Why o Why CDProject can't you hire a combat gameplay desginer?
 

*rant*
Playing The Witcher 3 enhanced edition makes me kind of sad and frustrated in one way, with better combat the game could just be the best game ever, but unfortunately:

I am playing on Death March ( highest difficulty setting ).

Even quests which are twice my level is extremely easy and the chance to die is almost zero. I didn't even change to the best gear I have, I still kept the starter sword after 10 hours. Is this a joke, don't they have any QA or combat designer onboard when they make the game?

Everything is so greatly done, except the combat and balancing it is a complete joke. I got this skill called gourment, not only does it void that meditation doesn't give you health on higher difficulty levels, it also makes the game super easy, at least on lower levels. Why didn't they just have some people test the game, or tweak this skill for the enhanced edition ?

Will this get better later on in the game, or maybe CDProjekt just simple don't care about combat at all?

*end of rant*

Refund the game, if you're caring only about combat I suggest Titanfall. Or if it's zx spectrum and nokia 3310 then buy Destiny. :p

I won't refund it as I love everything else about the game. I am just frustrated, why can't they make the combat right as well, when they made everything else except map/quest markers and hair and some other more minor stuffs ( Geralt, animal and beast hair is ok ) right ?

It's not a die thousand times over, rinse repeat type of game…starts hard and gets easier the further you go.
If you're not too far in, I'd recommend mods ( but this can make a game much longer, espec given it's size already).
This is your best bet: http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/1814/?

Here is a video presentation: https://youtu.be/Nt_cPLr0Ic8

You mean it will get EVEN easier as I progress further :tears::tears::tears::tears: , here I was hoping it was just in the beginning it was so easy and unbalanced and would get better once I got futher into it!!?? that is not even possible, I am already never dying and winning the combats really fast. As soon as you get an ability point to choose the gourmet skill it is already super easy in beginning…. I don't want to die a thousand times over, but if I play on the hardest difficulty, I expect at least a tiny bit of challenge, and also how can they have such an overpowered skill as gourmet ? Some balancing between the skills choices would be nice too. Especially in this enhanced edition.

I like to play games unmodded on the first playthrough, so I won't mod it. However for a second play-through I definitely will… still doesn't explain why CDProjekt didn't bother about this part, when they are such an experts on other areas.

I'd definitely install it, even on first run. The game is massive, but they amped up difficulty in dlc and expansion, but it will take you a while to get there.
I think the biggest problem, and with open world games, is that rpg style of progression isn't really suited for it…not unless you have hundred extra gameplay designers to spare and they have a way to implement high(er) level encounters/enemies consistently in the world.
They all need to ditch typical leveling system and focus on side-grades instead.

If you've found an exploit in the gameplay that brakes the game for you then the simplest solution is to stop using the exploit…

A quick google search seems to indicate that a lot of other people also find this skill to be overpowered … so it would seem to be a good idea to avoid this skill if you find the game too easy on harder difficulties.

You do make a good point :) But still if so many people know this skill is overpowered? why don't they just change it for the enhanced edition, most companies would do this I suppose, if they care about gameplay.

I just don't like the idea of X skill is too good so I won't use it. Part of playing the game is to optimize your build.. and if you try to unoptimize it to make the game harder, it is not much fun anymore.

Maybe you're just too good :D

Or maybe your build is too efficient for your play style.

I didn't play it on "Dark Souls" difficulty level and I had plenty of challenge staying alive when I went up against a group of enemies at once. Then again, I don't have the patience for repeating the same sequence/fight over and over again simply for the thrill of being challenged (unless we're talking about a Hard/Nightmare raids in an MMO), so I've played Demons Souls for about 30 minutes and I never have nor will I ever play any of the Dark Souls games.

I'll definitely not rule out playing through Witcher 3 again (I still haven't played the Blood and Wine DLC yet) at some point but I was one of those people that almost gave up on Witcher 2 because of the extreme difficulty spike in combat in the beginning of the game (the same with the Gothic games), so I'm absolutely not a fan of the masochistic approach to difficulty in games :D

I agree the combat and RPG system in Witcher 3 wasn't all that enjoyable and it can be improved, specially the RPG system.

Having said that, a combat system of the type found in Dark Souls won't improve Witcher 3. I think it will hinder it. At first glance there is no story in Dark Souls games and this is by design. They don't want the story getting in the way of the combat and slow down the pace. The entire DS games revolves around the combat and the story of the game is your story as to how to defeated the bosses. DS will be ruined if you had the same amount of cutscenes as W3. On the flip side, the story of W3 will be ruined if you dying to boss for 30 times since that will slow down the pace of the story.

Personally I find there is nothing wrong with the combat system in the game.

It all comes down to what you use your experience on. I spend all of mind on fast sword and Quen sign. I am playing the game for the story, so combat I want over fast.

You can use potion of clearance to reset your points. I can't remember where I bought mine from.

That's because there isn't anything wrong with it. I've seen GothicGothicness claim the same thing about many games in the past. I guess he/she simply has skills that far exceed those of us ordinary gamers. :)


Either your game is bugged or you're just flat out full of shit. Going against any boss "twice" your level in TW3 gets you killed in 1 or 2 hits. That's assuming they haven't made significant changes to the game since I played it, and I haven't heard of any.

GG, if you are frustrated then stop and uninstall and play something more challenging like Dark Souls. Life is too short to be unnecessarily frustrated. Don't understand why you would waste time on a game that frustrates you.

He/she would probably complain that Dark Souls is too easy. ;)

Hmm…well, honestly Witcher is my favorite game, but there is definite room for improvement there, combat wise.

Biggest issue, by a mile, is far too wide animation length between different auto attacks… and you end up with too inprecise control of character, in fairly "chaotic"/dynamic system ( because of group aggro) that requires absolute precision.
Witcher is sort of a mix between Batman and DS system ( both fairly organized : as result of animation lock on of first, and zombie AI with very predictable enemy movesets and clear poise system of second).

On paper blend between those two systems with strengths of both would result in best melee combat system ever made, but for that to really work everything from camera, lock on, controls, poise system, animation sync, etc…would have to be surgically precise.

Jedi Academy, managed to resolve this without a hitch, while still having a good choreographic flow, but fully under player control… all basic/auto attacks being very straightforward and of fairly even animation length, while keeping all "movie like"/spin attacks separate from them as player directed attack combos, that you use separately and more "tactically".

There is definite some balance issues…imo, level up stats should not even exist here and player eventually outclasses enemies by raw stats.

But our pro GG is def overreacting here…only PvP games need to be meticulously balanced and pretty much every PvE game can become easy or repetitive for power players.

Imho, I've had worse issues with some of recent hack and slashers I've played… Dark Souls magic, Dogma class abilities, MGR blade mode, etc.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to claim it's perfect. I just meant that it's not as easy as some claim. I played on the second-hardest difficulty and was fine with it. I didn't collect any of the Witcher gear though.

That's because it could apply to most games especially action rpgs. I've only played the first area (about 15 hours) but I'd say combat is the worst part of the game and too easy when it comes to trash mobs. I though boss (griffin) added a bit of challenge but could have been harder. When I say worst part of the game though that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad but there's definitely room for improvements.

I think most action rpgs suffer from easy combat. I don't want every game to be dark souls but it seems there's a big unfilled gap between the ease of most ARPGs and dark souls that could be filled.

To be fair though, CDPR took a bit of heat for the difficulty of the Witcher 2 until they nerfed it in a patch maybe they were looking to avoid that this time around.

Combat is definitely not the worst part of the game. Although a lot of other aspects of TW3 are so good that I can understand people feeling the combat is lacking by comparison. If you played for 15 hours then you should be a lot further and encountered more bosses than just the Griffin.

Of course there's room for improvement though. There's never been a game you couldn't say that about.

I started over several times and just explored that area. i left the griffin for last. I was just screwing around, not doing an actual playthrough.

Just checked my steam, it was actually 23 hours.

Difficulty means different thing for different people… died x number of times can be simply irritating for some.

For instance, Dark Souls "difficulty" plummeted for me, when you:
Realize how easy it is to "leash" melee attackers from archers/ranged attackers
Use lock on and move in opposite direction of an enemy attack to easily get behind them
When you memorize their move sets( mostly for bosses) or encounter position( for regular enemies, usually on "choke", around the corner points and how to prevent being overwhelmed), which makes combat feel "on rails" and very predictable.

When it comes to, Holy shit, this AI is pretty damn good!, there are actually far more challenging games that don't require as much repetition or getting yourself killed as many times…for example, Far Cry I or Fear.

Though that could be said for a lot of games…good enemy AI is more rare today than it was ten years ago ( given the "quantity" of games).