Support NeoGAF

[RustyNails]

Replaying the game on New Game+ (on Death March difficulty) and yet to unlock the season pass. Having this ability from the get go has made combat infinitely more fun. I actually look forward to fighting crowds instead of running away and picking off enemies one by one (well not all the time, but I dont hesitate to get into a full blown scuffle now). Before you get the Whirlwind, you need to be really, really good with bombs (Northern Wind) and parry attacks if you're surrounded with more than 2 people. Lot of times when you're parrying 2 guys the 3rd one quickly gets a hit in. After you get Whirlwind, you wont be afeared of crowds! Seriously, it's legit crowd control move that (due to succession of attacks) increases the likelihood of dismemberment or any other sword buff exponentially.

Not only that, it can't be broken by sword hits to you (unless its a spear attack). It had made fighting so much fun in Witcher 3.

Apply the correct Sword oil, Quen yourself, Drink up Tawny Oil and Thunderbolt and go to work. You can even go to town on golems, cyclops and other relict types without breaking trance. Once again, this is a huge ability in the game. Combined with Northern Wind and other bombs, it is absolutely deadly. I wish there were a few more whirl moves than the standard one.

 

[ActWan]

I've been using it all the time and I still think the combat isn't that good at all.

 

[Tenacious-D]

Rend is better.

Spoiler

TW3's combat is still worse than TW2's though.

Spoiler

Seriously though, make liberal use of the potions, decoctions, signs and bombs. It makes the combat so much better

 

[dlauv]

There are many fun ways to engage the combat: bombs, signs, potions, oils.

Whirl got old pretty quick for me. It was a bit overpowered.

 

[cackhyena]

It's fun to look at. It doesn't improve the combat. I love the game to death. I'll never defend the combat tho.

 

[bobeth]

I ended up using it only sparingly, it's a bit OP. But Geralt looks really badass performing it!

 

[Marvel]

I know, I love this attack very fun to use.

 

[Corpekata]

I think the combat in general would have been improved without the "only a few abilities at a time" restriction.

Or perhaps the mechanical ability (like the augment signs, the one in the OP) should have unlocked by simply purchasing the ability and the passives would have unlocked by slotting them in (and they should have made passives more interesting, like they did with Blood and Wine's mutations). Or something along those lines.

 

[Oppo]

year the Whirl mode is a huge change

unlocked way too late in game IMO

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

It's fun to look at. It doesn't improve the combat. I love the game to death. I'll never defend the combat tho.

Yeah, great game, but really poor combat.

 

[ElephantShell]

Yeah I spammed this once I unlocked it. Very fun to watch especially against low level enemies who just get wrecked by it.

 

[iNvid02]

YYYEAAHHHH. this was my strategy after i unlocked whirl
http://giant.gfycat.com/NeighboringSeparateAntelopegroundsquirrel.webm

 

[Balphon]

I played on DM and used nothing but the regular fast attack for the entire game.

*shrug*

 

[Sanctuary]

No, it really doesn't get 100 times "better". You could already do something like this with Igni anyway, and it would do double damage barehanded. All Whirl does is makes the combat go from super janky and annoying to slightly less janky and annoying, but now with more Assassin's Creed mindless combat.

I think the combat in general would have been improved without the "only a few abilities at a time" restriction.

Or perhaps the mechanical ability (like the augment signs, the one in the OP) should have unlocked by simply purchasing the ability and the passives would have unlocked by slotting them in. Or something along those lines.

I don't really see it as an improvement if you could use all of your unlocked abilities simultaneously, although it would have probably benefited from at least four more slots. Still wouldn't help the crappy feeback, crappy hitboxes and the too long, "whee, look at me, I'm a ballerina" animations that make it such a drag. It's really sad that the combat is so terrible too, because really, it's just a bunch of really minor issues that would have made a world of difference had they bothered to actually make it a priority.

 

[Anno]

That's like the most boring combat thing in the game.

 

[Oppo]

it's really the reward for getting dunked on by Drowners at start

you go back later and Cuisinart them

 

[RustyNails]

YYYEAAHHHH. this was my strategy after i unlocked whirl
http://giant.gfycat.com/NeighboringSeparateAntelopegroundsquirrel.webm

Someone's been brewing too many crazy potions

 

[brawly]

It makes it even simpler. I guess it's better than mashing buttons. Does look cool too.

Ni-Oh combat (even without the difficulty) would make this the game of the forever. Would bring back the stances to Witcher.

 

[darkslayer101]

Spoiler

TW3's combat is still worse than TW2's though.

I can never understand the hate for witcher 3 combat.... like what are people expecting? Devil May Cry meets Skyrim?

Ni-Oh combat (even without the difficulty) would make this the game of the forever. Would bring back the stances to Witcher.

Unfortunately devs and execs are more worried about pushing pixel quality rather than implementing this brilliant idea.

 

[potatohead]

More flashy sword swinging = better gameplay.

K.

 

[Sanctuary]

I can never understand the hate for witcher 3 combat.... like what are people expecting? Devil May Cry meets Skyrim?

It's 2016 already. The "RPG" excuse isn't viable anymore when you consider Dragon's Dogma. A game that was released in 2012. Which ironically was close to Devil May Cry meets Skyrim. Then there's all of the Souls games that supposedly "influenced" The Witcher series according to CDPR.

They:
Spent tons of time on graphics.
Spent tons of time on the narrative and voice acting.
Spent tons of time populating the world.

They didn't:
Implement good gameplay.
Implement a smart loot system.
Implement interesting points of interest.

TW3's combat is still worse than TW2's though.

This is the first time I've actually seen anyone other than myself post that. I really couldn't believe that the combat was actually a step backwards.

 

[TheSpecialOne]

100 times 0 is unfortunately still 0. The combat is trash.

 

[Timeaisis]

Spoiler

TW3's combat is still worse than TW2's though.

I agree. TW2 felt a lot less restrictive.

 

[joebruin]

whirling dirvish...but yeah combat sucks in this game lol

testament to the rest of it that it was still goty material

 

[ethomaz]

The combat continues to be garbage.

It is sad that a game so polished in others areas got this kind of combat.

 

[mocolostrocolos]

Combat in TW3 is awful. This is more spectacular but adds nothing of depth.

Yet the game is sooooooo gooooood.

 

[silva1991]

Iirc it's holding attack button and never let go. cool animation, but control and hardly fixes the combat.

 

[Blobbers]

Hold square to win

except

I remember whirling a boss who was shielding with a sword

*clack* *clack* *clack* *clack* *clack* *clack* *clack* *clack* *clack*

 

[FormallyFamicom]

I was never scared of crowds because I just hit everything with Aard and instakill them one by one. The freezing Aard in B&W? Now that's power!

 

[Jangowuzhere]

I lose respect for The Witcher 3 as time goes on.

I didn't mind the combat much when it first released. However, I tried to play that latest expansion a few months ago, and I couldn't finish it. The combat, skill system, and general exploration in that game is just pitiful. CDprojekt seems pretty good at tackling the criticisms brought up in the original release like poor movement, clunky ui, bad console performance, more streamlined actions, etc. It's unfortunate that they didn't touch anything about the combat and actually made it feel better when the expansion released. In fact, the small additions to the combat introduced in the expansion give me the impression they have no idea how to fix it. The new mutations system isn't an improvement at all. It's just extra baggage that isn't necessary and is not fun at all to mess with. The new enemy types in the expansion are zero fun to fight. Seriously, does anyone enjoy fighting those plant monsters? Witcher 3 could be so much better. It would probably be my game of the year of 2015 if it was more fun to play instead of watch.

 

[Zyrox]

I was never scared of crowds because I just hit everything with Aard and instakill them one by one. The freezing Aard in B&W? Now that's power!

Especially when you can cast that twice in a row with grandmaster griffin gear. Sogood.gif.

 

[Pinko Marx]

I've never even put points into the sword trees. Magic + Alchemy all the way!

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

They didn't:
Implement interesting points of interest.

The fact that it has a ton of additional fluff on top doesn't erase the myriad of handcrafted content that would remain spread all around the maps if you remove the former.

 

[Sanctuary]

The fact that it has a ton of additional fluff on top doesn't erase the myriad of handcrafted content that would remain spread all around the maps if you remove the former.

Except you don't actually know which is which on your first playthrough. So that doesn't matter. Unless all you do is skip everything but the main quest, you're invariably going to be going through tons of boring ass filler content in the name of being able to claim that your game is open world, and that you'll get 100+ hours out of it. Plus, a lot of people actually want to try to complete as much of a game as they can.

 

[molnizzle]

I played on DM and used nothing but the regular fast attack for the entire game.

*shrug*

Same here, I don't think I even unlocked this whirl thing. Quen + fast attack all day.

 

[dlauv]

TW3's combat is still worse than TW2's though.

It's a fair opinion, and one that I shared until I went back to TW2 recently. TW2 had better balancing, but The Witcher 3 is far more accessible and even intuitive in comparison.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

The combat in The Witcher series is bad.

The only good combat in RPGs that I tolerate:

- Souls series - top tier
- Dragon's Dogma - 2nd place
- any IE game or Pillars (turn based)

Everything else is either a pale imitation (Dragon Age 1), a skinned FPS game (Deus Ex, Fallout 3, Mass Effect 1-3 etc.) or pure garbage (Dragon Age 2 and 3, The Witcher 1).

 

[WinFonda]

....uhhh... isn't this literally just hold square to twirl?

...and it's the final thing you unlock in the combat talent tree....

 

[dlauv]

I think the worst ARPG combat I've ever played through was:

Risen 2 on hardest. And that was patched to where I could block animals.

 

[Alpha Phoenix]

Love mah whirl!

 

[Sou Da]

I don't think TW3's actual swordplay was worse than TW2s but the systems there felt a lot better, potions and bombs were just a lot more useful imo.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

I can never understand the hate for witcher 3 combat.... like what are people expecting? Devil May Cry meets Skyrim?

I think people expect combat to improve with each new entry rather than it remain of poor quality, or in some cases become worse.

 

[RoboticWater]

I lose respect for The Witcher 3 as time goes on.

I didn't mind the combat much when it first released. However, I tried to play that latest expansion a few months ago, and I couldn't finish it. The combat, skill system, and general exploration in that game is just pitiful. CDprojekt seems pretty good at tackling the criticisms brought up in the original release like poor movement, clunky ui, bad console performance, more streamlined actions, etc. It's unfortunate that they didn't touch anything about the combat and actually made it feel better when the expansion released. In fact, the small additions to the combat introduced in the expansion give me the impression they have no idea how to fix it. The new mutations system isn't an improvement at all. It's just extra baggage that isn't necessary and is not fun at all to mess with.

To be fair, it's kind of difficult to improve the core combat mechanics once the game's gone gold.

I honestly can't think of any way to significantly improve Witcher 3's combat after the fact. Adding enemies and weapons with more varied move sets would help, but I don't know if the game has the proper framework to support those mechanics. I think the reason mutations don't improve anything is because there's simply nothing else CDPR can do that won't completely alter the game's balance. As proactive as they are in their expansions, I doubt CDPR would feel comfortable making potentially game-breaking features after release.

At least there's a few mods that could help, though. This mod (as well as a few others, but I like this one best), is the best attempt to fix the game's combat/leveling/loot systems I've seen so far.

 

[PFD]

I like the whirl IRL

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JOXdORyTqVY

 

[Famassu]

There are many fun ways to engage the combat: bombs, signs, potions, oils.

Whirl got old pretty quick for me. It was a bit overpowered.

Applying some oil to a sword or drinking potions isn't exactly something that I'd call "fun." It adds a layer of strategy to preparing for fights, but overall its impact on how you actually control the combat is non-existent, which is the biggest problem of Witcher's combat. The actual act of fighting is fairly dull in the long run.

 

[dlauv]

Applying some oil to a sword or drinking potions isn't exactly something that I'd call "fun." It adds a layer of strategy to preparing for fights, but overall its impact on how you actually control the combat is non-existent, which is the biggest problem of Witcher's combat. The actual act of fighting is fairly dull in the long run.

I like experimenting with potions, but you're probably right on the oils. I like the perk that gives you a defense bonus for applying the right oil though.

What this entails is that you check the bestiary, effectively interacting more with the game and world. There, you learn enemy weaknesses as well and can further strategize how to implement said weaknesses into combat. It's like a daisy chain of systems interaction that begins with oils/the perk. This is usually done mid-combat for me, and it's more fun and usually more efficient than whacking away with quen up. But you're right the act of merely popping an oil isn't inherently fun, lol.

Potion combos directly influence how a fight plays out, however. Once you find a winning combo you don't have much reason to switch away. But getting to that point is fun if you've never done it.

 

[J2d]

Every time I think about picking this up I'm reminded of the combat complaints, those gifs didn't really help..

 

[sappyday]

Never used it. I put all my skill points in the alchemy tree. It's where I had the most fun with the combat.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Every time I think about picking this up I'm reminded of the combat complaints, those gifs didn't really help..

It's a great game despite it's combat just being okay. Feels like bamham with a sword to me.

 

[Art Vandilay]

I believe you mean 100x easier. Max oils, whirl, fast attacks, and quen-- game broken.