luck!

 

[Seeker.217]

You need to be strung up by your balls.What the hell were you thinking? WHAT THE HELL were you thinking? You must have a sick sense of humour. Because you have a game with a pretty clunky combat system, and this fight is a beautiful illustration of all that is wrong of the witcher's combat. Stay with me here. Lets say you zone in to a hypothetical room and for "effect" the game fades in to the encounter. Lets say that by the time the game finishes fading in that you have four meanies gnawing on you, and you are half dead. Lets also say that even though this is the toughest fight of the "chapter" you are given no opportunity to prepare(by that I mean drink potions at a time that their effects will be up for the "boss"). And goodness, lets say you die in such a display of developer sadism. To retry the encounter YOU HAVE ENDURE A POORLY SCRIPTED DIALOGUE EVERY. DAMN. TIME.I mean, I have never heard of your developer studio before. If I were sober, I would chalk this one up to the idea that it was one of the first things designed in the game. It was done before you knew what you were doing, and yea, we are all human so what the fuck right?But christ, this was stupid. Bad game design. Shame on you mr. developer.

Why is it that it always the developer fault when a player cant figure out how to do things by themselves ???

 

[kerish]

I hate to say it, but many of the thread creator's claims are dead on, I just spent the last two hours trying to kill the beast encounter for the first time on hard mode and have yet to kill him. As soon as I saw this thread it was like someone else read my mind on how I felt about this fight. Being a programmer and an avid gamer, most of the flaws (although I realize bypassable) shouldn't exist. Making an encounter difficult because of lack of clean script and gameflow issues doesn not make a good game.

 

[Hiver.147]

BTW Hiver: you have some good stuff there. I soaked up a few extra tips from you. Thank you!!! Any hints on how to get away from the aforementioned Queenie, when you are also being confronted by a mob of her young-un? Because I have a sneaking suspicion I am facing another day of death and destruction (mine), and I REALLY don't want to have to give up and go play solitaire for the rest of my life.

Sure, no prob.As for the Queen that one really tortured me too, mostly because of a couple of bugs. First one is dying under those first suport beams even if i stand well away from them. You need to get into the coridor as much as you can but still be able to Aard them. Couple of tries will reveal the best spot.Then you need to run toward the other set of support beams and Aard them too. Dont pay any attention to workers. They run away when you break down the support beams.Then you loot a nearby corpse run into the begining of the large cave (where there will be a mass of workers and warriors) dont pay them any attention, if they hit you you grin and bear it, and you Aard the final of the suport beams in the end of that coridor. The workers and wrriors will all hide then.Then you run into the large cave and Aard one or two support beams there, without much stoping, preferably. Dont stop and wait for something to happen. Run into the next corridor and dont stop. run as far away into it as you can. The big cave should collapse onto the Queen but you will be still able to loot her, Only when you can loot her the exit reveals itself (that was pretty lame).A number of times i couldnt reach the carcass of the queen or i got traped with her, could loot her but couldnt move into the coridor toward the exit. Those are all bugs.Avoidable only if you run into the coridor well away from the queen.You only need to drink a potion that enhances your endurance or the one which ehances regeneration of endurance so that you can Aard your way outa there.btw. almost all such sticky points are already explained in the forums. Use search function.http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=9247.0http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=3792.0http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=8329.0