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Have you read the books? When Geralt fights his sword cuts people faster than the blink of an eye, in the game i can blink a few times before he lands a fast attack.
Interesting you say that because with the very first swing in your footage Geralt targets absolutely nothing.
Casuals - are those kind of gamers that appeared massively may be ten years ago and for which most modern games are simplified and game design shifted from developers solid vision to approach "if customer may like something it must be included even it is of out-of-place. and if customer don't like something it must be removed". There are both good and bad sides in this, generally we receive better graphics and more convenient GUI's but downscaled gameplay.
Sorry, I don' see any hack and slash in TW3, in hack'n'slash battle is main gameplay element without which game simply doesn't exist. In TW3 battle is secondary element, it is boring in 75% of encounters. When I see monsters in Diablo series, I want to kill them for the pleasure of process. When I see pack of white wolves in Skellige, I'm thinking "or no, I again need to spent few dozens of seconds to burn them and then gather useless livers, meat and tallow." I am gathering "ingridients" just to remove this trash from witcher senses view. And this is the same with drowners, sirens, bandits, ghouls etc. This is simply unrewarding because there is no tension in battle, no notable xp, no actual value in looting because you already have stockpiles of those drowner brains in your inventory, and all potions are easily prepared etc
In Skyrim you must shoot from crossbow without time slowing and this is feels like shot from railgun with huge damage and reloading time or you can summon a bow and shot your enemies precisely from a big distance. Also you may shot from a bow into the wall and enemies will come to see what happened, so you can kill them without exposing yourself. You can launch fireballs which will throw all items in a room in different directions or use ice spikes which are braking with cool sound, also you can shoot icespikes and fireballs simultaneously from both hands. You can dual-wield and kill enemies in risky but effective way or use sword and shield for defense or different daedric two-handed weapon with different mechanics. There is smooth working stealth and dozen of shouts with unique effects and animations. You can summon a dragon or become vampire or werewolf (both may happen occasionally).
In a witcher 3 you always use same auto-aimed swords, crossbow is simply a joke, and you have 5 imbalanced signs... I really don't know about what variety and options you are talking. Actually there is no any variety after you get lvl 10. Skyrim (w\o mods) of course has worse graphics (2011 year) and doesn't have good solid storyline (sad truth) but in terms of gameplay quality and variety it is many steps ahead of TW3.
I'm not Bethesda fan, but Skyrim which witcher fanboys like to bash has better metascore, twice better sales, it is simply much better and balanced game in most aspects.
On this I fully agree - TW3 has all base mechanics to have much better gameplay, and I believe that developers had abilities to make TW3 "the best game of decade" but I think that producers and sales managers push them about time deadline and so many aspects where left overlooked and unrefined... This was somewhat corrected in DLC's but DLC is DLC and most of the game you spend without their influence.
So. I like the TW3 combat.
Sure, it is a lot of "dodge dodge stab stab stab". But that is fine. Definitely better than TW1's "just igni them all", and very similar to TW2's "roll roll roll stab stab stab".
So. I like it.
I have no idea if I count as a "casual gamer", given that I am on a "white shirt instead of armor, always deathmarch, currently NG+"-adventure right now. But if that is so, then so be it.
Sure, it is a lot of "dodge dodge stab stab stab". But that is fine. Definitely better than TW1's "just igni them all", and very similar to TW2's "roll roll roll stab stab stab".
So. I like it.
I have no idea if I count as a "casual gamer", given that I am on a "white shirt instead of armor, always deathmarch, currently NG+"-adventure right now. But if that is so, then so be it.
How was it said in the books... "Always wait for the opportunity".
Witchers aren't " speed ninjas" (couldn't think better word for it, sorry) who just rushes towards the target and then speed is everything. They dance, they wait. So I think dodge dodge roll dodge before stab stab stab fits in to the picture. In the books they are also circling around the target, and waiting. For that opportunity.
Yeah, I also know that Geralt doesn't look like a ballerina while dodgerolling, but perfect things only exists in fairytales.
Yeah right! The fight style of Witcher's is heavily tactical in my Opinion!
They always first analyze their enemy's before attacking them! And they only use their Signs if they need to, in the right moments!
What can i say. I like it.
Sure, it lacks weight of blows (the first thing you should nail in a combat system but heh..) , no half-pirouettes, the blows themselves are repetitive compared to TW2, where there were some nice combo, and in general the combat is pretty much the same for 100hrs of content, and in my taste some of the combat animations are simply silly/bad made.
It's not bad how people say, but it's not even good.
Sure, it lacks weight of blows (the first thing you should nail in a combat system but heh..) , no half-pirouettes, the blows themselves are repetitive compared to TW2, where there were some nice combo, and in general the combat is pretty much the same for 100hrs of content, and in my taste some of the combat animations are simply silly/bad made.
It's not bad how people say, but it's not even good.
Agreed with your comments on W3 gameplay. The engine allows for so much potential. But the gameplay hasn't been addressed or improved at all in DLC. I think they think the gameplay is fine.
I have really high standards for gameplay, so for me, the Witcher 3 has one of the worst and most boring gameplay for an Action RPG. I get really angry when it comes to this topic because it's just that bad and I like W3.
It's just so mind boggling... I will never understand how CDPR not know the word "Witcher", the very title of the game.
I think they need to watch and pay attention to their own Witcher trailers. Geralt should be able to kill a few soldiers/guards without even taking out his sword. Letho, another weaker Witcher, should be able to decimate an entire ship crew made up of guards and wizards in matter of a split second. And have enough time to take the head of the king and bails out as the ship sinks.
But in the game, Geralt is slower and weaker than a shirtless peasant. I haven't read past the first intro book, but I thought "Witcher" are suppose to be super humans with speed, power and immunity as suggested in the game itself as well. But how come during gameplay when I do a fast attack or even move in combat, he turns into a snail? The absolute opposite of a Witcher as described in the books, trailers and the game itself.
CDPR needs to understand this first before trying to make other aspect of gameplay right. Because a lot of the main problem stems from the fact that Geralt is slower than a normal human. Who wants to play that?
Its just not a well designed combat system. To make matters worse the controls are god awful really unresponsive and clunky(both on a controller and keyboard). I think in 2014 version of the game they were heading in a better direction. Geralt should feel lightning fast when fighting and controlling him not slow and heavy. As you can see in the 2014 version he fights much faster and animations look much quicker. This is how a Witcher should fight as described in the books and I really dont understand why CDPR slowed down the gameplay. Maybe Geralt was too quick and enemy AI was too poor so they slowed down Geralt? I think they fucked up bad by doing this.
2014 combat:https://youtu.be/MeGGZON5gjE?t=2m34s
Current combat: https://youtu.be/dIp-GAECEEc
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Bloodborne you mean since thats even better than DS1. Plus it come out in the same year as Witcher 3 so more people are directly going to compare each game. Bloodborne utterly destroyed Witcher 3 in gameplay design imo.
2014 combat:https://youtu.be/MeGGZON5gjE?t=2m34s
Current combat: https://youtu.be/dIp-GAECEEc
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Bloodborne you mean since thats even better than DS1. Plus it come out in the same year as Witcher 3 so more people are directly going to compare each game. Bloodborne utterly destroyed Witcher 3 in gameplay design imo.
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No...Skyrim has Quantity, but definitely not quality in it's mechanics.
You have more tools, but enemies have no patterns AT ALL, which turns melee,from rat to Dragon into bash, slice, slice "strategy". Even Gothic I, for all it's flaws had systematic melee based on OBSERVING your enemy attack or movement pattern.
Along with very weak sounds and hit reactions, melee is objectively inferior. No roll/dodge/sidestep/parry/lock on...same types of animations for very different weapons( great sword/warhammer). Dual Wielding is basically spamming one single animation over and over.
Plus unique boss battles are non existant in the main game...even main game antagonist is just a buffed up version of EVERY dragon.
In Witcher each enemy type is more vulnerable to specific sign/attack...in Skyrim, you can kill skeletons/machines with arrows, just as any other enemy. And different abilities can affect a specific type of enemy differently, like poisoning Alp to slow it down or using Axii on Al ghouls. In Skyrim it never goes beyond: don't use fire on fire elemental.
Plus, Alchemy is much more engaging ( instead of freezing time and limitless healing/buff cheat), ten very different spells( which are actually far more balanced than the ones in Skyrim, where you stunlock with fireballs and instant heal), bombs for cc, crossbow for interrupt, added mutation system.
And Stealth is anything but "smooth": closer to simplistic ( no AI routines of any kind) and broken ( ...must have been the wind?), while crafting allows the player at very low lvl to make entire loot system obsolete( and basically exploit it to make yourself 100000000 points damage weapon).
While Skyrim allows more toys to play around with, it falls completely flat and not by any stretch it is more "refined"...from AI to UI( scrolling through a list while the game freezes), to animations, hit reactions, sound design, challenge presented or skill required.
Also the combat suffers from many design problems like the poor targeting system, inconsistent dodging mechanics, no control over attack animations, bad hit boxes, cant manually engage combat mode and poor enemy AI.
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I find it amusing how DS fanatics like to criticize Witcher for even serious issues present in Dark Souls.
I'll agree that Skyrim melee mechanics are as poor as they always was in TES series. But they are working! You are against 3-4 bandits of comparable level? They will rush you all together with power attacks and kill you, instead of slowly approaching and dancing around you, waiting for
Yes, there no such things in Skyrim, and all this mechanics are all present in TW3. But they are working in a strange way. Geralt was slow, but with proper timing suddenly becomes very fast for a moment of counterattack? On the other side any untrained peasant can block series of witcher attacks simply by raising his rusty velen sword.. and if he has a shield he can block almost anything with exception of aard.
Roll, dodge, sidestep - they are all working in a borders of predefined animation and this is the key TW3 problem - even single step is auto-controlled by animation script and so you don't have ability to control your exact position on a battlefield. For me it is better to made a clumsy step but exactly where you want (how it is in majority of 1st/3rd person games) then have a smooth animation which place you where game decides. I'm playing TW1 now and can't get away from familiarity with Neverwinter/Dragon Age lagging positioning, which was born from isometric turn-based and where you can receive hit in back when you are already out of enemy's reach. In TW3 situation with this is much better then in bioware games, but it is still here - there is a slight difference between things that you see on the screen and things that actually happens - about what skill and timings we can talk when you can't precisely control your character's position?
Yrden for flying monsters, elementals and specters, Igni for everything that burns, Aard against shields, Axii for everything without mental immunity, Quen simple against anything. And most monsters can bee affected with most sings and you need only 12 character points and two big mutagens to use them all effectively. Yes you can cut grave hag tongue - but for what? If you can simply bash her with quen and kill with fast attacks? Here we return to the same point - there are mechanics but they are not applied properly.
Alchemy is engaging in TW1, in TW3 it is simply a way to spend your character points when you have all sign\warrior skills you needed and you already collected a lot of formulas. But anyway it is way more interesting then in Skyrim (though in Skyrim you can blend it with other skills)
Actually both aards and ignis are similar in way they work, so it is 8 spells. In Skyrim there are 5 schools, each with 4-5 unique spells. You may summon weapons and monster, rise undead, move objects with telekinesis, become invisible, light a room etc.. And many overpowered magic things like "knock out" were moved to shout domain.. so no, in ways of magic Skyrim is way ahead and also this magic works always and over big distance.
I won't comment much on bow and crossbow, in Skyrim it is most pleasant way to go all the way, in TW3 it is required to fight in the water (why muscular witcher can't fight with sword underwater - a riddle) on all other purposes Yrden with 2-5 spent points is much better.
May be we were playing different versions but in my GOTY version AI has routines, AI reacts to noise and light, and for me stealth is one of the most interesting and useful mechanics in Skyrim. Yes, there is no wind, but i don't remember casual game of such scale with wind.. ah, GTA5 has wind in a tiny hunting area.
To craft good staff (better that can be bought or found) you need 80-90 of smithing and 100 of enchantment and you will be at least 25-30 lvl after you gain this. You also will be awfully weak if you spent all perks on crafting.. there were a lot of jokes on this (while you are crafting, draugr is becoming deathlord). So, no crafting is rather balanced if you invest for example in smithing, heavy armor and swords you will be hell of a warrior in 30 lvl but totally weak mage/thief.
I agree but all Skyrim's tools though rather simple by themselves, on the other hand are balanced, working always and everywhere, and so we have open world where you have almost total freedom of action or character development and main quest is simply unnecessary. Also there is no relationships or any intrigue or any attempts to evoke emotions, so Skyrim success consists only of variety of convenient gameplay elements in open, beautifully designed world (for 2011 standarts). In Skyrim you do almost everything by yourself, and secondary storelines are just "circumstances" created to guide player in a world.
Witcher 3 is pure opposite case - game will be empty without main story and all that cool mechanics are limited in places of their application, so you play by yourself only part of the time, huge amount of time TW3 plays you and it is like a interactive movie and in that part game is excellent.
So if there is question - which product of art is better as a whole - there could be no answer, this is really two very different games only similarity is open world and fantasy setting. All that claims about TW3 being best RPG of all times are overstatement. One of the equal comparable masterpieces - yes, "best of all in anything" - certainly no.
I think we play different games.
TW3: Alchemy is the thing I must have and cannot really live without. Blade or Signs... now those are the dump stats; though it makes sense to declare one of them as the secondary stat while mostly ignoring the other.
I agree that oils, potions and decoctions play a huge role when you plan to fight something powerful (lvl35 archgriffin or that spider in mines of Velen). But you are facing those battles after you are 20+ lvl and have most formulas. (in 1st walkthrough you simple don't know where you can get required formulas earlier). Difference is that in Skyrim (and TW1 and many games) you may go with alchemy from very start without reading any wikis or looking into recipe maps. In TW3 you must have formula to create. At least thanks to developers that potions are not limited by character level like other gear.
Also if you are playing without armor just in trousers and a shirt for aesthetics, that constantly intoxicated face is hardly best choice with that black-red veins..
The combat isn't engaging or fun to play. It feels very repetitive and bland. Even on hard difficulties that game is a cake walk. The combat also feels really unresponsive, jerky(due to poor sword hit registration) and clumsy. The games gameplay ranges from mediocre to poor. A massive failure from the developer.
Well, I personally think that opinions range so much just because a lot of people confuse what the actual gameplay consists of. The person above is a clear example of that.
I see a great many people say that the Witcher 3 combat is utterly inferior to that of Bloodborne or Dark Souls or whatever. But take a closer look at those games. They almost completely revolve around combat. Of course, the combat there just must be great, otherwise those games would have gone unnoticed and forgotten not long after they were out. On the other hand, take away combat from the Witcher 3 and it would still have much to offer, such as superb questing, engaging dialogues, interesting NPCs, choices and consequences etc. Those are ALL part of the Witcher gameplay, not just combat alone, unlike it almost exclusively is in DS, BB and similar games. In this regard the Witcher 3 gameplay is surely remarkable. People that understand this simple truth soak in all aspects of the game's gameplay and more likely than not have a lot of fun with the game, thus satisfied with it and when you're satisfied you're less likely to notice bad things or if you do... complain about them.
Of course, if you reduce the Witcher 3 gameplay to just combat and then compare it to BB's... Well, the latter wins by a good margin, but that's just how it has to be. Moreover, a comparison like this does not serve much of a purporse, as in a nutshell it is like comparing Forza/GT racing to that of a GTA's.
I see a great many people say that the Witcher 3 combat is utterly inferior to that of Bloodborne or Dark Souls or whatever. But take a closer look at those games. They almost completely revolve around combat. Of course, the combat there just must be great, otherwise those games would have gone unnoticed and forgotten not long after they were out. On the other hand, take away combat from the Witcher 3 and it would still have much to offer, such as superb questing, engaging dialogues, interesting NPCs, choices and consequences etc. Those are ALL part of the Witcher gameplay, not just combat alone, unlike it almost exclusively is in DS, BB and similar games. In this regard the Witcher 3 gameplay is surely remarkable. People that understand this simple truth soak in all aspects of the game's gameplay and more likely than not have a lot of fun with the game, thus satisfied with it and when you're satisfied you're less likely to notice bad things or if you do... complain about them.
Of course, if you reduce the Witcher 3 gameplay to just combat and then compare it to BB's... Well, the latter wins by a good margin, but that's just how it has to be. Moreover, a comparison like this does not serve much of a purporse, as in a nutshell it is like comparing Forza/GT racing to that of a GTA's.
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What you said is true to an extent combat is a small part of gameplay, however that doesn't give the Witcher 3 an excuse for having poor combat. There is plenty of games with a heavy focus on narrative and they still have engaging great combat(Mass effect 2 and Arkham Asylum/City). CDPR needs to hire better combat designers. The current ones they have are terrible.
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gamer A: Do you have gameplay/combat designers?
dev: NO!
gamer B: Do you have level designers?
dev:NO!
gamer C: Do you have AI designers?
dev:NO!
gamer D: What do you have?
dev: story!
Gamer E: So What's the game?
dev: story! story! story!
film director: Great! Let's make a film.
gamer A B C D E: ......
Let me tell you a joke —— CD Projekt have gameplay/combat designers that's the Gwent.
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