Combat in The Witcher 3

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I'd rather be able to parry from all sorts directions, maybe more than once at the same time like the batman games do with melee combat, rather than the alternative when facing multiple enemies which is constantly attack and dodge, attack and dodge, rinse and repeat which was the witcher 2's combat.

All the combat I've seen has been attack-dodge, I haven't seen anyone stand their ground and try parrying vs multiple targets yet. Not in the trailers and not in the leaked twitch gameplay today.
 
I'd rather be able to parry from all sorts directions, maybe more than once at the same time like the batman games do with melee combat, rather than the alternative when facing multiple enemies which is constantly attack and dodge, attack and dodge, rinse and repeat which was the witcher 2's combat.

All the combat I've seen has been attack-dodge, I haven't seen anyone stand their ground and try parrying vs multiple targets yet. Not in the trailers and not in the leaked twitch gameplay today.

I don't know, probably they still didn't enhance reversal in the tree skill or they just don't think about using it.
Anyway, I've seen it sparely used, so I suppose it depends on the play style. If it is possible to perform a chain of slashes switching from an enemy to another, then it should also be possible to parry multiple times.
It's just that we didn't try the game, so we can't know exactly how it will work.
 
Am I the only one that thinks the enemies are being knocked back too much? When Geralt do consecutive strikes he often missed the 3rd/4th strike.
 
Wow! Make that 5 Yes's! That little girl kicks ass lol.. :)


 
Any word on group finishers? Similar to in the witcher 2?

Also, I am pretty confident we can parry multiple times in quick succession. But no one has done this, because for some reason many people like rolling around.
 
I don't know, probably they still didn't enhance reversal in the tree skill or they just don't think about using it.
Anyway, I've seen it sparely used, so I suppose it depends on the play style. If it is possible to perform a chain of slashes switching from an enemy to another, then it should also be possible to parry multiple times.
It's just that we didn't try the game, so we can't know exactly how it will work.

the best example of combat was in the CDPR twitch stream. if you can find it than they demonstrate 3 builds of geralt against the same bandits in the same location. so the dev playing parried a lot and in many cases tryied to time-parry to know back the enemy and open him up. however i dont remember seeing him parry multiple enemies at once or in rapid succession.
 
Am I the only one that thinks the enemies are being knocked back too much? When Geralt do consecutive strikes he often missed the 3rd/4th strike.
Yeah... I think I saw that. I was wondering if that had been the enemy taking the hit but not staggering to it (poise). But if you say he is actually missing, I go with you. I actually wonder if that's intentional, too prevent Geralt from stun-locking enemies too easily.

As for the consecutive parries, I'm pretty sure I saw it. I think it was on the Game Spot combat video. I on't think he can parry from his back, though. It seems to be a 180 degrees thingy.

Can someone pretty please find this twitch stream? I really wanna see a parry heavy gameplay. Didn't anyone put it on youtube? CDPR shoulda put it there themselves, I guess. Pleeaase.
 
Yeah... I think I saw that. I was wondering if that had been the enemy taking the hit but not staggering to it (poise). But if you say he is actually missing, I go with you. I actually wonder if that's intentional, too prevent Geralt from stun-locking enemies too easily.

As for the consecutive parries, I'm pretty sure I saw it. I think it was on the Game Spot combat video. I on't think he can parry from his back, though. It seems to be a 180 degrees thingy.

Can someone pretty please find this twitch stream? I really wanna see a parry heavy gameplay. Didn't anyone put it on youtube? CDPR shoulda put it there themselves, I guess. Pleeaase.
Here you go.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-05-new-witcher-3-dev-diary-and-live-gameplay-q-and-a

Also, I'm gonna guess that if you improve the parrying to the max then you can block and counter attacks coming from behind as well. But it's just a hunch. Or wish.
 
I've tried to make a bit of an abilities tree, but since tommorrow we have elections here and i'm head of election comitee i didn't have a lot of time. I've had to rephrase some abilities descriptions since there is a lot of confusing one's and even some gramma mistakes. CDPR should work a bit on them. As you see i didnt catch all of them, but i'll try to fill out the blanks later. I have a bit more material on signs and alchemy. I'll try to make a wikia page out of it later.

edit - oh, i've already found some missing abilities. Update soon :)

 

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So the only parry moves I seen so far is a kick to an enemy and a shoulder barge. I don't know if parrying multiple enemies is possible in this kind of game. It's not like Batman I don't think.
 
Here you go.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-05-new-witcher-3-dev-diary-and-live-gameplay-q-and-a

Also, I'm gonna guess that if you improve the parrying to the max then you can block and counter attacks coming from behind as well. But it's just a hunch. Or wish.

as you can see from the skills posted above there are almost no ACTIVE UPGRADES that make you play differently. not int he combat tree at least. the only active skill is time parrying arrows that deflects them back to the shooter. that's really cool but it's the only ability that seem to be active, as in "you need to implement it yourself". everything else seem passive. a big disappointment, IMO. same reason why i am NOT a fan of the souls game.
i am pretty sure that the SIGNS tree will give one active skill to each sign since you can tap the sign button or hold it for two different effects.

So the only parry moves I seen so far is a kick to an enemy and a shoulder barge. I don't know if parrying multiple enemies is possible in this kind of game. It's not like Batman I don't think.

i saw gerlat parry a wolf that attacked form behind, so im pretty sure there isnt a problem to parry a few attacks in rapid succession.
 
Here you go.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-05-05-new-witcher-3-dev-diary-and-live-gameplay-q-and-a

Also, I'm gonna guess that if you improve the parrying to the max then you can block and counter attacks coming from behind as well. But it's just a hunch. Or wish.
I actually hope this won't be the case. The Vigor limitation is already small (which I find to be a good thing). If you make it so the angle is not required, than there would be practically no limit to your parries against humans.

And thanks a lot for the link!

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...'TF!?

There is a skill that at level five would allow you to take no damage when dodging. So much for "no i frames". :sad:

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as you can see from the skills posted above there are almost no ACTIVE UPGRADES that make you play differently. not int he combat tree at least. the only active skill is time parrying arrows that deflects them back to the shooter. that's really cool but it's the only ability that seem to be active, as in "you need to implement it yourself". everything else seem passive. a big disappointment, IMO. same reason why i am NOT a fan of the souls game.
i am pretty sure that the SIGNS tree will give one active skill to each sign since you can tap the sign button or hold it for two different effects.
There seems to be an active skill for spinning attacks in the fast attack tree. And another one for an attack that consumes vigor, in the strong attack tree (or it could be about dealing more daage when your vigor is low, such as using a sign and immediatly using a strong attack (in which case it woul dbe apassive skill... but the fast attack one really seems active).

And yeah, dude... I also dislike the Soul Series for lack of "Active Weapon Skills". But the Signs in the Witcher will take most of the role of active weapon skills. They simply have a skin more towards spells. It will be alright. Won't be the dull static combat of the Soul Series.
 
I remain critical of the lack of any distance closing attacks. I saw a few in past vids, now it seems Geralt has to slash his way to reaching the target. It just doesn't look right. Why not have an animation where Geralt actually reaches the target, and then attacks?
 
The fast attack includes a big advance with the spin. And you can step towards your opponent and then attack. It seems alright. I think only previous Witcher and "free flow" combat games have a very long reach. For guys who got used to the Soul Series, I think the range on TW3 seems very natural. It's just more manual, whereas the stuff you seem to be used to was more automatic. You don't need to whiff your way in. Just step and strike.
 
as you can see from the skills posted above there are almost no ACTIVE UPGRADES that make you play differently. not int he combat tree at least. the only active skill is time parrying arrows that deflects them back to the shooter. that's really cool but it's the only ability that seem to be active, as in "you need to implement it yourself". everything else seem passive. a big disappointment, IMO. same reason why i am NOT a fan of the souls game.
i am pretty sure that the SIGNS tree will give one active skill to each sign since you can tap the sign button or hold it for two different effects.

There are more than that in Swordsmanship. You can also pick up Whirl which is an AE spin attack and Rend is the overhead charge attack we've seen that has a chance of chopping an enemy in half (probably requires max stamina). You have some additional utility with the skill that heals you based on Adrenaline and Crippling shot which makes the crossbow quite useful for a swords build since it can disable special monster abilities.

Also, like they showed in the twitch video, theres some interesting interaction with other trees. Swords will be generating a lot of adrenaline so taking the skill that lets you the option of casting signs opens up a lot of versatility.

...'TF!?

There is a skill that at level five would allow you to take no damage when dodging. So much for "no i frames". :sad:

It doesnt make it so that you are immune, it simply reduces the damage you take. In the picture it is reducing it by only 20%, I assume its adding 10% per point for a max of 50%.
 
I remain critical of the lack of any distance closing attacks. I saw a few in past vids, now it seems Geralt has to slash his way to reaching the target. It just doesn't look right. Why not have an animation where Geralt actually reaches the target, and then attacks?

I kind of agree with this, I notice sometimes the lack of a quick and straightforward attack that could be used to short distance and hit as fast as you get near the enemy.

Slashing your way to the enemy is bad of course, but its also mostly related to player skill, if you're not in sword range, dont swing. But at the same time, to do that, it seems players need to either dodge towards the far away enemy, or roll, which has a lot of problems naturally because you cannot attack immediately after those, and the distances of those moves might not "fit" just right enough, so you may roll one time and end up passing the enemy or recovering in front of him while he hits you.

The fast attack includes a big advance with the spin. And you can step towards your opponent and then attack. It seems alright. I think only previous Witcher and "free flow" combat games have a very long reach. For guys who got used to the Soul Series, I think the range on TW3 seems very natural. It's just more manual, whereas the stuff you seem to be used to was more automatic. You don't need to whiff your way in. Just step and strike.

The difference here is that TW3 is much faster than souls, and more lethal and unforgiving than Batman. Plus like I said above, it seems that to get fast towards and enemy and also hit as fast as possible, which with TW2 animations wasnt a problem at all (it was even fun), in TW3 you need to perform unreliable and inaccurate moves to cover distance that render you vulnerable right when you need to hit, which is at the end of the movement to get close to the enemy.

I think this is once again one of those things that can be "solved" if Geralt could seamlessly and quickly go into sprint running from his combat stance and hit with that momentum. I haven't seen proof of that yet, but I hope its there and that it works well.
 
It doesnt make it so that you are immune, it simply reduces the damage you take. In the picture it is reducing it by only 20%, I assume its adding 10% per point for a max of 50%.
Oh yeah! Ma' bad. It was at level 2. So at level 5 it'd probbly lower 50%, which is OK. Thanks for easing my mind.

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I think this is once again one of those things that can be "solved" if Geralt could seamlessly and quickly go into sprint running from his combat stance and hit with that momentum. I haven't seen proof of that yet, but I hope its there and that it works well.
I also hope we can do that. Imagine using Aard at long range a knocking a guy down even farther. A lunge and a spin might not be enough to reach him. In such a case, manually running in to finish him would be necessary.

I'm watching the stream now. After they talk about difficulty levels is there anymore combat? EDIT: nevermind that... I watched the stuff.

And is anyone worried about the Alternate Quen being OP? It's sounding crazier than Inquisition's Walking Fortress. I'm hoping there will be a time limit to the secondary Quen, despite it not costing stamina at all.
 
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I remain critical of the lack of any distance closing attacks. I saw a few in past vids, now it seems Geralt has to slash his way to reaching the target. It just doesn't look right. Why not have an animation where Geralt actually reaches the target, and then attacks?
I kind of agree with this, I notice sometimes the lack of a quick and straightforward attack that could be used to short distance and hit as fast as you get near the enemy.

Slashing your way to the enemy is bad of course, but its also mostly related to player skill, if you're not in sword range, dont swing. But at the same time, to do that, it seems players need to either dodge towards the far away enemy, or roll, which has a lot of problems naturally because you cannot attack immediately after those, and the distances of those moves might not "fit" just right enough, so you may roll one time and end up passing the enemy or recovering in front of him while he hits you.
I think that options is in. There's this post of @Shavod 's from a few months ago that says you can:

- in gry-online video about combat one journalist said that Geralt still can quickly beat the distance between him and enemy by jump attacking him like in The Witcher 2, but difference is that he's not doing that automatically this time around. You do that by holding light attack button, which is useful to catch fleeing enemies, if you choose "no survivors" policy. That's pretty cool, as it gives you a more control over character without taking anything away.

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/33354-Interviews-and-Articles-2015?p=1542435#post1542435

I hop that hasn't changed, or wasn't a mistake.

I think this is once again one of those things that can be "solved" if Geralt could seamlessly and quickly go into sprint running from his combat stance and hit with that momentum. I haven't seen proof of that yet, but I hope its there and that it works well.
I remember reading that you can "break" away from your combat stance if you need to run away to fight another day, so I imagine you can just as well run towards a different enemy instead of out of battle. I don't know how fluid it is, but I'm pretty sure the option is there.
 
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