The Witcher 3 Alchemy System

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The Witcher 3 Alchemy System

  • Yes

    Votes: 250 24.3%
  • No

    Votes: 270 26.2%
  • I need to see it in action to be sure

    Votes: 294 28.6%
  • I prefer the system of TW1

    Votes: 363 35.3%
  • I prefer the system of TW2

    Votes: 104 10.1%

  • Total voters
    1,029
the main reason why people don't use (most) potions in rpgs is because there are so many, and half of them can be replaced with a simple stat-regen potion. I only ever used like 3 kinds of potions in the witcher 2, because I found them superior to the others. so this can be fixed by making interesting potions.
and the reason why a lot of people don't use potions in the witcher specifically is because meditating before entering an area is an alien concept for most gamers. not because they had to collect the ingredients and are afraid to use them. if they want to get people to use potions, all they need to implement is a skyrim-like "chug 50 of them on a pause screen then continue fighting"-mechanic. making potions infinite doesn't seem like a solution to the problem to me. show me someone who has problems picking and then using flowers. I don't think there are a lot of people like that...
 
I don't mind the auto-replenishing, I don't like the idea of only needing the ingredients the first time. It sounds like the way that DA2 did it, and it basically took away all of the concept of crafting. That goes a lot further than just removing grinding from the game.

While I'm one of the only defenders of the new concept for auto-refill potions, I do so with hope that it will not damage the collecting/looting aspect of the game. If there is a vast amount of different recipes for different potions, each of which is upgradable many times - the collecting aspect of the game will be OK.
 
I agree with most of the things, but that would be a horrible.

yes, of course, but that's the most effective solution. EDIT: I just wrote it to show an "even better" alternative to people who like this new mechanic :D but it would work even with a drinking animation after selecting a potion. the point is that the player has to have an incentive to drink a potion. and the best one is low health. if the encounters are hard enough and the players can drink potions mid-combat (which I realized is actually confirmed), then I don't see why anyone wouldn't use potions. they would have to.
I think eliminating "potion-drinking only while meditating" is already a solution to the problem.
 
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and the reason why a lot of people don't use potions in the witcher specifically is because meditating before entering an area is an alien concept for most gamers. not because they had to collect the ingredients and are afraid to use them. if they want to get people to use potions, all they need to implement is a skyrim-like "chug 50 of them on a pause screen then continue fighting"-mechanic. making potions infinite doesn't seem like a solution to the problem to me. show me someone who has problems picking and then using flowers. I don't think there are a lot of people like that...
Well, you don't really need potions on easy mode in TW2. There is nothing wrong with that.

But to someone who is not used to the "drink potions before combat" will get used to it very soon in hard mode when monsters are deadly and Geralt hardly survive without using potions. At least that's what hard mode should mean in TW3 imo... ;)

Only the actual needs of the gamers directly evolved by gameplay should bring them to use potions before battle. There is no stupid Skyrim system needed here at all.

And the word "solution" indicates that there was a severe problem/issue in the first place. But there wasn't any severe issue....
 
And the word "solution" indicates that there was a severe problem/issue in the first place. But there wasn't any severe issue....

well that's how they explain this change. that they had to do something to get people to use potions.

I would agree with everything else you said, I got used to meditating before combat pretty fast, but apparently cdpr thinks that wasn't the case for a lot of people. and I guess I can understand that, it is different from most mainstream games.
 
Well, if the player was able to keep potions the game was just not difficult enough. And there is nothing wrong with gamers who store their potions. I can't recall many gamers complaining about that very feature in TW2, not at all.

And even if there was an issue, the so-called solution is even worse. Great.

In TW2 I was always under the effect of some potion, I liked mixing different potions for different play styles.
Because it was easy to have ingredients, you could always brew the potions you need and use them, they helped a lot.

It was especially useful in the Arena mode, where you could rapidly try out different styles of character development in combination with potions, bombs and traps.

I really hope they don't simplify it that much. I get their point and it is valid to certain extent, but come on.
 

R7S

Forum regular
New Alchemy - Infinite Refiling Potions

If you don't heard about automatically refilling potions, here's the video:

http://youtu.be/-CvA3reLuH8?t=3m45s

I think many players will agree, that magically auto-refiling potions is not the way of true RPG game.
It looks like good decision for low difficulties, new players and console-players, but not for hardcore RPG gamers.

For me the alchemy in The Witcher 1 was the best alchemy i ever saw in RPG games. Smart and simple albedo-rubedo-nigredo system, many ingredients, unique ingredients for mutagen potions...
 
Many people on this forum love to complain and accuse CDPR of dumbing down the game, but they don't understand that for knowing if something is being dumbed down or not, you need to know the overall game balance, because even a system with infinite potions, could absolutely destroy a "limited potions" system regarding complexity and challenge, if developed properly.

So the change that I really want to point out, especially to the RED team, is that this mechanic, in theory, puts the "challenge" and skill, in finding just the right ingredients for the first time, which will probably be extremely well hidden in an open world, and also getting the recipes, which again, is probably going to be much harder than in previous games.

Whats different? In the previous Witcher games, part of the challenge, was shared with resource management, even though finding ingredients was so easy it was a chore, TW3 seems to do away with this and rather focus everything on the exploration and discovery, methods through which you "unlock" new potions.

So the change is not dumbing down (in theory), but rather a change of balance, a shift of power, more difficulty and complexity is added in finding ingredients and recipes that unlock potions for the first time, and in return complexity and challenge get taken away from constant resource management, which to be fair, wasn't working in the previous witcher games, cause you had literally hundreds of plants available.in your inventory, kind of funny actually, is as if we had unlimited potions all along.

@Marcin Momot when we get ingredients to improve our potions, is this improvement permanent? like leveling up? or we need to actively search for these ingredients every time we want to have a "powerful" version of a potion available? Are bombs and traps also "unlocked" rather than crafted, meaning they are unlimited once created the first time?

I personally like the idea behind making players use potions more, but I would keep resource management as part of the fun in there, and not just the other aspects that let you use the potions, so:

My perfect potion system, would include the challenges I am sure you guys will add in finding recipes and ingredients for the first time, but also include a type of resource management challenge, for example, keep the infinite potions if you want, but make it so that ingredients use is flexible, so the more plants and stuff you want to concentrate in one potion take, the more powerful it is (and toxic), and the infinite " version" that refills is rather weak, but useful enough for regular combat encounters.
Alternatively, make potions' duration and number of uses based on the alchemical base, such as many types of alcohol, so we have to manage that resource, if not ingredients.
As another alternative side change, turn off health regeneration completely and/or include permanent wounded states that need special limited health potions to be cured, or a doctor in a city, etc.

People loved resource management from TW1, not much because of the ingredients like i said, but because of alcohol, which is not surprising is something that gets brought up frequently, it was the only needed resource that was truly kind of limited compared to plants and etc. Same reaons why people loved rubiolo, albedo and nigredo, it made some ingredients that you wanted less abundant, and more special, because they had specific extra effects.

In fact, TW1's systems, if in TW3 you always need limited ingredients each time you wanna make an improved version of a potions, is extremely similar to this new one, TW1 had almost unlimited ingredients that gave you normal potions for regular use, but limited ones that you could combine for the extra powerful effects.

But anyway point is, using potions regularly is awesome, it makes it more a part of the game, having more challenge in "discovering" or "unlocking" the potions is awesome too, it gives them a very special value, but having challenge in strategical allocation of limited resources is also awesome, as it makes potions even more valuable than before, but also exploration and money are more valuable.
 
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R7S

Forum regular
i want to create new voting... but forum don't let me do that =)
 
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A problematic solution for an imaginary problem.

It's not even a solution to the problem, it's ripping the problem away and replacing it with something else entirely. They're essentially getting rid of consumable items, but that is not the same as encouraging people to use the consumable items they have, consumable =/= infinite. It's basically D&D spells, isn't it? You learn which spells you want to have access to, and then you must rest to relearn them after you've used them.

And mutagenic potions are essentially accessory items with stats (like rings and necklaces in other RPGs.)
 

Jupiter_on_Mars

Guest
For me it's not imaginary. I tend to save all my potions etc. in every game. :p

Then it's not a problem at all. It's your damn choice, something you choose to do for whatever reason but never learn the lesson from.
 
Main flaw of this system is an absence of limits. It ruins the exploration of the world and part of economics (so, looted herbs will be mostly totally pointless, let's sell tons of this stuff).
So auto-replenishing makes some sense, I can admit it, but some bounds should be present. Some guy suggests here a bottle system (5-10 potion drinks could be applied before reserve will be depleted) - that's the best solution, in my opinion.
 

R7S

Forum regular
This Forum kills me! Why they close my theme...
ReptilePZ, Can you let me create a voting?
 
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