Review RPG Codex Review: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

What's so remarkably "poorly implemented" about the combat, exactly?

Human:Block 2/3 of attacks, attack from behind is advised.
Small monsters: Surround you and jump at you, use Aard/Igni and dodge alot advised.
Big monsters: One, two heavy attacks, roll/dodge back, watch out for charge attack.
Are you lazy? Just spam Igni and win against everything except golems.
Those formulas get old by the time you finish Velen but there are Novigrad, Skellige and Kaer Mohen still to play.

Even ignoring the percentage of bullshit in this post (I could play the same silly game attempting to describe Dark Souls as "Just keep your shield up and walk slowly, attack after blocking" and it would be true, if extremely reductive, for a good 80% of the standard enemies) nothing of what you are listening would define the core mechanics in this combat system as implicitly poor.

I already pointed some flaws with the overall balance and I would also agree that enemies would need some heavy addition to increase variety, but then again not a single one of these complaints would be about the core mechanics of combat.

See, and then some people say that combat system is total shit, too.

Sure, some people say it.
I think they have no clue of what they are talking about.

Plus, I have to say that sword combat vs humans is really predictable. Drain their stamina in quick 3 hits,

Are you playing on easy, by any chance? Because I finished the game at DM and I've read pretty much anyone else playing at higher difficulty complaining about the opposite: they never seem to deplete their stamina reserve, it regenerates too quickly even when you are one VS one and you are pressing with continuous attacks.
It's not even true that the same approach works on anyone. Shielded enemies, speared enemies, commanders, etc... they all tend to react differently to different blows.

On the other hand, that doesn't matter too much, since it's true that with few levels and talents under your belt some signs make the combat a bit too easy to exploit if you are careful enough.
but once again, that's a problem of balance, not core systems at play.

 

[ghostdog]

With two very simple tweaks the combat could improve a lot. Remove retarded combat animations and implement instant sign casting hotkeys. Thankfully, the latter has been fixed by modders.

 

[Angthoron]

See, and then some people say that combat system is total shit, too.

Sure, some people say it.
I think they have no clue of what they are talking about.

I think my biggest complaint about W3 (and W2) combat is that Geralt doesn't feel nimble. W1 actually conveys this feeling with the animations. Sure, you just click click click, but the animations are those of a quick, agile killer that relies on his supernatural agility. That's also what Geralt from the novels is - highly agile, supremely skilled, but not actually that strong. There's a few instances of him getting very badly mobbed and mauled, even in the short stories. I can't see W3 Geralt getting mobbed and mauled, he's a goddamned tank, and he handles like a goddamned tank.

A pretty strange complaint in the light of everything else, I know.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

See, and then some people say that combat system is total shit, too.

Sure, some people say it.
I think they have no clue of what they are talking about.

I think my biggest complaint about W3 (and W2) combat is that Geralt doesn't feel nimble. W1 actually conveys this feeling with the animations. Sure, you just click click click, but the animations are those of a quick, agile killer that relies on his supernatural agility. That's also what Geralt from the novels is - highly agile, supremely skilled, but not actually that strong. There's a few instances of him getting very badly mobbed and mauled, even in the short stories. I can't see W3 Geralt getting mobbed and mauled, he's a goddamned tank, and he handles like a goddamned tank.

A pretty strange complaint in the light of everything else, I know.

Aaand I disagree on this as well.
I always felt like Geralt in the first game felt much more as some sort of laughable circus tumbler than a proper swordman (but then again unlike some people here I have a genuinely abysmal opinion of anything related to the combat in TW1) and I feel like in TW3 conveys the feeling of being quick, agile and deadly much, much better.
Responding far better and faster to inputs, for a start, but also making each sword strike more quick to land and accurate.
It also helps that enemies have far more diversified patterns of attack, so when you begin to familiarize a bit better with each one, master the system and start sidestepping drowners or nekkers who assault you relentlessly in groups, just to cut their heads with a fast strike and then immediately dodge the next one, you start to feel a goddamn badass.

It's also mostly a cosmetic thing, but hell if it isn't so damn cool how your killing blows cut some enemies exactly where the blade goes through them.

 

[Angthoron]

Aaand I disagree on this as well.
I always felt like Geralt in the first game felt much more as some sort of laughable circus tumbler than a proper swordman (but then again unlike some people here I have a genuinely abysmal opinion of anything related to the combat in TW1) and I feel like in TW3 conveys the feeling of being quick, agile and deadly much, much better.

Well, then we'll have to agree to disagree. Still, if you actually like the feel of W3's combat, that's good! I wish I could enjoy it a bit more than I do but it just doesn't gel. Will try some different things on 2nd playthrough, taking suggestions on how to spice it up.

As for W1 animations - first of all, this is coming from the fact that it's on goddamned Aurora. Do you remember what games on Aurora look like? Refer to NWN2 for some proper idea of Aurora-level animations at the time. W1 animations were kind of a little miracle in that context - and some of the finishers were amazing, too. And very rare. As for circus freak, I don't know, never got that feeling. He was supposed to be cat-like, and that's what he was like there. Besides, as I later found out in the novels, combat is very much described through almost a dance-like vocab, so, again, I can see where they got the idea.

It's also mostly a cosmetic thing, but hell if it's damn cool how you killing blows cut some enemies exactly where the blade goes through them.

Well this part is very cool indeed. I love the killing blows thing in W3.

 

[Ismaul]

Such praise! Sounds even better than I expected, and I like the Witcher. Didn't really like much of the beginning though, but I haven't had time to play much of it yet.

How far along are you? Beginning actually gets a few clever bits as well, but yeah, it's really basic compared to the rest of the game.

Just did the traveling to the first tavern, so, really not that far. But I did stop a lot along the way, and, well, you can do a lot of shit before a motivating story even kicks in. Felt aimless for now.

I've been holding off getting deeper into the game until I finish the paper I'm writing. Trolling on the Codex instead.

Also, somehow the controls got worse than the Witcher 2, and remapping doesn't work so well since by default there's multiple contextual actions mapped to one key, but if you try to remap you can't recreate that with other key bindings. Unless they patched it.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Play with a controller. It's a far better experience.
And that's coming from someone who hated playing TW2 with one and preferred M&KB by far.
Which leads to...

Also, somehow the controls got worse than the Witcher 2.

No, they really, really aren't.
You should go back and play both toe to toe to make it particularly obvious.

 

[Ismaul]

The spacebar is used for both rolling and jumping / climbing, and yet if you want to map dodge to the spacebar, you have to remap rolling and jumping to two different keys. That fucking sucks.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Play with a controller. It's a far better experience.
And that's coming from someone who hated playing TW2 with one and preferred M&KB by far.
Which leads to...

Also, somehow the controls got worse than the Witcher 2.

No, they really, really aren't.
You should go back and play both toe to toe to make it particularly obvious.

So you played with a controller, yet keep on insisting that those who are complaining about the PC controls are wrong. Derp.

 

[Excidium II]

I play with KBM, controls are definitely better. Only problem is the smart targeting

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

So you played with a controller, yet keep on insisting that those who are complaining about the PC controls are wrong.

I said the controls are (mostly) good and decently responsive, especially in combat.

I didn't say a word about "PC controls", mostly because I don't think there is such a thing as "PC controls" and I find baffingly idiotic the notion that if you play on PC you should stick to a mouse no matter what.
The strength of the platform is exactly the possibility to adapt to whatever control scheme works better for each game. Being it M&KB, a gamepad, a flight stick, a racing wheel or whatever else.

EDIT - Beside, TW3 controls aren't worse than TW2 controls even just considering M&KB.

 

[Prime Junta]

I remapped some stuff to my mouse buttons (notably dodge), and after that the controls are fine. Don't get the rage about that.

 

[Excidium II]

I remapped some stuff to my mouse buttons (notably dodge), and after that the controls are fine. Don't get the rage about that.

I hope you know you can dodge with double tap in any direction

 

[Ismaul]

I remapped some stuff to my mouse buttons (notably dodge), and after that the controls are fine. Don't get the rage about that.

I hope you know you can dodge with double tap in any direction

I'd rather dodge with spacebar and roll with double tap. Can't remap that.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I'd rather dodge with spacebar and roll with double tap. Can't remap that.

It's your game so do as you wish, but give how dodging is far more useful more often than rolling, you should probably invert them (if it's possible?).

 

[Ismaul]

I didn't say a word about "PC controls", mostly because I don't think there is such a thing as "PC controls"

Tell me, is an Xbox controller not a console controller now?

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I didn't say a word about "PC controls", mostly because I don't think there is such a thing as "PC controls"

Tell me, is an Xbox controller not a console controller now?

It's a controller you can (and in some case, you should) use on PC. That's all I need to know and to say on the topic.
It works terribly with some genres, it works fine with others, it's by far the best option with some.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

I said the controls are (mostly) good and decently responsive, especially in combat.

What do you know about the responsiveness of keyboard and mouse? Having played the game with a controller that is.
I don't give a fuck how fluid and responsive the game is on the shitbox or for those using a controller on the PC. I don't even own a controller.

The fact of the matter is, the keyboard and mouse controls have a bunch of major problems.
1) camera desyncing, i.e. after dodging a few times suddenly the W key no longer moves Geralt away from the camera but in some other direction, and you have to let the keys go then press them again to fix that, which takes time
2) inability to cancel any animation, e.g. you see an incoming attack, you know you have to dodge NOW but you can't because Geralt needs to finish the last combat animation first, hence you get hit for 60% of your health bar
3) too much action delay, i.e. you press a key and it takes too long until the action gets carried out which generally makes for a feeling of unresponsiveness
4) sometimes you press R to drink a potion and nothing happens, probably because Geralt was in the middle of an important combat animation that doesn't allow the use of passive abilities, at other times you press R and suddenly he drinks 2 (or even 3) potions at once (coding a 0,5 sec potion lock-out or something to prevent this kind of crap was too hard)

These are a few examples of the problems of kb+m controls, complaints about that are perfectly justified.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I don't give a fuck how fluid and responsive the game is on the shitbox or for those using a controller on the PC. I don't even own a controller.

Well, that's just your problem. Not mine.

Also, I never said I didn't try M&KB. I decided to play with a gamepad *precisely* because I tried both.

 

[Angthoron]

If a game is on PC, it should control well with primary PC peripherals.

I've not played on a console for well over two decades, but if I'd start playing now, I certainly wouldn't want to be told that hey, you should be playing this game with KBM on your console instead, that's when it actually works.

 

[thesheeep]

Every PC game (except for certain genres like fighting games) have to function properly with proper PC controls.
And that is kb+mouse.

That said, I am not having any problem at all with kb+mouse controls in Witcher 3. They are perfectly fine to me.

On another note:

Unfortunately, due to some terrible interface decisions it is impossible to drink potions directly from the inventory screen, therefore you must manually equip desired potions into the two available potion slots, exit the inventory, drink the potions, replace them in the inventory, rinse, lather and repeat as necessary.

Did someone note already that this is nonsense?
I can drink and use anything perfectly fine from the inventory by pressing E (by default), which is of course also highlighted.

 

[Ismaul]

Great controller controls (supposedly) do not make the KB&M controls good.

Are you so dumb that this doesn't even register to you as a relevant criticism, since most PC users are using KB&M?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Well, that's just your problem. Not mine.

What's next? When a game has gamebreaking bugs on the PC but plays fine on the shitbox all complaints about the PC game are invalid because you COULD play it on the console?

Also, I never said I didn't try M&KB. I decided to play with a gamepad *precisely* because I tried both.

So, you did notice a problem with the kb+m controls.

 

[hivemind]

I can drink and use anything perfectly fine from the inventory by pressing E (by default), which is of course also highlighted.

same for me

 

[Angthoron]

Every PC game (except for certain genres like fighting games) have to function properly with proper PC controls.
And that is kb+mouse.

That said, I am not having any problem at all with kb+mouse controls in Witcher 3. They are perfectly fine to me.

On another note:

Unfortunately, due to some terrible interface decisions it is impossible to drink potions directly from the inventory screen, therefore you must manually equip desired potions into the two available potion slots, exit the inventory, drink the potions, replace them in the inventory, rinse, lather and repeat as necessary.

Did someone note already that this is nonsense?
I can drink and use anything perfectly fine from the inventory by pressing E (by default), which is of course also highlighted.

It was mentioned, yes, and I'll be amending it, but this is so fucking unintuitive that I don't even know where to start.