PorkyThePaladin
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2013
- Messages
- 5,103
I know there are a lot of Witcher 3 modding threads here, but I've actually come up with what I feel like is off-the-beaten-path mod setup for this game that is both very easy to install and changes minimal stuff while zeroing in on what I feel are the actual issues with the game. So I would like to keep it separate so it doesn't get lost in the thousands of mainstream modding suggestions.
Witcher 3 is an absolutely great game, but even its biggest fans, such as yours truly, have to admit it has serious flaws. The most prominent of these are a shitty exploration system, and flawed combat. Unfortunately, due to the developers' decisions, not much can be done about the first, in my humble opinion, as the quest/map markers and compasses and cookies trails make it all but impossible to have quality exploration. You can remove them of course, but since the dialogue doesn't give enough hints and there aren't actual landmarks and directions to follow, this would lead to an even worse experience.
Then, you have the combat, which CAN and HAS BEEN modded. Google Witcher 3 combat mods, and almost always, the two suggestions you will come across will be The Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition (TW3EE) and Ghost Mode, which are massive overhauls of the entire game. Ghost Mode tries to stay truer to the vanilla game, but still makes a ton of changes, and TW3EE is almost an entirely different thing.
I've had problems with both of these. TW3EE I just don't like in principle, as I enjoyed much of the vanilla game, and don't know if I should trust a modder to change half of it. Moreover, I feel like TW3EE actually makes Witcher 3 combat even worse, by making it even more hectic and aggressive and dance-like. Geralt already twirls too much in vanilla, but if you check out TW3EE videos on youtube, he spins and jumps around even more, which is definitely the opposite of what I would like to see.
Ghost Mode also introduces a lot of stuff I don't like, such as enemies dodging in the middle of attack, which looks really bad, or attacking super fast. These changes are introduced to make the combat more challenging, but don't always do it in what I feel is the best way.
So without further ado, below is a list of minimal mods and game settings that I am running on my current playthrough that zero in on the really big problems with Witcher 3 and leave everything else alone. I find they improved the combat vastly, and a few other things.
Mods
Roll back to 1.31 patch: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3374?tab=description
This is to roll the game back to version 1.31, which is what most mods were made for. They recently updated to 1.32, which broke a lot of stuff, and all it does is introduce the Chinese version of some stuff, so you can safely roll this back unless you need to play this in Chinese.
Enemies of Rivia (improved enemy AI): https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3789/
This is the centerpiece of the setup, a little known mod that I feel might actually be better than both TW3EE and Ghost Mode. What it does is change enemy AI in the game so that they actually use the tools they have. Enemies in W3 can actually block, and dodge, but you would never know this in vanilla, even on Death March setting. You can attack any enemy indefinitely by spamming fast or slow attacks, and they will do nothing most times. Well, apparently this is because they have some stamina management issues, so Enemies of Rivia fixes this up, so everyone will now block or dodge constantly.
Approach any humanoid enemy for example, and start spamming attacks on them, and they will raise their weapon or shield and block most of them. Animals and monsters will dodge most attacks instead. This forces you to take a different approach instead of just spamming your left mouse button. For instance, you can now try to parry or dodge them, leaving them open for a hit or two, and repeat.
Also, more powerful enemies will have even more complex attacks and defenses with this mod. I would suggest installing the version with vanilla combat animations, as the other one has been known to cause some issues.
No Storybook Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/816
This one is a quality of life mod that removes those dumb intro videos at the start of every load, telling you what you already know about the story, the ones you cannot escape out of. Cannot recommend this enough.
Settings:
So once you've installed the mods above, I would also suggest the following game settings for the best combat experience:
Difficulty - Death March - For obvious reasons. This is not a very difficult game in general, so you want to crank this up to the max.
Movement - Alternative
Upscaling - On - Some people will have an issue with this in terms of RPG progress, but this is a huge open world game, do you really want to deal with a bunch of weakling enemies because you didn't get to them at the right time? This settings eliminates this issue and you always have fun combat.
Manual sheathing/unsheathing - ON, for obvious reasons
Enemy/Boss Healthbars - OFF - if the enemy healthbar is shown, it flashes in red right before they attack, giving you a sort of a mini-cheat mode. With it off, you have to actually watch the enemy for attack tells, which makes it a lot more fun, especially against humanoids.
Another benefit of these settings and mods is that with tougher enemies without tells (healthbars), this will actually incentivize you to use alchemy for tougher fights, as they might get much more difficult than in vanilla.
Below you can see a video of me fighting one of the Nilfgard guards in White Orchard. You can see that I can only get a single hit in after a parry before he starts blocking my hits. I also don't get tells from his flashing healthbar, so I have to actually watch his weapon and movement. So this leads to a really nice flow in combat, defend, attack, defend attack (made even more interesting with multiple opponents), as opposed to the spam twirling in vanilla.
Witcher 3 is an absolutely great game, but even its biggest fans, such as yours truly, have to admit it has serious flaws. The most prominent of these are a shitty exploration system, and flawed combat. Unfortunately, due to the developers' decisions, not much can be done about the first, in my humble opinion, as the quest/map markers and compasses and cookies trails make it all but impossible to have quality exploration. You can remove them of course, but since the dialogue doesn't give enough hints and there aren't actual landmarks and directions to follow, this would lead to an even worse experience.
Then, you have the combat, which CAN and HAS BEEN modded. Google Witcher 3 combat mods, and almost always, the two suggestions you will come across will be The Witcher 3 Enhanced Edition (TW3EE) and Ghost Mode, which are massive overhauls of the entire game. Ghost Mode tries to stay truer to the vanilla game, but still makes a ton of changes, and TW3EE is almost an entirely different thing.
I've had problems with both of these. TW3EE I just don't like in principle, as I enjoyed much of the vanilla game, and don't know if I should trust a modder to change half of it. Moreover, I feel like TW3EE actually makes Witcher 3 combat even worse, by making it even more hectic and aggressive and dance-like. Geralt already twirls too much in vanilla, but if you check out TW3EE videos on youtube, he spins and jumps around even more, which is definitely the opposite of what I would like to see.
Ghost Mode also introduces a lot of stuff I don't like, such as enemies dodging in the middle of attack, which looks really bad, or attacking super fast. These changes are introduced to make the combat more challenging, but don't always do it in what I feel is the best way.
So without further ado, below is a list of minimal mods and game settings that I am running on my current playthrough that zero in on the really big problems with Witcher 3 and leave everything else alone. I find they improved the combat vastly, and a few other things.
Mods
Roll back to 1.31 patch: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3374?tab=description
This is to roll the game back to version 1.31, which is what most mods were made for. They recently updated to 1.32, which broke a lot of stuff, and all it does is introduce the Chinese version of some stuff, so you can safely roll this back unless you need to play this in Chinese.
Enemies of Rivia (improved enemy AI): https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/3789/
This is the centerpiece of the setup, a little known mod that I feel might actually be better than both TW3EE and Ghost Mode. What it does is change enemy AI in the game so that they actually use the tools they have. Enemies in W3 can actually block, and dodge, but you would never know this in vanilla, even on Death March setting. You can attack any enemy indefinitely by spamming fast or slow attacks, and they will do nothing most times. Well, apparently this is because they have some stamina management issues, so Enemies of Rivia fixes this up, so everyone will now block or dodge constantly.
Approach any humanoid enemy for example, and start spamming attacks on them, and they will raise their weapon or shield and block most of them. Animals and monsters will dodge most attacks instead. This forces you to take a different approach instead of just spamming your left mouse button. For instance, you can now try to parry or dodge them, leaving them open for a hit or two, and repeat.
Also, more powerful enemies will have even more complex attacks and defenses with this mod. I would suggest installing the version with vanilla combat animations, as the other one has been known to cause some issues.
No Storybook Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/816
This one is a quality of life mod that removes those dumb intro videos at the start of every load, telling you what you already know about the story, the ones you cannot escape out of. Cannot recommend this enough.
Settings:
So once you've installed the mods above, I would also suggest the following game settings for the best combat experience:
Difficulty - Death March - For obvious reasons. This is not a very difficult game in general, so you want to crank this up to the max.
Movement - Alternative
Upscaling - On - Some people will have an issue with this in terms of RPG progress, but this is a huge open world game, do you really want to deal with a bunch of weakling enemies because you didn't get to them at the right time? This settings eliminates this issue and you always have fun combat.
Manual sheathing/unsheathing - ON, for obvious reasons
Enemy/Boss Healthbars - OFF - if the enemy healthbar is shown, it flashes in red right before they attack, giving you a sort of a mini-cheat mode. With it off, you have to actually watch the enemy for attack tells, which makes it a lot more fun, especially against humanoids.
Another benefit of these settings and mods is that with tougher enemies without tells (healthbars), this will actually incentivize you to use alchemy for tougher fights, as they might get much more difficult than in vanilla.
Below you can see a video of me fighting one of the Nilfgard guards in White Orchard. You can see that I can only get a single hit in after a parry before he starts blocking my hits. I also don't get tells from his flashing healthbar, so I have to actually watch his weapon and movement. So this leads to a really nice flow in combat, defend, attack, defend attack (made even more interesting with multiple opponents), as opposed to the spam twirling in vanilla.