Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[thepodger]

Mildly off-topic, in that it's in regards to the original Witcher, but it's been driving me absolutely crazy as I've been replaying it.

Why in all the hells is one of Geralt's 'finishing moves' him grabbing his sword by the blade, and clubbing the downed enemy over the head with the hilt? WHY?!

Methinks you have a lot to learn about swordplay.

herp derp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordstreich

But I guess they probably should have just thrown in some more swooshing sounds and wild playdough arm thrashing.  Because that's how people used swords.

As an aside, am I really reading someone complaining about the potion system in the Witcher games?  Because a system that requires planning and foresight is obviously inferior to chugging instant health regeneration potions while splaying your playdough arms wildly swinging a bladed weapon makes -perfect- sense, both in terms of realism and as a gameplay mechanism.

[Magentawolf]

Yes, and thank you for being so insulting as you enlighten me!

In my defense, however, Witcher's swords are supposed to be amazingly sharp, and the gentlemen in that picture have gauntlets, whereas Geralt doesn't seem to.

[lordcooper]

Yes, and thank you for being so insulting as you enlighten me!

In my defense, however, Witcher's swords are supposed to be amazingly sharp, and the gentlemen in that picture have gauntlets, whereas Geralt doesn't seem to.

He does have badass though.

[thepodger]

Sorry, as Popeye says, I yam what I yam: a grumpy old grognard.  Unfortunately I was transposing my snide disbelief at the lunatic rage fueled ramblings of Soulwynd onto you, and quite unfairly.

[thepodger]

The thing to remember about swords is that they were rarely sharp, at least when thought of in the modern culinary sense.  Most longswords, broadswords and hand-and-a-halfers all actually included a long section of blade closer to the hilt that was specifically kept as dull as possible, to allow the unarmored hand of a fighter to grip it to add power to a downward thrust, or to allow the fighter to halt a misplaced swing and allow him to redirect the blow before the swing was completed.

[Cthulhu]

I really like this game.  There's something about the storyline that I can't really put my finger on.  I like it more than most storylines.  I'm not sure if it's the game's "look before you leap" philosophy making me more aware of what's going on, or something else.

When I think about it, I think it might be the vignettes.  Those short little bits of story where you play as different characters and see the world from someone else's perspective.  It makes the world feel real.  Like the world doesn't revolve around Geralt.  The characters feel like people, not just props to move the game forward.  I actually care about what happens.

[Soulwynd]

Sorry, as Popeye says, I yam what I yam: a grumpy old grognard.  Unfortunately I was transposing my snide disbelief at the lunatic rage fueled ramblings of Soulwynd onto you, and quite unfairly.

I could write a nice reply to you, thepodger, but I will let the random paragraph generator reply to you instead:

Soulwynd runs with the union. Soulwynd multiplies a lunatic rage fueled rambling. Any irritating frog fears in this request. A lunatic rage fueled rambling lumps Soulwynd inside the insect. Does Soulwynd die across the peripheral lesbian? A lunatic rage fueled rambling skirts every excess.

[thepodger]

A more succinct reply I could not have hoped for.

But do you really like the potion guzzling and instacast heals of games like Diablo, or god forbid, WoW, more than this approach?  There's a really interesting amount of opportunity cost and strategizing involved in the Witcher's alchemy systems that I find much more tactically satisfying than a system that allows you to essentially purchase your way out of a player mistake with potions.

[Soulwynd]

Me?

I'm more in favor of a mix of the two examples you gave. I think potions in games should:

-Have long lasting effects and no instant effects;
-Have some sort of crash on your character's system after they wear out or when you take too many;
-Be normally used outside combat, but if you try to in combat, it takes a while and gives you opponent the opportunity to attack you and possibly interrupting you;
-Possibly have some sort of addiction and/or your body becoming used to it and the effects lessening;
-Have coherent negative effects.

I guess the witcher gets pretty close to what I think would be fine. I've always hated potions you chugged instantly to have like 1 minute of extra strength or something similar. Or instant healing potions. I'm more in favor of regeneration and effects that last, lets say, 8 to 24 in game hours or so. I'm not entirely in favor of addiction unless it's done right and not something annoying like it was in Fallout 3.

[thepodger]

The only thing the Witcher doesn't do from that list is allow you to use a potion in combat, but it still makes gameplay sense within its own paradigm--what would be the benefit of drinking a potion in combat that slowly regenerates health over a period of time several times longer than any fight will realistically last?  Why would you leave yourself vulnerable to attacks while drinking a potion when you could/should do it before combat?

Is there any game in the history of RPGs that gets closer to what you'd like than the Witcher?  I certainly can't think of any.  So why spend so much effort lambasting it for taking a decidedly non-traditional approach to potions, poisons, etc when it is so much closer to your ideal system?

[Soulwynd]

I didn't.

The OP did.

I screamed at the cutscenes.

So you better check the names on the posts better or reread them.



Profit

[Asehujiko]

I think that the whole potion thing could be abstracted into a series of buff "slots". You learn Swallow formula, set Swallow as one of your "chug this if medal is shaking" and from then on, you hace combat health regen. All the current system does is screw you over if it's your first time though and clog up your inventory.

Also, any ETA on that fix for ATI cards so I'm no longer blinded completely when I move out of Flotsam?

[Rakonas]

I've been playing the Witcher 1 over the past couple days and am enjoying it. I'm somewhat near the end of chapter 2, and am hoping that the whole innsmouth thing gets expanded upon later on in particular.

[thepodger]

Personally I am loving the game... one of the few games where your decisions have serious and visible impacts on the world and the story.

The cutscenes aren't that intrusive... Anyone can get unlucky and receive a serious blow.  They are necessary in a story driven game.

[Cthulhu]

Seriously, I haven't seen this army destroying badass.  I see a guy who's a cut above humanity but still scrapes by the skin of his teeth every single day.