Combat in the game - general discussion

[Mothra]

- you know that you can: strafe, dodge, jump in the Witcher ?- parrying is done automatically- clicking means one of 3 combos, holding means special move you can chain combo-jump-2ndcombo-dodge-3rd combo if you are good.- then you have to know when to throw in a sign or use the 180 degree turn properlyexample:1)i did fight a large crowd of humans. i used group style and signs.if i managed to stun/knockback one of them I did the finishing move. took some timeand a swallow but I managed it. then I thought: it's stupid that the most damage I take is during doing a finish move.this makes it frustrating. you cut off a head and get stabbed in the back the whole time.so I found out that if you manage to stun 1 or more enemies, do NOT attack the stunned.switch to group style and attack the ones still standing in the nearest vicinity.that way I managed to take a group style swing on the fighting guy and hit 2 other STUNNED ppl and offed them immediately.so if someone is ready for a finisher and you happen to hit him (but not directly with the whole animation) it kills him as good as a finisher.2)if you have knockbacks, try Aard/Iigni on the next nearest standing, THEN concentrate on the laying enemy.3)if the enemy is very weak, don't even bother to finish-move him when others are still up and fighting.4)combinations: 1st combo/SIGN/1st combo strong/fast whatever on 1 enemy/hit F (180dg turn)/double tap W(jump over him)/attack from behind/REPEATthat way you deal with crowds without getting any hit, believe me and you don't need the group style EVER(i LOVE group style)5)you can chain combos between different enemies, when you are good you can even squeeze in a doge.crowd control:begin 1st combo on easiest enemy -> upon switch to 2nd combo switch to other enemy as well, 3rd combo next etc etcso you can use FAST on strong enemies as well if you don't wanna switch styles as wellso for cRPGs which in no way ever had precise and responsive Combat like a FPS theWitcher has surprisingly depth and "skill" to it.just don't expect a sword fighting SIMULATOR. the story is still King in RPGs

 

[petra_silie]

Sure you have to click ;D but's it's up to you to react at the right moment. You can even evade to get out of a hot situation or jump over your opponent. And you can change the style according to your enemies.I think the combat system is one of the bright sides of the game. At least I haven't been annoyed about the combat system so far. The only in-game issue which get's on my nerves from time to time are these invisible obstacles which hinder Geralt to fulfil simple movements. If you happen to stand on one spot, left and right blocked with a carriage or cases and then NPCs show up and just decide to have a chat in front of Geralt... he can't pass them even if you click on "free" spots T_T this happens quite often. This simple thing isn't a bright side of the game.

 

[tyranith]

Pardon my french, but Oblivion's combat was fucking gay.It was god damn Diablo. *click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click**click*

At least in Diablo you could actually hold the mouse button down I think the combat in The Witcher's excellent.

 

[rhian]

I truly enjoy combat in this game =) it's new and it's refreshing =)I am curioushow I will manage in my "hard" difficulty run when I do not get the combat indicator when to click my mousey again...

 

[ebipuam]

god damn it sucks trying to slam hot coffee type on this forum and get ready for work at the same time. anyway the more i play , and now that ive mastered the dodge and quick turn feature the game is MUCH more exciting. i was really getting turned off by the "stuck" bug but now ususally i can hop my way outta it or just knock them all on their arses with the magic wind spell (sounds like me in the morning so for all my bitching and griping in the beginning i take it back except the part about the save/loading timesgod damnit now i gotta go to work. i should pretend im gerald and hit on all the ladies at work...then i'd get fired and i could play the witcher all day

 

[ebipuam]

I truly enjoy combat in this game =) it's new and it's refreshing =)I am curioushow I will manage in my "hard" difficulty run when I do not get the combat indicator when to click my mousey again...

listen for the swoosh sound its not too bad.

 

[serdinq]

...you can chain combo-jump-2ndcombo-dodge-3rd combo if you are good....

What this means? Combo isn't broke by an intermediate jump? How is this possible? The time you jump the delay is over and you can't jump during an attack or it is broken. Is there a trick here?

 

[twigg]

I truly enjoy combat in this game =) it's new and it's refreshing =)I am curioushow I will manage in my "hard" difficulty run when I do not get the combat indicator when to click my mousey again...

listen for the swoosh sound its not too bad.

also geralt pulls his sword back in a little flourish each time he finished the attack, you can click then. Tbh hard is barely a step up from medium, which I think needs some serious rectification, but this may not be the thread to discuss it

 

[guardian1982]

Combat is great. It requires (finally) some interaction and immersion of a player instead of click, pause, make him hit this guy, cast spell, walk there, loot corpse, walk there, hit that guy, drink healing potion, change weapon... ok, unpause, go! I'm going to take a dump, be back in 10mins. What a great thing is to have a fight in NWN! ;D ;DGeralt's motion capture is awesome. Finishing moves (aside from a few shitty Johnny Woo style) are jaw dropping. Blood gushes out from mutilated corpses, and there's no better feeling in game when after final roar from Geralt's throat all Your enemies lay on the ground, world is gray and You can hear Your own heartbeat. Shame that that sort of feeling can be felt up to coccacidium on Swamps, later on it becomes a tedious harvesting of souls with no challenge whatsoever, even on Hard.As for combos, I've find most useful the sound of air cut by Geralt's sword, that's all I need for finishing the chain.

 

[Mothra]

on hard you not only hear a swoooooosh, you see the sword trail getting more orange. it's really not that hard.I'm pretty sure it did happen to me a few times. it's easy if you just switch targets but here it happened with a jump in the middle.i play hard without any tips or floating text, so I did not see the "2nd combo!" confirmation but I heard it.you know when Geralt switches to the 2nd combos his cries get harder as well..1st : huh, huh, swooosh2nd: haaaargh, agh,agh,agh, swoosh (but much faster spoken than 1st)so what i did or maybe just happened (maybe it's a glitch):1st combo initiated: huh, huh

 

[ash_rulerz]

combat is still click, hack and slash. As said above what matters is when u have to click to follow up a combo. Whats best is the way geralts fights: the animations are great and varied. the great thing i find is using signs incombat. that puts much more depth to combat. When u are cornered u can dogde, perform aard sign to stunor knockout an enemy, finish him off then use group style on the others etc etc. u have to make choices and the right ones too.

 

[tenser]

Besides, I love the combat of Vanguard where you get a BIG LOAD of skills to choose from and actually have to react on events, such as scoring a critical or managing a parry.Most complex battle short of controlling a D&D spellcaster.

 

[emcgman]

The combat system isn't the greatest. They tried something different, which I give them credit for. The whole game is different from most RPG's. Overall The Witcher is a great game. The combat didn't end up being over the top, though.

 

[F4tal3rror]

I notice you refered to a bug that stops garalt from being able to attack.When clicking does nothing. switch combat styles and back to the one you want and he will fight as normal.

 

[kuplo]

First off I'll say that I really enjoy the game so whatever that I write should not be taken as my bagging on the game in any way, but rather it is purely my desire to find information that I seek.I am playing on the high isometric mode and I think on the easiest method of play, but I find the constant clicking when fighting to be for no other purpose than to make me click to feel as if I am actually interacting with the game. I find having to click all teh time when the cursor turns to a flaming cursor nothing more than busy work and I'd like to know if there is another method of playing the game that I have missed that does away with this busy work? I understand the need to right click every now and then to do the signs while attacking, but having to left click again when the cursor turns to fire is not my idea of skill, unless you wish to call clicking the mouse skill. Continued: (sorry my keyboard stopped responding) Is there a way that I can click once with my left mouse and let Geralt do his attacks (I mean he already does the dodging and whatnot by himself so why not all the attack moves?) and that way I only need to left click once to start the attack and can then throw in a right click every now and then to do a sign. Is there a mode of gameplay that accomodates this?

 

[kuplo]

Combat's more strategic than twitch-skill based. It's still an RPG at the end of the day, so if you were expecting acrobatics and swordplay then you should have picked up Jedi Knight instead.You can jump over enemies' heads if you dodge towards them when they're next to you, and there's space - I've found that to be invaluable when surrounded. Attacking the right enemies at the right time with the right stance, switching stances during the melee, and changing position to adapt to the changing situations is surprisingly tactical for such a simplistic system, which is one of the reasons I love it so much. Signs, too, add a lot of tactical flexibility when used correctly.I find combat in this game to be far more fun, involving, and complex than any other RPG I've ever played, so I'm not quite sure where your critique is coming from. If you wanted a tactical challenge why aren't you playing an RTS? o.0

This is something that has been bothering me really. So far it's been always the same. If Im surrounded by xx I switch to group style, if Im being attacked by xx then I switch to fast style, etc etc etc. I find no tactical element to that. There has been so far only One style that is really effective in fighting each type of monster, the others sometimes don't even work at all, so what's the point in making the gamer stop the game to switch styles, or not stop and switch styles? When it's always the same then there seems to me that the switching of styles is merely to try to make the gamer believe that he's being more interactive with the combat which in my opinion it fails at. Because it still boils down to the same style for the same type of monster each time. I.E. You use fast style for ABC monsters, you use Heavy style of EFG monsters you use group style for XYZ monsters if surrounded. It's still boils down to nothing but simply clicking. It really takes no time at all to figure out that a particular style isn't working.I believe they would have done much better if they had included dodging and what not else into the game instead and had Geralt switch styles appropriately for each type of enemy.The combat can also be quite clunky and you may find yourself surrounded with absolutely no way out, and no matter how many times that you click or press a key on your keyboard, Geralt is not going to respond to it, and he will instead just stand in his ready stance which is just insane IMO.As mentioned they could do better,1. Remove the styles from the gamers hand (since it's always the same styles for the same "type" of monsters.2. Add the ability to dodge, and the other thing that Geralt does automatically now to the gamers use. IMO, that would lend itself to feeling like Im more involved in the combat than what they use now.Hell, I'd just assume let it be one click to let Geralt continue attacking the enemy, then let me dodge, or roll or shoot off a sign or whatever much more than having to manually switch styles since they don't appear to change or suprise me in any way so far.Just my opinion, and I don't expect it to change any, since this is what they chose for the game, it's highly unlikely that it will ever change. Other than that, it's a rather enjoyable game (well, except for the long load times and the auto saves everyplace and the crashes etc etc)

 

[kral]

Combat is rather crap. But then combat in Oblivion was crap, too. One day, there will be a game that gets both RPG and combat elements right, but until then, at least we have good RPG elements.

 

[Kamamura.956]

Presonally, I find the combat system the weakest part of the game. It's astonishing how little attention devs pay to combat mechanics in RPGs today. I liked combat in Gothic2. Best sword combat can be found in Mount and Blade, IMO. Oblivion combat is nothing special (it really does not matter from which direction you strike), but provides much better immersion than witcher.For me, these elements are important:1) Interaction - necessity to pay attention and react is important for me. Simply left-clicking in regular intervals does not cut it for me - it destroys any sense of immersion2) Sense of danger - combat should be rare and dangerous, serving as a tension-building element. In real life, a combatant risks everything. Some RPG cliches are infuriating - some monster nearly kills you, but you are okay after 8 hours of sleep. In the book, Geralt faces a sorcerer called Vilgefortz, who fights with magical metal staff - and he beats Geralt quite bad. After that, Geralt has to heal for half a year and suffers permanent damage in one of his legs. That's the right way to portray the risk of combat. The notion of hit-points is also ridiculous. How many full-force blows with a warhammer in the head you can stand? 3) Variety - The RPG "threadmill" combat, when you fight the same monsters over and over again does not appeal. It's also good when you have different combat techniques with strengths and weaknesses, and no single best strategy exists. Virtua fighter is great in this aspect. To sum it up:Combat should be fast, lethal, risky and rare.In this area, witcher disappoints. The bar brawls are even worse than normal combat. I value it for atmosphere, graphics, storytelling and the flavor of the original stories from Sapkowski - the transition was surprisingly effective. But the gameplay elements are somewhat weaker.

 

[darkelve]

Apparently I was posting in the wrong spot, so I will quote myself and add some more thoughts after that.

I like the combat, but although I did not play for very long yet, I think it could be improved so it feels like the character has more control, and to make it more strategic. One of the most enjoyable fighting systems I ever used was that in Prince of Persia 2. However I recognize Witcher is an RPG, not an action/platform game.1. Provide a key to automatically attack the nearest (other) opponentThe clicking with the mouse is too inaccurate and makes it really hard to get an overview of the battle and switch to a different opponent while chaining attacks. Even when you cannot see an opponent (OTS mode), you can still attack one if one is near.With such a feature, the player would feel more in control.2. Add blocking and 'openings' on opponents.Make it so that opponents have vulnerable points of attack or to certain forms of attacks. Instead of (or in addition to) the chaining of attacks, you press a button or click the mouse at the right time in order to break through someones attack.For example you are fighting an enemy and you jump-flip over him. Now he is exposed and you can try to break through his defence. However is is able to turn around in time and block. The next step in the attack chain makes you spin around so you slash at his sides. This time he is unable to attack and you can break through his defense.The button in nr. 1 would make it easy to switch to another opponent.A system like this would make the character an always-moving, whirling, deadly fighting machine. The correct timing for attacking, dodging (maybe also, blocking yourself) and breaking through defense will make it more tactical.3. While spinning, if a character is near provide an opportunity for attacking too. Geralt could be made more vulnerable should he choose to use an offensive dodge though, rather than a defensive one.The combat is fun, but still too much button-mashing in which you do not feel in control 100%.

It is always good to give an example, I think:- The situation: you are surrounded by 6 opponents, but for some reason using the group style is not feasible (this way it is easier for me to explain)- You thrust your sword at the enemy in front of you, however he succeeds in blocking. Now you have two choices: 1. continue to attack the same foe with stronger attacks from the 'attack chain' so you can or break through his defense ('breaker' moves could be added as special skills for Geralt) 2. continue the 'attack chain' by targeting another nearby enemy- You choose option 2. : attacking another nearby opponent while the previous foe is still 'recoiling' from blocking. The combat system itself determines what is the best move to get in reach and what to attack to use (also depending on the style you are using). In this case, the opponent is a small distance behind your back, so Geralt does a 180 degree turn+sword strike.- The enemy is able to dodge your attack and now is standing right beside you and attacks you. However you are able to block the attack with your sword- You jump-flip over the enemy; he is not fast enough to block or evade, so you can thrust your sword in his back- In the meantime, two opponents have approached you and are at both sides. You attack one of the two, and the combat system analyses the situation and chooses the best attack from your arsenal, in this case a pirouette, which both opponents block.- One of them attacks you, but you block the attack with your sword- You can continue the attack chain focusing on one of the two opponents, and at a certain point the enemy you are attacking might not be able to block any longer (should be harder for him the further you go in the chain) so you can break through his defense.Perhaps this 'mock-up fight' is a bit clearer than the explanation above.

 

[kaanthewise]

This is a bit off the current subject, but I'd strongly recommend re-starting The Witcher in difficult mode. I was getting pretty fed up with the flaming sword icon and click-click combat, but switching to difficult mode fixed that.Basically, one of the changes in the hardest mode is that the flaming sword icon does not appear, and you have to time the clicks yourself a bit more carefully. It may sound weird, but I found this to be a massive improvement. With the icon gone, you actually have to watch Geralt's swings and movements a lot more carefully, and the whole rhythm of the combat system makes much more sense.That's what happened to me anyway. Anyone else find this?