Jerykk wrote on Apr 28, 2011, 00:12:

When I think of garbage combat on the PC I think of Gothic 2, I tried and tried and tried but felt it needed a controller.

Good thing you never played Gothic 1. blah blah blah

blah blah blah.

Maybe I'll try it again this weekend. The game sounded awesome I think I had the 3rd person action mentality to it.

So excited it's gold! Countin' the days here, like a child anxiously waiting for his birthday!

All seen the preview on Gametrailers? Plus that last combat presentation executed by CDProjekt themselves gives a pretty darn impressive impression!

Source? That could cost them $50.

necrosis wrote on Apr 28, 2011, 11:07:
And despite being only a PC game apparently it only supports 16:9 monitors.... X| X| X| X| X|

Pretty apparent this game was designed for multi-platform. PC version may be out first but it was not developed solely as an exclusive.

Jerykk wrote on Apr 28, 2011, 01:00:

Wouldn't that make button mashing easier?

It's interrupting an attack/animation and then failing which makes button mashing not possible.

If you start an attack but can't interrupt it to dodge or block, that leaves you wide open to attacks from your enemies, especially if you miss or are surrounded. The big question is how well can enemies defend themselves once they get hit. Are they basically stunlocked until you kill them? That seems to be the case based on the videos I've seen. However, I don't know what difficulty setting the videos show or whether difficulty settings affect AI at all.

From what I've read and seen, many enemies can block and use it efficiently which causes Geralt to recoil and get off-balance. There's this shield squire that if you don't use magic on him first, you won't get through his shield. Also, enemies zerg you. So no Assassin's Creed kinda stuff here. They don't wait for eachother to hit you first! Geralt is nearly always outmatched in numbers so that certainly adds to the difficulty. Besides, is it really that weird if Geralt makes short work of the enemy in a 1 vs 1 fight? He is the legendary White Wolf!

From what I've seen from presentations and the preview on Gametrailers.com, I hold good hopes that the combat will be dynamic and challenging.

And despite being only a PC game apparently it only supports 16:9 monitors.... X| X| X| X|

Wouldn't that make button mashing easier?

It's interrupting an attack/animation and then failing which makes button mashing not possible.

If you start an attack but can't interrupt it to dodge or block, that leaves you wide open to attacks from your enemies, especially if you miss or are surrounded. The big question is how well can enemies defend themselves once they get hit. Are they basically stunlocked until you kill them? That seems to be the case based on the videos I've seen. However, I don't know what difficulty setting the videos show or whether difficulty settings affect AI at all.

After watching some vids, I was unaware that this game was designed with gamepad use. Gone are the nice menus and screen layouts. <snif>

Jerykk wrote on Apr 28, 2011, 00:12:
However, one of the recent previews on RockPaperShotgun stated that you can't interrupt your own attacks, forcing you to follow through on what can often be lengthy animations. Hopefully that will reduce the effectiveness of button-mashing.

Wouldn't that make button mashing easier?

It's interrupting an attack/animation and then failing which makes button mashing not possible.

When I think of garbage combat on the PC I think of Gothic 2, I tried and tried and tried but felt it needed a controller.

Good thing you never played Gothic 1. Its control scheme was far less intuitive than Gothic 2's. That said, I wouldn't call the combat in either game "garbage." Once you get the hang of the controls, the combat has a lot of depth and is pretty intense. You have to learn enemy attack patterns and adapt the timing of your own attacks, blocks and dodges, all while making sure to position yourself so you don't get flanked. There was a good balance between player skill and stats. You could have the best sword in the game but if you lacked the skill (both personal and stats-based) to wield it effectively, you'd still get your ass kicked. As such, defeating your first Orc with a rusty sword was a tremendously satisfying accomplishment.

As for the combat in Witcher 2, from what I've seen and read, it looks like it'll be pretty easy to just button-mash your way to victory. However, one of the recent previews on RockPaperShotgun stated that you can't interrupt your own attacks, forcing you to follow through on what can often be lengthy animations. Hopefully that will reduce the effectiveness of button-mashing.

Acleacius wrote on Apr 27, 2011, 19:50:
I personally hate being force the play Geralt. It certainly helps with the boredom and drool voice work, not to be stuck with him as your PC.

"Boredom and drool". Going by your lack of English skills it seams that you missed the entire point of his monotone voice. It fits the kind of person he is and his outlook on the world.

Sorry he isn't some no necked, spiked shoulder pad wearing, "FUCK YEA! KILL THEM ALL!", thug that is every male protagonist/hero in games today.

Bhruic wrote on Apr 27, 2011, 18:15:

Please go back to your console games.

Seriously? The combat in The Witcher 1 was about as consolized in style as you can get. It was basically combat with QTEs, except you only had to hit one button. Frankly, console combat would have been a step up from what we had.

Which doesn't mean the game wasn't decent for other reasons, but the combat was by far the weakest element of it.

This is what I've always found amusing, the combat in the first Witcher was far from the reasons I played the game. As you said it is a very simple, single button pressing QTE system. Almost anything will be a step in a better direction.

Darks wrote on Apr 27, 2011, 20:41:
any mods for changing how the combat works?

Yes.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/full-combat-rebalance1

there is also a hi-res texture pack I would recommend,
http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-witcher-texturen-mod
scabbard mod is nifty as well.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/scabbard-mod

This comment was edited on Apr 27, 2011, 22:25.

Do people forget what RPG combat on the PC was like in it's not that long ago days? How is clicking the mouse button different from any other game? Hot keys and click based attacking.

When I think of garbage combat on the PC I think of Gothic 2, I tried and tried and tried but felt it needed a controller.

The true question on everybody's mind is.. will the sequel skimp on the foul language?
I don't know about the translated versions, but the original Polish dialogues contain the most cussing I've ever seen in a game.

This comment was edited on Apr 27, 2011, 20:58.

any mods for changing how the combat works?

For anyone who didn't complete the first Witcher, you might consider Goggling Witcher Mods. There are some nice mods, especially the one that lets you play as any character in the game male or female.

I personally hate being force the play Geralt. It certainly helps with the boredom and drool voice work, not to be stuck with him as your PC.

Please go back to your console games.

Seriously? The combat in The Witcher 1 was about as consolized in style as you can get. It was basically combat with QTEs, except you only had to hit one button. Frankly, console combat would have been a step up from what we had.

Which doesn't mean the game wasn't decent for other reasons, but the combat was by far the weakest element of it.

SpectralMeat wrote on Apr 27, 2011, 15:55:
By the way is this game out already? Got some friends playing it right now, and no they are not pirates, they are game devs, so I doubt they would pirate the game.

I'll say the same thing I said about portal 2. Games can easily be "faked" on steam, usually as a joke. You just tell steam you are running a non-steam game called "witcher 2".

The easiest way to verify a legit playing of a game (such as a potential early release) is to goto the steam store page of that game and see if it says any of your friends are playing it.

I'm interested to hear what ppl say about this game. I bought the first one on Steam and never played it. I started it and quit during the tutorial but it was clearly a popular game with others. Will give the 2nd one if ppl like it enough... If I'm going to get into the game I'd rather play a newer more refined version but we'll see.