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The Witcher 3's Combat - A Poll
- Thread starter astro
- Start date
This analogy doesn't work.
You would go to a restaurant in a "serviceable" location, with "serviceable" cleanliness where you sit and eat, "serviceable" choice of food, "serviceable" level of dining experience, if the food tastes great? I wouldn't. Not always anyway.
The combat can be good or bad in itself, but when its called serviceable its within the context of the other elements that make up the whole game. The poll reflects that 29.2% would recommend the game for the combat. 27.7% would not. At worst this is divisive but more people like it than the ones who do not. Which is a positive outcome.
On my 4th death march play through on PC with mods atm, and I think the combat is good and fun still.
I have tried it on consoles also, and I feel that 30 FPS is a worse experience along with the long load times.
And I understand more the complaints from consoles players about the controlls
But the combat is also what you make it into imo, on my first play trough I didn't put experience into Quen and it made the game more challenging, where I had to use all my tools to win certain fights.
Made the game more fun for me and made roleplaying as Witcher, where Geralt is agile and fast seem more authentic
I have tried it on consoles also, and I feel that 30 FPS is a worse experience along with the long load times.
And I understand more the complaints from consoles players about the controlls
But the combat is also what you make it into imo, on my first play trough I didn't put experience into Quen and it made the game more challenging, where I had to use all my tools to win certain fights.
Made the game more fun for me and made roleplaying as Witcher, where Geralt is agile and fast seem more authentic
Because most people find it serviceable. And a serviceable combat in a heavily combat focused game didn't prevent the majority from enjoying it and TW3 from getting high review scores and many awards. Guess most people will most likely enjoy CP, too, when it checks all the other marks people going to expect from a CDPR game. There's also a number of shooter-orientated games that had only serviceable combat and still received critical acclaim.
It's servicable. It's not super-jank like the Piranha Bytes games, but it's still kinda janky and it doesn't hold up to high standards the game sets in other areas.
Playing some of this recently after a long break and was having pretty fun combat encounters
Group of humans, one shield, 1-2 crossbow, bunch of fodder
Trying to get clear line of sight to shield so I could toss a bomb to break it, using fire to keep a few enemies busy for a while, trying to keep tabs on which angle crossbows are at so I can get some cover between us or dodge occasionally when I think they are due to shoot, using ice bombs to freeze a group and, allowing me to shatter one or two.... Had to keep a lot in mind.
Roach even managed a hit in when a soldier got too close to it's back legs
With stuff like that and the satisfying death animations, not sure why it gets as much criticism as it does. Only thing is that it does get a bit samey after dozens of encounters over hours and hours, but then again, can't think of many games of that size which have -amazing- combat aside from maybe the souls games
Group of humans, one shield, 1-2 crossbow, bunch of fodder
Trying to get clear line of sight to shield so I could toss a bomb to break it, using fire to keep a few enemies busy for a while, trying to keep tabs on which angle crossbows are at so I can get some cover between us or dodge occasionally when I think they are due to shoot, using ice bombs to freeze a group and, allowing me to shatter one or two.... Had to keep a lot in mind.
Roach even managed a hit in when a soldier got too close to it's back legs
With stuff like that and the satisfying death animations, not sure why it gets as much criticism as it does. Only thing is that it does get a bit samey after dozens of encounters over hours and hours, but then again, can't think of many games of that size which have -amazing- combat aside from maybe the souls games
"Serviceable" is my pick.
It's far from excellent, but also the best in the series (I know...) and nowhere near bad to the point it single-handedly made me dislike the game or anything like that.
Once you get into the rhythm it can even have a nice "flow", where chaining well timed dodges and executions while in the middle of, say, a crowd of nekkers/drowers can be a lot of fun.
Conversely, if played on low difficulty just spamming Quen and clumsily brute-forcing your button mashing through waves of enemies it feels like a complete chore.
Frankly I don't even think it's the worst aspect of the game, which is an "award" I'd give to the itemization for anything that isn't part of a Witcher set.
This is a typical case of a game where "less could have been more" and greatly reducing the amount of lootable stuff around would have improved the pace (and consistency) for everyone.
Also, about the progression system, I always thought LEVELS were a completely unnecessary addition.
Death March is the only reasonable way to play to keep things barely engaging, , given that even on that level its difficulty tends to get trivialized over time by the progression curve.
People who advise in favor of "Eeasy mode" are doing everyone a disservice.
It's far from excellent, but also the best in the series (I know...) and nowhere near bad to the point it single-handedly made me dislike the game or anything like that.
Once you get into the rhythm it can even have a nice "flow", where chaining well timed dodges and executions while in the middle of, say, a crowd of nekkers/drowers can be a lot of fun.
Conversely, if played on low difficulty just spamming Quen and clumsily brute-forcing your button mashing through waves of enemies it feels like a complete chore.
Frankly I don't even think it's the worst aspect of the game, which is an "award" I'd give to the itemization for anything that isn't part of a Witcher set.
This is a typical case of a game where "less could have been more" and greatly reducing the amount of lootable stuff around would have improved the pace (and consistency) for everyone.
Also, about the progression system, I always thought LEVELS were a completely unnecessary addition.
Bullshit.
Death March is the only reasonable way to play to keep things barely engaging, , given that even on that level its difficulty tends to get trivialized over time by the progression curve.
People who advise in favor of "Eeasy mode" are doing everyone a disservice.
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It almost made me break a controller because how the enemies animations and hitboxes sucked with me.
Git gud.
Which doesn't even take much. Just basic rhythm.
Then again it's not talked that often, but this is one of these cases where reaction times/hitboxes always felt worse in the low framerate console version, if that's what you played.
for me it's serviceable at best, sometimes frustrating. i cannot work out if there's rhyme or reason to the attack pattern, i don't really feel like i have much control over the way you move with your sword, and compared other games where you know exactly what it's going to look like when you swipe in a direction whilst moving in such a way, this is less enjoyable.
i'm only like 10 hours into witcher 3 for my first time, so i'm going to continue to play, and maybe see if improving armor, weapons and skills allow me to flesh out a build that's enjoyable to play.
i'm only like 10 hours into witcher 3 for my first time, so i'm going to continue to play, and maybe see if improving armor, weapons and skills allow me to flesh out a build that's enjoyable to play.
I've completed runs on 'Sword and Story' and 'Death March' and would go with 'serviceable'. Alongside certain Japanese RPGs it can feel quite miserable, but put alongside certain western RPGs it actually shines, so I guess it's a question of expectations.
I know that when I go back to it there's often a period of frustration while I reacquaint myself with everything, but ultimately I think it would have benefited from taking a more hunter/stalker approach to combat with slow approaches, baits, bombs and traps doing most of the heavy lifting and signs/swordplay being used to mop up stragglers.
Attempting to tackle a pack of wolves with a sword will never not feel stupid to me.
I know that when I go back to it there's often a period of frustration while I reacquaint myself with everything, but ultimately I think it would have benefited from taking a more hunter/stalker approach to combat with slow approaches, baits, bombs and traps doing most of the heavy lifting and signs/swordplay being used to mop up stragglers.
Attempting to tackle a pack of wolves with a sword will never not feel stupid to me.
On a side note, if anyone here is willing to experience another case of "surprisingly good RPG in most of its aspects, almost ruined by a downright terrible combat system" I can't recommend ELEX enough.
Or Aard, with the combination of Aard sweep it's really effective against flying monsters especially harpies and sirens.
Serviceable. I don't hate it, but it could definitely be better and more fun with some big tweaks.
I go back between "serviceable" and "poor" frankly but chose the former. I had fun with the combat for a bit and was trying out things but eventually I reached a point where the game just stagnated and I had at least half the game left to finish.
Eventually I put it on easy and blasted through as I did not want to deal with the games combat cause it had nothing to offer me anymore.
Eventually I put it on easy and blasted through as I did not want to deal with the games combat cause it had nothing to offer me anymore.
I'd say poor. It's not unplayable by any means but it's not good or even decent either, it makes Geralt look clumsy. But overall all the gameplay from this game is rather poor, wether it is combat, traversal, inventory management or even the most basic control aspects are not on par with most good games, which is the main reason I'm surprised it's considered a great one by lots of people.
I really enjoyed it, and thought it was good. It's no Dragon's Dogma, but by RPG standards it was good.
This is an insanely OP end game build, but I had a blast with it and just ran around the world looking for people to fight:
This is an insanely OP end game build, but I had a blast with it and just ran around the world looking for people to fight:
I voted serviceable as well. The most gripe I have with the combat is Geralt's responsives and movement in general, it's too floaty. In combat you never really know what animation Geralt does when you press an attack button, is it a simple slash which is quick or does spin and then slash? There are many different variations and each has a different animation length, so you really don't know which ones you get.
They should have made fixed attack pattern mix up the different attack moves by alternating between fast attack, strong attack, signs and bombs.
They should have made fixed attack pattern mix up the different attack moves by alternating between fast attack, strong attack, signs and bombs.
I enjoyed the combat. I played on the 2nd highest difficulty and it did take some getting used to - but I enjoyed the mechanics with oils and signs. Often I would be having difficulty with a monster only to take a step back and read the bestiary and realise there was a better strategy.
Very odd obsession of online discussion to always come back to Witcher 3's 'terrible' combat. I just can't see how that can be a reasonable label, even after seeing the arguments about how it could be improved.
Very odd obsession of online discussion to always come back to Witcher 3's 'terrible' combat. I just can't see how that can be a reasonable label, even after seeing the arguments about how it could be improved.
I played the game at launch made it past the first region started the baron quest chain then just had to stop. I didn't like multiple aspects of combat, xp system, and durability.
Came back Afew years later after they patched some aspects of the combat and I used mods to ease some of the rest. Overall a much better experience.
I ranked it poor just due to my original experience.
Came back Afew years later after they patched some aspects of the combat and I used mods to ease some of the rest. Overall a much better experience.
I ranked it poor just due to my original experience.
I loved it. A lot of that was probably because the overall game was so amazing, so any faults the combat had weren't a big deal to me.
If you treat every encounter sort of like a dance, the combat makes more sense. Dodging in and out with sprinkled strikes made it really fun, and I did enjoy using oils and potions for specific enemies. Some of the bombs were really cool, Northern Wind which freezes enemies so they can be shattered comes to mind.
If you treat every encounter sort of like a dance, the combat makes more sense. Dodging in and out with sprinkled strikes made it really fun, and I did enjoy using oils and potions for specific enemies. Some of the bombs were really cool, Northern Wind which freezes enemies so they can be shattered comes to mind.
It's serviceable - I actually think one of its problems is the loot-based aspect of the game, since you can always swap to a better sword.
If you only had the one/two swords a la Sekiro and had to use your oils, potions, bombs & crossbow more effectively it would probably be more engaging, but then I never played on the hardest difficulty.
If you only had the one/two swords a la Sekiro and had to use your oils, potions, bombs & crossbow more effectively it would probably be more engaging, but then I never played on the hardest difficulty.
So i played this right after completing Bloodborne about 3 years ago and i couldn't stand how bad the combat was and put the game down after about 15 hours.
I've recently started the game again to give it another shot but with the perspective that it is not meant to be played like a souls game, and i am actually enjoying it.
Don't get me wrong the combat is still not great but i am enjoying the other aspects of the game. So for me I've voted the combat as serviceable
I've recently started the game again to give it another shot but with the perspective that it is not meant to be played like a souls game, and i am actually enjoying it.
Don't get me wrong the combat is still not great but i am enjoying the other aspects of the game. So for me I've voted the combat as serviceable
I had fun with it. I played on Death March which meant I couldn't just buttonmash my way through and had to engage with the systems a little more. I made a build mostly focused on magic (signs) and that was pretty fun to me. Hearing the people who were so smug just a second ago scream in agony from being burned alive was rather satisfying. Maybe don't try to mess with a witcher lol
I also really loved the upgrades you got in Blood & Wine between the grandmaster armors and mutations. That was such a crazy spike in power especially with stuff like Freezing Cold Aard. Wish that happened a little sooner but I loved it nonetheless.
I also really loved the upgrades you got in Blood & Wine between the grandmaster armors and mutations. That was such a crazy spike in power especially with stuff like Freezing Cold Aard. Wish that happened a little sooner but I loved it nonetheless.
I firmly believe people around here hate it so much because TW3 released slap-bang in the middle of Bloodborne's honeymoon phase, when everybody was still fawning over its 10/10 combat.
An action RPG coming along immediately after with noticeably worse combat (even if it's still more than good enough) really fucked it around these parts. People couldn't help themselves comparing them, even if it's a ridiculous comparison.
In all honesty, even though I know that Witcher 3's combat has some problems and doesn't have the quality of a From Software game when it comes to combat, I still rather fight in TW3 than in any FS game - it's just such fun to use all the combat abilities and things that you have available, like combining swordplay with signs with bombs and with potions, runes with different effects and elixirs.. even more fun to use all the new gameplay additions introduced in HoS and B&W from the start in New Game+