Alchemy
I will answer the alchemy related questions in one go.
We have kept a lot of classic Witcher potions that you have used in the past, things like Cat (its effect being more similar to W2 than W1) and Swallow for example. Ingredients like rubedo are also still present.
Now as far as the system goes, it’s pretty straightforward, once you make the potion it is yours and you can refill it automatically, or any empty potions in your inventory by meditating, assuming you have some alcohol with you (pure…don’t go pour wine in there). There are however different types of alcohol for different potions types. It is automatic and only one bottle of alcohol can refill multiple potions.
One of the reasons behind this is that with the open world it quickly became a pain to go really far to grab that one plant you need for a potion. If it’s a potion you use often there is no challenge in that, it’s just annoying. So instead the challenge shifts to when you first make it, the ingredients are not easy to find, but once you have learned to make it you’re good and you can refill it. This doesn’t get rid of the challenge at all; like I said we’ve just shifted it to the initial crafting phase of the potion rather than have pointless repetitiveness. It’s much better and fits our world.
As for being able to use the potions mid combat, this feature was praised during our hands on because due to the size of the world and the fact that it is an open world, you can walk around and suddenly you will be attacked by some monsters. Now, you could have some useful potions on you but you wouldn’t be able to use them with the old system which was frustrating – you would also sometime use potions, then have nobody causing you trouble, and thus you would have wasted a good potion for nothing.
You still have to be prepared and have what you need on you to go attack a specific monster. If you are going in the woods at night you better have the right stuff on you and make sure that you have meditated too of course (preferably in a safe spot). Going against bigger, unique creatures, the preparation also includes researching the creatures that you are hunting. Finding out its weaknesses, where you are likely to find it and of course having the right potion on you ready for when you find the creature (or it finds you...).
Overall the goal was to get rid of pointless repetitions whilst keeping the preparation aspect and even expanding it more (which is why we say that preparation is more important than ever) because by not understanding the monsters you are going up against, will cost you. On top of that, as I mentioned above, having the right potions will help. Personally I am a big fan of it, it allows me to be a bit more daring and more generous with the potions I use on myself and in some cases too generous and that’s when the toxicity level kicks in. Some potions are amazing but they will take you close to the “danger zone” as soon as you drink it – if you’re not sure how you’re doing you can check the toxicity bar or even Geralt’s face.
Rudoli asked:
How will the game prevent us from just spamming attacks on normal human enemies or big monster? I ask because in the pax demo we saw the Wyvern evade a few of Geralt's strikes, will there be something similar for human opponents?
Will certain enemies be able to parry you? And if so would they be able to launch a counter attack that you will have to be able dodge at the precise moment?
Yes to all of the above - spamming is not a good idea first of all when you have multiple enemies. They will come attack you even if you are busy with somebody else. If you spam the enemy can also dodge and you will end up doing a couple of attacks in the air which not only will make you look silly but gives the enemy time to then attack you. Humans also have shields which means that you must find a way for them to drop it. Stamina is what allows a guy with a shield for example to dodge or protect himself, so if he runs out of it (there is a bar above him that shows you its level) you can then attack him and he won't be able to dodge. Other enemies for example if they block you will stun you a little bit - the one that comes to mind is the ice giant I was fighting recently, I got a bit too carried away, went for a blow and he blocked me - screen effect came up and I was stunned for a little bit. That's when he went for the kill.
Rudoli asked:
Can our dodge be used for more than just evading? In one of the earliest videos I saw that when Geralt dodges backwards into an enemy it almost looked like Geralt elbowed him in the face, and the enemies staggered backwards, will this be another way we can damage enemies?
You can make some space if you're surrounded by dodging into someone, they'll be pushed a bit but you won't elbow them.
geraltfromrussia asked:
Does Geralt have finishing moves that involve the crossbow?
No.
Rudoli asked:
How does parrying really work? I saw that when Geralt parries an opponent he doesn't lose any health or vigor, so how will the game punish us if we just hold down the parry button? Or when we are in the middle of a group we can just hold down the parry button and block all the attacks with little consequences?
Actually parry is the same button as block, but in order to parry you must press at the right time (as you’re about to get hit) only then are you rewarded by a parry (we call it counter attack). Some enemies cannot be parried, like a double handed hammer swing for example is something you should dodge rather than try and block with your face. It's worth mentioning that not everything can be blocked fully. For example, sometimes, if you block a heavy attack, you will get staggered and receive fraction of damage.
Rudoli asked:
In the GDC video we saw geralt fighting a bandit that was blocking all his attacks, but Geralt just continued hitting him until he wasn't able to block.
Is this the only way to sort of get through an opponents guard, or will we be required to use other moves, than rather just hitting him until we break his guard?
That's the stamina I was talking about above. You can parry for example and he will drop.
Rudoli asked:
How does the parry mechanic work when fighting multiple enemies?
I saw in the polish demo that when Geralt parries an opponent with a shield he disarms them, but it looked like you had to be locked on. So will we be able to parry multiple enemies attacks? Do we have to be locked on to an opponent to parry? Can we parry any enemy that attacks Geralt from the back or side?
You parry only one enemy at a time. You don't have to be locked but with multiple enemies basically whoever's attack is closest to the parry sweet spot will get parried and you will see the animation. At that point you cannot be attacked by others but the parry is short so if you have somebody else raising his sword you can either quickly parry him too or...you get hurt.
Rudoli asked:
Will our two different attacks this time make more of a difference?
Like for example, will certain enemies parry us, or dodge if we use heavy attacks to much? And similarly will they be blocking more if we just use light attacks? Will we be required to use the two different attacks on the correct timing to fight more effectively?
Absolutely, that's also a reason why spamming is not recommended, eventually you need to switch and be a bit more clever with your attacks.
Percival_Dickenbutts asked:
Will we have all the essential combat abilities like: Parry from all directions, deflect arrows, riposte, group-style and the full variety of (all 90+) combat animations available from the very beginning of the game?
You can parry from the beginning, this is not something you need to unlock, but as for the others you will need to learn them.
Rudoli asked:
I saw that in both the polish demo and the latest pax east gameplay that Geralt does this sort of fury spin attack, how do you activate it?
Do you just press a combination of buttons or are you only capable of activating it on specific moments?
Active skill - hold down light attack for spin attack. Hold down heavy attack is the one that slices in half.
BroccoliSouP asked:
Is there any advanced group AI in game and if yes how does it work?
Wolves for example like to circle you and will work together, they know when one is attacking and they will go at it in waves, jump at your throat, then run away before circling again. A mistake often made is to run towards the one that just attacked you, when really, when wolves come, your best bet is to stay in the center, let them circle you and block, dodge, use Yrden (slows down time), do whatever you need to survive their attacks. They're very smart.
BroccoliSouP asked:
Is it possible to kill anyone in game or did you decide to go with the way of immortal key characters?
Letting you kill anyone would cause too many problems and ultimately the game is not about going on a rampage. So when you’re in town, whilst you can still upset guards by messing around with your spell or your sword we have opted for a more passive way for you to show your aggressiveness to NPCs (you’ll see when you try it… As I am sure you will at some point… Everybody does ).
scholdarr asked:
Can (human) enemies surrender aka laying down their weapons? Can Geralt "mercy" enemies? Are enemies always dead when slain by Geralt or will there be seriously wounded enemies who just can't fight anymore (e.g. because they lost limbs in a fight)?
Losing a limb means death for enemies. Some enemies who may not have a weapon, will ask for mercy when they see that you have your sword out and just cower in a corner.
scholdarr asked:
Can we play the whole game without using the crossbow even once, even if we want to fight against every enemy in the game? Are there quests that require us to use the crossbow?
Yes - no.
korov asked:
Horse fight - more about mounted combat if there is any. And can Roach kick bad guys with her legs?
All horses in our game can kick when they freak out a bit, that can hurt anyone who is standing behind them. Horse combat is great, you get a damage bonus (since you're going faster) and so you're more likely to see heads roll or bodies sliced in half.
RyukenQ asked:
It's been stated that there will be different types crossbows and bolts, could you give a small example of how this could affect combat besides just doing damage?
Different types of crossbows and bolts that will focus on a type of damage you want to do, knockdown and exploding for example are two that come to mind.
JackieEstacado asked:
How does environmental interaction work in a fight? Can we push someone over the edge of an abyss with the Aard sign, kicking them or with a sword slash?
Can we send the enemy flying out of a window or balcony? Can we crack his head or spine against a wall or impale them on a wall spike? Can we parry simultaneously the coordinated attack of two enemies?
Counter attack/Parry, Aard and if you kill on the edge of a cliff for example the body can roll off.
onionshavelayers asked:
Does the type of armor Geralt wears affect his speed and stamina (heavy coat armor as opposed to wearing just normal clothes).
Yes. Light, Medium and Heavy trade between speed and armor.
Zatara56 asked:
How many types of additional weapons are there?
Are there perhaps dual short swords like those of Assassins from W2 available? And does Geralt have his own animations for additional weapons or does he share them with other NPC's? Do additional weapons still have a dynamic stance like swords do?
Two handed, one handed, range with variations within those groups as well as damage type. There's really a lot of weapons for you to play with.
arkblazer asked:
One big issue i had with DA:I was that i felt more like a cobbler than a hero. I spent too much time on the crafting that it became tedious after a while, so ive had a bit of a burned out with crafting lately...
So what did you guys do to not make the crafting too tedious?
Good question. Crafting is not something I am a big fan of usually in games I must admit. In our game the best armors you can have are the ones that you craft, those are linked to quests so you go on an adventure to find the pieces that you need. As far as pure crafting goes you can really play a lot with it. You find blueprints that tell you the stuff that you need to craft. Now you can also dismantle things in your inventory that could produce some of those materials. If you don't have what you want you can probably buy it from a shop keeper. We don't send you on a mad dash across the world for materials.
Kassandrian asked:
Since it i known the most powerful items will be craftables, how difficult will it be to craft those - AND will there be a random component involved with gathering the materials for those items? As otherwise it seems pretty counterintuitive to make the most powerful items "certainly given" with the right knowledge.
These armors are Quest Related so in order to create one you have a whole adventure to follow, it's really nicely done, it's sort for a journey where you collect parts of the armor until you have the whole set. Note that we also have powerful items that are guarded by monsters, it's not just about crafting.
scratcherpen asked:
I wanted to ask about crafting and how it works, what elements of armor and weapon can we upgrade and how many levels did that get? How it affects the combat too as it was told? And can we detach previous weak parts of armor upgrades to change it in more powerful?
With Runes, there are some fire and frozen runes that have some nice side effects. When you separate a rune from a piece of gear you must choose to either keep the rune and destroy the gear to have it then salvaged, or destroying the rune.
linkman214 asked:
Was the reason the "VATS" system (ability to target individual vitals) was cut because of financial resources, or because it wasn't really "fun" with play test groups?
are there any remnants of this system in finishing moves? (Stabbing a monster/human in the heart(s)/throat, etc)
I totally forgot about that system. That's old. I have no idea why it was dropped, I think somebody mentioned that it may have been too expensive because all creatures had to have multiple shaders (the system used Witcher sense to see the innards and weak points of the beasts). Totally forgot about that actually.
web-head91 asked:
Were there any features that were cut-off from the game?
Well I guess that VATS system.
JasonShepard asked:
What was going on with ice skating combat? Was that a serious idea? If so, please go into specifics on how it worked.
Also please make a game with ice skating combat. I demand it!
Haha Ice Skating was serious indeed, it's in the books by the way. It only got to early prototype, one of our coders Eduar worked on this system and made it so that you could press LT and RT to skate left foot and right foot, once you pick up speed you could slide around and slice people in half. Looked cool, it had potential. Some thought it was silly, which is fair enough, but the main issue is that if we drop in on a frozen lake for you to fight enemies using a new mechanic, it's frustrating if we expect you to master it right away. So we would have had to introduce ice skating earlier on and that didn't work for anyone so we dropped it.
Garrison72 asked:
Is brawling in the street with multiple opponents considered a separate minigame from the tavern brawls, or is it just a random encounter?
When you see some guys punching each other you can basically walk up to them and ask them to join and that's the mini game part. In some cases people will come up to you to fight you but that's from quest side. Alternatively you can just start punching guards and see where that gets you.
Or punch a cow in the face, guards are less likely to care.
Zatara56 asked:
Could you elaborate on fist fighting? We know that it is now incorporated into the combat system itself rather than a QTE sequence but we have no details on how it works as compared to the rest of the combat system. Are there combos? Light and strong attacks? Is there a lot of moves/animations that Geralt has in his fist fighting arsenal? And can we use our fists at will, or are they only available during specific events?
It's much more natural now, it's not a QTE, you have light and heavy punch as well as block which all use the same buttons as if you were to fight a monster for example. In fact you could also unequip both swords and just try to punch a werewolf in the face (don't try it) and that uses the same system as the one we would use in our mini game.
korov asked:
Fist fight - do we have winning animation after fist fight like in Witcher 1 (posing, celebrating)?
No.
PT-Desu asked:
Will Geralt be able to fend off against armed enemies with just his fists, using roll, evade maybe even unarmed counter?
Or will we be forced to draw our sword when facing armed enemies?
You cannot block a blade with your forearms, well you can but it won't work and instead you get hurt. You can take on enemies with just your fists if you're good.
Dylaniskillen asked:
How does fighting with your fists work exactly? can you kill people, knock them out maybe like a finishing move?
Is it possible to get into tavern fights, it is possible to go up to some civilians and kill them, or guards in the city.
They will die. Having them just knocked out would mean that they would never give up fighting and become annoying.
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