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Witcher 3. Do we know if weight is still in?

Dammit. Makes me wish I gamed on PC. I want a weight removal mod... sigh. Encumberance is the stupidest shit ever. It's a videogame. Don't talk to me about realism when I'm fighting a giant half-hawk, half-lion and shooting fire out of my hands. I've always thought this was dumb, and have yet to play a game where I thought, "Good thing I couldn't pick up all the items I want, it really made this game better!"

EDIT: Apparently some people have fun looking at a menu and deciding which of their good items they have to drop because they just found a great item? Sounds crazy to me. It ruins the atmospheric nature of the game for me, because I am 100% aware I'm playing a game when I'm staring at a menu and a bunch of loot that I just stumbled upon and can't carry. My only options are (1) fuck it, leave it. (2) make AT LEAST 2 trips back to town and hope the loot doesn't glitch/disappear. Neither of which are ideal.
 
The encumberment system in The Witcher 2 was obnoxious as hell and I'd say it actively detracted from the experience. That developers indiscriminately threw loot at the player to the extent that I frequently hit the weight limit and constantly had to break the flow of the game to get rid of whatever I loot I could so that the trek to the storage container (or the next point of interest in a quest) wasn't a slog. What made it worse was that the differences (stats, appearance, names) between the various weapons and armors found were often so marginal that it made determining what was and wasn't useful a chore.

Overencumberment also screwed with the combat. The game usually took a few seconds to register that enemy combatants were nearby, meaning you could still be stuck in the overencumbered "walking mode" while enemies were approaching. In a game where visibility is frequently limited by the detailed environments and many of the enemies are quick and deadly, that's a big no-no.

While I don't enjoy weight mechanics in games, I wouldn't say that they're inherently bad. However, the implementation of weight in The Witcher 2 seemed pretty thoughtless and often felt like it clashed with the game's core mechanics. I'm not terribly confident that CDPR won't make the same mistakes in The Witcher 3. And since I'm stuck playing it on a console, that's a huge bummer. I'll remain pessimistic about the inclusion of weight in TW3 until I'm able to experience it myself.
 
People talk in this thread about "balance", about having too many items and breaking the "economy". I wonder if these people have played Witcher 2. 99% of the shit you get has almost no re-sell value of any real worth.
 
The weight system caused me to make some really hard choices early on in the Witcher 2. I have to say that I appreciate the system, but don't notice when it is missing from a game.

So it's in this game. That's fine as long as it is manageable. If crafting materials also have weight then that can be a problem, though it seems like crafting is much less inventory heavy in this game compared to the previous (since potions no longer require every component for each crafting).

Equipment durability isn't a problem as long as it does not actively limit exploration by being too restrictive.





What I'm hoping for is that this game doesn't lock important combat abilities behind skill unlocks like the Witcher 2 did. Having to unlock the ability to parry?

Nah.
 
Hope not because will be playing it on my ps4 which I doubt will have mod support. Can't afford to update PC by time it's out and I don't think I'll get good frames with 2500k cpu and hd7950 video card.
 
Kos Luftar said:
Hope not because will be playing it on my ps4 which I doubt will have mod support. Can't afford to update PC by time it's out and I don't think I'll get good frames with 2500k cpu and hd7950 video card.
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Eh, you'll probably get something at least comparable to PS4 performance with that.
 
Give War A Chance said:
Dammit. Makes me wish I gamed on PC. I want a weight removal mod... sigh. Encumberance is the stupidest shit ever. It's a videogame. Don't talk to me about realism when I'm fighting a giant half-hawk, half-lion and shooting fire out of my hands. I've always thought this was dumb, and have yet to play a game where I thought, "Good thing I couldn't pick up all the items I want, it really made this game better!"

EDIT: Apparently some people have fun looking at a menu and deciding which of their good items they have to drop because they just found a great item? Sounds crazy to me. It ruins the atmospheric nature of the game for me, because I am 100% aware I'm playing a game when I'm staring at a menu and a bunch of loot that I just stumbled upon and can't carry. My only options are (1) fuck it, leave it. (2) make AT LEAST 2 trips back to town and hope the loot doesn't glitch/disappear. Neither of which are ideal.
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Well some, like me, do like it that you have to make decisions when it comes to gear that you have on you and what you will pick up during travels, "Is that rusted stick of awesomeness really worth of taking?" Other side of this is your point of view where you don't want make such decisions, but instead pick up everything you see without any care or thought for if you have capacity to carry that stuff.

For me its not about realism as we do fight monster, like you said, but it does add layer of decision making into the game that I like and enjoy. I have to think about my gear and make decisions about what I take and use. If looking at inventories and making these decisions ruin atmosphere/immersion for you it's fine, but what does that to me is infinite pockets into which I can just jam absolutely everything that isn't nailed down.
 
KillerDark said:
I hope not, dealing with weight is one of the most major annoyances in RPG's for me.
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Same here. In the future I hope developers really start thinking about whether it's there because it serves a purpose or just because that's how it's always been done. It's particularly aggravating in an Elder Scrolls game, where I always end up spending hours late game trying to sell my stuff with limited encumberance to vendors without money.

Such a crappy way to waste time.
 
bede-x said:
Same here. In the future I hope developers really start thinking about whether it's there because it serves a purpose or just because that's how it's always been done. It's particularly aggravating in an Elder Scrolls game, where I always end up spending hours late game trying to sell my stuff with limited encumberance to vendors without money.

Such a crappy way to waste time.
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It serves a purpose. It is a secret plot by psychiatrists to attempt to identify and cure those affected by Compulsive Hoarding.
 
For me inventory limitation is part of tough choices I make in the game and I like it. Witcher 3 is a game of making choice and living with consequences so if i'm at my inventory limits it's my choice to throw away something or not to pick up something. Yes, i could regret it later but that's the brilliance of replayability. Next time you play, you already know something and do things differently.
 
It's a tough one. I don't mind weight restrictions when they're interesting. Limit the resources I take into a dungeon so I have to make some tough decisions? Fine, interesting. Limit the loot I take out of the dungeon so I have to make multiple trips to maximise my reward? Terrible.

Brockxz said:
For me inventory limitation is part of tough choices I make in the game and I like it. Witcher 3 is a game of making choice and living with consequences so if i'm at my inventory limits it's my choice to throw away something or not to pick up something. Yes, i could regret it later but that's the brilliance of replayability. Next time you play, you already know something and do things differently.
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Except, all-too-often, that limitation is circumventable by doing something dull but effective; trudging to your house in Megaton in Fallout 3, dropping stuff in your horse's bags (probably) here, nipping to Warden's Keep to visit the party chest in DA:O.

And when it's circumventable by doing something dull but effective, people will do the thing that's dull but effective, grumbling as they do so. I've done the Fallout 3 Megaton Run while encumbered, moving at a snail's pace, because that's still the optimal option.

Dull-but-effective is dangerous.
 
I like weight systems generally, so long as they are reasonable. Makes you consider what items you actually pick up instead of just taking everything which has always seemed silly and unrealistic to me.
 
Yes, sometimes that crawling out of dungeon in snail pace is dull and still people do it. But there is one thing I have noticed. Hording is bad thing because most of the time you end up not using all those items. Pretty much every RPG game you end up selling a lot of items from your central storage or completing game with full inventory of items you didn't use at all. Getting everything is ok only if you min/maxing your character and pretty much you don't do it on your first playthrough anyway unless you use some guides.
 
Weight mechanics are terrible for me, not to mention it doesn't help my looting OCD when I want to loot everything in sight :)

It's just so much more enjoyable to pick up whatever you want and not worry about having it effect your character's mobility. I also don't like storage chests because its just more backtracking when you need items.

Weapon durability is another mechanic I really dislike...although its almost always a non-issue compared to weight for me.
 
I would be happy with a system that allows you to carry a limited amount of weapons and armor to add some realism (carrying 472647 two-handed axes around in the Gothic games was somewhat silly), but still allow me to wear as many crafting components, consumables etc. as I like.

It's silly enough that I need to carry 10 pieces of some heavy crap like ore in order to have a blacksmith craft me a sword. I can bring him some rare stuff like dragon scales or magical crystals, but why on earth should I bring him 10 logs of wood? He should have that already, and I'm paying for it anyway!

Grid-based inventory with infinite stacking of consumables would solve this problem for me. Managing inventory can be fun, but not if you have to constantly think if you can throw out something that might be useful later in the game, like crafting components or monster parts that can't be found later.

I believe there was a problem with TW2 on Dark mode where you could not craft some BiS armor in the second act if you did not loot an enemy who you had only like 2 seconds to loot. That certainly wasn't fun.
 
laughingmood said:
Well yeah, that was the intention. This is my most anticipated game but even I'm starting to feel fatigue pre release.
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Isn't this kind of your own fault? I know nothing about the game as I don't come in here everyday and read stuff about it. If you come in here and see all the previews and read about it then you are causing the fatigue yourself. I mean unless someone is forcing you to read and watch all of the Witcher 3 coverage, which in that case you should probably call the cops.
 
laughingmood said:
Well yeah, that was the intention. This is my most anticipated game but even I'm starting to feel fatigue pre release.
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i know that was your intention. but the hyperbole was so much of a stretch it made me wanna question, your logic. if you were to take all the Witcher 3 footage and compile it all together you still wouldn't get close to the full game. not even accounting for repeating quests. if you are starting to feel fatigue that is your own fault for watching so many pre launch videos. also 80%(no source, just facts i pulled from my ass) of the videos have been the prolog area. so to ask a question like "How can there be any unknowns about this game by now?" is beyond just being a hyperbole and becomes almost asinine.
 
I'd like some of the people fluffing the weight system up name me any sort of "decision" or touch choice you made in Witcher 2 that the weight system forced you into that was remotely interesting. It seems like the best justifications people can come up with are abstract and apply to other games.
 
Corpekata said:
I'd like some of the people fluffing the weight system up name me any sort of "decision" you made in Witcher 2 that the weight system forced you into that was remotely interesting. It seems like the best justifications people can come up with are abstract and apply to other games.
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The inventory system in Witcher 1 was better (grid system), but instead of building upon that its just "fuck it make it a list with numbers".
 
Corpekata said:
I'd like some of the people fluffing the weight system up name me any sort of "decision" or touch choice you made in Witcher 2 that the weight system forced you into that was remotely interesting. It seems like the best justifications people can come up with are abstract and apply to other games.
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I just didn't pick up every scrap of metal, coil of wire and rusted sword I found in Witcher 2 and I did just fine with its weight system, but then I must be just weird for liking such limitation as weight system. I'm not saying it was perfectly executed and doesn't need improvement, e.g. better weight values to some items, but it got job done.
 
Tovarisc said:
Doesn't it also affect RPG experience when you can haul your full armory with you 24/7 and basically reach point where encounters mean very little as you just swap BIS gear on instantly for particular encounter? Just because no weights you can carry 20 different armors and 30 different swords [15 each in case of Witcher] with you, no problem.

No planning or thinking required. To me that sounds like something that also detracts from experience quite heavily even if plus side would be possibility of picking up every stone and spoon that I see.

Same argument can be made for horse storage and I agree that even that is little easy as you have instant spawn stash with you, but at least you may need to e.g. exit long cave system before getting access to it so you can take out armor you need.
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Yes, it lowers the need to plan. I don't enjoy "planning" in a game like this. I just want to explore the world, kill dudes, take quests, make some decisions, etc. Things like encumbrance and inventory management just get in the way of the stuff I want to do, and often mean I'm spending time doing things I actively dislike, including forced travel to towns not because I've got something cool to do there, but because I need to sell/drop off items.

Basically, it feels like these systems just create a constant need to backtrack to places I don't want to go/be at that time, because I sure as shit am not going to leave any loot lying around.
 
I can't help but think weight management is very valid for the imersion value provided. Annoying as it can be, I'd rather not feel there is something way off as I proceed to fight while holding 10 swords, some dozen armor pieces and way too much of other useless garbage in the portable blackhole we call backpack...
 
Complex Shadow said:
i know that was your intention. but the hyperbole was so much of a stretch it made me wanna question, your logic. if you were to take all the Witcher 3 footage and compile it all together you still wouldn't get close to the full game. not even accounting for repeating quests. if you are starting to feel fatigue that is your own fault for watching so many pre launch videos. also 80%(no source, just facts i pulled from my ass) of the videos have been the prolog area. so to ask a question like "How can there be any unknowns about this game by now?" is beyond just being a hyperbole and becomes almost asinine.
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Even trying to avoid it, it's everywhere. I think it's more to do with the game getting multiple delays, forcing the marketing department to have to begin in earnest, and then curtail, the immediate pre-release marketing tactics.
 
whoaduh said:
I thought I remembered hearing a dev say that the horse saddlebags storage were upgradable. So not infinite storage. Can anyone else confirm I'm not mis-remembering?
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Yeah, my understanding too is that you can have different sizes of saddlebags crafted. No infinite horse storage here.
 
Deadbeat said:
The inventory system in Witcher 1 was better (grid system), but instead of building upon that its just "fuck it make it a list with numbers".
Click to expand...

The benefit of Witcher 2's system is that you can sort it to see what is so heavy. It would generally end up being crafting items, either from enemies or cloth/ore. It leads to situations where one must definitely sit down and puzzle out which inventory items are worthwhile, but this gives gameplay a nice downtime away from fighting or questing. Weight systems are an important part of gameplay balance, both mechanically and rhythmically.

In games with weight limits, there's no need to pick up every single item. A little extra money isn't worth the hassle, and hoarding crafting items is pointless when one can only use so many crafted items in a playthrough. As I mentioned before, it adds another level to the gameplay, giving the player a chance to really consider what is valuable and what is not. Early on this can be difficult, but value becomes incredibly apparent after some time with the game in question.

There's even games hurt by their lack of a weight capacity. In Pillars of Eternity there was an inventory management system that was banished to an "expert" mode. The end result was that the player had more money than they knew what to do with for 75% of the campaign. Very unfortunate; I'd highly recommend that anyone trying that game play it with camp inventory restricted.
 
bede-x said:
Same here. In the future I hope developers really start thinking about whether it's there because it serves a purpose or just because that's how it's always been done. It's particularly aggravating in an Elder Scrolls game, where I always end up spending hours late game trying to sell my stuff with limited encumberance to vendors without money.

Such a crappy way to waste time.
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Exactly, that's what I hate about it. Instead of continuing on in whatever area I am in, now I have to make at least one (sometimes more) trips back to town just to sell/store stuff. I don't find that fun at all.
 
LurkerPrime said:
The benefit of Witcher 2's system is that you can sort it to see what is so heavy. It would generally end up being crafting items, either from enemies or cloth/ore. It leads to situations where one must definitely sit down and puzzle out which inventory items are worthwhile, but this gives gameplay a nice downtime away from fighting or questing. Weight systems are an important part of gameplay balance, both mechanically and rhythmically.

In games with weight limits, there's no need to pick up every single item. A little extra money isn't worth the hassle, and hoarding crafting items is pointless when one can only use so many crafted items in a playthrough. As I mentioned before, it adds another level to the gameplay, giving the player a chance to really consider what is valuable and what is not. Early on this can be difficult, but value becomes incredibly apparent after some time with the game in question.

There's even games hurt by their lack of a weight capacity. In Pillars of Eternity there was an inventory management system that was banished to an "expert" mode. The end result was that the player had more money than they knew what to do with for 75% of the campaign. Very unfortunate; I'd highly recommend that anyone trying that game play it with camp inventory restricted.
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I don't think TW2 did the system particularly well because it threw items at you in abundance. And it didn't balance how many items you could get with how you could manage them.

Other games have successfully implemented weight management systems where you can pick up everything enemies drop, manage your items and dispose of them accordingly. TW2 failed in that regard.
 
Do you really need to carry around 50 weapons and 20 outfits anyway? Manage that stuff. Store what you want, carry what you need and sell what is taking up space as you find better gear. Is that so hard?
 
ironcreed said:
Do you really need to carry around 50 weapons and 20 outfits anyway? Manage that stuff. Store what you want, carry what you need and sell what is taking up space as you find better gear. Is that so hard?
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It's not something I want to spend time doing, simple as that really. I don't know why it bothers you.
 
koshunter said:
I don't think TW2 did the system particularly well because it threw items at you in abundance. And it didn't balance how many items you could get with how you could manage them.
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Game having a lot bushes with flowers, containers with crafting materials etc. doesn't mean you have to pick that all up right there and then. That stuff will be there later even if you take now only what you need immediately.
 
Gear encumbrance is awesome. Heavy armor for slower rolls and movement etc.

Actual item weight I can lose. But with the horse being a pack mule I'm fine with that too.

I love having to make the choice between sets of armor in the Souls games.
 
The weight system was a nightmare in TW2, hopefully it's better implemented this time out. Things like crafting mats which the game requires you to hoard really shouldn't count against your weight limit.
 
Tovarisc said:
Game having a lot bushes with flowers, containers with crafting materials etc. doesn't mean you have to pick that all up right there and then. That stuff will be there later even if you take now only what you need immediately.
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Sure. However, other games have implemented weight mechanics that allow you to pick up everything and manage your inventory. And having played those games, TW2's system comes off as not being very good. I could go and be very specific with what I pick out to manage my inventory but that's so much extra work for very little reward and almost no satisfaction. Especially when the alternative is systems and designs that allow you to pick up everything and allowing you to manage those items in a much better way.

Part of TW2's problem is that it throws too much at you. And much of it meaningless, especially when it comes to weapons. If the loot was more meaningful, I could see myself being very specific with what a I pick up and managing the inventory. But given the sheer vast amount of stuff you get, I installed the no-weight mod. The amount of effort required to manage your inventory simply wasn't worth the reward or satisfaction.

And I love games with a good inventory management system. It's actually a pretty rewarding addition when tackled properly.
 
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