Witcher For those of us new to the Witcher

The Witcher
Acctually I didn't I had no idea you could do that. But still you could change between fast and strong, or maybe to group? if there is ever a point to do that. It makes it a little better, and even more ridiculesly easy I guess. I wouldn't complain about it being SO easy if it wasn't for the fact that I am playing on the hardest setting. I still think the combo system is terribly flawed even if you could change style in the middle of a combo? if you change it does the combo start in the stage were you were in the other combo? so in that case the only thing added to the mindless combo clicking is the option to also press another key, so you might need to click one series fewer for the critter to die.

The main problem I have is that it is enough and still very easy to play through the game if you just keep clicking one button drink one potion, and an occasional click on the other button. You'll also be able to play through fable 2 like that. I guess it is a trend that people likes this extremly simple combats, so you can focus on other things in the game.
 
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Combat is the least significant thing in an rpg.

Two of my favourite RPGs.. Torment and Morrowind.. both have extremely
sucky and boring combat.. but as games they are simply great. Not just great -
some of the best games and CRPG's ever.

Combat... it's just always there - but doesn't really matter.

I'll post my feelings on the combat in witcher when I get used to it.

The games where combat has been extremely fun?
Fallout2. Jagged alliance 2.

EDIT: No wait! There's one thing still less significant than the combat... The graphics! .. no.. wait.. hmm.. that's a close call actually...
 
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....it is enough and still very easy to play through the game if you just keep clicking one button drink one potion, and an occasional click on the other button...
I'm surprised it's really possible, not only against some boss or mini boss but even for some other fights. If that's so easy I wonder why you need use any potion. Do you really never die with such a system?

But I agree that the combat system could be better and that there's a problem of difficulty level.
 
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Some people might think it is fun, but we can all agree it is greatly flawed.

No, we can not. Actually I think we can all agree that you greatly exaggerate in almost everything you said in this thread. You seem to be almost millitant in some cases :).
True, Witcher´s hard difficulty is misnamed and should be called normal difficulty
instead, but it certainly isn´t as easy as you say.
I won´t go into details since this thread is here for something else but if not anything else, Witcher´s combat on hard requires player´s full attention, isn´t tedious and doesn´t detract from the game´s main focus which is story.

Combat is the least significant thing in an rpg.
Combat... it's just always there - but doesn't really matter.

Well, it depends on the particular rpg, doesn´t it?
Take Wizardry 8 or even Baldur´s Gate 2, for example.
Besides, combat is usually the only thing which makes the character development worthwhile/mandatory.

EDIT: No wait! There's one thing still less significant than the combat... The graphics! .. no.. wait.. hmm.. that's a close call actually...

Hm, graphics, maybe.
But a good visual art (as well as good music) can greatly enhance game´s atmosphere and in the case of Witcher it does. Just wait for the chapter 4 for probably most glaring example of this :).
 
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I'm surprised it's really possible, not only against some boss or mini boss but even for some other fights. If that's so easy I wonder why you need use any potion. Do you really never die with such a system?

Try it yourself, I was surprsied myself, especially against some big bosses. Except the beast in the (second)? chapter, it didn't work for this fight.

You seem to be almost millitant in some cases

That's true nothing makes a game developer more angry. When there is so much potential but they screw it. I do love the other things about TW, this combat just made it so tedious and boring, unlike Zakhary said I think combat matters, especially in a game like TW it is full of combat, and all of these parts are boring, maybe it could be fun if you create bombs, drink lots of potions and whatever else there is to do, But for me at least I did not found it was anymore fun, it just became more of a bother since you had to bother with potion mixing and bomb mixing, and touch the horrible inventory system.
 
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I hated combat at first and now I think it's the best. It's one of the few games out there that makes you "feel" the strikes - especially when you're fighting someone with plate armor. Not flawed at all.

Dice poker is definitely harder. It took me three tries last night before I finally beat Mikul so I could advance the quest!

There is no extra hard difficulty with the EE. Hard is still just right. Actually it seems a bit easier but that's probably just because I've been through the first part of the game before and already know what I'm doing.
 
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I liked the combat, but I guess I am not very discriminating in that respect. I thought it strikes a reasonable balance between player involvement and classic stat-driven RPG combat. It does eventually get pretty easy, but that is mostly OK wtih me, as in this case I was more interested in following the story.
 
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Yeah, dice poker is now rather dramatic :).
Now that opponents are on par with player, the fact that they always roll after the player in the second round gives them rather troublesome advantage.
More than source of money it´s now a great source of reloads.
Just started Ch2.
Regarding the infamous battle:
Beast was history on second try - Aard on max still works :).

Is it me, or are some of game´s visuals more vibrant than before?
 
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The game visuals are supposed to be more vibrant, though I haven't really noticed yet.

When I first went through, one of the first NPCs I was supposed to beat at dice poker had a nasty winning streak. The AI was horrific but his luck was impossible to beat! "Hmmm, I have 3 of a kind here that already beats you. I think I'll roll 3 dice including one of the 3 of a kind." All 3 come up some other number and he gets a full house. He did things like that several times and nearly cleaned me out! It was like getting beat by a two year old that's just rolling the dice because he likes hearing the sound. Arrrgh!

Medium difficulty seemed pretty good to me, but I hardly ever used potions. I would have a few heals around and maybe a thunder but, for the most part, I played "sober." Mostly because it was just too much trouble to deal with the alchemy system. Now, with the new inventory, that part of the game should be more fun.

Oh, back to the original topic... there was a chapter that ended on me before I was ready. It was the one fairly late in the game where you go south of town to an inn where there's a wedding party getting ready to start. I'm afraid I don't know the exact thing I did that set the end chapter gears in motion but I do remember having a few quests unfinished that left me howling right along with that forelong dog in the chapter ending cinematic.
 
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Yeah, dice poker is now rather dramatic :).
Now that opponents are on par with player, the fact that they always roll after the player in the second round gives them rather troublesome advantage.
More than source of money it´s now a great source of reloads.

I have never reloaded after a lost poker game. Never. And I'm winning.

They don't roll like idiots any more, and yes, you do always roll second -- *but* they bet like idiots. You can still make money in dice poker, just not so easily. It makes a nice diversion and a nice way to get the occasional couple of hundred when you need it, which means that it now occupies the niche in the game that it's supposed to occupy.

What is a winning betting strategy, I hear you ask?

The trick is to lose only low-stakes rounds, and win high-stakes ones. Your opponents will only raise or fold if they're really, really ahead or behind on a round. So:

(1) Start out betting the limit.
(2) If you roll a better hand on the first roll of the first round, raise the limit. Else hold.
(3) If you won your first round, raise the limit on the second one no matter what you roll (since you can afford to lose this one). Else hold and if your opponent raises, fold.
(4) If you roll a better hand on the first roll of the third round, raise the limit. Else hold. If your opponent raises, fold.

The upshot is that whenever the odds are in your favor, the stakes will go up by much more than when they're against you. You can lose two games out of three and still easily come up ahead.

This strategy wouldn't work against humans, but it will work against the computer, as long as you have enough cash on hand to weather a string of a few losses in a row.
 
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Yeah, dice poker is now rather dramatic :).
Now that opponents are on par with player, the fact that they always roll after the player in the second round gives them rather troublesome advantage.
More than source of money it´s now a great source of reloads.
Just started Ch2.
Regarding the infamous battle:
Beast was history on second try - Aard on max still works :).

Is it me, or are some of game´s visuals more vibrant than before?

I noticed. - the outskirts seem greener, the villagers are wearing some pinks and blues that weren't present before. The game was still made to be too dark when it's dark. Realistic I suppose, but I still had to bump up the gamma a couple of notches.

Knowing what to expect on facing the beast I'm developing my character differently this time. I should be in the best position possible when I face him... probably tonight.
 
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Try it yourself, I was surprsied myself, especially against some big bosses. Except the beast in the (second)? chapter, it didn't work for this fight.
And that worked against the ants and the ant queen? I'm sure I could find more sample it would not work but well if you use potions it's probably possible in most fights (but not all, don't fall into exaggeration that weaken your point).

That's true nothing makes a game developer more angry. When there is so much potential but they screw it. I do love the other things about TW, this combat just made it so tedious and boring, unlike Zakhary said I think combat matters, especially in a game like TW it is full of combat, and all of these parts are boring.
That's what I do not understand. The Witcher was a special game for you, fights took an important role and you spoil yourself all your pleasure by sticking to a basic fighting style that you find extremely boring.

I agree that there are improvements to do in the fight system. But it's not that difficult to try something less basic and get much more fun fights. I'm currently playing an H&S, Titan Quest, in 99% of fights I could use a same tactics with few variation but there are so many fights that it gets boring so I often change my fight style and tactics just to get more variation and get more fun, not because the game force me to do it.

Now the bad news for you, you spoil yourself a great game just because you didn't try be more imaginative in your gameplay. Something is boring? Then attempt something else. And if the fight system in The Witcher has some hole it has also interesting possibilities and the potential of very good fights, not all games offer that.
 
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Unbelievable... I faced off with the beast tonight. I loaded up on Swallow, Tawny Owl, and Blizzard, and greased my sword down with Specter Oil. The first two tries I got my butt handed to me. The third go around - guess what? Somehow the cutscene canceled out all of my potion effects and left me facing the beast with no enhancements, and I still beat him! In fact I didn't even realize I was 'naked' until my health got down to 25% and I started running around the parameter trying to allow my health to come back. Once I figured out that wasn't going to work I just turned around and popped the beast with an Aard and walla - he was stunned (and he had full health mind you.)

I'm certainly not bragging about this as it was completely random. That's the problem with that particular fight - It really didn't matter how you prepared, you had to re-load again and again until you just get lucky. It's a shame they couldn't have improved that in the EE.
 
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Perhaps they were afraid that people would whine that they nerfed it for the console jockeys. For some reason that I've never been able to fathom, some people seem to think that a game that forces them to constantly reload from a save is more "hardcore" than one that doesn't...
 
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Somehow the cutscene canceled out all of my potion effects

During my first playthrough it happened to me too. I figured out that it´s caused by the fact the game automatically advances time to midnight once the cutscene starts. So it´s better to sleep until 23:00 or so and all potions should work then.

I got close to finishing Ch3 yesterday and thought it would be a good time to try both extra adventures.
Both were rather nice diversions, adding some cool bits to the main story.
I liked The Price of Neutrality slightly more since it felt more distinctive and some dialogues were pretty cool. Tried all endings just for the heck of it and TPoN was more diverse in that regard too.
Played them both on hard and was rather surprised by the difficulty of some fights. I´d say that hard difficulty was actually hard this time.

As for the main game, it rocks! It feels even more epic than during my first playthrough. Maybe those extended dialogues have something to do with this.
Well, they surely have!
Some new voices aren´t that entertaining as before and I really miss that excited jumping npc animation but those are just minor complaints.

For some reason, dice poker seems to be easier as the quest proceeds. It´s just a coincidence, I guess. PJ´s strategy works great, though I don´t really use it since I´m lazy :). Also, I´m trying to finish all quests available so Geralt is quite rich even without resorting to hazard and plays poker only for advancing the dice quest. I like the element this quest adds to his personality.

Ok, getting ready for the chapter of best scenery.
 
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I certainly don't mind a game that makes me reload once in a while. In fact I feel a game is too easy if it doesn't happen. But I expect the specific peril to be consistent from one attempt to the next. E.g. If the battle with the beast requires potions to overcome him in one attempt, it should require it in all attempts, and if he is strong enough to resist the Aard sign in one instance, I shouldn't be able to use it on another attempt. There's just no excuse for a boss battle that required me to re-load 13 times on my first playthrough and had absolutely nothing to do with my combat skills, and everything to do with the randomness of a sign working in one instance and not in twelve others. I love this game, but that's a huge flaw imo.

The Gothic games got it right. Sure there were times when I reloaded again and again, but the enemies fought and had the same weaknesses consistently - the advancement was solely due to my improvement of character and combat skills. The game left you feeling good about your own accomplishments, not thinking "Whew, got lucky that time. I can finally move on now."
 
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I have finally gotten around to playing EE and it’s completely absorbed me. Haven’t enjoyed the atmosphere of a game this much since Bloodlines… it really is a lot of fun. Good for us RPG gamers, yes? I’m on Chapter 3 and am very nervous to see what some of my choices will yield. It get the feeling it’s not that good, hah!

Hopefully I can find some time to play today, I need to hunt me some contract monsters.
 
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Realistic dark? Nah, not even close. World War 2 online had realistic darkness at launch. Moonless, cloudy dark night. Can't see anything AT ALL so you might as well stop playing until the sun comes back up dark. ;)

I never felt the need to turn Witcher's brightness up at all, though. The darkest night is twilight at best. (Though I keep the room fairly dark, which makes a ton of difference.)
 
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I'm sure you would agree that it is more dark than the average nighttime scenery in other games. Plus no two monitor settings are exactly alike.
 
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Errr, no I wouldn't. Oblivion could get a lot darker, even outside. Though I have some outdoor screenshots where it's lighter, too. Hmm. This one seems a bit darker and this one seems lighter and this one seems a LOT darker. Maybe it's the time of night?

For reference, here's a nighttime Witcher shot and another.

P.S. Probably need to click the images to make them the original size.

Edit: Oh wait, do you mean inside caves and such?? Yeah, it does get VERY dark in those. Pretty much a complete black out if you don't have a light source. It's a miracle I wasn't eaten by a grue.
 
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