To be fair, Skyrim’s controls are basically WASD, right and left click, and whatever key the shouts were. You just paused the game and drank potions from the inventory, it was very stripped down. The fact that the combat is overly simplistic is exactly why the controls may feel better for you - there is a lot less to keep track of.
I suggest a controller for Witcher 3 - dodge (B) and roll (A) are so much easier to tap while you are fighting, the range of movement in a game like this (where 360 degrees of movement are modeled and animated for better or for worse) is a lot more workable with an actual analog stick (let alone not having to toggle walking with a button), and the radial menu is easier to grab, select a thing, and get back into the action. Honestly, it feels amazing with a controller.
And I will take this moment, as I do as often as I can, to tell any PC gamers out there (like myself) that if you don’t have a good controller for your PC, your limiting yourself needlessly - it’s not different than people back in the 90’s who refused to use a mouse or a joystick when they played their games. Go get a controller, it will open up a thousand new and amazing doors for you.
KevinC
3404
It absolutely drives me nuts, but I’ve been forced to get used to it with Dark Souls 2 and now Witcher 3. I really don’t get the decision to control like that, but the games are good enough outside of that to make it worth putting up with, IMO. At least combat controls sensibly.
I’d probably agree, but then they don’t have a truly huge world to travel, horses and so on. And you also turn and face the camera in Souls games if you aren’t locked on a target.
I honestly think if they could tweak the speed difference between walking/man stroll to the very fast jog to transition more smoothly the complaints would disappear.
As it is, it’s a pretty big difference and even with a controller the point where you go from one to the other is jarring. Aside from that I can’t really complain a whole lot.
Teiman
3406
The approach to combat of any elder scrolls game is clumsy, but skyrim is more a sandbox. In skyrim you can literally pick a bucket from the floor and use it to fight.
Also the Witcher is a third person mode. Third person mode exist so people can seem themselves doing cool things in real time. Is the videogame equivalent of a Selfie.
So… durrrrr.
Nothing you just said actually responds to the point you quoted, I just realized.
I’m a bit in the same boat as Soapyfrog. I feel like I’m controlling a drunk dude when I’m moving around the environment. It’s so bad I would gladly use a “skip me to the next conversation / combat” button if it existed. The combat is fine, but it’s also not very good, as many have pointed out. Switching between signs and grenades feels like a core part of the combat design, but feels clunky in execution. Movement feels pretty decent in combat, but spacing feels troublingly difficult. Anytime I’m trying to nail the spacing down for avoiding attacks, I find myself extremely frustrated. This may be because I just came off Bloodborne and I’m trying to use its design sensibilities here. It may just be adjusting, but I might end up bouncing off the game at this rate before I successfully adjust.
I’m not a huge fan of Skyrim, but I’m mentally comparing it to other big-environment games: GTA games feel much better moving around the environment in third-person. As do all the recent Batman Arkham games. Souls games combat are designed around managing your active spell / item in the heat of battle. In general, more combat-centric games unsurprisingly get the feel of combat better (Souls games, Bayonetta, DMC, etc.) which is arguably an unfair comparison. Emotionally, I don’t really care if Witcher 3 has harder problems to solve then some of those examples. If I need to play a more focused game to get a better feel, then I may end up passing on this, even given how much I love the atmosphere, voice-acting, conversations, world-building, writing and characters. Or I’ll turn the difficulty down to none and just push through the main quest.
I have no issues with the combat in this game. In fact, I like it a lot. Well, okay, the crossbow is pretty useless except to bring down single airborne targets so you can engage them on the ground, but otherwise it’s really good.
It’s the movement after the fight, when I’m tripping over my own feet to loot the bodies, that I hate the most.
There are some bolts with venom effect or something like that, a few of them helped me a lot to bring down a griffin.
KevinC
3411
Agree with everything you said here. Combat feels great, and Geralt moves like I would expect him to. Moving left sidesteps, moving back takes a step back. I have no idea why so many console games control like you’re sailing a giant galleon. Out of combat, if I’m moving to the right and I try to move to the left, why can’t I just stop, turn around, and start moving to the left? Why do I have to take these huge wide turns? No person moves like this, it just makes no sense.
My biggest pet peeve about console style controls is how moving backwards turns you around and faces the camera, as opposed to just taking a step back. Absolutely drives me bonkers. It’s not particularly useful walking towards the camera where you can’t see 5 feet in front of you. Just let me back up (or side step) quickly, damn you!
Thankfully, though, in both games that I’ve enjoyed that control like this (Dark Souls 2 and Witcher 3), combat controls are fine, and that’s where it’s most important. If I was fighting basic movement so much during combat in a game like this or DS2, it’d be enough to kill the game for me. As it is, it’s merely an annoyance in an otherwise excellent game. The fact that (to my tastes) they get movement so right in combat yet flub it so badly outside of that is a little baffling. I’m not sure what steering the R.S.S. Geralt around tavern tables is supposed to add to the game.
I think if I pushed down the movement stick and the camera swung around 180 degrees I’d get pretty motion sick from that happening all the time. The camera doesn’t really move on it’s own until you start walking, which is fine with me. Every third person game I’ve played has done this, from GTA to Dark Souls. I’m not sure what a better solution would be - maybe if the camera just “teleported” to stay behind you, though that would be super disorienting as well. Maybe CDP can put some camera options in place to combat this. It’s not bothering me though, I just move the camera myself (or let the game do it, though that takes a bit).
I’m not sure I’d call the boat style movement a console thing. A lot of them get it right, including turning on a dime. This isn’t that hard.
Turning toward the camera is an acknowledgement that we aren’t flying around in 90s third person games anymore. You can’t move backwards as fast as you can move forwards.
You might say you’d take back stepping even if it’s slow. I’m not sure about the reasons here but I suspect it has to do with slow camera controls. Moving toward the camera allows the game to spin it around quickly for you with the auto center feature rather than laboriously turning the camera before you can even start moving to your destination. Not necessary with the flick of a mouse of course.
There are two separate issues here: learning to navigate 3D space with gamepad style controls (just need to get over it, unfortunately) and the animation wind-up time going from standing to jogging/cantering. This a technical flaw and/or poor design decision.
It’s so weird, right? In combat, I’m whipping back and forth like a dervish of death, dancing with my opponents gracefully. Out of combat, I’m scooting in half-steps to get the loot prompt to come up, or turning like an old Cadillac, bumping into rocks and furniture because being a Witcher is apparently Hell on the knees.
One of the challenges with looting is they have so much interactive shit next to each other that they need to be precise about what you’re interacting with. Sometimes you have to angle the camera to pick a bush you’re standing next to. It’s not like Souls where you just hammer the button and grab whatever’s under your feet.
It’s not so bad when you can use a mouse to quickly aim the camera. But if they want to embrace gamepad controls, they need to completely overhaul the loot system. No more piles of 7 different bags.
Oh, and fuck the guy that put an extinguish/ignite prompt item next to every chest in the game.
Rebinding that on PC solves that problem. I still get stuck on the “dead” interactive prompt for a split second sometimes, but at least I don’t have to watch the animation.
And seriously, everyone should just stop looting everything after 10-15 hours. Look for treasure chests and you’re done. Quest items on bodies have an extra glowy particle effect floating up from them in Witcher vision.
My only most frustrating issue revolves around fighting archers. Their attack range is further than the “in combat” range, which leads to all kinds of problems.
I pull out my sword to parry, but the game thinks I want to use witcher senses even though I’m getting hit with arrows. Sometimes Geralt puts the sword away, even though I’m trying to keep it out. All the while arrows hits are knocking down my health. Often the arrows hit me even though I’m in parry mode and have the parry=deflect trait loaded.
My absolute biggest pet peeve, ranking higher than the crappy inventory mangement and the slippery movement.
It’s not so bad when you can use a mouse to quickly aim the camera. But if they want to embrace gamepad controls, they need to completely overhaul the loot system. No more piles of 7 different bags.
Or just have a “loot everything in the immediate area” button like most other games.
Well, okay, the crossbow is pretty useless except to bring down single airborne targets so you can engage them on the ground,
They’re very useful underwater.
This is terrible advice. I’ve pulled recipies for superior stuff from barrels and crates before. It’s super rare, but it does happen. It’s like telling folks in Diablo III to stop destroying barrels - I think the random loot tables just roll really light on non-chests, but some good stuff CAN show up, plus you can sells surplus materials you get from looting everything, and just hammering A isn’t super hard or anything.
I guess that’s true. I think you can buy the recipes elsewhere though. I suppose if someone were to follow my advice, they’d have to embrace a little inefficiency in the crafting system. I personally don’t use it much.
Hammering A is kind of hard when you just missed one last crate and then have to fumble for it.
I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve found a nice balance ignoring most loot piles and I’ve made peace with the system. Anyone still frustrated ought to try giving up the obsession. The water’s fine!
