The big fight in CH. 1 everyone complains about

[elkston]

OK. A lot of people on various forums are complaining about a certain fight that is supposed to happen near the end of CH1. or beginning of Ch2. They say it catches them off guard and usually results in having to reload and repeat a long dialogue sequence and cut-scene.

So can the unfortunate fellows who have already gone through this give me just a hint -- without revealing any deep spoilers -- about when this big event is approaching so I'll know to prepare and save my game?

I am currently in Chapter I and ..

Trying to get the hideout location of the Salmandra.

I have gained the trust of the villagers, and done the reverend's quests. However, have not defeated the beast yet.

[mute]

Well, i can say this i reloaded before the big fight, rested and prepared some potions, expended som experience points where i saw fit and i am ready to drop the game altogether right now.

I have been trying the fight since yesterday and really i don't see the point. (Talk about being frustrated... :) )

The cool dialouge sequence and cool cut scene, where i am a cool witcher have become hatred to the develeoper letting me only take a narrow path, almost knowni what i suppose to get before i know i am suppose to have a fight. And that fight really comes out of the blue.

As it stand now, my weekend of playing witcher has become the weekend where i never wanted to finsih the damn thing.

(Yes i know, its probably me that sucks and i have done some poor choice before hand, but i have been relativly thurough in my playing so far. Not to rush tru anything.

Well well... I guess the solution is simple so i wait for some of you as well to fill in the blanks and point at me and laugh and say i suck! ;-)

[mute]

One funny thing, i tried the Blizzard, to give me some agility. Never tried the potion before and ... hm, everything gets blurry, and everyting is in slomo, including me. It would have been fun if this Blizzard indeed increess agility, and slowed everything around you down with this cool effect, but made you agile. Now its confusing and its not any help at all.. It just slows down everything, and you aren't anymore agile before or after... (Doesn't have anythgin to do with this fight, but i tried that potion IN that fight just to see if it gave me the upperhand... ;) I will never dring Blizzard or waste ingredients on this usesless drug again...).

[Maylander]

Hint: The big fight comes after you talk to the witch inside a cave. Between talking to her, and actually starting the big fight, there is a long cutscene.

[mute]

Don't know but read this if you want to... probably spoiler full for chapter 1. (But right now i don't care :) )

http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=3480.0

Oh, i can really see how my posts is percieved. Bitter man in sweden, frutstrated and full of remorse and anger. Hits his monitor, wall and keyboard. Damn you witcher, damn you. And yet, still - time after time - he tries to do the same thing again and again, for no apparent reason at all. Flood the forums about his frustration - venting. But never stops. Why? The game doesn't suck. And he knows it. Somewhere in his gray alchohol infested soft matter called his brain, the knowledge exist. This is just a game, but its a great game - and that he perhaps - just sucks.

;)

[mute]

Maylander. What do you mean? How is this a hint?

I should rewrite the cutscene? :)

[elkston]

Maylander. What do you mean? How is this a hint?

I should rewrite the cutscene? :)

I think the hint was for my benefit. Now I know to save/prepare before I enter a cave and talk to the witch (I presume you mean abigail).

[mute]

Ah, :) Of course.

well, for me i will stop playing the game until a patch enter that lowers the difficulties with this fight. I can't beat him and i give up with this game - for the time being. Hopefully i will replay it in a few month with the latest patches fixes other things like loading times.

If it is possible with some god mode or anything i would appreciate it. I will not be able to win this fight and i have no save before the cave i can use (deleted saves yesterday *DONT DO THAT!*). I think i should have specialized my experience point in areas.

a little dissapointed in this badly experience i had, because of choices i made before - and as someone pointed out in the forum thread above. Its frustrating when you conquer every fight before this and suddenly it feels like the difficult lever is upped by 500%.

Should have played it in easy.

[mute]

Of course i had to try it once more :)

Strange thing. I used the knockdown and suddenly the beast was dead. I think i hit him one time.

I was happy.

Then the game crashed.

Now i can't do it again. Wonder if there is a bug involved somewhere. Alot of people don't have any problem, and by judging by my strike, before the crash where the beast was killed. It was a walk in the park.

I probably have retried this fight 20 times now. And only one time it was "easy".

[MikeZZ]

I've defeated the dog on medium dificulty. I used swallow potion to regenerate my health, another one to regenerate my energy and of course isometric view for better tactics. I killed green dogs with grop style dodging attacks of the beast by double cliking on the free field and sometime using the aard sign to put him away . After beating green ones I was reapiting combination of the quick style and aard sign. When beast's health reached about 20%, I could easily stun him with aard and then finish him off.

[Maylander]

Whenever there is a tough fight, I just use the increase-regeneration-potion. With it, The Witcher often regenerates so much that he barely loses health. In The Beast fight, I recommend using group style to defeat all the "lesser beasts", and then strong style to defeat the Beast. Try with the regeneration potion active, it makes a bigger difference than any other potion I've encountered. If you lose too much health, simply run around a bit and let it regenerate.

Edit: Swallow potion, that's the one.

[fatBastard()]

Ï too was stuck at this point in the game. I tried that fight around 15-20 times with the only result of my Witcher getting his ass kicked from left to right up and down the block.

However, with the proper preparation this fight goes from being next to impossible to a walk in the park. I kid you not.

First of all, the point of no return is:when you tell the Reverend: "I know what the beast is"

Once that point is reached you no longer have access to your stash at the inn and you can no longer buy anything from Abigail the Witch, nor will you be able to complete unfinished sidequests. Before you reach this point be SURE to have purchased a Spectral Oil potion from Abigail or make one yourself (you need the Oil making skill to be able to make it for yourself) AND be sure to have that potion in your inventory.

Now, I must admit that I'm confused about mute's experience with the Blizzard potion. I find it VERY effective, especially against multiple opponents. Yes it does slow things down a bit for the Witcher, but I assure you that he is still MUCH faster than the enemies and you're very seldom interrupted, causing your chain to break, when the Blizzard potion is in effect. However, in this particular encounter, a Blizzard potion is not enough by itself.

Once you reach the aforementioned rendezvous with Abigail in the cave, you should prepare: Apply the Spectral Oil to your blade and make sure you have a couple of the potions your chosen technique requires (I'll get back to those in a minute)

Once the fight begins you'll have several ways to deal with the enemy:
The approach I myself used was to drink a Blizzard potion as soon as the encounter started. With the combined effects of the Spectral Oil and the Blizzard potion, I not only slew the Beast in no time, I was hardly hit at all either (making the Swallow potion I also drank pointless) AND Abigail didn't even get knocked down (something that happened within the first 10-15 seconds on all my other attempts)

I must admit that I hadn't really used my signs much up until this point, so I didn't see those as a solution to this hard fight. However, when I was forced to go back before the point of no return due to the fact that MY bottle of the Spectral Oil was stashed away at the inn where I couldn't get to it, I started playing around with the Aard sign in particular. If you manage to knock down an enemy with the Aard sign (or by other kinds of knowdown or stun effects), you get a chance to perform a "coup de grace" instant kill attack. This is also true for larger opponents but you have to weaken them first. One strategy I was going to attempt was to use the Aard sign on the Beast once I had it down to about half health. That should, according to other forums, be enough to enable you to perform a coup de grace on it, thus ending the fight. If you choose to try this approach you might want to drink a stamina boosting potion when the fight begins to ensure that you don't have to wait too long between knockdown attempts. Supposedly, it should also be possible to eliminate the Barghast spawning points with the Aard sign and though the Beast is obviously not affected by the Igni sign, the lesser Barghasts should be susceptible to fire.

I can't emphasize strongly enough how effective potions are in this game. 2 potions made this utterly frustrating and impossible encounter turn into a breeze. And even though I've not gotten further than chapter 2 at this point, they have saved my bacon several times over since then. Ingredients are plenty and all it takes is the recipe and a camp fire, so don't forget to use them.

Oh, and do keep trying because the game is DEFINITELY worth it :)

[mute]

Thanks for your tips fatBastard. (This is not a sentence i would use in my normal pub! :) )

I managed to Succed now. The Blizzard potion is better then i gave credit for, but the effect isn't as usable in OTS view as in tactical view - My misstake.

I also approach the doggie with my back toward the fence and engaged them groupstyle.

I then used my aard, stun level, on the beast as much as i could. And then just ran around in the circle. Easier in the Strategic views then in the Ots view.

I also used up a big amount of luck. I also realized during this fight that potion is very useful, and i will never neglect that fact anymore. It would have helped. Next time thru i think this fight will be looked upon as easy. But when you don't know what to suspect, then its fearsome and frustrating...

Ah... i am pass it now. Now i will make sure i NEVER overlook a potion or aard use ever again...

(i am a little more happy now! Me like the game again... :) I had a lovers quarrel, but i choose to forgive and move on...)

[elkston]

Well thanks guys. I just finished the fight (on Normal) and I really didn't have a problem since I used a swallow potion and had the spectre oil.


One thing though is that I decided to side with the Reverend, so I didn't have to defend Abigail. I might go back again and see what its like if I take her side ...

[KazikluBey]

I succeeded on my third attempt (medium difficulty). I just applied a whetstone or grindstone before the cutscene and drank a Swallow potion and a Blizzard potion before just hacking away mostly with fast style, on the Beast, IIRC. I don't think I used any signs.

The Blizzard potion is better then i gave credit for, but the effect isn't as usable in OTS view as in tactical view - My misstake.
The useful effect of the Blizzard potion isn't so much that it slows down time but the huge increase in your defensive skills (+50% to dodge and parry, IIRC). I used OTS mode and hardly took any damage except when disabled.


One thing though is that I decided to side with the Reverend, so I didn't have to defend Abigail. I might go back again and see what its like if I take her side ...

Why not save that for another playthrough? You won't get to know the long term effects for both like that, anyway.

[elkston]

OK, I went back and took the *other* choice this time, and the battle was much more challenging -- but I still pulled through.


If you don't side with Abigail, which is what I did the first time, then about 4-5 villagers will be with you to help fight the beast. What happens then is that the lesser dogs that get summoned will go after the villagers freeing you up to concentrate on the big guy.

When you help Abigail, then only she is there to draw fire away from you ..and she doesn't last long (she get knocked unconcious, but doens't die). So with only Abigail around you have to contend with the green dogs taking bites at you while you try to attack to the boss.

I think most people choose to save Abigail, which is why everyone sees this as a very hard fight.


Anyway, it was still tough even with the swallow potion. But what I did was just dodge and run around when my health started to get low and waited for the swallow to bring it back up. Also, Abigail regains consciousness periodically and she can heal you up quickly.

So again, to reiterate what others have said:

-Use Spectre Oil blade coating -- apply it while you are in the cavbe
-Drink Swallow potion
-Drink Tawny oil (maybe)
-Concentrate on the boss and when health gets low...step away and circle around until it fills back up.

NOTE: I used fast style on the boss and used group to clear things out when the green dogs were surrounding me.

[mute]

I really like the name Tawny Oil... Reminds me of my favorite beverage... Tawny Ale. :)

I am glad i forced me thru this part. The game in chapter 2 is really interesting.

[Dez]

Remember to use a whetstone on your sword before the fight. (extra 20% makes a difference). If you can, apply the spectral oil too, but I decided not to waste skillpoints on oil making thus I fought without it which worked just fine. spectre oil will make things a lot easier, but its not vital. Potions however are vital so don't forget drinking them! witcher without potions is like a santaclaus without beard,

When the fight begings.

1. Drink swallow
2. Drink tawny oil (very usefull because the push spell is the key to victory)
3. Drink blizzard

After the cutscene switch to group style and kill the little doggies first. You may want to get some distance so that you can drink a potion or two. Don't be afraid to use Aard sign to clear some room fast. when the little buggers are down use fast style against the beast,and keep using Aard sign every now and then. If it's health gets low enough the beast gets stunned and you can do the one hit killing move. Every once and a while it spawns more green dogs, but then you can just use group style like before.

Crucial thing is not to get cornered in flames. Double tapping the movements keys does the quick evade move

[elkston]

If you can, apply the spectral oil too, but I decided not to waste skillpoints on oil making thus I fought without it which worked just fine. spectre oil will make things a lot easier, but its not vital. Potions however are vital so don't forget to drinking them! witcher without potions is like a santaclaus without beard,


Just an FYI: You can also buy Spectre Oil from Abigail if you cannot make it yourself.

[Dyne]

I found having Abigail with you quite a boon. If you use Group Style to keep the Burghests off her, she tends to heal you quite a bit during the fight.

[magerette]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. This fight is coming up on the horizon for me, and now I'm looking forward to it since I have all this help. :)

[Dhruin]

Blizzard absolutely rocks - even with the OTS view in my opinion (although switching to iso really is beneficial for some fights). Every "impossible" fight I have encountered is completely turned around with Blizzard and a Swallow.

[CarcusRex]

Hats off to those of you who prevailed in getting through this fight. You are true gamers, young and steadfast, and with an undying love for the challenge. I, on the other hand, am simply too old for this kind of frustration... frustration born not out of a good challenging fight, but rather the horrible implementation of the game mechanics. I swear I'm going to have a heart attack with this particular gaming situation.

It takes a good 4 minutes (4 f#$%ing minutes!!!) for this scene to load... mind boggling frustrating when all you want to do is get right back at it and try again. Then comes the long cut scene... further infuriating - at least after the first time you see it. (That was a damned good cut scene!) Then, with nowhere to save, I'm dropped into the fight, surrounded, weapon sheathed (I could of sworn he unsheathed it in the cut scene) I wouldn't mind it so much if I was able to employ the different tactics you guys talk about, but after the cut scene, when the fight starts, I'm plagued the first few moments with mind numbing stutters because of all the loading. By the time I finally get my weapon out, I'm being nipped at all around and stunned, my guy just stands there taking a beating, regardless of my commands. He won't dodge or attack. And then I'm dead, never even aware of what appalling fate befalls that poor witch I failed so miserably. The crushing blow is that now I'm faced with another long reload and cut scene playthrough. God, give me strength. I swear I would try and try again and beat it sooner or later... if I didn't have to face the injustice of that humungus load time and the re-viewing of that long cut scene. But screw that! I just can't take it. It's just too much to ask of an old man's heart. Again, hats off to you guys with nerves of steel... and fast computers!

I'm highly insensed at not being able to save just after the cut scene. What a poor implementation of game mechanics herein in what really is an awesome game otherwise. I could pound somebody's head overthere at CDProjekt!

Thanks for letting me vent. I needed to get that out of my system.
God help me... something tells me I'll soon try again. If you don't hear from me soon, send the de-fibulator stat...

[KazikluBey]

Did you try pausing right when you arrive at the Beast to let your computer load in peace?

[Dez]

you could also try dropping visual details in minimun before the fight and after the fight changing back to what you were using.

I recommand using the Aard sign as much as possible in the begining to get room fast. Switching camera angle could help too? I'm playing with OST, but maybe isometric angle could give a better view for you.

[txa1265]

For me on this one the bottom line is that regardless of the possible workarounds, it is textbook 'bad game design', and really stands out from many of the good things they've done in this game.

[mute]

CarcusRex: I feel your pain. I got so frustrated i wanted to kill my computer.

It is strange however how fast i started to forgive this game in chapter two. I really feel like this is master piece. But as you said TXA, since they done most other thing right, this poorly, poorly, poorly design choice is something you never expect to see. Its a rookie misstake, a no no never do this in a game ever.

Always put a save point after lengthy cutscenes if there is a boss fight. Or else, your killing your own game. The cutscene is too cool to be destroyed by frustration. Its the first part where i really loved the Witcher. How he snorted against the villager, showing the "real deal". But, then i started to despise him... :)

I hate repetetive characters!

[CarcusRex]

Well guys, as testiment to this otherwise fantastic rpg, I could not keep myself away. And I prevailed!!! Glory be to God.

But what was rather disheartening, after cleaning up my situation prior to the cutscene, after another 2 or 3 miserable trys of the same thing, the final attempt was... so damned easy I just cannot figure it out. I focused on the green hounds around Abigail with group style, and a blizzard potion. Amazingly, I never got stunned and only after 3 or 4 of them, which fell easily, just the hellhound was left, and Abigail was still standing. Back to fast style, a few slashes, one aard cast, and that raging terror of a beast fell like an old hag with arthritis.

While I'm thrilled to move on, I must say there was something peculiar and even a little troubling about my victory. Just too damned easy after all that toil.

This is one rpg that shines all over the place, it reminds me alot of Gothic 2, but it's also got an obnoxious streak about it that makes me wonder...

Thanks for all the ideas and input. Movin' on...

[Prime Junta]

Tactics actually matter. Attack an enemy with the wrong style, wrong weapon, wrong sign, wrong oil, or wrong immunities, and you'll be in deep doo-doo. Once you do figure out what works where, it becomes a lot easier.

By the way, I'm now a bit deeper in Act 3, and that bit about it getting too easy... passed. It's nice and challenging again.

Not to mention by far the most imaginative storytelling I've come across in a cRPG in a long, long time. It's a shame about the translation, but the actual story is Planescape level at its best. This game shamelessly plunders everything from Lovecraft to King Arthur, stirs it up, sits it on its head, and serves it with a nice dose of wry and occasionally refreshingly st00pid humor.

[magerette]

Good to know it picks back up, Prime J. I find Geralt to be quite the dry humorist, though I must say some of the cutscenes are strangely garbled. Your plan to learn Polish might help with that.

Made it through this fight fairly easily, leaning on fatbastard's advice mainly (for the Spectral Oil and the planning. Many thanx, fb) Some great cutscenes here.

[Maylander]

While I like a good challenge, I have to agree with txa1265 - this particular fight really is a matter of bad design. Not the fight itself, but not being able to save.

[txa1265]

While I like a good challenge, I have to agree with txa1265 - this particular fight really is a matter of bad design. Not the fight itself, but not being able to save.

Perhaps the saddest thing is that many folks who are console gamers wouldn't know the difference ... that sort of thing litters console RPG's to an embarrassing extent!

[Badesumofu]

You know, you can save at the start of the fight. Not that it's done me much good, because I just don't have a swallow pot or a specteral oil on me. This fight is quite annoying, so much harder than everything before it. I'm playing on hard, but so far none of the fights have been all that hard - it's just a matter of knwoing your enemy and using the right pots before some of the tougher fights.

Well, time to load an earlier save so I can properly prepare for this fight. Can't wait for Ch2! I've enjoyed the game a lot so far, and everything I've heard is that Ch2 is much better than chapter 1.

[mute]

Hm, didn't succeded to save before the fight. I tried though.

I could only reloaded it before the dialog and cutscenes.

Good luck anyway! It seems like luch is the biggest factor for everyone doing this fight. Tactics and learning tactics hasn't been part of the fighting ...

[Akimbo]

I had a little trouble with this fight, and IMO, the hardest part is that the Beast puts the "pain" status on you, making you a sitting duck. After two or three tries I just tapped pause repeatedly as the fight drew near, and paused the moment I was able to, tapped quicksave, then went at it. Suprisingly it worked first time then. Best way I think is to use a potion of Swallow, and then just repeatedly use the Ard sign on the Beast then attack. If you're lucky he'll get stunned and die quickly, if not you can switch to group style and kill the minions while he's knocked down at least. The healing from Abigail really helps here, so try and keep a little pressure off here if you can.

[Prime Junta]

Yup, Aard works on the Beast quite well, even when it's at full strength, and especially if you've upgraded it a bit. However, to make sure, you can whittle him down a bit first, e.g. with a few swipes of the group style -- if you're using specter oil, that'll work quite well too.

[Eisberg]

Yup, Aard works on the Beast quite well, even when it's at full strength, and especially if you've upgraded it a bit. However, to make sure, you can whittle him down a bit first, e.g. with a few swipes of the group style -- if you're using specter oil, that'll work quite well too.


I used Arad as soon as I saw him, and one shotted the beast.

[skavenhorde]

I was having the same problems as most everyone until I used Arad and clicked him right away, he went down with one swing. I was amazed. This works on hard difficulty with no problems. Just make sure you click him right away.

[Jabberwocky]

Well, I'm trying not to spoil my surprises as I play through this game, so I didn't read this thread until I actually experienced it firsthand. Just now (I'm really limited in playtime so still stuck in Chap. 1) I encountered this boss battle. I died rather quickly, and it's late so I only gave it the one chance. Still, I'm happy to see that all of my ideas for the second go-around are the right ones - Specter Oil, which I made previously, thinking I may need it, Swallow, Tawny Owl, and Blizzard.

BTW, I also agree that Blizzard is very effective and one of my favorite potions. I don't like how distorted it makes everything look though.

@ Mute: Blizzard looks like it slows everything down, including Geralt, but in fact Geralt moves faster. I know this because I had taken a Blizzard potion just before saving Vesna from the rapists, after which I had to escort her to her house. After running a ways forward, I turned to see if she was still behind me, and I had left her completely in the dust, way more so than if you are running without the potion's effects.

Anyways, tomorrow night I'll give it another shot. Kind of dissappointed to learn I won't be able to tidy up any outstanding quests, but oh well. I think they deserve an Oscar for that cut-scene! And I must say the moral choices in this game are indeed captivating. I stewed for several minutes trying to decide whether to side with Abigail or the village. I can see both sides, but in the end I think the Reverend is the biggest crook.

[mute]

I have come to love Blizzard to... The game really doesn't shine until chapter 2 and i made some quick conclusions in chapter 1 which i dearly regret now.

:)

Playing Mass Effect right now and my mind wander to The Witcher. There really isn't a better RPG (The Witcher that is) this year.

Yet.

[Acleacius]

My biggest problem is the scripting effects the developers use, since I always side with Abby and use Aard I really haven't had trouble, as she heals and I stun.
However once the Beast is dead and I am forced into conversations with the Reverend the whole group is beating up Abby while I am forced to chat.
I really hope to hell things like this are just untweaked designs due to being released a bit early, otherwise they are just blatantly bad design decisions.
The same thing happens with Vesna Hood, while escorting her home safely, I was forced into conversations with her, while the Bugerest were attacking her, it's very damn frustrating.

[Corwin]

Have I mentioned how much I dislike cut scene dialogues that disrupt the flow of gameplay, especially before/during/after battles!!

[Jabberwocky]

I can't imagine anyone liking them Corwin, and I share your pain. I think, in answer to Acleacius, it has to be unintentional design flaw, or even a 'bug,' rather than this problem be a conscious decision by the devs. I can't imagine them purposely having you chat with an NPC while simutaneously watching a nasty monster charging from behind. I especially think it's a bug of sorts, as I have had other problems with cut-scenes in general. I've elaborated about the problems in another thread.

[Corwin]

I remember one game that shall forever remain un-named that had monsters attack you during conversations, because it was 'more realistic' since the real world doesn't 'pause' while you talk!! SHUDDER!!!!

[Jabberwocky]

What game was that? ...Or are you forbidden to say it?

[Corwin]

Not forbidden, but its name sends shudders through most of the people who visit here; it's not hard to guess!! :)

[Jabberwocky]

Dungeon Lords?

[magerette]

POR2:RoMD?

[Jabberwocky]

You know, most of the acronyms thrown around here I figure out, but I don't have a clue on that one!

BTW... somone should have told the devs of Two Worlds and The Witcher that ONE of them would have to change the name - they both have the same acronyms, and that just doesn't cut it around here! :lol:

[KazikluBey]

Pool or Radiance 2: Ruins of Myth Drannor.

[magerette]

Sorry, Jabberwocky--I just know the short list of shuddery titles. ;) I'm probably wrong, too.
I agree that the TW acronym is confusing. I think Two Worlds should be the one to change, maybe to '2W', especially since the title has apparently nothing to do with the game.

[Jabberwocky]

I think the "2 Worlds" are the opposite worlds of Gothic and Elder Scrolls. The game "Two Worlds" straddles the middle best I can tell from feedback. ;)

[woges]

Well, I believe you can just hit esc to skip the video parts.

[Acleacius]

Yeah, they are making it tough with the acronyms, I like the 2W idea magerette and I even tried tW since "the" usually never gets a capitol in an acronym, iirc but it just looks weird.

[mute]

Now i am worried that people think that POR2 had dialouge problems. :)

I must fight for this gem of game, in every instance.

[Acleacius]

I kept hoping we would run into the Reverend's daughter to help her against that bastard, well at least I didn't through completing chapter 3. :(

[woges]

Yeah, they are making it tough with the acronyms, I like the 2W idea magerette and I even tried tW since "the" usually never gets a capitol in an acronym, iirc but it just looks weird.

Ass Creed is a good one I think.

[Acleacius]

Lol, nice one woges! :)

[KazikluBey]

I kept hoping we would run into the Reverend's daughter to help her against that bastard, well at least I didn't through completing chapter 3. :(
You probably have, I think. Carmen is the Reverend's daughter, IIRC.

[Dez]

Yes and you can hear the whole story

from the refugee nun in the last chapter if you helped carmen to remove his husband's curse

[Acleacius]

Seriously? Now, that's very cool, thanks KazikluBey and Dez. :)

It's good to know something good happens and maybe one day I will be able to make it to chapter 5, hehe.

[Shrapnel]

Use group on the beast, all the minions will get shredded.
Now that it's you and him, tank him while the witch heals.
I did this the first time (beginner's luck). Then when I restarted I was here for like 10 mins. There are many ways to drop the beast, using him as your 'anchor' in group combos was mine

[Jabberwocky]

Well, it's 1am and I've tried 5 times and have gotten my butt handed to me every time. I'm a couple of dots short of graduating from "Novitiate Witcher" and I've put a couple of skill levels into group and fast combat. I'm loaded up on Swallow, Tawny Owl, and Blizzard; my blade's loaded up on Specter Oil...... and I still get my butt handed to me.

The witch goes under and then I'm finished as soon as the Beast gets a second stun-lock on me. I managed to get away a couple of times and run around trying to heal, but for some reason I'm not healing at all unless the witch does it. I'm starting to wonder what Swallow is good for in this particular instance. Can someone tell me what the deal is with that? I mean, usually it works fine.

Going to bed now very frustrated and will try again tomorrow. >:(

[magerette]

Swallow allows for regeneration of hit points over time, but my guess would be you are probably losing too many too fast. Maybe the minions are sniping at you? Using the Aard sign will buy you some time and maybe even give you a few one hit kills on the barghests. I also used Igni a lot to get hit points down all around. Spectral oil on the silver sword should eventually start doing major damage to the Beast--don't give up hope! This is really the hardest fight in the game in many ways, and once you manage to get through it, the best parts of the game will begin.

[Jabberwocky]

Spectral oil on the silver sword should eventually start doing major damage to the Beast--don't give up hope! This is really the hardest fight in the game in many ways, and once you manage to get through it, the best parts of the game will begin.

Magey, either you mis-typed or I missed something very important in Chapter 1 - You said "silver" sword?? But I only have the steel one, and have presumed Chapter 1 doesn't contain a way to get a silver one. Please clarify, as now I'm really frustrated if I missed out on getting a silver one!

[magerette]

Sorry Jabberwocky--you're correct--it's really scary sometimes how disfunctional my memory is. You have only one sword in Act 1 and it is steel.

I need to replay this and get the details straight! :)

[Jabberwocky]

Okay thanks! I was just making sure.

Well I'll give it another try (or ten) tonight... I am playing the game on 'hard', but so far I haven't had any trouble with combat once I got the timing down. Even the crypt boss went down with two Aard signs and a coup-de-grace. To be having so much trouble here is annoying.

[Acleacius]

Blizzard, is your friend. :)
You could take it before you walk up to the beast and skip the cutscene iirc, that way it's already in effect, then hit Aard asap, well unless you consider it cheating or something, but in it's current state you could say the developers are cheating the way the cutscenes are working, either way Blizzard first, then Aard, well imo. :)
Oh and 1 Blizzard is not enough, the fun doesn't stop with fido, well in my game.
If this is your first time through and you didn't get a bunch of stock of plants in your Inn inventory then I would go back a Save, especially in Hard, I would say a stack of 50 of each of the available in Outskirts, or at least as much as you can get without going crazy collecting. ;)
Oh and don't sell all your Bargaret Skulls, save at least one for a special quest in chapter 2-4.

[Jabberwocky]

Ok thanks 'Cius, I actually beat this part before I saw your post, but the Barghest skull tidbit will come in handy!

Yes, on the NINTH overall try, I finally managed to defeat the Beast! :boogie: Whew... but just when I jumped outta my chair to do a victory dance here comes Reverend Horton Heat and his groupies. "YOu gotta be kidding me!" I thought. I was already seeing gray from the Beast encounter and barely made it out alive. Fortunately, dispite my trouble fighting creatures of the supernatural kind, I seem to be a Jedi at vs. human combat, and quickly dispatched of the good minister and the rest without another single injury.

I gotta say, this has become my single biggest dissappointment over an otherwise excellent game - the cutscenes before a crazy difficult battle, and the fact that even good players may have to reload NINE times or more to beat it. I would expect, and even almost want, that sort of thing on the final boss battle, but not in chapter 1.

[magerette]

Yeah--it wasn't the best design decision ever made for sure. Rest easy though, it doesn't happen again. The rest of the game is scaled pretty well for difficulty--in fact, sometimes it gets almost too easy. Congrats on the final thumping. :)

[Corwin]

er... the battle at the end of Ch 2 can be a challenge and it has 2 cut scenes!! :)

[magerette]

I don't remember it being a big surprise like The Beast though, or being thrown into it, but then, there's a lot I don't remember. ;)

[Corwin]

No, you could prepare a little while inside the tower, but I'd just fought a few beasties on my way there and wasn't yet at full health. You exit the tower, and it's cut scene, battle, cut scene, battle!!

[Acleacius]

I usually go in to get the Sign, the head to the campfire near by at the rebel base, then once I am all upgraded I return and get the book.

An amusing bit is to set a trap where you know they will be before you go inside the tower and quite funny to see them setting it off while in the cutscene. I sort of think of it as revenge against the developers for using the cheat method of forcing us into a cutscene right before battle and letting the mobs attack our companions while we chat away! :devilish:

[xSamhainx]

I waited til I finished chap 1 to read this post, and I have to say that the beast fight wasnt really a big deal. Like most boss w/ tons of minions fights, you just bolt right up to the boss and hit him w/ the kitchen sink, he falls and all his minions poof. I just made sure I was sign'd up, ritual of magic'd, whetstone'd, swallow'd, etc. I was assuming the hideout was going to be harder than it was. I did do the Blizzard tho, it was annoying.

I purrsonally do not like the Blizzard effect, I'd rather just pause the game a lot.

[Acleacius]

Blizzard gives you very good dodge and parry which you can't get from pausing, you might be able to turn off the effect in you options or if you are experienced at editing cfg files witcher.ini in yoiur system folder. :)

[Jabberwocky]

Does that mean you are in the sewers now Sammy? Oh it is so cool..

[magerette]

I agree totally on the Blizzard effect. I used it once in the game--too much blurry double vision going on brings on motion sickness for me in games--plus I had all the double vision I'll ever need back in the seventies. ;)

[Jabberwocky]

I agree the blizzard effect should have been designed differently. It should have made everything around Geralt slow-motion, perhaps with some blurring, but Geralt himself should be allowed normal speed, which would make him seem much faster. OR they could have kept gameworld same speed and make Geralt faster, which would have been tricky for the player to keep combat timing. But making everything slow down is not very cool.

I do still use the potion however, as I feel the benefits are definitely tangible.

[GhanBuriGhan]

Ugh! Man, that really was a killer. I came here after maybe the 8th try for some advice, and based on what I read here, then loaded an earlier save to get some ghost oil from Abigail. That certainly helped, together with swallow and fast steel / group steel I finally made it. But I still needed three more tries to get there. That pain lock is err... really a pain. I found there is actually some dialogue from Abigail about the ghost oil, but I had completely missed it the first time. Thats because you get thrown out of conversations so often in the witcher, even when dialogue is not exhausted. That too is a bit of a questionable design decision. But still, what a game!

[Jabberwocky]

I like the way they throw you out of conversations if you say something offensive. That to me makes you think a lot more about your decisions as opposed to mindlessly clicking your way through until you've exhausted all dialog options.

But like you say, a lot of times they throw you out of a conversation for pointless reasons, and sometimes dialogue branches stay colored even though you have already explored them.

[Acleacius]

Think getting Stunned or Pained a lot means low Dex or Stam, can't recall atm and I haven't played in almost 2 weeks waiting for the patch. :(

[GhanBuriGhan]

Think getting Stunned or Pained a lot means low Dex or Stam, can't recall atm and I haven't played in almost 2 weeks waiting for the patch. :(

Well, it happened for the first and so far only time with the beast. Seems to be a special attack. Just like the knockdown with the fearbringer.

[elkston]

But like you say, a lot of times they throw you out of a conversation for pointless reasons, and sometimes dialogue branches stay colored even though you have already explored them.


Its also annoying if the person you are speaking to runs a shop and you get kicked out of a conversation when you planned on buying/selling something. Then you'd have to wait until the next day to try again.

So if you need to talk to someone AND partake of any services they offer, then get your services out of the way first -- THEN engage in conversation.

[Jabberwocky]

What do you mean by 'wait until the next day'? Can't you just talk to them again? Or are you speaking of when you make them upset and they refuse to talk any longer? - I kind of like that, it's more like real life!

[Corwin]

I've never had to wait until the next day to buy anything id the merchant is there!!

[Acleacius]

Worst case I recall was having to exit the level and reenter to be able to move to next dialogs/conversations with NPCs.

[Jabberwocky]

That sure does sound like a bug... that i've never experienced fortunately.

[Prime Junta]

I think it's designed that way. If you piss off an NPC, they won't talk to you immediately; however, if you exit and leave, the conversation tree is reset.

I'd surmise it's done this way to (1) make the conversations more realistic, and (2) eliminate the possibility of painting yourself into a corner by "wrong" dialog choices and slash quest complexity. If they didn't do it, they'd have to handle every situation where you'd pissed off an NPC, with either quest branches lost, or in case of the main quest, "backdoors" so you could get back in the story somehow. This would add a lot of complexity to an already complex game.

IOW, I don't think this "quick and dirty" solution is ideal, but it's certainly better than some alternatives.

[xSamhainx]

Yeah, some of the aspects of the dialogue stuff is another one of my complaints with the game, can be pretty annoying.

The way it tends to exit out of a convo, then you have to wait for the character to lay down, stand up, whatever, until you can engage again. Like if a character is sleeping, or sitting, or anything other than standing there.

That's just an overall complaint with Witcher - lots of annoying little waits, whether it's the convo thing, or load screens or whatever. Still, when weighed against how awesome the game is (and performs) otherwise, it's a very minor annoyance.

[Acleacius]

Exactly the devs must intend this as some NPCs you get kicked out of conv, ever dam sentence it seems, even though your not pissing off the NPC, so this seems to be training us to constantly reinitiate dialog, yet this breaks/bugs quest to some degree. It maybe they haven't had time to address this or they just made the game quest to damn complex to actually function correctly with their designed Dialog System.
An example would be in the Investigation, it's SO open you can talk to anyone at anytime and possibly learn something, so recently when I went to question a Suspect, I kept initiate dialog till I didn't get any more new dialogs, well it turned out I had spoken to so many people already I completely cleared this guy. The problem is by doing this method I missed opportunities in the Quest Log to speak to others before clearing him, which cost me XP I am betting as it's basically skipping a phase. So the irony is the devs train us to break the quest. :p
Well as I said unless this is just something they haven't had time to address, yet it's in such a complex system, I really don't see them being able to fix this without a LOT of work, so my guess is it will forever remain this way. :(

[aaron552]

I only survived that fight by running away until swallow restored enough health, killing all the dogs that had been summoned during that time, running in and hitting the big one for while until my health was too low, repeat.

Remember that running is a perfectly legitimate option

[Jabberwocky]

Remember that running is a perfectly legitimate option

Yep. Anyone who ever played Gothic knows this! ;)

[zahratustra]

Beast is very vulnerable to stun so lucky Aard can mean that the fight is over in one blow. Of course, in Chapter 1, your Aard sign has only something like 1 in 5 chance of causing a stun but, if you keep trying, chances are you will land a decisive blow on flaming SOB :)