Authentic Difficulty Setting

[PromiscousGeralt]

Authentic Difficulty Setting

Hello there!

I have a question for all of the experts on the witcher universe. I would like to know which of the difficulty settings in TW3 might be the one to be considered the most "canon". I honestly have to confess that I am not someone who likes to be challenged for the sole purpose of being challenged while playing a game (Filthy Casual for y´all). While getting your a** handed to you by some random drowners or borderline-retarded bandits whose gear includes only a broken mace and soiled underpants may be considered fun by some (Members of the Hardcore Gamer Master race), I would rather experience fights in a way that represents the historical prowess of our´s truly White Wolf and as I have neither read the books nor immersed myself in the lore, I have no clue as to where to estimate Geralt´s power level in relation to his environment. On the one hand he is said to be one of the best of the bone-breaking and monster-slaughtering super-mutants called "Witchers" to ever live but on the other hand he was almost killed by a peasant with a pitchfork and dirt under his nails and as a result was left with a years lasting retrograde amnesia.

I therefore would like to implore ye to help me out on my quest to find the most authentic difficulty setting(s) in regard to the aforementioned conundrum on Geralt of Rivia´s canon fighting prowess!

 

[Witcherman1151]

Death March but even that gets too easy for the true witcher universe. The life of a witcher in a walk in the park.

 

[moonknightgog]

Geralt is not a "power god", but relies on his skills. I think Death March.

 

[Kad_Venku]

From a lore perspective none of the difficulty settings is close to the books.

Geralt is one of the most skilled and feared sword fighters in the northern realms.
His "title" The Butcher of Blaviken originates from a fight where he easily killed six skilled mercenaries who were feared in the whole area.
In the books small groups of human enemies do not provide too much trouble to him, still a single moment of unawareness can cause severe injuries. (I recall a fight with three bounty hunters that nearly killed him). Monsters on the other hand (depending on their kind of course) range from "not a problem" to "nearly killed him" with a larger stress on the later.

I played on Death March, but for a lore feel the humans are to strong compared to too weak monsters. And the drop in difficulty later on. Destroys that feel anyways.
Blood and Broken Bones with Better Combat Enhanced would be a close match to the books.

 

[shnabeltasse]

Hello there!

I have a question for all of the experts on the witcher universe. I would like to know which of the difficulty settings in TW3 might be the one to be considered the most "canon". I honestly have to confess that I am not someone who likes to be challenged for the sole purpose of being challenged while playing a game (Filthy Casual for y´all). While getting your a** handed to you by some random drowners or borderline-retarded bandits whose gear includes only a broken mace and soiled underpants may be considered fun by some (Members of the Hardcore Gamer Master race), I would rather experience fights in a way that represents the historical prowess of our´s truly White Wolf and as I have neither read the books nor immersed myself in the lore, I have no clue as to where to estimate Geralt´s power level in relation to his environment. On the one hand he is said to be one of the best of the bone-breaking and monster-slaughtering super-mutants called "Witchers" to ever live but on the other hand he was almost killed by a peasant with a pitchfork and dirt under his nails and as a result was left with a years lasting retrograde amnesia.

I therefore would like to implore ye to help me out on my quest to find the most authentic difficulty setting(s) in regard to the aforementioned conundrum on Geralt of Rivia´s canon fighting prowess!

Death march. I started playing on DM and never touched any lower dificulty at all. Yes, it was frustrating, very actually. But once you get your 1st witcher gear set and got some dodge practise you will get used to it and handle most encounters.

And still I get my ass handed to me while doing my 3rd playthrough sometimes. It depends on luck and camera control for the most part.

A pack of lvl. 5 wolves will still be killing you even when you are above lvl. 10. Enemy archers kill you with one shot, even worse when enemies hit your back (they are buggy by the way, no fail aim and hitting through objects, which would hamper you normally, e.g. I got killed while hiding behind a big tree by an arrow....). So far I think death march represents a very authentic difficulty. Of course, it will be trivialized by your growing game experience in this world and that is something no one can balance.

 

[tfwoods3]

Can someone who read the books comment on how often Geralt applied oils to his blades and used potions? I am wondering if the difficulty would be more balanced on DM minus the use of oils. And to counteract the humans being too tough, use oil only against them.

 

[Kad_Venku]

Geralt did use potions and oils almost exclusively in the short stories which were based around a particular monster hunt.
In the books (as in the five-book-series revolving around finding Ciri) he almost never used potions and oils, because he was in a hurry and most encounters were ambush-like. During the few planned encounters with monsters that take place I would assume he is using potions and oils, it's not explicitly stated though. But as those are witcher contracts, I'd assume he's doing the same procedure as in the short stories, where he carefully tries to be as prepared as possible.

The Witcher 1 CGI intro is a very accurate representation of one of Geralt's monster hunts as described in the books. (It's actually a part of the first short story)

 

[tfwoods3]

I'm thinking of maybe trashing the advanced oils and only making the first level oils when NG+ hits.

 

[cyberpunkforever]

very easy, because geralt is a witcher, humans and monsters are no challenge for him, only maybe a very powerful monster is a challenge

 

[Guest 3713529]

very easy, because geralt is a witcher, humans and monsters are no challenge for him, only maybe a very powerful monster is a challenge

False. Witchers aren't superhumans, sure they have mutation and skills in their favour, but they're by no means that much superior. In the books this is stated profusely.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

False. Witchers aren't superhumans, sure they have mutation and skills in their favour, but they're by no means that much superior. In the books this is stated profusely.

It's how the Witcher schools were essentially destroyed by peasants and some soldiers. They're amazing yes, but can if it bleeds you can kill it.

 

[pithikos]

Humans are very easy. I like that at least they deal a lot of damage (deathmarch) if they catch you which happens only if you make a mistake. So human battle is spot on with the lore in the higher difficulty. Monsters have their moments it depends on the monster. In death march it could be difficult at first even crushing if you just started the game and you are unfamiliar with the controls but after a certain point you are unbeatable with a few exceptions.

 

[tiamatloc]

very easy, because geralt is a witcher, humans and monsters are no challenge for him, only maybe a very powerful monster is a challenge

Take a look at him without a shirt on. Even a slight lapse in concentration against a weak monster could get him killed.

 

[Tuco]

Death march tends to become far too easy anyway, after few levels, so I wouldn't even consider lower difficulty settings.

The whole "Witchers are skilled so play at super easy to have the true experience" is bullshit, by the way.

 

[molnibalage]

From a lore perspective none of the difficulty settings is close to the books.

Geralt is one of the most skilled and feared sword fighters in the northern realms.
His "title" The Butcher of Blaviken originates from a fight where he easily killed six skilled mercenaries who were feared in the whole area.
In the books small groups of human enemies do not provide too much trouble to him, still a single moment of unawareness can cause severe injuries. (I recall a fight with three bounty hunters that nearly killed him). Monsters on the other hand (depending on their kind of course) range from "not a problem" to "nearly killed him" with a larger stress on the later.

I played on Death March, but for a lore feel the humans are to strong compared to too weak monsters. And the drop in difficulty later on. Destroys that feel anyways.
Blood and Broken Bones with Better Combat Enhanced would be a close match to the books.

And this mighty warrior was killed by a peasant with pitchfork...

 

[Kad_Venku]

Yes, isn't unlikely. He looked a the boy with the pitchfork who crapped his pants because of the look Geralt gave him, thus Geralt thought of him as no danger and turned around again to let him live. A simple mistake and a small unawareness. And that boy Geralt thought of as no danger pierced him with a pitchfork in the back.

As I said:

In the books small groups of human enemies do not provide too much trouble to him, still a single moment of unawareness can cause severe injuries.

 

[jj284b]

And this mighty warrior was killed by a peasant with pitchfork...

he was killed by a peasant with a pitchfork while surrounded in the crowd without a chance to move... he couldnt do anything about it...as nobody could. He was a lone fighter against psycho crowd.... no fighting skills would help you here eventually...

 

[Lieste]

None of the available modes are appropriate. IMO

Witchers are almost as vulnerable to injury and death as an ordinary human (but around 4x as resistant to minor injury and bleeding (according to books)). He is *significantly* faster than most humans when using elixirs, but this doesn't mean he always walks away uninjured... it does usually minimise the amount of parrying needed against most of his opponents.

Monsters are stronger and tougher than humans, but are not "damage sponges" ~ the Zeugl was killed with 3-4 blows in the short story, and he doesn't strike any of them more than a few times that I can recall.

This doesn't *require* an easy mode though ~ there are nuances to damage and timings that can be used to give a challenge even against weaker enemies. I plan to rework some in a future mod, based on experience with a high level character using the "off" sword and the 'top tiers' of sword skills to predominantly use tick damage against weaker mobs in Sword and Story difficulty. Single blows or two to three at most were lethal... but the enemy was still a threat for around 5 seconds after the killing blow.

How the sword damage and armour work across the skillset and levels are also good candidates for significant reworking, and I have some ideas for alternative behaviours on wounding for both monsters/humans and Geralt, and the effects/implications of levelling up.

Some might be workable with just the data files (though I can no longer reconcile the in game stats with the stated behaviours ~ re-identifying the model behaviour is necessary before recasting stats and skills to obtain specific desired behaviours). Other ideas will require more in depth scripting changes, and thus probably the release of Redkit2 to implement.

 

[zorba1138]

False. Witchers aren't superhumans, sure they have mutation and skills in their favour, but they're by no means that much superior. In the books this is stated profusely.

They were superhuman, they were stronger, faster, lived considerably longer, could see, hear and smell things that no one else could and could augment them selves with potions without convulsing in pain and dying.

Superhuman != some invincible man of steel 1 on 1 they were no match to any non-augmented human which makes them superhuman.

It's how the Witcher schools were essentially destroyed by peasants and some soldiers. They're amazing yes, but can if it bleeds you can kill it.

The witcher schools basically dwindled into non-existence and then in some cases were overrun by mobs when you have 3 guys against 300 it doesn't matter. Not to mention that most witchers didn't really want to slaughter 100's of farmers when they could just go and fade into the night.

Any how to the OP Death March is "challenging" up to around level 10 when you get a couple of talents it becomes very easy, when you get your 1st witcher set at 13-14 you can't really distinguish between it and any other difficulty with the exception of the random 1 shot from behind or something mostly drowners that decide to spawn under you and isntagibb you.

 

[Phinnway]

Accurately speaking, it'd only take two - three sword hits to kill someone (that's under the gracious assumption the first one isn't fatal.) That alone would be a big change to the difficulty. I dunno about monster strikes, like the Drowner's leap attack. And then there is the possibility that Geralt takes a potion to harden his skin or clot his blood when he gets a gash.

*sigh* Now that's a level of immersion I miss from Witcher 1. mods, mods, mods, mods, mods, mods, mods -is REDkit here yet?