The beast - you can't be serious?!

[nekadnow]

I made the mistake of not looking at walkthroughs before playing this game so I guess I don't have all of the things in place to fight this boss. I have tried the fight at least 30 times and have only gotten the beast down to about 40%. I have a plain -20 sword with no effects. This fight isn't difficult, it's impossible. And of course I don't have any saves right before initiating the event because I didn't know it was coming. I wish I had known that walkthroughs were mandatory for this game.

I see no alternative at this point other than starting the game over. Ridiculous. I don't want the game to hold my hand but that doesn't mean it needs to throw me in a pit full of snakes without a weapon.

[Strurbury]

I'm about to start playing this, but, I'm assuming that there may have been significant dialogue leading up to said boss fight that may have imparted some sense of impending doom.
Don't lie. Did you just blindly click through all the dialogue or something? Chances are, I'll be just as screwed as you.

[xjs007]

Yeah it seems the game can be somewhat unforgiving IMO. I had a little bit of trouble with the beast (I fought him yesterday) at first but after using swallow, tawny owl, and blizzard potions ... blizzard after all the cutscenes but the other 2 prior to leaving the cave (I think that was the order) ... I was able to take the Beast down without too much trouble. If you have Aard leveled at all try using that and hoping for a hit on the beast so you can finish him off but otherwise you might just have to keep at it using the group fighting style to take down the other barghests. Blizzard looks like a potion that would be handy to have on hand at all times. From what I've seen/read I'd consider reading through a levelling guide just so you know what skills to pick up in what order otherwise you might get stuck in one of those fights that will make you quit the game and/or break a keyboard in half. Best of luck to both of you!

[D]

Honestly, just use cheats to get past the fight and better prepare for the next one if you don't want to go back to a previous save.

[nekadnow]

Originally posted by bluntdrunk:

I'm about to start playing this, but, I'm assuming that there may have been significant dialogue leading up to said boss fight that may have imparted some sense of impending doom.
Don't lie. Did you just blindly click through all the dialogue or something? Chances are, I'll be just as screwed as you.

This fight immediately follows an unrelated dialogue sequence and cut scene. You know that you'll have to fight the Beast at some point but there's no indication that it's happening now. Honestly, the game up until this point has been very enjoyable. It's just very annoying that they it's in there the way it is.

[nekadnow]

Originally posted by xjs007:

Yeah it seems the game can be somewhat unforgiving IMO. I had a little bit of trouble with the beast (I fought him yesterday) at first but after using swallow, tawny owl, and blizzard potions ... blizzard after all the cutscenes but the other 2 prior to leaving the cave (I think that was the order) ... I was able to take the Beast down without too much trouble. If you have Aard leveled at all try using that and hoping for a hit on the beast so you can finish him off but otherwise you might just have to keep at it using the group fighting style to take down the other barghests. Blizzard looks like a potion that would be handy to have on hand at all times. From what I've seen/read I'd consider reading through a levelling guide just so you know what skills to pick up in what order otherwise you might get stuck in one of those fights that will make you quit the game and/or break a keyboard in half. Best of luck to both of you!

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll try that next time. I do have those potions but I didn't think they lasted through the cut scenes and stuff.

[hiddenranger]

The game can be unforgiving, but thats also one of its charms, always being on edge, never knowing what will happen.

But yea, keep a few saves handy.

[velkito]

If it helps in any way, in my opinion, the Beast fight is the hardest fight in terms of the ratio between its difficulty and the overall power Geralt is likely to be wielding. There are harder fights later on, but Geralt is also much better equipped and prepared, so none of them feel as unforgiving to the point of frustration.

Also, potions last through cut scenes, however, some cut scenes, and I think the one before the beast is such, end at a set time. So if you have a save from before the fight, you'd do well to rest until midnight and then initiate the cutscene and so on.

[Ebon Wolf]

Gotta learn to prep with potions and oils. Also always have separate save files.

[astronot]

yeah first battle was a mess :P but after that it's a breeze. i tried it at least 20 times also

[Nefo]

Learn to read EVERYTHING in the quest journal. It says in the last part : I need to prepare and finish other things first.

[tr0n]

I think it's a fight to teach you to prepare for the worst at all times. I had to re-do it a few times, but once i played through killing the salamanders again, potioned up and saved, i was able to go in prepared and kick ass.

[Summerhaze]

inb4 English is not my native language. Just use Aard to stun Beast (if it procs this fight becomes one of the easiest) and group-fighting style when dogs surround you. Focus on Beast after. It's pretty tough fight if you play this game 1st time (even not on Hard mode), but it's not THAT hard tbh.

[Strurbury]

Thanks! After reading all the journal entries and fighting the demon dogs (barghests?) I felt this was the natural progression.
Knock it down and execute it. Right?

[Tranquil Bardbarian]

As it was was said earlier, for most of the first at least 3 chapters, swallow tawny owl and blizzard are going to be your best bet potions. There are others you can use but they often offer serious side effects that those don't. You won't always need to use blizzard for most fights, but for hard ones it is a good idea as it offers a flat bonus to your parry and dodge.

Note- nothing is going to help you parry or dodge if you get hit from behind. Stay on the move and use your active dodge to relocate Geralt.

Wolf is a good potion once you unlock Precise Hit which works a level 5 dexterity talent, group styles, yellow meteorite forged swords, and other swords which say + x% to precise hit.

Wolverine is a good potion for a difficult fight. It increases your damage when your vitality (Health) falls below 50%. If prepared with ingredients containing albedo it makes it better by 50%.

A note about secondary substances:

When preparing potions take note of the secondary ingrediants albedo, nigredo, and rubedo.

A potion made with all albedo ingredients will reduce toxicity of potions taken after by 50%
One made with nigredo will give a small boost to damage.
One made with rubedo will give a small boost to vitality regeneration.

[Tranquil Bardbarian]

Yes having ard upgraded to knockdown makes the barghest and beast easier. It actually make chapter 2 easier as well. After that many monsters are immune to stun and knockdown. It is still useful on salamandra. Just keep up on the journal, it will tell everything on tactics for each monster.