Why this game is broken (at least as a PC game but probably also as a console game)

[jarodvitorino]

Hello fellow Witcher fans, I just registered here to respond to the OP's concerns and defend TW3 a little...

I play on PC just like the OP. Yes while I agree that some are the keybinds are wonky by default, rest assured that this is EASILY remedied by rebinding most of them. Your claims that 1/2 the keyboard is un-bindable is incorrect and a little ridiculous. let's take movement keys first- You can rebind your movement keys by editing the game's txt file. A 20 second google search would have yielded this info. here is the Link...

http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36gpn9/rebinding_the_witcher_3_movement_keys/

Next is Parry- You mention that parrying requires a target lock--that is False. It does not require any sort of lock to spam parry in TW3. You must be confused with something here. Soft locking isn't at all required in TW3, it is optional. Next up is the Mount key... just REBIND your mount to a simple mouse reach. Not difficult at all man...I use mousewheel left. You mention the frustrating Sheathing/Unsheathing. I will sort of agree with you here--I did find the game clunky with a torch equipped and entering/disengaging from combat. It needs some tuning I agree. To flee from combat simply run away with sprinting/dodge rolls. Did you even do the tutorial?

I am going to list my pertinent key bindings. This is assuming that you have a 5+ button mouse or better...It is 2015 afterall. (I use Razer Naga which is ideal imo)

KEYBINDINGS

Interact - F
Dodge - E
Parry/Counterattack - Right Mouse Button
Fast Attack - Left Mouse Button
Strong Attack - R
Sprint - Left Shift
Lock on target - Num pad 1 on my naga. Use any comfortable reach mouse button-
Use sign - Num pad 2 on my naga. Use any comfortable reach mouse button, preferably near the lock on binding
Consumable 1 - Num pad 3 on my naga to represent the top consumable on screen UI. Use any good mouse button
Consumable 2 - Num pad 6 on my naga to represent the bottom consumable on screen UI. use any good mouse button, preferably below Consumable 1 binding
Witcher senses - Num pad 5 on my naga. use any really, really comfortable mouse button reach since you will use it a LOT
Call Mount - Mouse wheel left or any easily accessible mouse reach

 

[akabez]

While the game is still certainly playable, there are two issues mentioned that are highly disruptive to combat: 1. The sheathing/unsheathing issue. 2. Not being able to parry while getting shot by arrows from a distance. The skill to be able to parry arrows is essentially a wasted talent right now because by the time you can parry them you're within melee range anyway.

Sure the game is playable, I enjoy to look at the BEAUTIFUL locations
and I admire CDPR artists well made models and textures
the dialog is extremely well and the story seems to be good also.
But the combat is broken, so FOR ME, there is no real scene in playing
because I am just frustrated from the fact I have no real control over Geralt.

---------- Updated at 12:49 PM ----------

Hello fellow Witcher fans, I just registered here to respond to the OP's concerns and defend TW3 a little...I play on PC just like the OP. Yes while I agree that some are the keybinds are wonky by default, rest assured that this is EASILY remedied by rebinding most of them. Your claims that 1/2 the keyboard is un-bindable is incorrect and a little ridiculous. let's take movement keys first- You can rebind your movement keys by editing the game's txt file. A 20 second google search would have yielded this info. here is the Link...http://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/36gpn9/rebinding_the_witcher_3_movement_keys/Next is Parry- You mention that parrying requires a target lock--that is False. It does not require any sort of lock to spam parry in TW3. You must be confused with something here. Soft locking isn't at all required in TW3, it is optional. Next up is the Mount key... just REBIND your mount to a simple mouse reach. Not difficult at all man...I use mousewheel left. You mention the frustrating Sheathing/Unsheathing. I will sort of agree with you here--I did find the game clunky with a torch equipped and entering/disengaging from combat. It needs some tuning I agree. To flee from combat simply run away with sprinting/dodge rolls. Did you even do the tutorial? I am going to list my pertinent key bindings. This is assuming that you have a 5+ button mouse or better...It is 2015 afterall. (I use Razer Naga which is ideal imo)KEYBINDINGSInteract - FDodge - EParry/Counterattack - Right Mouse ButtonFast Attack - Left Mouse ButtonStrong Attack - RSprint - Left ShiftLock on target - Num pad 1 on my naga. Use any comfortable reach mouse button-Use sign - Num pad 2 on my naga. Use any comfortable reach mouse button, preferably near the lock on bindingConsumable 1 - Num pad 3 on my naga to represent the top consumable on screen UI. Use any good mouse buttonConsumable 2 - Num pad 6 on my naga to represent the bottom consumable on screen UI. use any good mouse button, preferably below Consumable 1 bindingWitcher senses - Num pad 5 on my naga. use any really, really comfortable mouse button reach since you will use it a LOTCall Mount - Mouse wheel left or any easily accessible mouse reach

I am preety sure you did not read all the posts in this thread,
I alreday made it clear I did not mean the lock-on per say
but that the parry is not working outside of the combat state (aka soft lock-on)
Please sir, how do I turn off the soft lock-on?
Also rebinding keys from a TXT file in a 50$ AAA game is absurd.
True not half the keyboard maybe a third or even less, it was a figure of speach when I said half
But go ahead be my guest, defend the game
It's just that none of your defending is changing any of the FACTS (apart from the half keyboard thing)
I made.

 

[Amioran]

There is no excuse for this decision, stop defending this stupidity for the love of god
it's not realistic, not immersive and certainly not good gameplay wise

There IS an excuse. Is done in this way so you can have keys able to do multiple things, as it is the custom nowadays for gameplay (practically ALL modern action titles have keys mapped to different functions depending on the context, given the huge amount of actions available in them). I can understand that in some circumstances this double action for a key can result in bad behaviour, but, seriously, in this instance you just need to sprint a little to close the range and then, when the range registers you can either go back to a good distance before it goes away.

It is not so big of an issue when you get the hang of it. It can be frustrating the first times but when you understand what you must do it's easily overcome. Please stop insisting that there's not a motivation behind this choice and that it is just a bad mechanic, because it is not so. The devs have just made a decision on the matter: either they could decide to go with using all different keys to do different actions or they could chose (as they have done) to map certain keys to different actions depending on the context. Both carry advantages and drawbacks and there's not a best way to do this thing (but given the amount of actions available in titles nowadays, the multiple key mapping is preferred given the amount of different keys to use elsewhere). So stop pretending that you are right on this instance because you obviously aren't.

It's not a matter of "defending" something. It is a matter of you not understanding very well of what you are talking about, it's as simple as that. You pretend this is a "bad mechanic" on the part of the game when you clearly don't understand that it is just a design decision on the part of the devs and choices ALWAYS carry advantages and drawbacks.

A thing CDPR could do to resolve the issue easily would be tying the combat behaviour automatically to sheathing a weapon. However this carries the drawback that you wouldn't be able to efficiently keep a weapon sheathed while exploring since doing so, in this case, would mean that you cannot use witcher senses or jump or climb obstacles as you could before (you would need to rebind them to different keys, hence increasing the numbers of keys you must use to do the same thing). As you see, EVERY choice carries benefits and drawbacks.

 

[akabez]

There IS an excuse. Is done in this way so you can have keys able to do multiple things, as it is the custom nowadays. I can understand that in some circumstances this double action for a key can result in bad behaviour, but, seriously, in this instance you just need to sprint a little to close the range and then, when the range registers you can either go back to a good distance before it goes away.It is not so big of an issue when you get the hang of it. It can be frustrating the first times but when you understand what you must do it's easily overcome. Please stop insisting that there's not a motivation behind this choice and that it is just a bad mechanic, because it is not so. The devs have just made a decision on the matter: either they could decide to go with using all different keys to do different actions or they could chose (as they have done) to map certain keys to different actions depending on the context. Both carry advantages and drawbacks and there's not a best way to do this thing. So stop pretending that you are right on this instance because you obviously aren't.It's not a matter of "defending" something. It is a matter of you not understanding very well of what you are talking about, it's as simple as that. You pretend this is a "bad mechanic" on the part of the game when you clearly don't understand that it is just a design decision on the part of the devs and choices ALWAYS carry advantages and drawbacks.

Are you serious?
The parry key is doing nothing else but parry, it has no second function out side of the combat state
So dose the dodge and roll keys
I am talking about MOUSE AND KEYBOARD YES?What you fail to understand it works this way not because the devs had this grand plan in their head
it's because it is planed for consoles from the get go (maybe on a controller the parry button do multiple things)
That is clear as rain just from seeing how many keys are just unbind-able and many don't even appear in the key bind menu
So please don't condensed me and say it's a matter of me not understanding very well of what I am talking about

 

[Gh0st787]

I'm not fully grasping the problem of parrying. Obviously it must be very different on PC then it is on my Xbox. I fully understand what you mean by saying you can't parry while not in the combat state. What I don't understand is why you would ever need to?

Every Archer I've come across in my 50+ hours has done only a few things. Outside of their aggro range they obviously don't shoot you. If you aggro a nearby swordsmen that's closer to you they still always just sit there doing nothing. If you run from battle by the time you would leave the combat state they have stopped chasing and returned to their positions. And so the cycle repeats. Also if you manage to somehow grab the attention of everyone at the same time you've entered the combat state and your close enough to one shot them before they load a bolt.

Seems like a non issue to me. But this is all from console experience.

Maybe I'm not thinking clearly but I can't seem to think of a situation where you would be getting shot by arrows while not in the combat state. Aside from the weird auto sheathe problem that seems to plague only the PC.

 

[Garrison72]

The auto-sheathing is a pain, but the rest? It's close enough to TW2 not to be that big an issue. The only learning curve issue I'm having is the number of keys in use compared to TW2. (And yes, K&M user).

To the OP - it's really your choice, there's no point playing a game if you're not enjoying it. I'm not sure which difficulty level you're using, but if you DO want to persevere, then maybe drop to an easier one until you get the feel for it?

Lack of full keybinding is an issue even TW2 didn't have. I gotta say, It's kind of a slap in the face because I know what a console port looks like, and this is the number one thing that gets neglected on PC - controls. They've gone out of their way in other areas and it's much appreciated. But gimped key binding is not excusable. Not after 2 delays and 4 years of development. I saw the writing on the wall when one of the devs came on here and said he never really plays it with K&M. Well, I'm willing to bet that the most sales they've got is from PC gamers, and if console is to be the lead platform from here on, maybe they could take the time to do what even the most basic indie team can do, and allow full keyboard mapping. I'm not bitching at you DB, I just can't believe they blatantly ignored the feedback on this.

 

[akabez]

I'm not fully grasping the problem of parrying. Obviously it must be very different on PC then it is on my Xbox. I fully understand what you mean by saying you can't parry while not in the combat state. What I don't understand is why you would ever need to? Every Archer I've come across in my 50+ hours has done only a few things. Outside of their aggro range they obviously don't shoot you. If you aggro a nearby swordsmen that's closer to you they still always just sit there doing nothing. If you run from battle by the time you would leave the combat state they have stopped chasing and returned to their positions. And so the cycle repeats. Also if you manage to somehow grab the attention of everyone at the same time you've entered the combat state and your close enough to one shot them before they load a bolt.Seems like a non issue to me. But this is all from console experience. Maybe I'm not thinking clearly but I can't seem to think of a situation where you would be getting shot by arrows while not in the combat state. Aside from the weird auto sheathe problem that seems to plague only the PC.

In the few hours I have played I took plenty of hits from archers out side of the combat state.But enough of this, if this would be the only issue, but it's not.I don't know maybe we PC gamers are used to games when you press the key,
it's doing what you want your character to do, and not disregard your input for no apparent reason.
or worse do something you don't want him to do

Although, I see now why they made this choice, I understand (if I am correct) that on the controller the parry key (and dodge key?)
has an alternate use while outside of the combat state (not the case in the PC mind you)
So the solution the decided upon was to make the combat state thing (which could be made into a button press instead of automatic thing when you think about it)
All and all it is clear they made NO EFFORT with the PC controls, since I play on the PC,
and they stated how this is a real PC game, I have every right to be angry
You don't have to get it

 

[Amioran]

Are you serious?
The parry key is doing nothing else but parry, it has no second function out side of the combat state
So dose the dodge and roll keys

???
The parry key is by default mapped to right mouse that is used for witcher sense outside of combat (one of the most used functions when not in combat), roll is by default tied to space that is used for jumping/climbing outside of combat and dodge can be done either by double tapping movement keys in combat, of what the hell are you talking about?

Certainly you are very knowledgeable of the things you pretend to talk about, I see. Oh well....

I am talking about MOUSE AND KEYBOARD YES?

Yes, in fact. It seems to me you have not a full grasp of the default keyboard control scheme but yet you pretend to school others on it. It's amusing.

What you fail to understand it works this way not because the devs had this grand plan in their head
it's because it is planed for consoles from the get go (maybe on a controller the parry button do multiple things)
That is clear as rain just from seeing how many keys are just unbind-able and many don't even appear in the key bind menu
So please don't condensed me and say it's a matter of me not understanding very well of what I am talking about

Sure, in fact you have amply demonstrated how much you really understand of what you are talking about. Certainly you are to be taken very seriously given your great amount of knowledge on the topic at hand.

As I said, practically all modern action games prefer a control key scheme that assign to keys various functions depending on the context given the amount of different actions these type of games carry nowadays. This carries both benefits and drawbacks.

 

[dragonbird]

OK now, calm it down. This is getting really, really too overheated.

The issue of Geralt going out of combat mode while he's in range is widely reported and hopefully someone's working on fixing it.

Regarding the other issues, it may be better to approach this as a problem to be solved rather than as an argument?

 

[Millian]

I think it's annoying as well, that certain combat controls have double functions outside of combat. Surely there is a smarter way of handling it, because as of right now, when you're playing with a controller on PC, it's too easy to enter a non-combat mode with enemies still around.

Maybe the solution is making one of the buttons into a manual combat mode switch? That way you can still walk around with your sword drawn, still use witcher senses, but also be ready to start fighting at a moment's notice - without having to worry about losing combat focus with enemies just out of range.

Geralt could enter fight mode automatically, if attacked, but it would be up to the player to leave combat mode. And if the player leaves combat mode, Geralt would not re-enter combat mode automatically until after a set amount of time. Say a minute. And even this could be an adjustable option.

 

[akabez]

???The parry key is by default mapped to right mouse that is used for witcher sense outside of combat, roll is by default tied to space that is used for jumping outside of combat and roll can be done either by double tapping movement keys, of what the hell are you talking about?Certainly you are very knowledgeable of the things you pretend to talk about, I see. Oh well.... Yes, in fact. It seems to me you have not a full grasp of the default keyboard control scheme. Yes yes, sure sure. You see, all you say would make some sense if you weren't so blatantly uneducated on what the hell you are talking about, as you have amply demonstrated with this post.As I said, practically all modern action games prefer a control key scheme that assign to keys various functions depending on the context. This carries both benefits and drawbacks.

No, you see, I rebind my keys so that I would NOT have one key doing two things
That is the point of rebinding keys on the keyboard and having enough keys in the first place
it's not that this game has that many keys to rebind anyway.

If you don't see that this is a design decision made for consoles and then ported over to the PC
with no thought what so ever, well, what ever man, Defend the game.
It's clear you would defend it even if your life was dependent on it
.
I really did lost the will to write here, what was I thinking, this is the CDPR forums after all
I hope the DEVS here don't defend their games the way their fans do,
because as a graphic designer I know one should be critical to his work and not defend it like it's perfect
and the way this game was ported to PC is just bollocks, and like I said before, anybody who say otherwise
is either a liar (the devs?) or a fool (the fanboys).

I wish you all a good day and happy gaming.
farewell.

 

[Amioran]

Regarding the other issues, it may be better to approach this as a problem to be solved rather than as an argument?

I don't really think there can be a "solution" regarding the issue. It is a matter of choices. Either you decide to go with a control scheme that assign all actions to differetn keys or you try to simplify the control scheme by assigning multiple actions to a key given the context. Both, as I said, carry benefits and drawbacks. Given the amount of actions in these type of games nowadays, usually developers prefer the latter elsewhere the amount of keys to use in a determined situation becomes too demanding for the player. Certainly this means less control depending on the context, but it has the benefits of a more seamless control with less keys to take care about.

There is not a solution that can do both things at once.

 

[akabez]

I don't really think there can be a "solution" regarding the issue. It is a matter of choices. Either you decide to go with a control scheme that assign all actions to differetn keys or you try to simplify the control scheme by assigning multiple actions to a key given the context. Both, as I said, carry benefits and drawbacks. Given the amount of actions in these type of games nowadays, usually developers prefer the latter elsewhere the amount of keys to use in a determined situation becomes too demanding for the player. Certainly this means less control depending on the context, but it has the benefits of a more seamless control with less keys to take care about.There is not a solution that can do both things at once.

Actually there is a VERY simple solutioninstead of making the switch to combat mode automatic, make just one button that switch between the two states.And of course I am talking only about the PC version, although it could work for consoles too.But it seems the devs did not put ANY effort into making this better what so everThis need to be addressed ASAP, it will not make your experience worse only our experience better
since this can be optional of course, why do you care so much?
it's not like I want to destroy your precious game
I want to make it better for all PC users who find the controls sub-par (many out there FYI).
you would not suffer from it, probably you will only gain from it

 

[randyrhoads]

My only issue with the game are the controls on PC. Geralt often doesn't respond in time and sheathes a sword during combat. The jogging is what annoys me the most tho. I often stumble down stairs or hit railings, even do some rolls down. The fall damage is ridiculous, Geralt cant fall 2 meters without getting a quadruple hernia.

 

[Amioran]

No, you see, I rebind my keys so that I would NOT have one key doing two things
That is the point of rebinding keys on the keyboard and having enough keys in the first place
it's not that this game has that many keys to rebind anyway.

But you don't understand that the control scheme in the game is done appositely to do the contrary. You cannot pretend that just because you assign different keys for different functions the gameplay should automatically change its behavior to work in this context. NO game does such (it would be really difficult to program something like that because how in the hell could you understand from the keymapping which behavior to use?). You clearly don't understand that when you develop a game you must abide to certain choices and the control scheme to use is one of them.

Different users have different preferences and you cannot always do things in a way that can make everybody happy. In this circumstance you cannot. Or you decide to go with a control scheme that maps different keys to different actions by default or you don't. This has NOTHING to do with a console port. It is just a design choice, nothing more and nothing less

The former control scheme (the one that ties different behavior to a single key on the fly depending on the context) is simpler to use and more fluid but it has the drawback of bad behavior in cases the decided engine context is not the right one, the latter (different actions tied to different keys) is much more complicated to use properly but has the benefit of giving you perfect freedom to do whatever you want in every circumstance (hence no possibility of bad behavior of the gameplay given the context). You can argue on the fact that you would prefer the other approach, but you cannot pretend that it is a bad mechanic because it isn't.

 

[dragonbird]

I'd have thought that if the problem regarding him going out of combat mode is resolved, then the issue of multiple uses per key should also largely disappear. The problem at the moment is that you're never quite sure what he'll do when you press that key.

After that, it becomes mainly a question of personal preference on key-binding, and things like whether or not the signs should be "select" or "select and cast" which just come down to opinion - some will prefer it that way, some won't.

These are mainly things that you just Get Used To, even if you may not like them at first. But while the combat mode issue is around then yes, I can see why someone could get frustrated and not reach that point.

(And the thread is still overheated. So if you're NOT focussed on helping, I suggest you walk away now)

 

[Erestun]

If you're on PC do not use lock on, you have much more control over Geral"D"
I don't use arrow deflection, I axii ranger, one shot him first and then move on butchering the rest of the party.
I watch closely where I move, so I don't get cornered, or blocked by some object. Of course I make mistakes, but that's on ME so I re-load fight, cause on "death march" you die easily.
Enemies in groups are tough, especially drowners/wraiths. Use your surrounding, Dragon's Dream, learn your enemy. If drowners connects several strikes, you are DEAD. Never attack them first, wait for them, use signs, if burning is applied on some of them attack the other ones while the rest is burning in agony. There are so many tactics in this game and yes it IS hard but you'll learn eventually.

 

[Amioran]

Actually there is a VERY simple solutioninstead of making the switch to combat mode automatic, make just one button that switch between the two states.

And every time you have to remember to use the key to switch from one mode to the other. It will be completely artificial. At this point it is much better to tie the combat behavior automatically to sheathing a weapon. Frankly speaking I don't think that many people explore the world with the weapon always drawn anyway.

Another way is for CDPR to simply increase the range at which enemies are recognized and hence combat mode is entered. Now it is really too low because you can be attacked at range but combat is yet not registered. I think double that it is now would be a good point of start (not too far for random enemies far away to put you in combat mode, but either not too close that you can be attacked by a ranged weapon without possibility of instantly parrying).

 

[vesemas228]

Now that i'm done tweaking the graphics.. getting down to playing.. ugh the combat. Being PC we can fix graphical downgrades to a certain extent with mods and sweetfx.. but when you hit the gameplay its so obviously a console game. The devs have said publically they were working on only one version of the game.. and ./sigh. Next cdpr is a $7 steam sale methinks.

Anyhoo.. SOLUTIONS i've found:

Use a razer naga mmo mouse. This works quite well for changing signs (no silly slowmo wheel) in fast paced combat, and you can map the dodge key to your mouse thumb instead of keyboard alt (which is impossible to press that quickly and with that much precision.. did they even try to play this themselves?).

It rubs it in so much so how much they did not care about the pc last edition.. the default keyboard keys aren't even in the same ORDER as the tab ui.. how are you going to learn them to use quickly on command in a fight when the buttons are a different order to the screen?

The most shocking sign of not caring for the pc is the movement controls.. you can just tell that the lag in moving everything is for the analog stick extension movement.. pc keys are on and off.. i can't believe they didn't adjust the pc to feel smooth with this.. that's just mean spirited. If they even dare to claim they care about pc users again i'm going to be very mad. We have your console game CDPR, thanks, and words not the same as what we are playing are simply lies.

 

[akabez]

I'd have thought that if the problem regarding him going out of combat mode is resolved, then the issue of multiple uses per key should also largely disappear. The problem at the moment is that you're never quite sure what he'll do when you press that key. After that, it becomes mainly a question of personal preference on key-binding, and things like whether or not the signs should be "select" or "select and cast" which just come down to opinion - some will prefer it that way, some won't.These are mainly things that you just Get Used To, even if you may not like them at first. But while the combat mode issue is around then yes, I can see why someone could get frustrated and not reach that point.

Look I love the game, the atmosphere, the story, the art work, the dialog, it's a good game no doubt
but everything I wrote FOR ME, makes it hard to enjoy and a frustrating experience.

Personally I think it's relatively easily solved, I can think of several ways to solve these issues
Some are better but harder (well, relatively harder that is) to implement
and some are easier to implement but not as good solutions

But to be honest I don't see the point, I get attacked by people who defend this game
as if they them self's made it and just don't bother to see there are SO MANY other people like me out there
And also it seems the Devs the self's don't care one bit either.