I resemble that remark
So how much of W2 and W3 combat is “action-ey”? What I mean is, in W1 I was expecting to choose an enemy to attack and then watch my dude attack him until I chose a special attack or spell or whatever, and instead I’m trying to time my clicks for when the sword catches fire, in some kind of barely-improved-over-Diablo-clickfest nonsense. What’s the actual second-to-second combat like in W2 and W3?
All of it is actiony? It’s standard third person combat where you direct control the character actions . You got your light and heavy attacks, dodges and parries, your signs as special attacks, etc.
Yeah, they got rid of that timed “twitchy” click based attack in W2 and in W3 went further into the dodging and strafing fight style if I recall correctly.
Yes. To its utter, incalculable detriment. W2 was pretty much unplayable for me until I modded the combat in a way that apparently broke the difficulty substantially and made everything pretty trivial. What I’ve played of W3 is more accessible but still a dramatically less interesting, more punishing combat system compared to 1.
Something I don’t see brought up often is how Witcher 3, much more than 1 or 2, makes you feel like you’re playing a guy whose job is to hunt monsters.
You pick up contracts, talk to the locals, and investigate the area until you figure out the type of monster you’re dealing with. You read up on them and go into combat with the right potions / oils / signs / bombs readied. This made the combat much more interesting to me, since instead of having 20 valid play styles that I couldn’t really compare, I understood why I was using a particular set of tools in each fight.
This is hyperbole. It really is only the combat mechanics people hate. I think it is fine if you stick with it.
The quests, choices, story stuff, is all good. It isn’t like the game is all about the combat. Get to Act2 and there is very little of it.
If your specific problem with Witcher 1 is too many cutscenes, realize that that thins out dramatically after the prologue. Witcher 2 is more cut-scene dependent with annoying Quick Time Events in combat, but story and characters are a step up. The big problem with Witcher 1 and 2 is that they were made with an old engine that didn’t handle open areas well, so even though the art is really well done and the graphics are still pretty, they can feel like a retro-gaming experience.
That’s exactly why the first game is good. I have not found that to be true of the sequels.
“Witcher 1 combat is so much better than the sequels’” is certainly a take.
I totally understand why someone might prefer the combat in the later Witcher games if they’re into heavily player skill oriented, action-style combat. I am not, not least because I am very bad at it. Witcher 1 is just clicking in a light rhythm paired with knowing what preparations to use with what monster. That is both much easier for my shitty reflexes to manage and feels more like doing the fictional job.
It’s been a long time but I don’t remember Witcher 1 having great signaling about the type of monster I was going to fight, so that I could properly prepare. Like, I’d have a quest to light some candles and then suddenly the Jerk-Of-The-Woods would appear in a cutscene.
And what made the Witcher 1’s combat system so weird to me was the disconnect between the actions I’m taking and what the character is doing. After that first swing, every click queues up an action the guy takes a half second later. I found Witcher 3 style combat much easier and more fun.
I don’t recall the specifics enough to say for sure. I just remember that there was a very heavy emphasis on learning about creatures and using the correct tools to defeat them that Witcher 2 at least did not do basically at all, and the little I have played of 3 seemed like it continued to backseat potions and prep.
I made that same assumption for the entirety of the main Witcher 3 storyline, which I played on regular difficulty.
Then I got to the first expansion content, and got my ass handed to me, like, without even coming close to beating the first big bad I encountered in it. And it was then that I discovered that my potion and sword oil game – which I’d been pretty much ignoring, other than heal potions – was NOT up to standards. So I spent about 5-10 hours of game time going back and finding recipes, getting higher level recipes, I think even doing a few quests to get some of the really good oil recipes that I needed.
And I enjoyed that, honestly. A lot.
And I wished I’d played the game one difficulty level harder, because it absolutely would’ve made potions and oils a much bigger part of the experience. (And to be fair: the explanation of the difficulty levels says this very thing, pretty explicitly.)
When this gets its 4k upgrade, I’ll replay it and definitely go that route.
I think one of the changes made post release was showing in the UI which oil damaged which beastie. Prior to that you had a jumbled mix of different coloured bottles to mouse over before every fight. And then think is this guy a reptile or a bat…?
I should emphasize I agree that Witcher 2 is overall a great game, once I was able to survive the combat, and I expect I will probably also really enjoy Witcher 3 once there’s finally a finished definitive version for me to play and I get over my resistance to its sheer (imo never necessary) size.
But I am never gonna prefer more action in my RPG combat.
Yeah, on default difficulty you can ignore prep but it’s required on the higher ones. It makes the game much more interesting, but I get why they made it opt-in.
Also, credit to this Witcher 3 trailer, which shows Geralt using the exact potion, sign, and bomb that you should use in the actual game when fighting a Bruxa:
I’m in the just start with 3 camp. There’s only so much time in the day and you aren’t missing anything amazing. 3 is easily one of my favorite games ever and I could not get into the first game at all no matter how many times I tried.
Yup. If you thought the game was too easy, there are options!
Personally, i was in this particular game for the incredibly well done story, as opposed to the “OK” combat, so normal difficulty was fine.
It may be that my game playing in general has shifted away from “HARD MODE”++ as I get a little older and have less time. As long as the game has a bit of that enjoyable frustration that it isn’t a cakewalk, it’s probably OK.
Yeah, that trailer has always struck me as being one of the best CGI, non-gameplay trailers ever, not just for the narrative content and quality of the animation, but also because it incorporates all the stuff important to the Witcher 3 – Geralt’s medallion vibrates, he uses the silver sword, he uses the crossbow (which, HERESY!). It feels llike CDPR gave the studio a list of things that had to be in there, and they managed to incorporate all of them without stomping on the narrative arc of that little trailer.