The Witcher

In chapter 3 the clunky gameplay is finally catching up to me. It being easy as shit previously made it tolerable.

How are you supposed to counter random bleed/poison stuns that once you're hit with the fight is already over because you're either dead or low enough that you can't fight.
Nothing is more fun than kiting around enemies after a long fight to attempt smaller pick offs, just to get stunned for 10 seconds and killed.

Also I don't like the way that the game pretty much forces you to face tank everything. Dodging is slow, short, hard to aim and has no invincibility frames. Enemy animations get cancelled by your own but they still "play out" and deal damage regardless.
For solo enemies you just find the appropriate style/weapon and combo stunlock them. For multiple enemies you just igni them and try to get a few group style hits in while attempting to not get surrounded and stunlocked.

Also fuck the long as weapon switching that requires you to stand perfectly still while doing so.

I just don't feel like the combat is very rewarding and now it has also turned into a frustration. I thought I could deal with this, being a huge fan of Gothic 1 & 2 but even if their combat system is clunky and simpler at least it starts to make sense after a while. If you're good enough and know the attack patterns of enemies you can beat nearly every encounter without taking a sliver of damage even in melee combat. It does not feel like it's the same for The Witcher.

TL;DR
Worth sticking to it? I like the story and been having fun so far but the problems have been piling up and after a few too many bullshit deaths I'm close to dropping it. Also I'm playing the Enhanced version.

Make blizzard potion and the potion that increases pain resistance. Bam, you can beat every boss encounter in the game on everything but the hardest difficulty.

Just use potions, Aard to stun and Igni to deal extra damage, especially to large foes if you have that talent that grants you extra damage if they are incinerated. The game is only hard if you never use potions or signs.

I don't have trouble with bosses, those I fully expect to need preparation for (even though I haven't needed much as of yet). It's random fucking mob encounters that get out of hand. I don't really want use more than maybe a swallow and grindstone if I'm just running around doing miscellaneous stuff.


Most signs seem pretty bad besides Igni. Aard doesn't really buy much time in comparison to Igni I find, though to be fair I've put more points into Igni.
And yeah I use the incinerate talents, they're neat.

Here's a tip: the AoE attack? Really good against single targets. And no, the main story in W3 starts bad and goes to shit but the dlc and some of the side content is OK as long as you avoid fucking Skellege ?s

Aard is extremely powerful as it can stun multiple enemies. If you attack an enemy that is stunned, the enemy will instantly be killed.

More so with the freeze shit.

Maybe I need to upgrade it more. It only reliably pushes down smaller enemies which is pretty worthless to waste time lining up an execute strike on when a lot of them only take a few hits to die.


Are you talking about 3? I'm playing the first one. While on the subject how come group style suddenly changes from really strong to pathetic when used on the same enemy but the extra mobs died?
I can get it from a balance point of view but it's weird as fuck and I'm not a big fan.

Oh, fuck me. My bad. Apparently I either need to crash or double down on coffee. And unlike in W1 in W3 the area style has a set number of attacks so they're either split among multiple opponents for piss damage or one takes everything.
And yeah, W1 is definitely worth playing through at least once. Potions are arguably more important than in 2 or 3 simply because the magic and bombs are less useful.

It can also push wraiths(those purple ghosts) as well, which is quite handy. For larger enemies like ghouls it stuns them, which again will grant you an instant kill, no matter how much hp they have left.

You get a bonus damage on the group style the more enemies you use it to attack with, so if there are 5 enemies you will do more damage than if there were only 3 or just 1.

Use those potions and Signs, you lilly plougher.

Oh I didn't know that you can execute stunned standing mobs. Then again my use of it has been limited after chapter 1. I have a few points in it but I'll use it more and try to pay attention to stuns.
And thanks for explaining the group style, makes sense. That's another thing I have a slight issue with, things not being properly explained.

For example, is it possible to see the effect or even the name of the buffs/debuffs I'm currently under? Those tiny icons under my amulet really mean nothing and they're too small and hard to memorize.


I tend to run around with a decent stash of potions, it's just that I don't expect the need for high tier consumables without facing a proper boss type.

I think the description of the talents tell you this quite clearly, but maybe I am wrong.
You can press space to pause the game, hover the mouse over the icon and an icon will tell you the effect's name, what it does and for how long. Also immediately after receiving the effect, I think the name hovers over your head, but I am not too sure about that. After a while you ill recognize those symbols.

How about oils and grindstones? Having the pointiest stick in the chapter and stacking additional fire runes or flat damage increase on top in nothing to scoff at. Also don't get bullied into supporting either of the factions if you don't feel like it. Especially since canonically Geralt goes neutral and gets to bang a pair of nurses for his efforts.

Might remember wrong but don't think it explicitly mentions that mechanic of the group style.
I've tried hovering over them in the menu but maybe not paused ingame, I'll try thanks.


I've been using grindstones but oils not as much since I find that they're pretty situational (the ones I've unlocked in any case).
So I can go neutral without skipping story content? I sided with Siegfried in the swamp because he's been a bro but both sides seem to be wrong.

Both Triss and Thaler pointed out how important it is to choose a side now that I entered chapter 3.

Tell Thaler to go fuck a goat and Triss to make you a sandwitch. And going order route is perfectly reasonable but probably the hardest hitting when it comes to feels.

Oils are either shit or completely game breaking.

It's not a difficult game. Click the button at the right time and things drop. You'll need to use signs, potions and oils for higher difficulty levels.

It's not a difficult game but you should take the time to make potions.

Those first three acts are a total slog, holy shit. I like the character but wow.

I'm only doing it to play 2 to play 3 but I feel like 2 will be better.

What sucks is you don't even need to know 1 or 2, just the first couple stories from the novels for 3 but my autism won't let me. Also he seems older in 3 and I want a taste of young Geralt before I embark on the epic avenchure that is 3

Potions and signs you dunce, I sure hope you didn't just put all your points in sword play because that shit doesn't work till the next game and even there it's a nightmare.

A lot of people say 2 is the worst of the trilogy. It's got some really blatantly flawed systems, prominent ones, that can make it feel like total garbage at a lot of points and make you think they didn't even playtest it. Story wise it's the shortest and smallest scale of the trilogy which could be either positive or negative depending on how you like your stories. I thought it was the best since it didn't overstay its welcome and the high points of the game are really high but the lows are also pretty fucking low, especially if you build into the broken shit.

If you like the story then you may as well, coz the gameplay is shite.

You are fucking up on a game where all you have to do is choose the right style and press when the sword icon is on fire?

Jesus fuck son

You must be terrible at sword fighting then.

On harder difficulties the damage you deal without potions is ass, I remember boss fights taking a fucking eternity of rolling around on the floor. Plus 2nd game onward the combat becomes a trivial matter of patience through the use of quen no matter the difficulty.

Play it on easy or cheat, thr only reason to play is for the story.
I also hope you pirate it, cdredproject are huge jews now.

But that's not true. Investing in sword combat is TW1 will get you through the game just fine, even on the hardest difficulty. Sure it doesn't become a mobile tactical nuke like upgraded Igni, but it still works.

Drink blizzard and other potions which give you resistance to such effects.
I completed the game on normal and barely anything survives long enough for those effects to matter.
This is where your approach is wrong. Switch to group style and watch as the enemies fall down before you even know what is happening.

They patched that shit ages ago
Quen is fucking trash now so you end up dodge rolling everywhere.

Is that what you tell to yourself when others laugh at you?

Just click at the right time and drink a couple of pots. Its impossible to lose a fight if you drink Wolf or whatever "slow time" elixir was called.

Why not pick up an Elric-novel instead? Same shit.

Because some people happen to prefer vidya as a medium, you autistic fuck. Crazy, right? Who could've imagined that on a board dedicated to video games.

No, because the games are not that good most of the time and the books are better if you want witcher autism

...

Not really. Geralt isn't an edgelord who acts like a temperamental teen and wins battles through Deus Ex Machina.


In addition to what others have said, each monster has a weakness. Read books that grant knowledge and go through bestiary. Applying a proper oil and potions is often times much better than simply sharpening the blade.

Most of enemies that attack in groups are weak. Stunning few of them and taking care of the ones standing is usually easy enough. You can also run around and jump over enemies when getting surrounded, but proper positioning is a key to winning many fights.

They do share the timing element. Main difference is that instead of 1 click = 1 swing, in Witcher 1 click = 1 sequence of swings.
No you can't. Your stats and equipment still play a significant role. Good luck facing against Orcs or even their dogs in the beginning of the game without abusing terrain and retarded AI. Stats/training and equipment matter about as much in both games.

Story only gets better as the game goes on, so it will be worth it for that alone.