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The Witcher 1 Thread

DalekFlay

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It's imperative though that you play TW1 on the hardest difficulty to get the most out of the combat. Anything less is a cakewalk, and I think it's obvious that it was meant to be played on Hard unless you're a very casual gamer.

Last thing I want is for this shitty combat to be difficult too.
 

JDR13

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It's imperative though that you play TW1 on the hardest difficulty to get the most out of the combat. Anything less is a cakewalk, and I think it's obvious that it was meant to be played on Hard unless you're a very casual gamer.

Last thing I want is for this shitty combat to be difficult too.

It's not very difficult though even on Hard. I'm guessing this is your first time playing TW1?

The Normal difficulty in TW1 is on par with Easy difficulty in a lot of games. There's very little challenge and it's brain-dead because they actually flash an icon when it's time to swing your sword. That icon isn't there on Hard, and you have to use other cues to know when to swing to chain combos together. It's vastly more rewarding once you get the hang of it.
 

DalekFlay

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It's not very difficult though even on Hard. I'm guessing this is your first time playing TW1?

Not sure why you'd assume that from my post. I beat it back when it came out. I agree it's not hard, I've only died a few times this go-around, however the point remains the same... combat is the worst part of the game, and not enjoyable. Last thing I want to do is extend it and make it more difficult, whether it's "better" that way or not. I can't imagine traversing the swamp, which is already insanely annoying, with those drowners and blow-up worm things taking more hits to kill and damaging me more. Fuuuuuuuck that.

There are games with great combat where more challenge is a good thing. This isn't one of them.
 

JDR13

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It's not very difficult though even on Hard. I'm guessing this is your first time playing TW1?

Not sure why you'd assume that from my post. I beat it back when it came out. I agree it's not hard, I've only died a few times this go-around, however the point remains the same... combat is the worst part of the game, and not enjoyable. Last thing I want to do is extend it and make it more difficult, whether it's "better" that way or not. I can't imagine traversing the swamp, which is already insanely annoying, with those drowners and blow-up worm things taking more hits to kill and damaging me more. Fuuuuuuuck that.

There are games with great combat where more challenge is a good thing. This isn't one of them.

You're completely missing the point here, but that's ok. I was kind of expecting such a reply. Oh well...
 

Carrion

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Last thing I want is for this shitty combat to be difficult too.
I don't really understand this kind of thinking. Challenging combat can at least give you some satisfaction when you beat a fight, even if you hate the system itself. Easy combat, on the other hand, pretty much ruins whatever mechanics the game has in place. Alchemy system? Pointless, since you can just click your way to victory. Acquiring better equipment? Pointless. Character development? Pointless.

There's also a drowner-repelling talisman in the game to make the swamp a bit more hospitable.
 

JDR13

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That icon isn't there on Hard, and you have to use other cues to know when to swing to chain combos together.
Which doesn't change much as you still get enough audiovisual cues.

What does matter is that on hard you actually need to prepare by using all those potions and oils (and choosing the right ones).

You're absolutely correct, and that's another important distinction that I forgot to mention. Alchemy definitely matters more on Hard. (Actually, it barely matters at all on Normal difficulty)
 

DalekFlay

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I don't really understand this kind of thinking. Challenging combat can at least give you some satisfaction when you beat a fight, even if you hate the system itself. Easy combat, on the other hand, pretty much ruins whatever mechanics the game has in place. Alchemy system? Pointless, since you can just click your way to victory. Acquiring better equipment? Pointless. Character development? Pointless.

I'm trying to burn through combat as fast as possible, to re-experience the world and story. I have zero desire to engage in the combat more or make it more involved. I don't want to delve into its deeper aspects, to develop it and make it more robust and challenging to overcome. I want it over with, done as fast as possible, eliminated from the experience, because I think it's shit. A game where the combat is an enjoyable part of the experience is a different matter, and I want to be challenged and learn its mechanics, but Witcher 1 is not that game. I really don't think this should be hard to understand.
 

Storyfag

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Both sides go full retard that's the point of the whole series.

No shit, but I remembered it as being led up to, the fact they're both insane being slowly revealed over time. Siegried seems like a nice dude at first, and the Order mostly in the background. However the elf guy immediately says in your first conversation with him that he plans to burn Vizima down and kill everyone inside. I didn't remember it being that obvious.

That was done on purpose, I think. They made the representative of the sympathetic freedom fighters an asshole, and they made the representative of the oppressive religious order a nice dude precisely so that normies find it more difficult to choose between them.
 

adddeed

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Witcher 1 is best played from isometric perspective. Game looks better, combat becomes more tactical and enjoyable, and the game controls great as an isometric RPG. Over the shoulder is ok to take some screenshots but the game isnt built around that perspective and it shows.
 

DalekFlay

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Yeah, it does look great despite it's age. Only issue I have with the graphics at all is with the small number of unique NPC models, but everything else looks great. I didn't realize in-game anisotropic filtering doesn't work at first either, so I got a pretty massive visual upgrade 10 or so hours in by forcing it in the nVidia control panel. One crazy thing though... the trade quarter still runs like shit, even on a 2070. :lol:
 

Morroweird

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The Visima Confidential quest (the investigation into the individuals connected with Salamandra in chapter 2) is surely one of the most intricate works in quest scripting in any RPG in history, probably even beating Beyond the Beef in F:NV. A massive non-linear search for clues which leaves the actual deductions to the player and allows them to make blunders. Admittedly the quest can be a bit tough to follow at times, with sometimes Geralt coming to conclusions in dialogue that didn't seem obvious beforehand but still I think it's an achievement not surpassed since.

I hope Cyberpunk will at least try to follow this legacy (not likely, since W1 lead narrative designer Artur Ganszyniec who I suspect did most of this work is no longer with the company).
 

Sykar

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The Visima Confidential quest (the investigation into the individuals connected with Salamandra in chapter 2) is surely one of the most intricate works in quest scripting in any RPG in history, probably even beating Beyond the Beef in F:NV. A massive non-linear search for clues which leaves the actual deductions to the player and allows them to make blunders. Admittedly the quest can be a bit tough to follow at times, with sometimes Geralt coming to conclusions in dialogue that didn't seem obvious beforehand but still I think it's an achievement not surpassed since.

I hope Cyberpunk will at least try to follow this legacy (not likely, since W1 lead narrative designer Artur Ganszyniec who I suspect did most of this work is no longer with the company).

Vizima Confidential is one of my favorite cRPG quests of all time and a reason I replayed Witcher 1 more than once.
 

Zeriel

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Yeah, it does look great despite it's age. Only issue I have with the graphics at all is with the small number of unique NPC models, but everything else looks great. I didn't realize in-game anisotropic filtering doesn't work at first either, so I got a pretty massive visual upgrade 10 or so hours in by forcing it in the nVidia control panel. One crazy thing though... the trade quarter still runs like shit, even on a 2070. :lol:

I remember when Witcher 3 came out people did some direct screenshot comparisons of the church in Witcher 1 to Witcher 3 interiors, and some aspects of 1 looked better. Was pretty weird.
 

DalekFlay

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I'm in chapter 4 now. I think this game is pretty underrated at this point. The combat sucks ass IMO, but literally everything else is much more enjoyable than I remembered and how people refer to it. A lot of the quests are well done, the dialog is pretty great despite the rough translation at times, and the mood/graphics hold up extremely well. I don't like the swamp being used as the "outside the city" area in both chapters 2 and 3, but I assume that was budget related. Anyway... I remembered it being pretty mediocre, but it's much more enjoyable than that.
 

Lacrymas

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Pathfinder: Wrath
So, I'm considering giving Twitcher 1 a try again, I tried it back when it came out and I remember hating it, but I might have changed and I'm curious. I know I despise 2 and 3, so I won't be bothering with those, but I digress. What are some must-have mods for this? Also, is it possible to not sleep with or romance anyone? I like to be as spiteful as possible and my Geralt in this roleplaying game (rofl) is gay.
 
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