Combat in The Witcher 3

[EliHarel]

I find that GIF pretty damn cool, honestly. The only thing that bothers me is the final swing which is too fast, but it seems to me the GIF ends before we get to see the animation stop, and the FPS stuttering doesn't help. Beyond that, t looks good.

In general, CDPR are caught between a rock and a hard place regarding animations. If they go really fast to reflect the witchers' dazzling speed and honor the lore, there'll be complaints of the combat being, well, too fast. If they slow down his animations they risk upsetting the lore. Personally I'd slow Geralt down a tad so that we can enjoy the animations, but overall I like what we've seen so far, and it's a bit too early to decide.

The main footage I'm looking forward to is a long battle video on the hardest difficulty, with the latest build in smooth framerate, to see as many animations as possible and with the player focusing on dodging and blocking.

I don't expect it to be too different, though, if at all, from what we've seen.

 

[Garrison72]

@slimgrin Woah! Really? Can you share the link? Not that I don't believe you, it's just to exult and freak out.

It was in a QA thread with the community, but I can't find it. Gah. Take it with a grain of salt for now.

 

[Kinley]

Here you go :

Are there attack animations (finisher or simple hits) for enemies on ground? Like in TW1 for example?


Yes, there will be special finisher animations when killing a wounded or downed enemy.

 

[JackieEstacado]

Here you go :

Thank you! I am really happy about this. Now I just hope for improved A.I. and environment interaction in combat. But, nonetheless, I think I'm sold...

 

[pavliczech]

Animations are really beautiful. What i have slight problem with is transition from 1 animation to another; sometimes it seems that weapon just teleports to some position (gif on page 105). Another problem - for me - is, that once Geralt starts spinning, there is no stopping him. I can not even count, how many times i died in arena, just because left click started 2 seconds of animations, during which i had no control over the character. That was always a "dealbreaker" for me, because it seems just strange to have long attack animations in game, where you constantly fight more, than 1 enemy. I know CDPR based fighting on books and these are unfortunately full of spinny moves and other fantasies. If you are mutant, faster and more agile, than anyone else, the only way to capitalise on that is to take already fastest techniques and make them even faster.

On the other hand i love, that there seems to be no slow-mo, when you are about to parry and so on. Lots of games are slowing down the time during events to help player do an action in response.

 

[Geralt_of_bsas]

Animations are really beautiful. What i have slight problem with is transition from 1 animation to another; sometimes it seems that weapon just teleports to some position (gif on page 105). Another problem - for me - is, that once Geralt starts spinning, there is no stopping him. I can not even count, how many times i died in arena, just because left click started 2 seconds of animations, during which i had no control over the character. That was always a "dealbreaker" for me, because it seems just strange to have long attack animations in game, where you constantly fight more, than 1 enemy. I know CDPR based fighting on books and these are unfortunately full of spinny moves and other fantasies. If you are mutant, faster and more agile, than anyone else, the only way to capitalise on that is to take already fastest techniques and make them even faster.

On the other hand i love, that there seems to be no slow-mo, when you are about to parry and so on. Lots of games are slowing down the time during events to help player do an action in response.

What do you mean with saying that when Geralt starts spinning there is nothing stopping him?

The spinning combos are made up of individual swings you can either perform or not, thats why sometimes they dont look fluid and natural, because the player can interrupt the momentum when they want, which makes animations that go at the same speed no matter when you do them seem out of place.

 

[pavliczech]

Certain animations contain one full spin of body and these can not be stopped. If it was just a simple stab or cut, animation would end quickly and i could react.

 

[Geralt_of_bsas]

Certain animations contain one full spin of body and these can not be stopped. If it was just a simple stab or cut, animation would end quickly and i could react.

Oh yes, that is correct, I didnt understand the first time.

However it also is a matter of perspective I believe, spinning like that is meant for combos I think you couldnt do with simple stabs or cuts that dont give you a lot of momentum to keep going with more swings, so its a risk vs reward kind thing.

I hope the game will have moves to attack precisely and independently right when you need it, and others, like these ones, to combine swings and not let the enemies rest or react. Different tools/solutions for different problems, same as with strong but slow swings that use all of Geralt's body.

 

[altairon]

I dont think there is a 60 fps copy of that video, and it really do looks different in a video then it does in game, especially if the animation and graphics are advanced, that little 30 fps video can only but try to capture the motion and glory, but it will fail, i think it even makes it look worse, make it seem stuttering. Remember this comment when you start the game, and then please re-watch this old videos and compare for yourself. Bless your cynical mind, the world wouldn't have made it without it.

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

I would like to be able to just jump with a sword in my hand in general just because I can, I also want to be able to jump with my sword in my hand and push attack in mid-air whenever I want to in or out of combat. These little animation options make the game more fun in general, and gives players more believable control over Geralt. I bet the animations will look awesome.
e.g the jump attack Geralt animation in the witcher 2 was awesome, but I want to be the one making him do that whenever I want. I don't want to wait for the animation to cycle through and only be able to watch it like it was in the witcher 2, it really made me feel disconnected from Geralt as my main avatar on screen. Dragon's Dogma gave players the freedom with these kind of animations, I hope the witcher 3 gives us this kind of control freedom as well. I bet it will look way better than Dragon's Dogma and more realistic, I hope it's in the game because it's fun.

 

[Geralt_of_bsas]

I would like to be able to just jump with a sword in my hand in general just because I can, I also want to be able to jump with my sword in my hand and push attack in mid-air whenever I want to in or out of combat. These little animation options make the game more fun in general, and gives players more believable control over Geralt. I bet the animations will look awesome.
e.g the jump attack Geralt animation in the witcher 2 was awesome, but I want to be the one making him do that whenever I want. I don't want to wait for the animation to cycle through and only be able to watch it like it was in the witcher 2, it really made me feel disconnected from Geralt as my main avatar on screen. Dragon's Dogma gave players the freedom with these kind of animations, I hope the witcher 3 gives us this kind of control freedom as well. I bet it will look way better than Dragon's Dogma and more realistic, I hope it's in the game because it's fun.

This is one of the reasons why I love the Rise of the Sword mod for TW2, it lets you use all the animations from the arsenal, whenever you want at your own discretion. Instantly reduces the frustration of jumping into a group of enemies because its now your clear fault, and enhances general control,makes the game exiting because of added improvisation during combat and puts a bit of focus on having creativity when attacking. The game wasnt ready for that system of course so it became a bit too easy, but the fun factor increased immensely for me.

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

Word

 

[Sharpy47]

Man Dragon's Dogma had amazing combat... If Witcher 3 will be anything like that it would be fantastic.

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

Yeah, the only thing that looked stupid to me in Dragon's Dogmas combat, was the block animations while walking looked real stupid like we were just floating across the ground. The walk animations kinda sucked too, and the graphics could have been much better but it was still fun as hell! I like to pretend it looking as good as The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. I know some of the combat moves in Dragon's Dogma were a little over the top and, I fully expect Geralts moves to be more natural,real and yet fast and super-human looking in The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. As long as it's smooth, quick and awesome looking while fun to play I'll keep coming back for more. Please no floating Geralt while blocking and walking lol.. I can only imagine Geralt climbing that griffin in real time game play and kicking it's ass in mid-air like Dragon's Dogma, but witcher style would be really fucking awesome if CDPR did it well. All in All.. last I knew CAPCOM is making Dragon's Dogma 2 right now, and I bet the open world graphics and detail wont even come close to the graphics of The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. But I'm really looking forward to it, it's the closest thing to my ideal RPG dream game so far, and The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt looks like it's going to give me what I wanted in Dragon's Dogma but could never have. e.g CGI looking in game graphics, a mature story, a bigger world, a horse, swiming etc..etc. holy shit I could go on and on..it's simple, THE WITCHER 3 WILD HUNT OWNS.

 

[Sharpy47]

I agree with most except the graphics. It's nowhere close to CGI and there are already other games that just simply look better than W3.. That being said it's still a very good looking game.

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

I agree with most except the graphics. It's nowhere close to CGI and there are already other games that just simply look better than W3.. That being said it's still a very good looking game.

I...don't know... I have to see it for myself this May 19th.
It's going to look close to it I bet, maybe it's just because no other game has this style of art. I just don't want to see anything else, the art direction of the witcher 3 is what I have always wanted to see in a video game like this since forever ago but never thought it would be possible until now. So..Yeah, nothing else in this genre sparks my interest at all.
I'm not being narrow minded here, I just have really good fucking taste in all things awesome!!! *toot toot* lol...

 

[PrincessCiri]

From what I've seen in the videos, the combat already looks great. I liked the combat in the Witcher 2, so I expect I will like Witcher 3's combat too. I will be sad if the Witcher 3 lacks Geralt's giant twirling leaps across the battlefield though, those were fun. I did enjoy seeing Geralt stab one enemy and then spin madly to the other end of the screen, stab another guy and repeat the process. It was like a very bloody dance.

 

[JackieEstacado]

My major concern is the dash/dodge system. To me back dash looks broken and should be toned down, or at least balanced to give the side pirouettes and the other elusive maneuvers the same effectiveness. There should be moments in which one maneuver is dangerous and another is safe.

Also enemy A.I. should be at least decent (please, no one would walk on a Yrden sign cast three meters away) and diversified according to the opponent's belonging group (thug, soldier, knight, swords master and so on...).

 

[Aes Sídhe]

There should be moments in which one maneuver is dangerous and another is safe.

Aye, the reward for carelessness should be sharp and immediate

please, no one would walk on a Yrden sign cast three meters away.

I always assumed the aura of magics, particularly Yrden, is invisible to all but Geralt and maybe other trained or gifted types. Have you thought your proposal through though, particularly the nerfing effect on Yrden if the mobs can see it ?

Not something that bothers me

Theres a lot we just won't know until launch, but one thing we do know for certain is they have fixed TW2's major combat flaw, its weak & rather nonsensical - or at least unintuitive - targeting.

 

[JackieEstacado]

Aye, the reward for carelessness should be sharp and immediate



I always assumed the aura of magics, particularly Yrden, is invisible to all but Geralt and maybe other trained or gifted types. Have you thought your proposal through though, particularly the nerfing effect on Yrden if the mobs can see it ?

Not something that bothers me

Theres a lot we just won't know until launch, but one thing we do know for certain is they have fixed TW2's major combat flaw, its weak & rather nonsensical - or at least unintuitive - targeting.

What do you mean with "reward for carelessness"? Were you sarcastic or were you agreeing with me on that part?
About Yrden, if you casted it at one meter distance when the enemy was running at you, then it would be plausible for him to walk right into the trap and I don't think it would break the gameplay and the chance of use of that particular sign.
The not-visible-to-others stuff doesn't make sense because visually, it doesn't differentiate Yrden from other signs' brightness (and the enemies see Igni working).
If they wanted to recreate the sense of invisibility, then they would have used an effect that reminded or recalled invisibility or transparency.
An A.I. issue is and remains an A.I. issue for me. And in this case it is a bad impression in the game.
Plus, that is one of the only mechanics that were shown in the demo gameplay footages, so I can argue with a certain degree of consciousness about it.
It is simply poor, compared to the rest in my opinion.

One more thing: this is supposed to be a next-gen game, so I think that asking for a slightly more believable A.I. than the one featured in last gen titles is legitimate.

By the way, the hints I give are just hints, wishes to make a better game; in fact I am looking forward to this title (my purchase of a ps4 will depend on its quality) and it would be a pity if TW3 will come out as an average game and not as the masterpiece (I am quite sure it will be) it is advertised to be.