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The Witcher 3 Pre-Expansion Thread

1451

Seeker
In My Safe Space
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Messages
1,382
Ciri has overpowered dodge and her sword slices humans and monsters in an equally efficient manner whilst Gerald must use steel and silver, she can also pick up loot but has no inventory. Weird. I don't mind her segments, they offer interactive story telling instead of passively watching cut scenes. And fortunately they removed the qtes from 2, those were horrible.
 

Killzig

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Oct 28, 2002
Messages
997
Location
The Wastes
Ciri has overpowered dodge and her sword slices humans and monsters in an equally efficient manner whilst Gerald must use steel and silver, she can also pick up loot but has no inventory. Weird. I don't mind her segments, they offer interactive story telling instead of passively watching cut scenes. And fortunately they removed the qtes from 2, those were horrible.
Fair enough. I don't find the fights particularly compelling since they've almost exclusively been against trash enemies (wolves, then junior's henchmen, hunt's dogs, hunt's henchmen). I will say that the Skellige/Ciri segment with Skjall was the most well developed of the ones I've played so far and would probably feel better about them if they'd all been like this.
 

Turisas

Arch Devil
Patron
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
10,010
Noods inside:

To0Lunj.jpg

o66etpr.jpg


 
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
31
I also enjoy Death March the most, but I say that as someone who hasn't really tried the lower difficulties. I don't find
I also enjoy Death March the most, but I say that as someone who hasn't really tried the lower difficulties. I don't find the combat very enjoyable, but it seems like it would be even less enjoyable if it provided even less of a challenge/obstacles.
Kinda wierd logic when you don't enjoy the combat. You either like the rest of the game and reduce combat to a minimum or you just stop playing the game.

If bad combat stopped me from playing, I wouldn't be able to play almost any RPGs.

Then why even play the game, just watch an HD lets play. You can cut the combat right out for the story.
 

Anthedon

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 1, 2015
Messages
4,797
Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Can't say I find enemy HP too excessive (hard difficulty). With the light armor/weapon set + assorted boni from the skill tree + oils and potions stuff dies usually very very quickly, even bosses.
 

GrapeJam

Novice
Joined
May 23, 2015
Messages
49
Can't say I find enemy HP too excessive (hard difficulty). With the light armor/weapon set + assorted boni from the skill tree + oils and potions stuff dies usually very very quickly, even bosses.
Play on death march.

And even then the game's still too easy.
 

Ivan

Arcane
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Messages
7,757
Location
California
The game would have been so much more rewarding if it didn't have fixed levels, thereby permitting you to explore the land and reward you for besting enemies b/c you learned their movesets, not b/c you do too little damage.
 

Zeriel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
13,974
The game would have been so much more rewarding if it didn't have fixed levels, thereby permitting you to explore the land and reward you for besting enemies b/c you learned their movesets, not b/c you do too little damage.

Am I reading this right? Is 2015 Codex arguing for level-scaling? If you mean removing levels entirely and just making it an action game that is fine, but goddamn, otherwise...
 

Gerrard

Arcane
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
12,873
Jesus fucking Christ how many times does this have to be said? How is the game right now different from Oblivion's level scaling? You level up, move to the next quest/area/whatever and find higher level enemies that are just as hard/easy to kill as the lower level ones were. The only difference is that if you go back you can kill the old enemies faster. But why the fuck would you do that? Go back where? You can juat avoid random enemies in the world.
Can't say I find enemy HP too excessive (hard difficulty). With the light armor/weapon set + assorted boni from the skill tree + oils and potions stuff dies usually very very quickly, even bosses.
Play on death march.

And even then the game's still too easy.
Why would you make the game more tedious for yourself than it already is?
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
36,759
Am I reading this right? Is 2015 Codex arguing for level-scaling? If you mean removing levels entirely and just making it an action game that is fine, but goddamn, otherwise...

Don't need levels to have a role playing game, e.g. Shadowrun.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
36,759
A lot of grogs are upset with CDP for not going with a pseudo-simmy approach to levels even though levels are an extremely gamey concept. It would probably be better for everyone if they had gone without them and went the Shadowrun/Vampire route where solving quests unlocks points and increasingly more points are needed to unlock higher-level abilities. This would also have the bonus of making xp-per-kill junkies mad (though they could alleviate this with New Vegas-style repeating challenges e.g. kill x amount of enemies and get a point, kill x more get another point ad infinitum).
 

Stelcio

Savant
Joined
Jan 18, 2012
Messages
237
Am I reading this right? Is 2015 Codex arguing for level-scaling? If you mean removing levels entirely and just making it an action game that is fine, but goddamn, otherwise...

One Ivan doesn't represent Codex.

Still, while I don't like focusing RPG desing around levels overall (I prefer skillpoint-per-experience based progression, it's more fluid IMO, there are other clever systems as well), I still can see when it's done well and cleverly and when it's done dumb and lazy. Levels can give characters more tools at their disposal, unlock some specific skills and make your character overall stronger by extending his tactical options (the clever option). They can also make him stronger and more resistant without any change to how the character acts in combat (the dumb and lazy option).

While the first option is graduadly enriching the gameplay and makes the battles more and more complex, as higher level enemies also have more options at their disposal, the second option can only serve as means to gate the content - you cannot beat me until you spend enough time in lower level content to get past sufficient damage threshold. Why would devs gate the content this way in such open-world RPG as Witcher 3 tries to be is beyond me. You can still build some kind of default route for players, but give freedom for the sake of replayability (i.e. Fallout 1&2).

Level-scaling is the latter option but without content gating. It doesn't even serve any mean so it's not only dumb, but also pointless.

See? There are still people here who understand.
 

Zeriel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
13,974
Am I reading this right? Is 2015 Codex arguing for level-scaling? If you mean removing levels entirely and just making it an action game that is fine, but goddamn, otherwise...

One Ivan doesn't represent Codex.

Still, while I don't like focusing RPG desing around levels overall (I prefer skillpoint-per-experience based progression, it's more fluid IMO, there are other clever systems as well), I still can see when it's done well and cleverly and when it's done dumb and lazy. Levels can give characters more tools at their disposal, unlock some specific skills and make your character overall stronger by extending his tactical options (the clever option). They can also make him stronger and more resistant without any change to how the character acts in combat (the dumb and lazy option).

While the first option is graduadly enriching the gameplay and makes the battles more and more complex, as higher level enemies also have more options at their disposal, the second option can only serve as means to gate the content - you cannot beat me until you spend enough time in lower level content to get past sufficient damage threshold. Why would devs gate the content this way in such open-world RPG as Witcher 3 tries to be is beyond me. You can still build some kind of default route for players, but give freedom for the sake of replayability (i.e. Fallout 1&2).

Level-scaling is the latter option but without content gating. It doesn't even serve any mean so it's not only dumb, but also pointless.

See? There are still people here who understand.

Relax, citizen, I am only slapping those who step out of line. Once they experience the pain of having their dumb views mocked, they will never again question the groupthink.

A lot of grogs are upset with CDP for not going with a pseudo-simmy approach to levels even though levels are an extremely gamey concept. It would probably be better for everyone if they had gone without them and went the Shadowrun/Vampire route where solving quests unlocks points and increasingly more points are needed to unlock higher-level abilities. This would also have the bonus of making xp-per-kill junkies mad (though they could alleviate this with New Vegas-style repeating challenges e.g. kill x amount of enemies and get a point, kill x more get another point ad infinitum).

I think XP-per-kill junkies are already mad with W3 anyway, the XP per kill is so trivial it basically doesn't amount to anything. W3 is another modern example of trying to cater to everyone and pleasing no one, I think. People love it for its storyline, its ambience, and its world design, and those who are pissed about it mostly seem to be those who cannot ignore gameplay flaws. Thankfully the mass market barely even notices gameplay and prizes that whole cinematic storytelling thing over everything else, so it all works out swimmingly for CDPR.
 

Zeriel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
13,974
I don't get why big-budget AAA companies even bother to localize to Japan. The copies sold are so low it seems like it must barely recoup the costs of translation.
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,818
I'm on Skellige and the game seems to open up a little bit. Or at least this area is for higher levels autists.

I'm lvl 21 and I just killed an Ice Elemental lvl 30 and a Ghost lvl 31. Queen is truly overpowered. In fact all signs are overpowered.

Also I spent 1H trying kill a Golem lvl 28 but I simply could not do it. One hit meant that I'm dead and the best I got was spending ~10 min to reduce his health with 15%. I don't know what the fuck is happening but my damage is reduced on golems.

This is MMORPG combat design at his best.
 

toro

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
14,818


As much as I whine about combat and shit, I have to admit that is the best looking open world game I ever played until now.

The design of the ruins and desolated places is simply exceptional. The weather system is also almost perfect.

And all of this is filled with retarded quests (like Hidden Treasures) and clunky combat. Not to mention the pain inducing UI.
 

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