GameBanshee Forums

With the release date fast approaching (can't wait!), more info becomes available. What do you think of the Witcher's elaborate combat system (no doubt you have read the reviews)? I realize it is silly to judge a game without playing it first, but still... The combat looks absolutely fantastic in the demo, but I am a bit alarmed by the "right timing" thing. Besides, all these swordfighting styles and combos... (Like who really used all those "lightsaber forms" in KOTOR? Well, I suppose it is not a valid comparison though -- the KOTOR combat system was retarded.) Lots of clicking, timing and wrist straining.
So, here it is:

[color="PaleTurquoise"]The Witcher uses a hybrid system that strings attacks together into long combos, with the right timing. A single click starts the first attack and as it winds to a close, another click at the right time seamlessly strings a second attack after the first to form a combo and so on. Get the timing wrong and the next stroke is aborted, giving the enemy an opening. The result is a combination of Geralt’s skills and the player’s timing.

There are three fighting stances – strong, fast and group – for both steel swords and silver swords, making a total of six different swordfighting styles. Different enemies are susceptible to different styles – heavily armoured humans are probably best dealt with using the strong stance and the steel sword, while drowners require a fast silver sword. The group style uses wide, sweeping blows designed to hit multiple enemies at once.

Each of these six styles has their own combos with unique animations and each skill level adds additional combos and animations. All up, combat looks impressive with spectacular moves – lots of spins and leaps, all with fluid animations. [/color]

If I recall correctly from the video demo, one click commences a combat sequence and near the end of the sequence, the mouse icon will flash orange (timed) which means that you will have to click to continue the sequence. Not a bad system, though it can be tricky for the first time. Seen a similar method used in Prince of Persia: Two Thrones' stealth kill.

DesR85 wrote:If I recall correctly from the video demo, one click commences a combat sequence and near the end of the sequence, the mouse icon will flash orange (timed) which means that you will have to click to continue the sequence.

The latest review says,

[color="PaleTurquoise"]Rather than clicking quickly or using a party of characters to attack in a turn-based environment, successful fighting depends on positioning and timing. Clicking once on an enemy will initiate an attack for Geralt which includes several animated sword strokes. Clicking a second time before the animation is completed will actually take Geralt out of that attack string. At the end of each string, the sword "attack" icon will turn into a flaming sword. When that flaming sword turns yellow, another timed click will initiate the next string of attacks. Successfully pulling off this combo means that the enemy you're attacking will likely be unable to attack back at the same time and, depending where you've allocated skill points, will be hit for a higher number of more powerful attacks.[/color]

I hope I should be able to pause while in combat, to consult the manual. Combat sounds really complicated. I am not saying it's bad, just complicated. I am not a fan of complex combat combos involving pressing dozens of keys (damn, am I supposed to memorize all of them?!). I am a left click/right click/loot the corpse kinda girl. Like to keep it simple and efficient.

Lady Dragonfly wrote:I hope I should be able to pause while in combat, to consult the manual. Combat sounds really complicated. I am not saying it's bad, just complicated. I am not a fan of complex combat combos involving pressing dozens of keys (damn, am I supposed to memorize all of them?!). I am a left click/right click/loot the corpse kinda girl. Like to keep it simple and efficient.

I'm also a left click/right click/loot the corpse.. ..an old school PC gamer,
I do remember how hard it was to adjust from Xbox Morrowind, my first look at the game, to the PC version,
I kept attacking or casting spells on NPC's when I didn't want to....
and I'm not going to admit how long it took me to figure out how to use the repair tongs:laugh:

But I guess I'll have to give the Witcher a go, when it is released.

Lady Dragonfly wrote:The latest review says,

[color="PaleTurquoise"]Rather than clicking quickly or using a party of characters to attack in a turn-based environment, successful fighting depends on positioning and timing. Clicking once on an enemy will initiate an attack for Geralt which includes several animated sword strokes. Clicking a second time before the animation is completed will actually take Geralt out of that attack string. At the end of each string, the sword "attack" icon will turn into a flaming sword. When that flaming sword turns yellow, another timed click will initiate the next string of attacks. Successfully pulling off this combo means that the enemy you're attacking will likely be unable to attack back at the same time and, depending where you've allocated skill points, will be hit for a higher number of more powerful attacks.[/color]

I hope I should be able to pause while in combat, to consult the manual. Combat sounds really complicated. I am not saying it's bad, just complicated. I am not a fan of complex combat combos involving pressing dozens of keys (damn, am I supposed to memorize all of them?!). I am a left click/right click/loot the corpse kinda girl. Like to keep it simple and efficient.

I see. Well, it doesn't look that complicated to me. I should be able to adjust to this mechanic quite easily (but I won't be sure until I tried the demo, if there should be one), thanks to the fact that I've gone through Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones which uses the exact same method when it comes to stealth kills.

Lady Dragonfly wrote:I hope I should be able to pause while in combat, to consult the manual. Combat sounds really complicated. I am not saying it's bad, just complicated.

One preview I read mentioned that you can pause during combat. Hopefully that will make combat managable and tactical.

After watching several movies depicting combat, I am concerned about the AI fighting abilities. Often Geralt was surrounded by 4-6 enemies and not a single one landed a blow or even looked like they were attacking. The commentator talked about how foes can kill you, but they never showed a single enemy making a kill. Seemed strange to me.

Has anyone heard much about the AI or seen interesting combat battles?

Dragon Pine wrote:Has anyone heard much about the AI or seen interesting combat battles?

For AI, I didn't hear much about it but from what I can tell, the AI is the usual charge and attack style most common in any game (and yes, I did notice them hesitating before fighting). Don't really expect much as AI in RPGs tend to suck compared to other games.

Hiya all. I'm already fortunate enough to have the game (released earlier in Europe), so I can provide some details on your questions.

The combat looks absolutely fantastic in the demo, but I am a bit alarmed by the "right timing" thing.

The timing is not very hard. The first fight you don't understand what the hell is going on (at least I had it). I tried to click very fast but that doesn't seem to work well (it doesn't). What you actually have to do is click once, be patient, wait for the cursor to 'light' up and click again. It's possible however that in the meantime you can get hit or your attack is parried, etc, making it impossible to continue the chain, so you just have to start over again. It's very important to be patient with your clicking. If you click too much you'll do very bad in combat. You have about 1-2 seconds to proceed to the next step in the chain, but you can't really miss it as all you'll basically do in combat is wait for the cursor to light up and click (and use some signs and maybe change your combat style).

Besides, all these swordfighting styles and combos... (Like who really used all those "lightsaber forms" in KOTOR?

You'll definately use the different styles! Some mobs almost seem immune to one style while they go down in seconds to another. There's a HUGE difference. This makes it a bit more interesting on first encounters with a certain type of enemy, but you figure it out pretty quick.

What I thought to be a bit weird though is that with the "Strong" style you really notice it works (very well) on one type of enemy and not at all on another. I kind of expected it to be the same for the "Fast" style, but I noticed that the "Group" style seems to do well against the enemies vulnerable to the "Fast" style. And more, the "Group" style seems to be better than the fast style! But, this may all yet change I suppose when I get more talents.

I hope I should be able to pause while in combat, to consult the manual

Yep you can. You probably don't need to consult the manual though. Your journal contains a lot of information too, also a bestiary with descriptions about the monsters and hints on how to deal with them. A bit like the journal from planescape torment, but a (much) more extended version.

Combat sounds really complicated

It really isn't. Left click to attack, right click to cast your active sign (spell). The only thing you can do wrong is click too early or too late, but that still wont kill you (medium difficulty is already rather easy, I'd pick hard if I where to restart). It'll just slow things down.

Has anyone heard much about the AI or seen interesting combat battles?

You are right what you saw on that movie. You are quite often surrounded by enemies, but I never really got the feeling that the enemies behind me where attacking at all. However, this may also be due to the combat style. When you use the "group" style you also do damage behind you. When mobs take damage they seem to have to 'recover' before they try to attack again. So often you'll just chain attacks at a mob without him even trying to hit you once (unless you get a parry or something). I am guessing this is basically what is happening when you are being surrounded too.

I had another encounter with 3 ranged mobs and they where tearing me apart, so that kind of proofs that they do in fact all attack.

I play the game on Hard and boy it rocks! The game rocks and combat as well. Naturally for some it would be a bad thing as they prefer to get into the story and the world, and not care too much about combat, but for me combat on Hard is just incredible. It's demanding, always keeping me on my toes, it's tactical, without proper combination of styles, signs and heavy use of alchemy, you are as good as dead, it's enjoyable and varied. I've noticed a thing or two in AI that could and probably will be fixed, some things were improved in day-0 patch already.
I played on Normal during latest Games Convention in Leipzig and I think Hard suits me more, like twice more actually . And when you combine that with great story, impressive dialogs, which sadly seem to be somewhat stripped down in English version "Lost in translation" ), great visuals and audio, boy, why I even came here, I am just wasting my spare time, it's time to get back to the game!! :mischief:

combat

i gate the game look verie nice during combat you look lost then after time it ok grz kat