(PC) Movement and controls responsiveness
I am going to try to explain what I think are the two most annoying and important issues with TW3's movement, at least on PC, as I can't test out the console versions.
First and foremost, I'll say that these issues could be argued against as being "realistic", but in the end they damage the player's feel of response from the controls, so I think they are in fact something to be fixed.
The first thing I noticed when I started playing TW3 was that Geralt, although using KB/M to control him, doesn't start running at the usual speed when you press the "W" key, instead, he starts to walk, and after a short period of time (almost a full second) he gets into his running animation. This translates into the player not being able to know where the character will end up after a couple of seconds of movement, and has been the main issue for me when trying to move close to an object to interact with it, only to end up moving too far and having to go back. This is also inconsistent, since this it isn't always the case. If you move forward, for let's say, 5 seconds, and stop moving, but then immediately start moving forward again, Geralt won't start walking like before, but instead, he'll go into his running animation directly. But if after stopping your movement, you wait, let's say, 1 to 2 full seconds, then he goes into his usual walk- then-run deal. This is very frustrating and specially so, close to cliffs or ledges. This could be fixed by making Geralt always go into his running animation with KB/M controls, and only walk when the "toggle walk" key is pressed.
This issue is worsened by the fact that Geralt doesn't stop as soon as you stop pressing the "W" key, he instead decelerates for about 0.25 seconds, and then stops. This is why, in TW3, if you want to fully control the character close to a cliff or similar surface, you have to go into walking mode, or else you're probably going to fall off.
Compare this to a game like Dark Souls, in which you have the same kind of controls for movement, but the character starts and stops immediately at your command, and you can see why the movement feels so unresponsive here.
Edit: If needed, I can exemplify this in video format, although it's easier to understand if you try this out for yourself in-game.
Edit 2: I'm going to add that most of these issues are related to the game and not the control scheme, since both X360 and DS2 gamepads present the same issues on PC.
I am going to try to explain what I think are the two most annoying and important issues with TW3's movement, at least on PC, as I can't test out the console versions.
First and foremost, I'll say that these issues could be argued against as being "realistic", but in the end they damage the player's feel of response from the controls, so I think they are in fact something to be fixed.
The first thing I noticed when I started playing TW3 was that Geralt, although using KB/M to control him, doesn't start running at the usual speed when you press the "W" key, instead, he starts to walk, and after a short period of time (almost a full second) he gets into his running animation. This translates into the player not being able to know where the character will end up after a couple of seconds of movement, and has been the main issue for me when trying to move close to an object to interact with it, only to end up moving too far and having to go back. This is also inconsistent, since this it isn't always the case. If you move forward, for let's say, 5 seconds, and stop moving, but then immediately start moving forward again, Geralt won't start walking like before, but instead, he'll go into his running animation directly. But if after stopping your movement, you wait, let's say, 1 to 2 full seconds, then he goes into his usual walk- then-run deal. This is very frustrating and specially so, close to cliffs or ledges. This could be fixed by making Geralt always go into his running animation with KB/M controls, and only walk when the "toggle walk" key is pressed.
This issue is worsened by the fact that Geralt doesn't stop as soon as you stop pressing the "W" key, he instead decelerates for about 0.25 seconds, and then stops. This is why, in TW3, if you want to fully control the character close to a cliff or similar surface, you have to go into walking mode, or else you're probably going to fall off.
Compare this to a game like Dark Souls, in which you have the same kind of controls for movement, but the character starts and stops immediately at your command, and you can see why the movement feels so unresponsive here.
Edit: If needed, I can exemplify this in video format, although it's easier to understand if you try this out for yourself in-game.
Edit 2: I'm going to add that most of these issues are related to the game and not the control scheme, since both X360 and DS2 gamepads present the same issues on PC.
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