Combat in The Witcher 3

[Sibladosi]

How do you guys think it will differ from the combat found in the witcher 2?

honestly I'm hoping they revamp the system entirely. I'm replaying Assassin's of Kings now and remembering exactly how much I hated the system in it. It's all rolling and spamming Quen because Geralt is incredibly clumsy and slower than both humans and monsters. It doesn't give me a sense of being a mutant built and trained for combat at all, more of a feeling that if he didn't have infinite attempts at each battle, geralt would be rotting in the ground years ago.

Personally I'm hoping they make Geralt faster, remove the annoying stagger animations when an enemy parries (not what actually happens, so it isn't even realistic) and make dodging more than just rolling randomly all over the place like a bowling ball thrown by a drunkard. I'd prefer to enjoy the combat rather than endure it because the story line is worth wanting to smash my computer every now and then.

I really liked the combat in The witcher 2, but it is true that some aspects were pretty annoying =p. The main problem that I think the game had was the diference of difficult from de beguining to the end. In the beguining you are really weak, while in the end of the game you do look like the mutant-killing-machine-on-steroids. So in the end, I found the game to be alot easier than the first levels. At the same time it was cool to see all the hard work paying off you know? Like all the challanges that you have transpassed made you a demi-god that can stop time and run around your enimies calling them whoresons! But the fact that you were weak, besides bringuing some rage when you died for some motherfucking backstab that dealt 861835184945163 damage, made me use bombs, traps, signs and plan my moves very carfully(Things that I didn't use much in TW1). Forced me to think more carfully how to aproach a situation, and I liked the felling of planing, made me feel mor immersed!

I can't really remember the interview that I saw (If I find it, I will try to put it here later), but I remember a dev saying that they would change the fighting systime drastically. "The new fighting would be easy to learn, but hard to master" was one of the sentenses that he used. I also remember that he said that the rolling would not have the same place in this fighing sistem, instead you would need to rely more on parrys and blocks.
Not sure If I awnsered the question bro, and in case of a negative someone will probably awnser it eventually!

 

[Shusuu]

I really liked the combat in The witcher 2, but it is true that some aspects were pretty annoying =p. The main problem that I think the game had was the diference of difficult from de beguining to the end. In the beguining you are really weak, while in the end of the game you do look like the mutant-killing-machine-on-steroids. So in the end, I found the game to be alot easier than the first levels. At the same time it was cool to see all the hard work paying off you know? Like all the challanges that you have transpassed made you a demi-god that can stop time and run around your enimies calling them whoresons! But the fact that you were weak, besides bringuing some rage when you died for some motherfucking backstab that dealt 861835184945163 damage, made me use bombs, traps, signs and plan my moves very carfully(Things that I didn't use much in TW1). Forced me to think more carfully how to aproach a situation, and I liked the felling of planing, made me feel mor immersed!

I can't really remember the interview that I saw (If I find it, I will try to put it here later), but I remember a dev saying that they would change the fighting systime drastically. "The new fighting would be easy to learn, but hard to master" was one of the sentenses that he used. I also remember that he said that the rolling would not have the same place in this fighing sistem, instead you would need to rely more on parrys and blocks.
Not sure If I awnsered the question bro, and in case of a negative someone will probably awnser it eventually!

You sound like a Souls player. If you haven't already, I think you would like it.

Hopefully TW3 won't be a normal button mash = win game. For myself, it's ideal to have a high difficulty level in the realms of possibility (people can still thrash out bosses in DKS1, 2, and DeS in 1 go... and the exhilaration of doing so is simply amazing), but for accessibility purposes, it should probably be in between button mash and Souls. I'd hope that we don't get to fly into rooms, cutting enemies like they're pieces of cake... maybe at the end levels (like in TW2), but difficulty should be present to make things exciting. I don't really like raising up a difficulty slider since it feels very artificial. I feel that "normal" mode is the way the game was meant to be played. Perhaps a bonfire ascetic kind of thing helps, though I'm not sure how it would place into lore. "Mastering" a combat system when mastering it is a fruitless endeavor (there's no PVP) and reaps little reward isn't very great. Perhaps on consecutive playthroughs at higher difficulty it would matter, but hopefully player skill is reasonably tested at escalating levels in TW3 normal mode. Otherwise, it'd be like running through the game in a line, the difficulty never changing. Still, it probably will be a fun combat system, even if difficulty doesn't change. Difficulty just adds extra exhilaration and strong feelings of triumph after winning against something big.

 

[Odinsauge]

You sound like a Souls player. If you haven't already, I think you would like it.

Hopefully TW3 won't be a normal button mash = win game. For myself, it's ideal to have a high difficulty level in the realms of possibility (people can still thrash out bosses in DKS1, 2, and DeS in 1 go... and the exhilaration of doing so is simply amazing), but for accessibility purposes, it should probably be in between button mash and Souls. I'd hope that we don't get to fly into rooms, cutting enemies like they're pieces of cake... maybe at the end levels (like in TW2), but difficulty should be present to make things exciting. I don't really like raising up a difficulty slider since it feels very artificial. I feel that "normal" mode is the way the game was meant to be played. Perhaps a bonfire ascetic kind of thing helps, though I'm not sure how it would place into lore. "Mastering" a combat system when mastering it is a fruitless endeavor (there's no PVP) and reaps little reward isn't very great. Perhaps on consecutive playthroughs at higher difficulty it would matter, but hopefully player skill is reasonably tested at escalating levels in TW3 normal mode. Otherwise, it'd be like running through the game in a line, the difficulty never changing. Still, it probably will be a fun combat system, even if difficulty doesn't change. Difficulty just adds extra exhilaration and strong feelings of triumph after winning against something big.

Thats absolutely the problem that I have with most of the games. Its frustrating. In TW1 the boss fights were quite well balanced. The normal fights were a bit to easy. Due to the combo styled fights you cut enemies into pieces because most of them can't block your attacks or break attack series. Skilling up to the 5 attack series wasn't necessary because bosses break your series and even the strongest enemies (the big brothers or how the mutants are called and the skullfaces in the ice realm) were dead at the beginning of the forth slash.
FCR changes a lot but due to the old animations you can't see whats happening behind.
TW2 does what most of the games do. On higher difficult levels the enemies are so strong that they could kill you with one or two blows. Especially the bosses are lame in TW2, the are getting down by a few well placed blows, even on hard mode, but if you get one hit you are dead. A hard to beat boss for me, is an enemy that you fight for a longer time where you have to manage your ressources and not something like, if you are lucky you won't get hit and then you can beat it.
Therefore I normally play games on normal or hard but not more difficult. In the Dragon Age games the difficult levels are also kind of fu..ed but in an other way. On normal the standard opponents are way to easy, on hard they are quit challanging but the bosses are most of the time to heavy. So I play on hard but change on normal at boss fights. In DA and some other games diffuculty means just make enemies resistens agains every status effect. So nearly every active skill is useless cause it wouldn't effact enemies.

 

[TrulyMadlyDeadly]

If TW3 can keep the balance between RPG and ACT, I think it will be great. Kingdoms of Amalur has good combat system but it doesn't keep the balance, when I have full level, top weapon and top armor(When I got all these I just finished half of the game), the enemy is too weak for me, the cobat system seems useless at last, Darksiders2 has the same problem. But I really hope TW3 can bring me a great system which has lots of styles and every styles can be useful all the time.

 

[JackieEstacado]

I have a feeling about enemy difficulty. Developers said that monsters won't be scaled according to our progression, so I suspect that in the main and more known territories, the difficulty will be standard, but the more you explore and go far from the cities,
the more foes and monsters will be tough. I'm thinking about FFVIII and FFX secret zones and bosses. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it will be this way.

 

[Odinsauge]

I have a feeling about enemy difficulty. Developers said that monsters won't be scaled according to our progression, so I suspect that in the main and more known territories, the difficulty will be standard, but the more you explore and go far from the cities,
the more foes and monsters will be tough. I'm thinking about FFVIII and FFX secret zones and bosses. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it will be this way.

Maybe it's a bit like Gothic, at the beginning every enemy is dangerous. After some level-ups, basic enemies will be easier. But there are some areas or paths you can't explore at the beginning because the enemies there are to strong. Later when you are stronger you can defeat them. But wolfs will always be wolfes.

 

[JackieEstacado]

Maybe it's a bit like Gothic, at the beginning every enemy is dangerous. After some level-ups, basic enemies will be easier. But there are some areas or paths you can't explore at the beginning because the enemies there are to strong. Later when you are stronger you can defeat them. But wolfs will always be wolfes.

Sounds good. Damn! February seems to be centuries away...

 

[Sibladosi]

You sound like a Souls player. If you haven't already, I think you would like it. ...

I've played the first one already, really liked =P Will try to play the second one when the prices drops a bit. There is another game that caught my eye, called Lords of the Fallen, similar style. (There is even a thread about it, on the community part of this forum!)

P.S.: Sorry for changing the subject =P, ignore this comment and continue the discussion plz =D

 

[The_Crow.410]

The combat look faster,smoother it looks great i only, expect that the 30 minutes of the comic con demo show the combat in all his glory

 

[Reaver129]

Hopefully geralt is made more responsive too. playing on pc, every now and then I'll try to cast a sign or perform some other (usually very critical and time sensitive) action during combat and he'll just stand there like an idiot getting hacked to pieces. very apparent in the letho fight.

I don't even know how to describe how frustrating the combat in the witcher 2 is. I've literally had to reload this fight at least 20 times so far from geralt not casting quen or aard when I press the key, and then letho blowing him off his feet and hacking him to death in three hits. This isn't even fun. The boss fights in this game make me want to quit playing.

 

[JackieEstacado]

I was looking at this screenshot:
http://jeux-video.bfmtv.com/images/products/268/screenshot/268-3.jpg

Suddendly I thought about the possibility for Geralt to make the enemies fall from the edges of canyons or mountain routes in different ways.
I remember that in TW2, casting Aard made foes fly into the void in great fancy when they were close to a precipice or to a moat/ditch.
I wish that the downfall of enemies in TW3 will be spectacular and well animated. If Geralt performs his kick reversal on an enemy next to the edge, he should push him into the void; In the same position and case, if he kills the foe with a sword slash, the dying guy should be falling backwards, colliding with the walls of the canyon during his gravity run; If the sword strike doesn't kill him, he should be pushed over the edge by the knockback anyway.
If he blocks the attack, he will fall down only if really close to the edge.
The same logic should be applied if Geralt is giving his back to the void: he and the most able opponents should have parries and reversals to switch positions and get out of the disadvantaged placement.
This would make the altitude fights and duels really interesting, tactical and epic.

 

[JackieEstacado]

I was looking at this screenshot:
http://jeux-video.bfmtv.com/images/products/268/screenshot/268-3.jpg

Suddendly I thought about the possibility for Geralt to make the enemies fall from the edges of canyons or mountain routes in different ways.
I remember that in TW2, casting Aard made foes fly into the void in great fancy when they were close to a precipice or to a moat/ditch.
I wish that the downfall of enemies in TW3 will be spectacular and well animated. If Geralt performs his kick reversal on an enemy next to the edge, he should push him into the void; In the same position and case, if he kills the foe with a sword slash, the dying guy should be falling backwards, colliding with the walls of the canyon during his gravity run; If the sword strike doesn't kill him, he should be pushed over the edge by the knockback anyway.
If he blocks the attack, he will fall down only if really close to the edge.
The same logic should be applied if Geralt is giving his back to the void: he and the most able opponents should have parries and reversals to switch positions and get out of the disadvantaged placement.
This would make the altitude fights and duels really interesting, tactical and epic.

And now that I think about it, the same logic/system should be applied to the walls in the indoor combat (they should be exploited to stun/ground opponents, that will be finished off on the floor), or to the trees (maybe enemies could even be impaled on the low branches if flinged by an Aard cast).
If windows in a room are grateless, hard-struck enemies should break the glasses and fall outside.

 

[Pedrolago]

I was looking at this screenshot:
http://jeux-video.bfmtv.com/images/products/268/screenshot/268-3.jpg
.

What I really like about that screen is how blood gushes from the viking''s neck and stains only the tip of geralt's blade, really hope stuff like that makes it to the final game

 

[Geralt_of_Rivia]

Sticking with the one in the gameplay trailer is good

 

[JackieEstacado]

What I really like about that screen is how blood gushes from the viking''s neck and stains only the tip of geralt's blade, really hope stuff like that makes it to the final game

Yes, it would be great. I remember a post of mine in the "dismemberment" thread speaking about mutilation alternated by deadly wounds or slashes that don't dismember foes, but kills them by blood loss.

 

[B_l_a_d_y]

It seems that Bioware is doing really well with their combat system.
I am sure that their fan base will be pleased

 

[didymos1120]

I can't tell: was that supposed to be a gay joke or something?

 

[thislsmadness]

Yes, it would be great. I remember a post of mine in the "dismemberment" thread speaking about mutilation alternated by deadly wounds or slashes that don't dismember foes, but kills them by blood loss.

In one of the demos you can see a defeated enemy crawling away until he passes out, presumably from blood loss.

 

[Percival_Dickenbutts]

If adrenaline makes a return in TW3, I had an idea that it shouldn't charge when you attack enemies or take damage (not JUST that at least) but rather charge from performing timed parries and ripostes. The problem in TW2 was that by the time your adrenaline was fully charged, all the enemies were already dead, most of the time you would fight several groups of enemies before it was fully charged, and thus the adrenaline abilities were used rather rarely.

By "timed parries" I mean that if you were to bring up your guard within, say, 0.3 seconds (arbitrary number) of an attack landing, you would block 100% of the damage and gain some adrenaline, maybe not use, or not use AS MUCH vigor to parry as you otherwise would as well (if vigor is still required to parry)

Seeing as dodging still seems to be the surest and easiest way of avoiding damage (and there's nothing wrong with that) I think this would be a good way to encourage players to try to actually use parrying in order to mix up the gameplay a little bit.

I'm also thinking that the Blizzard potion which increases Geralt's reactions could give you a bonus that widens that tolerance for what counts as a timed parry, lets say from 0.3 seconds to 0.5 seconds (arbitrary numbers again of course, would need balancing)

 

[JackieEstacado]

In one of the demos you can see a defeated enemy crawling away until he passes out, presumably from blood loss.

But he died by a crossbow bolt, not by sword slash.
Up until now, every enemy struck by sword was mutilated by the final blow.