The Witcher 2 with Full Combat Rebalance 2

[throwaway]

Don't use this. Use the Rise of the Sword mod instead. So much better.

Care to write a few more things on Rise of the Sword ?

There was a similiar discussion in another thread, and here's what I had posted regarding the mod: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...2-enhanced-edition.68899/page-25#post-3662020

More specifically,
*snipped*

Tremendous job of selling it. Guess I'll have to test all 3 in the Arena. Combat becoming too easy is a worry since other people have said the same, on the other hand I was never that good on Normal anyway so Dark is bound to kick my ass for a good while.

Shame there isn't a larger consensus on such a DarkSoul-isation of TW2's combat. I have half a mind on The Wild Hunt and whether messing too much with #2's gameplay will result in me being less prepared for 3's gameplay.

A couple of question relating to my twichyness worries. How does the mod integrate with the existing skill-tree and abilities?
I gather that blocking works automatically but is it like with FCR2?
I came across a what seems to be a further step towards competend DarkSoul-isation - adding a stamina cost to attacks. Does that sound like a good idea to you? I'm mainly worried about the lack of popularity popularity and thus presumably balanncing that both versions or Rise of the Sword suffer from.


Extra: Either of you bothered with stuff like Enhanced Mod Compilation?

 

[Nryn]

A couple of question relating to my twichyness worries. How does the mod integrate with the existing skill-tree and abilities?
I gather that blocking works automatically but is it like with FCR2?
I came across a what seems to be a further step towards competend DarkSoul-isation - adding a stamina cost to attacks. Does that sound like a good idea to you? I'm mainly worried about the lack of popularity popularity and thus presumably balanncing that both versions or Rise of the Sword suffer from.


Extra: Either of you bothered with stuff like Enhanced Mod Compilation?

It doesn't mess with other elements of the game, such as skills, etc. That's one of the bigger drawbacks of FCR2 -- it replaces default skills with skills that are poorly explained in English, and there have also been reports of certain quests not completing as intended, but I personally never experienced it on playing through around 30% of the game with FCR2.

Blocking does happen automatically as long as you don't try to attack, if I remember right.

And the stamina cost addition seems a good idea, but I didn't use it because I feared the unpredictable enemy attack patterns would make stamina management frustrating. Enemies such as the Nekkers love to attack all at once, and other enemies don't have the same level of discernible attack tells as in the Souls games, for instance. I also didn't use that mod compilation; instead I added minor quality-of-life mods.

Ultimately, the mod is able to make combat far more enjoyable than the default or even FCR2 combat, but I'd set my expectations far lower than a Souls-like or Dragon's Dogma experience.

 

[Eyestabber]

Thanks a lot Nryn, Sensuki, I've been looking for a mod like this for a while. I dislike FCR, even made a thread about it. Will try Rise of the Sword when I get home.

It's only a combat "fix", right? No skills are changed, no items are "rebalanced" (nerfed to the ground), etc?

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah pretty much. It had been a few years since I'd played TW2 then I played it earlier this year with Rise of the Sword. Makes the combat so much better and thus the game much more playable. I agree with Nryn about playing with it on Dark Mode.

 

[Eyestabber]

Anything other than Dark results in a pointless left click fest on vanilla. Hope the mod works on a game already in progress. I would rage a lot if I had to restart the prologue...

Btw, I hit the guy with the balista yesterday. My life is now complete!

Any other "must have" mods for TW2 you guys can think of?

 

[Nryn]

You might have to restart if you've been using FCR. I think the mod works well with a vanilla save though -- can't remember. About other mods, there is nothing else that I'd classify as essential as this one. Perhaps inventory related mods if you just want to hoard and get through the game relatively quickly since the economy doesn't matter as much in the sequels? Ideally there ought to be a similar mod that overhauls enemy behaviour to match the overhaul to Geralt's animations, but alas, such a mod doesn't exist.

Edit: there are mods that increase oil duration so that the damned oils/potions do not expire during cutscenes. I used that as well.

 

[Eyestabber]

Nah, thankfully I removed FCR and restarted. My save is 100% vanilla.

 

[Multidirectional]

I regretted trying this mod on Dark, I ended up uninstalling at the shitty wraith battle in chapter 2. Having to press skip dialogue for about 20 times before each retry only to die within 10 seconds afterwards was suprisingly unfun!

 

[Eyestabber]

WOW, after playing a couple of arena matches I have to say: Rise of the Sword is REALLY good, and gives me a lot of hope for a similar mod for TW3. Being able to CHOOSE which attack animation I wanna use has immense impact and makes combat a lot less crappy. Can't really call it "good", but the improvements are VERY noticeable. Combat becomes somewhat passable, still a bit clunky, but modders aren't Jesus and all that. I definitely recommend this mod!

 

[throwaway]

I've only found time to try both out today and must admit I'm leaning towards FCR2. FCR is a tremendous improvement over patched vanilla, despite the codexian shit-flinging and while Rise of the Sword feels even more responsive (to the point where it's as quick as jedi academy) for some reason too often I'm getting stuck in a 4-5 stage animation gerald seemingly does for a group attack. It's great as far as damage dealing is concerned but since it makes dodging impossible I get huge damage way too often.

Edit: Fiddled around, seems like that was caused by using that aforementioned pirouette animation mod. Still not terribly in love. Haven't read the books but Jedi-esque jumping(/quasi-teleporting) in and out of the batle surely must be less lore-friendly that FCR2's riposting and dodging.