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Decline Yet Another Witcher 3 Mod Pack (deprecated)

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Nov 29, 2016
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1,832
Fixed a syntax error which prevented the Crippling Shot skill from appearing in the character menu after drinking clearing potion (that is the one that resets your character). Files reuploaded with integrated fix. If you have already installed the mod pack, you can download one of the patches below instead and simply copy the contents of the zip into the game directory. You only need one of the fixes below.

If you have installed the mod pack but NOT loot rebalance:
https://mega.nz/#!bywkzJiI!HSNhDoJpX6Ovb5OTLv4NcfgUNB2BjEoDDRXLmbnFsdI

If you have installed the mod pack AND the loot rebalance:
https://mega.nz/#!njowWLZK!sCHFXgzwuaVTUEe3CtcIX5MMVhju3rRpzUnpryaNVG4
 
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Gimble

Educated
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Dec 4, 2017
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Fixed a syntax error which prevented the Crippling Shot skill from appearing in the character menu after drinking clearing potion (that is the one that resets your character). Files reuploaded with integrated fix. If you have already installed the mod pack, you can download one of the patches below instead and simply copy the contents of the zip into the game directory. You only need one of the fixes below.

If you have installed the mod pack but NOT loot rebalance:
https://mega.nz/#!A6BwlJLT!0h8PqxNBCpsZl16mP7KaXxal-VZsdlO8q-Ha-pA663Q

If you have installed the mod pack AND the loot rebalance:
https://mega.nz/#!R6xhlaJT!LTo4fKZ36C7sA3y0Owr1_GWEAItnjWMDOBjESNbnv3o

I have a few questions:
1. How does the modpack address the alchemy system? IMO, it was Witcher 3's weakest point (other than level based damage scaling) - does it bring it closer to Witcher 1 (which had pretty much the best implementation of an alchemy system)?
2. What about level requirements for equipment? This was another arbitrary balancing decision.
3. What about HP bloat issues? Most 'balancing' mods have this problem.
 
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I was gonna install this modpack but then you went and got rid of the best mods in it
Yeah, its a shame really. Just google the names of the three mods I listed a few posts ago and get dat low-ress puci, boi. They are 100% compatible. This goes for any reskin or graphics mod and anything of that nature. In general, anything that doesn't fuck with scripts or xml files should work as long as it is also compatible with Nitpicker's patch.

I have a few questions:
1. How does the modpack address the alchemy system? IMO, it was Witcher 3's weakest point (other than level based damage scaling) - does it bring it closer to Witcher 1 (which had pretty much the best implementation of an alchemy system)?
2. What about level requirements for equipment? This was another arbitrary balancing decision.
3. What about HP bloat issues? Most 'balancing' mods have this problem.

I go over most of these points in OP but here are some short answers:

1. Alchemy is more or less identical to what it was in Witcher 1, barring a few things like potion durations being influenced by the respective skill.
2. You CAN disable level requirements for equipment using ESGO, a mod that this pack includes.
3. In general the combat is more lethal towards both Geralt and monsters. Enemies have less HP across the board on deathmarch (HP multiplayer has been reduced being identical to the second hardest difficulty) and average human enemies get less hp with every level as well. At the same time most enemies do more damage to Geralt. Additionally, my upscaling formula also helps prevent HP bloat issue with enemies that are scaled up 10-20 levels as well as preventing generic Blood & Wine enemies from becoming absolute killing machines due to being upscaled over level 50. Finally, the massive HP multipliers from "red skull" (enemies that overlevel you by 5+ levels) have been entirely removed. TL;DR less hp bloat across the board.
 
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Tacticool Combat
All you need to win in vanilla Witcher 3 is a light attack, the step-dodge, and a functional spinal cord. That is because you can chain attacks forever
The game might not outright kill dumbasses for playing like dumbasses (it does need to sell to them) but it doesn't reward them for it either and it definitely doesn't mean you should play like one.

If you spam fast attacks against human opponents all you're going to do is quickly ruin your sword by clashing steel against steel as they will usually keep blocking your blows until they run out of stamina allowing you to get a regular hit or two in before they start blocking again(or sometimes they interrupt and counterattack your spam), all the while you're exposed to others during those spam attacks. If you instead played the game as intended by parrying human opponents just like you dodge monster opponents(the way the tutorial explained and loading screen tips repeatedly state) you'd immediately create those attack opportunities without having to move around(changing enemy engagement priority) or ruin your sword and you can parry multiple opponents at the same time leaving them all exposed simultaneously(juggle attacks between them), and if you buy the counterattack skill (or even the counterattack mutation) then a single parry->counterattack will do the damage of multiple regular attacks(or even kill them in one blow) which is far more efficient, engaging, and fun than spamming fast attack until their stamina wears down(or having to take stamina regen pauses in between spamming attacks).

I mean look at this:

In a 50 second fight against 5 melee opponents and one archer I counted a single parry, no counterattacks, arrows blocked or reversed, never kept your guard up, not a single block. Instead I counted at least 10 dodges(usually 2 in a row) and 3 rolls (which you used for crossing distances rather than evading attacks, so much for stamina management). You only stayed relatively still/put for 2 seconds in a fight that lasted 50 seconds, where you spent most of the time dodging/rolling and yet you only ran out of stamina when you pulled off a whirl(just like it would in vanilla), which didn't prevent you from then immediately pulling off a parry and a dodge. It really doesn't seem particularly more tactical or composed than vanilla.

NG+ parrying:


Even the stamina bar's UI isn't fit for the purpose of the stat becoming as important as health(and thus as monitored), it's barely one fifth of a small circle with no visual cues for when it's nearly drained, in the middle of a fight you'd be hard pressed to tell whether it's at 3/4 or 1/4, and that's because for most builds the stamina gauge might as well just be an on/off switch that indicates whether you have full stamina or not since normal spells require full stamina and consume all of it, and both whirl and rend work best when used with a full stamina bar and then deplete it.

The combat system's real flaws are related to its qualities as an action game, the attack animations(yours& the enemies'), hitboxes, required reaction times, that kind of stuff. The problem with dodging isn't that it doesn't cost stamina, you wouldn't run out of stamina in souls games or nioh either if you just stuck to dodging attacks, the problem is that enemy attacks are so slow, with such predictable windups, the dodge window so forgiving and the enemy attack hitboxes so meaningless you can dodge anything while half asleep. There's no difference between dodging a drowner's swipe or a fiend's antlers, just press the dodge button in any direction during a 1.5 second window. You're not in any danger unless you start attacking. And those issues are something that would take a lot more than spreadsheet number changes in order to truly fix.

It's very codexian for a mod to punish retarded playstyles but if it doesn't do much for those who already play the game "correctly" who really is it for? Spammy masochists?



Meaningful Day/Night cycle

Remember nights from Witcher 1? The quiet rural landscape would transform into one of those horror slavic tales I was read as a kid, full of ghouls and ghosts. That is why, much like the monsters they hunt, Witchers come out at night. Geralt prepared at day and hunted at night, almost like a nocturnal animal.[...]
Of course, the world in W3 is very static and there aren't, to my knowledge, new enemy spawns or behaviors during the night save for a few nocturnal creatures becoming marginally more powerful. So I found a mod which I configured to randomly spawn various nocturnal monsters (wolves if you are lucky, ekkimma if you are not) some distance away from Geralt at random intervals, ONLY at night and in the wilderness.
Which mod was that?

Better Economy, Reprise

What it do:
-Made all generic sacks, crates, and barrels unlootable.
Is that the loot rebalance standalone mod? Definitely want to use it.
 
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What this mod is lacking is the removal of all the useless video effects.

No mud screen, no water droplets, no dirty lens etc etc
 
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If you spam fast attacks against human opponents all you're going to do is quickly ruin your sword by clashing steel against steel as they will usually keep blocking your blows until they run out of stamina allowing you to get a regular hit or two in before they start blocking again(or sometimes they interrupt and counterattack your spam), all the while you're exposed to others during those spam attacks. If you instead played the game as intended by parrying human opponents just like you dodge monster opponents(the way the tutorial explained and loading screen tips repeatedly state) you'd immediately create those attack opportunities without having to move around(changing enemy engagement priority) or ruin your sword and you can parry multiple opponents at the same time leaving them all exposed simultaneously(juggle attacks between them), and if you buy the counterattack skill (or even the counterattack mutation) then a single parry->counterattack will do the damage of multiple regular attacks(or even kill them in one blow) which is far more efficient, engaging, and fun than spamming fast attack until their stamina wears down(or having to take stamina regen pauses in between spamming attacks).

In a 50 second fight against 5 melee opponents and one archer I counted a single parry, no counterattacks, arrows blocked or reversed, never kept your guard up, not a single block. Instead I counted at least 10 dodges(usually 2 in a row) and 3 rolls (which you used for crossing distances rather than evading attacks, so much for stamina management). You only stayed relatively still/put for 2 seconds in a fight that lasted 50 seconds, where you spent most of the time dodging/rolling and yet you only ran out of stamina when you pulled off a whirl(just like it would in vanilla), which didn't prevent you from then immediately pulling off a parry and a dodge. It really doesn't seem particularly more tactical or composed than vanilla.

As I have mentioned in my first post, the modded game plays very different depending on your armor type. I was originally going to make two videos of drastically different playstyles, so I was trying to rely on dodging and quick attacks as much as possible to highlight. I recorded multiple runs, including a few where I took no damage, but decided to use one where I made a lot of mistakes to show not only the combat style but also the enemy and toxicity damage (I guess I felt that ending the fight on a last-second white honey pop was thrilling because I'm weird like that, plus nailing the crossbow headshot on the poisoned arbalist gave me an erection). There were a lot of times in the video where a well-timed parry would in fact allow me to deal much more damage and I took a lot of unnecessary damage due to an over-reliance on attack spam (although I did parry at a crucial moment which was right after my whirl ended and I knew I had no stamina for a dodge, as you noted). Light armor is by far the most forgiving over stamina mismanagement but the fact that I took as much damage as I did - to the point of nearly dying - illustrates that inefficient play is punished.

Without the softlock, the optimal way to fight in light armor is to aim your step dodge so that you simultaneously avoid the enemy attack and also land to their side (or ideally behind them for sweet crits) and are able to counter-attack while simultaneously re-positioning yourself out of the thick of combat. Ironically, I didn't do a very good job of showing those off either in that run due to not fighting efficiently, so perhaps I should produce a new video, a close to perfect fight this time. On the other hand, parries and counters coupled with deliberate, well-aimed heavy attacks is the way to go when using heavy armor, as stamina costs of spamming attacks and dodges in heavy armor are very severe. I would love to record a video of heavy armor fighting in the near future as I also find it to be a much more "tactical" playstyle compared to the vanilla game, the process was somewhat delayed due to my PC shitting myself for the past few weeks. After I get that under control, I just need to pick a good combat encounter that is accessible from one of my saves from last playthrough to show off the heavy armor playstyle.

It should also be noted that enemies are far more aggressive in this mod than in vanilla, so there is much more emphasis on repositioning over standing still. The difference is that its more efficient to step-dodge in light armor while heavy armor users can move just as swiftly using the momentum of their (heavy) attacks, at least with the softlock off. Maybe that is a confusing explanation, but hopefully its easier to see in practice if/when I get that video out.

The combat system's real flaws are related to its qualities as an action game, the attack animations(yours& the enemies'), hitboxes, required reaction times, that kind of stuff. The problem with dodging isn't that it doesn't cost stamina, you wouldn't run out of stamina in souls games or nioh either if you just stuck to dodging attacks, the problem is that enemy attacks are so slow, with such predictable windups, the dodge window so forgiving and the enemy attack hitboxes so meaningless you can dodge anything while half asleep. There's no difference between dodging a drowner's swipe or a fiend's antlers, just press the dodge button in any direction during a 1.5 second window. You're not in any danger unless you start attacking. And those issues are something that would take a lot more than spreadsheet number changes in order to truly fix.

I mostly agree in regards to the lack of variety in enemy movesets and their forgiving nature - you are right that it cannot be fully fixed through by merely fucking around with numbers. However, I maintain that adding stamina costs to attacks and dodges helps with the fact that the player is pretty much invincible even during fast attack spam thanks to animation cancel (as long as they have rudimentary timing) due to the fact that one cannot dodge nor attack after exhausting their stamina bar. Its not a definitive fix but it does punish mindless spam, which I still argue is not punished enough in vanilla.

Which mod was that? I also wish there was a bigger difference between day&night both in terms of atmosphere and in terms of mechanics/enemies but I find there are already too many critters roaming the land during the day, people couldn't possibly survive all those dangerous predators living that close to their villages. I'd love to see most random enemy spawns only show up at night.

It is Random Encounters by erxv (https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/785/). I configured it to only spawn certain monsters and only during the night, but you can also do crazy stuff like generate Wild Hunt ambushes every five seconds if you so choose. However, the latest version comes with a bug that causes over-leveled Alps and Bruxae to spawn in friendly towns as early as Crow's Perch and ambush the player even when the option is turned off. This should be fixed in my pack but if get the mod from anywhere else you might encounter that issue. I suppose you could just grab the mod folder from my pack and not use the rest of it. Do read the original mod's installation instructions there are other peripheral files you need to copy over, too.

Is that the loot rebalance standalone mod? Definitely want to use it.

Unfortunately it isn't but I guess I can create a standalone version. Might not be ready for a few days, though (not that it is a long or difficult process, I'd just rather not do it on a workday). If you are familiar with how to cook and merge mods, you can just just take the two def_loot_containers.xml files from the archive/The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt/Merged Bundle Content/gameplay/items AND items_plus, then cook a separate mod and merge it with whatever other mods you use.

What this mod is lacking is the removal of all the useless video effects.

No mud screen, no water droplets, no dirty lens etc etc

Just look for mods that remove those specific things and install them over the pack. There shouldn't be any compatibility issues.
 
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Unfortunately it isn't but I guess I can create a standalone version. Might not be ready for a few days, though (not that it is a long or difficult process, I'd just rather not do it on a workday). If you are familiar with how to cook and merge mods, you can just just take the two def_loot_containers.xml files from the archive/The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt/Merged Bundle Content/gameplay/items AND items_plus, then cook a separate mod and merge it with whatever other mods you use.
It's ok, already took a peek at the files. Yours seems a better solution than the one FCR3 went with as the latter added an item to certain loot lists that made its containers unlootable, emptying a lot of chests(since they often use the wrong loot lists) and quest/POI related stuff.

I take it there is no way to tag/edit the actual containers/container types as opposed to editing the loot lists arbitrarily used by containers?
 
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Unfortunately it isn't but I guess I can create a standalone version. Might not be ready for a few days, though (not that it is a long or difficult process, I'd just rather not do it on a workday). If you are familiar with how to cook and merge mods, you can just just take the two def_loot_containers.xml files from the archive/The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt/Merged Bundle Content/gameplay/items AND items_plus, then cook a separate mod and merge it with whatever other mods you use.
It's ok, already took a peek at the files. Yours seems a better solution than the one FCR3 went with as the latter added an item to certain loot lists that made its containers unlootable, emptying a lot of chests(since they often use the wrong loot lists) and quest/POI related stuff.

I take it there is no way to tag/edit the actual containers/container types as opposed to editing the loot lists arbitrarily used by containers?

I assume there is but that solution is beyond me. Yeah, the way loot tables are assigned to containers in this game seems to be completely schizophrenic. For example, tables like velen_tailor and velen_herbalist appear heavily in cities in villages, adding things like cotton/string/etc and alchemical supplies respectively, but velen_weaponsmith and velen_armoursmith seem to be limited to PoI and other chests. A random chest in a dungeon could contain loot from the latter two tables, treasure table, dungeon table, rare ingredients table the CHEST table, or any combination of the above.

As a result I gutted the loot tables one by one and then checked out different areas to see if the loot distribution actually makes sense. Once I isolated most of the containers in populated areas without wiping out the contents of PoI/dungeon/quest chests, I beefed up and diversified the latter's loot tables to make up for the lack of loot in the rest of the game.

Oh, and certain named bandits like deserters, renegades, etc. never drop any loot besides their weapons and have no corresponding loot table. Only generic bandits, nilfgaardians, redanians, temerians, and skelligans do. This doesn't seem to be a balancing or realism feature either since temerian "partizans" appear as early as white orchard while the velen-exclusive Crow's Perch renegades have nothing. This led me to believe that I made a syntax error which would've made the enemy loot lists unreadable for the game for like two days which I spent trying to fix a problem that never existed. A lot of fun was had.
 
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Mate, any chance you could make a pack for me :P?

I know it is a weird request, but I found myself unable to use script merger, and I know nothing about how to fix the issues. Hell, the list I'm proposing was tested by hundreds of people and I still had issues with script merger and so on.

Had to try
 
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Mate, any chance you could make a pack for me :P?

I know it is a weird request, but I found myself unable to use script merger, and I know nothing about how to fix the issues. Hell, the list I'm proposing was tested by hundreds of people and I still had issues with script merger and so on.

Had to try

No guarantees as some mod combinations are more complicated than others, but feel free to shoot me a PM with the list in question and I will see what I can do.
 
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Does outright removing lines from def_loot_containers.xml not create problems for merging it with other mods that modify the same file?
 
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Lithium, are you still playing with your mod pack or thinking to switch?

How much xp do you get? Can you get overlevelled? I don't know if you've read what I've written inside ghost mod topic, but I find highly disrespected by the mod for making me get 1 xp from many monsters and basically forcing me not to explore (because if I get 1 xp and a ruined armor\weapon it is not worth it) and to keep doing the main quest to be able to do contracts\secondary quests.
To be honest I think there should be a huge push in the beginning to get high level, because it can't be that after two fucking games and telling even the king of the wild hunt to fuck off I'm having issue exploring and enjoying the view.
 
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Does outright removing lines from def_loot_containers.xml not create problems for merging it with other mods that modify the same file?

Wouldn't you be able to able to manually select the changes you want using the script merger? If not, then you can try integrating the gutted .xml into MergedFiles, although that will override any other modifications to the file (of course, you can always add them manually).

Lithium, are you still playing with your mod pack

Yeah.

How much xp do you get? Can you get overlevelled? I don't know if you've read what I've written inside ghost mod topic, but I find highly disrespected by the mod for making me get 1 xp from many monsters and basically forcing me not to explore (because if I get 1 xp and a ruined armor\weapon it is not worth it) and to keep doing the main quest to be able to do contracts\secondary quests.

Quest xp rewards in BCE3 are fixed. As for monster xp gain, you can also make that static (or change the values to your liking) as well as change or remove enemy scaling in Enhanced Scaling & Gameplay Overhaul. Both are included in this pack. The included preset are my recommended settings but you can tweak everything if you are feeling brave.
 
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Okay, thanks. I've got to ask:

1) What do you mean by fixed xp rewards?

> That BCE decides for me what I'm going to get and it is bound to change the amount of xp according to my level,

> or do you mean that level 1 or 10 I'll be always getting X xp from both quests and monsters kill?

2) Is there any chance your modpack removes the level scaling from all the monsters and making it fixated. So if I start level 1 downer will be level 1, but if I get to level 2, only the littlest amount of downers will be level 2, and not that if I level up every fucking downer will be my same level.

2.1) Is it possible to set a certain threeshold level for all the monsters (including bosses), that they won't surpass, but still get full xp?
 
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Okay, thanks. I've got to ask:

1) What do you mean by fixed xp rewards?

> That BCE decides for me what I'm going to get and it is bound to change the amount of xp according to my level,

> or do you mean that level 1 or 10 I'll be always getting X xp from both quests and monsters kill?

2) Is there any chance your modpack removes the level scaling from all the monsters and making it fixated. So if I start level 1 downer will be level 1, but if I get to level 2, only the littlest amount of downers will be level 2, and not that if I level up every fucking downer will be my same level.

2.1) Is it possible to set a certain threeshold level for all the monsters (including bosses), that they won't surpass, but still get full xp?


1) Latter but only for quest xp. As I said, you can customize this to include xp as well.

2) You can customize such values via ESGO which is included in the pack.

2.1) Yes, via ESGO.
 
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okay thanks. You sold me on it. I will wait Wghost81's answer and if it doesn't satisfy me I will switch to your pack.

By the way, have you given it a thought to make it a new mod instead of doing it the harsh way?
 
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As I had originally planned to assemble this pack for myself and a few people who weren't really concerned with modding the game themselves, I have taken some...shortcuts in implementing my fixes and changes. If you are familiar with the way the scripts are merged for this game, I kinda injected the majority of my changes into the merged files as opposed to creating a new mod and merging that with the rest of the mods. In other words, I did something quick, easy, and absolutely inelegant. Does this affect the actual game? Not really. However, if you plan on modding the game, pretty much anything that alters a script, .ws or .xml file has a pretty good chance of undoing my changes during the script merging process and fucking a bunch of things up. The game might still be playable, but one or more things are going to be broken under its hood. So as a rule of thumb, try not to install any more script altering mods on top of this pack. Graphical mods and everyone's favorite nudity patches should probably be fine, though.
 
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This was in reference to the structure of some of the changes I made. The "elegant" structure would be to turn each tweak into a separate mod. Instead I just baked them into MergedFiles. This was much easier and faster to do but as a result if you try to merge this pack with mods that change the same files, my tweaks will be undone during the merging process and things will break.

No intention to change this as frankly it would take too much time and effort. Besides, problems would - for the most part - only arise if you decided to merge this gameplay overhaul with another gameplay mod, which is something you don't want to be doing in the first place. It wouldn't make sense to, say, merge Ghost Mode with Enhanced Edition and Primer with Preparations, right?

Most mods that change models and textures, effects, etc are compatible.
 

RoSoDude

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Since you can't dodge forever, powerful solitary monsters can wear you down

In the combat video it doesn't appear that dodging actually drains stamina -- what's stopping you from just dodging until your stamina regenerates? Perhaps I'm just not seeing it correctly due to the video quality, but that'd be pretty important I'd think.

Also, can you clarify which version of "No Instant Kill on Knockdown" you're using? I don't really know how the knockdown mechanics work, but I'd wonder if the version that only kills downed targets below the 30% HP threshold would preserve whatever value there was supposed to be with knockdowns, or if it was so broken of a mechanic that it was worth disabling entirely.

Last question; does Crossbow Damage Boost trivialize the combat at all, or was the crossbow damage actually just crap?
 
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Since you can't dodge forever, powerful solitary monsters can wear you down

In the combat video it doesn't appear that dodging actually drains stamina -- what's stopping you from just dodging until your stamina regenerates? Perhaps I'm just not seeing it correctly due to the video quality, but that'd be pretty important I'd think.

Also, can you clarify which version of "No Instant Kill on Knockdown" you're using? I don't really know how the knockdown mechanics work, but I'd wonder if the version that only kills downed targets below the 30% HP threshold would preserve whatever value there was supposed to be with knockdowns, or if it was so broken of a mechanic that it was worth disabling entirely.

Last question; does Crossbow Damage Boost trivialize the combat at all, or was the crossbow damage actually just crap?

In light armour, dodging during an enemy's attack animation does not stop stamina regeneration. Correction: actually this only occurs when the fleet footed perk is equipped. Not the case with heavy armour. Again, light is the most forgiving class when it comes to stamina management. On the other hand, getting hit while wearing it hurts a lot. And yeah, fighting big enemies like Golems in light armour is still pretty easy with or without this nuance simply because they have terribly slow attack animations, so unfortunately there is only so much mods can do. At least now if you do happen to fuck up your timing, or are too greedy with attacks, the retaliation has a good chance of being lethal.

30% threshold. Vanilla knockdowns are indeed pretty broken, my dude. Aard wiith some investment in sign intensity has a good chance of triggering it. Do you run into a squad of heavy infantry, with several polearm and shield users? Just use Aard and one-shot all of them. A pack of monsters? A good Aard will kill half of them, and you don't have to worry about getting hit from the back as you are invincible during A powerful, solitary humanoid? Aard. Knockdown is still useful for obvious reasons and the free hits you inflict on prone targets can be as devastating as finishers but at least they can actually be punished by enemies. I try to keep around 20-40 blunt bolts around for taking down ranged enemies or disabling those with special attacks for a few seconds.

Vanilla crossbow damage is abysmal unless you have the Cat Eye mutations in which case it is borderline OP. Crossbow Damage Boost is a neat little rebalance that makes the crossbow damage output a bit more even (the infinite default bolt is still more or less useless for direct damage but can be used to finish off targets or bring down fliers). The damage output of the sword, even if using light attacks exclusively, beats it every day of the week but the crossbow has a variety of bolts with different status effects which make it a great support weapon. For example, I try to carry around 20-40 bleed-inflicting broadheads against enemies with health regen, 20-40, plus the aforementioned blunt bolts. The very rare and expensive spread and explosive bolts are excellent against crowds and there is even a bait bolt for pulling monsters away from groups or into chokepoints. These were present in vanilla but the mod makes their status effects more useful so as to justify actually using them.

Again there are problems that do not have an easy fix. Can you abuse the leash range of most AI to pelt them with infinite bolts until they die, therefore trivializing all combat? Yes, but the same problem is present in vanilla. Unfortunately this is an AI problem that cannot be easily remedied. In the same way you can fix all of your money problems by playing Gwent with the same merchant for 50 hours. There are ways to cheese this game with or without mods, you just have to consider if it is worth your time or not.
 
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SkiNNyBane

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Grab the Codex by the pussy
I was also thinking of replaying the game with ghost mod. Other over-hauls I tried made the game autistically "realistic" too much and made the game even more of a chore. But TBH ultimately I think you cannot fix the combat in this game b/c the move-sets are not precise enough for witcher to have dodge/attacks be relied upon like in dark souls. This game is best viewed on you-tube as an animated movie.
 

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