Does the combat get better?

[blc]

Just started playing this game but the combat feels dull and unresponsive. Like dogs charge you and you hit them in air with your sword but there is no response on their animation that you hit them.

Or you cant parry because your character is stuck in a swing animation.

Is the game more about the rpg and less about combat?

[Frostbite]

''Or you cant parry because your character is stuck in a swing animation.''
This is a good thing in terms of gameplay.

''Just started playing this game but the combat feels dull and unresponsive. Like dogs charge you and you hit them in air with your sword but there is no response on their animation that you hit them.''
Because they are in the middle of their 'Charging' animation. You could count it as minor bug though, depending on your tolerance(ranging from playing only minesweeper to 'andromeda was actually a masterpiece').

Also its worth to mention, game's main focus apparently and obviously is world building and story telling.

*silently waits in the corner for a fanboy stamp*

[blc]

Thanks for response. How is combat compared to start of the game to end game? Is there more stuff to it or just swing parry and dodge? I noticed there are more strategy into combat thant just hack and slash, like potions and stuff

[Frostbite]

No combat doesnt change much(as how it is in real life by the way), only there are special enemies which will require or force you to use different types of engagement strategies at times(tried not to spoil it too much, sorry).

Yes there are different gadgets and stuff, but they are obsolete and mostly optional, if you are not playing in the death march difficulty setting. Be warned though, if you dont have above average reflexes(which since you are a gamer, you should have them), you will die and get frustrated SO MANY times.

[Dragon]

No, the combat does not get better. It's abysmal from start to finish, and remains equally as clunky/unresponsive/wieldy/awkward from start to finish.

Is the game "more about RPG"...no. I read a post on this board that said something like there is only 12 hours worth of cutscenes in the whole game. Yet posters here are also constantly claiming that this is a 200+ hour game if you do everything.

So, what does that mean? It means that there is very little RPG content relative to the "open world" terribad gameplay, of which there is crap-tons.

It means that the vast majority of the time is not spent on RPGing, but rather spent derping around the "open world," and engaging in the terrible play control of riding your horse and indulging in the very bad combat which also has terrible play control.

Originally posted by Frostbite:

''Or you cant parry because your character is stuck in a swing animation.''
This is a good thing in terms of gameplay.

No, it's not. It's terrible, just like everything else about Witcher 3's gameplay.

If anyone wants to see a game set in the past with third person perspective horse riding & combat done right, then play AC Odyssey. That game is 100,000,000 billion times more fluid/smooth/responsive than Witcher 3. Parry in AC Odyssey always works right in the exact moment when you need it and use it, and it's wonderful. And in AC Odyssey if you are in an animation during which you can't parry, then it means you can't get hit during that time.

AC Odyssey's great gameplay is like the antithesis of Witcher 3's terribad gameplay. I'm not saying AC Odyssey is a perfect game; it has many of its own flaws. But one thing it absolutely trounces Witcher 3 on is the gameplay.

Playing that and then contrasting it vs. Witcher 3's gameplay makes all the problems with Witcher 3's gameplay become abundantly clear (although they are also quite clear just from playing Witcher 3 itself).

[Frostbite]

Originally posted by Dragon:

Originally posted by Frostbite:

''Or you cant parry because your character is stuck in a swing animation.''
This is a good thing in terms of gameplay.

No, it's not. It's terrible, just like everything else about Witcher 3's gameplay.

Yes it is a good thing. Encourages you to think before spamming attacks, which is what you were doing in previous AC games(didnt play odyssey yet, but its ubisoft so i wouldnt bet on it). Not to mention what you are suggesting would break the realism barrier(good luck re-shaping your sword attack mid-air while doing another attack, let alone transforming it into a parry).

And i bet my two cents on it, you are just another 'im special because i dont like witcher' kid who likes running around ruining people's passion and whatnot. I mean its not because you didnt like the combat, its because you are focusing and forcing yourself too much for finding gameplay errors/bad design choices in a game, which clearly hasnt focused on gameplay, at all, by any means. Its like deciding not to buy cars, because they cant go on the water.

As a semi-professional game designer myself, looking at it from a (as humble as it can be)professional perspective, witcher 3 only sucks at three things generally;
1-Considering their focus, which is story telling, terrible scene design for dialogues. They feel like getting ripped off of a kids drama book at times.
2-Failing to keep the explorable vibe of the world they have designed, as tender as possible throughout the game. Not exactly a thing they sucked, most people didnt like this. So it is something that shouldnt be in this game apparently.
3-Too strecthed out main plot, kills the enthusiasm and will to keep up with it at some point, resulting with tons of end-choice confused players. Remember why you liked HoS's and B&W's plot better? Because they were dense and base was too small, so they had to hid things they should be hiding, very good. Increasing the mystery vibe, keeps the curiosity awake, keeps the player awake.

Notice how all the points they sucked, related to story telling, world building, plot. Main topics the game has focused on. Thats how you give a review. You are welcome.

[Sobrio]

You can cancel your attack with dodge.

[Big Moustache]

Combat gets much better later when you have skills. (Despite to popular believe) it's not a buttonmasher, you need perfect timing and learn your enemies behaviour. Once you get the hang of combat it becomes easy and you can take on 10 or more enemies without getting hit. Learn about enemies vulnerabilities and using witcher signs correct.

[PycassoClaudiu]

The combat is the worst thing the game can offer.

[playoftheyear]

I would admit that combat will become redundant after so many hours of hacking and slashing and gets too easy , after player understands what can and cannot get away with. Like Side stepping through enemy attacks, or Dodge I should say. They, CDPR could have made it that dodging into the direction that the enemy is attacking from would equal a hit and damage. So just spamming dodge, which has little to no impact on the stamina meter is , makes for some funny looking fights. I instead learned to enjoy most the gameplay by roleplaying the fights with combat moves that just looked really epic and cool, although it helps knowing that one can always win the fight when wanted to.
Also I don't know about harder difficulties. This game seems to have different levels for different levels of difficulty, which sounds odd but thats what makes it a game and most whiners and haters get frustrated that CDPR had the skills to hide the levels of difficulty well, and the haters can't get over it.

[Yraggul666]

Originally posted by Dragon:

No, the combat does not get better. It's abysmal from start to finish, and remains equally as clunky/unresponsive/wieldy/awkward from start to finish.

Is the game "more about RPG"...no. I read a post on this board that said something like there is only 12 hours worth of cutscenes in the whole game. Yet posters here are also constantly claiming that this is a 200+ hour game if you do everything.

So, what does that mean? It means that there is very little RPG content relative to the "open world" terribad gameplay, of which there is crap-tons.

It means that the vast majority of the time is not spent on RPGing, but rather spent derping around the "open world," and engaging in the terrible play control of riding your horse and indulging in the very bad combat which also has terrible play control.

Originally posted by Frostbite:

''Or you cant parry because your character is stuck in a swing animation.''
This is a good thing in terms of gameplay.

No, it's not. It's terrible, just like everything else about Witcher 3's gameplay.

If anyone wants to see a game set in the past with third person perspective horse riding & combat done right, then play AC Odyssey. That game is 100,000,000 billion times more fluid/smooth/responsive than Witcher 3. Parry in AC Odyssey always works right in the exact moment when you need it and use it, and it's wonderful. And in AC Odyssey if you are in an animation during which you can't parry, then it means you can't get hit during that time.

AC Odyssey's great gameplay is like the antithesis of Witcher 3's terribad gameplay. I'm not saying AC Odyssey is a perfect game; it has many of its own flaws. But one thing it absolutely trounces Witcher 3 on is the gameplay.

Playing that and then contrasting it vs. Witcher 3's gameplay makes all the problems with Witcher 3's gameplay become abundantly clear (although they are also quite clear just from playing Witcher 3 itself).

Could you go suck Ubi's hens please? Go away! You're just making a laughing stock of yourself.

[Frostbite]

Originally posted by PycassoClaudiu:

The combat is the worst thing the game can offer.

Yes its still among 'the bests ever'.

[Halcyform]

As mentioned, parry isn't all that effective against most of the enemies you run into (monsters, etc).

Geralt's strong attack animation can be abused. It has a delay to it. You can initiate an attack, from just out of an enemy's attack range and then run forward with it. The attack will connect and can run/dodge out of the way before the enemy has a chance to retaliate unless you time it poorly.

Many enemies can be staggered this way and you can follow up with a few light attacks. Don't get greedy because if you're picking fights against skull enemies, you'll get wrecked. Not all that hard to take on higher level enemies this way.

Strategically using your spells will go along way too, but they may not work very well if the enemy is much higher level. Strong attack works just fine, though.

You can also abuse environmental (or other) obstacles.

[PycassoClaudiu]

Originally posted by Frostbite:

Originally posted by PycassoClaudiu:

The combat is the worst thing the game can offer.

Yes its still among 'the bests ever'.

The game overall. Yes it's one of the best ever. The combat holds the game back from being the best game ever.

[PycassoClaudiu]

Let me give you a serious answer to your "Does the combat get better?" question. No. If you think now it's bad, it gets worse late in the game.

Here is why:
(No spoilers) Just now I fought a guy called Horst Borsodi. His name does not really matter. But here is how I beat him, I pressed and held down left click and after 5 seconds he died. And I play on the hardest difficulty. No potions used no signs no oils. I basically beat him with 1 finger. - This is from a DLC.

At the end of the main story when you play as Ciri the combat gets a little more complicated. You have to spam press left click to dash to everybody and 1 hit kill them. It is very boring.

But, but, but. I personally still enjoy the game. Fights ending in 5 seconds at the hardest difficulty seems very dumb to me since I'm looking for a challenge. I personally enjoy fights when I'm a little bit challenged. I make it sound bad but if I could rate the combat in Witcher 3 it would be a 4/10.

[=GG= Mr Moe]

Combat is decent enough. I can't say its the best (not much experience with other games) but it certainly isn't horrible like Dra..., er, like Doom and Gloom repeatedly says.

I personally try to play it differently and avoid just panic button mashing sword swinging and rolling for combat. I dodge, parry, strong or fast attack, rarely but occasionally roll and mix it up with signs.

However, the story is the biggest part of the game for me and combat isn't in it much.