Potions are extremely lore unfriendly in this game.

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

You chug 95626086 of them in middle of battle, but correctly witchers drink the potions and it lasts VERY LONG even after the fight.

[Living Broscillograph]

Also, witchers are supposed to drink potions before a battle as there probably won't be enough time during a fight.
In TW1 and TW2 this was made sort of this way (however, in TW1 you could drink during a battle. On the other hand, you had to make a set of potions prior to skirmish, and you could eventually run out of potions. You literally had to PREPARE for your enemies).

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

Originally posted by Living Broscillograph:

Also, witchers are supposed to drink potions before a battle as there probably won't be enough time during a fight.
In TW1 and TW2 this was made sort of this way (however, in TW1 you could drink during a battle. On the other hand, you had to make a set of potions prior to skirmish, and you could eventually run out of potions. You literally had to PREPARE for your enemies).

Yes.
Side note: Steel is also for monsters. Most of the people might get it as people are sometimes monsters. But thats not so true. Silver is used only on EXTREMELY dangerous monsters, such as Leshen or Striga. Its becasue silver is very, very hard to maintain as it can damage the sword very quickly, so steel is also used on ghouls etc.

[GhostyBoi69]

Originally posted by Living Broscillograph:

Also, witchers are supposed to drink potions before a battle as there probably won't be enough time during a fight.
In TW1 and TW2 this was made sort of this way (however, in TW1 you could drink during a battle. On the other hand, you had to make a set of potions prior to skirmish, and you could eventually run out of potions. You literally had to PREPARE for your enemies).

The problem with that system, esp. in Witcher 2, is you often didn't know when or what you'd be fighting before you went into an actual fight so you couldn't prepare unless you knew about the encounter by already dying to it. Additionally, even when you knew what to prepare for, the potion timers were really short and could run out before you even start the fight.

Originally posted by Jabba the Wolf:

You chug 95626086 of them in middle of battle, but correctly witchers drink the potions and it lasts VERY LONG even after the fight.

Yeah, not the best system they could have implemented, but I don't think the lore-friendly approach could really work in an open world setting. Maybe I'm wrong there, but regardless the change in Witcher 3 didn't bother me that much.

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

Originally posted by acc2420:

Originally posted by Living Broscillograph:

Also, witchers are supposed to drink potions before a battle as there probably won't be enough time during a fight.
In TW1 and TW2 this was made sort of this way (however, in TW1 you could drink during a battle. On the other hand, you had to make a set of potions prior to skirmish, and you could eventually run out of potions. You literally had to PREPARE for your enemies).

The problem with that system, esp. in Witcher 2, is you often didn't know when or what you'd be fighting before you went into an actual fight so you couldn't prepare unless you knew about the encounter by already dying to it. Additionally, even when you knew what to prepare for, the potion timers were really short and could run out before you even start the fight.

Originally posted by Jabba the Wolf:

You chug 95626086 of them in middle of battle, but correctly witchers drink the potions and it lasts VERY LONG even after the fight.

Yeah, not the best system they could have implemented, but I don't think the lore-friendly approach could really work in an open world setting. Maybe I'm wrong there, but regardless the change in Witcher 3 didn't bother me that much.

But you dont prepare with potions and oil against every single monster.

[{O|G} Erik the Red]

I'm still adjusting to the Witcher 3, having just started playing it a measely ~10-20 hours ago... long enough where potion use and blade oils are throwing me off still. The alchemy system in Witcher 3 seems advanced at first, but rather the changes seem more dumbed down... Oils for instance you craft once (?) and can forever reapply after as needed? Yet its only good for 20 combat strikes or so (charges), except there are enhanced versions of oil as well. No longer is there a need a to recraft the oil to apply another application. And potions are now classed into two separate catergories, now including decoctions that have longer effects than potions, but which potions can be used quickly on the fly, but fizzle out just as soon. The varied system of food to consume to restore vitality, along with potions and their effects is very useful in the middle of combat, but it does lack that feeling of planned preparation and meditation before a fight, from the previous two games.

I think the first Witcher game had the best alchemy system; potions were crafted during meditation, and could be drunk at will when needed, either prior to or during combat. Yet in order to drink in combat you were required to protect yourself as you go through a drinking potion animation, by either avoiding combat, or using the quen sign while you drank. But the usefullness of potions in the Witcher 2 was too far nerfed by their respective toxity limits and effects balances (aka, increased resistences at expense of vitality, or vice versa... ), and by the fact that they could only be drunk during meditation.

And again, I think the alchemy system of the first game was a lot more fun as well; one could actually experiment and "discover" formulas and their effects, plus there were secondary substances which gave additional effects. The Witcher 3 has them as crafted substances for enhanced alchemy crafting, I hear.

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

Originally posted by X-Erik the Red:

I'm still adjusting to the Witcher 3, having just started playing it a measely ~10-20 hours ago... long enough where potion use and blade oils are throwing me off still. The alchemy system in Witcher 3 seems advanced at first, but rather the changes seem more dumbed down... Oils for instance you craft once (?) and can forever reapply after as needed? Yet its only good for 20 combat strikes or so (charges), except there are enhanced versions of oil as well. No longer is there a need a to recraft the oil to apply another application. And potions are now classed into two separate catergories, now including decoctions that have longer effects than potions, but which potions can be used quickly on the fly, but fizzle out just as soon. The varied system of food to consume to restore vitality, along with potions and their effects is very useful in the middle of combat, but it does lack that feeling of planned preparation and meditation before a fight, from the previous two games.

I think the first Witcher game had the best alchemy system; potions were crafted during meditation, and could be drunk at will when needed, either prior to or during combat. Yet in order to drink in combat you were required to protect yourself as you go through a drinking potion animation, by either avoiding combat, or using the quen sign while you drank. But the usefullness of potions in the Witcher 2 was too far nerfed by their respective toxity limits and effects balances (aka, increased resistences at expense of vitality, or vice versa... ), and by the fact that they could only be drunk during meditation.

And again, I think the alchemy system of the first game was a lot more fun as well; one could actually experiment and "discover" formulas and their effects, plus there were secondary substances which gave additional effects. The Witcher 3 has them as crafted substances for enhanced alchemy crafting, I hear.

Very late-game alchemy is large fun, but its simply not lore friendly at all.

[Living Broscillograph]

Originally posted by X-Erik the Red:

one could actually experiment and "discover" formulas and their effects, plus there were secondary substances which gave additional effects.

Yeah, you could make your own potion with a specific combination of effects and downsides as you see fit for your playstyle or a foreseen challenge.
You were really hunting for strong alcohols or specific drinks for your alchemical needs.

Everything was so costly, gold was so few, so you were limited in options to buy - and thus limited in your number of attempts to brew your dream set of potions.

I miss that system :(

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

Originally posted by Jabba the Wolf:

Yes.
Side note: Steel is also for monsters. Most of the people might get it as people are sometimes monsters. But thats not so true. Silver is used only on EXTREMELY dangerous monsters, such as Leshen or Striga. Its becasue silver is very, very hard to maintain as it can damage the sword very quickly, so steel is also used on ghouls etc.

Not quite. Steel is for humans and beasts. There's a distinction between monsters and beasts. Bears, wild dogs, wolves, things of that nature would be considered beasts. Monsters, such as nearly everything else in the game, would require silver.

Silver has properties that can affect how some monsters use magic. It goes back to the Conjunction of the Spheres, the event that brought monsters into the game world in the first place. It also brought humans when their home world had been destroyed by the White Frost. And finally, it also brought magic.

The humans tried to defend themselves against the monsters but were unable to, generally because many of them used magic and they knew nothing about such things. But also because many of them were far more powerful, larger and stronger than the average human.

That's when some humans with an affinity to learning about magic, began to study it in earnest, training themselves to become magic users. Sorcerers then reasoned that they had to do something or none of them would survive the monsters. They were also fighting the elves at that time. So the sorcerers created the trials and set about creating the first witchers.

These witchers then used their training to fight these monsters from other worlds, learning their methods of attack and that often many of them used magic, they found that using silver swords would do far more damage than plain steel.

By the way, the whole steel vs silver swords, that isn't really a part of the books. It was a device created by the devs of the games. In the books, Geralt does have two swords but generally only uses bothers to use just one. He reserves his silver for special monsters.

From The Last Wish:

"I believe in the sword. As you can see, I carry two. Every witcher does. It's said, spitefully, the silver one is for monsters and the iron for humans. But that's wrong. As there are monsters which can be struck down only with a silver blade, so there are those for whom iron is lethal."

Thing is the books tended to stress that meteorite is what harmed monsters most. Silver swords are only partially silver anyway due to the prohibitive costs of an all-silver blade being forged. Sapkowski though tended to forget about the silver sword a lot in his books.

You started arguing about what I said but then accepted my statement.
I said that he uses silver only for extremely dangerous monsters, such as striga/golem.
But he uses steel for monsters that are not much dangerous.
Read what I said nibba.

[deidian]

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

Sapkowski though tended to forget about the silver sword a lot in his books.

He didn't forgot, I rather would think it was intentional. Once he starts developing all the plot around Ciri(the novels basically) most of the threats and enemies for Geralt and Ciri are humans and some elves...there's no room there to develop lore things like silver/steel swords, witcher habits, alchemy. If monsters are not the threat and Geralt stopped being a witcher to occupy himself in educating and protecting Ciri then that things don't provide anything useful to the narrative.
All that essentially is something that CDPR built for gameplay purposes in their games based on the broad strokes the 1st two books(short stories collections) provide.

Now I wonder what means lore friendly in terms of potions....potions are basically the lore of CDPR, most of it has been created for the games.... And being able to drink in mid-combat is not really unfriendly, is a convenience almost every RPG uses, like accessing the menu and swapping gear in mid-combat or similar things.

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

Originally posted by Damián:

Originally posted by BuzzardBee:

Sapkowski though tended to forget about the silver sword a lot in his books.

He didn't forgot, I rather would think it was intentional. Once he starts developing all the plot around Ciri(the novels basically) most of the threats and enemies for Geralt and Ciri are humans and some elves...there's no room there to develop lore things like silver/steel swords, witcher habits, alchemy. If monsters are not the threat and Geralt stopped being a witcher to occupy himself in educating and protecting Ciri then that things don't provide anything useful to the narrative.
All that essentially is something that CDPR built for gameplay purposes in their games based on the broad strokes the 1st two books(short stories collections) provide.

Now I wonder what means lore friendly in terms of potions....potions are basically the lore of CDPR, most of it has been created for the games.... And being able to drink in mid-combat is not really unfriendly, is a convenience almost every RPG uses, like accessing the menu and swapping gear in mid-combat or similar things.

U cannot swap gear mid combat.
And potions like in Metin 2 or other games with potions are not like in Witcher universe. They work different,.

[whoeverxwins]

I honestly preferred alchemy in TW1. I would have liked a better timer, but it still felt better. I love TW3, but this is one of the things that was disappointing.

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

Originally posted by whoeverxwins:

I honestly preferred alchemy in TW1. I would have liked a better timer, but it still felt better. I love TW3, but this is one of the things that was disappointing.

Yes

[Инфyзopия скyфeлькa]

And it's the reason mods exist. Preparations, advanced combat, better craft system, etc.
www.nexusmods.com <-- help yourself

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

Originally posted by Oversimplified Beedrill:

And it's the reason mods exist. Preparations, advanced combat, better craft system, etc.
www.nexusmods.com <-- help yourself

Dont forget the reworked economy mod.

[deidian]

Originally posted by Jabba the Wolf:

U cannot swap gear mid combat.

Yes, you can swap gear in mid-combat. Open your menu and do it. The only inventory items you are not allowed to use in combat is food/drinks unless you put them in quick access slots.