Combat in The Witcher 3

[thislsmadness]

Well... we have seen demos which are months apart, and if they are showing it then this is most likely how the end result will be, I actually preferred the rolling over the megaman dash, when they said side steps would be a big thing I imagined geralt actually doing footwork and stepping or hopping to the side, and when they said pirouettes I imagined geralt spinning around his opponent. I know people here hate it when we say AC but the series proves that these kinds of animations can be done. Like someone already said here, the dash is just a replacement for the roll, because we see the same " hit twice and get away" type of gameplay which pissed so many people off in W2

I think your imagination betrayed you

AC looks nice, but its full of canned animations and stilted movement. It doesn't play anywhere near as good as it looks and, just like Batman, it crumbles as soon as they do anything that isn't Assassin vs regular foot soldier.

When I look at the Witcher 3 combat I get a Ninja Gaiden vibe, which I think is one of the best action games ever made. The difference between the dash and the roll is how much more responsive it allows Geralt to be. I also think it makes far more sense to dash out of the way vs rolling. If someone swings a weapon at me and I can't parry/block it, I'm not gonna roll across the ground to avoid it -- not only is it much slower but you've likely disoriented yourself and given your attacker the advantage. A quick back/side step out of the way is faster and puts me in a position to counter.

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

I hate it when games lock away animations, it just makes the combat seem really stale for the first hours of the game.

Like when I played Ninja Gaiden, by the end of the game I had learned every single combo in the game and was able to make the combat look amazing by using a huge selection of different attacks. But when I started up a new game, it was back to using just two different combos. Completely ruined the replay-value.

& That my friend is why a lot of us really want NG+ like Dragons Dogma.. well that, and monster climbing

 

[ilayoeli]

Just me or the or the igni sign in the demos has far less particles to it then the trailers:
Trailer:
http://i.minus.com/iEJjQAoYibkR7.gif
Gameplay:
http://youtu.be/tuPEam_Jt4I?t=2m10s

Don't know.....

 

[Pedrolago]

I think your imagination betrayed you

AC looks nice, but its full of canned animations and stilted movement. It doesn't play anywhere near as good as it looks and, just like Batman, it crumbles as soon as they do anything that isn't Assassin vs regular foot soldier.

When I look at the Witcher 3 combat I get a Ninja Gaiden vibe, which I think is one of the best action games ever made. The difference between the dash and the roll is how much more responsive it allows Geralt to be. I also think it makes far more sense to dash out of the way vs rolling. If someone swings a weapon at me and I can't parry/block it, I'm not gonna roll across the ground to avoid it -- not only is it much slower but you've likely disoriented yourself and given your attacker the advantage. A quick back/side step out of the way is faster and puts me in a position to counter.

Yeah thats what I mean, that they should draw heavily from AC in how combat looks not how it plays

Yeah but if someone swung a sword at me and I had no way to parry my first reaction would be to duck(which would be the dream come true way to evade humanoid opponent's attacks, but at this point I'm sure they are not doing it) , and if I could I would jump out of the way yes, but when I say jump I don't mean activate my foot rockets and dash 5m to the side, but a normal person jump backwards or sideways, and imagine if a giant bull/deer 3 eyed demon dashed at you, what would you do? My first reaction would be to dive to the side, but if I was an experienced monster slayer I would roll to get the hell out of the way.

 

[goopit]

95 animations

maybe some animations are for certain monsters opponents

remember when Geralt changes his stance depending on the size or threat level of the enemy?

 

[didymos1120]

Just me or the or the igni sign in the demos has far less particles to it then the trailers:
Trailer:
http://i.minus.com/iEJjQAoYibkR7.gif
Gameplay:
http://youtu.be/tuPEam_Jt4I?t=2m10s

Don't know.....

Might be differently upgraded versions of it.

 

[Garrison72]

maybe some animations are for certain monsters opponents

remember when Geralt changes his stance depending on the size or threat level of the enemy?

I don't think we have the combat styles anymore.

 

[Pedrolago]

Might be differently upgraded versions of it.

Really liked that roll to igni action = /

Ps: Sorry for being a debbie downer, I'm sure the game will be awesome

 

[thislsmadness]

Yeah thats what I mean, that they should draw heavily from AC in how combat looks not how it plays

The advantage AC has there is that they only have to animate for the 5 or 6 human enemy variations. I think they've said there are ~60 monster types in Witcher 3 and who knows how many human variations. I'm not sure that's feasible with such a large number of enemies.

Yeah but if someone swung a sword at me and I had no way to parry my first reaction would be to duck(which would be the dream come true way to evade humanoid opponent's attacks, but at this point I'm sure they are not doing it) , and if I could I would jump out of the way yes, but when I say jump I don't mean activate my foot rockets and dash 5m to the side, but a normal person jump backwards or sideways, and imagine if a giant bull/deer 3 eyed demon dashed at you, what would you do? My first reaction would be to dive to the side, but if I was an experienced monster slayer I would roll to get the hell out of the way.

if that gif above is any indication Geralt actually may have a roll move for those times. Which would make sense, diving and rolling should only be done in moments of desperation.

 

[JackieEstacado]

In the E3 Devs Commentary griffin demo we can see Geralt performing side pirouettes when fighting the last thug alive, so we have seen the dodging to all directions, except for the forward and forward diagonal dodging movement.

So it would make a lot of sense if a duck-under animation was implemented. Maybe it is not too late.
It would give a deeper twist to the combat. The only problem is that, to match the duck-under, the developers should separate enemy's high and middle attacks, so I don't know how easy it world be.

Anyway, I would like to see the attacks out of the pirouettes mentioned above, because they could be the watermark of the game and could make the difference between an epic combat system and an average one.

 

[Sharpy47]

Maybe this will answer some questions about the lack of animations on certain enemies. When Kinley @ Gamescom asked my question about the Dismemberment - if it's based on the body areas that you hit with you sword, Art producer Stan Just confirmed that it is based on the areas that you hit but he also said that different type of enemies/NPCs will have different dismemberment animations/body parts (here's what he said https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiVyGX-3sd8&t=0m25s).

^ I really hope that's not the case, because I don't want to see Geralt being limited to do certain amount of animations on human A, then certain amount of animations for monster B, then monster C etc... Any thoughts?

 

[sharpappple]

Just me or the or the igni sign in the demos has far less particles to it then the trailers:
Trailer:
http://i.minus.com/iEJjQAoYibkR7.gif
Gameplay:
http://youtu.be/tuPEam_Jt4I?t=2m10s

Don't know.....

have you considered the possibility that, in the game play video, the igni used is a less powerful, not yet leveled version, of the sign. maybe the igni from the trailer is still in the game.

wow, didn't realize someone already kind of said this.

 

[val.mitev]

Maybe this will answer some questions about the lack of animations on certain enemies. When Kinley @ Gamescom asked my question about the Dismemberment - if it's based on the body areas that you hit with you sword, Art producer Stan Just confirmed that it is based on the areas that you hit but he also said that different type of enemies/NPCs will have different dismemberment animations/body parts (here's what he said https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiVyGX-3sd8&t=0m25s).

^ I really hope that's not the case, because I don't want to see Geralt being limited to do certain amount of animations on human A, then certain amount of animations for monster B, then monster C etc... Any thoughts?

If you want fully custom dismemberment, well, you should see Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but there's no way that Geralt will be able to slice and dice in such a way.
I think this is just wishful thinking on your part and it's not feasible in reality.

I believe the dismemberment animations will be varied and will not happen too often, but there's a limit to everything. Let's not turn Geralt into a fruit ninja.

 

[Sharpy47]

If you want fully custom dismemberment, well, you should see Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but there's no way that Geralt will be able to slice and dice in such a way.
I think this is just wishful thinking on your part and it's not feasible in reality.

I believe the dismemberment animations will be varied and will not happen too often, but there's a limit to everything. Let's not turn Geralt into a fruit ninja.

You missed my point (or maybe I didn't explained it well enought) - I don't want to see Geralt being limited with certain amount of ANIMATIONS for certain targets, Im not talking just about dismemberment. I just hope that all those mentioned animations (or atleast bigger part of it) will be possible to perform on most of NPCs. I don't think it would be cool to see Geralt doing same animations all over and over again. Hope you get it

 

[val.mitev]

You missed my point (or maybe I didn't explained it well enought) - I don't want to see Geralt being limited with certain amount of ANIMATIONS for certain targets, Im not talking just about dismemberment. I just hope that all those mentioned animations (or atleast bigger part of it) will be possible to perform on most of NPCs. I don't think it would be cool to see Geralt doing same animations all over and over again. Hope you get it

I thought you meant only the dismemberment, my bad.

As for the general movement and actions, I hope there are more as well.
Most of the animations, like moving or just stepping slowly with a sword in hand while awaiting the enemies to attack or just preparing to attack while assessing the situation, should be applicable to most monsters/enemies so I hope there is variation there.

I wonder if the pirouette is triggered on purpose, like if you try to dodge to the side, instead of just side stepping back really quickly, thus leaving you in a better position to continue the attacks.

 

[HellKnightX88]

Maybe this will answer some questions about the lack of animations on certain enemies. When Kinley @ Gamescom asked my question about the Dismemberment - if it's based on the body areas that you hit with you sword, Art producer Stan Just confirmed that it is based on the areas that you hit but he also said that different type of enemies/NPCs will have different dismemberment animations/body parts (here's what he said https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiVyGX-3sd8&t=0m25s).

^ I really hope that's not the case, because I don't want to see Geralt being limited to do certain amount of animations on human A, then certain amount of animations for monster B, then monster C etc... Any thoughts?

I think here's referring to dismemberment animations and what not. I don't see why they'd wouldn't allow a certain type of thrust or slash for a monster. I think what he's referring to is similar to how finishers worked in the previous games: you could basically use everything against your enemies (with more or less success) but the finishers were dependent on the type of enemy. I think it's the same here, just that you don't get take out of the action like you did in TW2.

 

[Sharpy47]

@HellKnightX88 - I guess you are right.

 

[Bansai]

I hope for some decent parry system (still don't know why they didn't show it), the one in recently released Risen 3 is surprisingly good, aside from the fact that the combat itself in the game needs some serious rework.

As far as Dismemberments goes, I'm fine with anything as long as they are not happening 100% of the time I cut somebody, like someone said earlier, Geralt is not a fruit ninja or Raiden from MGR. I even made a topic about it: http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/30274-Dismemberment-in-TW3

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

HaHa @kagannpwnz "a fruit ninja"

 

[Daywalker30]

I'm not sure if this was mentioned or discussed but one thing that I noticed about the combat is the huge frequency about the spinning attack, especially as the first swing attack which isn't really practical when the enemy is really close to you.

Don't know the others see it, but I'd rather have fewer spinning attacks and after a few swings rather at the very beginning (depending on the enemies distance)