Preorder confirmed! Thanks for the impressions.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
The Witcher 3 - Impressions
- Thread starter macfoshizzle
- Start date
Preorder confirmed! Thanks for the impressions.
Gurgelhals
Member
Combat in The Witcher 2 was also mainly about managing enemies that came at you in groups, whereas in Dark Souls you usually made damn sure that only one or, at most, two enemies were coming at you at the same time. So the similarities are, at best, superficial (i.e. avoid getting hit at all costs, because it doesn't take much for you to die, etc.).
What I liked about the combat in TW2 was the way the game really let you feel how you were gradually getting stronger, correlating with the story of Geralt slowly regaining his memory. During the prologue, it only takes one or two false moves and one lowly soldiers will be able to kill you. Towards the end, you're single handedly slaughtering an entire camp of Nilfgaardian knights without breaking a sweat. One could call this imbalanced, but I thought it reflected the story quite well.
Schreckstoff
Banned
One thing that always bothered me is that no one seemingly gives a fuck that Geralt is a huge slut.
My only real problem with The Witcher 2 was that the environments were small, linear, and not that interesting to explore. Doesn't seem like a problem here, though.
Any word if the Arena will return? I spent hours in it before starting the main the game, which is probably why playing through the story wasn't nearly as challenging as people made it seem.
Any word if the Arena will return? I spent hours in it before starting the main the game, which is probably why playing through the story wasn't nearly as challenging as people made it seem.
Jay Shadow
Member
Last I heard a while ago there were no plans for it at launch. Didn't sound like they had decided if it would be added later or not either.
Small as opposed to what?
Play with the Polish voice; it'll make more sense by simply hearing him.
Ahh, I see. Well with such a massive world I'm sure there will be no shortage of mobs to sweep through.
Schreckstoff
Banned
I'll stick with slut
That's what I was thinking as well.
Everyone sleeps around in the Witcher universe.
whatsinaname
Member
First, why is sleeping with many people == slut?
Second, it is an RPG. You can choose not to sleep with many people?
Schreckstoff
Banned
Dragon1893
Member
You can avoid sex entirely in both games but apparently having options is a bad thing for some people.
God forbid that the main character likes to get laid.
Its funny.
I think you can actually play the witcher 2 entirely and there will be hardly any sex scenes.
Witcher treats you like an adult and gives you plenty of choices.
Heck you can be relatively non-violent as well.Violence is not the solution to every quest in The Witcher.
Turin Turambar
Member
How people would know?
He is discreet, it's not like he publishes his love conquests on Facebook.
Schreckstoff
Banned
I don't care about that, I think it's bad there's no consequence to it. It's just pure fanservice.
lordfuzzybutt
Member
It is true to the book though. He is famous for being a lady killer, and more often than not the ladies are comfortable sharing him.
Bubbavelli
Banned
#stopgeraltshaming
Dragon1893
Member
Choice and consequence is what TW2 did best.
Sex is just sex. Geralt isn't married. Maybe you should read the books to understand how the relations between these characters work.
Jay Shadow
Member
I think you've read different books than I have.
Not really fanservice. Geralt's a slut.
Schreckstoff
Banned
I am reading the books, I know he sleeps around hence I called him a slut yet TW1 made a big deal out choosing between Shani and Triss and about Geralt thinking of settling down.
So it's not like CDPR didn't take creative freedom in that aspect before.
lordfuzzybutt
Member
Gurgelhals
Member
The fact that witchers are sterile might play a role in this (we're talking about a medieval fantasy world after all, so I don't think that more conventional types of contraception are readily available).
Imru al-Qays
Banned
Witcher is a great series and has a ton going for it, but it's a series where there is a lot of combat and where the combat is absolutely atrocious. Games like Souls and Dragon's Dogma exist. A Polish studio full of ex-Witcher guys just threw together a Souls clone. There's no excuse for CD Projekt Red to not have fixed the combat system at this point: it's by far the biggest problem with the games. You could honestly say it's the only major problem with them.
Dragon1893
Member
Geralt alo thinks about that in the books but he always knows it's an impossible dream.
And the Triss/Shani thing is not really a big deal and it's completely unrelated to what we're talking about. That decision is not a matter of sex but a matter of trust. Of course the one you don't choose will give you the cold shoulder after that but it's not because you slept with the rival, it's because you trusted her with the
boy.
As for Geralt and Yen, sure they are incredibly jealous of each other but they both have sex with other people when they're apart and openly admit it to each other (Yen even got into a long term relationship, something Geralt was never able to do).
So that's my point. Geralt, like all males in this story likes his whorehouses and he doesn't say no to a one night stand when the opportunity presents itself (though in the games the player can always refuse) and he also has this friends with benefits relation with Triss, but they both know it will be over when Yen comes back, both because Geralt's heart belongs to Yen and she'd just fucking kill them both anyway.
whatsinaname
Member
Imru al-Qays;148550087 said:
What exactly is atrocious about the combat?
Imru al-Qays
Banned
There's very little depth and variety (everyone's Geralt plays basically the same because there is a very limited universe of viable builds/strategies), it's poorly balanced (some signs are so overpowered as to be essential, others are useless), the core mechanics (blocking, dodging, hitstun, etc) are clumsy (compare Geralt's way of moving with the Souls series), the game tries to compensate for the underlying shallowness of the combat system by just giving enemies tons of health and making them do tons of damage to make the game "challenging."
blueteainfusion
Member
Imru’ al-Qays;148554848 said:
I'm not denying that the combat has its issues, but what you're saying here is simply not true - I've seen tons of lets-plays where people play Geralt differently. I relied on traps, bombs and sword, but I saw others spamming Yrden and being almost invincible in most fights. Some are very fond of Axii for managing mobs and others simply buff Quen and don't bother with anything else. I think there are lots of ways to play and the combat isn't shallow at all. Its main problem was the camera, at least for me - sometimes I got trapped behind the bushes or backed into the corner and I couldn't see where the opponents were. Other than that, it was fine (YMMV).
Enemies have the same amount of health on most difficulties, and are taken out in five hits at the most. Usually two. Bigger enemies take more hits, but that's understandable and they're few and far between.
The difficulty usually comes in the form of how much damage they deal you.
I don't know why you're making them out to be damage sponges, when that's not even hardly the case.
The difficulty usually comes in the form of how much damage they deal you.
I don't know why you're making them out to be damage sponges, when that's not even hardly the case.
Dragon1893
Member
Imru al-Qays;148554848 said:
Not everything has to play like Souls. Witchers are master swordsmen with superhuman speed and reflexes, Soul's combat, as good as it is, wouldn't make sense.
You also can't expect Geralt to be a blank slate that can evolve into anything like in other rpgs. He's not going to learn magic or give up his swords for a bow or a lance.
You can focus on alchemy, signs or sword skills, or a bit of everything. Other than that you are limited to an established character like you are in an action game, but with a higher degree of customization.
Not to say the gameplay is perfect but a lot of people are looking for something that has no place being there.
How would anyone know about this though?
Also, it's been a while since I played the games, but aren't most of his sexual encounters optional? Aside from Triss I'm not sure you're really forced to participate in many of them.
whatsinaname
Member
Imru al-Qays;148554848 said:
I will agree that the build options that are provided are rather narrow. But Witcher 2's combat was actually fun, if you prepared adequately. Atrocious is pure hyperbole. You are comparing it to games that were built from a stat and combat first perspective. If you compare it from the other side to something like DA:I or Fall Out, which seem to be built from a world /quest/character first perspective, Witcher 2's combat acquits itself fairly well.
Dragon1893
Member
Even the scene with Triss is optional.
macfoshizzle
Member
I also want to mention the map of the game. This is the closest comparison map on the internet of the giant map they had displayed.
After the prologue i described, you start at the south east of the map. You're on your way towards a small village tracking Yennefer with Vessemir in toll.
I've asked about the ocean and what I can do there, but he didn't want to spoil any surprises. But there were a lot including some hints about underwater caverns.
After the prologue i described, you start at the south east of the map. You're on your way towards a small village tracking Yennefer with Vessemir in toll.
I've asked about the ocean and what I can do there, but he didn't want to spoil any surprises. But there were a lot including some hints about underwater caverns.
Why? Geralt if the player chooses can have sex only with Triss in W1 and in W2 (2 scenes together I think).. you don't need to have sex with the other women...
Schreckstoff
Banned
Combat is just not particularly good, even the developers somehow acknowledged that by revamping it for either title. With TW1 playing very, very different.
It sounds like it works similar to Shadow of the Colossus. In that game, your horse is an intelligent creature and can navigate the map by itself. You point it in the direction you want to go and the horse avoids obstacles, doesn't kill itself by running into walls/over cliffs, and traverses the terrain like an actual horse would.
It was the first game I could think of where controlling a horse didn't control like you were driving a car.
It's an awesome control method and it's good that other games are starting to adopt it.
Winterfang
Banned
I'm trying the free Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 and the combat is so bad. Specially coming from Kingdoms of Amalur. I'm having a hard time forcing me to go back to it.
LegalEagleMike
Member
Agree with you and everyone else. Could not get past how terrible the combat was. One of the few RPGs in recent years that I did not finish.
magnumpy
Member
macfoshizzle
Member
You hold down "A" and your horse "Roach" will basically follow a path to your destination. But like i said before, the mechanics is very similar to Red Dead as you tap "A" to hit your horse move, and tap double "A" to gallop.
Roach also serve as a storage for your shit. I am sure you can upgrade Roach or your storage but i never got a chance to see.
