I'm afraid it's nothing new, but thanks for sharing. May I also suggest that you use
this thread next time you find an interesting article
@
alyza Well, the idea behind the system is that you have to learn about what situation you're about to get yourself into. It encourages research and preperation before battle - TW2 was similar in that regard. However, in TW2 potions had a fixed amount of time of being active, so you could end up wasting the potion effect before reaching the fight you were preparing for (e.g. boss at the end of chapter 2). Now, you'll be able to active that effect when it matters, making potions more useful than they were in previous title, while still retaining that added layer of complexity that preperation prior to an encounter introduces.
Apart from the benefit of an added tactical challenge, drinking potions before instead of during battles is also more consistent with lore.
What is however completely inconsistent and illogical IMO is the fact that you can just drink them and "release" the effect later.
I mean, if I drink a potion the effect kicks in, and if the potion is "processed" by my body the effect is over.
It#s not like you can "hold" those potions in a gland somewhere in your body and then "release" them on command, that is ridiculous.
Why not do it in a way that you have to "prepare" the potions, but if you are attacked then you can quickly drink them, but only those potions that you already "prepared" (imagine Geralt prepares them and stashes them at his belt or something like that).
But "activating the effect"? Idk.... I mean yeah, one could argue that those potion effects are only "activated" by adrenaline. But then again, you do not HAVE to activate them. I think that is immersion breaking.
IMO they should have just done it like in TW2, with the difference that you can quick-drink 1 potion (which makes you unable to walk for a few seconds), and only 1 during a combat situation. And to make the boss fights better you just establish a "preparation phase" before a boss battle where Geralt says something like "I should prepare for the fight".
I don't know what's so hard there....
I don't like that idea....
this activating mechanic is similar to drinking during combat
Exactly. There is absolutely NO difference except of the fact that you have to choose the potions BEFORE combat and except of the animation.
In the end drinking before the combat and then releasing the effect is the same as if you would have "chosen" the potions before the fight and then just quick-drank them during combat.
And in this case they might as well have done it that way.
Example: You find out about a large cave full of Nekkers. You meditate in front of that cave and ingest potions that you think will serve you well when facing Nekkers. You enter the cave, explore for a while until you find a victim of the Nekkers, still breathing. You talk to him for a while until he passes away and continue deeper into the caves, until at last you find the Nekkers' nest and battle ensues.
Scenario TW2: Your potions last for 10min and run out either during exploration or during dialogue, maybe they even last for a few seconds into the fight. Preparation was useless and in vain.
Scenario TW3: Your "passively ingested" potions last for several ingame hours, easily long enough to explore the caves. You activate their effects which last for a couple of minutes when the combat begins. If you don't activate them, your passive potions expire soon after your adventure in the caves.
Scenario TW2 (for me): I take light potions at first and go into the cave. I find the victim and talk to him, then before going deeper I take new potions, IF my old ones run out. If not, alo good.
Scemario TW3 (for me): I have prepared potions and go in, I activate them on a harder encounter whenever I like and the effect holds 5 - 10 min.
Same for me, only that TW2 requires more preparation and know-how of the Witcher universe and more sense of when to take the potions.
(On a side note: I hope there will be negative effects of overdose and long-time poisoning again, it was kind of lame in TW2 that we could not take too much and have temporary good effects which turned bad after a while)
it would be even cooler if even some of the passive ones affected Geralt's apperance, like getting very pale and dialated pupils or getting visibly crazy with anger like when he killed the michelet brothers
Absolutely. I really hope they slightly alter his appearance based on potions taken or at least indicate in his appearance when he took a potion and when he is "clean", I want to see the difference. That is part of the awesomeness.
I respect CDPR's work very much, but it's for this very reason that I find myself really saddened by their decision, which is most likely already final. But seriously, it's stupid. "Metabolism: Activate!" is stupid. At least make him select three potions during meditation and then let him drink them on the fly whenever he wants, like his shoulder belt in the first The Witcher suggests. Come on, guys. Something that makes sense.
This.
Not the same at all really. If you consume the potion beforehand but choose not to activate its effect, then you've wasted it, it will eventually wear off and there's no way to get it back. If you have it on your belt or w/e, you just put it back in your inventory - there's no downside to not taking risks. Furthermore, if you've drunk 3 potions, your toxicity is maxed, can't replace them without meditating and losing all of the potions you had consumed previously. If you have 3 in your belt, it's very easy just to swap one potion on your belt for another from your inventory without any downsides
1. That is true, but then again, if you have already taken a potion you can not take another one, and if the effect is for 1 hour or more it becomes really annoying to always take potions and then either meditate if you want to take another or wait until the potion is out of your system. In that regard the potions in TW2 were better because they had short effects and you didn't have to wait so long to get them out of your system. Non the less, I agree on that point.
2. Disagreed. I think if you are actively NOT able to switch potions from your belt and your inventory during combat that makes the preparation still important while not enabling you to switch potions fast. Which means if you equipped the 3 potions you have to stick with them until you are out of combat and can meditate again.
In the long run - IMO - the potion-belt just makes more sense than this metabolism activation nonsense.
Just speculating here, but maybe the new mechanic is designed to accommodate the large game world. In TW2, you were sure to run into enemies after you drank since the areas were small. Once you left town, it'd take a minute or two to cross paths with something hostile. Encounters In TW3 will likely be spread much further apart, so a potion with a 5 minute buff becomes useless
Not true.
Seriously, any good player who knows the Witcher would never drink a potion right after taking the quest, he would take the potion after his first encounter with the enemy he was searching for. In most cases those are weaker specimens of the same species. So you could slay them, then drink the potions and then go on and kill the rest.
Keeping potions in stock would be a chore and the amount of meditation needed to drink the potions would be a pain in the ass.
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That also counts 100% for this "metabolism" method since you would have to prepare, take the potions and activate them non the less, and if you want to get them out of the system you need to meditate as well.
And another thing. Based on how long the effects actually hold it might even be a waste to use the potions. Imagine you can "activate" the potion during 2 hours of ingame time but the potion itself only holds 3 - 5 minutes.
In my ideal fantasy, my Geralt could be walking slowly through the trees and bushes for 5 minutes before he even picks up a sign of something, let alone an enemy.
That is kind of what I hope does NOT happen. Because honestly that way the world would be way too empty for me.
Maybe he takes that long or even longer to find the monster he searches for, but IMO there should definitely be monsters outside of the settlements, regularly. I do not want to wander through completely open space.
Of course the wilderness should not be crowded with enemies every 2 inches, but at least every 3 - 5 minutes I want to encounter an enemy group or two. Or at least normal dangerous wild animals.
n such a scenario, having immediate and short-term duration on potions is bad, because:
You either waste them, in case you drank while in the city.
Or, and this is worst in my opinion, you break the flow of the game, because after 5 minutes of investigating the forest, the game will have to inform you in some way that there's a battle ahead, so you could prepare properly. This is more immersion-breaking than "frozen" potions, and it creates an old-gen and artificial border between "traveling" and "battling" that should go away in next-gen. It butchers the element of surprise.
Okay.
1. Normally I take my potions after the first encounter with the monster species I am searching for. If it is not a unique big boss monster then normally there are more of them and there are weak ones (at the outskirts of their territory) and stronger ones (further down the path). So that is no problem.
2. I agree that it is a waste with short-term potions that you can only take out of combat, but I think a system like the potion-belt makes just so much more sense than the "metabolism" one.
This is why I think there is merit in this middle-ground: you neither have 10-minutes lasting buffs from Witcher 2, nor 20-hours lasting buffs from Witcher 1. But for this to work, there are a few conditions that I see:
- Difficulty. It needs to be crazy-tough, in my opinion. Otherwise, the whole preparation aspect is just decoration that you could easily do without. The difference between researching an area for its monsters, and then researching monsters for their weaknesses, so you can prepare the potions in advance, shouldn't be between "a tough battle" and an "easier battle". It should be the difference between "death" and "a tough battle".
- Investigation. It needs to be interesting and challenging, and that each monster's weaknesses and strength are crucial enough to warrant the use of potions, and different ones at that, based on the battle. Due to the (hopefully high) difficulty, I'd like for the preliminary investigation to have to be thorough. Something beyond just reading a book. Or at least, not have that book available in every bookstore.
- Potions. CDPR needs to create many potions, which are distinctly different, while all of them are equally useful.
I mostly agree on that.
